Hey, Daddy-o!
As the sun goes down and the lights come up in Holmdel, NJ, on Friday, May 20, 2016, guys and dolls of every age are all making the scene at the PNC Bank Arts Center. They’re there to enjoy an evening of sweet harmonies from yesteryear at the Garden State Arts Foundation’s ultra-cool neighborhood block party disguised as a concert!
The show in question, “Dick Fox’s Doo-Wop Extravaganza,” is a star-studded salute to the vocal groups that moved a generation of listeners. And amazingly, on this gorgeous spring evening, the program is 100% free to NJ residents of all ages.
Since its inception in 1984, the goal of the show’s sponsor, The Garden State Arts Foundation, has been to provide free programs for senior citizens, families, and school children at the PNC Bank Arts Center and at various other locations throughout NJ. According to Ronald Gravino, Vice President of GSAF’s hard-working Board of Trustees, “no federal, state, local, or Garden State Parkway toll money” is used to fund any GSAF presentations. Rather, the programs are presented by donations which come from such GSAF partners as PNC Bank, Live Nation Entertainment, Edison NJ’s Oldies WOLD 107.9 radio, in addition to the public.
Prior events sponsored by the GSAF include free performances by acts including Bobby Rydell, Crystal Gayle, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Vinton, and Rita Moreno for residents over the age of 55. Free concerts for residents of all ages have been presented by such artists as The Canadian Brass, Peter Nero, Wynton Marsalis, and The New York Philharmonic featuring Audra MacDonald.
The show that all the greasers and bobby-soxers in tonight’s audience are here to see is “Dick Fox’s Doo-Wop Extravaganza,” hosted by Emil Stucchio — who, himself, had a Top 20 doo-wop hit in 1963 with his vocal group, The Classics, entitled “Till Then.”
When Stucchio strides on stage, he greets a hometown Jersey audience estimated at nearly 8000 people. Gazing out over the crowd, he exclaims, “It’s like a high school reunion,” and goes on to humorously add, “You look exactly the way you did back in 1959! Everybody can see. Everybody can hear. Everybody can walk.”
Following hearty laughter, Stucchio gets down to business and introduces The Elegants, whom, he explains, were voted Cashbox Magazine’s #1 Rhythm and Blues act back in 1958. The group, featuring original member Vito Picone, proceeds to warm the crowd with spirited cover versions of such vocal mainstays as Little Anthony and the Imperials’ “Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop,” Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” and Bo Diddley’s 1958 signature tune, “Bo Diddley.”
Picone, 75, explains to the audience that although he’s experienced five bypass surgeries and a collapsed lung, he can still manage to sing lead onstage today. And just before breaking into the group’s next song, he jokingly warns the audience, “It really sounds nothing like this. If you want to hear the way it’s really supposed to sound, go home and listen to the record,” after which he and The Elegants present a stellar version of their singular Billboard #1 hit, “Little Star.”
Next, Stucchio introduces Eddie Holman, looking sharp in his shiny magenta suit. Holman proceeds to impress the crowd with his smooth-as-silk vocals on songs such as “All in the Game” — a tune he notes was his mother, Viola’s, favorite song — and “I Love You,” a true R&B scorcher.
Holman also goes on to perform another number, which he readily admits he initially did not want to sing until his lovely bride, Sheila, encouraged him to do so. Luckily, he followed her advice and his recording of this tune skyrocketed to #2 on the Billboard charts in 1970 and ultimately went on to become his biggest hit. Here, under the stars, Holman’s beautiful falcetto voice elicits applause and a standing ovation from the appreciative crowd, as he provides them with an impeccable performance of what has become his signature song for 47 years, “Hey There Lonely Girl.”
Danny & The Juniors, featuring original member Joe Terry, is the next act to heat up the stage with their 1958 Top 20 tune, “Rock and Roll is Here to Stay.” They go on to recreate the feeling of being back at the high school sock hop with their second number, “Twistin’ USA,” as audience members happily twist their arms in the air to the music. The highlight of this group’s set, however, is their 1957 classic which went on to sell 2.5 million records and which was also selected by Billboard Magazine as the #23 Greatest Song of All Time. As they perform it, many in the crowd sing and clap along, while others delightedly wave their hands in the air to Danny & The Juniors’ ubiquitous smash, “At the Hop.”
One of the legendary vocal groups of all time, The Drifters, lights up the stage as they perform “On Broadway” and follows that up with another hit, their version of the classic, “This Magic Moment.” The leader of this edition of The Drifters, Charlie Thomas — a man who joined the group in 1958 — gets the hometown crowd cheering when he informs them that, this year, he will turn 80 years of age! He also puts smiles on many of the audience members’ faces when he sings a knock-out version of a popular song his good friend, Ben E. King, wrote especially for him — the Drifters’ classic, “There Goes My Baby.”
Continuing on with other well known tunes including “Drip Drop” and “Save the Last Dance for Me,” the group has many in the crowd swaying and singing. But it’s not until their grand finale that they really start to make some waves when they perform a show-stopping version of one of their songs which made Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. With thousands of voices singing backup — and “hitting all the right notes!,” exclaims Thomas — the PNC Bank Arts Center looks like one massive Jersey beach party as the Drifters perform their signature smash, “Under the Boardwalk.”
Dressed in red, white, and blue, The Tokens take the stage opening with such classic doo-wop fare as “Tonight I Fell In Love” and “I’ll Always Love You,” and follow up those ditties with their brassy, up-tempo 1967 hit, “Portrait of My Love.” Lead singer Jay Siegel explains to the crowd that, in addition to singing with The Tokens, over the years he’s also enjoyed a successful career as a record producer where his job was to match songwriters’ music and lyrics to the appropriate artists. At this point, he and The Tokens go on to entertain the crowd with a medley of two hit records which Jay produced — The Happenings’ “See You In September” and The Chiffons’ “One Fine Day.”
According to Seigel, when he was a teenager growing up in nearby Brighton Beach, NY, he and his friends would spend their summers singing doo-wop in neighborhood harmony groups. At the age of 16, he and his buddies happened to hit upon a version of a traditional song which they could perform so well it would enable them to impress all the other vocal groups but, most importantly, would enable him and the boys in his group to “get all the girls.”
Six years later, Seigel and the Tokens released a recording of this song which, in 1961, went on to reach #1 in countries all over the world, and also became a worldwide hit again 40 years later after being featured in Disney’s film, The Lion King. Guaranteeing the tune would make the audience “feel good,” at the PNC Bank Arts Center, Jay and the Tokens perform the song in its original key — proving that Jay still has the voice and tone of a 16-year-old, despite the silver hair — while thousands of voices in the audience sing the memorable “wimoweh” backup vocal on “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
Last, but not least, it’s time for the final group of the evening, The Brooklyn Bridge, to connect with the crowd from their place at center stage. Performing such hits as “Blessed is the Rain,” an emotional version of The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody,” and a tribute to their late lead singer, Johnny Maestro, “16 Candles,” the powerhouse group puts on a dynamic show for the enchanted audience.
To conclude the evening’s festivities, The Brooklyn Bridge brings down the house with a song they once performed live on The Ed Sullivan Show, their 1969 Top 10 hit, “The Worst That Could Happen.” And in so doing, they not only renew memories — but create new ones, too — for the appreciative hometown crowd at the Garden State Arts Foundation’s oh-so-enjoyable tribute to poodle skirts, soda fountain nights, and classic vocal harmonies, “Dick Fox’s Doo-Wop Extravaganza!” LIVE! at PNC Bank Arts Center.
For more information on future free performances sponsored by the Garden State Arts Foundation at PNC Bank Arts Center — including Little Anthony & the Imperials on June 1 and Tony Orlando on Sept. 22 (for audiences 55 and over) and Herman’s Hermits with Gary Lewis on Sept. 9 (for audience members of all ages) — please go to gsacfoundation.org… and be there or be square!
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