Self Help Radio 061523: Haze

If it seemed like this week's Self Help Radio was in a haze - well, it was. Honestly during the show I couldn't see a damn thing. Well, I could make out some shapes. Was it you? Were you lost in the haze?

It was certainly appropriate as there were songs about hazy things & we talked to "experts" whose credentials were a bit hazy. The truth is, I'm glad there's a recording of it - my memory of the experience is somewhat hazy.

That recording is now at the Self Help Radio web page. To access it, remember the username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) required. It wasn't just me & music for two hours - there were guests as well. You can see everything that you will hear below. That's a funny sentence.

Enjoy the haze!

Self Help Radio Haze Show

"Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days Of Summer" Nat King Cole _The Greatest Hits_

"A Hazy Shade Of Winter" Jason Crest _Radio Sessions 1968-69_

"Hazy Paradise" Earth & Fire _Earth & Fire_

introduction & definitions

"Purple Haze" The Flying Lizards _Top Ten_

"Hazey Daze" Chris & Cosey _Technø Primitiv_

"Another Hazy Day On The Lazy A" The Wolfhounds _Lost But Happy: The Wolfhounds 1986-1990_

"Green Hazed Daze" A.R. Kane _Americana_

interview with anti-hazing campaigner Dickie Wadlington

"Hazey Jane I" Nick Drake _Bryter Layter_

"Haze" The Shacks _Haze_

"Our Haze" Bran Van 3000 _Rosé_

"My Mind Is Hazy" Chocolate Milk _Action Speaks Louder Than Words_

interview with air quality expert Dylan Wooten

"Haze" Eric's Trip _Peter_

"Autohaze" Godzuki _Losing Money & Losing Friends_

"Hazy" Huon _Answers To Lucky_

"Hazey Moon" The Wave Pictures _Look Inside Your Heart_

interview with self-help writer & therapist Deanna Welton

"Lullaby Haze" Mates Of State _Re-Arrange Us_

"Golden Haze" Wild Nothing _Golden Haze EP_

"Estates Of Sparkling Haze" The Laughing Chimes _Arboretum Miles_

"Haze" Jack Frost _Snow Job_

interview with DEA Agent Devon Walsh

+ conclusion & goodbye

"Hazy Days" Mick Ronson _Play Don't Worry_

"Hazy Haze" Kindest Lines _Covered In Dust_

"The Haze" Elf Power _Creatures_

Whither Haze?

You might think, "Whoa! Is Self Help Radio actually doing an episode that's more or less timely? After all the haze that blanketed the East Coast last week?" & the answer is emphatically: no.

This show has been in the works for some time. It's one of those themes which came about because I heard seemingly successive songs which somehow featured the word "haze" - or "hazy." & I diligently searched all my old playlists to see if I had done a hazy show before - well, one about "haze," anyway - & I don't think I did.

Which means you can peer into the haze this afternoon from noon to 2pm Portland time on Freeform Portland - that's 90.3+98.3fm & online at Freeform Portland dot org. Lots of guests, lots of hazy tunes, lots of haze (which isn't really all that unusual - it's just more direct at this time).

Preface To Haze: It Happens Here Too

Here's a picture from September 2020, when wildfires made the skies in Portland pink then red. That's the sun up there. The sun.

It's safe to say we in Oregon sympathized with the folks on the east coast this past week. That picture was taken in the depth of the pandemic, when we were at home anyway. The idea of this happening now, when I have places (mainly radio studios) to go to makes it terrifying.

Is that the reason the show this week is about haze? Nope. I'll say something more tomorrow.

My Life With Academics

In 2002, a young grad student moved in with me.

Around 2006 or so I found myself living with a doctoral candidate.

In 2008 I married a PhD.

In 2009 I moved to West Virginia to live with an Assistant Professor.

During the next few years I lived with an Associate Professor in Kentucky, Texas, & Oregon.

& I just found out that on July 1st, I'll be cohabitating with a Full Professor.

Is it weird that they're all named Magdalena?

Yes, that's a picture of her up there, with our two youngest. The dorkiest person I ever met is the love of my life & she's now a capital P Professor. Congrats to her!

Martin Duffy

(Image from here, where one can read a sad tale.)

When Martin Duffy died in December of last year, I mourned him on Facebook but didn't have any radio tributes to him. The shows I was doing at the time - the Dickenbock Report & Self Help Radio - wouldn't really allow me to carve up a portion of them for a proper thank you to the keyboardist whose work has haunted me since I first heard it on my first Felt album, The Pictorial Jackson Review, in 1987.

Tonight on my KBOO show - which seems to be where I can carve up a portion of time for a small tribute here & there - I'll play some Felt songs that showcase Duffy's beautiful playing. The reason for this is the news that his bandmates in Primal Scream - whom he played with after Felt disbanded - treated him unnecessarily cruelly & didn't help him financial as he struggled with both cancer & alcoholism.

It remains to be seen if I can ever play Primal Scream on the radio again. But I can & will play Martin Duffy's other projects. Like tonight, five Felt tunes.

Midnight to 3am KBOO Portland 90.7fm kboo dot fm.