60's Singers

Let's take time out from my California trip to talk about a concert I saw a couple days ago. Summer is a good time for concerts. There are a lot of outdoor festivals and whatnot going on. It used to be you could see people at fairs during the summer, but they don't seem to do that much anymore. Now they do tractor pulls and demolition this and that.

So I went to a concert that was called The Happy Together Tour. Even if you weren't around then, most of the music is recognizable. They came out and did like four songs, then the next act would come out. There wasn't a lot of lag time, which is good because I think the concert was probably pushing a a lot of their bedtimes. Let me give you a run down.

The Cowsills - They didn't have a lot of hits. The fact that they did four songs was good. After that, they had pretty much used up their repertoire. They did "Indian Lake". I love that song. It's probably a little racist now, but whatever. They did "Hair". That always seemed so odd for the light and breezy Cowsills to do. It's like Tony Bennett doing "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

The Association - No offense, but I never liked them. Just too schmaltzy. However, their first song was "Windy", which I love. I knew a guy who thought the movie "Gandhi" should have a theme song, so he wrote one to the music of "Windy". He had lyrics about fasting and civil disobedience, etc. Very creative. Weird, but creative.

Mark Lindsay - He was going to be my favorite. I always thought he looked cool. He was the lead singer for Paul Revere and the Raiders. For his last song, "Kicks", he put on the coat they used to wear. Looked like one George Washington would wear. Man, I would love one of those. Anyway, I was slightly disappointed with Mark. Probably just because I violated my rule of life of always keeping your expectations low.

Gary Puckett - He did "Young Girl" which I always liked. He had by far the strongest voice. You could tell that when he was a big deal, but now, a million years later, he sounds just as good.

Chuck Negron - He was part of Three Dog Night. I saw them at a fair once, but he wasn't with them. Tonight he was alone - One Dog Night (rimshot). As we called them during French class - Trois Chien Nuit. In French class I learned about 20 words total, so if I could string together enough to make a sentence or phrase or name of a rock group, I went for it.

The Turtles- One of their guys did not sound all that good. He and the Association have just lost a bit. Another was ill and not there. But they filled in with the guy that sang lead for The Archies. He really sounded great. And he did "Sugar, Sugar". Its a song you love or hate. I love it. When they were making "Groundhog Day", they wanted a really annoying song that came on the radio at the start of each day. They said they settled for "I Got You Babe", but almost went with "Sugar, Sugar".

Speaking of that, I heard a comedian say they should make a "Groundhog Day II" movie. You would go to it, but they would just be playing they original "Groundhog Day". Hilarious, right. Anyway, a fun concert.