FINALLY!!!! A REPORER who GETS IT!!!!

Those of you who know me know I've been a Manilow fan since "Mandy" I wouldn't have that any other way, but it hasn't always been easy, not just for me, but for ANY of us. It definately hasn't always been easy for Barry. He's been the butt of countless jokes and has been criticized byt more critics who haven't given him a chance than an;y one human being should ever have to endure. I use to wonder how he got himself through all the ridicule. How do you pick yourself up and dust yourself off when you're getting bashed from what seems like every direction.

Those of us who hve loved the music and and stuck around all these years "get it" I've made so many friends by this man being the catalyst. We all have one common thread. We're all different in our views. Some of us obcessed by the image to the point it's psychotic, some overwhelmed by fantasy and forgetting reality, and then there are a chosen few who see Barry as two very different people wrapped up in one person. Even though we don't know him personally, some of us able to separate the two. It's that Gemini thing right???? NO it isn't it's just being able to see the hints of reality he gives onstage. He lets his light shine through and those few of us still out here who can distinguish between fantasy and reality can see it and take it for what it's worth. Each one of us connects with Barry on different levels. For some, it's just the music that keeps bringing them back. For others it's all of it. He's an entertainer and that's what he does best. He's been here so long because he's learned his trade. He knows what works and what doesn't. By the time you've gone through a show if you have ANY heart at all, you feel each and every emotion possible because BARRY believes in musical abilities. I've watched him grow from this scared little "shy guy" who didn't know the first thing about what to do on a stage to a grown man who now knows what to do without a thought. He just does what he does, and he knows we'll be here for as long as he is.

You ask what all this is leading up to??? Why do I feel the need to say all this now??? WELL! An article from a Wilkes Barre PA paper came to my inbox today that brought me to it. I've read good reviews in my time, I've read some that were so bad I couldn't finish them, but for some reason THIS ONE stood out amongst any I've read in a very long time. This reporter looked beyone the craziness that might have been in the audience around him and LISTENED to and WATCHED BARRY!!!! As you will see from the article, he appreciates the music!! He respects the entertainer! He just GETS IT!! I found this to be refreshing and it made me smile.

I'm so proud to call myself a MANILOW fan!!! NOT a FANILOW!!! I'll shout it anywhere !!!!

Here's the article.


Manilow-mania takes over Wachovia Arena
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BY ALEXANDER CHOMANCITIZENS’ VOICE MUSIC CRITIC
Published: Friday, February 6, 2009 4:06 AM EST
WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Pop music’s most prolific crooner of the post-Sinatra age returned to town Thursday night and this time proved what happens in Vegas doesn’t always necessarily stay in Vegas.Pop music’s quintessential singer/songwriter Barry Manilow, brought his Las Vegas show, “Ultimate Manilow,” to the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza before an audience of 6,500 people and proved why he still maintains such broad appeal in a concert that featured material from his “Greatest Songs of the 80s” along with a collage of Manilow staples.It was Manilow-mania all over again as the Brooklyn-born performer proved why Northeastern Pennsylvania is one of his “favorite places to play,” offering up many of the songs that have reached gold for him in four different decades. He’s been writing the songs for sure and a whole generation of listeners have been buying them up since “Mandy” first hit the airwaves.The always congenial host wasted little time belting out the favorites as versions of “I’m Coming Back,” “Miracle,” “This One’s For You” and what he called the most romantic song in his catalog “Weekend in New England,” wooed the Wachovia Arena audience. Manilow croons his hits with an unapologetic sincerity whether they are odes to loves lost or romance realized. In either circumstance, few can translate the emotion as well as Barry.
Manilow worked the spacious arena stage with three female and one male backup singers. Musically, the 65-year-old entertainer was supported by a talented 10-piece band.Manilow is the definition of audience friendly. He laughs, smiles, brings audience members on stage and seems to do all of the right things that make an audience feel like he has come to sing for each one of them personally. And that’s not an easy feat either folks. This guy is something special.Manilow’s offering of power ballads ignited the crowd like few others can. Renditions of “Can’t Smile Without You,” “Could It Be Magic,” “Bandstand” and, of course, “Copacabana,” proved his register has maintained an artistic quality envied by artists half of his age. Manilow’s songs have stood the test of time quite nicely, thank you.The audience also was content to look past his youth-wishful Botox treatment complete with spiked hair and glitzy tie. After all, when “Daybreak,” “Ready to Take A Chance Again” and “Looks Like We Made It,” sound this good, who really cares, right?In addition to his catalogue of hits, Manilow also showed reverence for his predecessors delivering hits from decades gone by. Whether it was his versions of “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” “Anyone Else But Me” or “Love Is a Many Splendor Thing,” Manilow took his historical patronage to a whole different level.He may not be the darling of the critics, he might not be eclectic enough to grace the cover of the hip, arty music magazines, but Barry Manilow is positively adored by his core audience. Something he never ever has lost sight of.Barry Manilow is a consummate entertainer. He works hard at it and his audience acknowledges that effort. So do his fellow artists like the late Frank Sinatra and the legendary Bob Dylan. Before you write him off as the sultan of smaltz, listen to this guy closely. Of melody and rhyme, he knows quite a bit.Just ask his fans.