Dick Clark's Where The Action Is

Nice article on Dick Clark's Where The Action Is, including a video of The Kinks performing on the show.

http://metvnetwork.com/monitor/dick...n-is-was-the-coolest-thing-on-tv-50-years-ago

 

where were the mics?

 

Was there ever a live performance on this show?

 

Used to watch it every day right after "Dark Shadows", lots of fun, especially Paul Revere and the Raiders. The theme song was originally offered to Del Shannon. I don't think there was ever a live performance on the show, but California looked sublime to a 12 year old in Brooklyn.

 

I remember watching this to see Paul Revere & The Raiders. Seems to me they were always by a swimming pool.

 

thought the knickerbockers played live on action---i know they did on lloyd thaxton

 

Some of their songs were never on record.

 

Here we go......

 

Probably not, but who cared then? We were seeing the faces behind the tunes we were hearing on the radio. There wasn't very many avenues to actually see the artists you were grooving to back then. Nowadays grumpy spoilsports whine and moan about lipsynching and whatnot. Never mind that if many of those hit songs were played "live" they'd probably sound like crap - many of them were studio creations. But guess what? We DID'NT CARE back then. Musical artists appearing on these small handful of television shows were advertisements for the singles - NOT avenues for live music. Now in our dotage we can nitpick away the entire decade until our teeth fall out and it won't matter one iota. I say enjoy it for what it was - if you were there at the time you know what I mean. : )

 

For me this show was far superior to Bandstand. While I remember watching it after school, I feel like it also aired in the morning before school started. Maybe that was a local affiliate decision?

 

I agree with you. The show was a blast, certainly didn't take itself too seriously (if at all), and as you said put faces to the sounds. The locations were unique, taking in beaches and amusement parks, the bands looked like they were having fun, and there were swimsuit clad dancers (male and female) grooving on the beach while Paul Revere and company supplied humor and tunes. I was enchanted, especially after a half hour of vampires and werewolves.

 

HERE HERE! This should be permanently affixed to the top of the comments section of every lipsynched performance on Youtube!

 

Thanks for sharing this. I wasn't quite old enough to watch back then, but I've been very curious about it.

I've been watching the early (pre-Barnabas) Dark Shadows episodes, and frequently as the closing credits are rolling up, the voiceover will say "Stay tuned for the new exciting show on ABC..."Where The Action Is" featuring Paul Revere and The Raiders!

It always sounded like it must've been pretty cool, and I looked for it on DVD once but couldn't find it.

Mark

 

I actually agree with you jsayers! Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the performers and hearing the hits as I heard them on the AM radio.
And just for the record, I was both alive and sentient back in the mid 1960's and an active listener to "Action", as well as Bandstand, Music Scene, Shindig, Hullabaloo, etc. And while it was good to see the bands "perform", I also enjoyed the humor and goofing about that went on too.

My comment/question was merely a response to Daytripper09's question about there being no microphones in the performances. But yet, I was sincere in my question - Were there ever any live performances on Action? (I don't remember any, but hey...it coulda happened!)

 

First time I ever heard "Hey Joe" was on this show...The Leaves.

 

Not true at all. Speak for yourself. Me and my friends were extremely unimpressed with bands lip-synching on the TV shows of the era. Made it look like they didn't know how to play.

It seems to me that you are a grumpy spoilsport whining and moaning about people who were a bit more capable of critical listening than you were back then.

 

clip of the music machine is at the old la zoo what a horrible place to be for an animal

 

They didn't need em'
Kinks was the original Willie Vanilly.