Moondog biographer Robert Scotto will visit my WFMU radio program from 3-4pm Eastern, discussing his book "The Viking of Sixth Avenue" (2nd edition published this month). We'll air recordings of the composer's strange sounds and exotic beauty from the 1950s to the 1990s, including unreleased material. Moondog (1916-1999) recorded with animals, self-made instruments, and tugboat horns, and composed percussion pieces, chamber music, and works for 25 saxophones. He was blind, designed his own costumes, slept on NYC streets, and built his own homes in the woods. http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/50708

"When I went to the University of Iowa in order to be a writer, I thought, This is the worst way to learn how to write. To sit in a room with a bunch of would-be writers, who want to write the Great American Novel, every one of them, and you read their stories and they read yours, and you’re not living a life. I don’t like that. I like learning on the job. The character of my work has definitely evolved from the character of my life."

What's that pounding in your brain? Last night's WFMU drum threesome co-hosted by Dave Mandl, Evan "Funk" Davies, and myself. Featured: Art Blakey, Max Roach, Mitch Mitchell, Johnny Williams, Dave King, Gerry Gibbs, Bev Bevan, Billy Cobham, Clive Bunker, Chris Cutler, and more.

WFMU playlist for "People Who Only Need a Beat," drum throwdown with Dave Mandl, Irwin Chusid, and Evan "Funk" Davies - May 12, 2013

Producer Hal Willner visited my WFMU program for 90 minutes this afternoon, discussing Carl Stalling, Tiny Tim, Soupy Sales, SNL, Howard Kaylan's autobio, Robert Altman, Night Music, Lenny Bruce's drug of choice, and the Great Night in Harlem benefit concert he's producing at the Apollo Theater May 17. Archived audio can be heard here: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/50546

Support WFMU: Celebrating transients, distortion, skips, scratches, wow and flutter since 1958. Make a pledge (any amount) at the link so we can hit our budget goal by Sunday.

Help WFMU continue to offer adventurous freeform radio by pledging your support during our annual rent party, March 4-17.

WFMU: America's Leading Contrary Indicator.

Help WFMU continue to offer adventurous freeform radio by pledging your support during our annual Rent Party, March 4-17.

Think of our eclectic staff as the many limbs of some wonderful sea animal.

Help WFMU continue to make fun and adventurous freeform radio by pledging your support during our annual rent party, March 4 - 17!

CHARLES BUKOWSKI: New limited edition fine art print by DREW FRIEDMAN, released today. Bukowski's adult life seemed devoted to two things: booze and the written word. The former went in prodigiously; the latter came out abundantly. Poetry, short stories, and novels tumbled from his typewriter. His pages chronicled sex, emotional and physical pain, the drudgery of work, and a life that's miserable to the bottom of the glass, earning him the sobriquet the "Laureate of American Lowlife." Bukowski was boorish, combative, uninhibited and, in the words of one admirer, "utterly free." Only twenty 20 hand-numbered, artist-signed and -titled archival-quality prints are being issued for this edition.

Drew Friedman Fine Art Prints - original works by the noted illustrator issued as exclusive limited editions.

"After ten books of quotidian compilations, an unexpected thing happened: I began to tire of the everyday. After all, the job of retyping the entire internet could go on forever, driving me to seek a new line of investigation."

Brian Spinney: "I helped my pastor make this music video when I was in high school. Thought you guys might get a kick out of it! May the Lord bless and keep you."

On February 3, 1967, short-fused producer Joe Meek fatally drilled his landlady, Mrs. Violet Shenton, with buckshot, possibly in a dispute over unpaid back rent. A minute or so later, the 37-year-old Meek turned the gun around and launched his own face heavenward with volcanic dispatch. His assistant, Patrick Pink, who rushed upstairs upon hearing the shots, said Joe’s head looked “like a burnt candle.”

Meek was a cross between Thomas Edison, Phil Spector, and Ed Wood, Jr., embodying the best and worst of all three.

Style primer: Jonathan Batiste at the keyboard.

"Poet laureate"? This guy used to give me unsolicited lap dances in the WFMU studio.

In the melodramatic style of anti-drug "educational" mental hygiene flicks of the 1950s & '60s (including projector scratches, ominous narration, and generic "psychedelic" music).

"Some users drool, and roll about on the floor. Others become exceedingly hyperactive."

Today marks the Danny Kaye faux-centennial (he was two years older than alleged). His song & dance intro for THE COURT JESTER (1956) ranks among the most entertaining opening credits in the history of cinema. Song by his wife Sylvia Fine.

WSJ: "From a little brick building in Jersey City, amid a mess of cultural detritus including an Andy Williams album cover affixed with googly eyes and a series of kitschy black 'Velvet Republicans' paintings from Mexico, beams the signal of the eccentric radio station WFMU. Nothing about it seems the least bit tuned to convention. 'That's a dinosaur bone,' DJ Scott Williams said, pointing across the studio in which he was broadcasting. 'Just another thing that found its way in here, like this ray gun'."

On Sunday WFMU will host a benefit concert and a scaled-back version of its annual record fair at the Bell House in Brooklyn. Fundraisers are typical for the proudly listener-supported station—as is the record fair, a near-religious experience for the area’s analog audiophiles—but this one is uncomm...

"Oh sugar I am too young for you / Not like my number but in everything I do / I am a child / you have a child"

From the EP "HOME" http://jennyo.bandcamp.com

James Wolff: "Someone Who Will" (video)

From the album 'Not For Everyone' - free download @ http://www.jameswolff.com

Now in WFMU's Free Music Archive: nine tracks recorded live at the station in early October 2012 by Megan Jean & The Klay Family Band. Great, soulful performance. The "Free" in FMA means they can be downloaded for ZERO MONEYS.

Megan Jean and Byrne Klay met in 2004 while living in New York City, where they were avid WFMU listeners. Disillusioned with the music-mill mentality in the concrete jungle, they sold their possessions, quit their day jobs, and hit the road full-time, focusing on the Southeast. Fourteen shows turned...

Sean Penn is the Harry Stephen Keeler of polemics. Forget what's he talking about (who cares?) and whether you agree with him or not. Marvel at the literary depth of this sage of our age, on display at HuffPo.