Self Help Radio 052419: Paranoia

(Original image here.)

Golly I am so so sorry this week's show is late.  I promise it's not to make you paranoid.  It's three hours late where I am now so it's five hours late if you listened in Texas & seven hours late if you listened in Kentucky.  But it's here now.  Not that it's anything special!

The show is pretty straightforward, I have no guests this week.  I do have guests visiting in real life so please blame them.  They took up all my time & if they hadn't decided to go sightseeing today I'd be doing the show tomorrow.  & guess what?  It rained!

You can listen, if you're not too suspicious, at the show's website, selfhelpradio dot net.  Username is SHR, password is selfhelp.  The show is a bit more personal than usual, I talk about a paranoid experience involving drugs & I talk about looking for a place for the show here in Portland.  There's a lot of me talking is what I'm trying to say.  I'd apologize for that but I'm not done apologizing for the show being so late.  I'm so sorry!

Enjoy the paranoia.

Self Help Radio Paranoia Show

"Paranoia" Big Boy Pete _Homage To Catatonia_
"Paranoia" The Freeze _Kilt By Death: The Sound Of Old Scotland_
"Paranoia" The Tranquillizers _Psycho Attack Over Europe!_

"Paranoid" The Januaries _The Januaries_
"Paranoia" Thorndike Pickledish _S. F. Bound_
"Paranoia" Holiday Ghosts _Holiday Ghosts_
"Paranoia" Latvian Radio _Pick Your Poison, Pick Your Blues_
"Paranoia" Liza Anne _Fine, But Dying_

"Paranoid" Wavves _Afraid Of Heights_
"Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid" Elefant _Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid_
"Paranoid World" Outrageous Cherry _Stay Happy_
"I'm Paranoid" Brett Newski _The Worst Of Brett Newski: Songs To Sink The American Dream_

"Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" Bob Dylan _The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Live 1964_
"Los Paranoias" The Beatles _The Beatles (White Album) (Deluxe)_
"Paranoids Anonymous" The Conception Corportation _Complete Conception_
"Too Much Paranoias" Devo _Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!_
"Amateur Paranoiac" Cleaners From Venus _A Dawn Chorus_

"Destroyer" The Kinks _Give The People What They Want_
"Paranoid Bait" White Fence _For The Recently Found Innocent_
"Paranoid" Shel Silverstein _Songs & Stories_
"Paranoia Mafia" Operation S _Operation S_
"Paranoia Man In Cheap Shit Room" The Fall _The Infotainment Scan_

"Johnny Paranoid (Live 1979)" Sado Nation _History Of Portland Punk, Vol. 1_
"Paranoia Perception" Dadistics _Paranoia Perception_
"Paranoid Anxiety Fantasy" Adam Quesnell _Can We Afford This Much Despair?_
"Paranoid Mind" Lords Of Gravity _Antipodean Screams, Vol. 2_
"Spirals Of Paranoia" Mekons _Retreat From Memphis_

"Win A Night Out (With A Famous Paranoiac)" Barry Andrews _Lost Pop Songs 78-80_

Whither Paranoia?

(I searched for "Steve Ditko" + "paranoia" & was not disappointed.  Image from here.)

Oh yeah, I need to get back into the habit of telling you why I'm covering a particular theme this week.  It was weird not doing so the past few weeks.  I found myself explaining to my cats why I was having this or that for lunch & they thought I was going insane.  Or maybe they didn't.  They're not so open with their feelings.  Sometimes I think they despise me.

Or am I being paranoid?  Is that a question you ask yourself every once in a while?  As a master of second-guessing (with a minor in third-guessing), it's not uncommon for me to imagine there are things about which I am unaware that will screw up or otherwise waylay my plans or desires.  For example.  Here's an example.

Here in Portland, there's a radio station I'd like to volunteer with.  The web site asks that you send a "resume" & let them know what you're interested in helping out with at the station.  I did so, I mentioned all the work I've done at other stations & included a link to the Self Help Radio website.  & since then, nothing.  Once I arrived in Portland, I sent another email as a kind of reminder, but I didn't want to be pushy.  No response.  A few days later I called & asked if there were an office I could visit to say hello.  The person on the phone took my number but never called.

It's natural for me to feel like I've been rejected, that the folks at the station took the time to read the email & said, "Nope, let's not have this guy at our station."  Is that paranoid?  Is it more likely that it's a small radio station with limited staff who are busy broadcasting & are not making my request a priority?  I don't know.  At this point I'm a little nervous about reaching out again, at the risk of being seen as a bother.

It's a cool station.  I think Self Help Radio would fit in.  There are other options for radio in Portland - which I am actively seeking out - but there's something about this station - especially since they seem to be playing hard-to-get - that makes me want to get involved more.

There's a better paranoid story that I am saving for the show - which happens at noon tomorrow over at the lonesome Self Help Radio website.  That's noon Pacific time, by the way.  I have no idea how early or late it is where you are!

Preface To Paranoia: I'm Not Just Being Paranoid

The word "paranoid" came up a lot today.  I have a story about paranoia & me that I am saving for the show.  It's been fascinating reading up on paranoia for the program, there's too much information & I'm not sure how I'll organize it or whether I'll get to most of it but I did discover this:

The famous phrase "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you" - which you have heard in many permutations such as "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're wrong" or "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're not being followed" - even Henry Kissinger apparently said "Even a paranoid can have enemies" - the whole idea being that paranoia isn't necessarily an imaginary condition -

That first phrase comes from Joseph Heller's Catch-22.  A book, I confess, I own but have not read.

Now I'm feeling a little paranoid.

New Intro Time Again Again Again Again Again Again Again!

It's that time again - time for a new intro for the show.  I tend to put together a new intro every May.  Why?  Because at KOOP, the new "season" (back when they had two six-month blocks of shows) began in May, & by the time I was at WRFL, that's when the summer schedule began.

Normally it happens around the beginning of May, but during that week I was getting ready to move across the country.  & so, since this Friday will be the first new show in a while, I figured I needed a new intro.  & here it is.

Wait, no fanfare?  Just a link.  All right.

Here's the 2019 Self Help Radio Intro.

Want to hear the other intros?  In seventeen years of show, I've made sixteen.  This is how I spend my life.

You can listen to the 2002 intro (my first!) here.

You can listen to the 2003 intro here.

You can listen to the 2005 intro here.

You can listen to the 2006 intro here.

You can listen to the 2007 intro here.

You can listen to the 2008 intro here.

You can listen to the 2009 intro here.

You can listen to the 2010 intro here.

You can listen to the 2011 intro here.

You can listen to the 2012 intro here.

You can listen to the 2013 intro here.

You can listen to the 2014 intro here.

You can listen to the 2015 intro here.

You can listen to the 2016 intro here.

You can listen to the 2017 intro here.

You can listen to the 2018 intro here.

Oh gosh, I hope it's fine - you'll hear it at the beginning of every show for the next year!

Two Stray Observations About Portland

Here are two things I have noticed in my two short weeks in Portland, & these are not new revelations for anyone probably.

One: the beard game is strong in this town.  A fellow said hello to one of our dogs tonight & the wife said, "His beard is amazing!"  We discussed how I couldn't grow such a beard, & certainly she was a bit sad about that.

Two: this is a dog & dog owner's town.  We live within walking distance of two parks which feature dog parks of dog play areas.  This has made our Pauline very, very happy.

Again, I'm not pretending I'm the first person to discover this.  But if I had heard about such things before, I simply filed them away & didn't dwell.  In just two weeks, however, both facts have become blindingly obvious.

That is all.