Phillip Bimstein: The Bushy Wushy Rag: Starkland CD

The delightful Robert "Bushy Wushy" Logan sold beer in Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, for more than forty years. Phillip Bimstein began his aural portrait, "The Bushy Wushy Rag," by visiting Busch Stadium, recording the crack of the bat from behind home plate, the ball slamming into the catcher's mitt, and other baseball game sounds. He then combined these sampled sounds with stories told by the charming Bushy Wushy, all tied together with a score for wind quintet performed by the Equinox Chamber Players. This video presents the end section of the 14-minute piece.

Other aural portraits on this Starkland CD feature the harmonica player and storyteller Larkin Gifford, and the Las Vegas dice-caller Tom Martinet, who offers insights into the superstitions and psychologies of gambling.

In the CD's Introduction, John Adams writes, "Like their composer, the pieces on this album communicate a generous and good-natured spirit that is tempered with wry wit and a special sense of the western landscape and culture that he so loves."

In The New York Times, Steve Smith commented that "The irresistible charm of Mr. Bimstein's music has less to do with technology than with his uncanny knack for finding the music of everday life."

And Stereophile called Bimstein "an American original" whose "stunning and heartwarming" CD offers "quirky, moving, and delightful musical journeys."

This "Larkin Gifford's Harmonica" CD is available at Amazon, iTunes, CD Baby, etc.

Category:

Music

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• Robert
• Logan
• Bushy
• Wushy
• Busch
• Stadium
• St.
• Louis
• Cardinals
• Phillip
• Bimstsein
• Equinox
• Chamber
• Players
• experimental
• music
• wind
• quintet
• Starkland
• John
• Adams
• Larkin
• Gifford's
• Harmonica