November 10, 2009
The next Westfield State College Foundation Speaker Series event will have audience members dancing and enjoying the atmosphere of a 1950s soda shop. Jon Bauman, versatile actor, producer and game-show host, will appear as Bowzer of Sha Na Na, for Bowzer’s Rock-N-Roll Party at the Woodward Center at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21.
Bauman will bring The Stingrays, Charlie Thomas’ Drifters, Shirley Allston Reeve, former lead singer of The Shirelles, and Rocky and The Rollers for the free public concert and dance party. A student-run soda shop will offer 50s style food to benefit the classes of 2010 and 2012.
“This evening of 50s music and dancing is a change of pace for our speaker series, but we hope area residents will join us in the fun,” said Evan S. Dobelle, president of Westfield State. “However, Jon Bauman also has some serious intentions, including helping to preserve the Rock and Roll Era for new generations and protecting the era’s original artists from exploitation.”
Bauman is one of the most multi-dimensional performers in show business today, with careers as television host, producer, writer, performer, actor, musician and social activist. He was host of The Hollywood Squares and Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour on NBC, the nationally syndicated Pop 'N' Rocker Game and the ABC prime-time reality series We Dare You, and other shows.
He has appeared on several television shows, such as Miami Vice, and also has done voice-overs for animated series such as Animaniacs and feature films, including My Little Pony and The Jetsons. As a producer, he created such shows as The Story Of Rock 'n' Roll and The Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll, a 10-hour series for the A&E network.
However, Bauman is also devoted to several charities, especially Cerebral Palsy-Spastic Children. He started the Truth in Rock Association, and has spent a lot of time in Washington with the Intellectual Properties Subcommittee of the House of Representatives, working to change the law to better protect real artists from the 50's and 60's from knockoff impostor groups. He is currently writing a book on this subject.
Bauman was a child prodigy at the piano, and started classical lessons at age seven. He attended the Juilliard School beginning age l2 and ultimately graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia College in New York.
Bauman joined fellow Columbia classmates in forming Sha Na Na, in 1969. The group’s lengthy performance and recording career included appearing at the original Woodstock concert and the movie, Grease. The Sha Na Na television show was, at its peak, the #1 syndicated show in America, and was also seen in 32 foreign countries.
More information on college events, visit www.wsc.ma.edu.
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