Thanks ever so much for dropping that link! That was wonderful!

I have a few memories as a kid waking up on a summer night and hearing singing coming from an alley somewhere in the neighborhood, later as I got older and staying out late at night, I'd go looking for these voices and found guys, older and younger, black and white all singing. Singing their hearts out with smiles on their faces hearing what their voices, together, created. At the end of the night, as the dawn rose usually, they'd part ways, shaking hands, offering rides home. The air was electric with the spent energy of their love of song. A very spiritual moment for vocalist and listener alike.

The Persuasions, the Knudsen Brothers, The Nylons and the always fun Rockapella are others to listen to.

I lived around the block from Frankie Lymon. Our buildings shared a common alley-way. In the summer when everyone had their windows open, we could hear Frankie and the Teenagers practicing/singing all day long. Everybody in NYC wanted to be in a singing group back then. You couldn't go more than two or three blocks without hearing a group practicing in an apartment house hallway. (Great echo's!) A lot of my gigs as a teenager was backing up several local doo-wop groups with our little trio; piano, bass, drums. I used to take a snare, a bass drum, my hi hats and my ride to gigs, that was the set-up and all that I needed. I got to use brushes a lot. Great training, great fun. The vocal harmonies when they would do the obligatory acapella number used to send chills racing up my spine. To this day I'm a sucker for a good acapella group.

John

Purdie that was absolutely beautiful. Made my evening, thanks.

Tom

... more. This is the stuff I grew up with. People like to bad-mouth New York City... it was a great place to live and to grow up in. Still is. Cultural Capitol of the world IMHO.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG4On_3QDjg&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWgOjEI52BI&feature=related[/ame]

John

Amazing! Thanks for posting this wonderful music, John.

Brian

Thanks for the music and story, John.

(And this simple upstate NY'er thinks NYC is a very nice suburb...) Cool Dude

larry

Thanks for that John.I grew up in Ridgewood.I'm sure you know it's on the Brooklyn/Queens border.Plenty of do wop,a capela,garage/basement bands,and a few gangs to boot,like the Halsey Bops.Leather and denim jackets.Greasers,and long hairs coexisted for a few years,and it led to more that a few,serious social situations.

I noticed in the first vid,that the group stayed in time,and on key,as the train was pulling in.Anybody thats ever ridden in a NY City subway,knows that only commercial jets are louder than a subway cars.I thought it was cool that they just kept going,like....ain't no thing,this is New York.Be well my friend.

Steve B

My ex-wife (37 years!) was from Ridgewood. She lived on Halsey street for many years as a young girl. One of the things I always loved about her was that Italian Brooklyn-girl accent. She was tough too. Didn't take any crap from anybody... including me!

Growing up in New York is an experience I wouldn't swap for a thousand bucolic settings. For .15 cents on any given Saturday we would hop a bus downtown and spend hours checking out all the new gear at Manny's and all the music stores on 48th street. Then after window wishing in the music stores, we'd stand out in front of the Metropole Bar and listen to Gene Krupa's band or Woody Herman's band... it was great.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMWdJpU9t5Q[/ame]

John

Im at work so I cant listen to the clips yet, but will when I get home. My grandmother was born and raised in the Bronx during the 1930's and 40's. Graduated in about 1949 from one of the high schools there. Man, how I love sitting and listening to the stories of how she lived then. She grew up right along Long Island sound, about a block off of the beach area. She got to see baseball games at both, Yankee Stadium and Ebbetts Field in the golden era of baseball. She moved down here to Texas in the 1950s after getting married. She is a wonderful lady!!

Purdie, there is a book that my mother found online for her and I will try to get the name of it. It is a history of New York City during the 20's up to the 50s or 60s (my grandmother is actually in one of the pictures in the church). It's a really nice book, Ill get you the name soon.