Moondog [Louis Thomas Hardin; June Hardin]
Moondog Yearbook 1
New York City, USA: Moondog Management, 1967
28 pp., 8vo., softcover
Edition size unknown
Moondog (born Louis Thomas Hardin) was an American composer, musician, theoretician, poet, inventor and street performer, best known for his distinctive Viking garb, which included a horned helmet and cloak.
His self-taught compositions drew from jazz, classical, Native American and Latin American music and would later influence composers of minimal music, such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass.
An accident involving explosives left him blind at the age of 16.
In 1943, he moved to New York, where he met Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini, Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman. A few years later he adopted the name "Moondog" in honor of a dog "who used to howl at the moon more than any dog I knew.”
He eared a living busking, performing music and poetry, and by selling records and booklets such as this rare title.
Moondog Yearbook 1 is exceedingly scarce, and information about it is inconsistent. I have seen it listed as having twenty-eight pages, sixteen pages and twelve pages. I’ve seen it described as being self-published, issued by Shoestring Press or Moondog Management. The date is sometimes 1967, other times ’68.
If a Volume 2 ever existed, I can’t locate it.
