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Pages 91-93:
23 Jun 1995
. . .
In the evening Bruce calls, asks if I need a break. (Yes!) Wants me to come see Billy Cowsill play at the Horseshoe. Billy Cowsill is an old-time rocker on the Vancouver scene. Christine had suggested him as a possible Bucky Haight. Though we're satisfied with Julian Richings for the role, Bruce wants to check out any diamonds-in-the-rough that may be lurking out there. Billy dropped by the office earlier today and Bruce spent several hours with him, just talking, listening to Billy's rock 'n' roll stories. Bruce tells me all about Billy's trip to the bottom and the miracle of how he lived to talk about it. "Guy's the enchilada, man."
To the Horseshoe. Billy takes the stage to thunderous cheering from a fairly crowded house. He is beanpole skinny, fifty years old, with wispy black hair, a weathered blade of a face, but the long-lashed eyes of a boy. He's dressed in pointy cowboy boots and head-to-toe black denim. He proves to be a solid, earnest frontman and his band, the Blue Shadows, sound like cross between the Beatles and the Everly Brothers. The songs are pure ear candy, jammed with hummable hooks and flawless vocal harmonies. Billy cut his popster teeth in the Cowsills back in the 60s, a family band that Bernard Slade apparently used as the model for The Partridge Family. Though we don't hold this against him.
As the crowd dances and Billy stands strumming at his mike, toothpick legs spread wide, grinning when not singing, I ponder his viability as a drugged-out underground rock legend in Hard Core Logo. The pros: Billy had some harrowing and tragic years living on the street, drinking, drugging, hopelessly lost. The wear and tear shows on him, no question, which is a plus for our purposes. The cons: weathered he may be, but not in a way that says "junkie," and certainly not in a way that screams "punk." When I think of Bucky I think Iggy or Nick Cave or Johnny Thunders, not Billy Cowsill.
We meet Billy backstage afterwards. I ask him if he feels like he has a connection to Bucky Haight, and he talks candidly about being a burned-out rocker. We are interrupted by a fan. A musician actually, who gushes about seeing Billy play years ago, a pivotal moment that inspired him to do the same thing with his own life. He speaks of the debt he owes to Billy, and slips him a demo tape. I think of Joe Dick approaching his idol Bucky Haight for the first time, but there's something different here: these are country popsters, not punks. The guy moves off as soon as Billy graciously thanks him and wishes him all the best. Then Billy leans over and says, "Ya gotta encourage the young pups. They're the lifeblood, man." A last glance at the "young pup" as he leaves the room. Guy's got to be at least thirty-seven.
After we leave Bruce tells me he's now, after all, truly confirmed in his choice of Julian Richings for Bucky.
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