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Weird musicians we have known...
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Subject: Weird musicians we have known... From: Little Hawk Date: 23 Sep 00 - 12:17 PM One of the oddest musical performers I've ever seen is Joe Mendelson, formerly of McKenna Mendelson Mainline, which was a Toronto, Canada blues band back in the late 60's and early 70's, as I recall. Joe is a tough looking guy (sort of looks like a burly biker to me, with a wild glint in his eye). After some time in a more electric band doing the blues, Joe started doing a solo folk gig with a little old beat-up acoustic guitar that he could do wonders with. I saw him at numerous gigs in Toronto in the late 70's, and I'm sure he's still around now, cos he's a tough cookie. Joe did not like inattentive or noisy audiences, and he would shut them up by talking directly to whomever was bugging him, and bullying them into silence. There was a quality of veiled threat in Joe's manner that was capable of shutting up virtually any loquacious diner or drinker. He was amusing, satirical, and downright intimdating all at the same time. You got the feeling he might just come down off the stage if you didn't quiet down and listen...and then what??? Also, he was so strange in his general manner that people would shut up just because they became very curious what he might say or do next. Joe's songs were mostly quite satirical, and poked fun at all the usual human foibles, especially the pretentious and "cool" attitudes that were prevalent in Toronto, and I suppose still are. He also sang some songs (a few) that were utterly politically incorrect, generally toward the women's movement or something like that...they were so politically incorrect that I kind of got the impression that they were a parody of themselves...if you can follow that. Most intriguing. I never saw anyone get offended. There was simply no point getting offended by Joe Mendelson...besides he was very funny. He started out his solo career as simply "Joe Mendelson". Then he became "Toronto Joe Mendelson". Then, in a sarcastic aside to the "cool" people, he became "Sophisto Joe Mendelson". This linked to a song he had written, a bogus dance number, about a dance called "the Sophisto...the dance of the 70's". This was the dance that Joe saw people doing all around him, and he lampooned it mercilessly. Joe also did paintings, that were sort of like children's art. I thought they were bloody awful, but he liked them, and so did some other people. He was a very good guitar player. The little beat-up guitar looked like it had been the the Alaska gold rush or something. It had the words "Bye Bye" written in big white letters on the back, and he would hold it up and wave it at the audience after the last song (NO ENCORES!). Joe's most offensively non-PC song was called "Mainly Because of the Meat", and it was based on a famous Loblaw's grocery chain store radio ad...but it wasn't about Loblaw's, it was about women... Lotta nerve this guy had, eh? My friend Sue was a huge women's rights advocate, and she saw Joe do this song one time. She just laughed...you had to see the whole show to understand why...like I say, no use getting offended by Joe...he was smart, and his humour worked on many levels. Joe got in a long wrangle with the Canadian federal government, because they were sending him standard correspondence...and on the letter it always said "Mendelson, Joe" and then his address. Joe would return the letter to them with a note saying: My name is not "Mendelson Joe, it is Joe Mendelson, so I refuse to accept this letter. It went on for years. The government refused to budge, and so did Joe. Finally he went to a judge and got his name legally changed to Mendelson Joe. Now when the government sends him a letter, it says "Joe, Mendelson" and then his address. Joe is satisfied by this, although he'd like it better if they would remove the comma, but you can't have everything. The government doesn't care, but they've probably got him on a list of subversives somewhere. And that is the true story of Mendelson Joe. I hope I spelled his last name right. All of the above is public knowledge, by the way...in Toronto...known by those who have mastered "the Sophisto" at least. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: hesperis Date: 23 Sep 00 - 02:07 PM The wierdest musician I know has two wings and a sharp beak, and isn't exactly hawk-eyed. (So I don't know any really wierd musicians. Big deal!) |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Thomas the Rhymer Date: 23 Sep 00 - 02:22 PM Wow! What is the attitude Hesperis? Or am I just not getting the joke...?(again...) |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: hesperis Date: 23 Sep 00 - 02:31 PM Thomas - I'm just pickin' on Little Hawk, don't worry about it. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Thomas the Rhymer Date: 23 Sep 00 - 02:36 PM Yeh,... like I'm loosing sleep over it... Is picking on people something you like to do regularly? (^; |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: hesperis Date: 23 Sep 00 - 02:52 PM Yep. I like picking on my friends. (WARNING: Joke zone ahead!)
Yeah, well, you know the saying, "Love your enemies", right? |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Thomas the Rhymer Date: 23 Sep 00 - 03:04 PM What are enemies, but friends in disguise If you pick on your friends, you've intimate lies For where is the closeness, the sharing relies On your ready reception of reciprocal eyes... |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Mooh Date: 23 Sep 00 - 03:51 PM Little Hawk. I love Mendelson Joe! I even like his art, as primitive as it is. I suspect that he lives without regret because he addresses those things which concern him. I'm sure he's still around, though I haven't heard about him in a year or so. Once in a while he'll appear on TV for something he's done or said, or because some journalist thinks they've "discovered" him. Remember Mainline? Bump and Grind Review? Great stuff. The world would benefit by more of Joe. Time to find out what he's been doing. Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: khandu Date: 23 Sep 00 - 07:30 PM The weirdest that I know of is a man I know only as Captain Bad-eye. Every mornig at the crack of dawn, he would stand in his underwear at the edge of a lake at his home and play "Ode to Joy" on his fiddle. I don't even know if he could play any other tune. But He was damned good at that one! khandu |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: thosp Date: 23 Sep 00 - 09:19 PM Artie Shaw comes to mind peace (Y) thosp |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Thomas the Rhymer Date: 23 Sep 00 - 09:35 PM Did you know that at the root of the word 'wierd' is the word 'wizard'?
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: GUEST,Furry Date: 23 Sep 00 - 11:45 PM THe weirdest musician I've ever known was named Snowball Dixon. Snowball played dylan songs, irish songs, and stuff by the sex pistols. snowball was stranger than his music let on though. He was a contrary drunken pirate who leaned toward the left, not politically literally .He once formed a rival neighborhood assocciation.I worked with him for three months before finding out his real name, he never revealed it his wife called him from the next room. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: dwditty Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:07 AM When I was in basic training at Fort Jackson, SC in 1968 there was one coffee house in Columbia. I used to go there to hear Drink Small - a very short, hunchbacked, bluesman. He played a cheap red electric guitar through a small amp and sang over it. I'll never forget him doing Little Red Rooster. About 30 years later I actually found a CD of his. By then, he was pretty slicked up, doing songs about how tired he was from not having "made it" on the music scene. DW |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Little Hawk Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:18 AM Mooh - nice to hear from a Mendelson Joe fan! Hey, Hesperis...it looks like they're taking you seriously. Wonder how that happened? I think you're gonna have to start putting those little emoticon things after your messages...like this... :-D or this :-) the Joe Clark one is fun too, it looks like... (<\b>:-i)) or something like that... |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Little Hawk Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:23 AM Oops. I need some more lessons in HTML, apparently. That is NOT what Joe Clark looks like! |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: flattop Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:35 AM Please don't put that crap in you messages hesy. You were doing grat with words rolling phrases rolling into sentences. Clearly you are a woman of independent judgement who knows how to express her mind. You don't let your emotions cloud your opinions late on saturday night. Don't let anyone bully you. This thread began a bit like the bird of prey calling the vulture a carnivore and you rightly pointed it out. I've always found Joe a bit of a pretentious bore and Mainline tedious, except once, when I think Ben Mink sat in with them. Ben Mink is often fabulous. I first heard Ben with Jack Schechtman. When he was at York University, Jack had a cat that pissed in the sink instead of a litter box. There's one to put the laugh back into katlaughing. d. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: hesperis Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:39 AM That is probably what Joe Clark looks like with a missile falling on his head, though. Yeah, why would anyone take me seriously? Especially considering the number of times I've posted to DON'T POST TO THIS THREAD and it's kindred threads.
Sometimes you gotta wonder... |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: hesperis Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:51 AM flattop - you write like that complaint letter generator. That was not a compliment. (But you can take it as one if you really need to.) |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Little Hawk Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:53 AM I have seriously been wondering about Spaw for a while now. Maybe we should send out a search party... flattop - I don't get you. (Of course I didn't ask for you in the first place...) Are all those misspellings some kind of secret code? I think Joe is kind of pretentious at times too, but he's interesting. I agree that Mainline was UTTERLY tedious. No argument there. I haven't seen Ben Mink...at least I don't think so. Do you have any recordings by him? I new someone who had a Siamese cat that would only drink out of a glass. A real patrician, she was. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: hesperis Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:01 AM I did send out a search for Spaw - he's been playing on other threads lately. Talk to Len Johnson about Joe Clark - you'll hear some really interesting stuff. Wierd musicians. Hmmm. I'm going to have to think about that one for a bit. flattop's only strange. That doesn't count. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: flattop Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:02 AM Sorry about the typos Hawker. A couple of beers and I feel ill. Weird is a strange topic for either of us to discuss but I'd rather spend an afternoon talking to you than to Mendelson Joe. Other friends, like Len Udow, have explained that Joe is a top drawer guy and I believe it's he who paints a great Moose mounted by Her Magisty, our queen and I went to his studio once but let's go to Tim Hortons together and forget Joe. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Little Hawk Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:16 AM You've got a deal. On Monday, maybe? Or? |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: flattop Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:23 AM I'm not sure about Monday except that i ahve to go to Toronto. Maybe Tuesday evening. How about Rombos? |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: hesperis Date: 24 Sep 00 - 01:29 AM flattop - don't forget that you're playing Sloop John B. at Finnegan's on wednesday... Please? |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Mooh Date: 24 Sep 00 - 08:50 AM Um...Nash the Slash. Too loud anytime I saw/heard him, and backing tracks have always left me cold, but his playing was kinda twisted and his stage persona very unusual. Where is he now...maybe I'll surf for him. Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Willie-O Date: 24 Sep 00 - 10:33 AM Ben Mink has also worked a lot with kd lang and Murray McLauchlan. So its actually pretty hard not to have seen him if you are a Canadian music fan. Joe Hall's pretty weird. Somewhat less now (sobered) than formerly. Creatively weird. He told me once that he had achieved one of his main ambitions in life, which was to work as a desk clerk at a whorehouse. When I think about it, most of the career musicians I know are more or less eccentric. Tilting at windmills in their spare time seems to be a general characteristic. Sometimes this is more productive than reversing first and last names. For example "Reverend Ken" Ramsden (spiritual leader of the Church of the Open Bottle) in Peterborough ON went to the Supreme Court of Canada and won the right to poster on utility poles. Another friend of mine successfully sued the National Capital Commission in Ottawa for "wrongful misappropriation of personality" when they used pictures of him in their publicity for Winterlude, even though they had declined to book him that year. W-O
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Wavestar Date: 24 Sep 00 - 12:19 PM Just a note, Thomas the Rhymer, I'm wondering where you got your etymology. I'm fairly certain that the word we know as 'wierd' began as 'wyrd', which referred to many things supernatural, but specifically translated in Old English as 'fate'. Musicians... I've known so many bloody wierd people in my life, starting with myself, where could I ever begin? -Jessica |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Frankham Date: 25 Sep 00 - 12:30 PM I had the privilege of meeting Eben Ahbez, the man who wrote the pop song of the forties called "Nature Boy". At the time he wrote the song, he was living in a tree in Los Angeles. He sold his song for some small pittance and it subsequently became a hit for which he received no compensation. He wore a beard and long hair like Jesus and preceeded the de riguer look of the flower children of the Sixties. Frank |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Thomas the Rhymer Date: 25 Sep 00 - 02:38 PM Well wavestar, I've been looking about, and I am going to have to do some consulting. stay tuned... Little Hawk-...One of the reasons that Utah Phillips takes issue with songwriters, is that they tend to use the medium of songwriting as a chance to talk about themselves. I do fing Utah to be ever so slightly 'pedantic', as well as right on.... I wonder if this applies to reflections... Hesperis- I like you! You bring such a 'fresh' approach... Apples are delicious! |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: DougR Date: 25 Sep 00 - 02:48 PM The wierdiest musician I ever knew was a classical saxiphonist named Sigurd Rasher. He was (may be still) a brilliant musician who arrived at the concert hall shortly before he was to perform, with his white tie and tails rolled up tucked under one arm. Van Cliburn is a bit wierd too, though. DougR |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: M.Ted Date: 25 Sep 00 - 09:55 PM If I am not mistaken, Eden Abhaz is still around, and has a website where he sells recordings of his own material. Are you sure about his selling the music rights? He is listed at the ASCAP site as the author(and hence the royalty recipient) of Nature Boy. I believe that he had a couple of other songs that were minor hits, but I don't remember the names-- |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Marion Date: 25 Sep 00 - 10:10 PM My fiddle teacher has composed more than 26 000 fiddle tunes. This seems a little odd to me. Marion |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Ely Date: 25 Sep 00 - 11:30 PM Nearly all of the ones I know are weird in some way (I mean this with the sincerest affection). Socks routinely wears two hats (one with a brim, with a stocking cap over it)--a friend of mine once described him as "the guy who always looks disoriented". Ian was a physicist until he burned out, now he plays the guitar and builds insanely detailed ship models. When I was in a band, we got together for lunch one day and the menu included homemade banana bread, Cheerios (eaten dry from the box), uncooked grits in cold water (Molly underestimated the cooking time, but we ate them anyway), grapes, and something that Brian made from everything he found in his refrigerator--soup, noodles, vegetables, tuna--eaten cold because the container wasn't microwaveable. Nobody batted an eye. Brian said that someone should write a blues song about cold grits. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Mbo Date: 25 Sep 00 - 11:33 PM I woke up this morning All I had was cold grits I woke up this morning, Lord And all I had was cold grits They was cold 'cause my woman left me Lord, life is really the pits... |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall) Date: 25 Sep 00 - 11:39 PM Words can only cheapen this next contestant. Baby Gramps. I won't ruin any of the surprise , but try to see him sometime. Rich |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: L R Mole Date: 26 Sep 00 - 11:29 AM I recall a boogie-woogie pianist called "Sweet Pie", used to play the college/ski lodge circuit. Naked except for a loincloth (and, for special celebretory occasions, just a 35-mm film canister strategically,uh, placed .Quite an act. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Ely Date: 26 Sep 00 - 12:09 PM Hey, thanks, Mbo! If I ever bump into Brian again I'll pass it along. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: annamill Date: 26 Sep 00 - 12:57 PM I THOUGHT ALL MUSICIANS WERE WEIRD!! A strange one comes to mind. Back in the sixties, my first husband was a Disc Jockey for a small radio staion in Kingston NY called WBAZ. I don't know if it's still there or not. Well, anyway, he used to get jobs announcing acts at little night clubs in the area. One such act, whom became someone we hung with for awhile, hailed from Las Vagas. He had a thirty foot horse trailer in which he carried his full size Wurlitzer organ, two full size Leslie speakers, .... and his horse. A beautiful bay at least 16 hands high. During the day, mostly, he'd bring out his horse, dress it in it's full regalia, and ride it through Kingston. There were no laws at the time about riding your horse though town! The best, though, was during a performance about 2AM, after a rousing rendition of 'The Impossible Dream', (which he played often), during a break, he went out and came back into the club riding his gelding. Spurs and all! What a hit! All the local drunks loved it! Including myself and the ex! What a hoot! BTW, he was a pretty good musician too!! He eased out of our lives just as he had eased into it. I have no idea what happened to him or where he might be today. Love, annamill
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: GUEST Date: 29 Dec 05 - 05:53 PM Ben Mink replaced Nash the Slash when he left the original FM back in '78. Then Nash replaced Ben when the group was reformed in `85 for a couple of years of touring. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: bobad Date: 29 Dec 05 - 06:07 PM Wild Man Fischer was pretty weird in his day. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Scoville Date: 29 Dec 05 - 11:07 PM Um . . . pretty much all of them. Then again, I've finally realized that everyone is insane if you just get to know them well enough. We had Ian. He was fiftysomething, small, thin, British--which wouldn't be weird for most of you Mudcatters but stands out a bit here in Texas--, chain-smoked, and looked like a homeless person. I knew him because he used to come to the pub (we do have pubs of sorts here) on Wednesday Irish session nights and stay until the place closed at two in the morning. He didn't usually play any music but I knew that he was a pretty good guitarist. I found out later that he had once been an engineer of some kind before he burned out and started playing music and building minutely-detailed ship models instead. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: number 6 Date: 29 Dec 05 - 11:36 PM Vivian Stanshall sIx |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: GUEST,.garogyle Date: 29 Dec 05 - 11:43 PM Another thrust, Upon the bust Of a dead MC breast
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: GUEST Date: 29 Dec 05 - 11:47 PM garogyle Gargoyle Gagoyle Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooookay. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: number 6 Date: 29 Dec 05 - 11:50 PM It scared the beJezuz out of me! sIx |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: GUEST,Seonaid Date: 30 Dec 05 - 08:33 PM Many years ago, I was privileged to know Bill Foster, aka "The Fox," in Santa Monica, California. Some of you may remember him from "Oddball Olympics," "The Man Show," or other TV appearances. He was the guy with the conductor's hat and ill-tuned piano, whose repertoire included off-color rugby songs, questionable one-liner parodies, and occasionally an actual tune. However, he was most famous for his ability to drink beer *fast* -- including challenges where he'd stand on his head and best standing opponents. He was pure magic, and could work a room just to the point of explosion and then collapse them into laughter with some or other goofball antic. We lost a lot of local color when we lost The Fox to cancer a few years back. But just once more, shout it out with me: "Ziggy-socky, ziggy-socky, hoy, hoy, hoy!" |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Big Al Whittle Date: 01 Jan 06 - 12:35 PM I agree with the guy who said most people are weird when you get to know them. I used to be in this group with a guy who had a slash every night just we were were about to home. we'd be stood outside the club or pub, and be discussing our next time of meeting and he would unzip and let fly, whilst evrybody was still filing out of the club, to the left and right of us. very disconcerting. perhaps its the pressure of the job. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: GUEST Date: 01 Jan 06 - 01:15 PM I always thought Washboard Leo was weird. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Big Al Whittle Date: 01 Jan 06 - 01:23 PM Was that after Howard's Way? |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Kaleea Date: 01 Jan 06 - 06:41 PM Jeepers, Annamill, that's just what I thought when I read the thread title. Weird, huh? |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: mack/misophist Date: 01 Jan 06 - 10:35 PM As far as I know, Ben Orton never tried to get paid for playing but that didn't keep him from being the best harmonica player I've ever heard. What made him weird, though, was that he was the only person I've ever heard of who hunted deer with a knife. Always got one, too. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Big Al Whittle Date: 02 Jan 06 - 05:56 AM maybe he hunted them at the zoo....did you ever see him actally out in the wild doing this? |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: mack/misophist Date: 02 Jan 06 - 09:59 AM Actually doing the hunting? No. Bringing the carcass home? Yes, several times; with no gun in sight and no bullet holes in the deer. He explained that deer never look up so all you have to do is drop onto their backs. Like a mountain lion. It's also supposed to be possible for a marathon runner to chase them down. |
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Subject: RE: Weird musicians we have known... From: Big Al Whittle Date: 02 Jan 06 - 10:14 AM that's weird for anybody, musician or no..... |
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