Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: World Hippo Day

February 15 is World Hippo Day. Despite the fact that envious colleagues have often called him "Hippo" behind his back, Dick Dickenbock has a fondness for these strange & wonderful creatures. They deserve an afternoon newshour devoted to them.

So that's what we'll do Sunday, February 15, from noon to 1pm - talk about & play musical reports about the hippo. That's on XRAY FM - 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere.

This Week In Self Help: February 8 + 10

Oh yeah I forgot to tell you:

February 8 - Opera Day - Dickenbock Report on XRAY. Listen here.
February 10 - Valentine's Day show about devotion - Self Help Radio on KBOO. Listen here.
February 10 as well - celebration of artists we lost in September 2025 - Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO. Listen here (after Self Help Radio).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Self Help Radio 021026: Valentine's Day 2026 - Devotion

Here is this year's Valentine's Day show! This time around with unplanned-for religious content! But seriously you should focus on the whole "devoted to your lover" thing. It's a Valentine's Day show after all! The other kinds of devotion - tho represented here - don't really make sense in that context. Okay?

You can listen to the show on the KBOO website. Lots of stuff happened on the show - people called in to tell us about who or what they were devoted to - & all of that is noted below. I don't think I have anything else to add except:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Self Help Radio Valetine's Day Devotion Show

"Adolescent Song Of Mindless Devotion" The Lucksmiths _First Tape_

"Devotion" Petula Clark _The Sound Of Petula Clark_

"Devotion" Walker Kong _There Goes The Sun_

introduction & definitions

"Hopelessly Devoted To You" The Orion Experience _Cosmicovers_

"Hopelessly Devoted" True Love Always _Spring Collection_

"Devoted To You" Rose Melberg _Portola_

"Chains Of Devotion" Katydids _Katydids_

"Devotion & Respect" Space Ghost _Yeah, Whatever..._

"Devotion" Earth Wind & Fire _Gratitude_

Smithy tells us to whom he's devoted

"Show A Little Devotion" Kate Bush _Moments Of Pleasure_

"River Devotion" The Folk Implosion _Dare To Be Surprised_

"Devoted" Atta Boy _Big Heart Manners_

"Devotion" The Staves _Good Woman_

"Devotion" Mission Of Burma _Signals, Calls, & Marches_

Marla & Mark tells us what they're devoted to

"Devotion" Hilly Michaels _Calling All Girls_

"Devotion" Cassandra Jenkins _My Light, My Destroyer_

"Born Sandy Devotional" The Triffids _In The Pines_

"Devotion" Steph Green _Thanks For That_

"Devotion" Smog _Dongs Of Sevotion_

Zack tells us what he's devoted to

"I Need Your Devotion" Exploding Flowers _Stumbling Blocks_

"Devotion" Helen Ganya _Polish The Machine_

"Canons Of Devotion" Yesan Damen _Chronos/Kairos_

"Total Devotion" Pink Sky _Total Devotion_

"Totally Devoted" Witch _Sogolo_

conclusion & goodbye

"Devotional" Tabla Beat Science _Live In San Francisco At Stern Grove_

Whither Devotion (Valentine's Day 2026)?

Every year on Self Help Radio, I explore a different Valentine's Day-related theme on Valentine's Day. In the past, I have covered the topics Affection, Boyfriends, Crushes, Dating, Falling In Love, Famous Lovers, Flirting, Girlfriends, Hate, The Heart, Heartbreak, Jealousy, Love, Love Is..., Love Songs, Lovesick, Make You Mine, Roses, Sweethearts, True Love, &Valentines. That's a lot of Valentine's Day related topics! Like with Halloween I do fear I will eventually run out of subjects for the holiday. I mentioned that on a show last year & asked for a theme for this year's Valentine's Day show - & someone suggested "devotion."

It seemed a good idea - Valentine's Day is certainly a holiday that can be used to demonstrate one's devotion to another. I said sure! & I didn't think ahead to other forms of devotion - like devotion to one's duty, or even worse, one's devotion to one's faith. I didn't realize that until I had already done enough work to make the show. So we'll be discussion that kind of devotion, too!

So happy Valentine's Day a few days early & listen to my valentine to you tonight from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere. I know, you would have preferred a box of candy instead but this is what I'm giving you this year.

Preface To Devotion: Oh No A Religious Valentine's Day

There is an observation I've made before about taking pictures - they're a little like diary entries. But like diary entries, they can lack context. For example, I took this picture in Deep Ellum, Dallas, on November 27, 2018. It's as if I wrote in a diary, "I saw a cool sculpture of a heart that had bicycle parts & locks in & on it." It doesn't tell me why I was there, or if it was street art, or in a show I attended. What I do know is that it was a sunny day in late November 2018 & I took a picture of a sculpture that struck my fancy.

The picture has nothing to do with devotion, but it's hard to find pictures about devotion on the internet because it turns out the word "devotion" is not as Valentine's Day-friendly as I had initially thought. Indeed, almost all the pictures I can find are religious - including art for devotionals that religious people carry. I am not a religious person. I think about it at best academically. So the idea of religious devotion is not something I could easily wrap my head around - indeed, even when as a child I thought there might be a mean dude in the sky that punished me when I was bad (or at least would when I was dead), I found the concept of somehow loving, worshipping, praising that dude to be a little silly. Mainly I couldn't wrap my head around it - I understood Zeus & Thor & the Force in Star Wars (this is pre-midichlorian) far better than whatever nebulous concept of a god my mother & some of the people around me believed in.

So naturally when I chose the theme "devotion" for Valentine's Day, I thought of being devoted to one's partner - or a pet's devotion to its master. The religious angle had not even occurred to me.

& yeah I know Valentine's Day was named after a saint, but it's become a secular holiday much like Christmas has. It's not about some dude who ministered to persecuted Christians & was beatified for it - it's about candy & roses & cards. I doubt many of the people who like Valentine's day & "celebrate" even know it's from a tradition that involved early Christians. Just like (I'd argue) most of the people who exchange gifts at Christmas don't really think it's the birthday of a god's kid. It's just about presents & family & oh yeah getting off work.

It was therefore not my intention to do a religious Valentine's Day show. Heck, I don't even think "love" as a concept would make a good religion. But that's a discussion for later. How did I end up with this as my Valentine's Day theme? I'll tell you tomorrow.