Self Help Radio 080525: Ridges

Look I know that's just a close-up of a rock & not an actual ridge there aren't any real ridges nearby in Portland & I didn't have the time or to be honest the wherewithal to drive to Rainier or Hood or St Helens just to snap a picture of a ridge so cut me some slack here please. Because I did an entire radio show about ridges & you know what if you can have ridges in your fingerprint there can be small ridges on rocks in your garden which you thought might fool somebody but it's obvious it's not.

Anyway, here's your radio show about ridges. I found lots & lots of songs about the Blue Ridge Mountains & lots & lots of songs in the bluegrass genre, but I tried to be evenhanded & sparing with both. It's still a lot folky tho. Not a lot of indiepoppers spending time on ridges.

Listen to the show now at the KBOO web site or at the Self Help Radio website. For the latter you might need the username SHR & the password selfhelp. Most of the things that happened on the show are listed below.

& if I get to a ridge I'll change out that lame picture!

Self Help Radio Ridges Show

"There's A Blue Ridge In My Heart, Virginia" Abe Lyman & His California Orchestra _Abe Lyman & His Californians Volume 2 (1926-30)_

"My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains" The Carter Family _Wildwood Flower_

"Blue Ridge Cabin Home" Flatt & Scruggs _1948-1959_

introduction & definitions

"Blue Ridge Mountain Blues" Bill Monroe _Bluegrass 1959-1969_

"Run The Ridges" The Kingston Trio _The Capitol Years_ 

"Rocky Ridges" The Castels _Rocky Ridges_

"Gladys Ridge" James Keelaghan _Small Rebellions_

"Ridge Rider" Judee Sill _Judee Sill_ 

interview with realtors Jack & Judy Foster

"Blue Ridge Mountains" Townes Van Zandt _High, Low, & In Between_

"Hicker Nut Ridge" New Coon Creek Girls _So I'll Ride_

"Up On The Ridge" Joe Ely _Twistin' In The Wind_

"Pine Ridge" Kid Dakota _The West Is The Future_

"Put The Oak Ridge Boys In The Slammer" Austin Lounge Lizards _Paint Me On Velvet_

interview with entrepreneur Tex Duncan

"I Sit On The Ridge At Dusk" Dirty Projectors _The Getty Address_

"Rigomortis (On The Ridge)" Danny Cohen _Shade Of Dorian Gray_

"Blue Ridge Mountains" Fleet Foxes _Fleet Foxes_

"Dandelion Ridge" The Shelters _The Shelters_

"Up On The Ridge" Sarah Louise _Deeper Woods_

interview with journalist Lucy Wayne

"Fire On The Ridge" Jenny Don't & The Spurs _Fire On The Ridge_

"Kelly Ridge" Eric Lindell _Revolution In Your Heart_

"Missionary Ridge" Shovels & Rope _Little Seeds_

"Ridge Rider" Makar _Fancy Hercules_

"The Ridge" Julian Taylor _The Ridge_

conclusion & goodbye

"The Ridge" Sarah Neufeld _The Ridge_

Whither Ridges?

(image from the Oregon Ridge Nature Center website)

Why a radio show about ridges? What the hell are ridges anyway? Like, thin lines of rock? What the what?

It's so boring that this always happens - I just recently found myself listening to a lot of songs that mention ridges. & the weird thing is, almost none of them were bluegrass songs & almost none of them mentioned the Blue Ridge Mountains. That is odd because a large amount of the songs that I found for the show were in the bluegrass genre & were about the Blue Ridge Mountains. Anyway, my brain says to me, "Are there enough songs about this for a show?" & I respond, "Let's look!" & then a show starts to take form around me & my brain.

That show happens tonight at midnight on 90.7fm in Portland (where I don't think we have many ridges) & online kboo dot fm everywhere (where many ridges abound).

Preface To Ridges: Ridgewood Shopping Center

When I think of the word "ridge" I think of a place in Garland, Texas, which still exists, which occupied a singular space in my life for many years. In addition to living for a short time on a street called Ridgewood - which I talked about here - I lived for a time next to a place called - as you can see in the sign there - the Ridgewood Shopping Center.

Here are some places I've written about it before - a specific set of memories about the part of the center nearest to the apartments where I lived here, & about the library I spent way too much time in here, & about the carnivals that might shop in the empty parking lots here. Here is an article about the Ridgewood Theater, with lots of info in the comments.

As I said, I lived next to this space for at least four years, from around 1977 to 1982. I can still walk around the space in my head. I was there when they opened a Minyard's - though I was not a paying customer, still they gave me a little plant which I never took care of & it died in my room. I shoplifted there, & at the local TG&Y, & at a little pharmacy called Drug Mart. There was a Sears store where I think people picked up things they ordered - it wasn't a giant Sears department store, just a little showroom or maybe an outlet store. Around the back, there would be giant boxes as for refrigerators & other appliances which we would take & make into big forts in the filthy parking lot behind the store. We would spend hours making them & probably disgruntled employees would break them down & throw them back into the trash the next day.

When video game spaces became a thing, someone opened an arcade on one of the side areas of the shopping center. My mother, who worked, would give me & my little brother money for dinner - imagine that! we fed ourselves sometimes when we were next even yet tweens - & we might buy a can of Spaghetti-o's & use the rest to put in arcade games we never got good at. That space closed & a Domino's Pizza opened - which I believe is still there.

In fact, the shopping center is still there. The area now being predominantly Latino, there's a Fiesta & another discount shopping center which seem to be the dominant businesses there. There's a Family Dollar where the Sears outlet store used to be. The theater stands unused for decades now - I think I last time I went in there was in the early 1980s, before high school. Indeed, the last time I did most anything in that shopping center was when I lived near it. The information I have about it now is by going briefly to Goober Maps to look around. My oldest sister, who lived quite near it till her death in 2015, had decided to go to other, farther shopping centers by the 21st century - tho I remember a time when she shopped at that Minyard's & new everyone there & introduced me as "my brother who's in college."

Wow I can actually still walk around that Minyard's in my head. The magazine rack - where the comics were too - were in a back corner of the store where the restrooms were. I'd hang out back there & read comics - especially the oversized tabloid editions which they did not get at the convenience store at which my mother worked - & then sneak back into the employee area where the restrooms were not to use the bathroom but to drink from the water fountain they had there.

My oldest sister would often keep, along with her son, our niece, the only two I think that were born at the time (my oldest brother's niece was around, too, but older & my sister never watched her), & I have a fond memories of pushing them through the aisles in a shopping cart & spinning it around. They of course loved it & my sister hated it - but I always wanted to give them the sort of fun I wanted as a kid.

Mostly now I think about walking home from the library to my apartment complex with an armful of books. Walking through the big parking lot which never held as many cars as it could - it's why they'd put traveling carnivals there! Sometimes in the heat, sometimes in winter gloom. I would narrate my life as if I were the only person left alive - always pretending, always in my head - & the books were how I would keep myself a part of humanity. What television show or book or movie or comic was I pretending to be in? It wasn't all that far off to how I really felt.

My relationship to Ridgewood Shopping Center, like I said, was situational. I hardly ever went back once I had left the area. Though I did I think in 2015 take some pictures there - one of which is above, the other of which - this is the theater's marquee - is here:

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: 1925 (Part II)

(image from here)

Last week on the Dickenbock Report we explored the year 1925, one hundred years ago, & played music from that year. We also played a snippet of Calvin Coolidge's Inaugural Address, which must've thrilled the Portland listening audience. So let's go back for one more show!

Tomorrow, Sunday, August 3, from noon to 1pm, the Dickenbock Report returns one more time to 1925. Listen in Portland at 91.1+107.1fm, & everywhere at xray dot fm. But not everywhen - no internet & no fm in 1925.

This Week In Self Help July 27 + 29

That's a picture of my favorite tree in Woodstock Park in the spring. I just have no other pictures to share with you about the theme of "at last." But at least I have a pretty picture to share.

On the radio two days this week I have this to report:

On Sunday the 27th on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM was the first part of a two-part special report about the year 1925. Listen to it: on the XRAY website | on the Self Help Radio website.

Later Sunday the 27th on KBOO I subbed a show in which I played music from recent reissues on the Guerssen label. KBOO doesn't archive sub shows, but you can see the playlist on Spinitron & you can listen to it on the Self Help Radio website.

Tuesday the 29th on Self Help Radio on KBOO I explored the theme "at last." Listen to it: on the KBOO website | on the Self Help Radio website.

Later Tuesday the 29th on Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO I played lots of new releases. Listen to it on the KBOO Self Help Radio file linked above or on the Self Help Radio website.

As always, I remind you that you might need a username & password on the Self Help Radio website. I say use SHR & selfhelp respectively if that is the case.

Self Help Radio 072925: At Last

At last! Your package of Self Help Radio has finally arrived! Too bad it's just the regular radio show with another goofy theme. This one is - at last!

In addition to all the songs I talk to my neighbor Chad, who has become president of our homeowners' association at last; & to my friend Jarvis, who has gotten his geography paper published at last. & though I did want to reveal the secret of KBOO at last - some guy name Curt called in. Plus there were lots of songs.

At last you can listen to the at last show - either on the KBOO website or on the Self Help Radio website. If you use the latter, please remember the username SHR & the password selfhelp. Most everything that happened on the show is listed below.

At last I can stop using the phrase at last!

Self Help Radio At Last Show

"At Last! At Last!" Bing Crosby _Through The Years Volume Three 1951-1952_

"Now At Last" Blossom Dearie _Blossom Dearie_

"At Last" Etta James _At Last!_

intro & definitions

"At Last You've Come Back" Eddie Quinteros _Quinteros Au Go-Go!_

"At Last (I Found A Love)" Marvin Gaye _The Complete Motown Singles | Vol. 7: 1967_

"Alone At Last" Ruthann Friedman _Hurried Life (Lost Recordings 1965-1971)_

"Weirdsong Of Breaking Through At Last" Principal Edwards Magic Theatre _Dust On The Nettles (A Journey Through The British Underground Folk Scene 1967-1972)_

"Gone At Last" Paul Simon _Still Crazy After All These Years_

interview with my neighbor Chad Mopes

"Peace At Last" The Contents Are _Through You_

"Love Is Gonna Come At Last" Badfinger _Airwaves_

"(It Seems Like) Summer's Here At Last" New Salem Witch Hunters _The New Salem Witch Hunters_

"Time Enough At Last" The Fall _Code: Selfish_

"Alone At Last" Steve Westfield _Hotel Massachusetts_

interview with my friend Jarvis

"Free At Last" Dock Reed & Vera Hall Ward _Goodbye, Babylon_

"Free At Last" Fontella Bass _Rescued: The Best Of Fontella Bass_

"Free At Last" Jackie Day _Change Is Gonna Come: The Voice Of Black America 1963-1973_

"Free At Last" Al Green _Livin' For You_

"At Last I Am Free" Elizabeth Fraser _Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before..._

the secret of KBOO revealed at last Curt calls in

"Waking Up At Last" Damien Youth _Happy_

"At Last" The Dø _A Mouthful_

"My Life At Last" Picture Center _Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight_

"Alive At Last" William The Conqueror _Maverick Thinker_

"Seeing The Real You At Last" Bettye LaVette _Things Have Changed_

conclusion & goodbye

"At Last, At Last" Xiu Xiu _Forget_

"At Last" Leslies _Leslies_

"At Last" Brown Recluse _Evening Tapestry_

"Happy Lovers At Last United" Morrissey _Bona Drag_

"Alone At Last" Ooberman _Running Girl_

Whither At Last?

(image from here)

Yes, it's another one of those shows. & while I've probably told this story before, I'll tell it again, & maybe I'll tell it differently from the last time, but the story is true.

Once upon a time I was on a mailing list, something social, but before Facebook. I think it sprang from a Usenet group. & I would send to this group tho no one listened to my show the weekend playlist & download link, much like I do on this blog. & because it was a mailing list, occasionally someone would respond.

Usually theme-based shows stick with nouns - people, places, & things - but I had started to do what I am doing now, having the theme be a phrase. Maybe once or twice no one noticed, but after a third time, one of the people on the mailing list - someone I didn't really know - responded by saying, "Do you think Gary has finally lost it?"

At least that's how I remember it. It isn't the first time someone thought it was about time I'd lost my mind. I only now wish I could find that old email & discover that they had written, "Has Gary gone mad at last?"

This show is happening because I heard a bunch of songs using the phrase "at last." That's all. A few of them were the song in the image above. But I'll probably play Etta James' version.

That's happening tonight, midnight to 2am, on 90.7 fm in Portland, at kboo dot fm everywhere. Maybe you will at last listen?

Preface To At Last: Super Villains

(image found here)

Yes, the theme of the show this week is "at last."

When I think about that phrase, I think about it with an exclamation point, maybe uttered by a super villain - like Dr. Doom above - "I have you at last!" or "I have claimed victory at last!" I blame Stan Lee for my love of such overdramatic writing.

But I have a confession to make - I altered the image above to end with "at last!" If you look close enough, you can see the sloppy photoshop job. I didn't have the time to search through many comics to find the one time Dr. Doom used the phrase "At last!" in a way that would suit me. But it doesn't seem that awkward, right? It fits perfectly with Stan Lee's turgid prose up there, yeah?

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: 1925 (Part I)

(image from here)

Tomorrow - Sunday, July 27 - is the first of two-part Dickenbock Report special report about the year 1925. We'll talk about the music & events of one hundred years ago. & no, it's not the year Dick Dickenbock was born! He's not that old. Not quite that old, anyway.

Sunday from 12-1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere. Hey! That's something that's changed - they only had radio in 1925, not web sites! But also not FM radio. That was a teaser for the show.

This Week In Self Help: July 18 20 +22

This was the previous week that was that week on the radio with me:

Friday the 18th of July I was on the Songcircle on KBOO & I played lots of new releases.
You can listen to it:
on the KBOO website | on the Self Help Radio website.

Sunday the 20th of July I was on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY on National Ice Cream.
& my friend Jennifer from Austin hung out with me!
You can listen to it:
on the XRAY website | on the Self Help Radio website.

Tuesday the 22nd of July I was on Self Help Radio on KBOO & the theme was jigsaw.
You can listen to it:
on the KBOO website | on the Self Help Radio website.

Also on Tuesday the 22nd of July I was on Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO.

I played music from artists who died in January & February of this year.

It's included with the Self Help Radio file on the KBOO website but you can also listen to it:

on the Self Help Radio website.

(Please note: to listen to files on the Self Help Radio website, you'll need a username & password, & those are SHR & selfhelp.)

Self Help Radio 072225: Jigsaw

(jigsaw outline found here)

It's no puzzle - the theme this week is jigsaw. & to be honest, it wasn't that hard to put together. Maybe if there had been ten thousand songs - & all the corner pieces looked the same.

Okay I'm done with the puns & stuff related to jigsaw. Look I even made a Self Help Radio jigsaw puzzle! Let's just say you can listen now & any time at the KBOO web page or at the Self Help Radio web page. If you find you need a username & password, try SHR & self help. Otherwise, everything you need to know is below.

Good luck solving this!

Self Help Radio Jigsaw Show

"My Heart Is A Jigsaw Puzzle" Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys _Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys_

"Jigsaw Puzzle Heart" Sonny Howard with The Rampart Street Boys _Jigsaw Puzzle Heart_

"Jigsaw Puzzle" The Chelmars _Tip Top Chicks At The Hop_

introduction & definitions feat. the Definition-O-Tron 3000

"Jigsaw Puzzle" C. L. Weldon & The Pictures _Teen Town U.S.A. Volume 9_

"Jigsaw" Norman Greenbaum _Spirit In The Sky: The Best Of Norman Greenbaum_

"Jigsaw Puzzle" The Rolling Stones _Beggars Banquet_

"Jigsaw" Pauline Filby _Show Me A Rainbow_

"Jigsaw Puzzle Of Life" Kate & Anna McGarrigle _Kate & Anna McGarrigle_

interview with puzzle maker Stella Owens

"Jigsaw Feeling" Siouxsie & The Banshees _The Scream_

"Jigsaw Youth" Bikini Kill _The C.D. Version Of The First Two Records_

"Jigsaw" Love Spit Love _Love Spit Love_

"Jigsaw Man" Clinic _Visitations_

"Jigsaw" Latimer House _Hey!_

interview with author Gordon Stockwell

"Girl In A Jigsaw Puzzle" Katydids _Katydids_

"Jigsaw Girl" Michael Shelley _Too Many Movies_

"Jigsaw Heart" Elliott Brood _Work & Love_

"Jigsaw" Rufus with Chaka Khan _Camouflage_

"Jigsaw" Ella Thompson _Ripple On The Wing_

interview with fighting robot controller Terry Wicks

"Jigsaw" Billy Kelly & The Blah Blah Blahs _Again!!!_

"Jigsaw" Sekiden _Junior Fiction_

"Jigsaw" Mates Of State _Re-Arrange Us_

"Jigsaw" Femme Fatale _Femme Fatale_

"The Boy With The Jigsaw Puzzle Fingers" Karl Hyde _Edgeland_

conclusion & goodbye

"Jigsaw Puzzle" Of Montreal _Jigsaw Puzzle_

"Jigsaw Baby" Elkie Brooks _Rich Man's Woman_

"Jigsaw Mind" Bronco Bullfrog _Seventhirtyeight_

"Jigsaw You" Deus _Worst Case Scenario_

Whither Jigsaw?

The theme of this week's show is "jigsaw" & there are far more songs about jigsaw puzzles than actual jigsaws. But I like just saying "jigsaw" to mean the puzzle so I went with the single word as the theme.

The idea for the show came from a listener, who said, "I have something I want to do for the show if you'll let me." So I said sure, found the songs, & scheduled the show. & then I never heard from that listener again. I thought the listener might contact me once I said, "I'll be doing a show with the theme 'jigsaw' next week," but nope! Which is fine. I'll do any theme you request - which I can find songs for - you don't have to prepare something for the show. But I admit I was curious!

Put the jigsaw show together with me tonight from midnight to 2am on 90.7 fm in Portland & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. Yeah, we'll start with the corners.

Preface To Jigsaw: Jigsaw Humor

A cartoon by John Atkinson. From pandemic times. Visit his website to read more funnies!

Yeah, the theme this week is "jigsaw." But it'll be more about the puzzles than the device that helps make the puzzles.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: A Special Guest

The Dickenbock Report is a well-researched, meticulously-planned, highly-disciplined radio news magazine. Not much is left to chance & we must conform to Dick Dickenbock's strong journalistic standards. That being said, Dick Dickenbock has invited a guest reporter on tomorrow's show & the staff have been told virtually nothing about it. It's probably an old drinking buddy of Dick Dickenbock's & the one thing is certain - it's not Dan Rather. Those two hate each other.

Tune in tomorrow from noon to 1pm on XRAY for a special mystery report on The Dickenbock Report.

That's Sunday afternoon on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & online at xray dot fm.

This Week In Self Help: July 11 13 + 15

Another image of the marquee which just so happened to mention this week's Self Help Radio theme. Here's what I did this past week.

Friday the 11th - one week ago! - I subbed a show on KBOO & played lots of songs about Friday, since it was, you know, Friday. KBOO doesn't archive its sub shows but you can listen at the Self Help Radio web page. If you just wanna look at the playlist, here's the Spinitron page.

The Dickenbock Report played lots of songs about Delaware on National Delaware Day. Listen at the XRAY web page, or at the Self Help Radio web page.

Self Help Radio on KBOO had the theme "good enough." Listen at the KBOO web page, or at the Self Help Radio web page.

Finally - Corporate Standardized Programming this week featured an hour's worth of new releases. It's the last hour of the file at the KBOO web page link above, or you can listen to it alone at the Self Help Radio web page.

As always, when listening at the Self Help Radio web page, you might need a username & a password. Use SHR & selfhelp.

& really I do hope this was all good enough.