Got some exciting Bob Vido news: a cache of paintings and other personal items of this legendary Los Angeles outsider musican/artist/writer/ philospher has been discovered in a storage facility, and YOU can be the proud owner of one of his paintings. Who wouldn't want a painting of a sofa by the composer of "Girls Delight"? But I'll let Ric tell the story: Provenance: I had never heard of Bob Vido. This was found art. Of interest to fans of Vido’s music, there also was a bound notebook entitled "Bob Vido Songbook" "All songs Old and Original" dated August 04, 1977, with the names of 15 of songs on the front: Felicia, No Squeeze Banana, Josephina, El PWA, Great Caballero, Oh Babe, etc etc. but unfortunately the pages inside had been removed. I also found a hand-made sign advertising a Bob Vido show, admission price one dollar, “Vidofilm, with music, Lecture-Discussion, Vidology, Rhizology, Astrology, Technology & Ecology!" And while it is apparently the subject of debate as to whether he ever performed his music to a live audience, it would appear that he intended to put on a show with music, though it is unknown to me if the show ever took place.
I have enjoyed learning something of the history of the man and his art and music. The art is currently for sale on eBay. I hope that there is some interest in these items. thanks, Ric
Unfortunately, the songs listed above appear to have been lost - their are no songs by those names on his album. And the painting of a girl with a third eye in her forehead entitled "Venusian Girl" (!?!) has been sold. Also, sadly, the excellent bobvido.com website appears to have bitten the dust.
Ric sent me pictures of his haul, and I saw the flyer for his performance mentioned above. Zooming in on it I see that the address where this stupendous event was to have taken place was 924 1/2 N. Serrano here in L.A., which I'm guessing was the small Hollywood bungalow where Vido lived for most of his life. If he did in fact perform, it must have been for a very small crowd. If there's ever a MusicForManiacs roadtrip one day, that'll certainly be on the itinerary...
UPDATE 6/19/12: Jonathan Ward, Vido's discoverer and the man behind the now-dormant bobvido.com site, tells us that "I have Vido paintings of both of the two women shown in the paintings that this fellow's auctioning. I would imagine that he was copying them from photos, or using them as examples of his talent" and that he knows of only two copies of Vido's album: "...mine, and one overseas. And a guy in Florida found a 1-sided version of the LP with a similar (but slightly different) cover, indicating that Bob did multiple pressings of his masterwork." He also hopes to put up a new 'n' improved Vido website one of these days.
I don't know what happened to my downloaded copy of the Vido album (on some old hard drive somewhere, I hope) but here's a couple mp3s of his classics, courtesy of WFMU's old Incorrect Music show, and Otis Fodder's 365 Project:
Boo-Bah-Bah
High Speed
And you can listen/download the medley I originally posted of "Las Vegas Jubillee" and "Girls Delight" HERE.
Thanks, Ric! (Ah, now I'm gonna have "Girls Delight" in my head all day...)