The Gary Files # 19: Gary Dourdan

(This is from his Wikipedia page.)

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 nineteenth of a series!

Gary Dourdan is an American actor most famous for a character his played on the original CSI.

When did you first become aware of him?  I used to watch CSI.  The original.  I never really watched any of the spin-offs.  One of those spin-offs actually had a famous person named Gary on them as well!

Do you mean Gary Sinise?  Yeah!

Should we talk about him right now?  No, we'll save him for another installment.

He seems more famous than this Gary.  I guess so.

Shouldn't we do the famous Garys before the less-famous ones?  Let's just continue with this, shall we?

Okay. Do you have any thoughts about this Gary?  Uh.  No, not really.  I mean, I liked him on the show, but I don't think I've seen him in any other television show or movie.

No?  No.  Um.  I mean, I thought he was pretty.  I wish I, as a Gary born around the same time he was born (he's two years older than I am), was as pretty as he is.

But you're lucky you haven't had his issues with drugs, right?  Oh yeah.  He's been arrested with cocaine, ecstasy, & oxycontin.  & because of that, he's also on probation for domestic violence.

Why did he leave CSI?  I think it had to do with money.  They killed his character off.  That's harsh.

Was his name really Gary?  Yes, Gary Robert Dourdan.

Do you know why he was named Gary?  I can't say.  He was born in 1966, so it's probably not because of Gary Cooper.

Self Help Radio 012615: Crows

(Original image here.)

At the end of yesterday's show, I walked out to my car, feeling, of course, that I had totally screwed up another two hours of radio.  There were two crows waiting for me.

"What?  What do you want?" I cried.

There was no response.  I walked toward where the car was parked.

There were three more crows on my car.  The other two joined them.

"For fuck's sake," I said.  "Just tell me what you want!"

Finally, one of them said to me, in a very condescending caw, "Your show today was terrible.  But.  There are so few radio shows about crows.  So.  We'll let this go for now."

It sounded like they were snickering as they flew away.  Can birds snicker?  Maybe.  What they can do is shit all over your car.

At last you can hear the radio show that made crows shit on my car!  This week's show is now available at the Self Help Radio website.  It's two hours long, so split into two parts.  What's in the two parts is listed below.

Enjoy! (?)

(part one)

"Crows" Gothic Archies _The Tragic Treasury: Songs From A Series Of Unfortunate Events_
"Hey Crow" The Li'l Hospital _Heavy Metal_
"Mambo Del Crow" Shorty Rogers & His Giants _Short Stops_

"Old Black Crow In The Hickory Nut Tree" The Allen Brothers _Allen Brothers, Vol. 1: 1927-1930_
"The Flying Crow" Black Ivory King _Country Blues Classics, Vol. 1_
"Crow Jane" Skip James _Blues From The Delta_
"The Fox & The Crow" Melody Masters _The Fox & The Crow_

"Yo Ho The Crow" Leona Anderson _Music To Suffer By_
"The Crow" Joseph Spence _Happy All The Time_
"Black Crow Blues" Bob Dylan _Another Side Of Bob Dylan_
"Poor Old Crow" Mike & Peggy Seeger _American Folksongs For Children_
"Black Crow" Joni Mitchell _Hejira_

"Black Crow" Linda Hoyle _Pieces Of Me_
"Ice Cream For Crow" Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band _Ice Cream For Crow_

(part two)

"Crow" The Jim Carroll Band _Catholic Boy_
"The Black Crow Knows" Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians _Element Of Light_
"Buzzards & Dreadful Crows" James Husband _Sing For Your Meat: A Tribute To Guided By Voices_

"Black Crow King" Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds _The Firstborn Is Dead_
"Buzzards & Crows" Dirty Pretty Things _Romance At Short Notice_
"A Murder Of Crows" The Green Pajamas _Book Of Hours_

"Black Crow" Anyways _Older Than Yesterday_
"Crow" Deerhoof _Holdy Paws_
"Look A Bleached Coral Faced Crow With Jewels For Eyes" Bearsuit _Oh:io_
"Blackcrow Hits Shoe Shine City" Rain Tree Crow _Rain Tree Crow_

"Crows" Bishop Allen _Lights Out_
"Crows" Modey Lemon _Thunder + Lightning_

Whither Crows?

(I found this image here.)

There are these giant crows that show up from time-to-time in my backyard & bully the other birds around the bird feeder.  The bird feeder isn't big enough to support them - they try anyway, it's a comical sight - but they're able to strut around beneath it, & eat seeds that have dropped onto the ground.  The sparrows, cardinals, pigeons, doves, etc., all generally stay away, although sometimes a large enough group of them will harass the crows.  Usually the status quo is: bigger gets what it wants.

I assume they're crows - I know that "crow" is a genus of birds, not a particular bird.  These are big black motherfuckers.  They run away from me but there's no guarantee they won't dive down to attack me when I'm unaware or make off with my little chihuahua who, at under eight pounds, is probably eminently portable.

So one day this crow says, "I hear you sometimes on the radio waves."  I say, "You can hear radio?  You don't even have ears!"  Ignoring me, the crow says, "Make a radio show about crows."  "What?" I say.  "Make a radio show about crows," he repeats.  "Or else."  "Or else what?" I say, but he flies away menacingly.

Much I marveled that ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly!  (Did you know I have "The Raven" memorized?)  He impressed me enough to make a radio show about crows.  That, & they're always eyeing my little chihuahua hungrily.

The show is on from 4-6pm today on 88.1 fm in Lexington & online at wrfl dot fm.  Please listen!  Or else I may one day find my little dog missing from the backyard!

Preface To Crows: My Favorite Crow

(More more more at Maakies dot com!)

Do you have a favorite crow?  Does that sound weird?  I do!  It's the character of Drinky Crow from the amazing comic strip "Maakies" by Tony Millionaire.

Frankly I have no idea where I first stumbled upon the strip, but at some point I got a copy of the book Maakies, & in the first two pages, this astonishing strip ran (this is my own scan):

It's a comic strip about love, existential despair, & alcoholism.  What's there not to love about it?

& you?  Do you have a favorite crow?

Cradle To Grave (Episode Nine)

Nine episodes!  I guess I'm lucky I'm at the end of over a century of recorded music - this show includes music from 1901 & music from 2008.  & lots in-between!

It's no secret - I haven't made it a secret - that the show is pre-recorded.  I sit up late at night, usually Thursday night/Friday morning - listening to music, recording an airbreak, listening to more music, rinse, repeat, until it's all done.  This week was weird because Friday morning began the "snowpocalypse," when a large amount of the white stuff fell on Lexington, & I felt like I had to say something about it, even in passing, although it had yet to happen.  So in a sense, I was lying on the air when I talked about snow being everywhere.  I don't think that it really affects the show in any major way - people who were born or died on January 23 would have stayed the same, snow or not - but it is something I noticed when I listened last night.  I felt like a fibber.

In any event, here it is, the ninth episode of Cradle To Grave.  It's over at the Self Help Radio website, where you can find the username & password necessary for the listening.  The songs I played, divided into birthdays (first hour) & days of death (second hour) are below.

The sun is out!  Hooray!

(part one: birthdays)

"Operator" Midnight Star _Planetary Invasion_
"Yes We Can Can" The Pointer Sisters _The Pointer Sisters_
"Whisper Not" Ella Fitzgerald with Marty Paich & His Orchestra _Whisper Not_
"Embrasse-Moi (From Peau De Banane)" Jeanne Moreau _Succés Et Confidences_
"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive" Four Freshmen _Voices In Fun_

"Mr. Question Man" Ernie Kovacs _The Ernie Kovacs Album_
"Get Thee Behind Me, Satan" The Almanac Singers _Talking Union_
"Indian Love Call" Slim Whitman _Country USA 1952_
"Lonesome Valley" Vince Martin & Fred Neil _Tear Down The Walls_
"I Put A Spell On You" Them _Them Again_
"Swing 39" Django Reinhardt _I Got Rhythm_

"I Want You to Want Me (Early Version)" Cheap Trick _Cheap Trick (Expanded Edition)_
"The Way You Do The Things You Do" UB40 _Labour Of Love II_
"A World With No Mirrors" The Legendary Pink Dots _Plutonium Blonde_
"Nonsequence" Gary Burton _The New Quartet_

(part two: death anniversaries)

"Clinch Mountain Blues" The Stanley Brothers _The Complete Mercury Recordings_
"The Laughing Song" George W. Johnson _The Laughing Song_
"Ol' Man River" Paul Robeson _American Musical Theater: Shows, Songs, & Stars, Vol. I_
"Gabbin' Blues" Big Maybelle _The OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story, 1949-1957_
"Them Jive New Yorkers" Babs Gonzales _Violà!_

"Muskrat Ramble" Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five _Ory's Creole Trombone (Greatest Recordings 1922-1944)_
"Tickled To Death" Richard Zimmerman _The Roots Of Ragtime_
"Made In Sweden" Brother Jack McDuff _Moon Rappin'_
"Fifty Second Street Boogie Down" Catalyst _A Tear & A Smile_

"Louie Louie" Richard Berry & Pharaohs _The Best Of Flip Records, Vol. 3_
"Sh-Boom" The Chords _Don't It Sound Good: The Great Atlantic Vocal Groups_
"Rag Mop" Ames Brothers _The Best Of The Ames Brothers_
"Lost John Boogie" Wayne Raney _Songs Of The Hills_
"Instrumental # 1" James Davis _The George Mitchell Boxset_

"Row Row Row Your Boat" Captain Kangaroo _Captain Kangaroo Sings The Horse In The Striped Pajamas_