" In 1968, I joined the Columbia Kingsmen. They were a traditional
barber-shop-type college-song group, actually a spin-off from Glee Club,
that recruited new freshman every year and went around in blazers and ties
singing alma maters at girls schools. That particular year, a few of the
guys had a thing for fifties doo-wop, and the Kingsmen worked up a few of
these numbers, just for fun.
Then, one fateful day, the Kingsmen did an informal concert in the Lion's
Den, one of Columbia's eatery-hangouts. We were a little ahead of
schedule, and the atmosphere was right, so much out of character, still in
our blazers, we belted out those fifties tunes.
A strange thing happened. The place went nuts! Everyone rolled up their
T-shirts, a few took pens and painted on tattoos, everyone jitterbugged-
it was something else! In the audience was the brother of one of the
Kingsmen, himself a graduate student at Columbia at the time. This
insightful dude arranged a meeting with us that same night and told us
"you guys are gonna be stars, and this is how you're gonna do it..." He
visualized the whole Sha Na Na thing, down to the gold lame, right then
and there. A few weeks, much rehearsing, and several new electrified
instruments later, the Kingsmen did an outdoor concert called "Grease
Under The Stars", at which five thousand people showed up and went just as
crazy. Most of them came greased! Then a name-change and a several-week
gig at Steve Paul's Scene, an in-place on 46th Street, where the producers
of the upcoming Woodstock Festival saw us. "You guys GOTTA be there!" And
we were. (The whole band got $300!) The rest is history...
We had some help with our initial equipment from one of our singers
whose family was quite well to do. I wound up with the ole' Wurlizer
electric piano. And a fender Dual Showman Reverb with 2-15" JBLs. What an
amp! The piano- well it was OK for those days, I guess.
Stayed with Sha Na Na 'til I graduated from Columbia in 1970. Just went on
to do what I was planning to do all along (was it medical school?) No one
originally planned to turn Sha Na Na into a career, though a several did.
Bowser joined just as I left, though he was also from Columbia and I knew
him well from Glee Club.
I moved to San Diego in 1975, and put together a Beatles tribute called
"Yeah Yeah Yeah" between 1979 and 1984. We played quite a bit locally, and
it was lots of fun! Of course, it was just an excuse to buy those
Rickenbackers, the Gretsch, the Hofner bass, you know..."
