Happy Birthday Moondog

That's right folks. Today, Louis Hardin, a.k.a Moondog would have turned 90 years old. I realized this while I was at work today (My simpsons calendar has famous birthdays on it, and who'da thunk it but they had Moondog on there - how rocknroll is that. instead of having people like tom cruise and madonna and justin timberlake, it puts people's birthdays up there like moondog, crispin glover, dee dee ramone, and joe strummer. another reason why the simpsons is the BSE). I saw this and realized that I had to do a second post today, I couldnt pass up the opportunity to honor one of the greatest American performers of all time (...okay, okay, top 5 moondogs of all time, go!) Granted, I don't know too much about Avant Garde/Minimalist/Modern Classical music, but I do know that Moondog is widely considered to be among the most innovative musicians of the 20th century. Moondog was born on May 26th 1916 in Kansas, and he lost his sight after a freak dynamite (!?) accident when he was 17 years old. He taught himself music and theory on his own with braille, and created a rhythmic and melodic sense that was all his own. A lot of his work is very rhythm-oriented and can be pretty mesmerizing. In the early 1940s Moondog moved to New York City and began to perform his percussion-heavy music on the street corners. He played hand-made drums, pianos, and other instruments that you wouldn't see anywhere else. The corner of 54th Street and 6th Ave. eventually became known as Moondog corner. He always had long hair, and a long scraggly beard, leading many people to chastise him for trying to rip off the "Jesus" look (who really gives a shit though). To counter the criticism from these wiseacres, Moondog started adopting a viking get up that made him stand out like a piece of my ass in a cornfield (huh?). He was already performing music that was pretty out-there for the time, and his appearance was just outright confrontational. I love the picture of him just standing there with his viking garb and spear with the tightass squares walking behind him in NYC. The idea of this guy doing something so far from the mainstream during a time when the norm was nauseating conservatism really appeals to me. The man was a blind viking playing his music loudly on the streets of new york fer fucks sake. Listen to him: "I would tell people I was born in Sasnak .... and when they would ask where it was, I would reply that it was a mysterious place. I left it for them to work out it was Kansas in reverse."
Holy shit, this guy kicks ass. Anyway, he was soon discovered by the highbrow modern classical types which led to him recording numerous albums over the course of the next several decades. His recordings vary from crazy minimalist/tribal percussion with bizarre chanting/poetry going on, to pretty complex orchestral pieces that utilize his unique melodic sensibilites (hot dam, I've always wanted to sound like a jackass record reviewer and use the term "melodic sensibilities". what a dumfuk.) I could go on about him, but I'll just point you towards this website that has tons of info on Moondog.
I'm not at a place at the moment where I can post mp3s, but when I get home I will post a bunch of Moondog's shit so you can get an idea for yerself. If you are even remotely into the avant garde/sKRONK/whatever scene, then you probably already know all about our brother, but if not, do yourself a favor and check him out. can ya dig. Check back, and my next post will have some moondog tunes, as well as getting back to this concept of the battle between two bands. maybe we'll make it a ncaa style bracket and have bands face off against each other, maybe not though. we'll see. lets go pistons (detroit rock city).