Self Help Radio 100516: Who's The Boss?

(Original image here.)

Who is the boss?  Well, it takes two hours, four interviews, & twenty-seven songs, but you will find out definitively on this hard-hitting episode of Self Help Radio.  Please note: no Tony Danzas were harmed in the making of this show.  We couldn't live with ourselves otherwise.

More importantly, who is your boss?  Unfortunately, we didn't want to pry, so that secret remains undiscovered.  You of course know who your boss is - unless you work for a Mason - but it's certainly not something you need to share, say, in the comments below this.  No one cares.  But if you want to share, also include a picture of your boss.  Tony Danza will want to know who he needs to punch.

Whatever you boss orientation (as if there's such a thing), there's an entire radio show about bosses available now for your not-safe-for-work pleasure at Self Help Radio the website dot net.  It's in two parts.  What songs were played is in each part.  To listen to the interviews, you have to listen to the whole show.  Sorry!  The boss told me that was the rule.

Get back to work!

(part one)

"Brand New Life (Who's The Boss Theme)" Larry Weiss _100 Greatest TV Themes, Vol. 3_
"Hey Boss Man" Ray Smith _The Sun Years Plus_
"Say Boss Man" Bo Diddley _The Chess Box_
"The Boss" James Brown & The JB's _The Singles, Volume 8: 1972-1973_

"Big Boss Man" Bobbie Gentry _The Delta Sweete_
"Working For The Man" Mental As Anything _Creatures Of Leisure_
"Capitalistic Boss (Part 1)" Saul Aarons _Songs For Political Action: Folk Music, Topical Songs & The American Left 1935-1954: Theatre & Cabaret Performers 1936-1941_
"Hallo Boss, Hallo" Bill Ramsey _Ohne Krimi Geht Die Mimi..._

"Maggie's Farm" Solomon Burke _How Many Roads (Black America Sings Bob Dylan)_
"I'm Gonna Be Boss From Now On" Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys _San Antonio Rose_
"Boss Of Me" They Might Be Giants _A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants_
"Boss Of Me" David Bowie _The Next Day_

"The Boss's Daughter" Gene Pitney _The Best Of Gene Pitney_
"You're The Boss" Cud _Elvis Belt_

(part two)

"The Boss/Dump The Bosses Off Your Back" Utah Phillips _We Have Fed You All A Thousand Years_
"Boss Inside" Adam Green _Minor Love_
"Summertime Blues" Eddie Cochran _Somethin' Else: The Fine Lookin' Hits Of Eddie Cochran_

"Boss Man" Dean Hawley _The Dore Doo-Wop Story, Vol. 3_
"Boss Lady" The Detroit Cobras _Life, Love, & Leaving_
"Boss" The Bolshoi _Books On The Bonfire_
"Executive Dive" Dicks _These People_

"Space Boss" T.Rex _Bolan's Zip Gun Boogie_
"Please Mr. Boss Man" Candy Man & Gumption Band _Please Mr. Boss Man_
"Boss" Aceyalone _Leanin' On Slick_
"Do The Brown Nose" The Dead Milkmen _Metaphysical Graffiti_

"Boss" Screaming Females _Castle Talk_
"Boss Man" Alan Moorhouse _Blow Up Presents Exclusive Blend, Vol. 2_

Whither Bosses?

(Image from here.)

Have you ever been a boss?  I have!  I've been a boss, but never the boss.  Maybe it's best to say that I've been in "middle management."  There's always been someone higher than I am.  In fact, that reminds me of a Mr. Show sketch:



It's almost like there's always another boss!

The thing is, I'm currently boss-less.  Unless you count my pets, who treat me more or less like an employee.  I'm their only employee!  But have I ever been named "Employee Of The Month"?  Hardly!

So, yes.  Yes.  I'm doing this show because my pets have asked me to do so.  A show about bosses.  They will enjoy it.

It's on tonight - tonight!  From 8-10 pm Texas time, 9 to 11 pm Kentucky time, on 93.9 fm WLXU in the fine city of Lexington & online at Lexington Community Radio dot Org.

Since we're mostly not bosses, we can't really join in the celebration of bosses.  But maybe afterwards we can just go on strike!

Preface To Who's The Boss: Danza Fandom

(Image from here.)

This week's show is not two hours of me raving about the television show Who's The Boss?  I'm sure there are enough songs about Tony Danza, Judith Light, Katherine Helmond, & Alyssa Milano to fill up two hours of programming (not sure if there are any songs about poor Danny Pintauro, though*).  So why not?  Why not a Danztactular, with Light & Milano & Helmond?

Oh all right.  The truth is, there aren't a lot of songs about Tony Danza.  When I google "songs about Tony Danza," the number one hit is a misinterpreted Elton John song, "Hold me closer, Tony Danza."

What is wrong with the world that there aren't hundreds of songs about Tony Danza?  I understand we're living in a world crass enough to not have songs extolling the virtues & talents of a Katherine Helmond, & of course a world where Judith Light sings terrible songs from the 90s, but why hasn't every band in the universe just put pen to paper & composed a magnificent ode to Tony Danza?  This is a mystery for the ages; I am ill-equipped to figure it out.

To be sure, there will be talk of Danza & Who's The Boss on tomorrow's show, but the show, sadly, isn't about those delightful subjects.  Just the same old boring Self Help Radio junk.  However, I would like to believe that these two songs below, by the Pixies & Morrissey respectively, are actually about Tony Danza.  I won't play them tomorrow, but I play them forever in my heart.





* That's a gratuitous joke.  Sorry.

It's October At Self Help Radio!

(I found that image here.)

Happy October!  Almost everywhere north of here, leaves are changing, temperatures are dropping, & pumpkins are patching!

In Fort Worth, temperatures are dropping a little, which is encouraging some folks to put all kinds of gourds on their porches & doorsteps.  But what does that mean for Self Help Radio?

Frankly, it's more of the same, but here's a brief preview of what your Self Help Radio October will be like.

This week, of course, we have a show about bosses, & not, sadly, about the television show Who's The Boss?  I'll obviously talk more about this tomorrow & the next day as is my wont.  Also, I just want to say "Tony Danza."

Next week is the show's 14th Anniversary!  The show first went on the air in Austin, Texas, on October 9, 2002, with the theme "The War Show."  Every year since maybe the fifth or sixth anniversary, I've used the anniversary to revisit an old theme, update it, maybe add to it.  This year I'm actually going to revisit a theme that never made it to air - which is a story to look forward to next week!

The third week of the month will find me wistful & sentimental, as I do a show about the past.  I'm full of regrets but I've already done a show about regrets, & anyway, we all get older, we're always looking back instead of living in the moment or planning ahead.  I will just be leaning into that storm.

& the last week of the month is the show before Halloween, so there'll naturally be a Self Help Radio show about a Halloweeny topic.  This year, the show is about death.  That's pretty scary, & perhaps made more scary because the previous week we'll have been meditating about the past & naturally we'll be more sensitive about things & hopefully it'll scare the bejeezus out of you.

This is the time to remind you that if you have an idea for a show, or for a song that might fit the themes, or just want to write to the show because you think it's a good listener, there's an email address, gary@selfhelpradio.net.

It's nice to get mail.  & have a happy month!

Someone Said Goodbye

Something I forgot to mention - & wouldn't have noticed unless friend of the show Jenny hadn't mentioned it on her Twitter feed, which is that WRFL said goodbye to me & Self Help Radio in their promotional magazine, the Rifle.  (Older issues are archived here.)

The new issue hasn't been put online, & of course I no longer live in Lexington & wouldn't be able to grab a copy, so Jenny handily scanned the small notice, which went like this:

Diana & Collin were deejays I never met nor heard, but I can say it's rough for RFL to have lost Chuck, whose show was on the same as mine, & was always fun; & Justin, whom I loved on the Catacombs although his freeform general format show was always excellent; & Cody, who came to the station a couple of years after I did, & whom I watched grow up from a nerdy high school music geek to a nerdy college music geek.  (I'm sure listeners of RFL barely noticed Self Help Radio's gone.)

Where are they now?  Chuck's still in Lexington, running WLXL & WLXU (& he's been nice enough to air Self Help Radio there while I take too much due time to find a new station here). Justin's down in Houston teaching college (I'm hoping he goes over to KTRU at Rice to make more radio).  & Cody's going to grad school in Los Angeles.  I miss them all.

Again, thanks to Jenny for this, & thanks to RFL for waving goodbye.