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Dirty Old Boston

On The Other Hand....

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The Barbarians in a publicity photo

"One the one hand," say the economists, "the outlook appears sunny with all indicators leading to a robust year for investors, job-seekers and consumers. On the other hand.......".

Harry Truman had a quick and ready answer for these prognosticators who are as accountable as meteorologists: "Give me a one-handed economist," he'd say.

Boston has never had a one-handed economist, but it has had a  one-handed drummer who was the personality behind the biggest area garage rock band other than Barry & The Remains. His name was Victor Moulton, better known as Moulty, and his band was called The Barbarians. Emerging from P-Town, they hit the scene just as long hair was coming into vogue on American males. And true to the times, their first single on Laurie Records was called "Are you a Boy or are you a Girl?" . They quickly followed it with a second single wherein Moulty talks about not giving up despite challenges while the band sings the chorus behind him. The song was simply called "Moulty" and after being released as a single, had the distinction of appearing later on Lenny Kaye's 1972 gatefold double LP called "Nuggets".
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An animated Moulty bangs the drums quickly in this Boston Globe photo.

This writer was fortunate enough to catch The Barbarians at Irwin's Garden in Weirs Beach, NH during the summer of 1968 when they opened for Vanilla Fudge. Like the band Blue Cheer from the West Coast, they were louder than God and a real musical and visual treat for a teen into hard rockin'. While it is unlikely they will appear in concert again they can be seen performing in the mid-60s at the T.A.M.I (Teenage Awards Music International) Show, available on DVD and worth seeing if ever a 50 year old concert was.
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So I'm saying this to all of you
All of you who think you'll never make it
All of you guys and girls
Cause you think you're so bad off

Or maybe you think you're
A little different or strange
So listen to me now
Cause I've lived through it all

Moulty!

Don't turn away
(You gotta keep on trying)
Don't turn away.
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