Friday, May 31, 2019

Self Help Radio 053119: An Obvious Show

(A bunch of signs stating the obvious, found here & here.)

It must be obvious that the show is back, on track, unpacked, & still cracked.  Is it any good? you may be wondering.  Well, was it ever?

While I continue to volunteer at two stations in Portland (continue - ha! - I've started at one & hope to get started at the other soon) (there are more details during the show), I will continue to podcast Self Help Radio on Fridays.  Different things may happen which may move the show to the weekend, but until such a change must be made, we will be as obvious as possible & stay where we are.  It's strange & nice to do the show in a new place!  I kinda miss my room in Fort Worth, but I've recreated it as best as I could here, & it's actually quieter here.  We don't live next to an air force base anymore.

Man, I've got the rambling bug today, wow.  You came here to listen to the show.  The songs I play are below.  The show is of course at Self Help Radio dot net.  Username is SHR, password is selfhelp.  Mostly things are the same.  The names haven't even been changed to protect the innocent!  This is truly an obvious show.

Self Help Radio's Obvious Show

"Obvious" Y Pants _Beat It Down_
"Obvious" The Liddles _Welcome To The Wetherbeat Scene 1988 - 1991_
"Obvious" Flare _Hung_

"Obvious" The Elephants _The Elephants_
"Obvious" Sophia _There Are No Goodbyes_
"Obvious" The Jeunes _Strangers In The Night_
"Obvious" John Watt _Realistic Man_
"Obvious" Check The Signs _This Time Around_

"It Is Obvious" Syd Barrett _Barrett_
"It's So Obvious" Wire _Pink Flag_
"It's Obvious" Au Pairs _Playing With A Different Sex_
"It's Only Obvious" The Orchids _Lyceum_
"It's Obvious" Chastity Belt _I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone_

"Obvious # 1" Robert Pollard _Mouseman Cloud_
"Obviousness" The Pulses _The Pulses_
"Obviously" The Chap _Well Done Europe_
"Obviously" The Bellybuttons _Practice Maps_
"Obviously Cold" The Answering Machine _Obviously Cold_

"Things Too Obvious To Sing" The Very Most _Things Too Obvious To Sing_
"Blue Obvious" Skating Polly _Skating Polly_
"Gagging On The Obvious" Ruby Pins _Ruby Pins_
"One Obvious Rule" Alias _Muted_
"It's So Obvious That I Love You" Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77 _Home Cooking_

"The Obvious Boy" Icecream Hands _You Can Ride My Bike: The Best Of Icecream Hands_
"The Obvious Child" Paul Simon _The Rhythm Of The Saints_
"Obvious Song" Joe Jackson _Laughter & Lust_
"Oblivious" Aztec Camera _High Land, Hard Rain_
"Obviousatonicnuncio" Of Montreal _Daughter Of Cloud_
"Obvious Love" Teen Suicide _It's The Big Joyous Celebration, Let's Stir The Honeypot_

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Whither An Obvious Show?

(This is a logo for this company, but I thought it pretty appropriate for today's post.)

It's no secret that I spend a great deal of time on this show, even though you can't really tell because it's so damn shabby.  But it's also no secret that most of the time the themes I explore are random & uninspired.  It's a whole package!

Not this time.  Thanks to secret Vedic teachings, which I discovered in a Snapple cap, I have begun to work myself into a trance-like frenzy to awaken my inner child to harass my inner teenager to beg my inner adult to heighten my consciousness to an hallucinatory state which resembles lucid dreaming but which the ancients called "lucid waking" & in that state I enter my mind palace (which is more like a mind two bedroom bungalow) & I wander the place until I notice the ants, the ants crawling around, & the ants notice me, also crawling around, & we begin to follow each other, it's a circle, & if the ants are being mean, it's a vicious circle, & if I'm being a jerk to the ants, well anyway, at some point my heartbeat returns to normal, my blood pressure drops from seriously dangerous to pretty dangerous levels, & I wake as if from a blackout, or maybe from a knockout, & I see, written on my arm in bug-bite, a theme I apparently need to explore.

This is however not how "an obvious show" came about.  I can't remember why I wanted to do the show.  You'd think it would be obvious, but no, it's a mystery.

Hey!  I was packing shit up & getting ready to move across the country!  Get off my back!  What do you think you are, dream ants?

Tomorrow at noon - I swear! - an obvious Self Help Radio, at Self Help Radio dot net.

Do you know by the way something good for ant bites?

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Preface To Obvious: Obviously, Quotes

It may surprise you that while there are plenty of songs the use the word obvious, there aren't a lot of songs that dwell on the term.  It's been a bit of an uphill climb finding tunes for this week's show.

But what about quotes?  Surely there are obvious quote about obviousness & being obvious?

You can find a bunch of them here.  Obviously, some are better than others.

However, I'll share with you two quotes I found in nice picture formats from A - Z Quotes dot com.  I did not make these myself.  Also, I haven't checked if the quotes are in fact accurately attributed.  Oh, internet.



Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Two Updates

Nothing special, I just needed a small amount of housecleaning over at web site.  Two items in particular:

1) I didn't update the "upcoming themes" portion on Friday because I was running late & forgot.  I know, how were you going to plan your life without knowing what Self Help Radio was going to be exploring in mid-June?  I apologize to the damage I did to you & your loved ones.  Check it out on the web site's front page.  June 21st's gonna be fuzzy!

& 2) I mentioned on the show that I tweaked the intro - I removed one sample & added another - so now if you go to the blog page where I announced the new intro & click on the link that says Here's the 2019 Self Help Radio intro (there or here), you'll hear the new intro, & not the old one.

That's all.  I spent the better part of the day working on this week's show so it won't be late.  & tomorrow I have a meeting with another radio station in town!

Monday, May 27, 2019

Passive Dreams In A Moving Vehicle

It doesn't feel like a Monday, but it is.  & I write here on Mondays.

Yet I have nothing really to write about.  It's been a beautiful day here in Portland & we've had guests for the past few days.  They wanted to do touristy things, so we did touristy things.  & we ate so freaking much good food.  There's a sign you see in Portland:


(I got this from Next Door.)  It is a campaign to keep the speed limit in the neighborhoods to 20mph.  But the wife & I have co-opted it to mean that we'll be gaining at least twenty pounds each thanks to the amazing food here.  Seriously, I think this place may be better than New York when it comes to the eating.

We walk the dogs twice a day, I think I mentioned this before, it's a little out of guilt since the backyard here is nowhere near as lovely as the one we had in Fort Worth.  Or should I say: nowhere near as big.  It's quite lovely everywhere here.  & everyone is closer to everyone else.

It feels to me that we drive as much - we drive to get places - but places are closer.  It's more dense, less sprawl.  & because it's not achingly hot here, people come out, they walk their dogs, they work on their lawns, to breathe the fresh air filtered by the amazing trees everywhere.

Oh! I have an assignment to do spots for KBOO.  I'll do them tonight.  I figured they wouldn't need them on the holiday weekend.

& that's pretty much it.  I hope to spend a little more time working on the show this week.  Last week's show seemed shabby, & I apologize for that.  I will attempt to do better.