Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National I Love My Feet Day

August 17 is National I Love My Feet Day. To a person, none of the members of the Dickenbock Report staff - including Dick Dickenbock himself - loves their feet. We have an explicit "keep your shoes on" policy at the Report because frankly the feet we have are either difficult to look at or just smell awful. Maybe something about radio news lends itself to a total lack of healthy foot care. Perhaps what we reveal in our reporting will help us all out. Anyway, dog & cat feet are more awesome.

Get your feet ready for tomorrow at noon on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & xray dot fm everywhere. & no not take your shoes off before you enter the house. We'd rather you track dirt in then have to deal with whatever surprises your exposed feet will reveal.

This Week In Self Help August 8 10 12 + 14

Oh dear I was on the radio a lot this week. Eek!

Last Friday the 8th I subbed a show on XRAY. Listen to the show on the XRAY website. Listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Sunday the 10th on the Dickenbock Report I played tunes for National Lazy Day. Listen to the show on the XRAY website. Listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Later that day I played two hours of electronica on KBOO. KBOO doesn't archive its sub shows but you can listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website. & you can see the Spinitron playlist here.

Tuesday the 12th on Self Help Radio I played songs & talked about porches. Listen to the show on the KBOO website. Listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

After that show on Corporate Standardized Programming I played an hour of new releases. It's included on the KBOO website file above. Or you can listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Finally yesterday Thursday the 14th I subbed another show on XRAY. I have not put it on the Self Help Radio website yet but you can listen to the show on the XRAY website.

As always, for the Self Help Radio website, you may need the username SHR & the password selfhelp to listen.

That was probably too much radio. Somebody should say something.

Self Help Radio 081225: Porches

It's no secret - since it's all I've been talking about here recently - I love porches. I take pictures of porches here in Portland. Look at those porches! Even the ones that can use some work are better than no porch at all. I would rather die falling through the rotting boards of a neglected old porch than live at a place with no porch! Okay, maybe not. But I wouldn't mind just falling & surviving & hanging out with the rats under the porch for a while.

Hey! Look at all these songs about porches! Plus I've added some silly fake interviews! & I talk at length about how KBOO should have a porch! It was a warm night in Lexington - I hope someone was listening from their porch.

Listen to the show now at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. If you choose the latter, remember the username SHR & the password selfhelp. Everything that happened on the show - well, all the songs I played, anyway - is mentioned below.

Now! I'm gonna sneak over to my neighbor's porch & take a nap!

Self Help Radio Porches Show

"Last Night On The Back Porch" The Andrews Sisters _The Andrews Sisters Sing The Dancing 20s_

"On The Front Porch" Burl Ives _Summer Magic_

"Sleep On The Porch" The Stewart Brothers _R&B Humdingers Volume 11_

introduction & definitions

"I'll Leave The Porch Light A-Burning" Billy Grammer _Old Foolish Me_

"Front Porch" John Hartford _'Gentle On My Mind' & Other Originals By John Hartford_

"Sitting On The Porch" Kate Wolf & The Wildwood Flower _Back Roads_

"On The Old Front Porch" Tiny Tim _God Bless Tiny Tim_

"Old Man Moses' Front Porch Rhythm Band" The Hardy Boys _Wheels_

interview with Ruth McAllister, who never leaves her porch

"I'm Gonna Sit On The Porch & Pick On My Guitar" Johnny Cash _Silver_

"The Front Porch Song" Robert Earl Keen _No Kinda Dancer_

"Sittin' On The Front Porch Swing" Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, & Tammy Wynette _Honky Tonk Angels_ 

"Porch Flambe" Scruffy The Cat _The Good Goodbye: Unreleased Recordings 1984-1990_

"Porch Song" Porchupines _Swirl_

interview with Clarence Holter, who does a podcast from his porch

"Old Southern Porches" Dale Ann Bradley _Old Southern Porches_

"Porch Song" Trailer Bride _Smelling Salts_

"Porchlight" Neko Case & Her Boyfriends _Furnace Room Lullaby_

"Stu's Porch" Toadmortons _The Toadmortons' Collection_

"Rock Upon A Porch With You" The Boy Least Likely To _The Best B Sides Ever_

interview with Jarvis Costello, who builds porches

"Flypaper Porch Light" Dirt Bike Annie _Hit The Rock!_

"Obscene Back Porch Floating" Experimental Dental School _Jane Doe Loves Me_

"Porch Swing" Emergency Bible Study _Birthday Girl_

"Sitting On The Porch At Night" Horse Jumper Of Love _Natural Part_

"Porchlight" The Antlers _Green To Gold_

conclusion & goodbye

"Porch Boogie" Rose City Band _Garden Party_

"Front Porch Rain" Jackson Scribner _Jackson Scribner_

Whither Porches?

Many moons ago I wrote a series of haikus* about my wife's envy of other people's gardens. It turns out I have porch envy. The difference between my envy & my wife's is that she has cultivated a garden. But I can't just make a porch out of thin air. I guess you could say we have something like a porch but it's really just a little raised square by our front door. No space for even a chair. & I have taken lots of pictures of other people's porches. Especially recently.

It occurred to me I should make a radio show about porches, not because I imagine it will somehow magically create the right circumstances for me to have the porch of my dreams, but because recently porches have been on my mind. Oh how I'd love a porch! I'll have to settle for a radio show about porches instead.

That show is happening tonight on KBOO from midnight to 2am. That's 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere. It's on late but it'll be a warm night so maybe listen on the porch. You lucky dog!

* I know haiku plural is haiku but it doesn't sound right to me so I add the plural s.

Preface To Porches: Porches I Have Known

It's not a secret, I love porches. I don't know if I've always loved porches, but in my adult life, certainly in the 21st century, I have admired porches - even envied them.

The picture above is the porch of my house in Lexington, Kentucky, which wasn't covered, & which wasn't much of a porch, though there were some times we stood there & surveyed the neighborhood. Probably the best porch I've ever had was in Austin, Texas, in a rental owned by a pretty odious dude, a porch on which my nephew & I drank all summer long, & I even sang with musical friends who played guitar. That was a good porch. It had a swing.

My current house doesn't have a porch. I've petitioned the wife with ideas of creating a porch but it has fallen on deaf ears. She hasn't spent time just reading on a porch. Or drinking gin & lemonade watching the day turn into night. Or maybe she's afraid if we had a porch - a front porch, mind - I'd never come inside. That's a real worry to be sure.

One thing I have to admit is that I've never lived in one of those places in the south that has a great bit wraparound porch with ceiling fans from the days before air conditioning. I lived in a room in a house that had a decent porch in that style, but the only time I was on it was drinking with my landlord who was hitting on my girlfriend. So not a fond memory.

Which is my way of saying - if you have a great porch, invite me over! I'll bring the gin & lemonade!

You lucky bastard.