Miracles and Magic ...

If you had said to me when I was in my 20s that one day I‘d do what we did next I would have laughed my head off.….

Back then I was out partying every night, wearing mother-shocking clothes while London was rocked to its core by punk. The Sex Pistols had exploded onto the scene – and even the 60s rockers I grew up with were shaken.

But we all get older…Roger Daltry did fishing ads for American Express, Mick Jagger became Sir Michael and I even caught Phil Daniels – once the enfant terrible of Brit rebellious movies - waltzing the other night on Strictly Come Dancing. It’s only a matter of time before it’s Sir John Lydon.

Back then, while I was dying my hair punk pink… hovering at the edge of my consciousness a young geeky singer climbed up the charts with what I considered to be a dirge of a ballad.
He didn’t figure on MY radar. This was for mums and middle aged spinsters. Or so I thought - with all the arrogance of my youth.

As I got older – he didn’t go away. I grudgingly conceded that some of his tunes were catchy and even caught myself singing along on the odd occasion. But I would never admit it.
He just wasn’t my kind of guy.

As time went by my tastes matured. I embraced Frank and Elvis, a bit of jazz ... a touch of classical. The Beatles were still my first love – after all, they had been my rite of passage - and punk had shaken up my rebellious streak. Disco had got me dancing …and later, Brit Pop had caught my imagination. Age had brought a taste for all kinds of music …but never for this guy.

So when Sandy said ‘We’ve got tickets! You should come’ my first reaction was one of incredulousness..

‘Are you joking ?’ I said…..’Oh C’mon!’ he said
‘It will be a laugh! ..and if nothing else, I want to see how the twenty somethings’ react !’

‘They’ll be shocked!’ I said – knowing Adam and Sarah2.. ....’is that wise??’

‘Think about it’ said Sandy.

Well, I must admit …I gave it some thought. For about 2 minutes. ..

I still said no.

And then ……I thought about it some more….

I remembered E’s and my philosophy of going to see people before they die (or we do) and a little voice in the back of my head said …’well, why not?’

E wouldn’t have it.

‘I don’t think it’s quite my cup of tea’ he said. Despite a penchant for Boney M and Petula Clark – which qualified him in my eyes – he still couldn’t be persuaded. ‘I’ll stick with Cher’ he said…

’Well I’m going to do it’ I said, almost defiantly.

And that, my friends, is how I found myself doing something that I thought I would never do in my entire life.


I was going to see Barry Manilow.


Even when we got to the Vegas Hilton, I was still in shock

But, boy …were all my pre-conceptions about to be blown away..………