Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Eiffel Tower Day!

Tomorrow morning on the Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM - 91.1+107.1fm & online at xray dot fm, we're reporting on the Eiffel Tower, which was completed March 31, 1889. From 9-10am you'll hear musical reports about the Eiffel Tower, plus a live remote from the Report's Travel Reporter.

Tune in for the only newsmagazine on XRAY on Sunday mornings!

The picture above is a young couple who were very, very tired, in front of the Tower in early 2005. They didn't quite make it to the top.

Pandemic Daze

It is in human nature I think to repress or try to repress terrible memories of terrible times. Here's a photo taken three years ago of closed-up KBOO. I think I was able to start doing shows live there in the summer but at the time I drove by it didn't feel like that was a possibility for a while. & when I did shows live there - from the summer of 2021 to the spring of 2023 - I was always masked. Having returned this week, I noted it was maybe only the third or fourth time I'd been unmasked in the station since the pandemic began.

This is my way to remember how awful it was to have a radio station closed up like that - to have a town closed up - a nation & world closed up. I know covid is still a thing & people are not only getting sick still but dealing with the long-term effects of getting it in the first place. But a lot of folks are acting like it never happened - & that's a bit maddening.

Self Help Radio 032624: Paradise

Self Help Radio returned to KBOO & a late-night slot this week with a show about paradise. In addition to every single song played on the show (but one) called "Paradise" (one was called "Paradiso"), the show also featured interviews with four folks who had near-death experiences & maybe caught a glimpse of paradise.

This was the first Self Help Radio back in the KBOO studios & I came in pretty unprepared so apologies for all the foul-ups, bleeps, & blunders. You can listen to the show at the Self Help Radio website. Use the username SHR & the password selfhelp to access. I did a couple of sub shows as well as my other shows in-between Self Help Radio episodes - have a look, maybe you'd enjoy listening to them. Meanwhile, look below for everything that happened on the show. Paradise it wasn't.

Self Help Radio Paradise show

"Paradise" Lena Horne _Lena On The Blue Side_

"Paradise" The Temptations _Emperors Of Soul_

"Paradise" The Ronettes _Back To Mono (1958-1969)_

introduction & definitions

"Paradise" John Prine _John Prine_

"Paradise" Buzzcocks _A Different Kind Of Tension_

"Paradise" The Stranglers _Feline_

"Paradise" Mikey Dread _Pave The Way_

interview with Laetitia Clark

"Paradise" Plus Instruments _Trigger & The Thrill Kings Plus Instruments_

"Paradise" Alex Chilton _Feudalist Tarts_

"Paradise" The Bodines _Creation Soup Volume Two_

"Paradise" Cub Sport _Paradise EP_

interview with Luke Connors

"Paradiso" The Chameleons _Strange Times_

"Paradise" New Order _Brotherhood_

"Paradise" All About Eve _The Best Of All About Eve_

"Paradise" Aztec Camera _Love_

interview with Lester Charles

"Paradise" Viva Saturn _Soundmind_

"Paradise" Clinic _Visitations_

"Paradise" Lump _Animal_

"Paradise" White Lung _Paradise_

interview with Larry Carmichael

"Paradise" Swansea Sound _Twentieth Century_

"Paradise" Lily & Madeleine _Lily & Madeleine_

"Paradise" Wishy _Paradise_

"Paradise" Empath _Visitor_

conclusion & goodbye

"Paradise" The O'Jays _Message In The Music_

Whither Paradise?

(painting by Breughel, from the Wikipedia)

For my first show back on KBOO, the theme - which was chosen before I decided to move so it's not any kind of comment about the station - is "paradise." There were lots of songs about paradise, so much so that I think I will be able to fill two entire hours with songs called "Paradise." I've done this a few times before, including with my show with the theme "heaven." Which brings me to the genesis of this show:

The idea came from this book by Bart Ehrman that I had just finished reading:

It's called (as you can see) "Heaven & Hell: A History Of The Afterlife." More information is at the link. It's a fascinating book that almost certainly won't penetrate the minds of those indoctrinated since birth in ideas of heaven & hell, but for those with more open minds it demonstrates how over time people in the more-or-less Western tradition (starting with the Greeks & Jews) came to think there ought to be something more after death, either on earth or in some other place. Since I had already done a show about heaven & a show about hell, the next best thing to do a show about was paradise - often a synonym for heaven.

That show happens tonight oh I better get working! from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland & kboo dot fm everywhere. It not like anyone at KBOO wanted the show back, but by gum it'll be back tonight!

Preface To Paradise: Paradise Lost

That picture was taken in May 2020, as the pandemic raged. The wife & I had gone for a walk, probably to get some folk & take out the dogs. The streets of Portland were mostly deserted. It's along Division Street, as you can see with the sign. Wish I had walked across the street to take the picture but I did not. But maybe the emptiness makes the post's point.

Was it paradise lost? Portland's never been everyone's idea of Paradise, but just a year before, the streets - especially on a lovely sunny day in May - would have been full of people. Nearly four years later I have yet to see the city as populated as it was when we first go here. But it's getting there.

But it's a fact this is my most favorite place to live at least in the last twenty years. They spoil vegans here, & there are many lovely places, & lots of love for dogs & cats. & of course all the radio. There's just all the radio here. So maybe for me it's a paradise.