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The Regulars |
Louis Aguayo
I never met Louie; however, as soon as I read his 'bio' I knew that I did know him after all. We never met, but just the fact that he had my exact, same experience on KPIX Dance Party, I realized that we shared some thing special in our backgrounds. He was on the show approximately one year after I had left the show, but everything that he speaks of, is as familiar to me as my face's reflection in a mirror. He must be one very lucky person to have come into the country, as a student, and almost fallen into one very special, and very sweet, setup. He is, and was, one of us Regulars. Anyway, here in his own words, is Louie's story…. By Manny Interiano.
Back in my younger days, while residing in my native country of Mexico, adjacent to the border city of San Diego, I used to enjoy watching American comedy and musical shows like: "The Donna Reed show," "The Leave it to Beaver Show," and "The Ozzie and Harriet show."
Also, back in those days, there were many, very popular, western shows like: "Sugarfoot," "Tombstone Territory," "Maverick," and "Bat Masterson," but ,
one of the shows that was my real favorite was "American Bandstand," In fact,
everyday after school, I would hurry home to be able to catch the show with the
anticipation as to whom they will have as special guest for the day.
I remember the times when Paul Anka, Bobby Rydell, Fabian, Jimmy Clanton and Frankie Avalon were on the show. The cameramen would focus on the excitement and the expressions in the faces of the teens. Boy, that was exciting!
At that time, I couldn’t understand English all that well, but I knew I loved the American style of living, and above all, its music!
Then in the summer of 1959, I was fortunate enough to come to the U.S. on a student visa, and established myself in San Mateo, and began attending San Mateo High. Well, it wasn’t long, after I settled in, that I started watching KPIX DANCE PARTY, and I thought it was so cool that this was a local show in the Bay Area, in contrast to American Bandstand that at that time was broadcasting from Philadelphia.
One day, circa 1962, while watching Dance Party, Dick Stewart announced that they were looking for a new group of Regulars. Well, immediately I wrote to the Station, and before long I received a card informing me to attend an audition. To my surprise, I was selected! Believe me, it was like a dream come true. And, I was allowed to take guests too!! Wow! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I could be so lucky.
To be on TV, and to be a part of the show, was more than I would ever hoped for. I must admit, though, that at the beginning I was a bit nervous, especially when you could see yourself in the monitors, but after a while I felt very comfortable, it was like home.
During the days of Dance Party, I felt totally mesmerized by being in many ways a small part of a show that was so popular throughout the Bay Area, and especially with the young audience. When doing the show, I socialized casually with most of the other Regulars, and their guests; however, I was close friends with another Regular by the name of Frank Bermudez, and we casually hung around with Julio (aka, "The latin lover").
One of my very special memories of Dance Party was when Connie Stevens was a special guest on the show. That day I was very lucky to have met and greeted her as she was coming into the studio. I also remember when James Brown appeared on the show and performed his newly released "Soul Train" I went over to personally greet him and shake his hand!
At one time, Dick came up with the idea of having Regulars "lip synch" to songs that were popular at the time, and he would encourage us to select a song that we’d want to perform on the show. I remember my friend Frank Bermudez did a song by Andy Williams called: "I can’t get used to losing you" and I did a song called: "Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips. I received some very positive feedback about my performance, that time!
Man, do I ever miss those good old days!
Back in those days I felt like a celebrity in a world with so much excitement, especially when people recognized me from being on the show. Another event was when we used to get "fan mail" How in this world would I ever think that I’d be getting fan mail? Are you kidding! Every time they used to distribute the fan mail to all of the Regulars (Tiger used to get the most, of course!) I used to be thrilled just to read all those things that the teens used to confide in me. I felt very privileged and honored.
So nowadays, every time I listen to an Oldie like: The mashed potatoes, Twist and shout, The Locomotion, or You can’t sit down; it immediately transports me back to that beautiful era, and it brings back so many fine memories. Dance Party has been an experience that I will never forget, an experience that has also helped me to have more confidence in myself, and that when you set out to pursue something, anything is possible!
Towards the end of Dance Party, I moved to Los Angeles, and right about that time American Bandstand had also relocated to L. A., and wouldn’t you know it, that my girlfriend (now my wife) sent in for tickets, and we attended the show, twice! And I got to meet, and greet my idol, Dick Clark. And, with the experience I got from Dance Party, well it was like deja vouz, all over again!
I’m presently residing in Alpine, California ( a suburb of San Diego). I moved there shortly after I retired, about 5 years ago, along with my wife, Carmen. We’ve been married now, 45 years. Together we had 4 daughters (Irene, Sandra, Diana and Carissa)
Life’s been good, thanks to God. God bless you all.
Links to different web pages
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by M. Interiano
Copyright © 2004. All rights reserved.
Revised: March 4,200408/06/10 12:45:01 -0700.