A discotheque reception room in a dental clinic,
Honolulu, Hawaii, 1979-1993; seen on national American
television including NBC's Real People; when DJs on a Manhattan
radio station asked "Why?", Dr. Rodney Pygoya Chang, then
nicknamed the Disco Doc, replied "It's ART!" - Step in there
for a dental appointment and you experienced it. Yes, the music was loud
and yes, patients did ask each other to dance. In fact a couple got married
on this floor where they first met! :)
Note: the window just below the neon sign housed an
in-house DJ,
M&Ms (Floyd McCoy, Jr), originally from New York City;
Just for the records- two other copycat dentists later did their own
disco-dental offices, one in Los Angeles and one in Boston, USA.
In 1979 Disco Doc danced on this floor in front of cameras for
NBC's
Real People television show (rated the most watched program of the 3
major USA networks for the year); interviewed by John Barbour.
After exposure on Real People Show, radio stations called to interview
the Disco Doc, including stations from New York City, Detroit, Seattle, Denver,
San Francisco and New Hamphire.
In 1981 on Friday nights a DJ from a local radio station
broadcasted
directly from within the discotheque, taking disco song requests from callers;
paid monthly costs to KISA radio station for hookup and personnel.
1986 - Eight years later after the initial opening, Da
Waiting Room and Disco Doc was taped
for national television again , this time the evening P.M. Magazine program.
1998 - local television coverage (The Hawaiian Moving
Company) showcased this 1985
feature again in Feburary 1998; the words disco and dentist has been
associated ever since in Hawaii. Ad for 1985 original TV
feature
The Disco Doc, performing for the Hawaiian
Moving Company TV show, 1985
Beyond
Disco Dancing - February 5, 2002
Floyd M&Ms McCoy, dental DJ, on
NBC's Real People TV show, 1979, 1980
Confirmed TV sightings of Da Waiting Room
Across the U.S.A., Australia,
Germany, Japan, and Canada
Dear Dr. Chang -
Thanks for being a part of the WRIF Morning Show.
Mike Collins
WRIF 101, Detroit's Best (1979)
Disco Doc, dance performance every
Saturday Night in Waikiki clubs
DISCO-DENTAL-COMPLEX - GOOD FOR CHILDREN, Dr. Mary Robertson, Pychiatry, University of Florida
Some Disco Social Psychology, Dr. Rodney Chang, Disco Dancer,Waikiki, Honolulu, 1979
Some disco-art theory, page from artist/dancer's diary
Philosophic
Approaches to an Art Psychology and Art Criticism, 1980
using *Da Waiting Room* as art project example
Fertile Space for Studying the Aesthetic Phenomenom
More on Disco, Disco Doc and his Da Waiting
Room
and its influences on dentistry and art
First
News Blurb Informing Honolulu would never be the same
John Barbour and the Disco Doc
Disco Doc and Partner Readies to Dance for
National TV
Australia & the World Looks On
First Party of Da Waiting Room!
Disco Doc In His Environment
In Interior Shot of Da Waiting Room
Ink Flowed
Dancing Patient Without a Toothache
School Excursion to Da Waiting Room
The Making of the Disco Doc
Fame has its Benefits
The Masked Doc
Disco Lady
Disco Doc Opens Gallery as Warm Up to Disco
Parties
An Offer Too Easy to Refuse
More Dancing Patients
One of Many Wonderful Moments at Da
Waiting Room!
email from visitors
How did you Know I love Disco! Greyt page-could stay
here all day. BTW I used to fly to Chicago to study Disco with a man who taught a couple
that made it to the finals on Dance Fever(remember that show?).
1997
Lucy of Greyt
You know, I LOVE TO DISCO, which I do often.
(I have always thought .. probably to the embarrassment of the younger
generation )
But that never stops me. Now I see the connection .. between the atmosphere
of the disco where I love so much to dance...
getting lost in the magic of the music, the lights, colours, movement,
reflections ... and this art form that I love so much.
I love feeling one with it all, it is my meditation !!!.
Your cyber-world creation is a delight.
Thank You
Warm regards
Linda (stargazer 101), September 1999
Rod- I want to express to you that I thoroughly enjoyed your
disco office open house. There are very few
things I remember vividly in my life. One is running and finishing my first marathon and
another
is your open house. It was an "experience" I feel the other dentists who failed
to show up at your place missed.
You have artistic talent, are athletic, professional, musical, you name it - above all you
have
"class" which others lack - believe me because I mean it!! Thanks,
Joseph Tseu, D.D.S. 4/10/79
Holy Order of Man
1761 Skyline Drive
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817
Dear Dr. Chang, Just wanted to let you know that I
really enjoyed your "Waiting Room". Quite a work of art!
When I arrived (rather nervously) a couple of weeks ago to have a wisdom teeth
pulled I was quite surprised.
Three small children were playing on the dance floor, dancing, singing and
laughing. Their older sister was curled
up in the rocking chair working on an art project. One beer-bellied man was perched
on a bar stool looking as
comfortable as if he had a drink in his hand. I chose the couch where I watched TV
and took in the activity
of the "Waiting Room". Thanks for a pleasant experience and a
painless extraction!
Yours in Chirst,
Sister Rebecca Feldlane, 8/11/79
20th "Anniversary" image present
to "Disco Doc"
from Ansgard Thomson, Alberta, Canada, August 29, 1999
Happy Anniversary to Da Waiting Room and Disco Doc! - Linda "Stargazer" Martin, Australia, 9/1999
Disco Inferno, gift work of art to Disco Doc from Ingrid Kamerbeek, Germany, 5/2002
Da Waiting Room was remodelled back into a conventional doctor's waiting
room in 1994.
Since then, what happened to the Disco Doc
Beyond Disco Dancing - February 5, 2002
Yvonne
Elliman and Disco Doc
Brooke Shields and Dr.
Chang
To
the Virtual Art Museum
To The Dental Clinic Today
Doc's Major Life Projects
To MarathonCoursePhotos.com
To the Doc's bookstore
Disco
Doc's Comic Book with Jim Charette
To the Doc's Life Art Journal
To Webists' Home (Dr.
Chang co-founded Webism)
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