Thirteen years.It's been nearly thirteen years since any of us who have affection and admiration for Judson and his work have heard from him.
In 1995, Judson and Sandor visited WFMU and learned, to some extent, about their cult status. When I was informed, a day before they were due in the studio, that these two guys were going to be in front of a microphone for the first time in years, I started working on a new script. It was faithful to the old style but included a third voice, that of "The Old Codger," a WFMU legend who was born to do a drammer with Judson and Sandor - some time in the late ninteenth century.
The result - The Ugly Roomer - was performed by the trio live, on-air, with no rehearsal, the coldest of cold reads. But it worked: Judson and Sandor laughed at their own lines as they read them for the first time. I recently learned that "The Ugly Roomer" will appear on the second Judson Fountain CD, Dark Dark Dark Tales... and Other Dark Tales. As Frank Morgan says in The Wizard of Oz, "Well, bust my buttons!"
I got to say hi to Judson on the phone that day. It was a surreal experience.
And then, we lost touch. Our bad.
I've dropped a few bucks into the coffers of those "locate anyone instantly" internet sites, and while they returned some results that looked promising, nothing panned out. I've made a lot of phone calls to a lot of Fountains around the U.S. and Canada - and no soap.
I like being scared by Judson in his radio productions, but scarier still is the thought that he might no longer be with us.
Google "Judson Fountain" and you get dozens of hits. It's hard to believe Judson himself hasn't wandered into a library somewhere (if he is internetless at home), sat down at a computer and entered his own name... only to discover that he has a CD out and is the subject of numerous tributes. Judson even has famous fans.
Judson's got money waiting for him. Probably not much, but there's an escrow fund from the CD's and if anybody ever orders a Judson T-Shirt (I designed it for myself and recently made the made the design available to anyone who wants one) 100% of the money received will be put aside for Judson.
Are you good at finding people? Do you have a friend that's a private eye? Have you seen anyone matching the description? Become a hero to all of us and find Judson. He should be sharing in this.
One thing I know for sure is that he would be thrilled by all that's happened over the past thirteen years. And one other thing I know for sure: the third Judson Fountain CD would be all-new material... and absolutely great.
