Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: International Owl Awareness Day

August 4 is International Owl Awareness Day. If there's one thing Dick Dickenbock is aware of, it's owls. They seem to follow him around. He is happy to support owl propagation & rehabilitation initiatives. To that end, tomorrow on the Dickenbock Report on XRAY fm, we'll report on owls, including of course musical reports. We have heard from various sources that the owls are not what they seem.

That's noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm here in Portland & at xray dot fm everywhere. The owls themselves would have appreciated an evening or late-night broadcast, but we are an afternoon newsmagazine!

This Week In Self Help (July 26 28 + 30 2024)

That's my cat Bluto sitting in my chair. He's mad that this week's Self Help Radio - which had the theme "catastrophe" - didn't feature a single cat. He reminded me that you can't have a catastrophe without a cat. So I'll feature him right now.

We have to go back an entire week to encapsulate my week in radio. I subbed the Songcircle on KBOO last Friday & I played a bunch of songs that all mentioned each day of the week at least once. You can listen to that show on the KBOO website. Or you can listen to it/download it from the Self Help Radio website directly by clicking right here. As always, you'll need a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp) to access any file from the Self Help Radio website.

On Sunday, there was an episode of The Dickenbock Report which had songs about Miami since it was the anniversary of that city's incorporation. You can listen to that show on the XRAY website. Or you can listen to it/download it from the Self Help Radio website by clicking right here. Remember! Username SHR + password selfhelp!

Speaking of Self Help Radio - the show about catastrophe aired Tuesday morning. You can listen to that show on KBOO website. Or you can listen to it/download it from the Self Help Radio website by clicking right here. I'm not repeating the username/password. Nope. I'll only do it twice.

Speaking of repetition - the KBOO show is three hours long because the hour after Self Help Radio is a show called Corporate Standardized Programming. This week I played music by artists who died in early May of this year. If you'd like to listen to that show separate from Self Help Radio, you can do so by clicking right here.

Okay, that's all. I need to go now, Bluto is being pretty cat-a-strophic to my chair! Bluto! Bad kitty!

Self Help Radio 073024: Catastrophe

A caller tonight: isn't a Self Help Radio episode about catastrophe redundant ha ha ha? No, sir, that would be a show with the theme what a mess.

Truly your average episode of Self Help Radio doesn't rise to the level of catastrophe. But we managed some songs about catastrophe as well as some nice interviews. See those details below.

You can listen to the show in two different places: on the KBOO website & on the Self Help Radio website. If you choose the latter, make sure you use the username SHR & the password selfhelp to listen/download. Otherwise it might be - well, not a catastrophe. Maybe just a relief.

Self Help Radio Catastrophe Show

"Major Catastrophe" Katch 22 _Major Catastrophe (The Katch 22 Story 1966-1969)_

"Catastrophe Kids" The Brooklyn What _Hot Wine_

"Romanticized Catastrophe" Sallie Ford _Soul Sick_

introduction & definitions

"Catastrophe" Maow _The Unforgiving Sounds Of... Maow_

"Catastrophe" The Rondelles _Fiction, Romance, Fast Machines_

"Catastrophe" Moviola _The Year You Were Born_

"Catastrophe" Rainer Maria _Catastrophe Keeps Us Together_

interview with journalist Thomas Veller

"Dear Catastrophe Waitress" Belle & Sebastian _Dear Catastrophe Waitress_

"All Out Of Catastrophes" Marissa Nadler _For My Crimes_

"Catastrofuk" John Cale _EP: Extra Playful_

"Catastrophe" Swingin' Utters _Drowning In The Sea, Rising With The Sun_

interview with philosophy professor Dr Tim Vought

"My Last Catastrophe" The Smoking Trees _The Archer & The Bull_

"Catástrofe No. 17" Le Mans _Modapop: Fantasías Veraniegas - Colección Elefant (2003-2004)_

"Catastrophe" Helado Negro _Invisible Life_

"The Full Catastrophe" Anthony Quinn/Mikis Theodorakis _Zorba The Greek (Original Soundtrack)_

"Eco-Catastrophe Blues" Brewer & Shipley _ST11261_

interview with writer Todd Vale

"Pop Catastrophe" Boss Hog _Cold Hands_

"Triple Catastrophe" Beezus _Lives Of The Saints_

"Candy Colored Catastrophe" Redd Kross _Redd Kross_

"Gong Of Catastrophe" Osees _Protean Threat_

interview with self-help writer Tanya Vicks

"The Catastrophists" Parlour Steps _The Hidden Names_

"Carol's Catastrophe" Ed Hale & The Transcendence _The Great Mistake_

"The Pop Catastrophe (feat. Brede Rorstad)" Worm Is Green _Push Play_ 

"Catastrophe" Nous Non Plus _Menagerie_

conclusion & goodbye

"O.D. Catastrophe" Spaceman 3 _Sound Of Confusion_

Whither Catastrophe?

(image by Paul Davis from here)

Most of the time I'm not entirely sure where the ideas for my radio shows come from. Usually it's something I notice in songs I've been listening to - a strange, unexpected repetition of an idea, a word, a phrase. Lots of times it's something more direct - I wanna do a show about this. Rarely - too rarely - it's something someone suggested. I wish I got more suggestions. But lots of times I just can't remember. I write down (or create a folder on my computer) the word or phrase that's the idea for the theme & can't recall why I did that.

But I suspect I know when I thought I should do a show about catastrophe. The show isn't political, though I obviously have my political leanings. I think I thought "catastrophe" might be a good theme when I finally saw clips of Joe Biden in the June debate with the other guy. The four years that other guy was President were not happy years for me. I saw Biden's performance as the prelude to an electoral catastrophe. One the country might not survive. & most probably my brain said, "Wallow in this, you fool. Make a show about it."

It does not matter that the likelihood of such a catastrophe has been reduced. I don't mind when my negative predictions don't come true. But I am stuck with a show about catastrophe. & don't worry! says my sadistic brain. Something sufficiently catastrophic will happen soon enough!

It could be tonight's show! Midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in town & online at kboo dot fm. Be safe. Sleep through it.

Preface To Catastrophe: A Movie Recommendation

(image from the IMDb)

No, this is not a recommendation from Self Help Radio's resident cinephile Chuck. Yes, this might be the first time I've explicitly recommended a movie on this blog. Maybe I should do that for every one of these prefaces. I'll think about it. Meanwhile.

Here's a sweet Australian rom-com from the mid-90s. It had a couple of firsts for me - it was the first time I saw actors Radha Mitchell & Frances O'Connor. & it may have been the first rom-com I saw in which there were gay characters who were part of the romantic element (I think it's about two couples but I'm not entirely sure at this point) of the film & not relegated to supporting characters (or part of a gay movie). I found it charming & ridiculous & probably put it on my recommended movie shelf when I worked at a video store in the late 90s.

It's funny, I actually found the movie in its entirety online a few months ago but it seems to have since disappeared. Rats. Chuck is better at this than I am! But if you see it around & you like movies like this, maybe think of my recommendation. As far as data goes, it has a 6.4 on the IMDb & a 71% on Rotten Tomatoes (though 51% for critics yikes). But this review of the film from the Guardian has a nice take: "Two decades on it’s a wonderfully spritzy dialogue-driven work to revisit, full of oomph & chutzpah."

It's almost thirty years old now however. But I watched some of it online a few months ago & remember it fondly. & it features some small catastrophes!