Convention Highlights
Thursday Highlights
THURSDAY
We arrived on Thursday and participated in the BMIFC Bonus Night. They reserved the Tempo Lounge as a private party for us. Barry music playing of course. And some nice appetizer type food. It was very nicely done but I’mnot much of a cocktail party person so I could’ve done without it. Thursday night was our best show seats -- 2nd row center on the end towards section 1 (old Dew Drop Inn side). Barry was soooo excited to see us all. Those who had been to Wednesday’s show told us he was surprised to see so many fans on Wednesday night (he said he didn’t expect them until Thursday night). It pretty much was the usual set list we’ve been hearing about for the past several months but he did a very emotional “Tryin To Get The Feelin Again” – changed some of the chords and slowed it down in a few spots.Really beautiful. And oh – then Barry did “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed” on Thursday night – whoa!! What fun that was!! The fans went wild of course! He did “Old Songs” then the 40s songs, dancing with someone for a few bars of the song) then “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” from the 50s (shorter version that he used to do). When he went to the old Rock Bottom side (now the “funny cigarette side”) he did his funny cigarette skit and then sang “Best Seat in the House” to us and asked Seth to turn up the houselights so he could see everyone. It was a sweet time between Barry and us for that song especially. Everyone stood during the 60s segment. “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”/”Baby Love” (w/the girls singing lead and Barry and Kye walking along singing the “Baby Love” part – so cute)/ “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” (whew!!)/ “What the World Needs Now is Love.” Then he went into the 70s w/the Mandy tape then Barry playing CIBM with the tape. We had NYC Rhythm with the piano tag which I always enjoy – they all seem to be having so much fun. Copa of course was wild. And oh – Barry did “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed” on Thursday night – whoa!! What fun that was!! The fans went wild of course!
Friday Highlights
FRIDAY
The BMIFC had a pool party on Friday afternoon but we didn’t participate in that. We heard it was fun though – they had the new Stiletto guys serve as “Copa Cabana Boys” – music, dancing, some food – I think someone said they gave out some BMIFC pool towels as well. Instead, we, (me, Marge, Lorraine and Kathy) took the monorail down to the Flamingo and then walked over to Caesar’s to have a snack at the Cheesecake Factory – we got 4 different kinds and shared them all among us - yum!
Friday night was the 60s theme night and “Blue Velvet Dinner”. And the tablecloths on the tables were actually blue velvet! It was a nice buffet and some of the costumes were really great. Hippies, Beatniks, go-go girls, peace signs, etc. The Little Harmony Club from NYC (Hippies) and the Lone Star Serenade Club from Texas (Beatniks) both outdid themselves as usual with their group costumes (I didn’t even recognize the gals from NYC with their wigs!). And we even had Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe – Marilyn brought a cake that said – you guessed it – “Happy Birthday Mr. President.” LOL. Before and during dinner we had an appearance by Elvis Manilow (Shawn, one of the MC’s from Vox Entertainment). He posed for pictures with whoever wanted one. They had a raffle and someone won front row seats for that night’s show.
Friday’s show was another wonderful one – a real love fest between Barry and the fans. Our seats that night were in M-3, Row H, not too bad really, especially during the sit down part of the 60s section. Pretty much same set list with a few changes. That night Barry sang “The Best of Me” to us. Half way through he paused and sang “I can’t believe I forgot the words” –laughed and pointed to the funny little cigarette. We all sang the words for him and he picked up w/o missing a beat. He again asked for the house lights to be turned up. The power ballad that night was Even Now. Wow. Instead of NYC Rhythm that we got on Thursday night he did The Mayflower segment that begins and ends with “Brooklyn Blues” with “They Dance – Boogie Wonderland/Hot Stuff/ Signed, Sealed, Delivered – They Dance” sandwiched in between. Just about the entire audience was up on their feet for that one!
After the show we went to Barry’s a Go-Go Club for 3 full hours of dancing to Barry music. I had so much fun. I was pretty beat the last hour but no way was I going to stop until the music stopped! We did the Sweet Heaven kick at least twice. They did the Electric Slide at least once and I can’t remember if there was a Conga line on Friday night – I know there were several on Sat night. We didn’t have the dancing in Quark’s this time like we had the past 2 years (thank goodness – that place was way too small for all of us and way too hot). It was in a smaller ballroom type area and part of the room was set up as a dance floor w/DJ and the other part had ottoman-type seats all around for people to just sit and watch or chat andthere was a bar and table w/cookies in the back of the room. And we danced til
Saturday Highlights
SATURDAY
After Garry’s Q&A (see below) we had a nice lunch buffet and another raffle before The Mentalist (Gerry McCambridge) performed for us.
He did some pretty amazing things and I ended up being part of his show. He kinda let the cat out of the bag by letting us know that Barry would be coming in right after his performance was done. Yes, it was a good show and I know that Barry wanted us to see this guy but I (and I think I’m speaking for most) would’ve preferred more time with Barry. We’re grateful for what time we do get with Barry though and even just that half hour was enough to really make the day extra special.
(While I jotted down notes on Garry’s QA, I didn’t for Barry’s so I’ll try to remember everything that happened. If any of you remember anything major (or minor) that I forgot please jump in and share it! Also please correct me if I have something wrong here).
When Gerry’s show was done he introduced Barry. The band members and singers came walking out and sat down on the stage and then Barry wearing sunglasses (guess he was concerned about the light from all the radiant faces looking at him? LOL). He looked wonderful… he was wearing jeans, a black shirt and a leather jacket. He took some questions from the audience. Someone said they were glad he brought the band and then we all gave them a loud standing ovation which they really enjoyed. Barry said they were
like his family. Barry said they didn’t have a lot of time because they had to go back and rehearse a surprise for us.
He told us about working on the Hallmark Christmas CD and that we’re all gonna love it. He played a cut from it – Silver Bells – and explained how he recorded his voice 36 different times – high and low and everything in between. That song alone took him 3 days. It sounds awesome!
He asked how many of us had seen the show and if we were bored. Of course every hand went up and we said no way! Someone asked him if he could do One Voice, he said maybe. He said there were certain songs he couldn’t do for the mostly civilian audiences such as “Forever And A Day” which he could
only do when “you guys” are here because they just wouldn’t get it.
Someone asked him to tell a funny story about the band or the band to tell a funny story about him. Keely took the mike and told us a story about how when they were in NYC at
As he left Barry played us a cut from the 70s CD – “It Never Rains in
Right before he left, Barry jumped down off the stage and hugged a few of the fans sitting at the table next to it. The band and singers shook hands as they left the stage.
We then had an hour to get ready for the Big Band Dinner. It was fun seeing everyone all dressed up and many wearing 40s style dresses, suits, etc. We all had pictures taken as we walked into the ballroom. We had a great sit-down dinner and more raffles. After that it was on to another wonderful evening of Music & Passion. The changes in Saturday’s show were that he did a really powerful “Weekend in
After the show it was back to our rooms to change for the Moonlight Serenade Slumber Party. It was a really fun evening. They started out with the room set up like a movie theatre and with popcorn and candy in the lobby and showed Barry’s Second TV Special (the one with his mom talking to the cab driver at the beginning and Barry singing with the animated animals). It was so much fun to watch that again and for several people it was the first time they’d seen it. After the video they chased us out and reset the room up for dancing like it was on Friday night. We danced until
Sunday Highlights
SUNDAY
Sunday morning was the Bye-Bye Buffet. About 1/3 or more of the folks had left that morning for flights home. They did a few more raffles and then started just giving things away. They had a whole box of LV Hilton Music & Passion License Plate Holders they gave away and then some demo CDs. Kirsten told us how much fun they all had. She called all the Stiletto and BMIFC folks up on stage and also had Shawn and the Vox folks (who take care of sound, staging, etc. for the convention events) come up too and we gave
them a standing ovation. She said they (Stiletto, Vox and also the Hilton) do a lot of similar events throughout the year but they look forward to this one the most because we are all so kind and sweet and fun. (My response to that is – that’s because we are Barry fans! Kind, sweet, fun people attract other kind, sweet, fun people!). We all then spent the next half hour hugging and crying and taking pictures and saying “see you next year!”
So….that’s about it for the 2007 BMIFC Convention. It was wonderful to see so many of you that I only see once a year and thank you to those of you who came up and introduced yourselves to me. It’s always fun meeting new Barry friends! For those of you who have never been to a BMIFC Convention –
start saving up your money – it’s so well worth it!
Details of Garry's Q & A
I always enjoy Garry’s Q&As – I find them informative and quite funny. Garry has a natural sarcastic wit about him that is just hilarious. He was carrying two water bottles – one with the Hilton Label and the other a bottle of M Water (which they are now selling in the M Store in a nice smooth plastic bottle with the M logo and Manilow on it – and it’s only $2.00 – I brought two empty ones home – one to refill and use and one to stuff streamers in). He read the ingredient label on the Hilton water and then said we should drink the M water instead. Someone asked where it came from – he said
He said that some guy came up to him after last night’s show and wanted to know why all the fans stand at Barry’s concert. He told the guy that it wasn’t a “f----- funeral.” He then said that KK (Kirsten) told him he couldn’t use that word on stage and then he told us a story about how Barry told Robert Kent back in the day when she opened for him that she couldn’t use that word. (Now that word usually offends me but let me tell ya in this context it was pretty darn funny). He went on to say that he told the guy that the theatre holds 1700 people, and if the fan club was 350, then there were sure a lot of folks standing who weren’t part of the fan club and that Barry’s show is to make us forget about our troubles and the world’s troubles for 90 minutes and just enjoy it and not worry about people standing.
Garry had an envelope of questions that had been submitted to him and just started going through them. One question asked if there would be instant downloads online in the future. He said that the record company (Arista) right now controls anything that Barry records. He said that they are under contract to do one more CD after the 70s (no hint as to what it would be) but that perhaps in the future there would be instant downloads available.
There was of course a question about Harmony and he said that there was still hope for Harmony. The new producers have asked for another year to get things together and there are negotiations going on. And he said he wanted all 350 of us to be there on opening night! (But no standing – LOL).
Barry is currently booked at the Hilton though 2008 (not 2010 as previously reported) but that he was in negotiations and asked us if we wanted Barry to continue there. We of course all shouted yes. Unfortunately the 2008 schedule was not done up yet as it has been the previous years when we were able to order tickets for next year at the convention. Someone asked if Barry would consider moving his show somewhere else in Vegas and Garry said he didn’t see why they would want to. The Hilton is great to work with , the people are nice, and it’s in a nice location off the hustle & bustle of The Strip. There is no truth to the rumor that the Hilton is being bought and torn down. They are spending $10 million on renovations and may even expand.
We asked why Barry’s picture wasn’t in the baggage claim area at the airport, why the show was no longer advertised on the monorail and why they no longer played Barry in the elevators. Garry asked John Adams of Stiletto to look into it.
Another question was why the BMIFC gives us such short notice when tickets go on sale. Garry said that there were several glitches with the Philly tickets (and the guy who caused them is no longer with them) and most of us agreed that it was nice to know what seats you were purchasing. They are still working on that with E-Tix and may or may not continue to use them.
Someone asked if Barry would consider doing a variety series on TV. He said that they had received numerous offers but had rejected them because doing a variety show tends to kill a concert career.
Someone asked Garry what his favorite Barry song was and he said “A Little Traveling Music Please.” He said that like many of us his favorites were the little album cuts. He said that the audiobiography that Barry is working on is going to be awesome and we are all going to really love it. It has lots of old demo’s on it. It follows Barry’s musical growth in chronological order from before the 70s and has a lot of great stuff that Barry and Adrienne Anderson wrote in the early 70s while in
Garry told us how Stiletto started out by selling concert t-shirts etc. because they saw a market for it. Told us some funny stories about the early days.
Garry then talked about what was coming up. Barry will be doing another PBS Special this year – currently scheduled for NYC on Sept. 12 to be aired during PBS’ December
As we all know Sept. 18 is the release date for the 70s CD. Not much else was discussed about that. Stiletto is putting out more DVDs from past concerts. In late November they will be releasing a set of Barry’s 4 TV Specials and possibly
people. LOL
Barry has done a Christmas CD for Hallmark which will be available only at Hallmark stores and will be out in November. Hallmark gave him free reign to produce the CD. We will be able to go to barrymanilow.com and download some bonus tracks from that when available.
Funny moment – while Garry was talking about when the Hallmark CD would be released a voice came booming over saying “November 1 Garry – November 1 is when the Hallmark CD will be released” – Garry looked up to the ceiling then starting softly singing “Jesus Loves Me” and says, really God I didn’t say “f---“. You had to have been there to really appreciate it!
There was some more discussion about venues and a very funny exchange between my
reference came from).
(Thanks to Terri English for these great highlights)