Dion (DiMucci) turned 66 today. Holy Cannoli!!
I can remember being absolutely knocked as a young boy in 1958 when I first heard Dion and the Belmonts sing “I Wonder Why†and later “Where or When.†Those songs still knock me out.
The thing about Dion is that, despite his ten year heroin addiction (1958-1968) and having become an “old guy,” he STILL can sing those songs and sound as good as he did back then. Two years ago, he went into a studio with some background singers and a good band and made this CD, on which he sings many of his old songs and hits the notes with laser precision. That CD is a regular in my car and on my stereo.
He is “The King of the New York Streets.â€
My friend Denny, guitar and kazoo maestro, reminds us that today is the anniversary of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne**. For those of you who are not old enough to remember July 1969, Mary Jo Kopechne was the young woman who died when the car driven by Senator Kennedy plunged into Poucha Pond after a night of partying on Chappaquiddick Island by Senator Kennedy and his friends. Senator Kennedy’s day in court concerning this incident lasted approximately seven minutes.
Denny provides this link for additional information. Click it. Bookmark it. Read it.
Then draw your own conclusions concerning the Senior Senator from Massachusetts.
** As Denny says, “The accident happened either the night of July 18 or the morning of July 19 depending on how many times Ted’s story changed.”
Yesterday was the anniversary of the crash of TWA Flight 800 shortly after takeoff from JFK Airport. Auskunft of The New Skeptic shares a moving remembrance of sixteen students and five chaperones from his hometown who perished on that flight.