Rest In Peace, Freddie

Freddie and The Dreamers.

Back in the '60's, I met this band when I was, oh, probably 15 or 16. I used to work Easter break at the "Teenage Fair" that was held at the Hollywood Palladium, which featured bands and assorted amusement park rides and games.

In the sixties, everyone in California wanted to be British, anyway... but it's hard to look good in Mod gear when it's 400 degrees outside ! Ron Mael & Russell Mael were teenagers during Los Angeles' musical golden period, where bands like the Doors, Love, the Standells and the Leaves played at the Whisky-a-Go-Go on Sunset Strip and Brian Wilson & the Beach Boys would play at the Teenage Fair, an afternoon event where bands performed in one tent and an exhibition for a new line of hipster jeans filled another.

I was a Twinkie girl, replete with the requisite hot pants ... atop a giant twinkie cake, fending off boys throwing basketballs at my "hoops."

Meeting bands in the '60s was pretty cool.

American audiences were entranced by Garrity's zany stage antics (which resulted in frequent twisted ankles) and eagerly demanded the name of his unusual dance routine. "It's called the Freddie", he innocently replied. A US Top 20 hit rapidly followed with Do The Freddie.

RIP, Freddie. (Doing The Freddie)