Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: A Birthday Celebration

(I wish I could remember where I found this.)

Sadly, no, it's not Dick Dickenbock's birthday, but it is the birthday of a famous American songwriter. Who could it be? How will we celebrate? That would be telling! But you can guess if, you know, you look for famous American songwriters born on October 13.

That's tomorrow 12-1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & online everywhere at xray dot fm. Gosh I hope there'll be cake.

This Week In Self Help ( Oct 6 + 8 )

(It's a 1971 Cadillac Coupe Deville. Image from here.)

It was a quiet, normal, no-extra-shows-for-Gary week. & it went like this:

The Dickenbock Report reported on National Badger Day. They said it couldn't be done! "They" is my dogs. They don't like badgers. The show aired on XRAY & you can in fact listen to it on the XRAY website. You can also listen & download the show on the Self Help Radio website. You may be asked for a username & password - use SHR & selfhelp.

Self Help Radio celebrated its 22nd anniversary by revisiting a theme from 2007. That theme was my favorite music from 1971. I played none of the songs/artists I played back then & still feel like I could do another two hours. In any event, that show aired on KBOO, & you can listen to it on the KBOO website. You can also listen & download the show on the Self Help Radio website. You may be asked for a username & password - use SHR & selfhelp.

The show on the KBOO website is three hours long - that's because it contains an episode of Corporate Standardized Programming. On that show I finished playing music I loved from 1988 - something I did on two episodes of Self Help Radio this year! If you'd like to listen to that show on its own, you can do so on the Self Help Radio website. You may be asked for a username & password - use SHR & selfhelp.

Someone texted me pictures of things they owned from 1971 during Self Help Radio & I thought of using them for this blog post but didn't. After all, I didn't get permission.

Self Help Radio 100824: 1971 Revisited (The 22nd Anniversary Show)

(all images from Discogs)

& what an anniversary it was! I discovered that I missed a lot of music from 1971 I adore the first time around (altho to be fair to me I did only have 90 minutes back then) & I got lots of calls that kept me from talking about 1971. Not a bad way to turn 22.

Side note: if Self Help Radio makes it to 44, I will be 78 years old when that happens. I doubt either of us will make our respective age. I don't even know if radio will be around in two decades!

Celebrate 22 years of Self Help Radio by listening either at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. At the Self Help Radio website you'll need the username SHR & the password selfhelp to access. All the songs played & all the things that happened are below.

One quick note - there's a song from 1971 that I actually didn't really know about - but someone requested it & I found it & I played it. So it's not all my favorite music of 1971.

Please enjoy!

Self Help Radio 1971 Revisited 22nd Anniversary Show

"Poor Boy" Nick Drake _Bryter Layter_

"Alcohol" The Kinks _Muswell Hillbillies_

introduction, explanation, airbreak from 2007

"Are You Leaving For The Country" Karen Dalton _In My Own Time_

"Jesus Was A Cross Maker" Judee Sill _Judee Sill_

"It's Gonna Take A Miracle" Laura Nyro & Labelle _Gonna Take A Miracle_

"Me & Bobby McGee" Janis Joplin _Pearl_

some thoughts about 1971 Otto calls in!

"The Silver Tongued Devil & I" Kris Kristofferson _The Silver Tongued Devil & I_

"Huntsville" Merle Haggard & The Strangers _Someday We'll Look Back_

"The Architect" Monty Python _Another Monty Python Record_

"L'Hôtel Particulier" Serge Gainsbourg _Histoire De Melody Nelson_

some thoughts about 1971 Frank calls in!

"Lady Day & John Coltrane" Gil Scott-Heron _Pieces Of A Man_

"Tired Of Being Alone" Al Green _Al Green Gets Next To You_

"Gonna Keep On Tryin' Till I Win Your Love" The Temptations _Sky's The Limit_

"Country Living" The Stylistics _The Stylistics_

some thoughts about 1971 Oliver calls in!

"Wild Night" Van Morrison _Tupelo Honey_

"Sister Anne" MC5 _High Time_

"Baba O'Riley" The Who _Who's Next_

some thoughts about 1971 Tina calls in!

"Underground" Curtis Mayfield _Roots_

"Get Up & Get Down" The Dramatics _Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get_

"Love The One You're With" The Isley Brothers _Givin' It Back_

"Timothy" The Buoys _The Buoys_

conclusion & goodbye

"Why Don't You Eat Carrots" Faust _Faust_

Whither 1971 Revisisted (Twenty-Second Anniversary Show)?

(The twenty-sixth amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1971. Image from here.)

It's that time again! Another anniversary. Self Help Radio first aired on 91.7fm KOOP Austin on October 9, 2002. It was a Wednesday at 2pm. It's now (almost) twenty-two years later.

It has become the show's habit to revisit an old theme on its anniversary. This year I've chosen to return to a theme first explored in 2007 - my favorite music from the year 1971. My show at the time was 90 minutes long, but there are of course many more favorite songs from that year. I'll play more tonight. (If you want to see what I played way back then, the playlist for that show is here.)

Self Help Radio has aired on at least eight different stations in at least four different towns in I think four different states. Had you told me on that October afternoon in 2002 I'd still be doing this, I would've said, "Oh I don't think so." But I am not a person that looks forward. I probably didn't think I'd still be doing the show in 2003.

Nonetheless. We have an anniversary show. Tonight on KBOO, which is on 90.7fm here in Portland, & online at kboo dot fm. Midnight to 2am. Which is technically Tuesday. & as close to October 9 as I could get this year.

Preface To 1971 Revisited (The 22nd Anniversary Show!): Repeat

(This 1971 events montage courtesy of the Wikipedia.)

Self Help Radio began on October 9, 2002. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd still be doing this show twenty-two years later.

In 2008, around the time of the show's sixth anniversary, I conceived of the idea of revisiting an old theme on the show's anniversary. Doing the math, this will be the seventeenth anniversary show. (You gotta count 2008 or it doesn't make sense.) The theme I am choosing to revisit is a show from 2007 - it's basically just more of my favorite music from 1971. I won't play anything from the first show - nothing from here - except perhaps recordings of me from that show. I dunno. I haven't listened yet.

But I will share with you something from this blog from 2007 - the "preface" I wrote before the day-of-show piece. It's called: Preface to 1971: What The Hell?! It's Snowing In Austin?! 

The past few days have been weird.

I caught a cold in Cambridge, which existed as sniffles as we trained our way (from Cambridge to King's Cross, King's Cross to Gatwick) to our flight. But once in the air, the seventeen-day plane ride (or was it fourteen years?) provided fertile ground for my sniffles to blossom into utter misery. I am guessing it had something to do with the fact that a good percentage of the passengers had some form of cold, & also that the rude bastard next to me seemed completely unable to cover his mouth when he hacked, which he did roughly ten times a minute. (I guess he doesn't have to worry about carpal tunnel.) I developed a sinus headache at thirty thousand feet, with the entire top row of my back teeth feeling like they were rotten to the very nerves. Helpful waitresses - er, stewardesses - er, flight attendants - informed me that they couldn't dispense medication, which made the reruns of "I Love Lucy" I was watching without sound even more unbearable than the fortieth time I watched them, when I was eight. With sound.

We arrived safe & warm in Dallas, last Thursday, & Magda gave me Nyquil pills & immediately I felt better. Why couldn't the waitresses on the plane give me medication? If my heart had stopped (Magda's sister pointed out) they are allowed to defibrillate me. Ah well. I will always self-medicate before any flight I take from now on.

A key word up there (keyword?) is the word "warm." It was nearly 70 degrees (Fahrenheit - in Europe, it'd be an unimpressive 18 or 19 degrees "Celsius"). Our hotel room in England wasn't that warm. We got the car & Magda drove me, all runny nosed & delirious, to my mom's, where we spent the night. I can't be sure, but the moms might have had the air conditioner on at her place. For fuck's sake.

After a medicated night's sleep, we drove home & I did my show with an adenoidal accent, & then the weekend came. It rained like a motherfucker on Friday night. (& by the way, as an idiom, the phrase "like a motherfucker" is easily translatable & even more easily exportable. I gave it to my friends in Belgium & I hope they are using it most agreeably.) It was insane. Temperatures dropped. & it got worse.

It's fucking snowing outside. Actually, it's more like it's raining/sleeting/snowing. Like a motherfucker. It's absolutely bugfuck crazy. They closed the University (so I didn't have to work - so my vacation is extended - it's like the damned Energizer Bunny, this vacation) & I've been sitting at home listening to music & occasionally wandering outside to let little pellets of frozen water bounce off my head. They may even close the school tomorrow, as well. Probably because Texans can't drive in the ice. But mainly because IT'S CRAZY THAT IT'S SNOWING IN AUSTIN.

My show this week has something to do with the year 1971, before they invented snow. Before, I believe, they invented Austin. I'll have to write about why I'm doing a show about 1971 tomorrow. I have an uncontrollable urge right now to go swat icicles off my eaves. Excuse me.

But if you asked me if I remembered any of this - well, I remember being sick on the plane, & trying to buy medicine once we landed, & my girlfriend (now wife) driving me home - but I don't remember doing this show or the one before or the snow situation in Austin. I'm not even sure I remember where KOOP was located at this time. But none of that matters. I have an anniversary to celebrate!