Date:         Tue, 07 May 1996 08:28:40 -0600
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Dieter Dworkin Muller <dworkin@village.org>
Subject:      Re: C.W. McCall


Rodney Boleyn <boleyn@scr.siemens.com> wrote:
:  C.W.McCall.  Later became known by his real name (I think), Chip
:  Davis, when he did all the Mannheim Steamroller albums that people
:  like around Christmas time...
:  
:  ObVW:  A VW bus would never have busted off its right front fender!

and Glenn Wanek <wanekga@mail.milwaukee.k12.wi.us> wrote:
:  And did you know that C.W. McCall got smacked upside the head, discovered
:  New Age Music, and went on to create Mannheim Steamroller????

Of the three assertions above, two are false.  There never has been a
single person associated with the name used by the band C.W. McCall.
The vocalist was Bill Fries.  The composer was Chip David.  The band
started as a spin-off from commercials for Old Home Bread.  When Fries
got tired of doing vocals, the rest of the band renamed itself to
Mannheim Steamroller (Mannheim, in this case, referring to the style
of music associated with that city, which is essentially to use
whatever is necessary to get the sound you want).

If you actually listen to the music of C.W.McCall, and compare it to
Mannheim Steamroller, you'll find that Mr. Davis steals from himself a
*lot*.  Many of the songs would sound right at home on a MS album, if
the vocals were removed.  No New Age discovery required.

As for the true assertion above, I'd like to point out that that's
what VW things are for -- they're supposed to be used on
less-than-ideal roads, and they have fenders....

Additional VW relevance: Convoy, arguably the most famous of the C.W.
McCall songs, has a ``bunch of long-haired Friends of Jesus, in a
chartreuse Microbus''.  They are requested to join the convoy right
behind a truck carrying dynamite, as he needs all the help he can get.

	Dworkin