Bidnessman

This picture was taken (by me) seven years ago today.  I called it "bidnessman."  It was taken in Atlanta - I'm not entirely sure why we were in Atlanta but we were.  Our hotel was nearby.  We were walking the dogs, & I saw this fellow walking in front of us.  I can't entirely be sure, but I believe the business he was walking in front of was some murky sex establishment advertising "live models."  I would never go in a place like that.  But I would stare at the facade & wonder what the hell actually went on there.

Now I'm puzzled why I was in Atlanta.  Maybe just to get away?  It was only six hours from where I lived at the time.  I quite like Atlanta.  So maybe just to go to Atlanta.  Our three beagles did come with us, of course.

Films With Daggers!

(Those are swords, not daggers!  Image from the IMDb.)

This week's Self Help Radio not only featured tons of songs about daggers, it also had another installment of Chuck's Happily Unsophisticated Cinema Korner in which our resident cinephile explored some films tagged both "daggers" along with "psychotronic"*.  You can listen to Chuck's segment on the episode both at Self Help Radio dot net & at kboo dot fm, & if you do, he has some supplemental materials for you:

Here's a list of movies on the IMDb tagged with "daggers" & psychotronic.
Here is Chuck's YouTube playlist of movies he's watched.
Here are his Letterboxd reviews of the dagger films.

As always, you can keep up with the films Chuck is watching on his Twitter feed - he'll let you know what films he'll discuss the next time he's on the show!  Just maybe stay away from him if he's got a dagger out.  He's not that good with daggers.  We're just saying.

*If you need a definition of 'psychotronic,' try this link: toward a definition of psychotronic film.

Self Help Radio 031621: Daggers

(original image here*)

No programmers were harmed in the making of this radio show about daggers.  Though it does depend on what is meant by "harmed."  Were daggers quite unsafely wielded, waved about, tossed, & playfully pointed at people in a "pretending to stab" manner?  Yes.  Did the sometime mishandling of the daggers result in nicks, cuts, slices, & in one unfortunate case, a small tip of finger removed?  Oh sure.  Was there enough blood to cause at least one person to feel woozy although not to downright faint?  Indeed.  But did anyone really feel harmed by any of it?  No, they did not!  Although getting sliced by a weapon with two sharp edges really stings!

But in the wee hours of the morning - or in the early hours of the dark of night - daggers were drawn on Self Help Radio, & songs were sung of daggers, & everyone felt quite ancient & in touch with our ancestors who carved daggers, who used them in the ritual as well as the hunt, & who quite frankly had as many accidents with them as we did on the show.  But did they feel "harmed"?  How dare you ask!

Please enjoy the show in either of two places: at its home on the KBOO web page, or at Self Help Radio dot net.  If you go to the Self Help Radio web page, remember that you'll need a username (which is SHR) & a password (which is selfhelp) to listen.  Lots of stuff happened on the show - the music & the other stuff is noted below.

Now to a station-mandated dagger safety class!

Self Help Radio Daggers Show

"Dagger" Slowdive _Souvlaki_

"Dagger" Emily Jane White _Dark Undercoat_

"Dagger" Bernard + Edith _Jem_

introduction & definitions

"The Dagger" Burning Palms _False Prophet_

"Dagger" Madisyn Whajne _Save Our Hearts_

"Daggers" Ian Moore _Modernday Folklore_

"Daggers" The Blueskies _Souvenir_

"Daggers" Fujiya & Miyagi _Artificial Sweeteners_

interview with dagger safety expert Garth Bell

"Daggers" Ex Cops _Daggers_

"Daggers" The Family Crest _The War: Act I_

"Daggers" Prism Tats _Mamba_

"Daggers & Knives" Woodes _The Thaw_

"Dagger Moon" Dead Moon _Defiance_

interview with archaeologist Dr. Daniel Black

"Silver Dagger" Joan Baez & Bob Dylan _Live 1964 (Concert At Philharmonic Hall)_

"Dance Around The Daggers" Joseph Huber _Tongues Of Fire_

"Dagger Through The Heart" Dolly Parton _Halos & Horns_

"Dagger By My Side" Otis Taylor _Pentatonic Wars & Love Songs_

"Skull & Dagger" Luke Baldwin _The Tattoo On My Chest_

Chuck joins us with Chuck's Highly Unsophisticated Cinema Korner to talk about movies featuring daggers

"Dolly Dagger" Jimi Hendrix _Blue Wild Angel (Jimi Hendrix Live At The Isle Of Wight)_

"Looking Daggers" Smokie _The Complete Smokie Collection_

"Tiny Daggers" INXS _Kick_

"Chelsea Dagger" The Fratellis _Costello Music_

"Jagger The Dagger" Eugene McDaniels _Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse_

idioms!

"Cloak & Dagger" The Echoes _Are You Sure - Great British Record Labels: Fontana_

"Cloak & Dagger" Tommy McCook & The Upsetters _Scratch The Upsetter: Cloak & Dagger_

"Cloak & Dagger" Rory Gallagher _Photo-Finish_

"Cloak & Dagger Man" Camel _Lunar Sea (An Anthology 1973-1985)_

"Cloak & Dagger" Daedelus _A Gent Agent_

"Cloak & Dagger" Eight Legs _Best Of Me_

Marge Most reports

"Richie Dagger's Crime" The Germs _(MIA) The Complete Anthology_

"Looking Daggers" Eyeless In Gaza _Photographs As Memories_

"The Dagger In Me" The Hands Of Cain _The Only Sound_

"City Of Daggers" Controller.Controller _X-Amounts_

"Wits Or A Dagger" Wolf Parade _Wolf Parade EP_

"Little Dagger" Smack Dab _Majestic Root_

conclusion & goodbye

"Dagger" The Hope Blister _...Smile's OK_

"Dagger II" White Ring _B-Sides_

*"Dagger & Scabbard" by greyloch is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Whither Daggers?

(image from here)

You might think that a theme such as daggers -  which is the theme of tonight's Self Help Radio on KBOO - would have been inspired by a thrilling event, like a inadvertent knife-throwing contest, or a chance encounter with a dagger-wielding thief, or involvement with an ancient cult whose ceremonial dagger has fallen into the hands of evil people.  You might believe some blood was spilled, or some risks taken.  But you would be wrong.  Not to be so romantic - that's fine.  But to have thought that about this theme.  No, there was a song about daggers that I liked & I wondered if it would make a good show.  I found enough songs & here we are.

How underwhelming!  How un-dagger-like!  Maybe it's a bit cloak & dagger - except it isn't.

Listen tonight from midnight to 3am to Self Help Radio's show about daggers.  It's on 90.7 fm in town & online at kboo.fm.  & who knows?  Like a dagger, it may be sharp, ornate, deadly, &/or carved.  Except it won't be.  It's a radio program.

Preface To Daggers: Wait, Daggers?

Look, I know most of Self Help Radio makes no sense.  Around 2006, a KOOP volunteer named Abigail reviewed my show for the station's peer review process & correctly asked, "Why does the show pick the topics it picks?  What is the point?"  It was a completely valid question & the answer is for the most part, "It just does."

Something has happened, however, since Self Help Radio has expanded to three hours.  I am the first to say that I never imagined the show to be three hours long.  Two hours is to me the appropriate length.  & I know that was the length of the show on Freeform, but KBOO has more listeners, & I suppose I am a glutton for punishment, I want the show to be rejected & disdained by as many listeners as possible.  But moving the show to KBOO meant I had to do the show for three hours.  & so.

Two options present themselves.  One, pick very broad topics - like "spring" or "cars" or "colors" - which will give you so many fucking choices you'll be listening to songs for days & days.  Almost certainly this would be "the easy way out" - since there are so many songs to fit that general theme - but it would also mean more time spent listening to music.  Which isn't itself bad.  There are just so many hours in the day.

What I have gravitated toward, actually, is narrower themes.  Themes that just might not fill three hours.  Because, & I want to make this clear, I don't just happily play songs that fit the show's themes.  I play songs that I like which fit the show's theme.  I have a folder which has hours & hours of songs about birthdays, which I might play on the annual birthday show I do for my wife.  But so many of those songs I just find execrable.  I don't like them.  Why would I play them on my show?  I would not.  I do not.

That becomes the challenge.  Can I fill three hours with songs about a theme which happen to be songs I like?  So far, so good.  I think I have enough entertaining & catchy dagger songs for this week's show.  But I want to stress: only just enough.  This was not an easy theme.

There were some (in my opinion) pretty awful dagger songs I couldn't play.  I won't play.  In case you think I am literally throwing everything out there.  No.  No.  If I were a more dickish person, I might list them.  But no.