Self Help Radio 022426: A Week Off

(all album cover images from Bandcamp)

After a particularly heavy week - wherein I had to travel back to Texas to see a family member that took ill - she's fine now tho! - I realized I didn't have the time to put together one of my regular shabbily-constructed shows. I really did not have the time or the energy. So I said to my wife, "I think Self Help Radio is going to have to take the week off." She said, "So you're not doing a show this week?" I said, "I'll do a show, it just won't be a theme-based Self Help Radio episode." She rolled her eyes at me & said, "That's not taking a week off."

But you have to admit, it's better than a repeat!

So here's a selection of recently released jazz, electronica, experimental, etc., with very few interruptions from me. You can listen if you'd like at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. The songs I played are below.

Back to the regular nonsense next week.

Self Help Radio Takes A Week Off

"Tidal Motions" Dapper Blob _Most People Are Other People_

"Theme For Fruitful Tangents" Squanderers _Skantagio_

"AZK" Florian Stéphant _La Sympathie Des Horloges_ 

"Decreation" Venera _Exinfinite_

"Sunder" Leslie Keffer _Sunder_

"Out The Door" Matt Bachmann _Compost Karaoke_

"Conjunctions I For Saxophones" Shane Krause _I Measured The Skies_

"The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Within" Rich Brown _Nyaeba_

"Shiver" Valley Voice _Stars, Engines_

"No Bread For You" Cookin' On 3 Burners _Cookin' The Books_

"Causeway" The Necks _Disquiet_

"Book Of Changes" Faten Kanaan _Diary Of A Candle_

"Exp" Aatocaster _Superstition (Studio Works '23 - '25)_

"Uncontrollable Thoughts" Anushka Chkheidze + Robert Lippok _Uncontrollable Thoughts_

"Dreams Like These" Doug Bielmeier _Electric Rodeo Revival_

"Dream Palette" Loneward _Musings Of A Painted Sky_

"Junoon" Didon _Bab El Mdina_

"Generation Amiga" Duid _Let's Duid_

"Les Grands Départs" Géraldine Eguiluz & Michel F Côté _Hors Temps_

"Illuminance" Midori Hirano _Otonoma_

"Cloudseeding 10" Devin Maxwell _Megadrought_

"Gestations" The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis _Deface The Currency_

"Marwa The Mountain" Shabaka _Of The Earth_

"Magic Touch" Nick Schofield _Blue Hour_

"Flourishing Flakes" The Setting _The Setting_

"Hum" Leo Chang _Live At CPR_

Whither A Week Off?

Listen. I had a heck of a week. A family emergency took me to Dallas. Once back, I had a radio show on XRAY, a meeting at Freeform Portland, & I helped with a show at KBOO. & I'm not as young as I used to be.

What I keep saying is, "I'm taking a week off." That's not entirely true. I'm not doing the planned episode of Self Help Radio this week - the show with the theme "rooftops." I'll do that next week. This week I'll just play lots of sounds I find interesting - in the jazz, electronic, & experimental genres - that have been released in oh the last six months or so. Instrumentals mainly. Not so much me talking.

Hopefully it'll give me a chance to recharge & spend the time to make sure the show is a good one.

So listen to me "take a week off" tonight on KBOO - 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere - from midnight to 3am. It isn't that I couldn't play a rerun or anything - I just don't think anyone should be subjected to one of my shows more than once.

Preface To The Next Show: What Will It Be?

(image found here)

If you look at the Self Help Radio web page right now, you will see that the theme for tomorrow night's show is "rooftops." Or is it?

You see, I had a hell of a week. A family member took ill & I had to go to Dallas. & I am still very, very tired. & not a little discombobulated.

So there's a very good chance I'll take a week off. I'll still have some kind of show - it just won't necessarily be a Self Help Radio episode about rooftops. That will have to wait until next week.

But. We'll see. Maybe if I get a little sleep tonight, that will help & I'll be bright-tailed & bushy-eyed & be able to navigate the day. Chances are slim but there's still a chance. Maybe?

Let me think on it & I'll tell you tomorrow.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Be Humble Day

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Because he is the epitome of humility, Dick Dickenbock will proudly report on February 22, which is Be Humble Day... Nope. Can't do it. We all know Dick Dickenbock is the very opposite of humble. If there were a Be Excessively Vainglorious Day, well, yes, we could hold him out as a shining example for the day. But humble? Dick Dickenbock? Please.

Find out how he squares this circle tomorrow, Sunday February 22, on the Dickenbock Report, noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere.

Dick Dickenbock humble! It is to laugh.

This Week In Self Help: February 15 + 17

(Ellen Greene as Audrey in Little Shop Of Horrors, found here)

This week on Self Help Radio the show was about the name Audrey. Tho my guest Carole mentioned Audreys I & II from Little Shop Of Horrors, & tho I devoted an entire airbreak to the character of Audrey Horne from Twin Peaks, because I left them out of the collage of Audreys I made for the show, I was criticized for "forgetting them." You can't please an Audrey lover no matter how hard you try.

This week was all like:

World Hippo Day on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM. Sunday the 15th. Listen here.

Audrey's Show on Self Help Radio on KBOO. Tuesday the 17th. Listen here. Or here.

New releases on Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO. Also Tuesday the 17th. Listen here (after Self Help Radio). Or here.

& that was it. I hope at least there was an Audrey out there that liked the show.

Self Help Radio 021726: Audrey's Show

(images found on Wikipedia)

Though I found no Audreys to talk to for Audrey's show, I did find plenty of songs about Audrey for Audrey to enjoy. Maybe a few of them were about Audrey Hepburn & none at all about Audrey Munson but! It is well-known that all songs about Audrey are, by some mystical mathematical property of transference, about all Audreys. It is the cosmic connection of Audreyness about which many philosophical treatises have been written & many mellifluous poems composed. At least one would hope. I just played songs.

Tell all the Audreys you know there's a show about her! If you're Audrey, tell yourself! You can listen now or when Audrey's around at either the KBOO web page or at the Self Help Radio web page. As I continually bemoan, there were no Audreys for me to talk to, but you can see I talked about a few Audreys - the list of what happened on the show is below.

Gosh I hope Audrey likes her show!

Audrey's Self Help Radio Show

"Audry" The Rob Roys _Back Beat Records: Rock & Roll Party_

"Audrey" Billy Lehman _The Rockin' Spot Volume Five: Audrey_

"Talk To Audrey" The Hollywood Playboys _Talk To Audrey_

introduction & definitions

"Audrey" Owen Gray _The Singles Collection 1960-1962 (Classic Jamaican Collection)_

"Audrey" Winston Shand _Audrey_

"Norman & Audrey" Lord Nelson _Black Gold_

"Audrey" Mike Heron _Smiling Men With Bad Reputations_

"Audrey" Club Eternity _Audrey_

our favorite librarian Carole stops by!

"All About Audrey" Jim's Twenty-One _Nadine_

"Little Audrey" Stephen _Dumb_

"Audrey Hepburn" Die Fünf Freunde _The Marsh Marigold Review Gold 01-10_

"Audrey's Curtains" The Days _The Sound Of Leamington Spa Volume 4_

"Audrey's Eyes" Velocity Girl _Copacetic_

a discussion about Little Audrey

"Audrey Hepburn" Planet Sunday _Planet Sunday_

"Audrey" The Automaticans _Audrey_

"Des Tours Pour Audrey (Turns For Audrey)" Souvenir _Points De Suspension_

"Audrey Hepburn's Beauty Tips" The Silent Boys _Beauty Tips_

"Hank & Audrey (feat. Tom Russell)" Katy Moffatt _Midnight Radio_

a discussion about Audrey Horne

"She Looked Like Audrey Hepburn" Little Man Tate _Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy_

"Audrey (Spending All My Time With You)" The Shacks _Audrey_

"Audrey" Superfamily _Back In Paris_

"Audrey" Someone _Owls_

"Oobey Dooh I Wanna Be Audrey Tatou" The Bobby McGee's _Yay 4 Cuteness_

conclusion & goodbye

"Audrey" Walking Concert _Run To Be Born_

"Simply Audrey" The Pooches _One Man Dog_

"Audrey" The Double Happiness _Roadhouse_

"Audrey Of Spirits" Dream Diary _You Are The Beat_

Whither Audrey's Show?

Here's the thing: I love doing shows about people's names. Names fascinate me. I remember one time in West Virginia when two (possibly inadvertently) racist people were making fun of African-American names. They said, "The names just sound made up!" I told them, "You're going to be very surprised when you learn that all names are made up."

Discovering where names come from - & songs that contain the names - is fun for me. & when I thought it might be time to do another show about a name, "Audrey" came to mind. It might have been because of a song I heard & it might have been because I knew a couple of Audreys I could interview for the show. So I gathered the songs & I reached out to the Audreys - & as you know, they didn't want to be interviewed for the show. So it's an Audrey show with plenty of Audrey songs - but, alas, no Audreys.

& it all happens tonight - midnight to 2am - on KBOO - 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere. Even if I don't talk to any Audreys, I hope at least an Audrey or two will listen - & be charmed.

Preface To Audrey: No Audreys I Know

This is true: I love doing shows about peoples' names. I especially like to talk to people who have that name on the air - I recently did it with my anniversary show where I talked the name Molly. I got to talk to three Mollys for that show! & I hoped to talk to some Audreys for my Audrey show.

Alas! The Audreys I know - I should say "knew," since we're no longer in touch - did not return my requests for being on the show. One of them is a Facebook friend - we knew each other in Kentucky - & she obviously doesn't check her Facebook anymore. The other did not respond to emails.

But I did try to find an Audrey or two to talk to! There was a post on Bluesky which no one responded to & on-air requests. I asked friends about their friends named Audrey - since they seem to have friends named Audrey on Facebook. That didn't get any response. I was given an email of a friend's friend named Audrey - she never wrote me back. & I contacted another friend's friend named Audrey who even arranged a time to meet with me - but didn't show up for the meeting or communicate with me any further.

It's a bummer, I would have liked to talk to an Audrey for the Audrey show.

That picture above was taken in Fort Worth in I think 2018. My wife & I had gone on a food adventure in a mostly undeveloped, or industrialized, area of east Fort Worth, we had been told about incredible sandwiches, & walked the dogs in the nearby neighborhood. It seemed novel to me to have your names - your first names! - posted on the side of your house. But I suppose people do that all the time in many ways. So maybe I'm the doofus for thinking it's novel.

But gosh I wish I had an Audrey to talk about for the Audrey show. Sigh.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: World Hippo Day

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

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

This Week In Self Help: February 8 + 10

Oh yeah I forgot to tell you:

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

Happy Valentine's Day!

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

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

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

Happy Valentine's Day!

Self Help Radio Valetine's Day Devotion Show

"Adolescent Song Of Mindless Devotion" The Lucksmiths _First Tape_

"Devotion" Petula Clark _The Sound Of Petula Clark_

"Devotion" Walker Kong _There Goes The Sun_

introduction & definitions

"Hopelessly Devoted To You" The Orion Experience _Cosmicovers_

"Hopelessly Devoted" True Love Always _Spring Collection_

"Devoted To You" Rose Melberg _Portola_

"Chains Of Devotion" Katydids _Katydids_

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

"Devotion" Earth Wind & Fire _Gratitude_

Smithy tells us to whom he's devoted

"Show A Little Devotion" Kate Bush _Moments Of Pleasure_

"River Devotion" The Folk Implosion _Dare To Be Surprised_

"Devoted" Atta Boy _Big Heart Manners_

"Devotion" The Staves _Good Woman_

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

Marla & Mark tells us what they're devoted to

"Devotion" Hilly Michaels _Calling All Girls_

"Devotion" Cassandra Jenkins _My Light, My Destroyer_

"Born Sandy Devotional" The Triffids _In The Pines_

"Devotion" Steph Green _Thanks For That_

"Devotion" Smog _Dongs Of Sevotion_

Zack tells us what he's devoted to

"I Need Your Devotion" Exploding Flowers _Stumbling Blocks_

"Devotion" Helen Ganya _Polish The Machine_

"Canons Of Devotion" Yesan Damen _Chronos/Kairos_

"Total Devotion" Pink Sky _Total Devotion_

"Totally Devoted" Witch _Sogolo_

conclusion & goodbye

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

Whither Devotion (Valentine's Day 2026)?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Opera Day

(image found here)

February 8 is Opera Day. Between you & me, virtually no one on The Dickenbock Report knows anything about opera. Most of what I know is from the Bugs Bunny short What's Opera, Doc? So who knows what we'll report on. I don't know if we're going to actually hear any opera!

You'll have to tune in to find out. That's tomorrow, Sunday February 8, from noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, & online everywhere at xray dot fm. Oh no. Dick Dickenbock says he can sing an aria or two!

This Week In Self Help: February 1 + 3

(icon found here)

A quiet week, I guess. My regular shows. No other intrusions onto the airwaves. It went like this:

The Dickenbock Report on XRAY on Sunday February 1 was Robinson Crusoe Day. You can listen to the show on the XRAY web page.

Self Help Radio on KBOO on Tuesday February 3 had the theme "stubbon." You can download the show by clicking here or you can listen to it on the KBOO web page.

Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO also on Tuesday February 3 featured lots of new releases. You can download the show by clicking here or you can listen to it on the KBOO web page (after Self Help Radio).

& now I stubbornly refuse to write any more about my dumb radio week.