The Rain, The Park, The Camping & Other Things

It started on the night before I was going camping. I was on Hulu and looking for something nostalgic to watch. I decided on the very first episode of The Partridge Family. About ten minutes into it (it was a little boring), I decided to look up some things about The Cowsills.

The Cowsills were a family rock (a loose definition) band in the late 1960's made up of a bunch of brothers and their little sister and (ugh) Mommy. Like most kids in this era, I loved the Cowsills and fought every day with my friend, Patty, about if I was going to claim Barry and she was going to be stuck with John and vice versa.

The connection between the Partridge Family and the Cowsills? The Partridge Family tv show was kind of based on the Cowsill family.

Some of the things I learned the other night -- the producers of the Partridge Family originally wanted the real Cowsills to portray themselves, but they didn't want the Mom. They wanted Shirley Jones (who ended up playing Shirley Partridge in the end). The Cowsills had a problem with their real Mom not being wanted so they decided not to do the show.

Now, seriously, I have to wonder about this. Who decided that they weren't going to do the show? Did the kids get together and say, 'we love Mom so much that we are going to refuse to further our career and become tv stars and even more teen idol-ish?' Really, do you think so?

Or did Mom step in and say, 'well, if you don't want me, then you don't get my kids either.'?

Either scenario is equally dumb if you ask me.

Another thing I learned is that Barry, my favorite Cowsill, is now dead. He was living in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and went missing after the hurricane. Some three months later his body washed up along shore and was identified. The day of his memorial, the family learned that another brother, Billy Cowsill, had just died at the age of 58. How sad.

So, back to the camping thing.....the whole weekend that I was camping and even now that I'm home, I have this song stuck in my head. Its really one of the worst cases of Song Stick I've ever experienced. It just won't go away.

Misery loves company, enjoy the video clip:



In case that isn't enough, try this one:



I find the second version to be a little bit depressing. The kids are grown up and the song has lost its happy bounce. The singers are Susan, Paul in the middle and Bob.

So, anyway, I hope to soon find a new song to play in my head. Maybe writing this will kind of help to clear out my brain. Any suggestions?