Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Lou Reed's Birthday

(image from here)

Lou Reed was born March 2, 1942. On what would have been his 83rd birthday, The Dickenbock Report on XRAY celebrates his life with artists who admired him & were influenced by him playing his songs. Also we'll have a couple of songs kinda about him. We recognize that so much of the music we love might not have existed if he did not.

Tomorrow, March 2, from 12-1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & online everywhere at xray dot fm.

This Week In Self Help (February 23 + 25)

Okay, okay, I was on the radio today, but I'll cover that next week. I haven' had a chance to put it on my website yet jeez!

Sunday the 23rd was National Play Tennis Day. We explored that topic on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY. You can listen to that show:
on the XRAY website
on the Self Help Radio website (you may need username SHR password selfhelp)

Tuesday the 25th Self Help Radio on KBOO had the theme "get better." You can listen that show:
on the KBOO website

on the Self Help Radio website (you may need username SHR password selfhelp)

Also Tuesday the 25th Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO played lots of new releases. It's the last hour of the file on the KBOO website above or you can listen to that show:

on the Self Help Radio website (you may need username SHR password selfhelp)

That's all. If you need me, I'll be preparing more radio shows while looking at grey clouds through the silhouettes of douglas firs. Oh who am I kidding it was a lovely day today!

Self Help Radio 022525: Get Better

Just a quick glance at the online news after doing a show with the hope that maybe just maybe it might help the world get a little better... Let's see... Okay. Yes. Hm. Well. Now, it seems actually a lot worse. Well great fucking job Gary.

Look, I knew nothing I could do would help make anything better in this utterly awful time in which we live but I nevertheless hold out hope. It's one of my most disappointing qualities, & I am someone who has mostly disappointing qualities. Nonetheless, if you need people singing the phrase "get better" a lot, if that might work as a kind of meditation for you, then perhaps this show will help your day get better.

Listen to it now either at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. At the latter use the username SHR & the password selfhelp to access. Most of the stuff that happened on the show is listed below.

Let's hope it does get better soon.

Self Help Radio Get Better Show

"You Might Get Better, But You'll Never Get Well" Henry Allen & His New York Orchestra _Henry 'Red' Allen & His Orchestra 1929-1933_

"My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time" Doris Day _Daydreaming: The Very Best Of Doris Day_

"I'm Getting Better All The Time" Barbara Pittman _The Legendary Sun Records Story_

introduction & explanation

"Things Are Getting Better" The Kinks _Kinks_

"Things Are Going To Get Better" Small Faces _Small Faces_

"You're Getting Better" Ken Nordine _Word Jazz Vol. II_

"Love (It's Getting Better)" The Groove _The Magic Touch_

"Things Get Better" Sharon Tandy _You Gotta Believe It's... Sharon Tandy_

"It's Getting Better" Mama Cass Elliot _Make Your Own Kind Of Music - It's Getting Better_

interview with entrepreneur Dean Dearborn

"Things Got To Get Better (Get Together)" Marva Whitney _It's My Thing_

"I'm Getting Better" Rufus Thomas _The Funkiest Man (The Stax Funk Sessions 1967-1975)_

"The Deeper I Go (The Better It Gets)" Denise LaSalle _Trapped By A Thing Called Love_

"Things Are Going To Get Better" Crown Heights Affair _Dream World_

"Get Better" Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip _The Logic Of Chance_

interview with writer Drake Slade

"Getting Better" The Wedding Present _Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father_

"Getting Better" The Popinjays _Flying Down To Mono Valley_

"Things Will Get Better" Brighter _Disney & Other Singles_

"Get Better" New Fast Automatic Daffodills _Pigeonhole_

"World Is Getting Better" Patrik Fitzgerald _Gifts & Telegrams_

interview with writer Dolores Marx

"It Will Only Get Better" Thee Ahs _Sonic Theories: Live Sessions From CJSW 90.9 FM // 2012_

"Get Better" Mates Of State _Re-Arrange Us_

"Do You Really Want To Not Get Better" Joyce Manor _Cody_

"I'm Going To Get Better Lately" David Kilgour _The Far Now_

"I'm Getting Better At Falling In Love" Alex Lilly _Repetiton Is A Sin_

"Getting Better" Sports Team _Gulp!_

conclusion & goodbye

"Getting Better" Circus Devils _Squeeze The Needle_

"Life Gets Better" Bleach Lab _Lost In A Rush Of Emptiness_

Whither Get Better?

Before I tell you how this theme came about, I should tell you - or remind you, if I've told you before - that I don't have any supernatural beliefs. I certainly don't believe that there are acts, like magic spells, that one can do to help bring about favorable changes one might want. But I should also tell you - or remind you, if I've told you before -  that I grew up with comics & books & movies & television shows that were full of all kinds of supernatural sci-fi fantasy things that I longed to believe in. Occasionally I get the desire to hope for those things. The abject condition of my country has led me back to my childhood wishing.

The idea is, if I do a shown with a theme like "get better," might it throw something into the ether to help things get better? Political action & other kinds of resistance are doubtless more important & more helpful, but what can a dumb person who spends a lot of dumb time on a dumb radio show do but something kinda dumb? & that's how this week's theme came about. & hey I'm told that one's attitude can be helpful - hoping to make things better might encourage me to actually act to help make things better. One hopes.

One thing's for sure - Self Help Radio ain't getting any better!

Listen tonight from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. Everywhere like the United States where things are getting much, much worse.

Preface To Get Better: It'll Get Worse

A pessimist is: a person who habitually sees or anticipates the worst or is disposed to be gloomy (1).
A cynic is: a person whose outlook is scornfully & habitually negative (2).

A defeatist is: someone who is resigned to defeat without offering positive suggestions (3).

Is that me? Would I describe myself by any of those terms?

In the last twenty years of her life, from around age 70 to age 90, my mother received a call from me about once a week. She had great ambivalence in her. She felt life had not treated her fairly. But she recognized that she had had mostly good health, had a large family that loved her, & despite everything had lived a mostly good life.

When asked about her religious beliefs, she spoke a lot about "God" but never really about Jesus or about Christianity. One conversation I had with her - a random Sunday in which she related to me all her recent goings-on & lots of gossip about my siblings - we got to talking about religion. She knew I didn't believe in anything supernatural, & it bothered her, & somehow she felt a desire to tell me why I was wrong.

"I know God is there protecting me," she said, "because otherwise how could I have made it this far in my life without him looking out for me?"

She didn't like it when I said that she was perhaps downplaying her own strength & fortitude, & the conversation shifted like conversations do.

We got onto a topic which involved some terrible news for her - I'm not sure if it was about her health or her finances or some squabble she was having with someone. Needless to say, it caused her a great deal of worry. She said, just minutes after she said the statement above, "I'm not sure what I've done wrong to make God punish me in this way."

When I think about the sort of person I am - not discounting my own experiences, especially the fact that I spent a great deal of time alone as a child - I think of this conversation, & it makes me think, "I have 50% of her genes in me."

& that's how I answer those questions above.