Text size:

Roll call for homegrown icons

In its first year, the Long Island Music Hall of Fame sings the praises of everyone from Billy Joel to George Gershwin

BY GLENN GAMBOA | STAFF WRITER; Kevin Amorim

October 15, 2006

Cyndi Lauper, Tony Bennett and Billy Joel are among this year's inductees.

There are two types of Long Islanders: Those who are proud of where they live and those who aren't.

"There is an inherent inferiority complex that Long Islanders have, which I actually find kind of charming," explains Hicksville native and Oyster Bay resident Billy Joel, who has always proudly pointed out that he is from Long Island. "I think that's part of our identity that we're the suburban cousins of the city folks."

And, of course, there are the Long Islanders who cling to their city roots, eager to keep their Suffolk County addresses on the down low, trying to avoid being seen as suburban cousins instead of urbane New Yorkers.

Richard L'Hommedieu wants to serve both with the Long Island Music Hall of Fame he dreams of building, giving the first group validation for its feelings and the second a great deal to chew on. And Sunday night at the Patchogue Theater for the Performing Arts, with the help of some of the area's most famous residents -

including Joel, Joan Jett, Alec Baldwin, "American Idol" finalist Kevin Covais and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider - the dream L'Hommedieu and dozens of others have been feverishly working toward for three years takes a giant step forward with the first Long Island Music Hall of Fame Induction Awards.

"It's all a matter of perception," says hall chairman L'Hommedieu. "Long Island is never looked at in terms of its musical heritage. We're seen as the land of sports bars and cover bands. But there is something great here. This history is going to get lost if we don't preserve it."

Sunday, the Hall of Fame will induct 29 artists and organizations - from George M. Cohan and George Gershwin to Cyndi Lauper and Run-D.M.C. Next year's class of 21, which includes artists ranging from Count Basie and Barbra Streisand to Public Enemy and Mariah Carey, has also been set. The ceremony will include performances from inductees (Jett is expected to perform early so she can return to Manhattan, where she is set to play Irving Plaza) and from current notable Long Island artists, including Nine Days, as well as tributes to the careers of the inductees.

"Our intention is to put on an Oscar-quality showcase to show the world that there has been a wellspring of talent here for more than 100 years,"

L'Hommedieu says. "We want to change the mindset of people about Long Island and the musicians who come from here."

That change can only come with increased information, and the Hall of Fame hopes to offer that. L'Hommedieu, a Long Island Rail Road electrical worker from Smithtown who was previously the owner of Long Island Entertainment magazine, plans to do his part. Wind him up, and Long Island music history comes flying out.

He will tell you Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive" was recorded at Commack Arena. He'll say John Coltrane wrote "A Love Supreme" in Dix Hills. And Iron Butterfly recorded the historic "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" in Hempstead. "I can get on my soapbox and really get going," he says, laughing, adding that the Island's musical legacy spans all genres, not just rock. "But great moments happen here. We want to tell people, 'Look what we've got.' We've got something really valuable."

A peach of an inspiration

The idea for honoring Long Island's musical history came to L'Hommedieu while driving through Georgia to play the Dogwood Festival with his group The Monday Night Basement Blues Band in 2003.

He stopped at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon and was impressed by the way the museum honored its musicians and their contributions to society. He thought someone must have already thought of this idea for Long Island, but no one had. What surprised L'Hommedieu even more was that there was no centralized place to go to find out about Long Island's musical contributions and that searching out information was hard and would only become harder, as places connected to that history get torn down and people with direct knowledge pass away.

Another problem, L'Hommedieu has found, is that not all Long Island artists identify themselves as being from Long Island. "In the music industry, there is a stigma to being from Long Island," he says. "Take Nine Days, for example. They were told they needed to say they were from New York."

Part of the reason for that, some in the industry say, is because New York has a larger population than Long Island, giving bands a larger built-in audience. Another reason, though, is the industry perception that Long Island doesn't seem welcoming to music, and, at times - as the fiasco surrounding the cancellation of the ambitious Field Day festival in 2003 showed - can be hostile.

Nevertheless, the current music scene shows the area's influence continues to grow. Rockville Centre's Taking Back Sunday not only has one of the year's top-selling rock albums, but it's filling arenas around the country, along with its Warner Bros. labelmate Head Automatica. Merrick's Brand New is set to release its long-awaited major-label debut next month, while Baldwin's Straylight Run will release its new album early next year. Dix Hills' Ryan Star made a name for himself on the CBS reality series "Rock Star: Supernova," which led to the release of two albums for him last month. Up-and-comers Bayside, Action Action and The Sleeping have all signed to the respected indie label Victory Records, while Permanent Me, Nightmare of You and Bandcamp have landed major-label deals.

It's no secret that Taking Back Sunday singer Adam Lazzara moved from North Carolina to Long Island specifically to be part of the area's music scene. And he's certainly not the last to make that move.

"The Long Island music industry is a viable asset," L'Hommedieu says. "We have the beaches, and we make the most of them as an asset with tourism. Having a strong music scene - whether it is the punk scene or Tin Pan Alley - is important and could be central and very significant to this area."

As vital as music can be to the area's economy, it may be more important to the psyche of its residents. "It's very valuable for Long Islanders to realize that this is a cultural center and not just a satellite of the New York cultural scene," says Stephen Belth, executive director of the Long Island Philharmonic, which will be inducted into the hall tonight. "We're very proud to be part of the Long Island Music Hall of Fame as a charter inductee. We were founded 28 years ago by Harry Chapin, maestro Christopher Keane and many of Long Island's business leaders. These musical icons saw the important need for classical music and its permanent value for Long Island's communities."