Volume 3, Issue 1 - Fall/Winter 1989

The Demento Society News

Have A Happy Demented Holidays...
With The New Dr. Demento Christmas Collection

Christmas is an especially special time in the Land of Dementia. There's more mad music and crazy comedy about Christmas than any other subject I know of...and we've put the very best of it on our Dr. Demento Christmas cassette and record (DR. DEMENTO PRESENTS THE GREATEST NOVELTY RECORDS OF ALL TIME: CHRISTMAS) and our brand new Christmas compact disc (DR. DEMENTO PRESENTS THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS NOVELTY CD OF ALL TIME). Released on Rhino Records, these are all available at better record stores everywhere, or through the Demento Society.

Included on all three formats (cassettes, records, CD's) are such treasures as Spike Jones' All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," Stan Freberg's "Green Chri$tma$," Yogi Yorgesson's "I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas," Tom Lehrer's "Christmas Carol" (Don't stand underneath when they fly by!"), Allan Sherman's "Twelve Gifts of Christmas" ("... and a Japanese transistor radio"), Cheech & Chong's "Santa Claus and His Old Lady" and Gayla Peevey's irresistible "I Want a Hippotamus For Christmas."

The new compact disc also has the original "Chipmunk Song" by the Chipmunks with David Seville, "Jingle Bells" by the original Singing Dogs "The Twelve Days of Christmas" by Bob & Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, from SCTV's Great White North), "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus" by Kip Addotta, "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Christmas At Ground Zero," and one track that we're especially proud to have included -- "Christmas Dragnet" by Stan Freberg and Daws Butler, unavailable for over thirty years until now. This classic gives a whole new meaning to the legend of Santa Claus (not to mention green onions!)

To order "THE GREATEST NOVELTY RECORDS OF ALL TIME: CHRISTMAS", or the brand new "GREATEST CHRISTMAS NOVELTY CD OF ALL TIME" through the Demento Society at special member prices, see the merchandise section of this newsletter.


WE'VE BEEN AWAY...

Just when you thought you'd never see us again, the DEMENTO SOCIETY NEWS is back!

We sincerely apologize for our (nearly) two-year hibernation. We think we've solved the computer problem and other bugaboos that have kept us out of circulation. We've got some experienced and dedicated people helping us now, and we're looking forward to staying in closer touch with dementites and dementoids everywhere.

With our brand new 1- 900 - BANANAS hotline up and running, a new Dr. D Christmas compact disc available, and Dr. Demento's 20th anniversary coming up in 1990, there's a lot of excitement in the Land of Dementia. With this and future newsletters we hope to share that excitement with you for a long time to come.

Thanks for your patience and loyalty.


Dr. Demento's Diary
By Dr. Demento

Wind up your eyes, dementites and dementoids! It's been a while since I've had a chance to update this journal, so there's lots of Demented Doings to catch up with. Aside from having some fascinating guests on my radio show, I've made some guest appearances myself, on the small screen and the big screen.

People have been asking me for years when I was going to be on MTV. It finally happened on April Fool's Day, 1988. I was the host for a special two-hour Demented edition of MTV's countdown show. I arrived at MTV's Manhattan studios for the taping on March 30th, to find that they'd converted one of their sound stages into a real Den of Dementia, with dozens of old radios, hundreds of old records, and priceless props of every description.

We picked two hours' worth of demented videos from MTV's vaults and my own. Among the artists included: Devo, Camper Van Beethoven Spike Jones, Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper, and of course "Weird Al" Yankovic. An all-time favorite--"Fish Heads" by Barnes & Barnes--was Number one on the countdown.

It was such fun that we did it again for April Fool's in 1989, with some of the same favorites plus some great new ones: D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Randee of the Redwoods, etc. This time Weird Al's "Fat" was number one.

[Dr. Demento gets set for a mouth-load of
whipped cream in "UHF." L to R: Dr. D, "Weird Al",
Michael Richards.] Speaking of Al, I have him to thank for my feature film debut. My part in UHF was the briefest of cameos, but quite an experience nonetheless. As you may know, the move has to do with Al's adventures as the owner of a TV station; you can imagine what goes out over that channel. My part called for me to have whipped cream squirted into my face by Stanley Spadowski, the station's most famous personality, played by Michael Richards of Fridays fame. Most of the film was shot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a vacant department store was converted into a fully-equipped soundstage. Being part of the process gave me a new respect for Al's many talents, and new appreciation of the incredibly complex and intricate things that go on behind the scenes while moves are being made (not to mention what happens before and after the actual shooting).

UHF will be out on video early next year. If you haven't seen it, I can just about guarantee that you'll love it--but don't blink your eyes too long or you'll miss me!

Al also visited the radio show several times, to talk about UHF and also about his new albums (see New Demented Discs).

In 1988 I interviewed two great entertainers I've wanted to have on the show for years.

[Monty Python Alumnus John Cleese drops
in on the Dr. Demento Show.] JOHN CLEESE visited us in midsummer. We talked about his days with Monty Python, his hilarious and oft-rerun BBC-TV series Fawlty Towers, and most of all his feature film A Fish Called Wanda. Just released at the time of the interview, Wanda went on to become one of the major comedy hits of 1988.

[The one and only Tiny Tim pays a visit to
to Dr. Demento] As one might expect, Cleese was one of the most entertaining guests we've ever had. The November show with TINY TIM was great fun as well. Tim still sings "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips With Me" and those other old songs marvelously. He knows thousands of them, with a special fondness for songs from around 1900.

He also knows all about the people who wrote and originally recorded them. We could have gone on for hours. He did bring along a new song as well, "I Saw Mr. Presley Tiptoeing Thru the Tulips." (Every man is "Mister" to Tiny Tim).

Others who performed live in the studio for our demented microphones included THE BOBS, doing some of their innovative a cappella (unaccompanied) harmony songs that have made them quite famous in recent years. Most of their songs have at least a touch of humor in the lyrics, and some are downright hilarious. They're funny people, too.

[Nashville yukmeisters Pinkard and
Bowden bring their own brand of Country Comedy to the Dr's
studios.] Nashville's PINKARD & BOWDEN are the best country comedy duo since Homer & Jethro. In June 1988 they came by to sing some of their latest, and tell droll stories about the fascinating intrigues of the music business.

Then there are the amazing DEL RUBIO TRIPLETS. Yes, Millie, Elena and Eadie are really triplets, and they've been performing together for close to thirty years.

[Dr. Demento with the amazing and
improbable Del Rubio Triplets] Their versions of "Walk Like an Egyptian" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" have to be heard to be believed.

Visiting performers in 1989 included THE ORIGINAL ARTISTS, an impromptu duo consisting of Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller whose film Penn & Teller Get Killed opened recently) and his longtime part-time musical colleague Steven Banks (who recently had his own special on Showtime cable TV). Their songs share a lusty, rootsy rock 'n' roll musical style, while their lyrics run to the darkest shades of black humor. BRYAN BOWERS also came by to sing his longtime Demented favorite "The Scotsman" and other humorous songs in a traditional vein, accompanying himself on the autoharp.

[Stan Freberg presents the Good Doctor with
his book, "It Only Hurts When I Laugh."] One of the true titans of humor, STAN FREBERG paid us a return visit in March. He brought along his newly published autobiography, It Only Hurts When I Laugh. It's all in the book--his early ventures in show biz, the legendary early TV puppet show Beany & Cecil, his equally legendary 1957 CBS network radio shows, "St. George & the Dragonet" and his other hit records, his struggle to get "Green Chri$tma$" released, and his many triumphs in the ad business to which he's devoted most of his time since the late 1950's. And he answers the question he's asked most often: Why did he never finish his epic/comic recorded history of The United States of America? (The answer takes more than 50 pages, but you won't want to put it down once you get into it).

Our most recent guest (at this writing): IAN WHITCOMB, who knows about as many old songs as Tiny Tim does, and was a rock 'n' roll idol in the 1960s besides. Ian talked about the latest of his many fine books, Irving Berlin and Ragtime America.

A couple of adventures took me far away from the smogberry trees, first to my hometown of Minneapolis, where I visited my mother and the rest of the family and also did an interview with the talented lad who answers to the name KRYPTON. The interview was recorded for posterity on the same equipment used to create Krypton's Funny Five favorites "Let's Blow Up the Tow Truck" and "Hangover." Then I journeyed to Montreal, Quebec for the JUST FOR LAUGHS comedy festival.

Begun just a few years ago as a single evening of French-language comedy, the festival now offers five nights each of French-and English-language entertainment, with two major standup comedy programs each evening plus films, radio and TV specials, and a street fair featuring a huge array of local entertainers. There were literally hundreds of comedians, and seemingly thousands of agents and TV production people, no doubt looking for the next Big Thing. HBO taped a special there for November airing, and I had the pleasure of interviewing most of the participants (Bobcat Goldthwait, Julie Brown, Robert Klein) and dozens of other talented people including the festival's guest of honor, Phyllis Diller on my show (We'll be featuring more of these interviews/in the near future).

A couple more milestones: my producer Robert Young and his wife Debbie have a new son, Alexander, to go with daughter Julianna,..and my wife Sue and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. Our heartiest holiday wishes to you all; see you again soon!


ANNOUNCING

OUR NEW
DEMENTED HOTLINE

DEMENTIA IS NOW AS CLOSE
AS YOUR TELEPHONE!

We've found a new way for you to get demented all week long--any time of the day or night! 1 - 900 - 773-7333 is our new request line...and so much more. When you dial our new demented hotline from a touch-tone phone, you'll also be able to...

Remember that number... 1 - 900 - 773-7333
Your direct connection to the Land of Dementia.

A charge of $1.25 for the first minute, and $.75 for each additional minute will appear on your phone bill. There are no other tolls or charges of any kind.

SPECIAL NOTE TO DR DEMENTO SHOW LISTENERS: Due to some unforseen, technical, demented glitches 1-900-BANANAS - the number you may have previously heard on the Doctor s show - has been changed to our new number 1-900-773-7333.


DR. DEMENTO GOES DIGITAL

One of the big events of the past year in the Land of Dementia was the release of the first Dr. Demento compact disc, DR. DEMENTO PRESENTS THE GREATEST NOVELTY CD OF ALL TIME, on Rhino Records.

Here are nineteen of the most-requested Demented Hits of all time, in crystal-clear digital sound, most of them digitally remastered from the original, first-generation master tapes.

"Fish Heads" is here, and "Dead Puppies," "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun," "Wet Dream," "They're Coming To Take Me Away, HaHaaa!," "Junkfood Junkie," "Pencil Neck Geek" and "The Purple People Eater."

Not to mention Spike Jones' original "Cocktails For Two," Lonnie Donegan's "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour On the Bedpost Over Night," Nervous Norvus's "Transfusion," Steve Martin's "King Tut," "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Eat It," Bobby (Boris) Pickett's "Monster Mash," Allan Sherman's "Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh" (the Camp Granada song) and Cheech & Chong's "Earache My Eye" (the complete version).

We'd like to especially point out two cuts that are not included in the Doctor's six-record DR. DEMENTO PRESENTS collection...in fact they're available nowhere else in the U.S.A! One is "Star Trekkin'" by the Firm, the #1 hit from England that became a huge Funny Five Favorite on the Dr. Demento Show. The other is Tom Lehrer's "Poisoning Pigeons In the Park"--the rare orchestral version, previously released only on an impossible-to-find 45. Rhino Records' ace tape detective, Bill Inglot, located the master tape in London and the sound is fantastic! That goes for the whole CD, actually. Even if you already have most of these songs on records or tapes, hearing them on CD is almost like hearing them for the first time!


Collector's Corner

This column has always been mainly about records, black vinyl discs and their shellac predecessors. We'll return to those in future installments, but this time I'd like to offer some observations on the means by which the majority of Americans today get their recorded music: cassettes.

It's hard for many people today to imagine a world without cassettes, but they've only been on the market for a little over twenty years. They've changed a lot in those two decades plus. Whereas 1969 cassettes jammed frequently and never sounded very good, 1989 cassettes are much more reliable, and their sound is totally satisfactory for most listeners. True, a high-quality vinyl disc, meticulously cared for (see our last column) and played on well-maintained equipment, is still the best non-digital sound you can get, but the cassette's greater convenience has led it to outsell LPs by better than 5-to-1.

Nearly everything that's available on LP today is also available on cassette, and an increasing number of recordings (especially those on very small independent labels) are now coming out on cassette only. Many listeners (younger ones especially) now have large collections of cassettes but not one vinyl disc to their name.

I'm often asked -- are cassettes ever going to become valuable collectibles, as certain vinyl discs are? My answer would be a qualified yes. Many cassettes have already gone out of print and become unavailable...and among the thousands of independently produced cassettes that appear each year, often in very small quantities (such as those that are made up by a performing artist and sold only at his live performances) are there clearly going to be some containing music that people are going to want to hear five or ten or twenty years from now...and some people are going to be willing to pay dearly for the privilege of hearing it, and for owning a rare souvenir of, perhaps, the very early career of someone who became a superstar.

My "qualifications" are twofold. First, cassettes are/much easier to duplicate than records are. A tape copy of a tape, if it's well made, is as enjoyable for most people as the original, so there's less of a premium on having the original. Second, and I may be a little biased here, a cassette just isn't as desirable an artifact as a record is. Records are bigger, so their packaging with its artwork looks better; that even goes for the labels. With records you can have more confidence that you own the real thing, not a duplicate or a counterfeit.

Despite my reservations, though, cassettes are clearly here to stay, at least until digital audiotape gets a whole lot cheaper and more readily available. So, if I may, I'll prescribe a few tips on making sure your own collection is here to stay.

Cassettes are much easier to care for than records are, which is one of the main reasons they're so popular. There is a limit to the amount of abuse they can take, though.don't leave them in the hot sun, or in the sand at the beach, and don't touch the tape inside with dirty fingers. That's just common sense, but there are some other things to watch out for as well. It's generally a good idea to keep them in their plastic boxes when not in use. True, they will still play if you don't do this, much better than records will if you leave them around uncovered, but they'll eventually develop "dropouts," little interruptions in the sound that take away its clarity and presence. One way to minimize this, if you're going to be keeping your tapes without their boxes, make sure they're wound all the way to one end or the other when you're through using them. Also -- never let tapes get within a foot or two of anything magnetic, like those things you stick on your refrigerator. This may erase the tape or part of it.

Tape players also need some looking after. The tape heads -- small shiny things that pick up the magnetic signal off the tapes -- need cleaning every so often, after ten hours of use or whenever tapes start sounding muddy and lose their brightness. Cleaning kits consisting of a special cassette and a bottle of cleaning fluid are available at most record/tape shops. With most home decks you can do an even better job yourself with a cotton swab and the appropriate cleaning fluid (rubbing alcohol will do in a pinch)...though you might want to get someone who knows how to show you, as I haven't quite got the space for a full explanation.

If you're really looking for optimum performance, tape decks should be demagnetized now and then. Various devices for doing this are available, including one that looks like a regular cassette but has a bunch of transistors inside it.

Tape heads can get knocked out of position. Even a slight misalignment can affect sound quality. (That's the main reason cassettes are rarely used in radio, except by news reporters in the field, and crazy people like me). Fixing this is usually a job for a repairman.

Finally, despite the improvement in cassette quality, they can still get jammed up and break... or you may forget and leave one in the sun until the plastic housing is warped and it won't fit in the player anymore. All is not lost! Repair kits are available at many stores, though the process does take quite a bit of patience and manual dexterity. You are, I must admit, considerably better off with a broken tape than you are with a broken record!


New Demented Discs

One of the main things I like to do in these newsletters is to alert people to some of the new Demented records, tapes and compact discs that have become available.

Keep in mind that you may not find these in every store. Most of the chain stores you find in malls these days carry only a handful of comedy records. However, any sizable city should have at least one store that makes an effort to stock a large selection of recordings for more adventurous listeners. These can often be identified from their listings in the Yellow Pages under Records. (Yes, it's still Records, at least around here; one of these days I imagine they'll change the heading to Tapes or Compact Discs).

One artist you will find in practically every store is "WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC. Al has had no fewer than four albums released since our last newsletter, including his best-seller yet, Even Worse (on the Rock 'n' Roll label) featuring "Fat" and "Lasagna." You'll also find "Fat" along with "Eat It," "Ricky," "Like a Surgeon," "One More Minute" and five more on "Weird Al" Yankovic's Greatest Hits (Rock 'n' Roll). Al's latest release is UHF: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack And Other Stuff (Rock 'n' Roll). The "other stuff" that fills well over half the album includes some of Al's best work ever: "Isle Thing," "Spam," "She Drives Like Crazy," "The Hot Rocks Polka" (a polka medley of Rolling Stones hits) and my personal favorite, "The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota."

The fourth Weird Al release is quite a departure for him: Peter and the Wolf/Carnival of the Animals (CBS-FM), a collaboration with the famous synthesizer artist WENDY CARLOS. Al and Wendy do Prokofieff's timeless Peter with a gently satiric twist. I'm especially partial to the Carnival, which is not the Saint-Saens classic by that title but a new piece in similar form, with exciting synth inventions by Wendy and funny little poems by Al. (Check the Classical or Children's sections of larger record stores for this one).

Another album I very heartily recommend is WORSE THAN SLIME NO. 1, a compilation on Beat Brothers Records. Of course I'm a bit prejudiced: my own "Astrology Rap" (with Barnes Barnes) is included, along with a lovely doo-wop number called "Dr, D" sung by The Utensils (the latter on the CD only). There are two recent Funny Five favorites, "2 Hot 4 U Part 2" by Barry & the Bookbinders and "Touch Yourself" by Barnes & Barnes, plus " Buttkickers From Outer Space" by The Utensils, "Anchovy Pizza" by The Downloaders, and "Teenage Romance" by Stuart Paul to name but a few highlights. There's a New Orleans-style R&B tune spotlighting "Musical Mike" Kieffer's "Hand Music" (as often heard on Weird Al's records) and the original "I Get Weird" by John Christensen, first heard on the now-out-of-print _Demento's Mementos_ album. Oh yes, "Wild Man" Fischer is in there too. Great comic book art on the cover. This album isn't in many stores yet, but you can get it by mail ($12.99 for the CD, $9.99 for the LP, plus $1.50 postage/handling...no tape available yet) from Beat Bros. Records, 4067 Hardwick St., #279, Lakewood, CA 90712).

As you may well have noticed, a lot of great music from the pre-compact disc era is now showing up on CD. In addition to new editions of older albums in more or less their original form, there are plenty of exciting new compilations of classic cuts. In the former category, you can now get lots of long- unavailable vintage FRANK ZAPPA on CD, including all of the early Mothers of Invention albums, courtesy of the Rykodisc label.

Warner Bros. has brought back STEVE MARTIN's A Wild and Crazy Guy. Special applause goes to Capitol for its new CD edition of STAN FREBERG's The United States Of America which includes previously unheard segments which there wasn't room for on the 1961 LP. (We're told that Capitol will soon release a Freberg greatest-hits CD as well).

Turning to new compilations, Virgin Records has gladdened the hearts of comedophiles everywhere with The Final Ripoff by MONTY PYTHON, available all three ways (CD, LP, tape). It's a double-length album lovingly selected from Python's finest hours -- "Spam," "Argument Clinic," "Lumberjack Song," "Eric the Half a Bee," "Sit On My Face," "I Bet You They Won't Play This Song On the Radio," "Bruces"...50 cuts in all. It's not quite all of the best -- their later film songs are missing, as are early items like "Pet Shop" which belong to a different record company -- but most of the Greatest Hits are here, in their best versions, with terrific sound quality especially on CD.

There are now four SPIKE JONES CD's available! The Wacky World Of Spike Jones (Pair) brings together the original RCA recordings of 16 of Spike's biggest hits. It's not quite as nice a package as it might have been; there are no liner notes (not even identification of the vocalists) and the remastering loses a bit of the clarity and brilliance of the originals, but until a better edition of this material comes along I'd call it essential to any truly Demented CD library.

Spike Jones Is Murdering The Classics (RCA) has 12 of Spike's "musical depreciations" of the old masters, again using original RCA recordings. Unfortunately, eight of the twelve are duplicated on Wacky World, but the other four just may be worth the midline price of this CD, which has decent if not quite perfect sound (far better than the atrocious phony stereo on the original 1971 LP edition of this compilation).

Spike's two mid-1950s albums for the Verve label have both been brought back on Rhino CD's. Dinner Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry was, cut for cut, the best album he did after he left RCA. Spike Jones Presents A Christmas Spectacular - is mostly straight, old-fashioned holiday fare; your grandparents should love it. Terrific pure mono sound on both of these.

Speaking of Rhino, at least two more of their numerous recent CD releases are highly essential to the truly Demented CD collector. My Son, The Greatest: The Best of ALLAN SHERMAN has 19 titles drawn from the two existing Rhino LP's of the man Weird Al has cited as his greatest comic inspiration. My Album Title of the Year award goes to Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers, a generous sampling of Mad Music And Crazy Comedy from their 1960's Mercury albums. While the sound on those old LP's was often shabby even by 1960's standards, the sound on this new compilation is worth buying a CD player just to hear.

Rhino's horn of plenty is overflowing this Christmas. Along with the new Dr. D CD (see separate story) Rhino offers Hipster's Holiday (including a few gems mined from the Demento Archives) and the highly unconventional Bummed Out Christmas (including "Somebody Stole My Santa Claus Suit" and "Santa Came Home Drunk." In addition, two new volumes of Rhino's low-priced Billboard oldies series bring together history's hugest holiday hits, all the way from "White Christmas" to "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer."

Two more Rhino compilations of note are Baseball's Greatest Hits, with a superb newly-rediscovered 1947 live recording of Abbott & Costello's "Who's On First" and (on the CD) 21 other delights, ancient and modern, humorous and serious...and Golden Voices, an anthology of favorite rock songs performed by famous actors not generally known for their singing (with good reason!) The William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy cuts are themselves worth the price of the album.

Moving on to other labels...fans of Prof. Peter Schickele and his historical/hysterical alter ego P.D.Q. BACH can relish his all-new CD release, 1712 Overture (Telarc) and what we hope will be the first of several CD compilations of his earlier work, The Wurst of P.D.Q. Bach (Vanguard).

1989 marks RAY STEVENS' thirtieth year of nearly continuous musical merriment...and he's hardly had to change a thing since "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon" in 1960. Since our last newsletter Ray's added two MCA albums to his list, I Never Made a Record I Didn't Like and Beside Myself. The latter is actually only half Demented, but it does include "I Saw Elvis In a U.F.O.," and among the serious songs is a rather nice tribute to John Wayne.

Those listeners who relished the dark humor of Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) when he visited the show with Steven Banks recently will appreciate Penn's contributions to NEVER MIND THE SEX PISTOLS, HERE'S BONGOS, BASS AND BOB (50,000,000,000,000,000,000,003 Watts Records, 5721 S.E. Laguna Ave., Stuart, FL 34997-7828).

The past year has seen a mini-revival of standup comedy on record (and tape and CD). While the foul mouthings of Andrew Dice Clay and Sam Kinison have gotten the most attention, those who like more wit and less bile (though not necessarily fewer four-letter words) should enjoy BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT's Meat Bob (Chrysalis). The Off-White Album by DENNIS MILLER (Warner Bros.) has snide put-downs of almost everything from the Saturday Night Live star; twenty years from now this will make a terrific Eighties period piece. Older comic formulae serve GEORGE CARLIN very well one more time on What Am I Doing In New Jersey? (Eardrum) which has another whole side about cars and driving to go with the one on Carlin On Campus (1984).

In the fall of 1988, a new label called Blue Rose Records made its debut, with much ballyhoo about how it would be devoted entirely to comedy. To date, no further albums have appeared aside from the two released originally, but one of these is well worth searching out: the compilation Women Of The Night, featuring Diane Ford, Paula Poundstone and Cathy Ladman.

On now to a few cassette-only releases. Fans of Ray Stevens novelty songs should enjoy several tracks on FARQUAHR Country, including "Cloud Nine Motel" (McGowan Bros., PO Box 252,243 N. Main St., Branford, CT 06405). Fans of porn star HYAPATIA LEE will relish her PG-rated musical tape The Two Sides of Hyapatia Lee, including "Rub-A-Dub-Dub" and "Telephone Man" (PO Box 1924, Indianapolis, IN 46206).

Singer-pianist DALE GONYEA is by turns witty and sentimental on Songs My Neighbor Knows By Heart (Gonyea With The Wind Productions, PO Box 27143, Los Angeles, CA 90027). Titles include "Frazzled," "My Least Favorite Things," and his best-known composition "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow," a hit for Ray Stevens a few years ago.

A tape entitled Enlightening Strikes, featuring the recent Funny Five favorite "G.U.R.U. Rap" by SWAMI BEYONDANANDA, can be had from GNV Distributors, P.O. Box 1035, Gainesville, FL 32602.

To my considerable chagrin, my beloved 7" 45's are being rapidly replaced by cassette singles. THE WALTER & HAYS BAND tells me they've sold almost 100,000 cassettes of their clever, very well-produced "Mormon Rap" (Walter & Hays Band, PO Box 21262, Salt Lake City, UT 84121...they can also supply "Do the Fusion" by Walt Gregory and "Funny" by Chuckhole & the Asphalts, both heard on the show). The recent Funny Five favorite"Don't Burn That Flag (don't make me kick your butt) can be ordered on a cassingle for $3.95 from its creator, Rex Andrew, c/o Jim Bob Records, PO Box 5901, Abilene, TX 79608.

Finally, a few survivors still spinning at 45 RPM... "Second Week Of Deer Camp" by DA YOOPERS looks like it'll be inspiring laughter for many hunting seasons to come. For that and other Yoopers yucks including "Fishing Wit Fred" and "Three Months Late" write to You Guys Records, Cooper Lake Road, Ishpeming, MI 49849. And here are a few goodies for the holidays, all heard on the show: "Gridlock Christmas" by THE HOLLYTONES (1805 S. Ross, Santa Ana, CA 92707)... "Rudolph the Brown Nose Reindeer" by RUDY & THE REINDEER (c/o Overseas Electronics, 7591 N.W. 55th SL, Miami, FL 33166)... and, for the truly broad-minded, "Whip Me Santa Claus" by MUCUS & THE PHLEGM (4805 Holborn Ave., Annandale, VA 22003).

Happy hunting - - see you next time !


We've Moved!

After nearly ten years in beautiful downtown Culver City, we've out grown our cozy post office box. The Demento Society's new address is -

THE DEMENTO SOCIETY
8033 SUNSET BOULEVARD
LOS ANGELES, CA 90046

You can use that address to join the Society, order merchandise, or for any other correspondence with the Land of Dementia. You can make a request, enter our trivia contests or Ask the Doc. Letters or cards in any of these three categories will be eligible for prizes just like calls to 1- 900 - BANANAS. (Be sure to include your name and address.)

LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!


MOVED LATELY? If you've moved lately, please inform us of your current mailing address so you can receive the Dr.'s newsletter direct and on time. Drop us a note including your name, your old address (so we can take it out of our demented computer) and new address (so we can put it into our demented computer).
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