The Herald’s Doo-wopper of a Tale

In this month’s issue of Boston, we have a short story about Harvey Robbins (pictured at right), a highly territorial, local oldies promoter. He intentionally booked a doo-wop show tomorrow—on the same day as a pre-existing doo-wop show put on by someone else—as a way of fighting off competition. Sneaky, huh? Oh, just you wait.

The Herald picked up on our story today, and gives Robbins some more room to explain himself. He told the paper that he was jilted by an experience in October, when an out-of-town promoter put on a doo-wop show at the Citi Wang Theater. “Robbins said he received numerous calls and e-mails after the Wang show from audience members who thought it was his show,” reports the Herald.

If you know Harvey Robbins, you’d know that’s a pretty dubious claim.

Robbins loves the spotlight, and absorbs much of it during the shows he puts on. He’s on stage as MC, and sings back-up with some of the doo-wop acts. Best of all, his band, Harvey Robbins’ Royalty of Rock ‘N Roll All-Stars, always performs at the shows.

You can even see his band listed on all his concert fliers. It’s pretty easy for him to do: Doo-wop singers typically don’t travel with backing musicians, so Robbins has a band that accompanies all the groups. Then he takes his turn at the microphone. (And if doo-wop’s not your bag, you can always catch Harvey at a dinner theater presentation of Phil & Rhonda’s Gala Divorce. He plays Phil.)

If someone were to know enough about Harvey Robbins to call or e-mail him after a show, they’d also know he’s always front-and-center at his own events. Thus, it’d be pretty shocking if “numerous calls and e-mails” from confused concert-goers were actually sent to Robbins after that Wang show. We’ll withhold judgment on how that claim made it into the paper.