The Battalion
LIFESTYLES
Mor
Monday, January 29,1990
Lifestyles Editor Mary-Lynne Rice 845-;
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A ‘delightfully disgusting ’ song
‘Sneaky’ Pete tops Dr. Demento’s Funny Five
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By CHUCK LOVEJOY
Of The Battalion Staff
“You know, there are so many im
portant questions that confront a
man during his lifetime, such as,
‘Why am I here?’ ‘Where did I come
from?’ ‘Where am I going?’ and,
most important, ‘Who put the
booger on my beer mug?’ ”
With this introduction. Dr. De-
mento, host of the nationally syndi
cated radio program “The Dr. De-
mento Show,” announced that
“Booger on My Beer Mug” was
number one among his “Funny Fi
ve” wacky tunes for the second week
in a row.
After playing the song, Dr. De-
mento announced that it was per
formed by the “pride of Texas
A&M, ‘Sneaky’ Pete Rizzo.”
On the Texas A&M campus,
Rizzo is better known as Dr. Peter
Rizzo, an associate professor of cell
biology.
But to the Northgate crowd, Rizzo
is known as “Sneaky” Pete, leader of
Wednesday sing-along sessions at
the Flying Tomato and frontman of
“Sneaky” Pete and the Neon Mad
men, a band that specializes in popu
lar tunes from the ’50s and ’60s.
Rizzo says he got the idea for
“Booger” one Saturday morning
while walking through his living
room while holding a cup of coffee.
“Out of nowhere came the
thought of ‘Who put a booger on my
coffee cup’,” Rizzo says. “Believe me,
the coffee cup was clean, but I
thought I had to make a song about
it and send it to Dr. Demento.”
After his revelation, Rizzo says the
time he spent writing “Booger on
My Beer Mug” and recording it in
his eight-track home studio was rela
tively short.
“This one was rather quick — I
had the basics of the song down in
30 minutes,” Rizzo says. “Some
songs take years ’cause I feel there’s
no hurry to complete them.”
For instance, Rizzo says he had
one song for 20 years before he fi-
“nonsense song with hidden
statements about rising costs and
such.”
Altogether, Rizzo has sent two
dozen original or parody songs to
Dr. Demento to be considered for
the show.
He even got the chance to meet
Dr. Demento at his studios in Los
Angeles while attending a confer
ence in San Francisco of the Ameri
can Society for Cell Biology.
“He is a very zany person, just like
on the air — that’s not a put-on,”
Rizzo says.
Rizzo writes all of his material
himself, although other people, in
cluding his wife Lori, help to rewrite
and polish the songs.
In fact, Rizzo says, his wife wrote
one verse of “Death on the High
way” and one verse of “Yo Bamba,”
A Big “Booger’
People are surprised both ways when they find out
about one or the other aspects of my personality. Those
who know me as a professor can’t believe I play rock and
roll, and those who know me as ‘Sneaky’ Pete can’t
believe I teach biology, because both things are at
different ends of the spectrum and are very stereotyped. I
guess I’m not that normal.”
“Booger on My Beer Mug” is Riz
zo’s third song to make the Dr. De
mento show,which gets a large part
of its material from songs in by lis
teners and fans.
, Rizzo is definitely a listener, espe
cially since “Booger” first received
airplay in November.
“As far as I know, the song has
been played seven times on the
show,” Rizzo says. “And four of
those times, it has been in the ‘Funny
Five’ .”
And how does it feel to have the
nation’s wackiest song?
“I feel very lucky — Dr. Demento
gets hundreds of tapes a week,”
Rizzo says. “It’s a great distinction
just to get a song on the show, not to
mention having one go to number
one.”
Rizzo describes “Booger on My
Beer Mug” as a “delightfully disgus
ting” song. The “Booger” chorus
best explains Rizzo’s desription:
“Who put the booger on my beer
mug/When I was dancing with my
tushka/Who put the booger on my
beer mug/I’m gonna knock ’em in
the head.”
Although it really doesn’t come
through in the song, Rizzo says the
song is set at a Polish wedding.
And if a song about a booger on a
beer mug at a Polish wedding isn’t
bizarre enough, perhaps Rizzo’s
inspiration for the song is.
— Dr. Pete Rizzo,
a.k.a. “Sneaky” Pete
nally completed it, although he used
its melody for breaks during his
show. He got the urge to write lyrics
for it one afternoon while standing
in line to get Aggie football tickets.
“I was standing in line and think
ing about all the drinking and driv
ing that goes on with students at that
time of year, and somehow com
bined those thoughts with the mel
ody I already had,” Rizzo says.
The resulting piece is a more se
rious song called “Death on the
Highway,” which Rizzo hopes to talk
local radio stations into playing dur
ing holiday times.
an English parody of “La Bamba”
that was sent to Dr. Demento. She
also sings on “Booger on My Beer
Mug.”
Before “Booger’
Because of “Booger”
Whatever becomes of his national
exposure and success, Rizzo says, he
is happy with his dual role as biology
professor and researcher (he investi
gates chromosomal proteins).
He says he tries to separate him
self from his “Sneaky” Pete persona
by telling students in his cell biology
class that “Sneaky” is his twin
brother.
Booger on My Beer Mug” is his
biggest hit so far, R(zzo sa,yS h^ pre
fers his second D^. Demento hit,
“Wakin’ Up Is Hard to Do,” which
also has been played on local morn
ing radio shows.
The song is a sendup of the old
Neil Sedaka song “Breaking Up Is
Hard to Do,” and features Rizzo’s
son Grant, who has a small vocal
part.
Rizzo’s first Demento hit was a
song called “Rhinestones and Polar
Bears,” which Rizzo describes as a
“We are as different as two people
can be,” he jokes.
Rizzo s<}ys that several students go
through the semester believing his
fib.
“People are surprised both ways
when they find out about one or the
other aspects of my personality,”
Rizzo says.
“Those who know me as a profes
sor can’t believe I play rock and roll,
and those who know me as “Sneaky”
Pete can’t believe I teach biology, be
cause both things are at different
ends of the spectrum and are very
“Sneaky” Pete Rizzo jams on guitar
band, the Neon Madmen, entertain
as he and his
the crowd at
Photo by Steven At. Nortjk
Waivers Friday night. Rizzo is a part-time musi|
cian and an A&M cell biology professor.
pose
doesn
wife, t
stereotyped.
“I guess I’m not that normal,”
Rizzo says.
Regardless of which mode he is in,
Rizzo says he is happy with both his
jobs.
But there really are three, if you
count his zany solo work separate
from his more structured work with
the Neon Madmen.
“Playing one time a week solo and
several times per month with the
band is about all I can handle,”!
says. “Any more and it wouldKt»|
be like work, and I do this maimyf
enjoyment.
“When it gets to be like work I
will be time to quit.”
teresti
tionall
mid-li
‘Me and My Girl’ revives charming love story
By MARY-LYNNE RICE
Of The Battalion Staff
Photo by Steven M. Noreyko
The Duchess of Dene (Karlah Hamilton) looks away as Bill
Snibson (Adam Graham) fakes suicide because she won’t let
him marry his “girl.” OPAS presented the musical “Me and My
Girl” Friday night in Rudder Auditorium.
In a clash between English gentry
and London Cockney, New York’s
Music Theater Group gave a daz
zling presentation of the hit Broad
way musical “Me and My Girl.”
Texas A&M’s Opera and Per
forming Arts Society brought the re
vived 1930s show to Rudder Audito
rium Friday night..
The Tony award-winning pro
duction, with music by Noel Gay and
choreography by Dan Mojica, was
written by L. Arthur Rose and
Douglas Furber and directed by Joe
Leonardo.
“Me and My Girl,” a love story,
parodies the pretentions of British
nobility. Bill Snibson (Adam Gra
ham), a witty, boisterous Cockney
from the Lambeth section of Lon
don, turns up as heir to the centu
ries-old Earldom of Hareford.
The ever-so-proper Hareford
clan is mortified by Bill’s back
ground and accompanying social im
proprieties.
Yet the family name must be sus
tained at all costs, and Maria, Du
chess of Dene (Karlah Hamilton)
vows to mold Bill into a eminently
suitable earl.
Meanwhile, Lady Jacqueline (Ra
chel Kasper), a slinky, blond vamp
unwillingly engaged to the insipid,
debt-ridden Gerald Bolingbroke
(Eric Hoit), crafts her own plan to
tempt the new earl into marrying
her.
Bill, however, remains impervious
to the family’s efforts. Every lesson
in gentility becomes a farce, and ev
ery seductive advance by Lady Jac
queline is definitively rebuffed.
After another unsuccessful at
tempt to entice Bill, Lady Jacqueline
announces, “I am not to be cast aside
lightly!” “No,” Bill agrees, “you
should be thrown with great force.”
Although Bill shoots off the best
of the musical’s one-liners, the entire
cast’s dialogue is sprinkled liberally
with jokes, double entendres and
general hilarity.
But Bill’s good humor disguises
his discontent as he struggles with
the restrictions and obligations
heaped upon him. Only one thing
saves Bill from crumbling under the
pressures of noblesse oblige — his
relationship with his girl, Sally (Evy
O’Rourke), another Lambeth Cock
ney.
Together, they revel in Bill’s good
fortune, planning the life they will
share as earl and “earless.” They dis
cuss their grand plans to convert the
palatial Hareford estate into a real
Cockney home, including installing
linoleum and ditching the old por
traits an suits of armor.
For a while, the family sadly toler
ates his devotion to Sally and his vis
its to her at the Lambeth pub. Un
wittingly, Bill slowly decimates
Hereford tradition with his continu
ing faux pas.
Soon enough, however, Maria de
mands that he find a “proper” lady.
The provisions of the will forbid the
new earl from marrying anyone
from a class beneath him.
Bill refuses to abandon Sally, but
she is reluctant to stand in the way of
his inheritance. She advises him to
forget her and marry a woman with
“good blood.” Bill protests, “What
are you, anemic?”
Nevertheless, Sally disappears
without a word to Bill. Desperate to
find her, Bill dispatches dozens of
detectives to track her down, but to
no avail.
But Sally has been aided in her
departure. In an unabashed refer
ence to the musical “My Fair Lady,”
Sally is sent for lessons in proper
speech, manners and dress by Sir
John (Allen Karpe), a sympathetic
member of the Hareford clan.
Sir John is inspired by the love Bill
and Sally share, and he conspires to
preserve their relationship despite
Maria’s disapproval.
Sally makes her debut as a proper
gentlewoman at a party given in
Bill’s honor just as Bill is about to
leave the Hareford mannor to
search for her.
Dressed in a tiara and a white
satin gown, Sally charms the crowd,
revealing her new image to a
stunned, ecstatic Bill. He can only
See ‘My Girl’/Page 5
namec
‘Driving Miss Daisy ’
has rare simple charm
‘the bi
ByTODD STONE
Of The Battalion Staff
“Driving Miss Daisy” is a won
derful film able to charm even
the most die-hard “Friday the
13th”fan.
“Miss Daisy” is the kind of
movie that takes the fear out of
guessing which new film has a
chance of being entertaining.
Fear not, fellow moviegoers,
this movie is a gem — guaranteed
to be worthy of the second mort
gage needed to afford today’s
movie ticket prices.
Jessica Tandy (“Cocoon,” “Bat
teries Not Included”) stars as Miss
Daisy, a wealthy Jewish south
erner who can no longer drive
herself safely around town. When
she cannot even get the car out of
the garage, it becomes apparent
that something must change.
DRIVING MISS DAISY
Starring Morgan Freeman
and Jessica Tandy
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Rated PG
Cregoi
Miss Daisy’s son, played by Dan
Aykroyd, hires a chauffeur,
Hoke, to drive for his mother.
Hoke, played by Morgan Free
man, is a simple but delightful
older black man with a contagious
charm.
Miss Daisy has no interest in
having a driver and seems im
mune to Hoke’s charm. Fiercely
independent, she resents the fact
that she needs Hoke at all.
The interplay between Hoke
and Daisy is acting at its finest.
Daisy is strong-willed, quick
witted and initially spiteful. Still,
Daisy’s stiff, lady-like pretentions
have a certain sweetness.
Jason himself would drop his
machete for afternoon tea with
Miss Daisy.
The contrast of Daisy’s prim-
and-proper mannerisms and
Hoke’s country charm is delight
ful.
A friendship develops in spite
of their different social, economi
cal, educational and racial back
grounds. The friendship seems
natural, not forced by overzea-
lous screenwriters, and continues
for more than 15 years.
The filmmakers bring up the
racial difference between Daisy
and Hoke, but they never fully
develop the issue.
Daisy stereotypes blacks occa
sionally and sometimes forgets
that Hoke is a friend who de
serves her respect. Still, their
friendship blossoms from mutual
caring, so the racial issue is never
compelling.
Director Bruce Beresford
keeps the spotlight on Freeman
and Tandy, with great results.
Alfred LIhry, who wrote the
play, “Driving Miss Daisy” ,also
wrote the screenplay. Uhry devel
ops a unique depth in the charac
ters of Daisy and Hoke. They also
exchange amusing dialogues that
are quick, clever and fun.
The supporting cast also was
first-rate. Aykroyd gave a solid
performance as Daisy’s son. He
spoke with a good southern ac
cent and mixed well with Free
man and Tandy. Esther Rollewas
a pleasant surprise as Daisy's
maid, and her character and per
formance were worthy of more
screen time.
Freeman and Tandy deserve
Oscar considerations for their
performances, which were bol
stered by an engaging on-screen
chemistry. Furthermore, few sig
nificant outside forces acted on
Hoke and Daisy, so Freeman and
Tandy’s performances had to
carry the film.
If you need a tug at the heart,
this film will deliver.
With the heartwarming and
touching performances by Tandy
and Freeman, “Driving Miss Dai
sy” is simply a joy to see.