Opportunity Knocks

I keep reading that Barry will be the last guest to appear on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. This appearance is being compared to Bette Midler’s performance as the last guest of Johnny Carson as he took his leave of The Tonight Show by some of the media. If this is true then Barry has been handed a golden opportunity. I hope he makes the most of this rare gift.

This appearance will be the one that will be written about in the books on the history of television, rating right up there Jack Parr walking out on The Tonight Show. Clips of this show will not only be shown in the days after the show airs but for years to come. Barry, being the showman that he is, knows that this appearance has turned into much more than just a gig to promote his new CD. No, this appearance will be an event watched by a much larger audience than normal. It is up to Barry to make the show even more special by what he chooses to perform.

What should Barry perform? I don’t know. I’m not good at that sort of thing. Barry is the one who has expertise to make that choice. A very rich resource Barry could use is his loyal fan base. The Internet makes it possible for Barry to ask for suggestions from his fans as what special song they think would make his Tonight Show appearance memorable. As an added bonus, think what great interview material asking his fans’ input could provide for the talk shows Barry will be doing to promote his new CD. The dramatic story of how Barry wanted to do something extraordinary for the last Conan’s Tonight Show and his fans helped him chose what that will be.

I’m happy that a great performer like Barry who knows how to make something memorable will be the last guest on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. I hope Barry closes this chapter of The Tonight Show history in a spectacular way.

Leaving the Building

It isn’t often that I get to write about my two favorite singers in the same blog post but thanks to a tweet by Garry Kief I get to do that very thing. December saw the end of Barry Manilow’s run at the Las Vegas Hilton, and to commemorate this event, his manager tweeted, “Elvis has left the building.”

Discussions on a few fan boards had some Manilow fans wondering if this tweet compared Barry and Elvis Presley. The Hilton is famous for the shows Elvis did there from 1969 until his death in 1977. At the end of each show Elvis did on the road, it was announced, “Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night.” That was true. Elvis did no encore. He went straight off stage, into a waiting car, and was gone. After his death, the announcement came into popular usage. Was this a tweet that compared Barry to Elvis?

Not to brag but I am probably one of the few Manilow fans who could actually compare the two entertainers. I saw Elvis in concert around twenty-five time in the mid- 1970s. The Barry concerts I have seen are too numerous for me to count. Seeing concerts by both Barry and Elvis would put me in a good position to do a comparison.

I won’t do that. Both Elvis and Barry are great performers. They have different styles but both of them connect with their audience in a very special way. Sadly Elvis has left the building never to return. This is not the case with Barry. He is moving to a new gig at the Paris on the Vegas strip. Manilow fans can still enjoy Barry’s shows. As unbelievable as it is to me, the number of people who actually saw Elvis perform is rapidly shrinking.

Back to the question of if the Kief tweet was comparing Barry to Elvis. Personally, I think the tweet was just the use of a pop culture statement. It fit with Barry leaving the Hilton. My husband once asked my son the meaning of a post on Facebbook. His reply seems to sums up the meaning of the tweet about Elvis leaving the building – it’s only Facebook, or in this case. Twitter. Nothing more; nothing less. No hidden meaning. One good thing did come from this tweet; a few interesting conversations. That’s a good thing.

Mayflower Photos

I love to read behind the scenes information about the way people come up with creative ideas. One of my favorite Manilow CDs is Here at the Mayflower so this article is especially interesting. The photos on the Mayflower CD help advance the storyline of the songs and this background story tells how the photographer developed the concept for the pictures on the CD.

Here At The Mayflower, Barry Manilow

November 14, 2009 by steinphoto

It’s one of my favorite situations when personal work became published and paid work. I was asked to scout a building and photograph it to give the record company (Concord Records) an idea what the real Mayflower (the building in Brooklyn Manilow grew up in which inspired the songs) looked like, so they could come up with something similar to shoot the artist in LA.

They loved my photos so much they ended up using them on the CD cover and package and superimposed the photos of the artist (Barry Manilow) over my photos. Then they asked me to go BACK and shoot some more and ended up using them all over the notes! Cool. I love that they took my vision and loved it and used it!

Blog address: http://lisastein.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/here-at-the-mayflower-barry-manilow/

Welcome, Barry!

Where are my manners? I have been meaning to write and officially welcome Barry to the fan Internet world. My welcome is a little late; real life has kind of gotten in the way. My oldest son just got engaged and will be getting married in February. Also, I am no longer an unemployed blogger – I got a job! Anyway, enough about all that, back to my welcome.




A debate had been going on for quite some time among Manilow fans. The issue contemplated was if Barry read Internet fan sites. That question was settled once and for all by a letter Barry wrote that appeared on Sunday, October 4th. The letter was in the form of a hotline to UK fans as well as being on the main page of Manilow.com for a brief time before vanishing into that great void of cyberspace that swallows any postings that don’t go along with the elusive party lines of TPTB. Funny, I thought Barry was one of TPTB. Shows how much I know about such things.




How cool is that? Barry joined the ranks of all the people who have had postings pulled off official Manilow sites. Even he doesn’t know what’s allowed and what’s not. I was glad to see the letter. For a brief moment there was dialogue between Barry and his fans. If it had or does continue, this could lead to fans becoming the friends that Barry referred to in his letter.




In the letter it seems that real life is dealing with Barry too. Not the happy events going on in my life, but in the form of more surgery. I was sorry to read that. I hope it all goes well and Barry gets relief from his problem. Prayers and positive thoughts are sent his way for a speedy recovery. Take care of yourself, Barry!




So welcome, Barry. Now that you have gotten your feet wet, so to speak, come back any time. We know you can speak if you choose to when ever you want. Your friends on the Internet are very interested in what you have to say. Don’t be such a stranger. We look forward to hearing from you more. You sure got all the boards and sites buzzing. Keep these dialogues going and you may discover that fans can be articulate and intelligent, if given the chance. Give us the chance.

Manilow TV and Consumerism 101

Manilow TV is starting up next week. This announcement started a controversy many different places in the Manilow fan world. Once again, the cult members went on the defensive about any opinion or comment that did not go along with the thinking that Manilow TV is the greatest thing ever. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. A service is being offered and the choice to buy that service is up to each individual. Happens every day; it is basic consumerism 101.

People are faced with making decisions every day about how to spend their money. The choices made are usually based on need, budget, or a number of other factors that play into what is going on in a person’s life at that time. In most cases these decisions are not shared with other folks on the Internet. For some reason Manilow fans find it necessary to share such Manilow related choices on the Internet with mass numbers of their close friends. That’s fine. Just be prepared if all of these people don’t agree with you because they will express how they feel – in no uncertain terms.

There’s really no problem with expressing an opinion. I’m doing that very thing right now. The problem comes when an opinion isn’t allowed. Free exchange of ideas is a great thing but when no exchange is allowed then it falls back into that old cult mentality. Everyone does not consider Manilow TV to be something they are prepared to buy into for various reasons. That should be allowed to be expressed and respected as much as the idea that Manilow TV is wonderful should be expressed and respected. We don’t all purchase the same items or services during the course of our day but that doesn’t make us bad people. It makes us different. Different is not bad.

For everyone signed up for Manilow TV, I hope you enjoy it. People who are not getting it, I am sure you made the right the decision for whatever reason you chose not to get it. I will be in the latter group for right now. I’m sure if the service works very well, word of mouth may convince some consumers who are sitting on the fence which way to go. My hope is that the information will be fair and balanced. It will be if you know where to go to read it. Do you think Consumer Reports will review Manilow TV? I guess not, so fan reviews will have to do. Keep an open mind. I plan on doing just that.

Manilow Lemonade

Barry Manilow is playing the Hollywood Bowl on October 24^th. Fans have known that for quite a few months but a few days ago an announcement added a charity component to the event. Barry’s Hollywood Bowl concert will now raise money to put musical instruments into the hands of public school students in the LA school district. Music programs all over the US have suffered, like all arts programs, or for that matter education in general, in the recession. California has been very hard hit. Sounds like a very good idea. Yet some fans found fault with this turn of events.

Earlier a hotline had been sent out to some west coast fans and an alert posted on Facebook with the information that seats for the Hollywood Bowl priced at $9.99 were available. This was seen as a sign that the ticket sales were doing poorly. This was all speculation. Announcing the fundraiser fueled this speculation. Just for sake of argument, and I am meaning that in the terms of a point, not fighting with anyone, the speculation is true. Barry and his management came up with the idea of trying to increase ticket sales by making this a charity project. It’s not clear how this helps out tickets sales. Donating to the music project is only done by buying packages. Maybe the thinking is a lot of people will be convinced to buy tickets because Barry is giving something to the schools, or to save face in LA for Barry’s supposed poor ticket sales? Not sure about that thinking. Would it still be a bad thing, only to rip-off fans, as the fault finders say?

One of the key sticking points about how fans are being taken advantage is the packages being offered. The charge is that fans are being asked to pay a huge amount to meet Barry. Only one person on one board pointed out that maybe these packages were aimed at corporate sponsors. This makes perfect sense when reading what is included in the packages. Fans wouldn’t care to have their name put in ads or merchandise. The packages were designed to get corporate money. Probably these sponsors have already signed up. Meeting Barry is put in only as something for the guests who attend the concert in behalf of the company who buys the packages. It was never intended for fans. The cheapest package maybe aimed at fans but that’s all. Some people are so obsessed with the idea that meeting Barry is only done for a price that they lose all common sense.

How can this not be a good thing? It will put musical instruments into the hands of students who could have missed the opportunity to learn music because of budget restrains. Personally, I like this charity above all the others. In the case of Palms Springs, the donors saw the instruments get into the hands of the students. How many charities are able to show concrete proof that what they raised money for actually reached the people it helped? This is one of the few.

The Hollywood Bowl fundraiser looks like a win-win situation to me. This could be a case of having lemons and making lemonade out of them—Manilow Lemonade. Barry gets to help put musical instruments into student’s hands. Corporate sponsors or whoever buys the packages get to help Barry put the musical instruments into students’ hands and see a concert. Most importantly, students in LA will get the chance to learn to play musical instruments because of Barry’s Hollywood Bowl concert. Anything that aids kids is a good thing in my book. Maybe the next Barry Manilow will learn to play his music on one of the donated instruments. That would be awesome.

Hints, Moles and Videotapes

Things have really been busy in Manilowland for the past few days. For years a fan in Europe has been supplying fans with music, photos, and videos of Barry Manilow. Not only did she post this material on her own site, she posted it on Internet sharing sites. Last week she got caught; an email from an attorney representing Stiletto arrived in her in box. Of course she had to share the pain of receiving such an email with all of her many online friends, one of whom she suspects turned her into TPTB. Fans have been up in arms about the treatment this fan received. Closer examination shows that she and her friend left TPTB very little alternative.


Many times fan has commented what a caring person this lady is to have taken the time to edit and post so many videos. Trouble is her concern didn’t go far enough to obey the laws that protect an artist’s material. Her sharing has another name – copyright infringement. The only way copyrighted material can be used legally by anyone other than the copyright owner is to obtain permission from the copyright holder, which this person clearly did not do. Claims have been made that this person didn’t think she was doing anything wrong but only helping by promoting Barry.


She did know and her own words prove it. On August 2, 2009, she posted a reply on the forum board about her videos being removed from the Daily Motion site. In the reply she says not once, but twice that, “I was expecting this to come one day…” and “As I said, I was expecting this one day or the other but I was hoping this day not to come that soon.” (Now before I get angry emails that I used quotes off a private forum, I want to pass on this bite of information. The discussion boards on the Manilow Network are not private. I was able to look this up and pull it off without even signing on to the network. Anyone can see what is posted there. The only reason to sign on would be to reply to a discussion. All goes back to nothing is private on the Internet.) So she knew what she was doing was wrong.


Copyright seems to be brushed aside by fans as not being relevant when money does not change hands. That is not true. What she knew or didn’t know became a non-issue when TPTB pulled all her videos off the public site. Big clue there that this fan was doing something that wasn’t supposed to be done. Not only that, but that she was being watched.


This rather large hint did not get through to this person. She came up with another plan to keep sharing copyrighted material. Once again she shared this information around the Internet on email strings. See where this is going? Where it always goes. Once again back to that nothing is private on the Internet (doesn’t that get boring that I have to keep saying that? But some people never get it.) It is supposed that someone, trying to score whatever it is moles get, turned her into TPTB. Tons of finger pointing and names named as to who this was has been going on all over the fan sites. It can be narrowed down to one place; My Manilow Network.


Some well meaning person posted on the MMN discussion boards that this lady was going to keep posting her videos but she couldn’t tell how the fan planned to do this because then TPTB would know. Think maybe this person, who all but dared TPTB to stop this fan had anything to do with tipping then off that something was afoot? (I went back to find the post but in true cult fashion, it has been removed. Good covering of tracks.) It is not hard to imagine that after reading this post, on their own official site, that TPTB knew that hints and being nice wasn’t going to work. It was time to get serious and they did.


I’m a black and white person. Rules and laws are to be obeyed in my book. I’m not naive to think that most everyone hasn’t shared a video or something with a friend. That is not the case with this lady. She had great amounts of material. Her material wasn’t limited to videos; she claimed to have unreleased music. Someone here in the United States supplied her with material. Trying to put a spin on it that she was “helping Barry” and other fans does not change the fact that what she did was not only morally wrong but against the law. She got away with it for years but her run is over, or I hope it is. Surely she got the message this time. Maybe this fan can use the skills she acquired in editing and posting Barry’s material into a new hobby—one that is legal.