Self Help Radio 041219: Indiepop A To Z # 59

(All covers found on Discogs.)

Here it is, the first installment of Indiepop A To Z of 2019 - & the last Self Help Radio from Fort Worth, Texas.

It's been a bit weird, I realized that fact (you'll hear it on the show) toward the end & now everything feels a little sad.  I wasn't this sad when I was at KNON, probably because I wasn't doing the show I love doing, & also from inside my home with my animals around.  I have spent about two & a half years in this room of mine with all my music around me, with a dogbed under my desk & just behind me (often populated by cats), & soon enough - in just a little over three weeks - this space will no longer be mine.  The power of endings is intense.

Speaking of endings, I also didn't finish the letter M.  I have like three or four more bands.  Why not just put them on the show, Gary?  Because I didn't want to go over two hours.  But in August, I promise, we finish M & start the letter N.

For those keeping count at home, we began the letter M in episode 53.  We'll finish in 60.  I should do some sort of accounting... No!  Gary!  You have to start packing!

The show is now at the Self Help Radio website.  Remember to find the username + password there, or here: SHR/selfhelp.  The songs I play, hopefully with the artists in alphabetical order, are below.

No new show till the middle of May!  However did you get so lucky?

Self Help Radio Indiepop A To Z # 59

"Riches & Wonders" The Mountain Goats _All Hail West Texas_
"Devil In The Deep Blue Sea" Mousefolk _Hazy Tambourine Days_
"Living Room Picnic" Moustache Of Insanity _Moustache Of Insanity_

"Love Me Or I'll Kill You" Mouth _Love Me Or I'll Kill You_
"Michael, Michael, Michael" The Moving Jelly Brothers _You Can't Be Loved Forever 2_
"Blay" Moving Pictures _Without Friends_
"Save It" Stuart Moxham _Personal Best_
"Number 4 St. James's Square" Mr. Martini _Abracadabra: The "Magnificent Triviality" Of Él Records_

"Around The May Pole" Mr. Wright _The Fancy Man_
"Bent Backwards" Mrs. Kipling _Sunny Sunday Smile_
"Solace" Muggins _A Chance To Shine: A Dorian Records Compilation_
"The Two Of Us" Mumbles _Breaking Up EP_
"Demain" Mumbly _Seven Summers (International Pop Vol. 2)_

"Go Honey" Greg Murray _Go Honey_
"Dream Sequence 1" Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls _Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls_
"Giving Way To Trains" Murrumbidgee Whalers _Giving Way To Trains_
"Going Crazy" Musical Chairs _Time Lapse EP 7"_
"Plain" My Autumn Sons _Perfect_

"Cigarette In Your Bed" My Bloody Valentine _You Made Me Realise EP_
"Burning Hearts" My Favorite _The Kids Are All Wrong_
"She Fakes Apples" My Finest Hour _Grimsby Fishmarket 4 Norrkoeping 0_
"Better Things To Do" My Friend Wallis _Split 7" with Watermelon_
"Something" My Guru Says _3 Seasons Are Enough!_

"You Feel Loved" My Laundry Life _The Art Of Science_
"You Don't Sparkle (In My Eyes)" My Life Story _Mornington Crescent_
"Kowloon Park Swimming Pool" My Little Airport _Hong Kong Is One Big Shopping Mall_
"My Little Brother" My Little Brother _A House Full Of Friends_
"Capital Of Norway" My Little Pony _Making Marks_

Whither Indiepop A To Z # 59?

(I had to ask dictionary.com.)

Here we are, again, listening to & talking about this almost-forgotten musical genre called "indiepop," plus progenitors & influences when possible.  Do you really need me to talk about it some more?  I normally program this show every four months but (in case you've really not been paying attention) (& if so, good for you!), I'll be taking a break while we move from Texas to Oregon.  I have a lot of records & CDs & stuff I'm going to pack earlier than usual.  The wife gets a little stressed out & we're not in Portland yet where it's legal to buy things to help with one's stress.  You see?

Also: I thought I'd finish the letter M tomorrow but now I'm not so sure.  I have spent the day gathering music & I always find more than I intend to.  Now & then I wish I has simply gone down the list at twee dot net but of course that's not me.

Okay.  Tomorrow at noon at Self Help Radio dot net, two hours of indiepop.  Hope you can join me.

Should I also mention that this is the blog's 3100th post?  No?  Then I won't.

Preface To Indiepop A To Z # 59: Fifty Nine?!?

Is there a word for when you end a sentence with more than one question mark or exclamation point?

Is there?!?!

If you end a sentence with more than one period, it becomes an ellipsis.  I understand that an ellipsis is generally thought of as three dots, but I've known people who use as little as two & have seen sentences end with four or more.  I'm an old-fashioned three dot ellipsis kind of guy myself.  Anyway, I'm not talking about ellipses.  I promise...

At the radio station I just left, one of the fellows who does promotions loves to double up his exclamation points.  I would link to a page but it probably won't still be there after some time so let me get a screen shot.  I haven't seen this, I just know it's going to be there.

Yup:

Seven sentences in the copy (not counting the header).  Five end with double exclamation points, one surprisingly has only one (what did Cynthia ever do to KNON?), & one (the only imperative sentence) rates a period.

For me, I prefer three or more exclamation points to indicate boundless excitement & three or more questions marks to demonstrate serious confusion.  But my favorite is the mixture of exclamation points & question marks that I asked about at the beginning of this post.

If there's a name for it, I wanna know.  I love using it in combinations like:

This one?!?

Or this one!?!

Or some version of this one!?!?

But never ever like this!!??

Or this??!!

That doesn't make any sense.

Nor does anything I've written here.  What does any of this have to do with indiepop?!?!

Whatever I May Misremember

I woke up this morning at 5am.

Lots of people do that, I know, I'm not asking for applause.  But you must understand, most every Tuesday for the past year, I've awakened at 4am, taken a shower, let the dogs out, gave the cats a little more food, grabbed the last few things I wanted to play, & headed out (around 5:30) to Dallas to do a show.  A show called the Tuesday Morning Blend.  Which happened this morning without me.

Please don't think I'm sad about it.  I'm really not.  But my body & mind, which know things I might not be entirely aware of, wanted me up this morning at 5am.  I wandered around the house - this house that I won't live in in a month - & I drank some water & I think I might have hit my arm because I woke with a gash - with my little dog Yoko licking it suspiciously - in any event, it was a lovely night, the windows were open, I went back to sleep a little confused.

That'll pass.  A few minutes ago I listened to the first few minutes of today's show hoping I might get a slight mention but nope.  It's not my show anymore.  This is going to sound a bit envious & pathetic but it's true.  I handed over the Facebook page I created for the show to its new host, & he has many, many more Facebook friends than I do & doesn't mind blanket-requesting them to like the show*.  So while I had for the year I did the show maybe fifty "likes," over the past week it has more than quintupled.  I gave the new host admin privileges but can't seem to delete myself, so I keep getting these likes for a page that is no longer mine.  I suppose I've become numb to it but when KNON deejays who knew me, who knew I had a show, but chose not to "like" the show's page, & yet are now doing it when another person has taken it over - you know, it makes me feel I was not very much cared for at the place.

But of course I'll never be there again, & at some point I'll figure out how to extricate myself from that situation.  The truth is, despite the sting of one's peers being absolute dicks to you & not even knowing it, I don't miss the place or the show.  I didn't feel an emptiness or anything like when I have left other stations.  But then again, those stations/shows weren't disrespecting me right & left in ways I can monitor.  Maybe I would've hated that too!

Seriously, I have no idea how I cut my arm.  The wound is about an inch long, & there's blood on my sheets.  I remember the first time I heard about hemophilia, I worried for a moment I was hemophiliac & feared bleeding to death when I didn't know I was bleeding.  What I have might be far worse.  I injured myself in a kind of confusion & don't even feel pain.  I just notice it later.

UPDATE: I think I removed myself as any kind of person who can affect the page.  Let's hope now the notifications will stop!

* I didn't do that.  I asked maybe twenty people.  Many people who are "friends" with me on Facebook I haven't seen or spoken to in five or more years.  I don't really interact with them on Facebook, either.  They have never shown an interest in listening to me on the radio & if they "liked" the show it would be out of politeness & doubtless they'd make me like something they're doing that I would do out of obligation.  I don't think the new host of the show has the same qualms.

Hey! Didya Know?

(Remind me to tell you about the origin of the phrase "Hey! Didya know?"  I could probably also share some samples.)

You might not have listened to last week's Self Help Radio, but if you did you might not have noticed something - something I am stupidly proud of.

It was I think quite an achievement - a radio show full of songs that all mentioned every day of the week.  That was cool.  I think I did a good job.  But!

Hey!  Didya know?  All the other pieces, created by me & my collaborators - the interview, the fake ads, the interstitial "funnies," & the airbreaks - even the intro! - all of them also mentioned every day of the week.

Did I do that on purpose?  Of course!  Am I a little too self-satisfied right now?  You bet!