Norman Carl Odam (born September 5, 1947, in Lubbock , Texas ), known professionally as the Legendary Stardust Cowboy , is an outsider performer who is considered one of the pioneers of the genre that came to be known as psychobilly in the 1960s.
114-491: Odam was interested in space travel from early childhood, recalling that at kindergarten age he "used to look at the moon and [tell himself] that some day man will go to the moon." As a teenager he combined his interests in outer space and the American west to create the name "Stardust Cowboy", adding the word "legendary" because "I am a legend in my own time." The fact that the initials of "Legendary Star Dust", LSD , referred to
228-417: A spacecraft on a LVM 3 rocket and return them safely for a water landing at a predefined landing zone. On 15 August 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi , declared India will independently send humans into space before the 75th anniversary of independence in 2022. In 2019, ISRO revealed plans for a space station by 2030, followed by a crewed lunar mission. The program envisages the development of
342-459: A 1929 vocal by Scrappy Lambert (recording under the name Gordon Wallace), which Hansen tells listeners he discovered in a thrift shop. The Doctor closes each show with "Stay Dement-ed!" Since 1987, and continuing as of 2024, Whimsical Will (real name: William Simpson ) produces a weekly "Demented News" segment for the show. He also has recorded fake comedy interviews "break-in" style, following Dickie Goodman , including "Hey Dickie" (1989), which
456-402: A Space Task Group to recommend follow-on human spaceflight programs after Apollo. The group proposed an ambitious Space Transportation System based on a reusable Space Shuttle , which consisted of a winged, internally fueled orbiter stage burning liquid hydrogen, launched with a similar, but larger kerosene -fueled booster stage, each equipped with airbreathing jet engines for powered return to
570-468: A camp classic." Conversely, critic Toby Creswell includes the song in his book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them (2005). In 1976, "Paralyzed" ranked 15th in the first ever Festive Fifty , a top 50 list documenting the favourite songs of listeners of John Peel 's radio show. Classical pianist Paul Lewis considers the song his guilty pleasure . Odam
684-472: A countdown of the 25 most requested novelty songs that year (see below). For most of the syndicated show's history, Hansen produced 52 original weekly shows every year; repeat broadcasts were rare. The program's opening theme is an instrumental version of " Pico and Sepulveda " recorded for the show by The Roto Rooter Good Time Christmas Band (during the early years on KMET, it had been “Sugar Blues” by Clyde McCoy). The same Los Angeles area group recorded some of
798-543: A documentary named Under the Smogberry Trees: The True Story of Dr. Demento through Kickstarter . Under the Smogberry Trees was meant to be a filmed history of “The Dr. Demento Show”, covering the lasting impact of funny music on popular culture, and including current interviews with Dementites connected to and/or inspired by the show. The Kickstarter campaign ended successfully on May 4, 2013, with
912-477: A double CD on Cherry Red Records from England, titled For Sarah, Raquel, and David: An Anthology . The names refer to Sarah Ferguson , Duchess of York; Raquel Welch , actress; and performing artist David Bowie , all longtime fans of The Ledge's work. Rumors of a European tour abound. In 2020, Jeff Feuerzeig began work on a documentary on Odam's life, which will feature interviews with Odam interspersed with animations based on interviews of people close to him. It
1026-568: A fully-autonomous orbital vehicle capable of carrying 2 or 3 crew members to an about 300 km (190 mi) low Earth orbit and bringing them safely back home. Since 2008, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has developed the H-II Transfer Vehicle cargo-spacecraft-based crewed spacecraft and Kibō Japanese Experiment Module –based small space laboratory. NASA is developing a plan to land humans on Mars by
1140-659: A human into orbit independently. The goal of the second phase of CMS was to make technology breakthroughs in extravehicular activities (EVA, or spacewalk), space rendezvous , and docking to support short-term human activities in space. On 25 September 2008 during the flight of Shenzhou 7 , Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming completed China's first EVA. In 2011, China launched the Tiangong 1 target spacecraft and Shenzhou 8 uncrewed spacecraft. The two spacecraft completed China's first automatic rendezvous and docking on 3 November 2011. About 9 months later, Tiangong 1 completed
1254-476: A long time interest in the roots of rock 'n' roll in R&;B and country music , and he has written about it in many magazine articles, liner notes to compilations and new recordings by a variety of artists, and two chapters on early R&B for The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll . His shows and public appearances display an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of recorded music in general, from
SECTION 10
#17328756794721368-446: A major influence on the show and who appeared several times as a guest. The tribute show following Zappa's 1993 death was the first time the entire two-hour show was devoted to a single artist. Another of the show's highlights occurred in the late 1980s when the satire/parody/improv hard rock trio Spinal Tap came in for a visit. Christopher Guest , Michael McKean and Harry Shearer appeared in full costume and stayed in character for
1482-531: A master's degree in folklore and ethnomusicology . After earning his master's degree, he lived for two years "in a big house on a hill" in Topanga Canyon with members of the rock band Spirit . He also served briefly as a roadie for Spirit, and for Canned Heat , before being hired as an A&R man, or talent scout, for Specialty Records . The Doctor began his weekly radio show while working for Specialty, and he later worked for Warner Bros. Records . He
1596-408: A popular drug at the time was coincidental; he claims to have adopted the name in 1961, before the drug was popularized. Odam took up music in his high school years as a means toward popularity and impressing girls. Inspired by Chet Atkins , he learned guitar and also taught himself to play the bugle . After high school he briefly attended college, majoring in electronics. While in college Odam had
1710-940: A private contractor that works with NASA and still performs regularly. Since the late 1990s, Odam has played with a backing band called the Altamont Boys, which includes bassist Klaus Flouride (of Dead Kennedys ), guitarist Jay Rosen (of The Better Beatles ), and drummer Joey Meyers. In May 2007, he played at the David Bowie High-Line festival in New York City at Bowie's invitation. Weiner said that Odam has never returned to perform in Lubbock, having believed that his hometown, where he first gained experience by playing in parking lots to draw an audience, offered him little encouragement. College radio station KMSU in Mankato , Minnesota flew
1824-515: A runway at the Kennedy Space Center launch site. Other components of the system included a permanent, modular space station; reusable space tug ; and nuclear interplanetary ferry, leading to a human expedition to Mars as early as 1986 or as late as 2000, depending on the level of funding allocated. However, Nixon knew the American political climate would not support congressional funding for such an ambition, and killed proposals for all but
1938-468: A third, successful attempt at crewed spaceflight. To achieve independent human spaceflight capability, China developed the Shenzhou spacecraft and Long March 2F rocket dedicated to human spaceflight in the next few years, along with critical infrastructures like a new launch site and flight control center being built. The first uncrewed spacecraft, Shenzhou 1 , was launched on 20 November 1999 and recovered
2052-461: A three-hour visit. Similar "big moments" occurred in a visit from Screamin' Jay Hawkins (" I Put a Spell on You "), when the singer appeared in the studios in Culver City dressed in black cape, distributing explosive flash paper to great effect, and when Mel Brooks came in for an interview and was presented with an "absolutely HUGE" cheesecake from Canter's Deli on Fairfax Avenue . Dr. Demento
2166-504: A time when a "double LP" typically carried a $ 9.98 list price. Using his real name of Barry Hansen, he also contributed many articles on rock music to magazines including Rolling Stone , Down Beat , and Hit Parader , liner notes on various late 1960s and early 1970s albums, and in 1976 contributed the chapter on "Rhythm and Gospel" in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll . Hansen created
2280-467: A total of $ 118,722 in donations from 1,764 backers. On September 27, 2016, Hansen announced he had terminated his support for Meep Morp's version of the film, was working on producing his own version of "Under the Smogberry Trees" with Devin Lucas as director, and forbade Meep Morp from continuing to use his name or likeness for their film. Meep Morp stated that, after the film had substantially been completed and
2394-534: A version of the internet show will be heard weekly on KACV-FM (in Amarillo, Texas ), at least through the summer." The show was removed from KACV-FM in January 2011. Beginning in approximately 2006, The Dr. Demento Show began offering pay-per-show audio streaming at the show's official website. Large archives from 1992 to the present, as well as a few select archives from the early 1970s, are available, early on most of
SECTION 20
#17328756794722508-662: A weekly "Best of Dr. Demento" show (featuring a mixture of old and new material) initially on the Special X channel and then on the 60s on 6 , Deep Tracks , and Laugh USA channels. He was interviewed in the 2005 documentary film about outsider musician Wild Man Fischer , titled Derailroaded: Inside The Mind Of Wild Man Fischer . In September 2007, Dr. Demento portrayed the role of Hippocrates on The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd . In addition to his syndicated show, he still makes occasional guest appearances for other shows. Among his guest-hosting stints were for Montel Williams on
2622-512: Is available on iTunes . Starting in the late 1980s, the show began to lose affiliates, a victim of media consolidation and other changes in the radio industry that were pushing many alternative rock stations and individualistic broadcasters off the air. In 1992, Westwood One dropped the show which was immediately picked up by another syndicator, On the Radio Broadcasting. This allowed the syndicated show to air records which were popular on
2736-453: Is being developed in the vein of Feuerzeig's previous film The Devil and Daniel Johnston . No release date was set as of October 2020, as production had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight ) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft , often with
2850-443: Is similar to the gap between the end of Apollo in 1975 and the first Space Shuttle flight in 1981, and is referred to by a presidential Blue Ribbon Committee as the U.S. human spaceflight gap. Since the early 2000s, a variety of private spaceflight ventures have been undertaken. As of November 2024, SpaceX and Boeing have launched humans to orbit, while Blue Origin has launched 8 crewed flights, six of which crossed
2964-485: Is sometimes criticized as imperialist and lacking. In addition to the lack of international inclusion, the inclusion of women and people of color has also been lacking. To make spaceflight more inclusive, organizations such as the Justspace Alliance and IAU -featured Inclusive Astronomy have been formed in recent years. The first woman to ever enter space was Valentina Tereshkova . She flew in 1963, but it
3078-688: The Kibō Japanese Experiment Module and H-II Transfer Vehicle cargo spacecraft. As an alternative to HOPE-X, NASDA in 2001 proposed the Fuji crew capsule for independent or ISS flights, but the project did not proceed to the contracting stage. From 1993 to 1997, the Japanese Rocket Society , Kawasaki Heavy Industries , and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries worked on the proposed Kankoh-maru vertical-takeoff-and-landing single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch system. In 2005, this system
3192-620: The Constellation program included plans for retiring the Space Shuttle program and replacing it with the capability for spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit. In the 2011 United States federal budget , the Obama administration canceled Constellation for being over budget and behind schedule, while not innovating and investing in critical new technologies. As part of the Artemis program , NASA is developing
3306-524: The Indian Human Spaceflight Program , India was planning to send humans into space on its orbital vehicle Gaganyaan before August 2022, but it has been delayed to 2024, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) began work on this project in 2006. The initial objective is to carry a crew of two or three to low Earth orbit (LEO) for a 3-to-7-day flight in
3420-873: The International Space Station (ISS). On 15 October 2003, the first Chinese taikonaut, Yang Liwei , went to space as part of Shenzhou 5 , the first Chinese human spaceflight. As of March 2024, humans have not traveled beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 lunar mission in December 1972. Currently, the United States, Russia, and China are the only countries with public or commercial human spaceflight-capable programs . Non-governmental spaceflight companies have been working to develop human space programs of their own, e.g. for space tourism or commercial in-space research . The first private human spaceflight launch
3534-695: The Kármán line , the 100 kilometres (62 mi) altitude used by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) to denote the edge of space. In 1961, US President John F. Kennedy raised the stakes of the Space Race by setting the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s. That same year, the US began the Apollo program of launching three-man capsules atop
Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Misplaced Pages Continue
3648-525: The Kármán line . Virgin Galactic has launched crew to a height above 80 km (50 mi) on a suborbital trajectory. Several other companies, including Sierra Nevada and Copenhagen Suborbitals , have developed crewed spacecraft. SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic plan to fly commercial passengers in the emerging space tourism market. SpaceX has developed Crew Dragon flying on Falcon 9 . It first launched astronauts to orbit and to
3762-451: The Lynx single-passenger spaceplane since the 2000s, but development was halted in 2017. Participation and representation of humanity in space has been an issue ever since the first phase of space exploration. Some rights of non-spacefaring countries have been secured through international space law , declaring space the " province of all mankind ", though the sharing of space by all humanity
3876-740: The National Radio Hall of Fame (in November 2009). Dr. Demento was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2014. Hansen was married to Sue Hansen (née Sue Charles) from 1983 until her death on September 10, 2017. Their relationship was childless by choice . Sue was a former clerk and training officer at the Union Pacific railroad for 12 years. Hansen describes himself as "an armchair railfan ", sometimes sampling his extensive collection of railroad-related songs on his show. Hansen has
3990-691: The Orion spacecraft to be launched by the Space Launch System . Under the Commercial Crew Development plan, NASA relies on transportation services provided by the private sector to reach low Earth orbit, such as SpaceX Dragon 2 , the Boeing Starliner or Sierra Nevada Corporation 's Dream Chaser . The period between the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011 and the first launch into space of SpaceShipTwo Flight VP-03 on 13 December 2018
4104-572: The Saturn family of launch vehicles . In 1962, the US began Project Gemini , which flew 10 missions with two-man crews launched by Titan II rockets in 1965 and 1966. Gemini's objective was to support Apollo by developing American orbital spaceflight experience and techniques to be used during the Moon mission. Meanwhile, the USSR remained silent about their intentions to send humans to the Moon and proceeded to stretch
4218-556: The Shuguang spacecraft. Nineteen PLAAF pilots were selected for this goal in March 1971. The Shuguang-1 spacecraft, to be launched with the CZ-2A rocket, was designed to carry a crew of two. The program was officially canceled on 13 May 1972 for economic reasons. In 1992, under China Manned Space Program (CMS), also known as "Project 921", authorization and funding was given for the first phase of
4332-450: The Tianhe core module , was launched into orbit by China's most powerful rocket Long March 5B on 29 April 2021. It was later visited by multiple cargo and crewed spacecraft and demonstrated China's capability of sustaining Chinese astronauts' long-term stay in space. According to CMS announcement, all missions of Tiangong Space Station are scheduled to be carried out by the end of 2022. Once
4446-406: The double entendre songs of 1940s Borscht Belt comedian Benny Bell , especially Bell's signature tune, " Shaving Cream ". He introduced a new generation to the manic big-band parodies of Spike Jones , the musical black humor of Tom Lehrer , and the many novelty records recorded by satirist Stan Freberg in the 1950s. Another frequently featured artist was Frank Zappa , whom Hansen cited as
4560-651: The test flight phase of their development process. One large spaceliner concept currently in early development is the SpaceX Starship , which, in addition to replacing the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles in the legacy Earth-orbit market after 2020, has been proposed by SpaceX for long-distance commercial travel on Earth, flying 100+ people suborbitally between two points in under one hour, also known as "Earth-to-Earth". Small spaceplane or small capsule suborbital spacecraft have been under development for
4674-682: The 1978 flight of Vladimir Remek. As of 2010 , citizens from 38 nations (including space tourists ) have flown in space aboard Soviet, American, Russian, and Chinese spacecraft. Human spaceflight programs have been conducted by the Soviet Union–Russian Federation, the United States, Mainland China , and by American private spaceflight companies. The following space vehicles and spaceports are currently used for launching human spaceflights: The following space stations are currently maintained in Earth orbit for human occupation: Most of
Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Misplaced Pages Continue
4788-451: The 1988–89 revival), Bobby's World , The Simpsons , and on the Barnes and Barnes music video for " Fish Heads ". The syndicated radio show normally started with an hour of randomly chosen records and listener requests. The second hour was normally mostly devoted to a specific theme (cars, sports, pets, romance, movies, etc.) with a final segment taken up by a "The Funny Five" countdown of
4902-548: The 2030s. The first step has begun with Artemis I in 2022, sending an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon and returning it to Earth after a 25-day mission. SpaceX is developing Starship , a fully reusable two-stage system, with near-Earth and cislunar applications and an ultimate goal of landing on Mars. The upper stage of the Starship system, also called Starship, has had 9 atmospheric test flights as of September 2021. The first test flight of
5016-991: The Dr. Demento show include Barnes & Barnes (" Fish Heads "), Ogden Edsl ("Dead Puppies", "Kinko The Clown", "Daddy's Money", " Idi Amin Meets Eydie Gormé "), Larry "Wild Man" Fischer ("My Name Is Larry"), Larry Groce ("Junk Food Junkie", 1975) and Elmo and Patsy (" Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer ", 1979). The show helped revive and maintain interest in novelty hits from the 1950s and 1960s that received scant airplay on mainstream pop or oldies radio stations, including " Alley Oop " by The Hollywood Argyles , "The Ballad of Irving" by Frank Gallop , "The Battle of Kookamonga" by Homer and Jethro , " Monster Mash " by Bobby "Boris" Pickett , " Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter from Camp) " by Allan Sherman , "I Want My Baby Back" by Jimmy Cross , and " They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! " by Napoleon XIV . Hansen also revived interest in
5130-638: The IDEA of his music. As the music itself wasn't too recognizable as being such." Bowie has often mentioned his love for Odam's music. A documentary of Odam's career, entitled Cotton Pickin’ Smash! The Story of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy , was prepared during the late 1980s. It remains unreleased commercially but is occasionally viewed non-commercially. Odam currently resides in San Jose , California . In keeping with his passion for space, he has worked for
5244-756: The ISS in May 2020 as part of the Demo-2 mission. Developed as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Development program, the capsule is also available for flights with other customers. A first tourist mission, Inspiration4 , launched in September 2021. Boeing developed the Starliner capsule as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Development program, which is launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle. Starliner made an uncrewed flight in December 2019. A second uncrewed flight attempt
5358-607: The Legendary Stardust Cowboy and his band to Mankato in May 2010 for a show, at which the mayor declared, officially, that May 21 is "Legendary Stardust Cowboy Day" in Mankato. Mankato has emerged as a "Mecca" for Legendary Stardust Cowboy fans, perhaps second only to San Francisco, California. In 2010, Odam played himself in the independent film Rainbows End , a mockumentary about a band traveling from Texas to California to record an album with him. In late 2011, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy released an anthology of his life's work,
5472-411: The Moon, and sent Frank Borman , James Lovell , and William Anders into 10 orbits around the Moon in Apollo 8 in December 1968. In 1969, Apollo 11 accomplished Kennedy's goal by landing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon on 21 July and returning them safely on 24 July, along with Command Module pilot Michael Collins . Through 1972, a total of six Apollo missions landed 12 men to walk on
5586-422: The Moon, half of which drove electric powered vehicles on the surface. The crew of Apollo 13 — Jim Lovell , Jack Swigert , and Fred Haise —survived an in-flight spacecraft failure, they flew by the Moon without landing, and returned safely to Earth. During this time, the USSR secretly pursued crewed lunar orbiting and landing programs . They successfully developed the three-person Soyuz spacecraft for use in
5700-642: The Russian Federal Space Agency, which became known as the Roscosmos State Corporation . The Shuttle-Mir Program included American Space Shuttles visiting the Mir space station, Russian cosmonauts flying on the Shuttle, and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft for long-duration expeditions aboard Mir . In 1993, President Bill Clinton secured Russia's cooperation in converting
5814-406: The Shuttle, possibly to be followed by the space station. Plans for the Shuttle were scaled back to reduce development risk, cost, and time, replacing the piloted fly-back booster with two reusable solid rocket boosters , and the smaller orbiter would use an expendable external propellant tank to feed its hydrogen-fueled main engines . The orbiter would have to make unpowered landings. In 1973,
SECTION 50
#17328756794725928-637: The US launched the Skylab sortie space station and inhabited it for 171 days with three crews ferried aboard an Apollo spacecraft. During that time, President Richard Nixon and Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev were negotiating an easing of Cold War tensions known as détente . During the détente, they negotiated the Apollo–Soyuz program, in which an Apollo spacecraft carrying a special docking adapter module would rendezvous and dock with Soyuz 19 in 1975. The American and Soviet crews shook hands in space, but
6042-496: The US's reusable Space Shuttle orbiter , which they called Buran -class orbiter or simply Buran , which was designed to be launched into orbit by the expendable Energia rocket, and was capable of robotic orbital flight and landing. Unlike the Space Shuttle, Buran had no main rocket engines, but like the Space Shuttle orbiter, it used smaller rocket engines to perform its final orbital insertion. A single uncrewed orbital test flight took place in November 1988. A second test flight
6156-487: The US. China was the third nation in the world, after the USSR and US, to send humans into space. During the Space Race between the two superpowers, which culminated with Apollo 11 landing humans on the Moon, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai decided on 14 July 1967 that China should not be left behind, and initiated their own crewed space program: the top-secret Project 714, which aimed to put two people into space by 1973 with
6270-438: The board' at some of the live shows. He left the radio network in 1990 during a business downturn. In January 2014 Young released an e-book titled "Producing Demento," about his memories of working on the show. From 1992 to 2000, the show was syndicated by On the Radio Broadcasting. Hansen, under the name "Talonian Productions," handled syndication himself from 2000 until discontinuing syndication in 2010 (Hansen revealed that he
6384-699: The construction is completed, Tiangong will enter the application and development phase, which is poised to last for no less than 10 years. The European Space Agency began development of the Hermes shuttle spaceplane in 1987, to be launched on the Ariane 5 expendable launch vehicle. It was intended to dock with the European Columbus space station . The projects were canceled in 1992 when it became clear that neither cost nor performance goals could be achieved. No Hermes shuttles were ever built. The Columbus space station
6498-453: The construction of which took place from 1986 to 1996. Mir orbited at an altitude of 354 kilometers (191 nautical miles), at an orbital inclination of 51.6°. It was occupied for 4,592 days and made a controlled reentry in 2001. The Space Shuttle started flying in 1981, but the US Congress failed to approve sufficient funds to make Space Station Freedom a reality. A fleet of four shuttles
6612-431: The decades, a number of spacecraft have been proposed for spaceliner passenger travel. Somewhat analogous to travel by airliner after the middle of the 20th century, these vehicles are proposed to transport large numbers of passengers to destinations in space, or on Earth via suborbital spaceflights . To date, none of these concepts have been built, although a few vehicles that carry fewer than 10 persons are currently in
6726-507: The delivery of nuclear weapons , producing rockets large enough to be adapted to carry the first artificial satellites into low Earth orbit . After the first satellites were launched in 1957 and 1958 by the Soviet Union, the US began work on Project Mercury , with the aim of launching men into orbit. The USSR was secretly pursuing the Vostok program to accomplish the same thing, and launched
6840-523: The distribution of the show from the usual barter system to a system in which stations paid a rights fee for the program (though he apparently made exceptions in some major markets, such as WLUP-FM in Chicago). He stated in October 2007 that "unless the show's financial situation changes soon, I will be unable to continue the show much longer." After approximately two and a half years, and no significant change in
6954-400: The earliest Edison cylinder recordings onward. His personal collection includes over 85,000 records. Dr. Demento may be best known for bringing parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic to national attention. In 1976, Hansen spoke at Yankovic's school where Yankovic gave a self-recorded tape of comedy songs and parodies to Hansen. The first song, "Belvedere Cruisin" about the family station wagon,
SECTION 60
#17328756794727068-417: The end of the show. The weekly "Funny Five" has been replaced by a monthly Top Ten in order to allow for more comprehensive special topic segments. The new format, along with the ability to play records that previously would have been censored on the radio, has allowed Hansen to delve more deeply into his collection than was possible on the syndicated radio show. From 2003 to 2005, XM Satellite Radio aired
7182-498: The first American in orbit, aboard Friendship 7 on a Mercury-Atlas rocket . The USSR launched five more cosmonauts in Vostok capsules , including the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova , aboard Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. Through 1963, the US launched a total of two astronauts in suborbital flights and four into orbit. The US also made two North American X-15 flights ( 90 and 91 , piloted by Joseph A. Walker ), that exceeded
7296-430: The first human into space, the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin . On 12 April 1961, Gagarin was launched aboard Vostok 1 on a Vostok 3KA rocket and completed a single orbit. On 5 May 1961, the US launched its first astronaut , Alan Shepard , on a suborbital flight aboard Freedom 7 on a Mercury-Redstone rocket . Unlike Gagarin, Shepard manually controlled his spacecraft's attitude . On 20 February 1962, John Glenn became
7410-429: The first manual rendezvous and docking with Shenzhou 9 , which carried China's first female astronaut Liu Yang . In September 2016, Tiangong 2 was launched into orbit. It was a space laboratory with more advanced functions and equipment than Tiangong 1 . A month later, Shenzhou 11 was launched and docked with Tiangong 2 . Two astronauts entered Tiangong 2 and were stationed for about 30 days, verifying
7524-464: The first spacewalk, but overcame the early Soviet lead by performing several spacewalks, solving the problem of astronaut fatigue caused by compensating for the lack of gravity, demonstrating the ability of humans to endure two weeks in space, and performing the first space rendezvous and docking of spacecraft. The US succeeded in developing the Saturn V rocket necessary to send the Apollo spacecraft to
7638-584: The first woman to enter space through the United States program.Since then, eleven other countries have allowed women astronauts. The first all-female spacewalk occurred in 2018, by Christina Koch and Jessica Meir . These two women had both participated in separate spacewalks with NASA. The first mission to the Moon with a woman aboard is planned for 2024. Despite these developments, women are still underrepresented among astronauts and especially cosmonauts. More than 600 people have flown in space but only 75 have been women. Issues that block potential applicants from
7752-461: The foreseeable future. The show ended its terrestrial broadcast on a cliffhanger , with the last terrestrial broadcast devoted to songs involving the word "big" and the first post-terrestrial broadcast devoted to songs involving the word "little." The online show follows a format similar to that of the terrestrial show; no longer being limited by a radio time slot or commercial breaks, the show usually exceeds two hours and may include "bonus tracks" at
7866-478: The fully integrated two-stage system occurred in April 2023. A modified version of Starship is being developed for the Artemis program . Doctor Demento Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento , is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to
7980-596: The idea of "writing a wild song that would captivate everybody." This led to his writing of a song, "Paralyzed", which he performed at local talent contests. He recorded "Paralyzed" in 1968 in what was apparently a moment of spare time in a recording studio in Fort Worth, Texas. He played dobro and bugle , while T-Bone Burnett played drums. The track features unintelligible snarls, growls, and similar vocalisms, surrounded by frantic strumming on acoustic guitar, Burnett's equally frantic drumming, and occasional slurred yelps of
8094-421: The latter song the entire Laugh-In cast joined him on stage and began cavorting and clowning around. The Ledge, in his words, "got mad and ran off the set. That wasn't part of the act." The song also made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon during the show's 'Do Not Play' sketch. In 1973, NASA used the song to wake up members of its space crew. The crew was allegedly so distracted from
8208-485: The limits of their single-pilot Vostok capsule by adapting it to a two or three-person Voskhod capsule to compete with Gemini. They were able to launch two orbital flights in 1964 and 1965 and achieved the first spacewalk , performed by Alexei Leonov on Voskhod 2 , on 8 March 1965. However, the Voskhod did not have Gemini's capability to maneuver in orbit, and the program was terminated. The US Gemini flights did not achieve
8322-433: The local Los Angeles show, but Westwood One would not allow, such as "It's A Gas" by Alfred E. Neuman and "Moose Turd Pie" by Utah Phillips . It also allowed Whimsical Will's Demented News, a fixture of the local Los Angeles show, to air on the national show. In 2000, Hansen formed Talonian Productions to syndicate the show himself. According to Hansen, the show steadily lost advertisers, and as such, he had to restructure
8436-528: The lunar programs, but failed to develop the N1 rocket necessary for a human landing, and discontinued their lunar programs in 1974. Upon losing the Moon race they concentrated on the development of space stations , using the Soyuz as a ferry to take cosmonauts to and from the stations. They started with a series of Salyut sortie stations from 1971 to 1986. In 1969, Nixon appointed his vice president, Spiro Agnew , to head
8550-500: The most requested songs. There were also shows devoted to holidays and seasonal events, with the most important being the Halloween and Christmas shows (Hansen produced multiple Christmas shows during the holiday season consisting solely of novelty Christmas music ), because of the large number of novelty records those holidays have inspired. The final radio episode each year was the Funny 25,
8664-419: The musical teasers used on the show, such as "It's time for number one...." The other "countdown" intros come from "Barstow" by the American maverick composer Harry Partch . Hansen's opening line, "Wind up your radios," refers to the rare 78rpm novelty records from the days of wind-up phonographs that he has featured on the show, especially in its early years. The closing theme is "Cheerio, Cherry Lips, Cheerio,"
8778-407: The next day, marking the first step of the realization of China's human spaceflight capability. Three more uncrewed missions were conducted in the next few years in order to verify the key technologies. On 15 October 2003 Shenzhou 5 , China's first crewed spaceflight mission, put Yang Liwei in orbit for 21 hours and returned safely back to Inner Mongolia , making China the third nation to launch
8892-498: The now-defunct Air America Media (despite the network's politically driven format, the guest stint followed his normal format of novelty music, specifically Halloween music, since the show aired on October 30, 2009, the day before Halloween) on Anything Anything with Rich Russo on Super Bowl Sunday in 2011 and 2013, and annually with classical music host Jim Svejda on New Year's Eve until Svejda retired in 2022. In April 2013, Meep Morp Studios began seeking donations to fund
9006-520: The past decade or so; as of 2017 , at least one of each type is under development. Both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have craft in active development : the SpaceShipTwo spaceplane and the New Shepard capsule, respectively. Both would carry approximately a half-dozen passengers up to space for a brief time of zero gravity before returning to the launch location. XCOR Aerospace had been developing
9120-527: The persona of Dr. Demento in 1970 while working at KPCC (FM) in Pasadena, California . The positive listener response to the offbeat novelties that Hansen included in his rock oldies show led to his eventually turning it into an all-novelty show. At the end of 1971, he moved to KMET in Los Angeles. From 1972 to 1983, he performed a four-hour live show on KMET . From about 1974 on, the local Los Angeles market
9234-495: The planned Space Station Freedom into the International Space Station (ISS). Construction of the station began in 1998. The station orbits at an altitude of 409 kilometers (221 nmi) and an orbital inclination of 51.65°. Several of the Space Shuttle's 135 orbital flights were to help assemble, supply, and crew the ISS. Russia has built half of the International Space Station and has continued its cooperation with
9348-571: The present. Hansen created the Demento persona in 1970 while working at the Pasadena, California , station KPPC-FM . After he once played "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus on the radio, DJ "The Obscene" Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play it; this event inspired his stage name. His weekly show went into syndication in 1974 and was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Network from 1978 to 1992. Broadcast syndication of
9462-440: The program online. Several radio stations were forced to drop the program because of this policy, thus reducing Dr. Demento's affiliate count (at the end of the show's terrestrial run only six stations were carrying the show, versus over 100 at its peak), further exacerbating the show's financial problems and inability to sell advertising. Despite the show's terrestrial cancellation, new online episodes are expected to be produced for
9576-438: The programs, and limit the space missions they are able to go on, are, for example: Sally Ride became the first American woman in space, in 1983. Eileen Collins was the first female Shuttle pilot, and with Shuttle mission STS-93 in 1999 she became the first woman to command a U.S. spacecraft. For many years, the USSR (later Russia) and the United States were the only countries whose astronauts flew in space. That ended with
9690-429: The purpose of the flight was purely symbolic. The two nations continued to compete rather than cooperate in space, as the US turned to developing the Space Shuttle and planning the space station, which was dubbed Freedom . The USSR launched three Almaz military sortie stations from 1973 to 1977, disguised as Salyuts. They followed Salyut with the development of Mir , the first modular, semi-permanent space station,
9804-518: The shock over the course of the day that NASA forbade the use of the song for that purpose ever again, effectively banning the song from space. In the 1994 book The New Book of Rock Lists , writers Dave Marsh and James Bernard name "Paralyzed" the " Worst Song Issued by a Major Label ". They write that the Legendary Stardust Cowboy was "a one-man band incapable of playing any instrument, singing in tune, or keeping in time even with himself," but note that "certain outlaw country fans consider 'Paralyzed'
9918-708: The show ended on June 6, 2010, but the show continues to be produced weekly in an online version. Hansen holds a master's degree in ethnomusicology and has written magazine articles and liner notes on recording artists outside of the novelty genre. He is credited with introducing new generations of listeners to artists of the early and middle 20th century whom they might not have otherwise discovered, such as Harry McClintock , Spike Jones , Jimmy Durante , Benny Bell , Rusty Warren , Yogi Yorgesson , Nervous Norvus , Allan Sherman , Ray Stevens , Candy Candido , Stan Freberg , and Tom Lehrer , as well as helping to bring "Weird Al" Yankovic to national attention. Barret Hansen
10032-620: The show to a new producer from San Diego, professional journalist Robert Young. It was under Young's guidance that the show gained in popularity, mainly due to his willingness to foster relationships with national media and with nationally known and up-and-coming artists, including John Mammoser, Judy Tenuta , Emo Philips , Pinkard and Bowden, Wally Wingert, and Mark Davis ( Richard Cheese ). Young accompanied Dr. Demento to Portland, Oregon; Dallas, Texas; New York City; San Diego; Montreal; Phoenix; and other cities to do live performances and PR Events, taking photos, setting up interviews and even 'running
10146-451: The show's financial situation, the Dr. Demento official website announced on June 6, 2010, that the show that aired that weekend would be the final broadcast in the terrestrial radio version; however, new episodes of the online streaming version would still continue to be produced for the foreseeable future, with new episodes posted every Saturday. In addition, according to the site, "...by special agreement and due to contractual considerations,
10260-403: The song's title, "Paralyzed!" The words that are uttered change with each performance, and are occasionally somewhat intelligible; the song's main storyline centers on Odam's unrequited love for a real-life "beautiful cheerleader from Lubbock." Five hundred copies of the single were initially pressed and were released on Odam's own Psycho-Suave label. The song gained some regional popularity and
10374-437: The spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or autonomously , without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts (American or other), cosmonauts (Russian), or taikonauts (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or spacefarers . The first human in space
10488-571: The studio prepared to begin taping the interview portions with Hansen in July 2014, he abruptly refused the interview and issued a cease and desist order to the studio instead, stating that he and Talonian would be taking full control of the film and its profits. Neither version of the film has been released as of 2023. Dr. Demento has been inducted into both the Comedy Music Hall of Fame (in June 2005) and
10602-545: The syndicated programs from 1978 to 1992 were not because the broadcast rights were in limbo due to corporate changes at Westwood One; Talonian eventually resecured the rights to the Westwood One programs in 2012. The first Westwood One show from February 26, 1978 became available in November, 2012. Some live local shows which aired in Los Angeles from this period were added. As part of the contract between Dr. Demento and radio stations, radio stations were prohibited from streaming
10716-471: The term "stardust" in " Ziggy Stardust " is taken from The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. On a live online chatroom in his own ISP , BowieNet , Bowie was asked where he had discovered the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, to which he replied: "When I first joined Mercury Records in the late 60s, he was one of the only other artists they had. And they gave me his entire catalogue, which at the time was three singles. I immediately fell in love with his music. Well actually,
10830-470: The time, the only humans in space are those aboard the ISS, which generally has a crew of 7, and those aboard Tiangong, which generally has a crew of 3. NASA and ESA use the term "human spaceflight" to refer to their programs of launching people into space. These endeavors have also formerly been referred to as "manned space missions", though this is no longer official parlance according to NASA style guides, which call for gender-neutral language . Under
10944-420: The viability of astronauts' medium-term stay in space. In April 2017, China's first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou 1 docked with Tiangong 2 and completed multiple in-orbit propellant refueling tests, which marked the successful completion of the second phase of CMS. The third phase of CMS began in 2020. The goal of this phase is to build China's own space station, Tiangong . The first module of Tiangong ,
11058-450: The worst recordings ever made. Odam has continued recording intermittently since "Paralyzed" and released several albums and singles. " I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship "—an LSD-tinged satire of " I Thought About You "—was covered by longtime fan David Bowie on his Heathen album. Odam, who was largely oblivious to Bowie's fandom of his work, returned the compliment by recording his version of "Space Oddity". Bowie himself said that
11172-444: Was Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin , who launched as part of the Soviet Union's Vostok program on 12 April 1961 at the beginning of the Space Race . On 5 May 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space, as part of Project Mercury . Humans traveled to the Moon nine times between 1968 and 1972 as part of the United States' Apollo program , and have had a continuous presence in space for 24 years and 26 days on
11286-508: Was a suborbital flight on SpaceShipOne on June 21, 2004. The first commercial orbital crew launch was by SpaceX in May 2020, transporting NASA astronauts to the ISS under United States government contract. Human spaceflight capability was first developed during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR). These nations developed intercontinental ballistic missiles for
11400-684: Was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota , the son of an amateur pianist . He claims to have started his vast record collection as early as age 12, when he found "that a local thrift store had thousands of old 78 RPM records for sale at 5 cents each". He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon , where he was promoted to Program Director of KRRC in 1960 and General Manager in 1961. He wrote his senior thesis on Alban Berg 's opera Wozzeck and Claude Debussy 's opera Pelléas et Mélisande . He graduated in 1963, and later studied at UCLA , from which he earned
11514-417: Was built: Columbia , Challenger , Discovery , and Atlantis . A fifth shuttle, Endeavour , was built to replace Challenger , which was destroyed in an accident during launch that killed 7 astronauts on 28 January 1986. From 1983 to 1998, twenty-two Shuttle flights carried components for a European Space Agency sortie space station called Spacelab in the Shuttle payload bay. The USSR copied
11628-526: Was featured on the show. Positive listener response encouraged Yankovic to record more parodies; Hansen then funded Yankovic's first EP, Another One Rides the Bus , which eventually led to a record deal and pop chart success in the 1980s and beyond. Hansen has appeared in a number of Weird Al's music videos as well as in Weird Al's movie UHF . Other artists who attained widespread exposure after getting exposure on
11742-500: Was invited to appear on other programs but these were canceled because of a musicians' strike that halted live television performances. By the time the strike was over, his 15 minutes of fame had lapsed. Historian Rob Weiner of Texas Tech University considers Odam's musical career "a product of desperation," a result of the adage that "there is nothing to do in Lubbock". "Paralyzed" went on to be featured on several Doctor Demento compilations, and it often appears prominently in lists of
11856-669: Was launched in May 2022. A crewed flight to fully certify Starliner was launched in June 2024. Similar to SpaceX, development funding has been provided by a mix of government and private funds. Virgin Galactic is developing SpaceshipTwo , a commercial suborbital spacecraft aimed at the space tourism market. It reached space in December 2018. Blue Origin is in a multi-year test program of their New Shepard vehicle and has carried out 16 uncrewed test flights as of September 2021, and one crewed flight carrying founder Jeff Bezos , his brother Mark Bezos , aviator Wally Funk , and 18-year old Oliver Daemen on July 20, 2021. Over
11970-481: Was not until the 1980s that another woman entered space. At the time, all astronauts were required to be military test pilots; women were not able to enter this career, which is one reason for the delay in allowing women to join space crews. After the rules were changed, Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman to enter space; she was also from the Soviet Union . Sally Ride became the next woman to enter space and
12084-549: Was parodied in an episode of Mr. Show with Bob and David as "Dr. Retarded: Novelty Record Collector and Chief Head of Surgery, Mass General" and is featured as an expert in songs about "paranormal monster parties". Rainn Wilson plays Dr. Demento in the satirical biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story . A number of compilations have been released by Dr. Demento, including: The Demento Society released members-only demo compilations titled Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes yearly from 1991 to 2008. In 2013, Meep Morp Studio put out
12198-486: Was picked up by a major label, Mercury Records . The song's popularity earned "the Ledge" (as he is known by fans) an appearance on NBC 's Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in comedy television series , season 2, episode 10. He dressed in his trademark buckskin jacket, boots and spurs, and ten-gallon hat and, presumably backed by T-Bone Burnett on drums, performed "Paralyzed" and its B-side , "Who’s Knocking On My Door". During
12312-511: Was planned by 1993, but the program was canceled due to lack of funding and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Two more orbiters were never completed, and the one that performed the uncrewed flight was destroyed in a hangar roof collapse in May 2002. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought an end to the Cold War and opened the door to true cooperation between the US and Russia. The Soviet Soyuz and Mir programs were taken over by
12426-621: Was proposed for space tourism. According to a press release from the Iraqi News Agency dated 5 December 1989, there was only one test of the Al-Abid space launcher, which Iraq intended to use to develop its own crewed space facilities by the end of the century. These plans were put to an end by the Gulf War of 1991 and the economic hardships that followed. Under the George W. Bush administration,
12540-524: Was reconfigured as the European module of the same name on the International Space Station. Japan ( NASDA ) began the development of the HOPE-X experimental shuttle spaceplane in the 1980s, to be launched on its H-IIA expendable launch vehicle. A string of failures in 1998 led to funding reductions, and the project's cancellation in 2003 in favor of participation in the International Space Station program through
12654-503: Was responsible for preparing many of the " Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders " mail-order compilation albums of rock music issued in the 1970s, which featured new artists and new material from established Warner and Reprise Records artists. These were advertised on the inner sleeves of WB's current releases—and were only available by ordering direct from WB using a coupon printed on the record sleeve—and were priced at $ 1 per LP. Most of these releases were two-LP sets, so they were priced at $ 2 at
12768-427: Was syndicated by the Westwood One Radio Network. The Westwood One period marked the height of the show's national popularity; it was carried in most major radio markets, airing mainly on FM rock stations, usually late on Sunday evenings. The producer Westwood One assigned to work with Hansen from 1978 to 1982 was Lynnsey Guererro, a former track star from UCLA and Senior Producer at the company. In 1982, he handed off
12882-523: Was the full 4 hours and the nationally syndicated show was cut to 2 hours. The show became a two-hour live show on KLSX and, after that station converted to a talk-only format in 1995, moved again to KSCA , where it remained until that station changed to a Spanish-language format, in February 1997. His weekly show went into national syndication in a two-hour all-novelty format in 1974, produced by his manager Larry Gordon of Gordon/Casady and during 1978–92
12996-419: Was the owner of Talonian when responding to significant criticism of the company in 2007; Talonian had no involvement in any other show than Dr. Demento). Between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, Hansen continued to do live broadcasts on KMET and other Los Angeles area stations, in addition to his weekly taped syndicated show. He also made occasional television appearances, on such shows as The Gong Show (on
#471528