Cool and Strange Music! Magazine - 05 - May 1997-Aug 1997

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Music!® e Stran And l:ool ------------------- Magazine ISSUE # 5

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f'e:t!i~eTe:t! Te IJnu~uef ~eunt!~ ·HAPPY-GO-GROOVY MUSIC!

AND THE DISCOTHEQIJE CRAZE! $3.95USA

.......-. - - .... LUlllJ J~l1

OJol And Strange Music!® Magazine

Publisher/EJitor: Dana Countryman Layout anti Design: The Same Guy Executive Atlvisor: Keith 8. Ellis Proolreacler: Tricia Meier Printing Services: Consolitlatetl Press Seattle, WA This Issue's Contributing Writers: Art Ferrante Wilhelm Murg Michael Davia Toth Teti Hering Jell Chenault Davia Greenberger Dave Guhlow

COOL AND STRANGE MUSIC MAGAZINE is published on a quarterly basis by Dana Countryman for Labor Of Love Productions, in association with Waytoomanyfonts Design. All contents are copyright 1997 Ta-Dahl Productions, Inc., unless otherwise noted. Single copy price: $3.95. A years' subscription (4 issues) for the U.S.A and Canada is just a measly $12, $25 overseas (U.S. funds only). U.S. and Canada: make checks payable to COOL AND STRANGE MUSIC! MAGAZINE. Because ofthe adult nature ofsome ofthe art, you must state your age and include your signature. Unsolicited manuscripts/articles are welcome, but must be accompanied by a SASE for return. All letters mailed, faxed or e-mailed to COOL AND STRANGE MUSIC! MAGAZINE may be printed, unless requested otherwise by the sender. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher. Not to be sold to minors or people who live on Rucker Ave. Distributed by: Tower Magazines, Sacramento, CA• Fine Print Distributors, Austin, TX •Desert Moon Periodicals, Santa Fe, NM• Get Hip Distributors, Pittsburgh, PA •Small Changes, Seattle, WA

Cool And Strange Music! Magazine P.O.Box 8501, Everett, WA.98201 USA, Planet Earth e-mail: [email protected] NEW Fax#: (425) 303-3404 f1JOI And Strange Music!"' ------'=ei ..R-ubio Trip.J..ets CZ> ..Re'Vi.ews byJef:fC.he:n.au.J:t ..Bi.J...J..y ..l.U""Ure ..Records! ..Bellyda.n.ci.n.g .ll'i"a..n.ia.: Co"'ll"er b y Wil.heh:n .IllLu.rg Fu.n. Wi-£.h. ..Records .P.repared .Pia.n.o ..IU"ei:n.ories b y A r t Ferra:n.~e b y .Da-v-e Gu..h.low ..Record .I>eai.ers ~i.n.ts byWil.heh:n .IllLu.rg ~asil Adki.n.s Stra.n.ge C.J..assifieds

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GRE.ATBJ:G COOL.AND 1\TGE S TH.A1\TKYOU'S!: Special thanks to the following Cool folks for making the FIFTH Issue of our Strange magazine another HEAP BIG success! ...

Annie Sattler • Lou Smith Miriam Linna • J.R. Williams Wayno • R. Seth Friedman • Keith Ellis Michael Agostino • Shannon Starr .__. FF Morris • Scott Smith • Don Pierson Jim Horan • Frank Davis • Tricia Meier ••• and a partridge in a pear tree. Fifth Issue! •May '97· August '97

Strange Musicr fAJOI And --Magazine ---

.Aiid .n.ow, a .few words fro.in. our .Ecli-eor.. ~

11appy··n1rtfi·Jay·:r~·1y~;· We are 0He Year Old! Hi kids! This issue marks the First Anniversary of Cool And Strange Music! Magazine! !rs been: 1) an AMAZING experience, 2) great meeting all of you via the mail, internet fax, etc., and 3) a HELL of a lot of work! So many of you have written in to say "Thanks for creating a magazine like this". lrs very rewarding to hear comments like that. My reason for starting the publication was that I kept waiting for SOMEBODY to put out a magazine like n. It was obvious to me, based on the impact of the "Incredibly Strange Music" books, that there were others besides myself interested in wacky and unusual music. I figured nwas just a matter oftime until amagazine came out on aregular basis, aimed at the same market. So when nobody DID start printing one, I decided to jump in and start producing one myself. I knew NOTHING about publishing and the extent of my writing was one artide I wrote for GOLDMINE in the summer of 1995. The idea to enterthe world of publishing hn me on February 12th, 1996. I already had acomputer, given to me by my parents, and I also had some excellent publishing software which was given to me by my friend, Keith Ellis (a successful publisher). The first issue was in production for four months, and was a xeroxed, 32page debut. To cut costs. the magazine was handcollated by myself, Keith and my Dad in my parents' living room! We spent hours sorting and stapling by hand, ajob Iwould Vvish on NO ONE! Isent out about 400 free copies of that First Issue to anybody who sent me their address, and qune afew of them liked nand subscribed. Later, another 150 or so were sent out until those,too, weregone. lntheFirstlssue,Ihad several columns about Exotica, Space Age Bachelor Pad, etc. By the Second issue, I decided to abandon the columns, since so much of that kind of infonmation is readily available to anyone on the Internet Idecided to concentrate on feature artides and the basic fonmat of the magazine was set. ' The Internet continues to enable me to come in contact with so many great wrners and artists all over the world who've contributed to the magazine and really make all the difference. Their hard work is a labor of love for them (and myself), and their Vvillingness to eagerly contribute to the magazine constantly amazes me! Ijust cant say enough about all the contributors who make this magazine what it is today. And I am just blown away by the amount ofTALENT my contributors have! There are so many other people to thank for their important contributions behind the scenes. I dont want to leave anyone out, but I really have to single out a few who befriended and encouraged me in the first early months, when I needed reassurance that I was on to a good thing. First I must thank Phil Nohl, publisher and ednor of The Soundtrack Collector, who befrien\led me, advised me on his photo scanning

C'10I And Slrange Music!" Magazine

techniques and really enthusiastically supported my hare-brained idea. Next, Craig Andersen really went beyond the call of duty (and continues) to go the extra mile with his friendship and contributions. Before embarking on this publishing journey, I admired Craig's shortlived 'zine, The Off-Center Record, and quizzed him for advice and infonmation regarding his experiences in the world of self-published music magazines. Many thanks to Wayno for providing the wonderful covers for the magazine, that really given eye-catching personalny, and forbeing involved from the beginning. Also, extreme thanks to my old high school newspaper alumnus, Keith Ellis for getting me started thinking about doing this project by his example, and answering my continual questions about software problems and journalistic dilemmas. Many afrantic late-night phone call to Keith saved the day (or nightl) The ultimate thank-you must go to my Vvife, Tricia Meier-Countryman. She continues to patiently bear with me, as I constantly talk WAY too much about the magazine and my adventures Vvith n.She helps me in a major way, proofreading each word that is typed, before nfinally goes to the printer. She's caught many a txxrboo, and any that have snuck in have been purely my fauft! Without her tolerance, and patience with my staying up all night, slaving over a hot Macintosh, I could never have pulled this off. I have the highest goals for this magazine as we head into our Second Year. Iwould love to have a4color cover, glossy paper and more pages, but these things Vvill come as the magazine continues to grow. For now, my goals are to stay at the physical size we are now at and consistently provide aqualny product geared towards presenting short-but-sweet artides about unusual artists and their music! Finally, my heartfelt thanks to all of the subscribers, advertisers and readers all over the world! We have grown to acirculation of about 1400, and besides the USA and Canada,also have subscribers in Japan, England, Austria, Belgium, Australia, France, Genmany and many other countries.Thanks for proving my idea was aworthwhile one,and telling me how much you enjoy my magazine! Please help me out by continuing to wrne in, comment and make suggestions. lrs an old diche', but nhappens to be true ... without all of the readers and advertisers' support there would not be AINY magazine. Thanks, and I hope you all continue to enjoy and contribute to the Cool And Strange Music! Magazine! Thank you all.

fifth Issue!• May '91· August '97

_... eoo,,,..... EGQ.GOI (Coronet CSX245, n/d) (No Artist Listed) DISCOTHEQUE! (Design/Pickwick OLP l BO, n/d) unless you want it simply for the cover, avoid this consumer exploitation LP with generic Big Band and lame rock with little or no resemblance to the "discotheque sound" (No Artist Listed) DANCE ATTHE DISCOTHEQUE (Somerset SF22000, n/d) almost as much of a rip-off as the Design LP; label title reads differently as, "DANCEHITS by GUEST ARTISTS" ©1997 MICHAEL DAVID TOTH !ester lanin THOROUGHLY MODERN (Audio fidelity 2160, 1967)

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,_. • Ch,c:aSo C.That Todd1'nS: Town) • F•anlde and lohnn'e • The Man on the Fh''n.9: T•apeze • lt"s Been A. LonS,. LonS: T'me • Rudolph The lled .. ~.... 0

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tional exchange with them. At its most accessible level, an emotional exchange can be the friendly back-and-forth of joking around with someone. Get to know someone's sense of humor and you're through the first door of their emotional world. I do know that Jack had been in-

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by David Greenberger

ack Mudurian was born May 23, 1929. He moved into the Duplex Nursing Home in Bosii ton in 1980, which is where I ~ met him. I was working there z at the time as the activities director, a job which I quit a couple years • later. This was followed by a move to New York sta te in 1984. Once re~ .., located, I'd still return regularly ~ ; to Boston and the nursing home for visits, as well as to gather ma~ terial for my ongoing publica~ tion, The Duplex Planet. I'd always see Jack on these visits, which continued until 1987, when the home closed suddenly in bankruptcy. Jack was transferred to a nursing home in Cambridge, from which he was discharged shortly thereafter, to live with his brother. And that's when I lost him. The trail went cold. I've lost contact with many people throughout my life. They were friends, neighbors or coworkers at one time, then they or I- were gone. Jack joined that pantheon of relationships moved to the ephemeral world of synapses and memory banks. That's where he lives now, along with many other people I was once in regular contact with. People I called friends and would still gladly stop by for a chat with, if I only knew where they were. What do I know about Jack? Not a lot of facts. But anyg way, facts don't always tell the ~ real story of someone. Knowing ~ someone is the sum ofboth the real data ~ of where they've been, what they've ~ done and where they're going, along with the more powerful emotional por~~ trait that's drawn by some level of emo-

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Jack, Jack Mudurian

stitutionalizedinone facility or another for a considerable portion of his life by the time I'd met him. He was 51 then and had a nervous energy about him akin to mainlining caffeine. He also had

the nicotine-stained fingers of a chainsmoker. He loved his coffee and cigarettes. (The photo of Jack which graces the cover of the CD, Downloading the Repertoire (Arf Arf AA-057), features him drinking a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, which had been purchased for him by Jad Fair, who'd just performed on the nursing home's back porch. He wolfed it down in a gulp, turned to Jad who was standing beside him, and said, "You buy one good cup of coffee!" Jack, in conversation, liked to sort of riff on the end of his sentences, rounding them off with a series of appended personalizations. "That's right. That's right, Dave, David Greenberger." He would often walk away still improvising with the myriad possibilities of the sentence that had just come out of him. On Friday night, June 12, 1981 a talent show was held at a church near the Duplex Nursing Home. I helped organize it, and also dragged over the PA system from my band's (Men & Volts) rehearsal room nearby. The participants were from a handful of a; nursing homes in the neighborfjl'hood, as well as some children gfrom the church itself. I told nu0merousfriendsofminethatthey ';.should make it a point to attend ~this show, but none of them did. £I did, however, record the evening and that tape circulated for years before being released on CD last year as The Talent Show (Arf Arf AA056). The show was presented in the

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church's large, multi-purpose highceilinged social room. Adding a further twist to the proceedings, the stage had just been painted that day, so each performer stood in front of the stage. (The only problem occurred during the young drummer's solo in "Here Comes the Sun," when his trap kit started scooting in all directions across the tile floor.) Jack's appearance was about midway into the show. It's a startling stream-of-consciousness medley, dropping into seemingly unrelated selections for an excerpt before moving abruptly on. Some time around when he repeated a selection, it was dawning on a few people running the show that Jack had no real intention of ever stopping. His performance was brought to a gentle close as a woman walked out to him, applauding, which brought on an ovation from the entire audience. Three days later I was back at work at the home. I brought along a pocket-sized cassette recorder and went with Jack outside onto the back porch. Forty-five minutes later one side of a ninety-minute cassette was filled with one continuous 129-song medley (although I didn't know that was the tally until I counted them more recently, in preparation for its release on CD) In the years between the recording of these two performances of Jack's, and their release, there have been a few glimpses of his vocalizing. Jad Fair has been performing a virtually verbatim rendition of the Talent Show medley. Bits from the back porch session have been sampled and used in recordings by Kramer ("The Bosom Friend"), the Egomaniacs ("Father's Day") and Dogbowl ("Palm Wine on Palm Sunday"). Jack can also be seen in Jim McKay's Duplex Planet documentary, Lighthearted Nation, and he makes a brief appearance in the Paul Athanas/Jay Rooney film, Your Own True Self.

Those performances stand as fine testimony to one man's life, in all its quirky vigor. Additionally, many of the quotations attributable to Jack Mudurian (and originally published in The

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"If you fall on your bike early in the day, chances are you'll get a headache later in the day."

"I follow in Harry Houdini's footsteps, you know that Dave? Harry Houdini is an escape artist, he's dead and buried now-he ain't livin' -and I'm followin' in his footsteps. I escaped from the Boston State Hospital and I ain't goin' back. I feel like I'm in heaven when I'm on the second floor of this place."

Duplex Planet) also bear the rich power of truth imprinted with a distinct personality. I'll step aside and leave the final words to Jack: "I'm happy to see you, Dave . You're not big, but you're a little bigger than me. I get along with you, Dave." "There's two Gloria Swansons and one of 'em's bigger than me, and the other one's smaller than that. I found out from Ron Gultz, the Boston cab driver, that one of them died - I don't know which one." "My brother says that he finds cats are more better able to care for themselves than dogs. Dogs aren't on an equal footing with them at all. That's the way my brother finds them, especially in cold weather - snow, sleet, ice. (A cat crosses the street) That cat just crossed the street because it's a nice day out and I hope it stays that way Dave, from this day on."

"Everything belongs to someone. Tele" vision, radio, Motorola ~ radio in the dashboard :i' of a car. Boat, an air~ plane, motorcycle, ::l' motorscooter, motor§ bike, ice skates, skis, ;!! heater in the car, magic carpet - that's all. What else? Divan, bed, warm blanket, clock, food, smokin' pipes, and I can't think of anything else. Automobile, bicycle, shirt, belt - hey Dave, can you get me a new belt? I'm trying to get a new belt, I need a new belt. Cigarette lighter, water fountain, bubbler, chewing gum, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, eye glasses, hat, cap, ring on your fingers, wrist watch, cigarette holder, cigarette pack in your shirt pocket, moustache, shoes, sneakers, bedroom slippers, brown corduroy bedroom slippers, ring - I already said ring - fountain pen, ballpoint pen, a barber's shears to cut men's hair, a washing machine that automatically washes your laundry for you - like in the laundromat. I'm going to get a drink of water."

©1997 David Greenberger

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JOIN B-~IVE. The only B-52's J:'an Club in the Universe! 4 issues, stickers, membership card, and surprises! Only $10 ($15 international) check or m/o, payable to M1'TS SEXTON.

f! ~~~~~ l I specialize in, BUT am not limited to; 1940's-70's Exotica, Outer Space, Space Age Bachelor Pad, Moog/Electronic, Psychedelic, West Coast Jazz, TV and Film Soundtracks, Instrumental Guitar, Rockabilly, Blues, R & B, ClassicaL Pop Vocals, Musique Concrete, Theremin, Beatnik Jazz, Bongo Mania, Jungley Tropical Rhythms, Wordless Jazz Pop Vocals, Nude/ Cheesecake Album Cover Art and More. Priced and Graded Want Lists/LP's For Sale Accepted. You can hear Jack each and every Sunday starting at 9AM for a full 3 hours with Jack Diamond's House of Games. Serving the communities of the entire San Francisco bay area on 8'9.7FM, l~g l~C · "'.\/\\' ptJQ>~g l~C · "'.\/\\' p!IQ~g l~C · "'.\/\\' ptJQ';~g l~C · "'.\/\\' ~

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San Ped•op Callfo•nla Is the home of tlw'o of the s•eatestp most unde..ated t.los In popula• muslc:p two s•oups that c:han9ed the '"'a" I thlnl.l about music:: the i ~so· s punl.l bandp the lftlnute11•enp and the Del Rubio T•lpleh.

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This sto•~ Is about the~ Del Rubio T•lplets...

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had never even heard of the Del Rubio Triplets when they first strutted their way into ~ my heart in the late 1980s via Pee Wee ~ Herman's Christmas special, a television extravaganza so surreal and just plain wacky j that it ought to be required viewing for fans of all . ~ things "cool and strange". There they were, \/,) Eadie, Milly and Elena Del Rubio, visiting the • Playhouse with Grace Jones, Cher, Frankie and ~ Annette, k.d. lang and seemingly hundreds of ~ other luminaries. Three leggy senior citizens with ~ big blonde hairdos, wearing matching outfits, ~ playing matching guitars and belting out "Winter ,t Wonderland" while strolling merrily through a ~ delightfully fake-looking set. I was immediately ~ intrigued and have remained a fan to this day. • Sadly, Eadie Del Rubio died just alter Christmas ~ last year, but her memory and her spirit certainly

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lives on in her sisters and in the wonderful mu- ~ sic they created together. is Of course, the Del Rubio Triplets were ~ around long before Pee Wee Herman brought ~ them into my consciousness. No one knows ex- ~ actly when (their age is a tightly guarded "professional secret") but sometime earlier in this century Milly, Elena and Eadie Del Rubio were born, 15 minutes apart. During their childhood, • which was spent in the Panama Canal Zone and ~ in Washington D.C., the Del Rubios' father gave ~ them three identical Martin guitars, since he instinctively felt that the girls possessed some kind ~ of musical ability. The Del Rubia's have played is those exact guitars throughout their entire ca- ~ reer. ~ The Del Rubio Triplets hit Hollywood alter ~ high school, hoping to make it big as a singing (I)

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D11 J'fulblo Trlpi11to; IJJ11o;trall0Jl by J.R.. Will iam\: ingles "shu ," thus hearing Jarring sound effects bethat did have a speed indication on pie label. tween ~ngs (it's time to buy that Hanna-Barbera I've always like the single at both speeds. Ev_ sound !/~\disc .) Todd Rundgren has released a ery time someone says that Bautfaus is just · disc with s~tions of songs on each track, which pretentious British junkie music/ I always tell when shuffl~ turn into different songs with each them that they need to hear thi 'extra-long/explay. Unfortun~IY: only high end CD players tra-Gothic" versions. I still own Public Image LimitecJAlngles that don't have the ability t~huffle without a break between tracks (~nd let's face it, sound right regardless of how you play them. / most people with h1gl;! end players are more interested in listening to Bos· ton on Gold Discs.) lt'might be awhile before CD playback becomes as For awhile I thought I was the only person spjprnng platters at the different flexible as turntables, btktqe technology is already there. With hypertext revolutions per minute, but then I read t_ti.at'ihe Butthole Surfers' favorite novels and multi-player comi)trter gam.es already available, it's only a matter record was The Starland Vocal Bar)d!S"'Afternoon Delight" single played of time before indeterminate di~Rpear on the market. One day "hidat 33 RPM. If you ever co~acr6Ss the single in a garage sale, I highly den" songs and loops could be as harCl1o..Qetect as computer viruses. recommend it. lnstegd.0!11stening John Denver's clean cut ranch hands ........,___ FMtf WXTfl "tfXtfT£tfDtD S"0~1>"6P..U.U . c.b!.!J?jng~1:1t-cr1\0oner, you can knock it down to 33 and hear the deAny bad vocal album is a Chipmunk record waiting to happeri,allriiriged cousins of Ed Gein groaning about going to the trailer park and blowing off the afternoon dropping 'ludes. They don't sound like they're you have to do is change the speed. I first discovered the imporgoing anywhere for a few days. If you want to know something really scary, tance of playing albums at 45 RPM when I was in the second some early Chipmunk records still sound like The Chipmunks at any speed. grade. Right before Christmas vacation, our teacher brought in an album of disgustingly sweet Christmas carols. After three days of this saccharine - © 1997 Wilhelm Murg aural assault, I put the album on at 45 RPM. The whole class liked it a lot

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fifth Issue! •May '97· August '97

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