| JACK MUDURIAN Downloading The Repertoire [CD] |
| Various The Talent Show [CD] |
| by Gary "Pig" Gold |
| For a good many years now, David Greenberger has been not only visiting, but documenting (in his legendary Duplex Planet zine) the strangely wonderful world of Boston's senior citizens, actually venturing into their residences from time to time to sample, first-hand, the woefully cast-aside wit and wisdom which is Life Over 65. One cloudless June afternoon in 1981, David brought a cassette recorder to visit the Duplex Nursing Home's very own Jack Mudurian. Asked, simply, to "sing something", this Duplex's Sinatra-in-residence proceeded to unfurl an utterly ear-bending 129(!!!)-song non-stop medley of show tunes, old favorites, and even a possibly definitive reading of "Rock Around The Clock". When the tape was full, the performance was over, and leave it to those wacky visionaries at Arf! Arf! to delicately place this treasure onto disc for all the world to savor. The phrase "hearing is believing" has never been more applicable. But Wait! That's not all! If a 47-minute History Of 20th Century Music only serves to wet yer whistle, then by all means stay tuned for over an hour's worth of on-stage performances by an entire slew of Duplex Planet citizens, friends, and innocent standers-by on The Talent Show. Yes, this time David's trusty recorder has captured, in all its sonically-challenged splendor, an evening's, um, entertainment at the local church hall, and the version presented herein of Beatle George's "Here Comes The Sun" (especially the mid-song panic of a drum solo) is alone worth the price of admission. |
| EPULSE |
| May 24, 1996 |
| k-tel compression + a cappella + art brut = ?: |
| "JACK MUDURIAN loves to sing," the liner notes to DOWNLOADING THE REPERTOIRE(Arf Arf Records) begin. No kidding: The disc contains 129 song fragments strung together pretty much non-stop; epulse contributor David Greenberger taped the late Mudurian, then a resident of Boston's Duplex Nursing Home, in June, 1981. The result is a 47:06 stream-of-consciousness American pre-rock hit parade, rendered in an adenoidal honk that makes Wild Man Fisher sound like a classically trained voclaist. |
| MATADOR Mailorder Catalog |
| Summer 1996 |
| Uhm, 129 (yes count'em) songs sung by an old man sitting on his bed. 47 minutes of classic renditions of classics such as "Chicago," "Jingle Bells," "Put Another Nickle In," "South of The Border," "Over The Rainbow" and others. Fantastic depression guaranteed. |
| Cosmic Debris |
| Reviewed by coLeSLAw in August 1996 online issue. |
| Mudurian is a quirky old guy who lives in a retirement home in Boston who
claims to know "almost as many songs as Sinatra". This album is the result
of a challenge to sing for 45 minutes straight.
This he does, albeit in the voice of a cartoon gorilla with a mouth full of donuts, as well as many prompts by the recording party that "Yes, you still have to sing more" and "fine, well, just sing Chicago again then." (I'm paraphrasing). Also, I wasn't aware that one of the lines to 'My Bonnie' went as follows: "My Bonnie has tuberculosis, my Bonnie has only one lung..." Perhaps I just haven't been paying attention all these years. So be it. |
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