Norman Famous

Mysterious, Opinionated, Musician

The man himself; Norman Famous in a classic pose

Norman Famous

Norman Famous is an accomplished writer, producer and musician. He is also a gadfly, raconteur and keen observer of the human condition.

In addition to song writing, Norman’s musical activities include fronting his own band, the Backorders, playing drums with the band Belleville and working on the Sparky Grinstead CD reissue project.

 

As Sparky Grinstead, he led the Oakland-based proto-punk band the Bonkeenies of America in the 70's and went on to release several albums under his own name in the late 70's and 80's. The group and the albums went mostly unseen and unheard by an uncaring public. As Norman Famous, he led an earlier version of the Backorders through the San Francisco-area club scene, performing for the drunk and uninterested in the early 90's. As Earl Grinstead he performed and recorded with the critically acclaimed but criminally ignored garage-folkies  El Sob from '96 to '02. Again as Norman Famous, he created the popular independent music site,  normanfamous.com, which he ran from '02 to '05, then ran from. In addition his duties with The Backorders, Norman also finds time to play drums for alt-country rockers Belleville. As Norman Famous he is currently digitally remixing, re-mastering and re-issuing the entire Sparky Grinstead catalog.

 

 This website last updated April 8, 2008

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