Barry Manilow

I thought he'd come out already. Huh. More on reddit.com

I used to do stagehand/roadie work in the 90s, and one day I got called to work a Barry Manilow gig. I was not looking forward to listening to several hours of his stuff - it was completely not my scene. However, after that show I had a great appreciation for him as a person and performer for two reasons: That guy took a 20k+ crowd of fans and made each one of them feel like he was playing just for them, and did it in such a charming and expert manner that there wasn't a trace of pandering or insincerity at all. In all my years of working shows, I've never seen anyone work a crowd as expertly as he did. He treated the stage crew, sound and lighting guys, security, and everyone else from execs to the cleaning guys with an equal amount of respect and friendliness. He even had the grizzliest, cynical, old-school roadies talking about how good of a guy he was. You would not believe how much of a pain in the ass some artists can be sometimes to the people who actually make the show - their own show - happen. Divas ranting at sound guys for an hour, angry drunken metalheads breaking their own gear at sound check, too-cool-for-you singers that can't be bothered to deal with 'lesser' folk... I've had to put up with all of the stereotypes, and Barry Manilow was the complete opposite of those. Barry Manilow was one of the nicest artists I worked for/with. While his music is not my scene, I have nothing but respect for his skills as a performer, his professionalism, and the fact that he was an all-around good guy. I'm glad he's happy. edit: Aw, shucks. Thanks for the gold - it's the first time I've ever been gilded! More on reddit.com