By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Larry Seurynck is seeing things again.
This time his vision is Leon Redbone in Dowagiac, as in the performer known for his trademark Panama hat and dark glasses who some suspected of being Frank Zappa in disguise.
Redbone, the performer of early 20th century jazz and blues featured in Rolling Stone a year before he landed a recording contract, appeared as a semi-regular musical guest on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" throughout the late 1970s and early '80s.
More recently, Redbone covered Frank Loesser's romantic Christmas song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Zooey Deschanel for the closing credits of Will Ferrell's 2003 holiday film, "Elf."
The man the online encyclopedia Wikipedia calls "the most famous non-famous American musician" is scheduled to appear downtown at Wood Fire on Tuesday night, Jan. 23, 2007, Seurynck said Thursday.
Tickets are expected to cost $50 for the intimate setting.
Seurynck's previous insights include obtaining Muhammad Ali's ring for Dowagiac Boxing Club, now part of the Police Athletic League (PAL), and an upscale Italian restaurant downtown that is increasingly known as a venue for high-caliber live jazz and blues musicians.
Just ask the two Salt Lake City fellows who trekked cross-country to the Grand Old City by plane and train to hear Franz Jackson.
Seurynck's latest vision sees an artist of Redbone's caliber doing for the live music scene what a Gwen Brooks poetry reading did to inspire the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival in the early 1990s.
"We believe it will be a very significant night for the arts in Dowagiac," Seurynck said. "A performance by Leon would set the stage for major performers on a quarterly basis. It will be a wonderful opportunity for town and Wood Fire as a venue."
Redbone, 57, was born Aug. 26, 1949, supposedly in Cyprus to Armenian parents who named him Dickran Gobalian.
His vague biography cultivates a mysterious air.
He first began performing in public while living in Canada.
Frequent appearances in Toronto clubs and at folk music festivals built his musical reputation while enhancing his enigmatic persona.
Rumors that he was actually Zappa in disguise faded with the Mothers of Invention frontman's cancer death on Dec. 4, 1993.
Rolling Stone profiled Redbone in 1974 as "so authentic you can hear the surface noise."
He told the magazine he was the love child of Paganini and Jenny Lind.
Warner Bros. Records released Redbone's first album, "On the Track," in 1975.
So distinctive is Redbone that he has appeared in at least two comic strips, Mister Boffo and Gary Larson.
He performed the theme song for the 1980s sitcom, "Mr. Belvedere." Redbone has also appeared regularly on the PBS children's show, "Between the Lions."
He has also done music for and appeared in television commercials, of which his most famous was a spot where he flies over a beach on a flying carpet singing, "This Bud's for You" for Budweiser beer.
His 15 albums, including a live album recorded in Paris released in 2005, earned him a cult-like fan following who traipse significant distances to hear him play.
He reportedly travels to engagements exclusively by car since surviving the crash of a small plane in the early 1980s.
Recurring gags involve the influence of alcohol and claiming to have written works well before his time, furthering his mysterious aura.
His concerts are said to blend performance, comedy and instrumentals. He often wears an ensemble of a white coat and trousers with a black string tie while sitting stiffly on a stool.