If you were a 1970s kind of kid, and you, on occasion, grabbed a donut and plunked in front of the television set on a Saturday morning -- too close, probably, because you wanted to be inside that candy-colored world -- then you absolutely, 1000%, have "Schoolhouse Rock!" in your very DNA (and probably a bit of that donut still, too).
ABC launched the animated interstitial spots in 1973, music-heavy shorts that were in turns psychedelic, hilarious, incredibly odd, and brain-building.
You remember how a conjunction works, right?
Thank Bob Dorough, in large and lovely part, for having such a positive impact on your kidhood. The jazz legend is the voice behind "Three Is a Magic Number" and several other tunes that are embedded in millions of now grown-up minds.
So prepare yourself, '70s kids: Mr. Dorough, who also wrote several "Schoolhouse Rock!" classics, will perform some of them live, in Echo Park, on Monday, Nov. 24.
The nonagenarian -- he'll celebrate his 100th birthday in 2023, with, we hope, a rendition of "100 Is the Magic Number" -- is appearing at The Echoplex that evening, as part of The Cinefamily's Animation Breakdown festival.
What "Schoolhouse" gems will Mr. Dorough sing and reminisce about? George Newhall, the co-creator of the landmark educational series, will also appear, and tales of working with the great Blossom Dearie -- a talent who also voiced several of the shorts -- and artists like Randy Newman sure to arise.
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Tickets? They're twenty bucks in advance, $25 there.
The crowd? Well, to be fair, "Schoolhouse Rock!" ran well past its early 1970s beginnings, with a new iteration in the 1990s, so adults who were kids in two or three or four different decades -- or maybe were adults in the 1970s but just loved the spots -- will be there, ready to celebrate Mr. Dorough and how he made us all smarter people, with a love of singing along.
And, fact: Everyone there will all know all the words. Could you sing "I'm Just a Bill" from start to finish, this second? That's totally in your head now, for the rest of the day, isn't it?
It's a long, long journey to the capitol city...
