Voodoo Child: Susan Cowsill

At the tender age of eight, Susan Cowsill appeared with "family band" The Cowsills on The Ed Sullivan Show.  You read that right: she was eight years old.

 She may have been a kid, but she works that tambourine and sings like she was born to be in the band with her brothers and mother.   You can't take your eyes off of her.  Whatever "it factor" was or is, little Susan had it, and in spades.  She was a groovy little chick, a real voodoo child.  And when that young lady started dancing?  Forget it.  The girl had moves.

CBS flubbed the audio on the first verse and chorus in this clip.  Stick with it; when the mikes get switched on properly, you get to hear the band's remarkable vocals.

All of the Cowsill children were the victims of their militant, domineering father, Bud.  The Cowsills were so liked by Ed Sullivan, he wanted them for an unheard-of TEN guest appearances for the show.  However, because of the audio flub by CBS at the beginning of the song, Bud had a huge argument with the Sullivan people.  

The Cowsills would only appear once more on the show.

UPDATE from October 2014: I found this clip, a medley of tunes showcasing each individual member.  Little Susan belts out "Sweet-talkin' Guy." 

Susan Cowsill today.  (She's still a groovy chick.)

2012!

Do a little dance
Make a little love
Get down tonight
Get down tonight

You said it, K.C. Happy 2012, everybody!



My resolution for this blog: 37% more Funky Soul Brothers this year!

From 1972: Why I Shall Always Refer To African-American Males As "Black Soul Brothers"

It's just cooler, that's all.

Rosey Greer and Ray Milland ARE The Thing With Two Heads!

Two trailers for this cinematic masterpiece...ribbed for your pleasure.





More power to you, brother.

Everybody Wants A Lover Like That

From 1992. Most of the clothing in this video is by Thierry Mugler, especially the metal pieces. Look at a very young and incredibly beautiful Tyra Banks!

The woman with the long dark hair and the black leatherette catsuit is none other than Julie Newmar.

There was supposed to be a catfight scene between Linda Evangelista and Shana Zadrick, but it was cut, as it was deemed too risque'.

Back in the summer of 1992, I had this cassette single and I think I played it 4,563,907 times.

A Touch Of Tuesday Weld: The Official Online Home of Shane and Debbie Klingensmith

This is for rollerfink, who reminded me recently of the obvious awesomeness that is Klingensmith.

Seriously, I kid a bit here, but Debbie Klingensmith is actually touching in her devotion to her son and his, um, talent.

"He can also do it with an English ock-sent."

From Bravo's greatest program ever, Showbiz Moms and Dads.

This Early Seventies PSA Just Makes Me Want To Do Drugs Even More

I mean, isn't the point of this clip that drugs will cause you to star in your own super-groovy episode of Scooby Doo, along with Mama Cass and The Harlem Globetrotters?

Or Don Knotts? Or Jerry Reed?



Christ, I need a Scooby Snack. Where's the peppermint bark (get it? bark? Scooby Doo was a dog? No?) I bought the other day?

1977: Pick Up The Pieces

Just a couple of bearded white guys wearing Sears knit slack casuals wailing on their saxophones...

From 1973: Kids Feelin' The Funk!

This clip really should be posted weekly. It's pretty much the single most awesome thing that has ever existed. It's also the only demonstration you need of why Seventies Kids Rule The World. You can have your Hannah Montanas and your whatshernames and whatevers. Seventies Kids had Stevie Wonder and his band, bringing pure funk into our living rooms on an ordinary weekday morning.

And seriously, this is the best version of "Superstition" I have ever heard, and since I have been Stevie's bitch pretty much my entire life, I know of what I speak.

Happy Friday, everybody. Have a good weekend. Now turn up your speakers and blow the roof off.

From 1966: Otis, Go-Go Dancers, And White People With A Pathetic Sense Of Rhythm

Ready, Steady, Go!

1966

The man had so much soul in him, it was a felony.

Remembering Otis

From 1977: dannymyers59 Goes To The Prom

Possibly my favorite pic ever from Flickr.

Vintage Hoarders: Now With 100% More Myocardial Infarctions, 100% More Hilarity

By the way, this theme song, which is the absolute definition of Funky, was written and recorded by Rashida Jones' dad, Quincy.

p.s. LOVE Rashida Jones.

Because In My Little Corner Of The Universe, You Can Just Never Have Enough Of Michael Jackson Robot Dancing

Okay, I think that I may have stumbled upon a clip that is even cooler than The Official Coolest Clip On The Planet, that of Cher doing a robot dance with Michael and his brothers on a 1976 telecast of the Cher show. (You have to watch until about the 3:50 mark, but it's so, so worth it, and you get to listen to Cher add her vocal stylings to Jackson 5 classics in the process!)

However.

Here is a clip of a Jackson 5 funkdown on The Merv Griffin Show in 1974. And as much as I love Cher and her glittery jumpsuit, I think that this clip might just be a serious contender for the Coolest Clip title (that, incidentally, I just made up as I was washing the lunch dishes...and is still more valuable than an Academy Award, but I digress).

I mean, this clip has it all. My evidence:

Michael doing a robot dance that has finally shown me once and for all what The Youths Of Today mean when they say something is "fucking SICK!"

Jermaine sporting a hairdo that looks like the afro equivalent of a porn 'stauche!

Funky soul brothers wearing pimped-out 1974-style fededoras providing the percussion and the keyboards!

Conga drums, courtesy of a Jackson brother (Randy? Marlon?)!

Stupid White People unable to get the funk going in their hearts for fifteen seconds, even for Michael Freaking Jackson! (I would have completely embarrassed myself by getting up and doing a little White Girl get-down, all totally off beat, of course. But still, that would have been cooler than Merv's All-White Audience Of Blinding Caucasian Lameness.)

And, of course...it's got Merv!

"A Sleep-Through Night." And The Following Morning. And The Afternoon.

A fantastic double-clicker, this one.

From 1971.

There's Nothing I Like Better On A Thursday Morning Than A Bunch Of Funky Soul Brothers Commemorating The Bicentennial Through The Medium Of Jumpsuits

From 1976