Season Liberally

This last spring saw the passing of Freddie Garrity, of Freddie and the Dreamers fame. I used to try to catch them whenever they were on t.v., just to see them do their famous silly dance, The "Freddie." This involved Freddie jumping around, legs akimbo, while the band behind him tried to keep up. It's hilarious and I double-dog dare you not to laugh while watching it. A recent search through the You Tube archives produced this fabulous video from Hullabaloo, wherein Freddie tries to teach Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello how to dance The Freddie. It's a must-see!

Another interesting video from Hullabaloo is this one, of The Strangeloves singing "I Want Candy" in 1965. Bow Wow Wow's later cover is more famous, but this is a lot of fun, and you get the famous Hullabaloo dancers, too. They seem to be wearing dresses based on a Piet Mondrian painting. Keen!

And last but not least (and not from Hullabaloo, sorry) is this wacky clip of The Turtles singing "Happy Together" on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour from 1967. Lip-synching is definitely not their strong suit. It's debatable whether they began by trying to lip-synch or not, but by the end of the song, all attempts to look like they are actually singing devolve into a free-for-all romp, complete with ridiculous costumes. Ah, the Sixties. Sometimes it's good that we can't go back again, but I'm glad I can keep visiting Freddie and friends on the Internets.