I've never done a suffix show before. I have thought of doing an adverb show. I am fond of adverbs. In typical fashion, I hadn't paid any attention to adverbs until someone I was crazy about pointed them out to me.
It was a girl named Lauren, whom I now refer to as "the second love of my life." I know, it's a complete misunderstanding of the term. But I like to pretend I got three chances at love, & while I blew the first two, & fouled a couple of times, I made sure to get a base hit for the third time.
Lauren was number two. There's a Billy Bragg line that comes to mind: "She should've been the last, but she was just the latest." Ah well.
Anyway, Lauren liked adverbs. So crazy was I for her that I decided, one weekend, that I'd make her an entire dictionary, just full of adverbs. I sat down with a real dictionary - this was right before the internet was popular - I didn't even have a computer! - & I started to make a list of adverbs for her.
I didn't get very far. There are just too many adverbs. Just like there are too many adjectives that end with -less. But I am not trying to be complete here!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
People I Know Who (I Assume) Are Doing Well, Part III
For the past couple of weeks I've been subbing the RFL show El Tren Latino, which means "the Latin train," & which, if you search for it on the internets, you'll first find a restaurant in Irving, Texas, which is now closed, & not a radio show on Saturday nights in Lexington, Kentucky.
I know next to nothing about modern Latin music. I know almost next to nothing about Latin jazz, which is what I've been playing on El Tren Latino when I subbed, & what little I know about Latin jazz, I owe to a show that aired on KOOP radio roughly around the same time that Self Help Radio was on the station, & that show was called Soul Sauce.
Soul Sauce was the love-child of a fellow named Dan Shiman, or, as he called himself on the air, Little Danny. Danny called me up - this is how we met - when he found out that someone had promised the timeslot he had been promised (by someone else) to me. KOOP in those days had a kind of screwed-up method of giving & getting shows, I should talk about it some day. We chatted - I have a feeling he thought I'd be more intractable - & we came up with a happy solution for the both of us. We presented our compromise to a body called the Programming Committee, which really (at the time) had no real power, & they rubber-stamped it. He was eminently agreeable & we were always friendly with one another, if not ever friends.
He disappeared - I can see from the Soul Sauce link above - a year before I did, & seems to have landed in Marfa, Texas. I know that because his musical curiosity - & his love of vinyl - led him to create the blog Office Naps, wherein he shares & writes about "45 RPM curios." He also has a show on public radio in Marfa - he's one of those people you meet in radio who seem to need to be on the radio. Sort of like me, except he's better at it.
I've been thinking about him because I couldn't sub this El Tren Latino show if it hadn't been for the education Little Danny gave me with his radio show - & I'm glad to see that he seems to be doing quite well out there in Marfa!
(I'll be subbing El Tren Latino one last time tomorrow from 6 to 8pm Lexington time. You can listen on 88.1 fm in Lexington or online at wrfl dot fm. It's nowhere near as good as Dan's show, though. Listen to that on Wednesday nights on KRTS in Marfa.)
I know next to nothing about modern Latin music. I know almost next to nothing about Latin jazz, which is what I've been playing on El Tren Latino when I subbed, & what little I know about Latin jazz, I owe to a show that aired on KOOP radio roughly around the same time that Self Help Radio was on the station, & that show was called Soul Sauce.
Soul Sauce was the love-child of a fellow named Dan Shiman, or, as he called himself on the air, Little Danny. Danny called me up - this is how we met - when he found out that someone had promised the timeslot he had been promised (by someone else) to me. KOOP in those days had a kind of screwed-up method of giving & getting shows, I should talk about it some day. We chatted - I have a feeling he thought I'd be more intractable - & we came up with a happy solution for the both of us. We presented our compromise to a body called the Programming Committee, which really (at the time) had no real power, & they rubber-stamped it. He was eminently agreeable & we were always friendly with one another, if not ever friends.
He disappeared - I can see from the Soul Sauce link above - a year before I did, & seems to have landed in Marfa, Texas. I know that because his musical curiosity - & his love of vinyl - led him to create the blog Office Naps, wherein he shares & writes about "45 RPM curios." He also has a show on public radio in Marfa - he's one of those people you meet in radio who seem to need to be on the radio. Sort of like me, except he's better at it.
I've been thinking about him because I couldn't sub this El Tren Latino show if it hadn't been for the education Little Danny gave me with his radio show - & I'm glad to see that he seems to be doing quite well out there in Marfa!
(I'll be subbing El Tren Latino one last time tomorrow from 6 to 8pm Lexington time. You can listen on 88.1 fm in Lexington or online at wrfl dot fm. It's nowhere near as good as Dan's show, though. Listen to that on Wednesday nights on KRTS in Marfa.)
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Dash Hyphen Hyphen Dash
Over on my Facebook page, a listener asked me why doesn't "Self Help Radio" have a hyphen? After all, pretty much every time you see the phrase "self-help," like in this Wikipedia entry, there's a hyphen between "self" & "help."
My response was a little glib & I wasn't really trying to answer. I said, "Because it's not a self-help radio show. It's Self Help Radio."
The "real" answer is pretty dumb. Obviously my show isn't a self-help radio show, & even more obviously, it's not a parody of self-help radio shows or self-help anything. (Although I have tried to do that - & am just not funny enough to pull it off.) (Though I've never tried to take calls or things like that, to dispense ridiculous advice. I always imagine someone will take it seriously & I'll be put in the same circle of hell as televangelists when I die.)
(I know, I'm too self-important.)
The reason the show is called Self Help Radio is that, when I started the show, I honestly didn't know you were supposed to put a dash between "Self" & "Help." Did you get that? I just didn't know.
However, I am pleased that it does separate me from "self-help radio" shows. I can say I do a show called "Self Help Radio" & it does appear, at least in writing, to be different from "self-help radio." Also, I guess, it's capitalized.
It's interesting that the listener noticed that the show's name doesn't have a hyphen, because other people not only don't notice, they don't care. In this article from my time at WMUL, the writer (who doubtless got his or her information from the Station Manager) not only uses the hyphen but also puts the show's name in quotation marks. Like it's the type of show I do, not the name of the show.
Or my friend Hayden, who quoted me on the Fall, over at his blog. (I asked him to correct it but he didn't.) (Yes I asked him to correct it! It's not what my show's called!)
I know, self-important much?
My response was a little glib & I wasn't really trying to answer. I said, "Because it's not a self-help radio show. It's Self Help Radio."
The "real" answer is pretty dumb. Obviously my show isn't a self-help radio show, & even more obviously, it's not a parody of self-help radio shows or self-help anything. (Although I have tried to do that - & am just not funny enough to pull it off.) (Though I've never tried to take calls or things like that, to dispense ridiculous advice. I always imagine someone will take it seriously & I'll be put in the same circle of hell as televangelists when I die.)
(I know, I'm too self-important.)
The reason the show is called Self Help Radio is that, when I started the show, I honestly didn't know you were supposed to put a dash between "Self" & "Help." Did you get that? I just didn't know.
However, I am pleased that it does separate me from "self-help radio" shows. I can say I do a show called "Self Help Radio" & it does appear, at least in writing, to be different from "self-help radio." Also, I guess, it's capitalized.
It's interesting that the listener noticed that the show's name doesn't have a hyphen, because other people not only don't notice, they don't care. In this article from my time at WMUL, the writer (who doubtless got his or her information from the Station Manager) not only uses the hyphen but also puts the show's name in quotation marks. Like it's the type of show I do, not the name of the show.
Or my friend Hayden, who quoted me on the Fall, over at his blog. (I asked him to correct it but he didn't.) (Yes I asked him to correct it! It's not what my show's called!)
I know, self-important much?
Monday, July 09, 2012
This Week's List
√ 1. Do a show about lists.
√ 2. Try not to fuck it up.
√ 3. Apologize a lot when you fuck it up.
√ 4. Go home & beat yourself up about fucking it up.
√ 5. Get some sleep.
√ 6. After waking, put the shows up on the Self Help Radio website.
√ 7. Divide the show into two parts, part one & part two.
√ 8. Make a list available of the songs in each part.
√ 9. Pretend people are going to download the show, &, if possible, pretend they also might enjoy it.
√ 10. Thank them for listening.
√ 11. Drink to forget.
(part one)
"I've Got A Little List" Eric Idle _Mikado (English National Opera Cast Highlights)_
"List" Kanda _All The Best Meetings Are Taken_
"Favorite Things" Me First & The Gimme Gimmes _Are A Drag_
"I've Been Everywhere" Johnny Cash _American Recordings: Unchained_
"Wanted Man" Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds _The Firstborn Is Dead_
"Who By Fire" Leonard Cohen _New Skin For The Old Ceremony_
"A B & C" Death By Chocolate _Bric-a-Brac_
"My Year In Lists" Los Campesinos _Hold On Now, Youngster_
"The Ten Commandments" George Carlin _When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?_
"Thou Shalt Always Kill" Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip _Angles_
(part two)
"Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part Three)" Ian Dury & The Blockheads _Reasons To Be Cheerful_
"Bob" Weird Al Yankovic _Poodle Hat_
"The Elements" Tom Lehrer _The Remains Of Tom Lehrer_
"Endless Art" A House _The Way We Were: The Best Of A House 04.85-02.97_
"The Booklovers" The Divine Comedy _Promenade_
"Bluestocking" Momus _Hippopotamomus_
"Hot Topic" Le Tigre _Le Tigre_
"Irk The Purists" Half Man Half Biscuit _Trouble Over Bridgwater_
"Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend's Too Stupid To Know About" Tullycraft _The Singles_
"His Indie World" Mary Lou Lord _Mary Lou Lord EP_
"Scottish Pop" Spearmint _A Different Lifetime_
"88 Lines About 44 Women" The Nails _Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits Of The 80's, Vol. 3_
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Whither Lists?
1. This show was not really my idea.
2. Someone emailed me(*) & said that she liked songs about lists & thought it was a good idea for a show.
3. I did too.
4. I did ask, did she mean songs about lists &/or songs that were basically lists?
5. She answered back, "Yes."
6. I took that to mean "and" not "or."
7. The show will be on tomorrow morning from 7:30 to 9:00 am on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington.
7a. It appears the website is down & may not be back up till later tomorrow.
7b. That means only Lexingtonians can listen to it live.
7c. But you can try to listen at wrfl dot fm.
7d. I'll archive the show tomorrow on the SHR site.
7e. So you won't miss it. If you might miss it.
8. It occurs to me this list could repeat every week.
9. It's pretty much the same, though probably not really.
10. Oh, & even though there are ten items on this list, it's not a "top ten" list.
(*) You can email me with theme ideas too. This is where you can find the email address.
2. Someone emailed me(*) & said that she liked songs about lists & thought it was a good idea for a show.
3. I did too.
4. I did ask, did she mean songs about lists &/or songs that were basically lists?
5. She answered back, "Yes."
6. I took that to mean "and" not "or."
7. The show will be on tomorrow morning from 7:30 to 9:00 am on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington.
7a. It appears the website is down & may not be back up till later tomorrow.
7b. That means only Lexingtonians can listen to it live.
7c. But you can try to listen at wrfl dot fm.
7d. I'll archive the show tomorrow on the SHR site.
7e. So you won't miss it. If you might miss it.
8. It occurs to me this list could repeat every week.
9. It's pretty much the same, though probably not really.
10. Oh, & even though there are ten items on this list, it's not a "top ten" list.
(*) You can email me with theme ideas too. This is where you can find the email address.