Tribute to COSMO at John E's Restaurant, 9/7/07

[barbpolk]

If you were of fan of Cosmo & The Counts from Louisville's early days of rock n' roll, John E's Restaurant is having a tribute to Cosmo, a fantastic singer/performer, on Friday evening, Sept 7th at 7PM. Many of the band members from this time will be on hand to toast Cosmo and do a tune or two. This event 8-)will sell out quickly, so make your reservations - call John E's at 456-1111.

[Travis]

Wow! Cosmo and the Counts. I never really got to know Cosmo (J.T. Cosdon, Jr.?) very well, but I sure spent many a night drinking my way under the tables at Cosmo's establishment known as... The Headrest.

Now you got me started.

The Headrest Tavern had a rustic atmosphere with its hardwood floors, stained glass windows, antiques and/or just plain junk hanging on the walls. The sound system had been custom designed for the place by McDonald Sound Goods and many of the records were furnished by WLRS (whenever LRS would replace a record they would send the old copy to the Headrest).

The tables that I often drank myself under were actually large empty cable spools that had been placed on their sides. Frank & Poncho were the bouncers at the time that I was there and the place was a popular hangout for radio DJs. I first met Coyote Calhoun at the Headrest back when he was always wearing that large cowboy hat and it was there that I last saw Les Cook (now PD and morning guy at WAKY 103-5) back when he had layers upon layers of hair. But didn't we all?

Following the second WAKY-WKLO reunion, which was held at the Clifton Center in... Clifton (*pH-noRk*), I couldn't help but take a short drive to what had been the Headrest's location on the corner of Frankfort & Stiltz just to see the old place once more before leaving Louisville to return to Florida (since I'm accustomed to being up all night I prefer to drive overnight as well).

The Headrest had survived the April 3rd Tornado, but could not survive what had become the wrath of the neighborhood. There were many in the community who did not like the late night noise, traffic and sometimes unruly patrons of the Headrest, and eventually they succeeded in voting to make the community "dry" as a way of putting an end to the Headrest.

I was inside the Headrest on its final night when, at the stroke of midnight, the community officially became a dry zone. As if on cue, the authorities entered the packed establishment, stopped the music and announced that we all had to leave. The crowd began to "boo" as we filed out the doors and there were some who began to pull things from the walls to take as souvenirs. Most of us still had drinks in hand when we left the building and continued to party on the sidewalks. It's a wonder we didn't get arrested, but for whatever reason, the authorities allowed us to continue until our mugs, glasses and pitchers were empty and we just went home.

Again, I never really got to know Cosmo. He was generally there during the day or very busy during those times when I saw him there at night. It's good to know that he's still around and I hope the tribute goes very well. I sure loved his place and was never able to find another watering hole quite like it after it closed. Considering the drinking I did in those days, it turned out to be a good thing. Still, to Cosmo... SAL-LUTE!!!