Pittston man's family counted Jerry Lee Lewis as a friend

Oct. 29—Michael Lombardo arrived home from one day in the mid-1980s and found a rock 'n' roll legend in his parents' kitchen.

Jerry Lee Lewis. In Jenkins Twp.

"I walk in the house and Jerry Lee and his wife, Kerrie, are sitting at the kitchen table having lunch," Lombardo said Friday.

Lombardo wasn't all that breathless because his father, Dr. Joseph Lombardo, knew Lewis a while but it was the first time Pittston's future mayor met "The Killer."

It was quite the moment to see your dad and mom hanging out with the boogie-woogie piano player who shouted, "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," banged piano keys with his hands and feet and was a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's first class of inductees in 1986. Joe Lombardo and his wife, Mary, attended the induction ceremony at their friend's request.

Record store owner, concert promoter and well-known local bandleader Joe Nardone Sr. said Lewis, who died Friday at age 87, represented the last living member of Memphis' famed Sun Studios Million Dollar Quartet that included Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

"A wonderful, down-to-earth person who made us all feel comfortable and was always telling great stories of days gone by," Nardone said. "A great entertainer."

Nardone got to know Lewis a bit when he promoted Lewis' shows at Gus Genetti's Best Western Inn in Wilkes-Barre in September 1984 and the former Convention Hall in Pittston Twp. in October 1985. Lewis also appeared at the Masonic Temple in Scranton in March 1971.

"He wore a leg cast on stage due to a previous accident," Nardone said in an email, referring to the Genetti show. "He was easy to get along with."

Joseph Lombardo sure thought so. He actually met Lewis through another rock 'n' roll legend first — Fats Domino. Stationed in New Orleans as an army doctor in the 1960s, Lombardo moonlighted in a local hospital at night to earn extra money when the Fatman came in for treatment. They hit it off and Lombardo became Domino's personal physician for a while, which is a whole other story.

Years later, when Lewis played Atlantic City, Joseph Lombardo bumped into Lewis' manager in a lobby, boasted about his friendship with Fats and talked the manager into letting him backstage to meet Lewis.

"So my dad got backstage after the show and hung out with Jerry Lee, and they got to be good friends," Lombardo said.

Lewis stayed at his parents' home at least three times and his father and the aging rocker talked at least a couple of times a year by phone until Joseph Lombardo died in 2019, the mayor said.

"When Jerry Lee was in my dad's house, he was always mindful and respectful, very, very quiet," Lombardo said. "I mean he had that Southern politeness to him. He had a rowdy side, too. As a matter of fact, one of the funny things was he used to call my mom boss lady."

That started because on that same visit, when Lewis asked his wife to get something out of his suitcase.

"And my mother was like, 'Jerry, go get your own things,'" Lombardo said.

Cautious around the media after the controversy over his marriage to a 13-year-old cousin, Lewis felt comfortable clowning around with his friend in private. On one visit, as Mary Lombardo cleaned house, she removed a shade to wipe down a lamp.

"And he took the lampshade and he had it on his head and he was sitting at the table," Lombardo said. "And my dad snapped one of those instant Polaroids ... Jerry said, 'Doc, you know what? You're one of the few people in the world that I would let take a photo like that. And let me tell you something, keep that. If you ever you come to see me in a show, take that photo with you. And whoever my manager is at the time, if you show them that photo, they'll know instantly that you're a friend of mine. And they'll let you backstage."

Before an Atlantic City show later, Joseph Lombardo showed the Polaroid to Lewis' manager, who immediately called his client's hotel room.

"I think they went to dinner that night in the casino," Lombardo said. "Like I said, they were close. And they had a lot of fun together."

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.