Holy Hullabaloo, Batman!

I've previously mentioned my fondness for Hullabaloo!, the mid-Sixties prime-time TV show on NBC that featured all the acts you might expect, from Paul Anka to the Zombies, as well as some you might not, such as Judy Collins. There was a regular infusion of the British Invasion (Chad and Jeremy, the Kinks), undoubtedly helped along by Beatles manager Brian Epstein's appearance as the host of a London segment, and lots of Motown, including Marvin Gaye and The Supremes. A similar show called Shindig on ABC was its antecedent, but I don't remember it being as good.

Hullabaloo!'s dancers were a highlight of every show (they included Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie, best known as creator and star of the original production of A Chorus Line), and a segment called "Hullabaloo! A Go-Go" featured a dancer in a cage, shaking it while wearing a fringed minidress and short white go-go boots.

Fans of The Dark Knight will undoubtedly object, but here are the Hullabaloo! dancers cavorting to the "Batman" theme:

Nancie & The Rockers

I'm very proud of the years I spent at Mattel in the '90s, producing the first computer games for girls and launching Barbie.com. So I was pleased and very gratified last week to be invited back to their corporate headquarters in El Segundo, CA to speak to an employee conference about "The Future of Music."

My conclusions were fueled by my own personal Magic 8 Ball, but basically the gist of it was:

• Kids have always loved music;
• There are lots of new and traditional ways to discover music;
• We have to be creative about finding new ways to make money from it;
  
• Music is a personal soundtrack, not a CD; and
• "The Macarena" and "Crank That" have more in common than you think.

There were many musical interludes, and much appreciation for our client Baby Loves Hip Hop's efforts to provide parents with music they can enjoy with their children.

But for some reason, the international audience particularly enjoyed this video of a long-forgotten '80s band (the hair alone is worth a view):

Sad All Over

One of my earliest ambitions was to be a dancer on Hullabaloo!The swinging music! The white boots! The fringed dresses!

I think that's where I may have first seen the Dave Clark Five. So learning of the death of lead singer Mike Smith was especially sad for me. Here they are, in happier times:

Song, Dance and Baseball

As you know if you read this blog regularly, we're a bunch of baseball fans in the office. Well, I'm the lone Red Sox fan so i'm enjoying this lates Sox performance. And by performance, I don't mean JD drew's grand slam or Hideki Okajima's unhittable relief outing last night; I mean music and dancing. Ses, these Red Sox have taken it upon themselves to show their extracurricular talents. Here's the bullpen pirate band (!?):



Bullpen percussion ensemble, if you're looking for a publicist, give me a call. I see a bright future for you. Still, that may be topped by the amazing dance pulled off by one Jonathon Papelbon when the sox clinched the division. (Nnote Jerry Remy mention in the broadcast, "He could use some pants"):



The Yankees would never allow this. Yet another reason I love my team.