Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Opera Day

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February 8 is Opera Day. Between you & me, virtually no one on The Dickenbock Report knows anything about opera. Most of what I know is from the Bugs Bunny short What's Opera, Doc? So who knows what we'll report on. I don't know if we're going to actually hear any opera!

You'll have to tune in to find out. That's tomorrow, Sunday February 8, from noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, & online everywhere at xray dot fm. Oh no. Dick Dickenbock says he can sing an aria or two!

This Week In Self Help: February 1 + 3

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A quiet week, I guess. My regular shows. No other intrusions onto the airwaves. It went like this:

The Dickenbock Report on XRAY on Sunday February 1 was Robinson Crusoe Day. You can listen to the show on the XRAY web page.

Self Help Radio on KBOO on Tuesday February 3 had the theme "stubbon." You can download the show by clicking here or you can listen to it on the KBOO web page.

Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO also on Tuesday February 3 featured lots of new releases. You can download the show by clicking here or you can listen to it on the KBOO web page (after Self Help Radio).

& now I stubbornly refuse to write any more about my dumb radio week.

Self Help Radio 020326: Stubborn

This morning I was trying to think of an image for a show with the theme "stubborn" while walking the dogs. & then my dog Stuart refused to move when he saw something in someone's yard. My wife quickly snapped the above picture. Moving a beagle when it is fixated on something is like trying to drag an anchor across a beach. I may required a physical therapist.

Here is the stubborn show. Not the stubbornness show! The stubborn show. I am adamant about that.

You can listen now or whenever by going to the Self Help Radio website or going to the KBOO website. Most everything that happened is listed below.

& for those who stubbornly refuse to listen to my dumb show, I salute you & dedicate this show to you.

Self Help Radio Stubborn Show

"My Stubborn Heart" Onie Wheeler _White Lightning Cherokee_

"Stubborn Heart" Kitty Wells _Winner Of Your Heart_

"Two Stubborn People" Floyd Tillman _Let's Make Memories_

introduction & definitions

"Stubborn Kind Of Fellow" Marvin Gaye _Anthology_

"Stubborn Heart" The Sheppards _The In Crowd (The Story Of Northern Soul)_

"Stubborn" The Charlottes _LoveHappy_

"Stubborn Or Bust" Shrag _Life! Death! Prizes!_

"Stubborn Little Mule" KateGoes _Animals Who Want To Be Other Animals_

interview with listener Jed, who claims to be stubborn

"Stubborn" Emily Easterly _Cole_

"Stubborn Mule Blues" Edgar Jones _Soothing Music For Stray Cats_

"Stubborn Beast" Jolie Holland _Springtime Can Kill You_

"Stubborn Man" The Old Ceremony _Walk On Thin Air_

"Too Stubborn To Fold" Wheels On Fire _Get Famous!_

interview with listener Betty, who had a stubborn mother

"Stubborn Walls" Nicole Bianchet _House Of Silence_

"Stubborn Taurus" Danella Hocevar _Hearts Will Be Broken Here_

"Stubborn Day" Lowly _Heba_

"Stubborn Signs" ShitKid _20/20 ShitKid_

"Ballad Of Two Stubborn Men" The Younger Lovers _Young Brothers_

interview with listener Ned, who raised five stubborn children

"Stubborn Land" Marybeth D'Amico _The Light Inside_

"Stubborn Love" Edie Brickell & New Bohemians _Hunter & The Dog Star_

"Stubborn Vassals" Ivor Cutler _A Flat Man_

"Too Stubborn" The Marshall Tucker Band _A New Life_

"Stubborn Man" The Antlers _Green To Gold_

conclusion & goodbye

"Nyamwanga Kumva! ('Stubborn Until The End!')" The Good Ones _Rwanda Is My Home_

"Stubborn Problems" Femi Kuti _Femi Kuti_

Whither Stubborn?

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Although I love radio & I love encouraging people to do radio & I train people to do radio, there's very little more tedious to me than talking about my own radio show. But then I have a blog where I'm supposed to talk about my own radio show. So I now have to do the thing that I don't like doing. I'd rather you listen to the show to see what it's all about. Ah well.

There was a moment early on doing Self Help Radio when I realized all my themes were nouns. (Or gerunds or participles or proper nouns, anyway.) My contrariness was offended. I started doing shows whose themes were phrases, verbs, adjectives, whatever. I can't think of an example offhand, but let's say I had a show & the theme was "swim." Inevitably someone would say, "Why not have the theme be swimming?"

So too this week's theme. Why "stubborn"? Why not "stubbornness"? The short answer is, who cares? The long answer is, there aren't songs that are explicitly about stubbornness but lots of songs that reference being stubborn & stubborn things. Why not "being stubborn" or "stubborn things"? You must agree that's kinda awkward. An adjective being a theme may also be awkward but I've done it long enough that it's no longer awkward to me. But "being stubborn"? Yikes, I'd be more embarrassed than I usually am!

There are lots of stubborn people in my life & one of them is our newest adopted dog, Stuart. He's nine years old & was not raised well. He was very large when we adopted him & now is still large but less substantial - on our first walks he would pant so hard I thought he would have a heart attack, but now he does those walks with a spring in his step. When it comes to food, he cannot be moved. Nothing distracts him. He is the essence of the stubborn creature. This show was inspired by him.

A stubborn show for a stubborn beagle (& any other stubborn being). On KBOO tonight midnight to 2am. 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere. KBOO stubbornly refuses to put me on anytime else.

Preface To Stubborn: I Grew Up With A Stubborn Mother

There are so very many stories I can tell you about my mother's stubbornness. She remained stubborn until finally dementia overtook her mind - although my sister thinks there was still some of it in the way she looked at her at the end. But instead of regaling you with stories that show bullheadedness leading to exasperation & frustration, I want to tell you what happened to me because I grew up with a stubborn mother.

& to be sure, I am not a psychologist nor have I spoken to one about this subject. I don't imagine I am discussing anything universal or even general - just my own experience.

Years after I had left home - when being around my mother was something that happened once a year for just a few hours - I got to see my mother being stubborn in the way that she must've been when I was a kid. In effect I could watch it a little more objectively - she had no power or authority over me, I was a visitor in her life at the time, & I felt a little like I was watching something from outside, as through a picture window.

& it made think how she must've been like that many times in my childhood. She would get obsessed about a topic & she would not let you change the subject. She wanted something & she was going to have it. She wanted you to do something & you were going to do it. She would be focused in such a way that precluded any other opinion - in fact, to offer an opinion, to suggest you might disagree, would be as offensive as if you'd yelled at her, or even struck her. I watched with fascination as my mother held on to some dumb thought or opinion or command as if for dear life. & I could see myself, as a child, buckling under that onslaught.

Because I was very attached to my mother as a child. She liked it that way.

My sister Pat - my oldest sister - became a very stubborn woman. I suspect my sister Karin - my youngest sister - has some stubbornness in her but she's a very reasonable person - she is open to discussion. I don't know about my brothers because we're not close, but I'm sure some of them have a stubborn streak. But what happened to me is that I learned to do anything - anything - to keep from having to endure such stubbornness in my life.  It made me prone to be accommodating - I've been accused of being a people pleaser. But I think now it was as a reaction to my mother's stubbornness that I learned to compromise rather than have to be overwhelmed by the power of someone else's stubbornness.

Is this a common reaction to or result of having a stubborn parent? I don't know. I'm kind of afraid to look it up. But it's something that's close to the theme this week. My mother was hella stubborn.

Seriously, I could tell you stories. Remind me to tell you stories. When my mother told stories of her stubbornness, she told them as the hero of those stories. I could only sympathize with the people who were inevitably negatively affected by her intractability. Because I had been one of them, often.