Philip Balsam & Dennis Lee

[TARDIS60]

Where are Fraggle Rock's minstrels now? Are they both still alive? I know from IMDB that Philip Balsam worked as a composer for the TV series "Dog City" in 1992, and that Dennis Lee is listed as the lyricist for a Norwegian documentary entitled "Plastic Fantastic" (2003) (anyone know what this is?).

The Internet yields evidence of a few collaborations between the two, presumably shortly after Fraggle Rock -- Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, The Tales of the Bunny Picnic, and The Ordinary Bath. Dennis Lee went on to become a moderately successful writer of children's books, prose and poetry (last published work dated 1997), and Philip Balsam... disappeared?

I love the music they created for Fraggle Rock. I am in awe of the volume of great work they created in a few short years. I am dumbfounded that of over 200 great songs, sheet music is only available for one. (!)

Kassi

 

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

Kassi, I too greatly admire, respect, and love Philip Balsam & Dennis Lee for their creativity, genius, and talents.

I don't know any extra info---in fact, I didn't even know of anything they did outside of FR till I read your post!

It's just so amazin' to me that these two men created literally perfect songs for the series. The songs weren't too kiddie, too ridiculous, extraneous, etc. They were always

just

right.

 

[Sidebottom]

Actually, Dennis Lee was already an extremely successful poet, both for kids and for adults, when he went to work on Fraggle Rock. He's famous (at least here in his native Canada) for books like Alligator Pie (which came out in the seventies), Garbage Delight, and The Difficulty of Living on Other Planets.

He's still writing poetry today (a new kids' book of his came out about a year ago, but darned if I can remember what it was called). If I'm not mistaken, he's now also the poet laureate of Toronto.

I actually went to a reading by him early this summer. If you've never heard him read his poems aloud, you're truly missing something fantastic. He was autographing books after the reading -- I got him to autograph one of my Fraggle Rock cassette tapes!

All I know about Phil Balsam is that he was an old buddy of Dennis Lee's -- see the passage by Jerry Juhl on Warrick's web site.

Take care!
-Sidebottom

Alligator pie, alligator pie.
If I don't get some, I think I'm gonna die.
Give away the green grass, give away the sky,
But don't give away my alligator pie!

Alligator soup, alligator soup.
If I don't get some, I think I'm gonna droop.
Give away my hockey stick, give away my hoop,
But don't give away my alligator soup!

Alligator stew, alligator stew.
If I don't get some, I don't know what I'll do.
Give away my furry hat, give away my shoe,
But don't give away my alligator stew!

 

[Traveling Matt]

Hi Kassi,

Sidebottom is right: Mr. Lee is indeed Toronto's Poet Laureate.

You can read two interviews with him here and here

- Billy