Classic La Conner Christmas radio program plays Spokane

The Golden Age of Radio, at least for La Conner, is making a comeback.

That’s music to the ears of listeners here, many of whom remember the 1991 production of “Have A Twisted Xmas,” the gonzo radio play hailed at the time for its social commentary, and which was originally presented in downtown La Conner.

Its message, like the original Christmas story itself, is one for which time has few limits.

Which is why, thanks to modern technology and the guidance of radio personality and former La Conner resident Paul Potocky, “Have A Twisted Xmas” will be broadcast and streamed twice this holiday season.

Spokane station KYRS (88.1 and 92.3 FM) and kyrs.org, in conjunction with Piecemeal Theatre, will present the La Conner Cutesville Bughouse Players in “Have A Twisted Xmas” Dec. 23 (10 p.m.) and on Christmas (2 p.m.).

The radio dramedy debuted more than a quarter-century ago to a full house at Cafe Pojante, then a fun and eclectic La Conner hub where, if the world’s problems weren’t solved, they were identified and debated, often at length.

“I remember a lot of people were there,” Potocky says of the Cafe Pojante gathering. “Tom Robbins was there. It was a great atmosphere.”

The show, whose cast and versatile core of contributors was laden with local talent, served as a fundraiser for Skagit Friendship House, the emergency shelter in Mount Vernon that was the mission of late La Conner resident Barbara Cram, and then in its formative stages.

Potocky, a writer and composer-musician who now hosts the popular SOS-Spokane news and public affairs program on KYRS, developed themes for “Have A Twisted Xmas” during a period when issues such as homelessness and income inequality were beginning to generate headlines.

It was then that Potocky himself found a home – on several levels, and quite by chance – in La Conner.

Potocky had planned to do some globetrotting and made his way up the West Coast from southern California when his bank merged with another financial institution, temporarily freezing his funds.

Potocky happened to be in La Conner at the time.

In need of ready cash, he met the first two of many friends to be made here. One was Gail Thulen, who hired Potocky to work in his cucumber fields. The other was Alan Pentz, editor of the Channel Town Press newspaper, who loaned Potocky a manual typewriter with which to write feature articles and offered his camp trailer to bunk in.

“They were really instrumental in helping out,” Potocky recalls.

With his trademark boundless energy, Potocky was soon also waiting tables at La Conner restaurants and making headway in the arts scene.

The community proved a fertile recruiting ground for “Have A Twisted Xmas,” a heady story that focuses on what Potocky calls the “strange, twisted, and uproarious” road trip of father and son Pete and Dick Bingo amid a time of social upheaval.

Among those Potocky successfully approached for the project was a young pianist who played at the Channel Lodge and had developed a loyal following among La Conner’s artists, including the renowned Guy Anderson.

“I loved it when they would show up to hear me play my music,” says Ramon Hayes, now the mayor of La Conner. “They really listened. They took it seriously.”

So impressed was Potocky, in fact, that he enlisted Hayes to perform a piano solo for “Have A Twisted Xmas,” one of a dozen pieces comprising the show’s song list.

Meanwhile, chasing down stories for CTP enabled Potocky to meet others who would fill roles for “Have A Twisted Xmas,” which he adapted from the lead chapter of the novel Pete & Dick Get Off.

“I had written the novel prior to the launch of the first Gulf War,” Potocky remembers, “and then changed it into a radio drama.

“Working at the Channel Town Press,” he adds, “was a great way to get involved in the community. It was the perfect excuse to talk to people.”

For instance, he talked Allan Olson, now General Manager of the Swinomish Tribal Community, into reading the introduction for “Have A Twisted Xmas.” Shelter Bay resident Rosemarie Cook served as an announcer and sound engineer.

Rev. Rich Lang, then pastor of La Conner United Methodist Church – and whom Potocky interviewed on-air before he was named superintendent of the church’s Pacific Northwest Conference SeaTac Missional District – was cast as Dick Bingo.

Potocky also landed locals Bo Miller, Charlotte Underwood, Dana Pound, July Joy, Mike Heaton, Tessa Grabke and Fred Wolf, the latter an award-winning author, filmmaker and theoretical physicist, for the show.

The late John Kaguras, a La Conner architect who served on Town panels, portrayed Arnold Baskin.

A Potocky favorite, the late Dick Hoover, was a perfect fit for the role of Pete Bingo.

La Conner farmer Dave Hedlin provided a 1930s-era radio as a vintage prop.

Potocky eventually left La Conner to report for several Bay Area newspapers and would gain acclaim as a Napa Valley tour guide. “Have A Twisted Xmas” had become a faded memory until Potocky happened upon a tape recording of the show during one of his moves.

“When I first came across it,” he says, “I didn’t really think a lot about it.”

But the folks at KYRS were intrigued and thought a reprise of the show at Christmas would be an ideal fit for the station’s non-commercial civic-oriented format.

After thinking about it, Potocky agreed. Memories – good ones, at that – came flooding back.

“Those were fun times,” he says. “You could live pretty cheap in La Conner in those days. And it was such a great mix of people. There were farmers, Native Americans, fishermen, artists, writers, poets and everything politically from right to left.”

That was reflected by those who took part in “Have A Twisted Xmas.”

“It was a great range of people,” says Potocky. “Everybody got along so well even though they had different political opinions.”

For Potocky, it was a project that truly embodied the Christmas spirit.

And, thanks to KYRS and kyrs.org, it continues to do so.