Irwin Chusid (born April 22, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is a journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described "landmark preservationist". His stated missionGardner, Lee, "The Outsiders: Irwin Chusid Reveals What's So Good About Playing Badly," Baltimore City Paper, February 7, 2001 has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history that I know don't belong there and salvage them." Those "things" have included such previously overlooked but now-celebrated icons as composer/bandleader/electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, Space Age Pop avatar Esquivel, illustrator/fine artist Jim Flora,Heller, Steven, "Saving Jim Flora's Private Stash: An Interview with Irwin Chusid," American Institute of Graphic Arts, November 16, 2005 various outsider musicians (including William "Shooby" Taylor, a.k.a. "The Human Horn"),Chusid, Irwin, "Shooby Taylor: Meetings With the Legendary Scatman" and The Langley Schools Music Project.Chusid, Irwin, "The Discovery of the Langley Recordings" Chusid calls himself "a connoisseur of marginalia," while admitting he's "a terrible barometer of popular taste."Thompson, Spenser, "Finding Rare Music: An Interview with Irwin Chusid of WFMU," BobThompsonMusic.com, November 30, 2015
Chusid oversees the catalog of the late Afrofuturist artist/composer/bandleader Sun Ra and administers Ra's music rights on behalf of the artist's heirs.Knipfel, Jim, "Angels and Demons at Play: Reclaiming Sun Ra's Legacy", The Believer, July 19, 2017 His book, Sun Ra: Art on Saturn — The Album Cover Art of Sun Ra's Saturn Label, compiled with Chris Reisman, was published by Fantagraphics in November 2022.Sun Ra: Art on Saturn: The Album Cover Art of Sun Ra's Saturn Label, Fantagraphics.com
His journalism has appeared in Mojo, The New York Times, Film Comment, Mix magazine, New York Press, Pulse! and other publications. In 2021 he authored a biography of 19th century baseball legend Joe Start for the Society for American Baseball Research's BioProject.Joe Start biography at SABR.org
Chusid has lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, since 1992.Burr, Ty. "The worst of Irwin Chusid; Intriguing or just awful? A champion of 'outsider music' lets it speak for itself", The Boston Globe, November 17, 2003. Accessed February 6, 2013. "The chief standard-bearer of outsider music, and the man who coined the term in a 1996 article, is Irwin Chusid, a Hoboken, N.J.-based record producer, radio personality, and music historian." He describes his political views as "leaning libertarian".Thompson, ibid.
Radio Since 1975 Chusid has been a DJ on free-form radio station WFMU, where he hosts an unpredictable and idiosyncratic weekly program whose content he calls "genre-surfing tokenism".Irwin Chusid program archives at WFMU.org Prior to his involvement at WFMU, he worked briefly at WPKN radio from 1969-1971 while an undergrad at the University of Bridgeport (which he left after two years); in 1977, while living in New Orleans, he hosted a weekly program on WTUL. In 1988, he served as a comedy writer for author/humorist Tom Bodett's syndicated radio series, The End of the Road.
In the late 1970s, Chusid was one of the first DJs to regularly air recordings of Jandek, The Shaggs, Lucia Pamela, and R. Stevie Moore on the radio. In the early 1980s he programmed a weekly segment entitled The Atrocious Music Hour, which featured recordings from such non-musical celebrities as William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.Oliveiri, Chad, Interview with Irwin Chusid, Rochester City Paper, February 16, 2005 This subgenre was eventually chronicled by Rhino Records on their Golden Throats series of albums, for which Chusid authored liner notes. These compilations contributed to Shatner's revived celebrity, albeit with overtones of self-parody.
Between 1997 and 2002 Chusid was the co-host (with Michelle Boulé) of the Incorrect Music Hour on WFMU.Incorrect Music program archives at WFMU.org From 2005 to 2007 he programmed vintage Calypso, Soca, Goombay, and Mento on a one-hour weekly program entitled Muriel's Treasure.Muriel's Treasure program archives at WFMU.org
Music projects Chusid is credited with the rediscovery and popularization of the "Space Age Bachelor Pad" music of Juan García Esquivel, which helped spark the 1990s resurgence of vintage exotica and lounge music. He compiled the first CD reissues of Esquivel and Raymond Scott, and manages the musical estates of both deceased composers/bandleaders. He has produced landmark reissues by The Shaggs, Sun Ra, Wendy and Bonnie, Judson Fountain, Lucia Pamela, and Alabama folk-art ensemble The Clouds,The Clouds at Innova Recordings while penning liner notes for dozens of CD and LP releases on a multitude of labels.List of Chusid's liner notes at his WFMU homepage He produced Raymond Scott Rewired, an album of Scott remixes by The Bran Flakes, The Evolution Control Committee, and Go Home Productions, which was released in February 2014 on the Basta label.Raymond Scott Rewired at RaymondScott.net
In 2000, Chusid discovered two privately pressed LPs of western Canadian schoolchildren, recorded in 1976-77 by music teacher Hans Fenger. After much legwork and ten label rejections, Chusid licensed the project to Netherlands-based Basta Audio-Visuals and (for North America) Hoboken-based Bar/None Records, who in October 2001 released the recordings on a CD entitled The Langley Schools Music Project.Chusid discusses discovery of the Langley recordings on Late Nights with Iain Lee, May 26, 2017 (interview; audio not archived)Deusner, Stephen, "The Langley Schools Music Project’s Innocence & Despair Turns 20", Stereogum, October 21, 2021 Within one week of its release, the album went to No. 1 in sales on Amazon.com. The critical acclaim and popular reception for the CD led to a VH1 documentary in 2002, which sent the CD back to #2 on Amazon.com. Jack Black's 2003 hit film School of Rock was admittedly inspiredDeRogatis, Jim, "High Fidelity: Jack Black Stays True to His 'School'," Chicago Sun Times, September 28, 2003 by the Langley CD. In 2005, the story rights to the project were acquired by an undisclosed Hollywood film writer/director, who hopes to bring the story to the big screen. In a dismissive review of the album, former Village Voice music critic Robert Christgau referred to Chusid as "a tedious ideologue with a hustle."Christgau, Robert, Consumer Guide: The Langley Schools Music Project
In 2002, Chusid produced the sole album by the New York-based septet The Raymond Scott Orchestrette (a band he formed in 1999).Raymond Scott Orchestrette at Raymond Scott blog That same year he produced the first solo sessions of former Suddenly, Tammy! singer/songwriter Beth Sorrentino, released in 2006 as Nine Songs, One Story.Producer credit for Nine Songs, One Story at BethSorrentino.com In 2011, he co-conceived and coordinated Sorrentino's album Would You Like To Go: A Curt Boettcher Songbook, a collection of reinterpretations of songs written by and/or associated with sunshine pop progenitor Curt Boettcher. (The album, produced by Sean Slade, was released in April 2013 on the Basta label. Chusid was credited as "Solicitor and Overseer.")Would You Like to Go chronicle and credits at BethSorrentino.com In 2013, he undertook administration of Boettcher's publishing on behalf of the late songwriter's son, Varek Boettcher.
In 1997 Chusid co-produced (with Edie Adams and Josh Mills) the Ernie Kovacs Record Collection (Varese-Sarabande), a compilation of songs and themes used by the legendary TV comedian in his programs during the 1950s and early 1960s.The Ernie Kovacs Record Collection at AllMusic The package was designed by noted illustrator Chris Ware. In 2004 he curated Interesting Results: Music by a Committee of One for UK's Sonic Arts Network, a CD-publication of DIY music with cut-out figures of the featured artists.Fletcher, Andrew, review of Interesting Results, Computer Music Journal, Vol. 31, issue 4
In 2010 Chusid compiled for WFMU Don't Mess With the Power Child, the first collection of late 1980s recordings by an uninhibited, hyperactive 10-year-old Alabama girl named Amanda (Whitt).Don't Mess With the Power Child at WFMU's Free Music Archive These recordings aired frequently on WFMU and subsequently achieved widespread notoriety via the web. A follow-up, Let's Get Plastered and Raid Circus World, was compiled for WFMU in 2011.
Besides administering the Raymond Scott, Esquivel, Bob Thompson, Sun Ra, Curt Boettcher, and Shooby Taylor musical estates, he oversees the business affairs and publishing of R. Stevie Moore, Beth Sorrentino, the Mighty Sparrow,Doughty, Melissa, "Rum co-founders hope to revive Mighty Sparrow movie idea", Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, June 21, 2024 and Wendy & Bonnie.
In 2014 Chusid became administrator of Sun Ra LLC, the heirs who control the catalog of the late, eccentric Afrofuturist bandleader/composer.Interview with Irwin Chusid by Christopher Eddy at the Sun Ra Arkive blog, September 1, 2014 That year, he and Michael D. Anderson of the Sun Ra Music Archive co-produced a digital-only series of classic Sun Ra albums remastered for iTunes from original Sun Ra session tapes.Kozinn, Allan, "21 Sun Ra Albums Are Released on iTunes," New York Times, May 21, 2014Gensler, Andy, "New Sun Ra Recordings To Be Released This Fall," Billboard, May 22, 2015 Since then Chusid has produced, co-produced, or consulted on a series of remastered Sun Ra recordings, including previously unissued material, released on the Cosmic Myth, Modern Harmonic, Strut, and Corbett vs. Dempsey record labels.Jackson, Homer, "Sun Ra And His Works for Solo Piano", interview with Irwin Chusid, Philadelphia Jazz Project, February 4, 2019 As of late 2020, there have been over 100 Sun Ra titles digitally reissued on the catalog's Bandcamp site.Sun Ra Music on Bandcamp Chusid has provided historical annotation for many of these releases. In 2019 he co-produced (with Brother Cleve) The Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra: Songs from the Sun Ra Cosmos (Modern Harmonic), a collection of Sun Ra covers by rock vocalist Barrence Whitfield; Chusid played drums on several tracks. Also in 2019 Chusid produced June Tyson: Saturnian Queen of the Sun Ra Arkestra (Modern Harmonic), the first compilation of recordings spotlighting singer-dancer-costume designer Tyson, the only female member of Sun Ra's Arkestra.
In 2013, Chusid created the first website devoted to the late record producer Tom Wilson,Tom Wilson websiteAllen, Jim, "Tom Wilson: The Producer Who Made the 60s Matter", Udiscovermusic.com, July 27, 2022 including a comprehensive discography of Wilson productions.Tom Wilson discography at ProducerTomWilson.com
Outsider music In a July 1996 Pulse magazine article entitled "You Want Alternative?", Chusid coined the term "outsider music",Campau, Don, The Living Archive of Underground Music, interview with Irwin Chusid, November 2, 2011 which he defines as "crackpot and visionary music, where all trails lead essentially one place: over the edge". Chusid has drawn a distinction between the terms "incorrect music" (as used on his WFMU radio program) and "outsider music", which he insists are not synonymous and overlap only slightly. Chusid has explained that Incorrect Music was a radio concept, which included all manner of musical "wrongness", often by people who should have known better, or whose sincerity was questionable. Outsider musicians, on the other hand, he defines as "artists who are often termed 'bad' or 'inept' by listeners who judge them by the standards of mainstream popular music. Yet despite dodgy rhythms and a lack of conventional tunefulness, these often self-taught artists radiate an abundance of earnestness and passion. Most importantly, they betray an absence of pretense. And they're worth listening to, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality."