Barry Mamilow Live! This is a Boston Music Coalition Live Music Review

 By Doug Ruffin

      President,

      Boston Music Coalition

Those who know me also understand my love for music. Be it live or pounding dance beats in a club I love it all. Barry Manilow delivered both on the final stop of his summer tour in Worcester Massachusetts last week.

Some guys have to get dragged to a Barry Manilow concert. Not me. He’s a great performer and you can admit it; you know the words to a lot of Barry Manilow songs. The Worcester audience was treated to an energetic concert starting with live upbeat dance music including a live remixed performance of “Could it Be Magic”. It seemed to reach out and command attention from the audience who stoop up and responded by dancing, cheering and waving glow sticks. As energetic as the concert was, the mix of upbeat hits, sing a longs, television clips and romantic ballads ended in less than two hours. He has enough material to sing through the night. In fact MR Manilow stated that fact when he opened the show. But the 7:30 show that started fifteen minutes late ended disappointingly at 9:30. Honestly, I don’t know about you, but never in my life have I left a major arena concert at 9:30. Have you? Still, most would agree that the one hour and forty odd minute performance was time well spent. Barry Manilow sings and performs from deep in his heart. He celebrates the joys of music and shares it with those who will take the time to listen. The sharing of music is not limited to his live stage performances. During the concert, Barry Manilow announced an initiative to bring music instruments to schools for students to use throughout the country. The Manilow Music Project (http://www.manilowmusicproject.org/latestnews4_26_09.html) invites fans to share old music instruments and donate them to a central location in Cities and towns throughout the US. MR Manilow leads by example and donated a piano to Worcester Public Schools.

What’s next?  A new single, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” and CD, “15 Minutes”, of course. The Single is an upbeat dance / pop number designed either to keep Barry Manilow relevant Or, to confuse the living hell out of every radio music director on the face of the earth. Whatever the case, Barry Manilow will continue to write the songs that make the whole world sing and perform live for many years to come.

Hugh Laurie Entertains with a Music Appreciation Lesson. This a Boston Music Coalition Live Music Review

By Doug Ruffin

     President,

     Boston Music Coalition

By now, many students are settled in to classes with the start of the new school year. The audience for Hugh Laurie in Boston, last week, also settled in for a fantastic musical Journey guided by Hugh Laurie and his band with back up singers that also includes Jean McClain. Great Jazz and Blues performances were complimented with Hugh’s sense of humor and his knowledge of song writers and music performers. Hugh Laurie, in fact, complimented the Boston based audience for its recognition of the Jazz and Blues greats he mentioned that were greeted with applause throughout the two hour plus show.   

The Hugh Laurie Music Tour is not instructional, but it leaves audiences ravaness for more of the music Hugh Laurie supports. I wanted to go deeper in to the history of Jazz, Blues and all sorts of music genres to expand my interest in music. All thanks to the lessons learned at Hugh Laurie’s concert.

As for the performance, everyone on stage gave it their all. Upbeat and engaging selections had the audience tapping foot and standing on their feet clapping, cheering and begging for more at the end of the performance.

Live music uniquely celebrates and informs in all genres. Hugh Laurie is one live music performer who truly knows how to guide and entertain as well.