BARRY MANILOW

[Guest happyguy]

Hey Guys,

 

Happy Saturday Night!

 

I am sitting here eating supper late with a great bottle of wine and watching the Barry Manilow Special on CBS. It reminds me of manh things, especially the first time I heard him. He was blasting out of the car radio, while I was making out with a guy I met on University Campus on a Saturday night. It was the night I realized that I was a gay teenager. So often, over the years, I wonder if my life would have changed if I had gone all the way with that guy. There was such feeling.... Now I am almost forty-something ... yet everytime I hear Barry Manilow, I think about how I might have met the love of my life.

 

Y'all probably think I am crazy ... and I certainly am ... but Barry Manilow reminds me of my own innocence ... of a time when everything was indeed possibe ...

 

What do around the forty-something think? Don't worry about hurting me, if you think I am crazy ... just wondered if any of you had these memories too. I enjoy reading all of you.

 

happyguy

[+ deej]

I watched the special too. (In fact I taped it for an escort friend.)

 

I remember dancing to Barry Manilow when I was a young guy struggling with what I was. At the time, I really wasn't sure. But I remember "Mandy" playing when I was making out with a guy for the first time and thinking "OK, this is right".

 

I'm now a 40-something. Wow, what memories! We grew up with Barry. (And Donny Osmond, but that's a different set of memories. ;-))

 

Her name was Lola ... she was with Rico ...

 

Ah, the memories!

[OneFinger]

I was going to watch this but it was on at the same time as a Lawerence Welk rerun. Unfortunately Barry lost and I enjoyed Welk. :+

 

On a serious note, I really think that Manilow's music has been unrated and he's done some wonderful pieces. My favorite is entitled "Sunday Father" and is about a divorced dad visiting his son on the weekends. One of the most powerful songs I've heard.

 

Also have a album that he did of music he wrote for unpublished lyrics by Johnny Mercer. There lyrics were apparently found by his wife long after his death and she commissioned Manliow to write the music. I believe that album came out around 1993 or 1994.

 

Let people make fun of him but I have enjoyed many of his songs. He also puts on a great show. Well worth the money.

[Guest DCeBOY]

at the copa...

 

>I remember dancing to Barry Manilow when I was a young guy

>struggling with what I was.

 

what's wrong with being a young guy???

:7

:+

[Guest DCeBOY]

>but Barry Manilow reminds me of my own innocence ...

...

>just wondered if any

>of you had these memories too.

 

i was never innocent, so i have no such memories.

[OneFinger]

>On a serious note, I really think that Manilow's music has

>been unrated ...

 

Oops, I meant his music was under-rated.

[+ deej]

RE: at the copa...

 

>>I remember dancing to Barry Manilow when I was a young guy

>>struggling with what I was.

>

>what's wrong with being a young guy???

>:7

>:+

 

Nothing at all, of course. I do tend to like young guys. ;-)

 

It was a little more difficult 20 years ago, tho. In fact, it was a LOT more difficult to be a gay boy in a small town in the midwest. It ain't great even today, but I'd like to think the older and wiser of us maybe made it a little easier. A pipe dream, maybe, but we lived it and we're ready to help those coming up behind us.

 

What legacy do YOU plan to leave for the guys who come after you 20 years later? (I'm actually only half kidding asking that.)

[Rick Munroe]

I have the same reaction when I hear the Thompson Twins or Bananarama. Takes me right back to blowing Derek in his parents' 1979 wheat-colored Datsun hatchback. I was such a bad little cocksucker then but Derek's hormones were raging so it didn't matter...anything made him cum and I was in heaven. :9

[Guest Ant415]

<<I was going to watch this but it was on at the same time as a Lawerence Welk rerun. Unfortunately Barry lost and I enjoyed Welk. >>

 

Damm, I really must get cable. I have an old television with only those rabbit ear antennea, thus I do not receive many stations. I can never get the good shows, so I rarely watch tv. Instead I surf the web and post on sites like this.

 

I wonder if there is a Lawerence Welk site with a message center? Perhaps the conferences would be titled

 

The Lennon Sisters

Kugelis from the deli

Lawerence Welk's Travels

 

"ahhh onea, twoa, threea..."

[Guest Thunderbuns]

>Damm, I really must get cable. I have an old television

>with only those rabbit ear antennea, thus I do not receive

>many stations. I can never get the good shows, so I rarely

>watch tv. ]

 

This is a joke, right? Tell me you're not serious - it's 2002 for Gods sake :-)

 

Thunderbuns

[OneFinger]

>Damm, I really must get cable. I have an old television with only those rabbit ear antennea, thus I do not receive many stations. I can never get the good shows...

 

Hey Ant,

 

You're in luck. I don't have cable either and get Lawerence Welk reruns on KBYU, the local PBS station. (See, there are advantages to living in Utah!!)

 

I've run across a few Welk websites but have yet to find a BB. If you come across one, please, let me know.

 

BYW, has Tom Netherton ever come out of his well-decorated closet or is that just wishful thinking on my part? :+

[guyinsf]

If you can believe it, the PBS station in San Francisco, KQED, regularly shows Lawrence Welk (or at least they used to; I haven't checked in the past few months). KQED seldom shows concerts of more "current" acts. Whether this is based on the program manager's preference or whether they did some market study that determined they would get higher ratings with LW, I do not know. The other local PBS station (in San Jose?) has much better programming overall.

 

Ps. I still like Barry Manilow, too. Didn't his new "Ultimate Manilow" disc debut in or near the top 10 on Billboard's album charts? He obviously still has a lot of fans, at least of his old music.