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By Joseph Morton
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
WASHINGTON — As a famous musician, Barry Manilow must be accustomed to having CDs shoved at him by aspiring young artists, but by members of the U.S. Senate?
When Manilow visited Capitol Hill on Thursday, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., presented the singer with a copy of his single, "Western Town."
Nelson said the Grammy Award-winning singer got a chuckle out of the gift.
"He said, 'I can't wait to play it.' I said, 'Oh, maybe you shouldn't be quite so anxious to do that.' "
Nelson made a tongue-in-cheek comparison between his own, uh, interesting crooning and Manilow's blockbuster career.
"He writes the songs that make girls cry," Nelson said. "We have that in common, because when I sing, then they cry, too."
Nelson recorded the song years ago. It was featured in the movie "California Dreaming" and included on the charity album "Nebraska Celebrities Sing for Sight," a benefit for the Nebraska Foundation for Visually Impaired Children.
That album was produced by Karen Sokolof Javitch of Omaha, who also wrote "Western Town."
Nelson pointed out that his singing has helped raise money to fight blindness, while Manilow has worked hard to raise awareness of atrial fibrillation.
That's what brought Manilow to the Hill — to brief lawmakers and aides on the disease and efforts to educate the public about it.
Manilow has achieved international fame for hit recordings of "Mandy," "Copacabana" and others.
But he's also one of 2.5 million Americans with atrial fibrillation, which causes a person's heart to beat out of rhythm and can lead to heart damage, heart attack, stroke and death.
A resolution on awareness of the disease has passed the Senate. It's pending in the House.
Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., is a co-sponsor of the House resolution. He said it's an issue that hits close to home because his sister died of a heart attack and his father has suffered a stroke.
The Omaha lawmaker bumped into Manilow on Thursday morning and ended up escorting him into the Capitol.
Terry confessed to not owning any of Manilow's music, but he praised the singer for using his status to talk about heart disease and how to prevent it.
"God bless him for using his talent that way," Terry said.
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