Evoking a time when Doo-wop played street corners   

Friday, November 18, 2005

By BARRY GRAMLICH
STAFF WRITER

 

WHO: Silk City.

WHAT: A cappella doo-wop.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday.


WHERE: Carlstadt American Legion, 412 Third St. (201) 460-9665.

HOW MUCH: $20, $35 for two.

Jon Rich says old-time neighborhoods were a universal carpet for everyone to stand on, and if you could sing, you trotted over to the nearest street corner and started harmonizing with the friendly locals. Rich did this as a kid in Bridgeport, Conn., and he's been doing it for 23 years with Silk City, a Manhattan a cappella doo-wop group.

So, if Rich could teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, he'd do it without instruments.

"A cappella is all about human harmony; it's spiritual,'' says Rich, who expects another sellout Saturday night in Silk City's annual stop at the Carlstadt American Legion hall. "We sing from the heart.''

And Silk City sings with a mixture of mellifluous vocal ranges that send you back to a simpler era, when song was a neighborhood staple. Rich (lead), Les Levine (bass), Wayne Santiago (baritone), Warren Tesoro (top tenor) and Shelly Buchansky (second tenor) all share an unabated love for group harmony.

Their humble beginnings began at a subway entrance on the corner of West 50th Street and Broadway, where once a week the quintet would gather during their lunch hours for a spontaneous "concert.'' The informal public exposure soon had them getting hired at various nightclubs and halls in the tri-state area, and later they'd be performing alongside every major oldies act in the country, including the Drifters, the Platters, the Five Satins, the Coasters, the Cadillacs and Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge.

"Some of us originally met at oldies shows, singing in the bathrooms, if you can believe that,'' Rich says. "There's this immediate fraternity, a bonding instinct. And then we started singing on the corner and we really drew crowds.

"I'll never forget our first show. We're a white and Spanish group performing in an African-American club, and the crowd went absolutely wild. Then we really got serious about packaging ourselves and we've since worked with every major act out there.''

Silk City has evolved into an ensemble group of the remaining original members and a pool of doo-wop veterans who have been affiliated with the Del Vikings, Vito and the Salutations, the Five Discs, the Dubs, and others.

They're available for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, confirmations, roasts, PBA dinners and fund-raisers (silkcitydoowop@ aol.com), and they always incorporate audience participation into their act.

"There's nothing worse than five old men singing old songs alone all night,'' Rich says. "You come up, and we'll provide the background. Carlstadt was one of our favorite shows last year. I'm guessing a woman close to 80 was sitting nearby, and she was mouthing every word I was singing. That's the pureness of our shows. We're not musicians, we just speak to a part of the person.''

But Rich says the real pureness of a cappella is its raw presentation.

"Don't forget, if one person screws up, we're naked out there.''

E-mail: gramlich@northjersey.com

REVIEW OF NEW ENGLAND DOO WOP SOCIETY SHOW - VOL.11 AT THE CASTLE OF KNIGHTS ON JUNE 8TH 2007

New England Doowop Society, Chicopee Mass.
Once again Bobby and Gary hit a home run. Although all four groups were fine, I was particualrly impressed with Silk City. I am not normally a huge fan of acappella, but these guys were super, the absolutely best acappella group you have had.
- D.J., Springfield, MA