This Week In Self Help (July 21 + 23 2024)

(found here)

That's an image of Austin's newsweekly the Austin Chronicle from 1988 which I almost certainly picked up at a record store & read at that time but I have no memory of it whatsoever. I kinda want to read (reread?) the article about Austin's "alternative radio" - there was no community or college station in Austin at that time. I don't think their archives go back that far tho.

Meanwhile! I returned to Portland after a week in California to make these radio shows this week:

On the Dickenbock Report on Sunday, I celebrated Belgian artists on National Belgian Day. You can listen to that musical survey either on the XRAY web site or downloading the show from the Self Help Radio website. If you do the latter, please use the username SHR & the password selfhelp to access.

On Self Help Radio on Tuesday, I played more of my favorite music from 1988. You can listen to that show on the KBOO website here, or download the show directly from the Self Help Radio website & please remember SHR + selfhelp to access.

The KBOO show includes this week's episode of Corporate Standardized Programming which featured an hour of my favorite hip hop from 1988 but if you'd prefer to listen to that as a separate file, you can download it directly from the Self Help Radio website. See username/password info above.

& that was the week that was.

Self Help Radio 072324: 1988 (Continued)

(All images from Discogs)

Here it is, another couple of hours of my favorite music from 1988. It may not surprise you I have another hour's worth of songs that I could've played. & maybe I'll play them! But probably not on Self Help Radio.

Of course I haven't started planning for the 1989 show but I do wonder if there is another year of music as important to me as 1988. As I have discussed here & on the show, the year changed a lot of what my life was like. I went from a lonely fellow who pined over girls to one starting a relationship that would last for a time. Though I read a lot, it was the music that informed my life. I would walk through the empty streets of Garland, Texas, in the dead of night in the summer of 1988, listening to music on a Walkman. It may be the way I still see myself thirty-six years later.

Which leads me to say: I should warn you that I reminisce a lot on the show. Maybe in the small chance you do listen you can zip past those parts.

Listen? But how? Either at the KBOO web site or at the Self Help Radio website. Should you choose to listen at the latter, make sure you have the username SHR & the password selfhelp handy. The KBOO file includes an hour of my favorite hip hop from 1988; it's a different show on the SHR website.

Back to the regular goofiness next week.

Self Help Radio 1988 (Continued) Show

"Ghosts Of American Astronauts" The Mekons _So Good It Hurts_

"When Harpo Played His Harp" Jonathan Richman _Modern Lovers 88_

"Turning Of The Tide" Richard Thompson _Amnesia_

"Turkish Song Of The Damned" The Pogues _If I Should Fall From Grace With God_

"Chant Of The Paladin" Dead Can Dance _The Serpent's Egg_

"King Of Soul" The Wolfgang Press _Bird Wood Cage_

"Peek-A-Boo" Siouxsie & The Banshees _Peepshow_

"Why Do You Have To Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me" The Brilliant Corners _Why Do You Have To Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me_

"Shimmer" The Flatmates _Shimmer_

"I'm In Love With A Girl Who Doesn't Know I Exist" Another Sunny Day _I'm In Love With A Girl Who Doesn't Know I Exist_

"Sunshine Thuggery" The Siddeleys _Sunshine Thuggery_

"Looking For Lot 49" The Jazz Butcher _Fishcotheque_

"Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste" Galaxie 500 _Today_

"You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby" Kirsty MacColl _You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby_

"It's Only Life" The Feelies _Only Life_

"You Will Be Loved Again" Mary Margaret O'Hara _Miss America_

"Charlotte Anne" Julian Cope _My Nation Underground_

"Martha's Harbour" All About Eve _All About Eve_

"The Camera Loves Me" Would-Be-Goods _The Camera Loves Me_

"Balloon Man" Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians _Globe Of Frogs_

"Indian Summer" Beat Happening _Jamboree_

"Burst" The Darling Buds _Burst_

"Bitter End" Felt _The Pictorial Jackson Review_

"Surfaround" The Fizzbombs _The Surfin' Winter EP_

"Christine" The House Of Love _The House Of Love_

"She Paints" Biff Bang Pow! _Love Is Forever_

"The Train" The Nits _Hat_

"Return To Yesterday" The Lilac Time _The Lilac Time_

Whither 1988 (Continued)?

Hey! That's an embarrassing picture of me with blonde hair in the summer of 1988! I really am grateful taking pictures was so expensive back then - there would be so many more humiliating selfies of me than I could handle if I were twenty in 2024.

Anyway... 1988 was a very important year for music for me. So much great music was released then that I needed a whole other radio show to continue to play what I loved. (The first installment, which I played six months ago around the time of my birthday, you can listen to here if you want.) I think I found over six hours of songs to play. But I won't continue with this theme after this. I better make it count!

It's tonight. Midnight to 2am. On 90.7fm in Portland & online at kboo dot fm. There's no way that doofus up there knew he'd ever be on the radio!

Preface To 1988 (Continued): Archaeology

The screenshot above is from I guess a promotional film for UT Austin in 1988. This week on Self Help Radio I am revisiting my earlier theme of my favorite music of 1988. Why? Because it was a very important year of music for me. Way too much music I love to fit in one two-hour show.

This video on Youtube tries to capture the UT campus in 1988. Interestingly, the Erwin Center has been demolished. I never saw a concert there - I decided at some point not to see shows in arenas - but I did go there once to add/drop classes. I also spent very little time on Sixth Street when I lived in Austin. Mainly I would walk down that way getting to KOOP, which was for a time on 5th & San Jacinto. But I walked down 6th because that's where the bus let off.

May I speak a little about the Texas Union Theatre? There was a delightful programming of movies there - I must've seen hundreds of films there - especially series - I watched five John Cassavetes movies in a row there - as well as numerous foreign films - it was easy to get to, it was free, & though sometimes someone wasn't there, you could buy cheap popcorn before the film. Truly if you go to UT Austin right now you have no idea how amazing that campus once was. Is there even a Student Union? Is it full of chain restaurants now?

Answer: mostly. They don't seem to show movies there anymore. I guess Cactus Cafe still has shows.

The truth is, I didn't really do a lot in Austin in 1988. At the beginning of the year, I was a little lonesome & made it through my classes even tho I had a couple of needy fucking roommates who sucked all the air out of my life (I did kind of enable them). I spent the summer in Garland being a selfish douche. & fell in love when I returned with someone who would never love me. So my life was pretty circumscribed by school, horrible friends, & girl.

If I could go back again, I'd try to experience a bit more of the city. I probably wouldn't see a show at the Erwin Center, however.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Belgian National Day

That picture was taken very late at night in Ghent, Belgium, in the early part of this century. It's a shop window I think. It might also have been New Year's Eve.

In fact, I've been to Belgium twice. But that's not the reason for a show featuring many artists from Belgium - no, July 21 is Belgian National Day. Some American sources call it Belgium Independence Day, which it kind of is. But it isn't. Tune in to discover the nuance - & to hear some Belgian originals.

That's tomorrow, July 21, noon to 1pm on XRAY - 91.1+107.1fm in town, xray dot fm everywhere.

We will also be asking you to help XRAY purchase our 107.1fm frequency during the show. Find out more & donate here!

This Week In Self Help (July 12 14 + 16 2024)

There wasn't a new Self Help Radio this week but there was a new Dickenbock Report plus I subbed a show on XRAY & I made a three-hour radio show for Self Help Radio's timeslot even though I was a state away. Wanna listen to any of that? No? Well I'll put links here anyway just in case. You don't think I should because you'll never listen? I'll do it anyway. Just humor me. Just fucking humor me.

A week ago I was on the radio on XRAY from 4-6pm. The show is available to listen to on the XRAY website & also on the Self Help Radio website. Please remember the username/password combo SHR/selfhelp to access/download the show/

The Dickenbock Report reported on Barn Day. That show is on the XRAY website. & on the Self Help Radio website. Same username/password needed.

Finally, I forewent Self Help Radio & Corporate Standardized Programming for three hours of new releases. Listen to that either on the KBOO website or on the Self Help Radio website.

The regular nonsense continues now that I'm back in town.

Magnetic Movies

(image from the IMDb)

Over a week ago (!) I had a radio show about magnets. You can listen to it here. Or you can listen to it here. About halfway through the show our resident cinephile Chuck stopped by to talk about movies featuring magnets. Below are supplemental links provided by Chuck for your education & edification:

His Letterboxd list. (Chuck put the links to available videos in the notes for the films plus where they are available to stream for free.)

His Letterboxd reviews.

The YouTube playlist of films & trailers.

The IMDb list of films available to stream for free elsewhere.

The IMDb search list.

Chuck sez: I posted about some of the films here. I tweeted about some of the films here. It's just the same links that are here for now, but go ahead and give me a follow. I usually follow back.

Sorry it was so late in coming! I was away for a week.

Whither A Week Without Self Help Radio?

(image from here)

This week I'm on vacation! There's no Self Help Radio! But like some kinda weirdo I recorded three hours of music for you! Wow I need to be frugal with these exclamation point! I'm gonna run out of them!

The show that is not Self Help Radio airs tonight at midnight on 90.7fm in Portland & online at kboo dot fm. That's 12-3am Tuesday morning.

Honestly, you might prefer it to the nonsense that is Self Help Radio.

Preface To A Week Without Self Help Radio: The Uncomfortable End Of The 1968 Project

(image from here)

So. As I've explained before, I decided to listen to records from 1968 as voted on by users of the website Rate Your Music & then playing the longest song on the record on the radio (usually on sub shows) & talking about the song & the record. I did seven of them. & I made a dumb mistake.

Here's the mistake: the website is dynamic. Users can vote all the time on the records. & they do. So the list kept changing. Especially past the first fifty entries or so. Okay, that's not the mistake. The mistake was that I felt the desperate need to update my own list with any changes in the order on the list. Let me give you an example.

In between (let's say) the fifth & sixth entries something like ten entries moved up &/or down in such a dramatic fashion that I spent the first third of the show "catching up" - & telling you, like you give a damn, about the numbers they were & the numbers they are (as of the show).

This was a very dumb way to manage this. As I was gathering material for the eighth installment, there were so many entries that moved & changed that they would now take up the bulk of that show. It was becoming unwieldy. & it was all because I felt the need to be somewhat faithful to the list as is than perhaps as it was when I started the project.

Because the project was intermittent. I did seven parts in over a year, maybe in almost two years. Of course a dynamic, user-opinion-based list would change a lot.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that I'm not going to continue with the 1968 Project at this point. But.

Soon enough I'm going to attempt the 1969 Project. & when I do that, I am going to take a snapshot of that album list on Rate Your Music & I am going to keep that snapshot & not attempt to keep up with the changes as new users vote on the 1969 album list.

In effect I'm saying I won't make the same mistake again.

This by the way is an example of how insular my radio world is. Virtually no one heard these radio shows I'm talking about, & less might have sought them out on my website, & a sum total of nobody at all was wondering when I would return to it. But I felt the need to explain why I haven't done an eighth episode at this point.

If you're thinking, wow that's dumb. It is! I know it is! & yet. This is me.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Barn Day

That picture of the sad remains of a once-proud barn was taken in Kentucky in 2015. I'm sure I saw plenty of awesome barns still in use. Someone those are not as photogenic as the one up there, looking so forlorn. But we shouldn't focus on crumbling barns!

July 14 is Barn Day. On the Dickenbock Report this week we'll talk about barns, hear musical reports about barns, & we might even be broadcasting from a barn! I hope it's not a haunted barn.

That's tomorrow, July 14, noon to 1pm on XRAY - 91.1+107.1fm in town, xray dot fm everywhere.

& yes, my mother, who raised me, often asked me if I were raised in a barn. It seemed like the strangest question coming from her.

This Week In Self Help (July 7 + 9 2024)

Above is a picture of The Magnetic Fields in Portland in 2022 at the Aladdin Theater. They don't have any songs about magnets so I didn't play them on my magnet show but certainly I thought about them a lot - they are one of my favorite bands.

This weeks started though with an episode of The Dickenbock Report on National Macaroni Day. It was very, very fun sorting through songs about macaroni. I liked it lots. You can listen to the show at the XRAY website here or directly from the Self Help Radio website by clicking on this link. You may need the username SHR & the password selfhelp to access.

Then comes Self Help Radio, about magnets this week. You can listen to the show at the KBOO website or you can download it from the Self Help Radio website. Same username/password issues apply.

At the end of the KBOO file is this week's episode of Corporate Standardized Programming, which once again focused on dead folks. You can listen at the end of the KBOO SHR episode or download the show directly right here.

There is no new Self Help Radio next week but that doesn't mean I won't have more radio to share. Like, I subbed a show on XRAY this week! But you'll have to wait a bit to listen if you missed it, sorry.

Self Help Radio 070924: Magnets

What an attractive show this was. Ho ho ho. Seriously, you won't be able to resist. Ha ha ha.

Yikes, magnet puns are affecting me negatively. Just let it be known Self Help Radio this morning was a show about magnets. Songs, interviews, a robot that defines things, the usual. I have really nothing else to add.

Listen when you want at either the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. If you choose the latter, you need a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp). There's a story about the recording of this show which I may well tell soon enough but maybe not. Everything that happened on the show is below. Most everything. Some things are left to discover.

Find your true magnetic north!

Self Help Radio Magnets show

"It's A Magnet" Dorothy Collins _Experiment Songs (From Ballads For The Age Of Science)_

"Magnetism" Sonny James _Young Love: The Complete Recordings 1952-1962_

"The Human Magnet Song" Joanna Sternberg _I've Got Me_

introductions & definitions - featuring the Definition-O-Tron 3000!

"(Your Love Is Like A) Magnet" The Age Of Reason _Ear-Piercing Punk_

"Magnetism" Escombros _Love, Peace, & Poetry - Chilean Psychedelic Music_

"Magnetic Hearts" Vs. _Magnetic Hearts_

"Magnetic Attraction" Y Pants _Y Pants_

"The Electronic Magnetism (That's Heavy Baby)" Solomon Burke _Electronic Magnetism_

interview with Frank Bolton, inventor of the Bolton Method of improving personal magnetism

"The Magnet" Wandering Lucy _Leap Year_

"Fridge Magnet Song" The Lucksmiths _Boondoggle_

"Magnet" Yo La Tengo _Prisoners Of Love (A Smattering Of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1985-2003)_

"Magnets" Digitalism _Idealism_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by!

"Magnet Face" Wet Dog _Future Love Songs_

"Magnet" Bikini Kill _Pussy Whipped_

"Capture With A Magnet" The Thermals _No Culture Icons_

"Your Life On Magnetic Tape" The Russian Futurists _Let's Get Ready To Crumble_

interview with Dude Magnet author Fay Bowers

"Psycho Magnet" Spearmint _Paris In A Bottle_

"Freak Magnet" Violent Femmes _Freak Magnet_

"Magnetic Woman" Eerie Wanda _Pet Town_

"Silver Arc Curving In The Magnetic Field" His Name Is Alive _Patterns Of Light_

interview with musician Foster Biggs, who makes music with magnets

"The Loneliness Of Magnets" The Handsome Family _Honey Moon_

"Sky Magnet" Frankie Cosmos _Inner World Peace_

"He's A Magnet" Mark Mulcahy _Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You_

"Magnetism" Lavender Blush _There's Nothing Inside Your Heart_

conclusion & goodbye

"Magnetizing (feat. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien)" Handsome Boy Modeling School _So... How's Your Girl?_

"Magnetic" Freezepop _Imaginary Friends_

"Mr. Magnetism Himself" Bill Nelson _The Two-Fold Aspect Of Everything_

"It's A Magnet (Reprise)" Dorothy Collins _Experiment Songs (From Ballads For The Age Of Science)_

Whither Magnets?

(image by David Shrigley)

Gosh. I have been racking my brain trying to remember when I first thought of magnets. It might have been one of the stranded themes I keep in a sad folder to which I return when I am out of ideas. It might have had a different inciting incident. I can't recall, sorry.

There is this story: this morning I went to a local toy store to get a horseshoe magnet. I was so inspired by the songs & interviews I had been doing that I wanted a magnet of my own & I wanted it to look like the magnets in cartoons. I checked their website & it said they had them in stock. But they did not. I must've looked as dejected as Charlie Brown as I left that local toy store.

Not that I would've taken the magnet with me to the show! I am afraid of doing what the cartoon above threatens. That might be why I currently don't have a magnet.

The Self Help Radio magnets show airs tonight midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. I don't think it'll erase your hard drive.

Preface To Magnets: Mid-Year Tally

(image from here*)

This post isn't about magnets. Self Help Radio this week is about magnets. But this post isn't. I just had nowhere else to mention this - & the time is right!

June 30 was almost the halfway point for the year. In 2024 it was the 182nd day of the year - because this is a leap year - with 184 days of the year. There's no "middle day" in leap years. But since it was the end of the sixth month, with six months left, it feels fine as an arbitrary midpoint.

This year for the first time ever I've kept notes about the radio shows I've done. Usually I try to count them up at the end of the year, but this year I kept & keep track every week. I have three radio shows currently - altho one of them is now tacked at the end of another, so I'm not on the radio three times a week. But sometimes I am! With sub shows & stuff.

What I didn't do - which is weird now that I think about it - is keep track of the number of individual shows. I really should do that. But here is the tally of radio so far in 2024.

As of June 30, poor old Portland has heard me on 94 radio shows on 3 different stations. Two of my shows are theme-based, but sometimes I return to previous themes, so I have explored only 44 original themes this year. Coincidentally 44 of those shows have been live (not always the ones with original themes tho). 50 of them have been recorded. It has been a total of 154 hours of radio (as of June 30). That's almost six & half days of radio. I feel just awful about that.

Here's the grand total:

27 episodes of Self Help Radio

26 episodes of Corporate Standardized Programming

26 episodes of The Dickenbock Report

15 sub shows

Does it add up to 94? I hope so. Self Help Radio moved from Freeform Portland to KBOO in March. I "recreated" two FFP SHRs for KBOO in January & February so I am counting those. I subbed a show on XRAY that was such a disaster that I am not counting it - so don't ask me to.

That's that. A little worrying. I suspect the year-end tally will be terrifying. Anyway. I'll talk magnets tomorrow.

* Steel Powder on Magnet by Aney is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Macaroni Day

(Image by Slice Of Chic from here*)

Hello news junkie/foodie! July 7 is National Macaroni Day. It seems important that we report on that. & so we shall.

That's tomorrow, July 7, noon to 1pm on XRAY - 91.1+107.1fm in town, xray dot fm everywhere.

We'll talk macaroni, hear musical reports, & have a live report from the Portland Macaroni Festival. & probably eat a lot of macaroni. Just because.

* Image used under the Attribution-Noncommercial Nodervis 2.0 Generic license.