Saturday, July 24, 2021

1985 In Film Continued

 

(image from the IMDb)

On this week's episode of Self Help Radio, we played some more of my favorite music from 1985.  Ou friend Chuck stopped by to talk about foreign films released in 1985.  You can listen to that show if you want at the Self Help Radio website & also at the KBOO website, & there are other places you can explore the stuff Chuck watched & recommends.

His Twitter feed.




& finally here's the list of all films released in 1985.  Find your favorite!

Friday, July 23, 2021

Back In 1921

(image from here)

There's something I don't talk much about on this blog, which is the other radio show I do, which is The Dickenbock Report, which airs on Thursdays from 8-10am on Freeform Portland.  The main reason I don't talk about it is because this blog is supposed to be about Self Help Radio, but I'm too lazy to start another blog for The Dickenbock Report & too cheap to spring for another web page for it.  So I talk about the show on the SHR Twitter feed as well as on the SHR Facebook page, but don't really want to repost anything about the show here, since I only write on the blog once a day five days a week.

But the last couple of shows I've done I quite liked, so I thought I'd take the time today to talk about one of them, which aired a week ago.  I thought I would play a couple of hours of music from one hundred years ago.  It was an interesting time - there wasn't really any folk or country to speak of, & the idea of one person with a guitar singing the blues hadn't yet been committed to record.  There was jazz, & the rise of the woman blues singer, & of course plenty of what we'd now call "pop" music.  It was fun to gather & put together, so I thought I'd share.

The show is on the Self Help Radio website, which you can go to directly at this very link.  Since it's on the website, you'll need a username - SHR - & a password - selfhelp - to access the file.  The songs I played are below.  I hope you dig.  It was, I'll say again, just a joy to put together.

The Dickenbock Report 071521: Back In 1921
"Margie" Original Dixieland Jazz Band _The Complete Original Dixieland Jazz Band_

"Say It With Music" Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra _Greatest Hits_
"Brown Skin (Who You For)" Daisy Martin & Clarence Williams _Clarence Williams 1921-1924_
"That's My Cup Blues" Katie Crippen with Henderson's Novelty Orchestra _Fletcher Henderson & The Blues Singers Volume 1 (1921-1923)_
"Laughing Rag" Sam Moore _Classic Ragtime: Roots & Offshoots_
"She Gave Them All The Ha Ha Ha" Eddie Cantor _The Early Days (1917-1921)_
"All By Myself" Ted Lewis Jazz Band _Is Everybody Happy?_

"Wabash Blues" Isham Jones & His Orchestra _Anthology: The Deluxe Collection_
"He's A Darn Good Man (To Have Hanging 'Round)" Alberta Hunter _Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order Volume 1 (1921-1923)_
"Oh How I Hate That Fellow Nathan" Fanny Brice _Stars Of The Ziegfeld Follies, Vol. 1 (Recorded 1916-1925)_
"Saxophone Blues" Brown & Terry Jazzola Boys _Ragtime To Jazz 2 (1921-1922)_
"Eve Cost Adam Just One Bone" Bert Williams _His Final Releases, 1919-1922_
"Aunt Hagar's Children's Blues" Ladd's Black Aces _The Complete Ladd's Black Aces 1921-1924_

"Die Walküre, Act 1: Der Männer Sippe Saß Hier Im Saal" Lotte Lehmann _In Opera (Vol 1 1916-1921)_
"Don't Tell Your Monkey Man" Tim Brymn & His Black Devil Orchestra _Early Jazz 1917-1923_
"How Many Times?" Lavinia Turner _Lavinia Turner 1921-1922_
"I'll Be Good But I'll Be Lonesome" Southern Negro Quartette _The Earliest Negro Vocal Groups Vol. 3_
"Wait Until You See My Madeline" Frank Crumit _Frank Crumit Returns_
"Love Will Find A Way" Inez Richardson _Vocal Blues & Jazz 1921-1930_

"Ain't We Got Fun" Van & Schenck _Wonderful Nonsense: Fun Songs Of The Roaring Twenties_
"Dangerous Blues" Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Band _Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order Volume 1 (14 February 1920 To 18 August 1921)_
"Arkansas Blues" Lucille Hegamin with Her Blue Flame Syncopators _The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records 1917-1927, Volume 1_
"Preacher Man Blues" Norfolk Jazz Quartet _Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order Volume 1: 1921-1923_
"Oh Daddy" Ethel Waters with Cordy Williams' Jazz Masters _1921-1923_
"April Showers" Al Jolson _Early Al Jolson, Vol. 1_

"Nervous Blues" Edith Wilson & Johnny Dunn's Original Jazz Hounds _Rules & Regulations_
"Home Again Blues" Aileen Stanley _1920s Blues & Jazz Vocals_
"Sweet Adelyne" Four Harmony Kings _Four Harmony Kings (1921-1924)_
"There Ain't No Nothin' (Gonna Take The Place Of You)" Black Swan Dance Orchestra _Fletcher Henderson 1921-1923_
"The Harlem Strut" James P. Johnson _1921-1928_
"I Ain't Got Nobody" Marion Harris _Columbia 1 (1920s Jazz Vocals)_

"Corale" Luigi & Antonio Russolo _Awakening Of A City_
"Baltimore Buzz" Eubie Blake & His "Shuffle Along" Orchestra _Ragtime, Vol. 2_
"When My Baby Smiles At Me" Art Hickman's New York London Five _The Best Of Art Hickman: Original Recordings_
"Tropical Blues" Joseph Samuels' Jazz Band _Jabberwocky_
"Bad Land Blues" Lillyn Brown & Her Jazz-Bo Syncopators _Esther Bigeou (1921-1923)_
"If You Don't Want Me Send Me To My Ma" Mary Stafford & Her Jazz Band _Female Blues Singers Volume 13: R/S (1921-1931)_

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Self Help Radio 072021: 1986 Continued

(All images found on Discogs.)

Here it is!  The continuation of my favorite music from 1985!  Listen: I could do a two-hour radio show just called "The 1985 Show" & make it a point not to repeat artists more than once a month & it would be excellent.  I kind of wish that was my thing.  Just a radio show based on a particular year.  Because I have spent six hours playing music from 1985 & I think I have three more hours in me.  Maybe more.  Hell, I made a list of records I didn't even know about from 1985 that I need to find so I can't imagine what I've missed!

& oh yeah, this was the first show I've done in a radio station live since March 12, 2020.  That means I went 496 days - almost 500 days! - without doing radio live at a radio station.  The last time I went that long was after I left KVRX in 1999.

By the way, I used this website to calculate the days - & it told me that 496 days is also 70 weeks & 6 days, or 1 year & four months & nine days.  & it was just too long.  Let's hope the delta variant doesn't fuck stuff up so I can continue to do this.  Please.

The show is at self help radio dot net of course & also at the KBOO website.  It's mainly me being giddy & nervous & playing tunes although Chuck stops by to talk about foreign movies from 1985.  I think it's fine.  What is played is below.  I hope you enjoy.

Self Help Radio 1985 Continued Show
"Pop Life" Prince & The Revolution _Around The World In A Day_
"Would I Lie To You?" Eurythmics _Be Yourself Tonight_
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" Simple Minds _Don't You (Forget About Me)_

"A Day" Clan Of Xymox _Clan Of Xymox_
"Tremble (My Girl Doesn't)" The Wolfgang Press _Water_
"Walk Away" The Sisters Of Mercy _First & Last & Always_
"Hazey Daze" Chris & Cosey _Technø Primitiv_
"Yü-Gung (Fütter Mein Ego)" Einstürzende Neubauten _Halber Mensch_

"One Of Our Psychedelic Beakers Is Missing" The Dentists _Some People Are On The Pitch They Think It's All Over It Is Now_
"Soul Monday" Martin Newell _Songs For A Fallow Land_
"Stealing In The Name Of The Lord" Yeah Yeah Noh _Cutting The Heavenly Lawn Of Greatness...Last Rites For The God Of Love_
"Every Conversation" The June Brides _There Are Eight Million Stories..._
"God Bless" The Bodines _God Bless_

Chuck stops by to talk about foreign films from 1985

"Can't Get There From Here" R.E.M. _Fables Of The Reconstruction_
"Letter To A Fanzine" Great Plains _Naked At The Buy, Sell, & Trade_
"Empty Bottles" Opal _Northern Line_
"Blue Eyes" Zeitgeist _Translate Slowly_
"Splinters" The Bongos _Beat Hotel_

"Jacob's Ladder" The Monochrome Set _The Lost Weekend_
"When All's Well" Everything But The Girl _Love Not Money_
"What's The Morning For?" The Apartments _The Evening Visits... & Stays For Years_
"Hearts Are Like Flowers" Jacobites _Robespierre's Velvet Basement_
"Sail Through" The Wake _Here Comes Everybody_

"Lesson 1: The Payoff Mix" Double Dee & Steinski _Lesson 1, 2, & 3_
"The Show" Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew _The Show_
"Leader Of The Pack" UTFO _UTFO_
"I Can't Live Without My Radio" LL Cool J _Radio_
"Bite This" Roxanne Shante _Bite This_

"Shakespeare's Sister" The Smiths _Shakespeare's Sister_
"Once More" The Wedding Present _Once More_
"Aikea Guinea" Cocteau Twins _Aikea Guinea_
"The Exploding Boy" The Cure _In-Between Days_
"Move Me" The Woodentops _Move Me_

"Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)" Bob Dylan _Empire Burlesque_
"My Funny Valentine" Nico & The Faction _Camera Obscura_
"Last Dance" The Mekons _Fear & Whiskey_

Monday, July 19, 2021

Whither 1985 Continued?

(Image from here.)

Two things about that image up there.  One, I have zero memories of storms & floods at the beginning of 1985.  None whatsoever.  I do have a memory of driving my old 1976 Ford Granada home from a friend's house & my windshield wipers refusing to work so I drove with my head hanging out of the car being battered by rain.  But I'm sure that was in the spring because it was a school night & it wasn't freezing out.  Second, my family never read the Morning News.  That was the conservative paper.  We read the Times Herald which also had the best comics, especially Doonesbury.  But a search for 1985 Dallas Times Herald on the googla image search found nothing.  You write your blog posts with the images you got.

You may know that around the time of my birthday, on Self Help Radio, I play songs from the a year in my life.  I started when the started with 1968, the year I started, & I have done it yearly, adding a year to my regular life & to the show's theme.  I covered 1985 earlier this year, & you can listen to that show over on the Self Help Radio website & also on the KBOO website.  But for me 1985 was such an amazing year in music I couldn't just stop at three hours.  I needed another show.  & that show is tonight.

Not only is it tonight it's my first show live in the KBOO studios since March of 2020.  So I am pretty excited.  & almost certainly going to screw things up in hilarious fashion.

Tonight!  On 90.7 fm KBOO!  & online at kboo.fm!  From midnight to 3am!  I know you won't be awake to listen but spare me a passing thought - "Oh yeah, that dumb show's live tonight, cool" - before you pass out, will you?

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Preface To 1985 Continued: There's A Film Called 1985?


(Image from here.)

Yep.  There's a film called "1985."  According to the Wikipedia (link below the image above), "Set in Texas in 1985, the film stars Cory Michael Smith as Adrian Lester, a closeted gay man returning home to Dallas after several years living in New York City to tell his family goodbye, but not disclosing that he is dying of AIDS."  It was made in 2018, it's very well-received, having good scores on Rotten Tomatoes & the IMDb.  But.

My objection is, won't people seeing the title think it's somehow related to George Orwell's 1984?  I sure did.  I mean, I didn't think it was trying to be a sequel, but I did imagine that it might have some sort of thematic relation.  That feels a bit like a bait & switch.

Like maybe if it were called Nineteen Eighty-Five it wouldn't feel weird to me.  Or perhaps The Year 1985.

Anyway, I haven't seen it, though I guess I'd watch it if the situation presented itself.  I might be a little peevish in the first few minutes, but ultimately I'd be engrossed.  It's one of the images that popped up with the goggled "1985" on the Googla.  That's literally the only reason I know I exists!