By Pepper Parr
November 2, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
If you are of a certain age – there is a piece of entertainment coming to town that you might want to take in.
Remember the Platters? And the Ink Spots? Of course you do – well they are going to be in town on the 6th of November for a single show at the Performing Arts Centre – 8:00 pm
The Platters were one of the top vocal groups of the ‘50s scene, achieving success with a crooning, middle-of-the-road style that put a soulful coat of uptown polish on pop-oriented, harmony-rich material.
Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre of Rock n Roll. As one of the first ‘black’ groups to be targeted towards a predominantly ‘white’ youth audience in the US, they toured the world as international ambassadors of musical goodwill.
That vibe continues as their music lives on in such legendary titles as “Only You”, “The Great Pretender”, “The Magic Touch”, “My Prayer”, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”, “With This Ring”, “Earth Angel” and “Twilight Time”.
How long has it been since we’ve heard those songs? Heavy metal and whatever they call the other stuff just doesn’t cut it the way the Platters did.
Expect to hear these and many more that have become indelibly ingrained in the hearts of a planet.
The Ink Spots gained international fame from the ‘30s through the ‘50s. Their unique musical style made them the godfathers of rhythm and blues, rock n roll and doo-wop. Their wide acceptance made them superstars of their time with more than 20 Top 10 Hits including “If I Didn’t Care”, “My Prayer”, “Java Jive”, “I Don’t Want to Set The World On Fire”, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”, “I’ll Get By (As Long As I Have You)”, “I’m Making Believe”, “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall”, “Prisoner Of Love” and “To Each His Own”. The Original Ink Spots (Bill Kenny, Deek Watson, Charlie Fuqua and Hoppy Jones) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.
If you are of that certain age – take the Missus out for the evening – you might even want to take one of the grandchildren if they are well into their teens so they can get a taste of what the great music was like.
The two groups who come out of Vancouver are part of the playbill former Performing Arts Centre Executive Director Brian McCurdy included in the program Susanne Haines now oversees while she works towards developing the program for the 2016 – 2017 season.
Not to be missed – we don’t hear groups like these two all that often. There are still some good seats left
