Not sure this is relevant or even appropriate, but I've got e-mail followups from a couple private messages and somehow a couple of other e-mails asking about the nickname "Corduroy Frog." It is an unusual story which I enjoy retelling. I answered this back in June on a post, so I will simply reproduce it. If you've read it before, I apologize. This is my last pass at posting it - don't want to impose on your time any more than I already have.
"I was at one time a somewhat accomplished musician on guitar, piano, accordian, and vocals but not really good enough to make a living at it. In my youth, there was a change in contemporary music -- from groups with "plural" names, to groups with "noun" names. And so, popular groups such as "The Seekers", "The Drifters", etc. slowly gave way to the new "noun" groups - a la "Chicago Subway Connection", "Jefferson Airplane", "Creem", and the like.
I was playing in a folk group, "The Concepts" which suddenly found itself with an archaic plural name in the late 1960's. By 1969, our group had started traveling in 3-4 states. Our lead singer came in one day and discussed with us the need to change our name to a noun. We would entertain several ideas, and swore that the one pre-qualifier was that it had to be totally inane - i.e. not make sense to anyone. After sleeping on it, I submitted the name "Corduroy Frog." Since no one could possibly put together a thought process from the title, the name was instantly adopted.
The Corduroy Frog was ill-fated. All of us went to the same college and we were getting ready for summer break. After one practice we said goodbye until August. During the summer the lead singer got drafted and later died in VietNam. The bass man transferred to another school. The girl got pregnant and her suspected lover, the guitarist extraordinaire, left for parts unknown. That left me.
The Corduroy Frog was never registered under copyright, so any of you young tax people who want to play in a group are welcome to use it. Somehow, I don't perceive there are long lines forming to do this, so I will carry this with me perhaps forever as the last member the vestige of the Corduroy Frog, who survived long enough for one practice session."
"I was at one time a somewhat accomplished musician on guitar, piano, accordian, and vocals but not really good enough to make a living at it. In my youth, there was a change in contemporary music -- from groups with "plural" names, to groups with "noun" names. And so, popular groups such as "The Seekers", "The Drifters", etc. slowly gave way to the new "noun" groups - a la "Chicago Subway Connection", "Jefferson Airplane", "Creem", and the like.
I was playing in a folk group, "The Concepts" which suddenly found itself with an archaic plural name in the late 1960's. By 1969, our group had started traveling in 3-4 states. Our lead singer came in one day and discussed with us the need to change our name to a noun. We would entertain several ideas, and swore that the one pre-qualifier was that it had to be totally inane - i.e. not make sense to anyone. After sleeping on it, I submitted the name "Corduroy Frog." Since no one could possibly put together a thought process from the title, the name was instantly adopted.
The Corduroy Frog was ill-fated. All of us went to the same college and we were getting ready for summer break. After one practice we said goodbye until August. During the summer the lead singer got drafted and later died in VietNam. The bass man transferred to another school. The girl got pregnant and her suspected lover, the guitarist extraordinaire, left for parts unknown. That left me.
The Corduroy Frog was never registered under copyright, so any of you young tax people who want to play in a group are welcome to use it. Somehow, I don't perceive there are long lines forming to do this, so I will carry this with me perhaps forever as the last member the vestige of the Corduroy Frog, who survived long enough for one practice session."
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