You’ll be hearing more about the songbird that resides in our house. she is part of an amazing program called the Academy of Performing Arts at Huntington Beach High School; her niche being a vocalist in the Commercial Recording Arts Department, known as CRAD, where kids perform contemporary music in live settings. Last night the students wowed the crowd with an eclectic array of songs from the 60’s music movement in Hollywood as documented by Domenic Priore in his book “Riot on Sunset Strip”.

Most people equate 60’s music to hippies, flower power, and San Francisco, but according to priore there were two years – 1965 & 1966 – where rock n’ roll replaced movies as the center of action in hollywood. There were three major television series – Hullabaloo, Shindig and Where the Action Is that were celebrating the music of a new generation and the clubs on SunsetStrip were the creative epicenter for the bands behind the vibrant new sounds that would sweep the nation.

Here is a list of some of the songs this talented group of high school kids performed: “Shake” – Tina Turner, “I Get Around” – Jan & Dean, “Unchained Melody” – Righteous Brothers, “The Beat Goes On” – Sonny & Cher, “Needles and Pins” – Jacke Deshannon, “California Dreamin” – The Mamas & the Papas, “Along Comes Mary” – The Association, “Bluebird” – Buffalo Springfield, “Magic Carpet rRde” – Steppenwolf, “Break on Through” – The Doors. And the girl with the voice that gives you goosebumps – powerful delivery & clarity, yet enveloping you in velvety smoothness – as she evokes Linda Ronstadt in her early folk days singing “Different Drum” – is our songbird.

You should have been there…. The whole show was timed to a docu-video interview with Dominic Priore sharing a wealth of information, insights, and authentic footage from the TV shows and nightclub scene. SUPER IMPRESSIVE!

(Originally published on May 26, 2009 at www.topmomblog.com )

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Tags: Academy of Performing Arts, Dominic Priore, music, Riot on Sunset Strip, teens

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