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Manilow's Fanilows: Can't smile without him

6/12/2015

 






























Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist

















Posted:

Wednesday, June 10, 2015, 3:01 AM





MICHAEL Cavacini doesn't look how you'd expect a diehard "Fanilow" to look.

For starters, he's nowhere near middle-age.

He wasn't even born back in the 1970s, when Barry Manilow was in his soft-rock superstar heyday, singing hits such as "Mandy," "Can't Smile without You" and "I Write the Songs."

Still, Cavacini, 27, will be among the throngs of screaming Manilow lovers at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday night, clutching a framed photo of himself with the music luminary, which he hopes to get autographed.

When Manilow opens his One Last Time Tour, it will be Cavacini's sixth time seeing Manilow onstage.

Six times? What guy in his 20s goes to see Manilow six times?

"I don't think my girlfriend gets it," Cavacini said, laughing. "She says, 'Why do you like this kind of music?' I think he gets put into a bucket where he's just seen as this commercial artist, right? He's even kidded around by saying that he's the Justin Bieber of his time.

"He's just kind of a heartthrob," added Cavacini, who blogs at michaelcavacini.com. "It's funny that, like, women still swoon over him and scream and go crazy. He'll sing this one line from 'Weekend in New England' ['when can I touch you'] and these women flip out. When I saw him in L.A., when he sang 'when can I touch you,' the woman next to me screamed, 'right now!' . . . People are crazy."

Crazy about Manilow, now aged 71.

I mean, I liked him, too, way back in the 1970s, even though I didn't always admit it.

That wasn't exactly cool for a black girl growing up in Washington, D.C.

Manilow, who was born in Brooklyn and studied at the Juilliard School of Music, didn't always get the credit for it, but his music helped define the entire decade.

His melodies were expansive; his lyrics catchy. I still know the ones from "Can't Smile Without You." His song "Looks Like We Made It" was our high-school prom theme, which I loved. I also was a fan of the haunting lyrics in "Copacabana, (the hottest spot north of Havana)," about star-crossed lovers who lose each other after Tony is killed in a bar fight, leaving Lola to continue loving him through her memories.

Like the way some diehards love Manilow.

When Mary Flick, who lived in Gloucester, N.J., until recently, moved to Florida, the first thing she packed was all the Manilow memorabilia she'd been storing in her basement. It's now on display on shelves in her Sarasota condo.

Flick, who has Manilow music on her telephone's ringtone, has seen her favorite singer 300 times and counting. This article is from wwwphilly.comShe'll be here Saturday night as well, sitting front row, of course. She also plans to see him perform when he goes onstage in Newark the following day and in Brooklyn on June 17, which happens to be his birthday.

"I love him to pieces," she told me. "I love him so much. You can feel every note that he puts across to the crowd. I've seen him so many times and it never gets old. He's the greatest performer and the sweetest man."

She's not the least bit upset about his recent marriage to his long-time manager, Garry Kief.

"I love Barry. I just want Barry to be happy," she told me.

Smooth-jazz saxophonist Dave Koz, who'll be Manilow's opening act, also is a Fanilow.

"There's something about the way his voice and my sax blend together," Koz told me during a phone interview. "He puts a show on like no one else and has been doing it for 40 years."

"At the core of everything he does is this amazing musicality. That's where we connect," Koz continued. "He knows his stuff backwards and forwards. . . . He keeps up on modern music, new artists. It's very inspiring to be around him."

Why is it, then, that so many dismiss his music as schlock?

"His music is ubiquitous. If you were alive during the last many years and you were near a radio, you were going to hear Barry Manilow music," Koz pointed out. "There's a certain quality to his music that is very accessible and people can relate to it and sometimes that kind of music, some people might say, 'Oh it's not that good.' The truth is, it's still here. He's still here. He's packing in arenas.

"If you prove that you have staying power, which he has done time and time again, even if you weren't a fan you can't help but respect the guy because of what he's done. [He's] managed to remain relevant for four decades making music. It's unheard of. So, I have the most respect you can imagine for a guy like that."

Spoken like a true Fanilow.

On Twitter: @JeniceArmstrong

Blog: ph.ly/HeyJen

Email: armstrj@phillynews.com

Review: At TLA, Beanie Sigel's back

6/11/2015

 






























A.D. Amorosi, For The Inquirer















Posted:

Monday, June 8, 2015, 1:08 AM





The complicated life and legal history of Dwight Grant - Beanie Sigel - South Philly's grittiest rapper and preeminent rep of its meanest streets - is etched in stone and repeated in newsprint. He's been Jay Z's best bud, label signee, and worst enemy (pals now since Beans and Hova reunited for May's Tidal B-Sides concert). He's got a stark, seven-album-deep solo career, and is forever a member of State Property with Freeway and other notorious Philly MCs. He's been arrested, jailed, and released, most recently in 2014, when he was shot and hospitalized. Yet, here he was, alive, well, hulking and hearty on the stage of South Street's TLA on Saturday, doing his first full gig since 2014's release - living proof of one undeniable fact: You can jail him, you can shoot him, but you cannot stop him.

With the over-sold-out house rhyming with every word, Sigel took command quickly. This article is from wwwphilly.comHe wasn't tentative about not having done a solo concert since 2012, before incarceration for tax evasion. In dark shades and smoking a cigar, he kicked into "Do It Again" and its hard tale of a night out - "12 a.m.: On the way to the club; 1 a.m.: DJ made it a rub; 2 a.m.: Now I'm getting with her; 3 a.m.: Now I'm splitting with her." His voice was gruff and halting, his pauses dramatic (especially those a cappella endings), his flow like cider vinegar - tart but tasty. The syncopated click behind "Beanie" was diabolical perfection for his origin-story rap and street king soliloquy. "Guess who's back? I move blocks and pounds," he cackled before finding creepy new names for himself and his tale of back-in-the-day bravado: "They call me Chef Boy-ar-Beans, Beanie Crocker, cook coke proper."

The hits flew by roughly, from "The Truth" and its snarking on judges to the emotional plea of "This Can't Be Life" where he crooned, "there's gotta be more." Particularly stark were bleak looks at incarceration, such as the swaying "What Ya Life Like" and his onetime pairing with Raekwon of "Have Mercy." Trading licks with a high-pitched Freeway, such lines as "My cell getting smaller, my son getting taller . . . It's hard to raise my boy from this visiting room" rang out as potently poignant.

Of course, State Property (Peedi Peedi, Omillio, Freeway, etc.) helped Beans ring out his set - they're family - but it was Sigel's time to shine. Here's hoping it stays that way.

July Fourth show will be family-friendly at last

6/11/2015

 






























Dom Giordano















Posted:

Wednesday, June 10, 2015, 12:16 AM





I HOPE BY praising Mayor Nutter and his team that selects the acts for the July Fourth celebration on the Ben Franklin Parkway will not come as a surprise. In past years, I've been criticizing the big signature event for a variety of reasons.

Last year it was clear to any reasonable individual that this was not a family event, unless your family is the F-bomb family. Victor Fiorillo, in his column at PhillyMag.com, said Jennifer Hudson was a class act but the other acts could not stop themselves from dropping the F-bomb.

He also wrote, "But that was nothing compared to Nicki Minaj, whose buxom getup no doubt inspired some wishes for a wardrobe malfunction. Minaj managed to fit 'bitch,' the 's-word' and 'm-fer' into her set many times over."

This year's female in the lineup is Jennifer Nettles, who is known principally as the lead voice of the country-pop duo Sugarland. There is almost no chance of Nettles doing anything that is remotely close to last year's profanity-laced concert.

In addition to Nettles, Miguel, the other performer, has not had a history of profanity and raunch. It's also interesting that, in addition to the Roots, these are the only other announced performers.

So could it be that Mayor Nutter has installed a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy with safe acts that will not disrespect Wawa, 6ABC and parents? If so, good for him and good for them. Could it be that there was pressure based on last year's embarrassment? Could it be that city officials realized that this nonsense went too far?

If this is what has happened, it's a good start to a better Fourth of July in Philadelphia and a chance to truly back up Mayor Nutter's claim that "Philadelphia owns the Fourth of July." The festivities that go into the Welcome America! celebration are diverse and patriotic. Shouldn't the signature event reflect more of this rather than a Vegas-style production? Boston and Washington have lavish shows that are celebrations of our nation's birthday. Now is an opportunity for Philadelphia to incorporate more of that vibe into the Parkway event.

I'd love to hear suggestions from you on singers and bands that might provide the connection to July Fourth that Philadelphia is sorely missing. A group that comes to mind to me is Gary Sinise's band. This article is from wwwphilly.comSinise is a film and TV star and his role in Forrest Gump as Lt. Dan lead to naming his band the Lt. Dan Band. Their band motto is "Honor, Gratitude, Rock and Roll." Sinise, in his support of the military, would be a great addition to the Parkway.

I also like the band Madison Rising. They are a very patriotic rock band and they have had a big hit with their rock renditions of "The Star Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful." Hearing "America the Beautiful" on the Parkway on July Fourth would be a great fit.

The bottom line is that Philadelphia appears to be cleaning up its act this July Fourth and it will be interesting to see the reaction to this year's concert. There is a tension between the profanity on the Parkway fans and me. I hope they still draw a big crowd. However, owning July Fourth is not about setting records for crowd size. It's about reflecting to the nation the values that were enunciated from America's most historic blocks. For too many years, Philadelphia didn't "own" the Fourth of July; it felt like we were simply leasing it to shock-acts determined to offend instead of entertain on the nation's birthday.

My radio station last August moved from suburban Bala Cynwyd to 4th and Market streets. Every day when I go to get my car from the parking lot, I see hordes of school kids and visitors from foreign countries touring the historic sites. It reaffirms why Philadelphia was so important in the founding and nurturing of the country. This history should be more of the main course at our biggest celebration.

Mayor Nutter and your team, nice work on good start at cleaning up the party. Now let's move the message of history and patriotism from second-class citizenship status onto the main stage.

Teacher-turned-talk-show-host Dom Giordano is heard on the New Talk Radio 1210 WPHT Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to noon. Contact him at askdomg@aol.com.

Review: Brownlee and friends on a spiritual high

6/11/2015

 






























Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Classical Music Critic

















Posted:

Wednesday, June 10, 2015, 3:01 AM





Leave the putting up of feet to others. On his night off from the extremely demanding title role in Charlie Parker's Yardbird, tenor Lawrence Brownlee took on nearly 90 minutes of spirituals Monday night at Union Baptist Church in South Philadelphia. He had a little help from his friends, soprano Angela Brown and baritone Will Liverman, and perhaps from the knowledge that this had been Marian Anderson's church.

Hundreds packed the pews, and if the temperature inside was somewhere in the enervating mid-80s, nothing could have kept spirits grounded. The singers reminded the audience - in word and deed - that they were a link not only to Anderson, but also to Paul Robeson and Roland Hayes, who sang in this church, too.

The extra-credit concert, dubbed "Spiritual Sketches," was Brownlee's idea, and Opera Philadelphia and Union Baptist agreed. Brownlee's role in the opera has him on stage most of the time, often singing at a high range for extended periods. Lest anyone feared an evening of spirituals would be a walk in the park, Brownlee threw Damien Sneed into the mix, whose arrangements of the tunes added new dimensions of harmonic complexity and technical demand. These were sounds Hayes might not have recognized.

Sneed, at the piano, erased boundaries between this historic repertoire and any number of moments on the musical timeline since. This article is from wwwphilly.comWith Brownlee in "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," Sneed fleshed out weeping chord progressions that seemed sourced from easy-listening of the 1970s. "Soon I Will Be Done" came with a driving jazz-Latin beat and a piano flourish borrowed from the Grieg Piano Concerto.

Sneed's creative pilfering might have seemed arbitrary, and sometimes it was. But when it worked, it could inspire a shiver of meaning. "Deep River" started with a piano splash like sunlight on the water.

The great revelation of the evening for me was Liverman, who is a wonderfully commanding presence as Dizzy Gillespie in Yardbird. Here, in the magnetic "Wade in the Water," he was just as formidable, but with the added veneer of nobility. Union Baptist Church offers little reverberation or acoustical sweetening, so sound was laid bare. What this meant was a chance to hear Liverman's subtle way of changing timbres to fit a lyric. "Steal Away" was gently rocking, reassuring, a pool of intense repose.

Brown, who plays Parker's mother, Addie, in the opera, was a powerful and skilled text colorist in "Lord, How Come Me Here?," rendering specific words with a brittle and extraordinary pain.

But the man of the hour was Brownlee, his tenor assets sometimes challenged, but more often telling the spiritual story through his art-song vibrato and easy diction. He has a way of cozying up to a lyric in an unassuming way, his amiable presence immaterial to the genre. He is the rare bird - a singer who travels well.

pdobrin@phillynews.com

215-854-5611

Review: Wire, relentlessly in the present

6/10/2015

 
Self-titling an album late in a band's career is usually a sign of (sometimes desperate) reinvention, a way of setting the counter back to zero. But Wire, whose 14th album is called - you guessed it - Wire, has never had much use for watching the clock. The London quartet, which still features three of the members who began it nearly 40 years ago, is famously disinclined to revisit its past on stage. This article is from wwwphilly.comAt one point, Wire hired a tribute band as an opening act to relieve them of the tiresome burden of taking requests from their old albums. When Colin Newman sang about "Selling on eBay all that is mine" at Union Transfer on Friday night, he sounded as if he were looking forward to decluttering.

The band's set wasn't monolithically focused on the present, but it was close: Over an hour and 40 minutes, they played one song apiece from their classic first three albums, Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, and 154, and two from 1988's A Bell Is a Cup. Apart from that, nothing hailed from further back than 2008. So much for nostalgia. Fans of the new material, at least, were in luck; every one of Wire's 11 songs made the set list.

Although Wire came up alongside the Sex Pistols et al., their music has always been characterized by conceptual purity; they were post-punk before there was any punk to be post. Their stage show is rigorous almost to a fault; the only words uttered were Newman's final "Thank you" to the crowd. But Wire gains strength from the no-frills approach. The new songs - the first to feature guitarist Matt Simms, who replaced founding member Bruce Gilbert as a touring member in 2010, in a primary creative role - managed to be sparse and overwhelming simultaneously, like a skyscraper made of filament. Newman's lilting, leisurely vocals on "In Manchester" belied the breakneck rhythm pounded out by bassist Graham Lewis and drummer Robert Grey behind him.

The downside to the band's present-tense approach was that the songs tended to blur, making the set less a narrative than a dense object. But considering that Wire named an album Object 47, that's not a dirty word in their cosmos. They're like the musical equivalent of one of Richard Serra's sculptures, so grand and implacable that just passing through leaves you changed.

STATE STREET BLUES STROLL

6/9/2015

 






























Dan DeLuca, Inquirer Music Critic

















Posted:

Sunday, June 7, 2015, 3:01 AM





Chicago bluesmen Lil' Ed the Blues Imperials and Delta-born guitarist Lonnie Shields are among the acts scheduled to play at the annual Delaware County blues fest Saturday on State Street in downtown Media.

Charli XCX and Bleachers co-headlining Festival Pier

6/7/2015

 
The sound of summer is about to get even bigger with a double bill of power pop. Hit makers Charli XCX and Bleachers' co-headlining tour gets an extended run with a second-leg Philadelphia stop at Festival Pier on Friday, Sept. 18. Robert DeLong will provide opening duties.�

Adoring fans can get their tickets beginning at 10 a.m. This article is from wwwphilly.comon Friday, June 12. Citi card member presale begins on Tuesday, June 9 also at 10 a.m.

Though the two don't have any collaborative plans (other than the tour, of course) in the works, Antonoff joined Charli onstage during her performance of "Doing It" on the TODAY Show.

Get a full dose of Bleachers and their Grammy-winning leader Jack Antonoff on the just-announced six-part documentary/scripted series "Thank You and Sorry," debuting on Google Play. Combining footage from their time on the road and fictional moments, the series will premiere in full on June 16.

The O'Jays, Gamble & Huff bring Sound of Philadelphia to Citizens Bank Park tonight

6/6/2015

 
It's Black Music Month, and time for the 12th annual African America Heritage night at Citizens Bank Park tonight as the Phillies play the world champions-as-usual San Francisco Giants.

Sound of Philly stalwart Bunny Sigler will sing the National Anthem, and in a 6:30 p.m. This article is from wwwphilly.compreshow concert, The O'Jays will perform their two of their three greatest Philadelphia International hits "For The Love Of Money," and "Love Train" (what, no "Back Stabbers"?) and Jean Carne will do her 1978 hit "Don't Let It Go To Your Head."

The O'Jays and Carne will receive the Phillies Gamble and Huff Community Partnership Award.�

Ticket info is here.

"For The Love Of Money" and "Don't Let It Go To Your Head" are below.

South Philly's crumbling idols mural needs a rescue

6/4/2015

 
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50 Cent : 'I could have made Tidal more exciting'

6/4/2015

 
WENN Newsdesk

Posted:

Monday, June 1, 2015, 8:38 AM

50 Cent has slammed Jay Z 's controversial music streaming subscription service Tidal, suggesting he could have made the project "more exciting" if he was asked to join the star-studded roster of investors.

The "99 Problems" hitmaker bought the brand for around $56 million and relaunched the firm in March with the backing of investors including his wife Beyonce, Madonna, Rihanna, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Daft Punk and Alicia Keys, among many other artists.

While its highly-publicized launch initially helped the app find success, sales eventually plummeted, leaving many critics to dub Tidal a failure.

Jay Z has stood by his company, insisting it is "doing just fine", but fellow rapper 50 Cent has weighed in and thinks he could have helped Jay stay at the top.

In a recent interview with Los Angeles radio station Real 92.3, 50 Cent said, "We probably could've did something more exciting if they reached out, because the people you saw there don't even own the rights to their music. So they can't say it's gonna come out of Tidal. It has to go everywhere. So why would you actually buy Tidal to get something that would be everywhere else?"

Moreover, 50 Cent, who said he owns all the rights to his music, unlike a majority of artists who are Tidal investors, suggested that Jay only invited artists who have currently released new music, adding, "Usher was there and Madonna and all these people. This article is from wwwphilly.comThat's a little bit more of a, when you say, 'It was business', it's more of a corporate play. When the record is playing on the air, they say, 'Oh alright. Let's get this guy.'"
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