This evening a friend took me to see Uncle Bonsai, an edgily funny deconstructionist alt-folk group that has been playing, recording and touring on and off for more than thirty five years.
At one point during the between-song banter, guitarist Andrew Ratshin started to wax rhapsodic about Wonderama, a kids’ TV show that reached its peak of popularity about half a century ago. Gazing misty eyed into the middle distance, he said “The show was never the same after Sonny Fox left.” **
He then turned to the audience and asked “How many people remember Sonny Fox?” A surprisingly large number of hands shot in the air.
At which point somebody from the audience shouted “Bob McAllister was better!” A hush fell over the crowd, and there was a moment of eerie silence.
Ratshin’s bandmate Arni Adler then turned to fix the heretic with an icy stare of disdain and disbelief. “After the show,” she said, “we’re taking this outside.”
** Sonny Fox left the show in 1967