Wild Man Fischer R.I.P.

[john poole]

Larry Fischer (1944 - 2011) R.I.P.
http://themusicsover.com/2011/06/15/wild-man-fischer

[Des]

Bloody 'ell I thought he'd died yonks ago. Mind you, I thought Derek Guyler had died several years before the Grim Reaper actually caught up with him.

[will vine]

Bloody 'ell I thought he'd died yonks ago. Mind you, I thought Derek Guyler had died several years before the Grim Reaper actually caught up with him.

Which reminds us of the Eric Burdon album, the self depricating......."Fuck Me, I Thought He Was Dead."

[Adam Blake]

I am sorry to hear that. I have had much pleasure over the years from "An Evening With Wild Man Fischer". If it was voyeurism (was it voyeurism? Anyone care to offer an opinion?) then it was at least voyeurism at the express invitation of the subject. I think he was genuinely talented - his melodies stick in your head permanently, I could sing at least half a dozen of them without a moment's hesitation - and his insanity (if that's what it was) robbed him of a far more successful career as, maybe, a professional songwriter working in Hollywood. He seemed like a cheerful soul and the world is surely a little bit greyer for his passing.

[Adam Blake]

None of you got anything to say about Wild Man Fischer? God, this forum ain't wot it useta be...

You don't deserve this but here it is anyway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7M603PaMDY

[Des]

Is Cheerful Charlie Chester still alive?

[NormanD]

He can get irritating

A lot of the time.

With his two- three-word sentences. Often verbless.

That make up whole paragraphs. That begats a writing style that's imitated and over-done.

But, still, Bob Lefsetz can often hit the nail straight, as he does here with his words on the passing of Wild Man Fischer....

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
He was famous, but he was broke.

Don't equate fame with riches, certainly don't equate it with quality. But the best artists just don't understand the system, all they can do is create. Which is why they get ripped off and become disillusioned, like the two guys in Badfinger who committed suicide.

Wild Man Fischer was an institution. A club you became a member of in high school or your college dorm. Someone cool but friendly, not a football player or a cheerleader, would start talking about a record, with a smile on his or her face, and begin singing...

"Merry-go
Merry-go
Merry-go-round"

Huh?

It all came down to Frank Zappa. Who didn't kowtow to the mainstream, rather barged in upon it. He didn't wait for mass success to create a vanity label, signing acts that sound nothing like him to get rich, like Madonna did with Maverick, rather early in his career Frank started two labels, Bizarre and Straight, to sign acts that aligned with his sensibility. Those that were just a little bit different. That caused the audience to think. That could not be ignored. There was Captain Beefheart.

And Larry "Wild Man" Fischer".

You remember the cover of that initial double album. With his electric hair?

Maybe you don't. Maybe you're just too young. Maybe you equate music with money, learning about the riches of Led Zeppelin or seeing all those acts on MTV.

But once upon a time, it was about music.

And it was certainly about creativity.

Could you question convention?

There was an irreverence that doesn't exist today. Even SNL, it winks at not only its audience, but its network. Really, we're safe, we want to go on to movie careers.

But once upon a time, SNL was dangerous.

And when Belushi imitated Cocker we all got the joke. Because we'd all seen the "Woodstock" movie. Because we were all beholden to music, the hippest medium.

Actually, we're at the beginning of a new golden era. You don't need a tastemaker or a bank or a label to play. Then again, not only have we not yet found the new Frank Zappa, we've got tons of barely talented wannabes, doing it for a while before they sell out to the corporation, hopefully.

Zappa was a lifer. He made music, that's what he did. He didn't want to be broke, but he didn't change careers because music did not pay enough.

Wild Man Fischer was a lifer too.

Until now.

Larry "Wild Man" Fischer just died. Read the below obituaries, they're pretty good.

And it's not so much his music we mourn, but the era. When music surprised you, when it was peopled by the best and the brightest, when instead of trying to get in bed with the man, you didn't trust him.

Frank signed Alice Cooper. The GTOs. It was all outrageous.

But not without meaning.

It's the end of an era...

"Merry-Go-Round": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHqR1Rql5r8

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/ ... 9579.story

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/arts/ ... at-66.html


Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/

[Adam Blake]

Yeah, I read that too, Norman. Not a bad article. But whatever he writes about just becomes something he can use to further his own agenda, ie, his battle with the mainstream music business. He's not alone in that, of course, but sometimes I get fed up with it. Fischer was much more interesting than that in that he unwittingly threw up a very real question: is it OK to get your kicks and entertainment from the writhings of a genuine lunatic? I say it has to be taken case by case and that Fischer desperately wanted and thrived on having an audience (unlike say, Nick Drake). Besides, I think he was talented and that his work deserved an audience.

Des: who's Cheerful Charlie Chester?

[NormanD]

I often feel that Lefsetz won't or can't take it beyond his own agenda. He all too often harks back to a golden past, rarely outside American music. I'm not even sure he'd even consider the questions you pose. For my part, I only ever listened to the classic double album, on others' hi-fis. It was seen as stoned entertainment. I found it disturbing, and sad, and never willingly listened again. I created a big avoidance area around him, which must have touched something within me I wanted to get away from.

So, I can't offer further comment.

Cheerful Charlie Chester? He was a music hall and radio personality for decades.... My older brother, when he was about five, wrote him a fan letter, and got a delightful reply back. Years later, he heard him on the radio telling a 'Paki' joke, and said he wished he still had the letter to send back. Nowt to do with Larry Fischer.....

[Hugh Weldon]

Can't comment on Mr Fischer as I only knew the Rhino Records thing that Peel used to play, but Adam's

is it OK to get your kicks and entertainment from the writhings of a genuine lunatic?

is a good question. Laughing at/laughing with, I suppose, but also depends on just how out of control the performer is and how much your admiration is tinged with something like pity.

Milligan offers an interesting contrast. Clearly damaged by his wartime experiences, there was a whinging narcissistic strain which came out sometimes, continually harping on about how with Q7 etc he made the greatest comedy TV series of all time, when a lot of it was self-indulgent rubbish. But he was always worth watching or listening to because sooner or later there'd be something to treasure. A "genuine lunatic" in terms of his medical history yet in performance, poor as it was at times, he never lost control to the extent that it was no longer an act. Fischer sounded like he was just being himself. And there was enough going on to laugh at as far as I can tell. I wouldn't say listening to his records is quite the same thing as a visit to Bedlam.

[judith]

Can't comment on Mr Fischer as I only knew the Rhino Records thing that Peel used to play, but Adam's

is it OK to get your kicks and entertainment from the writhings of a genuine lunatic?

But he was always worth watching or listening to because sooner or later there'd be something to treasure.

Intriguing thought, Hugh. "Something to treasure", whether personal or broadly reaching, has given me much in considering the difference between lunacy and that which is not. I can't seem to think of sanity or grip on reality - as the opposite of lunacy.

Considering the opposite of 'something to treasure', I most certainly and immediately can think of a few of our US politicians who give me something to abhor whom I consider lunatics, for example. Sorry, that is digression, but I had earlier seen your post about Brian Haw's death and was reading further about him on the internet and unfortunately stumbled across some hatefully negative comments from the likes of those whose belief systems immediately illicit my standard response, 'Lunatics!'. I wonder if I most often think of Lunacy when the word is bare and lacking adjectives in the negative sense as something unworthy, uninspiring? As for Wildman Fischer, I always smile when I hear it - and thus treasure - his "Think of Me When Your Clothes Are Off" thereby giving it worth.

In reply to Adam's question - I'm inclined to agree with you that it's case by case and Wildman Fischer appeared to thrive on response and thus shunning him might have diminished his fervor - if one defines 'OK' by how their actions affect others. I am also reminded here of the adage relative to my childhood, "Don't laugh, you will only encourage him/her." Oh, this is too convoluted for me right now and I'm having a difficult time with your question because, for me, the word 'writhings' is loaded, indicates pain.

I suppose I am interpreting all this as being about how and why one reacts to what another is doing and eventually, cause and effect. And also, the 'genius vs madness' spiel is chattering on in my head even though the subjects don't necessarily go hand in hand and even though I can't really think of Wildman Fischer as a genius. This doesn't answer your question at all, but I'm going to throw up both my own hands here and say - one can only hope that that which one treasures as genius thrives on its own, intent or response being immaterial to its existence.

[Des]

Years later, he heard him on the radio telling a 'Paki' joke,

I never liked the bastard.

[Adam Blake]

Perhaps instead of "lunatic" I should have said "suffering from mental illness". Wild Man was obviously mentally ill and had been put through the ringer of the US mental institution system several times in the early 60s. He was lucky to not get EST, he must have just missed it. He sings about this in heartbreaking tragi-comic detail in "The Wild Man Fischer Story". My point is, he loved performing, many of his songs were engaging (for one reason or another) but I have never been able to satisfy myself that my enjoyment of his work is not voyeuristic. Wild Man wanted to be heard, and I think that has to be justification enough.

[judith]

I feel obtuse and shall blame it on the jet lag that hit like a ton of bricks today. Now that you've rephrased your question, I think I get it: is it okay to receive enjoyment from what someone else is doing whether or not they realize they are in pain or distress? Even when you ask for your attention?

I had to look voyeurism up as I thought it also meant peering into someone's private behavior unbidden, which it does not. Mental illness is painful and distressing. Discomfort at getting enjoyment out of the antics of someone who is mentally ill would indeed be troubling. Perhaps because he desired to be heard, to have people watch him perform alleviated some of his distress?

[Adam Blake]

He was also extremely funny sometimes (eg, "Think Of Me When Your Clothes Are Off")!!
Poor old Larry. Considering how his illness could have completely ruined his life I think he did very well and the records he made are a testament to how he refused to let it beat him. Also, Zappa deserves some praise for having the almighty patience to produce him and release his material on an unsuspecting public in 1968. If he did to some extent mould the material to suit his own ideas of what a record by a "crazy person" should sound like then I guess that was his prerogative as a producer and also a vehicle for his own, shall we say, eccentricities?

Hugh: I think Spike Milligan is a very good parallel - although I would never suggest that Fischer was on a similar level as Milligan as an artist. Milligan's humour was to a large extent predicated on the idea that he (Milligan) was insane and that you (the audience) were not but that you would nevertheless enjoy watching and listening to his mad antics. He played up to the idea of the insane genius to the nth degree, so much so that it becomes impossible to tell where the truth lies: is an insane genius pretending to be an insane genius funny? Pathetic? Bathetic?