Barry and Etc.
shado...@gmail.com
Michael
Jackson blog entry is one on Barry. Robin interviewed Barry for his
blog.
www.vegasdeluxe.com/blog/luxe-life/ Then over at nut house alias the
Barry Net Roxy mentioned that Barry and his band are coming on
Saturday
night after the show. JMHO That's the last thing those fans deserve.
Is to
MAYBE just maybe get to hear some new stuff. Like the convention goers
did 1987 at the Washington DC convention when the fans who were there
got to hear song off of Jump Street changed to Swing Street.
Linda
Brenda
wrote:
> Here's the link to Robin Leach's Luxe Life Blog. Underneath the
> Michael
> Jackson blog entry is one on Barry. Robin interviewed Barry for his
> Barry Net Roxy mentioned that Barry and his band are coming on
> Saturday
> night after the show. JMHO That's the last thing those fans deserve.
> Is to
> MAYBE just maybe get to hear some new stuff. Like the convention goers
> did 1987 at the Washington DC convention when the fans who were there
> got to hear song off of Jump Street changed to Swing Street.
> Linda
Well, I certainly hope they DO get to hear some new stuff!
For what they're paying to be there, they deserve anything and
everything Barry is willing to dish out, right?
P.S. I was at the convention in '87 ... last convention I ever
attended. The "Jump Street" stuff was fantastic ... and oh, what a
weekend of scandal that was! That one had it all!
Brenda
janicema...@gmail.com
> On May 20, 9:20 pm, "shadowma...@gmail.com" <shadowma...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Here's the link to Robin Leach's Luxe Life Blog. Underneath the
> > Michael
> > Jackson blog entry is one on Barry. Robin interviewed Barry for his
> > Barry Net Roxy mentioned that Barry and his band are coming on
> > Saturday
> > night after the show. JMHO That's the last thing those fans deserve.
> > Is to
> > MAYBE just maybe get to hear some new stuff. Like the convention goers
> > did 1987 at the Washington DC convention when the fans who were there
> > got to hear song off of Jump Street changed to Swing Street.
> > Linda
>
> Well, I certainly hope they DO get to hear some new stuff!
>
> For what they're paying to be there, they deserve anything and
> everything Barry is willing to dish out, right?
>
> P.S. I was at the convention in '87 ... last convention I ever
> attended. The "Jump Street" stuff was fantastic ... and oh, what a
> weekend of scandal that was! That one had it all!
>
> Brenda
OK Brenda, you hooked me. I was not around the Manilow world in '87.
Can you fill me in on the "weekend of scandal". What do you mean by
"that one had it all"?
Janice
Brenda
>
> OK Brenda, you hooked me. I was not around the Manilow world in '87.
> Can you fill me in on the "weekend of scandal". What do you mean by
> "that one had it all"?
> Janice-
Well, I haven't had my coffee yet, so let me see what I can
remember ... and maybe our resident historian (Scooter!) can find the
article that ran in the D.C. paper about this.
The D.C. convention (the BMIFC's third convention) was highly
anticipated by fans because, at the second convention in Toronto,
Barry made an appearance and promised the fans that he would be much
more involved at the BMIFC's next event. He even suggested that his
people construct a dais so that he could watch more of the
activities.
And, you know, Barry never breaks promises so wow ... when enrollment
for that third convention came around ... nearly every fan who could
go did.
No dais.
Hell, the hotel was so new it didn't even have a swimming pool.
BUT .. because the marketing geniuses at Stiletto knew that most of
Barry's fans are mashochists, they implemented their usual sadistic
ploy of promising there would be some kind of super-secret-special-
event (without saying exactly when this was to occur). However, there
was this fancy schmancy dress-up dinner planned for which security was
ridiculously tight. They had recruited fans to work as security
guards, and people were searched going in for the meal ... rather
odd ....hmmmm ... who's coming to dinner? Why are they searching
everyone? By the time everyone was eating their salads, 100% of the
attendees in that room expected Barry to make an appearance.
(Later, one of my friends - who had won a talent competition and was
backstage as part of that evening's entertainment - confirmed that the
Stiletto employees were fully expecting Barry to arrive at some point
that evening, and had been bustling about making preparations for his
grand entrance.)
So ... it was just ugly. Everybody could feel that something had
gone wrong because the night petered out and, when the dinner was
over, nobody could quite believe that we were expected to leave.
Barry was SURELY going to jump out from behind the curtain and yell
"Surprise!", right? I mean, we surely hadn't gotten dressed up, had
this snooty dinner (the salad looked like something you would wear
pinned to your chest on prom night), enjoyed a group sing-along of
"I've Been Working On The Railroad" and ... that was it?
Yeah, that was it.
Then the REAL fun started.
Hundreds of disgruntled fans, refusing to go up to their rooms, took
over the lobby, hung up Manilow posters (with circles/slashes drawn
across his face) and bitched and bitched and bitched. Believe it or
not, I wasn't one of them. I was more interested in observing the
pseudo-rioting than playing a role in it, because a lot of these fans
were new to the fanilow world and didn't realize that having that
carrot jerked away at the last second was something all new Stiletto
employees were specificially taught how to do. I remember feeling
disappointed that Barry didn't come, but also thinking, "well, it
figures, I should know better by now." I also thought it was
interesting watching fans mob Garry Kief ... he had made the near-
fatal error of being seen in the lobby and about 20 or so fans swarmed
him, demanding to know what had happened. I wasn't close enough to
hear his responses but I can say he was visibly shaken up by the
surprise press conference.
But so many of the fans were so angry that several packed up in the
middle of the night and left the convention right then and there.
The local paper actually ran a story about the convention and
mentioned the Manilow no-show (along with the raging unhappiness among
many of the attendees). I don't remember much from the article, but I
do remember the author commenting that "Stiletto" was appropriately
named.
Ironically, Barry showed up the following night, introduced us to his
new music from "Jump Street" (later changed to "Swing Street", as has
already been noted) and it was a wonderful little show. But a lot of
the fans in that room were still pretty upset over what had happened
the night before. The mis-management of that weekend lost Barry
quite a few fans. It was pretty sad at the time but now, looking back
on it, I think it was one of my more "colorful" memories.
Anyone else who was there remember anything any differently? It's
been quite a few years since all this happened so I'm sure I'm missing
a few details.
Brenda
Scooter
> On May 20, 11:53�pm, janicemarylou...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> OK Brenda, you hooked me. I was not around the Manilow world in '87.
>> Can you fill me in on the "weekend of scandal". What do you mean by
>> "that one had it all"?
>> Janice-
>
>
> Well, I haven't had my coffee yet, so let me see what I can
> remember ... and maybe our resident historian (Scooter!) can find the
> article that ran in the D.C. paper about this.
Sorry, but I no longer have my massive press archive. I gave it away to a
fan who paid $130 to UPS to have the five big boxes shipped to them, and I
re-acquired a file cabinet. I think I posted that article on my old blog,
of which I kept a full copy (photos and all). I'll try to do a search
later.
[snip of DC fiasco story]
> Ironically, Barry showed up the following night, introduced us to his
> new music from "Jump Street" (later changed to "Swing Street", as has
> already been noted) and it was a wonderful little show. But a lot of
> the fans in that room were still pretty upset over what had happened
> the night before. The mis-management of that weekend lost Barry
> quite a few fans. It was pretty sad at the time but now, looking back
> on it, I think it was one of my more "colorful" memories.
That was when I said I'd never attend another convention unless they said
he'd attend, and they put it in writing. They finally did put it in
writing for the Dec. 1994 Palm Springs convention. The shows in
conjunction with the convention were fabulous. But the afternoon "event"
where Barry did a Q&A...he kept all of us cooling our heels for over an
hour, and blamed it on "traffic." There is no traffic on Sunday afternoon
in Palm Springs. That was the last convention I attended.
> Anyone else who was there remember anything any differently? It's
> been quite a few years since all this happened so I'm sure I'm missing
> a few details.
You got it right. I might add, it was rather amusing to be in the lobby
one morning when a fan handed Mr. Kief the newspaper with the not-so-
flattering-to-Stiletto article. His face slowly turned beet-red from his
neck to the top of his head, and then he bolted to the elevator. The next
day there was a "kinder-gentler" article in the same newspaper. ;^)
--
Scooter
Scooter
> Here's the link to Robin Leach's Luxe Life Blog. Underneath the
> Michael Jackson blog entry is one on Barry. Robin interviewed Barry for
> his blog. www.vegasdeluxe.com/blog/luxe-life/
Try this: http://www.vegasdeluxe.com/
> Then over at nut house
> alias the Barry Net Roxy mentioned that Barry and his band are coming on
> Saturday night after the show. JMHO That's the last thing those fans
> deserve. Is to MAYBE just maybe get to hear some new stuff.
The folks who pay out the wazoo to go to these overpriced conventions deserve
something special for all that money. I just hope they share the story.
BTW, not everyone who goes to the conventionw are nutburger BNetters. There
are sane, normal people. You just don't see them posting over-the-top
comments on a public message board, so they're basically invisible.
--
Scooter
shado...@gmail.com
I had a friend from Arlington VA who went. She remembers Katie being
in a room behind a
table. Some fans went up to the table demanding to know what night
Barry was going to
show up. Katie said nothing to these fans. So the fans went out into
the hallway were they
cornered Garry Kief and asked him the same question. My friend said
some Brittish fans
went home. Then she said Friday night Barry and the band showed up to
debut his second
jazz cd. They're Las Vegas for Christ sake. Las Vegas is not cheep any
more. Conventions
aren't heald outside Las Vegas any more since Barry is a headliner
now.
Linda
Scooter
> ...it was rather amusing to be in the lobby one morning when a fan
> handed Mr. Kief the newspaper with the not-so- flattering-to-Stiletto
> article. His face slowly turned beet-red from his neck to the top of
> his head, and then he bolted to the elevator. The next day there was a
> "kinder-gentler" article in the same newspaper. ;^)
I found the two articles. The first is the one GCK read that morning in
the lobby, and the second is the followup article the next day.
.............
THE WASHINGTON POST
July 31, 1987
Just Wild About Barry
Manilow Mania Comes to Washington
By Marjorie Williams
To spend time at the Grand Hyatt hotel this week has been to recognize
once again that the world is divided into two kinds of people. There are
those who look at Barry Manilow and see a sallow little guy with a big
nose and a bad haircut, and there are those who look at Barry Manilow and
see...Barry.
People in the first category classify Manilow as a sugary pop star --
something like Neil Diamond, only more so; when Barry Manilow croons, "I
write the songs that make the whole world sing," Category One people grind
their teeth and feel tantrums coming on. The women in the second category
-- for they are almost all women, or girls -- speak of Manilow's music as
a genre, an art form unto itself. They know all the lyrics; they have seen
Barry in concert a minimum of 10 times; they know his official birth date
(June 17, 1946) and what they say is his real birth date (three years
earlier), and think the discrepancy is sort of cute. They will have you
know that he is almost six feet tall.
Some 1,200 members of Category Two are in Washington now for the third
major convention of the Barry Manilow International Fan Club (BMIFC),
gathered to share the magic of what they call "Manilove."
These are some of the things that Barry Manilow fans do:
They hold a competitive "country fair," in which they enter memorabilia
collections, photographs of Barry taken at concerts and original
renderings of Barry in almost every conceivable artistic medium: paint,
pastels, pencil, collage, even stained glass. They raise money for charity
through such events as Barry "watch-a-thons," in which a participant gets
friends and family to pledge a certain amount of money for each continuous
hour she watches Barry Manilow videos. They play Barry Manilow trivia
games, including a game based on Jeopardy known as Jepo-Barry. They hold
parties on his birthday. They hold reunions of the lucky women Barry has
plucked from audiences around the world to join him on stage for a song
called Can't Smile Without You.
In the words of Paula Smolenski of Niles, Ill.: "We are loud. We are
crazy. But we are harmless."
BEYOND BARRY
Cathy Voss, 27, is director of the Australian chapter of the BMIFC. She
and Elizabeth Cocking, 33, both from Sydney, spent an estimated $3,500 to
$4,000 each to plan their holidays around the convention, which, after
all, only comes around every other year. They wear T-shirts featuring the
Australian flag, a kangaroo and the legend "Barry Down Under."
Also present are delegations from Japan, Britain, West Germany, the
Netherlands and Canada. The latest country to create its first accredited
international fan club chapter is Paraguay, though no one from Paraguay
made it this year.
But most of the fans are from club chapters in the United States -- from
such chapters as the Mystical Memories of Manilow BMFC of Mobile, Ala.;
the Hoosier Friends of Manilow of Clinton, Ind.; the B Team of Orlando,
Fla.; the Manilow Maniacs of Maryland; the Koala Bears of the Miami Valley
(for reasons that should be obvious, Barry's name has given rise to a
plethora of bear memorabilia and allusion); the Barry Manilow Admirers
Gathered in Cincinnati (that's Barry M-A-G-I-C, an allusion to a song
title).
The first thing most of them mention is friendship: They come to the
convention not to worship Barry, they say, but to meet like-minded folk
who happen to share a hobby.
Says Wilma Anderson of Huntington, W.Va.: "The music is what brings you
together, but the friendships are what keep you together."
Janet Erwin of Charleston, W.Va., nods and agrees: "It's gone beyond
Barry."
Consider the bulletin board in the delegates' lounge. Posted there are
notes to and from pen pals who struck up epistolary friendships through
Barry Manilow fan clubs and now hope to meet. One serves notice of a
"Mandy-tory" meeting of a club called the Bagel Beagles (sic) to finish
plans for the club's display table -- an announcement that only begins to
make sense when you know that Mandy is the title of one of the biggest
early Manilow hits of the '70s, and that Barry has a beagle named Bagel.
Another note says simply, "Japanese girls from the last convention, I have
pictures for you. Leslie." It begins to seem a lot like the first week of
summer camp, when reunions are celebrated among last year's campers, and
brand-new campers are provisionally welcomed.
But these are not "girls," most of them. Mindy Sue Tumarkin, at 24 the
founder and president of the Hot Tonight for Barry Fan Club of Country
Club Hills, Ill., puts herself at the young end of the Barry-fan age
spectrum.
Carolyn Kalmus of Pompano Beach, Fla., is 45. She joined a fan club when
she turned 40 and realized that it would be "much more fun than a mid-life
crisis."
Kalmus was presiding Wednesday over the display table of the newly formed
club Manilove of South Florida, and distributing a sheet of cutout Manilow
silhouettes with tabs that fold in to form a base (in order to achieve
ballast, Barry lost his legs below the kneecap), Kalmus calls them
"big-girl paper dolls."
LOVE THAT BARRY
For every fan who says that Barry is simply a shared enthusiasm -- it
could as well be fly fishing, or building ships in bottles -- there is a
fan who utters the word "love."
Paula Smolenski is one of those. At 25, Smolenski has a seven-volume Barry
scrapbook. She has been to all three of the BMIFC conventions. Talking
about Barry, over a matter of minutes her emotions run a visible gamut
from mirth to passion to sadness -- the last of these, when she describes
her fiance's death in an accident two years ago. Barry Manilow's music,
she says tearfully, is what got her through. "He was my psychiatrist for
those two months," she says.
The more his fans describe what it is like to listen to Manilow's music,
the more they describe the feeling that he is listening to them: Barry
knows what you're feeling, Barry has been through it himself, Barry can
tell you why you're blue. Says Hazel Bell, 31, of Texarkana, Tex., "It's
musical acknowledgment. People die to get acknowledged, and he does
that."
Another thing -- perhaps best expressed by one of the few males at the
convention who came under his own steam, rather than under duress from his
wife -- is Barry's ordinariness:
Barry is "somebody who's up there," says Craig Miller, a 22-year-old audit
clerk from Arcadia, Calif. "Who's far enough away to be an idol, and close
enough to be a friend." [Note: See note at the end of this article.]
The women, too, suggest that the Brooklyn-born Manilow is just enough of a
schlub to stand as some sort of bridge between their real world and his
achieved world of glamor and stardom and money. Carolyn McCollough of
Sturgeon Bay, Wis., describes Manilow as "the average woman's man."
Smolenski expresses openly, if unknowingly, the larger paradox inherent in
any gathering of fans. The convention, she says at one point, is "a chance
to talk all about Barry and meet each other." But she also says what the
swooning-est fans and the knowing-est critics have always said about the
most magnetic male performers: "He makes you feel that he's only singing
to you."
"I've known several girls who don't date because they think Barry is their
one and only," says Trish Juechter of the Maryland Maniacs. Most of the
fans say they know of such cases; none admits to being such a case.
Tumarkin, a 24-year-old computer programmer and graduate student, shrugs
and says, "Oh, yeah, everyone teases, 'I'm going to marry Barry.' And I'm
as guilty as the rest."
But it is only teasing, she stresses. "Our club treasurer is very happily
married... Her husband just has to understand that Barry holds a special
place in her heart."
BARRY RULES
Twelve hundred is not a huge number of people by the standard of
Washington conventioneering, and Barry Manilow fans would not appear to
pose a terribly challenging exercise in crowd control.
But there is something rigid about this convention, down to the rule that
no "delegate" will be admitted to any event unless she is wearing her
regulation plastic bracelet, modeled after the ones that demoralize
hospital patients the world over. It is as if the convention organizers
shared the common misapprehension that all Manilow fans are teen-agers.
It is hard to tell just who the convention organizers are. There is BMIFC
central committee (as it were) in Los Angeles, which accredits the smaller
clubs around the world; it is run by an entertainment management company
called Stiletto, whose employees at the convention appear to borrow their
manner from the company's name. Questions about the costs of the
convention are not appreciated (though the fans themselves will cheerfully
tell you they paid $165 each for registration, before hotel, meal and
travel costs). Nor are questions about how many members the club has, or
what the club does, or what Stiletto is, or even how many people have
registered.
After all, they will finally tell you, this is a convention "by the fans,
for the fans." One of them intones that "it just sort of happens by
itself." (And because the character who has the official lock on
memorabilia sales -- the avuncular "Madman Mickey" Morgan -- isn't giving
any interviews, there is no telling what kind of profit just sort of
happens into whose coffers.)
Organizers had planned plenty of summer-campy activity for the early part
of the week, including a costume party and lip-syncing competition -- an
event that made surprisingly little reference to Manilow. The costume
theme was "the '40s, '50s and '60s," and strict taboos forbade the
lip-syncing of Barry songs. Instead, groups of fans performed inventive
renditions of such oldies and goodies as Sandman and Working in the Coal
Mine.
But this is all done in the name of killing time. The main events are a
banquet, which took place last night, and a mysterious "Special Event,"
scheduled for this evening. In the past, these two events have been the
locus for the favorite fan club mind game:
Will Barry come?
In the past, Barry has come. Asked whether Barry is coming this year,
employees of Stiletto slightly adjust their faces in the direction of a
smile and answer, "You know as much as we do."
As for the fans, some admit that they would be bitterly disappointed if
Barry failed to come, when they have traveled so far, spent to much,
yearned so long. After all, Barry hasn't toured since 1985.
Most respond with the motherly calm they muster for all questions that go
to the thorny issue of reciprocity in a relationship such as theirs with
Barry. Of course they would understand if he couldn't come, they say;
Barry is a very busy man.
But the sharper ones don't believe for an instant that there's anything to
worry about. "He wouldn't let this many fans down," says Mindy Sue
Tumarkin.
"These are all the people who buy five copies of his records. These are
all the people that could probably claim him as a dependent on their
income tax."
[NOTE: Those of you who've read the alt.fan.barry-manilow newsgroup for
any length of time will remember Craig Miller. He posted there for several
years. Sadly he passed away suddenly in May 2007. A photo of Craig at the
convention ran with this article.]
~~~~~~~~~~
THE WASHINGTON POST
August 1, 1987
He Rights the Wrongs
Manilow Shows Up at Convention, Placating Fans
By Marjorie Williams
When you write the songs that make the whole world sing, your lapses tend
to get people a little riled up.
Barry Manilow's fans say that he looked nervous last night when he took
the stage at the Grand Hyatt hotel ballroom to entertain the roughly 1,200
people who had come to a convention in his name. Only the previous night,
some of these fans had been screaming for blood.
Or worse. "Join Phil Collins' Fan Club Today," said signs on a few
delegates' hotel room doors; other doors sported pictures of Manilow with
a slash mark across the face.
Fans who had come from as far as Chicago, California, even Australia, were
bitterly disappointed Thursday night when "Barry," as they call their beau
ideal, failed to show at the banquet of the third Barry Manilow
International Fan Club Convention. While no promises are ever made, in
earlier years he came to the banquet one night to answer questions, and
the next night held a concert; his absence on Thursday night raised the
awful possibility that the "special event" scheduled for last night would
feature (as advertised) only the music of Barry's back-up band, Uncle
Festive.
[Note from me: Everyone was "dressed to the nines" for the banquet, and
security was massive. And there was a wonderful lady from the UK sitting
at our table. (She's since passed away.) She had saved and saved to come
to the convention. And when Mark Rizzo of Stiletto stepped to the
microphone and said, "Thanks, goodnight," and shock ran through the room
when people realized Barry wasn't going to appear at the banquet, this
lady just sat and cried. She said, "Surely all that security can't be for
the man who made the UNICEF speech. I've come all this way. What if he
doesn't come tomorrow night?" It was truly a crushing disappointment to
many, since there was absolutely no promise Barry would ever be there,
although he had set the precedent at the first two conventions. It was
very surreal as rumors ran wild about why he wasn't at the banquet - I
heard everything from he was busy in the studio in NYC with Gerry Mulligan
working on the new album, to he'd been in a car accident, to (I am not
making this up) he had died. A simple statement that he'd be at the
"Special Event" the next night would have helped a very emotional
situation. Sadly, they never have understood the fan dynamic.]
But Manilow strolled onto the stage sure enough, swinging into (and no
doubt sending his fans into) something called Sweet Heaven. Press coverage
was strictly forbidden by the management company that handles the
activities of Manilow's fan club. But fans who were present say that for
close to two hours he alternated songs with conversation and an occasional
sporting kiss.
"In my heart and in my gut, I never had a doubt" that Barry would appear
last night, said Robin McNeely, who runs a Maryland fan club chapter
called Dreams. McNeely sounded something like a political pro as she
worked to minimize what a press secretary would call Thursday's gaffe:
"I want us all to leave here with the feeling that the majority of us, who
have been with him since the beginning, never doubted him for a second. I
hope the anger and the frustration felt last night by a minority of fans
were dissipated by tonight," she said.
Sitting in the lobby with sated smiles, Paulette Stannard and Sue Vardilos
of Westerly, R.I., expressed a simpler joy. The concert showed that "he
cares very deeply for his fans," said Stannard.
"You could feel the love," said Vardilos.
The fans were, in fact, bursting with good news: Barry will tour this
fall. Barry's forthcoming autobiography, Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way
to Paradise, will answer the personal questions they long to ask. Best of
all, the fall tour will coincide with a new Barry album called Jump
Street.
[Note from me: At that time Jump Street was the working title for the
Swing Street album and song. I always wondered if the name was changed
because at that time there was a hugely successful TV show called 21 Jump
Street, starring a young guy named Johnny Depp. Maybe Barry or Clive
didn't want any confusion between the two? I guess we'll never know.]
Most of the songs Manilow sang last night, fans said, were numbers form
the new album. Not only was it "the most intimate concert he's ever
given," in McNeely's words; Barry also flattered his fans by asking for
feedback as he went along. Said feedback consisted, invariably, of howling
approval.
"Of course," Manilow is said to have observed, "I have a feeling you're an
easy crowd."
...............
--
Scooter
jacki...@gmail.com
> "Of course," Manilow is said to have observed, "I have a feeling you're an
> easy crowd."
LOL! :-) You know, despite the circus and drama of "will he show,
will he not?" - it would have been fun to take in a convention in my
younger, single days. Sounds like DC was a doozy. Back then, I just
didn't know any locals and wasn't involved in an organized fan club,
but most likely would have been involved in one if there was one. I
was a very easy Manilow fan back then.
Now? For $1,500 to meet him or attend a Vegas convention? He'd have
to help me paint my house or do some serious heavy lifting of
furniture -- or give an assist from his 6 foot tall height to get
those high up windows outside. Barry, honey, the cash cow done dried
up!!! :-)
Fandom wise, all I'd really like to to be able to buy a CD or music
off iTunes that is swing or instrumental or a Mayflower-esc II.
I do hope those that are going to the convention are really rewarded
and treated special. I hope that in this economical climate - TPTB
listen and realize that these people going should be treasured and
appreciated and enough with the mind games and stringing folks along.
I'd hope Barry would shake hands with each and all 200 some folks that
go, and smile and look each on in the eyes.
Jackie
wac...@aol.com
> Jackie
I'm with you Jackie, but as we both know, there are more than enough
fans who validate Barry by saying "Barry doesn't owe us anything".
By the way I had to laugh about how Garry reacted to that news article
and how the newspaper printed a kinder story the following day. That
man certainly does believe in the power of intimidation.
Susan
Scooter
> By the way I had to laugh about how Garry reacted to that news article
> and how the newspaper printed a kinder story the following day. That
> man certainly does believe in the power of intimidation.
People would be utterly amazed...
--
Scooter
shado...@gmail.com
Jackie
What I wish would happen is those going would act like adults instead
of drooling
"Oh My God" teeeny boppers. Like that's ever going to happen I don't
think so.
That is why I don't think they deserve to hear any Mayflower song or
anything
new. My last convention was Chicago 2001. I ended up sitting with five
other
fans three decent fans and two looney fans. To me JMHO thqat was the
start
of the drooling and lusting. We had one fan who decided to come from
the back
to go to the front to get close to Barry luckly she didn't. Someone
stopped her.
The highlight of the convention was watching Barry listening with us
to "Do You
Know Who's Living Next Door?" from HATM. The look on Barry face as he
listened. He was jamin' along with the rest of us.
Linda
jacki...@gmail.com
wrote:
> What I wish would happen is those going would act like adults instead
> of drooling
> "Oh My God" teeeny boppers. Like that's ever going to happen I don't
> think so.
Preaching to the choir there. Put another way, a fellow in his 60's
doing the hip thrusts or crotch grabs and 40 to 70 year olds reduced
to preteen hormonal behavior is a bit silly no matter who, no matter
why.
Jackie
Brenda
>
> By the way I had to laugh about how Garry reacted to that news article
> and how the newspaper printed a kinder story the following day. That
> man certainly does believe in the power of intimidation.
>
And yet he is capable of being very kind.
I don't get it.
Brenda
Brenda
>
> Preaching to the choir there. Put another way, a fellow in his 60's
> doing the hip thrusts or crotch grabs and 40 to 70 year olds reduced
> to preteen hormonal behavior is a bit silly no matter who, no matter
> why.
>
> Jackie
Which is why God invented really good drugs.
:-)
(For us AND for him!)
Brenda
Brenda
> to help me paint my house or do some serious heavy lifting of
> furniture -- or give an assist from his 6 foot tall height to get
> those high up windows outside. Barry, honey, the cash cow done dried
> up!!! :-)
>
I would pay $1,500 to watch Barry try to paint ANYBODY'S house.
I would pay $500 to watch him paint a fence.
I'd pay $50 for a photo of Barry actually standing inside a Home
Depot.
Holding a buzz saw.
Wearing a hockey mask.
Oh no, wait ... that was the nightmare I had last night .... (never
mind!)
Brenda
(a bit silly after plowing the back forty after work tonight!)
Brenda
>
> Barry is "somebody who's up there," says Craig Miller, a 22-year-old audit
> clerk from Arcadia, Calif. "Who's far enough away to be an idol, and close
> enough to be a friend." [Note: See note at the end of this article
Damn ...
I forgot Craig was mentioned in this article.
I sure do miss him. :-(
Brenda
Brenda
Reading that article again (thanks, Scooter!), I saw the attendance
for that D.C. convention mentioned as being somewhere around 1,200
fans. And this was at a time when it had been several years since
Barry had seen an album reach the top five - much less #1 - on
Billboard.
Yet he still had this amazing fan base.
Now ... they've got 200+ people coming to conventions .. and Barry has
recently had 3 CDs debut in the top ten - and one came in at #1!
Technically speaking, he's had more commercial success in the last few
years than he had back in the late 80s.
Isn't it a bit odd? I mean, logically - shouldn't it be the other way
around?
Just thinking out loud here waiting for my meds to kick in ...
Brenda
mar...@gmail.com
Thanks for posting these two articles Scooter- a wonderful trip
down memory lane- although obviously a very frustrating time for those
at the convention that did not stay for the second night.
I was very impressed with the details and sources quoted from the
writer, who made readers feel that you were at the convention with all
the people- and her very fair description of the multitude of Manilow
fans from all around the world. Marvin
.
summe...@graffiti.net
> at our table. (She's since passed away.) She had saved and saved to come
> to the convention. And when Mark Rizzo of Stiletto stepped to the
> microphone and said, "Thanks, goodnight," and shock ran through the room
> when people realized Barry wasn't going to appear at the banquet, this
> lady just sat and cried. She said, "Surely all that security can't be for
> the man who made the UNICEF speech. I've come all this way. What if he
> doesn't come tomorrow night?"
This is very sad to read, even 22 years later. I don't think
Management realizes the impact of their decisions. Sure, nothing was
promised, but for years they've had this "coming soon" and "big
surprise" mentality, not realizing that assumptions will be made.
(And while I was writing this, the Manilow TV The Internet Television
Subscription Service hotline e-mail showed up in my Inbox. With it's
"coming soon" teaser and the happy little phrase "Can you download
them and bootleg copies…..not unless you want to be shot at sunrise.",
it just gives me the warm fuzzies.)
So78
jacki...@gmail.com
statement:
"What you are about to read is not real. It is a parody and lame
attempt at humor. The author does not think that Camp Manilow would
resort to violent acts, even though they tease and infer that they
aren't above violent acts against bootleggers on their official
site." Whew. I feel covered now! ;-)
It brings this masterpiece by Goya to mind.
http://www.artmuseums.com/thirdofmay.jpg
Imagine that appearing in blogs, wikis, and endangered newspapers with
headline:
Downloader Done At Dawn
Yesterday was the last day Ferd Ferdinand lived to see. The Manilow
Police tracked his online activity downloading old Barry Manilow
videos off of the official site of the artist. Before Mr. Ferdinand
could upload to YouTube or share on his MySpace account, there was a
rap on the door. Handcuffed and carted to an undisclosed location,
Mr. Ferdinand came to realize that one doesn't mess with the BMIFC or
Barry Manilow.
"You can't say he wasn't warned." mutters an unidentified source
answering phones in Manilow headquarters. "While he doesn't show up
as ever being a card carrying member of the BMIFC, we're certain he'd
make huge amounts of money off of the mini Flash video. Manilow
videos are really hot on the underground market. We might have lost,
uh.... well, I'm not sure how much .... but bootlegging is a big no-
no."
Fans willing to talk, mostly expressed concern that the videos would
be pulled. "All we wanted to do was watch vintage Manilow online."
many lamented. Others were concerned that the videos would be yanked,
due to the actions of someone completely outside the fandom circle.
One fan on a Google group expressed concern over the severity of the
punishment and concern for surviving members of Ferdinand's family.
They were one-starred.
Jackie
Brenda
>
> It brings this masterpiece by Goya to mind.
>
> http://www.artmuseums.com/thirdofmay.jpg
>
That isn't a Goya painting.
That's the cover art for the next Barrygram.
Brenda
Scooter
Scooter
His late-in-life commercial success with cover albums and a long Vegas run
obviously doesn't necessarily translate into making fans want to spend big
bucks for conventions. So many fans have been there/done that, many times
with him not showing up at all. And the prospect of him doing a special show
or event (revealed very late) just isn't enough to make more than a handful
show up. I was honestly shocked that they (a) posted the names of those
attending (many people don't want their full names plastered on the WWW
without their permission), and (b) revealed the number attending (very out of
character for the organization).
--
Scooter
Scooter
jacki...@gmail.com
Perhaps it is:
Don't take anything personal, it's all business.
Haven't met the fellow, just the one e-mail following the NBC
discussion.
Jackie
jacki...@gmail.com
LOL!
jacki...@gmail.com
sections on Colbert Report to Aluminum, I pondered what a cheaper
version of Manilow Meeting the Masses would look like if one paid less
than the $1,500. Haven't been able to create graphics for it yet ...
but people can be invited to create a page and create their own
aluminum package story.
Couple Rules:
1. Keep it G/PG13 rated. Any racier Aluminum Package entries, start
your own Wiki! Any page deemed inappropriate will be deleted.
2. Settings are that only invited wiki users can post pages or create
discussions If you'd like a permission to join the wiki, e-mail me.
and look for an invite to join.
3. Exhibit good digital citizenship! Please don't violate copyright
- and though I've introduced this as parody, you are responsible for
what you post. Be respectful of what people have posted and remember,
this was created in good fun. When you create your entry, create and
name your page.
Wikis are very easy to use. There's lots of tutorials out there on
Wikispaces, YouTube, TeacherTube, etc. The fun thing is that they are
interactive. Next to your page you can initiate banter and
discussion. You can set your page so that no one could edit it, which
I would advise.
http://aluminumpackage.wikispaces.com/
Jackie