Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Look For Circles Day

Where can one look for circles tomorrow, November 2, on Look For Circles Day? Might I suggest The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM? We'll be reporting on Look For Circles Day & maybe explaining how one can look for circles by listening to the radio.

That's Sunday noon to 1pm on 91.1 & 107.1fm here in Portland, & online everywhere at xray dot fm. See you in the circle!

This Week In Self Help: October 26 + 28

(image from here)

Happy Halloween! I made a Halloween show this week - well, two, really, but the Dickenbock Report episode was sort of recycled from a 2019 Self Help Rado episode (don't tell anyone) although it had a new fake news report in it. Anyway since the main thing today is Halloween here first is this week's Self Help Radio! A show about wizards.

10/28 Self Help Radio Wizard Halloween: listen at KBOO | listen at Self Help Radio

The show I do after Self Help Radio - Corporate Standardized Programming - featured more wizard songs but was all instrumental.

10/28 Corporate Standardized Programming Wizard Halloween: listen at KBOO (after Self Help Radio) | listen at Self Help Radio

& to the recycled show - The Dickenbock Report reported on Frankenstein.

10/26 Dickenbock Report Frankenstein Halloween: listen at XRAY | listen at Self Help Radio

In you are so inclined I've archived most of my Halloween shows at the Self Help Radio Halloween page.

& remember - username SHR, password selfhelp. Just in case.

Self Help Radio 102825: Wizards! (Halloween 2025)

A public service announcement: Wizards! Don't leave you hats lying around! They are important for some spells! Many wizards keep creatures & other things in their hat! This hat could have been found by children - or witches!

Here is the 2025 Self Help Radio Halloween show - just in time for the holiday - all about wizards. In addition to lots of tunes about wizards, I speak to three wizards - & one witch. Plus! There are some spells discussed. & listening to show puts a hex on you. Not a bad hex - just one that makes you want to support community radio instead of buying Harry Potter merchandise.

You can experience the magic (so to speak) at either the KBOO web site or at the Self Help Radio web site. At the latter you may need the username SHR & password selfhelp to listen. Nearly everything that happens on the show is listed below.

Presto! A wizard's show!

Self Help Radio Halloween 2025 Wizards Show

"The Wizard" Jimmie Rodgers _The Best Of Jimmie Rodgers_

"Sorcerer's Apprentice" The Del-Vikings _Come Go With Me: The Best Of The Del-Vikings - The Dot/ABC Recordings_

"My Friend The Wizzard" The Others _Mindrocker_

introduction & definitions

"Sorcerella" Jefferson Lee _Poppies: Assorted Finery From The First Psychedelic Age_

"The Wizard" Cats Eyes _The Electric Asylum Volume 2 - British Psychedelic Freakrock Rarities_

"Wizard Of Gobsolod" Velvett Fogg _Velvett Fogg_

"Witches & Wizzards" Louise Huebner _Louise Huebner's Seduction Through Witchcraft_

"Wizard Shep" The Sun Also Rises _Dust On The Nettles (A Journey Through The British Underground Folk Scene 1967-1972)_

interview with wizard Barton Terellian

"Abracadabra" Bruce Haack _Listen Compute Rock Home (The Best Of Dimension 5)_

"Abracadabra Alakazam" Daddy Dewdrop _Daddy Dewdrop_

"The Wizard" Rowan Brothers _Rowan Brothers_

"Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard" Twink _Think Pink_

"Mr. Wizard" Stone The Crows _Teenage Licks_

interview with Cassandra The Witch & her wizard apprentice Junior

"We're Off To See The Wizard (The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz)" Meco _The Wizard Of Oz_

"The Wizard & The Lizard" Gorky's Zygotic Mynci _Barafundle_

"The Wizard" Bat For Lashes _Fur & Gold_

"It's Only Sorcery" Outrageous Cherry _The Book Of Spectral Projections_

"Sorcerer" The Mekons _The Curse Of The Mekons_

interview with wizard Limin The Eldritch

"Pinball Wizard" Binghamton Crosbys _Songs In The Key Of Nishole_

"Synth Wizard" Go-Kart Mozart _On The Hot Dog Streets_

"Dark Sorcerer" Frankie & The Witch Fingers _Zam_

"Sadie Sorceress" King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard _Omnium Gatherum_

"Clemency For The Wizard King" The Mountain Goats _In League With Dragons_

conclusion & goodbye

"The Wizard" T. Rex _T. Rex_

Whither Wizards? (Halloween 2025!)

(comic by Tom Gauld)

Halloween is a holiday I celebrate every year on the show. But I don't like to play the same Halloween songs every year so instead I select a single theme - an aspect of Halloween, or a monster, something like that, & let that be the focus od my Halloween show. & I have not repeated Halloween themes in my many years on Self Help Radio which means I must find a new theme each year. That means I can never again on Self Help Radio have Halloween shows about ghosts & vampires, about zombies & werewolves, about witches & mummies & monsters in general & Frankenstein in particular.  Scary places weren't neglected, either - there have been shows about haunted houses, graveyards, ghost towns, even hell.  Are you afraid or black cats or spiders or clowns or scarecrows or all kinds of horrible things attacking - becayse there have been Halloween shows about those terrible creatures too! Some terrifying concepts, too, have come under the show's scrutiny: voodoo & nightmares & death have been nervously explored.

(If you're like me & counted the themes & said "Hey those are only 20 themes! Hasn't the show been on from like 23 years?" The answer is I didn't do a Halloween show one year, & the first show was a general Halloween show, & this will be the Halloween episode of the show's 23rd year.)

All of these shows can be listened to by clicking the link above or simply visiting the Self Help Radio Halloween show page. It looks like I do need to add shows for the last two years though eep!

Do I despair of running out of Halloween themes? Oh indeed. But this year I fear the show might not be too scary - but I think it will capture some of the magic of Halloween. It's a show about wizards. In addition to songs about wizards, I'll be speaking to some wizards too - all night long!

That's at the Witching Hour - midnight to 2am tonight - on 90.7fm in Portland & online at kboo dot fm. I don't mind if you don't listen but some of the wizards I'll talk to might so - maybe listen or get turned into a frog?

Preface To Wizards (Halloween 2025): Portland Halloween

Portland loves Halloween. I'm tempted to say the city loves Halloween more than any other holiday but I don't really celebrate many other holidays - there are lots of Christmas decorations during Christmas but that doesn't charm me as much as displays of things that frighten you.

Although really I don't celebrate Halloween much either. I don't dress up & I don't decorate the house. As a result, very few children make it by the house - & they don't tend to like the vegan treats we serve. But I've always made Halloween shows - every Halloween since the beginning of the show. & while I feel like I am likely to run out of Halloween themes fairly soon, I've scraped by each year - this year with a theme that's not exactly scary but is a common Halloween costume - wizards.

Above is a picture of a yard in my neighborhood which shows some of the cleverness on display by the people who are really, really into Halloween. This particular yard makes my wife laugh every time we pass - it's on our dog walk route you see.

There is I suppose no real explanation for why the theme is what it is this week but I'll take a crack at it tomorrow anyway.