Self Help Radio 122816: Indiepop A To Z # 52

(Most if not all of these record sleeve images came from Discogs.)

Well, here it is.  The last Self Help Radio of 2016.  It didn't even have the decency to let me finish the indiepop Ls!  Good riddance I say!  Good riddance to a year of good music & passable radio shows!  Let 2017 come!  Not that I'm ready for it.  It's just I can't stay in this "2016" any more!

With that said, that's it.  That's all I have to say for 2016.  The songs I played for the show are below.  The show itself is at the usual place.  You know about the username & password.  We'll square.

Happy new year!  See you in 2017.

(part one)

"Alone Again Or" Love _Forever Changes_
"Welsh Girl" Love _Welsh Girl_
"Black Mischief" The Love Ambassadeux _Black Mischief_

"All In My Mind" Love & Rockets _Express_
"You Can Never Have It All" The Love Buttons _You Can Never Have It All 12"_
"When You're With Him" Love Dance _Result_
"Spinning & Scratching" Love Is All _Nine Times That Same Song_
"Sooner I Wish" The Love Of Everything _Sooner I Wish_

"Browny April" Love Pandarins _Beikoku-Ongaku # 12: Chant Of The Unicorn_
"Under The Weather" Love Parade _The Sound Of Leamington Spa Vol. 2_
"Light Of Day" The Love Positions _Billiepeebup_
"Am I Wrong" Love Spit Love _Love Spit Love_
"Captain Kirk" The Loved Ones _After Hours 10"_

"Don't You (Wish You'd Never Met Me)?" Lovejoy _Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?_

(part two)

"Forget That Girl" Loveletter _Beethoven Chopin Kitchen Fraud_
"Weekender Man" The Lovelies _Something Cool_
"Don't Look At Me (I Don't Like It)" The Lovely Eggs _Cob Dominos_
"Keep Your Love" Loveninjas _Keep Your Love_

"That Boy Is Mine" The Loves _...Love You_
"Carry On At Large" Loveskip _Carry On At Large_
"Do You Believe In Magic?" The Lovin' Spoonful _Do You Believe In Magic?_
"Cruel To Be Kind" Nick Lowe _Labour Of Lust_
"Sylvia" The Lowthers _The Disparate Cogscienti_

"Synchronised Sinking" The Lucksmiths _Why That Doesn't Surprise Me_
"Lips Are Unhappy" Lucky Soul _The Great Unwanted_
"Show Me How The Robots Dance" Lullaby For The Working Class _I Never Even Asked For Light_
"Roman Holiday" Lumihoops _Throw: The Yoyo Studio Compilation_
"Drop You Vivid Colours" Luminous Orange _Drop You Vivid Colours_

"Speedbumps" Luna _Bang Crash Boom!!! A PopClub Compendium_

Whither Indiepop A To Z # 52

(This image has nothing to do with the show, I just liked it.  I found it here.)

On last week's show, when I was announcing this week's show, I said, "I think we're in the letter K."  I was talking about my interminable "indiepop a to z" series, which tonight will air its fifty-second episode.  I feel bad about saying that, because in fact tonight, we will start to wind down the letter L.  But that's the nature of this series, which I will probably never finish: I don't even remember what place I'm at until I sit down & go, Oh yeah right, I finished K.  Okay.

As always, there'll be great music by bands I consider "indiepop" as well as bands that influenced the genre.  As always, I'll stress that indiepop is an actual genre of music while everyone else refers to music that sounds like commercial radio pop but is put out by obscure or small labels as "indiepop."  They win, because no one is paying attention to me.  But of course I think the music I like is much, much better.

Listen then to the last Self Help Radio of 2016 tonight from 9-11pm eastern, 8-10pm central on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington & online at Lexington Community Radio.  I know I'll be listening.

Preface To Indiepop A To Z # 52: Two Thousand Five Hundred

Yep.  This is the two-thousandth, five-hundred discrete "page" or "post" of junk I have placed on this blog.  Twenty-five hundred!  2500.  That seems somehow wrong, in a moral or ethical sense.  I should be up on charges for this!

You could probably guess I am a big fan of both factors & prime numbers, especially of the fact that prime numbers have only two factors, itself & 1.  But 2500 has loads of factors, which are these:

1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 125, 250, 500, 625, 1250, 2500

Here then is a poem composed of words from the posts numbered above:

Just writing that makes my gall bladder throb
My inner skeptic basically has Tourette's right now
You can start the revolution by listening today
If you had fun, it's because we're wired differently

Wet yellow are my sclera
I myself was sampled once
The truth is already plainly delightful
Sometimes to humorous effect

Get lots of exercise in a stale-beer-smelling environment
Tomorrow is the new tomorrow; yesterday is yesterday's yesterday
It's too bad there's nothing other than smoking I can do
To be considered a "smoker" by my cool friends

My host was doing some server mojo
So I can't be horsing around with you right now
It is, however, cheaper than most trips & you don't have to wait in line at all
That seems somehow wrong, in a moral or ethical sense

That's a fun poem & will doubtless lose many awards.  I must however admit to cheating in one way.  The two lines at the end of the third stanza come from the same post (# 500).  Why did I cheat?  Because otherwise the poem would be fifteen lines long instead of sixteen.  That offended me somehow.  I didn't want the poem to be fifteen lines long.  It did not have the makings of a villanelle!

Okay, now, I know a villanelle is a nineteen-line poem & I totally expected for you to call me on my shit.  But you understand, don't you?  Don't you?

Do you?

Here we are, then, twenty-five-hundred posts in.  An achievement, surely, but also most assuredly not, like Perfect Attendance.  Those seeking insight or diversion will scarcely find it here, & yet as a promotional tool for the radio show it also fails shockingly to engage.  (See also: Facebook page, Twitter feed.)  One may as well celebrate, however.  An excuse for a cake with candles is always welcome!

A Close Look Down At The Mouth

Let us take a moment at year's end to consider cold sores.  "Note the blisters in a group marked by an arrow," that article advises.  If you must - there will be no images here!

These are different from canker sores in both placement & societal censure.  For where one can hide a canker core, one cannot well hide a cold sore, especially in such situations where the blisters of a cold sore are marked by an arrow.

Indeed, there are other differences which will continue to make your gums & feel uncomfortable.  We know - oh, we know - what caused cold sores - it's a viral infection, & that virus is called herpes - but with canker sores, as the Wikipedia article above notes,

"The cause is not entirely clear, but is thought to be multifactorial. It has even been suggested that aphthous stomatitis (canker sores) is not a single entity but rather a group of conditions with different causes. Multiple research studies have attempted to identify a causative organism, but aphthous stomatitis appears to be non-contagious, non-infectious, & not sexually transmissible."

That last bit should make most folks with canker sores happy, as there is very little that, it seems, is not sexually transmissible.  Both birth & death, for example, seem to be direct results of sex.  Leaving sex out of sores that can happen in or around your mouth is a delight in such a context.

What are we to do, then?  Are there foundations we can support?  Are there 5K runs or long walks against these conditions?  Why don't we speak out, why must we keep our mouths shut?

Oh you know.

Happy Every Holiday!!

But today it's

Thanks to all who listen or stop by, I hope you have a good day with plenty of fine food & festive fellowship with friends & family, whatever you prefer both/either/neither/nor.  I'm glad we get to interact regularly on a dumb radio show!

(That image courtesy of this awesome Tumblr blog.)