Manilow hitting the road again

When Barry Manilow announced his deal with the Las Vegas Hilton in late 2004, exclusivity was a big part of the coup. "After 30 years of living out of suitcases, I just wanted my life back," the easy-listening king said back then. "Wouldn't it be nice if I could continue to make music and entertain audiences but didn't have to go on the road?"

The entertainer will be packing his bags again for a brief December tour of arenas in New York, New Jersey, Cleveland and Detroit.

The Hilton considers it an album promotion, not a breach of the exclusivity. "We're fine with that," says Hilton spokesman Ira Sternberg. The arena dates "build excitement to come see him in Las Vegas."

The Hilton should be fine with anything Manilow decides to do. Signing him turned out to be one of the smartest moves on the local entertainment scene. At the outset, the hotel had no guarantee their star would receive any exposure that wasn't bought and paid.

But since he began performing there, Manilow has delivered a trio of top-selling albums. "The Greatest Songs of the Seventies," his third in a decade-by-decade series of remakes, arrived last week. Last year, the "Sixties" album hit No. 2 on Billboard's album chart, and the "Fifties" set the year before charted at No 1.

The new one debuted at No. 4, with first-week sales of 113,000. Manilow will have another album out in early November, the jazz-flavored "In the Swing of Christmas." He reopened at the Hilton on Tuesday and has 34 more shows scheduled this year. ...

Ticket prices on the Strip often rewrite the basic laws of supply and demand. When you see a pricing trend that does make sense, you latch onto it for comfort in some natural order.

Aaron Lewis is at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay today for his second solo acoustic show here this year. He's the frontman for the rock band Staind, so the unplugged format was a novel venture when Lewis first visited on the Fourth of July weekend of 2004. Novel enough that a Golden Nugget ticket cost you $110.

Three year's later, his solo shows have become less of a lark and more of a parallel career. And casinos have become "the skeletal system for touring," Lewis noted in January.

Good for him. Few other rockers of his era have found a way to crack casino venues more often reserved for classic rockers with boomer appeal. But as the gigs became less rarefied, so have the prices. In early 2005, Lewis' ticket price slipped to $82.50. In January, tickets were $35 to $75. Today they're $40 to $60. ...

Then there's a ticketing ploy we've been seeing more of lately: an upsell that includes a meet-and-greet with the star. Wayne Brady is following in the footsteps of Wayne Newton and Rita Rudner with a VIP ticket at The Venetian that includes a front-row seat and a handshake for a base price of $149 . ...

If you thought the Las Vegas Tenors were the height of suburban casino culture, think again. Patti LuPone is coming to the Suncoast. The Broadway star of "Evita" and "Sweeney Todd" visits on Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 23-25, touring behind an album of torch songs. Her last visit in 2003 was part of a UNLV concert series. ...

Each year, I wonder when I'll first hear the term "Rocktober" in a radio ad. Each year it seems to come sooner. But a variation for an upcoming "Defending the Caveman" promotion made me crack a smile.

"Cavetoberfest" on Oct. 20 features a matinee performance of the one-man show in German. Local producer John Bentham says the comedy is such a big hit in Germany that 15 actors know the show. So he's flying in one of them, Karsten Kaie, to do it here.

Seems like an expensive joke, but Bentham says he's getting good response from students and from German clubs in Nevada, California and Utah. He may even add a second show.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.