1. Louis Thomas Hardin, known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments.
24 Facts About Moondog
1. 2.
Moondog lived in New York City from the late 1940s until 1972, during which time he was often found on Sixth Avenue, between 52nd and 55th Streets, selling records, composing, and performing poetry.
3.
Moondog briefly appeared in a cloak and horned helmet during the 1960s and was hence recognized as "the Viking of Sixth Avenue" by passersby and residents who were not aware of his musical career.
4.
Moondog's family relocated to Wyoming, where his father opened a trading post at Fort Bridger.
5.
Moondog played drums for the high school band in Hurley, Missouri.
6.
Moondog studied with Burnet Tuthill at the Iowa School for the Blind.
7.
Moondog then moved to Batesville, Arkansas, where he lived until 1942, when he obtained a scholarship to study in Memphis, Tennessee.
8.
Moondog was rarely if ever homeless, and maintained an apartment in upper Manhattan and had a country retreat in Candor, New York, to which he moved full-time in 1972.
9.
Moondog partially supported himself by selling copies of his poetry, sheet music, records, and his musical philosophy.
10.
Moondog developed a lifelong interest in Nordic mythology, and maintained an altar to Thor in his country home in Candor.
11.
Moondog believed he would not have won the case had it not been for the help of musicians such as Benny Goodman and Arturo Toscanini, who testified that he was a serious composer.
12.
Moondog revisited the United States briefly in 1989, for a tribute at the New Music America Festival in Brooklyn, in which festival director Yale Evelev asked him to conduct the Brooklyn Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, stimulating a renewed interest in his music.
13.
Moondog lived with Sommer's family and they spent time together in Munster.
14.
Moondog's tomb was designed by the artist Ernst Fuchs after the death mask.
15.
Moondog invented several musical instruments, some of which were played on studio albums or in live performances by him and his subsequent ensembles.
16.
Moondog's best known instrument is the trimba, a triangular percussion instrument that the composer invented in the late 1940s.
17.
Moondog was admired by Charlie Parker, Frank Zappa and Igor Stravinsky, and met on several occasions with Lenny Bruce, William S Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.
18.
Moondog inspired other musicians with several songs dedicated to him.
19.
New York band The Insect Trust play a cover of Moondog's song "Be a Hobo" on their album Hoboken Saturday Night.
20.
The track "Stamping Ground", with its preamble of Moondog reciting one of his epigrams, was featured on the sampler double album Fill Your Head with Rock.
21.
Between 1970 and 1980, a blind bearded mystic called "Moondog" appeared as the title character in a four issue series of Underground comix written and illustrated by George Metzger.
22.
Moondog was married briefly to Virginia Sledge in 1943, but the marriage was dissolved in 1947.
23.
Moondog had grown up in Japan then came to New York with her mother that year.
24.
The June 4,1952 issue of the New York Journal-American features a photograph of Moondog playing a flute on a rooftop while Mary looks on endearingly: the caption indicates it is a "skyline serenade" to a "June bride".