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I recently heard a new song by Susan Cowsill. . .If that means anything to you, then you were probably a kid in the 1960s.
You may remember her by her most famous line: "And spaghetti."
That's what she sang on "Hair" when her musical family - known, of course, as the Cowsills - made a hit of the song from the hit play of the same name.
She also sang backup vocals and played a mean tambourine. That's what she did the most of when I saw her with my father and my sister at the Michigan State Fair.
I was 9 or 10 at the time. It was before TV based the Partridge Family on the singin' 'sills.
My older sister had a crush on one of the brothers. I think it was Barry.
My sister and I were listening to one of their records and I noticed Susan, the youngest of these groovy California Von Trapps. I thought she was cute. It was also pretty cool that she was only my age and touring and recording with a "rock" group. Actually, more of a pop group, but at that time, I was still in denial about the Monkees being a made-for-TV, bargain-bin version of the Beatles.
I wanted to be a rock star when I grew up - or "group" as I called it at the time, according to my mother.
I probably wouldn't have given Susan Cowsill too much thought, except that our father was going to take my sister and me to see her family perform in that heady atmosphere of circus freak tents and sweet aroma of sno-cones and corndogs.
We were about as unclear about the concept of a "concert" as I had been about the meaning of the word "group." We thought it would be like an episode of the Pre-Fab Four in that when the 'sills weren't singing, we'd be riding the Scrambler and sharing elephant ears with them. After all, we were their biggest fans and we figured they'd sense this.
Of course, we found out our role in the concert was to sit there in the bleachers and get lost in the crowd. We were young, so we quickly got over the realization that we'd have to ride the Zipper by ourselves.
My sister and I still have a good laugh every now and then about our ridiculous, embarrassing innocence at the time.
Also, the Cowsills still have a great nostalgic pull to us, as much because of our delusional fantasy as because of their music.
So, I just want to say this to Susan Cowsill, even though I know she's not reading this: I'm glad to see you're still at it and I enjoyed hearing your song.
But just for your information, I get sick on the Tilt-A-Whirl.
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