A.J. Croce (from AJCrocemusic.com)
A generation ago, Harry Chapin performed a concert to help keep Syracuse’s Landmark Theatre from the wrecking ball. A citizen group had formed with the hope of purchasing the theater to keep it alive in downtown Syracuse. With the help of that sold-out benefit concert by the popular singer, songwriter and guitarist born in Brooklyn and living on Long Island, the plan worked.
The man who gave the world the popular song “Taxi” and No. 1 “Cat’s in the Cradle” died in a car crash in 1981.
Jim Croce was already gone eight years by then.
It could be argued that the Philadelphia native had found even more widespread popularity than Chapin, what with his pair of No. 1 singles, “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” and “Time in a Bottle.” Croce died in a plane crash during his “Life and Times” tour, a day before the single “I’ve Got a Name” was released.
Both musicians had young offspring when they left this world.
Jen Chapin (from jenchapin.com)
And on Friday night, Oct. 4, A.J. Croce and Jen Chapin will perform a show in the Landmark Theatre on South Salina Street. It will be the first collaborative effort for the two. The 8 p.m. concert will be in the intimate lobby of the restored theater.
Both singer-songwriters will bring material from new albums.
Croce’s “12 Tales” was recorded in a variety of cities, under the direction of different veteran producers.
Chapin’s “Reckoning” is a personal album for the woman who’s humanitarian work for the group Why Hunger follows her father’s path. Harry started that group in 1975, and was posthumously honored with a Congressional Gold Medal for that work to help those in need.
Tickets to the general admission show are $28, available at the Landmark box office on South Salina Street, ticketmaster.com and 315-475-7980.
Mark Bialczak 
So many good memories of classic Chapin and Croce songs … I’m glad their musical legacy continues with this generation.
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Yes, Jim, I loved the work of these two, from high school through college and beyond. I remember one day in Ward Melville High School in Suffolk County when the principal got on the PA and told everybody there was a surprise event in the auditorium. In the middle of a school weekday, it was Harry Chapin, guitar in hand. Man, he won over us fellow Long Islanders. I wish I had a buck for every time I sang along to my favorite, “Taxi” since. And a-one, a-two, a-three, “She said how are you Harry, I said how are you Sue. After too many miles and too little smiles, I still remember you.”
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