Rich Mullins - Ragamuffin

I grew up in the Cincinnati, Ohio - Northern Kentucky area. Some of the important years of my life started in 1970 in an era known as "The Jesus Movement."

everything old is new again

Now this was nothing like the "Muslim Movement" that we are currently existing through.

No one was beheaded or killed because they were not a Christian, as is the case today in the Middle East. In fact back then we called them Moslems.

Back in that day, there were some Black Folks that said they were Muslims. They dressed up in suits, wore ties and sold Muslim newspapers, which were actually Muslim propaganda, which they sold on city streets.

The Muslim women dressed up in something called a dashiki and the men wore little hats. I am not sure if this is actually a Muslim fashion or sort of an African fashion.

As Christians we gave out free newspapers, that were really Gospel tracts. We usually wore T-Shirts with a Cross emblazoned on the front or a very Anglicized picture of Jesus' face. We also wore blue jeans and had long hair and wore sandals. The men wore beards and sometimes did not wear shirts.

So it was in this era I ran across Rich Mullins. I had written some Christian songs and I sang and played guitar. There were a few venues around town and many churches and schools where I talked about The Lord and the Jesus Movement and played music with my guitar.

The Cincinnati Jesus House

One of these places was The Cincinnati Jesus House. I had many friends that attended the Saturday night concerts. This is where I first met Rich. Rich was a very humble and shy sort, but put him in front of a piano and he became incredibly animated. He had such a wonderful touch on the piano. The rock players of the day could just eat his dust. I often sat in awe of him while he coaxed music out of the big green ancient and out-of-tune upright piano and sang his songs at The Jesus House.

Rich had written a bunch of songs including the one that inspired Amy Grant called "Sing Your Praise To The Lord." Rich was an amazing musician. But like I said he came off as a humble and quiet kind of guy.

During those days Rich was attending The Cincinnati Bible Seminary (which has since been renamed Cincinnati Christian University.) This was a Church of Christ sponsored school. And for those of you who are not familiar with this denomination, they are extremely conservative. In fact there are a few sects that are so conservative that they do not allow instruments to be played in their churches or by their members.

French Lick Resort

You would think this may have been a problem for Rich. But, most members actually relished Christian music. They loved to sing. In fact every year there was a Church of Christ convention that was held at a local resort which included swimming pool baptisms and a talent show.

The school also had an annual talent show. Rich played at the talent show and was an instant hit with the students and most of the faculty.

I ran into Rich periodically at coffeehouses and parties, but we never were close friends.. However he was very close to many people that I knew.

Sadly he was killed in 1997 when the Jeep he owned went out of control. It was very sad. He was a young man and beloved by many throughout the Christian world. His school had a memorial service for him.

During Rich's career he decided to live on the income that an average person would make. He set aside his other earnings including song royalties into a trust that was divided among various charities. He never knew the exact amount of his income.

I have to say the movie of the story of his life, Ragamuffin, was a real shock to me. For years I had issues with 'assumptive behavior', that is to say I assume everyone had the same likes, dislikes and lifestyle that I have. But thinking back in time, I ran across so many folks in the Jesus Movement that were coming to terms with very dysfunctional situations. Not me. I was pretty much your average guy who loved the Lord and didn't drink, smoke, chew or hang out with those who do.

As it turns out Rich had issues with alcohol and smoking. Sex or sexual suppression was also an issue, but these were the years when most all young folks are full of hormonal rage. The movie did not go into depth about this issue, however Rich spoke about it during his concerts.

I had no idea that Rich had all these issues with addictive behavior. In spite of this people loved the man for who he was and for the wonderful music he created and all the things he said during his concerts.




On the other hand, I was attending a church that was packed full of my friends, and was in the early stages of marriage and parenthood. This church I attended was non-denominational, but the clergy were Church of Christ trained pastors. My wife grew up in the Episcopal tradition and eventually became Catholic. In all honesty I should have grown up Catholic, except for some issues that my Dad had with the Church when his Mother passed away. The Church hurt him badly. My Church was about to do the same with me. My wife wanted to start an intercessory prayer group and announced this one morning at Church when the pastor was out of town. When he returned he contacted me to talk about this offense that my wife committed.

I was told to get her in line or else. After meeting the pastor at a restaurant and talking for about a half hour, myself, my wife (who I was told to divorce) and my children; my children who were consecrated in the Church and the membership promised to watch over them, we were all given the Left Boot of Fellowship and told not to come back.

So 47 years later I watch a movie and find out that one of the beloved of my church had so many issues, but was welcomed and I was not. That hurt.

But you know what? ~Maybe I should insert one of Jesus' parables here~ After years of brooding about the pain that my Church caused to my heart and my soul, I came to the realization that those people did not deserve such a good and true friend as myself or any member of my family. Their loss was my gain. I had quit attending any Church for fear of being hurt again. I had a great time sharing my music, but once again if they never heard me play songs for The Lord again, it was their loss. I still sang my songs as prayers. Currently I've arrived at peace and attend Saint Barnabas of Covington Kentucky, a wonderful Anglican Church that is full of souls who have been hurt by the Church. I once again can share the gift of music that God has given to me.

I truly do believe that if Rich had lived beyond his 42 years on this earth, he would have been at peace with this life. Despite all of his problems, his heart was always set on God and His Son Jesus. I know Rich would have finally left it all behind and set his feet on the right and righteous road.

It was an honor to meet him and sit on the floor listening to his wonderful, blessed songs of praise.

 

My 20 Rules Of Life

Gibbs has them. Clergy have them. And Marc has them too. These are Rules of Life. You cannot dispute them because they are all true and have been so for so many years. These will never change.

1. You daughter or son will go out with the wrong guy or girl.

2. People enjoy wearing ridiculous things on their head.

3. People love to paint their bodies, sometimes permanently.

4. Everyone must wear the Monkey Suit.

5. There are people who are born to be asses. This is their destiny. Ignore them.

6. There are people who are usually in groups that march in an odd manner, kills in the name of god and treat women and children like chattel or worse and do everything 'fearless leader' tells them to do. These people are the enemy. Beware of them.

7. People love to get into groups and do things they would not do outside of the group.

8. Children have no rights.

9. The only universal language is music.

10. Communication at best is usually dysfunctional.

11. People like bitter as much as they like sweet.

12. There are people who believe their goal in life is to create disturbance in your mind. These people are dangerous. Stay away from them.

13. There are people who want to pull you down to the pit in which they exist. Stay away from them.

14. There are people that believe they are mystical and can foresee the future and change the future. These people are neither mystical or prophetic. They are hopeful or they are politicians and they are usually incorrect.

15. Everyone wants to see someone naked and are usually disappointed.

16. Some people have jobs. Other people have careers, but they are really jobs.

17. It does not matter what your race or national origin is, all babies sound the same.

18. It is alright to have roll models, to aspire to be like someone you respect; but do not hold them up as idols.

19. There are some people who have no soul, who are intrinsically evil. You cannot change them. Not ever. Avoid them.

20. Cages have a good purpose sometimes.

Raggedy Ann

The Original Raggedy Ann

I was 10 years old when I started in Miss Bohn’s fifth grade class. One of the favorite things about her class was listening to her read books. We read Snow Treasure, some selections from The Jungle Book, Heidi, The Cat in the Hat, Angel Unaware and Raggedy Ann.  At ten years of age my thoughts regarding some of the books were, yeah they are girl’s books.  

But school was a microcosm of real life, because in later life we had to watch ‘chick flicks’ with our spouses and girl friends.

Ginny Bohn had a soothing voice. For forty-five minutes or so in the afternoon it was delightful to listen to stories about the fight between a valiant mongoose and a cobra or how Norwegian children whisk away gold bars right under the eyes of the invading Nazis.

However when she read Raggedy Ann I always got a little misty, because she told us the story behind the doll and the books.

Raggedy Ann as we know her today

Raggedy Ann was written by Johnny Gruelle from stories that he made up for his daughter, Marcella.

Gruelle made his living as an illustrator for the works of other well known writers of his era. In his era, he was also widely known for a comic strip that he wrote and illustrated.

One of the authors that he was fond of was James Whitcomb Riley. Riley was called The Hoosier Poet, because he wrote his verse in Hoosier dialect. Although he never had children, most all of his poems were considered children’s poems.

There were two of Riley’s poems that impressed Gruelle. One was called The Raggedy Man and the other was called Little Orphant Annie. Both poems were about chore people that were hired by families to do menial jobs around their homes or farms.  Riley was self taught and made much of his money traveling the country putting on shows reading his poems and selling books.

Gruelle’s young daughter’s prize possession was a rag doll that had red hair made of yarn and a triangle for a nose. Gruelle drew a face on the doll and told the girl epics about the doll’s adventures. Later on Raggedy Andy was added to the story. Marcella was only nine years old when her father began making up these stories about her rag doll.  By 1915 he started writing these ideas down in a book. By 1918 Raggedy Ann Stories was published. Tragically before the book hit the stores, Marcella Grulle died at the age of 13.

Authorities believed the young girl’s death was from anundiagnosed heart defect.  However shortly before she died Marcella was given the smallpox vaccine at her school without her parent’s permission. We will never know if she died from the vaccine or not. We can only question whether the vaccine exacerbated a pre-existing condition.

How bittersweet it is that Raggedy Ann became successful at a time when the rag doll’s playmate was foever taken away. And how ironic is it that a candy heart was sewn into Raggedy Ann.

Gruelle never got over the death of his beloved daughter and blamed the doctors and her immunization for her death.

He drew this bittersweet memorial in his comic strip Mr. Twee-Deedle

At the time, no one knew about this event. Book sales were doing well and the handmade Raggedy Ann dolls caught the eye of Gruelle’s publisher. P.F. Voland.  Voland cease business in 1935, yet the dolls continued to be made by toy maker Exposition Dolls, without the author’s permission.

The book’s rights were passed from P.F. Voland to The Johnny Grulle Company to Bobbs Merill to MacMillan Publishing.

Johnny Gruelle passed away in 1937 at age 57.  At the time, Grulle’s son, Worth was only 17 but he continued writing the Raggedy Ann stories. In fact it turned into a family business. Worth, his wife Suzanne and brother Richard all worked on the stories and illustrations. In all, the family turned out 50 books.

The Original Books were from 1918

As of 2011 the 75 year old Worth Gruelle was spending his time between his farm in Cashiers North Carolina and a winter home in Florida. He still answers letters from curious children. His father used to sign his letter as Uncle Johnny.

Worth Gruelle’s son, Kim, runs a doll store in Cashiers, North Carolina.

There is even a college scholarship from Washington College in Chestertown Maryland named in honor of the dolls and their stories.

Marcella perhaps is forgotten, except by those of us that know the story of Raggedy Ann.

Popsicles, Icicles

I was driving last night to pickup dinner. I had the radio on and was searching through stations for something to listen to that kept me interested.  I tuned in to a small station that was playing old songs and the song Popsicles, Icicles by The Murmaids came on. I’ve heard the song many, many times before, but this is the first time I’ve listened. 

Clavoline

I’m wondering what instrument was making that ‘icy’ sound. Was it an organ or a clavoline?

The girl that sang lead had such a gorgeous voice. Her phrasing was brilliant. I was also impressed that the song was not perfect. There were a few spots that were perhaps not on queue, but it added to the recording.

This song was probably recorded in the middle of 1963, since it did not receive airplay until October of that year.  The Murmaids were a trio of high school aged girls, Carol and Terry Fischer, age 15 and 17 at the time. They were joined by their friend, 17 year old Sally Gordon. 

The Fischer girls came from a very musical family. Their father of the Fischer girls was composer Carl Fischer. He had written some hit songs for Billie Holiday and Frankie Laine. Their mother was a singer with the Stan Kenton Orchestra and their grandmother was a singer in a vaudeville act.

Mike Post

This was not the trios first attempt at recording. Mike Post produced demo records for them. He also used them as back up singers on sessions at Gold Star Recording. If you are not aware, Gold Star was the studio that Phil Spector used, as did the Beach Boys to produce many, many hit songs.

Terry Fischer states that within three months the group had recorded a hit single, then an album. They did several television shows and numerous appearances.  The Fischer’s mother acted as their manager. There were offers from many record companies, but Mrs. Fischer turned them down. They released a few more singles that never charted. Terry states everyone made money, but all the girls received was a bill from the recording company charging them for royalties.

The song, Popsicles, Icicles was written by David Gates (later he was in a band called Bread).  Gates had written 5 songs for the session that the girls recorded.  The vocal arrangements were by Skip Battin. The session was produced by Kim Fowley.

The song charted at #3 in 1964 and was right behind the number one tune, I Want to Hold Your Hand. It was released in the U.K. but failed to chart since the British did not recognize Popsicles.  They called them Ice Lollies.

I love the backing instrumentation, particularly the organ sound. It is fascinating that David Gates used a similar sound in later years on Breads recording of “If”.

One mystery that may never be solved is why did the Murmaids not spell Mermaid correctly.