The Comedy of Music - Dan Riley
appearing Sat., June 15 at Southern Door High School
June 14, 2002
By Roger Kuhns |
EGG HARBOR, WI - Some people simply have a talent for making
people laugh. Dan Riley does so through music, to make people feel better about the world, and to support good
causes.
Dan is a Door County resident, living on a 40-acre tree farm just north of the county line in Union. This is home
base after years of being on the road - first as a serious musician then as a seriously funny musician. The fifty-something
comic has had a long and interesting career. "Give me the Cheese Head Polka" currently graces his website
and the playlist of WDOR, and he has a forthcoming CD - Live At The Riverside, recorded last October.
Dan finds lots of good causes to work. He cares about people, and has been involved with the Cerebral Palsy telethons
for many years in Green Bay.
Riley says, "It's the longest running local telethon in the nation and the most successful."
But locally, there's another event coming up. On Saturday June 15 at Southern Door High School Riley is putting
on a show he calls "Dan Riley and Friends".
"I'm beating the bushes for friends… performing friends to do this for free." Riley says. "I have
this $1000 scholarship called the Dan Riley Scholarship for the Performing Arts each year. I've been doing it for
many years now, and perform the concert to get money to sustain it."
Cory Vandertie, who currently manages the Door County High School Auditorium, was the first Dan Riley scholarship
recipient. The scholarship helped Cory pursue his talent, and now he's working with it.
The gig life:
Taking your act on the road opens doors and pitfalls. You walk and fall through them, depending on your artistic
agility and luck. Riley recounts one cruise ship gig he had early in his career. It was a world cruise to Cairo
that came equipped with a fully armed military escort.
Riley says, "The nastiest people we saw were the military guards. Doing song parodies and comedy on a ship
like that with a very mixed audience is really tough. Gotta be careful too." Riley says that now the bulk
of his time is booked on Disney cruises because it works to the family audience. When on those boats, Riley says,
"I am the Disney product. I don't cross any lines."
Riley got an early start in being from a musical family in Milwaukee. Like so many, he was inspired by the Beatles,
and started in garage bands. His college band in Milwaukee always took second place in battles of the bands.
Riley says, "Our band was called 'Defiance', but we should have been called 'Runners Up'."
After a number of false starts and managing a club or two, Riley finally got a break in 1981 touring with Rodney
Dangerfield while he was peaking with "Caddy Shack". Riley worked as an opening act for Dangerfield.
He explains, "I met my wife when I was working the discos, then we started traveling all over with Rodney
- main stage at Caesar's, the works."
Riley also toured with Joan Rivers extensively, as well as with country acts.
"I worked with just about everybody in one form or another. I hosted country music festivals. Willie (Nelson)
was there. Opened a couple concerts with Wylon Jennings, worked a lot on the Nashville Network - what Jim Stafford
called Practice TV."
"It forced me to write a lot of material, and I did a lot of corporate work; they pay well. I worked with
Sinatra in Atlantic City. Man, that was pressure beyond belief. I had to wear a tuxedo to open for a July gig in
Atlantic City. My tux was soaked through even before I went on. Frank Jr. was the bandleader, and he asked me if
I was nervous. Yeah, I said, and he replied, 'don't be, you wouldn't be here if you didn't belong.' But you're
not part of these people. I opened the door for Frank's wife; I think she looked at my shoe. Frank was enjoying
the concert thing, and he was tolerant of my presence. But the concert scene wasn't paying much."
"I remember some really great moments. Working a main stage in Vegas is great. I worked Radio City Music Hall
and that is really something. There was that time in the Universal Amphitheater in LA; I have a totally burned
out video... which my cousin recorded. The ovation I got that night was amazing; I'll never forget that one. My
version of 'Whole Lotta Love' by Led Zeppelin had energy, and I was really banging on the guitar; it was a perfect
opening for Rodney - that was a good one. Rod liked Sam Kinnison, he was a pal of Lenny Bruce. He liked people
that were caustic, and I'm not that way, so I couldn't sustain that thing. But it was a time."
Now, here in Door County, is an opportunity to catch some of his world-class talent, and support a good cause at
the same time. Plan on an evening of Dan Riley's comedy on June 15. |
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