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Streisand Concert - October 9, 2006

A few weeks before the concert I was contacted by the New York Daily News to be interviewed for an article (see the text below).  The phone interview went well but the photo shoot was a different story.  I had my house, and therefore most of my Barbrabilia and Barbra shrine items, packed up.  The photographer seemed frustrated with my poses, collection or perhaps my demeanor, but he managed to get a good shot of me with some of my larger Barbra items in the lobby of my building.  The shot even has my signature squinted smile.  The neighbors must have thought we were nuts when they stopped and stared through the front windows of the building at us laying there with my six foot Barbra face, but there was just no appropriate place to take the pictures inside my boxed up, barren apartment.  After I appeared in the Daily News, the Geraldo Rivera Live show on Fox kept calling to interview me on camera the evening before or the morning of the concert, but I was just too busy with work and traveling back from California that night to coordinate it all with them.

I have been to Barbra's concerts twice before, and never thought my dream would come true each time.  It's a life-changing experience to be among tens of thousands of Streisand fans in one place and to see her with my own eyes, even if I do gravitate toward the live video feed most of the evening.  It's nice to know I've been in the same room, breathing the same air as her at least thrice.

Before the tickets went on sale this year, I was perusing around the concert web page to see if there was anything my man could get me for my birthday in July.  I came upon a link that was exclusive to American Express card-holders and lo and behold, I was able to purchase two medium-priced tickets (about $350 each plus tax) for her first New York concert this year.  I was elated and still in shock when I printed them out.  There was a scare a few months later that some fraudulent tickets had been printed, but mine was not among those suspect.

I considered my ticket for Josh to be his birthday gift (we are both in early July), although it may not have been his first thought.  It was nice, however, to be at her concert with someone who truly appreciated it and someone who I care for deeply.  It was a great experience for him and he was elated that despite my skepticism, she sang some of the tougher songs from years gone by.  When I first met Josh he asked me to tell him what my favorite Streisand song was.  There are so many, but I told him "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life."  It was very touching that she sang that to us this special night.  He was hoping she would sing a lot of Funny Girl, and that's precisely what she did, including her amazing song, "My Man", which Fanny Brice herself had sung.  Another favorite of Josh's is Superman, but that was not sung, and Josh was very conscious of the fact that none of the songs from her most recent album with Barry Gibb were performed.  This might be attributable to the fact that Gibb was not on-hand to perform with her, but I did note that she sang at least two of her songs from albums in Decade Zero - Smile (by Charlie Chaplin) from The Movie Album and His is the Only Music That Makes me Dance, which had been re-recorded after being cut from the Funny Girl movie.

There were lots of ooohs and ahhhs as the celebrities came into the main seating area.  I know at least Rosie O'Donnell, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, James Brolin and Tony Bennet were there.  Jason Gould of course was there too.  Marvin Hamlisch, who I had seen on the street a few months ago in Midtown, was not the conductor.  I believe the name of the conductor was Bob Ross.

Il Divo was pretty saccharin and incongruous for me.  The sketch where they paid compliments to her was wrought with bad timing on their part.  I couldn't help but notice the Spaniard's ridiculous toupee in an effort at making them all clones of each other.  Their stance was not exactly impressive to me and I really can't imagine their comparisons to Josh Groban, who really has a voice and who actually recorded a memorable duet with Streisand.  At least they were peripheral to the show.  I looked at Josh and yawned mockingly during their performances without her.  I wish all of their songs would have been together, as in an opening, so that I could have used that time to go to the restroom.

She had at least two encores, including Smile, after she brought Sammy from backstage to show us all.  This is Samantha, a gift from Brolin and the dog that replaced Samuel.  Apparently the ASPCA has asked that her rendition of the song be the official song they use for pet owners who have lost their pets.

And then, of course, there was the heckler.  The heckling was pretty benign at the show's inception when some guy screamed out, "Barbra, Marry me, I'm Gay!"  She finally got to hear the whole quote when his friends helped him say it louder and she said, "There are GAY people here!!?!"  The real heckler was someone who must have taken issue with her tête-à-tête with a Dubya impersonator.  I saw a report that she said, "Why don't you shut the <bleep> up?" but the truth is that she said, "Shut the FUCK up!" as a command, not a question.  She did apologize later or she would have looked like a hypocrite talking about free speech.  Regardless, though, she was right.  This was not a forum for a heckler and what fool would not have known her politics or indeed her reason for HAVING the tour?  Bush cronies are everywhere and I even heard some grumblings among the men who were descending the stairs with us.  I think a few of them were perturbed with my comment about the "poor damn Republicans" as I told Josh, but this should not have been seen as a haven for them under any circumstances.

It was cute that she played a little piano for her own written song Ma Premiere Chanson.  She said crap and shit as she messed up, but it wasn't as spontaneous as it would have otherwise been because she got a laugh out of the Philly audience when she said the same thing.  However, it does bring back the beauty of J'e M'apelle Barbra, which I've always adored.  She said it had JUST gone platinum recently.  I think the Francophobia may have scared people off, but I consider it one of my absolute favorite Streisand albums, and it's no surprise I'm a Francophile.

While she still gave me chills just to hear her, she came onstage a tiny bit hoarse.  After a few cups of tea her voice did open up more and her potential was reached and surpassed at various times, always surprising herself and the audience.  That voice never failed her and has never cracked.  Of course it's also nice to hear her voice without the numerous takes that makes the studio recordings perfect.  Indeed, I think she went out of her way this tour, as with the piano visit, to show she can live with her imperfection. 

Her appearance was amazing and her outfits very flattering and appropriate, showing her beautiful shoulders and hints of breasts.  She wore a necklace that might be gaudy on another, but covered her cleavage tastefully.  She isn't ashamed to eat (talking about all the restaurants she visited during her visit, rather than the art exhibit she intended to get to).  Although you can't see any weight in her face her neck, which I always thought had a slight imperfection, was fully exposed.  Her longer blonde hair becomes her, reminding me of the early 1970's when I think she was at her physical peak in What's Up Doc.  Streisand is worth every penny and she continues to bring love, activism and good feelings to all who will listen.

I appeared in a large article with picture in the October 8, 2006 New York Daily News:  http://www.nydailynews.com/10-08-2006/entertainment/story/459156p-386338c.html

Here is the text:  Streisand-struck

Barbra collectors are tuning up for her latest tour BY ANNA WAHRMAN

Barbra Streisand has been called a diva, an icon and a legend. But to Joseph Hayden of Park Slope - and other Streisand collectors - the proper word is "superhuman."

The 64-year-old songbird brings her 16-city tour to Madison Square Garden tomorrow and Wednesday, and fans like Hayden have shelled out outrageous sums to see Streisand stretch her pipes one more time - because when they look around their apartment, they see all Babs, all the time.

"My rationality goes out the window when it comes to her," says Hayden, who paid $350 each for a pair of tickets to this week's show.

Hayden, 38, has for two decades been hoarding anything and everything related to Streisand, including a giant cardboard reproduction of the singer's face. In his Brooklyn apartment, he has every movie and every album she has ever done - on LP, 8-track, and CD (that's 50 records and 17 movies, but who's counting?). He has posters, drawings, T-shirts, hats and mugs. He even had a caricature done of her.

But his most prized possession is that striking 6-foot Babs face he scored a few years ago. It's like a one-woman Mount Rushmore.

"That was actually from a friend of mine who worked at Virgin Records in Times Square," says Hayden, who works in a Manhattan law firm. "He actually brought it on the subway. People thought he was crazy.

"The other stuff I have I got through sometimes shady ways. Or I've gone into antiques shops and found very rare pictures of her. But, basically, whenever I have a birthday, or at Christmas, people look for Barbra stuff to buy me. That's how most of my recent acquisitions have come about."

If Hayden is a novelty-shop collector, Larry Costa, 40, of Manhattan, is a big-ticket enthusiast. Costa, a spa owner and entrepreneur who says he has been a Streisand fan since he first heard "My Heart Belongs to Me" on the radio in 1977, has tickets to see her in three cities during the current tour.

But for him, concert tickets are the least of it. He owns an extensive - and expensive - collection of wigs Streisand wore in movies and on stage. He values the collection in the $150,000 range but says by way of explanation, "I own a [part of a] superstar's head - how can you put a price on that?

"I thought it'd be fun to collect all the different looks she had," Costa continues. "The first wig I got was one that was from her very early career; she was known for that wig in those days. All the wigs I have are recognizable. A few months ago, I purchased one of her '70s hair - the straight, long hair she wore in 'What's Up, Doc?'

"I've decided that I will keep them as an investment and sell them later in life, because I don't want to just die and then my family doesn't appreciate it."

"Barbra is aware of all the different fan stuff, the conventions," says Allison Waldman, author of "The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook" and a collector herself. "She's contributed autographs and stuff to auction off.

"She has the ability to create an intimacy [with fans] that only the greatest performers can do."

So, what's Waldman's most prized possession?

"I own an Art Deco figurine of a man and woman dancing that has been in Barbra's house," she says. "I bought it for $300, but what's really cool is about six months after I bought it, I was sorting through photographs at a store in New York and ran across a 1974 picture of her with the statuette on the mantel beside her. So I have the statuette and I have a picture of Barbra with the statuette beside her. That's the ultimate cool."

This page was last updated 28-Dec-2007.