The Viking of Fifth Avenue

My Moondog CD finally arrived in the post today - the first actual real CD I've bought in ages.

The story of Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) is almost as impressive as the music itself.

Growing up in rural America in the 1920s and 1930s, he first learned to drum sitting on the knee of Chief Yellow Calf; he was blinded as a teenager by an exploding dynamite cap; he taught himself music (and not just bashing out a tune but real, complex music theory).

On the one hand, he was a classical composer who could compose without an instrument and was admired by the likes of Toscanini, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Lenny Bruce.

On the other hand, he was a man who invented his own musical instruments and busked in Times Square wrapped in army blankets wearing a helmet which made him look like a Norse druid. Hence the title the Viking of Fifth Avenue.

His music is remarkable - in particular I find Pastorale heartbreakingly beautiful.