Families love the varied programming, including bonfires with s'mores, croquet on the lawn, wilderness adventures, sock hops, and more.
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They went to double features and sock hops, then climbed into somebody's jalopy to meet the gang for a milk shake at Joe's Grill or McKnight's Drugstore.
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Don Cornelius, the TV show's impossibly cool host, who died in 2012, chose the locomotive metaphor for the sock hops he organized around Chicago before he created the show.
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Today will turn 65 this year, which means it's been keeping you updated on news, world events, and fun pop culture moments since the days of sock hops and jukeboxes.
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American nostalgia reliably follows a two-decade cycle — today we miss the '90s; in the '903s it was the '70s; and I'm told that in the '70s sock hops made a comeback.
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" The design mimics a picket-fence reminiscent of America's good ol' days of sock hops and segregation (when "America was great"), plated in a glimmering gold that speaks "to Mr. Trump's decorating taste.
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Sock hops tended to take place in the rock and roll era.
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"Bertie Higgins", Orlando Sentinel. November 9, 1986. Retrieved February 11, 2020. Higgins' first band played proms, homecoming dances, and sock hops.
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Sock hops were so popular they received offers over the next three years to play frat parties, country clubs and schools throughout the Midwest.
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Sock hops were held as early as 1944 by the American Junior Red Cross to raise funds during World War II. They then became a fad among American teenagers in 1948. Sock hops were commonly held at high schools and other educational institutions, often in the school gymnasium or cafeteria. The term came about because dancers were required to remove their hard-soled shoes to protect the varnished floor of the gymnasium. The music at a sock hop was usually played from vinyl records, sometimes presented by a disc jockey.
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He played for approximately six different bands, including the Barons, and appeared at many sock hops and high school dances, playing surf music and Beatles songs. In his last two years of high school he was a jazz drummer and later worked for John Stewart and his band the Kingston Trio.
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The term caught on in England in the late 1980s during a British rockabilly revival, led by groups like The Stray Cats. "Life Begins at the Hop", a song celebrating sock hops, became the first charting single for XTC. Owl City song "Fireflies" makes reference to the sock hop in the second verse.
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Aside from lunches, the space was used for weekly sock hops on Friday nights providing entertainment to students. On the upper floor, classrooms lined the outer walls facing the street. On the football field side, classrooms lined both sides of the hallway. The other side of the hall was mostly occupied by the gym where basketball games were played.
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One of the most significant school dances is prom, a relatively formal event normally reserved for Junior grade and Senior grade students. Some schools host a winter formal, a similar event, for the lower grades. In the 1950s, informal school dances in the United States were often called sock hops. The traditional Sadie Hawkins dance may be formal or semi-formal.
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Seymour hosted some of the earliest "sock hops" and initiated commercial tie-ins with local record stores. He frequently hosted the popular "Robin Seymour's Original Rock 'n' Roll Revue" at the Fox Theater in Detroit. In 1956, The Four Lads, accompanied by the Percy Faith Orchestra, recorded Seymour's theme song. Seymour had an uncanny sense for spotting new artists, helping introduce many of the big acts of the day via radio or stage.
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From its early 1950s beginnings through the early 1960s, rock and roll spawned new dance crazessixtiescity.com Sixties Dance and Dance Crazes including the twist. Teenagers found the syncopated backbeat rhythm especially suited to reviving Big Band-era jitterbug dancing. Sock hops, school and church gym dances, and home basement dance parties became the rage, and American teens watched Dick Clark's American Bandstand to keep up on the latest dance and fashion styles.
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After their night at the Apollo, Ira, Elaine, and Diane left the group. After the curious renaming of the group to "Ronnie and the Relatives", Ronnie, Estelle, and Nedra began taking singing lessons two afternoons per week. Appearing at local bar mitzvahs and sock hops, they met Phil Halikus, who introduced them to Colpix Records producer Stu Phillips. According to Ronnie, Phillips played the piano while the women auditioned for him, singing "What's So Sweet About Sweet Sixteen".
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The single became a classic hit on KEYS and helped the band to obtain bookings at sock hops in Corpus, Kingsville and Woodsboro, Texas. The Dino's second single "Give Me One Chance", was composed by Teddy Randazzo who had written songs for Little Anthony and the Imperials, sold 150,000 copies. The single began getting extensive airplay throughout south Texas and on KILT-FM.Patoski page 21 Los Dino's popularity prosper after the record sales of "Give Me One Chance".
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The Nightcaps were formed by Billy Joe Shine in Dallas, Texas in 1958. Their original lineup consisted of Shine on lead vocals, Gene Haufler on rhythm guitar, David Swartz on lead guitar, Mario Daboub on bass, and Jack Allday on drums. At the time, all of the band members were high school students. They began by playing sock hops and school dances, and playing R&B; covers, but also began writing songs, usually written by Shine.
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Also in 1947, the Whiskey à Go-Go nightclub opened in Paris, France, considered to be the world's first commercial discothèque, or disco (deriving its name from the French word meaning a nightclub where the featured entertainment is recorded music rather than an on-stage band). Regine began playing on two turntables there in 1953. Discos began appearing across Europe and the United States. In the 1950s, American radio DJs would appear live at sock hops and "platter parties" and assume the role of a human jukebox.
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Brown started a band called the Creators in 1963 in Long Beach while going to Long Beach Polytechnic High School, to play for high school sock hops and car shows. Then in 1967, toward the end of the Vietnam war, he and Howard Scott restarted the band with a new name, Night Shift. Brown had been working as a machinist on the Night Shift. In February 1969 while playing a show at the Rag Doll Night Club in North Hollywood, California Eric Burdon and Lee Oskar jammed with the Night Shift.
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Ross (far right) performing with the Supremes as lead singer At fifteen, Ross joined the Primettes, a sister group of a male vocal group called the Primes, after being brought to the attention of music manager Milton Jenkins by Primes member Paul Williams. Along with Ross, the other members included Florence Ballard, the first group member hired by Jenkins, Mary Wilson, and Betty McGlown. Following a talent competition win in Windsor, Ontario, in 1960, the Primettes were invited to audition for Motown Records. Later, following local success via live performances at sock hops, etc.
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Ed J. Prendergast subsequently managed and then purchased the station. He moved to a Top 40 format, a popular mainstream form of radio entertainment. During the 1970s, KAOK was a competitive and high-profile radio station within the Lake Charles market, featuring remote live broadcasts from many of the station's accounts, as well as seemingly infinite amounts of sock hops and dances hosted by KAOK personalities and mobile DJ pioneers Dave "The Mouse" Petrik, who was also the station's chief engineer. The station also simulcast on one of the local cable channels during this period.
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Jack eventually gives in to the interest from Sandy (Sally Kellerman), with whom he re-discovers his sexuality and capacity to love, but they have to overcome Sally's discomfort with being divorced and not widowed. Lois herself begins dating Donald (Michael Nouri), who fears his real profession as an exterminator may turn off Lois who thinks he's a real estate developer, while she fears letting him know her real age. After Marilyn faces Anita down over her loss, the other issues come to a head at the club's New Year's Eve party, modeled after the sock hops they all enjoyed in their youths.
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Listeners today remember such radio personalities as Jay Gregory, Mike Kenneally, Michelle Coleman, Tom Clay, Bill Young, Greg Garron, Bryan Bradford, Dave Shropshire, Lou Gutenberger, Bobby Rich, Bob Bateman, Ruth & Fred, "Spike @ the Mic" O'Dell & Jim O'Hara, each of them presenting the current Top 40 hits in an entertaining way. Members of the station's award-winning news department included News Director Jerry Reid and reporters Dave Douglas (Tom Hosmanek), Gary Hummel, Paulee Lipsman, John Cloghssey, Dan Kennedy, Dan Potter, Jack Gabor, David McAlary & Fred Manfra. KSTT listeners became participants as well as listeners, phoning in news tips, requesting songs. They attended KSTT-sponsored "hootenannys", sock-hops, "Smallstars" basketball games, picnics, concerts & "Good Guy-A-Go-Go" dances & contests.
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Joe Frank and the Knights were formed in 1959 as a merger between two Leland, Mississippi, Mississippi bands: the Bobcats, who were headed by Joe Frank Carollo, and the Rollons. Another member, Nicky Griffiths, was added on guitar to the new unit. As the Knights, they became one of the most popular bands in the Mississippi delta and Memphis areas and eventually by the early 1960s their popularity grew to envelop much of the South, where they travelled in their Volkswagen Microbus and were much in- demand for sock hops and frat parties. Another popular group, Tommy Burk and the Counts often competed with them in battles of the bands, which often drew large crowds.
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As a preferred client of Petrill, her solo career was launched. Briggs made her presence known on the touring circuit by working non-stop at sock hops, nightclubs and doing radio interviews as well as driving herself coast-to-coast from one engagement to the next in her white Cadillac convertible. Also in 1952, Alan Freed asked her to appear in his New York City stage shows, and her popularity in these shows led to her signing with Epic Records in 1954. Her first single was 1955's "I Want You to Be My Baby"; the song sold over 1 million copies[ Lillian Briggs] at AllMusic and hit No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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As a student at Seattle's Garfield High School Lewis formed the combo that would bring him to local prominence. George Griffin from his doo-wop group played drums; Barney Hilliard and J. B. Allen both played saxophone; Jack Grey played upright bass, and Al Aquino rounded out the group on guitar. Starting off at teenage sock hops and house parties, they soon graduated to being an opening act for touring R&B; acts when they played Seattle's downtown Palomar Theater (then at the corner of Third and University, now replaced by a multi-story parking garage). The Dave Lewis Combo opened for, among others Sugar Pie DeSanto, Sugar Chile Robinson, Nellie Lutcher, and Wild Bill Davis.
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In the 1950s, radio disc jockeys from local and regional radio stations took advantage of their popularity and augmented their income by playing records and performing as master of ceremonies at teen dance parties called sock hops or record hops. The term came about because these events were commonly held at high schools, often in the school gym or cafeteria, and dancers were asked to remove their hard-soled shoes to protect the varnished floor of the gymnasium. Record hops became strongly associated with early rock and roll. "At the Hop", a 1957 hit song by Danny and the Juniors, described the scene: "where the jockey is the smoothest, and the music is the coolest at the hop".
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The original group included founder, Dan Anthony, (formerly Jaramillo) vocals and lead guitar, Roger Stafford lead vocal and rhythm guitar, Wilson Smith later replaced by George Haraksin on drums, with Jack Schaeffer on tenor saxophone and Ed Loewe rounding out the group on bass guitar. While playing the sock hops they often performed as backup band for touring recording artist, Jan and Dean, The Hondells or The Honeys. While at the Cinnamon Cinder they backed up weekly such acts as Jackie DeShannon, Dick and Dede, The Ronettes, Little Stevie Wonder, The Coasters, The Rivingtons and Chuck Berry. Producer Gary Usher signed the newly reformed group, The Forte' Four to a recording contract at MCA/Universal and released several singles on Decca Records.
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The site of the Civic Auditorium was the location of a livery stable which had operated since the 1870s. In 1921, the era of horse and buggy coming to a close, the property was purchased by the city in 1921 from Frank McCullough. Construction began the following year, and upon completion the Civic was dedicated as a memorial to the local veterans of World War I. During its heyday, it was the venue for local cultural, entertainment, ceremonial, social, and recreational events ranging from concerts and theatricals to high school graduation ceremonies. In the 1950s and early 1960s, it was operated by the city Parks & Recreation Department, who held indoor recreational activities and "sock hops," referred to as "Rec Dances," in its gymnasium for local youth.
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The Lemon Fog's roots harken back to the Rip Chords, a surf rock combo in Houston Texas, which was founded in the spring of 1963 by Fillmore High School classmates Danny Ogg and Terry Horde, with Ogg on lead guitar, Horde on rhythm guitar, Timmy Thorpe on bass, Bill Simons as lead vocals, and Dale VanDeloo on saxophone and vocals. Thought their early repertoire consisted of primarily instrumental numbers, they played occasional pop-soul vocal songs a well. The group played at small venues such as coffee bars and a sock hops but broke up when saxophonist VanDeloo supposedly attacked Ogg with a mike stand during an argument. Chris Lyons was auditioning musicians at Clem's Music in Houston for a new band he was forming.
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The song was a landmark-of- sorts for the Statlers, as they began recording songs appealing to nostalgia. While part of that repertoire included covers of oldies and standards, several of their other biggest hits had lyrics that recalled good times of years past. In the case of "Do You Remember These", the Statlers recall 1950s popular culture and good times. Pop culture references include Saturday morning serials, big-screen cowboy heroes including Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, flat top haircuts, Studebakers, radio programs including The Shadow and Your Hit Parade, aviator and coonskin caps, penny loafers, Howdy Doody, early rock and roll music (including "Tutti Fruitti" and "Blue Suede Shoes"), sock hops and the Sadie Hawkins dance, "Veronica and Betty," and celebrities of the time, such as Charles Atlas and James Dean.
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In 1961, after a year performing in jubilees, sock hops and school functions, the Ordettes, then managed by respected music manager Bernard Montague, who later managed several other Philadelphia-based groups such as The Stylistics and The Delfonics, got their first deal with Harold Robinson's Newtown Records. After almost rejecting the group due to him not being initially impressed with the looks of Patsy Holt before Holt and the group sang to him during an audition, which prompted Robinson to change his mind, signing the group and changing the name of both the group (into The Blue Belles, based from a Newtown subsidiary, Blue Belle Records) and Holt's own name, from Patsy Holt to Patti LaBelle. The group had their first hit with "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman" in 1962 though LaBelle wrote in her memoirs that the song was actually recorded by The Starlets. When the controversy over the song wound down, the group found a hit with the ballad, "Down the Aisle (The Wedding Song)".
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