Saturday, November 03, 2012

Preface To Feet: The Importance Of Good Shoes/Foot Fetishists

I can't decide what I want to talk about most on Self Help Radio this week: the importance of good shoes, or foot fetishists.

This article says "it's important to wear good shoes, as the foot along has more than 25 percent of the body's collected bone mass."  (My wife, who is an anatomist, says that's bullshit, by the way.)

But!  The Wikipedia's article on foot fetishism says "it is the most common form of sexual fetishism for otherwise non-sexual objects or body parts."

That's pretty amazing.

I'm torn.

Friday, November 02, 2012

The Constant Struggle To Get One's Act Together

I can't understand how everyone has time to check their social media - their Facebookers, Twitters, Instant Gram, Bloggering, Tumblering - & I have more time than most!

Occasionally when I am wandering around & have my cell phone with me, I check my Twitter feed.  Usually, I am entertained, but I never really have anything to add, & so it's something of a passive medium for me.  I don't keep up the Self Help Radio Tumblr blog, & I feel bad about that.  I have fallen behind on Facebook.  & I try to write in this blog, even if - as per usual - I have nothing to say.  But where does the time go!

For me, there's a great satisfaction - even if it has affected my girth - in cooking.  It keeps Mrs. Self Help Radio happy, which should be pleasure enough, but I find joy in trying new things out - especially if they turn out all right.

Fuck you baking!

The wife was a passable cook, but she had a tendency, like a satellite's orbit decays, to make the meals just a little more sloppily each time.  I want to be able to either make the same recipe as great as it was the best time, or better.  I think that, since I'm never going to be a musician, or an actor, my cooking is a little like learning an instrument or memorizing lines.

It doesn't explain why I can't regularly update my life on Twitter, but it's the start of an excuse, anyway.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Is It Time To Start Recommending Records?

Someone asked me the other day why, since I have a blog for my radio show, I don't do what other people do who have one of those, which is talk about/review records here.  After all, I play new music on my show & I'm not terribly genre specific, so doubtless I listen to a lot of music - why not hype it up on this website?

The answer is in two parts.  One, I'm not a writer & even though I "review" records for WRFL, I'm not writing anything that I expect to publish.  Honestly, I'm surprised when my scribblings make any sense.

Two, I kind of think that the music I play on my is the best way to tell you what I like.  There are artists - a lot of them - which you'll never hear on Self Help Radio, & that's because I don't think they're any good.  It's sometimes heartbreaking to tell that to someone who suggests a song for one of my themes, but it's true - I don't have to play music I don't like, so I don't.

I'm not above saying what's making me happy at the moment, though, so perhaps I'll do that on Thursdays for a little while.  Maybe over time I'll be comfortable enough to write something that will resemble a review or at least some discussion of why I like what I like.

So today I recommend the new album by Talk Normal, which is called "Sunshine."  I think it's a record with super powers.  If you know how to get them to Lexington, that would be amazing.  The record looks like this:

I like it a lot.  Might you?

Monday, October 29, 2012

Don't Go To Sleep!


Here's this year's Halloween show, about nightmares, wherein I play lots of nightmare songs & also talk about why we have bad dreams.  After you listen to this show, though, you should sleep like a baby.

The show is in two parts, naturally, described below.  Part one is here & part two is here.  The entire show is at the Self Help Radio website.  Heck!  You can even listen to last year's Halloween show for a little while longer (it's about graveyards).

I hope it's sufficiently spooky.  Please enjoy.

(part one)

"Nightmare" Boris Karloff _Tales Of The Frightened, Vol. 2_
"The Nightmare" Cab Calloway _1930-1931_
"Nightmare" The Sinners _Bomp In The Night_

"Nightmare" Scottie Stuart _Monster Bop_ there i was in a strange & distant land
"Psycho Nightmare" Daniel Johnston _Fun_
"Nightmare On My Street" DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper_
"Lullaby To Nightmares" They Might Be Giants _Long Tall Weekend_
"Like A Nightmare" The Andantes _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 4: 1964_

"Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song" Todd Rundgren _Todd_
"Nightmare Mash" Billy Lee Riley _These Ghoulish Things: Horror Hits For Halloween_
"Another Velvet Nightmare" Frank Black _Honeycomb_
"Nightmare" The Rebel Set _Garage Monsters - The Best Of The GaragePunk Hideout, Vol. 9_
"Nightmares In Red" The Brain _Rubble Vol. 2_

"Happy Nightmare Baby" Opal _Happy Nightmare Baby_

(part two)

"Nightmare" Chuck Armstrong _Shackin' Up_ i woke up this morning from a deep sleep
"Lulu's Nightmare" The Jazz Butcher _Illuminate_
"Let It Be A Nightmare" The Bran Flakes _I Remember When I Break Down_
"Nightmares" Jay Reatard _Blood Visions_

"Nightmare" Moving Parts _Wrong Conclusion_
"I Got Nightmares" Q65 _Revolution_
"Nightmare" The*Rock*A*Teens _Cry_
"Nightmares" Creation _Our Music Is Red With Purple Flashes_
"Nightmare" Jack Turner _Haunted Halloween, Vol. 1_
"Nightmare" Kimberley Rew _The Bible Of Bop_

"Wet Nightmare" The Cramps _Big Beat From Badsville_
"Nightmares" Violent Femmes _3_
"Johnny Nightmare" The Secret History _The World That Never Was_
"The Nightmare Goes On" Piano Magic _Ovations_

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Whither Nightmares?

It's becoming increasing difficult to make Halloween shows.  There are only a few Halloween themes, & I waste some of them like I did a couple of weeks ago & do a show about spiders too far ahead of Halloween to count.

What themes have I covered?


In 2003, it was just "Halloween."
In 2004, I didn't do a Halloween show.
In 2005, the show was about vampires.
In 2006, the show was about monsters.
In 2007, the show was about zombies.
In 2008, the show was about witches.
In 2009, the show was about werewolves.
In 2010, the show was about haunted houses.
In 2011, the show was about graveyards.

I am getting more abstract as time goes by, it seems.

Some nice person suggested a show about "creepy crawlies," which seems eminently do-able.  More problematic is a show about "Japanese monsters."  I think next year I'll do a show about voodoo!

You can wake up screaming tomorrow morning at 7am on 88.1 fm in Lexington - or online at the WRFL website, or you can wait until later when I put it up at Self Help Radio Dot Net.  Just in time for Halloween!  I promise!