Daddy Long Loin

Kevin Kinane (aka Daddy Long Loin) spends his days playing and teaching music to kids at the Children's Psychiatric Center and working with youngsters at various schools around the city. By night, the Daddy's one-man performance comes complete with drums, harmonica, keyboard, live sampling and a bass/guitar combo instrument known as the Chapman Stick. The Frank Zappa- and Primus-inspired musician has released several albums with exclusively loin-oriented titles (such as Wrong Place, Loin Time), and his live performances, as he says, must be seen to be believed.

Tell me about the name Daddy Long Loin?

It came from when I used to play with the rock band The Withdrawals. I don't really know where it came from. It doesn't really mean anything. One paper I did an interview with never mentioned my name because they thought it was some kind of sexual thing; but your loin is just the inside of your thigh.

Where did you get the idea to perform as a one-man band?

I've been a drummer my whole life and then, gradually, I started playing harmonica and piano. I had seen the Chapman Stick several years ago and that was really what made me want to do the whole musical thing by myself. It took about six years to get really efficient and fluent and to get used to playing drums exclusively with my feet.

What's it like to make a living working with kids?

It's the greatest thing in the world. Today, for example, I was a little bit down and I thought I might be coming down with something. Then I start working with the kids [at the psychiatric hospital] and it's such a rush that I forget about being sick. Being able to do this is just absolutely phenomenal. It's a real blessing.

I don't have any empirical evidence to support this, but it seems like one-man bands tend to be heckled at a higher rate than other ensembles. Has that ever happened to you?

Yeah. It doesn't happen that often; but when it does it really hurts. I think it's a numbers game, too. A band with four guys in it are all going to back each other up. If you're drunk and you just see a skinny guy in a zoot suit, you might just think, “Yeah, I can razz this guy.”

Are there any similarities between Daddy Long Loin and Kevin Kinane?

Well, they're both dashingly handsome. I've always been a goofball and I love making people laugh. We're both trying to make people laugh and to spread some fun. I do really like to get into character, though. In fact, I'm in my zoot suit right now (laughs). Just kidding.

(Or is he?)