Thursday, November 02, 2023

Whither Rumble?

(It's Rumbling Bridge! Image from here.)

First of all, there's no mistake there - the theme is "rumble." Not "rumbling." There is a tendency I have (& perhaps you do too) to have the theme be a noun, so one wants to make any theme which might be a verb into a gerund for the sake of some kind of sense of agreement. But you know what? I don't mind the awkwardness of a theme like "rumble."

But why do a show with a theme that's a verb or at best a possible weird noun? For me, it's all about onomatopoeia. As you know because it's the best sounding figure of speech & one of the easiest to understand, onomatopoeia is when a word is made by the sound it makes. Like beep. Or snarl. Or buzz. It occurred to me - & frankly I didn't check this before I started planning the show - I hadn't done a show with an onomatopoeiacal theme in a long time. & my brain started liking the word "rumble."

One thing I discovered is that I sure have a lot of versions of Link Wray's "Rumble." The song itself is collected on my records & it's covered by lots of folks. I never knew it was so beloved!

Let's get ready to rumble on today's Self Help Radio which airs noon to 2pm on Freeform Portland which is on the air in town at 90.3+98.3fm & online at freeformportland dot org. I'll also be asking for you help for the Fall Drive today so to preemptively give, become a Friend Of Freeform right now by going to our Patreon site. Just think of how many more shows with oddball themes like "rumble" are possible with your support!

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