Spent the morning with long-neglected paper work and listening to my foreign broadcasts. There was a sad and nostalgic look at a family-owned chain of seventeen "milk bars" in Wales which will be out of business at the end of December after 70-some years. The young crowd no longer wants milk shakes and ice cream; they have been beguiled by the big bucks spent by Starbucks to wean them away. There was further discussion about the plight of dairy farmers and the weak prices for milk which we have also heard here . . . Spent a lonely and weepy afternoon exploring YouTube for clips of the Four Freshmen, my favorite vocal group for sixty years. I first heard them one Sunday afternoon in the mid-fifties at Penn State. A few years later I met them when I was doing public relations work for the Bedford County Fair and they were a featured grandstand attraction. I would play their records weekly in the store but Bob is not as fond of them as I am. He heard them when they visited Bloomsburg College while he was there . . . According to the memoir Now You Know, they appeared in Harrisburg at The Frigate. I had not heard of or didn't remember where this club was located. If anyone knows, please let me know . . . Don (seated in the photo) left the original group to try a solo career. He was replaced and the new group was at the old Howard Johnson Restaurant on North Front Street (now an oriental restaurant, I think) when one bought a newspaper and discovered that Don had just been killed in an auto accident in L.A. They had to break the news to his brother, Ross. (On the right in the photo.) . . . There were many great male singing groups in the fifties but they faded; the Four Freshmen continued, adding new personnel when necessary. They continue today. Last I heard the latest group is the 22nd reincarnation in a long history filled with hit after hit . . . And they are still winning awards . . .
As I recall, The Frigate was a jazz club located on Rt. 22 in the '70s. Being fairly young then, it's difficult for me to be specific as to its exact location. I just remember it being on Rt. 22 going east from Harrisburg. Local musician Andy Angelucci may have been involved with The Frigate, or perhaps was its owner. Again, my memory is a little foggy. I seem to recall, too, that Buddy Rich performed at the club. Must have been a cool place.
ReplyDelete