Moondog!

Like Daredevil, Moondog (b. Louis Hardin, Kansas, 1916) lost his eyesight in an explosion when he was 16. Unlike Daredevil, he did not get super powers, martial arts skills and a string of psychopathic girlfriends. He did learn to read music in braille and become a self-taught composer, however. In 1944 he moved to New York, picked up some jazzy accents and attitudes, hung out with Charlie Parker, Benny Goodman and Toscanini, and also started performing his weird and wonderful music on the streets of Manhattan, in the getup pictured above. The costume worn by the 'Viking of Sixth Avenue' was an attempt to distance himself from Christianity. He moved to Germany in the 1970s and lived there until his death in 1999.

The list of Moondog's admirers is long and crosses borders of genre and era, and includes Lester Young, Igor Stravinsky, Artur Rodzinski, Janis Joplin, Frank Zappa, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Elvis Costello, who (as far as I know) is the only one of Moondog's admirers who has ever played alongside him.

The first track I've got uploaded here, "Lament 1," is a little like Sun Ra meets Frank Zappa. The other two a little more like Harry Partch recording a Sun Ra tribute album to be played by marching band. All three are terrific, wild, but startlingly accessible stuff; "Lament" in particular (which is one of the few Moondog tracks that feature musicians other than an overdubbed Moondog) I have not been able to stop listening to since I first downloaded it from...someone else's blog. I can't remember who now (sorry, I read a lot of blogs). But whatever, listen. This is some of the most seductively brilliant new music (new to me, I mean) I've come across in a long time.

[Zombie Mom reminded me that it was Some Velvet Blog that originally posted these tracks. Thanks ZM!]

Moondog - Lament 1 "Bird's Lament"

Moondog - Symphony 1 "Timberwolf"

Moondog - Rabbit Hop