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There is a lot more to the fLAtDiSk NeTWoRk than all this serious stuff, of course. Drop by and have some fun!
In the late 1960s, he worked for NYC documentary and industrial filmmaker Ted Steeg, beginning as a production assistant and eventually as a sound editor and film editor. During that time he met director Mark Rappaport and appeared as an actor in two of Rappaport's films, Casual Relations (1973) and the title role in his award-winning feature Mozart in Love (1975).
La Bonté also played bass and sang in over 1000 performances of original cast productions of the musical Godspell in New York (Cherry Lane and Promenade Theaters), Los Angeles (Mark Taper Forum and Ivar Theaters) in the 1970s and in the 1981 Original Cast reunion production in Los Angeles. Rich appears as a player and performer on the Grammy Award-winning, Platinum-selling Godspell Original Cast Album
and
the
Godspell Motion Picture Soundtrack Album and subsequent single
"Day By Day",
sung by original cast member Robin Lamont,
which spent 14 weeks on the Billboard Hot
100,
peaking at the #13 position on July 29, 1972. Billboard ranked
it as
the No. 90 song for 1972. The Godspell albums were rereleased as
a double CD set by Sony Masterworks in 2011.Rich produced and co-wrote the seminal electronic Mayan Canals LP and Kim Fowley's Kim Fowley Jr.: Son of Frankenstein LP in the early 1980s.
In late 20th Century Los Angeles, Rich created fLAtDiSk SoftWorks (1977) as a freeware company. At that time fLAtDiSk was the home of fLAtDiSk Fanzine (a Xeroxed music rag from 1976-1983) and fLAtDiSk Records (1970 - 1981, a vinyl subsidiary of Dave Gibson's Moxie Record Company.) fLAtDiSk Records had several obscure 20th Century releases, the most notable being the Kim Fowley Jr.: Son of Frankenstein LP (1981), which La Bonté co-wrote and co-produced with legendary record producer Kim Fowley for Moxie. The record spawned the frequently rediscovered college radio hit Invasion of the Polaroid People and was re-released in Europe by Lolita Records on vinyl and later on the 1995 Marilyn Records CD as Kim Fowley’s Bad News from the Underworld
.La Bonté released the classic R. Stevie Moore red vinyl single New Wave in 1979 for Moore on a Moxie offshoot (CMI Records with La Bonté's then-partner Shari Famous.) Decades later, Rich contributed musically to R. Stevie Moore & Company's 2009 CD Coo Coo Rockin' Time, which is also part of a 4-CD David Fair (Half-Japanese) Coo Coo Rockin' Time box set from Thick Syrup Records featuring 5 other bands and the original 1990 David Fair CD.
Rich has five published novels: Susan and The Wolf, Useful Humans, Simple Deities, The Greater Future, Many Teeth and the short story collection Yellowflower. Paperback editions are currently out of print, but Kindle Editions of Simple Deities and Many Teeth are available from Amazon. Click Here to check out or download Absolutely Free PDF eBook editions of Susan and The Wolf, Useful Humans and several short stories.
Working for a computer systems integrator in Los Angeles from 1985-2001, La Bonté experimented with virtual reality for the PC, creating fLAtDiSk VR Dreams in the early 90s - a series of virtual reality worlds for IBM PC compatibles. All of the fLAtDiSk VR Dreams were later published in Virtual Reality Madness and More!, a Book/CD software package from SAMS Publishing.
Rich's 2010 CD, "This Is Rock and Roll", featured material with an accent on vocals. His 2011 CD, "Closet Frequencies and other electronic stuff that sounds good to me", is a collection of 22 electronic instrumental pieces. His 2012 CD, "If You Didn't Like The Last One You Won't Like This One Either", is, according to listeners on ReverbNation, "Weird stuff all over the map. Sometimes Beatles on LSD, sometimes powerpop" and "...a great experience and something new with every tune... all of it a must have." His 2014 CD, "Tin Dreams and Broken Hearts Vol. 2", contains 18 recent selections ranging from orchestrated electronics to vocal tracks. Scruffy the Flea said: "DEFINITELY music for the LIVING! Bright, thoughtful, full of pulsing and life and butterscotch. Wonderful!" Rich released "Way Out" on CD through Amazon in 2016. All of the FLAtRich CDs released on Amazon are now out of print (June 2021) but most are available on Bandcamp.
Josh Cheon's Dark Entries Records remastered and rereleased Mayan Canals in 2017.
Jargon Records remastered and released studio and live takes of the huns on CD in 2017.
Rich released his Dune Crossing REDUX album on Bandcamp in 2018 and Moondust & Particulates in 2019.
His "Utterly Free Curios from the fLAtDiSk Catalogue" LP was also released on Bandcamp in January 2021. Utterly Free Curios features 21 electronic and electroacoustic pieces recorded over the last 50 years and is Absolutely Free to listen to and Absolutely Free to download in the various high quality formats offered by Bandcamp. (Extra bonus tracks are included with full LP download, including "Drums Along The Maple Wood" and "Chance Circumstance", first released in 1980 as an A/B single vinyl record in on the fLAtDiSk Moxie label.)
Null Times in Zér0ville was released on Bandcamp in October 2021. Titles of the 17 pieces included in Null Times in Zér0ville are derived from the English version of the motion picture Alphaville (1965), directed by Jean-Luc Godard and written by Jean-Luc Godard and Paul Éluard. Our friends at Sleeping Brothers Records called it 'Disturbingly whimsical (and vice versa), the libretto PDF immerses you in the creepiest Peter Pan Read-a-Long record of your long-lost youth. Add a touch of "Magical Mystery Tour" if Bruce Haack had been the fifth Beatle and you end up with "Null Times in Zeroville." Highly recommended.'
Rich's latest album, Overwound, was released on Bandcamp in August 2022. (Bandcamp membership is not required to listen to, or buy / download music from Bandcamp.)
Rich continues to compose and release free music to the web via Bandcamp, ReverbNation, Facebook, YouTube, etc. More info and reviews are available at www.flatrich.com. Rich also offers some original tracks as free MP3 downloads on his Absolutely Free Music site.
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