Can anyone tell me how Sha Na Na ended up playing Woodstock?

[CanuckAmok]

The movie's on right now, and I just caught a part of it.

Itr looks like people were "grooving" on them, but how Sha Na Na got into that 'counterculture' festival is beyone me.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

[PinkTiger]

1. I'm not sure,

but I believe they were on broadway at the time in Grease.

On edit: NO, they were in the movie. Apparently they got started in 1969 at Columbia University as an acapella group, and went on from there. I Googled for the info. Sorry for the misinformation.

I had an opportunity to see Sha Na Na live in 1975, and it was awesome.

There's a touring group calling itself Sha Na Na who appeared in Tunica last year; went to see them and was terrible disappointed. Not the same group; and they lack pizazz.

You gotta remember, at the time the "counter" culture wasn't all that "counter." We were just a little more "hip" than everybody else. And Sha Na Na's music was really "groovy."

[henslee]

5. I believe Grease the show was way later than Woodstock.

[Melsky]

2. I never knew that, how odd.

Concert goers must have thought they were tripping really hard.

[henslee]

3. don't you be dissin Bowser, my favorite hollywoood square!!!

I'd rather listen to Sha Na Na than Joan Baez, frankly.... In fact when Joan comes on, I run for popcorn.

[CanuckAmok]

11. I'm not dissing them--I like 'em!

I just find them an odd choice for that venue. Kind of like casting Robert Conrad as Peter Pan.

[henslee]

13. I never knew Robert Conrad ever played Peter Pan.

[absyntheNsugar]

4. Sha Na Na had kitch appeal

at the time. The boomers I've asked told me Sha Na Na was a joke group that everyone could relate to.

[BaltExpat]

6. In Their Own Words (Long)

Sha Na Na and the Woodstock Generation
By George Leonard '67 and Robert Leonard '70
(from COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY, Spring/Summer 1989, p. 28)

Editor's note: In 1969 the Columbia Kingsmen, a student singing group, insouciantly traded their jackets, ties and rah-rah spirit for an image with more flash. As Sha Na Na, outfitted in gold lame and Elvis Presley hairdos, they perfected a song and dance repertoire of classic Fifties rock'n'roll. Soon after their memorable "Grease Under the Stars" concert on Low Plaza they shot to stardom, playing at Woodstock, the Fillmores West and East, and many venues in between. Their success inspired the Broadway musical Grease, followed by the movie Grease (in which they appeared); the group eventually had its own television series. Two founders of Sha Na Na offer these reminiscences of the early days.

Columbia students in the 1960's grew up knowing that Columbia was a major force in popular culture: Ginsberg and Kerouac had led the Beats; Rodgers, Hart and Hammerstein were giants for the modern Broadway musical; Art Garfunkel (with his friend Paul Simon, an NYU student) pioneered American "folk rock." No miracle that Columbia--and only Columbia!-- was represented at the Woodstock Festival, in the movie Woodstock, and later, held the record for encores (four: the Kinks had to wait in the wings for an hour) at Fillmore West till it closed.

Sha Na Na was, in fact, the Columbia Kingsmen. Even after Woodstock, during its fame as a Fillmore headliner, when members dropped out we recruited new ones from Columbia--like Screaming Scott Simon or Jon "Bowzer" Bauman, the group's second leader, now a TV star and producer.

This year, 1989, is the twentieth anniversary of Woodstock and we found ourselves wanting to write not so much a history of Sha Na Na as something that would recapture that spring-- as Columbia recovered from the Revolution and was about to move into the Woodstock Generation. Events came thick and fast in the Sixties and Columbia was at the center of it all.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[PinkTiger]

9. Thank you!!

I knew there was a Broadway Grease connection, I just didn't know what it was. Thanks for looking up the info.

[BaltExpat]

10. No Problem...

It was something I asked myself a long time ago - before Google - it was fun looking it up.

[CanuckAmok]

12. Thanks for the info, BaltExpat...

...and, again, welcome to DU!

[impeach the gop]

7. Bowser, and also those cool tight ass gold pants

What happened to them anyway?

[kcwayne]

8. I thought Sha Na Na was a tongue in cheek takeoff

When I first saw the film Woodstock in 1970, the Sha Na Na set just seemed like campy fun, and they did seem out of place. My take on Woodstock as I recall was that it was about really cool music and it was a happening scene. But it was about the music more than about counter culture.

I was riveted by the performances of the Who, Santana, Sly, and Joe Cocker. It totally floored me and I was always imitating Sly and Roger Daltry. We would laugh about Sha Na Na, and make fun of older siblings and relatives that actually liked the real "Do Wop" sounds.
Sha Na Na was Do Wop on acid. I think. I never took acid, so I guess I wasn't really with it.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

14. Dunno, but I remember when they came on stage.... it was

surreal.
Then after a few bars, it was like... yeah man, cool. It was fun, a nice break. And you have to remember everyone knew someone like them at home.

[LTR]

15. Just remember, Jimi Hendrix used to open for The Monkees!

Figure THAT one out!