1999 Charles Dickens Dinner
Biltmore Hotel
Los Angeles, CA
December 10th, 1999

This month's episode of Manilow TV is the first benefit we pulled from the vault, and this evening is one of the highlights of my life.

In December of 1999, I was honored to recieve the Thornton Legacy Award from the prestigious USC Thornton School of Music at their annual Charles Dickens Dinner. All proceeds from the Evening support music scholarships at the school, which is ranked among the top one percent of music school and conservatories in the United States.

I wanted to do something really special instead of just getting up and accepting an award, so I actually went to USC and worked with the kids in the classroom, and put together a few things that I could do with them actually accompanying me, in addition to what they had already planned for the evening.

These young people were absolutely brimming with talent, and they rehearsed and rehearsed, and what you see here is a very emotional one time only performance, that was only seen by the 400 or so people attending - until now.

The kids did great, and it was inspiring to be amongst such young talented people on the way to the rest of their life.

Enjoy this!

Barry