Hal Eisner's Blog

This Saturday night at 6pm and Sunday night at 11pm join Hal Eisner on FOX 11 as he gets up close and personal with "Kool & the Gang" on THAT'S SO HOLLYWOOD!

Now, a few words from Hal ...

Gold and platinum albums, Grammys, American Music Awards , over 70 million albums sold ... Robert "Kool" Bell, his brother Ronald, Georges Brown and the rest of the gang have had lots to celebrate over the years. Still do! "Life is a celebration" says Robert (the one known as "Kool"). "You know, you can celebrate life just by the fact that your still on this planet."

From "Ladies Night" to "Jungle Boogie" they've had lots of hits, but, on this planet lots of people can sing their most famous song. You know the tune ... "celebrate good times .. come on!"

I got a chance to chat with Bell, his brother and Brown. They came to our studios on the westside. We setup our camera outside on our second floor plaza where some of my colleagues were having lunch. I asked Sophie Chap and others from the sales department "do you know the song 'celebration?" Sophie's reply (she sang) "celebrate good times .. c'mon!" "These are the guys that sang that" I said. They liked hearing Sophie sing their words. But, they've written so many words for so many songs. They have a new cd out now. Its called "Still Kool!" Robert says it has their familiar sounds mixed with rock. Ronald tells me it reflects the fact they are "still cool!" They told me they were working on developing a reality tv show.

There were tough times for the group. During our chat Ronald talked about the "rollercoaster" ride. George revealed how tough things got when hip hop first became pervasive and people were downloading music for free.

Its an interesting story, but the most interesting moment for me was when we all clapped and sang together ... (you know the words ... sing with me) "CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES ... COME ON!!!"