Take it away, Tom!
Hi Kent -
The "Pop, Rock & Doo Wop Live" show
came to the Lorain, Ohio Palace Theater on Friday, April 8th. A big snow storm
was on its way, that would dump up to nine inches of snow on NE Ohio overnight, but
that did not stop a large crowd from attending, and the artists to put on a
great show.
The show kicked off with The Shades of
Blue. While no original members were on stage, they still put on a fun and
energetic show to open the concert, culminating with their big hit "Oh How
Happy"
Next up was Rock N Roll Hall of Fame
Inductee Shirley Alston Reeves with The Shirelles.
Shirley looked and sounded
great, running through many hits, including "Soldier Boy", "Will You Still Love
Me Tomorrow" and "Baby It's You".
One of the most popular singers that
frequents NE Ohio was up next ... Dennis Tufano, the original voice of The
Buckinghams.
Dennis could have easily headlined this show with all his hits ... "Susan", "Don't You Care", "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", "Kind of a Drag" and "Don't
You Care". Instead he led the show into the intermission ... and was the only act
to come back out for an encore!
Getting things going after the
Intermission was Jay Siegel's Tokens. Jay has not lost anything, still hitting
some amazing notes with "Tonight I Fell In Love" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
as well as hits from groups he gave their start like The
Happenings.
Wrapping up the show was Jay and the
Americans. I was a little apprehensive about this act, with Jay the Third (Jay
Reincke) handling the lead vocals. I have seen both Jay Traynor and Jay Black
(who were both amazing), so I was skeptical on anyone else doing their hits.
Surprisingly, Jay Reincke sounded great. The high notes were not quite as
strong as Black, but put on a very good show. It was also very cool to see
three original Americans on stage singing, Marty Sanders, Howie Kane and Sandy
Deanne. The group ran thru all the hits, including "She Cried", "Only in
America", "Walking in the Rain", "Cara Mia" and "Come A Little Bit
Closer".
Sandy Deanne, Marty Sanders, Howie Kane and Jay Reincke (Jay #3) of Jay and the Americans
(NOTE: ALL photos copyright 2016 Tom Apathy and used by permission exclusively in Forgotten Hits)
All in all, a very good show, lasting
about three hours (including the twenty minute intermission).
I was also pleased to see and
hear the amazing Dave Zane on lead guitar backing all the groups. Dave
regularly handles the lead duties for both The Buckinghams and The
Americans.
Tom
