Womach Burns Out

And so this fucked up 2014 has come to an end.

And so, has Mr. Womach, a favorite among macabre record collectors.

You know these fucking idiots. They are the "it's so bad it's good" crowd. They are the hipsters, nerds and fags who chortle and shriek with delight at paying $50 for "outsider" albums of shitty lounge music, or "Chipmunks sing Punk" or "Ethel Merman sings Disco."

In one of the oh-so-cool "Incredibly Strange Music" books, a chapter was devoted to laughing about a funeral director who crashed his plane, had his face pretty much "toasted like a marshmallow" but lived to praise God and issue optimistic religious music with ironic titles. Like: HAPPY AGAIN.

Ha ha ha.

Look at that face. Look at that guy praising God for nearly killing him, for disfiguring him, and for letting him keep living so he can produce albums of funeral music!

Yes, it's all pretty odd, I'll grant you.

For some 40 years, Womach owned a company supplying custom-made music to funeral homes. That, in itself, shows the Lord moves in mysterious ways. Don't most undertakers simply play whatever the fuck a grieving family asks for, even if it Sinatra singing "That's Life?" Don't they have plenty of church singers very willing and able (for a fee) to sing a few hymns?

Anyway...Womach ran this business, and on the side, produced many albums for Christian record labels. Somehow either he stayed away from the talk shows or vice versa. A burn victim ain't appetizing, so the same Heartland in America that gave the world "The Lawrence Welk Show" and Anita Bryant wasn't about to go THAT FAR, and put this guy on TV. THIS is an example of God's wondrous ways? Ewww.

His story was made into a short documentary which, of course, is on YouTube. My guess is that it was intended to be given away to schools and churches, or perhaps shown on a religious TV network. Whatever, it's probably the only example of Womach being interviewed. There's also a book he and his wife wrote.

Every now and then I'd type in his name to see if somebody had done an interview or picked up on the story, or if he was still alive. And the news is that the Lord decided to spare him a "Happy New Year" celebration. He was 87.

He may have been one of the few to believe the 21s Century isn't shit. Then again, he also thought Thanksgiving, 1961 was a great day because that was the day of his near-fatal accident that sparked his face and the Joy of Living.