LOTHAR AND THE HAND PEOPLE
Lothar and the Hand People was a late-1960s psychedelic rock band known for its spacey music and pioneering use of the theremin and Moog modular synthesizer. The band’s unusual appellation refers to a theremin nicknamed “Lothar”, with the “Hand People” being the musicians in the band, who included John Emelin (vocals), Paul Conly (keyboards, synthesizer), Rusty Ford (bass), Tom Flye (drums) and Kim King (guitar, synthesizer). The band was notable for being “the first rockers to tour and record using synthesizers, thereby inspiring the generation of electronic music-makers who immediately followed them”. (More from Wikipedia)
Barbara Sullivan’s connections at Capitol Records didn’t pan out either. Nik Venet was the point man at Capitol for folk-rock music and would have been a natural to work with Jim Sullivan. He had produced albums for Fred Neil – to whom Sullivan is often compared – Lothar and the Hand People, and Linda Ronstadt’s first band the Stone Poneys, plus more mainstream acts like the Kingston Trio and the Beach Boys. But Venet turned him down.
(October 2011)
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Electronic instruments have been around for decades; for example, in 1928, the patent was issued for the eerie-sounding theremin (which is played remotely by moving around in space). The 1960’s band Lothar and the Hand People named their theremin “Lothar”, and the bandmembers were the “hand people” who operated it.
(March 2012)
