Marilyn Manson, Barry Manilow, and Lana Del Rey strike a pose as unlikely photo trio

I came across this impossibly pop-tastic photo being passed around on Facebook and just had to share.

2012 has been a strange year all around, but the convergence of Barry Manilow and Marilyn Manson cannot be ignored – particularly when they form a trio with music industry rising star Lana Del Rey.

When I caught up with the pic on FB, the photo was credited to Kelly Stitzel of Popdose.com, but I haven’t seen this pic posted on their website yet, nor their Facebook page, though kudos to Miss Stitzel for getting the scoop on a very unique moment.

Where was this taken? I have no idea. The smart money is it was taken backstage at one of their respective concerts, but a quick check of touring data doesn’t reveal any shows in the last few days for any of them.

Alternative theories include a meeting of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Barry is Conquest, Manson is Death, and Lana is…well, Famine maybe? (She doesn’t look too skinny to me. Actually, she looks damned good.)

Or maybe it’s a custody transfer, with Lana being handed off from one proud parent to another. I mean, she does look kinda like a Manilow/Marilyn love child. If you squint. Real hard.

I dunno, whatever the reason, celebrating their irrelevance isn’t one of them: Lana Del Rey’s debut album, Born To Die, debuted on the Billboard charts at #2 just last month, while Manson’s new record, scheduled to be released in May, is titled Born Villain.

All Barry needs to do is release his own “Born” variant record (Born Bad? Born in Brooklyn? Born Barry?) to perfect a trifecta! Unfortunately, he’s got no record in the offing, so he’ll just have to get by on the scintillating glow of his awesomeness. He’s been Barry Freakin’ Manilow for four decades, and that’s always been good enough.

So I suppose I’d like to open the floor to what YOU think this trio was doing together in the same time and space!