Manitoons

Barry Meets Bogart! Please Vote!

2010-09-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

I entered a t-shirt contest that ends Sept. 10th. The design challenge was to create something Barry Manilow themed. Winner gets their t-shirt printed/sold and two show tickets to see Barry in Vegas. Because he has a regular gig at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, my thought was the line "We'll always have Paris" - in combination with a vintage Bogart look for Barry.

I would greatly appreciate your thumbs up vote!

Mr. Manilow is an artist I've created a cartoon of way back in high school. It would be a dream come true to have something actually come from cartooning him. :-)

Thank you for your votes and if you like the design, share the link and encourage others to vote too! The more the merrier.

Here is the link.

Manilow T Shirt Contest

2010-09-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

Here's the entry I plunked up. The unfortunate thing about waiting until the last minute is the panic that sets in when the design still isn't on the contest site!!! Here's hoping it uploaded okay. If not, hopefully there will be another contest someday.

Everyone gets one vote and there are lots of neat designs to choose from. Any votes toward this design are very appreciated.

No Such Thing As a Free Avatar

2010-07-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine wanted me to draw him an avatar for his social networking icon. Due to some of his commentary on my posts ... he became a bit of a pest. I decided giving in this form is better than receiving.

CONvention Manilow Style

2010-07-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

You've got to hand it to the fan club headquarters with Camp Manilow -- they have it figured out how to earn easy money.

Hold a convention in the town that the entertainer is at, have a package where attendees can have a few meals, a few shows, a scavenger hunt, and a Q & A .... and not even have the honored entertainer show up and thank people for showing up outside of the normal concerts. This convention isn't cheap -- especially given this economy. Yet, a Manilow fan can be expected to shell out over $1000 for the event and not even see Mr. Manilow in an informal or safe gathering -- be it a brunch or a Q & A setting. In his place, the face of the fan club, Garry Kief, answered questions and met the fans. While disappointing that Mr. M could not be troubled to attend or answer himself -- it wasn't false advertising, as of course, they wouldn't really commit to writing that Barry himself would be present at the Q & A. Another great way for the fan club to make that easy money. Don't promise too much, don't deliver too much, for the fan base will always be there no matter what.

Yes. Barry Manilow cannot be bothered to attend his own convention.

Much of the appeal of being a Manilow fan in my youth, was that he seemed like such a sincerely nice guy. The underdog, the singer of love gone wrong ... the fellow that liked beagles. Perhaps somewhere deep inside or to some he is. Right now, the man doesn't seem like such a nice guy. When your long time fan base cares enough to trek to Vegas to attend an expensive convention in your name -- the nice and appropriate thing to do is show up and make nice with those that appreciate your music and those fans that over your career purchased your goods and dragged their family or friends into attending your concerts.

I considered drawing a cartoon illustrating Mr. M and camp stuffing the wads of convention cash in bags and realized even a CARTOON of him couldn't say "thank you" if he couldn't. If he can't lift a single finger to get out of his comfort zone and greet the fans -- I can't be bothered sketching up a cartoon figure even trying to make up for his lack of gratitude or sense of right.

It does seem that the gambling for fans always happens before Vegas. One gambles whether their grand will be the payoff of Barry showing up at his own party/convention or not -- despite it being held in his own territory and digs. What I cannot understand is the acceptance by some that buy the "oh, the poor dear, he's too busy to see us. Well, there is always next year." Fandom in Manilow circles is quite dysfunctional that way. Enabling bad behavior will result in further bad behavior. It isn't likely to change unless some honest dialogue and some expectations are established. It's long overdue that the average Manilow fan consumer become a critical consumer and communicate the only way it seems the fan club listens.... with your dollars not falling into Manilow and Co's laps so easily.

Graduation Memory

2010-05-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

In high school, I was definitely a huge Barry Manilow fan. So much, that when one of Barry's televised specials was scheduled on my graduation night I was asked to confirm I'd go through graduation as opposed to staying home to watch it. (This was before VCRs in households were common place.)

Well, duh, yes I'd go through graduation. One of my presents that evening was this t-shirt.

Manilow Network Ning

2010-05-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

It seems more and more fans that belong to the Manilow Network Ning are getting notice and booted out. Not sure what the deal is or why so many are finding themselves no longer welcome. There is an alternative though, the alt.fan.barry-manilow newsgroup on Usenet. It is completely public, there are no moderators, you are welcome to contribute and speak freely.

Barry - Pop Art / Warhol style

2010-03-05T21:22:00.001-08:00

FUN

2009-01-13T18:35:00.000-08:00

Unlikely Cover

2008-12-26T13:38:00.000-08:00

50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's. If cover albums for Mr. Manilow continue, would this be next?

Season's Greetings

2008-12-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

Here's my homemade card for newsgroup friends for 2009. Wishing everyone a great new year, new beginnings, and just good things all around.

What A Mug!

2007-02-25T17:18:00.000-08:00

I've taken a bit of a break from blogging and things are going to be incredibly busy here and there ... but figured I'd best plunk up something cartoon and Barry related.

For the calendar: May 5th is National Cartoonists Day!!!! Mark it down. Raise a mug to whoever your favorite cartoonist past or present is/was.

I'd raise mine to Charles Schulz -- and to Lynn Johnston -- though she may be declining in ranking if her Elizabeth storyline involves a pairing with Anthony.

Happy Holidays!!

2006-12-23T12:44:00.001-08:00

Jingle Pets - A Christmas Carol

Watch Video Clip

A Nose by Any Other Name....

2006-12-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to cartoon something like this ever since hearing Barry was going to release a 60's cover album. Due to time restrictions, it became a Photoshop parody of the real thing .... but hopefully the idea comes through.

Holy Jumpin' (er, Exploding) Sharks Batman!

2006-11-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Nothing but to start the weekend with some Classic Batman and shark humor.

Cartoon (FOOB) article

2006-11-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite strips is "For Better or For Worse". I love Lynn Johnston's cartooning style. My hubby and I together bought roughly $70.00 of raffle tickets at a cartoon conference hoping to win one of her original strips (and hubby won!!) (Sometimes he kids and says he'll let me see his "Johnston"). I'm sad to see the strip end, but reading the end through closed fingers. It's kind of amusing that even in this MSN article, the author mentions dislike of "Anthony". PULEESE Lynn, don't let Liz wind up with Grandthony!!!!

Doodle Fun

2006-11-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

This is a sketch done primarily on a Wacom tablet and some color using Photoshop.

Political Cartoon

2006-11-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

I actually sat down to do some cartooning -- mainly for politics. This deals with our Gov. race. I got inspired after seeing his "Cooperation" billboard while people were protesting for and against #6 -- which has been controversial and has divided our state. Thus, the irony of Gov. Rounds campaign billboard.

Cartooning wise, I did enjoy taking a real photo and doing work combining it with drawing and coloring with Photoshop. I'm hoping to do more work soon ... more as a riled up South Dakotan, I think.

For my bro -- (and sis-in-law!)

2006-11-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

Hey -- when you finally do get high speed in Iraq - I found this clip on YouTube and thought of you.

Keep safe and love you -

Best appearance of all times.

2006-11-02T18:55:00.000-08:00

This was absolutely the best darned appearance Manilow has ever done. Both Stephen and Barry were superb.

What the World Needs Now, Is

2006-10-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

Flipbooks, sweet flipbooks. These can be found on YouTube and uploaded (and I'm assuming drawn also) by "Ben" or "Bazurawski"

In honor of Barry's appearance on Colbert Report, I hereby dedicate this week's blog entries to Colbert and Barry.

A Barry Tune!

2006-10-29T18:11:00.000-08:00

Not the 60's, but early '70's.

In honor of the '60's ....

2006-10-29T18:05:00.000-08:00

I love Adam West ....

2006-10-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

I'm going to eventually have to draw a cartoon one of these days for the blog, but prior to my Barry Manilow fandom - at the mere age of 4 or 5, I was a Batman/Adam West kind of kid. I had the Batman t-shirt, the 45 record, and was a faithful viewer and at the same Bat Place, same Bat Channel every week.

A local SD resident/DJ, Wally Wingert, moved to CA - but somehow was influential with bringing Adam West to South Dakota. My pal, Aunice, and I stood in line and got to meet the Caped Crusader and get our pictures taken with him. That same year, Wally did a music parody that got quite a bit of airplay on the Dr. Demento radio show. GOT to love YouTube, when doing an Adam West search, this gem popped up.

Cartoon wise, got to love "Family Guy" - I love the inclusion of Adam West in this series as well. What a hoot!!!!

Parody Time ....

2006-10-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

(BTW - you can download this song for FREE on Weird Al's MySpace site. Weird Al actually runs his own MySpace site.)

More ELO ...

2006-10-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Love the vintage videos on YouTube. This was the song/album (A New World Record) that really got me into ELO. Loved this song, thought the keyboard player was cute, too. (I had a thing for piano players back then, I guess.) ;-)

To make this Barry related - I have always kinda wished that Barry and Jeff Lynne would have somehow collaborated, though in music worlds that is putting two alpha males together -- so it could be a recipe for disaster OR something totally splendid.

Kinda neat big scale cartoonist/drawing video

2006-10-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Found this today -- man, I do love YouTube. Well, except that "Some Kind Of Friend" got YANKED from there. Some of us were poor, broke college kids way back when and didn't have VCRs to tape our favorite crooners. Finally get to see what we missed and it gets yanked. Sigh......

CNN 'Toon News

2006-10-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

I wasn't alone in amusement over the Mary Worth strip and the "Aldo Kelrast" storyline. EVEN CNN found this storyline newsworthy!!!!

Ole ELO ...

2006-10-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, besides growing up on Manilow music, there's just something magic about Jeff Lynne/ELO. While scrounging about on YouTube, encountered this oldie and gem. It makes you want to pull out the rhinestones and blue denim ... turn on the black light to enjoy the flourescent colors on the posters .... and kinda curl up in the nice safety of the '70's.

Halloween 'Toon

2006-10-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

I really, really miss ol' Stick Figure Theater. Here's something that is appearing on YouTube that really fits with the ol' Halloween theme.

Arrrooooooooooooo! ;-)

Catching Up!!!

2006-10-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

First off - thanks for being patient, thanks for encouragement and well wishing. The scoop is that the brace is off, but I'm finding if I start slipping into bad habits or over do it, I can feel the "echo" (I can't describe it accurately) of the injury or pain from before ... so I'm still taking it easy but venturing out on the computer more.

I'll be contributing some political cartoons to a campaign I feel strongly about - which will only make sense to South Dakotans, I guess ... but it's going to be fun. I'll put up some mock ups and links if any cartoons get on blogs or in the editorial pages. I'll give you a hint where I lean ... give this nice folksy tune a listen!

I BACK JACK!!! ;-)

It's a Wonderful Life!

2006-09-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

LOVE the simple sketches but the facial expressions.

This is from one of my favorite movies of all times, too.

Game On?

2006-09-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

I sure do realize that this is a satire ... I believe Colbert staying in character with what earned him his Emmy nomination ... and do think this is a gentle razzing/saving face type deal.

This being posted .... it would be so VERY COOL if Barry could play along and do the pretend war/game on stuff with Stephen. It would be such GREAT exposure, Barry would be introduced to a whole different audience.

Back and For What It's "Worth" ....

2006-08-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

Had to take a break for a bit -- from keyboarding, laptops, etc. as the wrists, etc. have suffered some. I'd rather draw than type - so taking it easy and preserving my drawing paw is a higher priority. I will slow down a bit, spend less time on the net and wear a brace/splint when typing - so I'll try to make any new post more meaningful.

So, I'm getting a kick out of surfing a little and seeing what I missed. One thing that I can honestly say I've never read since childhood has been the comic strip "Mary Worth". However, thanks to following the Comics C blog, it's pretty hilarious to read now. (and I love the ALDOMANIA t-shirt he'll be selling on CafePress!)Nothing like adding a stalker that looks like Capt. Kangaroo in the mix to make a soap opera strip entertaining. People have been having fun with the new addition too -- there's even a YouTube video created! Mary, we're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you .... but it's all good.

Need a vacation from my vacation!

2006-08-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I've been slower to post new cartoons, commentary, etc. Prepping for vacation and returning from vacation has taken a toll!

Tip for the day though: If you can splurge - crab cakes at The Oceanaire in Washington, D.C. is one of the highlights of my trip! :-)

Favorite Colbert Clips

2006-08-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a few clips I've gotten a kick out of:
In this one his guest is Bob Schieffer.

I love The Cars - and recently a couple of original members (Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton)wanted to get back together and reform the group. Ric Ocasek was not interested and the person that stepped up in the reformation is Todd Rundgeren. They have been on tour until Elliot Easton broke his shoulder, I believe. Here's a link to The New Cars site - plus they've got a catchy lil' new tune called "Not Tonight". I found Ric's appearance on Colbert's show quite humorous.

Au contraire, Colbert!

2006-07-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

It took a little while for me to find time to do a caricature that would go along with this particular subject/theme - that being the Emmys.

Per E Online:
Turning pugnacious and/or O'Reilly-esque, Colbert asserted that fellow nominee Manilow had "had a free ride for too long," and that the time had come "take him down."

"Mr. Colbert says he will then be going after Mandy," a rep said.

I figured this was quite humorous - Colbert singling out Barry as his main competition in this category... but wish this would have been played up more including some banter between Barry and Colbert. Maybe this could happen in future, but I'm hoping Barry has a good sense of humor over the character Colbert is portraying, and of course, kicks his tail end and wins the Emmy.

More Info On Rupert

2006-07-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Just like how we tell people there is more to Barry and his music than "Copacabana", there is more to Rupert Holmes than "Escape" (The Pina Colada song).

Here's a link to his web site and what he is up to nowadays.

The Manilow WannaBe

2006-07-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

Rupert Holmes. That's what I thought back in the late 70's. Oh, initially I had heard the tune "Let's Get Crazy Tonight" - and thought it might be Barry. No, but I liked it anyway. (Did think he was a Barry wannabe, though.) Then one day when reading credit notes on Barry's Live Album realized that it was that very Rupert Holmes that wrote "Studio Musician"! BARRY was singing one of HOLMES' songs! I kinda always hoped they would have collaborated more. Still do.

If you ever do listen to some of Rupert Holmes' lyrics, however, his cast of characters do have an edge to them. He did go on to theater and t.v. - which does make sense. Still, I'd absolutely love to pair up Manilow and Holmes to write something or put something out there.

Anyway - for time being there is a rare video of Rupert on YouTube. ONE of him. (There's this horrible stick figure video made to the tune of "Escape" there as well.) I didn't upload this particular video, know all about the copyright issues, etc. - but golly, having never known this even existed cut, copied, and pasted the embed code to share.

Next Panel - but 1st an explanation

2006-07-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

Okay - here's the next panel - now remember, I was in college. We came up with alternate nick names for different classes, etc. "Fundamentals of Math" - for example we dubbed "Bonehead Math". We read Oedipus Rex - but would write "Oedipus Wrecks" - complete with finger eye gouging motion. So - a group of us art majors had to take a music class which was required. If one didn't play an instrument - didn't participate in choir, etc. - you took "Exploring Music" (which is probably like "Bonehead Math", but in the music area). So, our nickname for "Exploring Music" was "Exploding Mucus". I hang my head in shame, but there you go. I imagine those music majors had nicknames for "Exploring Art" classes - like "Exploding Fart" - who knows?

Anyway, this panel is not a bash on Barry or anything - I think I was probably actually in Exploring Music at the time of drawing this strip. Also, sadly, somewhere in 4 or 5 moves, a wee bit of water damage occurred. Apparently I didn't work in permanent pen yet......

*There is one more panel, though I'm not particularily proud of the lyrics towards the end and invited blog readers to finish it out and I'd recreate the wording ... if someone can finish this off better than I, I'll submit the last panel.

Copyright Info

2006-07-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

With the YouTube incident - where old, vintage Manilow videos were taken down - as well as advising those that wish to right-click and lift images here on this blog - here's copyright info links:

Ten Myths About Copyright Explained

and Are You A Copyright Criminal?

Unfortunate situation - I know alot of the fan base would fall into the believing the myths part. admit, I did like seeing what I missed out on many moons ago. Here's hoping there's a win/win for fans on the horizon - so fans can get old vintage material like they WANT and that it's all legal beagle.

Blast from past - panel 3

2006-07-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

* Remember that this is going backward, so if you are new to visiting - go to first panel and read upward *

Man, I look at this and wish that in the early 80's I would have had access to Photoshop and redoing things ..... esp. with shadows, etc. I worked primarily in this strip with pens - not sure why I didn't use shaded screen as I had done with other strips.

Blast from past - panel 2

2006-07-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

My apologies to those who liked Pres. Reagan .....

Blast From Past - panel from old comic strip!

2006-07-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

When getting my BS degree in college - (some say I was quite gifted in b.s.) ;-) I submitted comic strips to our college paper. Because midterm exams did seem high stress - and Barry's song "Memory" was getting airplay, I changed the lyrics and had Barry in it appear as if he were one of us and going through the stresses of midterms.

EMMY!!!!

2006-07-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Congrats Barry for the Emmy nominations!!! Here's hoping for the award in August!

Cartoon to come - inspired by commentary from your competition! ;-)

Happy 4th Of July!

2006-07-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

Bobblehead You'll Never See

2006-07-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

Did a ball point pen sketch tonight of a Bobblehead you'll never get to see over at the M store. I wonder how many gutter balls he'd get - or would he be the sort that would be lucky and get strikes and spares ... shake his back end while still in the lane and examining his form and luck? Fun to think of the guy out of his element.

Feelin' Patriotic

2006-06-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

This sketch was inspired as an appeal during the "One Last Time, One Night Live" tour - 'cuz Barry and crew have skipped this general territory - EVEN Minneapolis during the last couple tours. Seems to fit the 4th of July theme.

Different kind of sketch

2006-06-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's because I'm in a post party funk (I planned an art alumni/retirement party for one of my favorite teachers and now it's over after months and months of looking forward to it, planning, etc.) - but I thought about how seldom you see a picture of Barry in a down or sad mood. I've never cartooned him as such ... but this came out in a doodle today.

It kind of looks like early/mid 1980's Barry. Sketching that big 80's hair is always fun!

Happy Birthday Barry!!!!

2006-06-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Way, way back in the 80's, I had these dreams/nightmares that I'd run into Barry and want to draw a cartoon for him, but as he's patiently waiting and I'm trying to whip one out - I'd always flub up.

Decades later - I'm running with this in video form and in hopes to prevent any nightmares like that and am putting it to music. There are two versions - one is is short and sweet and under a minute - the other not much longer and involved a few more people.

Here's the 45 Second Video:

Here's the Slightly less than 2 Minute video effort of trying to coax online people into sending audio and wishing Barry a Happy Birthday. :-) We've got a couple brave souls!!!

1950's period album covers.

2005-12-03T06:58:00.000-08:00

With the discussion over Manilow's album cover ... I thought it would be interesting to take a look at album cover art from that time period.

First off - here's Barry's album cover design:

Which, to me, looks more similar to Bobby Darin's album cover.

But also seems to look a bit like Dean Martin in terms of the white spotlight business in background.

Susan suggested seeing Barry's album cover in black and white ... so I did convert to grayscale to see this along with the others just to see!