Comments on: Benny Mardones

By: B. Holmes

B. Holmes — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:43:49 +0000

You have NO IDEA. I lived there at the time (and knew Tommy) and it was like being in an alternate universe. Sixty miles away you couldn’t give away enough tickets to fill a club. In Syracuse, he sold out the Landmark twice (3000 seats a pop) when he announced gigs. He was probably the biggest draw in town for a couple of years.

By: Jenn Federici

Jenn Federici — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:43:33 +0000

Wow flashback. I grew up in upstate NY (about an hour from Syracuse) and Benny was the 2nd concert I ever saw. It was a big deal to get a T-shirt autographed by him and I am sure I still have it around somewhere…

By: Bob Piascik

Bob Piascik — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:43:17 +0000

The Benny Mardones story kind of reminds me of the Michael Stanley Band from Cleveland. He had a semi-hit in 1980 ("He Don't Love You") but never REALLY broke through. He can sell 10,000 tix in Cleveland and is a local celebrity but is unknown everywhere else

Here in Columbus area the equivalent is John Schwab from McGuffey Lane. In Indianapolis I think it's Henry Lee Summer.

There must be one in every medium sized city: Has-been (or never-was?) still living on 80's 'brush with greatness'.

By: Jeff Laufer

Jeff Laufer — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:42:58 +0000

i liked your words on benny. in fact i worked his record on polydor where it went top ten on billboard’s singles. he was "out of control". i recall when i picked him up that the sunset marquee hotel to take him to the office for interviews i accidentally hit a car. well benny got out of my car and wanted to beat the shit out of the driver. nonetheless i always loved benny and in concert he could sing like on one else. polydor wanted him to be their "eddie money". but benny was too volatile; even for rock n’ roll.
the story doesn’t end …..
i got the single played on krth when they would play currents and the record turned into a smash. but once it peaked it went away like most records, however the music director there, guy zapoleon about 10 years later was working at a chr station in phoenix and started to play the song again and it became a hit all over again.
that’s my story and i know.

By: Mike Mettler

Mike Mettler — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:42:40 +0000

After a long, LONG deadline week, as I was headling home Friday night, I decided to stop at Midtown Comics to detox and pick up some reading material for the weekend. More often than not, Midtown pumps in either JACK or Q104. This night, it was JACK. A few unrelated tracks went by as I scoped the racks, grabbed the latest must-read comics and trade paperbacks, and eventually got in line. (It’s always busy at Midtown on Friday nights.) "Into the Night" came on as I was third or fourth from checkout. The guy behind me started whistling, then singing along to it. I doubt he even realized that we could hear him. When I got to the checkout, I grabbed a loose sheet of paper off the counter and jotted down the song title. Figured I’d check my iPod once I got to the train to see if I had the song on it. Benny’s name escaped me at the time; I was thinking the artist might be somebody like Paul Davis.

I had a few songs named "Into The Night" on my iPod — one a touching solo track from Gordon Downie, the other a haunting cut by Julee Cruise & Angelo Badalamenti from the Twin Peaks soundtrack — but not this one. After I got home, I typed the title into iTunes and Benny came up with a few different versions — alas, none of them the original. I bought the version he re-recorded for his self-titled 1990 album just so I could have it on hand (it’s not bad). Figured I’d track the original down when I had a few minutes.

THEN when I got up this morning, I saw your latest Letter with Benny as the title. Smallish world, eh?