Preface To Alibis: A Is For Alibi

(image from Goodreads)

This is a book I recently read. I have been trying to read more women writers (it's my goal to only read women writers this year) but was missing reading mystery books. I'm a big fan of mystery books even though I honestly have no interest in solving mysteries. I just want to like the person who solves the mystery. I adored Sherlock Holmes & Ellery Queen. I fucking love Columbo. I am charmed by Ellsbeth & the character Natasha Lyonne plays in Poker Face. It's fun to watch them gather clues but I am easily distracted & am not doing the same. So I am unsure whether Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone books are good mystery books.

What I do love is the character, & especially the way she goes about solving her mysteries. She interacts with people in a very specific way - including lots of women, which doesn't happen in many of the mystery books I've read. I had to stop to read something else after I tore through the first four books of the series. I was sad to discover that Grafton kept the series in the 1980s where she started them - I would have wanted to see Kinsey grow older.

My sister Karin, who is much more of a connoisseur of mystery books than I am, said she couldn't get into this series. But she told me my older sister Pat, who also loved these kinds of books & whom we lost over a decade ago, read them all. Maybe I will get a chance to do that too.

Is the book the reason for this week's theme? I'll tell you tomorrow.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Aunt & Uncle Day

The picture above is of my mother with my oldest brother, she's on the right, with her sister, my aunt, on the left with her son. Both women are aunts. Only one of them was my aunt.

Dick Dickenbock has many nephews & nieces, but did not get a picture of them in time for me to post for this blog entry. "Google them!" he bellowed at me, although I did tell him it's very difficult to find usable photos when one of the terms in the search engine is "Dick."

Sunday, July 26, is National Aunt & Uncle Day. We'll report on those familial roles, have commentary, film recommendations, & of course musical reports.

That tomorrow only on XRAY. 11am to 1pm, 91.1+107.1fm in town, xray dot fm everywhere.

This Week In Self Help: July 17 19 + 21

A slightly busier than usual week.

July 17 the Songcircle on KBOO. New releases. Listen here.

July 19 the Dickenbock Report on XRAY. A show about 1926. Listen here.

July 21 Self Help Radio on KBOO. A show about corruption. Listen here. Or listen here.

July 21 Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO. New releases. Listen here (after Self Help Radio). Or listen here.

Not gonna make a big deal of it, anyway.

Self Help Radio 072126: Corruption

Inspired by actual events! I don't get to do that much these days. I mean, my shows are inspired by things I myself come across, but not necessarily by an entire political party looking the other way while its leader loots his followers & his country with impunity. Well, with impunity for now. It's hard to believe justice will be served on these jackals but hope springs eternal.

The show had lots of songs about corruption that predate our current situation. Though in many cases it sounds the same. The stench of corruption had always been particularly awful & hasn't varied much. I can't wait for the songs about this horrifying era.

If you can handle it, you can listen to the show at the KBOO web page or at the Self Help Radio web page. Most of what happens on the show is listed below. Listening to the show won't affect you - anyway, I know you're incorruptible.

Self Help Radio Corruption Show

"Corruption" Illusion Of Safety _Inside Agitator_

"Corrupt & Immoral" Headphonics _Evolution Of Funk_

"Age Of Corruption" Alan Klein _Gathered From Coincidence: The British Folk-Pop Sound Of 1965-66_

"Small Town Editor: Corrupt Mayor" Bob & Ray _Classic Bob & Ray, Volume Two - Selections From A Career: 1946-1976_

"Corruption Is The Thing" Creations Unlimited _Eccentric Funk_

"Corruption (Man's Self Destruction)" The Escorts _3 Down 4 To Go_

"Corruption" The Charades _Corruption_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by!

"Money & Corruption" The Kinks _Preservation Act 1_

"Corruption" Iggy Pop _Avenue B_

"You're Corrupt" Modern English _Take Me To The Trees_

"Corrupt (Knuckle Up)" Dälek _Abandoned Language_

"Capital Corruption" Mad Dukez + Fresh Kils _Gettin' Gatsby_

a phone call with a request interrupts the show!

"Ecstasy" New Order _Power, Corruption, & Lies_

"The Corruption Of Granola" Jim Gaffigan _The Last Supper_

"Corruption" Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited _Corruption_

"Stop Corruption (Gyae Corruption)" Aaron Bebe Sukura & The Local Dimension Palm Wine Band _N'Yong Acoustic Ghanaian Highlife_

"You Can't Fight Corruption With Corruption" Femi Kuti _Stop The Hate_

interview with the Rev K. N. Usher

"Corrupted Man" Pablo Moses _Revolutionary Dream_

"Corruption" Aswad _Hulet_

"World So Corrupt" Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers _Joy & Blues_

"Corrupt Cop" The Mighty Diamonds _Speak The Truth_

"Crime & Corruption" Lucky Dube _The Way It Is_

conclusion & goodbye

"Corrupt (Studio Session)" Depeche Mode _Sounds Of The Universe: Re-Alinged Version_

"My Fetish's Called Corruption" G.D. Luxxe _Between Zero & Eternity_

Whither Corruption?

(image found here)

As tempted as I am to be sarcastic - "I can't for the life of me imagine what is happening in this world that would make me think the theme 'corruption' would come to me at this time." - it's pretty obvious why anyone is talking about corruption these days. It used to be something we needed to have organizations, task forces, some kind of group - in the government & out - to root out, to discover, to bring from the back rooms where the deals were made into the light of day. But now it's happening in plain sight. Everyone knows it & sees it, & it's defended or condemned on a partisan basis. It's terrifying & concerning.

& please don't think this dumb radio show will offer any real insights or solutions. Mainly I'll be playing songs where the subject matter is corruption - & none of the songs will be recent enough to address the current situation. It's just that the word "corruption" is literally spoken or written dozens of time a day (if not hundreds) & how could I not pull that theme out of the air & make a radio show about it?

So I shall. Tonight, Self Help Radio's theme is "corruption." The show on from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland, kboo dot fm everywhere.

Or maybe it won't be. If, you know, you wanna make an offer I can't refuse...

Preface To Corruption: Stickers

Dang I like the design of that sticker. The orange one. That recognizable silhouette. The implication & message is undeniable.

Corruption is a complicated thing (perhaps) but there are some stickers that have a way of finding the essence of something & elegantly, with surprising simplicity, expresses it while stuck to a surface. A wall, a street sign, a door.

There's no chance he has seen that sticker but I suspect it might enrage him. Just because his head looks as fucking big as it is in real life.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: 1926

(image found here)

Every year on The Dickenbock Report, we look back one hundred years to see what the world was like then. Dick Dickenbock insists we tell you that no, he wasn't alive then, he's not that old! In any event, we talk about & hear musical reports from 1926 on this special episode.

That's tomorrow, Sunday, July 19, on XRAY FM - which is on the air in Portland at 91.1+107.1fm & online everywhere at xray dot fm. Don't worry, unlike 1926, Prohibition will not be enforced; however, like 1926, there's Nazis lurking everywhere.

This Week In Self Help: July 12 +14

Silver clouds are all covered by silver lining. I think I took that at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh?

This week:

The Dickenbock Report on XRAY was about New Conversations Day. That was July 12.

Listen to the show here.

Self Help Radio on KBOO had the theme "silver linings." That was July 14,

Listen to the show here. Or listen to the show here.

Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO played music by artists we lost in February of this year. That was also on July 14.

Listen to the show here (after Self Help Radio). Or listen to the show here.

All caught up!

Self Help Radio 071426: Silver Linings

That was a radio show about silver linings. I don't know if I have much more to say about silver linings. Let me check my notes. I mentioned John Milton. Did I mention the Union song? Probably. I mean, what the hell else is there to talk about? I had guests. I played songs. I'm genuinely surprised there were so many songs & I probably didn't even get close to finding or listening to many of them. I guess the silver lining in that is that it isn't a four hour show about silver linings.

Wanna listen to it? Really? Okay, it's at the KBOO website. & it's at the Self Help Radio website. & the list of songs & stuff is below. & I really have nothing else to say about this very specific & weird theme.

You do get that the Self Help Radio logo up there has a silver lining, right? That makes sense, doesn't it? Oh well.

Self Help Radio Silver Linings Show

"Look For The Silver Lining" Marion Harris _20 # 1 Hits Of The 20's_

"There Must Be A Silver Lining" Lee Morse _Anthology: The Deluxe Collection_

"Wear A Hat With A Silver Lining" Ted Lewis & His Orchestra _Ted Lewis & His Orchestra_

introduction & definitions

"Hi-Ho Silver Lining" Jeff Beck _Beckology_

"Silver Lining Love" Leo Unger _Run To The Sunshine_

"Silver Lining" Zen _Again_

"Silver Lining" Chris Andrews _The Best Of Chris Andrews_

"Silver Lining" Rikki Ililonga _Dread Eyes_

interview with Kathleen & Leo Harrison of Silver Linings

"Silver Lining" Stiff Little Fingers _Go For It_

"Silver Lining" Gang Of Four _Hard_

"Silver Lining" Band Of Susans _The Word & The Flesh_

"Silver Lining" Freddie McGregor _Freddie McGregor_

"Silver Lining" Avo-8 _Out Of My Mind_

interview with Lester Tucker, "The King Of The Silver Linings"

"Silver Lining" Stretford _Crossing The Line_

"Silver Lining" Beulah _The Coast Is Never Clear_

"My Silver Lining" Kelley Stoltz _Antique Glow_

"No Silver Lining" The Seamonsters _The Seamonsters_

"Silver Lining" Kitty Craft _Catskills_

Ned Dry talks about the film "Silver Linings Playbook"

"Silver Lining" Rilo Kiley _Under The Blacklight_

"Silver Lining" Garfunkel & Oates _Music Songs_

"Silver Lining" The Silent Boys _Wishing Well Eyes_

"Silver Lining" Guards _In Guards We Trust_

"Silver Lining" Las Rosas _Everyone Gets Exactly What They Want_

conclusion & goodbye

"Silver Lining Lead Balloons" Gruff Rhys _Sadness Sets Me Free_

"A Torn Jacket With Silver Lining" Bedouin Soundclash _We Will Meet In A Hurricane_

Whither SIlver Linings?

Someone asked me the other day - someone who previously didn't know I did a radio show - they actually asked me how I decide what themes to cover. I used to tell people I get them in my dreams, but if that were true all my radio shows would be about my dead animals or being naked in weird places. I didn't want to sound mystical or anything but I said a lot of the time I let the universe suggest themes to me. Luckily this person was just making small talk & didn't actually care about my radio show so I didn't have to talk about it any further.

Sadly for you, that's part of the point of this blog & you should be thankful! I could write me about the dreams where I am naked in places where there's no real reason for me to be naked. This happens so often in dreams these days that I'm not even embarrassed much anymore. I just wonder where my clothes have gone.

When I say "let the universe suggest themes," it usually means that I notice something - like lots of songs with the same title. Which is what happened for "silver linings." I noticed a couple of songs with the name & wondered if there were enough to do an entire show. That's how it happened. Why that's the theme tonight.

Pretty unsatisfying, I'm sure. Like having the same dumb dream over & over. I remember when I would find myself flying in dreams! That was more fun.

Anyway - every Self Help Radio episode has a silver lining, & tonight it's all silver linings. Listen from midnight to 2pm on 90.7fm in Portland & online everywhere at kboo dot fm.

(Sorry I didn't have any pictures of clouds with silver linings.)

Five Thousand

This is the five thousandth post on this blog. I used to make a bigger deal about post numbers until I discovered that I was counting them incorrectly. Also, the blogger site counts them anyway, & I hadn't noticed that. Anyway, it was a dumb way to fill space & terribly uninteresting so I stopped doing it. But post number five thousand seemed too much of a milestone to pass up.

It was way back in September - the 12th actually - of 2006 when I decided to start this blog. Self Help Radio had been on the air for almost four years. The radio station on which it aired, KOOP in Austin, had managed to stabilize after some unhappinesses, & I felt like I'd be doing the show there for some time to come.

When I started the show, I had a girlfriend in grad school. Right after the show left the Austin airwaves, I got married to a newly minted doctor of philosophy who would be taking a job - & me, & the show - to West Virginia. I kept doing the blog because why not?

Blogger gives me stats about the blog so I know it's never had a large readership. I am lucky if I get to the high two digits in terms of "views." Some time ago (I can't say when) I bemoaned the fact that I was forgetting the blog so I determined to write in it at least five times a week. By far the most "popular" (if you want to call it that) posts have been the eulogies I have written for my pets. But that's more because I also post them on social media & my friends come to read them - not because those readers are listeners of my shows.

In fact, I have no idea who listens to my shows & why. I get very little feedback from anyone - very few calls, texts, or blog comments - which may have bothered me at one time but surely doesn't now. Why should it? I am doing something I truly love & would do it if I were the last person in the world. Well, maybe not then. Maybe if I were among the last seventeen people on Earth. Just to have sometime to do in between fighting the mutants & the mole people. In any event, radio is the most fun I have ever had & at some point I knew I'd do it even if no one were listening. Which might be the case

According to the "date calculator" at Time&DateDotCom, there have been 7,245 days between the beginning of this blog & today. Almost twenty years, as can easily be figured out (2006 to 2026). But also:

625,968,000 seconds

10,432,800 minutes

173,880 hours

7245 days

1035 weeks

My ability to do math in my head is shitty but I see the number 5,000 & the total of weeks (1035) & I assume that means I average around five posts a week. Which is how I have been & will continue to do it. Except this week. I added an extra day because - five thousand posts!

Finally - you might ask - are any of those old posts worth reading? Probably not. A lot of them are me being nonsensical. A handful are me trying to be creative. Way too many are me trying to be funny & instead being extremely unfunny. The ones about the animals I lost I do revisit & they make me cry. But I am glad I wrote them because I loved those creatures so & love them still. I wish I wrote better so I could've given them a grander send-off, but they thought I talked too much as it was.

One thing is certain, I don't think I'll still be doing Self Help Radio in twenty years. I can't be sure I'll even be around in twenty years. So we will mostly probably (at my current rate of blog entries) never see a ten thousandth blog post. But according to Just Delete Me, it is "impossible" to delete one's Blogger account. So this dumb blog will survive me. For better or worse.

Happy random mostly unearned achievement day to Self Help Radio's blog!

Preface To Silver Linings: The Most Popular Silver Linings Song Of All

(image from here)

According to the Wikipedia, the song - written by Jerome Kern (music) & B.G. DeSylva (lyrics), was first in an "unsuccessful musical," but was published in 1920, & reused in the musical Sally, made popular by Marilynn Miller, whose image is on the sheet music above.

According to Secondhand Songs, there are at least 248 covers of it, with the earliest recording appearing to be by Marion Miller in 1921. The website has versions of it that run from that date to 2025. It does not appear to lost its charm.

With 248 versions, it would be entirely possible for me to do an entire show of versions of this song. I won't do that, tho. Every time I hear it, I think of that "Look For The Union Label" song, & I think I prefer that one.

But I will play one version of the song on the "silver linings" show.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: New Conversations Day

(image found here)

July 12 is New Conversations Day. Join Dick Dickenbock as he does what he does best - converses with people. Also, with himself. & sometimes, when he's forgotten to take his medicine, with people he knew long ago who are long gone. We'll try to make sure he's fully medicated for tomorrow's program.

Which is happening Sunday from 11am to 1pm. That's only on XRAY FM, which you can find in Portland at 91.1+107.1fm & everywhere at xray dot fm.

Join the conversation! Talk to your radio! Tomorrow it may talk back!

This Week In Self Help: July 5 + 7

(image found here)

Self Help Radio this week had the theme "habits" & I did resist making too many puns about the nun's habit. But here's a picture I found online that I refrained from sharing then. But I share it now.

Let me go chronologically.

Sunday July 5 on XRAY FM. The Dickenbock Report on National Bikini Day. Listen to that show here.

Tuesday July 7 on KBOO. Self Help Radio's show about habits. Listen to that show here. Or listen to that show here.

Tuesday July 7 on KBOO. Corporate Standardized Programming played lots of new releases. Listen to that show here (after Self Help Radio). Or listen to that show here.

You have to wonder if a nun's habit is comfortable. I'm betting no. But I will probably never know - not just because I will probably never know a nun who has worn a habit, but also because there will probably never be a situation where I myself might wear a habit.

Now's the chance for the universe to make a liar out of me!

Self Help Radio 070726: Habits

It's time to stop complaining about how a theme like "habits" doesn't lend itself to photographs & just do something cheap like finding an old drugstore which has "drugs" written on its side & use that as the image for the show. I mean, what else can I do?

This was a show about habits. It never occurred to me discuss the weird habits I have relating to the show - or that the show itself is a kind of habit. How else can you do the same dumb thing for over two decades? Instead I just played lots of songs & had some guests.

Should it be your habit to occasionally listen to silly radio shows, you can find this one on the KBOO website or on the Self Help Radio website. Almost everything that happens on the show is listed below.

It's not too late to make Self Help Radio a habit - or to break that habit!

Self Help Radio Habits Show

"It's A Habit Of Mine" Maurice Chevalier _On Top Of The World_

"Cocaine Habit Blues" Memphis Jug Band _He's In The Jailhouse Now_

"Can't Kick The Habit" Champion Jack Dupree _Blues From The Gutter_

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

"Don't Make Hurting Me A Habit" The Marvelettes _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 8: 1968_

"One Bad Habit" The Superbs _Anthology_

"I Kicked The Habit (Of Loving You)" Sarah Simpson _Absolute Funk Vol. 1_

"You're A Habit Hard To Break" Linda Balintine _Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label_

"Habits" Nikki Giovanni _Cotton Candy On A Rainy Day_

"I Can't Break The Habit" The Ferris Wheel _We Can Fly, Vol. 4_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by!

"Nasty Habits" Oingo Boingo _Only A Lad_

"God's A Hard Habit To Break" Miss Tammy Faye Starlite & The Angels Of Mercy _On My Knees_

"Louella Parkinson: Personal Habits Of The Stars" Bob & Ray _Vintage Bob & Ray Volume 4: The New York Years_

"A Habit Of You" Jim Jiminee _Welcome To Hawaii_

"I've Got A Habit" The Orchids _Lyceum + Singles_

"Chick Habit" April March _Chick Habit_

"You're Just A Habit That I'm Trying To Break" The Wedding Present _24 Songs_

interview with counselor Jerzy Wilson

"Just A Habit" Built To Spill _You In Reverse_

"The Habit Creep" Shrag _Life! Death! Prizes!_

"Nervous Habits" The Cute Lepers _Can't Stand Modern Music_

"Kick That Habit Man" Brion Gysin _William S. Burroughs & Brion Gysin_

"Creature Of Habit" Dear Nora _Skulls Example_

"Old Habits" Jenny O. _New Truth_

interview with author Corey Stephens

"Habits" Sodastream _Little By Little_

"These Habits" Generationals _Con Law_

"Habit Creature" Rubblebucket _Sun Machine_

"Bad Habit" Pins _Hot Slick_

"A Study Of Reading Habits" Philip Larkin _The Whitsun Weddings_

"Another New Habit To Break" Manitoba Rock N Rolla _Another New Habit To Break_

conclusion & goodbye

"Habit" Ought _More Than Any Other Day_

Whither Habits?

Let me see if I can bring to mind why I chose this week's theme, "habits." Did someone suggest the theme to me? I don't think so. Was there a particular song I was thinking about that led to this theme? I can't recall. What about me - was I think of some good or bad habit of mine & said to myself that would be a good theme? I can't say. Something made me think "habits" would be a good theme for an episode of Self Help Radio but for the life of me I can't remember what that was.

It's a bad habit of mine, forgetting why I plan the shows I do. Especially when I have this blog where I'm supposed to talk about why I chose the theme each week! I'll do my best to break this habit. (I probably will fail tho. As I get older I forget more & more why I do most everything.)

Hopefully tho it's a habit of yours to tune into KBOO on Monday nights. Because that's when this show is airing - tonight midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in town & online everywhere at kboo dot fm.

Have I been trying to habituate you to my lazy practices this whole time?