The World of Manilow

Imagine if you will, minding your own business, walking along a public street and out of nowhere someone jumps out with a camera and snaps multiple photos of you.

Imagine you're walking on a beach with your dogs and someone takes a photograph of you from thousands of yards away with a telephoto lens.

Imagine walking in downtown Toronto and having a discussion with your friends and someone across the street snaps a photograph of that conversation.

Imagine going out to dinner with friends and being greeted by hundreds of cameras as you exit the restaurant, snapping pictures as you leave and firing off questions.

Now...imagine having those photographs posted all over the internet with captions that didn't necessarily pertain to the photos, but were the photographer's interpretation of what was happening, even without speaking to you.

Next...imagine your fans, discussing and theorizing about those photos and captions without any personal knowledge of you or what your life is truly about off the stage.

Finally...imagine those same fans following your every move (outside of the venue where you give of yourself and your music for their enjoyment) and ask for even more from you time after time after time when you're just trying to enjoy an evening after the show with your friends.

Such is the world of Manilow. I know that a celebrity, by definition, must accept this type of scrutiny. But it must be hard to wake up every morning, knowing that at some point, someone will invade your space and make you wish you weren't so famous. Especially when all you ever wanted to do was make music.

Heavy sigh,
Texas Fan