Richard Cheese

Robin, my news correspondent, sent this in story about how Blur's Alex James, has a cheese-making company and apparently blogs about it in "the Cheese Diaries"!

Audio Richard Cheese - Three's Company Theme Richard Cheese - Ice Ice Baby 1 comment Mark Jonathan Davis - Star Wars Cantina (Barry Manilow) Richard Cheese - SomebodyTold Me 1 comment Farewell Tour 09/29/07 Phoenix, AZ - Private Function 10/05/07 Santa Barbara, CA - Velvet Jones 10/07/07 Los Angeles, CA - Private Function 11/11/07 Las Vegas, NV - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 12/29/07 Las Vegas, NV - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 12/31/07 Las Vegas, NV - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Band Members ♥ Mark Jonathan Davis (Richard Cheese) ♥ Louis Allen ♥ Noel Melanio ♥ Brian Fishler

This brings me to Cheese... Richard Cheese (or as people like to say, Dick Cheese).

If you're not familar with Richard Cheese, he basically takes Top 40 hits and "loungified" them. Unlike Nouvelle Vague, Cheese's version is often played for jokes ... however, it's just more swanky.

As far as I know, Cheese started off as Mark Jonathan Davis^[1], a massive Star Wars geek. He wrote and recorded "Star Wars Cantina" song, which became a big hit on the Dr Demento Show in 1997.

Trying to recreate the success of "Cantina", he went back to record "The Phantom Medley" with his new group The X-Swing Fighters, in May 1999. Unfortunately the song was never quite as popular as Cantina.

Since both of these songs were never released because no one was able to obtain permission from the original music publishers, I will have to direct you to download these songs at Docking Bay 101.

Davis reinvented himself as a lounge artist, and in October 2000, released Lounge Against the Machine.

I would hazard a guess that his most popular song is "Down with the Sickness" because it appeared on the remake of Dawn of the Dead - and that basically crossed over to a more mainstream audiences.

Anyway, Cheese has a new album coming out October 23rd, 2007, called Dick at Nite. The concept to this album are television theme songs, Cheesified.

It looks like the digital album (available on iTunes since August 2) beat the physical CD in release dates, probably due to production and pressing?

Albums [Oct 2000] Lounge Against the Machine [Oct 2002] Taxicity [Apr 2004] I'd Like a Virgin [Mau 2005] Aperitif For Destruction [Feb 2006] The Sunny Side of the Moon [Oct 2006] Silent Nightclub [Oct 2007] Dick at Nite [N/A] Bootlegs / Unreleased Material Footnotes [1] Mark Jonathan Davis website

I normally recommend waiting for the CD, but in this case, the digital version looks a little more enticing anyway, since it offers three extra songs: "American Idol Theme", "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Theme" and "Scooby-Doo Theme" and probably cost a few extra bucks cheaper.

It also seems to be that this year will be his retirement from live appearance. The note on his website reads:

Seriously.

These will be Richard Cheese's Final concert performances with his Lounge Against The Machine band in these cities. He might play a few shows in Vegas in 2008, but don't count on it!

See him now while you can!

Check out WB Mook's Spreading the Cheese as well as other voxers.

You can find even more clips of his songs on Richard Cheese's media page. They include the music video on youtube and various public appearances.

Check out "Insane in the Brain" song on Howard Stern on that media page.

 September 20, 2007 6:33 AM  vu my♥posts vu@weheartmusic.com www.richardcheese.com