Friday night's magnificent hang at
David Ryan Harris' house was punctuated by a joint playlist created by the both of us. With over 100 gigs of music on my new
LaCie Little Big Disk, we could have chosen anything from 50 Cent (comes before 'A') and Zero Seven (I have no ZZ Top) but agreed to play two songs back to back by only one artist. His name is Darondo. And we'd like you to meet him.
One sunny afternoon some many months ago, I stumbled upon a song deep in the recesses of the XM Satellite Radio universe; a song so pure that I instantly felt insincere in comparison. A lengthy google search brought me to only a smattering of information -the song was called "Didn't I", and the artist responsible for it had gone missing for the last 25 years.
I'm as intrigued by the stars that never became legends as I am the names the world remembers. Not everyone makes it, and not everyone should; most of the time an artist's derailment can be traced back to their own engineering - but in their time, when they were still interested in becoming that which they desired the most, they must have taken the meetings, sat table's-end at the big record company dinners, leaning in to clink champagne glasses in the name of Darondo.
I can't take credit for tracking him down, as several newspapers and magazines
have done that. But I feel compelled to spread his name, even if it's 25 years late, because it's too good to stay in hiding. Part of me wants to keep Darondo for myself. Darondo is a well-guarded secret amongst record collectors and music hunters... Darondo is a time capsule. If you were to open it, you would probably discover it's filled with cake frosting and a zip-lock bag full of brandy. Maybe a beautiful nugget of gold in the center so as to say "Darondo was here".
I don't want to go on the books as having recommended the entire album to you - it's spotty - but you really must consider adding the songs "Didn't I" and the impossibly bad-ass "Legs" to your music collection. The next time you go to a party, hit the DJ up with a CD-R of "Legs". When the whole place explodes in a frenzy, and the last plume of smoke has billowed off the dance floor, take your melted disc back and tell them Darondo sent you to put dynamite in the people's quarry.
DARONDO.