IT’S AIG UN-BELIEVABLE - A CONGRESSIONAL BLUNDER 

If I didn’t know better I would think this is a bad dream repeating itself. I’ve never seen so much passing the buck as I have witnessed in the last couple of weeks. Look at Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and a whole bunch of Congressmen all trying to “pass the buck” regarding the whole AGI scandal. “It’s not me” one said. Then another, “No, I was pushed into letting it go by”. Or “I didn’t know” claim from yet another Washington know-it-all tops the list. Everyone is passing the buck and the irony is it is the taxpayer’s money they are messing with.  

Where is the accountability and where is the oversight? Who is responsible for this mess?

Like Daffy Duck or Andrew Dice Clay says, “It is just un-believable” and it’s not over.

AIG received over 3 billion dollars in “rescue monies” to make sure the company did not fail. Granted, if AIG failed the ripple across the world would have been an economic disaster affecting over a 100 countries. So, we bail out the company and they proceed to pay off their debt to other countries and then, award over 165 million dollars as bonuses. Huh?  

Some of this bonus money went to the executives who ran the company into the ground. I always thought you receive a bonus for doing a good job. Not in the 21^st century it seems – you now can fail miserably and get a bonus. Isn’t that beyond belief?  

Why is Congress screaming bloody murder over a 165 million? They just gave AIG billions and they are squealing about millions. Like Ralph Kramden used to say, “A mere bag of shells”. What is wrong with this picture?  

I don’t know about you, but I smell hypocrisy bigger than any of us could imagine. If this were 200 years ago, someone would be tar-and-feathered over this mess. But today, it is deny, deny, deny and pass the buck -- our bucks and our debt.  

Maybe we get a vat filled with tar and another filled with feathers and parade it by Congress. Would they get the message or are they just not in touch? Would Barney Frank, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, etc. get the message? It’s not just them – it’s our whole Congress. They get an automatic cost-of-living raise and the rest of the nation is going broke in the process.  

We need someone like a Harry Truman to come in and kick some Congressional butt, if you ask me. Will Rogers once said, “America will persevere in spite of itself”. Congress let’s just kick their butts and our new President needs to live up to his promises. Can you imagine Little Anthony & the Imperials going onstage, singing one or two of our hits and then saying, thank you – good night. We would be “short changing” the whole audience and unfortunately, we are getting “short changed” now. My suggestion is, kick the rascals out – the guys who make the errors are running the ship. That is bad news over and over again.

THE BIG HOF WAIT OR I REALLY CAN’T WAIT 

Next week, in 7 days, we will be inducted into the Rock HOF. For Little Anthony & the Imperials, we waited our whole lives for this. It’s a big celebration and the people running the induction and the TV special, have been terrific. I’m so psyched and before I forget, last week’s column titled one of your songs incorrectly, it’s “I’m Alright”. This one just got passed us and I wanted to make sure I corrected it. It’s “I’m Alright”. Would you call that a typo? 

Clarence Collins and I have been on the phone with the producers, Paul Shaffer and HOF President Terry Stewart almost daily working out details in advance. We know how to do television and a live show and our 50 years of performing vouches loudly. The HOF people and the Fuse production crew are working with us and we are trying to get our rhythm section in place. We intend to the best performance possible. If you thought “Hurt So Bad” on Letterman was good, “you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet”.  

I have to tell you, we were as nervous and nervous could be when we did Letterman. Paul Shaffer helped tremendously and he gets it. R&B is really a bit complicated but when performed correctly, it can rock the house. Paul Shaffer is bringing the “Late Night Band”, background singers, violins, and tympani drums – a full orchestra. R&B was all about big sound and full orchestration. Nowadays, due to economics to do a production like this is too costly but for a television special like the HOF is planning, it is more than needed.  

So, they are laying out all the stage logistics and we would like to have our band there too. They have been with us through thick and thin. We are playing The Agora the night before so the band’s all here at no cost to the HOF, pre se.  

Rock and roll really started in Cleveland in the mid-50s and it’s the right thing to bring it back there this year in particular. Alan Freed was headquartered in Cleveland originally. This is not a Waldorf year for the HOF and with all the cutbacks, Cleveland is going to get its day this year, April 4^th. It has always been one of our favorite cities and this year, even more than ever.  

Back in the ‘60s, we met the great Jim Brown and Paul Warfield of the Cleveland Browns. We also did a number of shows with The O’Jays and Smokey Robinson. We did some shows with the late Marvin Gaye in Cleveland as well. This is justice man bringing the HOF celebration and induction ceremony back there in 2009. Like they say, and it is true – Cleveland rocks and Little Anthony & the Imperials intend to add another rock-and-roll milestone to the city that started it all.  

One more closing note about how great Cleveland is: I remember sitting in a hotel lobby talking to Buddy Holly over 50 years ago. We were on the same tour except The Imperials and I were heading South and Buddy was heading to Clear Lake, Iowa. He said he wished he was going with us down South. I wished he had, too. Miss ya, Buddy.

LYNDHURST, NJ REDUX THIS JULY 

We will be doing another show back in Lyndhurst, NJ in mid-July and it will be like going home again. The reasons for that are several. We were so warmly received there last summer as we opened their brand new park in the middle of town. Next, we filmed “B roll” there for the segment you might have seen on the CBS Sunday Morning which aired last month. The concert “B-roll” footage was shot there and I particularly loved the shot where you could see the crowd and the Ferris wheel in the background. Last, Jersey has always been good to us our whole career and Lyndhurst is a “free concert” which just makes it that more festive.  

I wanted to thank the Town Commissioner, Tom DiMaggio in advance. Over the last year, we’ve gotten to know Tom and in fact, he was our guest when we headlined the Count Basis Theater in Red Bank, NJ. Doing shows out-in-the-open are not easy. For example, last year when we were doing sound check in Lyndhurst, it poured. The skies cleared a couple of hours later though and we were able to do the concert.  

Most groups try to avoid doing “in-the-park concerts” since they always have problems particularly sound. We always see to it that we do some of these park shows since our audience likes to be close to us. We feel the same and this year, there have to be a lot of people who cannot afford concert tickets. Free shows like the ones a town sponsors, like good old Lyndhurst, are a plus and I think the attendance will be greater this year than others. 

We’ll keep you posted on other “free-in-the-park concerts” as soon as they are locked in. Granted we are in a recession but a summer night, a couple of hits songs, a carnival, food stands and ample parking can give us a breather at least, for a little while.