Flashback: 'I'll be there' Plotkin reaches out

WASHINGTON - While anti-war protestors were marching on Washington and Abbie Hoffman was trying to exorcize the Pentagon, WTOP's Political Analyst Mark Plotkin was shaking his 20-year-old booty at Lisner Auditorium with his fellow George Washington University students.

It was 41 years ago this week. He had hair back then, a three-piece suit -- and like today -- no date.

Levi Stubbs and the Four Tops took the stage that night and worked the crowd with top 10 hits such as "I Can't Help Myself," "Reach Out I'll Be There" and "Bernadette."

Not the place you would have pictured Plotkin, who in this century rarely listens to music and never shakes his booty.

But there he was, dancing, waving his hands in the air like he just didn't care, and believe it or not, crashing the stage. As Plotkin tells the story, he and his high school buddy from Chicago, Bobby Friedman, had good seats for the show, but apparently not good enough. (That actually sounds like the Plotkin I know.)

As the music and the crowd heated up, Plotkin ran to the side of the stage, climbed up a set of steps and began dancing on stage with Stubbs and the other Tops.

It was a night he'll never forget, and thanks to photography, neither will anyone else. The 1967 G.W. yearbook has a two-page spread documenting the evening.

When asked what got into him that October evening, Plotkin replied without hesitation.

"The music inspired me."

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)