When in doubt, do something.
~ Harry Chapin
It was Thursday, July 16, 1981.
To this day, I can still feel the paint brush in my hand. I vividly recall the smell of paint and pizza wafting in the air throughout my northwest side Chicago apartment. It was essential to have music on as you worked and FM was definitely the place to be tuned into back then. Chicago was (and is) home to the best FM radio station in the country WXRT - 93 XRT as they played another eclectic mix.
Finally things were opening up in my life and I was excited to be able to afford a couple of upcoming entertainment and cultural events - the most important being my first ever Harry Chapin Concert being held at Ravinia in Highland Park, a distant suburb of Chicago. Tickets were being purchased on Saturday, the day after payday, for the lawn section, or the "cheap seats," as Harry liked to referred to them.
The DJ announced the news in the middle of the broadcast. Harry Chapin, on his way to yet another benefit concert, had died while en route, on his beloved Long Island.
I never got to see Harry. However his music and his passion for championing the underdog , has continued to encourage me throughout the years, thus becoming a soundtrack for my life.
"Everybody has their own coefficient of wanting to matter. I tend, as I get older, to want to matter a lot. I want that fact that I existed to matter. I'm a greedy, hungry individual." - Harry Chapin
Clearly, Harry was a driven man. It's been estimated that he did somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 concerts a year, much to the sometimes exasperation of his wife, Sandy. Every other concert was done for as a benefit or cause-related endeavor. He used to say "I do one concert for me, and one for the other guy."
Specifically, Harry took up the cause of eradicating hunger, firmly believing that "poverty and hunger were an insult to America." His spirit and passion affected almost everyone he encountered, whether it was in the personal, entertainment, or political realm.
In a clip from the Carnegie Hall concert tribute concert, Bruce Springsteen explains this relentlessness and how he was persuaded by Harry to help. Since that time, Mr. Springsteen has provided opportunities for his concertgoers to bring donations for local food banks, as well as making very quiet donations throughout the years to shelters.
Chapin was persistent in trying to produce solutions, and holding government to the belief that the welfare of its citizens was paramount. That the 1977 Presidential Commission on World Hunger came into being is due to Harry's refusal to let the issue of hunger die. Sen. Leahy (D-VT) remembers having to ask Harry to tone down his passion during the meeting, and not talk President Jimmy Carter out of creating the Commission. Harry, along with Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor and John Denver, became a 4-man lobby group monitoring the President’s Commission on World Hunger of which Harry was a member. Not surprisingly, Harry became the only member of the Commission who attended every meeting.
In 1976, Harry attended the Democratic National Convention as a delegate for Rep. Mo Udall (D-AZ) and was, I believe, beginning to head into the political arena. I have no doubt that he would have run for public office if he had lived. This viewpoint is supported by his daughter, Jen Chapin:
"She doesn't doubt that her father may have drifted toward a career in politics had he not been killed, recalling talk that he was considering a bid for a U.S. Senate seat in New York before he died. If he were alive today?" He would have been all over the social media. He was a very fast-paced person living in a much slower world."" Harry Chapin recalled as a charitable giant
Since 1981, Ken Kragen, along with musician Kenny Rogers, and Sandy Chapin created The Harry Chapin Memorial Fund, evolving into The Harry Chapin Foundation. "As of December of 2010, the Foundation has distributed close to 1.7 million dollars to 399 organizations. Of these 219 grants were made to organizations in New York State and the remaining 180 in other states."
Mr. Kragen was certainly influenced by Harry. Kragen was key to bringing together the talent to cut the single "We are the World" for the USA for Africa group, and later forming the event known as Hands Across America. "Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said, "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it."" Harry Chapin Is Gone, but Friends Carry His Song in Their Hearts
On December 7, 1987, on what would have been his 45th birthday, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his campaigning on social issues, particularly his highlighting of hunger around the world and in the United States.
Harry's legacy continues on today. Long Island Cares, founded in 1980, has The Harry Chapin Food Bank. This spring they announced a year long campaign to honor Harry's legacy. One of these endeavors needs your help: to honor Harry with a Commemorative Stamp by demonstrating support for the idea to the Stamp Commissioners.
A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with Michael Haynes, LI Cares’ government affairs and public policy coordinator and he said getting the word out would be much appreciated. Anyone interested in supporting The Harry Chapin Commemorative Stamp Project can contact Haynes at 631-582-3663, ext. 124 or via email: mhaynes@licares.org to receive a pre-addressed postcard to send to the U.S. stamp advisory committee. You may also ask for a quantity to be sent to you for distribution, too.
The Harry Chapin Commemorative Stamp Project Facebook page needs some support, and if you're so inclined they could really use some assistance to boost the signal.
If you are in or near the Long Island area, tomorrow, Saturday, July 16, there is a free concert at the Chapin Rainbow Stage in Huntington, NY, at 7:30 p.m. Food bank donations will be accepted. Family and members of Harry's band will be performing.
Give this a listen:
On his headstone:
photo courtesy Luke Heidelberger
Personal note from the Cheap Seats: I'll be doing a series of diaries on Harry's music and his legacy. Thank you for reading my very first diary. Assistance on the Tags would be most appreciated.
Other relevant news articles:
Remembering Harry Chapin three decades later looking back at a singer with a cause
10:01 PM PT: Update: My thanks to all of you for taking the time to read this first diary and for the recommendations received, as well as being "Rescued."