Sha Na Na

50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition Sha Na Na

T was the summer of '69, it had poured rain most of Sunday, and by Monday morning, everyone still at Woodstock was high and covered in mud, waiting to hear Jimi Hendrix close the show. It was grand and dismal at the same time, and also the biggest break Sha Na Na could have had. The band had originated as a 12-piece a cappella group at Columbia University. Known at the time as the Columbia King's Men, they'd been doing a handful of performances a year: freshman orientation, a Christmas party, and an event for the psych ward at Saint Luke's Hospital. When they stepped onto that iconic stage at Bethel Woods, it was Sha Na Na's eighth gig. Their first seven saw bookers stealing half their fees under the table, and sometimes they got 15 minutes on stage and didn't get paid at all. While audiences seemed to love them, they weren't sure they'd last another six months. Steve Paul's Scene was an underground place that seated maybe 200 people. The club manager said, "Sure, you can play next Monday night. But I can't pay you, and I don't know how you're going to get 12 guys on that stage." Well it doesn't matter how you fit 12 guys on a stage when Jimi Hendrix is in the audience and likes your act. This humorous mini-biography tells the story of how Ivy League greasers made it to the most infamous hippie festival in history, with an in-depth look at the men behind the gold lamé suits. These never-before-told stories, spanning the course of their 50 years as a touring Rock 'n Roll band, take you backstage at Woodstock, to the dressing room of The Sha Na Na show, the set of the movie Grease, and the front row of the Hollywood Bowl... And, of course, perhaps the most iconic moment of Sha Na Na's career-an exasperated Woodstock announcer, not sure his mic was on, shouting: "Ladies and gentleman, Sha Na Na! Harold, turn up the mic!"