THE BURLINGTON DOO WOP CONCERT of September 11, 1983

These are photos from the now "legendary" 1983 Burlington Doo Wop Concert that I produced and which I own the copyright. The concert featured singers from over 20 vocal groups including THE 5 KEYS, SILHOUETTES, LADDINS, BOOTSIE WHITE of the DESIRES, J.R. BAILEY of the CADILLACS, DEMENS-EMERSONS, WILLIE WINFIELD of the HARPTONES, RAVENS, LIMELITES, VIDEOS, EARL LEWIS & THE CHANNELS, JOHNNIE & JOE, 5 WILLOWS, RAVENS, CHEROKEES, CASTELLES, RAINBOWS, SWALLOWS, JIVE FIVE, FALCONS, HANK BALLARD, BROOKLYN CONNECTION, THE RONNIE LAWSON BAND, BOBBY JAY, AL GRANNUM, & special appearances by Ernie Warren of the Cardinals, Baby Washington, Bobby Thomas of the Vibranaires, Gene Tompkins of the Lamplighters & Mellows, Paul Himmelstein of the Heartbreakers, the Paragons - Rocketones, Jimmy Keyes of the Chords, James McKay of the Schoolboys. 

 I will be posting many more photos from this show in the near future for it's 25th anniversary. I will never forget and always be grateful to a few folks who helped me immeasurably - Marcia Vance, Val Shively, Bobby Freeman, David Hinkley, Bobby Jay, Phil Beauchamp, Bee Jay, Charlie Horner, Warren Tesoro, Ramon Loper, Matthew Weisman, Mark Langer, Helene Covella and especially my family and late wife, Linda & my stepdaughters Christian and Stephanie. 

Maybe one day the complete final edited version of this show will be seen by the public. I've digitally re-edited about 30 songs from the original high quality camera masters, 16 track audio and extra camera footage. The results are extraordinary and the bootlegs out there are really dreadful by comparison. In fact there's no comparison! The bootlegs are painful to watch and agony to listen to.  I also conducted videotaped interviews with some of the performers and they are really interesting as well.    

By the way  - a little bit of trivia - the genesis of this show came from discussions that I had with my former employer Martin Scorsese from 1979 - 1983. As is well known he grew up with 'the music'. He had never heard the rare cuts and I used to surprise him with stuff like the Melloharps, Hideaways and Prisonaires.  This show was supposed to be one of five that I wanted to produce and incorporate into a comprehensive documentary on the history of Vocal Group Rock n' Roll & Rhythm and Blues. I've never ceased working on it. 

 Thanks - M. del Costello