Moondog

Moondog was the pseudonym of Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), a blind American composer, musician, poet, and inventor of several musical instruments. Moondog removed himself from society through his decision to make his home on the streets of New York for approximately twenty of the thirty years he spent in the city.

He could be found on the streets of New York wearing clothes he had created based on his own interpretation of the Norse god Thor. Because of his unconventional outfits, he was known for much of his life as "The Viking of 6th Avenue".

By all accounts he was a genial man and noted for his humour, when asked by passers by as to where he come from he would reply: "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."

The music of Moondog of the 1940s and 50's, is said to have been a strong influence on many early minimalist composers. It is from this approach to his style of work that Philip Glass and Steve Reich hailed him as the originator of the concept of minimalism. However Moondog had his own opinion on the matter: "Bach was doing minimal in his fugues. So what´s new?"

His jazz influences were cultivated while on the streets, it was there that he met Benny Goodman and Charlie Parker, the latter remarking:
"You and I should make a record."
Sadly though this never happened for shortly afterwards Parker died unexpectedly. Moondog paid tribute to Parker later on with "Bird´s Lament".

By the early seventies still on the streets, it would be hard for most to imagine that this imposing street player had released albums on labels such as Mars, CBS and Prestige. The beat generation in the 60´s had welcomed Moondog with open arms seeing him as something of a rebellious icon. By this period he had performed a poetry reading with Allen Ginsberg, appeared on stage with Lenny Bruce, Tiny Tim and in films with William S. Boroughs.

He was adept at making music for films and TV commercials, one of his pieces was used for the soundtrack for "Drive. She said" starring Jack Nicholson.

In 1974 be was offered a chance to play in Europe for a few months which as it turned out led him to relocating to Recklinghausen to live until his death. The suddenness of his departure led many to believe that be had died.

Moondog did however return to America in 1989. At the invitation of the New Music American Festival in Brooklyn, he shared the stage with Glass and Reich asked to conduct as part of the celebration of legends from the 40´s and 50´s.
His conducting manner was unorthodox to say the least, taking his place at the side to play percussion. He later commented that: "I see my relationship with them [orchestra] as being first among equals, so that there are forty conductors, each in charge of his own part."

This return to the Big Apple marked a newly rediscovered interest in his work seeing it performed all over the world in some of the greatest settings, some of his work was even choreographed.

Moondog inspired other musicians with several songs dedicated to him. An example is Prefab Sprout’s song "Moondog" on their album Jordan: The Comeback released in 1990.

" The above text is a mashup from moondogscorner.de & Wikipedia."