Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Button Day

(image found here)

National Button Day is November 16. Because that is the day that most resembles a button. One assumes. People have been celebrating National Button Day for so long that its origins have disappeared into the mists of time. When you go to your annual National Button Day gathering, you don't ask such questions, you just have a good time. But maybe you'd like to know more about National Button Day? Then you're lucky that's what we're focusing on on The Dickenbock Report tomorrow!

Yes, Sunday. That's November 16. From noon to 1pm. On 91.1+107.1fm in Portland. xray dot fm everywhere. Prepare your buttons accordingly.

This Week In Self Help: November 9 + 11

Another week in which I kept my hands to myself & just made the shows I'm supposed to make.

The Dickenbock Report on XRAY on November 9 was about tongue twisters because it was International Tongue Twister Day. I had fun putting it together but got no feed about it. Seems I was the only one who enjoyed it. Let that be your warning if you wanna listen! It's at XRAY FM & also at the SHR web page.

Self Help Radio on KBOO on November 11 had the odd theme "surface" but I got some nice texts about it even tho it was on late at night. That was nice. I had fun putting it together too. It's at KBOO FM & also at the SHR web page.

Corporate Standardized Programming also on KBOO also on November 11 was just a buncha new releases which I like to play because I listen to all kindsa new stuff all the time. It's at KBOO FM (after Self Help Radio) & also on its own at the SHR web page.

If asked, the username is SHR & the password is selfhelp.

Is that all? Yes, that's all.

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.