The Happenings - See You In September (filmed on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis)

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The Happenings were a pop music group that originated in the 1960s. The group's major hits were "See You In September" (1966), which was originally recorded by the Tempos in 1959; a cover version of the George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin song, "I Got Rhythm" (1967), updated for the nascent pop/rock era; and "Hare Krishna," a cover version of a song from the musical Hair (1969). The group's "See You In September" and "I've Got Rhythm" were on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles charts for 14 weeks in 1966 and 1967, respectively, forming musical bookends for the 1966-1967 school year, and both peaked at number 3. Both disc sales exceeded one million copies, resulting in R.I.A.A. gold record awards by 1969.

Members of the original group, created in 1965, all hailed from Paterson, New Jersey and consisted of Bob Miranda, David Libert, Tom Giuliano and Ralph DiVito. In 1968, DiVito was replaced by Bernie LaPorta. Lenny Conforti also joined at this time to play drums in the touring band. Both LaPorta and Conforti took a hiatus from the Northern New Jersey band The Emerald Experience to play and tour with The Happenings. The band continued in this present configuration, performing mostly at colleges and universities until 1970, when Libert left the band to pursue other endeavors within the music industry. Libert went on to manage various bands, including George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Living Colour, Brian Auger, Vanilla Fudge, The Runaways (Cherie Currie, Joan Jett, Lita Ford), Mother's Finest, Alice Cooper and Evelyn "Champagne" King.

The group had nine Billboard Hot 100 Singles hits from 1967 to 1968, including covers of "Go Away Little Girl" (a #1 hit for Steve Lawrence in 1962) and the jazz song "My Mammy" (popularized by Al Jolson in the 1920s). Both songs peaked at number 13. They also both achieved sales in excess of one million copies, garnering the group another couple of gold records. According to Miranda, the group's original formula was to "take a song that's already proven it could be a hit and put our spin on it". They later wrote some of their own songs, including "Hare Krishna".

The band still exists and continues to perform with lead singer Miranda as the only remaining original member. They recently performed on the cruise ship Explorer of the Seas performing Frankie Valle songs and Run Around Sue.

LaPorta was a high-school music teacher in the North Arlington Middle School until the middle of the 2006-2007 school year, when he retired from his position.

Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, "See You In September" was listed in a memo containing 150 songs that radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications suggested to be pulled from the airwaves - despite the fact that the song is about two lovers saying goodbye for the summer, and has nothing to do with terrorism.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

Category:

Education

Tags:

• pop
• rock

[yogini34]

@7252christian I, too remember those good ole days. Loved this song because I always anticipated what cute guy would start school in September. Life was better in a lot of ways, but not so good in others. It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot. There was still child abuse, it just was hidden, not reported; there was the indo-china (Vietnam) war gatherin steam; assassinations, riots, I could go on. But, in many places, life was very insular and safe, like this song.

[John1948SixA]

@yogini34 You're living in a dream world! You know of your examples because they were so rare. You are forgetting about street gangs and drive by shootings, mass muders in schools like Columbine, mass murders like the nut case that shot Gabby Gifford and those with her. As far as VietNam, we were discussing violence within the USA.

[luvupokes]

We could also identify idiots a lot more quickly back then.

[John1948SixA]

@luvupokes I don't know if we identified them quicker but we didn't know about being PC so we dealt with them sooner.

[phil4508]

such memories...

[ponkaton1]

where is "my mammy"? its not here like its supposed to be

[chenarch]

Go check out the companion piece to this. The Five Stairsteps singing in the exact same spot at Lake Calhoun in 1966, "You Waited Too Long." Thx for the great post.

[thephilchannel]

I was born in 1988 and even this song makes me nostalgic. I was never into contemporary music and always listened to oldies.

[Torchriver67]

Sheryl Kraai, will I see you in Sept? The Music Box, Prudentville, Michigan.Warn summer nights and You! Thanks

[shawncindigabriel]

I love the California sound of the fifties and sixties great songs thanks for posting got any more gr

[MrRaiderfan1000]

This looks like it was part of "Where the Action is"

[SergiodiFerreira]

SIMPLESMENTE ADOROOOOOOOOOOOOO

[flatscreen29]

love this!