"Music and humor are for the healing of the nations"

May 28, 2024 9:16 AM

This post started as a single video of veteran musicmaker Leonard Solomon performing Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" on a homemade "Squijeeblion." That led to discovering his YouTube channel @Bellowphone, full of similarly whimsical covers on a collection of bespoke instruments hand-built in his Wimmelbildian workshop, from the Emphatic Chromatic Callioforte to the Oomphalapompatronium to the original Majestic Bellowphone. Searching for more videos led to his performance in the Lonesome Pine One-Man Band Extravaganza special from 1991, where he co-starred with whizbang vaudevillians like Hokum W. Jeebs and Professor Gizmo. But what was Lonesome Pine? Just an extraordinary, award-winning concert series by the Kentucky Center for the Arts that ran for 16 years on public radio and television -- an "all things considered" showcase for "new artists, underappreciated veterans and those with unique new voices" featuring such luminaries as Buddy Guy, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang, Koko Taylor, and hundreds more. You can get a broad overview of this televisual marvel from this excellent half-hour retrospective, see a supercut of director Clark Santee's favorite moments, browse the program directory from the Smithsonian exhibit, or watch select shows in their entirety: Lonesome Pine Blues - All-star Bluegrass Band - Nashville All-stars - Bass Instincts - Zydeco Rockers - Walter "Wolfman" Washington - Mark O'Connor - Alison Krauss & Union Station - Sam Bush & John Cowan - Maura O'Connell - Nanci Griffith - A Musical Visit from Africa

Also, I had a hard time fitting this in, but the strangest episode (and one of the best examples of the eclectic and creative spirit of this series) was a whole-ass wrestling match live-orchestrated by the "Masters of Percussion":

It's as weird as it sounds: a young Jeff Jarrett and Dirty Dutch Mantell battle it out in the ring while in the background Walter Mays conducts a live orchestra performing his original composition, "War Games for Ten Percussionists and Two Wrestlers, " for broadcast on PBS of all channels. The actual match is pretty basic with a standard "heel dominates, babyface gets some hope spots, and finally makes a comeback" format - at one point Mantell attacks a plant in the orchestra after trying to take a drum; otherwise it's pretty by-the-numbers - which was probably a wise choice to give an audience likely largely composed of non-wrestling fans something easy to follow. (In a then-rare kayfabe-breaking moment, the extra Mantell attacks - played by Memphis wrestler Marc "The Beast" Guleen - is listed as a third wrestler in the program's end credits.) It's interesting to see this sort of high-concept wrestling content as early as 1989, as this seems more like something you'd see tried nowadays - and maybe somebody should try doing it again. While the in-ring action is simply adequate, the idea behind it gets it an extra point for creativity in my book.

You can watch a clip of it in the retrospective here!

[This post barely scratches the surface, and it's all so good. Some DC MeFite with a VHS digitizer needs to pay a visit to the National Museum of American History, stat.]

posted by Rhaomi (9 comments total)

!!!
posted by clew at 9:41 AM on May 28

if only Nam June Paik & John Cage knew what would happen...
[etude for pianoforte]
bikutsi is a genre new to me. thank you
posted by HearHere at 10:05 AM on May 28

I nominate Leonard Solomon to henceforth have naming rights over pretty much any institution.
posted by foxtongue at 10:07 AM on May 28

Thanks for reminding me of Lonesome Pine Special, Rhaomi. We know a little something about music here in the Bluegrass state.
posted by hairless ape at 10:50 AM on May 28

Wimmelbildian... Oomphalapompatronium... And so on. Heh.
posted by y2karl at 10:52 AM on May 28 [1 favorite]

This is amazing.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:51 AM on May 28

I nominate Leonard Solomon to henceforth have naming rights over pretty much any institution
seconded! forte calliopianopi?! okay, there's too much here for me rn. i am just going to let this music resonate
posted by HearHere at 11:55 AM on May 28 [1 favorite]

oh to be able to give as few fucks as a one-person band
posted by scruss at 12:29 PM on May 28

Trail of the Lonesome Pine outdoor drama at Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Maybe the source for the name?
posted by nofundy at 9:24 AM on May 29