Self Help Radio 030817: Maybe

(Original image here.)

Maybe Self Help Radio was on last night?  No, I'm sure it was!  The theme was "maybe."  Or was it? Come on, it's like twelve hours ago!  Who's supposed to be able to remember that far into the past?

Yes, there was a show.  Yes, the theme was maybe.  Yes, there were lots of silly interviews.  Yes, there were lots of songs in which the word "maybe" was repeated many, many times.  Enough to make one less indecisive?  Maybe.  But maybe not.

The show is definitely I'm pretty sure no maybe at the Self Help Radio website.  Maybe you need a username & password to listen?  & maybe those are on the site?  Probably.  Maybe.  For sure the songs you'll hear are listed below.  I know that for certain.  Yes.

(part one)

"Maybe" Moondog _Moondog_
"Maybe" Tall Dwarfs _Hello Cruel World_
"Maybe" The Fastbacks _The Day That Didn't Exist_

"OK Maybe OK" Mega Emotion _OK Maybe OK_
"Maybe" The Three Degrees _Can You Dig It? The '70s Soul Experience_
"A Sex Maybe" Mike Birbiglia _My Girlfriend's Boyfriend_
"Maybe Someday" The Submissives _Do You Really Love Me?_
"In The Maybe World" Lisa Germano _In The Maybe World_

"Maybee" Tania + Holy Worm _Maybee_
"Maybe This Day" Kissing The Pink _Naked_
"Maybe Baby" The Skywriters _The Skywriters_
"Maybe This Song" Bruce Haack _Farad: The Electric Voice_

"Maybe Your Baby" The Dirtbombs _If You Don't Already Have A Look_

(part two)

"Maybe Baby" Buddy Holly _Not Fade Away: The Complete Studio Recordings & More_
"Yes, No, Maybe So" Barrett Strong _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 1: 1959-1961_
"Maybe (Acoustic Radio Session)" The Wonder Stuff _Love Bites & Bruises_

"Maybe" Raindrops _Confidential Doo-Wop, Vol. 1_
"Don't Mean Maybe" Dakota Staton _I Hate Cherries (Serious 50s Female Jivers)_
"Of Course, But Maybe" Louis CK _Oh My God_
"Not Even A Maybe" Television Personalities _Strangely Beautiful EP_

"Maybe You're Right" Cat Stevens _Mona Bone Jakon_
"Maybe" The Submarines _Honeysuckle Weeks_
"You Deserve More Than A Maybe" St. Christopher _Temple Cloud_
"Maybe - Who Knows?" Gene Austin _Fats Waller 1927-1929_

"Oh Yeah, Maybe Baby" The Crystals _Da Doo Ron Ron: The Very Best Of The Crystals_
"Maybe I Know" Lesley Gore _Growin' Up Too Fast: The Girl Group Anthology_
"Maybe Laughter" Dressy Bessy _Sound Go Round

Whither Maybe?

(Clip art from here & here.)

One of the things I miss most about being at WRFL - which just had a birthday, happy birthday to them! - is that I got to do a lot of "fills," which means basically freeform radio shows where I could play music not related to a particular theme.  There were weeks when I would do five or seven hours of radio, & of course only two of those hours would have been Self Help Radio.

Oh boo fucking hoo Gary, I hear you say. Why not just do a Self Help Radio one week that's just music you like?

It's a nice suggestion, & I'm sure no one would care if that happened, but it's not something I've ever really done, so it would feel like I was being lazy if I started now. I mean, the show has covered <a lot of themes, but the truth is, there are so many shows I still haven't done.  In addition to feeling lazy, a show where I just basically played random music would also seem like a wasted opportunity.

What is there to do? What happens when a band I really like releases a song or an album I really like & I want to play it on the radio? How about make a show with a theme based on that song? Well, there's an idea!

& that's how this week's show came about. One of my favorite bands in the world is called Bearsuit, & they don't exist anymore, but three of the Bears have a band now called Mega Emotion & Mega Emotion have a new single called OK Maybe OK that's f-ing brilliant, & so I have made the decision to make a show around that song. Perhaps I should have gone with the theme "OK" - but things really aren't okay - so "maybe" won out.

Which is maybe how it should be.

The show is on tonight (!) on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington & online at Lexington Community Radio's website - you'll need to choose WLXU. It's on from 9-11pm eastern, 8-10pm central, & that's about as specific I can get.

Will you enjoy it? Maybe.

Preface To Maybe: Synonyms

At Self Help Radio, we love synonyms.  Sure, they're not as clever as homonyms, or as brainy as antonyms, but there's a peace & satisfaction to redundancy that it's easy to be drawn to.  Did you know the two funniest sketches in the world of comedy derive a great deal of their humor from synonyms?  Those are, first, the world-famous Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch:



& then there's the Cheese Shop sketch (which I love more than the Dead Parrot sketch) (it's true!):



Sometimes on Self Help Radio I indulge myself (& maybe you) with synonyms.  But I don't know if I'll have time tomorrow to go on about synonyms for the word maybe.  So, thanks to thesaurus.com, here are the synonyms for maybe:

perchance. perhaps. possibly. peradventure. probably. potentially. conceivable. conceivably. credible. feasible.  imaginably. as it may be. can be. could be. it could be. for all one knows. at all.

Most certainly you can think of a funny sketch where someone needs to know something but the person he or she turns to for the information can't be nailed down to a concrete response.  & out come the synonyms!

Now I wish I had written something like that for the show.  Maybe I still can.  But.  Maybe I can't.

This Is My Brain Looking Out My Window

Outside my window - in our new house - the window still doesn't have curtains - there's a sheet tacked up to keep too bright light & a lack of privacy out - if you look out the window I was saying - which I can do if I turn to my right & pull the sheet aside - the wife asked me if I wanted curtains or blinds & I said blinds - I hope that was the right decision - what was I talking about? - oh yeah - if I look out the window, I can see two houses - the houses in the neighborhood aren't exactly across from one another - they build houses quite long around here - so I see - out the window - most of the house across the street - well, all of it, technically - but also some of the house just north of it, on its right - my left - but in between those houses I see a lake - yes, a lake - I'm sure I've mentioned that before - the houses across the street have their own lake.

Actually - only one of the houses owns the lake - the others just use it I suppose - maybe they give a little money to the owner? - I have never asked - in fact - our neighbors have expressed concern that when the owners die - & the male owner  is between 94 & 97 years old - we watched him cross the street one day - we've never met - he was crossing the street to bring magazine to our neighbor to the south - on our right - I asked the neighbor about this, he said the old man brought him his "conservative" magazines - charming! - anyway we were at the end of the street with the dogs & we saw him start to make his way across the street - I guess we were seven houses away - but remember these are long houses - still, we got home before the old conservative gentleman got to the neighbor's front door - & he walked with his cane & his hunched frame through the yard - no time for out-of-the-way sidewalks! - but anyway the neighbors are afraid that when he dies, the whole property will be sold to someone who'll drain the lake & build an apartment complex.

That could happen - or he could live much longer - he has a beautiful house & he owns a damn lake - you know, one of the neighbors - the one to the north of the old conservative man - he told me it was fine to come back to his yard & look at the lake - & I've done it twice - I still feel like I am trespassing - both houses have big back windows for to look at the lovely lake - & there are so many ducks & other fascinating waterfowl - who swim quickly away when I show up - I keep meaning to go to a feed store to buy some goose chow or something - that I feel conspicuous, especially if, let's say, the very old conservative man - who's probably armed to the teeth - this is Texas after all - this is America after all - sees me - he doesn't know me - & thinks I am in fact trespassing - that would suck - I don't need a load of buckshot in my butt - or worse.

Still, it would be better - much better - to just have the lake to peek at through two houses instead of an apartment complex - you know?

Prospects, Part III

Back in this post, about six months ago, I detailed what I thought my chances were at different non-commercial radio stations in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, & I thought I'd give you a quick update about what's happening in that search.

Every week, I prepare a short (never longer than two minutes each) segment for KFTW - the low-power fm station here in Fort Worth - called the Arts Calendar.  Basically, I detail what things are happening with theater, dance, independent film, & classical music in the city for Thursday, Friday, & Saturday.  I had said that I might do some sort of local show on the station, because they do play only local music, but that "the chances of Self Help Radio finding a home at KFTW are the unlucky toss of a coin."

That turned out to be true.  I obviously met the station's founders & they're awesome & I'm glad to help in any way.  But Self Help Radio can never just play local music, so it won't air there.

I was much more hopeful about KTCU, the college station at Texas Christian University, & I even met with the Station Manager who is also a faculty member at the station.  I thought the meeting went well, & although it was just a volunteer position, he asked me to send him a list of referrals like it was a job application (that's never happened before), & I did.  But I never heard back from him.  When the spring semester began, I wrote again & said I was still interested in volunteering.  But he never responded to that email, either.  Back in August, I wrote, "I think the chances of Self Help Radio find a home at KTCU are pretty good."  I couldn't have been more wrong.

One thing to point out is there's a good show - programmed by a non-student - called Night Skool, which is, like Self Help Radio, organized around a particular theme.  It may be why the person in charge of KTCU didn't want Self Help Radio, or me, although I can't understand why he couldn't have just written & said that.  But oh well.  The station seems very happy with the majority of its programming being automated, & if it's fine with that, I can understand why an eager body wouldn't be welcome.

Lastly, I wandered into the KNON studios in October, asking to volunteer, & was welcomed warmly, to the point that now I help out on some talk shows running the board, & have volunteered at benefits & the like.  & of course I've subbed three shows there.  But the station doesn't really have a process by which one can get a show short of just sticking it out - so that's what I'm doing.  I had written back in August "the chances of Self Help Radio finding a home at KNON are probably very small."  That's not entirely now.  I can't say where I might be in a queue of people waiting to do shows, but KNON has certain "blocks" of programming in which Self Help Radio just wouldn't fit - you know, the show's not Gospel, nor Latin Energy, nor Country - so when spots in those hours open up, as they have, Self Help Radio isn't even a consideration.

But I would hope my contributions to the station, including showing that I do a decent job subbing shows, will be in my favor if a spot that Self Help Radio might fit into opens.  I like the folks there a lot, & I like the station a lot.  & at this point, it does look like it might be the only place in the area that Self Help Radio might land.

As it stands, of course, the show still airs weekly in Lexington on WLXU - something for which I am truly grateful.