Christmas is just around the corner....

...and so are some exciting happenings in the Manilow world!

1-An upcoming special announcement on December 1st, LIVE on the Today Show.
2-A hotline coming out on Wednesday (who knows what that will include)
3-The "Gift of Love" concerts in Palm Springs for charity.
4-The Chicago concerts with a 56 piece orchestra and Christmas music.
5-A new venue with a brand new show.

It's a GREAT time to be a Manilow fan...and the MOST WONDERFUL time of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving and may all of God's blessings be on you and the ones you love,
Texas Fan

Mercer and Manilow

As I listened to an evening with Mercer tonight, it had a profound affect on me. It clarified the different types of listening styles and audiences that music falls upon. My husband has a wide and varied music collection. But he couldn't tell you one word of one song. All he hears is the music. He never goes deep enough into a song to hear what it is really communicating. My son, on the other hand, whose music taste is what I consider to be all-encompassing, listens to both the lyrics and the music, finding joy and appreciation in all genres.

The music I heard today brought me back to the reason I fell in love with Manilow in the beginning. It takes an amazing talent to take lyrics and bring them to life with the music. Barry has always known a great lyric and what to do with it. Words are poetry, but add music to them and they take on a life of their own. And then add the musical interpretation to the song and you get the full affect of the marriage between the lyrics and the music. Barry is the best at marrying the two together and providing those heart-pulling, emotion-moving, and gut-wrenching performances.

When the smoke clears and the accolades have come and gone, you can turn on your Ipod or crank up your stereo and be transported to any number of places and emotions through the genius of Manilow. And when that song is "When October Goes" it's the best and most perfect marriage between lyrics, music and performance you'll ever hear. That, my friends, will always be his legacy. And there is nothing or no one that can ever take that away.

His musical genius will live forever,
Texas Fan

P.S. It was a GREAT program with some true insight into the life of Johnny Mercer. You can catch the replay at Manilow and Mercer

This is Our Time

Today on my daily bike ride, I had my MP3 player on shuffle--yes, I'm the ONLY person left that doesn't have an Ipod! Anyway, one of the songs was "This is Our Time" from Harmony. I am absolutely in love with those songs. The message of the entire catalog is perseverance in the midst of trials with music being at the core of their common bond.

I got to thinking...we live in trying times. There's no arguing, no matter where you stand politically, that it's been a "lousy year of lousy news". Most recently, the horrible massacre at Ft. Hood. I don't know about you, but I will never understand the rationale behind the hatred that makes someone kill so many people to make some sort of personal or political statement. Something on that scale leaves all of us feeling helpless; but it also draws us together. When tragedy happens, we all pull in close and seek comfort in sharing that common grief.

I also asked myself: Is this "our time"? Are we standing at a crossroad with the times we have "inherited" and are we just going to "roll over and die" or are we going to "rise above it all"? The sad fact is that everyone has an opinion but nobody wants to listen. I've seen this happen first hand personally and socially.

What's the key? Living and working together. It sounds simple but it is so incredibly hard. Add to this, the willingness that we all have to pigeon hole people into the place we feel they belong: Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, Christian, Jew, gay, straight, rich, and poor. Does it really matter? When it comes down to basics we are all created equal. We may have different views, morals and lifestyles but we are all equal in God's eyes (and if that labels me, so be it!)

If this really is "our time", (and I'd like to think it is), we should stop pointing fingers and start grabbing hands. We should be encouraged and inspired by these words from the song:

Help it happen
Draw the plan
You can't do it
Nor can I
But...
WE CAN!

Together, we can "rise above it all".
Texas Fan