Went downtown for a show, and a West Seattle angle broke out

Team WSB is just back from the Triple Door downtown, which we were compelled to visit when we found out that longtime radio entertainer Dr. Demento (photo right) was coming to town for a live show. Both of your co-publishers have been almost-lifelong fans. (If you’re not familiar with Dr. Demento – he became famous for playing funny songs, mostly recorded by others, and once upon a time could be heard weekly on radio stations in almost every city nationwide, counting down the week’s Funny Five, taking requests, and so on. His most famous protege – Weird Al Yankovic, whose Nirvana-spoof video was part of tonight’s show.) Didn’t expect to encounter a West Seattle angle – then suddenly, Dr. Demento introduced WS author Clay Eals (photo left), who appeared onstage to talk about Steve Goodman, whose definitive biography Eals penned (published last year), and to introduce a rarely seen video clip of Goodman in the stands at Wrigley Field performing “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request,” a funny song about his beloved and beleaguered Chicago Cubs. (You can read more about Eals and his Goodman biography at his website, clayeals.com.)

Clay Eals August 2, 2008 (12:14 am)

Thanks so much for the mention of the Goodman clip that I introduced at tonight’s Dr. Demento show. The Good Doctor was one of my more than 1,000 interviewees for the Goodman biography, and the book includes a couple of wonderful anecdotes related to Goodman’s guest appearances on the Good Doctor’s famous, long-syndicated show. The crowd’s reaction tonight to the Goodman clip — unseen since it was filmed in 1981 for a Chicago TV station — was palpable, and I’m grateful to Dr. Demento for inviting me to participate in the evening. Steve Goodman people are everywhere, even among the legions of Dementites!

Clay Eals
1728 California Ave. S.W. #301
Seattle, WA 98116-1958

(206) 935-7515 (home)
(206) 484-8008 (cell)
ceals@comcast.net
http://www.clayeals.com

DrD August 2, 2008 (5:08 pm)

Sheesh, wish I’d caught wind of that show. I, too, grew up on Dr Demento; “Fish Heads”, “Shaving Cream”, and Devo immediately come to mind.
For the record, “DrD” is short for Dr Dimentico, which is a nod to the good Dr, but literally means “I forget” in Italian (at least in my rudimentary understanding of Italian conjugations…).

DrD

WSB August 3, 2008 (4:52 am)

It was an absolute accident that we found out – a listing that we wouldn’t normally check, as we just don’t do much nightlife (aside from some of the fun West Seattle activities we often write about) … I didn’t even know Dr. Demento did live tours. The show itself was fun enough but the real kick was to be able to applaud, in person, someone whose work we’d enjoyed so often for so long. Hearing that he started in 1970, I realize I must have heard him in LA in literally his first year or so, as my family moved from LA in ’71 but I have clear memories of listening BEFORE that – TR

tpn August 3, 2008 (10:17 am)

I was at this one too. First heard him in the mid 80s on KZOK and KJET. I believe fairly recently, KISM 92.9 in Bellingham was airing his show for a while, which you can get down here. Seeing Lehrer’s facial expressions in that clip added a dimension of hilarity to his work that I never thought was possible. Golden.

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