The oldies concert was billed as “Rocky and the Rollers Presents: Philly Rock’n’Soul” Tuesday in the Savannah Center.
It could have been called The Rocky Seader story.
All the acts –The Tymes, Peggy March, The Dovells and Danny and the Juniors—grew up in the city of cheese steaks, soft pretzels, hoagies and “American Bandstand.”
So did Gerry “Rocky” Seader, and his professional life was shaped by the Dovells, and Danny and the Juniors.
Watch video of the show here:
Long before joining those groups on the oldies circuit, the Rock was just a little drummer boy growing up in Philadelphia. He spent his time banging on pots, pans and garbage cans.
Eventually, he bought a drum set and was on his way.
Seader joined Danny and the Juniors, before splitting and hooking up with the Dovells. He left that group in the early 1980s to form his own band and that’s the roots of the Rollers.
“I really owe my career to these guys,” Seader said of the two groups. “When I was with the Dovells, I met a lot of guys in their band – I stole them — and we formed my own group. That’s how I got my career.”
“It’s a true story and Rocky was the best drummer we ever had,” said Jerry Gross of the Dovells, who appeared with original member Mark Stevens.
“Rocky loves this music and does all he can to keep it alive,” added Joe Terry of Danny and the Juniors.
The Dovells started in the late ‘50s, after they got together at Philly’s Overbrook High School. Len Barry, who had his own hit single called “1-2-3” was the original lead singer on such Dovells’ hits as “Bristol Stomp,” “You Can’t Sit Down” and “Hully Gully.”
Stevens and Gross zipped through a medley of Dovells’ hits from the early ‘60s, in a set that included plenty of comedy and Philly chatter.
“Just so the people from Philadelphia feel at home, we want to let you know someone is breaking into your car out in the parking lot,” Stevens cracked before saying how much it meant to him growing up in Philadelphia.
“That’s where we learned doo-wop and rock and roll. It’s a great city.”
Philadelphia was the mecca of rock and roll in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” was telecast live out of Philly every weekday afternoon.
“I lived 30 miles outside of Philadelphia and would turn on Bandstand every day as soon as I got home from school,” said Peggy March. “I kept asking my mother if I could dance on Bandstand but she said I had to wait until I was 16.
“Well, I made it to Bandstand when I was 15. Only I wasn’t dancing. I was singing my hit record, ‘I Will Follow Him.’”
March still percolates with energy and added spark to the show with her big hit. She also displayed range and power singing “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
Danny and the Juniors brought a tape to Dick Clark back in 1957. The song was called “Do The Bop,” and although Clark loved the song, he hated the title.
That’s how “The Bop” became “At the Hop,” one of the all-time rock and roll standards, featuring the late lead singer Danny Rapp.
Now, 60 years later, Joe Terry and Frank Maffei of the original group are still touring. “I’m 77, I’m getting a little old to be dancing like this,” Maffei said after displaying a variety or rock dances. The list included the Chicken, Funky Chicken, the Fish, the Fly and the Pony.
“These dances were named after animals,” Maffei cracked.
Then the group did “Twistin’ USA,” one of Danny and the Juniors big hits, before finishing up with “At the Hop.”
The Tymes are a Philadelphia group that brought elegant, soulful sounds to the mid-1960s.
Original members Al (Caesar) Berry and Norman Burnett. are joined by Jimmy Wells and Russell Gore, Jr.
They opened with some funky, Philly soul on “Love Train” and “The Love I Lost.” Then the group flashed some slick harmony on a cover of the Flamingos’ “Lovers Never Say Goodbye.”
But the highlights came when the Tymes showcased that silky, smooth harmony on their own hits. “Wonderful Wonderful” was originally done by Johnny Mathis in the ‘50s but the Tymes gave the song new life in 1963.
That was the same year the Tymes scored their biggest hit of all, “So In Love.” The four members gathered close on stage and started singing the classic song that brought back so many memories – not only to people from Philadelphia but also a generation that came of age listening to it.
