by Lee Widener The Residents are one of the most enigmatic, long-lasting musical projects to exist on the fringes of modern music. Formed in Louisiana in the late 60s, and moving to California soon after, they have never appeared in public without disguises. Most often, though not always, they wear […]
Mind Widening Music #5: Spike Jones
Published on :by Lee Widener In this month’s column it is my great pleasure to present an artist I consider the grandfather of Bizarro music, Spike Jones. Spike Jones was a drummer, percussionist, composer and bandleader mostly popular in the 40s and 50s, though he did release some recordings in the 1960s. […]
Mind Widening Music #4: The Slow Poisoner
Published on :by Lee Widener For this installment of Bizarro Music, I’d like to introduce you to Andrew Goldfarb, otherwise known as “The Slow Poisoner.” I’d like to, but most of you are probably already familiar with him. For those of you who are not: Andrew Goldfarb is Bizarro’s true Renaissance man. […]
Mind Widening Music #3: Vivian Stanshall
Published on :by Lee Widener For the third edition of Bizarro Music, we travel across the sea to jolly ol’ England, to profile Vivian Stanshall. “Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet, and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band…” – Wikipedia Like many other […]
Mind Widening Music #2: Dot Wiggin
Published on :by Lee Widener For the second edition of Bizarro Music, I’m going to talk about Dot Wiggin. But who is Dot Wiggin? You know who she is, you just don’t know you know. Yes, THAT Dot Wiggin – 1/3 of the Shaggs. Why am I singling her out? We’ll get […]
Mind Widening Music #1: Frank Zappa
Published on :by Lee Widener This is the first in a monthly series I will be writing about Bizarro Music. We all are familiar with Bizarro Fiction, but what is Bizarro Music? In this column, I will illustrate what I mean by Bizarro Music by using the same principles used to define […]