Random thoughts & other unrelated information from the dude who does "Self Help Radio" - a radio show which originated in Austin, Texas & now makes noise in Portland, Oregon. Listen to new & old shows & look at playlists at selfhelpradio.net.
Saturday, March 07, 2026
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!
Friday, March 06, 2026
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!
Tuesday, March 03, 2026
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!
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
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
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
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_
Monday, March 02, 2026
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.
& no, KBOO won't let me do the show from the station's rooftop. Alas.
Sunday, March 01, 2026
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.

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