Our Lady of Perpetual Obsolescence Vinyl Rescue Mission and Orphanage

Submitted for your listening pleasure are the vocal and guitar stylings of South Florida troubadour Michael Strange. Aptly billing himself as the ‘Wandering Minstrel of the cocktail set’, Mr. Strange entertained at several late night hot spots in the Miami area during the 1950s. This Miami Cabaret guide from 1956 briefly describes Mr. Strange’s performances as adding a plaintive air to the dark, intimate scene at the Black Magic Room. Although there are melancholy aspects to his style, I don’t think plaintive really describes it. The music is a cool blend of folk sensibility and cocktail lounge intimacy with a dash of East Village beatnik added for good measure. His performances feature a rich and emotive voice backed up by fluid guitar finger picking and an overall idiosyncratic sense of musical phrasing that holds the works together. Also prominently displayed are his formidable whistling skills. If nothing else, give the first track, ‘Ode to my guitar/Yellow Bird/Chouncoune a listen to hear all this in action. Mr. Strange released at least four other albums, one of which ‘Something Strange’ you can hear on this podcast. There is frustratingly little else I’ve discovered about Mr. Strange other than a mention in his wife’s 1994 obituary that he died in 1974. Musical talent aside, the fact that he is a dead ringer for WFMU DJ/Outsider music scholar Irwin Chusid earns him points in my book. Have fun listening and as always, Enjoy!

Download all the mp3s and cover art in one 60 MB Zip file.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 11th, 2007 at 11:55 am and is filed under Album Shares. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.