I was at his very last concert at Eisenhower park, THE last and he of course never showed up because he died on the way. July 16th 1981 on the Long Island Expressway.
It was horrible, they had all these disabled kids sitting up front by the stage and everybody was crying and they wheeled them away. Then the media came then people had these campfire sing alongs of his music.
I cannot believe it’s been over 40 years. I visited his grave years ago in Huntington. You have to walk up this big hill and there it is, this rock with his name on it. I even volunteered for a few years for his food charity “Long Island cares” and quit after 2 years after I realized it was completely full of sh*t.
All the “starving” kids would never eat the food because they weren’t starving at all. It was just a huge scam where adults would try to take the cans of tuna etc and try to sell it
Wow.
My elementary school music teacher knew him and had him come sing at the school once. He sat on a stool while we kids sat on the gym floor. Another time he came and played at the bowling alley in Huntington one afternoon. Not a planned thing. He just sat near the game room and started playing. I was about 12.
One of my favorites is Roses are Red, it’s about a boy who goes to school and wants to paint flowers. The teacher yells at him for not doing what he’s supposed to. Then complains that his flowers are wrong. And Mr. Tanner, about a singing tailor, who has his dreams crushed.
He had a house on the bay. My friend babysat for his kids. He rented the beach house to Bette Davis. We’d spot he once in a while. My father said he couldn’t carry a tune with a truck.