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Song: The Rain, The Park and Other Things.
Scoot: That is The Cowsills and one of their biggest hits from I guess the late ‘60s. I remember that song well. And let’s go to the flower girl herself, Susan Cowsill, who was part of that. She is even to this day a hippie. Susan welcome to the show.
Susan: Hi Scoot how are you honey?
Scoot: I’m great. It’s always great to talk to you. So tonight is the beginning of the Happy Together Tour. You guys were a part of it last year. You and your brothers, The Cowsills were the family that inspired The Partridge Family. And you’re going to be there tonight and you’re going to do a couple of your hits. And it’s going to be a night of, you know sort of fairly memorable bands from the past.
Susan: It is and it always is that night on the Happy Together Tour dude. And we’re excited. It’s always fun to be up the road from all my friends and hoping y’all come out. I know what it’s like though trying to get out of town and traffic time. But we’re excited. We got Mr. Negron ready to roll. And this year we have the Classic IV out here with us – or two of the guys from – which is Spooky
Scoot: Stormy, Something of Trace of Love
Susan: Traces of Love
Scoot: Traces of Love – that was it. I didn’t kill all my brain cells.
Susan: Right Scoot Tonight is a casino show so I’m always sad when I’m local because everybody has a shorter show do to the … you know they want everyone to come out and enjoy their casino which is perfectly great. So it’s a good thing we only have three or four hit songs is what I’m saying.
Scoot: And so it’s going to be The Turtles. It will be The Buckinghams.
Susan: Oh yeah, great songs there. “Susan” that’s my favorite.
Scoot: The Buckinghams has a whole bunch of …. I’m going to do Kind Of A Drag coming up next hour, but The Buckinghams had a lot of big hits back there in the ‘60s.
Susan: They did. They only get to play a couple a night and when we also have Ron Dante who was the Archies. He’s the man who sang Sugar, Sugar … Bang, Shang-a-lang, etc. And also Chuck Negron who we call “The Chief”
Scoot: Why do you call Chuck Negron “The Chief” on the tour?
Susan: I kind of gave him his nickname because he is The Chief. That guy – you’ve read his book Scoot – you know where he’s been and for him to be coming up on his 77 birthday. And for him to do the things he must do physically. I know I shared with you that he has COPD and a lot of things that would keep a weaker man down and this guy gets in and out of his bunk. He’s got … he’s a trip. ____ of a man and I’ll tell you what, he’s just a sweet, sweetheart of a guy. We fortunately get him on our bus. The crew bus. So we get The Chief with us.
Scoot: Well we’re going to talk to you coming up in the next hour. But this guy, he was really just part of that whole world of sex, drugs and rock and roll. I mean he was it.
Susan: Yup, yup. Don’t you think right there gives him the name The Chief.
Scoot: Now if you’re on the bus with him, does he show any signs of that past? Chuck Negron?
Susan: Oh heck no. We all sit around and laugh about the old days. You know we were all caught up in it. I … just because he made a name for himself, it’s like …. ____ James ___ a lot of gunslingers that we never heard of. That’s right. I’m sure they were shooting just as good as he was, I’m sure. So we do. We remanence about it. We are glad to be alive and well and sad there are those who didn’t make it out.
Scoot: So, tonight is the first night of the Happy Together Tour. You’re starting at the IP Casino in Biloxi tonight. So here you are a few hours away from showtime. It starts at 8 o’clock. So what are you doing right now? I mean I know you and I know you don’t spend a lot of time on make-up.
Susan: (Laughs) No, I don’t. But I have been spending a lot of time you know we get these beautiful buses, just like on TV, and I can’t crawl into a dark, dank coffin of a bed, so I decorate. I and Chuck girlfriend Amy, his manager and everything, we decorate our bunks. And mine looks like it could be out of the New York Museum of Natural History. Amy has a Hello Kitty type of vibe in her bunk. And the rest of it I call the cadaver van. You can look down the galley of the bus at any time Scoot at any point of the night and see arms and legs hanging out of the berths. It’s rather disturbing.
Scoot: Does anybody snore?
Susan: Yeah, I won’t reveal who the snorers are.
Scoot. There are snorers. That can be kind of rough, in the middle of the night and they’re snoring away. Like ‘Shut the heck up.’
Susan: Here’s the bottom line, Scoot. I have insomnia so I know everybody’s schedule, if you will. I get up at night. What they get up and do. Chuck is a little bit of a cookie monster. I try to keep that as under control as possible. My brother Bob is a liquorice stealer. People come out. I know what’s going on on this bus is all I’m saying.
Scoot: So you got a lot of munchies on the bus?
Susan: Oh Lord yes. We are big … snack bowls is what we call the trough.
Scoot: Now do you guys do stuff that would make you want to have the munchies?
Susan: Well actually Scoot those things cannot be divulged over your radio station, but I will see you later and we’ll chat about that.
Scoot: Good answer, good answer.
Susan: Yeah, thank you, thank you and I haven’t been up long. Thanks pal
Scoot: Susan, very quickly, as a musician, what are your thoughts on Dr. John’s passing?
Susan: Well I don’t have a lot of musical thoughts about it, but I am as sad as I can be because he is our city. He represents us and just losing another one is like Alan, when we lost Mr. Toussaint. It’s that … I have grown … I have been here 27 years now. This is my town and they are our people. So, musically … obviously the musically all over our city and the hearts of the young, not that not so young, John grows the guy of John Porter Jr. These gentlemen who have been playing with Mac all their lives since they were kids, they are taking over. They are … it’s a moment, a moment in our city and it makes me sad, Scoot.
Scoot: Well have a great show tonight. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you later. We’ll do a Facebook video after the show and we’ll find anyone else who wants to talk with us. There was an interesting story behind the song “Hair” that you guys did. This was a cover of the title track from the rock musical Hair. And The Cowsills were such a goody-goody, clean-cut rock band back then that it was controversial for you guys to do Hair.
Susan: It really was and if you ever review … there was a video made from the TV show, I’ll tell the story, Carl Reiner, Rob’s dad, was a pretty famous comedy writer and comedian himself and he put together a wonderful TV show in 1969 called The Wonderful World of Pizzazz And it was a TV show about culture, pop culture that we were all living in at the time, from music, art, fashion etc. And so he thought it would be a hoot to show the fashion and the hippie hair through, as you said, the goody-goody two shoes Cowsills. So he invited us on to do a recording of the song from the play, the very popular play at the time and to don some hippie costumes and some wigs and that was the beginning of the . . . It was the beginning of the end, but not for the reasons you think. MGM did not want to release that as a single and my brothers were really proud of that recording. And somehow or another it got out and that became our last and I think one of our biggest hits, I’m not sure though. It was wonderful. The irony wasn’t lost on us and an image is an image and the people are the people and quite honestly we related more socially and mentally to the more hipper movement that was going on than to what we were identified to publically and ________
Scoot: The Cowsills will play this tonight?
Susan: Oh yes baby
Scoot: Alright sweetie. I’m going to talk to you later. Have a great show and I’ll see you after the show.
Susan: OK Bye darling. Say hi to The Chief for me. Byeeeeee
Scoot: Susan Cowsill of the Cowsills and this was their biggest hit. And this was controversial because it was from the rock musical Hair which allowed people totally nude on stage. Yeah that was crazy. I’m Scoot. Hang on. We’ll be back
Song: Hair
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