New and gloriously stupid project: 100 Buddy Hollys

Ten of the proposed 100 Buddy Hollys.

What is life without its pointless projects? As I look back on my own half century of existence, I see that I have always been the most productive when the work I am doing has no practical application in the real world. If it's completely and utterly useless, I'm all in. Often, the work only has "meaning" because it brings me some strange, indefinable enjoyment or satisfaction. I suppose this entire blog (which has been running since October 2009) is my ultimate boondoggle. I have faithfully maintained this madman's journal largely for my own amusement and at the expense of more noble or profitable pursuits. But it's far from my only folly.

Lately, for instance, I have embarked upon what might be my single-dumbest endeavor: a project called 100 Buddy Hollys. The idea is to create 100 different parodies and remixes of the 1994 Weezer song "Buddy Holly" and post these to my YouTube account, mostly as shorts. Why this song? Why now? I don't know and I don't know. But the project is already moving forward at a furious pace. I started on October 19 with a video called "Buddy Holly but Rivers fired the rest of the band and replaced them with The Moog Cookbook." I have since created several dozen sequels, combining "Buddy Holly" with numerous other pop culture properties and rearranging the song in various ways.

The most popular of these videos has garnered about 1,800 views -- not even a blip on the YouTube radar. The least popular currently sits at a miserable 23 views. I have no idea why some of them perform better than others, and I don't really care. All I know is that, at some point, I decided I'd make a hundred of these things and then stop. Will I make it? Will I lose interest or run out of ideas? Stay tuned, true believers.

One Song at a Time: "Paralyzed"

The Ledge appears to have overdone it at the tanning salon in this illustration.

The song: "Paralyzed"

Artist: The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

Released: 1968

Norman Carl Odam. Sounds like the name of a presidential assassin, doesn't it? But Norman, he never assassinated anything other than a song.

Born September 5, 1947 in Lubbock, Texas, hometown of Buddy Holly. Known professionally as the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. The Ledge, they've called him. As in something you jump off of. Made—and still makes, I guess—some of the craziest damned music you ever heard. Savage. Unhinged. Primal scream stuff, Texas style. Some call it "psychobilly." Others call it "junk" -- or worse. Appeared on Laugh-In once, dressed like something out of a Wild West show and screaming his fool head off. Scared the shit out of 'em.

Bowie was a fan. Where do you think Ziggy Stardust got his last name? He and the Ledge covered each other's songs.

Norman's lone hit, "Paralyzed" from 1968, was released by Mercury Records and actually scraped the undercarriage of the Billboard charts. Some have called it the worst record ever made. In fact, I first heard it on a compilation called The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records. Maybe after listening to it—or as much of it as you can stand—you'll agree. What is this fascination of mine with things dubbed "the worst?"

The Ledge's story is one of those weird little corners of showbiz I love. His "fifteen minutes of fame" were interrupted by, of all things, a musicians' strike. Some would say Norman was more of a demolitions expert than a musician.

Anyway, here's "Paralyzed." You were warned. Dig the label. It took three people to produce this. Ah, the Sixties.