Cousin Brucie talks WABC, his free PNC Bank Arts Center Show, and Bruce Springsteen
Rock 'n' roll is here to stay, and so is Cousin Brucie.
The New York City radio legend plays the hits and more on his WABC-AM weekly “Cousin Brucie Saturday Night Rock 'n' Roll Party.”
In 2020, Bruce Morrow returned to the WABC, where he ruled the industry in the '60s and ‘70s.
“I play the '50s '60s and a touch of the '70s,” said Morrow to the USA Today Network New Jersey. “(My fans) didn’t want the '80s. They got very vehement about that. The next thing they wanted was the jingles. They wanted my original jingles back.”
Morrow's jingles include the Cousin Brucie “Go Go” theme by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, a gift to the disc jockey by the Jersey Boys in 1965 that Morrow says he has played “millions” of times.
“That floored me,” said Morrow about the fans desire for the original jingles. “I didn’t even think of them. The third thing they wanted, which really knocked me out, they wanted my echo back. I meet people on the street and they look at me and I know what they’re thinking. 'Brucie, your voice sounds different? Where’s your echo?' So immediately I say to them the batteries died.”
Morrow, 87, is still fully charged. He takes the show on the road with a Cousin Brucie concert featuring Herman Hermits starring Pete Noone, Jay Siegel’s Tokens, the Soundtrack of Our Lives starring Al Sapienza from “The Sopranos,” and Deborah Rennard from TV's “Dallas” on Thursday, July 13, at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel. Presented by Garden State Arts Foundation, the show is free. (It was postponed last month due to the smoke caused by the Canadian wildfires.)
“(Rock 'n' roll oldies musicians) are getting toward that age so that the shows at PNC, Garden State, are very important now because here (are) living albums in front of the people and that’s why they love it so much,” Morrow said. “The Garden State Arts Foundation does a wonderful thing for not only the citizens of New Jersey but for people all over. Everybody’s invited. They recognize the importance of keeping this part of Americana alive.”
Industry leader WABC made the beat, and the Beatles for that matter, for music fans in the New York City area in the '60s and '70s. It was impossible not to hear the station on Jersey Shore beaches in the summertime.
“I’ve never been this relaxed and happier at any other place than working here at WABC,” Morrow said. “It's wonderful opportunity to experience it again. I knew my shows had to be more of a variety show. The audience has become very sophisticated and they demand more than just me playing records and doing time checks and weather reports. They want information and they want to be involved. We have information and deep cuts and every once in a while I’ll play something from left field and it’s wonderful.”
Morrow departed in the mid- '70s and the station eventually dropped music and switched to a conservative talk format. It's still conservative talk on weekdays, but Morrow leads the weekend oldies music format that includes Tony Orlando, Vinnie Medugno, and Joe Piscopo playing Sinatra on Sunday nights.
More: Oh what a night! Frankie Valli, 89, marries 60-year old girlfriend in Las Vegas
Morrow has done it all, except have another well known Bruce on his show.
“(Bruce Springsteen) grew up listening to me,” said Morrow, noting that the two have met. “I like what he does. He gives me a good feeling. He’s very personal. He's one on one. When Springsteen is on stage, you don’t feel like he’s singing to 80,000 people — you feel like he’s talking to you and singing to you. He made it very personal. That is the big secret. The artist who can capture that feeling of talking directly to each person, you're a winner, you got it made. Springsteen does that and that's what I do that on my shows.”
Go: Cousin Brucie Presents with Herman's Hermits starring Pete Noone, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 13, PNC Bank Arts Center, Garden State Parkway, Holmdel. Free. Visit www.gsafoundation.org for more information
Brandi Carlile at the Basie
From the Canyon to the Basie.
That's the path of Brandi Carlile, who plays Saturday, July 8, at the Count Basie Center Summer Gala in Red Bank. The show comes a week after her “Brandi Carlile: In the Canyon Haze - Live from Laurel Canyon” debuted July 1 on HBO.
The special, filmed in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles, features rearranged versions of tracks from her “In the Canyon Haze” album. It was previously shown live in IMAX theaters across the country.
Funds raised from Carlile's Basie gala performance go toward the Count Basie Center’s Forever For Everyone Endowment, which provides scholarships for study at the Count Basie Center Academy of the Arts, Conservatory of Music and other partnership programs.
Go: Count Basie Summer Gala with Brandi Carlile, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 8, Count Basie Center for the Arts, 99 Monmouth St., Red Bank. $99 to $299; thebasie.org
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Cousin Brucie back on WABC and coming to the PNC Bank Arts Center
