Just Wild About Harry – Annual Tribute to Harry Chapin

LI Musicians Pay Tribute to Harry Chapin During July 17 Concert at Eisenhower Park
The music of Harry Chapin will once again fill the summer night at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow on Monday, July 17, as multiple Long Island musicians, led by singer-songwriter Stuart Markus, perform the songs of the late singer-songwriter and social activist at the annual “Just Wild About Harry” tribute concert. The show will feature numerous songwriters and bands performing some of Chapin’s classic songs — including “Taxi,” “W.O.L.D.,” and “Cat’s in the Cradle.” Concertgoers are asked to bring donations of nonperishable food to support Long Island Cares, Inc., the regional food bank and humanitarian organization founded by Harry Chapin in 1980.

“The annual Harry Chapin Tribute Concert in Eisenhower Park is always a very special event for all of us at Long Island Cares because so many of Harry’s fans attend and are extremely supportive of Long Island Cares and the work we do to assist the more than 316,000 Long Islanders struggling with domestic hunger and high food insecurity,” said Paule Pachter, its chief executive officer. “It’s hard to believe it’s been 36 years since Harry’s untimely passing, and Stuart Markus and the other talented performers featured have been keeping Harry’s musical legacy very much alive on Long Island for so many years.”

Besides Markus and his group Gathering Time, this year’s roster of performers includes Frank Walker, Robin Eve, Lisa Itts, Grand Folk Railroad, Friends on the Journey, Robin Greenstein, Sid Cherry & Helene Schreier Pandal, Patricia Shih, MediaCrime, Karen Bella, Christine Solimeno, Josh Joffen, Jerry DeMeo, the Joe Iadanza Band, and the Folk Goddesses, plus newcomers Chelsea Takami, Cass House and Christine Sweeney. “I’m very excited to be able to bring in some new talent that caught my ear in the past couple of years, and to welcome back a few people that haven’t been in the show for a half decade or more,” Markus said. The event is co-promoted by the Folk Music Society of Huntington, of which Markus is a board member.

Long Island Cares’ staff and volunteers will be collecting donations of non-perishable food at a tent at the entrance to The Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre. They also will be selling t-shirts and Harry Chapin CDs, as well as distributing literature about the organization’s programs and services. The program begins at 7:30 pm and is free and open to the public. Concertgoers are advised to bring lawn chairs. The concert will be held rain or shine, precluded only by thunderstorms. For more information, visit www.nassaucountyny.gov/1767/Parks-Recreation-Museums.

Photo of Harry Chapin by Robert Berkowitz/RSBImageWorks.com