Howling at the Moondog

Last night, I went to the 2008 Moondog Coronation Ball with my dad. My dad's favorite group was there, Peter and Gordon, and no one else could go with him, so I thought it would be fun. Basically, the Moondog is a concert of mostly 60s groups (or what's left of them). I love 60s music, so I thought it would be great. I've always wanted to go to the concert, but just never had before.

The original Moondog Coronation Ball was a concert held in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952. IT was organized by Alan Freed, the disc jockey from Cleveland who is credited with originating the phrase "Rock and Roll." The original Moondog concert is considered the first major rock and roll event. Alan Freed and the Moondog concert helped bring the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to Cleveland. The local oldies station has been reviving the concert in Cleveland for the last 20+ years.

So, when my dad said no one would go with him, I thought, what the hell? Should be a good concert. We went to dinner beforehand and then went to the concert. As I suspected, I was one of the youngest people there. We did see a couple of kids - 10 years old or so. But I think I was the youngest person who knew the words to the songs. Being 35, I wasn't even born when any of these songs were hits.

Dad and I were talking about how it was going to be interesting to see how some of these artists aged. After all, it had been up to 45 years since some of these guys had their big hits. We had good seats, but couldn't really see how old they were until there were close-ups on the big jumbo-tron monitor.

The evening started out with Lou Christie. I'll be honest - I wasn't sure who the dude was. I did know a couple of his songs, though, especially "Lightning Strikes" which I think most people would recognize. You can listen to 10 seconds of clips of his more famous music by clicking HERE. He looked pretty good - he was just a teenager when he had his hits, so he's probably just in his 50s now. His voice is MUCH lower now, so he was singing a lot of his songs a few octaves lower than they were originally. When he sang some of his original hits, he said it wasn't easy to sing those high notes anymore, then he put his hand in his pants and acted like he was grabbing his balls so he could sing higher. It was funny at first, but as he kept doing it through like 2 songs, it started to be kind of disturbing.

Next up was Ronnie Spector, who was the lead singer of the original girl group, The Ronettes. I tried to tell my dad that she used to be married to notorius Phil Spector, the producer and man who was charged with murdering Lana Clarkson in 2003. My dad didn't think so, but then later someone referenced Phil Spector having been married to Ronnie and now being notorious.

Probably the biggest hit for Ronnie Spector was "Be My Baby." I think just about everyone would know it if they heard it, and probably some of her other songs, too. To listen to snippets of her big hits, click HERE.

Ronnie has not aged well. She had what I referred to as a "Ronnie Handler" help her get up the stairs to the stage and she had a little chair where she sat a few times. When she had to haul back up the stairs (with the Handler) for an encore, she mentioned she had a "bad leg." She had BIG teased hair and was wearing tight black pants and a big shirt that she kept playing with. At one point, it looked like it was going to fall off of her and you could see most of her bra. While the website for the concert has photos of the other performers, I couldn't find any of Ronnie, presumably because she looked so bad. At one point I turned to my dad and said, "Just say No, kids." She also had very obvious dentures. We got to see a lot of her face HUGE on the jumbo-tron. The camera presumably to kept on her face to keep from catching her boob popping out, which looked like might happen. She did a good job singing, and had some cool young musician chicks as the new "Ronettes." I also joked that, when she came out for the encore, she'd probably zoom out in one of those motor-scooters old people drive around. My dad laughed. I tried to find pictures (at right) of "then" and "now." The "now" picture is from last year's Rock Hall induction, and trust me, she looked worse last night.

Next came the 5th Dimension. Right before they came out, I told my dad that I hoped they sang, "Up, Up and Away," but that the song always makes me think of the dentist's office (which, strangely enough, was exactly what my brother said today when I told him about the concert.) They opened with "Up, Up and Away," so I was thrilled! The 5th Dimension had so many hits, you would definitely recognize some of their songs, even if you didn't know the names of the songs or the group. Click HERE for snippets. Their hits include “One Less Bell To Answer,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” “Last Night I Didn’t Get To Sleep,” and “Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In.”

The 5th Dimension only had one original member - the founder of the group Florence LaRue. They were great performers, very entertaining, and had these cheesey, jazzy matching outfits that I thought were great. They closed with "Aquarius" and that was pretty great, too.

There was a 10-minute or so break in between each group so they could reset the stage for the group's band and equipment. After the 5th Dimension, there was a 20-minute intermission. I was calculating that each artist performed for between 30-45 minutes, so with 6 groups, it was going to be a long-ish night.

The highlight of the night for my dad was Peter and Gordon, who performed after the intermission. I think we may have gasped when they came out - wow, did they look old! They were part of the British invasion of the 60s (even recorded some of Paul McCartney's songs, as they were friends), but they broke up in 1968. Peter went on to be a very successful record producer, but obviously no one has seen much of either of them in 40 years. They did get back together for some benefit concerts, but it was pretty exciting to see them perform since it seems to be a rarity. Probably their biggest hit is "A World Without Love" although I also knew some of their other songs, like "Lady Godiva" and "I Go to Pieces." Hear snippets HERE.

They were very entertaining and talked more than the other groups, talking about the songs they did, how Paul McCartney didn't want his name on one song her wrote for them (to see if he could write a hit without his name on it), and just being very real and down to earth. Their performance was proabably the highlight of the evening for me, too. The photos at the right are "then" and "now" photos for Peter and Gordon.

Next up was "Frank Cavaliere's Rascals." He was entertaining in a "lounge singer" kind of way. There was a cocky vibe about him. He did open with their big hit, "Good Lovin'" which really got the crowd going. They also sang "It's a Beautiful Morning," "I've Been Lonely Too Long," "Mustang Sally" and "People Got to Be Free" which were big hits. Listen HERE. My personal favorite is "Groovin'" - I even have that song as a ringtone on my phone! Of course, Frank Cavaliere is the only original member of the band, but at least he's the lead singer and plays instruments.

Finally was the headliner, BJ Thomas. Honestly, I didn't know his name, although I knew some of his music. How he was the headliner, I'm not sure. He was BORING. Keep in mind that the audience here was ages 50+, and in some of the audience shots, you could literally see some people sleeping! BJ Thomas opened with the theme song from "Growing Pains" which I didn't know he did, but he did. I think I was the only one who knew the words (I know, how pathetic is it that I know the words??). Then he did some more slow songs. My dad, who had to leave for work by 4:00am the next morning, was looking at his watch and it was almost 11:00pm. He still had to take me home, then drive the 45 minutes it takes him to get home from my house. Not to mention if we stayed to the end, we'd probably get stuck in the parking garage traffic. So we bailed.

He finally played a song we knew as we were making a final pit-stop on our way out, which was "Hooked on a Feeling." He also originally sang "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" but we didn't hear it. You can hear snippets HERE. I commented that he was like a country version of Tom Jones - most of his songs have the same beat and sound the same - and they are very gentle - more gentle then Tom Jones in my opinion. My theory is that he was the headliner because he's actually still making albums and touring.

It truly was a great concert, and one of those where you felt like you got to see history-makers and legends. The Rascals are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Ronnie Spector was inducted last year. I figure it's only a matter of time before some of these guys get in. And even if they don't, I can say I got to see some of the music-makers from the dawn of rock and roll.

As I said when we were leaving, though (as throngs of older folks were also leaving), "If they keep doing these concerts, they're going to have to start doing them in the afternoon or no one will be able to stay awake!"