Self Help Radio 110523: Painters Painting Revisited (The 21st Anniversary Show)

That was fun! For me, I mean. I don't know if you had any fun. But it's fun for me to have fun at something I've been doing for 21 years now. Not that I sometimes don't have fun doing it. It wasn't as much fun recording the show as doing it live. But I'll keep doing it as long as it's fun. For me. I can't imagine it would be much fun for anyone else.

It is true I am a tad bit proud of myself for having all the songs be about particular artists this time around. How I wish I could've done that in 2006! But better late than never. If only people would write more songs about artists! I am surprised so many I would expect to have not.

Oh well, enough rambling, I have a twenty-second year to get to. You can listen to the show now & anytime at the Self Help Radio website. Please note username & password. That's SHR & selfhelp. Lots of things happened & they are listed below!

Self Help Radio 21st Anniversary Show

"Michelangelo" Slapp Happy _Slapp Happy_

"Max Ernst" Moving Parts _Wrong Conclusion_

"I Like Cezanne" Neil Innes _Recollections 2_

introduction & a snippet from the original 2006 show

"Rembrandt" Fay Lovsky _Cinema_

"Vincent Van Gogh" Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers _Rockin' & Romance_

"Velázquez & I" Would-Be-Goods _The Camera Loves Me_

"Salvador Dali's Garden Party" Television Personalities _Privilege_

interview with old KVRX friend Chris Kane

"Trouble With Classicists" Lou Reed & John Cale _Songs For Drella_

"Picasso's Mandolin" Guy Clark _Boats To Build_

"Mark Rothko Song" Dar Williams _The Honesty Room_

"MC Escher" Momus _The Little Red Songbook_

interview with NPR programmer Cody Rockefeller

"Jasper Johns" Comet Gain _Tigertown Pictures_

"Leonardo" Pierce Pettis _Great Big World_

"Painting By Chagall" The Weepies _Say I Am You_

"Ballad Of Winslow Homer" The Dimes _The King Can Drink The Harbour Dry_

interview with painting restorer paint remover Craig Richards

"Song For Frida Kahlo" Tinpan Orange _The Bottom Of The Lake_

"Ode To Banksy" Jesca Hoop _The House That Jack Built_

"Marcel Duchamp" Pete Bentham & The Dinner Ladies _I Heart Here_

"Francis Bacon Slashed The Canvas" MC Lars _Lars Attacks!_

our favorite librarian Carole stops by!

"Jackson Pollock" Soft Cough _Soft Cough_

"Mondrian" Turtlenecked _Pure Plush Bone Cage_

"Botticelli's Venus" Bellows _Next Of Kin_

"O'Keeffe" Tracyanne & Danny _Tracyanne & Danny_

conclusion + goodbye plus a surprise phone call from Chuck!

"The Ruben's Room" The King Of Luxembourg _Royal Bastard_

"Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes)" Book Of Love _Book Of Love_

Whither Painters Painting Revisited? (Hint: It's The 21st Anniversary Show!)

(image from here)

This week is the 21st anniversary of Self Help Radio. The show began on October 9, 2002, on a station called KOOP ("co-op") in Austin, Texas. Since the 9th of October 2023 is on a Monday, & since my show is on a Thursday, I thought I'd go ahead & celebrate the anniversary a bit early. Because you wouldn't hear it if I celebrated it alone in my room next Monday.

Since the show's sixth anniversary, it has been the tradition to revisit a theme on the anniversary. Generally I don't revisit themes, though the longer this show has gone on, the more likely I will do it if asked. One of the nice things about revisiting a theme is that I can perhaps find music I missed the first time around. I can also refine the theme somewhat - perhaps reinterpret it. That's fun!

On May 3, 2006, Self Help Radio has the theme "Painters, Painting, & Painters Painting." My original idea was to have a show just about painters. Each song would be about a different famous painter. Things didn't work out as planned, so I included songs about painting & about a generic painter & even songs about artists. But there was always a part of me that was a bit disappointed. If only I had the chance to find more songs about specific artists!

Guess what? That's what is going to happen today! Each song on today's anniversary show will be about an artist & even that was a bit hard - I had to skip repeated songs about a particular artist. Both Andy Warhol & Vincent Van Gogh, for example, have multiple songs about them.

Plus, I'll have guests that talk about painters - & also some people from my radio past.

The proof is in the broadcast! Listen today from noon to 2pm on 90.3+98.3fm in Portland & online everywhere at the Freeform Portland website. It won't be a masterpiece or anything. Just an anniversary show!

Preface To The 21st Anniversary Show: Longevity

(image from here)

It can be said with absolute modesty that I had no idea I would still be doing a radio show called Self help Radio twenty-one years after it began. I actually didn't think I would still be doing it in 2006, which is when the show with the theme I am revisiting (more on that tomorrow) aired. In fact, I bought myself one of those "books" one stored CDs in back in the day & after the show I would collect the songs I played & burned them to a CD to keep them, a sure sign I didn't know how long this would last. What did those things hold, fifty CDs? There are more weeks in a year!

It would make the woman I married sad, perhaps, to hear this, but I didn't even know how long we'd be together. In October 2002, we had been dating for about a year. My longest relationship up to that point was barely three years long. My track record was terrible.

Same with radio. I had done radio from mid-1994 to mid-1999 at KVRX, & had waited a year to volunteer at KOOP. By the time I started Self Help Radio on October 9, 2002, I hadn't had a regular radio show in three years. Nothing felt permanent, nothing seemed assured.

Which is not to say it's a surprise that I've been doing this for twenty-one years. Around the time I left Austin, I was determined to keep doing the show wherever I ended up, & so I have. Around 2013 or 2014 I started inviting people onto the show to do the silly interviews & that breathed new life into the show. So if you had asked me in 2009, or 2014, did I think I'd make it 21 years, I probably would've said, "God I hope not" because I would think I was being funny but if asked to be honest, I would've said, "Sure, why not?"

On anniversary shows I revisit old themes. It's in the hopes of improving on them. I will explain why I am revisiting this year's particular theme tomorrow.

Officially It's October 9, 2002

(image from here)

Well! The website Best Of Date chooses two horrific events from October 9, 2022, when the feel-good news story is right under their noses! Self Help Radio debuted on KOOP Austin at 2pm on October 9, 2002. No one was shot. No one was executed. But also no one was warned. Who knew it would go on this long? Not me!

Yes, it's October 3, but in general I like to my anniversary shows before the date rather than after. I hope you understand.

"20 years, 11 months, & 26 days have passed since October 9th, 2002," says the site. It really doesn't feel that long. Certainly not those extra 26 days!

More anniversary musings tomorrow.

The Corridors & Hallways Of Film

(image from the IMDb)

Neither a corridor nor a hallway is a good place to see a movie, but maybe these films recommended by the show's resident cinephile Chuck are exceptions to the rule?  Wait.  Did you not hear his segment on this week's show?  My golly, please go listen at the Self Help Radio website. After you've listened, supplement your experience with the following links Chuck supplied:

Here is his YouTube playlist of films, trailers, & clips.
Chuck's note: Most of the clips are the first from an available playlist for a film on the list & may not be related to the subject.

Here is his Letterboxd list. Here are his Letterboxd reviews.

Chuck's note: (Click on the "read notes" icon - I have put links to the youtube videos, where the film may be streaming for free, & the occasional bit of other information.)

Here is the IMDb list of films available to stream for free.

Here are Chuck's IMDb keyword lists - one for corridors, one for hallways.

Chuck says:

I posted about some of the films on Bluesky (right now it's just all the links seen here, but go ahead an give me a follow. I usually follow back).

He adds:

I tweeted about some of the films on Twitter (right now it's just all the links seen here, but go ahead an give me a follow. I usually follow back).

Direct links for Chuck: Twitter,  Bluesky, & Substack.

Is it safe to come out of the corridor yet?