released September 1, 2023

This was a cartoon concept we conceived and sent to MTV & Nickelodeon, along with a short set of music demos to accompany the story line. We did the music when we got some new MIDI gear and wanted to tune up the system. The networks didn't call back.

The Project: Dick Gunn
A film noir cartoon following the exploits of Dick Gunn, Private Eye. Each week, the ethically challenged Gunn would get mixed up in a sensational new caper, backed by a soundtrack of smooth, Mancini-esque jazz and Badalamenti grooves voiced by a series of artists (poets, writers, musicians), changing with each episode.

The Demo, ...Tonight's Episode: Dick Gunn,
The demos feature author/singer Jim Carroll's voice, who acts as Gunn's inner monologue. Since we only made cheap demos, you have to imagine we cobbled together a hard swinging band with a horn section, as we had neither. Click the player and you'll hear the whole thing, barely 16 minutes. If you're stoned, you might even be able to see the cartoon. It's WLFC... but it's a Q/M Production.

PROLOGUE (0:34)
Dick Gunn, a troubled P.I. with a suspended license, hits the city.

THE DICK GUNN THEME (3:33)
Every successful private eye has a theme song. But... bum luck gumshoe Dick Gunn ponders how really naked the city can be without a full-time secretary. A band version plays under the credits. We asked for Magic Band drummer, John French.

ACT I: COOL BLUE FREQUENCY (2:58)
It's a police term for the hypnotic blue noise a criminal's brain produces when he's in the act of engineering a crime. Like the one Gunn undertakes when he breaks into his new girlfriend's Lower East side apartment to confirm his jealous suspicions. She winds up dead. Enter, city District Attorney Fred Steiner.

ACT II: FRED STEINER, D.A. THEME (1:46)
Unbeaten advocate of the people, Fred Steiner, is called in to prosecute Gunn. Of course, he has his own Perry Mason-styled theme song, since his character will probably be spun off for his own series sometime in the fall.

ACT III: ANGELO'S STRIDE (4:31)
Out on bail, Gunn finds himself in the middle of a bank job gone bad. Lt. Mario Angelo, is called in. With his funky gate and itchy trigger finger, he shadows Gunn against the illuminated audio/visual backdrop of the NYC Jazz Festival.

EPILOGUE: END CREDITS (2:38)
As the closing theme unwinds, the credits should be read by the guy who did the voice over for TV's The Fugitive. We canned the original "End Credits" music to replace it with this newer, fake German jazz fusion version. Since the plan was to do a new "End Credits" improv for each show, we included a recent one here.