"Doo-wop Party" Concert Review

The acts: Little Anthony & The Imperials, Jay Siegal & The Tokens, Gene, "The Duke Of Earl" Chandler, Shirley Alston Reeves (former lead singer of the Shirelles", The Mystics plus special guest stars Bowzer & The Stingrays.

I was trying to figure out when the doo-wop era was--from some of the performers statements it was, loosely, from the mid-60s to mid-70s, I guess--I was in my 20s/30s--yes, some of the songs sounded familiar and I had heard of The Shirelles but in those years I was more into blues jazz singers like Nina Simone, Morgana King, Carmen McCrae, Ella, Sarah and male singers like Tony Bennett, Sinatra, Damone, and groups like the Four Freshman, The Platters, etal.

In spite of that the radio play of that day of many of the songs sung at the concert--The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Will you still love me tomorrow, Tears on my pillow--must have infiltrated my brain as I knew/recognized them.

Some people, some acts, haven't aged well and some have grown too old--( The "Duke" for one--okay, so he can still walk and somewhat sing but he is way beyond being an entertainer)-- I suppose money, fame, the spotlight is something that once you have had continues to grab on to you.

Jon Bowzer has a good voice and an amazing ability at the piano--seems he was trained at Julliard--and shows off his skills but as 'host' of the 'party' he was obnoxious. I was impressed with him getting laws passed state by state that only the original singer of the group can use the groups name.The Stingrays were all young men.

When Little Anthony announced that his group's performance had sold the most records--4 million--of a certain song I was taken aback because I had always identified it the Four Freshman (Sorry, having a 'senior moment'--can't remember the name of the song) then I recalled the theatre musical "Dreamgirls" (which has just been made into a movie to be released around Christmas--I hope it is as good as the stage version which is one of my favorites) where it tackled how many songs by 'Black' acts were stolen by white producers and recorded exactly the same--prime example was Pat Boone remaking the songs and their becoming big hits. (By the way, the group was ALL of the original members.)

For a change the amplification wasn't blasting/blaring (and I left being able to hear!) and you could hear the words the singers were singing. Though the hall was only about half filled (they do another performance tonight) the audience was enthusiastic and everyone seemed to be having a good time including yours truly.

All in all a good evening at the concert hall.