Meet Glenn Paul Manion, Our Featured Volunteer from New York!

Get to know our volunteers!

What Virtual Program do you volunteer with? I volunteer for the Selfhelp Virtual Senior Center, City of Hope, and our Adult Program Live Streams

How long have you been volunteering with Musicians On Call? I’ve been a volunteer for 8 years.

Are you a volunteer guide or musician? Musician

What is your favorite song to play for patients? What The World Needs Now

Which demographic do you love playing for and why? I love performing for all ages. I suppose that seniors best appreciate the old songs I tend to do.

Do you have any livestreams or other performances coming up? I always have MOC gigs lined up. Later this month, we’ll be doing a streaming version of our “Reading ROCKS!” program for a local school.

What is your occupation outside of MOC? I’ve been a full-time musician most of my adult life.

Do you have any hidden talents? I’ve been studying piano for more than ten years. So far, I haven’t had the chutzpah to perform in public.

What is your story? What connects you with music and why do you volunteer with MOC? When my wife and I were pursuing a record contract, we would sing our hearts out for indifferent or non-existent audiences in bars and similar places. So we decided to bring our music to where there were built-in audiences, such as schools, libraries, senior centers, etc. It didn’t bring us a lot of fame, but it was much more satisfying and had us performing 300 gigs a year (pre-Covid, of course). Doing solo work for MOC gave me a chance to develop my singing cowboy persona and repertoire. Somehow, people felt more at ease when I interacted with them in character. Once MOC went all-virtual, my wife and my daughter were able to be included. We’ve worked hard to learn how to do a professional-looking presentation from our basement!