Let's sing this one for Brother Al

John Cowan, Marc Quinones, Patrick Simmons, Michael McDonald, John McFee, Marc Russo, and Ed Toth, State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, 7.8.23

There is my life before I saw the Doobie Brothers two-part episode of “What’s Happening!!” and there is my life after I saw the Doobie Brothers two-part episode of “What’s Happening!!”

The life before was perfectly pleasant, if brief, and there were certainly other two-part episodes of TV shows that had a profound effect on me at that time. Most of those episodes involved some sort of tragic calamity and/or terror-inducing event (see the bike shop episode of “Diff’rent Strokes,” in which Arnold and Dudley were molested by a bike shop owner; subsequently, I never stepped foot in a bike shop), so they were more impactful for the trauma and lifelong scars they created.

But the event at the center of the Doobie Brothers two-parter—bootlegging concerts—was relatively benign, despite the vehement disdain expressed by the Doobies in part one of the episode that is hammered home in the second part. I’m not saying it wasn’t a crime and that it didn’t cheat bands out of money. It’s just that in the grand scheme of Very Special Episodes, bootlegging was a much more pleasant thing to see develop before your eyes than, say, a kidnapping off the streets of New York City (see also “Diff’rent Strokes,” in an episode where Arnold and Kimberly are kidnapped by a creep who ties up Arnold and puts duct tape over his mouth and then attempts to rape Kimberly…at times, “Diff’rent Strokes” seemed to exist solely to terrify me). And it was not likely to force me into the fetal position on the sofa as I pondered if going outside was really worth the risk.

What the Doobie Brothers and the “What’s Happening!!” crew did with that episode was not just make me a fan for life of both the band and the show, but also give me an example of the power of a live concert was. I mean, I guess I knew something of that before these episodes, but the Doobies’ performance—and Raj, Rerun, and Dwayne’s reaction to it—hinted that there was more to all of it than I thought.

Photo from the author’s collection, signed by Ernest Thomas, Haywood Nelson, and Danielle Spencer and now hanging on the author’s living room wall.

I suppose the first thing to do here is to gauge your familiarity with “What's Happening!!” So let's do that with this quick quiz:

Have you seen “What's Happening!!”?

A. Yes

B. No

If you answered A, please take time to congratulate yourself and proceed with the rest of this Substack. I suggest you watch the two-part episode in the videos below again (I am assuming you have seen them already, because why would you not have if you’ve seen “What’s Happening!!”?), but it is not mandatory.

If you answered B, please take time to go fornicate yourself. When that process has been completed, please immediately view the two-part Doobie Brothers episode below (or on Tubi or Hulu), put together a plan to watch every other episode of the series (there are none as amazing as these two, but there are some pretty great ones), and then return here. We will wait for you.

OK, great. Now we’re all on the same page and we can get on with this in-depth assessment.

I am fairly certain that I had no idea who the Doobie Brothers were the first time I saw the “What's Happening!!” episodes. I guess I might have heard one of their songs on CBS FM, but I definitely had no idea what any of them looked like. So there they were for the first time on our TV console, a ragtag-looking bunch of guys, one of whom looked like a Muppet, another dressed like some weird pirate (in retrospect, he appears to have been at the vanguard of the steam punk movement), another hippie-looking guy who seemed like he might be high (well, most of them seemed like they might be high), and then a few relatively normal-looking guys who looked like maybe they were in the wrong band. It was all very intriguing.

I had seen plenty of “What's Happening!!” prior to the Doobies episodes, so though I knew little of the Doobies, I was fully invested in the entire show. I came upon the show on daily, ahem, reruns on Channel 5, and it fast became must-see viewing. “What's Happening!!” and “The Jeffersons” (Channel 11) were my only real exposure to the black experience (granted, the black experience as predominantly written by white men, but still more than I was getting in my neighborhood) when I was a kid, so I am grateful to both of them for taking me outside of my very white childhood. Of those two, “What's Happening!!” was more goofy and fun to me, and as I placed a high value on goofy and fun as a child (and still do), it was probably more important to my daily existence.

As for the three main guys in the show, I thought Rerun was the coolest (surely this was the majority opinion). Despite the endless barrage of fat jokes hurled at him (it is a goal of mine to rewatch the whole show and count the number of such jokes; there were 65 episodes, and I'm guessing there are about 200 Rerun fat jokes), he seemed to be having the most fun most of the time. Dwayne seemed cool too, but maybe a little too cool at times to be my favorite. Raj was the nerdiesr and least cool of the three, and thus was the one I most identified with. I'm pretty sure there was a time when I started flipping chairs around before sitting in them because that's how Raj did it. Plus, he wanted to be a writer, and I was starting to think I might want to do that too.

So when Raj made the call to the Doobie Brothers and the immortal “Which Doobie you be?” line is given to a grateful world, I was happy that my guy Raj came through and snagged the interview. Score one for us!

Album from the author’s personal collection, signed by Patrick Simmons and Tom Johnston and featuring an impressive displsy of stage smoke.

The Doobies’ musical performances in these episodes are pretty stellar, even if some of the songs are not among their biggest hits. And I don’t think any other musical guest in sitcom history gets this much screen time, all of it welcome. Their soundcheck run-through of “Little Darlin’” showcases what Michael McDonald brought to the Doobies upon founder Tom Johnston’s departure, and, of course, this is brought to full power in part two’s denouement and the fateful “Takin’ It to the Streets” that fills Rerun with such joy that Al Dunbar’s scheme unravels.

Part two’s “Black Water” highlights what Patrick Simmons brings to the band. This is the Doobies song that hooked me, and among the random memories in my brain that put a song in a specific place and time, there is a recollection of hearing that song playing while I was walking away from the field at my high school. Why was I near the field? What year was this? Why would “Black Water” be playing at my high school in the mid to late 1990s? I have no idea. But I can show you the exact spot if you and I were at my high school. But let’s please not go back to my high school.

The point, assuming I have a point, is that song has always stuck with me. Again, it’s possible I initially heard it on CBS FM, but I think it’s more likely that part two of the Doobies show was where I heard it first. And it’s still my favorite song of theirs. It’s one of those songs that really has no equal. There isn’t a song I know of (and I know a few) that sounds quite like “Black Water.” It is its own great thing, unique in the world and likely to nestle into your brain immediately upon hearing it.

And speaking of unique things, let us now turn our attention to the gong and the fire.

The scene where one of the Doobie dtummers (the aforementioned steam punk pioneer John Hartman) beats a gong with a stick of fire while smoke fills the stage and the rest of the band members lose their minds on their respective instruments never stops being as weird as that description implies. A young child whose concert experience up to that point probably consisted of Sesame Street characters, German pop stars, and polka music would certainly have his mind blown seeing this spectacle for the first time. Based on his facial expressions, Dwayne seems to be going through it. Or is passing a kidney stone. Either way, he’s having a moment and so was I when I first saw it. This is what rock concerts are like? Sign me up!

It is disappointing to report that I have yet to see anyone smash a gong with a stick of fire in any of the many shows I have been to in my life. But there’s still time, and I am hopeful.

Let's take a minute to tip our collective hats to Theodore “Teddy” Wilson, the man who played Al Dunbar in the Doobie episodes. The episode doesn't come together if the guy playing Al Dunbar isn't any good. Luckily, Wilson is plenty good, even great, whenever he's on screen, particularly toward the end of the second part, when he's trying to get Shirley to take his order at Rob’s Place. It goes without saying that Shirley Hemphill is great in the scene (I said it anyway because you gave me a look that said, “You should say it”), but Wilson is her equal (and shoutout to Alonzo Brown Jr., who played Brother Bruno and seems to have done very little acting afterward, which is completely understandable because how do you top this?).

Because I want to meet everyone involved in this episode (currently and perhaps forever stalled at 5—Raj, Dwayne, Dee, Skunk Baxter, and Patrick Simmons), I of course Googled Wilson's whereabouts a few years ago and was dismayed to see he died in 1991 at the age of 47 (which probably puts him at 33 or 34 when the episode is filmed, which would not have been my guess at all). It's a true shame he left the world at such a young age, but at least he spared himself from having to dodge DMs from me after I found him on social media.

I salute you, Theodore Wilson. Al Dunbar will forever be in my heart, and occasionally on my chest when I wear the shirt pictured above. And if I should ever start any sort of recording business or launch my own production company, rest assured that it will be called Al Dunbar.

Patrick Simmons, John Cowan, Michael McDonald, and John McFee, State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, 7.8.23

All this has been brought to mind because last week, I saw the Doobie Brothers on their 50th anniversary tour for the third time. Well, technically, it's about two and a half times because I left another show early in Nashville to catch the closing run of songs at their show at Bridgestone Arena. And I would put that closing seven-song run up against anybody else’s. Here is what the Doobies hit you with on the home stretch.

Jesus Is Just Alright

What a Fool Believes

Long Train Runnin’

China Grove

—break—

Black Water

Takin’ It to the Streets

Listen to the Music

That's pretty damn good. McCartney plays “Birthday” in the last seven, so he's out as a viable competitor. Fogerty and the Stones definitely give them a run for their money. But you have to admit it's a pretty solid, joyous home stretch. No, really, you have to. It's in the fine print of your su scription agreement. On this run, they’ve been ending with the boner killer of Steely Dan’s “Pretzel Logic,” but people seem to enjoy it so I guess people like having their boners killed. It takes all kinds.

Anyway, I've now seen three different Doobie permutations—with Tom Johnston but without Michael McDonald, with Tom Johnston and Michael McDonald, and, on this tour, without Tom Johnston but with Michael McDonald (due to Johnston’s recent back surgery). Plus, I've seen Michael McDonald solo. They've all been great, and at each show, when “Takin’ It to the Streets” hits, I thought of Raj, Rerun, Dwayne, Brother Bruno, and Al Dunbar. And I danced unencumbered by a trenchcoat and tape recorder and thought of all the joy the Doobie Brothers two-parter on “What's Happening!!” has brought me. My life would not be the same without it.

Still a little miffed about the lack of a gong and fire, though.