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Wood Fire books Leon Redbone (nee Dickran Gobalian) for Jan 23

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  • Wood Fire books Leon Redbone (nee Dickran Gobalian) for Jan 23

    Dowagiac Daily News, Michigan
    Dec 1 2006

    Wood Fire books Leon Redbone Tuesday, Jan. 23


    By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
    Friday, December 1, 2006 10:20 AM EST

    Larry Seurynck is seeing things again.



    This time his vision is Leon Redbone in Dowagiac, as in the performer
    known for his trademark Panama hat and dark glasses who some
    suspected of being Frank Zappa in disguise.

    Redbone, the performer of early 20th century jazz and blues featured
    in Rolling Stone a year before he landed a recording contract,
    appeared as a semi-regular musical guest on NBC's "Saturday Night
    Live" throughout the late 1970s and early '80s.

    More recently, Redbone covered Frank Loesser's romantic Christmas
    song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Zooey Deschanel for the closing
    credits of Will Ferrell's 2003 holiday film, "Elf."

    The man the online encyclopedia Wikipedia calls "the most famous
    non-famous American musician" is scheduled to appear downtown at Wood
    Fire on Tuesday night, Jan. 23, 2007, Seurynck said Thursday.

    Tickets are expected to cost $50 for the intimate setting.

    Seurynck's previous insights include obtaining Muhammad Ali's ring
    for Dowagiac Boxing Club, now part of the Police Athletic League
    (PAL), and an upscale Italian restaurant downtown that is
    increasingly known as a venue for high-caliber live jazz and blues
    musicians.


    Just ask the two Salt Lake City fellows who trekked cross-country to
    the Grand Old City by plane and train to hear Franz Jackson.

    Seurynck's latest vision sees an artist of Redbone's caliber doing
    for the live music scene what a Gwen Brooks poetry reading did to
    inspire the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival in the early 1990s.

    "We believe it will be a very significant night for the arts in
    Dowagiac," Seurynck said. "A performance by Leon would set the stage
    for major performers on a quarterly basis. It will be a wonderful
    opportunity for town and Wood Fire as a venue."

    Redbone, 57, was born Aug. 26, 1949, supposedly in Cyprus to Armenian
    parents who named him Dickran Gobalian.

    His vague biography cultivates a mysterious air.

    He first began performing in public while living in Canada.

    Frequent appearances in Toronto clubs and at folk music festivals
    built his musical reputation while enhancing his enigmatic persona.

    Rumors that he was actually Zappa in disguise faded with the Mothers
    of Invention frontman's cancer death on Dec. 4, 1993.

    Rolling Stone profiled Redbone in 1974 as "so authentic you can hear
    the surface noise."

    He told the magazine he was the love child of Paganini and Jenny
    Lind.

    Warner Bros. Records released Redbone's first album, "On the Track,"
    in 1975.

    So distinctive is Redbone that he has appeared in at least two comic
    strips, Mister Boffo and Gary Larson.

    He performed the theme song for the 1980s sitcom, "Mr. Belvedere."
    Redbone has also appeared regularly on the PBS children's show,
    "Between the Lions."

    He has also done music for and appeared in television commercials, of
    which his most famous was a spot where he flies over a beach on a
    flying carpet singing, "This Bud's for You" for Budweiser beer.

    His 15 albums, including a live album recorded in Paris released in
    2005, earned him a cult-like fan following who traipse significant
    distances to hear him play.

    He reportedly travels to engagements exclusively by car since
    surviving the crash of a small plane in the early 1980s.

    Recurring gags involve the influence of alcohol and claiming to have
    written works well before his time, furthering his mysterious aura.

    His concerts are said to blend performance, comedy and instrumentals.
    He often wears an ensemble of a white coat and trousers with a black
    string tie while sitting stiffly on a stool.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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