Same chords/bass notes as “Bad Kids,” no?

Lou Miami was a local legend in the Boston rock and roll community in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Lou and his band The Kozmetix never released an LP – just four singles and two EPs in their brief 4 year career. I remember digging up the Lou Miami and the Cosmetics EP about two years ago and being blown away. His Boston accent is the most recognizable component of the Lou Miami sound, but his songwriting and the band’s performance on these songs are top notch. In “Vehicle For Love” the drums take reign over the bopping bass and guitar drive while Lou “eye-eye-eye-eye”s to pop perfection. “Dancing With Death” mocks the bland commercialism of the day in an eclectic danceable, repetitive groove. Read through the YouTube comments on that video and it is clear how highly music fans thought of the man back in his day.

In an interview on local TV program 30 GO, Lou described his outlook on live performance:
“A lot of bands just stand there and play, which gets kind of boring. I think the audience wants to be entertained. They want to forget that they work in a factory…that that’s all they do forty hours a week. They want to go somewhere to scream and yell and go crazy. You have to be up there screaming, yelling, and going crazy to get them to do it too.”

The legend of Lou Miami lives on, check out his music if you have not!

LOU MIAMI singing DANCING WITH DEATH

Dancing with Death – LOU MIAMI

I wish I had clearer pictures of him. The photos below were taken in 1981 at a tiny club called the Inn Square Men’s Bar (a great club that shut down in 1984), and they didn’t allow the use of a flash. My Pentax K1000 shutter was open as much as I dared in the low light. Too far open and the shots would have been a complete blur; Lou moved around a lot as he performed.

Jane, Eric and I saw Lou a lot those days, but these seem to be the only photos I have. If we were ever up for a Monday night gig (which didn’t happen often — we were usually recovering after the weekend), Lou played at Cantone’s every Monday. He was a an energetic and ALIVE performer. Unfortunately Lou Miami passed away in 1995, but those who were lucky enough to see him will never forget him.

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Lou Miami & The Kozmetix

Lou Miami (1956–1995) was a punk musician based in Boston. His group, The Kozmetix, was popular on the local scene and released two EPs. He combined a rough punk sound with a glam-influenced choice of clothing.

As was typical for many punk bands at the time, the Kozmetix regularly played at The Rathskeller (the Rat), the Channel, Jonathan Swifts, Cantones, and Spit as well as NYC haunts such as the Peppermint Lounge and the old Living Room in Providence RI.

Lou Miami and the Kozmetix also regularly played the Inn-Square Men’s Bar in Inman Square, Cambridge. Many Harvard Law students of that era proved to be among Lou’s biggest fans.

On The Kozmetix, Miami was the lead singer, Jack Rootoo played lead guitar, H.P. (aka Helen Privett) bass, Dolores Paradise organ, and Laural Blanchard drums.

During the band’s touring years of 1979–1981 the Kozmetix lineup was Lou Miami on vocals, Jack Rootoo guitar, Bill Norcott on bass and Melody Chisholm on drums. Bill and Melody came to the Kozmetix from their previous band Phobia. This lineup had a regular Monday night gig at Cantones for two years as well as appearing at numerous clubs in the Boston area. The group was managed by Joan Martin.

In a clever bit of marketing, their first 45 — with “Fascist Lover” on the A side and “To Sir with Love” on the B — was sold in a white plastic cosmetics bag that mimicked a Lord & Taylor shopping bag. It contained the memorable line “A fascist lover that made my mother and then my mother made me!” Their LP Lou Miami & The Kozmetix was produced by Ann Prim and Karen Kirby both from the Boston band November Group.

Lou Miami died in Los Angeles in August 1995. Jack Rootoo (aka Richard “Rick” Galivan) died in Massachusetts on June 13, 2008.

Please enjoy these two video clips of Lou Miami and the Kozmetix. The first is “Fascist Lover” from 1982 at The Channel in Boston. The second is a cover of “To Sir With Love” from 1981 at the Channel.