With Music, Come Stories Part VI
Rockadelic
Out Digging 13,993 Posts
With Music, Come Stories Part IV ??? Back in the 90???s my friend Paul Major in NY told me about a bizarre LP that was from my own backyard here in Dallas called ???The Singing Psychic???. He told me to pick up any copies I saw around town as he had folks that were looking for it. He sent me Xerox copies of the front and back cover so I knew what I was looking for. The LP was from the 80???s with cartoonish cover art. Paul promised me it was ???psychedelic??? but it looked like a goofball novelty record.
Studying the liner notes I realized that I had heard of The Singing Psychic before from her appearances on the Howard Stern Show. She appeared once or twice a year to make predictions on Stern???s show which she would do in a sing-songy style while strumming the guitar. This just confirmed to me that she was wacky like many of the regular guests on Howard???s show. Just a few weeks later I found a copy of the LP and rushed home to hear it.
The themes of her songs were colored with UFO???s, science fiction and telepathy. The LP was definitely unique but at first listen I thought Paul???s description of it being psychedelic was a stretch. The more I listened to the LP the more intrigued I got. Who could not fall in love with an LP by a professed psychic who sang about the dilemma of losing her house slippers. The LP listed her government name, Frances Cannon, so I decided to see if I could find her.
I made a couple of calls and was speaking to Frances in about 15 minutes. I explained that I was a fan and would love to buy some of her LP???s if she had any. She was very friendly and asked which record I was calling about. She informed me she had released two LP???s???one was her Country LP called ???Cannonville??? and the other was the Rock LP she had recorded with her son and his band. She invited me over to her house that Saturday and said she did indeed have some of the Rock LP???s she would sell me.
That Friday night I got a call from my friend Johnny who was a music business veteran having signed some major acts like Dire Straits. He told me he was in town with his friend Sue who was an executive with A&M Records. He invited me to lunch on Saturday and I told him about my appointment with The Singing Psychic and asked if he and Sue wanted to join me. I called Frances to make sure it was OK that the three of us could come over and she said no problem.
I picked up Johnny & Sue and we headed to a very upscale neighborhood that is known as Highland Park. This is where all of Dallas??? ???old money??? lives and as we approached her house we all thought that this psychic gig must pay better than we ever imagined. Frances met us in the driveway and led us to a garage apartment in the back which appeared to be where she lived. We sat down and Frances began to tell us some incredible stories.
She claimed that her psychic powers were well known worldwide and that in the 80???s she had been invited to Russia to participate in a convention of psychics from all over the world. She showed us photos of her appearing on various TV shows like Johnny Carson. She told wild tales of how she had used her psychic powers to help find lost children all around the world including 80 that were being held captive in an ice cave in Alaska by an Eskimo cult. I told her, with a straight face, that I was shocked I had never heard about that on the news or in a newspaper.
She was a very sweet woman with almost a childlike demeanor that was incapable of detecting my sarcasm. After a while she asked us if we wanted her to do a psychic reading for us. I was the only one who volunteered and she went into her ???act???. Ms. Cannon was a big bosomed woman and she used her cleavage to hold a microphone while she strummed her guitar and went into what appeared to be a psychic trance. She had asked me if I had any children and then proceeded to tell us, in the same, monotone, sing-songy voice I had heard on the Stern show that one of my daughters would be a professional musician and the other would marry a doctor.
There is no question that the three of us were thoroughly entertained that day while throwing each other many sideway glances of disbelief. We spent almost an hour with Frances and as we were leaving she had some advice to give us. She told us that she had obtained her psychic powers in a terrible accident, being hit by a Lumber Truck. But she warned us to avoid getting hit by a Lumber Truck as she could not guarantee it would give us psychic powers.
I heard that Frances passed away a few years ago and every once in a while I think about that sublime hour I spent with her. My oldest daughter is not married so only time will tell if she does indeed marry a doctor. My younger daughter, who was only about 7-8 years old when Frances predicted she would be a musician, did indeed play drums in a punk bag and just this past week I learned that a label might be interested in releasing a tape that her band recorded back when she was in High School. Who knows, maybe The Singing Psychic was the real deal!
Studying the liner notes I realized that I had heard of The Singing Psychic before from her appearances on the Howard Stern Show. She appeared once or twice a year to make predictions on Stern???s show which she would do in a sing-songy style while strumming the guitar. This just confirmed to me that she was wacky like many of the regular guests on Howard???s show. Just a few weeks later I found a copy of the LP and rushed home to hear it.
The themes of her songs were colored with UFO???s, science fiction and telepathy. The LP was definitely unique but at first listen I thought Paul???s description of it being psychedelic was a stretch. The more I listened to the LP the more intrigued I got. Who could not fall in love with an LP by a professed psychic who sang about the dilemma of losing her house slippers. The LP listed her government name, Frances Cannon, so I decided to see if I could find her.
I made a couple of calls and was speaking to Frances in about 15 minutes. I explained that I was a fan and would love to buy some of her LP???s if she had any. She was very friendly and asked which record I was calling about. She informed me she had released two LP???s???one was her Country LP called ???Cannonville??? and the other was the Rock LP she had recorded with her son and his band. She invited me over to her house that Saturday and said she did indeed have some of the Rock LP???s she would sell me.
That Friday night I got a call from my friend Johnny who was a music business veteran having signed some major acts like Dire Straits. He told me he was in town with his friend Sue who was an executive with A&M Records. He invited me to lunch on Saturday and I told him about my appointment with The Singing Psychic and asked if he and Sue wanted to join me. I called Frances to make sure it was OK that the three of us could come over and she said no problem.
I picked up Johnny & Sue and we headed to a very upscale neighborhood that is known as Highland Park. This is where all of Dallas??? ???old money??? lives and as we approached her house we all thought that this psychic gig must pay better than we ever imagined. Frances met us in the driveway and led us to a garage apartment in the back which appeared to be where she lived. We sat down and Frances began to tell us some incredible stories.
She claimed that her psychic powers were well known worldwide and that in the 80???s she had been invited to Russia to participate in a convention of psychics from all over the world. She showed us photos of her appearing on various TV shows like Johnny Carson. She told wild tales of how she had used her psychic powers to help find lost children all around the world including 80 that were being held captive in an ice cave in Alaska by an Eskimo cult. I told her, with a straight face, that I was shocked I had never heard about that on the news or in a newspaper.
She was a very sweet woman with almost a childlike demeanor that was incapable of detecting my sarcasm. After a while she asked us if we wanted her to do a psychic reading for us. I was the only one who volunteered and she went into her ???act???. Ms. Cannon was a big bosomed woman and she used her cleavage to hold a microphone while she strummed her guitar and went into what appeared to be a psychic trance. She had asked me if I had any children and then proceeded to tell us, in the same, monotone, sing-songy voice I had heard on the Stern show that one of my daughters would be a professional musician and the other would marry a doctor.
There is no question that the three of us were thoroughly entertained that day while throwing each other many sideway glances of disbelief. We spent almost an hour with Frances and as we were leaving she had some advice to give us. She told us that she had obtained her psychic powers in a terrible accident, being hit by a Lumber Truck. But she warned us to avoid getting hit by a Lumber Truck as she could not guarantee it would give us psychic powers.
I heard that Frances passed away a few years ago and every once in a while I think about that sublime hour I spent with her. My oldest daughter is not married so only time will tell if she does indeed marry a doctor. My younger daughter, who was only about 7-8 years old when Frances predicted she would be a musician, did indeed play drums in a punk bag and just this past week I learned that a label might be interested in releasing a tape that her band recorded back when she was in High School. Who knows, maybe The Singing Psychic was the real deal!
Comments
Am I imagining this?
It's 50-50 if the truck is radioactive.
When I was 18/19yo I lived with some older hippies, in their twenties.
One guy, a psychologist, was a devotee of a West Virginia psychic.
He went to see her often, he didn't make a career or relationship change without consulting her first.
He persuaded another roommate and I to give her a try.
We got up in the middle of the night to drive to her home in WVA, just over the line from Harpers Ferry. Only the people who were there by a certain hour got to see her. 6am I think. We were all parked on the lawn in front of a collection of trailers where she lived with her mother (who had the gift) and her adult son (who did not have the gift). She came out and walked around to each of the cars and talked to us, told us what time we would likely get to see her, asked why we came...
When I saw her she asked a few questions then first told me about my past and myself. I remember that she was very accurate. I remember she said that I was a lot like my dad. I protested she was wrong, but she assured that when I was older I would learn it was true. A genius bit of understanding human nature.
Most of what she told me was crouched in advise such as I should never ride a motorcycle.
She told me I would not get a job I had applied for in New England and told me I should move out west I would be happier there.
Most everything she said was true.
I hated the experience, I have no interest in knowing my future or having someone tell me what I should do.
Rock she could turn out to be correct in ways you have not thought of. Perhaps your daughter will marry a phd, or a man named Doctor.