From the Greenwich Village Gazette: Ernest Barteldes
On Bette Midler: Buzzy performed with Bette Midler in the early days,
when he co-authored her “theme song”, which was called “Friends.” The song was originally intended as a “folky thing that you could play with one microphone placed with an acoustic guitar, but she turned it into a Broadway-like show tune.”
At the time Buzzy played with Midler, she had just finished “Fiddler on A Roof” on Broadway, and she had started performing at the after-hours Continental baths in New York City. He recalls, from that time, Barry Manilow inviting him to write songs with him – which he never did – “I kick myself because of that”.
From the bathhouse experience he recalls meeting sixties gay activist Jack Nichols, then editor of Gay, the first same-sex oriented magazine in America. “Everybody was there – believe me. “Linhart also humorously recalls that “it took a while to get used to playing to a couple of hundred guys naked except for towels.”
For Full Article: Buzzy Interview
For His CD: Buzzy Linhart Loves You
