*Disclaimer: Before you read any further... this is me opening up another can of worms! What I write here is MY opinion and mine alone. If you don't like what I have to say, that's fine... no one has to agree with me. But if you leave a comment, at least be an adult about it. Thank you!

Why Does It Have To Be:

vs.

This morning, while I was checking my tweets through my TweetDeck (I am a Twitter addict!), one of my friends dropped a tweet about some response they saw to Barry Manilow's appearance at the Proms In the Park that was in London this past Saturday (excellent performance, by the way).

Well.. that's not true. What they saw were several posts raking Barry's British fans over the coals... again.

This is another instance of what I like to call MFBS, or Manilow Fan Bullshit Syndrome. It seems that every time Barry Manilow makes a trip to the UK, whether he's performing, doing a brief media tour or a signing, whatever... someone somewhere starts the old US vs. THEM (the U.S. vs. the U.K., that is) flame war... again. Starting the day after Barry arrived in London it was over on alt.fan.barry-manilow.

Why is it that there has to be any discussion like that at all? So, Barry has stated he has a special place in his heart for his British fans? He has that right. They're his feelings and if he wants to express them... fine. But, why does one group of fans have to bash another group of fans over it?

As far as I'm concerned... a Manilow fan is a Manilow fan is a Manilow fan. It doesn't matter where you are from, how much money you make, what clothes you wear, the kind of car you drive, who you know, your gender, your skin color... none of it matters. If you admire Barry Manilow and his music just as I do, then you're alright in my book. Even Barry's opinion doesn't make any difference to me... but I can understand why he feels the way he does.

Back in the day, as they say... when he made his first appearances here in the states. It wasn't to packed houses. He was playing half-filled (or less) dumps for his first tour. Yes, it started to pick up after "Mandy", but it wasn't sold out arenas his first time out (when he was with Bette doesn't count). His very first appearances in the UK, when he was sure he was gonna walk out to a bunch of empty seats and a handful of people with "who the hell are you?" expressions on their faces, were, if not complete sell-outs, close to it. The response was immediate... "We love you, Barry!" Didn't have to think about it like the folks in the U.S., they knew immediately what took all of us in the states (collectively) a few years to figure out. He's never forgotten that... and I, personally, think that it's sweet.

Let Barry have his opinions and feelings, but don't let it cause a rift in the Manilow Fan community. We're all fans. We all love him and his music. Let's just be happy for each other, happy for Barry and thankful that he's still doing what we all love.

Copyright 2009 Michelle D. Wampole