Murray Wachs (June 2, 1924 – January 1, 2010), better known as Bingo Gazingo, was a poet from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, who was a postal worker for most of his career. Two versions, each also titled ''Bingo Gazingo'', were released of the only single-artist album ever released by

WFMU WFMU is a listener-supported, independent community radio station, licensed to East Orange, New Jersey. Since 1998 its studios and operating facilities have been headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. It broadcasts locally at 91.1 Mhz FM, in ...

—the first on cassette, the second on CD. (Among other changes, the CD replaced Ravel's ''

Boléro ''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. At least one observer has called it Ravel's most famous composition. It was also one of his last completed works before illness forced him into retirement. Co ...

'' with an improvised bolero as accompaniment to "Bingo's Bolero".) Bingo's parents were big fans of the game of

Bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** Bi ...

, which resulted in him getting his notable name.

Career

The album consists of Bingo's reading his poems to an improvised musical accompaniment by WFMU DJs

R. Stevie Moore Robert Steven Moore (born January 18, 1952) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter who pioneered lo-fi (or "DIY") music. Often called the "godfather of home recording", he is one of the most recognized artists of the cas ...

, Bob Brainen,

Dennis Diken Dennis Diken (born February 25, 1957) is an American drummer, DJ, author, music historian, and founding member of the band the Smithereens, which he formed in 1980 with Pat DiNizio, Jim Babjak, and Mike Mesaros in Carteret, New Jersey. Besides ...

Dave Amels Dave Amels (born 1960) co-founded music technology companies Voce musical instruments and Bomb Factory. Both companies are known for detailed and realistic mathematical models of complex physical systems. Amels also plays organ in The Reigning ...

, Chris Bolger and Chris Butler, and engineered by Amels. Often, while performing live, the background music to his frantic, poetic incantations is nothing more than a cassette tape inserted into a cheap cigar-box tape recorder and miked. Bingo's poetry often contains complicated rhyme schemes, extended

stream-of-consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First Li ...

rambling, and crude language, with titles like "Up Your Jurassic Park" and "I Love You So Fucking Much I Can't Shit". He penned hyper-caffeinated odes to

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

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, and

Beavis and Butthead ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, an ...

, and had his "Everything's O.K. at the O.K. Corral" (a dreamy reminiscence of the cowboy movie serials by an old nurse-attended man) featured on a 1996 CD produced by the famed

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

coffeehouse Fast Folk Cafe. Bingo was accompanied and interpreted by My Robot Friend performing his "You're Out of the Computer" at the

Outsider Music Outsider music (from "outsider art") is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians who have little or no traditional musical experience, who exhibit childlike qualities in their music, or who suffe ...

Festival at Time Cafe (downstairs from

Fez Fez most often refers to: * Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire * Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco Fez or FEZ may also refer to: Media * ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...

) in New York City and, according to what My Robot Friend said there, also at appearances in Europe. Bingo would always introduce NYC band Crambone when they would play at local downtown clubs like CBGB's, Arlene's Grocery, Baby Jupiter, The Continental, The Mercury Lounge and other New York venues. His image appeared on Crambone's breakout CD "Go Getcha Shinebox" in 2001. Bingo Gazingo recorded for GRANDGOOD in May 2003 in Centerport, Long Island. Versions of 'Everyday I Leave $10 On The Table', 'J-Lo', and 'OK Corral' were recorded. 'Everynight Man', 'Old Man River', and 'Freey Zeeky' were also recorded. Born in Queens in 1924, Bingo Gazingo wrote music for most of his life, struggling on the edge of obscurity. He continued to actively write, record and perform perverse, edgy music until the day he died (

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

2010) at 85 years old, struck down by a cab on his way to perform at the Bowery Poetry Club. Prior to his death. Bingo performed every Monday night, at 6:00 PM, at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.

Filmography

* '' Kiss Loves You'' (2007)

References

Bibliography

*(2003).

. villagevoice.com. Retrieved September 9. *Kennedy, Randy (1997).
The Ballads of Bingo Gazingo.
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. January 5.

External links

Bingo Gazingo on WFMU blog

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gazingo, Bingo 1924 births 2010 deaths Fast Folk artists Outsider musicians