A Bigger, Bolder Lennon Tribute
Just because an event is in its 29th year doesn’t mean it can’t do anything new.
Joe Raiola and his pals at Theatre Within have been staging a fund-raising John Lennon tribute every year since 1981 near the anniversary of Lennon’s death, and the roster of stars who have played it is getting pretty long. This year’s show, though, which is Friday at 7:30 at Symphony Space, features a number of first-timers, including David Bromberg, Joan Osborne, Lucy Kaplansky, Nicole Atkins and Bettye LaVette.
Mr. Bromberg (whose wife, Nancy Josephson, will also perform with her Angel Band) has several connections to the Beatles on his résumé, including playing on a couple of Ringo Starr’s albums. But perhaps the quirkiest is the song he wrote with George Harrison, “The Holdup,” which he will perform on Friday along with the 1964 Beatles tune “You Can’t Do That.”...
... Also new to the Lennon Tribute this year is the beneficiary, the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. In past years the designated cause has generally been a group dedicated to fighting poverty or hunger, as Lennon might have wished. This year, Mr. Raiola said, Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, asked that the effort focus on a cause that would help children. ..
Read entire article at NYT
Joe Raiola and his pals at Theatre Within have been staging a fund-raising John Lennon tribute every year since 1981 near the anniversary of Lennon’s death, and the roster of stars who have played it is getting pretty long. This year’s show, though, which is Friday at 7:30 at Symphony Space, features a number of first-timers, including David Bromberg, Joan Osborne, Lucy Kaplansky, Nicole Atkins and Bettye LaVette.
Mr. Bromberg (whose wife, Nancy Josephson, will also perform with her Angel Band) has several connections to the Beatles on his résumé, including playing on a couple of Ringo Starr’s albums. But perhaps the quirkiest is the song he wrote with George Harrison, “The Holdup,” which he will perform on Friday along with the 1964 Beatles tune “You Can’t Do That.”...
... Also new to the Lennon Tribute this year is the beneficiary, the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. In past years the designated cause has generally been a group dedicated to fighting poverty or hunger, as Lennon might have wished. This year, Mr. Raiola said, Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, asked that the effort focus on a cause that would help children. ..