Self Help Radio 090514: Disco

A radio show about disco, but featuring very little actual disco.  Yeah, that sounds like the sort of show Self Help Radio would do.

In addition to the great music played (listed below), the show had lots of human talking guests.  I interviewed David Fruchter, who used to bartend at Studio 54; I interviewed Nick Ramirez, who has protested disco for decades; & I interviewed Nancy Gold & Mary Storm, co-discoverers of the element disconium.  & of course Mark Miller reported about Hollywood, & Tania wrote us another lovely song.

It's all available for your lighted dance floor & mirror ball at the Self Help Radio website.  Please pay attention to password/username info while you're there.

Thanks for listening!  I have to take off these boogie shoes now.  They're killing me.

(The show is in two parts at the website; below is what's in the two parts.)

(part one)

"Discotheque" Bad Dream Fancy Dress _Choirboys Gas_
"Freestyle Disco" S.I. Futures _The Mission Statement_

"Disco's Dead" The Bags _All Bagged Up '77-'80_
"Smash The Discos" The Business _Punk & Nasty_
"Disco Pope" The Prats _Rough Trade Shops Post Punk 01_
"Disco Romance" UK Decay _The Black Cat EP_
"Disco Hotline" National Lampoon _That's Not Funny, That's Sick!_
"Disco Man" The Damned _Eternally Damned_

"Changwah Disco" Chantana _Thai Beat A Go-Go, Vol. 3_
"Disco Clone" Cristina _Mutant Disco_
"How Long Are You Staying?" Bill Joy _The American Song-Poem Anthology: Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood & Brush?_
"Red Neck Disco" Glenn Sutton _Redneck Country_

"Rock & Roll People In A Disco World" Sparks _Terminal Jive_

(part two)

"Cambia El Disco" Tania Rivas _Cambia El Disco_
"Disco Biscuit" Lung Leg _Maid To Minx_
"Disco" Backfish _It's Emily's_

"The World Is A Disco Ball" Future Bible Heroes _Eternal Youth_
"Shifty Disco Girl" Helen Love _Love & Glitter, Hot Days & Muzik_
"Indie Disco" The Lancashire Hotpots _Pot Sounds_
"At The Indie Disco" The Divine Comedy _Bang Goes The Knighthood_

"Born Disco/Died Heavy Metal" Cornershop _Hold On It Hurts_
"Discoking" The Leslies _Totally Brilliant_
"Panic" The Guild League _Romantic & Square Is Hip & Aware_

"Death Of A Disco Dancer" The Smiths _Strangeways, Here We Come_
"Disco Pop Stars" Altered Images _Pinky Blue_

Whither Disco?

Blah blah blah, it's a show about disco with very little disco, blah blah blah.

One of the things I started doing this spring - in case you haven't noticed - is regularly feature people I know who are far more funny & talented than I am.  So you've regularly heard my friends Russell, David, Mark, & Nick pretend to be "experts" weekly on the show, as well as Tania singing her songs & an occasional appearance from my wife as the monster that lives under the station.  I asked a couple of current RFL deejays - Macy & Maria, who do a show on Sundays from 2 to 4pm - if they'd also like to be experts.  They said yes!  So their "expertise" will be featured on tomorrow's show.  & - spoiler alert - they're great.

It seems pretty obvious to me that my "experts" aren't really.  But I've had a couple of calls that suggest some people who stumble onto the show don't listen carefully enough.  I keep wondering if I should have some sort of disclaimer.  What do you think?

Tomorrow's show is jam-packed with fake experts - plus lots of fun music - so I hope you'll listen.  It's on from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm in Lexington & online at wrfl dot fm.  I'll archive it later on Self Help Radio web.  Oh boy!

Preface To Disco: Neglectfulness

As I approach - what is it? - nineteen hundred blog posts on this blog of mine - that's a lot - I feel like I am neglecting it a bit.  Part of it is the general feeling, which co-exists with my lack of self-esteem & all-around self-loating, that I have nothing of value to say.  Part of it is that I spent the day (what free time I had) working on the radio show that this blogs exists to support (or whatever).

I am envious of people like Marc Maron, whose podcast I admire, because he does have something to talk about, twice a week, before his interviews.  He returns to themes - he is his most popular subject - & I'm not comfortable being as frank about myself in that manner, although I tried it for a time on some of the shows this spring.  But he still manages, between awkwardly pitching products for his sponsors, to have lively, interesting discussions about ideas & events that I can't really manage.

I wonder if this blog would benefit from small events & ideas that happen throughout my brain at any given moment.  I would probably resist biographical entries that didn't have something like a point or a clumsy punchline - for example, the wife & I just watched (& enjoyed) the first episode of the television show Please Like Me - but instead just have random train-of-thought observations. Like:

Tonight, someone made the comment that Enya never performed live.  She couldn't.  Too many voices.  But she has performed live, says the Wikipedia.  Just never had an actual concert.

That's not that interesting, but it was interesting to me at the time.  & funny!  It reminds of the time Leah at KOOP told me that Bob Marley died of toe cancer.  I thought it was such a dumb idea I bet her five bucks it wasn't true.  It was!  I paid up.

The other night we were walking the dogs & I thought I saw a shape in the sidewalk in front of us.  It was a sweet black lab whose name I later found out was Mandy.  I recognized her because she barks at us from her backyard & I've always wanted to walk up to meet her.  We banged on her owner's door for several minutes (we guessed he was in the bathroom) & finally he opened the door & we asked if she was his.  She was, but she wanted to come with us - three beagles & two sweet humans are better than a cigarette-smoke-filled home!

The next day or so he explained that the dog was not his but his ex-wife's.  He said he didn't really want her but liked having her around.  I got the impression that he would have loved for us to adopt her.

Tonight I thought, "What if he had let her out that night & hoped she went away?  & we ruined his plans?"

She's a sweet dog, & twelve years old.  I hope the situation isn't what I fear.

Would this blog be better with entries like that instead of - well, what does this blog contain, anyway?  What have I written for almost nineteen hundred entries?  I have no idea.  I have no idea.

Twits Tumble

See this?

That's a picture of my dog Ringo.  I take a lot of dumb pictures, a lot of them of my pets, a lot of them when I'm out & about with my pets.  I "archive" them (if you want to use that fancy word) on the Self Help Radio Tumblr site.  Why not on this blog?  Who the hell knows?

See this?

That's something I tweeted.  From my Tweety Account.  I mean, my Twitter account.  I don't spend a lot of time there, since I don't feel all that clever, but I do "live tweet" my shows (I hope I am using that phrase correctly) & let one know when my shows are available on the site.  Usually by linking to this blog.  Oy.

Anyway.  A friend was telling me today how well an old fogey like me uses Social Media.  (I didn't even mention the Facebook page!)  But I'm not really using Social Media all that well.  Mainly I'm clumsy & awkward about it.  Like most things in my life.

But I thought I should mention these other things (all linked of course on the web site).  So it might seem I am using Social Media well.

& not, as it feels, a little antisocially.

Short Sad Monday Poem

I have a cold.
Sore throat & sniffles.
Still I did three hours
on the radio this morning.
It's been raining all day.
I wish I could have slept all day.
My wife says,
"90% of my laundry
is Jazzercise clothes."
My teeth hurt
because I've been sucking cough drops
all the time.
Going to sleep again
after I feed all the animals.
I hope I am well enough
to do Self Help Radio
this week.