- Clay Aiken calls Carmel's Palladium 'incredible' - After singer-songwriter Clay Aiken's sound check in Carmel's Palladium on Saturday afternoon, the "American Idol" alum had nothing but good things to say about the venue and his reason for stopping there. Aiken, who was in town to perform Barry Manilow's hit "Even Now" during the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame gala, described the acoustics in the Carmel concert hall as "incredible." About 1,000 attended the gala show, which was set around the inaugural class of artists (Manilow, Cole Porter and Oscar-winning songwriting duo Alan and Marilyn Bergman) who were inducted into the Hall of Fame for their contributions to the songbook -- popular music from Broadway and Hollywood musicals prevalent from the 1920s to the 1960s. As for Saturday's show, Aiken, who is well-known for his performances on "American Idol" and recently appeared on "Celebrity Apprentice," said he was honored to be asked to sing one of Manilow's tunes, especially since he has regularly been compared to the elder crooner. "I've had comparisons drawn to him for years, and I've always said, 'If I can have a career that lasts a third as long as Barry's career has lasted, I'll be happy,' " said Aiken, who added that he had Manilow's hairstyle for a while, too. Manilow, who performed three songs himself, including his smash "Copacabana," on Saturday, was flattered. "He's a wonderful singer," said Manilow, who jokingly added that in 30 years, Aiken would look like him. (The Indy Star, 6/19/2012)
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120619/NEWS07/206190326/
- Manlius High School teen wins national singing competition - Fayetteville-Manlius High School sophomore Nick Ziobro won the Great American Songbook Vocal Academy & Competition Friday night in Carmel, Ind. Ziobro, 15, was one of 10 finalists participating in the only competition in the country based solely on music from Broadway, Hollywood musicals and the Tin Pan Alley era of the early to mid-20th century. "I’m numb right now," said Ziobro by phone about a half hour after learning he had won. "The competition was fierce. Everyone was so incredibly talented. Honestly, I was absolutely shocked when they named me the winner." Friday night, Ziobro and the finalists sang a group number with Michael Feinstein and Sandi Patty before he gave his solo performance in the competition. He sang "All of Me" and "Here’s That Rainy Day," by the late composer and Syracuse native Jimmy Van Heusen. For winning first place, Ziobro earned $3,000 and a trip to sing in New York City with Feinstein. Tonight, he will perform with Barry Manilow, who is being inducted in the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame with Cole Porter and Alan and Marilyn Bergman. (Syracuse.com, 6/15/2012)
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/
manlius_teen_wins_national_sin.html
- Broadway stars join Encore Celebration - Three stars of Broadway and pop music – plus a celebrity DJ – have joined the entertainment lineup for the Encore Celebration presented by Krieg DeVault. The June 16 event benefits the Center for the Performing Arts and serves as the first annual Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. Michael Feinstein, the Center’s artistic director, will be joined by Clay Aiken in a tribute to Barry Manilow, with Lari White singing hits by Marilyn and Alan Bergman, and Andrea McArdle performing Cole Porter tunes. Together, the vocalists will honor the inductees’ musical contributions to the Great American Songbook. Barry Manilow, Cole Porter and the songwriting duo of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (creators of Barbra Streisand’s greatest movie scores including The Way We Were and Yentl) are the inaugural class of the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. (Center for the Performing Arts, 5/16/2012)
http://www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/About-Us/news/
Broadway-stars-join-Encore-Celebration-presented-b.aspx
- Songbook Hall of Fame launches June 16: Encore Celebration presented by Krieg DeVault includes performance by Barry Manilow - The Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative will unveil its Hall of Fame on June 16 at the Encore Celebration presented by Krieg DeVault. The Hall of Fame is conceived as an enduring testament to the Great American Songbook’s artistic contributors. These artists represent the lyricists, composers and performers responsible for creating America’s soundtrack. "We are planning a festive, star-studded gala," said Michael Feinstein, the Initiative’s founder and noted American Songbook ambassador. "The Hall of Fame will introduce an exciting new era for honoring our country’s most notable songwriters and artists. I look forward to sharing their music and celebrating their contributions." The Encore Celebration presented by Krieg DeVault will feature Feinstein as he honors the musical contributions of Barry Manilow, Cole Porter and the songwriting duo of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (creators of some of Barbara Streisand’s greatest movie scores including The Way We Were and Yentl). During the ceremony, Manilow will sing one of his iconic songs. Plus, Manilow and the Bergmans will accept their Hall of Fame awards in person on the Palladium stage, with members of the Porter family accepting on behalf of Cole Porter. "The Hall of Fame will elevate the Great American Songbook, much like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame have done for their respective musical genres," said Karen Witt Kelsey, interim director of the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative. "The Great American Songbook Hall of Fame will induct new members annually. The Palladium concert hall in Carmel, Indiana serves as the official home of the Initiative and the Hall of Fame. We are looking forward to sharing the Songbook with guests from around the country." The inaugural Hall of Fame inductees were chosen by the Initiative’s board of directors. Hall of Fame awards will be displayed in the south lobby on the gallery level of the Palladium concert hall. Plans exist for the construction of the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame Museum and Archive on the campus of the Carmel, Indiana-based Center for the Performing Arts. (Center for the Performing Arts, 4/4/2012)
http://www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/About-Us/
mediacenter/Songbook-Hall-Of-Fame.aspx
- Restaurants offer 'Savor the Songbook' menu - Carmel restaurants have joined in a Savor the Songbook food-themed campaign to raise awareness of popular American songs. The event leads up to the June 16 Encore Celebration Gala at the Center for the Performing Arts. The restaurants [have] created a specialty menu item, inspired by musical contributions of Great American Songbook Hall of Fame inductees Cole Porter, Barry Manilow and the songwriting duo of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (creators of Barbra Streisand's greatest movie scores including "The Way We Were" and "Yentl"). The specialty items will be sold at the restaurants through June 16. The songwriters' biographical information will be displayed alongside the creations. A look at the menu items ... Straw-Barry Manilow: The Flying Cupcake, 831 S. Range Line Road -- honoring Barry Manilow with a strawberry cupcake made with fresh strawberries and topped with a chocolate sour-cream icing ... This Duck's For You and Could It Be Maker's: Grille 39 at The Renaissance Indianapolis North Hotel, 11925 N. Meridian St. -- honoring Manilow with a special appetizer, This Duck's For You, which is seven duck wing drumettes tossed in peanut-sweet chili glaze and served with gorgonzola dressing. And Manilow's "Could It Be Magic" becomes Could It Be Maker's, a cocktail combo of oranges, pineapples, raspberries and bing cherries, drenched in Maker's Mark with vanilla and cinnamon. Served on the rocks ... About the Encore Celebration: Michael Feinstein, the center's artistic director, will be joined by Clay Aiken in a tribute to Manilow, with Lari White singing hits by the Bergmans, and Andrea McArdle performing Porter tunes during the June 16 celebration. The vocalists will honor the inductees' musical contributions to the Great American Songbook. They will be the inaugural class of the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. Guests will be greeted with a cocktail reception leading up to the Hall of Fame concert. Dinner will be after the concert. Limited seating is available via advance reservations. For details on table reservations, call Laura Varnau at (317) 819-3521. A table of 10 is $5,000. Corporate tables are $7,500. Individual VIP tickets are $500. Other tickets available for purchase are: concert-only at $200 (includes cocktail reception) and after party-only admission at $100. Call the box office at (317) 843-3800 or www.thecenterpresents.org. (IndyStar, 6/7/2012)
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120607/LOCAL0101/206070328/
Restaurants-offer-Savor-Songbook-menu
- Feinstein to honor legends of American music - You may not know it, but Carmel is home to the Great American Songbook, a collection of music and memorabilia from American musical history. Director Michael Feinstein's goal is not only to preserve the past, but also to make it relevant in the future. Feinstein will tell you that he's not just a performer. He considers himself a student of what he calls great American music - and musicians. "I'm always trying to find way to being consciousness to, awareness to, the Great American Songbook, so we established these awards to perpetuate and continue the music, to bring it to new generations," Feinstein said. To do that, he's adding a hall of fame, with a Hoosier great in the inaugural class. "An obvious choice for the Legend Award seems to be Cole Porter, because he was from Indiana and he was one of the true icons of American popular songs," Feinstein said. Porter wrote dozens of songs influencing stage and screen for decades. He helped keep musicals popular during the mid-1900s, paving the way for other writers, like Alan and Marilyn Bergman, who wrote songs made popular by singers like Diana Ross and Barbra Streisand. The third musician to be honored next month is Barry Manilow, who Feinstein calls an all-around star. "He writes incredible songs that have become standards and he also is an amazing performer and perpetuates his own music and American popular songs," he said. To Feinstein, it is perpetuating those songs that is the point. "I think it really makes a difference in our world and in personal happiness to have something as powerful as music, especially this classic music," he said. The Great American Songbook Hall of Fame dinner and performance is June 16 at The Palladium in Carmel. After that, The Palladium will display the awards in the south lobby of the building. Eventually, they hope to build a Great American Songbook Hall of Fame and Museum on the campus of the Center for the Performing Arts. (WTHR [Indiana], 5/19/2012)
http://www.wthr.com/story/18564191/feinstein-to-honor-legends-of-american-music
- Honoree to sing at Songbook gala - Barry Manilow will be at the Center for the Performing Arts on June 16. Barry Manilow is the featured attraction -- as performer and honoree -- for the inaugural Songbook Hall of Fame gala June 16 at Carmel's Center for the Performing Arts. Michael Feinstein, the center's artistic director and founder of the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative, will salute the musical contributions of Manilow, Cole Porter and the songwriting duo of Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Tickets, $500 each, go on sale Wednesday. Manilow, who landed 11 singles in Billboard magazine's Top 10 from 1974 to 1980, will sing one tune during the ceremony and receive the Hall of Fame's "New Standard" award Porter -- a native of Peru, Ind., known for writing music and lyrics for Broadway hits "Anything Goes" and "Kiss Me, Kate" -- will enter the Hall of Fame in the "Legend" category. Porter died in 1964. The Bergmans, who wrote lyrics for Academy Award-winning songs "The Way We Were" and "The Windmills of Your Mind," will enter the Hall of Fame in the "Songbook" category. Hall of Fame awards will be displayed in the south lobby of the Palladium concert hall. For more information, visit www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.org or call (317) 843-3800. (Indy Star, 4/5/2012)
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120405/LOCAL0101/
204050340/1387/LOCAL
- New Hall of Fame to Induct Porter, Manilow - Michael Feinstein's Great American Songbook Initiative will honor the contributions of musicians with a new Hall of Fame at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel. The inaugural class includes Barry Manilow, Hoosier-native Cole Porter and Alan and Marilyn Bergman. (Inside Indiana Business, 4/4/2012)
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=53028
- They Wrote the Songs that Got Them in the Feinstein Foundation’s Hall of Fame - Pop icon Barry Manilow has written a few songs that could make the whole world sing. In concert, Manilow also sings the songs of The Great American Songbook, making him a favorite of Carmel’s Michael Feinstein Foundation, which is aimed at preserving the popular tunes of Broadway and Hollywood musicals of the 1920s to 1960s. So, it’s fitting that Manilow is among the first group to be inducted into the new Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. Manilow, the Oscar-winning songwriting duo Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and Hoosier Cole Porter make up the 2012 class, announced this week. They will be honored June 16 during The Center for the Performing Arts’ season finale, "Encore Celebration Gala." The fundraising event will feature a cocktail reception and a performance from Feinstein, who will honor the music of inductees. Afterward, there will be a post-concert dinner of gourmet foods and cocktails and also a few after parties in club-like settings on the Center’s campus. The new Songbook Hall of Fame was inspired by visits to Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said Doris Anne Sadler, Executive Director of The Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative. "The Hall of Fame is an ongoing project we expect, over the years, to expand and grow and become a very important part of Indiana culture and be an attraction for all of the country, like the other two Halls of Fame are," she said. As for performances connected to June’s event, plans for the show aren’t set in stone ... The Center is currently accepting table reservations -- a table of 10 is $5,000 and a corporate table is $7,500. For more information and reservations contact Laura Varnau at lvarnau@thecenterfortheperformingarts.org or call 317-819-3521. (IndyStar.com, 2/16/2012)
http://blogs.indystar.com/buzz/2012/02/15/they-wrote-the-songs-
that-got-them-in-the-feinstein-foundations-hall-of-fame/
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