The Cosmopolitans

Bio:

Member Since:

April 11, 2006

Members:

Jamie K. Sims - songwriter, lead vocals, wooden spoons, Jaguar and Ace Tone organ
Nel Moore - vocals, harmonica, sticks, pans
Mitch Easter - guitar, drums, pies
David Itch - guitar, vocals
Evan "Funk" Davies - drums and looks
Cathy Harrington - keyboards
Jeff Dedrick - keyboards
Robert Crenshaw - drums
Will Rigby - drums and former dancer
Judy Monteleone - rhythm guitar, vocals, keyboards (tour & live shows)
..The Cosmopolitans

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Influences:

Debbie Drake, cats. Actual pet cats, that is, not that stupid Broadway show. Surfing, beaches, Louis Falco, the Left Bank, the Shangri-Las, Sam the Sham, the Ronettes, Dick Dale, Jefferson Airplane, Elvis Presley, Bela Bartok, Indian food, summer.

Sounds Like:

ALL MUSIC GUIDE (2006) . . . "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy," . . . a brisk, tight-ass groove of a number that has more going on in under three minutes time than most bands' careers. Brilliantly sarcastic spoken word delivery, a great arrangement with further help from Mitch Easter, complete immediacy throughout -- it's a perfect song then and now.. . . the tearjerker-paced "Doug," the tale of a moldering corpse looked after by his widow, feeling like they could be soundtracking some great lost John Waters musical. [Ned Raggett]



THE NEW YORK TIMES – Nov. 21, 1980 Three worthwhile new singles have come this way recently. “(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy” (Shake Records, 186 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010) is the first release by the Cosmopolitans. It’s a very funny dance number with an exercise-class chorus . . . [Robert Palmer]

MELODY MAKER – Dec. 13, 1980 The Cosmopolitans’ three-track single “(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy” is already a turntable hit in Manhattan discos. . . . [David Fricke]

NEW YORK POST – Dec. 12, 1980 The Cosmopolitans . . . will be at the Peppermint Lounge tomorrow night . . .Jamie was named after a racehorse in the Kentucky Derby, spent much of her early childhood in a green cardboard box in the backyard, . . . worked as a maid in a motel and drives a Chevy Malibu 307. . . Sounds like they walked off the set of a John Waters movie. [Lisa Robinson]

CREATIVE LOAFING - May 30, 2006 . . . Sims’ party-out-of-bounds concept of “Shangri-La’s meets the Fleshtones,” wedded to some genuinely bizarre ripped-from-tabloids lyrics, ensured no shortage of wild shows. “The audience would throw things like socks and stuffed animals at us,” Sims recalls. . . . [Fred Mills]

TROUSER PRESS - 2006 - Blend the B-52's with the Fleshtones and multiply the resulting lunacy by a factor of ten and you'll come up with something close to the Cosmopolitans . . . "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy" b/w "Wild Moose Party" (named after Sims' gargantuan house cat, a truly massive beast judging from his photo). One of the most unhinged party singles of the new wave era, it remained the evidence of the group's existence until the long-belated Wild Moose Party, which augments the single with demos and live performances. It's all amazing stuff, frantically out-of-control party music that makes bands like the Lyres seem as staid as James Taylor. The enhanced disc also contains the gloriously primitive lo-fi video for "(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy." This combo lived fast, died young and left a great-sounding corpse. – [Brad Reno]

THE VILLAGE VOICE – Nov. 19-25, 1980 “(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy,” the Cosmopolitans’ first single on Shake Records, is perfect, chirpy DOR, all squrirrely keyboards, clattering percussion – and vampy tongue-in-cheek checklist lyrics . . . They’re new wave pom-pom girls, with brains. [Debra Rae Cohen]

RECORD WORLD Single Picks – Nov. 29, 1980 . . .marvelous slice of fun . . . the ladies play and sing with unrestrained innocence.



OUI MAGAZINE – Aug. 1981 . . . They jerk, stomp, frug, and monkey with choreographed precision, then unleash a flurry of manic, made-up dance steps. With a single called “(How to Keep Your) Husband Happy” . . . you can imagine that the rest of their material runs on the odd side. “Party Boy”, “Bullworker” and “Chevy Baby” (about a couple who sells their child for a Chevrolet) are mere warm-up exercises for “Rockin’ Doctors” and “Wild Moose Party.” [Margy Rochlin]

HARP MAGAZINE – (August 2006) In 2006 the notion of a bouncy femme-pop number inspired by an early 60s TV exercise queen may seem irredeemably kitschy. But in 1980, when New York’s Cosmopolitans stormed the college-rock airwaves with “(How to Keep Your” Husband Happy,” no one winced. They were too busy dancing, chanting the Cosmos signature mantra (“Shape up, firm up, tone up – with Debbie!”) . . . the Cosmopolitans . . . bum-rushed a downtown club scene eager for a dose of hi-nrg, choreographed new wave. . . .

RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER – Apr. 27, 2006 One of the most gloriously goofy slices of cheese the new-wave era produced, "Husband" was based on an exercise record by Debbie Drake, the late-'50s queen of televised fitness. It's perfect tongue-in-cheek kitsch right down to the chanted chorus of, "Shake up, firm up, tone up with Debbie!" [David Menconi]

GARAGE AND BEAT MAGAZINE (“Sept Reviews” 2006) They were only around for a few years, but probably could have set the world on fire if they had kept at it and had been able to keep a steady lineup.

Record Label:

Bacchus Archives / Dionysus Records/ Shake Records/ Albion Records (UK)