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| April 14, 2010 | Orange County Register | "Pop crooner Barry Manilow has unveiled his latest show at Paris Las Vegas" by Paul Hodgins |
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| Could there be a better match than Barry Manilow's new show and Paris Las Vegas? The master of the hyper-emotive '70s love song seems right at home on the massive stage of the resort's very red theater. Supported by a crackerjack 10-piece band and four busy backup singers, Manilow immediately launched into one of his biggest hits, "Could [It Be] Magic," with a confidence and full-throated energy of a man who loves his new job. "Hello, Las Vegas! Welcome to my new home," Manilow said to the adoring crowd. "Let me introduce myself," he said superfluously. "I'm Barry Manilow. I got so much music for you we may be here all night long!" Manilow's charm has always emanated from that mixture of modesty and swagger, constantly on display during the show, that are the hallmarks of an artist who can't quite believe he made it to full-fledged superstardom even after more than four decades in the spotlight. After all, Manilow started in the lowly world of jingle-writing, and he tried unsuccessfully for years to get somebody, anybody, interested in his songs. The singer led the crowd through that and other chapters of his life during the show. He credits his Russian-born grandfather with recognizing his talent and pushing him constantly to explore it. Manilow even played a few scratchy recordings of his first efforts – the result of his grandfather's prodding. The old man would regularly take young Manilow from their Brooklyn home into Manhattan to practice his singing at a place that would record his efforts on a 45-rpm record for a small fee. Later, Manilow talked about his salad days as a struggling young songwriter. He even sang a couple of his ad jingles, including the State Farm theme ("like a good neighbor ...") that imprinted themselves on America's consciousness for years. Those references are a constant in Manilow's act - he's forever reminding us of his working-class credentials. Manilow's other endearing quality is his ability to laugh at himself. The man has penned and performed some mighty cheesy ditties along with some bona fide classics, and he knows it. During "Can't Smile Without You," a gigantic Happy Face appears on a screen behind the band, bopping back and forth to the song's inanely sprightly two-step. Manilow also takes pride in his reputation as one of his era's preeminent love-song composers. ["Weekend in New England"] was performed simply and sincerely, and at times like this during the show even a Manilow cynic would acknowledge the ingredients of his genius: he pens impeccably crafted pop songs, and their emotional arc is perfectly matched to his yearning, pure tenor voice... Barry Manilow will perform 78 shows each year for two years at Paris Las Vegas. Where: Paris Théâtre at Paris Las Vegas. How much: $95-$250. Call: 800-745-3000. Online: www.ticketmaster.com. |
| April 13, 2010 | American Banker | "Manilow Decoupled Debit Card To Support School Music Programs" by Frederick Lowe |
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| Singer Barry Manilow wants to keep the music playing for high school music programs, and he is using a decoupled debit card as his newest instrument. Tempo Payments Inc. on April 5 announced the launch of the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope MasterCard. Some of the revenue Tempo earns from each purchase made with the card will go to the Manilow Music Project, which donates musical instruments to "severely depleted" school music programs. Tempo will give the organization 0.5% of each signature-debit sale and 0.1% of every PIN-debit purchase amount, says Pete Bartolik, a spokesperson for the San Mateo, Calif.-based affinity card provider. First Bank & Trust in Brooking, S.D., issues the Manilow card. But the card can be linked to a checking account at any U.S. financial institution. First Bank withdraws funds via the automated clearinghouse network using account and bank-routing information from a cancelled personal check. The Manilow Music Project, founded in 2008, already has donated thousands of dollars worth of musical instruments and other materials to school music programs, Kirsten Kief, Manilow Fund for Health and Hope director, said in a statement. The debit card, however, will make soliciting donations easier. "The card will increase our resources," says John Adams, vice president of marketing for Stiletto Entertainment, an Inglewood, Calif.-based company that manages Manilow's career and his foundation. A retail store located inside the Paris Las Vegas casino that sells only Manilow products will be among the locations where consumers can obtain the card. "We will encourage Barry's fans to apply for the card while they are shopping," Adams says. Manilow has a two-year entertainment contract with the casino. Stiletto Entertainment also will promote the card to Manilow's fan clubs and on Facebook, Adams says. |
| April 12, 2010 | Spinner | "Barry Manilow Recommends Las Vegas to Rod Stewart and Neil Diamond" by Steve Baltin |
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| With his second hit Vegas show, Barry Manilow knows what it takes to make it in Sin City. With that knowledge, the singer-songwriter says that a couple of his friends would be a big hit there. "I've had this conversation with a lot of my friends. Rod Stewart would have a ball there, Neil Diamond would have a ball there," Manilow tells Spinner. "I think the Vegas audiences would embrace them. They're so talented, they've got huge catalogues of music -- they would be perfect for a Vegas show." Manilow, whose glitz-filled, spectacular new production was directed and choreographed by Jeffery Hornaday, says Stewart and Diamond could just do whatever makes them comfortable and they would still go over big in the city. "They wouldn't have to do what I'm doing," he says. "I went all the way, but all they'd have to do is get up there and do their show. People would love it." About to turn 67 this June, Manilow believes his days as a touring artist have likely finished. "I doubt very much if I'll ever tour again. Those days are done for me," he says, though he does add he can see himself doing one-off shows in different cities. Clearly, after more than three decades on the road, he is ready to leave the traveling life behind and that's why he recommends a similar course for Stewart and Diamond. "Unless they love the road, unless they love those hotel rooms, unless they love that plane ride -- and maybe they do -- I recommend it for all of us artists who have been on the road for so many years," he says. "This is such a great gig for anybody. The stages are the top of the line, you don't have to worry about dressing rooms that are really locker rooms. These theaters in Vegas are top of the line. It's a beautiful way of doing a show." Are there any young artists he sees that would also fit in Vegas? "No, I think younger artists need to go on the road and develop their show and get their audiences. They've got to pay their dues," he says. "But for the people who've been on the road many years I think they'd be great here." |
| April 5, 2010 | Press Release
(SOURCE: Tempo) | Manilow Fund For Health and Hope Debit Card Aims to Save Public School Music: Web-Based Sign Up and Activation on Tempo Affinity Debit Platform Lets Consumers Customize Cards That Link to Existing Checking Accounts |
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| SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwire - April 5, 2010) - Tempo announced today that its affinity debit platform is now being utilized by the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope to provide donors with debit cards that support the Barry Manilow-created nonprofit organization's campaign to save public school music programs "one swipe at a time." Each time a Manilow Fund for Health and Hope debit card is used to make a purchase, the organization will receive a portion of standard transaction fees, utilizing cardholders' purchasing power instead of out-of-pocket money to increase the Fund's revenue. Proceeds will be used by the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope's Manilow Music Project to put musical instruments into the hands of public school students across the U.S. Music icon Barry Manilow formed The Manilow Music Project in 2008, as part of his non-profit Manilow Fund for Health and Hope, in an effort to help meet the needs of severely depleted public school music programs. The Project has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of instruments and materials to school music programs across the country. "Tempo's affinity debit card platform makes it easy and cost-effective for the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope to put a new fund-raising instrument in the hands of our supporters," said Kirsten Kief, Manilow Fund for Health and Hope Director. "The card links to their existing checking accounts and they are helping to save our music programs one swipe at a time and with no additional out-of-pocket cost for each use." The Manilow Fund for Health and Hope Debit Card can be used anywhere Debit MasterCard cards are accepted, and can also provide cash-back and ATM withdrawal access. During the sign-up process, consumers can customize their cards with their own artwork or select one of four-predesigned cards. "Debit cards are increasingly the preferred payment choice of consumers," said Tempo CEO Mike Grossman. "Tempo's affinity debit platform makes it simple, easy and fun for Manilow Fund for Health and Hope supporters to put their debit card purchasing power behind The Manilow Music Project." Using software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology, Tempo's affinity debit platform makes it easy for organizations to offer affinity debit cards and provides a web portal for consumers to apply for and activate cards, as well as track purchases and rewards online. Tempo-enabled debit cards are affinity partner-branded, generate valuable cardholder rewards, and can be used for online and offline purchases and ATM withdrawals. The cards are issued by Tempo partner First Bank & Trust of Brookings, SD, part of Fishback Financial Corporation. Working with First Bank & Trust, Tempo manages all aspects of card issuance, including risk management, application processing, card fulfillment, authorization and settlement. Other non-profits that are offering Tempo-powered affinity debit card programs include the Breast Cancer Fund, Greenpeace, In Defense of Animals, Surfrider Foundation and World Emergency Relief. Click here to learn more about the Manilow Debit MasterCard! About Tempo
Tempo is the leader in enabling organizations to quickly and easily offer affinity and co-branded debit cards to their customers, contributors and members. The open loop cards are rewards-based, partner-branded, and linked to the consumer's existing checking account. Tempo provides its affinity partners with a Web-based platform that makes it easy to launch and market co-branded debit programs. The partners benefit by generating new revenue, and building loyalty through the delivery of enhanced cardholder value. Tempo is privately held and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA. For additional information, visit www.tempo.com. These cards are issued by First Bank & Trust, Brookings, SD, pursuant to a license by MasterCard® International Incorporated. MasterCard is a registered trademark of MasterCard International Incorporated. First Bank & Trust is a member of the FDIC and part of the Fishback Financial Corporation. |
| April 4, 2010 | The Desert Sun | "Barry Manilow keeps reinventing himself, continues to gather fans along the way" by Bruce Fessier |
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| In Barry Manilow's new Las Vegas show, a recording of "Nature Boy" is played by a 4-year-old boy named Barry Pincus. Then Manilow comes on and finishes the song. For the audience, it's a chance to see Barry Pincus morph into Barry Manilow "right before our eyes in real time," says the show's creative director, Jeffrey Hornaday."It's almost as though that little recording foreshadowed his whole career," Hornaday says. "That's really the heart and soul of the show." In reality, Manilow's transition from the child of a broken marriage to the best-selling adult contemporary recording artist of all time hasn't been so easy. Only now, says the Palm Springs resident, is he able to reconcile how the normal Barry Manilow can co-exist with the larger-than-life BARRY MANILOW! that's advertised all over Las Vegas. Friends and associates say he's "likeable" and "down to earth." Marilyn Winn, president of Paris Las Vegas, calls him "a phenomenal performer and the consummate professional." When Manilow's first show under a two-year contract at Paris Las Vegas had to be canceled on [March 5] due to a power surge that blew out most of the hotel's new sound and lighting system, Winn said Manilow still attended a meet-and-greet for invited guests who had flown in from all over the country. Then he agreed to do two shows the following night. "There was absolutely no hesitation," she said. "Barry said, 'I'll do three shows if that's what it takes.'" When he goes out in public, Manilow says he unconsciously feels like "this normal person that I always think I am." Then people recognize him, or a paparazzo points a camera at him and he realizes he's not as normal as he might like to think. But he's feeling more comfortable as BARRY MANILOW! "This thing — this thing that's in all capital letters — that's the part you have to embrace," Manilow said backstage at the Paris before his official opening night show. "It took me a long time to make peace with that. I thought it was going to go away. I was hoping it would go away. But, it's not going to go away. I'm grateful, but I have to figure out how to make peace with that because I'm not going back to my studio apartment. I'm not going back to playing piano for other people. This is it. I've got to figure out how to love this." The Grammy and Emmy Award winning singer-pianist officially transitioned from Barry Pincus to Barry Manilow in 1956 when his surname was legally changed to his mother's maiden name. His father, Harold Pincus, had left his mother in 1945 when Barry was 2 years old. He grew up in Brooklyn, receiving encouragement from his grandfather to pursue his musical talent. Years later, after donating $500,000 worth of musical instruments to Coachella Valley students, he said that music rescued him from being "a loser." But Manilow still feels the insecurity of growing up with an absent father. "That never goes away," he said. "Your childhood is always alive. Your young experiences, you take it with you and figure out how to deal with it." He has now dealt with it. He no longer thinks of himself as Barry Pincus. "No, I'm Barry Manilow," he said, "and the two (Barry the legend and Barry the regular guy) are getting closer and closer together." When Manilow became Barry the superstar after "Mandy" became his first No. 1 hit in 1974, his alter egos seemed worlds apart. He had been a successful jingles writer, rehearsal pianist and music director for Bette Midler. But he figured he'd always work behind the scenes. Then Clive Davis took over a label that had signed Manilow."My star rose pretty quickly and went way higher than anything I'd ever thought about," he said. "I was very unprepared for that. When the explosion hit, it knocked me off my feet." He dealt with it by throwing himself into his music. He let a manager handle his business and paid no attention to how his money was being invested. "I went bankrupt," he said. "I didn't know what to do with these checks that were coming in after 'Mandy.' It was silly. I was bouncing checks when I got my first $1 million check!" Manilow never felt talented or sexy enough to warrant the adulation coming his way, so he'd mentally pump himself up an hour before each concert until he thought he was sexy. Equally insecure about his performing skills, he got a choreographer to block out movements and took acting lessons to learn how to interpret songs like a method actor. That gave him the on-stage confidence to be able to let go and focus on his audience. "I break the fourth wall," he said. "If I can't connect with the third row, then I think I haven't done my job. I have to make them feel as if I'm talking to each one of them. And that's the scary part for any (artist). Most people don't want to do that. They'd much rather put the fourth wall back and do their job. I have to communicate with them." Manilow's career has had its ups and downs, but he usually comes out of his low periods by reinventing himself — as a jazz musician, a producer for other singers or a creator of different shows such as Broadway musicals, Christmas concerts and unique benefits. "It's interesting," he said. "It seems to be every seven years — for all of us. Every seven years we go through some explosion of some sort — illness or divorce. It's seven years and then it's going down. That's what always happens to me." Today, he's more secure. "I kind of believe in me," he said. "I believe in my music. I even like what I sound like as a vocalist. I don't even blow myself up any more." When he got a headlining gig at the Las Vegas Hilton in 2005 and returned to the top of the album charts with "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties" in 2006, Manilow adjusted to his new star status better than when his career first exploded. "I think I did," he said. "I'm certainly more grounded now than when that explosion hit." What caused his new comfort level with his own skin? "You want to hear a really interesting answer to that?" he asked. "My musicians. They just think I'm a talented guy. I see it in their eyes and that's really important to me. Those are the guys I respect so much. And when they tell me that I'm great, that's it. That's what grounds me." |
| April 4, 2010 | The Desert Sun | "Barry Manilow's new Vegas show offers a touch of the unexpected" by Bruce Fessier |
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| Creative Director Jeffrey Hornaday has staged tours for Paul McCartney, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie and the Backstreet Boys. But he said working on Barry Manilow's new show at the Paris Las Vegas has exceeded all of those other experiences. "For me, this has been the most challenging and absolutely the most creatively satisfying (work)," he said in a back stage room at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. "The thing for me (is), you never get an artist to this degree of involvement. Usually, you have meetings up front, you go away and you come up with your concepts and integrate with the artist. With Barry, literally every step of the way, it has his full attention." Manilow hired Hornaday to help him conceive this show just three months ago. He only signed a contract to perform 78 shows a year at the Paris in November and he said he had no idea what he wanted to do. He'd been at the Las Vegas Hilton for five years and had been happy. But the Hilton was off the Las Vegas Strip and the Paris' production partner is AEG Live, which produces the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and shows at the Staples Center. "The Paris made us an offer," Manilow said. "It wasn't so much the money, although I'm sure the money was good. It was moving from the other side of the monorail to the strip (and) the opportunity to start anew. That was exciting." The Paris Theatre was designed to support traditional theater. It presented "The Producers" and "We Will Rock You" until Paris Las Vegas officials discovered Broadway shows are "not the most successful in Las Vegas." President Marilyn Winn said they recruited Manilow because his fans fit the demographics of their Harrah's Total Rewards Customers, who average 50 years of age. They tend to skew female, but Winn knew women would bring men to the 11-year-old Paris-themed casino. "You'll find the female is more firm about 'who I want to see,'" she said. "And many guys are happy to please their wives and girlfriends." The Paris ordered a state-of-the-art sound and lighting system after inking its deal with Manilow. It wasn't installed until February, so Manilow designed the show off site, with some tests being done at The Show at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage. Manilow said the theater's design inspired him. "It looks like a Schubert Theatre in New York," he said. "It turned me on. I didn't have one idea of what I would do, but I liked this place. So I started to hire people who could help me put together something I've never done. Top of the line was this man named Jeffrey Hornaday." Hornaday, a former acting student who launched his career choreographing the film "Flashdance," also choreographed the film, "A Chorus Line." Manilow had accompanied Donna McKechnie in Broadway rehearsals for "A Chorus Line," so there was a synergy between the two men. Manilow calls him, "the most inventive person I've ever worked with." They began creating the show by "talking intuitively. "He's very much like a method actor in that everything has to be very, very rooted in an internal grounding," said Hornaday. "It's never, 'Oh, we could do these great things with this or that.' It's always about, what is the song about? What is the music trying to convey and, almost more importantly, Barry saying, 'Who am I in this song?'" Hornaday said he'd wonder what Manilow was doing when he'd see him walking around a rehearsal hall. "He was just trying to internally find what the lyric was, who he's talking to in the song," he said. "That kind of generates out into everything — into staging, into scenic concepts, video design. Because, when you have these kind of capabilities, there's a tendency to be like a kid in a toy store. You want to just play with everything all the time. After we went through the euphoria of the creative blast on the concept of a number, we'd always force ourselves to step back and say, 'OK, do these elements really serve the emotional content of what he's wanting to do?'" When they began production rehearsals on a sound stage, Hornaday began planning the staging and choreography with Manilow, a pianist and a drummer. "We had talked about what the intent was, but we held off on coming up with anything until we got on the boards," he said. "To have your artist be your arranger is really, really rare." What they came up with is what Hornaday calls "a hybrid of theater and a music show." Manilow says it may be a milestone show for him. "At this point, I could have just gotten up with a band behind me (like) Sinatra," he said. "That did cross my mind. But I decided I would take it all the way. Blow it up. Have a good time. Give the audience something they don't expect. They will not expect this format." |
| April 1, 2010 | The Desert Sun | "Manilow creates really big show in Vegas" by Bruce Fessier |
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| Barry Manilow's show at the 1,500-seat Paris Las Vegas theater proves bigger can be better — if you already have a bigger-than-life persona. At the Paris, Manilow makes optimum use of his unique best-selling-adult-contemporary-artist-of-all-time persona. A former rehearsal pianist and acting student, he's able to use all of his theatrical skills now that he's in a legitimate theater instead of the Las Vegas Hilton showroom he played for five years. The new show continues to be autobiographical, but it also has themes of romance, love and art to tie in to the themes of the Paris Hotel. It opens with a recording of Edith Piaf singing "La Vie En Rose" with framed images of French art dangling from the ceiling. Manilow makes his entrance with arms outstretched to fanfare from "Could It Be Magic," as if to acknowledge his bigger-than-life images on the Vegas billboards. The band, featuring two drums, three keyboards and a horn section, roars behind him on the Paris' state-of-the-art sound system, and Manilow reacts like Elvis Presley making an entrance to "2001: Also Sprach Zarathustra." He's clearly having fun with his image. The first third of the show is like a warm-up to the main event. There are hits like "Somewhere In the Night," "Can't Smile Without You" and a solo piano version of "Weekend In New England," but Manilow eschews staples such as "I Made It Through the Rain," "Daybreak" and "Looks Like We Made It," as if to say this is a brand new day. The autobiographical main act begins with Manilow talking to the audience about being raised in Brooklyn by his grandparents and divorced mom. When he sings "I Am Your Child" with images of Brooklyn hanging from the rafters, it's as if to say he's as much a product of his environment as his DNA. Manilow has told the story of how his grandfather took him to a make-your-own record store when he was 4 years old, but he now dramatizes that by playing the perfectly pitched recording he made of "Nature Boy." He then sings it live and follows with "This One's For You" to thank his grandfather for encouraging his musical pursuit. Manilow became a successful jingles composer in New York in the 1960s, but, instead of doing a segment on his advertising hits, as he did at the Hilton, he showcases his love of New York jazz with a Lester Young-like saxophonist providing a lead-in to his "New York City Rhythms." That transitions nicely to his romantic material from his "Greatest Love Songs Of All Time" CD, starting with the Gershwin classic, "Our Love Is Here To Stay." Manilow's best vocals are on his own "Even Now." He gives it a powerful modulation, but keeps it honest by interpreting it like a method actor reliving an emotional memory. He reprises his "American Bandstand" segment with video of the '60s dance crazes as the band performs the R&B classic, "Land Of A Thousand Dances." Manilow plays it as an outsider, as if to goof on his limited dance skills. But this just highlights one of the show's weaknesses. In an era of dance spectaculars by the likes of Lady Gaga and Beyonce, Manilow's backup singers should be able to step up and really dance. Manilow expertly takes his show from the past to present with video of his appearance on "The Midnight Special" singing his first hit, "Mandy." It was a staple of the Hilton show when he sang a duet with his younger self, and it's a highlight of this show, too. It's also the start of a buildup to a big finish. He goes into the fanfare from his second pop No. 1 hit, "I Write the Songs," and draws the show to a climax with a big production of "Copacabana" (symbolically relocated from New York to Paris with hanging pictures of French art). The show is a fast-paced 90 minutes and, for a top ticket of more than $200, you may wonder if that's long enough. But the show is pure Vegas in its leanest form. Even opening night critics who wouldn't admit to being Manilow fans praised the production. It's the best Manilow show I've seen since his intimate 1999 concert at the Annenberg Theater in Palm Springs with philosopher Bill Edelen. But this show is both intimate and grandiose. |
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