Self Help Radio 020615: Tigers

Ah, tigers.  I stared at pictures of them all week.  I read article after increasingly depressing article.  I listened to a ton of songs about them.  I watched videos of their cubs.  (I stayed away from videos that show them hunting & eating large animals.)  I even cursed the world for leading them to the brink of extinction.  All of this for a radio show!  Seriously, if just you listened to the show, you got off way easier than I did!

It was I think a good show.  I interviewed an actual Bengal tiger (who came down from the Cincinnati Zoo), & also conservationist David Fruchter.  I also performed a Dramatic Readings Of A Classic Rock Song, as I am wont to be.  All this & so many songs about tigers that you'll feel like a cub again!

The show is listen-to-able at the Self Help Radio website.  Do pay attention to login/password information if you want to listen to any shows.  & the songs I played - the fearsome, nocturnal, fierce-toothed, gorgeously striped songs - they're listed below.

Thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Tiger Rag" The Mills Brothers _Blue Skies: 45 Hits From The 30s & 40s_
"Tiger Man (King Of The Jungle)" Rufus Thomas, Jr. _The Sun Records Collection_
"Tiger" Sparkle Moore _Killer 7"_
"Teach Me Tiger" April Stevens _Ultra Lounge, Vol. 8: Cocktail Capers_

"The Tiger's Wide Awake" The Romeos _The Tiger's Wide Awake_
"Paper Tiger" Sue Thompson _Suzie (The Hickory Anthology 1961-1965)_
"Tiger" Brian Auger _The Mod Years_
"I've Got A Tiger By The Tail" Buck Owens _Classic Country: The Golden 60s_
"Tiger Girl" The Tigermen _Scum Of The Earth_

"I'm A Tiger" Lulu _The Best Of The Sixties_
"Tame Me Tiger" Bonnie St. Claire _The Singles_
"Hunting Tigers Out In 'Indiah'" The Bonzo Dog Band _Tadpoles_
"Tame My Tiger" T.Rex _Dandy In The Underworld_

"Paper Tigers" The Chameleons _Script Of The Bridge_
"Plain Tiger" Cocteau Twins _Tiny Dynamite_

(part two)

"Laughing Tigers" BFG _Fathoms_
"Tyger Tyger (Dub Version)" Jah Wobble _Glitters Is Gold_

"The Black Tiger" Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub _Boa Best Singles_
"Lions & Tigers" The Soft Boys _Nextdoorland_
"The Tigers Have Spoken" Neko Case _The Tigers Have Spoken_
"My Tiger My Heart" The Boy Least Likely To _The Best Party Ever_

"Like A Tiger" Fourth Of July _Fourth Of July On The Plains_
"Tiger In The Sea" Daysleepers _Drowned In A Sea Of Sound_
"Tiger In A Cage" Suave As Hell _Ashell III_

"Tyger Tyger" Tania Rivas _Tyger Tyger_
"Albino Tiger Rescue Squad" Bearsuit _The Phantom Forest_
"Tiger Eyes" Half Japanese _Overjoyed_

Whither Tigers?

Man, whatever you do, don't read web pages about tigers.  You can look at photos of them - they're truly stunning beasts - & definitely watch videos of them, especially their cubs, on Youtube or other video web pages - but if you read about them, you'll get angry & sad because there will come a time when they won't exist on Earth anymore.  Maybe in zoos, maybe in sanctuaries.  But of the nine subspecies that have existed, three are extinct, & one is extinct in the wild.  The rest are all endangered.

If I were some kind of crazy magician, I'd multiply the tiger species by a factor of a million or so & give them a fighting chance to take back their habitat from humans.  Also, I'd take away from humans the ability to defend themselves unfairly with weapons like guns & bombs.  Tiger claw & teeth vs human claw & teeth.  There'd be a whole swath of Asia, basically, which just be the nation of Tiger.  Imagine how glorious a place that would be!

Tomorrow's show will therefore have a tinge of melancholy to it, but I hope it's great nonetheless.  It airs Friday morning from 7-9am on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington, & online at wrfl dot fm.  I'll put it up on the Self Help Radio website later in the day.

& if you're up early, I'll be doing the two hours before Self Help Radio as well, because, why not?  It'll be freezing cold outside & I'm a weirdo!

Preface To Tigers: Save The Tigers!

Holy crap tigers are majestic creatures. It's terrifying to think we may one day live in a world where there aren't any. The World Wildlife Federation lays out the challenges of tiger conservation (salvation?) here.

This is information I may share on Friday, too, so don't be surprised if some of the things I say on the radio feel familiar to you.

Even Killing Machines Were Babies Once

The second love of my life used to do this cute thing when she was in a playful mood.  She'd light up like a spring morning & smile wide & say to me, "You were a baby once!"  Her reverie, which was adorable as all hell, would end with "Everything was a baby once!"

In that spirit, here's a compilation of baby tigers being super fucking cute:

Coming Up: A Radio Show

It's true!  This week, the show is about tigers.  Tigers as in ferocious beasts much, much bigger than my housecats, although my housecats think they're tigers & act as though every moment they refrain from leaping upon me & ripping out my throat is a gift they beneficently bestow upon me.  Indeed, in this picture:

They pretty much think they're the big tiger &, unless I'm feeding them, I'm the annoying little tiger.  See how amazingly patient they are with me?  Why, they could eat me alive!  They're so good to me.

I took that picture from this place: The Mighty Tiger: 15 Facts & 25 Stunning Photos.  You may want to bone up on that before this week's show.  Although I might have chosen 15 Photos & 25 Stunning Facts.  Because that is how I am.