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To: speedy
I have met Richard Berry on a couple of occasions. One was a class in rock and roll music at Long Beach State, in which he performed "Louie, Louie," arguably his best-known opus.

I've also seen Leon Peels, lead singer of the Blue Jays, perform on a number of occasions. He has been active in the Doo Wop Society, a group that promotes group harmony music.

From the mid-1980's through the early 2000's, the society put on a number of concerts. Performers included the Calvanes, Shirley Gunter and the Queens, the Bobbettes, and so on. When the Harptones performed, I thought they sounded beetter than they do on the records they made five decades earlier.

Sadly, the society seems to be in decline as "doo wop" music fades into history. Nonetheless, its website makes for interesting reading.

167 posted on 04/07/2006 5:13:02 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Fiji Hill

Beautiful website, FH. I went to one of the Petroleum Club concerts in the late 90s. One of the hosts was Paul Peterson, formerly of "The Donna Reed Show." I got to know Paul a little bit when I lived out there; a good, if somewhat frantic, guy. But he sure knows and loves his doo wop. Lucky you to have met Richard Berry and Leon Peels. I wish I had had the foresight to connect with those guys. LA has a great doo wop tradition, like New York and Philly. One group I did see in LA, and I think the best white doo wop group ever, was Pittsburgh's Skyliners. Jimmy Beaumont was still lead singer, and I think they had one or two other originals. They sounded great.


168 posted on 04/07/2006 5:56:36 PM PDT by speedy
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