TWO MOONDOG FANS CAN'T BE WRONG

Just a few days ago I was talking to a friend about how, when I started this blog, I was hoping that a community of music freak square pegs would evolve. That hasn't really happened. To explain what I meant, I mentioned the correspondences that did happen with a guy from Norway. He'd been looking at my blog and his son, who was around eleven at the time, was so taken with Moondog after seeing him posted here that he wrote a paper for his English class on him. We've stayed in touch in the ensuing years and it's been cool. But that sort of stuff doesn't happen enough.

So, right after I had that conversation, a friend of mine sent me a link to an article about Moondog, from the latest issue of the New Yorker. Those two together were all the impetus I needed to post Moondog again.

If you're not familiar with Moondog, a brief description would be of a musician, poet and composer. One who sold his wares on the street in New York City, was blind, homeless, and wore capes, sandals and a viking helmet.

Here, from a Kickstarter page for a documentary, all sorts of factoids wrapped up in one nifty blurb:

"Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman hung out with him. Philip Glass lived with him, Janis Joplin covered his music, Allen Ginsberg stuck it on his fridge, Diane Arbus took his picture and Andy Warhol’s mother designed one of his album covers. Merv Griffin interviewed him, Lenny Bruce shared the bill, ..."

And that's just the teaser. There's more than one good profile online. There's a link to the New Yorker article and, even better, a longer profile at Priceonomics, a marketing site of all places. There's a short interview and an hour long radio special from 1971. Assorted other goodies are down there too. I'm feasting over here.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Moondog - Dog Trop mp3 at Tumblr
Moondog - Stomping Ground mp3 at Le Biglemoi
Moondog - Surf Session (streaming) at YouTube
Janis Joplin - All Is Loneliness (streaming) at YouTube Moondog cover
Full LP:
Moondog - Moondog (streaming) at YouTube Entire LP, 1969
Interview: Moondog Interview mp3 at Moondog's Corner Chicago 1972 (?)
The radio show:
Moondog: the Man on the Street - Radio special (streaming) at Internet Archive 1971, 62 minutes.
Visit:
How Moondog Captured the Sounds of New York at New Yorker
The Genius of Moondog, New York’s Homeless Composer at Priceonomics Excellent profile with song samples.
Moondog's Corner - Extensive fan site
The Viking of 6th Ave - Kickstarter page
Moondog at Wikipedia

HEY SUN RA, LET'S PARTY

You should be used to this by now. Again, tonight, just one chance click sent me off on another joyride, This time it's Moondog, If you know Moondog, you know what happened. One toe in that rabbit hole and you can kiss your ass goodbye. It started with "Bird's Lament". I'd heard it before, it still hit the spot, but it just made me want more.

If you don't know anything about Moondog, a thumbnail can't really do him justice. He was a jazz musician who lived and performed for a number of years on the street, in his oddball get ups that were, to him, full of symbolism. A lot of people just thought he was some kook. You owe it to yourself to read up on him. Check out Wikipedia to get started. See how far you fall in.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Moondog - Bird's Lament mp3 at Nevver
Moondog - Dog Trop mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Moondog - Stomping Ground mp3 at Le Biglemoi
Moondog - Surf Session (streaming) at YouTube