Music & Passion: An Evening with Barry Manilow

Okay, you can make fun of me. Yes. I went to see Barry Manilow. And what's more, I enjoyed it. It was kitchy and sweet and fun all at the same time.

Travelzoo had a rare announcement about a Barry Manilow concert at the Verizon Center in DC where tickets in the nosebleed sections were going for $9.99! Now you can't see a local, no-name band for that price much less someone who is world famous. I thought, "Why not?"

So I bought nosebleed seat tickets--section 404 which is in the highest tier--and looked forward to an evening of live music for very little money, even if we couldn't see a thing.

When we got to the Verizon Center, they handed us Manilow glowsticks so we could swing them back and forth with the music (!) and the entire crowd sure did. See the green dots in the picture above? Glowsticks.

They scanned our tickets, and said "Congratulations! You've been upgraded!" Because of the set up for the evening, we would have been in obstructed view, so they automatically gave us better seats: we were moved from the 400s to the 200s which is the first tier beyond the floor.

We got ourselves some drinks at the Bacardi bar and headed in and were delighted with our seats which gave us a great side view and wonderful sound. Plus, we had a pretty good view of one of the jumbotrons.

The opening act was a light jazz band that was good.

The man/the myth/the legend himself was everything you'd imagine him to be... shmaltzy and heartfelt and grateful to be in front of a crowd.

Check out the picture above. Is it my imagination, or does he look more and more like Clay Aiken?

Hearing all those old songs really took me back to my teen years.

Come on, admit it, you know most of these, too, don't you? You'd be surprised how quickly the lyrics come back to you when you hear them.

New York City Rhythm
This One's For You
Can't Smile Without You
Ready to Take a Chance Again (yes, the theme from "Foul Play")
Mandy
Bandstand Boogie (yes, the American Bandstand song)
Weekend in New England
Looks Like We Made It
I Write the Songs
Copacabana
All the Time
Daybreak
I Made it Through the Rain
It's a Miracle
The Old Songs

and so much more. Lots of fun. :) Even without performing the jingles, it was an amazing repertoire. This tour is the precursor to his new gig at the Vegas Hilton and his band/orchestra is pretty dang impressive, too.

It's true, I went in with low expectations but I was really pleased to see that Barry is still in good form, musically and otherwise, and puts on a good show. Good for him! And good for us. :)

"Oooooooooooh... Mexico..." --James Taylor

Hola!

I am back from an extraordinary trip to Cozumel!

What a wonderful island Cozumel is! First, though, I can't say enough good about the Internet deal I got. I found it through Travelzoo's weekly Top 20. I booked it with BookIt.com and it couldn't have been easier or smoother. We stayed at the Park Royal Cozumel and were treated royally. That's our view from our 8th floor room. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, what a relaxing vacation. And all for $99/night for all-inclusive! 4 restaurants, five bars including 3 swim-up ones in the three pools, beach with fishies and crabs for the viewing, discounts on all kinds of tours including our trip to Chichen Itza where we came across one of the many iguanas we spotted happily sunning.

Plus, we went into a cenote (very cool!), explored the reef in an honest-to-goodness submarine, toured the island in a tin can of a car, went into town repeatedly for shopping, occasional meals, the Sunday evening concert in the square that the locals enjoy, I went parasailing for the first time, did some snorkeling (of course!) and we even looked at beach-front condos. This is definitely retirement viable. The people are very friendly and accommodating and quite used to/welcoming of outsiders (2 million by cruise ship every year and 1.2 million by ferry from Playa del Carmen to this island of 85,000 residents) and the water is amazingly blue and clear (no run off!). You have all the joys of casual, low-key island living, including a lower cost of living, with all the convenience of being 30 minutes from the mainland and major towns like PdC, which is very chic these days, not to mention being head-over-to-try-that-new-restaurant close to Cancun, which is supposedly getting an image upgrade in the rework after Wilma.

Yeah, there's hurricanes. Just like in the southern US. But in Mexico you can get insurance to deal with it. It's true! And they rebuild quickly! No Katrina shambles there. And get this, the lovely little island of Cozumel has Thai food and sushi and Chinese food and Italian food in addition to excellent Mexican cuisine. And if you miss the US, there's a Pizza Hut! *shakes head and chuckles* Amazing.

If you're considering a laid-back getaway, I heartily recommend Cozumel!