World Premiere: "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" debuts from 'Release Me'

Guys... All I can say is... WOW. What a SONG. Crystal clear vocals. Absolute perfection.

The track was recorded in 1971 during the Stoney End sessions and features Randy Newman on the piano.

Enjoy!

http://www.barbrastreisand.com/us/news/i-think-its-going-rain-today-debuts-release-me

A First Look At "The Guilt Trip" - Barbra's Upcoming Movie!

Paramount Pictures have released the first photo from Barbra's upcoming movie "The Guilt Trip".

Entertainment Weekly say:

It took director Anne Fletcher a full year to coax Barbra Streisand — who hasn't headlined a movie since 1996's The Mirror Has Two Faces — out of semiretirement for this bittersweet comedy about an inventor (Seth Rogen) on a cross-country road trip with his mom (Streisand). "I kept saying to her, 'This movie is a dash of What's Up, Doc? with a dash of The Way We Were,'" says Fletcher (The Proposal), who set up a script reading last fall to persuade both stars to sign on. "After they were done with one scene, the room was silent. These two had the craziest amount of chemistry. They were even taken aback." Funny — we're not surprised at all.

The movie opens Christmas Day.

"Release Me" - Barbra's New Album, Coming to Vinyl and CD.

Vinyl Release Date: September 25th.
CD Release Date: October 9th.

The complete track listing for Release Me features:

1. Being Good Isn’t Good Enough (from Hallelujah, Baby!)

2. Didn’t We

3. Willow Weep For Me

4. Try To Win A Friend

5. I Think It’s Going To Rain Today

6. With One More Look At You (from A Star Is Born)

7. Lost In Wonderland

8. How Are Things In Glocca Morra? / Heather On The Hill (from Finian’s Rainbow / Brigadoon)

9. Mother And Child

10. If It’s Meant To Be

11. Home (from The Wiz)

Pre-order the CD here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00914JWSW/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00914JWSW&linkCode=as2&tag=barbranewsc02-20

Pre-order the Vinyl LP here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008XX6J92/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B008XX6J92&linkCode=as2&tag=barbranewsc02-20

Barbra Streisand Raises $22 Million for Cedars-Sinai Heart Disease Center (Exclusive)

Click here: http://www.barbrastreisand.com/us/news/barbra-streisand-raises-22-million-cedars-sinai-heart-disease-center-exclusive

All Barbra Streisand tickets on sale now!

Click here: http://www.barbrastreisand.com/us/news/all-barbra-streisand-tickets-sale-now

A Message from Barbra Streisand on the Need to Protect Voting Rights

Click here: http://www.barbrastreisand.com/us/statement/message-barbra-streisand-need-protect-voting-rights

A devastated Barbra Streisand remembers her friend Marvin Hamlisch

By Susan King - Los Angeles Times.

Barbra Streisand had written herself a note to call her good friend Marvin Hamlisch  Monday evening.

The composer-conductor was always difficult to reach, she recalled in an interview Friday afternoon. So after Streisand had stopped working around 11 p.m. Monday she called her friends, the lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman, to find out where Hamlisch was at the moment.

The Bergmans told her they hadn’t been able to reach Hamlisch for a few days, so she put the call on hold.

The next morning Streisand was devastated to hear that Hamlisch had died at 68 after a short illness. Realizing he had died around the same time she was trying to reach him, she said she thought "Oh, God.”

Streisand had much she wanted to tell Hamlisch, whom she met when he was a rehearsal pianist on her 1964 Broadway breakout hit “Funny Girl,” and who had won two Oscars for composing the score and writing the title tune, with the Bergmans, to Streisand’s 1973 film, “The Way We Were.”

“I wanted to tell him that I decided to sing ‘The Way We Were’ for a concert in Brooklyn [in October] for my new tour. And I was going back to his arrangement from the movie. I had never done that.  I am always looking for new ways to do songs to make them fresh for me.”

She also wanted to tell him how thrilled she was with “Any Moment Now,” a song Hamlisch had written with Howard Ashman for the 1986 musical, “Smile.” A friend of Streisand’s had recently sent her the tune.

“I was going to tell him that I am doing it on my next album -- a duets album that won’t be released for a while. I heard it and said this is going to be a great duet with somebody from the theater -- it’s brilliant.”

Streisand is dedicating her latest CD, "Release Me," to Hamlisch. The CD is set for a September release and will feature a photo of the two that was shot New Year’s Eve 1993.

Streisand said that she and Hamlisch were like two peas in a pod from the moment they met nearly 50 years ago. 

“When I was with Marvin it felt like I was home,” she said. “We just hit it off and we became friends. We were so alike -- a passion for work and music.”

He was a man who loved food, laughter and the New York Yankees, she recalled. On their concert tours, she said, “Marvin had this little gizmo that he showed me that gave him the most recent baseball scores.”

Hamlisch also eased Streisand's nerves about returning to the concert stage in 1993 after 27 years. “I had sung for fundraisers,” she said. “When I decided to go back, it had to be with Marvin. Marvin got me through all of that fear.”

Streisand, the producer-writer-director, hired Hamlisch to score her 1996 film, “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” And he performed at her wedding to actor James Brolin in her Malibu home in 1998.

“The wedding was put together in 2 1/2 weeks,” she said. “He was rehearsing at a nearby school and we were talking on the phone because I was doing preparations for the wedding.”

She last saw Hamlisch in November at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Gala.

“I hadn’t seen him in a while,” she said. “I was worried about him because he didn’t look well. He seemed very tired. I sat him down next to me.”

Streisand, who opens a concert tour in October at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, is planning a tribute to Hamlisch for the concert. 

“He was the kindest, most thoughtful, generous human being,” she said.

And like any good friend, she said, “he never forgot my birthday.”

Barbra announces new concerts in the US and Canada plus Fan Pre-Sale

The magic of Barbra Streisand in concert continues this fall with the addition of NEW live performances in the US and Canada with special guests Chris Botti and Il Volo!

Oct. 8

Philadelphia, PA

Wells Fargo Center

Oct. 17

Montreal, QC

Bell Centre

Oct. 20

Ottawa, ON

Scotiabank Plaza

Oct. 23

Toronto, ON

Air Canada Centre

Oct. 26

Chicago, IL

United Center

Visit www.barbrastreisand.com for more.

Marvin Hamlisch, Legendary Composer and Conductor, Dead at 68

Marvin Hamlisch, famed composer and conductor collapsed after a brief illness and died yesterday, his family announced. He was 68. 

Hamlisch, who won three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony, a Pulitzer and three Golden Globes, was known as  the "people's composer,"  He was the youngest student to be admitted by Manhattan's Julliard School of Music 

Hamlisch composed over forty motion picture scores, including his Oscar-winning score and song for "The Way We Were," and his adaptation of Scott Joplin's music for "The Sting," for which he received a third Oscar. Other original film scores and/or musical adaptation, included "Sophie's Choice," "Ordinary People," "The Swimmer," "Three Men and a Baby," "Ice Castles," "Take the Money and Run," Bananas," "Save the Tiger," "The Informant!," and his latest effort, "Behind the Candelabra," a film about the life of Liberace. 

On Broadway, Hamlisch wrote the music for his groundbreaking show, "A Chorus Line," which received the Pulitzer Prize, as well as "They're Playing Our Song," "The Goodbye Girl" and "Sweet Smell of Success." 

At the time of his death, Hamlisch held the position of Principal Pops Conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony and Pops, Seattle Symphony, and San Diego Symphony. 

Next week, he was to be announced as the Principal Pops Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra.  Hamlisch was also due to conduct the New York Philharmonic in its upcoming New Year's Eve concert. 

Hamlisch was scheduled to leave for Nashville later this week to see his hit musical, "The Nutty Professor." He was also working on a new Broadway musical called "Gotta Dance." 

He is survived by Terre, his wife of 25 years.