This year the Daddy Tapes Benefit will be on Saturday, March 7, 2026 starting at 2PM at The Irish Whiskey Bar located at 28-48 31 Street in Astoria. $10.00 suggested donation at the door or what you can give. Daddy Tapes was the backbone of his son’s band, The Tapes.
When George L. Popp, aka Daddy Tapes, passed away suddenly from a heart attack on November 1, 1986, his son Bill Popp said at the wake that he would remember his father by hosting a benefit each year on his birthday in his memory and donate the proceeds to the American Heart Association. Forty years later, The Daddy Tapes Benefit is alive and well, raising money for those suffering from heart disease.
This year the Daddy Tapes Benefit will be on Saturday, March 7, 2026 starting at 2PM at The Irish Whiskey Bar located at 28-48 31 Street in Astoria. $10.00 suggested donation at the door or what you can give.
This year’s performers in order of appearance: Paper Nova, Nimrod Texieria, Nelly DuBarry, Grace Leckey, Andy Sydor, Gift Shop, Exit 99, Zoe Over Zero, Density Blackcat, Patti Rothberg Coincidence, Lead Flowers, Bill Popp and the Tapes, Sea Monster.
The first benefit was held in 1987 on Daddy Tapes’ birthday, March 10, at CBGB. “My goal at the time was for the benefit to become an annual event that would raise money through the efforts of live music and help those suffering from heart disease,” says Bill Popp, founder of the event and Daddy Tapes’ son. “My father was my closest friend and the biggest supporter of my music career. After his death, I wanted to keep his spirit alive, so, by doing a benefit in his memory and donating the money to the American Heart Association, I’ve done just that.”
After six years at CBGB, in 1993 the benefit found a home for the next 20 years at Kenny’s Castaways, until Kenny’s closed its doors in 2012. The following years, the benefit was held at other Manhattan night spots, such as The R Bar, The DeLancey, The Bowery Electric, and The Parkside Lounge. After 37 years of the Daddy Tapes Benefit being held in Manhattan, it found a new home again for the third year in a row at The Irish Whiskey Bar in Astoria, Queens.
“My Father was born and lived in Queens his whole life, so why not have the benefit in Queens? It’s been sort of like a homecoming, and to have it in Astoria makes total sense, since we play many of our shows in Astoria,” Popp asserts.
The 40th Annual Benefit will feature many Astoria artists, as well as Manhattan notables. Throughout the years, the acts have been as diverse as rock legends Danny Kalb (founder of the Blues Project) to punk cabaret singer Nellie McKay and rock legend Lenny Kaye. The Daddy Tapes Benefit has become a local institution that has raised thousands of dollars for the American Heart Association.
The Ironic Twist: The 20th Annual Benefit in 2006, after having everything ready to go, including all the acts booked, having gotten beer sponsors, plus making it a special two day event to celebrate the 20th anniversary, Popp wound up having to postpone the March event until May, because on February 22nd, 2006, he had to undergo open heart surgery, where they performed a quadruple bypass. Popp never thought the money he raised for the American Heart Association to fight heart disease would wind up helping him!
The Daddy Tapes Story in Brief
Daddy Tapes was the backbone of his son’s band, The Tapes. Instead of retiring and moving to Florida, as he had dreamed, Daddy Tapes remained in New York, working as a night watchman until the day he died from a heart attack, on Nov 1st, 1986, at the age of 73. He had remained in New York so his son, Bill Popp, could live inexpensively at home and rehearse his band, “The Tapes,” for free in their basement. Instead of recording and promoting the band, the young Popp would have been struggling to pay rent and for rehearsal space. Before the days of computer labels, Daddy Tapes would address over 200 envelopes by hand, sometimes more than twice a month, for the band’s mailing list.
In the early 80’s, when it was rare to see someone over the age of 45 hanging out at a rock club, there was Daddy Tapes, smoking his pipe and cheering on his son’s band. Today, Bill Popp and The Tapes enjoy a 45 year history and counting, and Daddy Tapes’ legacy still lives on with each band rehearsal in the basement of the house he kept for his son, where Bill still lives to this day. e-mail billpopp@verizon.net or web www.billpopp.com