A BACKGROUND SINGER IN A DOO WOP GROUP It was the mid-July, 1959, and my cousin Jerry had gotten me this job as a counselor at a summer camp. The camp was located in some foothills between the little mountain town of La Honda and the Pacific Ocean. It was a camp for boys of modest means and ages 6-12. The boys would stay at the camp one week. I believe that I lasted two weeks. But maybe it was just one very long week. Camp check-in began mid-day on Sunday. Boys were assigned to a wood-floored tent according to their age. Each tent had an assigned counselor. Among the dozen counselors, I drew the shortest straw and was given the youngest boys. My fellow counselors were less Boy Scouts than reform school graduates. My cousin Jerry had been a victim of a car/train smash-up that killed his Dad and left him with a terribly scarred face. At 18, he was already a man and could easily pass as one mean s.o.b. There were two black counselors with scars of their own. My cousin and these two black dudes were the Camp enforcers. All three would be addressed as Sir. In-door activities were dubbed, eating-and-meeting. Each Counselor was assigned a table in the main hall. He and his boys would choose a team name which, hopefully, would bond them for the week. Day time activities were what you would expect. Archery, volley ball, soccer, and softball. No swimming, however. Each evening there would be camp songs around a camp fire. Special evenings would feature: a ghost story; a sleep night away from the Camp and amateur night. Each was a story in their own right. The amateur night is the story I will now tell. The two blacks were playing around and doing several songs in doo wop style. My cousin and I convinced them to do one on amateur night. They said only if Jerry and me helped with the back-up. Phonetically it went like this: show-dope and shoe-be-doo and was repeated over and over through out the song. The song was, In the still of the night. In the glow of the camp fire, not a camper was stirring...not even a mouse. youtu.be/fBT3oDMCWpI
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 23:59:25 +0000
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