Mel Cooleys' Songs As Funny As Namesake

----------------------------------------------------------- Concert preview Mel Cooleys, 8 p.m., tomorrow, Museum of History and Industry; $12.50; 527-3546. -----------------------------------------------------------

If your television viewing habits have a memory that reaches back to the early '60s, or if you're a "Nick at Nite" junkie, you know who Mel Cooley was and is. As played on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" by actor Richard Deacon, Mel Cooley was the proverbial boss' brother-in-law, the had-to-be-hired yes-man and butt of everyone's jokes, a situation acerbated for Cooley by the fact that he had to work with a roomful of comedy writers.

So we know who Mel is, but what does he have to do with a Seattle sextet that made a sum from the collected parts of other bands? Other than the name, who knows? Maybe naming the band after an officious nebbish like Cooley had something to do with Andrew Ratshin's songs. Ratshin often as not writes from the point of view of an "Everyman With Attitude," the common man - or woman - with some uncommon conceits, foibles and fantasies. Or perhaps it's just that, like Mel, these songs are often pretty funny, as is the band that performs them.

The Cooleys are Ratshin, formerly of Uncle Bonsai and by himself the Electric Bonsai Band; Lisa Theo, formerly the mandolin player from Ranch Romance; bassist Garey Shelton, formerly with Jesse Colin Young, Jr. Cadillac, The Allies and a lot of other local bands; multi-instrumentalist and composer Robert Puff from Tour de Force; and vocalists Cathy Croce - The Connections - and Patrice O'Neill, Victory Music.

The occasion of the Mel Cooleys' performance at the Museum of History and Industry tomorrow is to celebrate the release of the band's first album, "Live (?) In Seattle." The recording was made at the band's third live performance at the museum last May. It's arguably "live" because the Cooleys took the performance tapes into the studio and brightened them up, re-recording vocals and instrumental parts and removing most of the ambient noise of the audience.

Is this cheating? Well, in his liner notes, Ratshin says it is, but he and the band don't seem to care much; they think it came out fine.

And it did. It's a solid collection of tuneful, clever songs with clean harmonies and crisp instrumental support - especially from Puff.

"Yeah, we like it," says Ratshin, talking from the headquarters of Yellow Tail Records (his couch).

Ratshin owns and operates the label with classical guitarist and spouse Hilary Field. "It's very glamorous here," he says "I'm trying to do mail order wearing shorts and one sock and ordering all my meals in. . . . We think the band sounds good, especially when you consider we hardly rehearse."

Ratshin says the Cooleys will play two sets tomorrow, followed by a reception.

"We'll do the album, a couple of other songs and maybe a new one, if I ever get it finished. Afterward, I think we'll have some hummus and pita bread, if we ever get that finished."