Anyone who goes by a fictitious name has to explain sooner or later, soooo…
It all began back in 1984 when I took my daughter to see the movie “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the Eighth Dimension”. It’s a cult movie now and I had participated in one of the cult newsletters that were active in the ‘80s by joining “The BlueBlaze Irregulars”. The BBI was the civilian backup for Buckaroo’s “Hong Kong Cavaliers” and everyone had to have a “handle’ or fictitious name. Most of the BBI used their geographic location in their handle. I live in Pennsylvania Dutch country and both my parents were from 100% Pennsylvania Dutch families so I became “the Dutchman”.
In 1985 I joined a Commodore 64 demo group. We made video and music demos to compete with other groups around the world over who could get the most awesome performance out of a Commodore 64. Once again everyone needed a handle so without even having to think about it I used my BBI handle and became known in that scene as The Dutchman.
I became an FM college radio broadcaster in 1996. My show is still on the air weekly on 91.7 FM in the Lehigh Valley area the station is WMUH Allentown. My on-air name is The Dutchman and my show is called “It’s Da Dutchman Show”. I have been nominated for the Lehigh Valley Music Awards best college radio personality for the last few years. (Haven’t won it yet) You can listen online 4-6pm Saturdays at http://www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh.
Now is a good time to mention my real name; Daniel D. Diefenderfer. Jump forward in time to a 1998 blues jam. I had just begun playing blues harmonica and it quickly became obvious that Daniel D. Diefenderfer was one of the worst stage names for a musician ever. Other musicians started asking me for a nickname and … you guessed it, Dutchman. Now you can mention Dutchman in any blues club in the Lehigh Valley area and they will know me, my picture even hangs on the wall in a couple of them with the name “The Dutchman” printed on them. All blues musicians I talk to call me Dutch, if you refer to me as Daniel they will not know who you are talking about.
Recently my father told me that Dutchman used to be his nickname also. I never knew anything about that up until then and I marvel at the co-incidence. So I guess you could say it is a Legacy.
It all began back in 1984 when I took my daughter to see the movie “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the Eighth Dimension”. It’s a cult movie now and I had participated in one of the cult newsletters that were active in the ‘80s by joining “The BlueBlaze Irregulars”. The BBI was the civilian backup for Buckaroo’s “Hong Kong Cavaliers” and everyone had to have a “handle’ or fictitious name. Most of the BBI used their geographic location in their handle. I live in Pennsylvania Dutch country and both my parents were from 100% Pennsylvania Dutch families so I became “the Dutchman”.
In 1985 I joined a Commodore 64 demo group. We made video and music demos to compete with other groups around the world over who could get the most awesome performance out of a Commodore 64. Once again everyone needed a handle so without even having to think about it I used my BBI handle and became known in that scene as The Dutchman.
I became an FM college radio broadcaster in 1996. My show is still on the air weekly on 91.7 FM in the Lehigh Valley area the station is WMUH Allentown. My on-air name is The Dutchman and my show is called “It’s Da Dutchman Show”. I have been nominated for the Lehigh Valley Music Awards best college radio personality for the last few years. (Haven’t won it yet) You can listen online 4-6pm Saturdays at http://www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh.
Now is a good time to mention my real name; Daniel D. Diefenderfer. Jump forward in time to a 1998 blues jam. I had just begun playing blues harmonica and it quickly became obvious that Daniel D. Diefenderfer was one of the worst stage names for a musician ever. Other musicians started asking me for a nickname and … you guessed it, Dutchman. Now you can mention Dutchman in any blues club in the Lehigh Valley area and they will know me, my picture even hangs on the wall in a couple of them with the name “The Dutchman” printed on them. All blues musicians I talk to call me Dutch, if you refer to me as Daniel they will not know who you are talking about.
Recently my father told me that Dutchman used to be his nickname also. I never knew anything about that up until then and I marvel at the co-incidence. So I guess you could say it is a Legacy.
