A CONCERT to benefit THE LIGHT OF DAY FOUNDATION and WHYHUNGER

feat. John McMenamin and original Harry Chapin band members Big John Wallace and Howard Fields.

 

 

John McMenamin has been performing Harry Chapin's music since the late 1970s, beginning at The Cabaret Theatre, a small theatre near Pittsburgh where he worked as a performer and director. Shortly after Harry's tragic death in July 1981, with the blessing and kind donation of the theater by it’s director, John Carosella, he performed a full evening of Harry Chapin’s songs, with the profits going to World Hunger Year. (now WHYHunger.) Producer John Horanic also pitched in and donated his talents, and Remembering Harry Chapin was born. John performed these tributes there over the next three years. In 1995, after a ten-year absence, John realized how much he missed the concerts and did another, this time in New Stanton, PA, near Pittsburgh. There were about 275 people at the show, and profits were donated to The Harry Chapin Foundation. The next year my John’s friend Rob DeVitis joined with his electric guitar, drawing over 400 people for a World Hunger Year benefit in Monroeville, PA. Other shows have since followed every few years across the Northeast, with the proceeds benefiting a charity such as WHY or the Harry Chapin Foundation. Since the early 2000s the shows have often been performed with original members of Harry’s band, including Yvonne Cable, Howard Fields, and Big John Wallace. In 2020 the band performed at Asbury Park’s Paramount Theater as a co-benefit for WHYHunger and the Light Of Day Foundation. It was the final show in the theater before the long dark Covid19 shut down. Fast forward to 2023. The pandemic is now behind us, and the band is ready to play. Once again featuring members of the Harry Chapin Band performing with John McMenamin and friends,