Saturday night, summer 2011. Doo Wops at the Great Auditorium. Paul Goldfinger aerial photo. Blogfinger.
Paul Goldfinger, Blogfinger.net.
We got this from Shelly Belusar (CMA) who knows where to find these ancient stars and the young people who are filling in, sometimes with startling and revelatory interpretations of this music, which always tries to answer the perennial question, “Why can’t I be a teenager in love?” Or, a close second, “When do we get a slow dance?”
2015 Doo Wop lineup:
June 27– Jay Siegel’s Tokens, The Chantels, Cleveland Still’s &The Dubs, Vito Picone &The Elegants.
Sept. 5– Gene Chandler (The Duke of Earl), The Crystals, Lenny Coco & The Chimes, Bill Haley Jr. &The Comets.
Here’s a taste of what’s coming: It’s the TOKENS: Try to clap along. See if you have music in your soul.
THE DUBS:
THE TOKENS. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” See comments.
Shelly: Please hire some women singers for the line up- thanks. Diana Krall was so great two summers ago.
There is an interesting side story here. You may recall the Tokens’ number one hit from 1961 based on a South African Zulu folk song called Wimoweh (“The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”) One of the writers was George David Weiss who also wrote “Lullaby of Birdland.”
In the Lion song you can hear a soprano singing—-swooping above the main theme music. That was a famous opera star named Anita Darian who was brought into the studio just for that part. ——Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger