My former writing partner John B. Narucki was well involved with this radio station -- in fact when he died a few years ago, in lieu of flowers, John's friends were asked to support WFMU.
You can support the WFMU marathon, too.
In fact, in 1978, John had our friend Tom Melchione and me on his Sunday afternoon show to read our poetry. The studio was still at Upsala then. After we read, we fed him songs to play. John's signature piece was Willy The Pimp. Later we went to our apartment where Aunt Tonoose had made lasagna.
What a character, that John. Aunt Tonoose could tell you some stories about him, they went all through Belleville schools together.
John gave me cassettes of Dylan's basement tapes. And that was before we started writing together. (We gave him a Calabash pipe as a thank you.) I still have those tapes somewhere. But as for the tape of the poetry reading show we did, that's long gone. I can still remember the rhythm of Tom's 'Jarhead' poem, and the one about the uncle who was a lumberjack. John read my verse and called me a Romantic writer. He was so kind, he surely could have shredded my verse. That is why I still think kindly of him.
Photos from the glory years.
About John's Liner Notes: "John Narucki wrote the liner notes for "Sleight of Hand" and came up with the phrase ".... a musician's job consists of putting a big heavy black box (called an "amp") in the back of his car, hauling it halfway across town, and trying to coax magic out of it. And one of the the master wizards of New York is Robert Ross." This magical little turn of phrase led us directly to the cd title, "Sleight of Hand." John has always had an uncanny facility with words as well as a deep appreciation for musicians and the music they make. John has been a great pal of mine ever since his days as a deejay with WFMU FM in the late 1970s.
Daily News
Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
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