We’re excited to announce a show we’re putting together with a number of professional musicians, called the Dick and Dee Dee Sixties Musical Review. Our
first performance is Sunday evening, June 22nd, at Theatre Palisades in Pacific Palisades, California.
For this hour and a half show, we’ll be singing all the Dick and Dee Dee hits, plus other Sixties favorites, as well as showing a DVD of the Scopitone video (Where Did All The Good Times Go) and the last Shindig Show in which we sang Lighting Strikes. We have some amazing people on instruments, with a string section as well. A video of the show will be taped, which we will send to promoters booking Doo Wop acts. If any of you are in the Los Angeles area on that date, we hope you’ll drop by. Keep watching the website and blog for an official flyer, due to post by May 15th.
Posted in Doo Wop Shows, The New Dick and Deedee | 1 Comment »
So many wonderful things have been happening lately! Michael and I are forging forward in a number of directions, i.e. Doo Wop Shows (we’re going to be in the Boston area in October on a big show), public television, club work, etc. Right now we’re putting together our own band in Los Angeles so we can work corporate shows and places that would like us to bring a band with us. We hope to do an interactive set, with some brief stories from Vinyl Highway as well as video clips.
Within the last month, I was fortunate to find the original Dick and Dee Dee musical scores, written in the Sixties for full orchestra. We’re having all the parts copied so the originals can be kept in a safe place while we are traveling. For Doo Wop Shows, we will need to take the scores with us, as well as a musical director/keyboard player.
Sadly, my writing has been almost non existent and the work I’ve done on Love From Big Sur has ground to a halt. I hope to get back to the second book soon, when all the preliminary work on the music is completed. But, meanwhile, what joy to sing the Dick and Dee Dee songs in rehearsal. I love the soaring notes in Young and In Love, the solemn moments in Turn Around, the rocking Thou Shalt Not Steal. Can’t wait to get out there to share the songs with others.
I want to thank all of you for leaving messages on the website, on the blog and comments on the videos and YouTube videos. I just discovered that 25,000 people have logged onto the Lightening Strikes video on YouTube!
I try to answer every e-mail personally. The internet has brought the world closer and made communication easier so please let me know if there are any topics you’d like me to talk about on the blog. Hope to see some of you in person soon.
Posted in Announcements, Doo Wop Shows, The New Dick and Deedee | 4 Comments »
It's a great privilege to be part of the new "Dick and Dee Dee" - and such an unexpected opportunity! I've known Dee Dee for years (in fact, we go to the same church) and knew that she was big in the music scene in the early 60s, but never guessed at the great popularity that she and Dick St. John had in those days. I was listening to pop music back then, and never missed "Shindig" - so I saw Dick and Dee Dee probably every time they were on the show. When Dee Dee decided to perform publicly again, Dick's untimely passing (several years ago) meant that a new singing partner would have to be found. When a mutual friend suggested that she contact me, neither of us had any idea of how we would sound together. The Dick and Dee Dee sound had a lot to do with the great blend of those two voices - would we be able to replicate it?
I stayed up most of the night before our first practice, reading Dee Dee's wonderful book "Vinyl Highway" - a colorful memoir of those amazing years. We got together next day around Dee Dee's piano, and put "The Best of Dick and Dee Dee" on the CD player, sang along with it, and then the moment of truth - we turned the original recording off, and just sang by ourselves.
Well, it sounded pretty good to me, but the question was - what did Dee Dee think? After all, she needed to find not just an excellent and experienced singer with the right range (and Dick had a pretty amazing range!), but that special blend that made the Dick and Dee Dee sound. I recall that Dee Dee got this kind of surprised look on her face, and said something like, "Gosh, you know…that sounds pretty good!"
The more we sang, the better it sounded. Dee Dee's growing enthusiasm made it clear enough to me that she felt confident that her old fans would hear again the magical sound that she and Dick St. John first made famous with "The Mountain is High."
Soon the fans themselves will have the chance to hear it - I think I can promise it will be worth the wait!
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Dick and Dee Dee
Featuring the Original Dee Dee (Sperling) Phelps and Michael Dunn.
www.dickanddeedee.com
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Rehearsals are going very well. Michael Dunn and I have worked out the Dick and Dee Dee hits and are also working on Where Did All the Good Times Go and All My Trials from The Best of Dick and Dee Dee CD.
Musical arranger Johnny Kito is writing music scores and will rehearse the bands and play keyboard for our live gigs. It fills us with great joy to re-create some of the beautiful songs Dick St. John and others wrote.
We did a photo shoot with photographer Kenny Morrison and are using three of the shots. One of the photos is being posted on the Dick and Dee Dee website. Soon we’ll post a second one on the blog.
As soon as we get a touring schedule together, we’ll be sure to let everyone know. Most shows are booked six months in advance, so we may have to wait awhile to do some major venues. That will give us time to rehearse many new songs
Thanks for all the supportive comments about singing again as Dick and Dee Dee. We hope to help people recall the joy that music brought to all of our lives. In the meantime, keep rockin’!
Posted in The New Dick and Deedee | 6 Comments »
Happy 2008!
After appearing during the meet-and-greet at the Las Vegas Doo Wop weekend conference in November, 2007, I’ve been reliving the wonderful moments of talking to so many diverse and wonderful Dick and Dee Dee fans, who told me that our music was the sound track of their lives. One man mentioned how our music helped him make it through his Viet Nam experience; several people mentioned that they played “Turn Around” at their adult children’s wedding. One man said it was played for his father/daughter dance.
The beautiful comments touched my heart. I realized how much music brings back memories of our youth and what joy it adds to our lives. I finally came to a decision to sing as Dick and Dee Dee again, as a gift to those that remember the songs and those that want to hear them for the first time.
When I mentioned my decision over the phone to my friend, Lou Christie, he helped me brainstorm some ways to find a replacement for Dick St. John (who, as most of you know, passed away in 2003). This was no easy job, as Dick had a four octave range and a raise-the-roof falsetto. Lou also introduced me to the Mamas and Papa’s arranger, who is going play keyboard and rehearse the bands for the new Dick and Dee Dee.
Finally, we were going to hold auditions for a male singer in Los Angeles. But several people recommended I talk to a long time friend of mine, Michael Dunn, and consider getting together with him to see if this might work before holding the auditions.
I talked to Michael about the project, gave him a CD and recently worked with him to see if our voices blended. I was thrilled that Michael’s vocal range (a beautiful tenor voice) works perfectly in the key the songs were originally sung and that he can handle the falsetto parts as well. Michael is a trained singer/actor who has appeared in off Broadway productions and who performs one man shows in the Los Angeles area (over the holidays he starred in A Christmas Carol, where he played all the roles!).
Hopefully, you’ll see us singing soon on the public television doo wop shows and at theatres in your area. When we get rehearsals completed, we will be posting a touring schedule on the Dick and Dee Dee site.
Thanks to all who have encouraged me to sing again as Dick and Dee Dee. The songs are a joy to sing and we so look forward to performing the Dick and Dee Dee hits in 2008.
Posted in Announcements, Doo Wop Shows | 5 Comments »
I wish everyone a joyful, peaceful Holiday Season. It’s the time of year to take a moment to stop and reflect on all the blessings in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for. Even though serious challenges may crop up, we don’t have to search very far to find people worse off than we are.
May 2008 be a year filled with happiness, health and prosperity for all.
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