On Saturday July, 7th 1984 I was awoken by a doorbell at 7:30 in the morning. Standing at the door was Jim Yanaway, owner of Ft. Worth's Amazing Records label and a guy in a 10 gallon hat, vest and chaps who was introduced to me as "The Ledge".
Jim explained that The Ledge was in town to perform in a concert that night and he wanted to spend the day seeing the sights in Dallas...I was invited to go along and never one to miss out on what apppeared to be pure insanity, I agreed to tag along.
After driving around for a few hours listening to Norman(aka The Ledge) rave on about rocket ships, Pepsi Cola and Cadillacs it was time for lunch. Norm wanted to eat at a specific Bar-B-Q restaurant in one of the less affluent parts of town. The looks on the locals faces when Norman entered the restaurant in full costume was priceless. And after we ate he invited everyone, including the cooks, out to the Parking Lot for a "Concert".
The Ledge pulled out his bugle and treated the crowd to versions of "Paralyzed" and "Rocket To The Moon". I'm pretty certain that some 22 years later that neighborhood still remembers that "Crazy Cowboy".
As the day wound down it was time to go to the concert venue where The Ledge was going to perform at a show called "Edstock". Edstock was the brainchild of the founder of the Mr. Ed Fanclub and local icon "Big Bucks" Burnett. The actor that played Wilbur on the Mr. Ed TV Show was the special guest and there were a number of musical acts slated to perform.
Going backstage with Norman I smelled, and then saw one of the other performers, Tiny Tim. Tiny was wearing a cartoon adorned suit that looked(and smelled) like it had not been washed in a year or two. Also performing that night was Joe Ely with the recently deceased guitar master Jesse Taylor.
The show was a combination of great Texas rock and Rowan & Martin's worst nightmare. Norman refused to play until he got a Pepsi(The concert was in an old Bowling Alley that only carried Coke) and Tiny was at his lunatic best.
Holy crap, video of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. "Paralyzed" is a song I've enjoyed playing for people the past few years just to see their reaction. Truly, the song is something else. When his trumpet "solo" kicks in it's other-worldly. When people hear that song it's akin to the first time you play them anything by The Shaggs. Seeing this dude in motion and doing his thing takes it to the next level.
Dude is truly "Legendary." Does he just have the one 45?
Nah, he's got at least one full album. I've got it in mp3 form somewhere, I can try and dig it out and post it up.
The only person I really know of that gives the Legendary Stardust Cowboy a run for his money as far as being unique is Jack Mudurian. Here's a synopsis of a CD available by Jack Mudurian:
"Jack Mudurian loves to sing. It's as simple as that. Ask him to sing, and sing he will. Claiming a repertoire of "almost as many songs as Sinatra," Duplex Planet's own David Greenberger challenged him to sing for 45 minutes continuously. Armed with a hand-held tape recorder loaded with a C-90 cassette, they stepped out on to the back porch of the Duplex Nursing Home in Boston, which was where Jack lived. It was a clear June afternoon, the weather was perfect. Birds can be heard singing in the trees (and another resident, Francis McElroy can also be heard vocalizing in the distance from time to time). This CD is the unedited recording of Jack's 129-song medley."
taiconderoga
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Jim explained that The Ledge was in town to perform in a concert that night and he wanted to spend the day seeing the sights in Dallas...I was invited to go along and never one to miss out on what apppeared to be pure insanity, I agreed to tag along.
After driving around for a few hours listening to Norman(aka The Ledge) rave on about rocket ships, Pepsi Cola and Cadillacs it was time for lunch. Norm wanted to eat at a specific Bar-B-Q restaurant in one of the less affluent parts of town. The looks on the locals faces when Norman entered the restaurant in full costume was priceless. And after we ate he invited everyone, including the cooks, out to the Parking Lot for a "Concert".
The Ledge pulled out his bugle and treated the crowd to versions of "Paralyzed" and "Rocket To The Moon". I'm pretty certain that some 22 years later that neighborhood still remembers that "Crazy Cowboy".
As the day wound down it was time to go to the concert venue where The Ledge was going to perform at a show called "Edstock". Edstock was the brainchild of the founder of the Mr. Ed Fanclub and local icon "Big Bucks" Burnett. The actor that played Wilbur on the Mr. Ed TV Show was the special guest and there were a number of musical acts slated to perform.
Going backstage with Norman I smelled, and then saw one of the other performers, Tiny Tim. Tiny was wearing a cartoon adorned suit that looked(and smelled) like it had not been washed in a year or two. Also performing that night was Joe Ely with the recently deceased guitar master Jesse Taylor.
The show was a combination of great Texas rock and Rowan & Martin's worst nightmare. Norman refused to play until he got a Pepsi(The concert was in an old Bowling Alley that only carried Coke) and Tiny was at his lunatic best.
Certainly a day/night never to be forgotten.
that guy is like a country shiggar fraggar
Rockadelic...
Dude is truly "Legendary." Does he just have the one 45?
Nah, he's got at least one full album. I've got it in mp3 form somewhere, I can try and dig it out and post it up.
The only person I really know of that gives the Legendary Stardust Cowboy a run for his money as far as being unique is Jack Mudurian. Here's a synopsis of a CD available by Jack Mudurian:
"Jack Mudurian loves to sing. It's as simple as that. Ask him to sing, and sing he will. Claiming a repertoire of "almost as many songs as Sinatra," Duplex Planet's own David Greenberger challenged him to sing for 45 minutes continuously. Armed with a hand-held tape recorder loaded with a C-90 cassette, they stepped out on to the back porch of the Duplex Nursing Home in Boston, which was where Jack lived. It was a clear June afternoon, the weather was perfect. Birds can be heard singing in the trees (and another resident, Francis McElroy can also be heard vocalizing in the distance from time to time). This CD is the unedited recording of Jack's 129-song medley."
You can check out a couple soundclips here:
http://www.counterpoint-music.com/specialties/jackmudurian.html
And NPR once upon a time did a story on him:
http://www.npr.org/programs/lnfsound/stories/990910.stories.html
I really get a kick out of oddball stuff like this... "The Talent Show" is another great bizarro album, and the Kids Of Widney High...wow, just wow.