EP 156 Telling Alaska’s story with Mr. Whitekeys

Crude Conversations

In this one, Cody talks to Mr. Whitekeys. He’s a showman, a performer and a musician, and for over 50 years he’s been entertaining Alaska with his music, his shows and his books. He started playing music in Anchorage in the 1970s at Chilkoot Charlie’s. In those days, the bars didn’t close until 5 am. So, a band could play for as long as 7 ½ hours — from 9 pm to 4:30 am. Keys says that for a musician it wasn’t about the entertainment, it was an endurance contest. From those years spent playing at Koots, he learned how to read an audience, to understand what entertains them. Then in 1980, he opened The Fly By Night Club. It featured long-running shows that parodied Alaska like “The Whale Fat Follies” and “Christmas In Spenard.” They had original songs, costumes, props, sets and slideshows. You could even get a meal of Spam there. The goal was to provide Anchorage with a cheap laugh, some infectious music and a good time.

Alaska, as it existed in the ‘70s, continues to influence Keys’ idea of Alaska. There was a renegade spirit to it back then, he says, and there wasn’t much influence from the Outside. There were no food chains, no big box stores and people lived how they wanted to live. That’s why he came to Alaska and he never left. It was unpretentious, just like Keys. In fact, at one point, he had a rule that he would never go to any entertainment-related event if they didn’t serve nachos. So, he laughs when asked what he thinks his legacy will be because he’s just a normal guy looking for a good time. Not someone to be put on a pedestal. But he says that if he did have one — if he did have a legacy — it would be that he spent his life telling Alaska’s story.