Self Help Radio 070623: Locks

Apologies for the delay. I have been having issues with my web hosting company & what appears to be some change in their FTP protocol. There have also been some exceedingly condescending tech folks, one of which actually asked me, "Have you tried turning it off & then turning it back on again?" If you download the show this week, it'll be from my Guggol Drivel. It's a band-aid but I hate not having the show out there somewhere, even if no one really listens to it.

It was a show about locks! There were songs! Interviews! Goldilocks! Lockers! A guest locked in a room! So much that is probably wrong that maybe I should be ashamed! But I am not! What do I care! It's my radio show! I have funny people who help me! I am not shackled to your ancient ideas about shame!

Ahem. Okay. Well. You can listen to the show at Self Help Radio Web Central. It's actually not called that. It sounded cooler in my head. Everything on the show is below. I'm gonna lock myself away for a while now, chatting with people half a world away about why file transfer protocol just suddenly stopped working for me. You know, when I can still upload things to Guggol Drivel!

Enjoy.

Self Help Radio Locks Show

"Who Stole The Lock From The Hen House Door" Otto Gray & His Oklahoma Cowboys _Serenade In The Mountains_

"I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" Carmen McRae _Sings Lover Man & Other Billie Holiday Classics_

"Unlock The Lock" Jimmy Nelson _Unlock The Lock: The Kent Records Story, Vol. 1_

introduction & definitions

"Locking Up My Heart" The Marvelettes _The Complete Motown Singles | Vol. 3: 1963_

"Locked In A Room" The Poets _Beat It... (Killertracks From The Roarin' 60's)_

"Lock Me In Your Heart" The Apollas _The Best Of Loma Records: The Rise & Fall Of A 1960's Soul Label_

"Behind Locked Doors" The Missing Lynx _The Psychedelic Experience Vol 3 (Psychedelic Illusions)_

"Locked In Your Love" Dee Dee Warwick _I Want To Be With You The Mercury Blue Rock Sessions_

interview with locksmith to the stars Steve Lassiter

"Behind That Locked Door" George Harrison _All Things Must Pass_

"Wedlock Is A Padlock" Laura Lee _Women's Love Rights_

"Locked-In" Firehose _Ragin', Full-On_

"Locks & Bolts" The Carousel _I Forgot To Remember To Forget_

"Locked Out Of The Love-In" One Thousand Violins _Locked Out Of The Love-In_

our favorite librarian Carole stops by to talk about Goldilocks

"Goldilocks & The Three Bears" Rosemary Clooney _Memories Of You_

"Gold Locks (feat. Jean Grae)" MC Frontalot _Question Bedtime_

"Goldilocks & The Three Bears" Joan Gerber _The Story Lady_

"Goldilocks" Don French _Saints & Sinners Vol. 6_

"Goldilocks Zone" Grass Widow _Internal Logic_

interview with Steve Lockwood of Lockwood's Lockers

"Locked In A Room With Betty" P. Paul Fenech _Daddy's Hammer_

"Locked Groove" Kitty Craft _Beats & Breaks From The Flower Patch_

"Locked Away" Robert Forster _I Had A New York Girlfriend_

"Love Lock" The Bad Signs _Black Magic Moments_

"Lock The Locks" The Streets _Computers & Blues_

interview with Sandra Lewis, host of the In A Locked Room podcast

+ conclusion & goodbye

"Lockdown" Soft Regime _Hard Feelings_

"Lock On The Door" Audacity _Hyper Vessels_

"Lock, Stock, & Teardrops" Wednesday _Mowing The Leaves Instead Of Piling 'Em Up_

"Macbeth Witches Scene" Christopher Keown _Macbeth_

"It's Locked Away" Band Of Susans _Wired For Sound_

Whither Locks?

Though it's true there was a Self Help Radio episode about keys once upon a time, & that some of the songs (naturally) mentioned locks, there was never been a full episode about the noble lock, without which the key would have a meaningless existence.

Shall we ponder the ambivalent lock, which may protect our belongings but also take away our freedom? Oh indeed we shall! With many songs, stories, & interviews! & it won't cost a thing - not even a lock of your hair - because it's on the radio!

But why, you may ask, is there a radio show about locks at all? Was I locked in a closet a goodly portion of my childhood? Is it impossible to unlock my heart, to discover my true feelings? Should I be locked away once & for all for the betterment of our world? Were these reasons for a radio show about locks? Or did I simply hear a bunch of songs about locks & then think, hey, that might be a good idea for a show? I don't suppose we will ever truly know.

What is true: Self Help Radio airs from noon to 2pm Portland time this afternoon on 90.3+98.3fm in town & online everywhere at Freeform Portland dot org. For a show about locks, it is key that you listen.

Too corny? Yeah, I'm feeling bad about it already.

Preface To Locks: Locks On The Gates Of Empty Houses

There's a street in my neighborhood that has at the very least three empty houses - I call them "ghost houses" although I don't believe in ghosts - & I'm not entirely sure they're all completely uninhabited. The owners of my favorite ghost house come by the spring & early summer to tend to a garden on the property, for example. & one of the ghost houses has a suspiciously well-kept lawn. But I think they're all mostly empty. & there could be many reasons why.

One empty house (not on this street but very near) suddenly had repair crews & all kinds of remodeling going on after many months of just sitting there, & a neighbor told me that the house had been owned by two siblings who fought about its fate - one wanted to rent it out, the other to sell it. They were in a stalemate until one of them died - the one who wanted to rent it out. The house was fixed up & sold. So you see. Why they're empty is all speculation.

Though I do suspect at least one of them has a very old occupant who is passing their last days in the home they've lived in for decades & it's dark & lonesome & quite terrifying in there. Mainly it's terrifying because I think it could be my fate. Especially if in my old age I can't afford the internet.

My favorite ghost house, though, is fenced all around, but the fences are locked with a padlock. That's the picture above. Taken this afternoon. Not that I'd sneak in. I felt I was trespassing leaning over the fence to take this picture!

Fireworks

As the day ends, jerks in our neighborhood, not caring about all the animals they might frighten nor the fires they may cause, explode fireworks into the night.

My dog Pauline comes to me, panting, just terrified. I do my best to comfort her.

Yay America.

Brötzmann

(image from Wikipedia)

Free jazz legend Peter Brötzmann died on June 22. I became an admire only after I was completely baffled by his work. & I was lucky enough to see him perform live in Austin in the early parts of this century.

Tonight in the last hour or so of Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO, I'll play some of his work. I haven't heard all of it. Some of it didn't resonate with me. Some of it I find fucking transcendent. In most cases I find it fascinating & challenging. What a life!

Midnight to 3am on KBOO - 90.7fm & kboo.fm. If you can tune in.

Self Help Radio 062923: Howard Gently Year One

Sorry for that terrible graphic. I have not a lot of time today. Anyway, my friend Russell would have chuckled at it. I hope.

On the show I explain the whole premise, but suffice it to say, as a tribute to my dear friend, who died two weeks ago, & who gave so much to me, to my life, to my dumb radio show, I played the first eleven times he appeared on Self Help Radio as the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently. I found myself laughing out loud in the studio yesterday & that helped a little. He made me laugh for four decades, I am so glad I have recordings of him being funny, he can make me laugh for the rest of my life.

The Howard Gently Spectacular can be listened to now at the Self Help Radio website. Please remember to use the username SHR & pass the password selfhelp in order to download & listen. There's also the Corporate Standardized Programming episode from Tuesday if you find the KBOO website interface weird - if you download the show, you can fast forward to the parts that interest you. What happened on the show is below.

There'll be another Howard Gently Tribute before too long.

Self Help Radio 230629: Howard Gently Year One

"Know You" Russell Miles _Know You_

"Split Up The Money" Vic Godard & The Subway Sect _Twenty Odd Years: The Story Of Vic Godard & The Subway Sect_

"Split" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: February 28, 2014_

"This Is A Test" Wendy James _Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears_

"Test" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: March 3, 2014_

"Summer's Melting My Mind" The Go-Betweens _78 'Til 79: The Lost Album_

"Melting" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: March 14, 2014_

"Breathless" X _More Fun In The New World_

"Breath" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: April 11, 2014_

"Watch Her Disappear" Tom Waits _Alice_

"Disappear" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: May 1, 2014_

"You Just Can't Push Me (demo)" The Cars _The Cars_

"Push" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: May 16, 2014_

"Sunny Afternoon" The Kinks _Face To Face_

"Afternoons" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: May 30, 2014_

"Needles In The Camel's" Brian Eno _Here Come The Warm Jets_

"Needles" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: June 6, 2014_

"The Devil Ain't Lazy" Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys _San Antonio Rose_

"Laziness" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: June 13, 2014_

"Lemon & Lime" Herman's Hermits _Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter_

"Limes" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: July 4, 2014_

"Seven African Powers" Russell Miles _Six Tunes By "Russ"_

"Candles" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: July 18, 2014_

Whither Howard Gently Year One?

On the Self Help Radio website, the theme today is "Russell." That was very much the theme of this week's episode of Corporate Standardized Programming, which aired on KBOO on Tuesday. That show featured many of my late friend's songs, pranks, & musical choices, along with the bits he created with me for Self Help Radio. It was both exhilarating & emotionally exhausting to celebrate my dear friend in this manner. I have still hours of material of his I could go through. But I thought I would concentrate, on Self Help Radio, on the character he created for the show.

It became apparent as I listened, chronologically, to his bits, that I couldn't pick out my favorites. That I couldn't condense into two hours what was years of work. I know he did have his favorites & I know there were some he wasn't particularly excited by, but to me that was the idea - let's watch the character change & grow, let's listen when sometimes he wasn't as funny as his genius moments. Let me celebrate it all.

Many moons ago, Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli had a celebrated comic series called Batman: Year One. It told the story of, well, the first year that Bruce Wayne operated as the Batman. It has become a story idea that DC Comics has done for many characters - & even places - there was recently a Gotham City: Year One. It took place in the 1960s. I decided to co-opt the term & make it literal - I am playing today every time Dr. Gently appeared on Self Help Radio in the first year - starting in February, 2014. There were 19 Dr. Gently spots that year - I doubt I will get to them all.

To break up the bits, I'll play songs from each show that I either know or suspect Russell liked. I knew his musical taste very well - he helped build the foundation for my musical taste - so that was easy. The hard part will be trying to keep my emotions from exploding while listening to my friend, whom I will never get to talk to again, make me laugh over & over & over.

The show airs from noon to 2pm on Freeform Portland. In town that's at both 90.3+98.3fm & online it's freeform portland dot org. It will feel a bit different from other shows. Because it's about an extraordinary person & the gift he gave me & my dumb radio program.

Preface To Russell: The Road To Howard Gently

Sometime in early 2014 I was looking to make a change. I had been doing Self Help Radio for twelve years & I could've kept doing it the way I was - the show was much like the Dickenbock Report is now, without the silly conceit of being a newscast. But I wanted to add something new to it. Much like the bifocals & mustache that changed Dr. Gently up there, I wanted something that might have seemed cosmetic but which would transform the show a little.

What I wanted were interviews with "experts" about each week's theme. I knew it wasn't an original idea, but I felt like it might help the show become closer to being actually entertaining. There would still be lots of music, I'd almost certainly continue talking a lot, but if I could just entice friends of mine who were actually funny to help...

Russell was probably the first person I asked. He wasn't trained in improv & he didn't much like the idea of doing a different character a week, but he quickly came up with the character of the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently, a Deepak Chopra-esque New Age charlatan with whom I, as a host & acolyte, would be completely taken in by. He would be of indeterminate age - in some interviews, he discusses being a young man in the 1960s - & of often indeterminate wisdom - one of his funniest lines would be, after reading something obviously from the Wikipedia, Gently would say, "& I'm not reading this, Gary." He would often have slips of the tongue which, like much malapropism, would be unfortunate & often offensive. & he would be very focused on wringing as much money out of me (& you, if possible) as he could.

Gently appeared on Self Help Radio from February 2014 until last October. I went through his first year & discovered he appeared on the show nineteen times in eleven months. We might discuss what Gently might say before recording & I would sometimes crack Russell up with suggestions, but he hardly ever used my ideas. Instead, he'd slip into character & go whichever way his comic instincts told him he should. They were always right. I wish I'd saved our longer interviews because he would crack me up & then my laughing would crack him up. We had so very much fun doing these.

After listening to nineteen Gently appearances I knew I couldn't go through six or seven years worth of faux interviews & make it out alive. So instead tomorrow on the show I'll focus on the first year of Howard Gently. & return again soon to more of his funnies. How can I not play every time he appeared on the show? Gently was born on Self Help Radio, he made Self Help Radio something better, he needs to be remembered on Self Help Radio. Starting from his first appearance.

Corporate Standardized Programming Brother Russell Show

(image of "Brother Russell" from the back of his second CD, found here)

Last night (or this morning - it's been a long day) I paid tribute to my friend Russell on my KBOO show Corporate Standardized Programming. You can listen to the show here.

That is of course not a picture of Russell. I have a vague memory of him showing it to me when he found it. I realize now looking at it, I didn't center it properly when I edited it. Oh well. He was always a little off. He might appreciate that joke,

The show was not easy to do. We don't often have literally hours of recordings of people we will never see again. In some cases, I was present when the recording happened. I have memories of Russell sharing his recordings with me. For one of his songs, he shared with me early mixes. I was always one of his biggest fans. My only regret is I couldn't find one of my favorite songs of his. If I do find it, I'll play it on Self Help Radio on Thursday. I'll discuss my plans for that show tomorrow.

Maybe there's some things you'll discover about Russell, maybe you'll like his songs, maybe there's a prank call you hadn't heard yet. I think he might be a bit embarrassed by all this, which is fine. He should've promoted himself more. Or picked better friends to promote him. Because as you know about my own self-promotion, I fucking suck at it.

Okay. Gotta get to work on Thursday's show.

Radio Filled With Brother Russell

Tonight on my show on KBOO, Corporate Standardized Programming, I'll play lots of pranks featuring the woman on the left up there, the venerable Melba Jackson, as well as interviews I conducted with the fellow on the right up there, the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently. The person in the middle of that picture is my friend Russell, who is no longer with us. He will be represented by lots of music he wrote & recorded. He was a very dear friend, a person whom I knew for decades, who shared so much life with me that it's strange & sad that he's not here to do that anymore.

Pranks & music & improvised radio interviews. & more? It'll happen midnight to 3am on 90.7fm KBOO Portland, kboo dot fm.

Self Help Radio 062223: Codes

Tips for decoding this week's Self Help Radio: listen carefully. That's all. It's not very complex, this code. It's mainly just a lot of music with the occasional interruption by me.

But all different kinds of codes are discussed! Dress codes, computer code, codes of honor, barcodes. The word is simple but has loads of meanings. It's my favorite kind of theme.

Is the show up to code? Hear for yourself - listen at the Self Help Radio website. Remember that you'll need this username/password combo: SHR/selfhelp. But you can download it if you want! Everything that happens on the show is below.

Also: if you can figure out this code that our friend Chuck has created, you can win a special Self Help Radio prize! Send solutions to gary at selfhelpradio.net - here's the code:

4  54r 58 3-2*2 10r 22-2  22-2 8  39 8 92 37-2 34 3-2 9  13-2 7 66-2  8 90 99

Self Help Radio Codes Show

"Secret Code" Allan Sherman _My Son The Box_

"Zip Code" The Five Americans _Progressions_

"The Code Of Life" Y Pants _Y Pants_

introduction & definition - featuring the Definition-O-Tron 3000

"Talking In Code" The Boomtown Rats _V Deep_

"Coded World" Faith Global _The Same Mistakes_

"Code" Cabaret Voltaire _Code_

"Secret Codes" Kristin Hersh _Wyatt At The Coyote Palace_

our favorite librarian Carole stops by to talk about books about code

"Morse Code Melody" The Alberts _By Jingo It's... British Rubbish_

"Morse Code" Skypark _Summer Days Are Forever_

"Morris The Code" The Two Tears _Enjoy Yourself_

"Speak In Morse Code" The Fleeting Ends _Our Eyes Are Peeled_

"Morse Code" Reina Del Cid _The Cooling_

interview with author/political activist Chris Lawrence

"Dress Code" WC & The MAAD Circle _Ain't A Damn Thing Changed_

"Code Red" DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince _Code Red_

"Code Of The Streets" Gang Starr _Full Clip: A Decade Of Gang Starr_

"Barcode" Mongrel _Better Than Heavy_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by to discuss movies about codes

"Into the Code" The Thermals _We Disappear_

"Rock'n'Roll Code" John Wesley Harding _Sings To A Small Guitar Vol. 1_

"Code Monkey" Jonathan Coulton _Thing-A-Week Three_

"Break The Code" Miaow _When It All Comes Down_

"Chrominance Decoder" April March _Chrominance Decoder_

interview with fashion designer Cale Long
+ conclusion & goodbye

"Rebel Code" Chumbawamba _Un_

"Codename: Rondo" Ghostland Observatory _Codename: Rondo_

"Code Word" The Moles _Code Word_

"Mountain Code 9" Skistar _This Is The Cafe Superstar Beat Vol. 1_

Whither Codes?

Use code names!

Sometimes shows begat shows. A few weeks ago there was a Self Help Radio episode about telegraphy - mainly telegrams & telegraphs. One of the segments we did purported to be an interview with a descendent of Samuel Morse. Something strange started happening after that.

Songs about Morse Code - not to mention instructional YouTube videos - began showing up in my computer world. It was probably some sneaky algorithm but it could also just have been my brain taking notice of something it had previously spent some time on. In any event, I succumbed & started collecting songs about code.

The amazing thing is how many different meaning the word has. & they're all related to the same word. I'm linking that because I don't think I'll talk about the etymology of the word on the show. I got a lot of songs & a lot of guests. I only have two hours.

But the show won't be in code. It will be on the air in Portland from noon to 2pm on the 90.3+98.3fm frequencies, & online everywhere at the Freeform Portland website. There's no secret code needed. No Self Help Radio secret decoder ring. Just tune in!

Preface To Codes: A Small Favor

(image from here)

My wife told me recently that we've moved from the "marriages & births" part of our lives to the "divorces & deaths" part. Inasmuch as anyone can be prepared for such things, I'd like to humbly as a small favor:

In the face of such trauma, can the world just stop for a little while? Let us catch our breath, take stock, get a little painless sleep? I'm sure there's some benefit to time moving steadily forward despite the tragedies & unhappinesses of our lives, but is there anyone who thinks it would be a terrible thing to just stand still for a moment, for a day, for a week. Maybe to let the tears dry, or have a little more time to gather the strength to face down the future, or just to sit somewhere quietly & start breathing normally again.

Speaking just for myself, I was woefully prepared for this portion of my life, with parents needing care & lives unraveling, with the sudden realization that the invulnerability of youth was a cruel illusion & that parts of you will break & you might not be able to fix them.

The world doesn't care, I know. Time is just doing its job. We can pretend we've captured life in some way with our clever minutes & years but it turns out it's ourselves we've ensnared. I'm not ashamed to admit I may not be strong enough to carry all this loss with me until my inevitable ending. It really is too much to ask - beg, please - for a moment to put it down & lean a little on a nearby wall.

This has nothing to do with codes but this show is being made in a backdrop of powerful loss & I wanted to express how helpless & weak I am currently feeling. The show I hope won't be anything like this.

Russell

I have lost my oldest friend. I have lost a brother. Russell & I met when I was in seventh grade & he in eighth at Memorial Middle School in Garland, Texas. Russell died last weekend.

He in recent years reminded me that at a gathering of something called the Beta Club (kind of a middle school National Honor Society) we ended up talking about the Beatles all night. It was music which bonded us. He made me my first David Bowie mix tape. He loved the Cars & Talking Heads & played them for me. When I asked him what he knew about Elvis Costello, he said, "He's a genius," which encouraged me - it practically compelled me - to buy his records. More than my actual brothers, he laid my musical foundation.

Russell was a talented guitarist, drummer, & songwriter who, in his lonesome teens, made full albums in his bedroom. I was awestruck. I somehow convinced him to form a "band" with me when I was in twelfth grade & he was attending junior college. He played music while I "sang" dumb things to make him laugh. Because Russell was the funniest person I've ever met. & when you can make the funniest person you know laugh, it's a kind of euphoria most drugs can't give you.

Russell channeled his wicked sense of humor into prank calls, gaining a notoriety for pranking conservative religious talk shows as the old woman Melba Jackson. You can explore that at your leisure at his Bandcamp page. Later still he would appear on Self Help Radio as my spiritual mentor the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently. Recording that every week for years remains some of my happiest moments.

Russell & I had a couple of falling outs (fallings out?) like friends do. But because we were friends, we found our way back to one another. In many ways it made us closer.

In the 1990s, he met a beautiful & smart woman named Liz who shared many of the same interests as he did. Although it was fun for me to find out about their differences. They married & had beautiful cats & when Magda & I visited & later lived in Dallas we got to share meals with them, especially at Kalachandji's. I can see the four of us there now, stuffing our faces & talking. He & I both commented about our dumb luck in finding incredible women willing to condescend to marry us. I don't think either of us have ever taken that for granted.

There is so much more to say about my friend because he's worth writing a book about. He was so very smart & so unbelievably funny & yet like many of that ilk he was tortured by depression. The last few years the medicines he was taking stopped working. When I visited Texas this past March I told him I'd like to see him but understood if he wasn't up for that. I wish I had been more pushy. I wish I had texted him more.

Next week I am going to play nothing but Russell on my three radio shows. Old cassette recordings, some of his songs, Melba Jackson, Howard Gently, & more. & I have so many things yet to say about him, so many stories, thoughts, & feelings, just not right now, it is so hard to believe he's gone. How is that possible. It can't be possible.

My Friend Russell & Me

A picture from 1993. Thirty years ago. Probably taken by my friend Lauren. It was in this place.

Self Help Radio 061523: Haze

If it seemed like this week's Self Help Radio was in a haze - well, it was. Honestly during the show I couldn't see a damn thing. Well, I could make out some shapes. Was it you? Were you lost in the haze?

It was certainly appropriate as there were songs about hazy things & we talked to "experts" whose credentials were a bit hazy. The truth is, I'm glad there's a recording of it - my memory of the experience is somewhat hazy.

That recording is now at the Self Help Radio web page. To access it, remember the username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) required. It wasn't just me & music for two hours - there were guests as well. You can see everything that you will hear below. That's a funny sentence.

Enjoy the haze!

Self Help Radio Haze Show

"Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days Of Summer" Nat King Cole _The Greatest Hits_

"A Hazy Shade Of Winter" Jason Crest _Radio Sessions 1968-69_

"Hazy Paradise" Earth & Fire _Earth & Fire_

introduction & definitions

"Purple Haze" The Flying Lizards _Top Ten_

"Hazey Daze" Chris & Cosey _Technø Primitiv_

"Another Hazy Day On The Lazy A" The Wolfhounds _Lost But Happy: The Wolfhounds 1986-1990_

"Green Hazed Daze" A.R. Kane _Americana_

interview with anti-hazing campaigner Dickie Wadlington

"Hazey Jane I" Nick Drake _Bryter Layter_

"Haze" The Shacks _Haze_

"Our Haze" Bran Van 3000 _Rosé_

"My Mind Is Hazy" Chocolate Milk _Action Speaks Louder Than Words_

interview with air quality expert Dylan Wooten

"Haze" Eric's Trip _Peter_

"Autohaze" Godzuki _Losing Money & Losing Friends_

"Hazy" Huon _Answers To Lucky_

"Hazey Moon" The Wave Pictures _Look Inside Your Heart_

interview with self-help writer & therapist Deanna Welton

"Lullaby Haze" Mates Of State _Re-Arrange Us_

"Golden Haze" Wild Nothing _Golden Haze EP_

"Estates Of Sparkling Haze" The Laughing Chimes _Arboretum Miles_

"Haze" Jack Frost _Snow Job_

interview with DEA Agent Devon Walsh

+ conclusion & goodbye

"Hazy Days" Mick Ronson _Play Don't Worry_

"Hazy Haze" Kindest Lines _Covered In Dust_

"The Haze" Elf Power _Creatures_

Whither Haze?

You might think, "Whoa! Is Self Help Radio actually doing an episode that's more or less timely? After all the haze that blanketed the East Coast last week?" & the answer is emphatically: no.

This show has been in the works for some time. It's one of those themes which came about because I heard seemingly successive songs which somehow featured the word "haze" - or "hazy." & I diligently searched all my old playlists to see if I had done a hazy show before - well, one about "haze," anyway - & I don't think I did.

Which means you can peer into the haze this afternoon from noon to 2pm Portland time on Freeform Portland - that's 90.3+98.3fm & online at Freeform Portland dot org. Lots of guests, lots of hazy tunes, lots of haze (which isn't really all that unusual - it's just more direct at this time).

Preface To Haze: It Happens Here Too

Here's a picture from September 2020, when wildfires made the skies in Portland pink then red. That's the sun up there. The sun.

It's safe to say we in Oregon sympathized with the folks on the east coast this past week. That picture was taken in the depth of the pandemic, when we were at home anyway. The idea of this happening now, when I have places (mainly radio studios) to go to makes it terrifying.

Is that the reason the show this week is about haze? Nope. I'll say something more tomorrow.

My Life With Academics

In 2002, a young grad student moved in with me.

Around 2006 or so I found myself living with a doctoral candidate.

In 2008 I married a PhD.

In 2009 I moved to West Virginia to live with an Assistant Professor.

During the next few years I lived with an Associate Professor in Kentucky, Texas, & Oregon.

& I just found out that on July 1st, I'll be cohabitating with a Full Professor.

Is it weird that they're all named Magdalena?

Yes, that's a picture of her up there, with our two youngest. The dorkiest person I ever met is the love of my life & she's now a capital P Professor. Congrats to her!

Martin Duffy

(Image from here, where one can read a sad tale.)

When Martin Duffy died in December of last year, I mourned him on Facebook but didn't have any radio tributes to him. The shows I was doing at the time - the Dickenbock Report & Self Help Radio - wouldn't really allow me to carve up a portion of them for a proper thank you to the keyboardist whose work has haunted me since I first heard it on my first Felt album, The Pictorial Jackson Review, in 1987.

Tonight on my KBOO show - which seems to be where I can carve up a portion of time for a small tribute here & there - I'll play some Felt songs that showcase Duffy's beautiful playing. The reason for this is the news that his bandmates in Primal Scream - whom he played with after Felt disbanded - treated him unnecessarily cruelly & didn't help him financial as he struggled with both cancer & alcoholism.

It remains to be seen if I can ever play Primal Scream on the radio again. But I can & will play Martin Duffy's other projects. Like tonight, five Felt tunes.

Midnight to 3am KBOO Portland 90.7fm kboo dot fm.