Nothing much to note... I have to do a show today... It's about hiding...
Are you excited about South By Southwest? I'm doing a show about it next week, & looking over the bands, there aren't many bands I'm too crazy about seeing. I'm be interested in hearing what everyone wants to see. It seems to me that it's not that great a line-up this year.
I came here to contine the "Song Of The Day", where I have shared with you the first five of the my world-famous Indiepop A To Z collection. I'll continue in a couple of months when I have another Indiepop A To Z show. But today is an band called Accrington Stanley (apparently named after an English Football Club) who were featured on the third volume of the essential Sound Of Leamington Spa collections. It's called The New Me & it will turn you into a new man, especially if you're a woman. Click on the song to make it go. It'll be available till the week of March 19, 2007, when I will take it down & make it feel bad for being so downloadable.
Listen at 4:30 today! There are giveaways & stuff. I will personally hide all during the show!
Friday, March 02, 2007
Thursday, March 01, 2007
A Letter. An Answer. A Thursday.
Is it really Thursday? I feel like I am deserved at least two more nights' sleep. Oh! But I get paid today. Ah yeah.
This strange email came to me earlier this week:
Hello Mr Gary
I need to know your full name for a project I am working on. Not your middle name if you don't have one but your full name. You don't say your full name on the air like other ko-op dj's do. Thank you.
A project you are working on? Is that what they call identity theft these days? (I have written this person back about this "project," but so far she has not responded. If I find out - & before it ends up on the Sci-Fi Channel - I'll be sure to let you know what it was.)
I guess the worst thing about identity theft would be if a person stealing my identity could do a better job with it than I do.
I also wonder why people call me "Mr. Gary"? I know, it beats being called "dude," but it's strange - people at the station call me that, as does one of my cats. Do I seem like a "Mr Gary"? Not a "Dr Gary"? Or a "Professor Gary"? Hmmph!
I don't suppose it's any secret - the name is all over the KOOP website, since I maintain their mailing lists & am on the Programming Committee - but my name is Gary Dickerson. I guess I don't use my full name on the air since there aren't any other Garys at KOOP. Nor shall I allow there to be.
My middle name died a miserable death just out of high school. It kind of suffocated when I forgot all about it. I've tried to add new middle names, but, alas, no name can apparently live between my first & last names. Sad.
Tune in tomorrow! A show about hiding! You can listen in seclusion! No one will ever know!
Ah, the "Song Of The Day". More Indiepop A To Z. This would be the fourth song as the list goes. It's by the Swedish folk pop band Able from their record Prestigeless Lovesounds. It's called I Was So In Love (& Now I Don't Know Why), & it's by far the poppiest thing I've heard by them. Click on the name to listen. & listen before the week of March 19, 2007 - I'll leave it up till then.
Listen tomorrow or I'll find where you hide!
This strange email came to me earlier this week:
Hello Mr Gary
I need to know your full name for a project I am working on. Not your middle name if you don't have one but your full name. You don't say your full name on the air like other ko-op dj's do. Thank you.
A project you are working on? Is that what they call identity theft these days? (I have written this person back about this "project," but so far she has not responded. If I find out - & before it ends up on the Sci-Fi Channel - I'll be sure to let you know what it was.)
I guess the worst thing about identity theft would be if a person stealing my identity could do a better job with it than I do.
I also wonder why people call me "Mr. Gary"? I know, it beats being called "dude," but it's strange - people at the station call me that, as does one of my cats. Do I seem like a "Mr Gary"? Not a "Dr Gary"? Or a "Professor Gary"? Hmmph!
I don't suppose it's any secret - the name is all over the KOOP website, since I maintain their mailing lists & am on the Programming Committee - but my name is Gary Dickerson. I guess I don't use my full name on the air since there aren't any other Garys at KOOP. Nor shall I allow there to be.
My middle name died a miserable death just out of high school. It kind of suffocated when I forgot all about it. I've tried to add new middle names, but, alas, no name can apparently live between my first & last names. Sad.
Tune in tomorrow! A show about hiding! You can listen in seclusion! No one will ever know!
Ah, the "Song Of The Day". More Indiepop A To Z. This would be the fourth song as the list goes. It's by the Swedish folk pop band Able from their record Prestigeless Lovesounds. It's called I Was So In Love (& Now I Don't Know Why), & it's by far the poppiest thing I've heard by them. Click on the name to listen. & listen before the week of March 19, 2007 - I'll leave it up till then.
Listen tomorrow or I'll find where you hide!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Whither Hiding?
I remember the day I got a copy (which cost me three dollars in nickels & four hundred saved wrappers of beef jerky - & believe me, my entire bedroom smelled like an abattoir by the time I saved up four hundred of those plastic casings) of the Official Rules Of The Game Of Hide & Seek. My friends had been debating those rules for some time, including what true & eternal rights are granted when one is "it" as well as the boundaries of where it was proper to "hide." Though we didn't have the "internet" then, we certainly knew how to make shit up, so all summer long we argued & cajoled &, even though some of us had by that time discovered masturbation, we spent long afternoons debating the rules of what we truly thought was the ultimate in childhood games.
The Official Rules Of The Game Of Hide & Seek was first published in London in 1745 by a distant ancestor of the actor Martin Sheen. Strangely enough, the writer was also a distant ancestor of George Gobel, but there is no evidence that Martin Sheen & George Gobel are related. Suffice it to say it was very difficult being British in 1745. (1746, however, was apparently a very good year for being British.) The writer's name was Edmund "Fancy Pants" Mathersbykite. A shy & reserved son of a diseased earl, Mathersbykite was tortured by his older siblings with their capriciousness as regards childhood games. Indeed, Mathersbykite's oldest sibling, Clive, is credited with being not only the creator of dodgeball, but also the first person to be hanged for killing someone in a dodgeball game. Young Edmund grew up furious with the way his brothers & his sister seemed incapable of consistency in any single game. If Edmund had not been blessed with obsessive/compulsive disorder (in those days known as "being prissy"), he might not have been able to bring any sort of sense to childhood games.
Two earlier treatises, "The Importance Of Falling Down When You've Been Shot" & "No Take Backs," were written while he was locked in a closet during a game of hide & seek that was a pretext for cruelty. They were self-published when Edmund was seventeen, but were lost when his sister said she wanted to read every copy to tell him what she thought but instead used them for toilet paper for the family manor in Wales. Perhaps because sadism he was subjected to when the game of hide & seek was played, Edmund turned his attention to that subject. He would spend nearly the rest of his life defining the game. Which sounds impressive, except he was killed when he was twenty-two by his younger brother Canute when their kite strings got tangled & Canute angrily wrapped Edmund in the strings. A gust of wind & some nearby cliffs spelled the end for the great rules maker about whom Hoyle once said, "Edmund who?"
As a child, I found The Official Rules Of The Game Of Hide & Seek to be a strangely long book (seventeen hundred pages) & suprisingly free of pictures. It was also filled with footnotes in Greek. In addition, Mathersbykite's tendency to write in iambic pentameter was a little off-putting, especially, as my friend Gus noted, "It don't rhyme." Nonetheless, I began the read the book &, after only a few pages, realized it was utterly worthless. My friends & I, totally bummed about having to return to school after wasting a summer worrying about the rules to a dumb game, beat each other up & went swimming.
I wouldn't have as much fun again until I became an adult & became embroiled in the war on sailing. But that's another story for a different time.
I hope you understand now why the theme of Self Help Radio this week is "hiding."
The "Song Of The Day": more Indiepop A To Z. Song # 3. By the Scottish indiepop group Aberfeldy. From their debut record Young Forever. It's called Vegetarian Restaurant & it's sweet & pretty. I'll remove it on or around March 14, 2007 - but probably later, since it'll be South By Southwest at the time & I probably won't be blogging much.
The Official Rules Of The Game Of Hide & Seek was first published in London in 1745 by a distant ancestor of the actor Martin Sheen. Strangely enough, the writer was also a distant ancestor of George Gobel, but there is no evidence that Martin Sheen & George Gobel are related. Suffice it to say it was very difficult being British in 1745. (1746, however, was apparently a very good year for being British.) The writer's name was Edmund "Fancy Pants" Mathersbykite. A shy & reserved son of a diseased earl, Mathersbykite was tortured by his older siblings with their capriciousness as regards childhood games. Indeed, Mathersbykite's oldest sibling, Clive, is credited with being not only the creator of dodgeball, but also the first person to be hanged for killing someone in a dodgeball game. Young Edmund grew up furious with the way his brothers & his sister seemed incapable of consistency in any single game. If Edmund had not been blessed with obsessive/compulsive disorder (in those days known as "being prissy"), he might not have been able to bring any sort of sense to childhood games.
Two earlier treatises, "The Importance Of Falling Down When You've Been Shot" & "No Take Backs," were written while he was locked in a closet during a game of hide & seek that was a pretext for cruelty. They were self-published when Edmund was seventeen, but were lost when his sister said she wanted to read every copy to tell him what she thought but instead used them for toilet paper for the family manor in Wales. Perhaps because sadism he was subjected to when the game of hide & seek was played, Edmund turned his attention to that subject. He would spend nearly the rest of his life defining the game. Which sounds impressive, except he was killed when he was twenty-two by his younger brother Canute when their kite strings got tangled & Canute angrily wrapped Edmund in the strings. A gust of wind & some nearby cliffs spelled the end for the great rules maker about whom Hoyle once said, "Edmund who?"
As a child, I found The Official Rules Of The Game Of Hide & Seek to be a strangely long book (seventeen hundred pages) & suprisingly free of pictures. It was also filled with footnotes in Greek. In addition, Mathersbykite's tendency to write in iambic pentameter was a little off-putting, especially, as my friend Gus noted, "It don't rhyme." Nonetheless, I began the read the book &, after only a few pages, realized it was utterly worthless. My friends & I, totally bummed about having to return to school after wasting a summer worrying about the rules to a dumb game, beat each other up & went swimming.
I wouldn't have as much fun again until I became an adult & became embroiled in the war on sailing. But that's another story for a different time.
I hope you understand now why the theme of Self Help Radio this week is "hiding."
The "Song Of The Day": more Indiepop A To Z. Song # 3. By the Scottish indiepop group Aberfeldy. From their debut record Young Forever. It's called Vegetarian Restaurant & it's sweet & pretty. I'll remove it on or around March 14, 2007 - but probably later, since it'll be South By Southwest at the time & I probably won't be blogging much.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Preface To Hiding: How Not To Be Seen
Dude! It's my first embedded movie!
If that doesn't work, the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do6hTwZ6Un8.
I can't say more than the masters.
The "Song Of The Day" continues the very first Indiepop A To Z tracks I played. Number two is/was a song by the California indiepop group Aberdeen, who found their way to the legendary Sarah Records & then reemerged later in the 21st century to make more lovely music. This is an older track taken from the Sarah compilation Battery Point & it's called Fran. Click on the name to hear the song. It'll be here till March 13, 2007.
Tomorrow: why a show about hiding? What have I got to hide?
If that doesn't work, the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do6hTwZ6Un8.
I can't say more than the masters.
The "Song Of The Day" continues the very first Indiepop A To Z tracks I played. Number two is/was a song by the California indiepop group Aberdeen, who found their way to the legendary Sarah Records & then reemerged later in the 21st century to make more lovely music. This is an older track taken from the Sarah compilation Battery Point & it's called Fran. Click on the name to hear the song. It'll be here till March 13, 2007.
Tomorrow: why a show about hiding? What have I got to hide?
Monday, February 26, 2007
The Monday Haiku Wrap-Up Is Full Of Rue
It's true. I have become a myspace sellout. Please stay away from the Self Help Radio Myspace Page. Although you can hear my rad new radio show intro there.
Here are the winning haikus from last week's free for all. Not a one wrote a haiku about indiepop. That saddens me. This week's theme is "hiding." Don't Hide! Write a haiku instead!
FOURTH PLACE: Anthony
It is almost spring
Like a dark room where you wait
To yell out “surprise!”
THIRD PLACE: Barbara
Gary quit smoking
Just a few days after me
We miss it the same
SECOND PLACE: Andrew
I forget to touch
& leave crumpled in trashcans
Broken sidewalk dreams
FIRST PLACE: Maria
There are nine levels
Seventeen doors on each one
& no one has keys.
& the mystery limericksmith wrote this limerick for the show:
There once was a tomcat named Spike
Who’d sing from my fence every night
My friends would often say:
“You should shoo him away”
But he only sang songs that I liked!
Since the show last week was about Indiepop A To Z, & since it was seventh in an ongoing series, & since you probably weren't here when it started, I thought the "Songs Of The Day" this week would be the first five songs from the "Indiepop A To Z" collection. The first one is from Aarktica, from the album ...Or You Could Just Go Through Your Whole Life & Be Happy Anyway. It's the haunting Aura Lee. Click on it to listen. I'll leave it there until around March 12, 2007.
Tomorrow: I may hide, but I may also have hied.
Here are the winning haikus from last week's free for all. Not a one wrote a haiku about indiepop. That saddens me. This week's theme is "hiding." Don't Hide! Write a haiku instead!
FOURTH PLACE: Anthony
It is almost spring
Like a dark room where you wait
To yell out “surprise!”
THIRD PLACE: Barbara
Gary quit smoking
Just a few days after me
We miss it the same
SECOND PLACE: Andrew
I forget to touch
& leave crumpled in trashcans
Broken sidewalk dreams
FIRST PLACE: Maria
There are nine levels
Seventeen doors on each one
& no one has keys.
& the mystery limericksmith wrote this limerick for the show:
There once was a tomcat named Spike
Who’d sing from my fence every night
My friends would often say:
“You should shoo him away”
But he only sang songs that I liked!
Since the show last week was about Indiepop A To Z, & since it was seventh in an ongoing series, & since you probably weren't here when it started, I thought the "Songs Of The Day" this week would be the first five songs from the "Indiepop A To Z" collection. The first one is from Aarktica, from the album ...Or You Could Just Go Through Your Whole Life & Be Happy Anyway. It's the haunting Aura Lee. Click on it to listen. I'll leave it there until around March 12, 2007.
Tomorrow: I may hide, but I may also have hied.