Barret "Barry" Hansen admits that he didn't have the patience or the manual dexterity to become a musician, so he did the next best thing - he became "demented."
Better known to radio listeners as wacky syndicated radio show host Dr. Demento, Hansen has been feeding his fans a steady diet of "novelty" records like "Fish Heads" and "Dead Puppies (Aren't Much Fun)" since 1970. As his goofy alter ego, he has also compiled several collections of comedic songs and helped start the career of song parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic.The 56-year-old musical mad scientist says calling his career a "long strange trip" is no exaggeration.
"Well, I guess (being Dr. Demento has) been a lot more enjoyable than other things I could be doing," he explained during a telephone interview from his home in Lakewood, Calif.
Unbeknownst to many of his fans, Hansen is an aficionado of old blues and rhythm-and-blues records, and he actually began his career when he was a free-lance music reviewer in California during the late 1960s.
Disc jockeys at a local "free-form" radio station heard about the knowledgable young critic and, drooling at the prospect of having access to his huge record collection, invited Hansen to be a guest on their shows.
And while his musical smarts impressed station employees, it was some of the weirder songs he played that made listeners stand up and listen - songs like Nervous Norvus' "Transfusion," a 1956 hit about a dangerous driver who is continually getting into traffic accidents and who is constantly in need of medical attention.
"One of the other station employees heard me playing some of the weirder songs and said off-mike that I had to be demented to play that (bleep!)," he said. "But it wasn't too long after that I got my own show."
Today, the two-hour "Dr. Demento Show" is heard Sunday nights in about 100 markets worldwide. That number is down from the show's heyday, when it reached more than 200 markets in the United States and the rest of North America alone.
As Dr. Demento, Hansen brings his "Evening of Dementia" to Park City on Sunday, Dec. 7. The program is part of the revived Wooden Dog concert series, now held at the Celebrity Theatre in Park City's Inn at Prospector Square (since the Trolley Square Wooden Dog location closed this summer).
Hansen said much of his time outside musical research is spent trying to get the conglomerates who own the majority of U.S. radio stations to add the show, which they are reluctant to do because it is syndicated and not a local pro-gram.
"There are still audiences who want to hear the show but can't because these large companies don't want it," he said. "The executives can't control the program content or the format so they won't carry it. It's very frustrating for me and my fans."
One market where the show is not heard is Utah, which hasn't received "The Dr. Demento Show" ever since KRSP-FM changed its format from rock to "classic rock" in 1992.
Even though his show is not currently on the air in Utah, Hansen said fans can still hear what's hot on the show by attending one of his multimedia "Evening of Dementia" shows or by joining the Dementia Society, the official Dr. Demento fan club, which puts out annual "greatest hits" CDs with a heaping helping of the most requested songs from the preceding year.
(Write to P.O. Box 884, Culver City, CA 90232, or call the Dr. Demento hotline, 1-562-633-8863 for more information.)
"Either that or have your own `demented protest' and picket the local stations until they pick up the show," he advised.
Other projects in the works for Hansen include an upcoming book on blues music called "Heavy, Man: A Cruise Through the World of Blues," which, despite its flippant title, is a serious exploration of the musical form written under his real name.
Another ongoing project is his exhaustive search for obscure records. Hansen's private collection includes more than 250,000 vinyl albums, compact discs, cassette tapes and 7-inch and 78 rpm records.
"It's a collection so large that it can't be contained in one building," he said, proudly.
Dr. Demento's "Evening of Dementia - A Pearl Harbor Christmas" begins at 6 p.m. It will be preceded by a "social hour," which will include a performance by local artist Kyle Wulle, at 5 p.m. The show is open to all ages.
Tickets for the show are $13 in advance from all Dan's Food Store locations, Acoustic Music, Local Music and Salt City CDs in Salt Lake City, Park City Performances and the Inn at Prospector Square in Park City or by phone, 1-888-322-9364.