In 1968, I joined the Columbia Kingsmen. They were a traditional barber-shop-type
college-song group, actually a spin-off from Glee Club, that recruited new
freshman every year and went around in blazers and ties singing alma maters
at girls schools. That particular year, a few of the guys had a thing for
fifties doo-wop, and the Kingsmen worked up a few of these numbers, just
for fun.
Then, one fateful day, the Kingsmen did an informal concert in the Lion's
Den, one of Columbia's eatery-hangouts. We were a little ahead of schedule,
and the atmosphere was right, so much out of character, still in our blazers,
we belted out those fifties tunes.
A strange thing happened. The place went nuts! Everyone rolled up their
T-shirts, a few took pens and painted on tattoos, everyone jitterbugged-
it was something else! In the audience was the brother of one of the Kingsmen,
himself a graduate student at Columbia at the time. This insightful dude
arranged a meeting with us that same night and told us "you guys are
gonna be stars, and this is how you're gonna do it..." He visualized
the whole Sha Na Na thing, down to the gold lame, right then and there.
A few weeks, much rehearsing, and several new electrified instruments later,
the Kingsmen did an outdoor concert called "Grease Under The Stars",
at which five thousand people showed up and went just as crazy. Most of
them came greased! Then a name-change and a several-week gig at Steve Paul's
Scene, an in-place on 46th Street, where the producers of the upcoming Woodstock
Festival saw us. "You guys GOTTA be there!" And we were. (The
whole band got $300!) The rest is history...
We had some help with our initial equipment from one of our singers whose
family was quite well to do. I wound up with the ole' Wurlizer electric
piano. And a fender Dual Showman Reverb with 2-15" JBLs. What an amp!
The piano- well it was OK for those days, I guess.
Stayed with Sha Na Na 'til I graduated from Columbia in 1970. Just went
on to do what I was planning to do all along (was it medical school?) No
one originally planned to turn Sha Na Na into a career, though a several
did. Bowser joined just as I left, though he was also from Columbia and
I knew him well from Glee Club.
I moved to San Diego in 1975, and put together a Beatles tribute called
"Yeah Yeah Yeah" between 1979 and 1984. We played quite a bit
locally, and it was lots of fun! Of course, it was just an excuse to buy
those Rickenbackers, the Gretsch, the Hofner bass, you know...
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