I like a lot of current music but I figure the Internet has eighty zillion places where you can hear that. On this blog, I like to feature music of earlier times…especially performers who, I'm delighted to say, are still out there performing like Petula Clark or Barry Manilow.
Back in 1996, I published this article about how I went skeptically to see Mr. Manilow perform in Las Vegas and was surprised to have as good a time as I had. The audience reaction was as strong as it could be or could have been for any performer and I was very happy to be among so many people who were having the time of their lives. So did I.
Since then, I have granted permission several times to various Manilow fanzines and organizations to reprint without compensation, that article. One of them offered to arrange free V.I.P. meet-and-greet passes to see Barry the next time he played Las Vegas and I gave that person permission even though I knew he'd never come through with them…and, sure enough, he didn't.
I didn't care. Well, I did care because I'd like to go see Manilow perform again one of these days. He's still doing it! He was on stage earlier this evening at the Westgate Hotel in Vegas and I'll bet you every seat in that showroom was taken up by someone who enjoyed the hell outta what they saw and heard. (I just checked his ticket prices for his next residency there, which is in April. You can be seated in a box onstage for $330.29 per person. That includes "a glass of champagne in an exclusive Manilow champagne flute, a commemorative Barry Manilow gift and an exclusive 'Copacabana' souvenir cup" but, alas, no meet-and-greet.)
We can't be there but we can enjoy this complete video of a 1982 concert he did for Showtime. I can't figure out any way to include the champagne, the commemorative gift or a souvenir cup but look at it this way: You don't have to shell out $330.29 for a seat. All you have to do is click…
