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| From | "David Bash" <bashpop@earthlink.net> |
| Subject | The Cowsills/Bangles Last Night In L.A. |
| Date | Tue, 14 Sep 2004 10:40:34 -0700 |
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Last night I was fortunate to be able to attend the Cowsills show at The El
Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. All proceeds for the show went towards medical
expenses for the oldest Cowsill sibling, Billy, who has had a lot of recent
health issues.
The opening act, dubbed "The Newlyweds", turned out to be Vicki Peterson of
The Bangles and John Cowsill (who are in fact married), who did a couple of
tunes (I can't remember what they were, but they were good). The Bangles,
sans Michael Steele (not sure why she wasn't there) were up next, and they
did a nice mix of hits and tunes from their latest (great!) CD.
Then came The Cowsills, who were introduced by none other than Shirley
Jones, very fitting as the blueprint for The Partridge Family had been very
much based upon The Cowsills. They ended up playing for something like two
hours, in various permutations, some of which included several Cowsill
progeny (it started to look like The King Family up there!). They opened
the set with "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things" (with real harp, yet!),
and "We Can Fly", both of which were truly transcendent. The band included
formerly erstwhile brother Barry, who seemed in very good spirits, and as
well as brother Rich (apparently Bob's twin), who had not originally been
with the band due to a couple of stints in Vietnam. Most of the rest of the
set included various tunes from throughout their career, including some
really cool ones from an unreleased album recorded in the '80s. There were
also songs written and sung by Susan (who has a new CD coming out) and
Barry. Everyone was very loose and relaxed on stage, a true family reunion
put to song. Peter Tork also came up to sing "I'm A Believer" and "Daydream
Believer", with the gang backing him. The closing number was "Hair",
featuring just about everyone and his brother (literally) on stage, with
Billy Cowsill's son Del (who is the spit and image of a young Billy-vocally,
too!) singing lead, and then as an encore The Cowsills, along with Vicki and
Susanna from The Bangles, did a nice-sounding version "Monday, Monday".
The evening was also highlighted with videos from the Cowsill's heyday, and
an auction of vintage Cowsill stuff (comics, 16 Magazines, photos, etc...)
and a Red Sox jersey with "Cowsill 1" on the back (they've been playing
"Hair" at Fenway Park in honor of the Red Sox Johnny Damon's long locks, and
the Cowsills recently sang The National Anthem there). Some guy won that
one for $500; no, it wasn't Bruce Brodeen. :-)
I saw Morley Bartnoff, Barry Holdship, Don Mogill (of The Dons), and a few
other people I knew there. The overall attendance was quite good.
Hopefully they raised a lot of money for Billy. It was a special event for
me as The Cowsills had played IPO on that same stage back in 2000, and I was
gratified to hear that the reason they chose The El Rey for this event was
that they'd loved playing there for IPO.
--
The Cowsills Rule!!!!!
Take Care,
David
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