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<\/center>Though it’s often forgotten today, in the mid 1960s, Paul Revere and the Raiders<\/strong><\/a> were just about the most prominent rock’n’roll band in popular culture. Sure, The Beatles<\/strong> had their records all over the charts, and had films like A Hard Day’s Night<\/em> and Help! <\/em>And yes, The Monkees<\/strong> had their own weekly television show. But Pacific Northwest-relocated-to-L.A. legends Paul Revere and the Raiders got more screen exposure than The Beatles and The Monkees put together, thanks to their TV show Where the Action Is<\/em>, televised Every. Single. Weekday<\/em>. Just after school, Monday through Friday on ABC-TV, the Raiders served as the \u201chouse band\u201d for this Dick Clark<\/strong> production. Featuring mimed performances from all manner of musical guests, plus goofy, vaudeville-styled skits, the show was a fixture of teenage viewers’ TV diet.<\/p>\nThe show ran its course after a few seasons, but thanks to Raiders manager Roger Hart<\/strong><\/a>‘s idea about a vehicle for lead singer Mark Lindsay<\/strong><\/a> and bandleader Paul Revere<\/a> \u2013 <\/strong>one that, as he put it, took a look at what was happening on the pop scene \u2013 the duo scored their own variety show. A pair of shows, actually: Happening ’68<\/em> (shortened to Happening<\/em> for its 1969 following season) was broadcast weekly, and a summer show called It’s Happening<\/em> was televised daily throughout the summer of 1968.<\/p>\n None of these programs has ever gotten official\/sanctioned release on any format; though a stunning-quality copy of the Where the Action Is<\/em> pilot circulates among collectors, and scattered episodes of WTAI<\/em>, Happening ’68\/Happening<\/em> and It’s Happening<\/em> have been preserved in varying quality by fans, Dick Clark Productions has never seen fit to preserve \u2013 much less release \u2013 these exemplars of 60s mainstream pop culture. As Mark Lindsay told me in a 2010 interview<\/a>, apparently Clark viewed WTAI<\/em> in particular as a \u201cred-headed stepchild\u201d and had no interest in it once the show ended its run.<\/p>\n But thanks to those previously-mentioned collectors \u2013 and one specific intrepid collector \u2013 twelve episodes of Happening ’68\/Happening<\/em> are available on (unauthorized) DVD. Those twelve episodes \u2013 spread across three discs \u2013 build on the format of Where the Action Is,<\/em> but put Revere and Lindsay out front as hosts.<\/p>\n The earlier episodes lean more on the duo kitsching around onstage in front of a studio audience; modern-day viewers will likely find those awful-pun-filled bits either charming or dreadful (or somewhere in between). There’s an innocent charm about them, which is not exactly the quality one might expect from pop culture product of 1968. (This was aimed at kids, however.) And the Raiders<\/strong> (with a band name shortened to nudge their hip-quotient back up) only occasionally appeared, miming to their latest single. And in general, said Raiders \u2013 especially short-timer bassist Charlie Coe<\/strong> \u2013 seemed to pretty well phone it in, barely making an effort at the choreography that had long been a group trademark.<\/p>\n Still, even semi-live-action clips of the Raiders performing \u201cLet Me,\u201d \u201cCinderella Sunshine\u201d and other late-period singles is always a treat. And in one episode (originally aired May 25, 1968) the band tackles \u201cFree,\u201d a non-single, deep album cut from the band’s Something’s Happening<\/em> LP. In that same episode \u2013 featuring the inimitable Lee Hazlewood<\/strong> doing his \u201cRainbow Woman\u201d \u2013 the Raiders turn in a Spanish-language version of \u201cMo’reen.\u201d To date, that<\/em> track hasn’t surfaced on any of the Paul Revere and the Raiders CD reissues.<\/p>\n Other episodes \u2013 in mostly good quality black-and-white \u2013 feature an assortment of musical guests, ranging from Etta James<\/strong>, Aretha Franklin<\/strong> (on tape), Peter Lawford<\/strong>(!) doing a cheesy MOR tune, and more pop\/rock acts that would appeal to most viewers. That last category includes Tommy Roe<\/strong>, The Grass Roots<\/strong>, The Cowsills<\/strong>, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart<\/strong> (in a youth voting-themed episode) and any others of note. The Friends of Distinction<\/strong> make their national television debut performing \u201cGrazing in the Grass,\u201d and a Peter Tork<\/strong>-less Monkees<\/strong> trio guests, taking part in an interview segment with Revere and Lindsay that ranks as the most revealing and intimate part of the entire series.<\/p>\n The review is continued<\/a> here…<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/happening01.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAvailable HERE<\/del>. Aha…I am told that it’s no longer available.<\/del> Okay, now (August 2015) Happening ’68 DVD<\/a> is available again.
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