Self Help Radio 111125: Surface

Let it be known I tried to get deep about the subject of "surface." I tried to use all meanings of the word. I sought out silly but appropriate interviewees. I kept my hands on the surface of the console at all times in case anything went wrong. I did my best, damn it! But somehow it still feels a little shallow.

Nevertheless here's the show! It's over on the KBOO website but also on the Self Help Radio website. On the latter use the username SHR & password selfhelp to access. Most everything that happens on the show is listed below.

Time to leave the surface of the show!

Self Help Radio Surface Show

"Surface" Big Bliss _At Middle Distance_

"Surface" Burnt Palms _The Girl You Knew_

"The Surface" The Dodos _Grizzly Peak_

introduction & definitions

"Surface World" The Jades _Scream Loud!!! The Fenton Story_

"On The Surface" Pere Ubu _Dub Housing_

"Walking On The Surface Of The Moon" Wreckless Eric _The Wonderful World Of Wreckless Eric_

"Look Beneath The Surface" Maggie Nicols _Miniatures (A Sequence Of Fifty-One Tiny Masterpieces Edited By Morgan-Fisher)_

"Under The Surface" Bettie Serveert _Palomine_

interview with Col. Brock Eiger, who wants to land on the surface of the sun

"Scratch The Surface" Jasmine Minks _Scratch The Surface_

"From The Surface" Mecca Normal _Jarred Up_

"Surface Of Pluto" Human Eye _4: Into Unknown_

"Surface Envy" Sleater-Kinney _No Cities To Love_

"On The Surface" Bettye LaVette _I've Got My Own Hell To Raise_

interview with Jenny & Joey Gillespie, who grew up under the surface of the Earth

"Up To The Surface" Cloud Nothings _Life Without Sound_

"Perfect On The Surface" Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton _Choir Of The Mind_

"Breaking The Surface" Ane Brun _How Beauty Holds The Hand Of Sorrow_

"In The Surface Noise" Archers Of Loaf _Reason In Decline_

"Scratch The Surface" Sloan _Steady_

interview with Surface Level Living promoter Scott

"Under The Surface" Linda From Work _The Night Is Short_

"I Just Surfaced" The Macks _The Macks Are A Knife_

"Skimming The Surface" Fotoform _Grief Is A Garden (Forever In Bloom)_

"Surface Talk" Gretta Seabird _Cycling EP_

"On The Surface" Pale Blue Eyes _New Place_

conclusion & goodbye

"Surfacer" 14 Iced Bears _14 Iced Bears_

"Surface Operations" Grace Scheele _Landings_

"Scratching The Surface" Rabbit's Eye _The Damage Was Terrific_

Whither Surface?

In general, I can think of three main reasons one might pick a theme for a theme-based radio show. Off the top of my head, those are:

1) It's a holiday or famous day - like Halloween or a famous artist's birthday.
2) It's a day of special importance to the programmer - an anniversary perhaps.
3) It's arbitrary - for example, in the case of this particular theme-based radio show, the reason is often because of coincidence of repetition - I might hear many different songs in a short time that suggest the theme.

The reason for the theme of this week's Self Help Radio - which is "surface" - is the unofficial fourth way (which might seem to coincide with reason number 3):

4) For the life of me I can't remember why I picked that theme.

Here's what I know:

Sometime this year I thought "surface" would be a good theme for a show. Probably late at night. Perhaps whiskey was involved. I created a folder on my computer & put a file in it with some ideas. Later on it seemed to me I was ready to make that show - I had enough songs, I had some silly ideas for interviews, etc. & I put it on the schedule.

It never occurred to me to write down why that was the theme. & it is "surface." Not "surfaces." The word "surface."

& that's all I can say about that. But I will add the show airs tonight from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm here in Portland & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. I know, on the surface it doesn't seem like a good theme. But maybe there's something below the surface?

Preface To Surface: You Can Drive Forever

Something I might have mentioned before - I like taking pictures. I got my hands on a digital camera sometime in 2014 or so & I have been snapping shots when the spirit takes me since then.

But why not seek out opportunities to take pictures? I have done it a few times. The image above - from 2017 - is one of those times. On an afternoon with nothing to do, I went on a drive & took some pictures.

Oh how I hesitate to say that I keep a journal because it's really just an accounting of my day but I checked back to see what I might have been doing when I took this picture - it was on December 3, 2017 - & here's what I think was happening:

We bought some dog treats for our beagles which we discovered were too large for them. We offered to donate them to an animal rescue group. I drove there & had to wander through what I described then as a "shabby office park" to give them away. That all went successfully - I have the strangest feeling I returned there years later but will forgo that at the moment & just say I decided to take the long way home in order to take some pictures. Did I? I wrote this: "took a few but not many."

Not the makings of a bona fide photographer to be sure!

The surface of the road is obvious here tho. & truly there are roads like this everywhere. & even if they don't go on forever, they might as well - they certainly feel like they do.