Ruddy Yurts RIP
- Thread starter Santino
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DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
good on him for taking it outside of Ronnie's. If it had been anywhere else I expect it would have been a bar-brawl
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
It wasn't that noble. He said in subsequent interviews that the only reason he left the building was that the ceiling was interfering with his swing.
billy_bob
Air of bewilderment model's own
Yes, and then later, during the civil action suit, tried rather unconvincingly to argue that he'd been using the word 'swing' in its metaphorical sense
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
Yes, I remember that well. Actually, I remember thinking "nice try, bud - any of us might have tried to pull the same stunt...assuming we were trying to defend ourselves against allegations of woodwind-aggravated GBH, anyway".Yes, and then later, during the civil action suit, tried rather unconvincingly to argue that he'd been using the word 'swing' in its metaphorical sense
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
O'keefe's seminal work actually totted up how long over his life he spent in courtrooms and broke the figure down to divorce proceedings, criminal behaviour matters and of course the various royalties owed for ripped samples and so on. When he was sueing other people for ripping his shit off which I call fair play on. A mans work is his own.. (Prt Three I think, I'll have to dig it out of my yurts memory box in the attic)
Its what makes the four parter such a comprehensive look. O'keefe goes beyond theman and the myth and present the cold facts as well. Affectionate but no hagiography and impeccably researched. Who could have guessed for instance that he gave six pounds a month (when six pounds meant something!) to a Mrs M. Futherod-Steps since his (own hand, personal finance) records began. One can only speculate but it shows you no matter how well a figure is researched and written of, theres always something you never knew. Humans are complicated, jazz musicians even more so
Its what makes the four parter such a comprehensive look. O'keefe goes beyond theman and the myth and present the cold facts as well. Affectionate but no hagiography and impeccably researched. Who could have guessed for instance that he gave six pounds a month (when six pounds meant something!) to a Mrs M. Futherod-Steps since his (own hand, personal finance) records began. One can only speculate but it shows you no matter how well a figure is researched and written of, theres always something you never knew. Humans are complicated, jazz musicians even more so
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So it seems that in the last couple of days Noel Sharpie, Yurts' biographer manqué, has been found dead in his flat in Clapham. No press coverage at all, which is understandable given what else is going on, but it means I can't find any details about what might have happened.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
there were rumours of certain habits but unlike Sharpie himself, I'm loathe to speak ill of the dead
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
I heard he used to steal from his brothers pharmacy for methadone. Unsubstantiated of course, and I'm no expert but if you look at his demeanour in some interviews theirs a slighly glakit expression on occaison.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
You bastard. Wasn't that the album that was mysteriously deleted (owing to some early computer cock up...ALLEGEDLY
) before it was even released?The re-mastered one-disc version was pulled from shelves after a legal dispute between Ruddy and Uhu, but this version has all the sessions in their original version as produced by Jerry Kupp. The third disc is actually just six different versions of Moody Street Blues. It's obviously a bootleg but very high quality, there's a lot of copies from ebay sellers in China.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
on the vinyl on the run in at the end of side one, it says rr&ac, both yurts and uhu had achieved high rank in one of the successor organisations to the hermetic order of the golden dawn.
billy_bob
Air of bewilderment model's own
Come on then, how much did it set you back? Even the legit 'follow-up' (read 'cash-in') Ruddy/Uhu collaboration album 'Even Empty Looks Good Now' has been known to change hands for well into three figures, and everyone knows that was ruined by the mismatch between their raw playing styles and the glossy overdub-heavy style of legendary producers Jack Stack and Maurice 'Blue' Train.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
probably scratched to fuck
Libertad
Sparking up a rollie in the Reichstag
You lucky git.
GREEN WITH ENVY.
Any chance you could rip it for us Urban aficionados? *skint*
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
If there's any chance that Ruddy is getting a penny off these CDs, then that's a deeply offensive suggestion. If, on the other hand, some bloated plutocrat is trousering the proceeds, which seems more likely, then rip with abandon...
billy_bob
Air of bewilderment model's own
Sounds like you're starting to err on the side of believing the 'Ruddy Alivers', as they've become known over the last couple of years. I know we'd all like to think it's true, but you'd be in some rather unsavoury company if you really are being swayed by the rumours. Waylon Lafouche, the one-time zydecko star who's spent so many years trying to undermine musicians' reputations on his 'jazz illuminati' website, is thought to be the main spreader of them. I've never really understood what his agenda is but the stuff about 'jazzmen and the children of the bayou' definitely has elements of the witchhunt about it.
alsoknownas
some bloke
I live such a digital life nowadays; you know - digital music, digital tv, digital food, that sort of thing. But I still keep a stack of vinyl tucked under the divan, and every now and then I wake up and think 'Today's gonna be a Ruddy good day!'. Do you know what I mean?
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
I have my own reasons for suspecting that rumours of Ruddy's death may have been exaggerated, but I take the suggestion that I am aligned with the "Alivers" very much amiss: they have their own, highly dubious (as you allude) reasons for insisting that he's still going.
There is, for some reason I don't really understand, something of a tradition for musicians who are getting past their prime retiring to far-flung corners of the land, and I can number amongst them a couple of well-known luminaries of influential bands who've made their home in these parts. Coupled with a couple of possible (albeit inconclusive) sightings of Yurts himself in the Swansea area, I am inclined to keep at least a slightly open mind to the possibility that he's still alive.
Of course, given the nasty fallout from Lafouche's dabblings, it would not be a surprise if Ruddy were to decide to keep a low profile, and confine his activities to the most low-key of events, if he is even playing at all: indeed, it's quite likely that loyal followers, amongst whom I'd number myself, would keep his appearance at local venues quiet, just as much as they might the appearance of, say, members of Hawkwind or the Wurzels at events in these parts *cough*.
ska invita
back on the other side
Ruddy was featured on a stamp from the Soviet Republic of Moldavia in 1986, in a set that also featured Gavriil Musicescu, LaMonte Young and Peter Gabriel.
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billy_bob
Air of bewilderment model's own
Ah, I'd forgotten about that, and all the fuss it caused. It's not like Ruddy ever usually wore anything as flamboyant as a musk-ox cape. I suspect he only agreed to put it on out of politeness to a people whose culture he wasn't very familiar with. But what a stink PETA kicked up about it!
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
he was also on a rwandan stamp which was scheduled to come out in may 1994, but almost every example was destroyed in the violence in the country - only five are now known to exist.
Libertad
Sparking up a rollie in the Reichstag
I think Sas mentioned that a while back.
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