Saturday, August 10, 2024

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: August 11 Birthdays


We're at that point in the news cycle, called "the doldrums," where nothing of excitement is happening with the news. Yes, there's an election going on. Yes, we had sports things. Yes, there were hurricanes & stuff. But it's just so hot outside.

As a salve for this, on The Dickenbock Report tomorrow, we'll celebrate some notable people born on August 11. Mainly people no longer here to celebrate birthdays. Lots of them, in fact, friends of Dick Dickenbock he misses a great deal. We'll have cake at the XRAY studios, but it's just for staff - you'll need to supply your own for the occasion.

Noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere. Happy birthday to you!

Friday, August 09, 2024

This Week In Self Help (August 4, 5, + 6 2024)


That image above was downloaded by me from the Internets over eight years ago. I have no idea from where & I have no idea who created it. It's brilliant & I'm sad I can't tell you anything about its creator(s).

What I can tell you about is what I did on the radio this week. The usual stuff plus I subbed a show. Let's do it in chronological order.

The Dickenbock Report aired on Sunday on XRAY. It was International Owl Awareness Day so I played songs & talked about owls. Who? Owls! If you give a hoot, you can listen to the show on its XRAY web page. You can also listen + download the show at the Self Help Radio website. Please remember that you'll need a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) to access that file from the SHR website.

On Monday I spent a couple of hours on the radio playing sounds by new releases that are outside my usual indie world. Sadly, because it was a sub show, it's not archived at the KBOO website, but you can see the playlist here & you can listen + download the show here. Please remember that you'll need a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) to access that file from the SHR website.

Self Help Radio this week, as you probably know because of the image at the top of this page, had the theme "loneliness." You can listen to that on its KBOO web page. Or you can listen + download the show at the Self Help Radio website. Please remember that you'll need a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) to access that file from the SHR website.

The show on the KBOO website contains this week's episode of Corporate Standardized Programming, in which I played lots of cool new indie releases. If you'd like to listen to that show all by itself, you can do so at the Self Help Radio website. Please remember that you'll need a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) to access that file from the SHR website.

& that was the week that was on the radio.

Thursday, August 08, 2024

Loneliness In The Movies

(image from the IMDb)

Our resident cinephile Chuck stopped by the show this week, which had the theme loneliness, & chatted with us about films tagged with loneliness on the IMDb. You can listen to that show at selfhelpradio dot net if you haven't already & once you've heard Chuck talk, please make use of these handy links (as he says, there are lots of them this week) to supplement his visit:

Here are the YouTube playlists of films & trailers:

Here is Chuck's Letterboxd list. Here are his Letterboxd reviews.
(Chuck tells us put the links to available videos in the notes for the films plus where they are available to stream for free.)

Here is the IMDb keyword search list. Here is his IMDb list of films free to stream (many are also on YouTube).

Chuck has a Twitter account & a Bluesky account where he has posted about some of the films. If you like what you see, follow him! He usually follows you back.

So farewell loneliness! You have lots of movies to watch now!

Tuesday, August 06, 2024

Self Help Radio 080624: Loneliness


Loneliness is part & parcel of radio. While you might have many people listening, you are in general alone in a room with lots of humming equipment & very rarely with other humans. Okay, that's kind of the old-style deejay way. Some people do radio with friends. Some have talk shows. Some take callers. But the sort of the radio I do has always been tinged with a kind of loneliness. I remember a volunteer at Freeform Portland telling me she didn't think being on the radio would be so lonely.

It seems natural therefore to have a radio show about loneliness, yes? & that's what happened this morning on Self Help Radio. Songs about loneliness - not necessarily songs about being lonely - plus a discussion of movies featuring loneliness & three callers who shared with us their situation with loneliness.

Listen to the show now either at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. If you choose the latter, please remember the username & password to access/download the files. Those are SHR & selfhelp respectively.

Did the show make anyone feel less lonely? Oh dear me no.

Self Help Radio Loneliness Show
"All Is Loneliness" Moondog _More Moondog_
"Loneliness Is A Well" Anita O'Day _The Complete Anita O'Day Verve/Clef Sessions_
"Loneliness Hurts" Bobby Bland _Ain't Nothing You Can Do_

introduction & definitions

"Miss Loneliness" Mitty Collier _Shades Of Mitty Collier: The Chess Singles 1961-1968_
"What's With This Loneliness" Chuck Jackson _Good Things_
"Pit Of Loneliness" Gene Chandler _The Brunswick Years 1966-1969_
"Loneliness Is Eating Me Alive" Merle Haggard _Untamed Hawk: The Early Recordings Of Merle Haggard_
"Bad Fog Of Loneliness" Neil Young _Live At The Cellar Door_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by!

"Loneliness" Tuxedomoon _Half-Mute_
"The Well Of Loneliness" McCarthy _The Well Of Loneliness EP_
"Loneliness Is A Gun" The House Of Love _The House Of Love 1986-88: The Creation Recordings_
"Please Help The Cause Against Loneliness" Sandie Shaw _Hello Angel_
"Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness" John Prine _Great Days: The John Prine Anthology_

first caller to talk about loneliness: Chris

"Loneliness Finds Her Own Way" Clem Snide _Your Favorite Music_
"Loneliness" Robert Forster _Warm Nights_
"If Loneliness Was Art" Allo Darlin' _Allo Darlin'_
"Loneliness Is Better When You're Not Alone" Hello Saferide _Introducing..._
"Loneliness Kills" Boat _Tread Lightly_

second caller to talk about loneliness: Benny

"Love Or Loneliness" Math & Physics Club _I Shouldn't Look As Good As I Do_
"Loneliness" Nouvelle Vague _I Could Be Happy_
"Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets" Morrissey _California Son_
"Loneliness Is Power" Sallie Ford _Soul Sick_

third caller to talk about loneliness: Ariel

"Loneliness Is Cruel" Willernie _Betty_
"Loneliness Has No Home" Parkington Sisters _Collide_
"Loneliness & Sweet Romance" The Frank & Walters _Greenwich Mean Time_
"The Loneliness Of A Middle-Distance Runner" Belle & Sebastian _Sing... Jonathan David_

conclusion & goodbye

"Loneliness" Motorama _Dialogues_
"Loneliness On The Run" Metronomy _Small World_

Monday, August 05, 2024

Whither Loneliness?

(Image by Beth Scupham from here.)

First off, I want to say that I'm amazed it's taken me this long to do a show about loneliness. I did a cursory search of my list of explored themes on the website but not a thorough one so I might have done this before.

Second off, I thought initially this would be an easy show. I thought I'd just play songs in which people talked about how lonely they were. But I discovered there were lots of songs in which people mentioned loneliness. The word, separate of "lonely." So I decided to focus on that. Which still means lots of people singing about being lonely, but also making poetic pronouncements about loneliness.

Third off, this was a show I had been thinking about a long time. It was finally decided that I do it - & then I completely changed the whole thing! It actually became about loneliness not just being lonely. What a goof I am.

The Self Help Radio show about loneliness happens tonight from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland & online at kboo dot fm everywhere. Yes, I'll be doing it alone. Radio had a great deal of loneliness all around.

Sunday, August 04, 2024

Preface To Loneliness: Let's Hear From An Expert


That Peanuts comic is from May 19. 1959. I scanned it myself from the Complete Peanuts. It's almost like an introduction to this week's show. I have really nothing else to add.