Moondog: The Viking of 6th Avenue: The Authorized Biography

By Robert Scotto

Book Overview

The basis of a full-length documentary.

"Moondog is one of America's great originals."--Alan Rich, New York Magazine

Here is a revised edition of a book that celebrates one of the most improbable lives of the twentieth century: a blind and homeless man who became the most famous eccentric in New York and who, with enormous diligence, rose to prominence both in major label pop music recordings in addition to symphonic concerts of his compositions.

This edition of Moondog will soon be seen a as a feature documentary titled The Viking of 6th Avenue directed by Holly Elson and produced by Hard Working Movies.

Born Louis Thomas Hardin in 1916, Moondog first made an impression in the late 1940s when he became a mascot of The New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. His unique, melodic compositions were released on the Prestige jazz label. In the late 1960s the Viking-garbed Moondog was a pop music sensation on Columbia Records.

Moondog's compositional style influenced his former roommate Philip Glass, whose preface appears in the book. Moondog's work transcends labels and redefines the distinction between popular and high culture.

A wide-ranging compilation of Moondog recordings, which includes four Madrigals played by Philip Glass, Steven Reich, Jon Gibson, and Moondog himself, are offered as free downloads for every purchaser of this biography.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1934170402
• ISBN13: 9781934170403
• Release Date: January 2013
• Publisher: Process
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

it's an authorized biography i guess

authorized biographies need to be taken with a certain grain of salt, when it is mentioned that someone is racist and YOU SPOKE to that person without going into their beliefs you're trying to keep an idealized version of that person at the forefront of your mind that does a disservice to the people who read the book. that being said 4 stars because moondog was a genuinely weird and fascinating guy just be aware that he was a racist

All Is Loneliness

Louis Thomas 'Moondog' Hardin (1916-1999) was the classic iconoclast, performing at the corner of West 54th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan for over 30 years (1943-1974) wearing a self-made Viking costume, a horned helmet and a 7 foot spear. He was tall, blind, and sported a mid-chest white beard. He was not, as popularly described however, homeless or destitute. We learn, from Robert Scotto's 2007 authorized biography of Moondog, that Louis in fact owned property in upstate New York, to which he retreated when time & money allowed. He was married once, had two daughters by different women, and a string of girlfriends. He took the bus everywhere he went (hitchhiking being too dangerous), and rented apartments in New York throughout most of his life. Though famously 'difficult' (he was anti-Semite, antimiscegenation, anti-Federal Reserve and fiercely independent), he befriended literati and plebs alike, rich and poor, famous and anonymous. He counted among his friends Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini, Charlie Parker, Andy Warhol, Pete Seeger, Marlon Brando, Muhammad Ali and many others. He even sued disk jockey Alan Freed over his use of the Moondog name, and won. Scotto reports on Hardin's upbringing as the neglected child of an itinerant preacher, his many moves and liaisons, and his iconclastic musical and extra-musical ideas. This reporting must not have come easy, since the "Viking of 6th Avenue" rarely documented anything and was by nature secretive and distrustful. Many gaps are delineated but left unexplained, and certain aspects of his life are clearly downplayed or whitewashed ("authorized" by whom one wonders...) but in general this first biography of Hardin must stand as a valiant effort. Scotto alas is not the most accomplished of writers: he frequently constructs long sentences with unclear meanings, and is often hampered by poor word choices. Consider this description of the obituaries following the musician's death: "These are but a handful of the scores that flooded the presses and the Internet." The book comes with a 28-track CD of Moondog's music (sold separately under the same name) for the uninitiated. Whether Moondog will be remembered as a street-performing novelty act or as a serious (under-recognized) composer alongside Ives, Ruggles, Cage, Partch and Nancarrow will probably depend on what happens to the hundreds of so-far unperformed Moondog manuscripts left behind -- many dauntingly large in scale and documented only in Louis's idiosyncratic Braille scores.

Great package deal and interesting biography

I had to learn more about Moondog. I enjoy Moondog's music: he reminds me of Philip Glass and those who tend to the fringes of American society. When I found out that the man lived on the streets for years, I was compelled to look into this man's life. Scotto, a professor in upstate New York, has delivered a meticulously researched biography. Moondog's life is documented in great detail, from start to finish. Indeed, I was often a bit bogged down by the details of his boyhood days in Wyoming, or the myriad details of Moondog's poems (madrigals). I began to pick up the book with less enthusiasm, as I tired of minutia, and longed for more of Scotto's insights into the character, social context, and direction of Moondog. Still, I leave the book with an excellent cd in my collection and a sense of Moondog: a difficult, sometimes brilliant, sometimes hare-brained, musician. I had my issues with the length and style of the biography, but I wholeheartedly commend Scotto for leaving an impressive record of a significant figure in American music.

MOONDOG

What makes a musical genius? Is it the quality of their music, or their role in history, or the hindsight of critical analysis? To some composers, it is the combination of a unique story, a unique mode of composing or a unique way of looking at the world. This was the case with Louis Hardin aka Moondog who has, at last, had a gentle and rewarding biography written by Robert Scotto. It is a remarkable story in the American mythology that began in Wisconsin and a childhood growing up in Wyoming with his preacher father. Louis' early musical education was with the music teachers of the state but he hardly got a pass grade school in his education. As the years went by he drifted to New York where he spent 25 years begging on street corners. During this time he composed several major works and many many epigraphs - short songs that captured the passer by with their imaginative nature. As time went on he almost inadvertently became the darling of the avant garde and was renowned for his songs and drumming. He was befriended by Philip Glass and Steve Reich (some of their collaborations are heard on the extra CD) but after a failed marriage he remained a shadowy figure in the American Classical music world. By luck he managed to move to Germany in 1974 where he achieved a cult status among musicians. It seems so sad that it has taken such a long time to recognise this sensitive musician who, at his death had composed hundreds of songs, invented (a la Harry Partch) new instruments and had almost completed some 200 Symphonies.. Scotto is to be praised for trying to give the 21st century the dream of an almost forgotten genius of the 20th

Finally a full documentation!

Moondog (aka Louis Hardin, 1916-1999), the great American original, blind street musician, brilliant composer, gentle conversationalist, writer of wise/witty aphorisms, friend of the great and near-great -- not to mention of the "common man" -- who spent the latter part of his life in Europe (where recognition was faster in coming), at long last has his life story in print. Robert Scotto, a professor at Baruch College of C.U.N.Y., spent many years researching, interviewing his subject, as well as many of his colleagues and friends, and produced this well-written, entertaining and wise story of the life of the eccentric artist who was both personally and musically one of a kind! Scotto balances the most unusual story with perceptive yet readily accessible discussion of the wide span of Moondog's music, ranging from drum solos, through madrigals, keyboard and chamber music, to symphonic essays for large orchestra, and enhances it with a selection of intriguing photographs, an excellent "sampler" CD of compositions spanning a half century of creativity from shortly after Moondog's arrival in New York in the 1940s to his last years in the 1990s in Germany, and a foreword by Phillip Glass (a master of contemporary musical "minimalism"). Full disclosure: as a friend of Moondog's and a contributor to the CD, this reviewer's name appears in the book. Based on its merits, however -- and those of its unique and lovable subject -- I'm confident that there will be other reviewers, with no axe at all to grind, whose comments will affirm my positive view and appreciation of this long-awaited, substantial and revealing biography. Paul Jordan