By:KEITH GRANT
LB rallies for cancer patient
The scene was just about as Long Beach as they come. Former Saloon owner Billy Callahan leading a large crowd in an impromptu version of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," with dozens of people putting an exclamation point on each line.
While a long-time local bar favorite, the song was more fitting than usual this past Sunday. "Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you...."
For seven hours Sunday, endless streams of people filed through the Knight of Columbus on West Beech Street to help a friend. Twenty-five year-old resident Rob Manzoni begins treatment to battle brain cancer this week, and hundreds of friends and more than a few strangers reached out to help. More accurately, they reached into their pockets to help what will be exhaustive medical expenses, since Manzoni does not have health insurance.
"Amazing!" Candy Holand, one of the benefit's organizers, said of the event. "People just came out of the woodwork. One person was more generous than the next. Someone was in need, and people stepped up to the plate. It was a major outpouring of love."
By the end of the seven-hour affair that had been scheduled for four, preliminary estimates ranged to as high as $100,000 raised for "Smooch," as most of the community now knows Manzoni thanks to the hundreds of posters that have decorated the area. The nickname was given to him years ago by his mother.
Manzoni did not attend the event, which spilled out onto the surrounding streets, but did watch a videotape of it at home on Monday.
"It was embarrassing, almost,
