Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The History Of Moondog


Moondog was the nom de plume of Louis T. Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999).
Born in Marysville, Kansas he started playing a set of drums made by himself with a cardboard box at the age of 5.
Hardin was blinded in a farm accident at the age of 16. After learning the principles of music in several schools
for blind young men across central America he started teaching himself the skills of ear training and composition,
becoming then a self taught man and artist. From the late 1940s until 1974, Moondog lived as a street musician
and poet in New York City, busking mostly on 54th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. In addition to his music
and poetry, he was also known for the distinctive Viking garb that he wore, which included a horned helmet.
He partially supported himself by selling copies of his poetry and his musical philosophy.
Because of his street post's proximity to the 52nd Street club strip, he was well-known to many jazz musicians and fans.

3 comments:

marram62 said...

http://rapidshare.com/files/277164700/The_History_Of_Moondog.rar

John W. said...

i remember seeing him standing on the corner of 59th and fifth when i was a kid headed toward the park he cut quite an impressive figure in the midst of all those suits since then i picked up everything i could find by him although to be honest it took me a long time to really 'listen' to what he was giving us now i'm glad i persisted maturity aint all bad

marram62 said...

whoa...cool! MOONDOG is a true anerican original, i heard someone somewhere refer to his kind of music as 'HOBOCORE' or 'VIKINGCORE'....well, whatever ya wanna call it, (urban folk?), MOONDOG left his mark....heehee