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OTIS
ACCORDING TO OTIS:
"I
live in bucolic Walnut, Iowa with my wife of 27 years
and an odd kid or two. My eclectic career includes
stints as a trainee Benedictine monk, a stand-up
comedian, a radio host, a T.V. critic, and a concert
narrator. In September 2002 I ended a twenty-five
year stint in radio and turned my attention to writing
fiction full-time. I have since written for newspapers,
radio, television, advertising, symphony orchestras
and the stage and have won awards for essays and
journalism. I write for eight hours a day, everyday,
unless the dog is sick or tornadoes threaten." |
OTIS
ACCORDING TO HIS FANS:
Once upon
a time in the thriving metropolis of Omaha, Nebraska,
small children
and goofy teenagers crouched by their radio sets in
hopes of hearing the booming tones of Otis XII emanating
from the speakers. Otis enjoyed a 25-year
career in radio -- but not just spinning vinyl
and
announcing the current time! Over the years, Otis has
kept the fine
art of radio theatre alive by recording short comedy
sketches for weekly broadcast. He spent over a decade
at Z-92 and later worked at KFAB, CD105.9 and KKAR before
being voted into the
Nebraska
Radio
Personalities Hall of Fame.
In the early
'70s, Otis was part of the Omaha-based Ogden
Edsl (sometimes credited as the Ogden Edsl Wahalia
Blues Ensemble Mondo Bizarrio Band) who recorded deliciously
tasteless novelty numbers like "Kinko the Clown" and "Dead
Puppies" of Dr.
Demento fame.
One of the first characters
created by Otis for the listening public was the imitable Space
Commander Wack, a masterful parody of Buck Rogers,
the Lone Ranger, Don Quixote, and most US Congressmen.
Wack (voiced by Otis himself) starred in mock
sci-fi adventure serials along with his faithful sidekick Stupid
Larry (voiced by longtime DJ partner Diver Dan Doomey), Glorf
The Dead Martian Dog (a foley effect thump), and
excitable announcer Yersick
Narge. Piloting the
spaceship they call The
Spaceship,
this motley crew careens through the universe on missions
mandated by The Daring Space Adventure Army Of Earth.
Later, Diver Dan Doomey
and Otis XII collaborated on Lance Stallion, Radio
Detective. For this series, Doomey voiced the faux
film-noir title character while Otis took on the sidekick
role
of Dingo, along with many villains and background
characters. Unlike Space Commander Wack, the Lance Stallion
serials continued for ten chapters, with wacky cliffhangers
and nonsensical mysteries all along the way. Lance's
adventures had titles like "The Girl With The Knife In
Her Hair" and "The President's Brain Is Missing" and
were as tongue-and-check as you may guess.
Starting in the late
'80s,
Otis gave us The Mean Farmer who has been popular
enough to inspire the production
and sale of cassettes that served to immortalize various
bits that Otis and his collaborators have recorded through
the years! The Mean Farmer is a wonderfully nasty character
who tells Paul Harvey-style narratives about the horrible,
painful punishments he inflicts upon everyone and everything
in his rural community.
All in
all, it is a mystery why these jewels of radio theatre
have
gone largely unlauded by the listening public. At the
least, Otis should enjoy the popularity of similar artists
like the FireSign Theater.
(You can get an earful of the radio comedy of Otis XII by visiting the MP3
Library on OtisTwelve.com.)
After
leaving radio in 2002, Otis turned his attention to writing
fiction
and essays
and has enjoyed a great deal of recognition in a short
span of time.His first
novel On The Albino Farm was
shortlisted for the 2003 British Crime Writers Association
Debut
Dagger Award. The sequel Sometimes A Prozac Notion was
similarly on
the short list for the 2004 British Crime Writers Association
Debut Dagger
Award. Also in 2004, he was also a $10,000 winner
in an essay competition called The
Power Of Purpose Awards for piece called "The
Goodness of Trees."
In March
2005, On
The Albino Farm was
voted the winner of the Second Annual Lit
Idol contest
in the
UK in March 2005, beating four finalists and over
1000 entries!
Otis also
finished second
in competition for the Kurt
Vonnegut Fiction Prize with
his story "Life
Among the Bean Bugs," which will be in the summer
issue of the North
American Review (past contributors include Mark
Twain, Walt Whitman, Joseph Conrad, and Kurt Vonnegut himself).
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