<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In a moment of channel surfing, I recently landed upon the movie version of the 1960s counterculture musical <\/span>Hair<\/span><\/i> staring Treat Williams. \u00a0I never saw the movie when it came out and I vaguely remember Treat Williams involvement, but I am more familiar with him from his role in the SciFi \/ horror classic <\/span>Deep Rising<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0Hearing the movie cast version of the title track sent me scurrying to find the version that I am more familiar with. \u00a0That, of course, would be the 1969 Cowsills release that went to #2 on the US Charts and #1 just about everywhere else.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Cowsills story is complicated and does not end happily for all involved. \u00a0By 2014, all but Bob, Susan, Paul, and John Cowsill would be gone. \u00a0Mother Barbara and father Bud were taken by various health issues in 1985 and 1992, respectively. \u00a0Barry was living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. \u00a0His body was recovered and finally identified in January of 2006. \u00a0Bill succumbed to his own health issues in Calgary, Alberta the day before Barry was to be memorialized in their former stomping grounds of Newport, Rhode Island. \u00a0Bob\u2019s twin brother Richard (who acted as the band\u2019s road manager) was felled by cancer in 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As often happens, the family band had not been in the same room together since the early 1970s when they broke up due to the usual internal squabbles that befall many groups. \u00a0A reunion of sorts took place at Barbara\u2019s funeral in 1985 with various combinations of Cowsills performing together on and off again into the 2000s.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The band was begun in 1965 by Bill, Bob, and Barry with John joining not long after. \u00a0They were originally located in Canton, Ohio where their father was a US Navy recruiter. \u00a0Bud retired in 1965 and they landed in Newport, RI performing as one of the regular acts at Bannister\u2019s Wharf. \u00a0They garnered some attention performing covers for the tourists while recording several singles that were modestly successful. \u00a0Their modicum of success was not enough to keep Mercury Records from dropping them off the label.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The team of Artie Kornfeld and Steve Duboff had written the song <\/span>The Rain, the Park, and Other Things<\/span><\/i> and it was this recording that got The Cowsills brothers signed to MGM. \u00a0The suits at MGM liked the family angle and thought it would be terrific to add mom to the act. \u00a0<\/span>The Rain\u2026<\/span><\/i> climbed to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and the Cowsills hit the road. \u00a0The addition of Susan and Paul to the mix made them a seven piece band. Between 1968 and 1972, they averaged 200 dates a year and if you think taking the family on a two week cross country vacation is tough, one can only imagine how touring with the whole family for four years would take a toll on everyone. \u00a0Amplified by Bud\u2019s domineering managerial style, disputes arose that saw a revolving door of Cowsills playing in various combinations after 1972. \u00a0At times, they performed without the Cowsills name and some took it a bit farther and simply got out of the business altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For a time in the 1970s, Paul, Bill, and Barry teamed up with guitarist Waddy Watchel (Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards) in the band Bridey Murphy. \u00a0Susan has performed with The Continental Drifters, the Dwight Twilley Band and her own Susan Cowsill Band. \u00a0John has also done his musical time with Dwight Twilley, Jan and Dean, and as the current drummer, keyboardist and sometime vocalist with The Beach Boys.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Since they regrouped in 1990, Bob, John, Paul and Susan have performed and recorded as The Cowsills while maintaining their separate careers. \u00a0A benefit to help defray Bill\u2019s medical and financial problems was filmed at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles (2014) found them in fine musical form. \u00a0The clips I have seen stand up well when compared to other bands still performing after 50 plus years. \u00a0Actress Shirley Jones introduced them on the night of the benefit as \u201cthe real thing\u201d so naturally, they opened with <\/span>I Really Want to Know You<\/span><\/i>, the only song performed by both The Cowsills and The Partridge Family. \u00a0Fans of both the real and fictional family bands won\u2019t find this song selection to be that much of a mystery.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As of 2015- 2016, the Cowsills have been part of The Turtles \u201cHappy Together\u201d oldies tour. \u00a0\u00a0Flo and Eddie of the Turtles began these multi-group package tours a couple of decades ago. \u00a0Pooling touring costs allow the Turtles and their invited guests to share the load and the loot. \u00a0Groups like The Buckinghams, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Grand Funk Railroad and Three Dog Night may not be present in full, but lead singers (like Carl Giammarese, Mark Lindsay, \u00a0Mark Farner, and Chuck Negron \u00a0of the above mentioned bands) get to play their hits using The Turtles backing band. \u00a0The Turtles have been known to use hired gun musicians on both coasts to help keep their touring budget in check. \u00a0The bands employed by Flo and Eddie aren\u2019t a bunch of hacks, either, so it is a win-win for these artists to play their music with a great backing band. \u00a0One of their touring groups features <\/span>keyboardist Manny Focarazzo, guitarist Godfrey Townsend, drummer Steve Murphy, and bassist John Montagna. \u00a0The last time I saw these guys on stage together was at MTU where they performed the same function for the Alan Parsons Live Project concerts that were performed with the MTU Orchestra at the Rozsa Center back in 2006. \u00a0Flo and Eddie know how to put on a show. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Incidentally, Flo (Mark Volman) and Eddie (Howard Kaylan) were the lead singers in the original Turtles before they lost their record company (White Whale) and the legal use of their own name. \u00a0They kept playing music by adopting the names of a couple of their roadies (Flo is actually short for \u201cthe Fluorescent Leach\u201d), hooking up with Frank Zappa for a time, and eventually circling back to being The Turtles featuring Flo and Eddie. \u00a0Eddie often makes fun of Flo\u2019s hair (described at one point as \u201ca Brillo pad on steroids\u201d) so I am searching the web to see if they join The Cowsills on stage doing <\/span>Hair<\/span><\/i> on this year\u2019s tour. \u00a0A survey of their schedule shows them all over the country, but notably close to the U.P. with dates in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Speaking of <\/span>Hair, <\/span><\/i>we will have to explore the mysteries of this little piece of pop music magic as well as more of The Cowsills – Partridge Family mystery in part 2.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video: \u00a0The Cowsills perform their first hit at the 2004 Bill Cowsills Benefit – the DVD of this benefit was released in 2013. \u00a0Clips from more recent tours show that they can still bring it!