Paradise Cafe Weekend

This past weekend I was NOT in Vegas. And while I was at least away from home and occupied, I kept telling myself...there's no place like Vegas...there's no place like Vegas...there's no place like Vegas. Especially this past weekend, with the Mayflower shows and all the wonderful music. I can't think of any place I'd rather be (ok...honestly...I can) but Vegas would definitely be in the top 10.

After checking online several times to read about the convention and finding very little; and not knowing a single soul that was there at the shows, I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Where were the updates, the posts, the reports? Where were all the excited posts about the convention events and the special moments at the shows? I stopped checking on Sunday and immersed myself in my own little "non-Manilow" world. But as usual, that didn't last very long.

I was at the mall, and believe it or not, I heard "When October Goes" over the musak system. I was at a baseball game and the people behind me were talking about "Can't Smile Without You", a song that was the group sing during American Idol auditions a few years ago. I was eating dinner at a food court and looked up and saw, of all things, Paradise Bakery and Cafe. It matched my melancholy mood perfectly. And yesterday I was driving across town and heard "Turn the Radio Up" on a local radio station.

There is nothing like missing those Manilow moments. And when those who are blessed to be there don't share them with the rest of us, it makes it even more difficult. As another blogger said, it makes all of us long for the "good ole days" in the Manilow world. Heck, for me, the good ole days only go as far back as 2005. But boy...were things different back then.

Still in a Paradise Cafe mood,
Texas Fan

An Email Conversation

This morning I received this email from my 27 year old daughter:

Just an fyi little tidbit...

I think one of my new favorite songs is "When October Goes". And I would be willing to bet that is your least favorite. :) We tend to disagree the majority of the time on song choices.

I almost fell out of my chair! First of all I had no idea she was listening to Manilow music. I hoped, I prayed, I wished she was since our mutual concert experience in Dallas. But to find out she was actually listening...

She has no idea I have been listening to that album for a week now. Or that I adore that song. Or that I have just blogged about all the fun little twists that I have found while listening. So, being the great Mother that I am and the awesome Manilow Fan that I am, I respond to her email:

OMG Jillian..that song is from my new fav album of his..Paradise Café...I LOVE that song so much. I should make you a copy of that album. I didn't even know you had that song.

Her next email proved to me the most shocking of all:

The whole album is on my ipod

I guess I had made a huge error in judgment regarding her musical taste. This from a girl who listens to Ashlee Simpson, Hillary Duff, Aerosmith, George Strait and Matchbox 20. Well, go figure. Not only did she have the song, she has the album on her Ipod. Now this is a surprise to me because I took her numerous cd's the last time I visited her but I fully expected them to get stuffed in a drawer somewhere and never uploaded. Hell had to have frozen over! I could not let this be the final correspondence. So I replied:

Cool. I didn't know I gave you that one. If you listen to it all the way thru there are some really cool things about it. He puts those little things into his music when he arranges. That's really where his talent is.

My favorite song on there is Night Song, the last one. The lyrics to When October Goes were written by Johnny Mercer and his widow gave Barry all his unpublished lyrics when he died. Then Barry wrote the music to the song.

Well...I had to fill her in on the details. Maybe now she'll appreciate the music just a little more and listen more carefully. Or maybe she just found a gem on that album and that one song spoke to her. Either way, I'm happy to report that yet another "youngster" has been influenced by the man and his music.

It's a great day in the Manilow world!
Texas Fan

All night long...at the Paradise Cafe

I wish I understood music. I mean REALLY understood it. I love it. I like to sing. I enjoy listening to all the nuances of each song. The musical instruments. The lyrics. The hidden things Barry slides into some of the songs just for fun. I enjoy listening to songs I've heard over and over again and finding hidden gems in them. Sometimes I wonder if he does this just to see if we are listening.

I've been listening to 2:00AM Paradise Cafe all week long. It's been rather comforting to focus on the songs. It's definitely kept my mind off of the sadness that has been my constant companion these past few days. Tonight I was listening to it again while I was catching up on some work and I noticed something. Now I could be wrong, and if I am, I stand corrected. But if you listen to the first song, Paradise Cafe, a few bars into the introduction, right after the saxophone intro, the notes seem remarkably similar to the last song on the album, Night Song. And then, exactly halfway thru the songs the intro to What Am I Doin' Here has the same notes as the melody to Paradise Cafe.

If that truly is the case...what genius. To tie the first and the last song together like that. And then halfway thru remind us of the beginning. It's like taking us on a journey and it has to have an affect on our listening and tying all the songs together in our minds.

I'd love to hear from you 2:00AM Paradise Cafe aficionados. Those of you who love this album and perhaps have listened to it endlessly and have come to love it as much as I have.

Truly amazed,
Texas Fan

Paradise Cafe

Here's a "food for thought" discussion for you: The Paradise Cafe photo. In "The Making of 2:00AM Paradise Cafe", Barry says he was extremely adamant about the look of this photo and spent quite a bit of time setting the photo shoot up; he focused on every detail all the way down to the rose in his lapel.

What does this photo tell us about Barry? The obvious would be that he's a perfectionist. Everything about it is perfect: the clothes, his hair, the Paradise Cafe sign in the background, and the look on his face.

And what about that look? I don't think I've ever seen a more "content" Barry than in this photograph. His dream album had become a reality. He had gotten to work with his idols in the jazz community. They were the reason he got into music in the first place. The album was an original composition, allowing him to be creative and focus on the arranging of all the songs.

This photo pretty much tells us how he felt about this album.

Today seems like a 2:00AM Paradise Cafe day.
Listen!
Texas Fan