Several of These Tracks Are from Dr Demento, Which I Recorded Back in the 80S. There Are

Okay, this is our TENTH ANNIVERSARY for the Naweedna compilations. We decided to honor that occasion with a bonus CD … a little lagniappe, if you will. As you may know, the second year included a bonus CD as well. That was because our library increased significantly between 2001 and 2002, so we had a lot more source material. Although we have accumulated many more tracks over the intervening years, we’ve avoided multiple CDs due to the cumbersome logistics. However, this anniversary seems to warrant something a little extra. Now, what should we include in the bonus CD? After giving it considerable thought, we came to the conclusion: tracks that we love but are not likely to ever be included in a Naweedna compilation. Once the decision was made, the track list pretty much filled itself. It all fit together so well, it seemed to be fate. Hell, even ordering the tracks was drop-dead simple: alphabetical – that’s it. It all works for us; we hope it works for you too.

Several of these tracks are from Dr Demento, which I recorded back in the 80s. There are also several from Prairie Home Companion (PHC) hosted by Garrison Keillor, and there are a couple Flip Wilson monologues. I’ll put the bios for these artists here at the top.

Dr Demento

He was born Barret Hansen, being the proud owner of a master's degree in music from UCLA under that moniker, but he's far better known to millions of radio listeners as "Doctor Demento." In 1995, he celebrated his 25th anniversary of broadcasting the greatest novelty records of all time, both new and old. In that time, he's elevated the novelty record -- in all its myriad styles -- to a high trash culture art form. He's made hits out of 40-year-old records that no one had ever played, and was singularly responsible for the success of "Weird Al" Yankovic, whose song parodies debuted on his show. Hansen's journey from record collector to national personality is the journey of the radio everyman, but one also grounded in a solid knowledge of American music in all its glorious forms.

At the age of 19, Hansen first started broadcasting at Reed College in Portland, OR. He went on the air at the tiny ten-watt campus station with a half-hour weekly blues show, working his way up through the ranks to eventually become the student station manager. An early forerunner of his present-day format was exhibited on a show he hosted at the station called Music Museum. Hansen's love of music's eclectic side led him to briefly edit the Little Sandy Review. The Review had been a hardcore folk music magazine -- one of the first to write about Dylan -- but Hansen's tenure found him writing about eclectic electric rockers like Frank Zappa instead, this literary bent leading him to do record reviews for Rolling Stone as well.

In the late '60s, Hansen found himself gainfully employed by Specialty Records in Hollywood. This was in the days before Specialty had become strictly a reissue label, and Hansen's behind-the-scenes duties included compiling and annotating numerous excellent vinyl releases (among them several fine Little Richard packages and Doo Wop, one of the Doctor's areas of true musical expertise), producing and issuing the decidedly demented Edard Nelson single "Pale Blues," and almost signing an embryonic version of the J. Geils Band to the label.

Sitting in as a guest on a '50s rock & roll oldies radio show on KPPC-FM in Pasadena, CA, in 1970 was the turning point in his broadcasting career, and where his radio character truly began in earnest. When his DJ friend Steven Siegal asked him to bring in some off-the-wall rock & roll singles for the upcoming week's show, the seeds of what would soon become the Doctor Demento Show were sown. He went from on-the-air guest to his own Sunday night shift and, as he quickly noticed, "everybody liked the obscure blues and doo wop records well enough, but every time I played 'Transfusion' by Nervous Norvus, the phones lit up like crazy." Knowing a good thing when it landed in his lap, the good Doctor started experimenting with tunes from an era that was beyond the rock & roll pale. A good example of this was 1947's "Pico and Sepulveda," which would become his show's theme song. The die was cast.

After resigning from Specialty to make a quick U-Haul trip up to San Francisco for a summer's shift at KPPC's sister station, Hansen found himself back at the Pasadena affiliate just long enough to watch himself and the rest of the staff get fired. In December of 1971, Siegal had landed on his radio feet, this time at Los Angeles' KMET-FM. Doing it all one more time, Demento guested on Siegal's show and soon had his own show on the station, broadcasting once again on Sunday nights. While working at Warner Bros. Records -- putting sampler albums of new material together -- he invited his first special guest on the program, his "teenage hero," Frank Zappa. With a solid time slot, interesting guests, the Doctor's upbeat personality, and an arsenal of audio goodies, the show became a huge success in no time flat, and Hansen stayed at KMET for the next 15 years as one of the jewels in its radio crown.

In 1973, Demento found himself with a manager who had an eye for syndicating his show for a national audience. The process was a slow one, starting in March of 1974 with station in Seattle, but by year's end the list of subscribers topped over 100. It was the Doctor's constant programming of a 30-year-old obscurity -- "Shaving Cream" by Brooklyn, NY, native Benny Bell -- that caught the attention of his New York City affiliate, catapulting him to network TV appearances, national media attention, and the upshot of even more stations signing up for syndication.

In 1975, his profile was high enough that Warner Bros. issued the first collection of selections from his radio show, Dr. Demento's Delights, paving the way for other likeminded compilations on Rhino Records. Hansen has also stayed active with liner note and comp work on such diverse projects as Rhino's John Fahey and Spike Jones collections and the "Weird Al" Yankovic box set on Capitol. With a new syndication company firmly in place and the 2000 release of the Dr. Demento 30th Anniversary Collection: Dementia 2000 set, he showed no sign of slowing down in his pursuit of recorded dementia.

Garrison Keillor

A shy, introspective, persona is balanced by a sharp sense of humor, small-town wisdom and love of traditional folk and jazz by Radio Hall of Fame member Garrison Keillor. The host of the popular live radio show A Prairie Home Companion, Keillor is heard weekly on more than 400 National Public Radio stations. Keillor's books, including Lake Wobegone Days, Wobegone Boy, Happy to Be Here and We Are Still Married, have made him a regular presence on the best-selling lists of American authors. An audio version of Lake Wobegone Days was the recipient of a Grammy award in 1985.

Keillor's earliest radio experience came as a student at the University of Minnesota, where he graduated as a journalism major in 1966. Beginning in 1969, Keillor wrote for The New Yorker magazine. While researching an article on the Grand Ole Opry in 1974, Keillor conceived a live radio show featuring traditional music. While the first broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion were heard on Minnesota Public Radio, the show quickly became a national phenomenon. During the first 13 years the show was aired, it received the George Foster Peabody award, the Edward R. Murrow award, and a medal from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Although Keillor's deadpan delivery remained the show's centerpiece, A Prairie Home Companion provided regular airplay for a lengthy list of performers including Greg Brown, Jean Redpath, Bill Staines, Beausoleil, Robin & Linda Williams, Butch Thompson, Prudence Johnson and Michael Cooney. The show was broadcast on the Disney cable-TV station for everal years and received two Ace awards for television broadcast excellence.

In 1987, Keillor announced that he was ending A Prairie Home Companion. Moving to New York, he launched a similar show, The American Radio Company, two years later. Although the new show lasted four seasons, Keillor's fans wished for a return to the original program. In 1993, Keillor relented. Returning to the World Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, he resurrected A Prairie Home Companion.

In addition to his continued involvement as host of A Prairie Home Companion, Keillor hosts a poetry radio show, The Writer's Almanac, broadcast daily and is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and The Atlantic magazine.

A deep-voiced vocalist, Keillor has sung many songs on A Prairie Home Companion. Together with the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, he recorded an album of spirituals and hymns in 1992.

Flip Wilson

Cast in the mold of Bill Cosby, Flip Wilson was one of the most popular comics in the late '60s and early '70s, propelled by frequent appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and talk shows. His star rose to the top with the very successful Flip Wilson Show, which often featured the comedian in the guise of Geraldine, a hip, sassy Black woman. "The devil made me do it" became a major catchphrase at the time. His records highlight Wilson during the early years as well as when his show was popular, with Flip; the Flip Wilson Show and Geraldine; Don't Fight the Feeling, featuring actual skits and guests from the show.

The Playlist and Notes for Naweedna 2010-B(Sides)

01 Cheerio Cherry Lips - Doctor Demento

DrD

This, as you might expect, is the intro for the Dr Demento Show … with Laughing Lois.

02 Say Hallelujah - Don Imus
DrD

Can you believe this is Don Imus? I didn’t know until just a year or so ago … I think it was Bob “Music Man” Mahoney that had the revelation. We quote passages from this track frequently. I certainly hope no one finds it too offensive.

Don Imus

Don Imus is a different kind of morning radio shock jock, one who mingled with Washington insiders and politicians till a comment he made on air brought his long-running show to a close. Born and raised in California, Imus began his radio career on the West Coast in 1968, bouncing around various stations before moving to Cleveland and WGAR and then New York City and WNBC in 1971. While at WNBC he released two albums on RCA -- 1200 Hamburgers to Go and One Sacred Chicken to Go -- along with one for the Bang label -- This Honky's Nuts. In 1977 he was fired from WNBC thanks in part to his abuse of alcohol and cocaine. Two years back in Cleveland -- this time at WHK -- passed before he was hired back by WNBC. It was there that he met fellow employee Howard Stern and they began their famous rivalry. Over the years Imus would write novels, syndicate his radio show, found the charitable Imus Ranch for children with cancer, move from WNBC to WFAN, and began simulcasting his show on the MSNBC cable television network. In 2007 he made headlines when he referred the Rutgers University women's basketball team with a comment deemed racist. Imus apologized for the "idiot comment meant to be amusing" and eventually met with the Rutgers team but he was still fired, first losing his MSNBC simulcast, then his radio show.

03 1987 Metric Calendar - Garrison Keillor
PHC

One of the many fake ads Garrison writes for his PHC show.

04 A Cowboy Needs A Horse - The Rhino Brothers

DrD

I still remember the first time I heard this. It brings back vivid memories of those wild Kilbury times. The original tune seems to have come from a 1956 Disney cartoon. However, the Rhino Brothers have changed the words significantly – we think for the better.

05 Baby Blues - Fred Newman
PHC

We didn’t have kids ourselves, but I’ll bet many of you can identify with this track.

Fred Newman

Once a freckled-faced, snaggled-toothed kid making sounds behind teachers backs, Fred grew up at the foot of storytellers in small town Georgia. He eventually grew up and ventured overseas, working for awhile as a street busker, blacksmith and then carpet salesman. He tried to go legit, graduating Harvard Business School and working with Newsweek magazine, and was first heard on A Prairie Home Companion as a guest in 1980 as author of his first version of MOUTHSOUNDS.

He went on to work as an actor, a writer, and a fairly inept puppeteer with Jim Henson, hosting many shows for Nickelodeon and Disney (including the New Mickey Mouse Club) He created voices, music, and sound effects for the long-running Nickelodeon and Disney cartoon series "DOUG" and went on to win Aces, Emmys, Peabodys, Clios, blah, blah...

Fred is the touring SFX-guy for A Prairie Home, and can be seen daily on public television's reading show "Between the Lions”.

His brand new book and CD/CD-ROM of MouthSounds has just been published.

He lives in New York and Connecticut with his wife and two children, a cat, and two surly parakeets. They are all loud.

06 Bad Jokes - John C Reilly Woody Harrelson

PHC Movie (06)

Supersex … "I'll take the soup." "What do we do with the useless boob?" The toilet brush? "Oh, it works pretty good. But I prefer toilet paper" … We still banter these one-liners back and forth on a regular basis.

Lyrics

A Prairie Home Companion Movie Soundtrack Lyrics

Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly – Bad Jokes

The blind man's seein' eye dog

Pissed on the blind man's shoe

The blinds man said, "Here, Rover

Here's a piece of beef for you"

His wife said, "Don't reward him

You can't just let that pass"

The blind man said

"I gotta find his mouth

So I can kick him in the ass"

Bad jokes

Lord, I love 'em

Bad jokes

Can't get enough of 'em

Ooowhee

Bad jokes for me