Baron, Hank*
NAME: Hank Baron*
Biography:
From [Music Heritage:]
Hank Baron is an excellent singer/songwriter who lived in Philadelphia in the late 70s. Thanks to the folks at the Rainbow History Project, in DC, I'm able to share a couple songs from a concert Baron did as a benefit for a gay radio show in DC called "Friends" on WPFW-FM. I have found a news article on the concert. Click to read it. And see my August show for more music, and some photos of Baron.
Date of Birth:
Date of Death (delete if non-applicable):
Age at Death (delete if non-applicable):
Employment:
Social/Political Groups he attends/attended: Philadelphia Gay Activist Alliance
Bars/Clubs he attends/attended:
His friends include: Harry Kelly, Rusel Silkey
Testimonials to him:
Hank was a warm, wonderful talented friend. Cute, too.
Hank was an inspired songwriter whose songs were original and meaningful to his appreciative audiences in the gay community. I remember his singing at the Gay Community Center on Kater Street and one evening at the Allegro. One song he wrote was occasioned by his discovery of a fossil ammonite about a foot in diameter that he had found at a construction site in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which he showed us before singing a song with thoughts evoked by the permanence of that fragile, ancient creature. Regrettably, I don't recall the title or more of the theme of that song. However, I do remember being moved by his song about "looking for love in all the wrong places" that predated by several years Johnny Lee's hit song with a similar theme from the 1980 film "Urban Cowboy". I also recall (somewhat) a night we drove to New York for a performance of Richard Strauss' "Die Frau ohne Schatten" at the Metropolitan Opera when Hank baked some "special brownies" for the occasion which we enjoyed by the fountain on Lincoln Center Plaza before entering the opera house and smoking a joint on the balcony just for good measure before the performance. I don't remember much else of the evening after that. - Bob Stewart
