January in southeastern Michigan is not for the weak-hearted and easily fatigued. It comes rife with endless gray, cold, wet, and windy weather that makes Seattle seem like Acapulco and eats away at your psyche without so much as a hint of the gradual and perpetual damage. As I stepped out into the front yard of the house I was staying at in the Los Angeles-adjacent city of Glendale, California last Saturday morning and looked up at a pair of towering palm trees stretching into the blue, sunny sky, I realized that it had been three weeks since I’ve seen either - blue sky or The Sun. Such is life in southern California, and I had 36 hours to soak it up. I’d cashed in some Delta miles, coordinated with one of my best pals from my Marquette and Ann Arbor days, and snagged tickets to see The Dream Syndicate at the legendary Troubadour club in Hollywood.
Self-portrait, soaking up the California sun in Glendale on Saturday morning.
Admittedly, I wasn’t a mega-Dream Syndicate fan. I didn’t dislike them by any means, but they never really made it onto my radar in a big way for whatever reason. I’d been diving in a bit deeper in recent years and wanted to see them for a while. It was the name beneath theirs on the poster was the selling point for me: Vicki Peterson, and her husband John Cowsill. Vicki was the lead guitarist and a key songwriter & singer for The Bangles, and because of that, those in my orbit weren’t surprised that I’d be heading west for this one. I’ve been a huge fan since the Bangles came into the national light in the mid ‘80s as part of LA’s famed Paisley Underground scene (with The Dream Syndicate), and her songs were always my favorites. Plus, yeah...Los Angeles; palm trees, blue skies, and sunshine.
After thumbing through the bins at Amoeba Records and burgers & beers at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on the Sunset Strip, we hit the Troubadour a couple blocks south, on Santa Monica Boulevard. The 500-cap room is an intimate setting for sure, with a retro vibe, a ceiling taller than the room is deep, and a lounge at the front. ”This will work…” I said to myself studiously, thinking back to the last couple times I saw the Bangles in much bigger venues - Milwaukee’s Marcus Amphitheater in 1987 and Detroit’s Fox Theatre in 1989. The room filled up and Vicki and John took the stage at 8:45pm sharp.
The Troubadour - Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, CA.
John Cowsill was a key member of The Cowsills - the legendary band that is perhaps best known as the inspiration for The Partridge Family television show. Dating back to the mid ‘60’s, they made their mark with great songs and harmonies - written & sung by a group of brothers with their sister and mother - under the controlling fist of their emotionally and physically abusive father. They had a few bonafied hits and some successful years before things went south under the father’s confrontational management and parenting styles. John also did a 20+ year stint in the Beach Boys, and married a Bangle (“Married for 25 years, together for five” he quipped, after a life on the road).
Vicki, besides forming The Bangs (soon changed to The Bangles) with her sister Debbi Peterson and Susanna Hoffs, has an impressive resume herself. She is a member of the Continental Drifters and Action Skulls, with husband John and one Bill Mumy (“Danger Will Robinson”) leading that charge. She’s also filled in as hired-gun with The Dream Syndicate on a recent European run and with The Go-Gos in the ‘90s for a pregnant Charlotte Caffey. They make quite a team, Vicki and John, and the mutual love, respect, and admiration on stage was palpable.
Sound was pristine as Vicki & John stood and strummed through a set of material mostly written by John’s older brothers Barry and Bill that will be part of a release paying tribute to them; John complementing Vicki’s strong vocal prowess beautifully, adding excellent harmony, and taking some leads himself. Their producer Paul Allen (from Ten Finger Orchestra) sat at the drum kit and moved from bass and acoustic guitar at times to drums for a couple songs. Vicki played her starburst Stratocaster for most of the set, getting some tasty licks in, and even taking solos. Between that and the drums, I was surprised and pleased that it wasn’t strictly an acoustic set.
There was a lot of banter and a few stories along the way - like their separate visits to Graceland (and how Elvis’ “Eternal Flame” was ironically underwater when the Bangles were there), and tales of John’s youth, growing up in that musical family. They’d both played “The Troub” before, Vicki in her pre-Bangs days and later with the Continental Drifters (“Longest show I ever saw.” John joked under his breath with a wink), and John on a Monday night under a one-off pseudonym band-name decades prior. It felt special and unique, and while I’d have loved a wider sampling from Vicki’s back catalog, the songs suited the setting and their connection wonderfully, and it was worth the trip for sure.
The Dream Syndicate took the stage at 9:45 looking more dapper than I’d expected, to be honest. Again, the sound was pristine, somewhere between loud enough for earplugs but not blowing your skull off. They started a bit subdued and quiet, and built momentum as the set progressed. By the time they got to the fourth song “Forest for the Trees” off their classic Out of the Grey album, they were rocking and firing. I quickly regretted my lack of attention to this band over the years as their chemistry and energy did great justice to all of those fantastic songs.
Steve Wynn was gracious and humble up front, leading the band through the tight, well-rehearsed set, but it was the guitar playing of Jason Victor that had me mesmerized. Heavy delay and reverb and spacey-surf licks created a texture that was captivating and exciting. A few songs included extended breakdowns and “jams” (for lack of a better word) that I’d normally find tedious, but they ebbed-and-flowed away from and back into the groove with prowess and energy, and it was anything but boring. Vicki and John came out to lend harmonies on “Damian” and Vicki dawned the Strat and John played harmonica on the extended-closer “John Coltrane Stereo Blues.” Throw in covers by Blue Öyster Cult and Funkadelic and it was a well-rounded, fun set. Again it felt like a special night, and I counted myself lucky to be there.
While the title track from Out of the Grey was forlornly missing from the set list, that theme tied the whole weekend together, I thought, as I touched down in cloudy, wet, grey, and cold Detroit, after alarmingly abandoning our first approach at 2500 feet because of the unexpected proximity of another jet. Sunny SoCal was just what I needed to beat the Midwest-winter blues, and a healthy sampling of the Los Angeles Paisley Underground provided the perfect soundtrack.
Dream Syndicate set list: Where I'll Stand | See That My Grave Is Kept Clean | Like Mary | Forest for the Trees | Out of My Head | Damian | How Did I Find Myself Here? | Now I Ride Alone | Tell Me When It's Over | The Medicine Show | Halloween | Glide | Encore: (Don't Fear) The Reaper | Maggot Brain | John Coltrane Stereo Blues / Morning Dew
Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill set list: You In My Mind | Vagabond | A Thousand Times | Come to Me | Is Anybody Here? | Anything | New House | The Fool Is the Last One to Know
Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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