Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Florian Monday and his Mondos


Florian Monday & Band were from Woonsocket, Rhode Island. This is their first record on Realm. The follow-up was "Rip It, Rip It Up", known to the real music lovers all around the world.

According to a Billboard snippet from 1964,
Boom Boom Branigan, WPTR (Albany), was so impressed with the Realm recording swingers, Florian Monday and the Mondos, after catching them at a record hop at Saratoga Springs, he booked the group for a week at Albany’s University Swing Club owned by a friend of his. « They’ll rock the place », he assured his friend. An dwell they might have if they could have gotten in. Seems all but Florian were under 18 years of age. [Billboard, August 22, 1964]



A deserved recognition
Florian Monday memorial located in plaza in front of former courthouse in Woonsocket.
The sculpture is entitled "The Hiker"

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UPDATE (March 9, 2012) : A brand new blog, Rip It Up R.I., A discography of rock and roll vinyl records from the state of Rhode Island in the 1960s, has a detailed story of Florian Monday and His Mondos. Check it out !


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8 comments:

  1. florian monday or al as I knew him sold used cars at Framingham auto city for A number of years. He is A very cool guy and I beleive he is well and liveing in bellingham mass. He once told me that the great Duke Roblard of providence R.I. was his second string guitarist.he played with florian when he was just 15 years old this was confirmed by Duke

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  2. i played at saratoga springs with florian. (driving guitar) background

    hope he's doing well ... roland b

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  3. yes he did sell used cars in framingham and he goes by "Al". A very dishonest person!!!! Makes many promises to you, says that he is very "rich" but he takes you for everything you have.Also says he has connections with the Gardner Museum Art Theft??????? Anyone know where he is??? He owes me ALOT of money!!!!!

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  4. he lives in Bellingham Ma. & spent time in jail for the Art Heist he must be 70 by now

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  5. WOULD ANYONE KNOW HOW I COULD REACH FLORIAN TO INTERVIEW HIM ABOUT THE MONDOS?? THANKS

    JACK RIVERS WWW.WNRI.COM

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  6. I'm from Woonsocket, but just recently heard 'Mondo Mondo” for the first time! Wild, wild stuff (+early Duke Robillard, too tho he joined the band after this recording).“Mondo Mondo” is STILL getting airplay. The original (scratchy) 45 was played Feb 4, 2014 at 10:30pm on WHRB 95.3FM Cambridge MA by Dinos on his show Our Little Rendez-vous (Two hours of looking in the universe for rock'n'roll from all dimensions, every Tuesday from ten to midnight) & he mentioned the Woonsocket connection (as it's on the record's label). Link to that playlist on Spinitron: http://spinitron.com/radio/playlist.php?station=whrb&month=Feb&year=2014&playlist=15395
    Luckily as a fan of the show, I tape recorded it. The New England Teen Scene and Teenage Shutdown compilation series mentioned above are just the kind of things Dinos features on his show. His theme song (Simla Beat Theme by the Fentones) is super-catchy. Check him out. If 95.3FM is too close to WBRU at 95.5, WHRB does stream live at www.whrb.org

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  7. I googled the image of the "monument" pictured above .. It is a Spanish American was monuments built in the early 1900's. Not a monument to Florian Monday.

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  8. Funny, he conned people on the statue, too ??

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