The LuLac Edition #4, 985, July 26th, 2023

 WRITE ON WEDNESDAY 

Our "Write On Wednesday" logo. 

This week we revisit the time Tony Bennett came to the Kirby Center for the Performing Arts for the very first time. The article is by the Citizens' Voice reporter Steve Mocarsky. All of the comments I made to the reporter were verifiable. 

 

TONY BENNETT REMEMBERED FOR WILKES-BARRE PERFORMANCES       

      

 Iconic American singer Tony Bennett was remembered Friday as a beloved artist who performed on several occasions in Luzerne County over the years to sellout crowds.

Bennett died Friday. He was 96, just two weeks short of his birthday.

Local record store owner and promoter Joe Nardone said Bennett “never lost his talent” over the years.

“In the record business, he never stopped selling, from the early years to the present,” Nardone said on Friday.

Bennett, in fact, helped a fledgling F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre establish its reputation as a serious venue when Bennett performed there as part of his comeback to show business in 1987, just a year after the venue opened, said David Yonki, who was executive director of the precursor to the Luzerne County Visitors Bureau at the time.

The Kirby Center likewise helped Bennett reestablish a foothold back on the stage.

At the time, department store magnet Al Boscov was heavily involved with the Kirby Center to make it a success, and Boscov’s store head Tom Jacobs was heavily involved with the Tourist Promotion Agency. The Kirby board hired John Loesser, the son of “Guys and Dolls” composer Frank Loesser, as executive director, Yonki said.

In a meeting with Yonki, Jacobs and the late Charles Spitale, then head of the tourist promotion agency board, Loesser mentioned that Bennett’s son Danny had taken over management of his father’s career.

The singer had made some dubious choices with his finances and drug use, and had trusted the wrong people. Columbia Records had just dumped him from their catalogue and Bennett needed to restart his career, Yonki said.

“Loesser said he could get Bennett to perform at the Kirby Center for about $6,600. Bennett had a brand new CD out called “The Art of Excellence” and was singing many old favorites from the great American songbook. The group agreed and on Friday April 3, 1987, Tony Bennett at 8 p.m. performed at the Kirby,” Yonki said.

Yonki was backstage with Bennett before the show.

 “Bennett had marveled at the beauty of the theater, the art deco as well as the configuration of the seating. He told me he could reach the back of the theater going a capella and might try that when he went on stage,” Yonki said. “That night he did.”

Yonki asked Bennett about the most memorable stage on which he performed.

Bennett said that during the Civil Rights demonstrations of the 1960s, he would entertain at concerts for free to support the movement.

“He said, ‘One time we were playing at a town in Alabama and the white government officials wouldn’t let us put up a stage because it would help the cause. So, a group of black undertakers brought coffins and pushed them together so we could perform. I’ll always remember that,’” Yonki recalled.

The next morning, local photographer Charlie Aquilina and Yonki met with Bennett at his hotel before the singer departed. Aquilina had a painting of Bennett’s with him and wanted to get a photo of Bennett with the artwork for a customer. Bennett agreed, and Yonki also got his photo taken with Bennett.

“I remember him asking me how I liked the solo, and I said, ‘You heard the crowd, they loved it!’” Yonki said.

The singer answered, “Good. Nice theater.”

Bennett later returned to the region with a concert at the Kirby Center managed by local promoter Thom Greco sometime in the 1990s, and later performed at Montage Mountain with K.D. Lang. in May 2001.

Greco described Bennett as “quite a talent” and “a gentleman.” He also recalled having to send his stage manager to Bennett’s hotel to get him for the performance because he had not shown up and it was getting close to showtime.

“I understand he was there with a young lady,” Greco said. “He loved young women. He was quite a player. But he was one heck of a performer.”

Bennett’s final performance in Luzerne County was at the Kirby Center in June 2012.

Steve Mocarsky (Citizens' Voice)