Just a couple things from YouTube today.
Here’s Dee Dee Sharp in a lip-synch performance from about 1962, when “Mashed Potato Time” was on the charts:
Here’s an early video of Sly & the Family Stone performing live on television. How do I know it’s early? Sly doesn’t have a huge Afro, and he’s not wearing a big funky hat. The video at YouTube is labeled “Dance To The Music/Music Lover,” but I’m pretty sure that what the group is performing is the track titled “Dance to the Medley: Music Is Alive/Dance In/Music Lover,” from the group’s first album. And that likely puts the television appearance into 1968.
Tomorrow, I think I’m going to revive the old Junkyard idea and present a random selection of stuff from 1950-1999, but I think – in keeping with the recent Six-Pack packaging, we’ll call it a Twelve-Pack. Let’s hope we get some good stuff!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
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1 comments:
So as not to run on, first, these are great video clips; here's part of why:
1.) My ex-wife was a great choreographer -- the Mash Potato dance craze was one of the elements of her art. That art included everything from doing straight James Brown imitations for a stunned Venetian audience one night, to the Best Choreography ever for "Chain, Chain, Chain" (Aretha heaven).
As a thirteen year old with a new stereo, I only ever had one older guy to help me learn about the heart of the music you and I share a love for.
He was a great dancer. When the album version of "Dance to the Music" hit a turntable at a party he attended, everybody there instantly knew he was the best dancer. He torn the dance floor apart with his soulful stylings of fleet footwork to this song.
Thanks for the beautiful Echoes in the Wind of our music and, also, my life.
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