The lost songs of writer and photographer Michael Katakis — “A Simpler Time”

Back in 1977, I saw the comedian Robert Klein when he came to the University of Maryland for a show.  I can still remember many details of it.  But most of all, I remember the opening act.  A huge fellow waddled across the stage, wearing overalls, possibly weighing close to 300 pounds, though my memory might be playing tricks, as he does not look nearly that heavy on his album cover.  The audience did not know who he was – he was not introduced – and some people laughed at his appearance, which saddened me.  He looked like he might be the maintenance man or a piano tuner, if played by Oliver Hardy.  Then he sat down at the piano, to everyone’s surprise.  He played and sang.  When he opened his mouth to sing, I was mesmerized.  He also accompanied himself on guitar for a few songs.  He played both instruments with great skill.  And I loved his voice and his songs.  He was funny and self-deprecating.  After the show, I went straight to the record store in the Student Union and bought his album, “A Simpler Time,” on A&M Records.  Many other students did the same. I thought for sure he would be a big star.  I must have played this record hundreds of times, and I can still hear “Oooh, I’ve got no lights. Oooh, I’ve got no heat,” whenever I’ve lost power or heat. And I know “I’ve been down this road before,” and that has been a very pleasant earworm when it hits me.

Despite my expectation that Katakis would be the next Billy Joel, I never heard of him again.  Some years ago, after many attempts to find out what became of him, I discovered he had become a successful “writer who also takes photographs,” a professor of Native American literature, and more, in a career lasting more than four decades.  He’s no longer that huge fellow I saw in 1977, either. Katakis has published a number of titles, including a spectacular book of his journeys around the world, Photographs and Words. And he manages the literary estate of Ernest Hemingway! I found his email and wrote him a letter to acknowledge him and ask what happened to his music career.  Weeks later, he found the email in his spam folder and wrote me back.  I learned that he quit the music business maybe a year after this show, just disgusted with it.  He was really thrilled and appreciative to learn he had made such an impact in his short time making music.  He had to read the letter to his wife.  It was, I suppose, his “Moonlight Graham” (Field of Dreams) moment.  “You were good, Doc!” 

The album is long out of print.  And nothing in any of Katakis’s bios even mentions his early career. After many years, someone in Japan finally had the good sense to put the album on YouTube.  It is, in fact, the soundtrack to a video of the actual album playing on a turntable, and it sounds pristine.  I’m perhaps as moved today as I was some 44 years ago.  And wondering if I or a wise reader of this post can possibly cover a couple of these lost tunes, which deserve another day in the sun.

More information about Michael Katakis can be found at his website, http://www.mkatakis.org/gallery_links.html

And now, for your listening pleasure, sides 1 and 2 of A Simpler Time: