Self Help Radio 022217: Fate

(Original image here.)

You won't believe it, but this is kind of a neat & special episode of Self Help Radio, if such a thing can be.  Not the music or me - that's the same old stuff.  But I had the notion to come up with an overarching motif that would connect all the funny people who improvise interviews with me on the show for this week.  Since one of my collaborators plays a character, I needed that character to be the lynchpin for the proceedings.  Thus was created (not by me, but by the person who plays Dr. Gently) the Fate's Ahoy Captain Of Your Own Destiny Voyage Of Self Discovery!

Every person you hear on the show came up with their own experience of the cruise, & then Dr. Gently reacts to their experiences, & of course making up some of his own.  I need to repeat: the improvisers had only the name of the cruise & their knowledge of the Dr. Gently character to go on.  I asked some questions, but everything else comes from their own demented minds.

Personally I think it went swimmingly.  We must try to do it again sometime!

As for the show, it's now of course at the Self Help Radio website.  The fateful songs I played on that fateful show have been listed below.  Will Fate bring you to this week's show?  I dunno, I'll leave it up to destiny.

(part one)

"Fate" Gordon Macrae _Kismet_
"Fate" Miaow _When It All Comes Down_
"Fate" Rocket 3 _Burn_

"The Killing Moon" Echo & The Bunnymen _Ocean Rain_
"Cast Your Fate To The Winds" We Five _You Were On My Mind_
"Fate Planned It This Way" Showmen _Crescent City Soul: The Sound Of New Orleans 1947-1974_
"Fate Vs The Impossible!" The National Pep _Citizen Gomez_

"Simple Twist Of Fate" Bob Dylan _Blood On The Tracks_
"I Believe In Fate" Papas Fritas _Buildings & Grounds_
"It's My Fate" The Sweets _Gone 7"_
"Fate To Fatal" Breeders _Fate To Fatal_

"Cheer For Fate" Mt St Helens Vietnam Band _Mt St Helens Vietnam Band_

(part two)

"My Fate Is In Your Hands" Josephine Baker _Exotique_
"It's Fate, Baby It's Fate (with Betty Garrett)" Frank Sinatra _Sinatra In Hollywood: 1940-1964_
"Senior Service" Elvis Costello & The Attractions _Armed Forces_

"Master Of My Fate" American Breed _Pumpkin Powder Scarlet Green_
"Our Fate" The Mourning Reign _Good Things Are Happening_
"Twist Of Fate" Bad Lieutenant _Never Cry Another Tear_
"Orange Light" Latimer House _Hey!_

"Seal My Fate" Belly _King_
"The Fickle Finger Of Fate" Jerry Keller _The Complete Recordings, Vol. 2_
"When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow" Scientists _Blood Red River 1982-1984_
"Bondage Of Fate" OMD _History Of Modern_

"What Did I Ever Do To Deserve Such A Fate" The Music Explosion _Little Bit O' Soul_
"That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate" Mission Of Burma _Vs._
"Fatal Twist Of Fate" Cartridge _Fractures_

Whither Fate?

(image from the Wikipedia page)

Dr. Fate was a comic book hero who dabbled in the mystic arts way before Dr. Strange did.  Created by Gardner Fox & Howard Sherman, Dr. Fate's powers always perturbed me somewhat - he tended to have whatever spell was necessary for solution of the plot - & his origins were vague enough that there have been half a dozen other Dr. Fates (since the powers come from the helmet, which is possessed by a being called Nabu) since then whose abilities & adventures rely upon whomever is writing the story at the time.  I still think he's pretty cool, though.

But Dr. Fate has nothing whatsoever to do with tonight's show.  Tonight's show is based around the fact that next month I'll be going on the Fates Ahoy Captain Of Your Own Destiny Voyage Of Self Discovery hosted by none other than the Reverend Doctor Howard Gently!  Not only will he be on the show to talk about the cruise, but also I'll talk to three people who took the cruise last year!  Plus, you know, tons of songs about fate.

It's on tonight on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington from 9-11pm eastern time.  It's also on Lexington Community Radio dot org at the same time, which happens to be 8-10pm central.  Perhaps it is your fate to listen?

Preface To Fate: Something I Found Online

There's nothing really to say about the fate show (which airs tomorrow) that I won't say tomorrow, but I did find this cool Youtube collection of the most popular songs from 1840 to 2013.  I confess I am mostly unfamiliar with the songs passed 1990, & have never really heard any of them past 2000 (I thought "Hey Ya" would make it whatever year it came out), but I am really fascinated by the early songs.  Have a listen - enjoy the presentation - it's kinda cool.

It Is My Fate To Write Crappy Blogs

Arrgh, there's no time today, I've been working on my dumb show & living my dumb life so, for your edification & probably revulsion, I have found a very old poem - I wrote it almost twenty years ago - in which I happen to mention "fate."  Enjoy?

Game Theory

stare at life, through the lens that's dirty.  i'm thirty, closing in on

older, wishing for the heart to make my mind catch fire.  moments so mired

in emotion wait, do they, to bog me down.  i'll drown, a better fate, than

slowing to statue in a haze of cigarette air.

let me see, as out of practice as out of time.  i go from salt to lime,

washed throat with alcohol swabbing, spider in a dark ditch.  but which is

which, the heart or the balls, hand to hold or body to bang.  something

someone sang resonates, something someone said i disbelieve.

whatever, i'm kept busy by being kept busy, feeding cats & bathing.  i

don't mind aging, though it's not growth.  no i don't see souls together,

just vases filled with dying flowers yards apart.  my broken heart believes

out of spite, even though so fond of the word "never."

so sign me up, eyes need eyes to make sense of chemical need.  always more

to bleed, always more blood though thin, though fading red.  what instead,

newspaper voyeurism, sexual vandalism, embracing the dirt as the blooms

fade.  no, not today, i want to scare the seconds when my time is up.

Shit, It's Sunday Isn't It?

Damn it, I'm supposed to write something in this blog today.  Well, poops.

Were you listening a couple weeks ago when there was an interview with two guys who started the world's first online dating service?  That was a little experiment I wanted to try.  Two of my funny collaborators, David & CJ, were tasked with telling their side of the story - making it up on the spot - improvising, you know - with no idea what the other was saying!

In fact, I'm not sure the two have ever met each other before - I knew one at KVRX & the other at KOOP.

In any event, I thought it was fun.  They both have distinctive senses of humor & they took their stories in interesting directions.  I thought to myself, what if I did that with all four of my current contributors?

So this week we will.  This week my show will revolve not only around songs about fate, but about a specific event that the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently is involved with, & I'll "interview" three fellows who attended the event last year.

It's going to be fun, I hope, & funny, no doubt.  I kept telling them, "Let's Rashomon the shit out of this thing!"  That's the background for this - all they know is the character of Dr. Gently & the name of his event.  What they'll experience will be entirely up to them & their demented minds.

Does that sound like fun?