Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

'Guitar Man' Pens Song About Bad Kids and Worse Parents

By Andrea Swalec | August 4, 2011 3:35pm

WEST VILLAGE — Guitarist and performer David Ippolito is fighting back after being fired from the Hudson River Park's concert series for asking parents to control their noisy kids during his performances on Pier 45 in the West Village. 

"That Guitar Man" told DNAinfo Thursday that he's been amazed at the strong response he's gotten from people in the wake of his firing, and added that he thinks people have rallied to his side because it struck a nerve about disrespectful parents.

"This started a conversation that had been sitting under the surface for a lot of people.  It's not about the kids. I love kids. But there are parents who just don't get it," he said.

Now he's writing a song about parents who don't control their brood and other frustrations. The "big old ballad" will be called "There Will Always Be." 

"There will always be those who think taking two seats on the subway is a good choice / There will always be parents who don't know the two words 'inside voice,'" the song's lyrics say.

Many Ippolito fans were outraged by the decision of the Hudson River Trust, which operates the park, to fire the singer in late July. 

Several threatened to boycott the park in reaction to the firing, including IT consultant and Murray Hill resident Phil Caracci, 54.

"I'm just really disappointed in the process [the trust] used to decide that he should be fired. Clearly the guy who made the decision wasn't there and didn't try to get two sides of the story," he said. 

Caracci said he has video footage of children running directly in front of Ippolito during his final performance. He said he offered the tape to the trust as evidence of the night but they said they were not interested. 

Dean Love, an Upper West Side resident and documentary filmmaker who's making a movie about Ippolito, said he also will not return to the park. He filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain the complaints from parents cited by the Hudson Park Trust about the singer. 

"I would like to see what [parents'] specific complaints were. I'd like to see if that stuff the trust said was there is really there," he said.  

A spokesman for the Hudson River Trust, which operates the park, declined to comment further on the matter.