Did You Know That ...

That in addition to the above reference, The Cowsills were mentioned one other time on the David Letterman show? In a 2004 interview Bob said he remembered watching TV one night and hearing: “And now the man who thought the music business would never be the same since The Cowsills retired, David Letterman.”

That The Cowsills were the first entertainers ever to perform on The Today Show.

That Artie Kornfeld resigned from Mercury Record in protest of Mercury dismissing The Cowsills? Yep, that's what Artie told me in March of 2006.

That Barry was once a singing waiter at a restaurant called Hi-Pockets in Hollywood.

The first TV show that Billy and Bob were on was in Cleveland, Ohio and was called the Gene Carroll Show.

Travis once recorded a song on a CD called Politically Incorrect 1994. The song was called "Dwarf Tossin'".

According to a listing on eBay, The Cowsills once considered recording a version of "Trying To Make It Till Monday," a song recorded on Apple Publishing by a group named Grapefruit and probably from a batch of masters cut in late 1967/early 1968 with Terry Melcher (whom of course has many Beach Boy ties).

One pressing of the single "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things" included a mistake? It did. Some 45's got out with the River Blue label on both sides.

That Jann Wenner, publisher of Rolling Stone read Billy and Barry's names in the list of "Those We Have Lost" at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction '06 in March 2006.

That The Cowsills were mentioned on The Larry Sanders Show? Jeffrey Tambor - as Hank Kingsley - spoke the quote. Click here to listen.

That Howard Stern talked of Barry's passing on his show? He did on this 02/06/06 show.

Vanity Fare, a British group, had an album undoubtly a take on the Cowsills "The Rain, The Park and Other Things." The name of the album was The Sun, the Wind, and Other Things.

That "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" was a part of a show called Vicki's Valentine Thing. Not sure when this aired but the reference came from the New York Times in an article dated February 6, 1987.

That The Cowsills had an unissued record on MGM? According to this MGM history, record E/SE-4575 is listed as "The Cowsills [unissued]". This was after Captain Sad (released in September 1968) and before The Best Of The Cowsills (released in January 1969).

The younger Cowsills attend Hollywood Professional School. This school has been torn down, but it was at 5400 Hollywood Blvd on the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Serrano Ave. (This is a little over a mile east of the famous Hollywood and Vine intersection.)

The Cowsills were a part of a show sent to Vietnam for the troops over the Holiday season in 1967? Yep they were. Check out this video on youtube.com with a 'different' video for TRTP&OT.

There is a group called Rock that does Susan's song Wawona Night? You can hear it on their myspace page.

Once when I ask John Cowsill if he had recorded with a girls group called Sidesaddle, he answered yes and added " i have this thing for all girl bands. lol ". Besides the obvious Bangles connection, there is more proof of this fact. John recorded on a never released 1983 recording with a group called The Heaters which included Theresa Robertson, Maggie Connell and Missy Connell.

That Hair writer James Rado said he liked the Cowsills version of "Hair"? A 2007 interview:

Jeff Ircink I especially like The Cowsills' version of HAIR, especially with that drum pitter-patter in the beginning…but I thought it was wonderful. James Rado Yes…I thought so.

That The Cowsills were mentioned on Saturday Night Live on November 21, 1992 during the "Weekend Update with Kevin Nealon"? Yep, the segment was as follows:
The high ratings of the miniseries "The Jacksons" on ABC, and "Sinatra" on CBS, have prompted third-place NBC to announce plans for its own miniseries "The Cowsills".

That Tiffany Cowsill was part of the movie Cabin Boy starring David Letterman.

That when Christian Love was ask "Who in the beach boys is the funniest (playing jokes, that sort of thing)" he unconditionally answered "John Cowsill"

That John is a part of a tribute DVD made by Billy Hinche titled Dennis Wilson - Forever

That Susan is a part of a project called Poems For New Orleans honoring her home post Hurricane Katrina.

That there is another Cowsill connection to Canadian singer Colin James other than Billy? Well there is. Waddy Watchel - who has long time Cowsill connections - played guitar on Colin's 1995 CD Bad Habits.

The Cowsills have an LP that was release only in Italy? Tis true. This album included "Cerco Un Amico" (In Need Of A Friend), "Le Opere Di Bartolomeo", "Vola Con Noi" (We Can Fly), "Mister Flynn", "Yesterday's Girl", "Beautiful Beige", "The Rain, The Park & Other Things", "Grey Sunny Day", "Heaven Held", "A Time For Remebrance", "Gotta Get Away From It All", "What is Happy?"
Now we've all heard "Le Opere Di Bartolomeo" and "Vola Con Noi," but have you heard "Cerco Un Amico"? Click here to take a listen.

That Billy was part of a CMT documentary in 2001? He was and it was called Farm Tracks, A Celebration of Roots Music

That on July 30, 2009 The Beach Boys joined The Cowsills on their stage at the RFD-TV theatre in Branson, Missouri and on the following night The Cowsills joined The Beach Boys on their stage at the fair in Springfield, Missouri?

That The Cowsills once recorded a promo segment for St. Jude children's Research Hospital? Click here to read/hear more.

That The Cowsills sang on a song recorded by Snake? Snake wanted to share with us. Click here to hear more.

That as of September 2009, there is a bench in Kings Park, Newport, Rhode Island dedicated to Bill and Barry Cowsill. Thanks to Tim and Jess Bartholomew for all the hard work in getting this done!

That John Cowsill appeared as a Ludwig Artist at a signing for the 2010 NAMM Convention. John is also part of the 2010 Vater Drumstick Catalog. And what kind of sticks does John use? NUDE 5A WOOD

That at the end of The Beach Boys Dancing With The Stars show that John was spotted pointing at someone? He was and that person he was pointing to was his beautiful wife (per Vicki's tweet).

That Ryan Cowsill not only plays keyboards with The Cowsills, but he also plays them for The Cocanuts, a group of musicians who were also baseball buddies back in high school.

That a group called Bordersnakes released a 2010 CD including Billy's song "Riding Only Down." The CD is called Brothers and is dedicated to Billy.

That while The Blue Shadows had t-shirts with the motto "Low Tech, High Torque," Billy produced a band - called The Burners who had the same Motto? And two members of that group would join Billy later in The Co-Dependents, they being Tim Leacock and Ross Watson. Billy also played percussion and sang on this project.

That during those Mercury / Phillips Records years, the Cowsills publishing was held by a group called Alouette. It was when Artie Kornfeld began to produce The Cowsills, that they ask for their publishing back and were given it.

The Cowsills backed Kevin Dunn in a true cowboy song in 2010? Click here to take a listen.
(Note: Billy had worked with Kevin in the past.)

John's son is carrying on the tradition with a love for Beatles songs. Will was part of a band who played a talent show at the end of the 2010 school year.

"Indian Lake" was released on MGM with two different labels? First the old style black on and then the new blue & gold.

Susan's Lighthouse was used as inspiration for art that was then auctioned off as a benefit for The Westerly Land Trust in Westly, Connecticut? Here's the news article

The Cowsills were once considered to do acting/music for an Elvis Presley movie? The movie was called Chattauqua. Note: Magazine article to follow

John was once a part of a power-pop group Caliber (name later changed to Fast-Forward) in the early 1980's.

There is a musical called, Have A Nice Day!, that is a performance by a fictional singing group who sing songs from the 70s to try and save the world from a bummer day. The songs include Cowsill songs!

Bob's son, Jason, and his wife are in a group called The Blue Valentines.

As of 2011, there are two Cowsill documentaries in process? Yep, the most known is A Family Band, but also in the works is Rhythm From The Rains which chronicles Susan's trip to Rwanda.

That Bob Cowsill was a judge in a "I Wanna Be A Rock Star" competition at the Capitol Civic Centre Concert on July 30, 2011. Wonder who will win. (Note: This was posponed to a future date after being advertised.)

John joined his beautiful wife Vicki for a show "Vicki Peterson & Friends" on May 30, 2011 at Rhino Pop Up Store . The Newylweds together sang "This One Thing" "Anything" "A Thousand Times"

Vicki Peterson Cowsill has written a song inspired by Barry Cowsill called "This One Thing". A show at Four Friends Art Gallery, Thousand Oaks, March 19, 2011, John Cowsill even played the mouth trumpet solo in Barry's honor.

That Bob Cowsill co-wrote a Psycho Sisters song with then future sister-in-law Vicki Peterson called "Never, Never Boys"

That yet another Cowsill has appeared with The Beach Boys? It sounds like Will Cowsill joined the band playing guitar for one number in New Jersey on August 17, 2011 !! Word has it that his daddy "beamed during this young man’s appearance."

Vicki Peterson Cowsill wrote a song called “Circles in the Sky” as a birthday present for her sweetie husband. PS John also sings back up on this song on the Bangles new CD due out in September 2011.

That John Cowsill threw out the first pitch at a professional baseball game in 2011? He did indeed. Click here for the proof!

That according to Al G on Facebook, one of the C's first performances was at a place called McGann's. It was close to the Rotary Club and Barbara worked at McGann's.

That when ask what advice he would give a new musician, Bob states: "Well first, get good at what you do. Then once you have something that you’re good at, and you want people to hear it, get on the internet and take advantage of all the free ways of marketing yourself, that cost you nothing. You get a YouTube presence, you play, you put it on YouTube. That’s number one. I only say that because you can do that immediately, without a record deal, without any help. That gets you out there. And when you go looking for bigger stuff, you’re gonna have to be tough, you’re gonna hear “no” a lot, you’ve gotta hang in."

That when ask what advice he would give a new musician, John states: "[laughs] I don’t have any advice. I mean, you either do it or you don’t do it. You either like it or you don’t. I guess, do it for the right reason – because you have to. I could say “practice”, but an aspiring musician’s going to be doing that anyway. It’s a weird business. I know so many guys better than me, and so many guys better than the other guy, and certain guys who are shitty have got gigs, guys who are great don’t. I don’t understand the math, actually." Other sources quote John on the same subject: "If you're all into being a player then do it. Whatever kind of music you're into. But I got to say if you really want to have a good shot at working as a pro then you better be striving to be the f***ing best and know your s***. Reach for the educator level. I wish I had done that but I was busy working the 2/4 4/4 circuit." And elsewhere he says: "My advice is put on the headphones, turn up the music, and play with your favorite bands. I do it when I'm home for two hours a day."

That there is a Restaurant on Staten Island, New York called The Burrito Bar that has a burrito named after the Cowsills? Yep The burrito is a 12" flour tortilla stuffed with rice, beans, cheese, guac, sour and lettuce along with beef in a red sauce.

That the Norton family of Norton Anti-virus bought the property that once held the Cowsills home in Santa Monica? So they say!!

That there are at least two labels for Cowsill records with mis-spelling on it? Yep. On one version of "All I Really Want To Be Is Me" Bob's name is spelled Box. And on one version of "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things" the Cowsills name is spelled Coswills.

Box vs Bob

Coswills vs Cowsills

That a tribute band was being formed in Nashville in August 2012? It's true. A Craig's List ad was posted looking for a Susan to fill out the band.

That Michael Jackson was a Cowsill fan? Yep according to a blog by Andrew Rush (an employee in an Haight Ashbury Record store). Andrew talks on a late night visit from Michael and says " ... I’ll just have to get to the memories randomly, as the magic really hasn’t had time to coalesce in my mind. He kept singing that line from “The City of New Orleans” by Arlo Guthrie, “Good morning, America, how are you?” He smelled kind of like a Catholic priest. They all were wearing cologne. But Michael had the scent of the super-rich, reclusive count. We played one of his favorite songs for him at his friend’s request: “Lightning Strikes” by Lou Christie. We didn’t have any records by the band that does his favorite song, The Cowsills. He asked for Free Design but we didn’t have it. He also wanted 101 Strings. He bought a lot of Harry Belafonte, Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Temple, boys’ choirs, Disney stuff, and a lot of 60’s pop. . . . "

The real story about the name of the song "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things"? Artie Kornfield says: "I was about a week from releasing the Cowsills. 'The Rain The Park' was going to be the B side and 'Come Around Here', the Mowtown classic was to be the A side. MGM President Mort Nassiter asked me to come to a meeting about the release. They told me that because I wrote 'TheFlower Girl' I was not secure in going with it. They had tested it out at radio and it way outperformed the Motown. Then, out of nowhere the Pres said "Artie, because Scott McKensie has a hit with 'If Your Going to SF wear flowers in your hair', we need a title in the next hour so we can start pressing the record. Out of nowhere, but somewhere spiritual inside me, I say for some reason "Let's call it 'The Rain The Park and Other Things.' Why, I have no idea but over the years of hearing it on the radio I realized it was a prediction of Woodstock, yet to be thought of, and the loss of my Wife and Child. "Suddenly the sun broke through and all I had left was one little flower my hand." Little did I know that the little flower would be famous as I caressed it in the Movie interview. When you least expect it from me, expect it."

Speaking of "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things", it was recorded at 799 7th Avenue Studio A1, a Columbia studio.

799 7th Ave

799 7th Ave

That Paul has been a greensman on such projects as the movies in the Twilight series and the 2013 TV series Grimm

That The Cowsills were part of the premier of this season's Mad Men on 4/17/13? Yep, take a look.

That you can buy yourself the drum head art of the Cowsills logo? Yep, check it out.

According to Bill Mount of Drumcircle LLC, a marketing consultant, The Cowsills "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" was used in Claritin/Vioxx commercials.

That one of the first - if not THE first - management companies for The Cowsills was Juci Management Corp in New York City? Located at 1631 Broadway in New York City.