Charles Bobuck

Charles Bobuck photographed on stage, April 2014

### Associated acts

The Residents, O-bay Scooplaws, Black Tar and the Cry Babies, Combo de Mecanico, Sonidos de la Noche

**Charles Bobuck** (also known as "**Chuck**," **Bob Uck**, and **Bobby Uck**) was a persona and pseudonym adopted by Hardy Fox between 2010 and 2017. Initially known as Chuck, the name was created for the Talking Light tour, representing an oversimplified version of Fox's role within The Residents as 'Composer and Keyboard Player.'

As Charles Bobuck, no longer tethered to the group identity of The Residents, Fox allowed himself to create and release material separate from the influence and joint credit of the other Residents, resulting in eleven studio albums released between 2011 and 2017, after which Fox began releasing material under his birth name.

Bobuck's releases would typically be accompanied by musings written from the perspective of the Bobuck character, a majority of which were collected in the ebook THIS.

## Biography

#### Origins (1945-1963)

Charles Bobuck was born in the mid-to-late 1940s, spending his early years in Texas. As a child he would describe his nightmares to his mother by "banging on the piano and talking in strange voices". At 9, he met a young Hardy Fox, the son of a business associate of his father's; the two families lived 70 miles apart but occasionally visited each other. The two would meet again and become friends in the late 1960s.

Around puberty, Bobuck realized that his orgasms had "a strange aural effect" on him, eventually learning that this was not usual from a friend he had been sexually experimenting with. Bobuck was briefly hospitalized, discovering that he suffered from a mild form of epilepsy which resulted in auditory hallucinations and seizures.

#### The Delta Nudes (1963-1972)

Bobuck met Randy Rose and Roger "Bunny" Hartley as students at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana, in the early 1960s, together forming a loose "anti-fraternity fraternity" of like-minded eccentrics and artists, jokingly named "Delta Nu". Bobuck got the nickname "Chuck" from Rose during this time due to Rose's obsession with the famous song "The Name Game" - the conventions of the titular game meaning that "Chuck Bobuck" ends up rhyming with the word "fuck".

   In 1968, Bobuck, Rose, and the Hartleys, growing tired of life in the south, all headed for northern California. After staying in San Francisco for several months, where Bobuck briefly associated with a music group named O-bay Scooplaws, the trio ended up in San Mateo, where they decided to remain, living and working in near-total seclusion. The "Delta Nu" group, now reunited for the first time in more than a year, had come to include a rotating ensemble of friends, including brothers Barry and Palmer Eiland and the four people who would later manage the group as The Cryptic Corporation; John Kennedy, Jay Clem, Homer Flynn, and Hardy Fox.

By this time, the group had begun experimenting with painting, silk-screening, and photography. Still, despite a mutual interest in music and sound in general, they had not yet begun to experiment with making music; this would change when they met multi-instrumentalist Roland Sheehan at their apartment bearing a U-Haul trailer full of musical instruments, including a Hammond B3 organ. Around the same time, Bobuck also received a high-end two-track reel-to-reel tape recorder as a gift from a friend who had recently returned from Vietnam.

The instruments and tape recorder allowed the group to make several primitive reel-to-reel tapes consisting of improvisations, jams, home studio experiments, and abortive covers of contemporary pop songs. Sheehan left San Mateo in 1969; by this point, the group had gathered enough recorded material and pawn shop musical instruments to continue recording and compiling tapes without the assistance of the more musically proficient Sheehan.

In 1971, Bobuck and the unnamed group created two demo tapes for submission to Warner Bros. Records executive Hal Halverstadt, titled *The W\*\*\*\*\* B\*\*\* Album* and *B.S.* The group adopted the name Residents, Uninc. After Halverstadt had addressed them that way when returning The W\*\*\*\*\* B\*\*\* Album to their San Mateo apartment with a succinct rejection note.

#### Composing and arranging for The Residents (1972-2001)

In 1972, Residents Uninc. issued their first official release, the double 7" EP *Santa Dog*, through their newly-founded independent record label Ralph Records. Their debut album, *Meet The Residents*, was compiled by Fox and Bobuck by Bavarian avant-garde composer and theorist N. Senada's Theory of Phonetic Organization. The album was released in 1974 and sold only forty copies in its first year; the sessions for *Not Available* followed this, the group's second album, which the group shelved after completing Senada's Theory of Obscurity. The Residents had also adopted this theory by choosing not to credit themselves personally on their albums or press releases and by appearing only in costume in promotional photos, album art, and their then-rare live performances.

Bobuck's composition and production work featured on The Residents' recordings throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s would increase the group's notoriety and appreciation from the music press, their fans, and their peers.

#### Increasing independence and departure from The Residents (2001-2016)

Throughout his tenure as the primary composer and instrumentalist for The Residents, Bobuck regularly developed ideas that other group members considered not to constitute Residents releases proper but rather as related off-shoot projects.

The first example of what would later become "Charles Bobuck Contraptions" appeared in 2001 as the EP *High Horses*, credited to The Residents' Combo de Mecanico. A similarly credited project, the album *Coochie Brake* (this time credited to The Residents' Sonidos de la Noche), appeared ten years later following the reveal in 2010 of the identities of Randy, Chuck, Bob, and Carlos as the members of The Residents.

Following this, Bobuck began to release solo works, or "contraptions," under his name, officially beginning in 2011 with the release of *God-O* in 2011 and continuing with *Codgers on the Moon* in 2012, and *Life Is My Only Sunshine* in 2013. *The Highway* followed in 2014 and *Roman de la Rose (The Pink Romance)*, a tribute to Roman, Bobuck's husband of several years.

In 2015, nearing the end of Shadowland (the final installment of the Randy, Chuck, and Bob trilogy of tours), Bobuck retired permanently from live performance with The Residents, citing health concerns. Initially, Bobuck had intended to continue composing for The Residents, having always preferred his work in the studio to touring as a performance group. However, Bobuck would ultimately retire from the band in 2016, with some of his final contributions to the group featured on their 2017 album *The Ghost of Hope*.

#### Retirement (2016-2017)

Following his retirement from The Residents, Bobuck continued to release "contraptions," which he promoted through his website Hacienda Bridge (and its fortnightly newsletter), including *What Was Left of Grandpa* (which had originally been intended as a Residents album)in 2015. Bobuck was prolific in 2016, issuing many releases, including the autobiographical novella and companion album *THIS* in 2016.

2017 saw the release of the *Meet The Residents* cover EP *Clank Clank Clank*, as well as a series of releases in collaboration with Hardy Fox and a concept album inspired by classic songs from the Summer of Love entitled Nineteen Sixty-Seven. After Hardy Fox's serialized novella The Stone in October 2017, it was revealed that Fox himself was the true identity behind Charles Bobuck and, therefore, the primary composer and arranger for The Residents from their beginning until his retirement.

Shortly after this, Fox updated his official website to state that he had decided to stop recording as Bobuck "when the pseudonym fell from a tall building head first. It will hit the sidewalk eventually and explode like boiled cabbage." Following this announcement, Fox then retired the Bobuck persona permanently, releasing a series of albums under his name before his death from brain cancer on October 30th, 2018.

A series of posthumous releases followed Fox's death, with a 2020 compilation album, *Oddities 2013-2015*, credited to *Bob Uck and the Family Truck*.

## Discography

### With Black Tar and the Cry Babies (1982-2017)

* see *Black Tar and the Cry Babies discography*

### Solo projects credited to The Residents

* *Pollex Christi* (1997)
* *High Horses* as Combo de Mecanico (2001)
* *Hades* (2009)
* *Coochie Brake* as Sonidos de la Noche (2012)
* *Mush-Room* (2013)

### Charles Bobuck contraptions

#### Albums

* *Postcards From Patmos* (2008, reissued as a Bobuck contraption in 2012)
* *Dolar Generar - Una Noche Lost En Van Horn, Texas* (2010, reissued as a Bobuck contraption in 2011)
* *Chuck's Ghost Music* (2011)
* *GOD-O: Music for a Gallery Opening* (2012)
* *Lying Horse Rock* (2012)
* *Codgers on the Moon* (2012)
* *Maxine* (2012)
* *CB Suite* (2013)
* *Life Is My Only Sunshine* (2013)
* *Radio Thoreau* (2013-2015)
* *The Highway* (2014)
* *Roman de la Rose (The Pink Romance)* (2014)
* *Missing Soldiers - The Favorite Songs of Clara Barton* (2015)
* *What Was Left of Grandpa* (2015)
* *The Swords of Slidell* (2016)
* *Bobuck Plays The Residents* (2016)
* *Nineteen-Sixty-Seven* (2017)

#### EPs and singles

* *Dog Tag* (2009, reissued as a Bobuck contraption in 2014)
* *Gosh Darn Chickens - Three Bobuck Contraptions* (2012)
* *Never Known Questions* (2014)
* *Sinking Solo* (2014)
* *Cymbals Ring (Old Vinyl)* (2014)
* *Shake It Shake It (I Wet My Bed)* (2014)
* *Walk Over* (2015)
* *Six Tiny Tunes* (2016)
* *Later Tonight* (2016)
* *Wallpaper* (2017)
* *Clank Clank Clank* (2017)

#### Compilations

* *As A Child I Sold The News, Now I Sell The Olds* (2015)
* *THIS* (2016)
* *Eggs For Breakfast (Eggsistential Thoughts Volume 1)* (2017)
* *Egg Booty (Eggsistential Thoughts Volume 2)* (2017)
* *Oddities 2013-2015* (2020) as Bob Uck and the Family Truck

## See also

* Randy Rose
* The Delta Nudes
* The Residents
* Combo de Mecanico
* Sonidos de la Noche
* Black Tar and the Cry Babies
* Hardy Fox
* Bob Uck and the Family Truck

## External links and references

* Hacienda Bridge (official website of Bobuck and Hardy Fox)
* Newsletter archive

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Bobuck Way", Musique Machine, March 5th 2017
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Charles Bobuck, *THIS Is For READERS*, 2016
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jim Knipfel, "Somethin' Devilish: The Untold (And Finally True) Pre-History of The Residents 1963-1971)"
4. ↑ *Hardy Fox, Hacienda Bridge #25, 1st October 2017*
5. ↑ Hardy Fox official website, October 2017 (via archive.org)

**Major works**
*Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor* (1970) · *The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger* (1970) · *The W\*\*\*\*\* B\*\*\* Album* (1971) · *B.S.* (1971) · *Santa Dog* (1972)
**Other recordings**
"I Hear Ya Got Religion" / "Moonman" (1969) · *1-10 (With A Touch of 11)* (1972)
**Compilation albums**
*ERA B474* (2012) · *The Delta Nudes' Greatest Hiss* (2013) · *The Residents Present The Delta Nudes* (2016) · *A Nickle If Your Dick's This Big* (2019) · *Warning: Uninc.* (2022)
**Live shows**
The Boarding House, October 18th 1971 · Philip's Wedding, October 31st 1971 · Chris' Party, February 12th 1972
**Collaborators**
Randy Rose · **Charles Bobuck** · Hardy Fox · Homer Flynn · Palmer Eiland · Roger "Bunny" Hartley · Jay Clem · John Kennedy · Roland Sheehan · Bob Tangney · Jim Whitaker · N. Senada · Philip "Snakefinger" Lithman · Peggy Honeydew (Margaret Swaton) · The Singing Lawn Chairs (Pamela Zeibak)
**Related articles**
San Mateo apartment · Hal Halverstadt · Porno Graphics · Sycamore St. studio · Ralph Records · The Residents · *Vileness Fats* · *Meet The Residents* · *The Third Reich 'n Roll* · "Satisfaction" · "Aphids In The Hall" · The Cryptic Corporation · *WB:RMX*‎‎‏‏‎