Self Help Radio 050726: Bad Boys & Bad Girls

It is a testament to what a good boy I am that I only know two bad boys & one bad girl - & they are in the picture above - from the left, bad boy Stuart, bad girl Pauline, & bad boy Pete. Fascinatingly, they are also the best boys & girls I know - Pauline is a very good girl & Pete & Stuart are very good boys. I guess it's because they are beagles that there's that difficult dichotomy.

As you can see on the playlist below, the show is evenly divided between bad boys & bad girls. & sometimes a girl is singing about a bad boy or boys & a boy is singing about a bad girl or girls. This radio program attempts to present as many possible viewpoints as it can.

You can listen to the show now at the Self Help Radio website. Alas, there appear to be issues with the KBOO website but as soon as they are resolved, I will add that link to this page. The playlist below shows all that happened on the show.

At this point, I might admonish you to be good but I know you won't be.

Self Help Radio Bad Boys & Bad Girls show

"Bad Boy" Barefoot Bill _Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order 1927-1930_

"I'm A Bad, Bad Girl" Little Esther Phillips _The Chronological Little Esther: 1951-1952_

"Bad Boy" Falcon Jane _Legacy_

introduction & definitions

"Bad Girl" The Miracles _The Chess Story 1957-1964_

"Bad Boy" Larry Williams _The Specialty Story_

"Bad Girl" She _She Wants A Piece Of You_

"Bad Boys Get Spanked" The Pretenders _The Pretenders II_

"Bad Girl" New York Dolls _New York Dolls_

interview with Bad Boys Of Portland member Zach

"Good Girl, Bad Boy" Junior Senior _D-D-Don't Don't Stop The Beat_

"Bad Girls" Donna Summer _The Disco Years (Boogie Fever) Volume Three_

"Even The Good Boys Are Bad" Locate S, 1 _Personalia_

"Bad Bad Girls" Pushtwangers _Pushtwangers_

"Bad Bad Boy" David Candy _Play Power_

interview with former bad boy Rufus

"Bad Girls" Tennis _Ritual In Repeat_ 

"Bad Boys" Hunx & His Punx _Walk Out On This World_

"Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" Jonathan Richman _Jonathan Goes Country_

"Bad Boy" John Prine _German Afternoons_

"Bad Girl" Cherry Vanilla _Bad Girl_

interview with bad boy & bad girl researcher Cliff Rupp

"Sensitive Bad Boys" The Dead Sailor Girls _Rolling Sea_

"Bad Girl" The Zakary Thaks _Face To Face_

"Bad Boy" The Adicts _The Complete Adicts Singles Collection_

"Bad Girl" Kitbuilders _This Is Not The 80s - A Nu-Wave Electro Compilation_

"Bad Boy" Hand Habits _Wildly Idle (Humble Before The Void)_

conclusion & goodbye

"This Bad Girl" The Golden Cups _Complete Best Blues Of Life_

"Bad Boy" King Khan & The Shrines _Idle No More_

"Bad Girl" Sun June _Somewhere_

"Bad Boys" Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside _Untamed Beast_

Whither Bad Boys & Bad Girls?

(Image from Wikipedia)

Just so you know - I've been writing in this dumb blog about my radio show(s) since 2006. Almost 20 years. It was on September 13, 2006, I explained why I was making a radio show about the theme sugar. (You can read it here if you want.) I really thought that I would know why I picked every theme & even supposed - quite naively - that there might be an interesting story about it, too. If you have spent any time on this blog, you will know that that supposition was wrong, wrong, wrong.

My memory is not what it is, if it ever was. I will forget things that happened this morning as a matter of course. & I have made a radio show a week, usually based on a unique theme, for nearly 24 years now. How in the world am I supposed to remember why I did something, chose something, planned something?

Now you might be thinking - oh this is where Gary turns the tables on us & says "But not this time!" Because he's always making excuses about how he doesn't know where his ideas come from. But alas! That's giving me too much credit.

About three months ago, I wrote down "bad boys" on a list. Then added "bad girls." Then wrote "boys singing about bad girls/girls singing about bad boys?" It appears it was some kind of exercise. Why? Who knows. Maybe I heard a song. Maybe I thought about the show "Cops."

All that I can say is that the theme of Self Help Radio tonight on KBOO is "bad boys & bad girls." Howsoever it found its way into my head & soon out into the Portland airwaves. You can listen to it from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm here in Portland or online at kboo dot fm.

Be a good boy &/or good girl & tune in, would you please?

Preface To Bad Boys & Bad Girls: Of Course I Wasn't A Bad Boy

There's a very good reason I was never a bad boy tho I could have turned out worse. I shoplifted. I wasn't always truthful. I recently confessed on this blog to having a short-lived infatuation with setting things on fire. & I was never really watched as a kid. I knew some boys who almost certainly had run-ins with the law & possibly even ended up with criminal records. I certainly knew people my age who were doing drugs & drinking & who may well have developed lifelong problems with that. I grew up very poor, mostly unsupervised, with lots of time on my hands & much of it alone. Why didn't I fall in with a bad crowd? Why didn't I take the step into the world of the "bad boy"?

One word: fear.

Now I can't tell you if I am naturally fearful. What I can tell you is that my mother almost certainly was. She was terrified of the world. Like she lived in the Australian outback where everything is poisonous. & she imparted that fear onto me & my siblings. Two of my older brothers were far more interested in drugs than I was, & I have heard some interesting stories of drug use & big parties that I would never have taken part in - but for some reason, they never ended up in jail, never had a criminal record. I think it was my mother's fear transferred to them.

Listen: I grew up with kids that happily left the apartment complexes we lived in & wandered far & wide, getting into all sort of mischief. Why didn't I do that - or my little brother, who was often my companion in my childhood? Because our mother told us there were dangers out there - you know, across the street. A block over. Where terrible shit happens.

She wouldn't let us go into public restrooms alone until we were probably ten or eleven years old. We had to go with her in the women's restroom which was embarrassing. Why? Because, she said, there was a man in the men's restroom with a knife who would cut your thing off. & I would think - why are they letting that guy do that? It seemed even to a seven-year-old to be bad for business.

How she imparted that fear seems to me to be through repetition. My mother would talk all the time. & as a little boy, sitting with her, I must've heard the same horror stories told in different variations over & over all through my childhood. To this day I hear her voice in situations where I might be alone or I might be experiencing something stressful & unfamiliar. I have to talk her down or I won't do the thing that I really, really want to do.

A few years ago, during the pandemic, my wife was jazzercising in the garage, & the song she was playing repeated the phrase "shake what your momma gave you" or something like that. & all I could think was, "I wish I could shake the crippling fear of the world my momma gave me."

& that's why I was never a bad boy.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Dandelion Day

April 5 is National Dandelion Day. Dick Dickenbock loves dandelions, & secretly believes in their wish-granting powers. Too many of the Report's staff & crew have discovered him in a field of flowers wishing to be back on network news shows. One wish he made - "If I can't be back on CBS News then CBS News shouldn't be allowed to exist!" - seems to be coming true. Dandelion wishes may be granted over a longer period of time than previous thought. In any event, Dick Dickenbock loves dandelions, so that's what we're reporting on tomorrow.

Yes, tomorrow! Sunday April 5. From noon to 1pm. On XRAY FM - 91.1+107.1fm in town, xray dot fm everywhere. Dick Dickenbock has a dandelion & he is now wishing you would tune in. So maybe you better?

This Week In Self Help: March 29 + 31 (plus a bonus show)

Sorry I don't have a better picture for this week's recap of my radio blunders. It's a doorway with an ornate - would you call it a gate? it's not a screen - that I liked that I saw in San Francisco back in October. It has nothing to do with the radio I made this week, which went like this:

Sunday March 29. The Dickenbock Report on XRAY. It was Mermaid Day. You can listen to the show on the XRAY website. Listeners sent me images of mermaids!

Tuesday March 31. Self Help Radio on KBOO. A continuation of the celebration of The Rev Dr Howard Gently. You can listen to the show on the KBOO website. Or you can listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Tuesday March 31. Corporate Standardized Progamming on KBOO. Music by artists we lost in November 2025. You can listen to the show on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). Or you can listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Finally, I made an "evergreen" for Freeform Portland (to be played randomly whenever there was nothing scheduled) called The Freeform Alphabet. You can see the playlist when it played Friday morning on Spinitron. You can listen to it there for the next couple of week or you can listen to it here. I'll put the playlist up on the Self Help Radio website next week.

That's it. Whew.

Self Help Radio 033126: Howard Gently Forever

Very nice to spend another two hours with an old friend. I'm not so old that I've lost too many people but I do sometimes wish I had hours of recorded conversations with them to revisit. Memory is too faulty.

The good news is that this isn't the last of the series! So please enjoy my friend Russell being funny as my spiritual mentor The Rev Dr Howard Gently. Most of these I haven't listened to since the show aired - I laughed out loud so many times hearing them again.

You can listen to Howard Gently Forever either at the KBOO web page or at the Self Help Radio web page. The show is mostly improvised silliness. But the details are below.

As someone texted me during the show: Long live Dr Howard Gently!

Self Help Radio Howard Gently Forever

"Sad Brown Eyes" Russell Miles _Sad Brown Eyes_

Howard Gently on the theme "Christmas 2018"

"50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" Paul Simon _Still Crazy After All These Years_

Howard Gently on the theme "Fifty"

"In Doubt" Peter Gabriel _Passion (Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ)_

"Sense Of Doubt" David Bowie _Heroes_

Howard Gently on the theme "Doubt"

"Voices Inside My Head" The Police _Zenyatta Mondatta_

Howard Gently on the theme "Voices"

"She Floated Away" Hüsker Dü _Warehouse: Songs & Stories_

Howard Gently on the theme "Floating"

"I'll Begin Again" Sammy Davis Jr. _Now_

Howard Gently on the theme "Start Anew"

"Wishing The Days Away" Billy Bragg _Talking With The Taxman About Poetry_

Howard Gently on the theme "Wishes"

"The Thunder, Perfect Mind" Willis Barnstone, Marvin Meyer, & Nancy Lesniewksi _The Gnostic Bible_

Howard Gently on the theme "Thunder"

"I'm Using My Bible For A Road Map" Porter Wagoner & The Blackwood Brothers Quartet _The Grand Old Gospel_

Howard Gently on the theme "Maps"

"Personal Jesus" Johnny Cash _American IV: The Man Comes Around_

Howard Gently on the theme "Personal"

"Can't Keep It In" Cat Stevens _Catch Bull At Four_

Howard Gently on the theme "Keep It"

"An Empty Cup" Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings _Orbison 1955-1965_

Howard Gently on the theme "Cups"

Whither Howard Gently Forever?

That picture there is from a retirement community in east Portland which has nothing to do with this show but the show this week is about my friend Russell & almost certainly I took that picture to send to him. It was in May 2020. I don't recall if I ever did. I hope I did. I hope he was amused & sent a very funny response.

This week's show continues my celebration of Russell as The Rev Dr Howard Gently, a character he played on my show from 2014 until 2022. Russell died three years ago & I miss him terribly. I am so frickin grateful I have hours of him improvising hilarious & ridiculous bits for the show, & have been sharing them in chronological order. We have come to the pandemic era, when Self Help Radio started to air in Portland.

It's two hours of Dr Gently tonight midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland, kboo dot fm everywhere. Prepare to be blessed.

Preface To Howard Gently Forever: Fear Of A Second End

That picture was taken on a trip to Chicago in May 2018. My friend Russell was alive & well then & I probably meant to share it with him. I have no idea if I did.

My friend Russell died almost three years ago. Since his death I have been playing in chronological order his appearances as Howard Gently on Self Help Radio. He improvised the role of my spiritual mentor. Lucky for me, he did it over a hundred times. Unlucky for me, eventually I will arrive at his last appearance on the show.

Probably I don't need to tell you I am dreading that. I thought we were coming close. Russell did not appear as Howard Gently on many episodes of Self Help Radio in 2018. Since I do my dumb radio show weekly, I don't really remember lots of the details of the shows I've done. But I have glanced ahead - & luckily this week's show won't be the last Howard Gently show. I am relieved by that.

Because as grateful as I am that he left us - he left me - with so many hours of his brilliance, when I come to the end of that, it may feel like I am losing him all over again. & I don't want to feel that way.

But like I said! That won't be this week! But having his voice in my head makes me miss him so much. Such a smart, funny person. You really don't get so many of those personally in your life, do you.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Mermaid Day

(image found here)

March 29 is Mermaid Day. Dick Dickenbock thinks mermaids are real. He claims to have dated one in college. But he's probably thinking about the mermaid Superman dated in college. Anyway, he's excited there's a Mermaid Day. He hopes she might be listening. He's been pining for her.

We hope you'll listen to. Tomorrow, Sunday, from noon to 1pm, on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere.

Everywhere? Even under the sea? Dick Dickenbock sure hopes so!

This Week In Self Help: March 20 22 + 24

This is what the past seven days (not counting today) looked like if you looked at me on the radio:

March 20 on The Songcircle on KBOO, I celebrated Women's History Month with lots of women making history - all new releases by women artists! You can listen to the show on the KBOO website.

March 22 on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY, I reported on Daffodil Day. You can listen to the show on the XRAY website.

March 24 on Self Help Radio on KBOO, I explored the theme embers. You can listen to the show on the KBOO website. Or you can listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

March 24 on Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO, I played a lot of new releases. You can listen to the show on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). Or you can listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

The picture above is a sunset I took in Kentucky in 2014. But it kinda looks like embers, doesn't it? If you squint, maybe? Maybe?

Self Help Radio 032426: Embers

Because I was "on vacation" last week - I followed my wife to a conference & bummed around while she did work - I knew I'd have no guests for this week's show. So there are no guests on this week's Self Help Radio. In this way, the show resembles Self Help Radio as it existed pre-2014: just me talking about the theme in-between the songs.

Of course then as now the songs are the important part of the show. So listen for the songs, but stay if you must to hear whether the theme is in the bible or to hear me read a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem.

Where can you listen? At the KBOO website, & at the Self Help Radio website. What happens on the show is listed below.

Hopefully I can relight the program next week!

Self Help Radio Embers Show

"Burning Embers" Lou Reed _The Raven_

"Ember" Alastair Galbraith _Mirrorwork_

"Embers" Skinny Lister _A Matter Of Life & Love_

introduction & definitions

"Dying Embers" The Dream Syndicate _Out Of The Grey_

"City Of Embers" Mercyland _Mercyland_

"Burning Embers" The Manhattan Love Suicides _More Heat! More Panic!_

"Embers" The Orielles _Only You Left_

"Ashes & Embers" The Casket Girls _True Love Kills The Fairy Tale_

more about embers

"Embers Glow" Jane Fielding with The Kenny Drew Quintet _Embers Glow_

"Dying Ember" Sarah Jarosz _Polaroid Lovers_

"Embers" Lily & Madeleine _Nite Swim_

"Ember Age" Sound Of Ceres _Nostalgia For Infinity_

"Garden Of Embers" Karavan Sarai _Torn In Love_

is the theme in the bible?

"Staring At The Embers" Tim Finn _Escapade_

"Ember Days" The Proctors _Everlasting Light_

"Embers" The Orange Peels _Begin The Begone_

"Embers" Tunng _Turbines_

"Ember" Lubec _PDX Pop Now! 2017_

poetry!

"Ember In The Ash" Blank Range _Marooned With The Treasure_

"The Embers" Vagabon _Infinite Worlds_

"Blue Embers" The Head & The Heart _Aperture_

"Ember Days" The Lemon Twigs _A Dream Is All We Know_

"Head Embers" Thundertree _Thundertree_

conclusion & goodbye

"Ember" Dirty Three _Cinder_

"English Embers" Contrastate _Recorded Evidence II_

"The Re-Entry Of Embers" Venusian Motel Guests _All Was Carbon_

Whither Embers?

(image found here)

Fire is kinda weird, isn't it? I remember just staring at it as a kid, thinking, this shit is weird. & it was unsafe - it burned you! But it was everywhere! People would use it to light their cigarettes. We didn't have a gas stove but if you turned the elements on on the electric stove & just touched a piece of paper to one of them, wow! the paper would catch fire.

& yes, I too had a fling with fire when I was a kid. I would steal matches & take things to burn & hide behind the bushes of a nearby church & set them on fire. There was space between the bushes & the brick walls of the church. It was very private. I can't remember all I burned but I did ruin a couple of my Star Wars action figures. I never wanted the fire to get too big - I liked the feeling of control - so I never wanted to expand my actions to larger venues. Like most other things, I wasn't very good at pyromania. & it passed soon enough - though I never got caught, I thought my mother would be very mad at me if I was caught burning things near a church.

This happened sometime around my ninth, tenth, or eleventh year. It's a testimony to how often I was left alone - & what I might have been able to get up to if I'd had a more destructive imagination. As it stood, some flammable things went missing, along with a lighter & some matches, & no one knew I had done it. Not even my little brother, who was often hanging around in my childhood. Again, it never developed into an obsession & once I was satisfied I had reached the limits of what I could set on fire in my little world, I never spent much time burning things after that. I think I knew if I invited other people shit could get out of control!

This story of my dull childhood must suffice for today's post because I have no idea why I chose the theme "embers" for this week's show. I knew I'd be doing a show after a week of vacation & I knew I wouldn't have time for interviews, so maybe I thought I couldn't find "experts" to talk about embers. I couldn't say. What I could say is that I had a brief fling with a moderate pyromania at a young age & I must have felt some mild satisfaction as the fires burned down to their embers.

Hey! Self Help Radio has the theme "embers"! Tonight on KBOO! 90.7fm in town kboo dot fm everywhere! Be careful! It's still hot!

Preface To Embers: My Computer Tells Me

That photo was taken in March, 2019, on our visit to Portland to look for somewhere to live once we knew my wife had gotten the job here. Tonight - almost exactly seven years later - I was looking for images of "embers" to share & maybe write something dumb about them - since they're this week's theme - & my computer gave me this picture when I searched the term.

Which confused me. Does the weird hood of that weird car look like embers? Is there some fire damage or something in the photo? What the hell does that picture have to do with embers? Then I noticed:

The old car's owners supported Oregon Public Broadcasting. I guess the computer confused "member" for "ember."

Oh damn it just occurred to me, I had so much fun trying to figure out why the computer thought the image had anything to do with embers that I forgot you might have enjoyed it, too. A kind of Where's Waldo? sort of thing. But I ruined it. Dang.

It has become impressive tho hasn't it that our computers find words in our images? I am almost as impressed as I am frightened!

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Daffodil Day

Sunday, March 22 is Daffodil Day. Yes, we at the Dickenbock Report know that it's using the flower as a symbol to raise funds & awareness for cancer treatment & research, but Portland has daffodils wherever one looks at the moment & Dick Dickenbock wants us to play musical reports about daffodils & talk about daffodils & by god it's his show so it will be a show about daffodils (though we will of course talk about the day).

Tomorrow. From noon to 1pm. On XRAY FM - 91.1+107.1fm in town, xray dot fm everywhere.

This Week In Self Help: March 15 + 17

Get it? It's a jar of jelly with a can of fish! Jellyfish! What a hilarious person I am.

This week's shows were somewhat rushed because I left for a short vacation on Tuesday. Now I'm back. Here's what happened before I left.

Sunday March 15 The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM. True Confessions Day. I say it is true that you can listen to the show on the XRAY website.

Tuesday March 17 Self Help Radio on KBOO was about jellyfish. Listen on the KBOO website or on the Self Help Radio website.

Tuesday March 17 Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO I played more artists we lost last year, this time in October & December. Listen on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio) or on the Self Help Radio website. (The last song cuts off on the KBOO website; I include all of it on the Self Help Radio website.) (Just FYI.)

That was that. Sorry you didn't appreciate my photo rebus!

Self Help Radio 031726: Jellyfish

(original image by Marek Ślusarczyk found here*)

Hey! Here's the jellyfish show! I am taking some time off so I have nothing to add except I had too much fun finding all the songs & talking to my goofball collaborators about jellyfish nonsense.

Listen to the show either at the Self Help Radio web page or at the KBOO web page. The stuff that happened on the show is below.

Holy moley did you know some people keep jellyfish as pets? That's more weird to me than eating them! Which some people totally do. Because people are screwed up!

Self Help Radio Jellyfish Show

"Jellyfish" Catbath _Nervous Breakthroughs_

"The Jellyfish Song" Neil Sedaka _Oh Carol: The Complete Recordings 1956-1966_

"Jellyfish Jones" Caspar Babypants _Away We Go!_

introduction & definitions

"Jellyfish" Carrie Higgins _Life Circles_

"Jellyfish" Punishment Of Luxury _Laughing Academy_

"Jellyfish" Red Go-Cart _Jellyfish_

"Jellyfish" Andrea Gibson _Flower Boy_

"Jellyfish Population" Soup Review _Beneath The Big White Moon_

interview with chef Thomas Mare

"The Jellyfish" The Sippy Cups _Electric Storyland_

"Jellyfish" Vashti Bunyan _Heartleap_

"The Jellyfish" Trauma Cat _Prepare To Apologize_

"Jellyfish Genes" Sprites _Starling, Spiders, Tiger, & Sprites_

"Superfast Jellyfish (feat. Gruff Rhys & De La Soul)" Gorillaz _Plastic Beach_

interview with audio ecologist Pierre O'Connor

"Monster Jellyfish" Shonen Knife _Free Time_

"Attack Of The Giant Jellyfish" Del Mar _After The Quake_

"Parachutes & Jellyfish" Robyn Hitchcock _I Wanna Go Backwards_

"A Smack Of Jellyfish" Christine Lavin _Drum School Dropout_

"Jellyfish" Om Shanti _We Are Home_

interview with sociologist Dr. Sidney Kennedy

"Jellyfish" JJ Burnell _Euroman Cometh_

"3 Blind Jellyfish" Scaffold _Thank U Very Much_ 

"Jellyfish Plays Jenga" Bunny Clogs _Whales Can't Whistle_

"Jellyfish" Paws _Cokefloat!_

"Southern Jellyfish" One Man 100% Bluez _Southern Jellyfish_

conclusion & goodbye

"Little Jellyfish" Chuck & Danny _Chuck & Danny_

"Peanut Butter & Jellyfish" James Kochalka Superstar _Monkey Vs. Robot_

"Jellyfish" Julian Smith _Jellyfish_

"Jellyfish (feat. Dither Craf)" Mushroom's Patience _Jellyfish_

"Jellyfish" Stereociti _Dialog_

* The image was modified by me to add the Self Help Radio logo. It's licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Whither Jellyfish?

(found on this Tumblr blog, artist unknown)

Before I decided to do a show about jellyfish I didn't really know anything about jellyfish. One thing I do know about jellyfish is, many decades ago, splashing around in the Gulf Of Mexico off the coast of Galveston, Texas, I suddenly felt this intense pain on my thigh & hurried out of the water. My leg looked to me like it had been a knife fight. A friend told me, "You've been stung by a jellyfish."

To this day I haven't gone swimming in the ocean. Fool me once!

Why am I years later doing a show about jellyfish? I haven't the slightest idea. Although now I appreciate them more than I did before. They can have the ocean. I don't need to be stung no more.

You can be stung by my jellyfish show tonight on KBOO - 90.7fm in Portland, kboo dot fm everywhere - from midnight to 2am. Insert crude joke about peeing on my show to make it stop hurting here.

Preface To Jellyfish: Twitter Days

(found a long time ago on Twitter)

Almost immediately after the 2024 election, I left Twitter & never went back. I was never very good at Twitter - I didn't really try to post "funny" things, just usually "live tweeted" my radio shows - but what I liked was that so many musical artists I played were on Twitter & I could tell them I was playing their music on the radio. I am guessing many of them are still there? I don't know. I know the vast majority of them never found their way to Bluesky, where I went after I left Twitter - & where I am in no way as engaged as I was on Twitter (which was, to be fair, not all that engaged beyond the "live tweeting" of shows).

As someone who was never "tagged" on Twitter very much, I didn't know that it would send you alerts when you were tagged - so when I "live tweeted" my first KBOO show, the social media person at KBOO complained to Twitter & my account was severely curtailed somehow. I never got the entire details - Twitter didn't tell me, no one at KBOO said anything, it's just that some people told me my Tweets were not going through - so I wrote to whomever to tell them I was real & not spamming - but stopped tagging the radio stations in my "live tweets." Things returned to a semblance of normal.

Though it added a layer of complication to my shows - having to tweet as well as fill out my playlists - I do miss doing that. I'd do it more on Bluesky if the artists were on Bluesky, maybe. Or maybe not. But looking for jellyfish graphics tonight had me discover this old tweet I had saved. & made me think about a time not-so-long ago when I did things I don't do anymore. Which I suspect is many things now & many more things to come the older I get.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: True Confessions Day

(image found here)

Sunday, March 15, is True Confessions Day. Unlike the previous time the Report has aired on March 15th, wherein Dick Dickenbock was on the mic the full length of the show confessing all his transgressions in chronological order & only made it until his college years, this year on the Report will talk about confessing & confessions & we will play musical reports about confessions.

We confess the show is on at the regular time, Sunday, 12 to 1pm. & in the regular place - 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm online. We do hope you'll tune in.

This Week In Self Help: March 10

That's right! I was only on the radio once this week! Hopefully one day we'll get it down to none & be done with all this nonsense!

Self Help Radio on KBOO had the theme "small talk." You can listen at the KBOO website. Or you can listen at the Self Help Radio website.

Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO played lots of new releases - from Gorillaz to Morrissey! You can listen at the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). Or you can listen at the Self Help Radio website.

But enough of this small talk - we have work to do!

Self Help Radio 031026: Small Talk

Seeing as how I don't think I am any good at small talk, here is a show all about small talk & featuring me practicing small talk with guests. How did I do? I guess to tell me we'd have to have a conversation featuring more than small talk - & frankly that's not in the spirit of the show!

Luckily for me there were many excellent songs about small talk so I didn't have to stumble from awkward interaction to awkward interaction. There was respite! But I suspect I am no better at small talk then I was before the show. Maybe I should listen to it again.

You can listen to it again or for the first time whenever at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. Most everything that happened is listed below.

But it looks like it'll be raining most of the week you know but hey! we live in Portland what do we expect ha ha ha.

Self Help Radio Small Talk Show

"Don't Make Small Talk Baby" Danny Winchell _Teen Scene! Rock & Roll Stars & Vocal Groups From Long Island's Golden Crest & Shelley Records_

"Small Talk (Doesn't Bother Me)" The Dolletts _Free From The Chains Of Love_

"Small Talk" Claudine Longet _The Very Best Of Claudine Longet_

"Small Talk" The Dave Clark Five _The History Of The Dave Clark Five_

introduction & definitions

"Small Talk" Sly & The Family Stone _Small Talk_

"Small Talk At 125th & Lenox" Gil Scott-Heron _Small Talk At 125th & Lenox_

"Small Talk" The Commuters _Restaurant Buffet & Bar E.P._

"Small Talk Stinks" Bauhaus _In The Flat Field_

"Small Talk Death" Peace Corpse _Quincy's Lament_

"Small Talk" Feedtime _Go & Do It: The Aberrant Compilations_

small talk with my neighbors Amy & Jeff

"Small Talk" The Shirts _Inner Sleeve_

"Small Talk" Tall Dwarfs _Fork Songs_

"Short Exchanges" George Carlin _When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?_

"Small Talk" A House _I Want Too Much_

"Small Talk" The Pansies _Solace_

"Small Talk" Immaculate Machine _Fables_

small talk with KBOO volunteer Jarvis

"Small Talk Relations" Tift Merritt _Traveling Alone_

"Small Talk" Jenny O. _New Truth_

"Small Talk" Lily & Madeleine _Keep It Together_

"Small Talk" Joe Zimmerman _Smiling At Wolves_

"Small Talk" Hanging Up The Moon _It's All Here Somewhere_

"Small Talk" Eric Bachmann _Eric Bachmann_

small talk with my former co-worker Eric

"Small Talk" Go Fever _Go Fever_

"Small Talk" Feels _Feels_

"Small Talk" Tom Segura _Mostly Stories_

"Small Talk" Faded Paper Figures _New Medium_

"Enough Of The Small Talk, Where's My Money" Spray _Ambiguous Poems About Death_

conclusion & goodbye

"Small Talk" Courtney Barnett _Small Talk_

"Small Talk" Maria Bamford _The Burning Bridges Tour_

"Small Talk" Julia Jacklin _Don't Let The Kids Win_

Whither Small Talk?

comic by David Sipress, found here

Hm, a radio show about small talk. Why did I think of a radio show about small talk? Was there some function I had to go to where I had to be social & pleasant & just stood there occasionally smiling & saying hello to people I will probably never see again & sometimes even engaging with them on the most mundane of subjects? Did my mind wander, as it sometimes does, to my radio show where I thought hey are there lots of songs about people talking small talk? & if there are, would that make a good radio show?

Could that have been where the idea for the show came from? I wonder.

Self Help Radio's small talk show is on tonight, Monday March 9th (technically the 10th) at midnight, from midnight to 2am, on 90.7fm in town, on kboo dot fm everywhere. Maybe if you're bad at small talk it may help you get better? If that's something you want?

Preface To Small Talk: Sunday Off

cartoon by Ellis Rosen, found here

Hey. You might have noticed. I wasn't on the radio today. I'm usually on the radio on Sundays. Yeah, I do a radio show called The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM. No, really, I do. But today was International Women's Day so they preempted my show. I mean, I could've done a show, but you know. Not a woman. I've known lots of dudes who think they know women's music better than women & nope. That's not me. What I should've done is work on my KBOO show, which is on tomorrow night. What I did instead was play a game on my phone. I don't know why I procrastinate so except that so far - really for all my life - I've never been sufficiently punished for doing that. Procrastinating. I used to write papers in college not the night before they were due, but sometimes hours before they were due. & I got decent grades. I can pull a radio show together pretty well - not to say it'll be a good radio show. But I'll be there ready to be on air with two hours of songs about small talk! At least tomorrow night. Truth be told I kinda liked having a Sunday off. There are folks at Freeform Portland - & at KBOO - & some at XRAY - who do their show every other week. I think it might be hard to find an audience for your show in that situation but I kinda envy them their week off. There hasn't been a repeat of The Dickenbock Report since it's been on Sundays on XRAY. When I'm out of town, I prerecord an episode. Having a day off - wow. That's a cool idea. Oh hang on. Is this post like small talk? I might not be very good at small talk. I'm not very good at lots of stuff. But it might be fine to not be very good at small talk. I once had someone at a radio station ask me, Do you only talk about radio? I guess it was what we had in common so I talked to them about it. Like here with you. I talk about my dumb radio shows. That's probably small talk. Which is appropriate because that's what the show is about this week!

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: The Dickenbock Report Is Not On Tomorrow

That's right, because tomorrow, March 8, is International Women's Day, & because, though he is many things, Dick Dickenbock is decidedly not an international women, XRAY is preempting the Report for special Amplify Women programming.

Find out more about the day by looking at the schedule. & tuning in! 7am to 7pm!

This Week In Self Help: March 1 + 3

John Singer Sargent, "Capri Girl On A Rooftop" (1878) found here

Peanut butter & rooftops, that's what I spent my week on.

The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM on National Peanut Butter Lover's Day. Guys I ate so much peanut butter & I still love it. Listen on the XRAY website.

That was March 1st. On March 3rd:

Self Help Radio on KBOO, a show about rooftops. Guys the older I get I am more afraid of heights but I still love to be on rooftops. You can listen to the show on the KBOO website or on the Self Help Radio website.

Finally Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO. Another morbid show, guys. Artists we lost in September & October of last year. You can listen to the show on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio) or by itself on the Self Help Radio website.

& that's it for the week!

Self Help Radio 030326: Rooftops

No, I was not allowed to do this radio show, which was about rooftops, on the KBOO rooftop. Did I maybe suggest I might try to replicate the famous Let It Be Beatles rooftop show? Except with me as a one-person band? Maybe I did. But think of the optics! & there was going to be a lunar eclipse! Sadly, I was unable to do a show about rooftops on a rooftop. Rather it was in a very unrooftop-like studio.

Nonetheless the theme of rooftops was thoroughly explored without (as usually happens with me & rooftops) me getting accidentally pushed off. Weird how often that has happened. Lots of music & guests & maybe if you look really closely a bit of fun.

Listen now: at the KBOO webpage. Or at the Self Help Radio page. Everything that happened on the show is noted below.

& no, no one invited me to their rooftop during the show. Maybe I didn't make it clear that was my desire. But it seemed obvious!

Self Help Radio Rooftops Show

"The Orange Rooftop Of Your Mind" The Blue Things _Mindrocker_

"High On A Rooftop" Charlotte Russe _High On A Rooftop_

"Rooftop" The Sons Of Champlin _Loosen Up Naturally_

introduction & definitions

"Rooftop Singing" New World _Believe In Music_

"Rooftop Garden" Lou Reed _Legendary Hearts_

"Rooftop Death Dive" Coyle & Sharpe _The Absurd Imposters_

"Blue Rooftop" The Weather Prophets _Temperance Hotel..._

"Rooftop Brawl" Bishop Allen _Grrr..._

interview with rooftop watch member Eddie Masters

"Rooftops" The Bats _The Deep Set_

"Rooftops & Chaotic Streets" The Cavalcade _Meet You In The Rain EP_

"Rooftop Judy" Alaska _These Sacred Floors_

"Third Floor Rooftop High" The Woodentops _Granular Tales_

"From The Rooftop" Trailer Bride _Smelling Salts_

interview with rooftop singers Marcy & Paul

"See You On Rooftops" Neil Halstead _Sleeping On Roads_

"Rooftops" Henrik Appel _Shadows_

"Standing Blinded On The Rooftops" Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub _Blank Expression: A History Of Singles 1986-2016_

"Rooftops" Ruby Bones _Laser Tooth Tiger_

"I Am Rooftop" Cloud Nothings _Turning On_

interview with Eric Meadows, who likes to be on rooftops

"Rooftop Dancing" Sylvan Esso _Free Love_

"Rooftop" Fieh _In The Sun In The Rain_

"Rooftops" Malini Sridharan _Tombeaux_

"Rooftop" 9353 _Overdoses At Your Mother's House_

conclusion & goodbye

"Rooftops (feat. Coppa)" Beat Pharmacy _Wikkid Times_

Whither Rooftops?

some of the rooftops of San Francisco

My wife & I visited one of her sisters - one of my sisters-in-law - who lives in San Francisco last October. There are many places in San Francisco where one can look down on the city - & I don't mean in a snobbish way. The picture above is one of those places. I think it might have been taken from Twin Peaks. Someone from that part of the world can probably identify better where exactly it is - it was just one of dozens of photos I took that I recently - over a month ago - was sorting through.

It's true I take a lot of dumb pictures & it's more true that it takes me a long time to get through them - in this case like three months, although I've taken longer. I think it's just that I don't take so many pictures in the winter time. Anyway, sometime before or during looking at these pictures - many of which are looking down at rooftops in the city - I thought it might be nice to do a show about rooftops. The idea for the show might even have been in San Francisco in October - I just wasn't reminded of it until I saw the photos.

Now you know. Why Self Help Radio this week is about rooftops. Because it is. Tonight. Midnight to 2am. On 90.7fm in Portland. kboo dot fm everywhere.

& no, KBOO won't let me do the show from the station's rooftop. Alas.

Preface To Rooftops: Wish I Spent More Time On Rooftops

For most of my life, I lived in apartments, not in houses. (I did a series of places I've lived here on this blog, just search for "Photographs Of Places I've Lived" in the blog search field.)

But now that I think about it, I don't know if it's most of my life. Maybe just much of my life. Please don't make me do the math. Are you going to make me do the math?!?

Sigh. For the first four years of my life, we lived in rental houses. When I was four, my mother left my father, & for the next thirty-three years I lived mainly in apartments. In 1982 I lived for six months in a rental house. From late 1990 to the end of 1991 I lived in an apartment carved out of someone's home (basically two rooms, with a kitchen & bathroom). From 1993 to 1999 I lived in a fourplex, & from 2000 to 2005 I lived in a duplex. Which I still count as apartments. I bought my first house in 2005 & have been living in houses - sometimes rented ones, when we were new in a city - since then. I am 58. 58 minus 33 is 25. So yes. I have lived most of my life in apartments or apartment-like dwellings. If I live only eight more years, & my wife has not kicked me out of this house by then, I will have lived half of my life in each - houses or apartment-like dwellings.

Are you happy now that you made me do the math?!?

What was I going to talk about? It seems so pedestrian now. I was going to say, "I have not spent as much time as I'd like on rooftops." I have lived in this house now for almost six years & haven't been on the roof yet. I am awkward around ladders. I somehow feel I don't know how to use them properly.

What I really want is a building like in New York where you can hang out on the rooftop. I'm sure there are some buildings like that here in Portland too. Maybe someone who hears this week's show will invite me up to their rooftop! Oh boy!

This post did not turn out anything like I wanted it to.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Peanut Butter Lovers Day

(image found here)

Although around one to two percent of Americans are allergic to peanuts, that means 98% of us aren't, & also more peanut butter for us. We greedily gobble all the peanut butter on March 1, which is National Peanut Butter Lovers Day. & everyone at The Dickenbock Report loves peanut butter. Maybe too much.

Tune in tomorrow, Sunday, March 1, for musical reports about peanut butter & more. Only on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM - 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere.

This Week In Self Help: February 20 22 + 24

What a busy week I had last week, it's a wonder I had time to do these dumb shows. But they were:

February 20. The Songcircle on KBOO. Lots of new releases + an interview with Stephen Kalinich. Listen to the show on the KBOO website.

February 22. The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM. Be Humble Day. Listen to the show on the XRAY website.

February 24. Self Help Radio on KBOO. I took "a week off." Played electronica jazz + experimental stuff. Listen on the KBOO website or on the Self Help Radio website.

Now let's see if I can get my act together for the next week!

Self Help Radio 022426: A Week Off

(all album cover images from Bandcamp)

After a particularly heavy week - wherein I had to travel back to Texas to see a family member that took ill - she's fine now tho! - I realized I didn't have the time to put together one of my regular shabbily-constructed shows. I really did not have the time or the energy. So I said to my wife, "I think Self Help Radio is going to have to take the week off." She said, "So you're not doing a show this week?" I said, "I'll do a show, it just won't be a theme-based Self Help Radio episode." She rolled her eyes at me & said, "That's not taking a week off."

But you have to admit, it's better than a repeat!

So here's a selection of recently released jazz, electronica, experimental, etc., with very few interruptions from me. You can listen if you'd like at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. The songs I played are below.

Back to the regular nonsense next week.

Self Help Radio Takes A Week Off

"Tidal Motions" Dapper Blob _Most People Are Other People_

"Theme For Fruitful Tangents" Squanderers _Skantagio_

"AZK" Florian Stéphant _La Sympathie Des Horloges_ 

"Decreation" Venera _Exinfinite_

"Sunder" Leslie Keffer _Sunder_

"Out The Door" Matt Bachmann _Compost Karaoke_

"Conjunctions I For Saxophones" Shane Krause _I Measured The Skies_

"The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Within" Rich Brown _Nyaeba_

"Shiver" Valley Voice _Stars, Engines_

"No Bread For You" Cookin' On 3 Burners _Cookin' The Books_

"Causeway" The Necks _Disquiet_

"Book Of Changes" Faten Kanaan _Diary Of A Candle_

"Exp" Aatocaster _Superstition (Studio Works '23 - '25)_

"Uncontrollable Thoughts" Anushka Chkheidze + Robert Lippok _Uncontrollable Thoughts_

"Dreams Like These" Doug Bielmeier _Electric Rodeo Revival_

"Dream Palette" Loneward _Musings Of A Painted Sky_

"Junoon" Didon _Bab El Mdina_

"Generation Amiga" Duid _Let's Duid_

"Les Grands Départs" Géraldine Eguiluz & Michel F Côté _Hors Temps_

"Illuminance" Midori Hirano _Otonoma_

"Cloudseeding 10" Devin Maxwell _Megadrought_

"Gestations" The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis _Deface The Currency_

"Marwa The Mountain" Shabaka _Of The Earth_

"Magic Touch" Nick Schofield _Blue Hour_

"Flourishing Flakes" The Setting _The Setting_

"Hum" Leo Chang _Live At CPR_

Whither A Week Off?

Listen. I had a heck of a week. A family emergency took me to Dallas. Once back, I had a radio show on XRAY, a meeting at Freeform Portland, & I helped with a show at KBOO. & I'm not as young as I used to be.

What I keep saying is, "I'm taking a week off." That's not entirely true. I'm not doing the planned episode of Self Help Radio this week - the show with the theme "rooftops." I'll do that next week. This week I'll just play lots of sounds I find interesting - in the jazz, electronic, & experimental genres - that have been released in oh the last six months or so. Instrumentals mainly. Not so much me talking.

Hopefully it'll give me a chance to recharge & spend the time to make sure the show is a good one.

So listen to me "take a week off" tonight on KBOO - 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere - from midnight to 3am. It isn't that I couldn't play a rerun or anything - I just don't think anyone should be subjected to one of my shows more than once.

Preface To The Next Show: What Will It Be?

(image found here)

If you look at the Self Help Radio web page right now, you will see that the theme for tomorrow night's show is "rooftops." Or is it?

You see, I had a hell of a week. A family member took ill & I had to go to Dallas. & I am still very, very tired. & not a little discombobulated.

So there's a very good chance I'll take a week off. I'll still have some kind of show - it just won't necessarily be a Self Help Radio episode about rooftops. That will have to wait until next week.

But. We'll see. Maybe if I get a little sleep tonight, that will help & I'll be bright-tailed & bushy-eyed & be able to navigate the day. Chances are slim but there's still a chance. Maybe?

Let me think on it & I'll tell you tomorrow.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Be Humble Day

(image found here)

Because he is the epitome of humility, Dick Dickenbock will proudly report on February 22, which is Be Humble Day... Nope. Can't do it. We all know Dick Dickenbock is the very opposite of humble. If there were a Be Excessively Vainglorious Day, well, yes, we could hold him out as a shining example for the day. But humble? Dick Dickenbock? Please.

Find out how he squares this circle tomorrow, Sunday February 22, on the Dickenbock Report, noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere.

Dick Dickenbock humble! It is to laugh.

This Week In Self Help: February 15 + 17

(Ellen Greene as Audrey in Little Shop Of Horrors, found here)

This week on Self Help Radio the show was about the name Audrey. Tho my guest Carole mentioned Audreys I & II from Little Shop Of Horrors, & tho I devoted an entire airbreak to the character of Audrey Horne from Twin Peaks, because I left them out of the collage of Audreys I made for the show, I was criticized for "forgetting them." You can't please an Audrey lover no matter how hard you try.

This week was all like:

World Hippo Day on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM. Sunday the 15th. Listen here.

Audrey's Show on Self Help Radio on KBOO. Tuesday the 17th. Listen here. Or here.

New releases on Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO. Also Tuesday the 17th. Listen here (after Self Help Radio). Or here.

& that was it. I hope at least there was an Audrey out there that liked the show.

Self Help Radio 021726: Audrey's Show

(images found on Wikipedia)

Though I found no Audreys to talk to for Audrey's show, I did find plenty of songs about Audrey for Audrey to enjoy. Maybe a few of them were about Audrey Hepburn & none at all about Audrey Munson but! It is well-known that all songs about Audrey are, by some mystical mathematical property of transference, about all Audreys. It is the cosmic connection of Audreyness about which many philosophical treatises have been written & many mellifluous poems composed. At least one would hope. I just played songs.

Tell all the Audreys you know there's a show about her! If you're Audrey, tell yourself! You can listen now or when Audrey's around at either the KBOO web page or at the Self Help Radio web page. As I continually bemoan, there were no Audreys for me to talk to, but you can see I talked about a few Audreys - the list of what happened on the show is below.

Gosh I hope Audrey likes her show!

Audrey's Self Help Radio Show

"Audry" The Rob Roys _Back Beat Records: Rock & Roll Party_

"Audrey" Billy Lehman _The Rockin' Spot Volume Five: Audrey_

"Talk To Audrey" The Hollywood Playboys _Talk To Audrey_

introduction & definitions

"Audrey" Owen Gray _The Singles Collection 1960-1962 (Classic Jamaican Collection)_

"Audrey" Winston Shand _Audrey_

"Norman & Audrey" Lord Nelson _Black Gold_

"Audrey" Mike Heron _Smiling Men With Bad Reputations_

"Audrey" Club Eternity _Audrey_

our favorite librarian Carole stops by!

"All About Audrey" Jim's Twenty-One _Nadine_

"Little Audrey" Stephen _Dumb_

"Audrey Hepburn" Die Fünf Freunde _The Marsh Marigold Review Gold 01-10_

"Audrey's Curtains" The Days _The Sound Of Leamington Spa Volume 4_

"Audrey's Eyes" Velocity Girl _Copacetic_

a discussion about Little Audrey

"Audrey Hepburn" Planet Sunday _Planet Sunday_

"Audrey" The Automaticans _Audrey_

"Des Tours Pour Audrey (Turns For Audrey)" Souvenir _Points De Suspension_

"Audrey Hepburn's Beauty Tips" The Silent Boys _Beauty Tips_

"Hank & Audrey (feat. Tom Russell)" Katy Moffatt _Midnight Radio_

a discussion about Audrey Horne

"She Looked Like Audrey Hepburn" Little Man Tate _Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy_

"Audrey (Spending All My Time With You)" The Shacks _Audrey_

"Audrey" Superfamily _Back In Paris_

"Audrey" Someone _Owls_

"Oobey Dooh I Wanna Be Audrey Tatou" The Bobby McGee's _Yay 4 Cuteness_

conclusion & goodbye

"Audrey" Walking Concert _Run To Be Born_

"Simply Audrey" The Pooches _One Man Dog_

"Audrey" The Double Happiness _Roadhouse_

"Audrey Of Spirits" Dream Diary _You Are The Beat_

Whither Audrey's Show?

Here's the thing: I love doing shows about people's names. Names fascinate me. I remember one time in West Virginia when two (possibly inadvertently) racist people were making fun of African-American names. They said, "The names just sound made up!" I told them, "You're going to be very surprised when you learn that all names are made up."

Discovering where names come from - & songs that contain the names - is fun for me. & when I thought it might be time to do another show about a name, "Audrey" came to mind. It might have been because of a song I heard & it might have been because I knew a couple of Audreys I could interview for the show. So I gathered the songs & I reached out to the Audreys - & as you know, they didn't want to be interviewed for the show. So it's an Audrey show with plenty of Audrey songs - but, alas, no Audreys.

& it all happens tonight - midnight to 2am - on KBOO - 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere. Even if I don't talk to any Audreys, I hope at least an Audrey or two will listen - & be charmed.

Preface To Audrey: No Audreys I Know

This is true: I love doing shows about peoples' names. I especially like to talk to people who have that name on the air - I recently did it with my anniversary show where I talked the name Molly. I got to talk to three Mollys for that show! & I hoped to talk to some Audreys for my Audrey show.

Alas! The Audreys I know - I should say "knew," since we're no longer in touch - did not return my requests for being on the show. One of them is a Facebook friend - we knew each other in Kentucky - & she obviously doesn't check her Facebook anymore. The other did not respond to emails.

But I did try to find an Audrey or two to talk to! There was a post on Bluesky which no one responded to & on-air requests. I asked friends about their friends named Audrey - since they seem to have friends named Audrey on Facebook. That didn't get any response. I was given an email of a friend's friend named Audrey - she never wrote me back. & I contacted another friend's friend named Audrey who even arranged a time to meet with me - but didn't show up for the meeting or communicate with me any further.

It's a bummer, I would have liked to talk to an Audrey for the Audrey show.

That picture above was taken in Fort Worth in I think 2018. My wife & I had gone on a food adventure in a mostly undeveloped, or industrialized, area of east Fort Worth, we had been told about incredible sandwiches, & walked the dogs in the nearby neighborhood. It seemed novel to me to have your names - your first names! - posted on the side of your house. But I suppose people do that all the time in many ways. So maybe I'm the doofus for thinking it's novel.

But gosh I wish I had an Audrey to talk about for the Audrey show. Sigh.