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Obscured Music
A Flower Child Grows in Rochester
While at the Fuzzball, at Asbury Lanes, Fancy's favorite bowling alley,
I had the honor of meeting Dagwood Mcfadden. Dressed in authentic 60's attire,
right down to the most amazing hair ever, Dag was there to play with Rochester's
Lost Marbles. I was instantly mesmerized by Dag's threads and groovier than
groovy sense of fashion. Dagwood was more than happy to oblige us with a photo
and a FANCY on the street interview. We discovered that Dagwood has a recording
studio where he creates all the music for his one man pop-psych band, McFadden's
Parachute. A long time contributor to the flourishing neo-garage rock scene
of Rochester, Dag recently compiled an extensive catalog of 15 years worth
of music into a 3 CD set and also just completed a brand new full length CD,
Hammer-down. I needed to know more about this intriguing renaissance man. He
kindly gave me an opportunity to learn more about his musical history and the
neo-garage scene of Rochester.
Dag, how long have you been creating music?
Since November 11, 1987, so just over 18 years. I was the singer for Neo -
60’s Garage band called The 4 Hestons. There were 5 of us in the group
and our favorite actor was Charlton Heston. I had been writing lyrical poetry
of a 60’s psych and garage vibe since 1985 with the intent of someday
putting the poems to music. So after one of our rehearsals on November 11,
1987, I decided to ask our guitar player if he could come up with a chord progression
for a melody I had in mind. I didn’t yet know how to play any instruments
except for the drums, but I wanted to write a song for our group. I hummed
him the tune and we worked out the music for a song I wrote called “Julie’s
Illusion”. We rehearsed it for a month and then played it out at
a couple of insignificant gigs. It sounded good to me. We then followed up
in the same manner with another poem I had written called “Empty Spaces”.
Our guitar player had and knew how to use a 4-track. So he and I recorded the
songs. I watched him record and made mental notes for when I would do
it all myself. So I wrote and recorded these songs using our guitar player
as a tool. For all intents and purposes, this can be considered the first McFadden’s
Parachute single.
Is it hard to live in the Sixties in the new Century?
Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys said it and his words have expressed what I
have felt since I was 8 years old in 1971 and things started to change in the
world around me.....”I was not meant for these times....”. If
I didn’t have to work a job with the “regular joes” of our
modern society to pay the bills and fund my recording project, I would be able
to live in a world in which I define time and I could create an environment
for myself unchanged by time. But I would have to become a recluse to do that
100% of the time and I can’t do that if I want to get my music out to
people and hang with other bands and people I dig. I love the 60’s but
I don’t hate all parts of the modern world. For example, if time had
stopped for me, I would never have gotten to see movies like The Warriors(1979)
or TV shows like Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-75). But yes, it is very
hard and I struggle with it everyday. Seriously, it exhausts me. And believe
me, I remember the bad times of the 60’s as well. I remember seeing the
Vietnam War on the news every night and everyday in the paper. I remember asking
my dad in 1968 if he would have to go to war. He said no because he had a family.
I then frightfully asked him if I would have to go and he said no because I
was too young. But I still prefer the vibe of the 60’s. And not just
from a child’s perspective. I could see, feel and hear a cultural revolution
and a cosmic convergence and I felt a part of it. When it slowly faded away
and people grew away from it and society again took over in it’s mechanistic
way I grew sad. I am generally a sad guy with regard to the state of humanity.
More so today then ever.
How do you adjust?
I live the same way today as I did in the sixties. No, I don’t live at
home with Mom, Dad, my brother and sister and have a baby sitter come over
every Saturday night to play acid rock records for us (which used to happen!).
I mean that I don’t let the fear of what people might think force me
to give up digging my own scene because they might not accept it. Like being
afraid to still like comic books or cartoons. Or being afraid to wear long
hair and sideburns even though uncool people look at me like I am a monster.
I don’t remain a child intellectually, but I still like HR Puffinstuff
and Davy and Goliath and I watch them on Saturday mornings while I eat my bowl
of Kaboom cereal. I loved doing that and still do. It felt good then and still
feels good today. Why stop? I still collect Mod Hair Ken Dolls. I wear my hair
the same. I listen to all the same music I did then and I seek out new music
that sounds like the good old acid garage I remember from back then. I remember
being totally mesmerized by garage looking guys and girls and hippy guys and
chicks back then. I thought they were the coolest! I wanted to be one so bad!
And that is what I still dig today. I like what I like and I feel how I feel
and so long as I surround myself with my “artifacts” my world remains
unchanged. The places I have lived have changed, but within the walls all my
stuff is around me and within my head I still think like I thought back then.
I have the same attitude and way of processing information. So in some parts
of my existence time has not changed. I am a Flower Child and I am still blooming.
It is my own time machine and I know how to use it. I often feel like Rod Taylor
in the movie The Time Machine. He sits in his time machine and as he progresses
into the future, he doesn’t physically move to some “place” that
is the future. He remains the same and sees the world around him growing, decaying
and morphing quickly. What was his laboratory becomes a paved road that he
is sitting in the middle of. I watch things decay and people grow around me
but I still see the same face in the mirror everyday. It is bizarre.
Did you ever appear on American Band Stand, Ready Steady Go! or a local dance
show?
I think I may have been on American Bandstand. You see, during the weekend
of November 11, 1967 I experimented with mind altering drugs, as many young
people did in the 60’s. Well, that weekend, I fit the cliche - I don’t
remember a damn thing - except the colors. However, I have a friend who contacted
me on the McFadden’s Parachute Myspace web site. He claimed to have seen
me on that program on the November 11th broadcast. This is how he describes
it: “...a toddler ambled up to the stage and wandered over to the lead
singer of the band that was performing that day. It was Sky Saxon and The Seeds.
The toddler grabbed the maracas sitting on the stage by the mic stand and began
to shake it just as the songs was winding down. Dick Clark bounded across the
stage, mic in hand, and bent down to the boy. ‘Who do we have hear’,
asked the unsung champion of 60’s garage rock. The boy looked up at Dick
as clearly said, "McFadden.” Now, like I said, that weekend is a
blur to me, but if anyone has a tape of that show, let me know!
Could you tell us about the neo-garage rock scene in Rochester?
The Rochester neo-garage scene is and has always been one of the most active
in the world! I mean, it all started here in 1979 with The Chesterfield Kings.
They started and popularized true neo-garage and without them there would be
no neo-garage scene anywhere. Groups from the 80’s like The Chesterfield
Kings, The Projectiles, The Insiders, The Fugitives, Cousin Al and The New
Generation, Luther and The BBB’s, Cherry Gun, The Urban Squirrels, The
Ferrets, The 4 Hestons, The Purple Flashes, The Fadeaways, The Fertility Right
Brothers - all great 60’s-style live bands that all made historic
recordings owe it all to the Chesterfield Kings! Even groups from the 90’s
like McFadden’s Parachute, The Squires Of The Sub-terrain, The Quails,
The Movies, The Rising Sons, The Resistors, Dog’s Life, The Quitters,
The Grinders, Duke Galaxy and The Pipliners, Susan and The Surf-tones, The
Vertigo-go’s and groups of today like The Priests, The Riviera Playboys,
The Franks, The Veins, The Lost Marbles, St. Phillp’s Escalator, The
Isotopes, The Purrs and The Sweet Action owe that same debt. Actually The Chesterfield
Kings, McFadden’s Parachute and The Squires Of The Subterrin should be
included in the 90’s and present day list as well. The three Rochester
neo-garage bands that have been together the longest! I am probably forgetting
a few groups from each era, but man what a list! All great live bands and all
have great recordings and all have helped Rochester have an almost unbroken
lineage of great 60’s garage bands since the mid 60’s! We have
several great clubs that have housed many a great show from many of these bands.
Our fave is The Bug Jar. So many great bands from Rochester and from all over
the world have played there since 1990. And Saxon Recording Studios is world
famous for it’s vintage studio. Dave Anderson of The Projectiles and
The Riviera Playboys created an authentic 60’s studio with enough high
tech perks to make it affordable for the average garage band. He has great
vintage EVERYTHING and is a master recording engineer so he has helped the
scene flourish beyond the small beer encrusted stages of Rochester by making
recordings that can reach people around the world!
Can you tell us about some of the original garage bands from the Rochester
area?
Well, besides the neo garage bands of the 80's to the present day I mentioned,
here is a chronological list of bands provided by my friend and former front
man for The Quatloos and The Fertility Right Brothers, Mike Murray. Mike also
hosts one of the longest running garage rock radio shows in the world called "Whole
Lotta Shakin'" on 89.7 FM WITR and on the internet. He is an expert on
this genre and of the history of Rock in Rochester:
Ersel Hickey, Mickey Lee Lane & Steve Alaimo from Rochester.
Rockin' Rochester - The Tempests (1960)
One More Day, One More Night - Kack Klieg (1963)
Moon Relay b/w No Return - Vistas (1964)
Echo -Vaqueros (1964?)
I Wanna Be A Beatle b/w Oh Misery - Gene Cornish & the Unbeatable
Stuff b/w I'm Allright - The Invictas (1964)
At The Beach b/w Summer's Comin' - Bobby Francis (1964) (Rob Filardo's - of
The Priests and The Quitters - Dad)
As Time Goes By b/w Tomorrow - Groop Ltd (1964)
The Hump - The Invictas (1965)
Do It b/w The Hook - The Invictas (1965)
College Psychology On Love b/w Babe, We Are Not Part Of Society - Church Mice
(1965)
It's No Use b/w Somebody To Love - Playboys (1966)
Warning - The Humans (Albion, NY) (1966)
Drambuie - Coachmen (1966)
Stop It Baby b/w Laugh With The Wind - The Heard (1966)
All About Love b/w Bo Diddley - Cavemen (1966)
Bad Trip b/w Wait For Me - Darelyks (1966)
Wierd b/w Give Me A Try - Wee Four (1966)
Nothing To Say Today b/w Turn On Your Love-light - Show Stoppers (1966)
If You Want To Why Don't You - Show Stoppers (1967)
I Try b/w She Don't Got The Right - Young Tyrants (1967)
Queen Alice -The Trillium (1968)
Life - Crystal Revelation (1970)
When I Get Home b/w Leaving Here - Rustix (1969)
(Baby) Can't You Hear The Music Play - Rustix (1969)
Armond's 1970's LP's
Hey Mister b/w Red Swirls - Distorted Levels (1977)
Die Trying b/w Angela - New Math (1979)
Do you play live as a one man band or it is with a full line-up?
No, never as a one man band. The truth is I am still not proficient enough of
a guitar player to be able to handle playing and singing at the same time.
My problem in this area is the classic “jack of all trades, master of none” syndrome.
I play 10 different instruments well enough to record masterpieces of original
60’s garage, but I don’t play any of them well enough to perform
live, unless I just played drums. But then that requires a backing band. So to
answer the second part of the question, yes, I do have a full line-up when I
play live. In 1999 I formed a live McFadden’s Parachute with original Chesterfield
King Rick Cona, former Projectile and current Riviera Playboy Dave Anderson and
a very good eccentric drummer Robert Parrish. We played out for a year all around
Rochester and did a small tour of the Northeast: Goners in Portland, Maine; The
Midway in Boston, Mass; and CBGB’s in NYC. We had an authentic stage show
with acid gel light projections on a backdrop screen, strobe lights and
sometimes old films projected behind us. When we got back from that 3 day whirlwind
we went right into Saxon Studios and recorded our whole set of 14 original songs.
That will be produced and released on Jargon Records soon. After that the band
broke up on good terms. Rick and I went on to perform as an acoustic psychedelic
duo with guitar, flute, bongos and tambourine. But that only lasted for 2 gigs
and got old quick. Now I play out about once a year with a Rochester band called
The Quitters. Three talented guys - Rob Flared, who is bass player and organist
for the Rochester Get Hip recording artists The Priests on drums, Dave Snider,
on bass and his brother Dan on guitar. Both those guys were in the legendary
90’s garage rock band Dog’s Life. We are going to do a show this
summer, hopefully to promote my new CD “Hammer-down” which I am working
on getting SUNDAZED RECORDS to produce.
Could you share some memorable on-stage moments, perhaps with other luminaries
you have shared the stage with?
One gig we did in Rochester turned wild when a couple of audience members started
dancing in front of the stage. Todd, lead singer/guitarist of The Grinders grabbed
my duct tape and began to wrap Janice, of the Rochester all girl punk group The
Raunchiness, from head to toe, like a mummy. It was hard for me to concentrate
on the words with this mayhem occurring at my feet.
At The Midway in Boston the show was not promoted very well. It was also a Sunday
night gig, which is a poor night to be playing in any bar. There ended up being
only one patron in the bar. An old man watching the Red Sox baseball game. He
had no interest in us and as we played, he kept grabbing the remote and turning
up the TV to full volume so that in between songs all that was heard was that
headache inducing play-by-play and dull drone of the fans at the game rather
than cheers from a crowd that we wished were watching us. Well, this finally
annoyed our drummer Bob so much that he stopped, stood up and pointed at the
old man and said “Alright! Is it going to baseball, or us? Make a choice!
C’mom! C’mon! Make a choice, baseball or us!” Things got a
little tense for a while as Dave, our bass player, calmed Bob down enough to
finish the show. To be honest, I don’t think the old man even heard Bob’s
shouts.
Another gig in Rochester was very wild because of the weather. We played at a
bar called Monty’s’s Korner. It is a very old city building with
20’ tall ceilings and windows almost as tall that completely surround the
corner of the bar where the stage was located. As soon as we started our set
a frantic electrical stormed kicked-in and the lightning cracked all around us.
The street was busy that night and strange faces would peer into the windows,
all distorted from the rain. They looked like they were melting. All through
our set this is what I saw. At this show was Hellen Wheels and her band. She
was part of the original punk scene at CBGB's in the 70’s and wrote several
hit songs for Blue Oyster Cult. She approached us after the set and highly complemented
us. I was honored. This was just a few months before she died unexpectedly.
When we played CBGB’s in NYC, Damien Kelly of legendary NYC 60’s
psych band The Third Bardo (“Five Years Ahead Of My Time”)
was in the audience. After our set he approached me and said we had the most
authentic 60’s psych show he’s seen since the 60’s. He said
we nailed it and it was just like he was back in 1967! Wow! What a compliment!
I shared the stage with a groovy group called The Creatures of The Golden Dawn
in Allentown, PA, at a club called The Funhouse. Those guys dig my music, which
is flattering to me because I think their CD “1000 Shadows” is one
of the best 60’s garage albums ever recorded! They invited me down
to perform 3 of my songs which they learned. It was exciting and fun. The next
year Rick Cona and I went down and performed a Chesterfield Kings song (I forget
which one) and “You’re Gonna Miss Me” by The 13th Floor Elevators.
I played the jug, Rick played guitar.
Can you tell us about working with Sky Saxon?
Working with Sky Sunlight Saxon was literally TRANSCENDENTAL! During our
recording sessions for the new Sky Sunlight Saxon and Green Forrests album soon
to be released on Jargon Records he was literally our trip maker and trip master.
His voice coming through the headphones made us come together as a group and
join minds like I have never experienced before. Sky is as creative as ever.
He has more energy than a man half his age. He stayed at Dave Anderson’s
house for 2 weeks and when he wasn’t writing songs and recording in the
studio he was painting at an easel Dave set up for him. Constant creation. That
is Sky Saxon. And his memory and intellect are as sharp as anyone’s. People
who call him a burnout and acid casualty are fools! They base this on how he
looks? How he acts? Sky acts and looks like a psychedelic hippie. He always has
been. That is what he is. If they think he’s a burnout because he doesn’t
have that short bowl haircut and the Rolling Stones suit anymore then they are
stupid. Sky’s recollections of his experiences on the Ed Sultan show and
American Bandstand are crisp and hilarious. The man can relate an experience
with a sense of humor better than anyone I have ever known and his lyrical skills
are unchanged. The music we created picked up where the seeds left off circa
1969. I initially hooked up with Sky in Asbury Park, NJ. Dave and I were in a
band called The Lost Marbles. We got booked to do a weekend event at Asbury Lanes
called The Fuzzball. The Seeds played it as well as 15 other cool bands like
The Monkey Butlers, The Brimstones, Thee Lordly Serpents....Dave had met Sky
in Germany when Dave’s other band The Riviera Playboys were touring Europe.
So when we had a chance in NJ, Dave introduced us and Dave convinced Sky to come
to Rochester.
What are your other groups aside from McFadden's Parachute?
I just left The Lost Marbles as drummer to concentrate on McFadden’s Parachute.
I just didn’t have time for both. I had a whole 18 song album in my head
that I had to get recorded so I spent the summer doing that. This past fall I
put together a 3 disc 60 song collection of McFadden’s Parachute songs
from the past 15 years. I have also played in many groups in the past as I mentioned
earlier.
Are you familiar with the Caleb Quaye song Woman of Distinction? To
me, McFadden's
Parachute captures that English freakbeat sound and feel perfectly.
I have known of Caleb Quaye since 1984 and have loved the song "Women Of
Distinction" so deeply that it is constantly running through my mind. Not
a day goes by where that tune doesn't cross my mind. I am going to cover it very
soon on a project. I also love the A side of that single "Baby Your Phrasing
Is Bad". The man was a genius of using the "phasing" effect (the
effect that makes things sound like a jet airplane passing over head!)
Tell us about your hair...
My hair is one of the most important things in my life and it has been since
I was four. I always wanted to have hippie hair. I remember I started letting
it grow long in 1972. Our neighbor, Little John Akins, a 13 year old hippie who
introduced me to 60’s garage in 1968 had a perfect Prince Valiant haircut
and looked just like John Fogerty in CCR. I was inspired by him and all of his
friends as well as the groups I saw on American Bandstand. My dad was OK with
it. But I remember one day when I was swinging my head from left to right to
get the bangs out of my eyes (like all cool teenage guys did at the time) my
mom said to me, “Go get a haircut, you look like one of those hippies.” That
was a happy day! I had achieved my goal! And, I did NOT go get a haircut!
I have what is called Samson Syndrome. Michael Landon (Little Joe) admittedly
had it. He felt “weak” in short hair. Not physically like the biblical
Samson, but mentally - like a lack of self-cnofidnence...feeling like you were
part of the norm - part of the mainstream and that is not good for a creative,
artistic person. You have to feel different and look intriguing and hair is the
best way to achieve that. So many different looks can be achieved with hair but
for some reason long 60’s styled hair on men or women is just the coolest
look to me and when I see people with it stirs me up inside! You know instantly
what they are into and you feel a kinship with them, like your not the only one,
but also not part of the mainstream (which is a horrible feeling). So I grow
my hair the way I always have since 1972 and that style was based on one from
1968. I also remember being very much affected by a scene in a Monkees TV episode
where Mike Nesmith was in a dressing room getting ready for a concert and he
described what he went through getting his hair ready. I learned how to do it
from that as well as realizing that by paying attention to you long hair and
grooming it was OK because a Monkee did it, so I didn’t feed into society’s
criticism of “guys who wear their hair like girls must be fruity”.
C’mon. That is so ridiculous. I sometimes do act fruity and if gorillas
of the mainstream think I am, good! I know a lot of cool people who'd be classified
as “fruity” by morons, but I just think they are cool. I don’t
care what people do for love and affection, I care how people look and if they
LOOK cool, they ARE cool!
Tell us a little about these songs...
Is she coming?
This was a song I wrote about my attempts at having Conscious Out Of Body Experiences.
I had a few many years ago and had learned to bring them on myself by will.
Basically, to become aware that you are leaving your body. The surroundings are
the same and yet different and you can will yourself to float anywhere and go
through objects. Sounds weird but it is true and I have done it many times. You
are not dreaming; it is your consciousness in another state of reality. So I
fantasized about meeting a girl in the same state and having her go to the stars
with me so we could have sex. I thought that would be really groovy. So the title
has the double entendre.
Evaporated Happiness
I have always been into science. I was also digging the sounds of a group from
England from 1968 called Our Plastic Dream. They did a song called "Encapsulated
Marigold". I dug the feel of that title and it seemed the two word 8 syllable
structure really had a cool vibe, so I tried to think of my own song title in
that structure. I came up with "Evaporated Happiness" as a title and
wrote lyrics around that. I have always been into science . Sunshine and various
gasses are psychedelic as well so I combined physics and LSD to come up with
this alternative definition of sadness - and a way to physically represent an
emotion.
Don't Talk Like A Jerk
This was musically inspired by a song called "There She Goes" by Allentown
PA's Creatures of the Golden Dawn from the album 1000 Shadows from 1994. I LOVE
that song and it remains in my head constantly and has since 1994 when I first
heard it. I was inspired lyrically by the typical boy/girl angst that makes a
lot of garage songs and also my own experiences with putting my foot in my mouth
trying to talk to girls when I was a teenager.
Stop Pushin' Me
A classic! Lyrics written by my good friend Del Rivers. He came to me with a
song idea. I came up with this heavy 3 chord riff on the spot with Del singing
along. From that we came up with a melody line. About 13 variations later we
had this final version. The song is about Del finally being fed up with demanding,
pushy women and their expectations.
Smell The Incense
The classic psychedelic hymn covered by a few semi-major groups in the 60's.
When I first heard the version by California's The Southwest FOB (whose 2 founding
members went on the gain fame as England Dan and John Ford Coley), I vowed to
myself I was going to learn and record that song. I remember I was on I-490 heading
to a park in the town of Greece (a suburb of Rochester) to talk to Del Rivers
about an idea he had to do a two-man performance of McFadden's Parachute songs
live at a concert where I would play drums along to my own 4 track music played
over the PA and Del would recite the lyrics. The song affected me so much that
I remember all those details! (We ended up doing that gig as described and we
did 5 songs to an audience of 50. It was the first official time McFadden's Parachute
played live and this was in 1992!) I learned how to play the Farfisa recording
that song! Up until that time I had never played the organ before. I just fell
in love with that organ line and sound. The lyrics and production so captures
the peace and love vibe of those times. The original version was written and
recorded by another California group, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.
Our favorite song on Hammer-down, Sugar 1970
I loved writing this song ... remembering all the sweet delicious snacks I had
from 1967-1972 when everything was like a colorful sunshine dream for me. Everything
was magical and fun and creative. I was a child during the cultural revolution
and Age of Aquarius and every bit of that flooded into to my wide eyes. Part
of that experience was the delicious and colorful snacks of the time and that
was inspired by the extraordinary flood of memories when I eat some the products
that are still available - the great cartoon characters many had as mascots and
the great songs and commercials for them....also many of the collectables of
the products visually stimulated my memory as well and I just felt compelled
to pay homage to some of the magical and miraculous things that were part
of my surreal childhood.
Products from Sugar 1970 (and keep in mind, I had 11 cavities filled before I
was 11 ... and they are all still intact and holding fine!)
(1) Jello 1-2-3:
a wonderful colorful gelatin product from the makers of Jell-o. You beat the
hell out of this powder mixed with water using an electric mixer ... then you
poured it into individual serving cups and refrigerated. Magically, as the
hours passed, it would separate into three distinct layers of variations
of the color
of the flavor it happened to be. For example, lemon-lime was my favorite. There
would be a yellow-ish emerald green clear gelatin layer on the bottom, then
above that would be a creamy pudding textured frosty lime green substance
and the final
layer would be a bubbly, frothy very light green, almost white, layer with
a mousse - like texture and each had their own distinct texture and flavor
(all
based in the main flavor of that particular box.) There was also lime, lemon,
orange and Cherry. I don't know what kind of chemicals they used to make this
happen, but if it makes me die 10 years sooner than I normally would, it was
worth it! Can you imagine this through the eyes and mouth of a 6 year old in
1971! Miraculous, delicious, satisfying!
(2) Captain Crunch Cereal: loved by millions. They came out with so many great
flavors as the years went on! When I was very young, all they had was normal
Captain Crunch. Captain Crunch the carton character had many great commercials.
Then in 1970, they came out with Crunch Berries! Red fruit flavored balls mixed
in with regular captain crunch and a crunch berry creature that became the
nemesis of the captain in those TV ads. The crunch berry monster was a prankster
and
he would torment the captain and his crew by trying to steal their box of crunch-berry
cereal. Then they came out with peanut butter crunch! It was addicting. I remember
the day we first got it in 1973. It was a big event! My cousins came over to
try it and we ate the whole box in about 10 minutes. Then they came out with
the wonderful vanilla crunch in 1974. I could go on about cereals for hours!
(3) Tang Orange Breakfast Drink: A powdered orange flavored drink created
for the astronauts! How could this not be a 5 year-old kids favorite drink?
I remember
the whole space race and the moon landing. When Walter Cronkite did a special
on what the astronauts would be drinking in space and he highlighted Tang
- and
then it became available to kids! Holy Cow! I was in heaven! And it was fun
to make!
(4) Fizzies Drink Mix: Another miracle! Take what was basically Alka Seltzer,
add color and flavor, some really groovy mascots to represent each flavor and
you have an amazing experience for a child of the Age of Aquarius! The flavors
came in Lemon- Lime (A witch Doctor), Strawberry (A magician), Root Beer (A
snake Charmer), Orange (A Witch) and Grape (A Wizard). I have clear memories
from 1967
and 1968 at a birthday party for a neighbor and a kids day at an amusement
park where we had Fizzies. It was so amazing to watch this tablet dissolve,
water
turn color and then have a flavorful carbonated beverage to drink and the whole
time you are making it you are looking at the great cartoon of the character
associated with your flavor! I still have my original beloved lemon lime witch
doctor refrigerator magnet! This was like taking LSD for a 3 year old in 1967!
WILD!
(5) Sugar Smacks Cereal: Take a beatnik stoner cartoon brown bear in a turtleneck
(and he spoke like a beatnik!) and a sweet delicious puffed rice and brown
sugar cereal and you have another winner. Great TV commercials every Saturday
morning!
And keep in mind all of these cereals had amazing free prizes in them. A
different one about every 2 months. Some came with 45 RPM record right on
the back of
the cereal box you would cut out when the cereal was gone and you could play
it right
on your record player. I remember getting "Sugar Sugar" by the
Archies on the back of a Sugar Smack Box! And, like Captain Crunch, Sugar
Smacks came
out with variations in the early 70's. Super Sugar Smacks (more sweetness
was the pitch, can you believe it!) and Super Orange Sugar Crisp that had
added Orange
flavored rings!)
What's in the future for Dagwood Mc Fadden?
The future is to record album after album after album until I die. McFadden’s
Parachute is a band that cannot break up until I die…and I will
never stop recording! I am also going to be a successful painter of the
Fine Arts and illustrator…by hook, or by crook. It is my destiny….so
anyone out there whose destiny it is to make Dagwood McFadden (aka Darren
Thomas Brennessel – Landscape Painter and Fine Artist) famous,
now is your time! You have found, and must fulfill your destiny to
make me a successful artist!
Can't get enough? See a video of McFadden's Parachute here.
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