Tupper Saussy: Musician (Neon Philharmonic) and...OUTLAW?!!
David A. Pearlman
So the other day I was searching the Net, trying to find a
discography on Tupper Saussy, writer arranger behind on of the
best '60's pop acts, The Neon Philharmonic. He seemed to disappear
shortly after the Neon Philharmonic died in the late '60's.
Well, it appears that he simply disappeared from pop music. It turns
out that he later became a "revolutionary"/advocate of abolishing
the tax system/etc. And he wrote a book, "Miracle on Main Street",
which is considered close to the Bible in certain circles. He has
also been credited with the "Public Office Money Certificates"
that organizations such as the Freemen have passed as bank drafts...
Very unusual...
Apparently, Sussy went underground after being sentenced to prison
for failure to pay taxes. He was caught late last year...
A few questions:
1) Does anyone have a discography for Saussy? I believe he has
one or more albums under his name preceeding the Neon Philharmonic.
2) Can anyone provide a detailed story of what happened to Saussy.
This sounds like one INTERESTING story... Does he even care about
music any more?
3) Since he is now in jail, perhaps someone has an address where he
can be contacted?
dap
abcde
In article <6ii99l$nv5$1...@cgl.ucsf.edu>, d...@cgl.ucsf.edu (David A.
Pearlman) wrote:
>So the other day I was searching the Net, trying to find a
>discography on Tupper Saussy, writer arranger behind on of the
>best '60's pop acts, The Neon Philharmonic. He seemed to disappear
>shortly after the Neon Philharmonic died in the late '60's.
>
>Apparently, Sussy went underground after being sentenced to prison
>for failure to pay taxes. He was caught late last year...
>
>1) Does anyone have a discography for Saussy? I believe he has
>one or more albums under his name preceeding the Neon Philharmonic.
>
>2) Can anyone provide a detailed story of what happened to Saussy.
>This sounds like one INTERESTING story... Does he even care about
>music any more?
Great post! I had no idea he had been caught, but I learned a little bit
about his story in the liner notes to The Neon Philharmonic's "The
Moth Confesses" CD reissue. This is available on Sundazed and has
as bonus tracks the a-sides and b-sides of three later 7"s on Warner
Bros. The album originally came out when I was 4 - I bought the CD
because it sounded interesting, but was surprised to remember the "hit",
"Morning Girl", after hearing it on the CD. For those unfamiliar with
the band, it sorts of falls into the Beach Boys/Association/Millenium/
Sagittarius scheme of things, although it's a bit more dramatic - a
touch of Scott Walker perhaps. The CD provides the info (by Andy Zax),
which I've paraphrased and arranged into a timeline.
1) In 1962 Tupper Saussy released "Discover Tauper Saussy", which
showcased Saussy's solo piano skills, as well as string-laden compositions
which prefigured his work with the NP. "Dave Brubeck-endorsed."
2) In 1965, he and other Nashville musicians recorded "The Swinger's
Guide To Mary Poppins" - jazzy interpretations of songs from the Disney
film.
3) Tupper arranged and conducted several tracks on Mickey Newbury's
1968 album, "Harlequin Melodies."
4) After "The Moth Confesses", the NP released a self-titled album and
2 more 7"s to the ones included on the CD reissue of "Moth".
5) More tracks from this era are still unreleased and sitting in WB vaults.
6) The NP kept releasing singles on TRX and MCA until apx. 1975.
7) Saussy worked as an ad man, playwright and illustrator before he
got into the anti-tax thing - as of the liner notes (1995) he was still
underground.
That's all I know - buy the CD (which any fan of artsy 60s pop should do)
and you'll have all the same info.
I'd appreciate it if anyone else with info can keep me informed as well.
John
Daryl Nagamine
David A. Pearlman wrote:
> So the other day I was searching the Net, trying to find a
> discography on Tupper Saussy, writer arranger behind on of the
> best '60's pop acts, The Neon Philharmonic. He seemed to disappear
> shortly after the Neon Philharmonic died in the late '60's.
>
> Well, it appears that he simply disappeared from pop music. It turns
> out that he later became a "revolutionary"/advocate of abolishing
> the tax system/etc. And he wrote a book, "Miracle on Main Street",
> which is considered close to the Bible in certain circles. He has
> also been credited with the "Public Office Money Certificates"
> that organizations such as the Freemen have passed as bank drafts...
>
> Very unusual...
>
> Apparently, Sussy went underground after being sentenced to prison
> for failure to pay taxes. He was caught late last year...
>
> A few questions:
>
> 1) Does anyone have a discography for Saussy? I believe he has
> one or more albums under his name preceeding the Neon Philharmonic.
>
> 2) Can anyone provide a detailed story of what happened to Saussy.
> This sounds like one INTERESTING story... Does he even care about
> music any more?
>
> 3) Since he is now in jail, perhaps someone has an address where he
> can be contacted?
Wow, this is weird. Just last week, I was making a tape of some early
Rachel Sweet singles that I own and one of the tracks "Paper Airplane"
was written by Saussy. The early Sweet singles were two-and-a-half
minute mid-70's country-pop numbers and I assumed that most were either
country standards or the work of the current songwriters of the day
(J.D. Loudermilk was the only recognizable name to me). It's a rather
corny song which I didn't like when I first got it, but while listening
to the tape in my car, I got hooked on the song. Now, I consider it
something of a guilty pleasure.
I didn't realize this Tupper Saussy had such an interesting background.
Daryl