DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
My Fellow Americans, Life is actually just a microscopic, deluded moment in time, so let's cut to the freakin' chase. One look at our impending election debacle can solidify my case. It has been my contention since birth, that the answer to every difficulty we encounter on this sacred yet demented Stone, can be revealed with ultimate clarity through the ultra neurotic engagements of Music, Art, Literature, Film, Poetry and a good Pastrami sandwich. Why would any sane human spend so must time on a film set (Do you know how long you gotta wait until your 8 second deliverance of an edited beyond repair line gets a chance to become a professional embarrassment etched in time forever? ) or expend so much energy in a recording studio, piecing together another ode to a man or woman who could not care less how much love existed within your digestive tract? It's all about hymns and prayers and a quest for mercy and forgiveness and silence and faith. We were blessed with Charles Bukowski, Gene Chandler, Lenny Bruce, Mitch Ryder and a legion of creative explorers whose influences provided the air we breathe. So Let's Dance! This site shall explore the reaper, find a way to disarm the stench of injustice, discover some true loves and talk it all over before it's all over. So what's the worst that our desires could produce? Failure? So sue me. I'm going to require your assistance in making as much trouble for the grown-ups as possible. Let the record show that my childish heart yearns to disrupt the madness. Join me Ladies and Germs!
With Gratitude For Gena Rowlands, Nancy Sinatra, Jerry Quarry, Leo Gorcey, Arthur Alexander and Joey Heatherton, Your Splendid Bohemian, Rich Buckland.
DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
BILL MESNIK'S SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET PRESENTS: KITES ARE FUN BY THE FREE DESIGN (PROJECT 3, 1967) - EPISODE #77
This goofy confection of Sunshine Pop was so at odds with the popular music of the day that it seemed doomed from the start. The Dedrick family, (Chris, Sandy, Bruce, Ellen, and Stephanie), were so unhip that the classical-jazz compositional genius of Chris Dedrick and the sublime sibling harmonies on display were incomprehensible to the rock intelligentsia. (There were The Cowsills, of course…but….) For God’s sake, The Free Design were produced by Enoch Light, of all people - ( I always loved that name) - my dad’s “Easy Listening” guru; it was the music he had on in the background when he did his weekend paperwork.
They only existed as a group from ’67-’72, after which Chris pursued an award winning, film composing and arranging career in Canada. And, here’s where the trajectory of this esoteric ditty arcs interestingly: their only charting song, Kites Are Fun barely peaked at 114 on the “bubbling under the hot 100” list, after which the group plummeted to obscurity. But, later, much later, like an excavated Paleolithic fossil, their catalogue was uncovered in the 1990’s, and reissued by Trattoria, a Japanese record label. Since then, this tune has been lauded, covered extensively, TikTok’ed, and featured in numerous tv commercials and shows. And, now, no one can deny that kites are most assuredly fun.
