2003 MAY 28 #148
The Reverend Glen Armstrong - Even Squeaky Fromme Loves Christmas
Detroit hipsters remember Glen best as the
leader of The Dirty Clergy, a loose configuration that
would show up at bars, poetry slams and art galleries
to deliver a most peculiar blend of beat poetry, free
jazz and 60's soul music. I myself remember one night
in the late 80's where Glen and band took the stage at
a huge poetry gathering down at Detroit's Old Miami, played
a raucous set that ended with Glen performing Hamlet's
famous solioquy to the tune of "Land of 1,000 Dances"
and a medley of Tom Waits's "Singapore" and
The Beatles's "Helter Skelter," (with Armstrong
playing banjo, no less. If this performance was ever released
or bootlegged, please contact me!) I saw the band a number
of times at Union Street and even the Majestic, but some
time in the 90's Glen seemed to simply vanish.
It's speculated that the high pressure of his pending
success drove him crazy, that he was living out a seven
year mental breakdown somewhere in New England, singing
a brand of Christian rock that would make Howard Finster
sound mainstream. A crate of these 45's are the alleged
fruits of him going fruit-loops. The story goes that these
were purchased at his mom's garage sale in Waterford Michigan
and that when serious collectors started nosing around,
she gave one of them a tape of covers Glen had done that
included renditions of "My Pal Foot Foot" by
the Shaggs as well as material from Kurt Weill and Vernon
Green and the Phantoms. Not much else is known about this
recording
- The TOD
TT-3:22 / 3.9MB / 160kbps 44.1khz
from 7" Single (1994)
Tom 'Tearaway' Schulte writes:
Interestingly, Glen Armstrong was a guest on my show not
long before he was featured in your 365 day project: http://musicsojourn.com/AR/Alt/page/a/ArmstrongGlen.htm
(Image courtesy of The TOD)