European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 21, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                High times for the Oak Ridge boys by Robert Macy associated press downstairs a sellout crowd of 1.400 stretched across the clattering Casino fans in Cowboy boots and fancy suits lining up to see the Oak Ridge boys upstairs in a room overlooking the Las vegas strip. Ouane Allen recalled another Era when the Oaks on stage outnumbered their sparse audience we always required our supporting acts to go out in the audience and help bolster the  said Allen a Grin flashing across his bearded face one night we had 23 or 24 people in the audience it was the smallest crowd we Ever worked for " it s Only a matter of blocks from the landmark hotel where the Oak Ridge boys nursed a flagging career in the mid 1970s, to the posh celebrity room at Bally s resort where they headline today. But the difference. For their career is immeasurable those were the Days the Oaks were trying to switch from gospel music to country and were having trouble finding their Niche the landmark which has since fallen on hard limes kept their Hopes alive they took us under their wings for five years Allen recounted. Working at the landmark for $6.000 a week we did t try to set our goals too High that place still has a Good feeling for us they saved our  today the Oak Ridge boys Are a top attraction in Las vegas. They play there four or five weeks a year at More than 40 times what the landmark paid. Last year the Oaks played 243 dates in 113 cities venues ranging from state fairs to concert Halls to the posh showroom at Bally s on a recent night at Bally a the crowd was standing room Only. Joe Bonsall led with the group s popular hit my baby is american made. Richard Sterban followed with dream on. His deep Bass voice sending shudders f through the sophisticated sound system. By the Lime they got to y Aii comeback Saloon the1977 smash that transformed the Oaks from a gospel group to a country hit the showroom was reverberating with the hand clapping Fervour of a revival Hall. The group started in Knoxville. Tenn. In 1945, borrowing the name of the nearby atomic Plant. It has had More than 40 members disbanding in 1946 and again in 1956 the Oaks stretched the limits of Southern gospel music in the 60s and 70s. Before such a trend was accepted and soon faced an identity crisis stuck Between country and gospel and some $100.000 in debt. Those starving Days taught us not to take the prosperous times for granted said Sterban who joined the Oaks in 1972 they switched to country in 1977 and zoomed to the top of the charts with y Aii come Back Saloon. Since then they be had More than a dozen no. 1 country singles. Their hit Elvira went Platinum. Nine albums have gone Gold and two Platinum. There have been five grammy awards and a Host of country music association awards. Or. Demento the King of outrage by Giselle Price associated Pressw to is that mad hatted Man. And what is he doing on the radio let him speak for himself whoop. Whoop. Whoop wind up your oars Demen tites and Dement oids it s Lime Lor the or. Demento show with mad music and  comedy from out of the archives and off the wall1" tool tool goes his toy Horn and or. Memento a k a Barrett e Barry Hansen is off to a nut head Start the or Demento show heard everywhere from Antarctica to Alabama is the Only major radio outpost Lor wacko recordings ranging from the purple people eater to Early 20th Century comedy to rap scratching take Olls on Star trek every week the show is on 193 commercial radio stations through the Westwood one radio networks and on 35 College stations and about 500 armed forces network stations on ships or bases an radio airs the show mondays at 3 05 a m Central european time Hansen whose trademark is a Tux and top hat is celebrating 20 years on commercial radio despite his goofy voice and noisemakers. He Calls himself a straight Man to the records he plays human Lin t really a doctor but in anyone were handing out pad s in music of All persuasions he would be firs in line his knowledge of music spans the blues Folk classical Rock and Novelty tunes it All began when Hansen was 4 years old. Just a Pup in Minneapolis he was already fascinated by the family s gramophone and could handle playing the fragile 78 rpm records himself. His father an arts aficionado brought Home some Spike Jones records including cocktails Lor two the 1945 recording starts with a Man crooning about an exquisite rendezvous but goes crazy with loud crashes guns going off and people screaming whoopee it planted the seed in my Little brain which 25 years later became the or. Demento show Hansen said in an interview during a recent visit to his Alma mater Reed College in Portland. Ore. When he was in Junior High he happened across a thrill shop record Sale two 78s for a Nickel. It was the Start of a collection that now numbers about 250,000. Hansen got his Start in radio at Reed s station Kroc where he was manager and disc jockey. Alter graduating in 1963, he took Oil for los Angeles and worked at the Ash Grove music club introducing such greats As lightning Hopkins Bill Monroe and Arlo Guthrie. He did Short stints As a Roadie for canned heat and spirit produced a couple of records and put together re issues for specially records Hansen also took a master s degree in Folk music studies at the University of California at los Angeles and Wrose record reviews for rolling Stone Magazine in 1970, he met two men who worked at a pc. One of the new pm progressive radio stations that were popping up around the country. Hansen showed them his record collection and was invited to do a show. His first time behind the Mike he played classics by Carl Perkins screaming Jay Hawkins and others and threw in a nutty teen car crash tune transfusion by nervous Norvus somebody said you be got to be demented to play that on the radio " Hansen said the name or. Demento stuck Hansen moved to los Angeles Kmet in 1971 and went into syndication in 1974 he switched to Klix in 1987, where he does a live version of his show that s sometimes Wilder than the pre recorded program my show in a Way is the last vestige of free form programming on commercial radio Hansen said. A major source for that free form is tapes sent in by or. Demento s fans who number anywhere from 300,000 to 1 million. Hansen receives 20 to 30 tapes a week. Of those tapes one or two songs will get played photo court aft of of n or. Demento plays mad music and crazy comedy. On the show during that week. In 1976, one 16-year-old sent in a tape about the food in his school cafeteria. That was weird Al Yankovic. Another artist Barnes & Barnes whose fish Heads is or Demento s most requested song started out by submitting a tape of the vomit song which Hansen rejected other rejects Are tapes that Are racist libellous or obscene or that feature Lor example 8-year-Olds singing bad parodies of George Michael songs. Hansen is grudgingly aware of guidelines set by the Federal communications commission but As far As song selection goes he leaves it up to the station. A Miami station was fined for playing a song Candy rapper that Hansen once played on his Klix show. This is just a simple Little song about Candy Hansen quipped. Ii uses names of Candy items such As Mounds and r g hunk to Tell what could be an a rated Story without any explicit language Erna Bombeck i received a Catalon from a spa recently with a Buck naked woman on the cover that made my National geographic look like a colouring Book or preschoolers i had t a clue As to what she was Selling but it got my attention As i hurriedly pasted an address Label Over her. In occurred to me that i am receiving in the mail what librarians used to keep under the counter. Since i am on the International Catalon mailing list i must receive 12 or 15 Cata logs a week. An increasing number of them Are a Staple away irom a Centrefold for the last several years nudity has been creeping onto Page 16 the stars and stripes the american scene some of it on television most of it legitimized by advertising it was Subtle at first a Bare Arm Here or a leg there Selling perfume. Shows like dynasty had Alexis and Krystal flipping around in trashy lingerie that Donna Reed would t have worn under a coat. Underwear went Public. In ads bras no longer were draped on plastic chests but on real women. The trend even extended to men. We went from a group of men dressed up like fruit to Jim Palmer who went from Pitcher to Pitchman this gave Rise to the Victoria s secret Catalon of lingerie featuring men and women in such suggestive poses i expect to see a disclaimer do not try this in your Home " generally the Public is beginning to rebel against All this flesh. When nine women s magazines recently wednesday february 21,1990 carried a nude oiled woman Selling a moisturizing lotion the complaints rolled in i Don t feel Shock or titillation. I be diapered bigger bodies than that. It s just i Don t know where the logic is behind the hype. Do advertisers honestly think women Are naive enough to believe that a $15.95 tube of Creme will put those kind of curves Back in our Highway or bring smoothness to 50 years of bad Road i Don t even think about the Creme. All i think about when i see this nude creature is what s her Mother going to say when she sees this How Many photographers does it take to photograph a nude girl is she going to have a Sand rash will my mailman put off his retirement again this year thai s what inquiring minds want to know c 1990 Erma Bombach