2011 Jurors
Fan Jurors
Will Frank
William Frank, aka “scifantasy,” is a geek and a lawyer, in roughly that order. Professionally, he specializes in intellectual property law, has interned for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Creative Commons, and was a computer programmer before he turned to evil–err, law.
Will has been a fan and avid listener of dementia and filk for over ten years; though even before he knew the term, his grandparents had introduced him to Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman, dooming him for life.
Will was also on the reality television show “Beauty and the Geek” in 2007. (Guess which one he was.)
Jean “Jayekitty” Prior
Jean ‘Jayekitty’ Prior has been a DJ on Dementia Radio for over four years, hostess of Radio Free Gallifrey under the moniker DJ Phoenix. A past PenguiCon music track director, she has fostered new comedy and non-mainstream musicians since her collegiate days *mumblemumble* years ago. She has also contributed inspiration to past comedy charity CDs, and as an alumna of the Penn State Monty Python Society, can often be found quoting the most inappropriate bits (when not at work). She is officially the crazy cat lady of dementia fandom, contributing lyrics to one of Marc Gunn’s cat songs, and a few of her cats have meowed their way onto her show. In her spare time, she enjoys writing silly fan fiction, monitoring a twenty-year-old listserv for an obscure vampire tv show, online roleplaying and video games, and fishing (a feline favorite).
William Simpson joined the cast of the “Dr. Demento Show” in 1980 as Whimsical Will. He specializes in Dickie Goodman-style “break-in” interviews and has delivered the weekly “Demented News” segment since 1987.
Under the mentorship of legendary voice actor Daws Butler, Simpson started his career as a child in the 1970s, voicing such characters as the title role in the Grammy-winning “Little Prince” recording (with Richard Burton), Young Spock in the animated “Star Trek” series, and numerous roles for Walt Disney Records, including Christopher Robin in “Winnie the Pooh.”
Musician Jurors
Austin is an alternative rock musician from Longmont, Colorado. He is one half of the band Smashy Claw. Austin has been writing and recording since 2005.
Throughout his tenure as a singer/songwriter, Austin has performed in several places across the country and wrote the official theme song to the geek music festival, Nerdapalooza. In 2011, Austin co-produced the popular “Weird Al” Yankovic tribute album Twenty-Six and a Half, Yankovic himself said about the compilation, “It’s fantastic. Everybody did an amazing job; I’m so flattered and honored.”
Austin has also appeared on the Dr. Demento show. In 2009, one of Austin’s old tracks appeared at #14 on the Dr.‘s yearly Funny 25 countdown.
In early 2011, Austin wrote and recorded 14 new songs as part of the February Album Writing Month (FAWM). This is quite inarguably the best collection of compositions Austin had ever composed. As such, much of the tracks are currently being re-recorded (in addition to a few songs written by band member Nathan Long) to create the debut Smashy Claw CD.
Austin is a regular guest contributor to the Funny Music Project. You can often find him on tracks by TV’s Kyle, Insane Ian, and playing bass for Nuclear Bubble Wrap at live shows.
A tremendous(ly small) battle rages amongst the Fans of Fandom as to whether Danny Birt is better-known for his authorial/editorial contributions to SFF literature, or for his musical compositions and parodies. On one side of the argument, for example, his most recent fantasy novel “Between a Roc and a Hard Place” has won several national awards – believe it or not, even from outside of fandom. On the other side, at SFF conventions Danny’s live filk concerts always draw larger crowds of fans than his readings (wherein Danny often has to speak VERY LOUDLY to drown out the crickets’ chirping). Perhaps the fact that he has a Master’s Degree in Music Therapy tilts the balance in the latter half’s favor. Perhaps the fact that almost nobody in the world can explain exactly what the heck Music Therapy is tilts the balance back. Who knows? Maybe this battle will last until after Danny is dead… which is probably right about the time that all this writing and composing will start to make him enough money to live on. In the mean time, Danny has settled in eastern North Carolina where he is a faculty member at a local college. In his spare time, Danny’s hobby is finding new hobbies. (Danny’s website is DannyBirt.com – which shows just how creative of a guy he is.)
Al Yankovic was born on October 23, 1959, in the Los Angeles suburb of Lynwood. He first took up the accordion when a salesman came around to solicit business for a music school. His parents, Nick and Mary Yankovic, decided on the accordion because of polka king Frankie Yankovic (no relation). As a child and young teen, Al watched a lot of TV, which gave him much inspiration for his later work. He also became a fan of such musician/comedians as Allan Sherman and Spike Jones. He became especially acquainted with these musicians through the radio show of Barry Hansen, aka “Dr. Demento”, which would later become a great source of publicity for his talents. After an extraordinary career at Lynwood High School, where Al graduated as valedictorian, he attended the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo to study architecture, a field he is said to have chosen because it was listed first in the catalog (although he has said that he really chose it on the advice of a guidance counselor). It was at Cal Poly that Al had a radio show and earned the nickname “Weird Al”. Although he had sent tapes to Dr. Demento in the past, it was at Cal Poly where he recorded his first real published piece, a parody of the popular “My Sharona” by The Knack, called “My Bologna”. After the astounding success of that song, forever to be known as the “bathroom recording” as it was recorded in the acoustically perfect mens’ room, Al began his phenomenal career, which has spanned twelve albums, numerous compilations, a box set, movies, videos and edible underwear. He has also done a great deal to advance the cause of accordion-wielding weirdos, for which we can all be thankful. (from IMDB.com)
Permanent Juror
Dr. Demento is the on-air name of Barret Hansen, the longtime host of The Dr. Demento Show, a syndicated radio show in the U.S. that features novelty and comedy records. Hansen studied music at Reed College in Portland, Oregon and at the University of California at Los Angeles. He first used the Dr. Demento moniker in 1970, in his early days as a Los Angeles disc jockey. By 1974 he was nationally syndicated, playing rare novelty songs from the past and present, from Spike Jones and Tom Lehrer to Frank Zappa and Weird Al Yankovic. Hansen is also an avid record collector and expert on the history of recording who has produced several compilations, mostly for Rhino Records. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. (from Infoplease.com)
The Dr. Demento Show is radio’s weekly two-hour festival of “mad music and crazy comedy” available for streaming on the internet. It is a free-wheeling, unpredictable mix of music and comedy. Along with legends like Spike Jones, Tom Lehrer, Stan Freberg, Monty Python, and Frank Zappa, the Doctor plays new funny songs sent in by amateur and professional singers and comedians. (from Dr. Demento.com)
Chairperson
Rob Balder is a professional cartoonist, singer/songwriter, game designer and web entrepreneur.
Most of his time is consumed writing and producing Erfworld, an epic fantasy/comedy comic about an obsessive strategy gamer who is summoned to fight a real war. Erfworld was co-created in 2006 with illustrator Jamie Noguchi, and continues now with the talents of illustrator Xin Ye. Time magazine named Erfworld one of its top ten graphic novels of 2007, and Wired.com called it “Geekiest Comic Ever.” The first physical book of the series, “Erfworld: the Battle for Gobwin Knob,” was published in February of 2011.
Rob also writes and sings comedy songs, and has recorded two solo CDs. The title track from his first CD, “Rich Fantasy Lives” was co-written with Filk Hall of Famer Tom Smith. It won the Pegasus award for Best Filk Song of 2007. In 2009 he collaborated with -=ShoEboX=- of Worm Quartet on a CD called “Baldbox: the Dumb Album.” Rob’s songs have often been heard on the Doctor Demento Show. In January 2007, he and six other comedy music performers founded The Funny Music Project, where they present new songs every single day, released under a Creative Commons license. The FuMP won the 2009 Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Music Podcast.
