One of the four members of doo-wop group Under the Streetlamp had an interesting experience during the hours before his performance at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.
Shonn Wiley glared during Tuesday evening’s performance as Michael Ingersoll brought up a stop at CVS they had made where Wiley had begun singing along to the music playing in the store.
“The lady behind the counter looked me straight in the eye and said ‘don’t give up your day job,’” Wiley said, as the audience laughed.
This was but one of the anecdotes told in breaks between covers of classic 1950s and ’60s songs, stemming from artists such as Etta James, the Beach Boys and Elvis. The show incorporated different elements into the performance, including a vast amount of choreography.
The quartet is well-known for its recorded performance in a PBS special. Its second is set to come out in March 2014.
Karen Wright, an Athens resident, said she enjoyed the performance.
“I’ve seen Jersey Boys in New York, I’ve seen Jersey Boys in Columbus … I love this kind of music,” Wright said. “For me (the most entertaining thing) … is the ’50s and ’60s music. ‘Runaround Sue’ was in the number one spot when I was 14.”
Wright was in luck — the four performers met on the set of Jersey Boys and opened the show with “Runaround Sue.”
DJ Berens, a junior studying psychology and sociology, has been a season ticket holder for the Performing Arts series during the past three years. He had no idea what the act was when it popped up on the roster.
“I like it though,” he said. “I like this type of music.”
About 950 tickets were sold for the event, said Andrew Holzaepfel, senior associate director of the Campus Involvement Center.
The crowd was varied, and split between students and community members.
“It really appeals to people from four years old to forty plus,” said Charlene Kopchick, assistant dean of students for Campus Involvement. “They’re bringing ’50s and ’60s music back to life and making it appeal to everybody.”
Kopchick said she thought the audience was enthusiastic about the group.
“I think it’s one of those performances where people, when people leave and start talking about it, more and more people are going to say ‘I wish I had gone.’ ”
@EmilyMBamforth
eb104010@ohiou.edu
