As told to the Awizard list by Mark "Moogy" Klingman...
Part 4
3/24/99
[ War Babies by Hall And Oates. IMO, it's one of Todd's most adventurous productions ]
Especially how much Daryl Hall (whom I had never heard of, at that time), sang like TR himself!
Two Philly boys with the Philly sound imbedded in their brains! And besides, the whole thing was recorded in my house! (Secret Sound) And we stole Hall and Oates' drummer right after that record. (Willie Wilcox). Good choice, L Sprague!
Moogy
4/1/99
The Great Speckled Bird was Ian and Sylvia's band on Bearsville with N.D. smart. on drums and Amos Garrett on guitar. Todd produced their album on Bearsville. I played piano on some of their demos with Todd producing. Those were my first sessions for Todd. 1969? 1970?
Moogy
4/3/99
Hey Wizard List,
In the 70's, movie director and script writer Cameron Crowe came on tour with TR and Utopia for a week or two or even more. Then he wrote an article for Rolling Stone about us (mostly TR). He was a huge TR fan and toured with us at the height of TR-mania. I bonded with Cameron on that tour, though I haven't seen him for quite a while. Now that he's doing a movie about his experiences from those days, let's wait and see if TR and utopia are in that movie somewhere, (under other names of course)
Moogy
4/10/99
On tours, with the original members minus M. Frog, we broke into a Bebop version of Dizzy Gillespie's "A Nite in Tunisia". Ellman, Siegler, Schuckett and myself all had experience playing swingtime jazz. TR did not. So, he grabbed a mike and started singing these words to the tune of "Night in Tunisia". "Baby, you gotta S*** my D***". Those are the only words he came up with. Everyone grabbed mikes and started to sing along. Todd was so inspired that he turned on a two track machine in the control room ( rehearsals were at secret sound, which was my loft). And in a half-hour "You Really Got to S*** My D***", was recorded. The whole band singing the refrain together while playing live. Always unreleased, we would play the cassette in our hotel rooms on tour, for laffs. I recently found a cassette of this classic porno song.
Has anyone ever heard about this song? Does anyone have a copy? As far as I know this is TR's only porno recording, 'till the classic Allen Ginsberg CD of a few years ago, where TR accompanies Ginsberg on the raunchiest X-rated song on the CD. ( And considering that it's Allen Ginsberg, you know it's got to be raunchy!!! )
Moogy
4/26/99
[ Why did Utopia's personal line up change? " Creative differences ", money etc... Did all of you (Moogy, M Frog, Ralph) leave at the same time? ]
I've tried to keep my comments to the list on a positive note. Do you really want the answers to these questions? If I were to describe TR in anything less than positive terms, would I be immediately put on the s*** list? What would Christmas be like if kids thought that Santa wasn't all one would like to think he is?
I will give you one hint. The Andy Partridge interview that you excerpted on the list last month sounded remarkably true to what many of the original Utopians experienced with TR.
careful what you wish for,
Moogy
4/27/99
"Lady Face" is a song I wrote for an off-Broadway musical called "A Nite in New Orleans", and Todd had heard the song. In fact, Utopia performed an abbreviated version of the musical for a few performances.... We performed it at Radio City Music Hall. It was a good nite for me. Bette Midler was there and decided to have me produce her album then, and a guy named Will Holt was there. Will Holt was a big name in Broadway musicals at the time and he was so excited about "Nite in New Orleans" that he helped me expand it into a full musical and get it performed off-Broadway.
Unfortunately, Todd was less excited about "Nite". He dropped the mini-musical from the set list after only a few performances. Luckily Frank Bubnick has Utopia performing it live on CD! I'm going to get it. Todd heard "Lady Face" which was written for the off Broadway production after Utopia dropped "Nite in New Orleans" from the set list. He liked it so much, that he added it to his set, ( at his suggestion and my total surprise ) at the Bottom Line for the "Back to the Bars" album. But once again, he never put it on any album.
Moogy
4/27/99
Success imploded! Every original member quitting. Unbelievably sad. Gruesome, almost. The details are quite gory. And painful. So, I will not take them to a public forum at this time. I will instead start writing "The Moogy Chronicles". It will be a detailed look at that period of my life... My early years in the music biz. Much will revolve around TR.
I'll go thru how we met and the creative process and our early- amazingly prodigious years together. For the time being, I'd much rather look at the positive aspects of our creative relationship, than the negative aspects. I'll try to send in a few pages every month dealing chronologically with the period. When we get to the break-up of the original utopia, I'll try to fill in some details.
But please try to remember, my intro to the rock and roll life started not with TR, but when I had my high school jug band with Andy Kaufman (see the details in the Andy Kaufman E channel two hour special- they replay it often! ) and a brief stint with the Jimi Hendrix band, when I was just a lad. ( at that time called Jimi James and the Blue Flames ).
Moogy
4/30/99
- Moogy Klingman was recently seen on the outskirts of Utopia, entering the Ikon. It is rumored that he was seeking redemption for having impure thoughts about old band mate, TR-i. The High Priestess of the Ikon would only acknowledge that Moogy said 10 Hail Patti Smiths and was forgiven. When asked if Moogy's sin was that bad, the High Priestess said, 'It's no worse than masturbation, to which, it is remarkably similar." Just how High was the Priestess....? "Only some pot and a little acid. No hard stuff", she answered.
Moogy
5/16/99
Johny Winter is great and a nice fella, too. I played on two Johny Winter albums. The first was "Johny Winter And" featuring Rick Derringer, and his brother on drums and Randy Hobbs on bass (who died a few years back). These guys were the McCoys and had just become Johny's band. I played on two cuts (uncredited). one was called "Kindness" and I was credited at least for writing that one. Johny did a great job singing and playing it. The other was a ballad I played organ on. "Johny Winter and " has recently been re-released on CD. Good record.
The Silver Train session for "Still Alive and Well", where I played piano was fun. Mick Jagger and Keith Richard had given the song to Johny and Derringer, once again produced it. On this album I, at least, got credit for playing on it, even though my piano was mixed very low. Rick Derringer and the McCoys were very close friends during my early years in the business and I was the guy that introduced Rick to Todd, and got him on various TR sessions.
Rick also helped me become an original member of Edgar Winter's white trash, and for a while I lived upstate on Edgar's Estate and rehearsed with the band, but missing NYC and finally getting my record deal with Capital, I bolted back to the city, before White Trash had done any gigs. Last big session with Edgar's group was when I was producing Bette Midler. I brought Bette to Edgar Winter's Long Island Estate. At this time Edgar had a 4 piece group with Derringer, Dan Hartman, and a drummer (don't remember the name). They had a few #1 records....... Free Ride and Frankenstein and were very big when we recorded a Midler record at their estate. The song, written by Bob Crewe, was called Volcano, and they did an amazing job of playing and singing it. Dan Hartman was all over Bette, wanting to go out with her (this is before he came out), but they became just friends. It's sad that Dan died of Aids a few years back. And sadder still? That Bette chose not to put "Volcano" on the record (Songs for the New Depression). Bad decision, Bette!!
Moogy
5/16/99
Todd's attitude toward musical instruments and acquiring skills on them, had more to do with getting whatever he needed out of the instrument as opposed to becoming a virtuoso on any axe. On the very first day I met him, though, Todd was waiting outside the Cafe a Go Go in NYC in 69?) for Elvin Bishop, 2nd guitarist for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, to arrange guitar lessons with Bishop for himself, - I was there to hang out with Elvin Bishop (a constant jam partner) and get my name on the guest list for the gig that nite.
Yes, Todd seeking to get a guitar lesson was the way I met him. But, after that I never knew him to take lessons on any instrument or practice outside of band rehearsals (where we could "practice" up to ten hours a day). He always made it clear that he was not going to join the Clapton/Hendrix competition for best guitarist, and even didn't enjoy jamming the blues the way these other legends did. Back in 69 I would jam with Hendrix often and Clapton occasionally. It was in clubs like the "Scene", and the Cafe a Go Go, and lofts like Serge Katzens' where jams happened.
Though Todd had the potential to be a great guitarist virtuoso, he had other things on his mind. Those things culminated in "Something/Anything". As Moogy and the Rhythm Kings became Utopia, we were all more or less, virtuoso type musicians studying jazz and classical music and practicing endlessly. It was in this atmosphere that TR, at that time, being under the influence of bands like Yes, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Chick Corea's electric Band, that the first Utopia album came to be. Todd took all these influences and musicians and came up with a concept where his guitar could be featured in more of a virtuoso type setting.
We all practiced hard to make those tunes work and TR's guitar screamed fast lines as good as anybody. But soon he changed directions again with the more vocal harmony type Utopia and diverse solo albums. Once he conquered the guitar virtuoso trip by doing it, he moved on.
Moogy