"Feeling good" after that Doobies concert...The Doobie Brothers episode of What's Happening!! is classic TV. To recap, Raj got an assignment from the much heralded Jefferson High Gazette to do an article on the Doobie Brothers. The Doobs were performing in the area. Fantastic. The guys get a chance to meet the Doobies. The Doobies all look high. Turns out what they hate the most is bootleggers. Rerun's had all of that covered. Earlier Rerun met Al Dunbar and his partner Brother Bruno. Al even gave Rerun some state of the art equipment for the task.
I read somewhere this pic was taken on a plane. That's probably true but they still look toasted.You know the suspense on this show was great. Everytime I watch this I forget that Rerun is indeed breaking the law. I'm reminded however during the end of "Takin' It To the Streets" when that big, bulky cassette recorder falls out his trench coat. Every one notices, Raj, Dee, Dwayne, the crowd and the Doobies. We were all ashamed. It looked like Rerun was totally wearing Jox tennis shoes too.
The Doobies and the guys arranged a sting operation at Rob's Place. We all saw Al and his cohort Brother Bruno slither in. Al didn't want any chit-chat from the gang, he wanted that "Doobies Live" cassette and no gabbing. When the deal was going down, Rob's Place became surrounded by Doobies, oh yeah, a cop showed up too. After all of that Al Dunbar is still serving time for his piracy fiascos.
Question of the Day: Why were Raj and Rerun singing, "Fly Me To The Moon?"
An actual tape deck from Al Dunbar's collection...
11 comments:
The Doobie Brothers episode. One of my faves, no doubt. Although it is also one of the most bizarre. I mean, really, out of all the fantastic funk, r & b, and soul acts of the 70's...why the Doobie Brothers? It's like Elton John performing at a Harley Davidson convention. Oh wait. That happened too.
You know Rob, I think the Doobie Brothers just worked in those episodes. I remember in my house we had a lot of different stuff, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, etc. As for the Doobie Brothers? Had all of their 8 tracks from Takin' It To the Streets to One Step Closer.
Wow, I'm Dwayne LOL.
You are right, there were a lot of r&b and funk acts, but to me, I don't think those particular episodes would have worked half as well with any other band or group.
Rerun should have been beat up for being a tool.
I agree...how could Rerun do that to the Doobies, maybe they would not feed Rerun cause they all had the maryjane munchies.
Maybe Raj and Dwayne and even fat smelly hippo Shirley got some tokes from the cigar sized Doobie Bros doobie!
Shirley made Raj a man!
That deflowering would have made for a very wretch worry Special Episode. I thank God they didn't do that.
And yup, Rerun was wrong for that, but remember, he was forced to do so by Al Dunbar. Oddly enough, this episode rang true for me. 8 track bootlegging as a big business back in the '70s, more so than fake trafficking. You can still see fake 8 tracks on eBay. I don't know why they are allowed to be sold..
Does anyone know the name of that instrumental song they played at the concert on What's Happening!!?
Very cool, but very odd episode. Several things I noticed:
> Did you guys notice that when they were watching the band rehearse during the daytime in the gym if you looked in the back, you can actually see Shirley? Really. She was standing there in her jeans, Rob's Place sweatshirt and afro.
> So Shirley worked the day shift, somehow got into the rehearsal, then was back at Rob's at clearly 11:00 or later at night (why was the place still open??)
> How annoying and rude was Dee in this episode? And the Doobies just kissed her ass the whole time
> There's a scene where they're playing and they show Dwayne and he stops for like 5 seconds and cuts a fart and then goes back to jamming out - watch it!
> The band looked like they hadn't bathed in days.
> How bad at dancing are Raj, Dwayne and Rerun? They're black and they're doing this kick back move that would make a white person wince
> There's a girl behind them during the show that has more oil on her face than the run-off on a Hardee's grease trap
Ha Bill, I haven't noticed a lot of that. I did notice how dirty the Doobies looked--and out of it too...
Dee was an awful child. Ha ha, I did notice that ridiculous scene with Dwayne jamming stopping and jamming again. I thought it was ridiculous the first time I saw it.
They all were horrible dancers, what was they they were doing? The can-can? Ha.
I'm going to have to rewatch the episode to see the things you mentioned. :)
Even though the Doobie Brothers may look out of place at an urban high school...(The White Shadow is more accurate). Michael McDonald (the lead singer) was no stranger to the soul charts. He had 4 top 20 records on the soul charts including a number one song with Patti Labelle in 1987. Not only that, McDonald appeared as a singing guest on "Soul Train." He has solid R&B credentials.
That's very true about McDonald's credentials. He was immediately beloved by R&B fan who probably took to him before pop/rock/Doobie Brothers fans did.
I like Michael's work a lot...
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