Self Help Radio 080919: Feathers

(Original image here.)

Feathers! They're used for flying, they keep birds warm, & they keep birds dry.  & if that isn't what you want out of a radio show, I don't know what is.  The Self Help Radio promise: this show about feathers will help you fly, keep you warm, or keep you dry.  You don't get to choose which, however.  & only one function per show!

This is an extremely silly show & I am tempted to call it plucky but I'm afraid you'll notify the Pun Police, so I need to get to the show without feather ado.

You can listen now & whenever you like at Self Help Radio dot net.  There is as usual a password & a username, & those are selfhelp & SHR respectively.  The show is just under two hours long & everything that happens, including the interviews, are listed below.

Please don't consider me giving you this the show the same as giving you the bird.  & oh dear, I've been arrested by the Pun Police.

Self Help Radio Feathers Show

"The Devil & The Feathery Wife" Nick Dow _Burd Margaret_
"Birds Of A Feather" The Orange Peels _2020_
"I Feel Like A Feather In The Breeze" Dean Martin _Memories Are Made Of This_

introduction & definitions

"Mice & Feathers" 63 Crayons _Good People_
"Feather From The Sun" Blue Orchids _The Once & Future Thing_
"Birds Of A Feather" Mike Stewart & The Stable Hands _Mister Ed The Talking Horse "Straight From The Horse's Mouth"_
"More Feathers" Fading Tribesmen _The Essential Pebbles Collection, Vol. 2: Still More Ultimate '66 Garage Classics!_
"Two Ton Feather" Dion _The Road I'm On: A Retrospective_

Marge Most interrupts!

"Birds Of A Feather" Joe South _Games People Play_
"Feathers" Lee Hazlewood _Poet, Fool, Or Bum_
"Mr. Feathers" Elvis Costello & The Imposters _Momofuku_
"Grow Feathers" Coyle & Sharpe _Audio Visionaries: Street Pranks & Put-Ons_
"Feather By Feather" Smog _Supper_

interview with human with feathers Albus Shariaty

"Feathered Fish" Sons Of Adam _Pebbles, Vol. 2_
"The Feathered Tiger" Kaleidoscope _Faintly Blowing_
"Funny Feathers" Victoria Spivey _Louis Armstrong & The Blues Singers_
"Somewhere There's A Feather" Nico _Chelsea Girl_
"Paste Me On Some Feathers" Sammi Smith _Sunshine_

interview with trendspotter Duke Simpson

"Feather Bed" Cannon's Jug Stompers _Before The Blues, Vol. 3 (The Early American Black Music Scene)_
"That Old Feather Bed On The Farm" Gene Autry _That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine_
"Grandma's Feather Bed" The New Kingston Trio _The World Needs A Melody_
"Feather Bed" Fruit Bats _The Ruminant Band_
"Featherframe" Pale Saints _In Ribbons_

conclusion & goodbye

"Shake A Tail Feathers" The Five Du-Tones _Beg, Scream, & Shout! The Big Ol' Box Of '60s Soul_
"Feathers Oar Blades" Cocteau Twins _Lullabies To Violaine_
"Chicken & Feathers" Nick Lowe _The Abominable Showman_
"Feather Falling" Kelley Stoltz _Que Aura_
"Fuzzy Feather" Sad Day For Puppets _Pale Silver & Shiny Gold_
"One Black Feather" The Last Names _Wilderness_

Whither Feathers?

(Image from here.)

Gosh, I don't honestly know why the show this week is about feathers.  How embarrassing is that!  I've just been operating as though I should do a show about feathers, & I'm therefore putting together a show about feathers, & it seems like the most natural thing in the world.

Can I tell you what I find the weirdest thing about birds?  I have never felt like one should keep birds - I kinda like it when people walk around with parrots on the shoulders & what-not - but I don't think I'd want to have one as a pet.  We had a budgie, the family did, in my childhood - or maybe we were watching someone else's budgie - & it just seemed so sad all the time, in this little cage, occasionally chirping, & made to be quiet by putting a blanket over its cage at night.  I keep saying cage.  It's kept in a frickin' cage!  Isn't that crazy.

Anyway, I've had to dispose of a few birds because I have a bird-killing hound - I don't think she means to kill them, I think she just wants to play - when they stop moving, she loses interest, & I come in to pick the poor things up & put them in the garbage.  Here's the thing I find so weird: they're so light.  They weigh almost nothing!  It seems like that's self-explanatory - there's a phrase, "light as a feather," to describe near-weightlessness, & of course their bones are hollow - but to feel it in real life, that's odd.  You expect a little more heft.  Or at least I do.

The show itself will probably be just as light & inconsequential.  It'll happen tomorrow at noon at Self Help Radio dot net.  It may actually happen on time this week!  I better get my shit together - starting in September, there's not going to be the chance to do a show late.

The Big Announcement

Last week on the show, I teased a big announcement this week.  It's time for that!  Here it is.  Are you sitting down?  Why?  It's really not all that important.

Starting September 2, 2019, Self Help Radio returns to the airwaves - this time in Portland, Oregon.  It'll be on Freeform Portland, 90. 3 + 98.3 fm & online at freeformportland.org.  It'll be on weekly from 6-8am.

This will be the first time Self Help Radio's been on the actual radio since April 2018, I believe.  It also marks the fourth city & the fifth station on which the show has appeared.

Naturally I am grateful for the opportunity & I've probably already expressed how much I like Freeform Portland.  I've subbed there a few times, I'm helping with their Music Library Committee, & starting this month I'm on their training committee.  The place has a great vibe.

That's that.  There are four more podcasts before then, so let's focus on those before, wow!  Back on the fm airwaves!  Hooray!

Lucy Tells A Joke About Feathers

But the punchline remains elusive.

Is There Such A Thing As A Little Exhaustion?

This has been a long day.  Here's what I did:

At 5:30 am, I walked with the wife my dogs.  This was her first day of teaching neuroanatomy & I signed up to run the board for news & public affairs programs at KBOO.  So.  We coaxed the pups to pooped & prepared for our day.  She went to work.  I went to the radio station.

Let me tell you, with just a few hours of sleep under my belt (that's a mixed metaphor, right?), I made a couple of big mistakes, but they wouldn't make any sense to relate.  I might not be asked back.

At home, I fed my animals, I had lunch, I tried to nap, I woke & showered & headed back to KBOO, where I help with the music library.

After that, I headed to another station - XRAY - to help with their music library.

Once home - after dinner - I wrote some emails in regards to projects with Freeform Portland.  & signed up to help at an event this weekend that XRAY is putting on.

Tonight, after the wife went to sleep, I drank a little whiskey & continued watching The Boys, which I have enjoyed more than let's say the last seven Marvel movies combined.  It might be eight.

But now I should go to bed.  I have a Self Help Radio to work on tomorrow!