All My Animals

A year ago today, on August 7, 2020, when we felt this pandemic - which hasn't yet ended - would never end, I took the above picture.  It is a rarity in my collection - a picture of all of my animals in one room together, & also captured on a camera by me.

On the divan or bench by the window, from left, is Bolan (black cat), Boone (orange cat), & Pauline (leggy beagle).  On the yoga in the bottom left is Winston.  Sunning themselves on the little round dog (should I say "pet") bed, is Yoko (chihuahua) & Bronte (orange cat).

Winston is obviously on his way somewhere, so he wouldn't be in the picture long.  Yoko would probably follow me wherever I was going, once I left the room.  & who knows what Pauline was doing.  In any event, the scene would not have stayed this way for very long.  So I'm glad I took it!

Kids In Film

(image from here.)

This week's show was about the kids.  Our friend Chuck stopped by to talk about different kinds of films involving the kids.

Make sure you check out Chuck's Twitter feed.

Chuck keeps a YouTube playlist of the films that he's watching.

He focused this week on four terms, which are reflected in the following IMDb keyword searches:

"Child Hero"
"Group Of Friends"
"Childhood"
"Child Protagonist"

As always, we hope this is a starting point for you - that you discover lots of movies about this topic.  Because there are!  So many movies about kids.  Oh Em Gee!

Self Help Radio 080321: The Kids

(Why yes, this is Gary's first grade class photo! Can you spot him?)

This week, Self Help Radio played songs & talked about "the kids."  The kids that were both all right & (it turns out) all shite.  The kids that just wanted to have fun, & would never been divided if they were just united.  All kindsa kids.  Dumb ass kids, skinny indie kids, stray kids, rich kids, even homeless club kids.  We were all about the kids, even if the kids say the darnedest things.

We also talked to a person with two many kids, a Hollywood producer who is working on a television show for kids, & the host's spiritual mentor, who talked about his kids.  We discussed idioms involving kids, & the show's resident cinephile shared films involving the kids in different roles.

Despite all this, the show wasn't kid-friendly, which is to be expected.  So please don't let the kids listen to the show about the kids.  Make sure the kids have the happiest of childhoods so they can group up to be the adults we hoped we'd turn out to be.  But we had to listen to radio shows in the middle of the night despite not being allowed to.  That's where it all went wrong for us.

Listen at the show's website or at the KBOO website.  What happens on the show is below.

Self Help Radio The Kids Show

"Kids" The Concretes _Hey Trouble_

"Kids" Field Mouse _Hold Still Life_

"Kids" Dream Wife _Dream Wife_

introduction & definitions

"The Kids Are Alright" The Who _Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy_

"The Kids Are Back" Criminals _The Kids Are Back_

"Kids Are Too Small" George Carlin _On The Road_

"The Kids Are Sick Again" Maxïmo Park _Quicken The Heart_

"The Kids Are All Shite" Mikrofisch _Masters Of The Universe_

interview with the Rev Dr Howard Gently

"Ton Up Kids" Dave & Ansel Collins _Trojan Club Reggae Box Set_

"Dumb Ass Kids" The Suburbs _Si Sauvage_

"I Don't Want Kids" Jen Kirkman _Self Help_

"Bridge & Tunnel Kids" Mister Loveless _Grow Up_

"Homeless Club Kids" My Favorite _Joan Of Arc Awaiting Trial_

interview with Hollywood kids' show producer Denver Smith

"Who Don't Like Kids" Sparks _Propaganda_

"You Better Sit Down, Kids" What Else _Bonograph: Sonny Gets His Share -The Classic Songs Of Sonny Bono Interpreted By Today's Hippest Artists_

"Kids" Bill Hicks _Salvation (Oxford November II, 1992)_

"Two Little Kids" Peaches & Herb _Love Is Strange: The Best Of Peaches & Herb_

"Because We're Kids" Bob Dorough & Bill Takas _Beginning To See The Light_

interview with Matt Angel, who has a lot of kids

"Kids Like You" New York Dolls _Dancing Backward In High Heels_

"My Ex-Classmates' Kids" The Fall _Are You Are Missing Winner_

"My Kids" Brian Regan _All By Myself_

"Little Kids (Ladytron Remix)" Kings Of Convenience _Versus_

"If The Kids Are United" Pluramon _The Monstrous Surplus_

another installment of Chuck's Happily Unsophisticated Cinema Korner, about films prominently featuring kids

"We Hate The Kids" The Indelicates _American Demo_

"Four Skinny Indie Kids" Half Man Half Biscuit _Four Lads Who Shook The Wirral_

"When I Was A Kid" The Harmaleighs _She Won't Make Sense_

"When I Was A Kid" Woody Allen _The Night Club Years 1964-1968_

"The Kids At The Club" Comet Gain _Realistes_

"The Kids Just Wanna Have Fun" The Legends _Up Against The Legends_

a discussion of idioms involving kids

"Let The Kids Dance" Bo Diddley _Hey Bo Diddley_

"Lousy Parents & Messed-Up Kids" Culturcide _Home-Made Authority_

"We Are Kids" Lacrosse _Bandages For The Heart_

"Kids In America" The Muffs _Hamburger_

"Rich Kids" The Drums _Abysmal Thoughts_

"The Richest Kids" This Is Ivy League _This Is Ivy League_

conclusion & goodbye

"Whizz Kids" The Undertones _Hypnotised_

"Nothing For The Kids" The Holloways _So This Is Great Britain?_

"Army Of Silent Kids" Soda Fountain Rag _Sometimes I Wonder If You Have A Heart_

"Stray Kids" Juliana Hatfield _There's Always Another Girl_

"Just Like Kids (Miau)" Hinds _The Prettiest Curse_

Whither Kids?

(image from here.)

A show about kids?  Yes!  A kids' show?  No!  It's late, there'll be some naughty words.  Don't let your kids stay up so late!  Although I myself stayed up quite late as a kid, especially during summer vacation.  & I might have been hoping to listen to naughty words on the radio!

The journey to this show was a bit circuitous & it began with me compiling covers of 1980s songs for my own amusement.  I discovered that the Pretenders song "Kid" (which I know is from 1979 but I think of it as an 80s song) has been covered several times - most recently by Tanya Donelly & The Parkington Sisters.  I thought about a show featuring different songs about different kids - from Billy The Kid to the Cars' "Misfit Kid."  But what I discovered in my initial research was that musicians liked to write songs about different types of kids - weird kids, indie kids, bridge & tunnel kids - & of course the word "kids" doesn't have to mean "children" - much like Bogey saying, "Here's lookin' at you, kid," the word could be used as a term of endearment, or as something condescending, or in the same way we use "guys" to mean a group of people including boys & girls.

It seemed I had a way to narrow down the theme a little.  Then last week on the show someone requested "The Kids Are Alright" by the Who & I suddenly had to expand the show to include songs about "kids."  & that's what I did.  Maybe it made it a more diverse show?  I have hours & hours of songs to choose from!

Also of course there'll be interviews.  Four of them!  It was a busy week.

The results will be available for you to hear tonight from midnight to 3am on 90.7 KBOO in Portland & online at kboo.fm.  Please don't let your kids listen to it.  Especially if they're the young kind of kids.  The older kind might just think it's too dorky.

Preface To Kids: Too Many Kids

(This image, which is from here, is what one finds who one searches "too many kids" on the googla.)

Welp, it happened again.  I picked a theme for which there were patently too many options.  Just imagine!  A theme like "kids"!  What was I thinking?

That's something I guess I'll answer tomorrow (?) (probably not), I just want to whine.  I want to whine because I have been doing this for almost twenty years & one of the reasons I do this show is to challenge myself, to discover new music & to play a cool mix of music that's not simply my favorite songs.  It's hard.  Lots of times I'm like "but I could play that song" but I don't want to.  I don't want it to be easy for me.  But then there's a theme where there are literally hundreds of songs that would fit - I'm going to naturally gravitate to the songs I know because I simply don't have time to listen to all of the ones I find.

This weekend - yesterday - I was at a memorial service for a neighbor who died a couple months ago.  The brother-in-law, an affable fellow, was talking about how he was terrified to retire.  Now he says, "It's the best job I ever had!"  & he confided in me, "I don't really know how I ever did anything when I had a job.  I have no time to get anything I want to do done now!"

& that's the weird thing - I don't currently have a job but I used to do Self Help Radio when I was employed full-time.  I promise you, I will be scrambling to have the show done before I leave for KBOO at 11:30pm tomorrow night.  How in the world did I get anything done back then?

Anyway, back to listening to songs.  I already have four hours' worth saved up, but what if I miss something good?  This is why I scramble.