Self Help Radio 080114: Sunrise

Just minutes after the sun rose, in Lexington, Kentucky, Self Help Radio played two hours of songs about the sunrise!  Not only that, but guests talked about the spiritual nature of the sunrise, about monetizing the sunrise, & about never having seen the sunrise!  It embarrassed the sunrise, but at that point it wasn't really the sunrise, so no one was unnecessarily concerned.

It can be listened to now or at your leisure at the Self Help Radio website.  Don't forget about the user/password combo!  The songs I played are listed below.

Please enjoy!

(part one)

"Sun Arise" Rolf Harris _The Best Of The Sixties_
"Sunrise" The Divine Comedy _Fin De Siècle_
"Sunrise" Pulp _We Love Life_

"Sunrise" Lambchop _No You C'mon_
"Sunrise" Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan _Hawk_
"Sunrise" Petra Haden _Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out_
"Sunrise" Tania & Juan _Sunrise_

"The House Of The Rising Sun" Nina Simone _The Blues_
"Sunrise, Sunset" Connie Francis _Sings Jewish Favorites_
"I Like The Sunrise" The Free Design _You Could Be Born Again_

"Watch The Sunrise (Single Version)" Big Star _Keep An Eye On The Sky_
"Sunrise (Turn On)" Chesterfield Kings _Psychedelic Sunrise_

(part two)

"Waiting For The Sunrise" Yoko Ono _Approximately Infinite Universe_
"The Sun Rising" The Beloved _Happiness_

"Sunrise Serenade" Connee Boswell _Heart & Soul_
"Blues Before Sunrise" Ray Charles _In The Beginning: 1949-1952_
"Sunrise Highway" Peter Anders _Sunrise Highway_
"Sunrise Highway" The Trout _The Trout_

"Where Does The Sun Rise" Dorothy Collins _Experiment Songs_
"Orchid Sunrise" The Harbour Pilots _Welcome To The Wetherbeat Scene 1988 - 1991_
"I Always See The Sun Rise" Little Name _How To Swim & Live_
"The Sun Also Rises" Fever Tree _Fever Tree_

"Please Sunrise Please" Barbara Acklin _Please Sunrise Please_
"Beyond The Sunrise" Belle & Sebastian _Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant_

Whither Sunrise?

I plan terribly.  At some point at the beginning of summer, I said to myself, "Hey!  By August I'll be doing my show & the sun will rise so I should be a show about the sunrise!"

I should have remembered that that sort of information - which you used to have to have an almanac handy to get to, you know, before the invention of the Internet - is freely available.  So - three months ago - I could've just checked, you know.  Sites like Time & Date dot com have handy sections for things like sunrise & sunset.  On August 1st - when my sunrise show is airing - that's tomorrow! - when do you imagine the sun will rise?

6:41 am.

That's 19 minutes before my show is on.

If I wanted to do my show when the sun was rising, I could've just waited three weeks.  After August 23rd, the sun will rise after seven & later.

But no.  The Self Help Radio sunrise show will air from 7 to 9 am tomorrow - well after sunrise - on 88.1 fm in Lexington, & online all over at wrfl dot fm - so at least some folks will get to listen as the sun rises, if they want.

Or you can wait until after I've put the show up at the Self Help Radio website, & listen to it on the next sunrise.

Sheesh.

Letting One's Hair Dry Naturally Vs. Using A Blow Dryer

What sort of hotel/motel doesn't furnish a hair dryer for its guests?  This is not a riddle with a funny answer.  It may not even be a question with an answer.  Is the answer "a no-tell motel"?  Is the answer "a place you found on Airbnb"?  I don't know.

Do I care about the answer?  Do I care about the argument of blow dry vs. natural dry?  I remember having shorter hair that took very little time to shampoo & also never was dried by blow.

At this point, I am feeling a bit awkward.  "Blow dry" is a real thing.  "Dry by blow" is not.  In fact, "dry by blow" sounds dirty.  I apologize.  It was not my intention.  I was attempting a kind of parallelism of the clauses in the last sentence but it's obvious now that I should have said "to shampoo & never to blow dry."  Much more parallel.  Still awkward.

But now I've said it, & I can't take it back.  That is one of life's vagaries.  Or do I mean vicissitudes?  Or  am I just thinking of pretty words that begin with the letter v?

Today I let my hair dry naturally.  I was too lazy to pull out the blow dryer.  But normally I blow dry my hair.  In two weeks, I'll be in another country far from here where it'll be quite humid & I wonder if the hotel/motel I am staying at will have a hair dryer.  Also, whether, with 100% humidity, it will really matter.

It occurs to me that I am writing this on a computer & I could simply delete the awkward sentences up there.  I could also xkc0[qd]P


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Sorry about that!  A wasp just landed on my keyboard & I was trying to alternately avoid it & also kill it.  It got away.  I don't know how it got into the house.

My cat Boone has captured & eaten it.  He tells me, since when a cat captures & eats an insect it gains all its life experience, that wasps are frightened by blow dryers.  Since the wasp did not hear the blow dryer today, he assumed it was safe to come into the house.

I think he's fucking with me.

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Ten

Juanita "Arizona" Dranes

Sorry this is a day late!  Here's last week's episode of Woke Up Early One Morning Blues.  I spent an hour exploring blind early blues performers - since it's something of a blues cliché that you'd have "Blind" in front of your name.  They were a talented & surprisingly diverse bunch.

What I didn't explore is why it seems like there were so many visually-impaired blues musicians at the time.  I refer you to this inconclusive discussion on the Straight Dope messages boards if you wish to hypothesize some.

The show is now available for listening on the Self Help Radio website.  What I played is below.

"Early Morning Blues" Blind Blake _All The Published Sides_
"Banty Rooster" Blind Pete & Partner _Blues & Gospel: Miss. Field Recordings 1934_
"Cross & Evil Woman Blues" Blind Gary Davis _Country Southern Blues_

"I Believe I'll Go Back Home" Blind Willie Davis _American Primitive Vol. I: Raw Pre-War Gospel_
"Bye & Bye We're Going To See The King" Arizona Dranes _Arizona Dranes (1926-1929)_
"Honey In The Rock" Blind Mamie Forehand _Folk Music In America, Vol. 15: Religious Music: Solo & Performance_
"Black & Tan" Blind Boy Fuller _Mama Let Me Lay It On You (1926-1936)_
"Crazy 'Bout My Baby" Blind Roosevelt Graves _Complete Recorded Works (1929-1936)_

"Honey, Take A Whiff On Me" Blind Jessie Harris _Alabama: From Lullabies To Blues_
"Match Box Blues" Blind Lemon Jefferson _The Rough Guide To Blind Lemon Jefferson_
"Keep Your Lamp Trimmed & Burning" Blind Willie Johnson with Willie B. Harris _Dark Was The Night  (1927-1930)_
"Bell Street Blues" Blind Willie McTell _Complete Recorded Works, Vol.3 (1933-35)_
"How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times & Live" Blind Alfred Reed _Hard Times In The Country_

"Outside Woman Blues" Blind Willie Reynolds _The Rough Guide To Delta Blues_
"Been Listening All The Day" Blind Joe Taggart _Before The Blues, Vol. 2_
"Harmonica Blues" Sonny Terry _Complete Recorded Works 1938-1945_

Bluesy Ooops

I know you already think I'm a lazy dumbass, & that I don't really love you, but I did mean to put the most recent episode of "Woke Up Early One Morning Blues" on my website today.  Unfortunately, I got to doing other stuff, & have no time for the rest of the day.  My bad!  My word!  I'll do it tomorrow.

Really, it's not you, it's me.