Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Kiss & Make Up Day

(image from here)

August 25 is Kiss & Make Up Day. After a grueling week of the Dickenbock Report staff having to watch the recent political convention (we weren't invited), we thought we would report on a day which is described as "a day to let go of resentment, grudges, anger, & indignation." & so we shall.

The Report is on tomorrow, Sunday, August 25, & runs from noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & xray dot fm everywhere. Because of stronger workplace interaction standards, Dick Dickenbock is not allowed to kiss everyone anymore, but we have taught him how to "high five," & he seems quite pleased with that. The staff now regrets that as well.

This Week In Self Help (August 18 + 20 2024)

That is one spoiled rotten dog.

Yikes! I did a sub show on KBOO today but I haven't archived it yet so it won't figure into this post. In which I tell you the dumb things I did on the radio this past week (not counting today).

The Dickenbock Report aired on XRAY on Sunday, August 18. It was National Couples Day. So I played lots of songs about famous couples. Wanna listen to it on the XRAY website? This is the link for that! Would you like to listen to & download it on the Self Help Radio website? This is the link for that!

Note: if you click on a link to the Self Help Radio website, you'll be asked for a username & a password. It's always SHR & selfhelp. Always.

Self Help Radio aired on KBOO on Tuesday, August 18. The theme was "rotten." It was not my intention to make a radio show that was rotten, just a radio show with the theme "rotten." Would you like to listen to the show on the KBOO website? This is the link for that! Would you like to listen to & download it on the Self Help Radio website? This is the link for that!

See italicized note above for username/password information.

Corporate Standardized Programming aired on KBOO on Tuesday, August 18. It was right after Self Help Radio! It was a show full of new releases. It's included in the KBOO link above. But if you'd like to listen to it on its own & download it on the Self Help Radio website, well: This is the link for that!

But wait! There's more! I was on the radio for an extra two & a half hours with my first installment of The 1969 Project. It happened on KBOO on Tuesday morning at 3am. What is it? No time to explain now! But I do explain it at the beginning of the show. KBOO doesn't archive the sub shows on its website, but you can listen to it on the Self Help Radio site if you want. This is the link for that!

Is that it? Yes, that's it.

Self Help Radio 082024: Rotten

(Disgusting image of rotten apple by Kulmalukko*)

Sorry about that image. It's hard to find delightful pictures of rotten things. But it turns out it's not difficult to listen to songs about rotten things. I believe I have demonstrated with two hours' worth of tunes that it's the opposite of rotten. But perhaps the very idea may keep you away.

It's the end of my four-part reaction to the seeming inevitability of four more years of horror under a former president. Catastrophe, chaos, loneliness, rotten. While I'm not entirely convinced it won't happen, I think the odds are better now that it might not. I'll try not to be so negative from here on out. Or I'll try not to be as excessively negative. I'm negative by nature.

Hey! The show! Listen to it at the KBOO web site if you want! Of listen + download it at the Self Help Radio website! Use the login SHR & the password selfhelp to do that please. Lots of stuff happened on the show - it's noted below.

Seriously though. The show won't make you feel rotten. I hope.

Self Help Radio Rotten Show

"Rotten" The McTells _What Happens Next_

"Rotten" Oneida _Success_

"Rotten" Porridge Radio _Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky_

introduction + definitions

"Hot Rotten Soda Pop (Oh, My Toe)" The Cues _Why_

"Rotten Break" Cyril Davies _The Legendary Cyril Davies With Alexis Korner's Breakdown Group & The Roundhouse Four_

"Son Of A Rotten Gambler" Chip Taylor _Chip Taylor's Last Chance_

"The Rotten Prince" Anne Price _My Time_

interview with OnlyFans creator Hubert Jorgensen

"Rotten To The Core" Friends Of The Family _Rotten To The Core_

"Rotten Roll" Psychagogo _Whirl-Wheels_

"Rotten Love" Levy _Rotten Love_

"Rotten Wrock" Quasi _Breaking The Balls Of History_

interview with self-help writer Hector Jensen

"That's My Girl (Rotten To The Core)" The Great Scots _Arrive!_

"Rotten Apple" The Id _Diggin' For Gold, Vol. 7: In The U.S.A._

"My Dirty, Lowdown, Rotten, Cotton Pickin' Little Darlin'" The Geezinslaw Brothers _My Dirty, Lowdown, Rotten, Cotton Pickin' Little Darlin'_

"Rotten Little Song" Donna Fargo _All About A Feeling_

"Spoiled Rotten Baby" The Starlight Drifters _Every Note A Pearl..._

interview with nutritionist Harriet Jones

"This House Is Rotten" Adorable _Vendetta_

"Rotten Sweet Tooth" Nobunny _Secret Songs: Reflections From The Ear Mirror_

"Rotten" Gringo Star _The Sides & In Between_

"Rotten Apple" Screaming Females _Ugly_

a discussion of song requests & suggestions
Ned Dry & Captain McCheese interrupt!

"Johnny B. Rotten" The Monks _Bad Habits_

"Rotten World Blues" Eels _Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities, & Unreleased 1996-2006_

"Rotten Pumpkin" Slothrust _Everyone Else_

"Rotten Fodder" The Wolfgang Press _Standing Up Straight_

conclusion & goodbye

"Old Rotten Longing" Ygdrassil _Pieces_

"Rotten Rose" Soul Merchants _1985-1987_

"Hot Rotten Grass Smell" Wednesday _Rat Saw God_

* This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Whither Rotten?

(image found on Tumblr many years ago...)

My wife told me when she found out I was doing a show with the theme "rotten" that she thought the word old-fashioned. She meant of course the adjective when describing a person, not an organic thing gone bad. Who describes anyone as rotten these days? In her mind, calling a kid or a politician "rotten" seemed like something you'd hear in a black & white television show.

& maybe she's right - you're more like to hear Bugs Bunny says "Gee I'm rotten" than a modern-day cartoon, or to hear a kid in an old sitcom say "I feel rotten" than one today. I think she was trying to tell me that perhaps I might not find too many songs that use the word. I reassured her that that would not be the case.

But maybe you think so? If you do, tune in tonight from midnight to 2am for this week's show. It's on 90.7fm in town. It's on kboo dot fm everywhere. It's probably going to be rotten, too, but you knew that. It's just that that's the theme as well.

Preface To Rotten: The End Of The Quadrilogy

Here's Johnny!

As I have explained in my introductions to the last three shows - with themes catastrophe, chaos, & loneliness - I was severely affected by the President's terrible performance in the June debate. One of my friends who is a doctor wrote on Facebook, "He's sundowning onstage!" Other people may have had a better time - I'm sure there were many who had a worse time - but speaking for myself the years 2017 to 2020 were made extra-difficult because of the person in the Oval Office. That debate seemed to suggest that it was inevitable he would return there next year.

Now I want to point out that Self Help Radio isn't overtly political although I doubt any people who are supporters of the former president are listeners (actually I doubt anyone is a listener) but I certainly don't want my hopes & fears about politics to be a major factor of the show. Somehow my depression - my doom & gloom - my trepidation & sense of futility - they shaped into the four themes I came up with after that debate.

This week is the last: rotten. Something was rotten in the States of United. The whole world looked to be turning rotten. It seemed like, as Robinson Jeffers once wrote, America was indeed "settling into the mould of its vulgarity." I had told my wife I couldn't live for four more years in that America. So I was feeling I'd need to escape the rottenness of the situation.

These days I don't feel that way tho I recognize lots can happen in the next two & a half months. It takes me a while to prepare these shows so I couldn't really scrap them once the fortunes of democracy changed. They are a snapshot of how I was feeling - & perhaps what I may still feel.

Of course the show has nothing to do with Johnny Rotten. I don't even think he'll make an appearance!