Root Boy Slim
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Foster MacKenzie III (July 9, 1944 – June 8, 1993), known professionally as Root Boy Slim, was an American musician and songwriter.
He was born in Asheville, North Carolina but raised in Washington, D.C.'s Maryland suburbs. He was an exceptionally bright child with parents who were able to afford a series of costly prep schools, and he attended Yale University. He returned to Maryland upon receiving his bachelor's degree and was diagnosed with schizophrenia following an LSD-induced psychotic episode. In the 1970s, he formed his own alternative rock band (including musicians such as tenor saxophonist Ron Holloway) and an ensemble titled Crying Out Loud. Mackenzie's group was ultimately billed as Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band and The Rootettes. The band cultivated a dedicated fan base, largely confined to the Washington metropolitan area.
MacKenzie died in his sleep in his home in Orlando, Florida at age 48 and is buried in Fletcher, North Carolina. He was inducted into the Washington Area Music Association Hall of Fame in 2004.[2]
Background
MacKenzie was an intelligent yet incorrigible youth, who was asked to leave several private D.C.-area
While at Yale, MacKenzie formed a band with classmate and
After graduation, MacKenzie drove an
Sex Change Band
Mackenzie adopted the stage name of Root Boy Slim, and formed a blues rock band, which he dubbed "Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band." His backup singers were called the Rootettes. The band members were stridently different than most club fare. Root Boy was fat, had greasy hair, and almost always seemed to be in a drug- or alcohol-induced stupor. The band was a fixture in the mid-Atlantic blues/rock scene, and favored a mix of Memphis-style boogie rock/blues.[4]
Root Boy and company traveled the club circuit, until a self-produced recording caught the ear of some
"This band satisfies the first requirement of rock and roll comedy—they play their simplified Little Feat funk well enough to make fun of it. Inspirational Verse: 'Hey look out buddy/Get off my wig/Oops I didn't realize/You was quite so big.'"
—Review of Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band Featuring the Rootettes in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)[5]
Their most famous recording was "Boogie 'Til You Puke" from the debut album Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band with the Rootettes (Warner Bros. Records, 1978), which was produced by
The band also performed the song "Boogie 'Til You Puke" in the Party Doll Lounge on 42nd St in New York in Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979), a satire of the Italian produced exploitation "shockumentary" Mondo Cane (1962). The film was produced and directed by Michael O'Donoghue, the famed Saturday Night Live head writer, and also featured appearances from Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, and Sid Vicious among others.
During the same year, the band played a date at the Varsity Grill's Back Room in College Park, Maryland, which was one of the main bars popular with students at the University of Maryland, College Park. A riot broke out in the bar and outside on U.S. Route 1, which later led the College Park City Council to ban the band from future engagements in College Park. The ban was lifted in 1980, and Root Boy and crew triumphantly returned in a concert in the university's Ritchie Coliseum.
Miles Copeland III's record label, Illegal Records was a spin-off from I.R.S. Records, and Copeland signed the band and they produced their second LP, Zoom, on I.R.S. in the U.S., with distribution on Illegal Records in the UK. Despite the use of strong marketing efforts, the LP was just as commercially unsuccessful as the previous one, with the band being dropped by the label. Despite their disappointment, Root Boy Slim And The Sex Change Band continued playing the bar circuit along the Atlantic seaboard and released four more LPs: Dog Secrets on Congressional Records, Don't Let This Happen to You and Left for Dead for Kingsnake Records, and Root Six on Naked Language Records.[8]
Eventually, most of the original band members went their separate ways, reuniting mostly for recording projects. For nightclub performances, Root Boy was backed by a series of other bands, including Ron Holloway and Cryin' Out Loud, New Hope for the Criminally Insane, Capital Offense (featuring Wayne Tomlinson, Tommy Lepson, Timm Biery, Ron Holloway and Dominic Vigliotti), Barbecue Juiceheads, and the Humans.
Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band's fifth anniversary took place in 1982 at the PsycheDelly in
Death
On June 8, 1993, MacKenzie died in his sleep in his home in Orlando, Florida.
Slim's final resting place is in a grave beside his father's in Calvary Church Cemetery on Hendersonville Road in Fletcher, North Carolina, just south of Asheville. His grave is in the cemetery's northwest corner.
Discography
- Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band with the Rootettes (Warner Bros. Records, 1978)
- Zoom (IRS Records 1979)
- Dog Secrets (Congressional Records, 1983)
- Don't Let This Happen to You (Kingsnake, 1987)
- Left for Dead (Kingsnake, 1987)
- Root 6 (Ichiban Records, 1990)
Sex Change Band members
- Bob "Rattlesnake Rattles" Greenlee - Bass
- Ernie "Sex Ray" Lancaster - Guitar
- Ron Holloway - Tenor saxophone
- Winston Kelly - Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards
- Walt Andrews - "Cosmo Creek" Steel guitar
- Tommy Ruger - Drums
- Cherie Grasso (Rootette) - Background vocals
- Marina "Mikki" Lee Jonne (Rootette) - Background vocals
- Kathe "Special K" Russell (Rootette) - Background vocals
- Albert "Kung Fu Shorty" Bashor - Drums
- Dick Bangham (Rootette) - Background vocals, trombone
- Marshall Keys - Alto saxophone
Band members (post Sex Change Band)
- Ron Holloway - Tenor saxophone
- Tommy Lepson - Keyboards
- Steuart Smith - Guitar
- Jim Hanson - Bass
- Steve Dennis - Drums
- Elliot Jagoda - Bass
- Ray Tilkens - Guitar
- Dan Hovey - Guitar
- Wayne Tomlinson - Guitar
- Dominic Vigliotti - Bass.
- Timm Biery - Drums
- Deanna Bogart - Tenor saxophone
- Scott Ambush - Bass
- Paul Reed Smith - Guitar
- Torro Gamble – Drums
- Brandon Finley - Drums
- Brent Mingle - Bass
- Tyrone Brunson (musician) - Bass
- Jim Orr - Keyboards
- Johnny Castle - Bass
- Reverend Billy C. Wirtz - Hammond B-3 Organ, keyboards
- Scott Hymes - keyboards
- John Zidar - Drums
- Rex Wilson - Drums
- John Lee - Drums
- Mary Taylor (Rootette) - Background vocals
- Tammy Whynot (Rootette) - Background vocals
References
- ^ "Love of the Blues Main Force Behind Creepers". 10 July 1987.
- ^ a b c d "Washington Area Music Association (WAMA): Hall of Fame". Washington Area Music Association. 2000. Retrieved 4 May 2009.
- ^ a b Santiago O'Donnell. "Rocker Root Boy Slim Dies." Washington Post. 10 June 1993. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
- ^ Thien, Carl (June 2003). "Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band gullbuy review". Gullbuy New Sound Review. Retrieved 4 May 2009.
- ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 12, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ISBN 9781846098819. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
- ^ "Root Boy Slim Official Website - D.C. Music Legend". Rootboyslim.com. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
- ^ a b [1] Archived July 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine