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You're right about DC, Fiji Hill. Weren't The Ravens from DC also? How about The Dominoes? I know they are more proto-doo wop. Billy Stewart was another great DC singer.

Must have been something to see Janet Vogel hitting those high notes. And Bull Moose Jackson must have been a trip. "Big Ten Inch Record" is a riot.

Any chance you ever saw Clyde McPhatter?

I saw Lee Andrews and the Hearts many times. They were great on the ballads.

In 1979, doo wop's popularity hadn't faded, and that show in DC was before a packed audience. Bull Moose Jackson opened with the Dinah Shore hit, "I Could Have Danced All Night"--which seemed completely out of character, given his reputation, but he quickly swung into "Big 10 Inch Record," "Bad Man Jackson," and the others for which he is beter known. Janet Vogel was wearing long, blond hair. The Skyliners demonstrated their versitility by doing several numbers besides their old hits, and they drew a lot of applause.

"Tear Drops" by Lee Andrew & The Hearts is one of the first records I ever bought. My favorite tune by that group is "The Clock."

I never saw Clyde McPhatter. He died in 1972, while I was studying in Germany. My favorite record of his is "Without Love" (1957), which sounds like a Protestant hymn from the Gilded Age.