I have BB3 for October 3. It's prime "dance girl" territory.
I' d like to swap it for something else. I'll swap even steven for any Row A seat, any seat in Row B in M2, and for B8 or B50, and for C9 or C50. You get to keep the champagne glass, of course.
If you're interested, drop me an email.
I' d like to swap it for something else. I'll swap even steven for any Row A seat, any seat in Row B in M2, and for B8 or B50, and for C9 or C50. You get to keep the champagne glass, of course.
If you're interested, drop me an email.
05/09: Photo from the Vault
Is it me or does he actually look thinner in this photo, taken 26 years ago, than he does now? So much for the wasting away nonsense.
Credit: RON WOLFSON/LONDON FEATURES
Credit: RON WOLFSON/LONDON FEATURES
02/09: Name Change
You might notice that "Blogilow: The Music & Passion Report" now has a partially new name: "Blogilow: The Manilow Observer." The name change reflects what Blogilow has become and is necessary because of the change in the show's name.
31/08: Photo from the Vault
From a 2001 TV appearance, a show called "The Other Half." Anyone ever heard of it? This is one of a whole series of photos that I really like.
Sorry I'm late. I was in Las Vegas. I was going to go to the shows on Friday and Saturday but after seeing it Friday, I opted out on Saturday. I'll probably be opting out a lot in the future. My review of Friday is below.
Sorry I'm late. I was in Las Vegas. I was going to go to the shows on Friday and Saturday but after seeing it Friday, I opted out on Saturday. I'll probably be opting out a lot in the future. My review of Friday is below.
Generally speaking, I think they must hire people with bad judgment to sit scattered about the audience and squeal and whistle and generally just do stupid things at the most inappropriate points in the show as possible. I’m not talking about the “I love you, Barrys” and the “Marry me, Barrys.” I’m talking about the idiots who screech at the top of their lungs during totally inappropriate moments, such as when B is talking about his grandfather, or when he’s singing barely above a whisper during “Somewhere down the road,” or during a serious ballad such as “Memory” or “Ships.” Seriously, no one can be that stupid, right, so they must be being paid by someone to do these stupid things.
Sometime after the show ended I learned that this week’s shows were being referred to as “Previews.” Damnation. My gut feeling was right all along. The real “new show” won’t premiere until “fall,” just like they said, and fall is in late September, about the time they added Thursdays back into the schedule. I posted that I suspected this would be the case but then admitted I was wrong after they started advertising this week as the beginning of “Ultimate Manilow: The Hits.” Turns out, it was false advertising. What really started this week was a show called, “Come pay us $200 so we can use you as guinea pigs.” If it had been advertised that way to begin with, I would have stuck to my original plan of not coming until late September or early October. I must learn to go with my gut feeling.
So, as an unpaid guinea pig, I think I owe the testers my honest opinion, which is: If this is what you’ve got planned, you’ve got a ways to go before you’re ready for Broadway.
Was it because The Talent was in poor voice? No, because he wasn’t. Was it because the songs weren’t great songs? No, because they’re the same good songs they’ve always been.
Then what made this the “not ready for prime time” show? There was no focus, no connectedness, no theme, no originality. No anything that made the original “Music and Passion” (the version before it got all torn to shreds during the last year or so), such a joy to behold. The original “Music & Passion” (the one that won the much-deserved Emmy) was a series of small plays all tied together by songs. Remember “Dew Drop Inn”? Remember “Rock Bottom”? Remember the “Mayflower” production in the middle? (The full version, not the watered-down version. Remember when it led off with “Brooklyn Blues” before moving into the showcase of “Here at the Mayflower,” “Come Monday,” “Do You Know Who’s Living Next Door,” “They Dance”?). Remember the “Midnight Special” climax and the “Copa” production denouement?
Was anyone surprised when that “Music and Passion” won the Emmy? It deserved it. It was creative. It was energetic. It was inspiring. (I lost 100 lbs just coming to see “Come Monday” one trip a month for a year! It was my inspiration. Haven’t done squat since it got unceremoniously chopped.) The Emmy judges recognized quality when they saw it.
So what does this “new show” have? Well, we won’t really know for another month, but if this “preview” was any indication, it doesn’t have much. It didn’t have anything at all on the left side of the stage. It has a hasty and inappropriately-placed dance on the right side. The center was just a hodge podge of snippets thrown together with virtually no creativity or thought.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, here’s how it went down.
The opening video was....clueless. What did the computer generated graphics have to do with Barry Manilow? What did the music played during the video have to do with Barry Manilow? As far as I could tell, nothing and nothing. When the video ended and we saw the silhouettes of Kye playing guitar and the other musicians playing their instruments it was an interesting effect, but what did it, or the music being played, have to do with Barry Manilow? When the female backups came out to strut their stuff and sing, what did that have to do with Barry Manilow? I could see no connection between any of this and the star of the show or his award-laden career. I think they need to pitch this and start from scratch.
The smoke machine went into overdrive and out from the back came the star of the show. He introduced himself first, before launching into “It’s a Miracle.” He continued into the usual opening medley (”Ready to Take a Chance Again,” “Daybreak,” “Somewhere in the Night,” “This One’s For You”). During the “Daybreak” part of the medley, he wandered to the left and someone in the stage seats handed him a rose. He ended up shaking hands with almost everyone over there. They should be happy for that since nothing else went on over there the rest of the show.
During the “SITN” part of the medley he hastily picked someone on the right side to dance with. It seemed totally inappropriate at that point and no where near as special as when he did it during “It’s Not For Me to Say” and later “Moonlight Serenade.” It was almost as though he just wanted to get it over with early in the show with as little investment as possible.
After the medley he talked about all the songwriters out there who never get noticed and that he was “just one of the lucky ones, because of you guys. Tonight I dedicate this show, that’s filled with hits, to all of you with my deepest gratitude.” This was the beginning of the show’s apparent schizophrenia. At times it seemed like it was pandering to the fans, and at other times it seemed that the whole point of the evening was to sell the decade albums to the non-fans. Fortunately, there was more of the former than the later, but rather than pandering to the fans, it would be nice if Mr. Manilow showed some musical leadership and introduced the entire audience to something better than his cover albums.
He did a piece of “Old Songs” and took his place at the piano. He said he was going to do “one of the most romantic songs I have in my whole catalog” and then suggested to the men in the audience that this would be a good time for “feeling and touching and groping.” Then he did a very nice rendition of “Weekend in New England” that was practically ruined by the squealers who went into paroxysms of ecstasy as soon as he said “when can I touch you?” for the first time. He came to a complete stop and made some interesting faces before moving on. Pretty much shot the mood of the song from that point on.
This was followed by “American Bandstand.” During the song, when they were mimicking Bandstand dancers by waving to the crowd, Kye got down on the floor and waved between B’s legs. B then talked about the decade albums and how he never thought he’d ever be back on the top of the charts again, but the decade albums did it for him. Keely and Melanie helped him switch into a silver jacket to match their own. “I feel like Hannah Montana,” he said. (I’ve never seen her so I don’t know what the reference was to.)
He introduced the next section by saying that they had “put together a little batch of songs that represent all of these albums.” They started with the 40s and did tiny little snippets of the following songs:
Don’t sit under the apple tree
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Love is a Many Splendored Thing
Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling
What the World Needs Now (with brief solo parts for the girls before he came in on the chorus)
Then he said he could do his era, meaning the 70s and went back to a few lines he used the first time he did a segment from the 70s album. He made fun of his 70s clothing and a picture of him in the original Copa shirt was on the screen. He performed “Looks Like We Made It.”
When he finished he said he would sit down and do something soft. Kye brought him a new jacket and he took a break to get something to drink. Someone yelled “We love you, Barry,” and he said, “Keep saying that while I .... something.” Couldn't make out that last part. His mic was way too low to be heard.
Next he talked about how odd pop radio is and how his competition in the 70s was “Boogie Oogie Oogie” and “Disco Duck.” (I guess he’s forgotten about Elton John, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, etc.) He said the melodies of his songs are so beautiful that he was proud they squeezed through and made it on pop radio. Then he did an exceptionally short snippet of “Trying to Get the Feeling.” At first I thought, how cool, he’s doing a different take on it. Soft, quiet, a little jazzy. But he stopped before he got to the angstiest part and moved into “Even Now.” Squealers pretty much ruined this set. He held the penultimate note of EN for 13 seconds which was a new record. His lungs were in good shape tonight and he was showing off.
This was followed by “New York City Rhythm” and the round robin with his keyboardists.
When they were finished, he asked for “more of this microphone” and tapped his mic. From that point on the band wasn’t drowning out his voice.
He did “Memory” next and didn’t make the usual Streisand joke. He said this song was “so appropriate for this show.” The audience was so enthusiastic when he finished (and he did it exceptionally well), that he said, “You are all required to come back every single night for the next two years.”
Next he talked about being from an extremely rough part of Brooklyn and when the crowd reacted he said that everywhere he goes in the world, there seem to be people from Brooklyn there. He said that he was in Manilla once and “Louie from South 9th Street was in Manilla.” He talked about visiting in a bullet proof car. Then he talked about how back in his days Brooklyn was about “playing in alleyways, singing on street corners, making out in doorways” and that there was no soccer or tennis, no skiing. If you saw someone walking down the street with a pair of skis, you knew they were stolen.
But, he said, “love will get a kid through a lot, you know.”
This led him to the “I Made it Through the Rain” story about his grandpa, and some idiot squealer decided to let loose with a loud squeal at the most inappropriate moment.
After IMITTR he did “Can’t Smile Without You.”
Next he brought a stool forward and sat down. “The earmark of a great song is when you hear it, you can put any scene to it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about romance.” About the song he was about to do, “most of the time I don’t think about romance. I think of friends that are gone; important people who aren’t with me anymore. My father...my Dad... was gone before I was two years old. Gives me a lot to think about.”
Then he did a very quiet performance of “Somewhere Down the Road” that a male squealer managed to ruin with a loud screech during one of the quietest moments. This he followed with “Ships,” something I haven’t seen him do live before, so it was very welcome. This little segment of two songs was an example of the kind of thing he can do to engage the audience when he puts his mind to it.
Then came, of all things, Copa. A big set of stairs rolled out the back. The ladies came down in their big arena show headdresses, followed by Kye in his “Jamaican pimp” outfit (as I heard someone call it once). Then B came down the stairs and then up to the platform by himself. It was a very odd set and had only half the energy and showmanship of the original version. It’s timing in the show was also pretty bad. This is the “money song,” as Bette Midler said at her show, and it really belongs at the end and it deserved to be made into a Big Deal.
After this anemic Copa came the “Midnight Special” video, “Mandy/Magic,” and “I Write the Song.” As usual, it closed with a reprise of “It’s a Miracle.” The ending was one big anticlimax.
The new streamers are silver mylar and aren’t nearly as nice.
Bottom line: He can do much, much better, and frankly, I’m supremely confident that by the end of September, he will.
BTW, I talked to three fans after the show. I won’t call these fans by their names because they all expressed concern about being attacked by some of the immature fans who frequent the web. Fan “A” said the show was not a new show; it was “the same but worse.” Fan “B” said her first impression was not good. She also thought B seemed really tired; his eyes were really tired. Fan “C” said B’s voice was good but was “a bit off at times” and doubted that he had laid off the cigarettes since Wednesday; she also disagreed with my preliminary comment that his mood was good and he hadn’t phoned in the performance. She thought it was “phoned in from Palm Springs.” She said there was ‘definitely something missing” and it “did not live up to all the publicity.”
That’s about it. If I think of anything else, I’ll come back to do some editing. I'm sure there are typos galore, but I'm half asleep, so I'll fix them later. Right now I’m going to bed so I can hit the road as early as possible in the morning.
Sometime after the show ended I learned that this week’s shows were being referred to as “Previews.” Damnation. My gut feeling was right all along. The real “new show” won’t premiere until “fall,” just like they said, and fall is in late September, about the time they added Thursdays back into the schedule. I posted that I suspected this would be the case but then admitted I was wrong after they started advertising this week as the beginning of “Ultimate Manilow: The Hits.” Turns out, it was false advertising. What really started this week was a show called, “Come pay us $200 so we can use you as guinea pigs.” If it had been advertised that way to begin with, I would have stuck to my original plan of not coming until late September or early October. I must learn to go with my gut feeling.
So, as an unpaid guinea pig, I think I owe the testers my honest opinion, which is: If this is what you’ve got planned, you’ve got a ways to go before you’re ready for Broadway.
Was it because The Talent was in poor voice? No, because he wasn’t. Was it because the songs weren’t great songs? No, because they’re the same good songs they’ve always been.
Then what made this the “not ready for prime time” show? There was no focus, no connectedness, no theme, no originality. No anything that made the original “Music and Passion” (the version before it got all torn to shreds during the last year or so), such a joy to behold. The original “Music & Passion” (the one that won the much-deserved Emmy) was a series of small plays all tied together by songs. Remember “Dew Drop Inn”? Remember “Rock Bottom”? Remember the “Mayflower” production in the middle? (The full version, not the watered-down version. Remember when it led off with “Brooklyn Blues” before moving into the showcase of “Here at the Mayflower,” “Come Monday,” “Do You Know Who’s Living Next Door,” “They Dance”?). Remember the “Midnight Special” climax and the “Copa” production denouement?
Was anyone surprised when that “Music and Passion” won the Emmy? It deserved it. It was creative. It was energetic. It was inspiring. (I lost 100 lbs just coming to see “Come Monday” one trip a month for a year! It was my inspiration. Haven’t done squat since it got unceremoniously chopped.) The Emmy judges recognized quality when they saw it.
So what does this “new show” have? Well, we won’t really know for another month, but if this “preview” was any indication, it doesn’t have much. It didn’t have anything at all on the left side of the stage. It has a hasty and inappropriately-placed dance on the right side. The center was just a hodge podge of snippets thrown together with virtually no creativity or thought.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, here’s how it went down.
The opening video was....clueless. What did the computer generated graphics have to do with Barry Manilow? What did the music played during the video have to do with Barry Manilow? As far as I could tell, nothing and nothing. When the video ended and we saw the silhouettes of Kye playing guitar and the other musicians playing their instruments it was an interesting effect, but what did it, or the music being played, have to do with Barry Manilow? When the female backups came out to strut their stuff and sing, what did that have to do with Barry Manilow? I could see no connection between any of this and the star of the show or his award-laden career. I think they need to pitch this and start from scratch.
The smoke machine went into overdrive and out from the back came the star of the show. He introduced himself first, before launching into “It’s a Miracle.” He continued into the usual opening medley (”Ready to Take a Chance Again,” “Daybreak,” “Somewhere in the Night,” “This One’s For You”). During the “Daybreak” part of the medley, he wandered to the left and someone in the stage seats handed him a rose. He ended up shaking hands with almost everyone over there. They should be happy for that since nothing else went on over there the rest of the show.
During the “SITN” part of the medley he hastily picked someone on the right side to dance with. It seemed totally inappropriate at that point and no where near as special as when he did it during “It’s Not For Me to Say” and later “Moonlight Serenade.” It was almost as though he just wanted to get it over with early in the show with as little investment as possible.
After the medley he talked about all the songwriters out there who never get noticed and that he was “just one of the lucky ones, because of you guys. Tonight I dedicate this show, that’s filled with hits, to all of you with my deepest gratitude.” This was the beginning of the show’s apparent schizophrenia. At times it seemed like it was pandering to the fans, and at other times it seemed that the whole point of the evening was to sell the decade albums to the non-fans. Fortunately, there was more of the former than the later, but rather than pandering to the fans, it would be nice if Mr. Manilow showed some musical leadership and introduced the entire audience to something better than his cover albums.
He did a piece of “Old Songs” and took his place at the piano. He said he was going to do “one of the most romantic songs I have in my whole catalog” and then suggested to the men in the audience that this would be a good time for “feeling and touching and groping.” Then he did a very nice rendition of “Weekend in New England” that was practically ruined by the squealers who went into paroxysms of ecstasy as soon as he said “when can I touch you?” for the first time. He came to a complete stop and made some interesting faces before moving on. Pretty much shot the mood of the song from that point on.
This was followed by “American Bandstand.” During the song, when they were mimicking Bandstand dancers by waving to the crowd, Kye got down on the floor and waved between B’s legs. B then talked about the decade albums and how he never thought he’d ever be back on the top of the charts again, but the decade albums did it for him. Keely and Melanie helped him switch into a silver jacket to match their own. “I feel like Hannah Montana,” he said. (I’ve never seen her so I don’t know what the reference was to.)
He introduced the next section by saying that they had “put together a little batch of songs that represent all of these albums.” They started with the 40s and did tiny little snippets of the following songs:
Don’t sit under the apple tree
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Love is a Many Splendored Thing
Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling
What the World Needs Now (with brief solo parts for the girls before he came in on the chorus)
Then he said he could do his era, meaning the 70s and went back to a few lines he used the first time he did a segment from the 70s album. He made fun of his 70s clothing and a picture of him in the original Copa shirt was on the screen. He performed “Looks Like We Made It.”
When he finished he said he would sit down and do something soft. Kye brought him a new jacket and he took a break to get something to drink. Someone yelled “We love you, Barry,” and he said, “Keep saying that while I .... something.” Couldn't make out that last part. His mic was way too low to be heard.
Next he talked about how odd pop radio is and how his competition in the 70s was “Boogie Oogie Oogie” and “Disco Duck.” (I guess he’s forgotten about Elton John, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, etc.) He said the melodies of his songs are so beautiful that he was proud they squeezed through and made it on pop radio. Then he did an exceptionally short snippet of “Trying to Get the Feeling.” At first I thought, how cool, he’s doing a different take on it. Soft, quiet, a little jazzy. But he stopped before he got to the angstiest part and moved into “Even Now.” Squealers pretty much ruined this set. He held the penultimate note of EN for 13 seconds which was a new record. His lungs were in good shape tonight and he was showing off.
This was followed by “New York City Rhythm” and the round robin with his keyboardists.
When they were finished, he asked for “more of this microphone” and tapped his mic. From that point on the band wasn’t drowning out his voice.
He did “Memory” next and didn’t make the usual Streisand joke. He said this song was “so appropriate for this show.” The audience was so enthusiastic when he finished (and he did it exceptionally well), that he said, “You are all required to come back every single night for the next two years.”
Next he talked about being from an extremely rough part of Brooklyn and when the crowd reacted he said that everywhere he goes in the world, there seem to be people from Brooklyn there. He said that he was in Manilla once and “Louie from South 9th Street was in Manilla.” He talked about visiting in a bullet proof car. Then he talked about how back in his days Brooklyn was about “playing in alleyways, singing on street corners, making out in doorways” and that there was no soccer or tennis, no skiing. If you saw someone walking down the street with a pair of skis, you knew they were stolen.
But, he said, “love will get a kid through a lot, you know.”
This led him to the “I Made it Through the Rain” story about his grandpa, and some idiot squealer decided to let loose with a loud squeal at the most inappropriate moment.
After IMITTR he did “Can’t Smile Without You.”
Next he brought a stool forward and sat down. “The earmark of a great song is when you hear it, you can put any scene to it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about romance.” About the song he was about to do, “most of the time I don’t think about romance. I think of friends that are gone; important people who aren’t with me anymore. My father...my Dad... was gone before I was two years old. Gives me a lot to think about.”
Then he did a very quiet performance of “Somewhere Down the Road” that a male squealer managed to ruin with a loud screech during one of the quietest moments. This he followed with “Ships,” something I haven’t seen him do live before, so it was very welcome. This little segment of two songs was an example of the kind of thing he can do to engage the audience when he puts his mind to it.
Then came, of all things, Copa. A big set of stairs rolled out the back. The ladies came down in their big arena show headdresses, followed by Kye in his “Jamaican pimp” outfit (as I heard someone call it once). Then B came down the stairs and then up to the platform by himself. It was a very odd set and had only half the energy and showmanship of the original version. It’s timing in the show was also pretty bad. This is the “money song,” as Bette Midler said at her show, and it really belongs at the end and it deserved to be made into a Big Deal.
After this anemic Copa came the “Midnight Special” video, “Mandy/Magic,” and “I Write the Song.” As usual, it closed with a reprise of “It’s a Miracle.” The ending was one big anticlimax.
The new streamers are silver mylar and aren’t nearly as nice.
Bottom line: He can do much, much better, and frankly, I’m supremely confident that by the end of September, he will.
BTW, I talked to three fans after the show. I won’t call these fans by their names because they all expressed concern about being attacked by some of the immature fans who frequent the web. Fan “A” said the show was not a new show; it was “the same but worse.” Fan “B” said her first impression was not good. She also thought B seemed really tired; his eyes were really tired. Fan “C” said B’s voice was good but was “a bit off at times” and doubted that he had laid off the cigarettes since Wednesday; she also disagreed with my preliminary comment that his mood was good and he hadn’t phoned in the performance. She thought it was “phoned in from Palm Springs.” She said there was ‘definitely something missing” and it “did not live up to all the publicity.”
That’s about it. If I think of anything else, I’ll come back to do some editing. I'm sure there are typos galore, but I'm half asleep, so I'll fix them later. Right now I’m going to bed so I can hit the road as early as possible in the morning.
There's good news and there's bad news.
The good news:
Mr. Manilow doesn't appear to be any closer to dying than he did back in June when I saw him at several shows and the birthday party. He didn't appear to be any thinner than normal either. As thin as a paperclip, yes, but that's normal for him. So, if you were freaking out over the "Barry Manilow Dying" and "Barry Manilow Wasting Away" headlines, relax.
His voice wasn't raspy tonight so he must have laid off the cigarettes since Wednesday night when one reviewer said that his voice was shot. He held the penultimate note of "Even Now" for 13 seconds, a new record, at least on nights when I was counting, so the lungs were in good shape.
As for his mood, seemed about normal to me. Not one of his funny, goofy, really into it nights, but also not one of his phoning it in nights.
The bad news:
What new show?
Other than a few cosmetic differences, the only thing new was some rearranging of the usual stuff. That's not necessarily bad, but it certainly didn't live up to the hype about a new show. I was expecting some new sets, something original, with songs not in the previous show. It's not like there weren't plenty of other hits he could have tossed in. Actually, I thought he'd put together a new Mayflower segment, but I guess those weren't hits so he can't now that he's painted himself into the corner by adding "The Hits" as a subtitle to the show's name. If he just put back in the original Mayflower set (the complete one, not the truncated version he was doing later), I'd have been perfectly happy. At least it had some originality going for it.
BTW, the sound was horrible tonight. I tried signaling the problem by cupping my ear, but no one seemed to pick up on it. During the opening, his voice was practically drowned out by the band. Even during the monologue, he could barely be heard. Later he asked them to give him more of the mic, and then it was better, but that was much later in the show.
I'll do more later, including a song list. Right now I have photos to download off the camera and get up to the server. Plus, I've got a bunch of tickets to sell, so I need to send some emails.
The good news:
Mr. Manilow doesn't appear to be any closer to dying than he did back in June when I saw him at several shows and the birthday party. He didn't appear to be any thinner than normal either. As thin as a paperclip, yes, but that's normal for him. So, if you were freaking out over the "Barry Manilow Dying" and "Barry Manilow Wasting Away" headlines, relax.
His voice wasn't raspy tonight so he must have laid off the cigarettes since Wednesday night when one reviewer said that his voice was shot. He held the penultimate note of "Even Now" for 13 seconds, a new record, at least on nights when I was counting, so the lungs were in good shape.
As for his mood, seemed about normal to me. Not one of his funny, goofy, really into it nights, but also not one of his phoning it in nights.
The bad news:
What new show?
Other than a few cosmetic differences, the only thing new was some rearranging of the usual stuff. That's not necessarily bad, but it certainly didn't live up to the hype about a new show. I was expecting some new sets, something original, with songs not in the previous show. It's not like there weren't plenty of other hits he could have tossed in. Actually, I thought he'd put together a new Mayflower segment, but I guess those weren't hits so he can't now that he's painted himself into the corner by adding "The Hits" as a subtitle to the show's name. If he just put back in the original Mayflower set (the complete one, not the truncated version he was doing later), I'd have been perfectly happy. At least it had some originality going for it.
BTW, the sound was horrible tonight. I tried signaling the problem by cupping my ear, but no one seemed to pick up on it. During the opening, his voice was practically drowned out by the band. Even during the monologue, he could barely be heard. Later he asked them to give him more of the mic, and then it was better, but that was much later in the show.
I'll do more later, including a song list. Right now I have photos to download off the camera and get up to the server. Plus, I've got a bunch of tickets to sell, so I need to send some emails.
26/08: New old photo
Just got a big batch of high res press photos from my source. I've never seen this one before. I think that's Cathy Rigby, isn't it?
(Photo by Marion Curtis/DMI/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
(Photo by Marion Curtis/DMI/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Fascinating reading this morning from a journal called “Sexual Behavior.” The article is entitled “Falling in Love with Celebrities” and it is by Stanley E. Willis, II, who has both an M.D. and a J.D. and was (at the time the article was published) an Adjunct Professor of Law, Forensic Medicine, and Psychiatry at the University of San Diego. It was published in 1972, well before the supermegastarsexgod that is the subject of this blog appeared on the scene.
The topic of the article is interesting in itself and I might post about it later, but the part I find *really* interesting is commentary by Charles W. Wahl, M.D., then a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. His comment is titled: “The Celebrities Suffer Most of All.” Here is what he had to say:
"My own [interest] began...through curiosity concerning the opposite side of the equation, that is, the sexual problems of celebrities who are the object of this kind of massive-sexual fantasy and it was first crystalized by psychoanalytic treatment of several of such patients in this category.
"I found that the celebrity soon learns that he or she is an object of a very special kind of sexual fantasy and one which has very little to do with himself as a person; it is excessive and ardent to the most extreme degree. The demands made upon him are irrational, importunate, and essentially selfish in character. Far from being a flattering attention, it is in the last analysis, an ultimate put-down. It is being perceived as an object, symbol or trophy rather than as a person. The celebrity, particularly if he is a virility symbol...can only be perceived by a real life partner as being disappointing; it is simply not possible to live up to such a billing. A series of these painful experiences, never being able to live up to the partner’s grandiose expectations, is extremely destructive of self-esteem."
He then goes into an analysis of sexual attraction to celebrities that is just way too Freudian for me, but the opening comments were quite interesting, especially since they appear to be based on his personal treatment of several “such patients,” i.e., celebrities.
Obviously, when The Talent used to refer to himself as the Supermegstarsexgod he was just poking fun at himself. "The sexgod's gotta sit down now." But it may have been a small window into his own psyche. I'm sure after all these years, he's learned to deal with it, and may even find it amusing. But imagine what hell it must have been for him back in the late 70s.
The topic of the article is interesting in itself and I might post about it later, but the part I find *really* interesting is commentary by Charles W. Wahl, M.D., then a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. His comment is titled: “The Celebrities Suffer Most of All.” Here is what he had to say:
"My own [interest] began...through curiosity concerning the opposite side of the equation, that is, the sexual problems of celebrities who are the object of this kind of massive-sexual fantasy and it was first crystalized by psychoanalytic treatment of several of such patients in this category.
"I found that the celebrity soon learns that he or she is an object of a very special kind of sexual fantasy and one which has very little to do with himself as a person; it is excessive and ardent to the most extreme degree. The demands made upon him are irrational, importunate, and essentially selfish in character. Far from being a flattering attention, it is in the last analysis, an ultimate put-down. It is being perceived as an object, symbol or trophy rather than as a person. The celebrity, particularly if he is a virility symbol...can only be perceived by a real life partner as being disappointing; it is simply not possible to live up to such a billing. A series of these painful experiences, never being able to live up to the partner’s grandiose expectations, is extremely destructive of self-esteem."
He then goes into an analysis of sexual attraction to celebrities that is just way too Freudian for me, but the opening comments were quite interesting, especially since they appear to be based on his personal treatment of several “such patients,” i.e., celebrities.
Obviously, when The Talent used to refer to himself as the Supermegstarsexgod he was just poking fun at himself. "The sexgod's gotta sit down now." But it may have been a small window into his own psyche. I'm sure after all these years, he's learned to deal with it, and may even find it amusing. But imagine what hell it must have been for him back in the late 70s.
22/08: Photo from the Vault
so who is thinner? Manilow or Cheryl Tiegs?
A *long* time ago I posted about how B and SS aren't really neighbors in Palm Springs, unless one has a really loose definition of "neighbor." As part of that, I mentioned that there's a condo for sale in PS in which the sellers pitched a view of Barry Manilow's house as one of the selling points. I thought that was hilarious. I mentioned that I had made a screen cap of the listing but couldn't find it and that the sellers had removed the view from the description. Well, I've found the screen cap now. I looked up the condo and it's still for sale. (They haven't dropped the price in all this time, which is why it's still offered for sale at an outrageous price.) Anyway, they put the view back in the description. I didn't bother to make a new screen cap, but here is the old one if you're interested. I blocked out all info that would help you locate it because I do *not* want to be the one who leads a stalker to The Talent's front door.
Click on the thumbnail to bring up the full-sized screen cap.
In case you're wondering, that roof you see off in the distance, on the side of the mountain, in the picture in the listing, that's The Talent's roof.
Click here to see the original post about the proximity of B's and SS's houses.
Click on the thumbnail to bring up the full-sized screen cap.
In case you're wondering, that roof you see off in the distance, on the side of the mountain, in the picture in the listing, that's The Talent's roof.
Click here to see the original post about the proximity of B's and SS's houses.
(Cameras weren't allowed, but I snapped this shot of the video screen with my cell phone before the show opened.)
On June 27, 2008 I went to see Bette Midler’s show at Caesar’s Palace. Yes, I passed up seeing “Music and Passion” for a third time during this trip in order to see Midler’s new show.
Trying to do a review of this show from memory would be impossible. Take three M&Ps, cram them down into 90 minutes, add a dozen scantily clad showgirls, throw in the non-stop jabber of a chipmunk on steroids, and you’ve got Miss Midler’s show. Holy hell, if Mr. Manilow tried to do half of what she did, he’d be hospitalized for a week. If you really must know every single detail of what went on, go here: http://www.bootlegbetty.com/vegas-reviews/ Read all these reviews and you should have a good idea.
While it’s clear that Miss Midler is the star of her show, she is very nearly overtaken by the stage. The sheer size of the thing makes it a character in the show in its own right. It was sometimes hard to pay attention to the tiny Divine One because the stage was demanding to be seen. “Look at me!” it screamed. “I’m Big! I’m Beautiful! Look at me!” Fortunately, Miss Midler kept it in its place by poking fun at it (”If this doesn’t make Cher retire, nothing will!”) and by touting her ability to traverse it at top speed in her high heels. Of course, she doesn’t smoke and her hips aren’t falling apart.
Another thing that struck me: Where the heck were her fans??! When the show opened and she first walked out on stage, no one stood up. Not one person. The applause was polite, but there was no enthusiasm behind it. No excitement. There were no standing ovations during the show. During one song a handful of people stood up for a few seconds. During another, a row in the middle of the gigantic hall tried to get a tepid wave started, but it failed miserably and they sat down. Did I just happen to hit the one night of the year that none of her fans showed up, or are her fans so unenthusiastic that they couldn’t be counted on for a little excitement? It was like going to the opera. Her fans need to attend a Manilow show to learn how it’s done.
One lesson Miss Midler could take from her former piano player would be to stay on stage! There are several times when the only thing going on on that gigantic stage is several minutes of extremely boring and totally uninteresting choreography. I realize she was off changing costumes, but maybe she needs to reduce those changes, or find a way to do them on stage. I remember seeing Elton John back in the 70s when he ran into a box on stage to change outfits and never stopped singing the entire time. I’m not suggesting she do that, but there must be some alternative to simply disappearing and leaving the audience to fidget for several minutes.
I’m surprised that one of the reviewers said “there’s not much production to distract from Midler’s serious singing.” I thought there was too much crap thrown in, taking away time that could’ve been spent on the music. I’m not talking about Midler’s patter with the audience. She’s fabulous at that. Rather, there was way too much boring choreography taking place when she was off stage (as I mentioned above), but even worse was all the video nonsense added. I’m talking about the visits from the “American Idol” judges, Wayne Newton, and Elvis, all done while Midler was flopping about with her mermaid bottom on. Incidentally, she fell on her behind once while she had those things on and her backups had her up on her feet so fast I doubt many people even noticed.
Basically the show was two big production sets with a few songs and lots of patter thrown in between them. The first big production was the Delores Del Lago set during which Midler wears a mermaid bottom and spends a lot of time in a wheelchair (no doubt because it’s exhausting trying to scoot around the stage in a big fin). The songs (other people’s songs) were mostly fish puns, like “Hooked on You.” They were snippets of songs, not entire songs, so I’m not including them in the song list.
The Delores Del Lago set was so frenzied, so overwrought, so freaking non-stop, that I was relieved when it was finally over. And when it was over, it was over in a big way as she moved into one of her own “slash-your-wrist” songs, “Hello in There.” That was on the first album, one of the ones Manilow produced, so I bet he had a hand in picking that depressing song.
The other big production was the Showgirl set near the end. Or you might call it the Sophie set as it is during this set that Midler dons her alter ego, Sophie the old showgirl with the potty mouth. She tells one bawdy joke after another. If you’ve never heard one of these “Sophie and her boyfriend Ernie” jokes, just ask me sometime when you see me in Vegas. I can spout off a couple for you. Of course, I don’t tell them nearly as well as Midler, who, as she mentions when she’s finished, has been telling them for 40 years. “And what’s really amazing is that I keep telling them and you keep laughing, even though you know them already.”
Following the endless dirty jokes, Midler takes a seat and explains that she originally created the old showgirl because she was too mortified to tell these jokes herself. She didn’t want people leaving the show talking about what a filthy mouth Bette Midler has on her, so she created the Sophie persona to take the blame for them. Then she picked up a ukelele and accompanied herself while singing “The Glory of Love.”
The encore number was the “money song,” the one she knew we were all there to hear (except me), “The Wind Beneath My Wings.” I liked that song the first three or four times I heard it. By the thirtieth or fortieth I was almost as sick of it as I am of the Carpenters. She did it well, certainly way better than her horrible performance on “American Idol” last year (I actually watched that night just to see her), but it couldn’t hold a candle to her performance earlier in the show of “When a Man Loves a Woman.”
The bottom line was the show was good but not fabulous. Funny, but unbelievably dull in some spots, and actually sort of lacking in songs. I’ll post the song list at the end and you’ll see what I mean. Was it worth missing Manilow for? Once, yes. Again, no.
Lessons to be learned for Mr. Manilow: Obviously, Bette Midler learned a lot from Barry Manilow back in the 70s, and I presume vice versa. I think he could learn a few more things from her Vegas performance. The most important thing would be what I was alluding to with the subject line of this review: Fuck’em if they can’t take a joke. I clearly remember Midler using that line in one of her earlier shows. In this show, she did what she wanted. She didn’t “clean it up” or change from who she was years ago. The lesson for Mr. Manilow is this: I’ve heard from many, many people that he loves his British fans because they aren’t as critical of him as his American fans often are. The Brits don’t judge him for using foul language or being bawdy. Well, Mr. Manilow, if you want to use foul language or be bawdy on stage, on stage in LAS VEGAS for god’s sake, then go right ahead. If you have some prudish fans who you’re afraid of offending, well, “fuck’em if they can’t take a joke.” Do what you want. Bette Midler certainly did.
Song list:
Some nameless song written especially for Las Vegas
In the Mood
The Rose
Do You Wanna Dance
From a Distance
A bunch of snippets during the Doris Del Lago production.
Hello in There
When a Man Loves a Woman
It’s Hot In Here (the Sophie the showgirl production)
The Glory of Love
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
The Wind Beneath My Wings
See, not many songs. I would’ve cut the production sets in half and added several more of her incredible songs from her career before she became a singer of inspirational ballads. That’s when I stopped following her.
This is really fascinating. An article published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that performers do better when performing before an unsympathetic audience (i.e., not fans) than when performing before a sympathetic audience (fan-filled). (Title: "The trouble with friendly faces: Skilled performance with a supportive audience." By: Butler, Jennifer L., Baumeister, Roy F., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 0022-3514, 1998, Vol. 75, Issue 5)
Here's a little bit from the discussion of the results of the experiments:
"The results of three experiments converge to show that supportive audiences can be detrimental to skilled performance on a difficult, challenging task. In all three experiments, performers who believed their audience consisted of a supportive observer who wanted them to succeed scored more poorly than people who believed they were being observed by a neutral audience."
Despite this, performers actually prefer the sympathetic audiences:
"Ironically, people preferred supportive audiences and felt better in front of them than in front of neutral or adversarial audiences. Perhaps because they expected that the audience would be helpful, people liked supportive audiences and felt comforted by them; this was true regardless of the difficulty of the task. Having a supportive audience reduced feelings of distraction and stress and led to more positive mood ratings."
So, maybe The Talent is more comfortable performing for an audience packed with fans, but maybe he actually does a better job for the Cement Mixers Convention.
If you'd like to read the entire article, click here for a PDF.
Here's a little bit from the discussion of the results of the experiments:
"The results of three experiments converge to show that supportive audiences can be detrimental to skilled performance on a difficult, challenging task. In all three experiments, performers who believed their audience consisted of a supportive observer who wanted them to succeed scored more poorly than people who believed they were being observed by a neutral audience."
Despite this, performers actually prefer the sympathetic audiences:
"Ironically, people preferred supportive audiences and felt better in front of them than in front of neutral or adversarial audiences. Perhaps because they expected that the audience would be helpful, people liked supportive audiences and felt comforted by them; this was true regardless of the difficulty of the task. Having a supportive audience reduced feelings of distraction and stress and led to more positive mood ratings."
So, maybe The Talent is more comfortable performing for an audience packed with fans, but maybe he actually does a better job for the Cement Mixers Convention.
If you'd like to read the entire article, click here for a PDF.
15/08: From the Vault
Credit: Everett Collection
I posted this on "My Other Blog" (see the link over on the right; scroll down a bit), but since it's specifically about The Talent, which is the topic of this blog, I'm co-posting it here. I'm sure it'll get me in trouble with some fans, but since when have I ever cared about that? I hope it'll actually spark some intelligent thought and discussion of the nature of fandom and the relationship between fans and celebrities.
Right now I'm reading "Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity in America" by Richard Schickel. Although it's about celebrity, it's also about fandom, because you can't really have one without the other. Quite a few passages are striking a chord with me. Here's one in particular:
"Yes, it is true, no one can project a personality totally foreign to his nature. But yes, that projection can be no more than a remembrance of things past when you have become rich and alienated from your roots and contemptuous of an audience that, you have come to understand, is so easily lulled and gulled by your little show. But keeps coming up to you anyway, when you venture off the stage, innocently expecting you to be the you it thinks it knows so well. No wonder the relationship between the modern performer and his following is so volatile, so marked by paranoia. The star has a secret--lots of them, actually. And the crowd suspects he might have. And so must test him, by offering precisely the friendliness he appears to invite. It is a wonder this relationship is not marked by more violence, or anyway by more of the terrible misunderstandings to which John W. Hinckley, Jr., found himself prey."
It's the part about the star being contempuous of his audience that I find interesting. It is definitely what I think is behind some of the comments Mr. Manilow makes about how he was never into pop music and how horrible pop music is. And yet, he makes his living performing the very musical genre that he despises. And what must he think of the gullible audience for liking it so much? Could this be why he tries so hard to educate his audience, to nudge it toward the jazz genre which he finds so much more worthy?
It's very Liberace-like of him to do this. That is what Liberace did. He tried to nudge the lower- and middle-class matrons who loved him so much toward classical music by presenting it in a way that was non-threatening to them. Since reading that wonderful, scholarly biography of Liberace, I'm seeing so many parallels between him and Mr. Manilow.
It's just a thought.
Right now I'm reading "Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity in America" by Richard Schickel. Although it's about celebrity, it's also about fandom, because you can't really have one without the other. Quite a few passages are striking a chord with me. Here's one in particular:
"Yes, it is true, no one can project a personality totally foreign to his nature. But yes, that projection can be no more than a remembrance of things past when you have become rich and alienated from your roots and contemptuous of an audience that, you have come to understand, is so easily lulled and gulled by your little show. But keeps coming up to you anyway, when you venture off the stage, innocently expecting you to be the you it thinks it knows so well. No wonder the relationship between the modern performer and his following is so volatile, so marked by paranoia. The star has a secret--lots of them, actually. And the crowd suspects he might have. And so must test him, by offering precisely the friendliness he appears to invite. It is a wonder this relationship is not marked by more violence, or anyway by more of the terrible misunderstandings to which John W. Hinckley, Jr., found himself prey."
It's the part about the star being contempuous of his audience that I find interesting. It is definitely what I think is behind some of the comments Mr. Manilow makes about how he was never into pop music and how horrible pop music is. And yet, he makes his living performing the very musical genre that he despises. And what must he think of the gullible audience for liking it so much? Could this be why he tries so hard to educate his audience, to nudge it toward the jazz genre which he finds so much more worthy?
It's very Liberace-like of him to do this. That is what Liberace did. He tried to nudge the lower- and middle-class matrons who loved him so much toward classical music by presenting it in a way that was non-threatening to them. Since reading that wonderful, scholarly biography of Liberace, I'm seeing so many parallels between him and Mr. Manilow.
It's just a thought.
09/08: Photos from the Vault
An extra bonus this week. So many people loved the first two of this series that I put up, here's three more. I've had a lot of fun thinking up captions for these. :-)
Credit: 846/Most Wanted
Credit: 846/Most Wanted
And who learned his craft by working with Bette Midler?
"Video really did kill the radio star," Midler told us after wowing a sold-out crowd with her "Showgirl Must Go On" extravaganza at The Colosseum at Caesars Las Vegas. "After MTV came along, people were seeing their favorite singers in videos, and suddenly there was a certain vision of a song - how it should sound, how it should look. Then [in concert], there was no room for improvisation - everyone wanted an exact replica."
Teetering on impossibly high stilettos, the superslim Midler also said current pop stars make one fatal mistake: "They don't speak. They don't talk to their audience. They may say, 'Hello, New York' or 'Hello, Las Vegas,' in the beginning, and 'Thank you' in between songs, but they don't talk. They don't tell stories or take the time to make a connection, build a rapport. There's no emotion."
Click here for the entire article.
"Video really did kill the radio star," Midler told us after wowing a sold-out crowd with her "Showgirl Must Go On" extravaganza at The Colosseum at Caesars Las Vegas. "After MTV came along, people were seeing their favorite singers in videos, and suddenly there was a certain vision of a song - how it should sound, how it should look. Then [in concert], there was no room for improvisation - everyone wanted an exact replica."
Teetering on impossibly high stilettos, the superslim Midler also said current pop stars make one fatal mistake: "They don't speak. They don't talk to their audience. They may say, 'Hello, New York' or 'Hello, Las Vegas,' in the beginning, and 'Thank you' in between songs, but they don't talk. They don't tell stories or take the time to make a connection, build a rapport. There's no emotion."
Click here for the entire article.
06/08: Malibu, August 2008
Guess why he doesn't look so frail all of a sudden. You can't see his arms! People need to get over how skinny the man is. He's always been that way.
FAME PICTURES
FAME PICTURES
01/08: Photo from the Vault
Michael Ochs Archives
I contributed for another one, in November 2009.
Susie's 100-year-old father has moved into dementia and now it's nearly impossible for her to leave him for long or he could end up running naked thru his neighbor's tulip garden. Odds are decreasing rapidly that she'll be able to attend the Platinum in November of this year. That means I'll either have to have the audience with Mr. Manilow by myself, thus eliminating 90% of the fun of the thing for me, or skip the audience part of it and just take a friend to see the show with the two front row tickets. Maybe by November 2009 she'll be free to go wherever she wants whenever she wants.
It's been three full years now since I first began my quest to take Susie to meet The Talent. I've donated for a total of five platinums (one refunded after the fifth cancellation). I went thru a two year period of being a fan myself. Now I just want the whole thing to end.
And here's your Photo from the Vault for last week. Sorry for being late. I forgot.
Michael Ochs Archives
Older items
Susie's 100-year-old father has moved into dementia and now it's nearly impossible for her to leave him for long or he could end up running naked thru his neighbor's tulip garden. Odds are decreasing rapidly that she'll be able to attend the Platinum in November of this year. That means I'll either have to have the audience with Mr. Manilow by myself, thus eliminating 90% of the fun of the thing for me, or skip the audience part of it and just take a friend to see the show with the two front row tickets. Maybe by November 2009 she'll be free to go wherever she wants whenever she wants.
It's been three full years now since I first began my quest to take Susie to meet The Talent. I've donated for a total of five platinums (one refunded after the fifth cancellation). I went thru a two year period of being a fan myself. Now I just want the whole thing to end.
And here's your Photo from the Vault for last week. Sorry for being late. I forgot.
Michael Ochs Archives
