The Gary Files # 9: Gary Burghoff

(I found this image here.)

An explanation: Since the name Gary is going extinct, I thought it incumbent upon me to celebrate more notable Garys than myself.  This is the ninth of a series!

Gary Burghoff is, according to the Wikipedia, "an American actor, known for playing Charlie Brown in the 1967 Off-Broadway musical You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, & the character Corporal Walter Eugene 'Radar' O'Reilly in the film M*A*S*H, as well as the TV series."

When did you first become aware of him?  On M*A*S*H.  Can I just write MASH?  No, maybe not, that looks weird.  But it's such a pain in the ass to write out those damn asterisks.

Sounds like a personal problem.  No lip from you!

Did you like the character he played?  Yeah, I mean, I think the show was brilliant, even know, but I guess Burghoff was funniest in the movie, where he knew was Henry Blake was going to say before he said it.  That was the kind of joke what would've gotten old pretty fast on television.  He was never as interesting or funny as the leads of the show were (especially Alan Alda) but as a member of the ensemble cast, he was fine.

Did you watch AfterM*A*S*H?  Yeah, a couple of episodes, but even my young, completely non-discrimating self realized it was an unfunny turd.  It needed more Hawkeye!  Hell, it could've used a sprinkling of BJ Hunicutt!

Did you know he played Charlie Brown?  I did not.  I don't think I've ever seen a performance of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown.  Though I like some of the songs.

He was on Match Game a lot.  You love Match Game, right?  Oh yes.  Best. Gameshow. Ever.  But sort of like on M*A*S*H, he was overshadowed by funnier people.  I can't really remember seeing him on Match Game, though his Wikipedia page says he was on 428 episodes.  Eep.

Is his name really Gary?  No, it's Radar.  Actually, it's Gary Rich Burghoff.

Do you know why he was named Gary?  Gary Cooper was at the height of his fame so, probably in honor of the actor.

"Big" "Announcement"

(I found this image there.)

Surely something you know about me is, despite an almost embarrassing lack of natural ability, I love to be on the radio.  If any radio station in town gave me a daily 2am to 6am slot to just play music & be ridiculous on the air, I'd do it.  (I'd want to be able to pick the music I played, but I'm not going to double-down on this flight of fancy with a list of conditions because that's like making plans on how you're going to spend your money right after your bought your first lottery ticket.)  So when I discovered that new community radio station WLXL needed volunteers, I volunteered.  I am always glad to help out, but I did hope I'd eventually get a show there.  & now I have!

Premiering tomorrow night (that's Saturday), I'm doing a show from 7-9pm called Cradle To Grave.  The premise is dumb but simple: during the first hour of the show, I'll be playing music from artists who were born on the day of the show, & in the second hour, I'll be playing music from artists who died on the day of the show.  Obviously, tomorrow is Saturday the 21st, so if you love an artist who was born on that day, or who died on that day, there's something of a chance that you'll hear them tomorrow.  (How big a chance I can't say.  I mean, we might not have the same taste in music, you know.)

Who was born on November 21st?  Well, there's K.C. Douglas, Charlie Palmieri, Dr. John, & Alex James, to just name four of the folks you'll hear tomorrow.  Who died on November 21st?  Oh, there's Jim Eanes, Hadda Brooks, Robert Lockwood, & Matthew Ashman, to name four more folks you'll hear tomorrow.

If that sounds like fun, tune your radio dial to 95.7 fm in Lexington &/or tune your computer dial to the WLXL web page & click the "Listen Now" button.

Yes, I'll archive the shows for a short time on the Self Help Radio web page, but they're time-sensitive, aren't they?  Good for a day?  Something like that?

Maybe you'll listen?

Self Help Radio 111715: Stuck

(Original image here.)

Stuck in your life?  Your relationship?  Your career?  Your garage?  Then please don't listen to this week's Self Help Radio.  It may depress the hell out of you.  & not in the regular way!

The show features an interview with a fellow who's been stuck to a piece of wood for almost two decades!  Also, an unhappy Mark Miller calls to talk about how he's feeling stuck in a rut.  & I feature another installment of that forgettable series Dramatic Readings Of Classic Rocks Songs.  Plus the regular assortment of songs, this week all about being stuck.  Like you expect.

Listen now!  Don't wait till you're stuck somewhere & it's the only option you have!  It's at the Self Help Radio website.  If you get stuck & forget about the password, that information is on the page.  It's in two parts.  The songs in the two parts are listed below.

& thanks for listening!  I'm glad you stuck around.

(part one)

"Stuck" Birthmark _Antibodies_
"Stuck" Butterglory _Downed_
"Stuck" Pulses _Dirtnap Across The Northwest_

"Stuck Up Blues" Roy Acuff _Night Train To Memphis_
"Don't Be Stuck Up" Paul Hampton _Rockin' Doll_
"Little Miss Stuck Up" The Playmates _At Play With The Playmates_
"Mr. Stuck-Up" Christine Quaite _Gems One_
"Stuck Up" Shirley Gunter _Soulful Kinda Ladies_

"Safety Pin Stuck In My Heart" Patrick Fitzgerald _1 2 3 4: Punk & New Wave 1976-1979_
"Stuck Under My Shoe" The Dirtbombs _ If You Don't Already Have A Look_
"How Stuck Are You" Skating Polly _Skating Polly_
"Stuck On You" Sardine V _Inner City Sound: Australian Punk & Post-Punk_

"Stuck In The Middle" Astropuppees _Yo _u Win The Bride_
"An Orchid Stuck Inside Her Throat" Comet Gain _Paperback Ghosts_

(part two)

"Stuck On You" Elvis Presley _From Nashville To Memphis: The Essential 60s Masters_
"I'm Stuck" Jerry Reed _Capitol Rockabilly_
"Doing The Unstuck" The Cure _Wish_

"Stuck With You" Zones _Kilt By Death: The Sound Of Old Scotland_
"(I'm Stuck In A Pagoda With) Tricia Toyota" The Dickies _Dawn Of The Dickies_
"Stuck In A Movie!" Aquabats _Charge!!_
"Stuck Up A Hornbeam" Half Man Half Biscuit _Urge For Offal_

"Still Stuck Out Here" The Ocean Party _Soft Focus_
"Your Words Are Still Stuck In My Head" Garlands _The Garlands EP_
"Stuck In Transit" Slow Children _Slow Children_
"Stuck" Magazine _The Correct Use Of Soap_

"Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again" Bob Dylan _Blonde On Blonde_

Whither Stuck?

(I found this image here.)

Confession time: I would be lying if I told you that I didn't think of the idea of doing a show with the theme "stuck" when I discovered that we were not moving to Los Angeles.  I wisely decided not to do a show in which I bemoan the fact that I was stuck in Lexington as my first show as a podcast.  I don't enjoy rubbing salt into my own wounds.

Honestly, I forgot all about the theme until a few weeks ago.  I found it sitting forlorn in a folder of possible themes.  I had done lots of legwork for it.  I figured, I'll do it now.  I don't feel stuck in Lexington at the moment, I'm enjoying the show, I think at least some people with questionable taste are liking Self Help Radio, I might as well do a show about being stuck.

It'll be sticking from 4-6pm today on 88.1 fm in Lexington, & also here, there, & everywhere things adhere at wrfl dot fm.  As usual, when it's done in real time, I'll stick it till it's stuck over at self help radio dot net.  But that's tomorrow.  Today's it's just sticky.

Hope you'll listen in!

Preface To Stuck: Sticky?

Looking over the Self Help Radio "themes index" page, I was certain I had done a show with the theme "sticky."  It turns out, the closest to "stuck" I had explored was a show from eight years ago (!) with the theme "glue."

"Sticky" doesn't preclude "stuck," although "stuck" doesn't imply "sticky."  I believe I learned that in Kant's Critique Of Pure Reason:

Stickiness, by means of sensation alone, is stuck in only one moment, that is, if I do not take into consideration a succession of many sticky sensations. In the phenomenon, the tackiness of which is not a successive synthesis stuck to parts to an agglutinative representation, being sticky has therefore no extensive syrupiness; the want of sticky in a moment of time would represent it as stuck, consequently stuck stickied. That which in the viscous intuition corresponds to stick is stuck (stick to sticked, stuck up to stick down); that which corresponds to the absence of it, unsticky. Consequently, sticky doesn't preclude stuck, whereas it can be shown that stuck does not imply sticky.

See?  Told you so.  Not that I understand any of that, of course.  I Kant really get into it.

Ho ho ho.

Oh - I have interesting news coming up in regards to me doing another regular radio show but can I tell you after this week's show?  I'm not done with it yet.  & I need to watch Fargo tonight!

I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris

Paris.  Sometimes people who write these blogs get the sense that they have to comment on things that are happening around them, but, if you're even glanced at this blog, you'll know I don't feel that responsibility at all.  In fact, today someone was playing songs about Paris on RFL, & I thought myself somewhat callous for not doing a show about Paris this week.

The truth is, I have nothing to say that could possibly help the people of that great city, nor offer consolation to anyone who values our way of life, where tolerance & inclusion are celebrated.  Someone more eloquent than I pointed out that the people who were targeted, the people who died, they were out on a Friday night having a good time: eating, seeing shows, listening to music, socializing, living.  I'm not sure I know how to respond to an enemy who find such things not simply distasteful or abhorrent, but worthy of homicide.

Maybe at some point I'll attempt a show about dear Paris.  I loved the city when I visited & hope I can visit again some day.  The people there are strong, & will recover, & will find their way.  The secular European social democracies may just be a greater experiment than the American one, so hard-fought & hard-won are their principles.

One other thing: I've turned off & ignored the outrage from those who wish to politicize the event & those who enjoy being outraged for the sake of outrage.  It does one no good to get down into some ideological pit with people incapable of seeing the world other than the white to everyone else's black.  Honestly, those folks deserve only pity, & to remain unheard.

My favorite response was from a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist, who wrote a cartoon about the attacks, which you can read (translated) here.  I choked up with this one, which I believe with all my heart:

It says, "They never succeed."  & they won't, if we don't let them.