- New to DVD: "The Divine Bette Midler" - This 90-minute biography follows Bette from her childhood in Hawaii through to her Kiss My Brass tour, and features Bette and those closest to her. Highlights include Barry Manilow's discussion of his musical start as her piano player in the New York bath house shows and her Emmy-winning performance of Sinatra's "One for My Baby" on Johnny Carson's penultimate show. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/30/2005)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05181/530513.stm
- Foxx for Copacabana? - According to Sky News, Barry Manilow is planning a film version of his overplayed hit "Copacabana" and wants Oscar Winner Jamie Foxx to headline it. Foxx would play hapless dreamer and secret musical star Tony Parker - if he gets time. Says Manilow, "The whole concept is ready to go, but as yet Jamie is tied up with Miami Vice. But with him on board we have a smash hit film." Okay, all together now..."Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there She would merengue and do the cha-cha And while she tried to be a star, Tony always tended bar Across a crowded floor, they worked from 8 till..." (Moviehole.net, 6/30/2005)
http://www.moviehole.net/news/5863.html
- America West Vacations and VEGAS.com Pair Up to Offer Tickets to Some of Las Vegas' Hottest Events - America West Vacations is pleased to offer travelers tickets to some of the most popular shows in Las Vegas through a new partnership with VEGAS.com. Customers can now conveniently book tickets to their choice of 23 shows, including Celine Dion's "A New Day," Barry Manilow's "Music and Passion," and the Broadway musical "Mamma Mia," through the America West Vacations Web site at www.americawestvacations.com. (Press Release - Source: America West Airlines, 5/27/2005)
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050527/laf010.html?.v=12
http://www.americawestvacations.com
- The electronic, acid jazz genius of NYC's "Tortured Soul" will make their exclusive Detroit area appearance this year in Downtown Royal Oak (Michigan) on Saturday, June 18 as headliners of the 11th Annual Clay & Glass Taste of Royal Oak Festival on Washington Avenue. Barry Manilow says "Tortured Soul are breaking some rules and keeping me, as a musician, interested." (Yahoo! Finance Press Release, 5/25/2005)
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050525/nyw062.html?.v=11
- Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, published by Guinness World Records unveiled their annual list of the Top 100 Most Successful Acts of all Time today. Representing more than 50 years of chart music from 1952 to the present day, it produced what it claims to be the most definitive list of its kind. The list is based on the total number of weeks each contender has spent on the official UK Singles and Albums charts. The list shows the staying power and endurance of consistently successful acts [including] #82, BARRY MANILOW... (Times Online (London) , 5/18/2005)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-1617821,00.html
- Copacabana Bass Line - "Tears of a Clown," "Ball of Confusion," "Touch Me in the Morning," "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," "War," "Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)." If you know any of these songs, then you are familiar with Bob Babbitt's work. Not by name, probably. By the sound. Babbitt played the distinctive bass lines on all of those classic Motown hits, as well as on The Capitols' "Cool Jerk," Freda Payne's "Band of Gold," Jim Croce's "I Got a Name," Gladys Knight & The Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia," The Spinners' "Rubberband Man" and even Barry Manilow's "Copacabana." Babbitt will be joined in Washington Park on Saturday afternoon (May 7, 4:30 p.m., Albany, New York) by old friends Uriel Jones and Eddie "Chank" Willis of the Funk Brothers as they headline the annual Tulip Festival. The Funk Brothers is the collective name given to the musicians who made the Motown sound from 1959 to 1971. (Times Union (Albany), 5/5/2005)
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=357573
- Pittsburgh East Musical Season wraps up with "Copacabana" - Penn Hills High School (Pittsburgh, PA) starts to rumba tomorrow when Barry Manilow's "Copacabana" makes its debut. Manilow crafted the show from his 1978 single about Lola, the show girl; Tony, the bartender; and Rico, the ... whatever Rico is. The action takes place in New York and Havana and, before it's all over, things gets hot. "Copacabana" will be presented at 8 p.m. tomorrow (April 29), Saturday (April 30) and May 6 and 7 at Penn Hills High School, 12200 Garland Drive. Tickets are $7 and $10. Call 412-793-7000, ext. 207 or 302. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/28/2005)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05118/495268.stm
- The Walton Playhouse hosts a production of the musical Copacabana ... beginning Monday (April 25). Performed by Walton & Weybridge Amateur Operatic Society, the show will run until the following Saturday (April 30). It is set in the swinging nightclub era of the 1940s and features such songs as "I Gotta Be Bad," "Ay Caramba!" and, of course, "Copacabana." The musical was written by Barry Manilow and was a huge hit in the West End and on Broadway. It is a tale of love and romance, set against a backdrop of imaginative sets and dazzling costumes. The show's director, Jenny Eaton, believes that audiences are in for a treat. "The music is fabulous and very uplifting. There's a lot of dancing, too. It will have people leaving the show singing the songs and wanting to dance. Audiences will feel as if they are actually at the Copacabana. Some of the tables have been set out like they are part of the club, so people will feel really involved." The society chose Copacabana, she said, so it could attract some more youthful performers, and the result has been a number of new members joining the cast. For ticket information, call the box office at 01483 770130 (The Playhouse, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, UK). (Hersham News & Mail, 4/21/2005)
http://www.hershamonline.co.uk/entertainment/article/article_id=6357.html
http://www.wwaos.org.uk/copacabana.html
- Northgate High School Proudly Presents Barry Manilows COPACABANA - Karen Klicker, director of Northgate High School's "Copacabana," is proud of her cast of 40 performers, but they aren't the only students she credits with getting the show in tiptop shape for Friday's opening. The entire show is a student production ... "Copacabana" is Barry Manilow's stage version of his 1978 hit pop song about a singer named Lola; her lover, Tony; and a guy named Rico, about whom the song tells us little except that "he wore a diamond." Klicker said the show has something for everyone. "It's a tribute to the MGM Technicolor musicals [of the '30s and '40s]," she said. "There is swing music, there is a great tap number, some beautiful ballads and some big production numbers." While the title song is both the opening number and the finale, Klicker declined to give away the show's ending or say whether it is the same as the ending of the song, in which Lola sits alone years later, still wearing the same dancer's outfit and drinking herself "half blind" because "she lost her youth and she lost her Tony. Now she's lost her mind." On Friday (April 22) and Saturday (April 23), [Northgate High School] could be, as the song says, "the hottest spot north of Havana." Visit "http://www.northgate.k12.pa.us/copacabana.htm" for ticket information or call 412-734-8002 (Northgate Junior/Senior High School, Pittsburgh, PA) (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/20/2005).
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05110/490747.stm
http://www.northgate.k12.pa.us/copacabana.htm
- 18th annual Linda Convention - Linda Hall of Lexington is this year's "Linda Coordinator." She admits she was roped into the job by the "founding Lindas." In a recent phone conversation, Linda reflected on her task and on what it's like to be a Linda. What's your favorite Linda song? "The Linda Song" by Barry Manilow. It's a very little known song. I have it here! It has a verse that goes: And he never wrote a song for Linda; And she was right there all along; The one real thing in his crazy world; And he never wrote a Linda song.; When the bills piled up; He couldn't pay; He couldn't dream no more; So he hitched a ride and he rode away; And he left a note for Linda by the door; By the door..." Sounds like it's sometimes tough being a Linda! (St. Petersburg Times Floridian, 4/14/2005)
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/14/Floridian/Yes__Linda__we_re_tal.shtml
- Sure Bette - Bette Midler's back on the road with her Kiss My Brass tour (Melbourne, Australia). Bette first rose to prominence in the early 1970s via her appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson ... She maintained feuds with almost every major person in her life. But 21st century Midler is much less confrontational than her previous incarnations. Take her most recent CD, a tribute to recently departed singer Rosemary Clooney ... It marks the touching end to a 30-year cold war between Midler and her former musical svengali, Barry Manilow, and the first time they have worked together since an acrimonious parting of the ways in 1973.
The two met at a piano bar in 1970, where Midler was singing for tips and Manilow was filling in for an AWOL pianist. Midler had just finished three unfulfilling years on Broadway as one of the daughters in Fiddler On The Roof, and Manilow was still looking for his big musical break. For the next few years they had a fractious but artistically satisfying working relationship, with Manilow first her accompanist, then her musical director and eventually the co-producer of her first two albums. The reason for their split is something even Midler isn't sure she remembers properly. "He was my musical director for a couple of years, and then we went on the road together and something happened. I needed him to stay with me and he decided to go out on his own. He said (recently) that if I had either paid him more money or done this or done that he would have stayed, and at the time I didn't know that. I felt that he left under not auspicious circumstances but he had great success. I had my share of success too, so I don't begrudge anybody anything, but you know how it is. It's like a spurned lover in a way, it's like a break-up. But fortunately we got over it." Manilow called Midler shortly after Clooney died from lung cancer in 2002 and asked her to make this album with him. Midler was surprised and thrilled. "He'd been out of my life for a long time, and I thought he was so mad at me the last time we spoke. But he called me up and wanted to do a project with me. I thought 'Oh my goodness, my life is going to start again'. He's a consummate musician and he's got good taste and good ears, especially for my stuff - and he's a lot of fun. I don't know what people think of him, but I know him as very funny, a really hilarious guy." (The Age - Melbourne, 4/10/2005)
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Music/Sure-Bette/2005/04/07/1112815672499.html?
oneclick=true
- Senath-Hornersville High School will be performing Barry Manilow's "Copacabana." - (Senath, Missouri) "Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl, with yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there. She would merengue and do the cha-cha. And while she tried to be a star, Tony always tended bar. Across a crowded floor, they worked from 8 till 4. They were young and they had each other, who could ask for more? At the Copa, Copacabana!!!!!" was sung by Barry Manilow about a hot New York night club. "We have worked really hard on this play," director Susan Hamrick said. "We hope that everyone will take time to come out and see the kids' performance." The performance is scheduled for April 7-9 (Thursday-Saturday), beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 in advance and $6 at the door. For advance ticket information, call (573)-738-2515 and (573)-738-2661, or (573)-738-31841. (The Daily Dunklin Democrat, 4/6/2005)
http://www.dddnews.com/story/1093420.html
- Manilow tunes get new life on stage - Name this tune! Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl, with yellow ribbons in her hair and a dress cut down to there ... If you guessed Barry Manilow's "Copacabana," give yourself a pat on the back. And if you knew that Manilow took that 1978 pop hit and turned it into a full-fledged musical with lyrics by Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman, award yourself a few more points. That adaptation of the story-song with the merengue beat will be onstage at Hopewell Area High School this weekend. "Copacabana," Director Celeste Beley said, "is a really fun musical that has a big enough cast" to give a lot of talented young performers a chance to shine. The story starts when an aspiring songwriter imagines Lola as one of the multitude of small-town dreamers who come to New York to make a splash on the stage. Along the way, she encounters Tony, her true love, and Rico, the gangster with his own ideas about Lola's talent ... The action takes place between 1947 and the present. "It tells the story of the song," the director related without giving a hint if, in the end, Lola "lost her lover, now she's lost her mind," as she did in the song. Beley did reveal that the show runs the typical gamut of musical theater emotion. "Part of it is funny and part is a serious love story," she said. 'Copacabana'. Where: Hopewell Area High School, 1215 Longvue Ave. When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday (April 8-9); 2:30 p.m. Sunday (April 10). Tickets: $7; 724-378-8565. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/6/2005)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05096/483308.stm
- One Voice: The Music of Barry Manilow - Caballeros, a non-profit community choir of 69 voices, opened a three-day, four performance run of music by the Palm Springs resident, "One Voice: The Music of Barry Manilow," Thursday at the Palm Springs Desert Museum's Annenberg Theater (Palm Springs, CA). The concert portion of the two-part program also is a critical success of historic proportions. The first-half features some of Manilow's best compositions. The all-original arrangements reveal the depth of Manilow's music and its conduciveness to new interpretations. "Could It Be Magic" and "New York [City Rhythm]" contain surprises that would please a Manilow fan and entice new fans. The multiple harmonies in "New York" give the song power and diversity reflecting the rhythms of New York City. Arrangement of "Daybreak" takes the song apart like a songwriter turning a great poem into a lyric, repeating verses for emphasis and building its power without having to rely upon the triumphant key changes that are Manilow's trademark. "When October Goes" and "Give My Regards to Broadway," the George M. Cohan standard for which Manilow and Bruce Sussman wrote new music and lyrics, are other favorites. The program's second half [is] a condensed dramatization of the stage production of Manilow's made-for-TV movie, "Copacabana." Artistic Director Alan Scott has created a treasure chest with these original arrangements of Manilow music. (The Desert Sun, 4/9/2005)
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050409/LIFESTYLES0101/504090301/1050
- Love Our Children USA announced that the second annual National Love Our Children Day celebrates America's children on Saturday, April 2, 2005, and is recognized with a proclamation from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. National Love Our Children Day is like Mother's and Father's Day for children and will be celebrated annually across the U.S. To honor children and raise money for programs to protect them, Love Our Children USA is holding a private online DREAM AUCTION from April 1-22 at www.loveourchildrenusa.cmarket.com. The online auction offers items from the entertainment and sports industry's elite including ... Two Tickets to BARRY MANILOW hit show 'MANILOW - Music and Passion' in Las Vegas. "Includes Barry Manilow merchandise gift bag with MANILOW music and passion book, T-shirt, baseball cap, MANILOW Scores CD with 13 newly recorded songs and special edition 2 DVD set Ultimate Manilow! Air and hotel not included."
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prwebxml220224.php
http://www.loveourchildrenusa.cmarket.com
http://www.loveourchildrenusa.org/
http://www.cmarket.com/catalog/itemDetail.do?ID=f5df190391ca360123149395d2fa17a2
&cate=null&sortby=null
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