The Drifters, "Duke of Earl", Coasters Shine in Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The DooWop music of the fifties and early sixties may be a dying art, but you'd never know it by the crowd at Birmingham's Alys Stephens Center Saturday night. Four legendary rock 'n' rollers - and one young newcomer - performed before an enthusiastic audience in a night tinged with nostalgia and music history.

Bobby Lewis, the show's oldest performer, opened the concert with "One Track Mind" and closed his two-song set with his biggest hit, "Tossin' and Turnin.' The audience was in his hands when he led off with the latter song's signature opening line, "I didn't sleep at all last night." By then they had seen Lewis dancing and singing like a young man. He claimed to be 83 years old, although his official biography lists him only at 75 (born in 1933). Regardless, his voice was as strong as a thirty-year old, and his on-stage dance moves were the envy of the fifty-to-sixty year olds in the audience.

Lewis was followed by the youngest performer in the show, thirteen-year-old "Kid Kyle." The youngster got the attention of professionals when he performed some fifties tunes on American Idol Junior when he was only eight years old. His segment included a solid performance of Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover." Kyle dresses like a young Darin, moves like a young Elvis, and has the pre-teen tenor of a young Art Garfunkel. His voice is on the verge of changing, though, as evidence by an occasional strain in his vocals. Still, it was a professional performance by a remarkable young man.

The Coasters, led by Carl Gardner, Jr., provided the last act before intermission. The quartet, the first group inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, combined on-stage antics with classic hits for an entertaining set that included "Searchin'," "Charlie Brown," and "Yakety Yak."

Gene Chandler opened the second hour. He hit full stride with his 1970 hit, "Groovy Situation," stumbled a bit with "I Only Have Eyes for You," but Chandler closed to a rousing rendition of his signature song, "Duke of Earl." He disappeared from stage before his final tune and reappeared from the back of the audience dressed in a cape and top hat, carrying a cane. The audience loved it.

Charlie Thomas and The Drifters completed the night. Thomas sang lead on all the groups numbers, opening with "On Broadway" and closing with "Under the Boardwalk." His strongest performance came on "There Goes My Baby." One touching moment came when he dedicated "This Magic Moment" to local rock legend Junior "C.T. Blast" Lewis, a Birmingham singer who often opened for acts touring during the sixties - including The Drifters.

The moment elicited memories of the struggles that young black musicians faced while trying to ply their trade in a segregated South during the fifties and the sixties. Many of those performers - including the Drifters, the Coasters, and Lewis - were the sixties' musical equivalent of black baseball players in the 1950s. Instead of athletics, music became their avenue for breaking down racial barriers. Judging by the predominantly white audience in attendance, the work of those musicians was obviously successful,

The night was capped when the performers gathered on stage for a couple of final songs. The closing number, "Good Night Sweetheart," ended with Thomas and Kid Kyle walking off the stage singing a duet of its closing lines - one generation passing a rock 'n' roll legacy to a younger torchbearer of a different race.