Google + Message.

Hi Everyone
In the latest Ask Barry? column Fanilow1977 said in her question that  she knew I liked Yamaha pianos. What she wanted to know was what kind of Yamaha pianos did I use.  Decided to show you the kind of pianos I own. I put them all together you now you'll get to see them. Top left Yamaha Montage 8 Synthesizers and I have two. I use one in my at home recording studio. The other I play when I'm in concert. Top right Yamaha Trans Acoustic GC1TA. This piano is both acoustic and digital. I use one in my at home recording studio. The other one I play when I'm in concert. Bottom left Yamaha Avant Grand N3X. I have one of these that is kept in my office at Stiletto Entertainment East in Manhattan. Bottom right Sauter Fligle Ambiente. I have one of these which I decided to use instead of my Yamaha Trans Acoustical GC1TA piano. This piano is classy and also slightly edgy. The edgy part comes from the metal  that goes from the bottom of the main part of the piano to the foot peddles. Also the piano bench legs are metal too. I did a Google web search for piano dealers who sold Sauter brand pianos. I found B. Natural Pianos & Music School in Rockaway New Jersey. So I took a day off from being in my at home recording studio and went out there. Once I got there they had a  Sauter  Ambiente 230 piano in their showroom. The store clerk who waited on me let me test it. I chose to play Chopin's Prelude in C Minor and then went into Could It Be Magic.  Chopin's Prelude In C Minor and Could It Be Magic sounded so gorgeous on the Sauter  Ambiente piano. The store clerk let me tape me playing Chopin's Prelude In C Minor and Could It Be Magic. Once I got home I invited Billy, Bruce, Jack, Joey and Ron over to my house. One the guys all got here I played what I recorded on my cellphone. The guys loved what they heard. I then showed them a photo on my cellphone of the Sauter Ambiente. All the guys thought it looked classy and slightly edgy. Told them I couldn't help my self so I purchased one for myself. It will be in three weeks from now. After it get here you can come over a try it for yourselves.They called me three weeks later to tell me it had come into their warehouse. I rented a U-hall and took Bruce and Jack with me to pick it up. We took it to my storage warehouse where I keep my concert stuff. I had called Billy, Joey, Ron and told them to meet us there. One we all got there I let Bruce, Jack, Billy, Joey and Ron play something on it. The guys said they loved the way the Sauter Ambiente played. I told the guys Sauter pianos come in both grand and upright pianos. Guess who bought one for themselves both Bruce and Joey got one for themselves. Bruce got one just like mine the Ambiente 230 in black. Joey got the Omega 220 Omega Plus in black. Remember I'm always up for a question or two. Nothing is off limits except what I do in the bedroom.
Take Care Everyone,
Barry

Ask Barry? Column

Hi Gang. It's me Barry coming at you with another Ask Barry? column. So here we go with some more fans questions.
Kay Gardner asks Barry what color is your current Range Rover?
Barry I don't have a Range Rover anymore. I got to thinking Why? was I shelling out over $100,000+ for one of those. Also I've had two lemon Range Rovers in a row. It wasn't worth all that money to get another one. I sold my last Range Rover for parts. I now own an Audi Q5 premium plus prestige SUV. The exterior is Manhattan Grey Metallic. The interior is black fine Napa leather with a rock grey contrast diamond stitching. My vanity plate reads WMBG 43. WMBG is the abbreviation of Williamsburg the neighborhood in Brooklyn where I lived for 20 years. 43 is the last two digits of my birth year which is 1943. Thanks for asking.

Deb McCormick asks How many dogs do you have? Also what bread are they?
Barry I have two Labrador Retrievers. A yellow female named Maggie age 7 years old. A black Labrador Retriever male named Max age 5 years old.. Carly has a red fox Labrador Retriever puppy age 8 months old named Aji Rojo. He is called Aji for short. Red fox Labrador Retriever's are still in the yellow Labrador Retriever family. Aji Rojo is a type of pepper. So that's how Carly's puppy got his name. Thanks for asking.

Linda Sexton asks Barry do you have a sweet tooth? If you do what are your favorite sweets?
Barry yes I do have a sweet tooth. What are my favorite sweets? Ice cream and cookies. As for ice cream I like Ben and Jerry's brand. My favorite Ben and Jerry's flavors are Marshmallow Moon, New York Super Fudge Chunk, Phish Food, Sweet Cream & Cookies, S'More and Chunky Monkey. Now cookie wise I like chocolate chip, double chocolate chip. snickerdoodle and sugar. As you can tell I'm a major chocoholic. I also love cheese and plain popcorn. Now I am not a fan of caramel of any kind.  Caramel, caramel apples and caramel popcorn. If your lucky and you can get a pint of Marshmallow Moon do so. Marshmallow Moon is vanilla ice cream with marshmallow and graham cracker swirls and fudge flakes. Have you ever had a marshmallow moon pie? Marshmallow moon pie consists of marshmallow in between two graham crackers covered in dark chocolate. You can also get a moon pie times two. Twice the marshmallow and graham cookies covered in dark chocolate. Now there are other flavors. Like banana and strawberry. I'll stick with the original dark chocolate or the double dark chocolate. You can only get Marshmallow Moon online or in their sweet shops. Thank goodness there is a Ben and Jerry's ice cream sweet shop in Williamsburg.

Fanilow1977 asks Barry I know you play Yamaha brand grand pianos. What model of Yamaha grand piano do you use? Also how many grand pianos do you own?
First off I'm not real crazy about the name Fanilow. That's just me I find it dehumanizing. But if you fans like that then that's your choice to use it. Now on to your question about pianos. I own three Yamaha brand pianos. I have two Trans Acoustic GC1TA. They're 5'9" in length. One stays in my at home recording studio. The other one goes on tour with me. I have one Yamaha Avant Grand N3X. That one stays at my office at Stiletto Entertainment East. As for the other Yamaha brands of pianos
I don't own any of them. Even though  you didn't ask me about Synthesizers. I do have two Yamaha Montage 8 synthesizers. One is in my home studio. Then the  other one goes on tour with me. I've been a loyal Yamaha user since 1978. Prior to that I owned a Steinway. But I got to try a Yamaha back then and it felt good. Recently I got to play a Sauter  Ambiente piano. The Sauter Ambiente was created by Peter Maly. It has a classic but slightly funky design.  So guess who bought one? Me Me Me. Thanks Fanilow177 for your question.
Until the next Ask Barry? column. Take care everyone.
Love you all,
Barry

Back On The Road Again.

Barry was back on the road again This time he was doing some concerts to benefit people affected by
hurricanes Irma and Note. So he was going down the east coast from North Carolina to Florida. Then from the Florida panhandle to Louisiana. Barry and company were in Columbia South Carolina for Monday nights concert in Columbia. From there it was onward to Atlanta, Pensacola, Birmingham, Tupelo and New Orleans. Back home again for the Because It's Christmas benefit concert on Sunday December 10th at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn. Barry invited his friend Cyndi Lauper to join him. He had called Joni Mitchell's manager to see if she was well enough to join him too. Her manager got back to Barry and said she would be there with jingle bells on. So Barry worked out two duets. He and Cyndi would duet on Baby It's Cold Outside. Then he and Joni would duet on her song River. Barry did get a phone call from Marc. Marc was in the middle of doing some damage control along with Barry's manager David Taylor Marc Hulett was now the head of Stiletto Entertainment East. Kirsten Kief who had taken over Stiletto Entertainment after her dad Garry decided to retire. Made the decision to add Stiletto Entertainment office in New York since they had a lot of clients who lived on the east coast including Barry. So Marc went from being Barry's personal assistant to his manager to the head of Stiletto Entertainment East. Marc and David were getting very  tired of the gay issue constantly being brought up by Suzie and Scott. Suzie was the one who gave The National Enquirer the false information on Barry being gay. She also went on Andy Cohen's Bravo talk show to confirm that Barry was gay. That was something Barry didn't need to deal with at that time. Because at that
time he and his fiancé Carly were in the middle of their wedding planning.  How macho did Barry have to be before Suzie would believe that Barry was straight.  Barry always reminded his fans of a true gentleman. The kind of guy their mothers would love. Barry was also a very sexy guy. His fans kept wishing People Magazine would put Barry on the cover of their "Sexiest Man Alive" issue. They also wished Barry would be on the cover of G.Q.'s The Men Of The Year issue. Why? Because with Barry's fashion style, good looks, personality and total sexiness Barry was the complete package.  He  was the kind of guy women loved to stare at. Six foot tall one hundred and sixty-five pounds, light brown hair and baby blue eyes. Barry was  total eye candy in every female fans book. Yes fans did catch Barry's legs in shorts. Cycling, running, denim, cargo and cut-off were the short styles that he wore. Barry liked to bicycle, hike, mountain biking and running as his favorite healthy activities.  So at seventy-four Barry still had loads of energy to burn. Unlike Brian Murphy who had zero energy to burn. No wonder Brian had decided to slow down at seventy-one.  Being under weight didn't help either. Barry would have run in todays New York City marathon. Barry had run in the New York City marathon in the past. As well as the Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston marathons. Back in 2010
Barry came in third place in the New York City marathon.  Last summer while on tour Barry did his usual every other day bicycling and running. Last year when Barry went on tour he brought his Cylo Urban bicycle so he go bicycling. Barry loved to stay active. That's what kept him physical fit. Now tonight was the Columbia South Carolina concert. Barry had tweaked his concert a bit. He decided to start out the show with It's A Miracle which was Brian Murphy signature opening song. Barry took the version that he gave Brian and tweaked that slightly. Barry had been asked why he didn't give out glow sticks at his concerts like Brian Murphy did? Barry said his wife Carly had gone with some of her friends to see Brian Murphy at the Prudential Center in Newark NJ. As always glow sticks were handed out in the lobby prior to entering the arena. During Brian's intro number his fans would shake their glow sticks. Someone sitting a little further back shook their glow stick. It flew out of their hand and hit Carly hard on the back of her head. She ended up with a huge bump on the back of her head. That's why I don't pass out or allow glow sticks at my concerts. I don't want anyone getting hurt with one of those things said Barry. Barry did find a great alternative to the glow sticks. Barry noticed that his fans like to put their hands in the air and wave them  from side to side. He got the idea for glow bans that fans could wear around their wrists. That way no one would get hurt by a flying glow stick. While in Columbia South Carolina Barry got a phone call from Carly. Carly wanted to know if Barry got the two photos she sent him to his phone. Photo one was the sign for Charlie's Rescue her animal shelter. Photo two was Carly's new puppy a Red Fox Labrador Retriever. He was nine month old male that Carly named Aji Rojo or Aji for short. Because of his red coat color Carly decided to name him after the Aji Rojo pepper.

Google+ Post 2018 Schedule Revision

Hi Gang It's me Barry once again. There's been a revision in next years 2018 schedule.  Some new things have been added. January Benefit Anti Bulling concert with other artists at O2 London. Book
signing for Williamsburg autobiography in some cities through the UK. . Williamsburg Tour two nights at the O2. June  album and book signing for Williamsburg album and signing for Williamsburg autobiography. Signing albums and books in all the Australian and New Zealand cities I'm doing concerts in.  Last year while I was doing five nights at Red Rocks Amphitheater the Saturday and Sunday night concerts were going to be audio and video taped for a four disc box set containing two CD's and two DVD's. However my sound guy Ken Newman had  emergency gallbladder surgery. So we canceled the tapings. I still want to do the audio and video taping. So next August I'm doing two nights at the Ravinia Festival. That's Tuesday August 28th and Wednesday August 29th. Tickets for those two concerts will go on sale in January. More later on the exact date the tickets will go sale.
 As for 2019 I some ideas for things I want to do. One is a duets album. I can hear the peanut gallery groaning right now. A duets album Barry are you nuts? No I'm not nuts. Right now I'm writing songs with some of my favorite female singer songwriters. Alanis Morrissette, Alicia Keys, Bonnie Raitt, Carol King, Corinne Bailey Rae, Cyndi Lauper, Gwen Stefani, Joni Mitchell, K.D. Lang, Lisa Loeb, Melissa Manchester, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow and Tracy Chapman are the songwriters I'm writing with. I may also do some concerts in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Iceland and Greenland. Now the really big news for 2019 Harmony is being turned into a movie musical. Yes you heard me. Harmony is coming to the big screen in early 2020. Now Bruce
Sussman and me are writing a few more songs for our musical Harmony. So starting in September  2019 Bruce and are headed off to Berlin Germany for the start of  filming. The location shoots for the movie will be Berlin Germany, London England, New York New York and Hollywood California. Bruce and I are over the moon about this. Never did either one of us think that Harmony would ever become a movie musical for the big screen. When I told Garry about this he said "Oscars here comes Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman. Harmony definitely Oscar worthy." We shall see Garry. I'm not holing my breath neither is Bruce. The rest of my partners Adrienne, Enoch, Jack and Marty are so thrilled for me and Bruce. Once Harmony is finished there will be two premier opening nights. One will take place in New York City and the other in Berlin Germany. Bruce and I are inviting The Comedian Harmonists relatives to both premiers. All of them came to New York City when Harmony opened on Broadway back in 2006. They loved our musical. Let me get going. Road trip Hurricane Irma Benefit concerts. See you somewhere down the road in the cities we're performing in.
Love and sloppy wet kisses,
Barry

Google+ Post

Hi Gang it's me Barry with some exiting news. As most of you remember last June during the five nights at Red Rocks Amphitheater. I was going to audio and video tape both Saturday July 8th and Sunday July 9th for a four disc box set. Two CD's and two DVD's. Now my usual audio guy Ken Newman had emergency gallbladder surgery. So I had to cancel the audio and video recording of the Saturday and Sunday shows. Now I still want to record my Williamsburg Tour for a four disc CD and DVD box set. Something I also want to do is to go back to the Ravinia Festival. The last time I was there was 29 years ago in 1990 when I brought my Showstoppers Tour to Chicago for two nights on Tuesday August 28th and Wednesday August 29th. So next year 2019 I'm going back to the Ravinia Festival for two nights Tuesday August 28th and Wednesday August 29th. Tickets for these concerts  will go on sale come Monday October 30th at 10AM eastern time. Both of these two concerts will be audio and video recorded for a four disc box set. Two CD's and two DVD's. Tickets start at $150. Hope to see you fans there.
Barry.

Ask Barry? Column

Hi Gang It's me Barry. Time for another Ask Barry? Q&A session.
Mary Anne Morbly asks What singer, duo or group would you love to record a song with?
Barry Next year I'm doing a concert with a bunch of other recording artists to benefit the anti bulling campaign "Say No To Bulling." The benefit concert will take place on Saturday January 6, 2018 at London's O2 arena. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is going to be on stage performing with all of us artists. A bunch of us recording got to pick other artists we wanted to perform on stage with. Like Sir. Paul McCartney gets to perform with U2 on the Beatle's tune Hey Jude. I'm on stage with Cyndi Lauper and we're doing a duet on her song True Colors. K.T. Tunstall is doing a duet with Tears For Fears on their song Shout. Bruno Mars and Sr. Elton John on Your Song. Also other artists doing duets with their favorite recording artists. At the end of the two hour concert all of us will come out on stage to sing John Lennon's Imagine. I get the honor of playing piano during that song. The entire concert is being recorded live for the album called I Am Somebody. Yes I Am Somebody Not A Nobody and I have feelings too.  Cyndi Lauper and I are one day going to record an album together. We met on my Live By Request Christmas Special years back. We've been friends ever since. I think her pink hair is kind of cool.

Susan Schaefer asks Is there anywhere you haven't performed that you'd like to?
Barry I recently got a letter from a fan named Ineke who lives in Reykjavik Iceland. Ineke asked if I was ever going to come to Reykjavik Iceland? I sent Ineke a personal letter telling her that I was actually looking into performing in Reykjavik Iceland. Also some other Canadian Provinces. Such has Halifax Nova Scotia, Fredericton New Brunswick, Charlottetown Prince Edward Island and St. John New Brunswick. Also Nuuk Greenland and Reykjavik Iceland. I told her that when I did the concerts in these places it would be during the summer of 2019. I sent Ineke an autographed vinyl copy of my latest album Williamsburg. With that I also sent her two tickets to my One Night Only Williamsburg Benefit concert at the Barclay Center on Sunday December 10th. The concert benefits Charlie's Rescue, The Manilow Music Project and The One Voice Foundation. I figured she might want to bring a Barry Buddy with her to see the show.

Patty Lane asks What kind of album can we expect from you in the near future?
Barry I want to do an original duets album. I want to do duets with Alanis Morrissette, Alicia Keys,
Cyndi Lauper, Carol King, Melissa Manchester, Corinne Bailey Rae and Gwen Stefani. All of these ladies are great songwriters. So I love to write a song with each one of them. I have my Putting It Together The Songs of Stephen Sondheim album. I did a duet on Somewhere with Cyndi Lauper. Some reporter asked me why I didn't do the duet with Barbra Streisand. I told him Brian Murphy is friends with her not me. There is also my Only In Chicago album that's half finished. One thing that
I want to do is to play the Ravinia Festival again. Next year 2018 I'm doing two nights at the Ravinia festival. The dates are Tuesday August 28th and Wednesday August 29th. The last time I played at the Ravinia Festival was in 1990 on Tuesday August 28th and Wednesday August 29th 1990. That was 29 years when I brought my Showstoppers Tour to Ravinia. Both nights will be recorded live for the Williamsburg Tour Live four disc box set. Two disc live album and two disc DVD's. This year while I played Red Rocks Amphitheater I wanted to audio and video tape the two weekend shows. Saturday July 8th and Sunday July 9th. However my usual recording engineer Ken Newman had to have emergency gallbladder surgery then. So I had to cancel the recording equipment that was going to be used at Red Rocks Amphitheater to record the those two shows for the four disc Williamsburg Tour Live Album and DVD box set. Thanks to Mary Anne, Susan and Patty for their questions. Keep those questions  coming everyone.
Love,
Barry

1943 British American Gastro Pub

Welcome to 1943 British American gastro pub my new gastro pub in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. 1943 is a British and American gastro pub that serve gastro pub grub. 1943 is located in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Above is what the sign above the front door looks like. Now1943 serves British and American gastro pub grub. Most of the time there are two cooks at 1943 Michael Reilly and Dennis Harmon. Michael is from the UK and he cooks the British gastro pub grub. Dennis is an American cook who makes all the American gastro pub grub. Michael and Dennis
are 1943's regular cooks. We serve British and American ales and micro brews. What we do not serve domestic American beers. Like Budweiser, Coors, Michelob. Samuel Addams and ETC. Brooklyn Lager from Brooklyn Brewery in Brooklyn NY is the only domestic US bear we sell. Once in a while you might find me in the kitchen cooking up some of the gastro pub grub. You can go on line to 1943's website1943britishamerican dote come to se our extensive gastro -pub grub menu. I hope you fans will stop in to 1943 for a bite. 1943 is open seven days a week Sunday through Saturday from 11:00AM to 3:00AM.