Self Help Radio 050317: Turn It

(I used a couple of images for this, the originals of which are here & here.)

First of all, sorry this is a day late.  I had a lot of things to catch up to after being away for a few days, & needed most of yesterday to catch up.  The show was actually on the website yesterday, but since no one ever really visits the website, no one knew.

Second of all, sorry the show this week was kinda lame.  As I said on the show, the music is fine, & the theme, while a bit dumb, may have lent itself to interesting discussions - I just didn't have the time to do much work on it.

So many apologies!  If there are other things I need to apologize for, don't let me know - just understand that I am sorry.  & when you're sorry in italics, you're really quite sorry.

You can listen to the show (if you still want to after that preamble) at the Self Help Radio website.  You will need a username & a password, but luckily both of those things are on the front page.  The show is in two parts, & what's in each part is below.

Here's hoping your turn it on & turn it up!

(part one)

"Turn It On" Don Covay _The Boys Of Cameo Parkway, Vol. 1_
"Turn It Up" The Reegs _Return Of The Seamonkeys_
"Turn It Down" The Draytones _Up In My Head_

"Turn It On" The Enemy UK _Streets In The Sky_
"Turn It On" Franz Ferdinand _Tonight_
"Turn It Off" Deap Vally _Femejism_
"Turn It Up" Robots In Disguise _Get Rid!_

"Bring The Noise" Public Enemy _It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back_
"Turn It Up A Little" The Nextmen _Amongst The Madness_
"We Turn It On (feat. Doug E Fresh)" Slick Rick _The Art Of Storytelling_
"Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" James Brown _The Singles, Volume 5: 1967-1969_

"Turn It Around" Hüsker Dü _Warehouse: Songs & Stories_
"Turn It On Me" Antietam _Opus Mixtum_
"Turn It Around" Len Price 3 _Rentacrowd_

(part two)

"Turn It On" The Creatures _Anima Animus_
"Turn It Off" Andrew Rannells & Cast _The Book Of Mormon_

"I Can't Turn It Off" D.P. Costello _Unfaithful Music & Soundtrack Album_
"Turn It My Way" The Halo Benders _The Rebels Not In_
"Turn It On" The Flaming Lips _Transmissions From The Satellite Heart_
"Turn It On" Sleater-Kinney _Dig Me Out_

"Turn It Up" Stars _No One Is Lost_
"Don't Turn It Off" Wolfie _Putting It Together (B-Sides 1997-2000)_
"Turn It Up" Lisa Prank _Adult Teen_
"Turning It On" The Vaselines _Sex With An X_
"Turn It On" The Skeptics _Highs In The Mid Sixties, Vol. 8: The South_

"I Can't Turn It Off" The Pheifer Ashman Kickbush _Games_
"Turn It Up" Wally Richie _Turn It Up_
"When The Music Is On, Turn It Off!" Luise Pop _The Car The Ship The Train_

Whither Turn It?

(There's a record label called "Turn It" & this is their logo.  Their Twitter feed is where I found it.)

As I might have mentioned on this blog, I went away for a few days.  I suppose I could have just taken the week off, reran an old show, or asked someone else to sub the show, because I knew I wouldn't have the time to work on the show that I usually take.  It may not be obvious to you, because the show usually turns out quite pitiful, but I do spend a long time listening to lots of music, editing interviews, making what I ironically call "funnies," stuff like that.  Things I would not be able to do if I were in another city in another state for four days, which I was.

But I'm back now, & the show's tonight, & I thought it should be at the very least listenable (sometimes a high bar for SHR) & I thought it would be fun to feature songs that feature the words "turn it" in some capacity: turn it on, turn it off, turn it up, turn it down, turn it around, turn it any & every way.  There were some very good songs & so the show is a little bit of me yammering & a lot of songs telling you how you can turn it.  I think it'll be fine.  I hope it'll be fine.  Okay now I'm not so sure.  Damn it.

The show is on tonight on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington, & online at LCR online - just make sure you choose "WLXU." It's on from 8-10pm central, 9-11pm eastern.  You can turn it off at anytime, just make sure that you turn it on at least once.

Preface To Turn It: Last Day Of Vacation

Tomorrow I'll try to explain how & why a radio show would have a theme like "turn it" - although I suppose the show has never shied away from dumb themes - so you shouldn't be surprised, nor will you by this week's show.

No, what I wanted to do is just say how incredible it was to see the Magnetic Fields perform their new record 50 Song Memoir live over two nights.  It's a wonderful record but - & how I wish the bands I love could do this regularly - it was lovely & insightful to have a stage with projected images (including fascinating animation) as well as the songwriter himself put the songs into context.  I found myself afterwards daydreaming about albums I wish I could see performed with the musician letting us know his or her thoughts behind the songs.

Of course, not all albums are openly autobiographical - or labelled as such - nor are most records opaque or downright inscrutable.  But still.  It was a superb experience, surely one of the best shows I'll see in my life, & I have my wife to thank for it.  She saw the show in Brooklyn last year as a birthday present from her oldest sister, & loved it so much she bought tickets to see it here, where her mother lives, & brought me along to experience it.  That's true romance.

What's not true romance is that, when we got back to our rental car after the show, we saw this:

No, not the empty bag of brand new Jalapeño Fritos!  The busted-in driver's side window!

We weren't the only people on the block who were victims - we talked to a young couple whose car had also been broken into, although the young lady bemoaned that they had only stolen "a gym bag with some dirty workout clothes & my only other pair of jeans," then remembered, "also my tampons."  All in a night's work!  The young man said it was the eighth time that this has happened to him in two years.

Which makes you wonder, how is that possible?  Well, it may be because of this: we called the police to report the incident & were told they were way too busy to come by but we could call back in four or five hours or file an incident report online.  My wife did this - the car was in her name - on his phone while we stood for about an hour on a street corner where someone felt they could break into people's cars with impunity.  We had to do that because we needed the incident report to give to the rental car company so we wouldn't have to pay for the window.

There wasn't anything of value in the car.  (Leftovers for dinner were in the trunk, which was not opened nor searched.)  But really, that's not the point.  If you know for a fact that the police don't give a shit about investigating or prosecuting car break-ins, & you're inclined to such a career, you're probably going to do so whether there's anything worth stealing - & stealing things, like tampons, which are bound to be worthless anyway.

As well, car break-ins, like other property crimes, are just not prosecuted.  (Well, maybe 

in some places, but that's a rare exception.) In the Reddit thread linked above, one person mentions they don't even report it - which doubtless makes breaking into vehicles - especially when you can find guns - & targeting tourists (like me) enough they want to make a law to warn tourists of the likelihood - well, it makes the crime a win-win.  You might find something, you might not - but you're most probably not ever going to get in trouble for it.  It's a big problem.

I've visited the Bay Area over a dozen times in this century & never had this happen before.  The good thing is, though it was an unhappiness, we weren't hurt, & it didn't change how I felt about the show.  If the Magnetic Fields come anywhere near you with this two-night show, do try to see them.  Although maybe look into whether the city is having a smash & grab epidemic beforehand?

Still On Vacation!

Didn't think that people who live in one city in one state who do radio shows in a different city in a different state get to take vacations, do you?  Very often that is not the case.  But!  A thoughtful wife thought I'd think that the Magnetic Fields would be a show I'd think marvelous, & if last night is any indication, I think I'll have thought both nights unthinkably great.  It would thoughtless for me to think otherwise!

But yes, there'll be another unthinking Self Help Radio this week.

On Vacation!

I'm seeing the Magnetic Fields tonight.  But I'll be back in time to do the show this week.  (Like you care.)