I'm On Vacation

Sordid details following.

Not really - it's just family visiting stuff.  But!  It does mean that I'm not around to do my Cradle To Grave show on WLXL 95.7fm.  So if you're one of the zero people who listen to that show, you're going to have to go without this week.  I should be back next week.

Also being ignored this week by me is my unimpressive series "The Gary Files."  Why, I've heard from exactly no Garys praising me for this groundbreaking anthropological sociological utterly inexplicable enterprise!  I'm sure to get a sum total of absolutely none complaints about recklessly skipping a week.  I hope I can deal with it!

Please enjoy the relative silence on this blog this week.

Self Help Radio 020916: Valentine's Day 2016 - Heartbreak

(Original image here.)

Just in time (?) for Valentine's Day is a Valentine's Day show!  Which is not to say this would be a good show to listen to on Valentine's Day - it's about heartbreak, after all.  & who wants to listen to a show about heartbreak on the holiday for lovers?  Even I am not that jaded!

Anyway - it doesn't matter - Self Help Radio is not known for its planning skills.  It could probably not manage a show about trees on Arbor Day.  But!  If you want to hear all about broken hearts, this is the show for you!  Not only are there tons of songs about broken hearts, but our man in Hollywood, Mark Miller, talks about his broken-hearted life, & I chat with the holder of the Guinness Book Of World Records' record of the number of broken hearts!  Also - I attempt to call out all the women who have broken my heart - with disastrous results.

The show is available now & on Valentine's Day & after at the Self Help Radio website.  The show is in two parts - like a broken heart - & what's in those parts is below.  You know by now there's a username & a password, & that it's on the website, right?  Well then happy Valentine's Day to you!

A reminder: I won't be doing the show next week, but Ben Southworth will, & he'll do an excellent job, with a show about "Red Things"!  Tune in!  Show him the love you've never shown me!

& I'll see you in two weeks!

(part one)

"You're Breaking My Heart" Vic Damone _The Mercury Years_
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" Neil Young _After The Gold Rush_
"Don't Break My Heart" The Dirtbombs _Dangerous Magical Noise_

"Heartbreak Hotel" John Cale _Slow Dazzle_
"Where Do Broken Hearts Go" Me First & The Gimme Gimmes _Take A Break_
"The World Of Broken Hearts" Elvis Costello & The Attractions _Imperial Bedroom_
"What Becomes Of The Broken-Hearted? (feat. Colin Blunstone)" Dave Stewart _The Stiff Records Box Set_

"You Can't Break A Broken Heart" The 6ths _Wasps' Nests_
"Even Jesus Couldn't Mend My Broken Heart" The Boy Least Likely To _The Great Perhaps_
"So Many Broken Hearts" APB _Something To Believe In_
"Heartbreak Beat" The Psychedelic Furs _Midnight To Midnight_

"Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?" Lloyd Cole & The Commotions _Rattlesnakes_
"Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" Camera Obscura _Let's Get Out Of This Country_

(part two)

"Heartbreaker" Ray Charles _The Birth Of Soul: The Complete Atlantic Rhythm & Blues Recordings 1952-1959_
"Broken-Hearted Melody" Sarah Vaughan _The Great Ones_
"You Can't Lose A Broken Heart" Billie Holiday & Louis Armstrong _Duets With Louis Armstrong & Friends_

"Heart In Your Heartbreak" The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart _Belong_
"Can't Break A Dead Girl's Heart" Zombina & The Skeletones _Taste The Blood Of Zombina & The Skeletones_
"Broken-Hearted Lovers' Stew" Benny Hill _Words & Music_
"I Am Just A Broken Heart" The Jacobites _Robespierre's Velvet Basement_
"Broken Hearted Blues" T Rex _Tanx_

"Do You Have To Break My Heart" The Darling Buds _Crawdaddy_
"Heartbreak 101" Tom Selleck's Moustache _Heartbreak 101_
"Heartbreaker" Girls _Broken Dreams Club_
"The One Who Broke Your Heart" David Byrne & St. Vincent _Love This Giant_

"You Were Made To Break My Heart" Michael Shelley _Too Many Movies_
"Sweetest Girl" Eleanor Friedberger _New View_

Whither Heartbreak?

(Original image here.)

Look.  It's a Valentine's Day show.  It has to be about something.  I mean, I've already done Valentine's Day shows with themes of love, hate, jealousy, crushes, boyfriends, girlfriends, love songs, lovesickness, famous lovers*, & valentines themselves.  & lest you think I am too perverse, please note that most of those shows are positive, not negative.  Isn't Self Help Radio allowed a cynical Valentine's show for once?  Or twice?  Or maybe a third time?

In any event - though it seems that Valentine's Day is so far away, & it would be dumb to do the show after the holiday - so we'll have a Self Help Radio Valentine's Day show today from 4-6pm!  It'll be on 88.1 fm + wrfl dot fm.  I hope you can listen!

Another reason to listen/to cheer: I won't be doing the show next week.  Ben Southworth, who hosts
"State Songs" on Friday mornings, will do the show next week with the theme "Red Things."  Like broken hearts, maybe?  Hopefully not!

* That was last year's show, & you can listen to it here, if you wanna.

Preface To Valentine's Day 2016 - Heartbreak: Why? Why? Why?

Seriously, why?

Wasn't there also a Self Help Radio about jealousy one Valentine's Day?*  What is wrong with this show?  Valentine's Day is supposed to be about romance & love!  

As it says here, "Valentine's Day is a festival of romantic love, & many people give cards, letters, flowers, or presents to their spouse or partner. They may also arrange a romantic meal in a restaurant or night in a hotel."

Where's the show about giving cards, letters, flowers, or presents?  Where's the show about romantic meals or nights in a hotel?  Is it because heartbreak is an easier show to do?

Well, sure.

People are more likely to write songs about being sad than being happy, mostly because singing a song about being happy can easily sound smug or insufferable.  But the human condition is mostly one of unhappiness, & unhappiness needs consolation.  Music has been for many a major source of sympathy & empathy for many, from the teenager writing lyrics in her binder instead of notes to the elderly man at the symphony weeping to Beethoven.

(Plus, confidentially, there aren't a lot of songs about giving cards to people.)

* Yes, there was.

Cradle To Grave (Episode Eleven)

Eleven episodes!  So many birthdays!  So much death!

Do you think anyone has ever written those two sentences together?  "So many birthdays, so much death"?  I hope so, because if they haven't, I may be a creepier person than even I think I am!

The show is available now for both birthday parties & funerals (please not at the same time) (see, I told you: creep!) at the Self Help Radio website.  The show is divided into two parts as befits the two opposite occasions the show is about, & you can see what's in the parts below.  Pay attention to password stuff.  That's on the front page.

Maybe it's a good alternative to a "super bowl"?

(births)

"You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" Thurl Ravenscroft _How The Grinch Stole Christmas_
"The Beat Generation" Mamie Van Doren _Beat, Beat, Beatsville! Beatnik Rock & Roll_
"Dancin'" Mary Swan _Crying In The Chapel_
"Girl Machine" Donnie Brooks _Sway & Move With Donnie Brooks_
"This Strange Effect" Dave Berry _The British Invasion: The History Of British Rock, Vol. 6_

"Easy Skanking" Bob Marley & The Wailers _Kaya_
"1865 (96 Degrees In The Shade)" Third World _96 Degrees In The Shade_
"Teasin' You" Willie Tee _Beg, Scream, & Shout!: The Big Ol' Box Of 60s Soul_
"Please, Mr. Postman" The Marvelettes _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 1: 1959-1961_
"Sophisticated Lady (She's A Different Lady)" Natalie Cole _In Yo' Face!: The History Of Funk, Vol. 3_

"Come A Long Way" Kate & Anna McGarrigle _Dancer With Bruised Knees_
"If You Ever Need A Stranger (To Sing At Your Wedding)" Jens Lekman _When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog_
"Generator" Tim Blake _Blake's New Jerusalem_
"Hurry On Sundown" Hawkwind _Hawkwind_
"Donnez Moi Mon Chapeau" Geno Delafose & The French Rockin' Boogie _That's What I'm Talkin' About!_
"Sana Kul Köle Olmuştum (I Had Become Your Slave)" Nazan Öncel _Bizden Sesler, Vol. 2_

(death anniversaries)

"The Music Stopped" Woody Herman & His Orchestra with Frances Wayne _You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To_
"Swinging On A Star" Bing Crosby _Going My Way OST_
"That's My Desire" Frankie Laine _Frankie_
"Guess Who" Jesse Belvin _Guess Who_
"Imagination" The Quotations _"Time Was" 1959-1963_

"Wabash Cannonball" Roy Acuff _The History Of Country & Western Music Vol 13 (1947)_
"Nevada Smith" Merle Kilgore _My Rifle, My Pony & Me: Movie & TV Soundtracks_
"Relover" Flying Canyon _Flying Canyon_
"Good Vibrations" Beach Boys _Good Vibrations_
"Mr. Moto" The Belairs _Volcanic Action!_

"I Trim The Barber" King Tubby _Don Letts Presents The Mighty Trojan Sound_
"Two Step De Lanse A Paille" The Balfa Brothers _The Balfa Brothers Play Traditional Cajun Music_
"The Peanut Vendor" Louis Armstrong with Les Hite's Orchestra _Cuban Latino Jazz_
"Loch Ness Clarionet" Hot Temperance Seven _That Certain Party_
"Der Komissar" Falco _Einzelhaft_

"Three's Company, Too" Ray Charles & Julia Rinker Miller _Television's Greatest Hits - 70s & 80s_