![]() ![]() 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. In 1954, he won a case in the New York State Supreme Court against disc jockey Alan Freed, who had branded his radio show, “The Moondog Rock and Roll Matinee”, around the name “Moondog”, using “Moondog’s Symphony” (the first record that Moondog ever cut) as his “calling card”. It was this Native music, along with contemporary jazz and classical, mixed with the ambient sounds from his environment (city traffic, ocean waves, babies crying, etc.) that created the foundation of Moondog’s music. In 1949 he traveled to a Blackfoot Sun Dance in Idaho where he performed on percussion and flute, returning to the Native American music he first came in contact with as a child. He developed a lifelong interest in Nordic mythology, and maintained an altar to Thor in his country home in Candor. Already bearded and long-haired, he added a Viking-style horned helmet to avoid the occasional comparisons of his appearance with that of Christ or a monk, as he had rejected Christianity in his late teens. In addition to his music and poetry, he was also known for the distinctive fanciful “Viking” cloak that he wore. He partially supported himself by selling copies of his poetry and his musical philosophy. He was not homeless, however, or at least not often: he maintained an apartment in upper Manhattan and had a country retreat in Candor, NY, to which he moved in 1972. By 1947 Hardin had adopted the name “Moondog” in honor of a dog “who used to howl at the moon more than any dog I knew of”.įrom the late 1940s until 1972, Moondog lived as a street musician and poet in New York City, playing in midtown Manhattan, eventually settling on the corner of 53rd or 54th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. One of his early street posts was near the famed 52nd Street nightclub strip, and he was well-known to many jazz musicians and fans. In 1943 Hardin moved to New York, where he met noted classical music luminaries such as Leonard Bernstein and Arturo Toscanini, as well as legendary jazz performer-composers such as Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman, whose upbeat tempos and often humorous compositions would influence Hardin’s later work. Although the majority of his musical training was self-taught by ear, he learned some music theory from books in braille there. He then moved to Batesville, Arkansas where he lived until 1942, when he got a scholarship to study in Memphis, Tennessee. He studied with Burnet Tuthill and at the Iowa School for the Blind. After learning the principles of music in several schools for blind young men across middle America, he taught himself the skills of ear training and composition. Hardin played drums for the high school band in Hurley, Missouri before losing his sight at the age of 16 in a farm accident on July 4, 1932, involving a dynamite cap. At one point, his father took him to an Arapaho Sun Dance where he sat on the lap of Chief Yellow Calf and played a tom-tom made from buffalo skin. ![]() He attended school in a couple of small towns. His family relocated to Wyoming and his father opened a trading post at Fort Bridger. He was widely recognized as “the Viking of 6th Avenue” by thousands of passersby and residents who weren’t aware of his musical career.īorn to an Episcopalian family in Marysville, Kansas, Hardin started playing a set of drums that he made from a cardboard box at the age of five. Hardin lived in New York from the late 1940s until 1972, and during this time he could often be found on 6th Avenue, between 52nd and 55th Streets, wearing a cloak and a horned helmet sometimes busking or selling music, but often just standing silently on the sidewalk. Louis Thomas Hardin (– September 8, 1999), also known as Moondog, was an American musician, composer, theoretician, poet and inventor of several musical instruments. Portrayals of Disability: Clips used in the launch.2015: Portrayal of Disability: Then and Now.2021: Relationships + Sex / Hidden Impairments.2015: Potrayal of Disability: Then and Now.2019: Leadership, Resistance and Culture. ![]()
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