December of this year will mark the 50th anniversary of my first live rock 'n' roll show. I've seen a bunch of other shows since then, and I hope to see many more. On Thursday night, Dana and I had the wonderful experience of witnessing Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill in concert at a local high school. It was, in fact, a high school production, with opening mini-sets by two teen bands and one faculty band, preceded by a solo set by the lead singer of one of the teen bands.
Sound dire? No. It was amazing. Joyous. Life-affirming. Young bands the Killer Pancakes and Clockwork (and Clockwork singer Isabella Destito) displayed talent, poise, and accomplishment, rippin' through an assortment of covers and--wait for it!--ORIGINALS that delighted the enthusiastic crowd. Faculty band After School Special likewise delivered, and John Cowsill hisself joined them onstage for a cover of Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny," recreating his own backing vocals from the original hit record. At the very end of the show, the kids joined Vicki and John for irresistible renditions of the Bangles' "Manic Monday" and "Walk Like An Egyptian." Gooseflesh.
In between all of that, Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill mesmerized the crowd with a sublime performance. The bulk of their set was drawn from their wonderful 2025 album Long After The Fire, which presented the duo's renditions of songs written by John's late brothers Bill Cowsill and Barry Cowsill; the material was just as riveting in live performance as it is on record. The pair dipped twice into the familiar catalogues of their respective rockin' pop alma maters--the Bangles' "Different Light" and the Cowsills' "Hair"--and the cumulative effect was just...just beyond. Transcendent. I can't convey in words how happy I was to be there.
I wrote this paragraph a few years back for the liner notes of the Flashcubes' live album Flashcubes On Fire, and I'm gonna repeat it yet again:
"At its best, live music is alchemy in action, capable of transforming the air around us into pure gold. This mystic process is fueled by so many ingredients, both physical and phantasmic. Sweat. Love. Lust. Hate. Alcohol. Hunger. Ambition. Greed. Generosity. Divine inspiration. Betrayal. Heartbreak. Laughter. Tears. One pill that makes you larger, one pill that makes you small. Amplifiers, power chords, the beat of the bass and drums. Voices rising in anger or exultation. Taking a sad song and making it better. One for the money, two for the show. NOISE. Beautiful, transcendent noise. The sound of gold."
Gold. Gold was in the air on Thursday night. The professionals know what gold is. The kids know it, too.
NEXT WEEK: GUITARS VS. RAYGUNS! A program of some of the (many!) real-life musicmakers mentioned in my new fiction book Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies. IN TWO WEEKS: On June 21st, our Featured Performers will be VICKI PETERSON AND JOHN COWSILL. And this is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on another Sunday night in Syracuse this week.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream, and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO.
You can read all about this show's long and weird history here: Boppin' The Whole Friggin' Planet (The History Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO). You can follow Carl's daily blog at Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do).
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Carl's new book Guitars Vs. Rayguns! Short Stories And Other White Lies will be available...soon. Definitely soon. Read about it here. Autographed copies of Carl's previous book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) are available here, and you can still get Carl's previous previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
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