Cousin Brucie Presents Chubby Checker, The Cowsills, and The Happenings LIVE! at PNC Bank Arts Center

By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery

It’s a gorgeous September 19, 2024 evening inside Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center amphitheater where an audience of thousands of music lovers anticipate the start of a free Garden State Arts Center performance of Cousin Brucie Presents Chubby Checker, The Cowsills, and The Happenings.

Garden State Arts Foundation VP Ron Gravino welcomes the large crowd to tonight’s presentation. After recognizing the various sponsors of this event including Live Nation Entertainment, Gravino also thanks GSAF executive director Cookie Santiago, Bob O’Brien, and the many volunteers and employees who contribute to the GSAF’s seasonal line-up of entertainment events.

Gravino introduces tonight’s host, Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow — DJ at New York’s WABC MusicRadio 77 — who asks, “Is everybody revved up?” before announcing, “It’s my extreme happiness to bring you sunshine rock and roll’s The Happenings!”

The Happenings — Bob Miranda, Peter Calo, and Ed Gaudio — take the stage where founding member Bob Miranda says, “ Hello, New Jersey! Are you ready for some ’60s rock and roll?” The crowd replies in the affirmative, and Miranda and Co. launch into a rockin’ rendition of The Rascals’ “People Got to be Free.”

Three-part harmonies ring out on the group’s upbeat arrangement where Miranda gets the crowd singing and clapping along.

After Miranda asks, “Are you here to listen to the music?” Ed Gaudio sings lead on The Doobie Brothers’ “Listen to the Music.” The crowd cheers, and Miranda responds, “We are The Happenings, and we have a boatload of hits to play tonight!” Here, Miranda and the group sail into their 1966 hit, “Go Away Little Girl.”

Gaudio handles the lead on The Rascals’ “How Can I Be Sure,” and the trio follows up with a rockin’ version of their 1967 hit, “My Mammy.” Next, they segue into the group’s signature song — The Happenings’ 1966 hit, “See You in September” — on an arrangement which features Miranda’s soaring falsetto lead and the audience happily joining in waving their arms and singing along on the famous “Bye, bye, baby goodbye” bridge.

Peter Calo renders a guitar solo on The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Then, Miranda impresses singing lead on a tender ballad entitled, “‘Til.”

Following avid applause, Miranda and the Happenings conclude their portion of tonight’s show with an upbeat rendition of their 1967 hit, “I’ve Got Rhythm.” Delighted by the group’s authentic 60’s feel and harmonies, the crowd cheers and rewards Miranda and the Happenings with a standing ovation.

Before Miranda leaves the stage, Cousin Brucie takes a moment to chat with him, asking, “How in the heck did you get the chutzpah to do a Gershwin song?” to which Miranda smiles and explains, “I just looked at the lyrics!”

Cousin Brucie also talks about knowing the great singer, Jackie Wilson, prior to introducing the audience to tonight’s special guest — Jackie Wilson’s son, Bobby Wilson.

Brucie asks Bobby to perform a rollicking rendition of his father’s hit, “Reet Petite,” which has the audience happily echoing Wilson on the rhythmic “Oh, oh, oh, oh” chorus as he dances around the stage.

Cousin Brucie invites The Cowsills — siblings Susan, Paul, and Bob Cowsill — onto the stage to chat where, after pointing out that Susan Cowsill is barefoot, she quips, “I’m still a hippie!”

The members of The Cowsills’ band — Brendan Cowsill on guitar, Ryan Cowsill on keyboards, Russ Broussard on drums, and Mary Lasseigne on bass — take the stage and Bob exclaims, “This is for all the flower girls out there!” as he and the ensemble launch into a swinging rendition of The Cowsills’ 1967 hit, “The Rain, The Park, and Other Things” (aka “The Flower Girl”).

After singing lead on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” Bob jokes, “This is an amazing crowd — thank you for staying up this late!”

Impressive three-part harmonies ring out on The Cowsills’ rendition of The Fortunes’ “You’ve Got Your Troubles” before Bob and his siblings follow up with a soaring version of the group’s 1967 Top 40 hit, “We Can Fly.”

Paul and Susan Cowsill sing in unison on Ian and Sylvia’s “You Were On My Mind,” before concertgoers join Paul on a sing-along rendition of John Denver’s “Country Roads.” The Cowsills follow up with a bouncy version of their 1967 Top Ten tune, “Indian Lake,” where Paul happily harmonizes with his siblings.

Susan is featured on a rhythmic rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon,” prior to acknowledging, “We made such good friends with Tommy James that, with his blessing, we get to do this fun song.” Here, the group performs a rockin’ version of Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Draggin’ the Line,” and follow up with a high-energy rendition of a TV theme song they recorded in 1969 — the theme from Love, American Style.

Bob sings lead on The Cowsills’ version of 1979’s “Let the Good Times Roll,” and Susan rocks the house with her rendition of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas “Heatwave.”

The crowd cheers, and Bob replies, “We want to come back here every year!” at which point Susan happily exclaims, “Chubby Checker knew my name backstage!”

The Cowsills end their set with a dynamic rendition of their 1969 smash, “Hair,” which has music lovers singing along with gusto on the tune’s “Oh, say, can you see my eyes if you can/Then my hair’s too short” lyric before giving The Cowsills an enthusiastic standing ovation.

Following intermission, Cousin Brucie reveals, ‘I have three heroes — George Washington, Elvis, and Chubby Checker,” prior to noting, “This guy came on the scene when we needed something — a universally accepted song that got us back on the dance floor. Ladies and gentlemen, Chubby Checker!”

Taking the stage to enormous applause, Checker, 82, opens his set sounding great on 1961’s “Good, Good Lovin’” where he belts out, “I got a lotta good lovin’/Good lovin’/Make me feel so bad,” accompanied by his band, The Wildcats, featuring keyboardist Jim Wacker, guitarist Avery Coffee, saxophonist Brian Height, drummer Harry Marion, and bassist Joe Blong, Jr.

The crowd joins in singing on the edgy and rocking “Twist It Up” and continues vocalizing as Checker sings and swings on Bobby Day’s “Little Bitty Pretty One.”

Following 1962’s rockin’ “Dancin’ Party,” Checker and Co. segue into a medley of Fats Domino hits including “I’m Walkin’” and “Blueberry Hill” where Checker’s rich, warm voice has the audience clapping and swaying as he dances on stage with his microphone stand.

Three-part backup harmonies accompany Chubby’s raucous rendition of The Isley Brothers “Twist and Shout,” and music lovers can’t help but sing along on an uptempo rendition of Joey Dee and the Starliters’ “Peppermint Twist.”

After announcing, “It’s party time, get up!” Checker performs his 1961 hit, “Pony Time.” Singing “So get with it/Don’t quit it/Get up (boogety, boogety, boogety, shoo),” Checker has concertgoers turning to the left when he says, “hee,” and turning to the right when he says, “haw.”

Checker makes his way into the audience and invites music lovers to dance with him on “Slow Twistin’” where concertgoers happily join him dancing in the aisles.

While amongst his fans in the crowd, Checker announces, “This song is for you,” and slows things down with his tune, “Changes.” As Checker croons, “I’ve been running wild through my life/I never knew which way the wind was blowing,” the band sizzles on this power ballad.

Checker announces his next number, “Hooka Tooka,” acknowledging, “It’s a stupid song,’ but I recorded it.” After singing, “Does your momma chaw tobacca/If ya momma chaw tobacca, say/Hooka Tooka my soda cracker,” Checker and the Wildcats sail into a trio of upbeat rockers including The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There,” Chuck Berry’s “Maybelline,” and Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” where Chubby has the audience echo-singing on the tune’s “Shake it baby, shake it” refrain before selecting concertgoers to come up on the stage and “shake it” in front of the crowd.

Following the country ballad, “Rolling with the Flow,” Checker and Co. perform a medley of Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue” and “All Day, All Night, Mary Ann.” Then, Checker performs his own 1962 hit, “Limbo Rock,” in which he joyfully incorporates segments of “The Mickey Mouse Club Theme” as well as interlacing snippets of hits including Elvis Presley’s “Blue Suede Shoes,” Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock,” Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” The Temptations’ “My Girl,” and Barbra Lewis’ “Hello Stranger,” including its famous “Shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby/Ooh, it seems like a mighty long time” refrain.

In a set filled with memorable moments, Checker turns heads with his live rendition of his 1960 #1 hit which resurfaced to become #1 again in 1962 — “The Twist.” Sounding just like he did on the record, Checker has music lovers singing along to this classic party song before inviting members of the audience to come up and join him in an on-stage dance party.

The crowd cheers, and Checker moves on to his 1961 Top Ten hit, “Let’s Twist Again,” where he and the Wildcats rock on to a dynamic conclusion which has the crowd responding with a heartfelt standing ovation.

“Thank you, thank you!” replies Chubby as he waves goodnight and Cousin Brucie returns to the stage to ask, “Did you have a nice time?” and thank the Garden State Arts Foundation for tonight’s exceptional performance.

To learn more about Cousin Brucie, please go to facebook.com/YourCousinBrucie. For more on Chubby Checker, please go to chubbychecker.com. For further info on The Cowsills, please click on cowsill.com. To learn more about The Happenings, please navigate to thehappenings.com. For information on future Garden State Arts Foundation concerts at the PNC Bank Arts Center please go to gsafoundation.org.