I Just Want To Be The One In Your Life

Barry knew to take things slow with Skylar. Barry had already been burned twice by two other girls he'd dated. Abigail dumped him for her college sweetheart.  Barry was about to marry Abigail when she broke off their engagement. Then Julie decided to go back to an old boyfriends. Julie sent Barry a dear Barry text message to his iPhone. Barry really liked Skylar because she just saw him as Barry not as BARRY MANILOW. He also thought Skylar had an interesting job working for Amtrak. When Skylar asked him to go with her on Amtrak to Montreal he quickly said yes. Barry couldn't believe he'd get to Skylar in action as a chief of on board services. Why Barry even got up early to get to Penn Central so he'd be there on time. Skylar told him the Adirondack left Penn Central at eight fifteen am. She also told him to be there an hour before departure. Barry took the handle of his suitcase and went out to get into the cab. Barry had asked his next door neighbors to take care of Max and Maggie his dogs while he was gone. Barry's next door  neighbors were Matthew and Samantha Robbins. Matt and Sam were newly weds. Soon Barry was at Penn Central. As he got out of the cab who does he see but Skylar. Did you take a cab to get here asked Barry. No said Skylar I live near here so I can walk to Penn Central.  Come on I'll take you to the waiting area near the track where we'll board the train. Will you take this with you asked Skylar. It's bagels and cream cheese from my favorite bagel place. I also got orange juice from there too since I don't drink coffee. Then I made a stop at Starbucks for coffee. Black with a splash of cream is the way you like it said Skylar. Yes said Barry that's how I like it. The place where I got the bagels really smears on the cream cheese for breakfast. Both bagels are cranberry oat. By nine o'clock I should be done taking care of stuff. Then I should be able to have breakfast with you said Skylar. That's fine with me said Barry. While Barry waited to board the train. He struck up a conversation with a little old lady who reminded him of his mom. The lady's name was Estelle. She asked Barry if the lady he came with was his girlfriend? Barry said not really we're just good friends for now. Estelle said well don't wait to long to make her your girlfriend. She's perfect for you said Estelle. Oh really said Barry. Yes said Estelle as she looked at Barry. You know you look familiar said Estelle. I do said Barry. Yes said Estelle. My name's Estelle Goldman so what's yours she asked. Barry said Barry Manilow. Barry Manilow said Estelle. You aren't related to Edna Manilow by any chance? asked Estelle. Yes Edna's my mom. How do you know her? asked Barry. Your mom Edna and I were friends  back in Brooklyn. We went to school together. I remember when she showed me your baby picture. Edna told me you were going to be somebody special. Soon the announcement for boarding the Adirondack was made. Barry said  that's my train. It was nice meeting you Estelle. Estelle said I was nice meeting you too Barry. Barry walked down to the platform where the train was located. He saw Skylar and asked her if there was a certain car he had to get on. Skylar pointed out the correct car that Barry was to get on. She also said remember to have your ticket out so when the conductor comes by he can take it. Ok said Barry. Barry boarded the coach car and found a seat by the window. He thought this is going to be one terrific weekend. Barry put down the folding table. That's where he put the bag with the bagels and the juice. He figured he better drink the coffee before it got cold. The conductor and car attendant came. The conductor took Barry's ticket. While the car attendant put a slip of paper with the initials for Montreal on it. On the side of the bottom of the overhead storage compartment was a slot for the slip of paper. Right at eight fifteen the train pulled out of Penn Central station to head north to  their first stop of Yonkers.

One Man In A Spotlight At The Borgata

Barry had finally created his set list for his new show Manilow's Night Songs at the Borgata's Music Box. Barry was going to start the show standing under a spotlight. He would open singing One Man In A Spotlight. From there he was going to the piano to sing Paradise Café. Then came his hip cool medley Big Fun, Brooklyn Blues, Big City Blues and Night And Day. He was going to do It Had To Be You next. Then it was The Way You Look Tonight, You Make Me Feel So Young, It's Magic. The seasons medley was next Autumn In New York, When October Goes, Summertime and Summer Wind. Up next was Swing Street and Hey Mambo. Blue and Black And Blue were next. Someone To Watch Over Me, One For My Baby and Night Songs would end the show. Barry's band consisted of Russ McKinnon on drums, David Rosenblat on percussion, Stan Sargent on bass, Mike Lent on guitar, Ron Pedley on keyboards, Joey Malotti keyboards/musical director and Melanie Taylor vocals. Plus Barry Manilow himself on piano. Barry's Manilow's Night Songs show would start in one week on Thursday February 14, 2019. Barry was alternating how many weeks each month he was doing. So February, April, June, August, October and December Barry was doing three weekends. January, March, May, July. October and November Barry was doing two weekends. The three weekends a months shows were on Thursday Friday and Saturday. The two weekends a months shows were on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Since Barry lived in Brooklyn New York he could commute down the morning of the first show and leave after the last show ended. The Music Box was an intimate venue which Barry liked since he hated arenas with a passion.  Barry was working with an old friend Rett Turner who designed his Paradise Café Tour costumes. Barry wanted clothes that were classy not flashy or trashy. No sequined jackets for him. Just some nice tailored clothes to wear on stage. Barry had also decided to tweak his platinum packages a little. Instead of fans coming back stage before the show started. Five lucky fans would get to go back stage after the show ended. Barry was calling them Platinum Meet and Greets. These would combine all the perks of a regular platinum plus the after the show meet and greet. The platinum meet and greets would give fans a front row seat, backstage pass on a lanyard. wine glass with wine in it, photo of the fan standing next to Barry, a camera with photos on it and an autographed program. Plus the chance to talk to Barry one on one. The other thing Barry was doing was making his platinum meet and greets affordable. Un like Brian Murphy who charged one thousand five hundred for his platinum packages. Plus his fans came before the show.Barry decided to charge five hundred for his platinum meet and greet packages. Also Barry was going to have his platinum meet and greets after his shows. Barry would do his platinum meet and greets on Friday. Barry couldn't wait till next Friday for his first show at the Borgata's Music Box theatre. Plus his first platinum meet and greet.

Come Monday

Yes Come Monday was a song from Here At The Mayflower by Barry Manilow.  Come Monday Skylar need to be at Penn Central by six am. As the chief of on board services for Amtrak's Adirondack  Skylar need to be there  at least an hour and a half before the train left Penn Central .  Amtrak's Adirondack leaves New York City's Penn Central at eight fifteen am and gets into Montreal's Central Station at six thirty pm. Skylar's grandfather Joseph Herzbach  had been a train conductor on the Pennsylvania Railroads Broadway Limited.  Skylar got her loved of train travel  when her grandfather took her on her first train ride. Skylar got her degree  in hospitality management from Cornell University in Ithaca New York. After she graduated Skylar got her dream job working for Amtrak. He first  job working for Amtrak was coach attendant. Her first route was Amtrak's Broadway Limited. The Broadway Limited went between New York and Chicago. She also did  the Lake Shore Limited New York and Boston to Chicago. This train starts in both New York and Boston then the two trains meet in Albany where they merge and go on to Chicago. Then in   nineteen ninety-five Skylar became a chief of on board services. Her first route was the Ethan Allen Express New York City to Rutland Vermont. Then she did the Maple Leaf New York City to Toronto Canada. Now she was on the Adirondack route New York City to Montreal Canada. This was her favorite route by far.  Since Montreal Canada was one of her favorite cities. Skylar loved doing the route in the autumn when the leaves were turning all sorts of colors. Skylar got to thinking she ought to invite Barry Manilow to go on the Adirondack during one of her runs. She could have him go when she got one of her layovers in Montreal. Once a month she got a few days off in Montreal in between runs. During one of those layovers she could take Barry to some of her favorite spots in Montreal. Skylar loved the northeast and the pacific northwest. Skylar was a city girl born and raised in Manhattan one of the boroughs of New York City.  Her parents were  John and Sophia Herzbach. Her dad John was a pilot for United Airlines. While her mom Sophia was a kindergarten teacher at Colears Elementary in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The Chelsea neighborhood was where Skylar grew up. Skylar was one of two kids in her family. Skylar full name was Skylar Fiona Herzbach. Skylar had an older sister Noelle Grace. Noelle was a second grade teacher in Seattle. Noelle lived with her husband Kevin  Fishman and their two kids Samuel Eli and.

Welcome To The BMIFC

Welcome to the new BMIFC. Well sort of. Garry Kief  the head of Stiletto Entertainment decided it was time for him to retire. He held a meeting with Barry Manilow,  Kirsten Kief , Mark Hulett and Vikki Thomas. This was to tell them he was retiring. Also to tell them who the new head of Stiletto was going to be. The new head of Stiletto Entertainment would be Kirsten Kief Garry's daughter. Since Garry didn't want to overload his daughter with too much responsibility Garry told Marc he was now Barry Manilow's new manager. He told Barry to find himself a new personal assistant since Marc was now management. Vikki Thomas became the head of the Manilow Music Fund for Kids Barry Mailow's own charity. As for the BMIFC which Vikki ran. Garry told Barry and Vikki to figure something out. Which they were going to do. Barry said to Vikki fans have always said they could run my fan club better then we can. So why don't we give them a shot at this. Barry went to Facebook to find some fans who were very passionate about him. Barry chose  Lu Ann Heiner Drebot  as BMIFC's director and publisher of the Barry Grams, Kathy Sheridan as editor of the Barry Grams, Michele Ray Thomson as membership coordinator  (Michele made sure fans memberships were renewed. Also that they got their membership kits.) Ronda Rice Breman, Donna Ross Bordin, Kathy Faith as contributors. Susan Barrett and Pamela Height became convention coordinators. People who stayed where they were was Gary Oye Barry Net web guy and Chris Walter head of merchandizing. Barry got rid of My Manilow Network, Manilow UK, Manilow Europe and Manilow Australia. Barry checked them all out. He found the US was too filled with fans trying to get others kicked off. The UK site was fine. The Australian and European sites were dead sites with very little activity. So he chose instead to go back to the way things use to be. But with a twist. Back to the local overseas offices. The twist would actually be online BMIFC websites  run by Joanne Gray Australia, Kenny Fong Asia,  Shelby Wheeler Canada, Susan Heinz Europe, Louise Farr South Africa, Rosa Martinez South America and Mark Worrell UK.  Barry liked things the way they use to be. Stop the presses Barry Grams were back. So was Barry's Ask Barry Q&A column. Plus a look at the people who worked with Barry. Band members, songwriting partners and others that Barry has work with. Barry decided he was going to be the executive editor of the Barry Grams. Barry wanted to take a more active roll in his fan club. Which he was going to do.

Barry Manilow International Fan Club

The Barry Manilow International Fan Club or BMIFC as it is also called. Ablove is the new 2020 membership logo. This is what the 2020 membership pin and window cling would  look like. The fan club had a new director named Kathy Thacker. Kirsten Kief who was ran The Manilow Music Fund For Kids took over her dad's company Stiletto Entertainment. Vikki Thomas who was the director of the BMIFC was now the head of The Manilow Music Fund For Kids. Barry's fan club needed a new director. Barry picked Kathy Thacker to take over as the new director of the BMIFC. Barry knew Kathy would do a super job as the clubs new director. The fan club had been in existence for forty-two years since nineteen seventy-eight. The BMIFC as everyone called was still going strong. There were now two hundred thousand members in the BMIFC. The rest of the fan club staff consisted of   Lu Ann Heiner Drebot  editor of the online Barry Grams Michele Ray Thomson  membership coordinator  Michele took care of renewing fans memberships and seeing to it they got their membership kits. , Ronda Rice Breman, Donna Ross Borden, Kathy Faith contributors to the online Barry Grams.. Plus Barry Manilow was contributing to the online Barry Grams with his Ask Barry? column. According to Kathy Thacker the publisher and Lu Ann Heiner Drebot the editor the online Barry Grams would come out four times a year in March, June September and December.  Kathy Sheridan and Pamela Height were the BMIFC convention coordinators. Kathy Sheridan, Pamela Height, Kathy Thacker and Barry Manilow were coordinating the BMIFC's Big Fun In New York City Convention in New York City. The convention would go from Tuesday November fifth through Saturday November tenth. The convention goers would get to see Barry Manilow's musicals while they were in New York City.  Wow Barry had three musicals on Broadway at one time. They were Harmony which was still at the St. James theatre, Copacabana which was back on Broadway at the August Wilson theatre and Here At The Mayflower which was in previews at the Gershwin theatre.  Here At The Mayflower was opening on Sunday November tenth two thousand and nineteen.    Harmony and Here At The Mayflower would be night shows . With Harmony on Tuesday and Here At The Mayflower on Friday. Copacabana would be a Wednesday afternoon matinee.  Kathy Thacker, Kathy Sheridan and Pamela Height were going to limit the number of convention goers to one thousand BMIFC members. All Club 99 members who went were getting a surprise. Thanks to Barry their surprise was a ticket to opening night of Here At The Mayflower plus an invitation to the cast party.

Do You Know Who's Living Next Door?

Do You Know Who's Living Next Door? Here At The Mayflower. Here At The Mayflower was a two thousand and one album that Barry Manilow recoreded. Fans kept saying it should be turned into a musical. Well finally Barry caved in and Here At The Mayflower was now becoming a musical on Broadway. Opening night for Here At The Mayflower is Sunday November 3, 2019. The songs were written by Barry Manilow music and Adrienne Anderson, Enoch Anderson, Jack Feldman, Marty Panzer and Bruce Sussman lyrics. With book by Enoch Anderson and Marty Panzer. Cast members are Diane Degarmo Diane Par receptionist 3B, Ace Young Kenneth Stone auto mechanic  5N,  Joe  the old man Joseph Bologna, Joe's wife Esther 6C Lorna Luft , Freddie the Mayflower elevator operator Tony Yazbeck, Jerry and Susan Wright Wall Street trader and kindergarten teacher 3E
Eric Lindell and Karri Smith, WPLJ  DJ Rick Shelbourn 2H, Kevin Meyers, Andy Herbert pizza delivery guy 2G, Ben Silverman Julliard professor 4G, Ted and Carol Herman  owner Herman's
Dry Cleaners and cashier 4J,  Jeff Davis Lauren Bailey, Gordon Sumner  NYU collage student 5F
Stephen Anderson and Shadow Man recording artist Barry Manilow1A Barry Manilow. Yes Barry was going to act on Broadway in his own musical. After he wrote Here At The Mayflower fans thought the Shadow Man was about him. Which it wasn't because Barry Manilow wasn't the Shadow Man. So now Barry's Night Songs album and Borgata shows were being pushed back to February 2021. Barry knew when his fans found out his album and shows were being pushed back they would be pissed To do some damage control Barry went on Rachel Ray's talk show to tell everyone about being on Broadway in the musical Here At The Mayflower. He told Rachel he'd be her co-host for co-host Monday. Barry was even going one step further by doing the "What's For Dinner" segment. Barry was going to make Rachel his drunkin' spaghetti . Barry was substituting bucatini for the spaghetti. He was using trebbanio white wine. Pecorino Romano chesse instead of the usual parmigano reggiano.  Barry decided to add mushrooms to the dish. Along side that he was doing an arugula salad with walnuts, shaved parmigano reggiano and a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette.  Barry  found out Rachel's other guest was Food Network chef Gida de Laurentiis. Oh brother now what did he get himself into. Cooking for a Sicilian/Cajun and a full blooded Italian holy mackerel. But Barry promised Rachel Ray he'd do her "What's For Dinner" segment. Barry decided to wear jeans, tee shirt and a chef's jacket that had his name on it. The chef's jacket with his name on was something he got from Garry Kief as a gag gift for his birthday one year.

First Single Autumn In New York

Barry was going to give his fans an early Christmas present with a single from the Night Songs album. However he decided instead to surprise them by making the Cd single a part of their membership kit. They would still get their membership card, pin and welcome to the club card. He  told the fan club he wasn't going to tell them about this. That way it would be a complete surprise when they got their kit.