It’s happening baby

[blackguy69]

I just turned into it on PBS. Didn’t know it was on hope everyone is watching

[johnjeb]

I missed the first hour on my local Boston station however the NH PBS station was airing it an hour later so I was switching back and forth. I caught some things twice but missed some others.

There was a brief In Memoriam screen shot to Mary Wilson.

The Temptations appearance was a "rehearsal" performance. There were other groups and performers in the background. I think I saw Cindy Birdsong sitting on a high stool "dancing". Patti, Nona, and Sarah were sitting at a low table beside her. The Bluebelles performed LIVE on stage singing "Walk On". They also came out at the end with the other performers.

[zani57]

https://vimeo.com/497315435The PBS special is called "It's What's Happening, Baby!" and was originally from 1965.
It features The Temptations, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Martha & The Vandellas, Mary Wells, as well as Cindy Birdsong as part of Patti and the Bluebells. The song that Patti and the Bluebells sing is called "You'll Never Walk Alone," from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Carousel."

Here is The Second Disc's take

https://theseconddisc.com/2021/03/03/its-whats-happening-baby-historic-all-star-music-special-returns-to-tv-after-55-years/



https://vimeo.com/497315435

[Motown Eddie]

I just turned into it on PBS. Didn’t know it was on hope everyone is watching

I caught It's What's Happening, Baby! on PBS last night and it was Wonderful. Even watched all the interview segments to see the recollections of some of the performers from the show [[especially Mary Wilson in her final TV interview before her passing last month).

[BayouMotownMan]

I watched a little of it. It was so aggravating. Five minutes of show then 20 minutes of begging for money

[blackguy69]

I’m in Boston also. I was just randomly flipping thru channoand bam there it was
I missed the first hour on my local Boston station however the NH PBS station was airing it an hour later so I was switching back and forth. I caught some things twice but missed some others.

There was a brief In Memoriam screen shot to Mary Wilson.

The Temptations appearance was a "rehearsal" performance. There were other groups and performers in the background. I think I saw Cindy Birdsong sitting on a high stool "dancing". Patti, Nona, and Sarah were sitting at a low table beside her. The Bluebelles performed LIVE on stage singing "Walk On". They also came out at the end with the other performers.

[johnjeb]

The song that Patti and the Bluebells sing is called "You'll Never Walk Alone," from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Carousel."

Thanks for providing the correct tile to the song The Bluebelles sang. I realized after I posted my comment that "Walk On" was not the correct title and started to look it up but got distracted - late night [[at least for me) posts can get sloppy!

I was mostly excited by seeing how animated Cindy was during The Temptations performance. At first I wasn't sure that was her but seeing her group mates sitting there I knew it was her. She seemed so young and thoroughly enjoying herself. A bit different than what we saw in her performances in both The Supremes and The Bluebelles, in which she was always very practiced, polished and professional.

[johnjeb]

I’m in Boston also. I was just randomly flipping thru channels and bam there it was

I was aware that it was going to be on. There were posts here on SD. Both my brother and a friend sent emails about it. I totally forgot until a friend called during the pledge break. I saw his name on my caller ID and knew what it was about. I turned the TV to PBS before I even picked up the phone.

[kenneth]

I watched a little of it. It was so aggravating. Five minutes of show then 20 minutes of begging for money

My PBS station only has two pledge drives a year. The problem is they each last six months!

And to add insult to injury on my station showing all afternoon is Suze Orman! I’d pledge money just to get her off the air!

[Boogiedown]

My PBS station only has two pledge drives a year. The problem is they each last six months!

And to add insult to injury on my station showing all afternoon is Suze Orman! I’d pledge money just to get her off the air!

Me too! Can't we have the cooking shows appear regularly, on schedule, please!!

PBS is a big rip off. When you buy over-priced stuff from them, like Suzy Orman ,ask their friendly volunteers what percentage of that goes to PBS , listen to then squirm as they advise you they don't know nothing about it .

[carlo]

I watched the special this evening on my DVR. It was great to see these performances in such clarity, with restored and clean audio. However, my only criticism is that I do not understand why they re-processed Dionne's original live vocals with autotune, for her performance of "Walk On By"? My ears are pretty attuned to this sort of thing. I went back on YouTube afterward to compare this restored version that PBS aired with the autotune, to the original version, and the difference is clear to me. In my opinion, I don't think they needed to apply that fix to her vocals.

It was also bittersweet to see Mary's interview during the break, since it turned out to be one of her last. Still hard to believe that she is gone...but she is forever with us in spirit.

[reese]

I watched the special this evening on my DVR. It was great to see these performances in such clarity, with restored and clean audio. However, my only criticism is that I do not understand why they re-processed Dionne's original live vocals with autotune, for her performance of "Walk On By"? My ears are pretty attuned to this sort of thing. I went back on YouTube afterward to compare this restored version that PBS aired with the autotune, to the original version, and the difference is clear to me. In my opinion, I don't think they needed to apply that fix to her vocals.

It was also bittersweet to see Mary's interview during the break, since it turned out to be one of her last. Still hard to believe that she is gone...but she is forever with us in spirit.

I also noticed that there was additional instrumentation added to some of the songs, like those of Dionne, Chuck Jackson, and the Tempts. I think it might have been instrumentation from the original backing tracks.

There were also a few performances missing: Jan and Dean, Johnny Mathis, and Tom Jones.

That said, it was nice to see a pristine copy of the show instead of the bootleg I've been watching for years. It wasn't until I watched last night that I noticed some Gordy kids dancing on the riverboat with Marvin during PRIDE AND JOY.

[daviddesper]

As we had discussed prior to Saturday, this show was not listed on some PBS stations. So I for one just assumed it would air at a later date and didn't give it any more thought. So I hope it will eventually show up on my station.

[tjl]

Bayou man, in fairness it wasn't 5 minutes of show and 20 minutes of begging. Each segment was about 18-21 minutes, and only the last segment was about 5 with Ray Charles and no begging after that.

Also in the "begging" segments about 50% of the break time was new interviews with the artists. 30% were clips of the dvd not on tv, the cd set track snippets so people who don't know the song names and titles can be reminded by a sample of the tracks, and only about 20% was actual "begging".

As I'm the not so "Choosy Beggar" in this case, I know and hope "I'm Not Losing You"

Also this wasn't a PBS or network show, it's syndicated by this "Ain't Too Proud To Beg Guy" for the sole purpose of bringing back this show not seen or released in 56 years to tv and dvd while helping local stations raise money to show these performances as the only place that will play most of these songs when terrestrial radio, cable and no other network will keep this history and the songs we so love playing. Even classic Motown from the '60s, with about 3-4 exceptions aren't heard on classic hits terrestrial radio anymore. It's also available as a thank you gift without the begging and with lots of extra material from this show and another with Aretha, Otis Redding and more. There's also DVR's that allow you to fast forward thru the breaks.

But please know - honestly - without actual financial support to these local stations this project and all the others I've made with classic soul and R&B and doo wop over the past 30+ years - would not have seen the light of the day. Please consider, that in 56 years no one else has re-broadcast this and it's never legitimately been on dvd - that was made possible by past begging in my past shows. Just think about it please as I don't mean there to be "just a little misunderstanding".

And with that I hear a Frankie Valli record coming on...."Beggin"....btw the dvd of the show is planned to have the original soundtrack and the cleaned up - remixed broadcast version. I know, time for me to "Walk On By" - man I love the Miracles version of that tune! Then again, I just love the Miracles - - if you hadn't heard yet! No hard feelings pal - your opinions are considered and appreciated.

[luckyluckyme]

TJ,

Thank you for all that you do to keep the music alive! It was a real treat to finally see [[and hear clearly) the videos from which so many memorable screenshots have been captured and featured in Motown books, box sets and cd booklets: The Four Tops with the children at the ice cream stand, Martha & the Vandellas in the auto assembly plant, The Supremes in street clothes in the park, The Miracles onstage, The Temptations backstage, Mary Wells waterside in the park, Marvin Gaye on ship.
When 'You'll Never Walk Alone ' began, my focus immediately shifted to Cindy Birdsong. Even then she was such a beauty. I can see why visually Patti, Nona & Sarah would hate to see her jump ship to become a Supreme.
Thank you for the tremendous number of hours spent bringing this project to fruition. You've made this oldie but goody very happy!

[daviddesper]

TJ [[or anyone who might know):

For those of us who missed it for one reason or another....will this special still air in some markets or will it be periodically re-broadcast as many such shows are? I would hate to think I missed my one and only chance to see it.

[reese]

TJ [[or anyone who might know):

For those of us who missed it for one reason or another....will this special still air in some markets or will it be periodically re-broadcast as many such shows are? I would hate to think I missed my one and only chance to see it.

You should do a search on the website of your local PBS station. PBS airdates can differ from state to state. Many stations probably began airing it on 3/6 but some might air it later instead. I would suspect that like most pledge programming, this show will have multiple showings. My local PBS station is showing it at least six times.

[carlo]

...btw the dvd of the show is planned to have the original soundtrack and the cleaned up - remixed broadcast version.

Thanks for letting us know about the DVD, TJL!

By the way, loved your fun response above with all of the song titles :) Thanks for all of the great work that you do!

[motown01]

TJ,

This was a great show - thank you for putting it together. I enjoyed all of it - including the in-studio segments / interviews.

By the way, I was one of the people who was invited to the Motown 25 PBS taping through this forum [[drove to Detroit from Toronto!) where I got to meet Mary, Martha, Clay McMurray and Pat Crosby. Thank you for that.

Billy

[paul_nixon]

TJ,

This was a great show - thank you for putting it together. I enjoyed all of it - including the in-studio segments / interviews.

By the way, I was one of the people who was invited to the Motown 25 PBS taping through this forum [[drove to Detroit from Toronto!) where I got to meet Mary, Martha, Clay McMurray and Pat Crosby. Thank you for that.

Billy

Hey Billy long time no talk...

[Motown Eddie]

TJ;
I had a Blast! watching It's What's Happening, Baby! A special thanks to You, Your Staff & PBS for bringing this show to the air [[for the first time since it was shown).

[motown01]

Hey Billy long time no talk...

Hey Paul! Working on any new vault projects?

[kenneth]

I was watching one of the 50s special music shows last night which TJ produced. It’s great how he brought all these artists back and got them together again or encouraged their participation. This one had Phyllis McGuire who recently died. I imagine TJ was good friends with her as he was with many of the artists.

[Roger Polhill]

Are the cds live tracks or just the original single releases?

[milven]

I checked my local PBS listings and it has not shown here yet. But in his post above, TJ said that this wasn't a PBS or network show, it's syndicated. So it will be broadcast by each local PBS station whenever they need to raise money.

By the way, I don't mind those fundraiser breaks. Many of them have interesting info about the acts, interviews and clips of stuff that didn't make it into the show. I rather be interrupted by this instead of the constant commercials on commercial tv.

I am disappointed that it is not in the NY Metro Area. We are spoiled. We like getting everything first.

https://www.wqed.org/sites/default/files/tv_highlights/happening-baby.jpg

[Boogiedown]

Caught a bit of the program , what I was able. GREAT STUFF ! Invaluable.
RE: The Temptations segment especially, they put out a certain allure and energy about them. A presence. I could see from this what their appeal must have been as stage performers.

Hope to catch it , more or all of it again .....

[Levi Stubbs Tears]

btw the dvd of the show is planned to have the original soundtrack and the cleaned up - remixed broadcast version. I know, time for me to "Walk On By" - man I love the Miracles version of that tune! Then again, I just love the Miracles - - if you hadn't heard yet! No hard feelings pal - your opinions are considered and appreciated.

Since I'm downunder, it's the DVD I have to look forward to.

Thanks for all your work on this project. I look forward to seeing it for the first time soon.

For those who complained about the 'begging', I see that the original broadcast in 1965 was sponsored by the US Dept of Economic Opportunity, so between the performances back then, young viewers would have been begged to continue their education and undertake summer jobs.

[tjl]

Thanks all - - I'd love to tell ya it was the awesomeness of the entire show, but once again I was hooked by The Mighty Miracles, Tempts, Martha & The Vandellas, Mary and The Supremes on this one.

What really amazed me was the tremendous feedback we got on the Four Tops with the kids - - I didn't realize that would be such an important moment for people. But after Tough Tony & The Imperials - everyone keeps talking about our Tops.

- t

[reese]

Thanks all - - I'd love to tell ya it was the awesomeness of the entire show, but once again I was hooked by The Mighty Miracles, Tempts, Martha & The Vandellas, Mary and The Supremes on this one.

What really amazed me was the tremendous feedback we got on the Four Tops with the kids - - I didn't realize that would be such an important moment for people. But after Tough Tony & The Imperials - everyone keeps talking about our Tops.

- t

That moment with the Tops and the kids is a great one. It reminds me of the later Murray the K special where Otis Redding sang SATISFACTION surrounded by a bunch of kids, one of whom was dancing, much to Otis' delight.

[brother_love]

18772

This boot DVD came out in 2007 it includes Tom Jones, The Dave Clark Five, Johnny Mathis and Bill Cosby

[luckyluckyme]

18772

This boot DVD came out in 2007 it includes Tom Jones, The Dave Clark Five, Johnny Mathis and Bill Cosby

.......and the Shindig Dancers???????

[zani57]

I also noticed that there was additional instrumentation added to some of the songs, like those of Dionne, Chuck Jackson, and the Tempts. I think it might have been instrumentation from the original backing tracks.

There were also a few performances missing: Jan and Dean, Johnny Mathis, and Tom Jones.

That said, it was nice to see a pristine copy of the show instead of the bootleg

From The Second Disc website in the comments section --

" Before I pluck down my 70 bucks, it sure would be nice to know if the special will be presented as originally aired in 1965, and not intercut with new interview segments that threaten the continuity of the presentation. In this article, 19 titles are listed on the DVD, which means we lose six original performances from estates that did not give their permission [[Bill Cosby, Jan & Dean, Johnny Mathis and Tom Jones among them). I hope those omissions are not where new interviews have been placed. I have a clean video copy that was transferred to DVD years ago, and I’d stick with that if this isn’t an uninterrupted presentation.

[tjl]

also from the 2nd disc comments section in the same post:

"There are no interruptions in the newly restored footage on the DVD presentation. New interviews and additional songs appear after “It’s What’s Happening, Baby” as bonus material."

[danman869]

Over one month after purchasing this DVD set from the website of WTTW, the PBS station offering this DVD set as a "thank you gift" in exchange for a donation, I followed up with the station by phone this afternoon and I'm pretty disappointed. First of all, the representative said that the DVD set is backordered and they don't know when the distributor will have additional copies available [["you know, COVID and all..." I was basically told) and secondly, the representative didn't seem to give two figs about my very polite [[seriously) disappointment about the station not having/maintaining any additional information from the distributor about when it will come back in stock. PBS is a wonderful thing in the US and definitely worth supporting. That said, this seems to have been a big ol' failure in terms of the distributor making enough copies available in the initial run of DVDs.

TJ--might you know of what's happening [[baby) with the DVD set?

[tjl]

My understanding is that it will ship in a couple weeks. Covid effected manufacturing and shipping.

That's why the order takers say 6-12 weeks, for just these reasons out of our control. It's been about 5 weeks.

Thank you for you patience.

[danman869]

Thank you, TJ, for your reply! My original e-mail from WTTW indicated the DVD set would ship in 2-4 weeks from the date of my order and I'd just passed the 4-week mark when I called them. Obviously things changed since I first placed my order [online]. I'll try to hang in there for another month or two!

[Motown Eddie]

My understanding is that it will ship in a couple weeks. Covid effected manufacturing and shipping.

That's why the order takers say 6-12 weeks, for just these reasons out of our control. It's been about 5 weeks.

Thank you for you patience.

Thanks for the update. I'm also waiting for my copy of It's What's Happening, Baby! and I understand that COVID has delayed the manufacturing & shipping of the DVD. Will continue to wait patiently.

[reese]

Thank you, TJ, for your reply! My original e-mail from WTTW indicated the DVD set would ship in 2-4 weeks from the date of my order and I'd just passed the 4-week mark when I called them. Obviously things changed since I first placed my order [online]. I'll try to hang in there for another month or two!

A few days ago, I received an email from my local PBS station saying that the dvd would be delayed. But just this morning, I received another email stating that the dvd had been shipped. So I guess the delay wasn't that long.

[danman869]

Reese, I got the same, "there will be a delay" e-mail... and then one overnight that said it had shipped. As of now, it should be delivered by next Saturday. I guess they found a way to overcome their delay? I'm looking forward to watching the DVD next weekend!

[Motown Eddie]

I received my copy of It's What's Happening, Baby! today [also received an e-mail a few days ago letting me know that it had shipped]. So glad to have this show on DVD at last. Thanks again to TJL & his Staff for putting it together; hope everyone who pledged gets their copies soon [and I hope there's more Rare Music Specials to come in the future on PBS].

[benross]

Let's hope the new DVD cover is created by educated professionals who know how to do at least minimal research. The bootleg DVD shown several posts up is all too typical of many official, semi-official and bootleg albums, DVDs and other types of mementos, such as newspaper articles, magazine tributes, etc. that have come out in recent years.

A 1965 concert should not have a 1967 photo on the cover. The bootleg above did. Note that I don't mind the "Diana Ross & The Supremes" billing, as this could attract potential buyers, but the cover photo of the group should match the group on the DVD itself.