RFI : The bizarre and mysterious tale of Rick Starr

check the archives of the sf weekly and the bay guardian and the east bay express (that's what it was called, right?). they would periodically run stories on him. i remember on in, uh, about 1998 that broke down his whole career.

i think his parents sort of pushed him into it, he got an album deal, recorded an album as a teenager, and when it went nowhere he basically cracked up.

If that song's original, shouldn't it have gotten him somewhere? i mean, it's pretty darn good, if you ask me. But then, maybe it came out after that style became passe. Still, it's a good song.

I heard he got banned from campus because he tried to kiss some girl who was walking by him.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE!

What about the guy with the rainbow wig (or was it suspenders) that would read the newspaper headlines in front of Dwinelle? He was a really bad stand-up comic. All he did was yell.

the other guy's name was Stoney. He wasn't very funny.

it is sad that he left. He seemed so hopelessly down-and-out, in a romantic kind of way. I feel like he deserves one of those dramatic biopics dedicated to forgotten heroes.

"He has been interviewed and has had his song from the '60s, "Mr. Astrologer" played on KALX on numerous occasions. Rick Starr Day used to be an annual event on campus."

He apparently came back in 2000. I after my sophomore year (1998 -99) I never saw the guy again. I actually going to the campus on Friday if I see him I'll ask him about. We'll see if he doesn't try to make out with me.

ok i know absolutely fuck-all about bobbysoxer music but wasn't there some guy named ricky nelson who was really famous in the 50s?? as i recall the article telling it his label/manager/parents sort of pushed him into head-to-head competition with nelson by having him copy the other guys style, moves, dress, etc down to having a similar name ("ricky starr"??)

of course ricky starr lost big-time.

or so the story goes. the bay area press has always seemed extremely pop-unfriendly to me so i'm not surprised that they'd have that take on it. thing is i'm sort of skeptical of that narrative because hell, i'd think being extremely derivative would have been an advantage for starr, not a disadvantage.

anwyay i wish i could find that article but i can't remember which weekly alt-rag it was in and i don't have time today to do a full-blown lit search.

so yeah, unfunny, but marginally semi-famous in the history of left-wing public access TV.

I was a DJ at KALX as an undergraduate there in 1989-1992, and have Djed there off and on ever since. I am pretty sure that it was a 7"; the next time I am there I will have a look. Sadly, some awesome 7"s from the KALX library (immortal mod band Daisy Spot, and the Jim Bacchus "Delicious!" spoken word 7") have gone missing, so there's no telling if Rick Starr will still be there.

I loved walking by Rick Starr; he'd nod at you and mutter "Thank you, we're going to be doing this all day" and then carry on crooning.

How about that "happy, happy, happy!" guy in the Coolie hat that rants about US/China relations?

1) Rick Starr, the wasted lounge singer
2) Larry the Drummer
3) "Yeshua!!!" guy who bellows fundamentalist Judaism at students
4) Pink Man, the man with a tight pink leotard who rides a unicycle around town
5) Stoney Burke, the elderly blue haired comedian who cracks jokes out of stuff in the newspaper. He also blows whistles at people wearing business suits and yells "BULLSHIT!!!"
6) The man who plays half a piano on Sproul Plaza
7) The guy who yells "I HATE YOU!!!" at everyone (actually, I think he stopped doing this by the late 90s)
8) Aaron, the undergraduate who went through 4 years of college without wearing clothes
9) The guy who rants about US/China relations and screams "Happy, Happy, Happy"
10) The neurotic middle-aged hick who sleeps in a tent, and who wears a cowboy hat and rails about how communists are going to ruin everything
11) Hijack, the smartass punk guy who wasn't really funny or clever, or even notable
12) Gary Otto, the homeless MIT graduate who spent his days on the streets performing advanced mathematical operations on historical texts to prove that the Jews are behind it all

Did I miss anyone?

Not sure, but read the description above and draw your own conclusion.

Stoney Burke appeared in the 2nd Matrix movie as a truck driver in the scene that looks like it was filmed on highway 880.

Y'shuaa is still around but he doesn't yell as loudly now.

I hate that PACK LLAMA guy.

"Mr. Astrologer" was a 45. Rick Starr gave me a copy back in 1994. He said he recorded it at a studio in Los Angeles. Then, naturally, he had business cards printed up that said: "RICK STARR: Hollywood Recording Artist." I also recorded Rick singing "The Impossible Dream" when I was recording the "Telegraph Street Music" CD (a compilation of Berkeley street musicians). And I recorded a whacky video of Rick singing "New York New York" at the record release party at the Ashkenaz. The funniest moment was when the crowd started to clap along to Rick's singing. Then Rick tried to lead the clapping and lost the beat and totally confused the crowd.

Rick Starr singing "The Impossible Dream."
http://soundcloud.com/thegannon/rick-star

wow I forgot all about rick starr. how could I after hearing him daily for so many years? where is he now?

oh also I saw stoney burke this week getting off BART.

I see Larry the Drummer in downtown SF all the time too.

A recording I made of Larry the Drummer. http://soundcloud.com/thegannon/larry-the-drummer-berkeley

A recording I made of the Rare Man. http://soundcloud.com/thegannon/rare

A recording I made of the Hate Man. http://soundcloud.com/thegannon/i-hate-you

please tell me you have HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY

Nah, I missed the HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY guy. But I got most of the other musical wingnuts on the Ave circa 1994. I loved how HAPPY would point his finger and scream "CIA! CIA! CIA!" when anyone disageed with him. P.S. Here's what the "Telegraph Street Music" CD looked like. You can occassionally find copies on amazon.com. http://acidheroes.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/the-ballad-of-isy-jones-2/

I used to run into Rick Starr or Preacher Eddie at house parties. I miss those Telegraph characters

The incomparable Rick Starr on CNN with his mother. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQp2fnyq5ws

i miss those days. fuck.

Me too. Fuck. 1993 and 1994 were magic years for me on Telegraph Avenue. Does anybody remember the Telegraph Avenue Street Calendar that me and my pal B.N. Duncan used to publish?

Are you the loompanics press ace backwards? I think I read your dumpster diving book once.

Yeah. Too bad Loompanics went out of business, they were the coolest.

http://acidheroes.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/surviving-on-the-streets-a-review-2/