When Paul Chandler and Eddie Geisinger used to commute together from Potomac to their work at Studley, a Washington real estate firm, the two would listen to doo-wop music and dream about bringing a doo-wop concert to Glen Echo Park.
Both natives of New York, the music would bring back fond memories for the two of the era of diners, cars with fins and drive-in movies. Geisinger, Chandler said, was also fond of playing doo-wop trivia. A ‘‘walking encyclopedia,” Geisinger knew everything about the songs, from who played them to what the record cover looked like.
Then, Geisinger was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Chandler recalled that the music was often the only way to lighten the mood as he drove his friend to his hospital appointments.
‘‘The only thing that would put a smile on his face and get him out of the funk was to put on these old doo-wop songs,” Chandler said.
Ever since he died in 2001 at age 54, his friends have been trying to find an appropriate way to pay tribute to Geisinger, a longtime Potomac resident whom his friends and family describe as popular, genuine and a man with a good eye for fashion.
‘‘He was a real quality person,” said Potomac resident Jack Schneider, another friend of Geisinger’s. ‘‘He loved cars... he loved to travel, and he was a clothes horse — wherever he went he was always the best dressed.”
‘‘He had a million friends,” Chandler said. ‘‘...Anyone who was in real estate in Washington for a little while would have remembered Eddie.”
After Chandler and another friend of Geisinger’s, Jack Schneider, traveled to Queens College to see a doo-wop show about 18 months ago, the idea of hosting a doo-wop concert in Washington in honor of Geisinger was born.
Bringing a doo-wop concert to the Washington area would fulfill Geisinger’s wish and act as a poignant tribute, Chandler said. The money raised would benefit research for pancreatic and prostate cancer at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, where Geisinger was treated.
Chandler approached Mitchell Schear, president of Vornado⁄Charles E. Smith, the company that manages the Warner Theatre. Schear offered to donate the Warner Theatre for the event.
Chandler and Schneider booked eight doo-wop bands – including Frankie Lymon’s Legendary Teenagers, known for their hit ‘‘Why do Fools Fall in Love,” and Fred Parris and The Satins, who recorded ‘‘In the Still of the Night.” The groups will perform in September at the Warner Theatre in honor of Geisinger.
Potomac resident Marvin McIntyre committed $100,000 to the event, Schneider said. Friends Steve Goldstein and Paul Schweitzer also helped organize the concert.
‘‘This is kind of a way to bring together all the people from Potomac who knew Eddie,” Chandler said. ‘‘We loved him and we want to honor him in this way. We’re also bringing back the era that he loved.”
Geisinger’s friends and family hope to raise $500,000 or more to benefit the Lombardi center, according to Geisinger’s wife, Elaine. ‘‘There’s just not a lot of money at all in pancreatic cancer research, and in medical research, it’s all about the money,” Geisinger said.
According to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, an advocacy organization for victims of pancreatic cancer and their loved ones, an estimated 37,680 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008. Of those, 34,290 will die from the disease.
Elaine Geisinger said she hoped the money contributed will help researchers focus on early detection. By the time her husband’s cancer was discovered, it was inoperable, she said, which is a scenario all too common with pancreatic cancer.
The concert will also raise research funds for prostate cancer, a disease that Chandler, Schneider, and several of their friends and colleagues have struggled with. Elaine Geisinger’s father also died of the disease. ‘‘It’s a very personal cause,” Geisinger said. ‘‘...I think it’s a wonderful tribute to my husband.”
TO HELP
The Lombardi Doo-Wop Concert for Cancer will take place at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 6 at the Warner Theatre, 1299 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, # 111, Washington, D.C. Tickets are available for $100, $250 and $500. Ticket purchases for the two higher levels are tax-deductible. Sponsorships are also available. To purchase tickets, contact Elena Jeannotte via e-mail at ej48@georgetown.edu or at 202-687-3866; or Bonnie Roberts, via e-mail robertsb@georgetown.edu or at 202-687-1067. For more information, visit http:⁄⁄lombardi.georgetown.edu⁄events⁄DooWop08
