He makes his appearance to a raucous chorus of hoots, whistles, screams, applause, and a chant of "Sing, fucker, sing." This month, John Valby, Dr. Dirty, the King of Filthy Song Parodies, makes his pilgrimage into Central Pennsylvania and comes on-stage in his trademark white tuxedo and tails, a black bowler, granny glasses, sneakers, and long hair. You can tell from the first opening warm-up on the piano that this guy has some talent, genuine musical talent - not exactly what you'd expect.

Valby, a 50-something classically trained pianist from Buffalo, N.Y., has fashioned a career of taking old songs, sea shanties, nursery rhymes, pop tunes, and his own compositions and setting the most outrageous lyrics imaginable to them. Valby will scream obscenities at his audience, and they will scream them right back at him. And laugh with him, and sing along, and applaud his lewdness.

It all started innocently enough. "It was back in Buffalo," says John Valby. "I was playing a place, and threw in three mildly off-color songs, and the place went buggy. The next night, they wanted those three songs over and over." And, from that, an underground legend was born.

Married, with five kids, Valby admits it was a struggle for him to discern at times between the musician he aspired to be and the entertainer he became. "I'm a musician, not a comedian," he says. "I'm a comedian by accident - and necessity. I, myself, am not a funny guy. When you meet a comedian, they're compulsively on, all the time. I'm tied to the song format."

He has settled into his role quite well. But the fact is, Valby is not a naturally crude person. Does he feel conflicted when assuming the Dr. Dirty persona? "Oh, absolutely," says Valby. "For years, I struggled with it. Then, I realized my job is to entertain people. I reconciled the Dr. Dirty thing a while ago. My job is not to express my soul’ as a musician. My job is an entertainer, to entertain the people that come to see me.

"It's not [the audience's] job to appreciate the musicianship," he continues. "It's their job to come, and have a good time, and be entertained."

When describing Dr. Dirty, a lot of words spring to mind: foul-mouthed, offensive, funny, king of the dirty ditty. But the real John Valby is not what you'd expect. He's intelligent, articulate, sensitive (Is this the same guy?), polite, and gracious. When the night is over, and the crowd has gone home sated, happy, and entertained, laughing at the jokes and still humming some of the tunes, Valby's road manager and some hired muscle toss the piano and the sound equipment back onto the truck. The tux comes off, and Dr. Dirty is also stored away.

Valby is astute enough to know that Dr. Dirty is supporting him and his family, and, when you get down to it, he's just another working stiff who has earned a good night's sleep before driving back home. John Valby, the musician, road warrior, husband, and father, just looks forward to spending time with his family.

John Valby will bring his shock-rock act to Shakey's, Hershey, on April 19. -MF