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is nationally renowned for his weekly two-hour radio festival of mad music and crazy comedy heard on radio stations coast to coast. It's a free-wheeling unpredictable mix of music and comedy. The Doctor plays new funny songs sent in by amateur and professional singers and comedians. |
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Here's what's on the latest Dr. Demento Show:
Show date: May 19, 2012 Click here to listen.
RANDOM 1220: Random choice rules again on this week's show. "Uncle Jack Sez Relax" pops up, along with "Heaven Is for Presbyterians," and the saddest song I've ever played (it reportedly inspired suicides in Hungary). Rated PG-13 for one S-word and the usual fun and innuendo. |
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What's coming up next?
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*NEW* Dr. Demento's Blog *NEW*
2012-05-16 09:21:09
From: Dr. Demento
My Name's On Jeopardy, baby
I'm told there will be a clue about me on tonight's Jeopardy (Wednesday, May 16).
Replies: 6
Last Reply: 2012-05-21 08:04:55
2012-04-30 13:26:31
From: Dr. Demento
Dr. Demento Meets the Beach Boys
New to the streaming shows at www.drdemento.com is an unreleased hour-long interview with the Beach Boys, which I conducted in July 1973 while working for Warner Bros. Records (my day job for most of the 1970s). This was a few months after the release of the Beach Boys' "Holland" album.
This is not a comedy program. Instead I'm in my earlier persona as a rock 'n roll historian and commentator, which is how I was known before the Dr. Demento Show really took off (which was just about to happen at the time of this interview; the show went national eleven months later).
In the 1970s, Warner Bros. periodically produced hour-long radio specials, each one presenting a conversation with a Warner Bros. artist and tracks from their albums. This was intended to be part of that series. (Many of them were pressed up on LP's with red labels, which sometimes show up on eBay). For reasons unknown, this one was never released. A tape copy of the interview has survived, however, along with notes showing which songs were to be inserted and where.
Our official historian/archivist Jeff Morris has reconstructed the program, and we're happy to make it available for the first time anywhere.
The interview features Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, and Ricky Fataar. (Fataar was only with the group for a short time, so this is a rare opportunity to hear him).
The Beach Boys discuss the origins of the group, "Pet Sounds" and their other great albums, and the unresolved status of Brian Wilson, who had ceased performing with the group but was still considered a member. They talk about their decision to relocate back to the USA after "Holland," the new studios they were building, the live album they were working on (which would be released at the end of the year,) and their individual projects. Mike Love describes a song he was working on, quoting some of the lyrics (as it turned out the song was never released). There's also a discussion of the "Smile" album in which the group categorically denies the story, widely believed at the time, that Brian Wilson had destroyed the master tapes. That would undoubtedly have made some news if the interview had been broadcast in 1973.
After the hour-long finished program, you can hear some more very interesting conversation that was trimmed from the original interview due to time limitations. The Beach Boys discuss artists they've worked with. Among them are Daryl Dragon and Toni (Shears) Tennille, who would become well known a couple of years later as The Captain and Tennille. Also discussed are such things as the making of the Beach Boys Party album, the group's work with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and advanced stereophonic recording techniques.
Replies: 1
Last Reply: 2012-04-30 18:13:19
2012-04-18 21:48:42
From: Dr. Demento
R.I.P. Dick Clark
R.I.P. Dick Clark
The world's oldest teenager is dead, and we're all a little older.
Like a couple million other 1950s teenagers, I'd rush home from school to tune in "American Bandstand," the TV show where Clark would spin current hit records (sometimes lip-sync'd by the artists) and Philadelphia teenagers would show off their dance moves on screen.
In my bedroom I had a TV. Kind of unusual in those days…only rich families had more than one TV. Mine was a late 1940s model, salvaged from a neighbor's garage. It had a round screen, about 7" in diameter. It'd probably be worth some bucks today. But I never watched those Bandstand dancers. I couldn't – the picture tube on that ancient TV was blown when I got it. However, the sound worked fine, and I soon realized that when I taped the hits off Bandstand on my Ekotape reel-to-reel, the tapes came out better than the ones from our local AM stations. (FM stations never played Top 40 hits in those days).
In the fall of 1957 I began spinning records for the sock hops at my high school, held in the gym on Friday nights after football or basketball games. I'd augment my record collection with songs I'd taped off the radio, and American Bandstand. One Thursday afternoon, I heard Dick Clark say that on the next afternoon's show he'd have a new single by Elvis Presley. With a sock hop scheduled for that evening, I made extra sure to be home for Bandstand the next day, and had the Ekotape running when the show started. Sure enough, Dick played that new single, which turned out to be "Jailhouse Rock."
I headed back to school, connected my Ekotape to the gym's P.A. system, and waited impatiently for the football game to end. About a half hour after the students arrived at the gym, the time seemed just right, and I cued up my precious tape. The opening chords rang out, and when Elvis began to sing, every girl in the gym screamed (probably some of the guys too). EEEEELLLLLL-VIIIIIIS!!!
That moment gave me an amazing feeling of power…a transcendent moment for a kid who'd always been something of a wallflower in school. Right then and there I felt it might be real rewarding to be a disc jockey. It was quite a while before that actually came to pass, but every now and then I look to the sky and thank Elvis – and now Dick Clark – for that moment.
Replies: 3
Last Reply: 2012-04-30 18:17:40
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