Nashville Denial/Eclipse

Today I have two pictures from my past.

This is one of those pictures - it was taken six years ago in Lexington, Kentucky - that might be a hit on the internet if anyone ever saw this blog.  Or maybe not - what does "Nashville Denial" mean anyway?

Obviously, it's the back door of a place called Nashville Dental.  It's apparently a chain of dental offices.  Anyway, I thought it was funny.

& then, on this day four years ago:

There was a partial eclipse of the sun in Fort Worth.  I attempted, with my cheap camera, to capture it, & failed miserably.  Except!  If you look in the top left corner of the photo, you'll see a reflection of the partially eclipsed star.  My camera simply couldn't take all that light - but it did manage to capture a bit of the eclipse after all.  I think that's pretty cool.

Lunch On Film

(A screencap from Welcome To The Dollhouse that I found here.)

This week's show was about lunch, & although he admitted he's not a fan of lunch, our resident cinephile Chuck stopped by to talk about films with feature lunch.  What films?  You can listen to the show (like, I don't know, at the show's website) but also you can visit the following helpful links.

Here's Chuck's Twitter thread about lunch films.

Here's the YouTube playlist of films & other sundries related to lunch in film.

Chuck writes Letterboxd reviews of the films he watched - read them here.

Here's the IMDb list of films available to stream for free elsewhere.

& finally, the keyword searches:

Feature films tagged with "lunch."

Shorts tagged with "lunch."

Though it's way past dinnertime, I'm hungry for some lunch.  Maybe there are some lunch films I can watch while I eat a late post-dinner lunch?

Self Help Radio 081721: Lunch

That photo at the top of this blog was taken from inside my room at my house in Fort Worth, Texas.  We had a lovely oak tree in front, & one day some workers at a nearby house took their lunch under the tree.  I snapped the show, because I completely understood - it was a tree which invited you to have lunch under it.  Had I not lived in the house, I might have done so myself - though now that I no longer live there, I wish I had done it at least once.  It was truly a remarkable old tree.

We had lunch early in the morning (or in the middle of the night, depending on your perspective) this week on Self Help Radio.  Many songs about lunch were played, many aspects of lunch were discussed, & guests talked about power lunches, whether lunch was the most important meal of the day, & lunch in the movies.  As well, the premiere of Vance Chamberlain's three-act radio play happened in the last hour.  One listener suggested that the show was appropriate because I was usually out to lunch.  But as far as I know, no one lost their lunch during the show.

You can listen to the show now & any time at both its own web page at selfhelpradio.net & its own web page at kboo.fm.  As mentioned above, many things happen & many songs are played.  Those are detailed below.  They say there's no such thing as a free lunch - but there is a such thing as a free lunch show - which is this week's Self Help Radio!

Self Help Radio 210817: Lunch

"Happity-Yappity Appetite (The Lunch Time Friend)" Sylvia & Murray Winant _It's Fun To Eat_

"Who's For Lunch Today?" Albert Hammond _The Free Electric Band_

"Lunch" Stella Donnelly _Beware Of The Dogs_

introduction + history of lunch

"I'll Buy You Lunch" Linaire _Linaire_

"Lonely's Lunch" You Say Party! _XXXX_

"The Luncheon" Arlene Golonka & Betty Walker _Bob Booker & George Foster Present: You Don't Have To Be Jewish_

"Merchants Lunch" Red Clay Ramblers _Merchants Lunch_

"Miss Otis Regrets (with the Pogues)" Kirsty MacColl _Galore (The Best Of)_

interview with Hollywood Power Lunch Enthusiast Denver Smith

"Yesterday's Lunch" Lemuria _Get Better_

"Lunchtime Love Affair" The Cartoons _Goodbye Nashville Hello Camden Town: A Pub Rock Anthology_

"Lunch Lady Land" Adam Sandler _They're All Gonna Laugh At You!_

"Wot's For Lunch Mum? (Not Beans Again!)" The Shapes _Songs For Sensible People_

"Lunch Hour" June Valli _Let's Have A Party (Girls Gone Rockin' Vol. 2)_ 

interview with nutritionist Bart Dinner

"Lunch Time" Gabby Omollo & Omondi Jassor _Lunch Time_

"Lunch Menu" David Price _Lunch Menu Call-In Service_

"Give Your Lunch To A Lemming" Pig Rider _The Robinson Scratch Theory_

"Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner" Kermit Ruffins _Big Easy_

"The Animal Lunch" Caspar Babypants _Hot Dog!_

Chuck stops by to talk about films featuring lunches

"Candy Lunch" Lilly Hiatt _Walking Proof_

"Take An Indian To Lunch (Pilgrim's Progress)" Stan Freberg _Presents The United States Of America, Vol. 1: The Early Years_

"Lunch Box" The Spectors _Beat Is Murder: Cockfights & Cakefights 1992-1996_

"Lunchbox" Mo Phillips _Occasional Yogurt_

"You Only Love Me For My Lunchbox" Asylum Street Spankers _Mommy Says No!_

Vance Chamberlain's "Lunch": Act I

"Lunch In A Bucket" Jimmy Bell _The Songs Of John D. Loudermillk: Sittin' In The Balcony_

"Phil Ochs & Elvis Eating Lunch In Morrison's Cafe" Reg Meuross _Faraway People_

"I Took A Memory To Lunch" Tom T. Hall _100 Children_

"Uni Lunch" Typical Sisters _Love Beam_

"The 3 Martini Lunch" Graham Parker _Live! Alone In America_

"Liquid Lunch" Caro Emerald _The Shocking Miss Emerald_

Vance Chamberlain's "Lunch": Act II

"Don't Let The Record Label Take You Out To Lunch" Jeffrey Lewis _It's The Ones Who've Cracked That The Light Shines Through_

"Lunch Hour" Skip & Flip _It Was I: The Very Best Of Skip & Flip_

"I Need Lunch" Dead Boys _Young Loud & Snotty_

"Lunch" Muckafurgason _Tossing A Friend_

"Lunchline" Yoni & Geti _Testarossa_

Vance Chamberlain's "Lunch": Act III

"Girls Just Want To Have Lunch" Weird Al Yankovic _Dare To Be Stupid_

"Lunchtime (Tin Foil Robots)" The Board Of Education _Central Services Presents The Board Of Education_

"Them Lunch Toters" Mason Williams _Them Poems & Things_

"The Little Lunch Box" George Hamilton IV _Abilene_

"Snappy Lunch" The VW Boys _Snappy Lunch_

conclusion & goodbye

"Summer In My Lunchtime" Bog-Shed _Step On It_

"Cut Lunch" Models _Cut Lunch EP_

"A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch" Dead Kennedys _Frankenchrist_

Whither Lunch?

(Cartoon by Zach whom you can support here.)

Something I wonder - did you know there's been a Self Help Radio show about dinner (that was in 2005!) & also one about breakfast (back in 2010)?  You might ask, why did it take so long to get lunch?  Have you been to lunch in this town?  I mean, pre-pandemic.  You might wait an hour to get your lunch!  Be glad it only took Self Help Radio eleven years to get to lunch!

Sorry if your lunch is cold.  I confess, I can't remember why I wanted to do a show about lunch.  Maybe it was just time?  Maybe it was one of those weird moments where I was struggling to find a new theme & also I was having lunch & I said to myself, "Say! How about a show about lunch?"  That wouldn't surprise me.  If that's how it happened.  I mean, I eat lunch every day.  So it's on my mind a lot.

This is true: I live with a woman who will often talk about what she'll have for lunch the next day while she's eating lunch.  She plans for future meals during present meals.  It's a little unsettling.  When I'm in the middle of lunch, though, I am all about that lunch.  Too bad food isn't allowed at the KBOO studios currently, as I would otherwise totally pack a lunch.

But you can!  Break out the lunch box for tonight's Self Help Radio, all about lunch, on 90.7 fm KBOO, online at kboo.fm!  It's on midnight to 3am which is lunchtime today.  I have so decreed!  Now let's dig in.

Preface To Lunch: A Complicated History Of Lunching

(searching for "terrifying lunchroom," I found this? from here)

Nowadays I find myself a bit amazed by folks who can eat three meals a day - who have something for breakfast, have a nice lunch, & a decent sit-down dinner.  In my adult life, I've left breakfast behind.  I'm either up way too late to have anything resembling a breakfast, or if I do, I'm hungry about an hour afterward & up until lunch.

It wasn't always this way.  I'm sure I had three meals a day (plus snacks) when I was a kid.  I'm not sure they were quality meals - my mother worked at a convenience store near my elementary school & I have memories of her giving us packaged donuts & cinnamon rolls for breakfast - but I did have a breakfast, I'd eat lunch at school, & we'd have some kind of dinner - my mom wasn't much of a cook - but she'd put something in front of us as we watched television around 6:30pm.

Something changed in high school.  I didn't really enjoy the vibe of the lunchroom.  I didn't like waiting in line for mediocre food, I didn't like trying to find some place to eat, I didn't enjoy whatever I might bring.  At this point, I believe I was left to fend for myself, lunch-wise - either my mother gave me money, or instructed me to make my own - & I knew I'd rather spend the money on other things (usually comic books).  So I spent my lunch hours, from tenth grade on, in the library.  Much of this had to do with having fewer friends in tenth grade, & sadly almost none of it had to do with the racist mural in our lunchroom.

When did I eat?  I think I might have had something for breakfast, & something when I got home, right after school.  It became second nature, I almost never expected to have lunch when I was in high school.  Once I started working, I would eat after school whenever I was hungry, & usually fast food.  I am pretty sure that I got my own meals at some point most of the time after eleventh grade.  The transition to college was pretty easy because I had fended for myself for so long.  Fent for myself?  It seems like the past tense of fend should be fent.  Anyway.

In my adulthood, I gave up breakfast, mostly, altogether.  Occasionally I'd have breakfast with someone, but left to my own devices, I simply waited for lunch.  When I was a smoker, I'd usually have a cigarette or two to start the day - I understood the charm of a cup of coffee & a cigarette even if I never had coffee.  I was always running too late for work or whatever to get something & - this is crucial - the woman I've lived with for almost twenty years now doesn't eat breakfast either.

Mostly though breakfast is either too heavy & makes me want to sleep right afterwards, or it's too light & I'm hungry all the way through to lunch.  My body must be dumb - if I don't eat breakfast, I don't feel hungry until right before lunch.  Not if I have breakfast!

So we celebrate lunch this week.  But why?  Maybe I'll tell you tomorrow.