Preface To Scarecrows: Halloween Theme Dilemma

Self Help Radio has been on the air for over 22 years now. Every Halloween (except one) there's been a Halloween show. It's not that I love Halloween - I'm not really the "dressing up" kind - but I know you love Halloween. & there are lots of songs that fit into the Halloween framework. But because this is Self Help Radio & I'm me, I can't just do a general Halloween show every year. It has to be about something specific. & after two decades, I am probably running out of ideas. Yes, I've complained about this before.

To recap:
The first Self Help Radio in 2002 was a general Halloween show. I wasn't sure how long I'd be doing the show at that point & it hadn't quite come together anyway.

The next six shows (2003-2009, excluding 2004) were pretty straightforward Halloween subjects: ghosts, vampires, monsters, zombies, witches, & werewolves.
What happened in 2004? I think there was a band in town & I wanted to play them instead of doing a Halloween show.

I had to get a little creative from then on out.

2010-2013 was haunted houses, graveyards, nightmares, & hell.

2014 was mummies. I kinda saved that theme until I had run out of ideas. But had I?

No!

2015-2018 was clowns, death, black cats, & voodoo.

2019 was an entire show about Frankenstein's monster there was some related content in the monsters show from 2006.

2020 was called "attack of the self help radio" & featured lots of creatures as from science fiction movies using the phrase "attack of the..."
2021 I had a show about pumpkins. Not very scary, but Halloween-ish.

2022 I revisited a theme that should've been a Halloween show but now was: spiders.

& last year I came up with ghost towns but also not very scary.

This year it's scarecrows. I think it's a good idea. But I thought that about ghost towns. So. We'll see.

The lesson is, it always feels like I'm running out of ideas, until such time as I actually will.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Black Cat Day

How maligned are our dear friends, the black cats? How they fear Halloween & the constant insults, affronts, & calumnies thrown their way! It turns out that these wonderful creatures have their own national day, & while that is a small stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of returning them to the god-like status they enjoyed in ancient Egypt, it's ain't nothing!

Tune in tomorrow to the Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM for a celebration of the black cat. It'll also double as a Halloween show! 12-1pm on 91.1+107.1fm & online at xray dot fm.

If you feel at all like supporting the station that airs the Dickenbock Report while also showing your appreciation for hard-hitting news team, you can do so on this XRAY Pledge Drive Page!

This Week In Self Help (Oct 18 20 + 22)

It was a busy week. Let's see what happened.

Oh yeah. I subbed a show last Friday night. It's called Youth Randomonium & they let me even tho I am not a youth. Luckily I am random. You can listen to that show on the KBOO website. It's also available on the Self Help Radio website. You'll need a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) to access.

The Dickenbock Report reported on International Chef Day. You can listen to that show on the XRAY website. It's also available on the Self Help Radio website. You'll need a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) to access.

Self Help Radio this week was about kaleidoscopes. You can listen to that show on the KBOO website. It's also available on the Self Help Radio website. You'll need a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) to access.

The last hour of the show was an episode of Corporate Standardized Programming. I played lots of new releases. It's included in the KBOO link above, but if you'd like to listen to the show on it's on, you can do so on the Self Help Radio website. One last time I tell you that you'll need a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) to access.

& that was it? & it was too much? Oh dear.

Self Help Radio 10224: Kaleidoscopes

It's true, yesterday I bought a kaleidoscope. I bought if from here. It's a D-I-Y device, it has a little plastic end that's removable so you can put things there - glitter, pebbles, beads, etc. - to make your own kaleidoscopic images. Instead I just pointed it at things - like the Self Help Radio logo. Which is where the image above comes from.

The show was kaleidoscoptic though, man! Lots of tunes with a psychedelic edge. I also got to talk to some oddballs. But I did spend most of the show playing with my new kaleidoscope.

You can play too but listen along at the KBOO web page or at the Self Help Radio web page. If you use the latter, remember the username SHR + password selfhelp. Lots of songs played & lots of stuff happening during the show. Most of it is listed below.

Most of it? Yeah! Like a kaleidoscope this show has some surprises!

Self Help Radio Kaleidoscopes show

"Kaleidoscope" Kaleidoscope _Tangerine Dream_

"Kaleidoscope" Procol Harum _Procol Harum_

"Kaleidoscope" Factree _A Lethal Dose Of Hard Psych (Authentic Way Cool Sixties Artefacts)_

"Kaleidoscope" The Litter _$100 Fine_

introduction & definitions

"Kaleidoscoptic" Shiva's Headband _Take Me To The Mountains_

"Kaleidoscope" Glenn Yarbrough _Bend Down & Touch Me_

"Carousels, Calliopes, Kaleidoscopes, & Clowns" Him He & Me _Him He & Me_

"Kaleidoscope" The Marmalade _Reflections Of The Marmalade_

"Kaleidoscope" Simple Minds _Celebration_

interview with toymaker & innovator Yvan Goode

"Kaleidoscope" Rain Parade _Emergency Third Rail Power Trip_

"Kaleidoscope World" The Chills _Kaleidoscope World_

"Sad Kaleidoscope" Razorcuts _R Is For... Razorcuts_

"Kaleidoscope" Yellow Sunshine Explosion _Yellow Sunshine Explosion_

"Kaleidoscope" Ride _Nowhere_

interview with Officer Yale Gentle

"Kaleidoskop" Fliehende Stürme _Ziellose Wege (Singles & Samplerbeiträge 1989-1998)

"Kaleidoscope" Teenage Filmstars _Star_

"Kaleidoscope" Pink Noise Test _Plasticized_

"I Was A Kaleidoscope" Death Cab For Cutie _The Photo Album_

"Kaleidoscope" Ringo Deathstarr _Colour Trip_

interview with Kaleidoscope director Yvette Grayson

"Kaleidoscope Eyes" Fireflies _Goodnight Stars, Goodnight Moon_

"Kaleidoscope" Jill Cunniff _City Beach_

"Kaleidoscopes" Teenage Joans _The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest_

"Kaleidoscope" Sam Morton _Daffodils & Dirt_

"Kaleidoscope Eyes" Burnt Ones _Black Teeth & Golden Tongues_

conclusion & goodbye

"Kaleidoscope" The Boo Radleys _Learning To Walk_

"Kaleidoscope" Jellybeat _Don't Let Us Be Misunderstood_

"Kaleidoscopic Lovers" The Avalanches _Wildflower_

Whither Kaleidoscopes?

It seems like I used to have a few kaleidoscopes. In the 1990s, there was a toy store near campus, & at least three times someone gifted me a kaleidoscope. I found a kaleidoscope once in the halls of my high school. I just took it, I never told anyone. I kept it next to my stereo in my room. I seem to remember bringing it to college in 1986. But did I?

Like everyone else, I have several drawers in several places where stuff goes - stuff you thought you were storing, but you probably will never use again. There's one right next to me in my room. I'll bet there's a kaleidoscope in there. Maybe two. But it was a kaleidoscope I saw but didn't take home (I'm a better person now) at one of my radio stations that made me remember the kaleidoscopes I used to have. & it made me think, "Have a done a show about kaleidoscopes?" & also, "If I haven't, should I do a show about kaleidoscopes?"

That show happens tonight! From midnight to 2pm on 90.7fm in Portland & online at kboo dot fm. So many songs & some interviews involving kaleidoscopes. Like we do.

Preface To Kaleidoscopes: That Familiar Feeling

(This is a kaleidoscope? From here.)

It may seem like I keep detailed records for this show - this show that has been on for twenty-two years - & in fact I do keep a web page - this one here - where I list all the themes I've explored - on Self Help Radio & on the Dickenbock Report. I don't, but I do have some resources. Despite that, I sometimes plan & plan & plan for a theme & it turns out I've already explored it.

That brings us to kaleidoscopes. If you had asked me a year if I had done a Self Help Radio episode about kaleidoscopes, I would have said maybe? Or probably? Or I think so? With the question marks in the answers! But I can't find any record that I actually spent an entire show on kaleidoscopes. I have played the sixties bands Kaleidoscope & Kaleidoscope. I have played music from the Siouxsie & The Banshees record Kaleidoscope. & I have played (& will play on this show) the Chills' song "Kaleidoscope World." But none of my records suggest I have done a show with the theme "kaleidoscopes."

& yet I can't help feeling that I have. It's a weird thing. & no, I'm not going to compare it to a kaleidoscope, that's not what this is leading up to. Did you think I set this whole thing up to say something about "multiple reflections" or "fragments of thought being mixed up"? Shame on you! I wouldn't waste your time with such trite writing. I mean, isn't it obvious I put very little thought into these things I write?

Having said all that - I guess I have never done a show about kaleidoscopes. But I will! This Tuesday!

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: International Chef Day

(comic from warandpeas.com)

October 20 is International Chef Day. Tomorrow on the Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM we'll talk about being a chef & play musical reports about chefs & cooking. We're also supposed to make Dick Dickenbock a seven-course meal but you don't need to know about that. It's pretty humiliating in fact.

Listen to the other stuff tho from noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & online at xray dot fm. Seriously, don't mention that stuff about trained journalists having to cook for their boss. We'd appreciate it.

This Week In Self Help (Oct 13 + 15)

Hm. That doesn't look a panda.

Another busy week in radio! Let's see what happened.

Sunday was Paul Simon's 83rd birthday. On The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM I played lots of Paul Simon songs not by Paul Simon. Listen to it on the XRAY web page. Or listen to it on the Self Help Radio web page. Psst - SHR is the login, selfhelp the password.

This week's Self Help Radio was about pandas - the animals, not the weird black workbenches (I'm guessing that's what that is up there). Listen to it on the KBOO web page. Or listen to it on the Self Help Radio web page. Psst - SHR is the login, selfhelp the password.

The last hour of the show on the KBOO page is an episode of Corporate Standardized Programming. I played lots of music by artists we lost in July of this year. You can listen to it on the KBOO link above or you can listen to it all by itself on the Self Help Radio web page. Psst - SHR is the login, selfhelp the password.

Finally - I foolishly agreed to sub a show on Tuesday afternoon on XRAY - the program Beautiful Music. I was very tired. I have not uploaded it to the Self Help Radio website yet but you can listen to it now on the XRAY website. I will try to remember to update the links here once it's on the Self Help Radio website.

Is that all? What? I'm on the radio tonight too?!? Yeah I'll wait to report that next week.

Self Help Radio 101524: Pandas

Here it is! Your radio show about pandas. Probably would've been cuter if I were in any way cute.

Listen to the show at the KBOO web site. Or listen at the Self Help Radio web page. Each is okay by me but if you listen at the Self Help Radio website please know the username is SHR & the password is selfhelp. That information might come in handy.

Lots of stuff happened during the show & almost all of it is listed below.

Yay pandas!

Self Help Radio Pandas Show

"Panda Riot" Our Hour _Little Darla Has A Treat For You (Volume Twelve Summer 1999)_

"Pictures Of Pandas Painting" They Might Be Giants _Here Come The ABCs_

"Panda Song" Audrey Ryan _Dishes & Pills_

introduction & definitions

"Pandas" Corky & The Juice Pigs _Corky & The Juice Pigs_

"Panda Eyes" Sing-Sing _The Joy Of Sing-Sing_

"Sex & Pandas" Mike Birbiglia _Two Drink Mike_

"Panda Panda Panda" Deerhoof _Apple O'_

"Oso Panda" Papá Topo _Oso Panda_

interview with "the Panda King" Johnny Bizarre

"Warm Panda Cola" The Boy Least Likely To _The Best Party Ever_

"Panda In The Rain" The Green Pajamas _If You Knew What I Dreamed... The Green Pajamas Play The Jeff Kelly Songbook_

"Pander! Panda! Panzer! (Excerpt)" Mark E. Smith _The Fall Box Set 1976-2007_

"Little Panda Bear" Kimya Dawson _Alphabutt_

"Panda Brain" The Telephone Company _Panda Brain!_

interview with voice actor Jackie Bodman ("Prudence Panda")

"More Pandas" Hey Young Believer _Invisible By Day_

"Pandas Are Cute" Matt Griffo _Wait, I Forgot That I Don't Love You_

"Wild Pandas" Walter Schreifels _An Open Letter To The Scene_

"Panda Butler" Matt Braunger _Shovel Fighter_

"Pandas Are Dangerous" Boogers _Extractum Victoris_

interview with "the panda guy" Jeff Dayer

"The Panda Bear Song" Foxes! _Foxes!_

"Panda Bear (feat. Alena Simone)" The Twigs _Jump Right In_ 

"Panda Eyes" Cocktails _Adult Life_

"Panda" The Hush Now _Sparkle Drive_

the truth about red pandas!

"Panda In The Chandelier" Tom Rosenthal _Bolu_

"Panda" Parekh & Singh _Ocean_

"Panda" Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine _Licensed To Spill_

"The Baby Panda" AJJ _Disposable Everything_

"Law & Panda" Weaves _Wide Open_

conclusion & goodbye

"Hey Panda" High Llamas _Hey Panda_

"Amanda The Panda" Aaron Raitiere _Simple Chimpanzee_

"Return Of The Panda" Teriyakis _Haunted Hungarian Sauna_

Whither Pandas?

(Panda Chair by Fernando & Humberto Campana, photo by me
taken at the Dallas Museum Of Art 2015)

Why a radio show about pandas? One might well ask why not a radio show about pandas?

Alas, the inspiration for this show was not the Chinese zoo who painted dogs to look like pandas. I thought about doing a show about pandas a bit longer ago than that news item. Though I suspect it might find its way into tonight's show nonetheless.

No, whatever caused me to begin to collect panda songs for a show about pandas is lost in the stinky mists of time. I mean, I assume the mists of time are stinky. Most of the world is stinky. Time is almost certainly stinky too.

No matter! The show about pandas happen tonight on 90.7fm which is KBOO! That's midnight to 2am! Also online at kboo dot fm! Pandas sure are cute! The radio show will not have that crucial visual element!

Preference To Pandas: Panda On A Picnic Bench (A Poem)

Someone left a panda on a picnic bench
Was it a squire? was it a wench?
You see the ren fair was just in town
& you never know when they're here what kinds of shit will go down.

Someone left a panda on a picnic bench
If only they'd left something useful - like a wrench
I mean I can't repair anything with a toy panda

Around here people think it's just Chinese propaganda.

Someone left a panda on a picnic bench
What's worse the only language it speaks is French
& no one can make it what it's trying to say:
Quelqu'un peut-il aider ce pauvre panda s'il vous plaît ?

Someone left a panda on a picnic bench
I'd be a hero, but I can't stand the stench
Yes that's a line from an Elvis Costello song

So if you said "I think he's out of ideas now" well you wouldn't be wrong.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: A Birthday Celebration

(I wish I could remember where I found this.)

Sadly, no, it's not Dick Dickenbock's birthday, but it is the birthday of a famous American songwriter. Who could it be? How will we celebrate? That would be telling! But you can guess if, you know, you look for famous American songwriters born on October 13.

That's tomorrow 12-1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & online everywhere at xray dot fm. Gosh I hope there'll be cake.

This Week In Self Help ( Oct 6 + 8 )

(It's a 1971 Cadillac Coupe Deville. Image from here.)

It was a quiet, normal, no-extra-shows-for-Gary week. & it went like this:

The Dickenbock Report reported on National Badger Day. They said it couldn't be done! "They" is my dogs. They don't like badgers. The show aired on XRAY & you can in fact listen to it on the XRAY website. You can also listen & download the show on the Self Help Radio website. You may be asked for a username & password - use SHR & selfhelp.

Self Help Radio celebrated its 22nd anniversary by revisiting a theme from 2007. That theme was my favorite music from 1971. I played none of the songs/artists I played back then & still feel like I could do another two hours. In any event, that show aired on KBOO, & you can listen to it on the KBOO website. You can also listen & download the show on the Self Help Radio website. You may be asked for a username & password - use SHR & selfhelp.

The show on the KBOO website is three hours long - that's because it contains an episode of Corporate Standardized Programming. On that show I finished playing music I loved from 1988 - something I did on two episodes of Self Help Radio this year! If you'd like to listen to that show on its own, you can do so on the Self Help Radio website. You may be asked for a username & password - use SHR & selfhelp.

Someone texted me pictures of things they owned from 1971 during Self Help Radio & I thought of using them for this blog post but didn't. After all, I didn't get permission.

Self Help Radio 100824: 1971 Revisited (The 22nd Anniversary Show)

(all images from Discogs)

& what an anniversary it was! I discovered that I missed a lot of music from 1971 I adore the first time around (altho to be fair to me I did only have 90 minutes back then) & I got lots of calls that kept me from talking about 1971. Not a bad way to turn 22.

Side note: if Self Help Radio makes it to 44, I will be 78 years old when that happens. I doubt either of us will make our respective age. I don't even know if radio will be around in two decades!

Celebrate 22 years of Self Help Radio by listening either at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. At the Self Help Radio website you'll need the username SHR & the password selfhelp to access. All the songs played & all the things that happened are below.

One quick note - there's a song from 1971 that I actually didn't really know about - but someone requested it & I found it & I played it. So it's not all my favorite music of 1971.

Please enjoy!

Self Help Radio 1971 Revisited 22nd Anniversary Show

"Poor Boy" Nick Drake _Bryter Layter_

"Alcohol" The Kinks _Muswell Hillbillies_

introduction, explanation, airbreak from 2007

"Are You Leaving For The Country" Karen Dalton _In My Own Time_

"Jesus Was A Cross Maker" Judee Sill _Judee Sill_

"It's Gonna Take A Miracle" Laura Nyro & Labelle _Gonna Take A Miracle_

"Me & Bobby McGee" Janis Joplin _Pearl_

some thoughts about 1971 Otto calls in!

"The Silver Tongued Devil & I" Kris Kristofferson _The Silver Tongued Devil & I_

"Huntsville" Merle Haggard & The Strangers _Someday We'll Look Back_

"The Architect" Monty Python _Another Monty Python Record_

"L'Hôtel Particulier" Serge Gainsbourg _Histoire De Melody Nelson_

some thoughts about 1971 Frank calls in!

"Lady Day & John Coltrane" Gil Scott-Heron _Pieces Of A Man_

"Tired Of Being Alone" Al Green _Al Green Gets Next To You_

"Gonna Keep On Tryin' Till I Win Your Love" The Temptations _Sky's The Limit_

"Country Living" The Stylistics _The Stylistics_

some thoughts about 1971 Oliver calls in!

"Wild Night" Van Morrison _Tupelo Honey_

"Sister Anne" MC5 _High Time_

"Baba O'Riley" The Who _Who's Next_

some thoughts about 1971 Tina calls in!

"Underground" Curtis Mayfield _Roots_

"Get Up & Get Down" The Dramatics _Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get_

"Love The One You're With" The Isley Brothers _Givin' It Back_

"Timothy" The Buoys _The Buoys_

conclusion & goodbye

"Why Don't You Eat Carrots" Faust _Faust_

Whither 1971 Revisisted (Twenty-Second Anniversary Show)?

(The twenty-sixth amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1971. Image from here.)

It's that time again! Another anniversary. Self Help Radio first aired on 91.7fm KOOP Austin on October 9, 2002. It was a Wednesday at 2pm. It's now (almost) twenty-two years later.

It has become the show's habit to revisit an old theme on its anniversary. This year I've chosen to return to a theme first explored in 2007 - my favorite music from the year 1971. My show at the time was 90 minutes long, but there are of course many more favorite songs from that year. I'll play more tonight. (If you want to see what I played way back then, the playlist for that show is here.)

Self Help Radio has aired on at least eight different stations in at least four different towns in I think four different states. Had you told me on that October afternoon in 2002 I'd still be doing this, I would've said, "Oh I don't think so." But I am not a person that looks forward. I probably didn't think I'd still be doing the show in 2003.

Nonetheless. We have an anniversary show. Tonight on KBOO, which is on 90.7fm here in Portland, & online at kboo dot fm. Midnight to 2am. Which is technically Tuesday. & as close to October 9 as I could get this year.