Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Garage Day

April 26 is National Garage Day. Although we can't broadcast from the garage, which where Dick Dickenbock's wife makes him go when he wants to smoke his pipe, we can report on garages - why they're important, what they're used for, why I need a pinball machine in mine.

That's Sunday, from noon to 1pm, on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, online everywhere at xray dot fm. Wait. The garage door opener is out of batteries? How're we going to get the show out of there?

This Week In Self Help: April 17 19 + 21

(image from here)

Sadly my show about idols didn't have any songs about the god Ganesh, pictured above. There probably are plenty, I blame myself for not searching deep enough.

Oh yeah what did I do on the radio this week? I'll tell ya.

Friday 4/17 The Songcircle on KBOO. Lots of new stuff. Listen to that show here.

Sunday 4/19 The Dickenbock Report on XRAY. National Garlic Day. Listen to that show here.

Tuesday 4/21 Self Help Radio on KBOO. A show about idols. Listen to that show here. Or listen to that show here.

Tuesday 4/21 Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO. I play more new releases. Listen to that show here (after Self Help Radio). Or listen to that show here.

Still can't believe I confused icons & idols. A listener texted me a long explanation which was better than the one I shared on the air. Maybe I should be giving my radio show to them.

Self Help Radio 042126: Idols

Despite having a tendency to confuse the words idol & icon, I somehow managed to make my way through this week's episode of Self Help Radio, which was in fact about idols (not icons). I played so many songs about idols that I suppose now I am officially an idolater. Or was, for two hours. I don't know if my radio show can really make anything official.

Howsoever you feel about idols - whether your religion uses them or forbids them - or if like me you have no religion so can feel about idols the way you wish - you'll be pleased I think to enjoy many songs about many different kinds of idols - as well as a few about idolizing, which is maybe more innocuous & less religiously charged than the average idol.

You can listen this show either at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. Most everything that happened on the show is listed below. Including a few times where I somehow say "icon" when I mean "idol." Sheesh!

Self Help Radio Idols Show

"Idol With The Golden Head" The Coasters _The Very Best Of The Coasters_

"My Singing Idol" Petite Teens _Teen Town U.S.A. Vol. 7_

"I Idolize You" Boss Hog _Boss Hog_

introduction & definitions (feat. the Definition-O-Tron 3000)

"Bone Idol (Original Single Version)" The Drones _Further Temptations_

"Idolization" Hagar The Womb _The Word Of The Womb_

"Kill Yr. Idols" Sonic Youth _Confusion Is Sex (Plus Kill Yr. Idols)_

"Teenage Idol" Vandals _Fear Of A Punk Planet_

"The Gods, Distressed, Revoke Idolatry..." Bongo Fury _Lord Mongrel Is Dying_

"Voodoo Idol" The Cramps _Psychedelic Jungle_

listeners Anna & Alex call in to complain

"Idols" Altered Images _Happy Birthday_

"I Got No Idols" The Juliana Hatfield Three _Become What You Are_

"Leather Idol" Tuscadero _The Pink Album_

"My Favorite Idol" Boy Wonder _Wonder Wear_

"American Idol" Wanda Sykes _Sick & Tired_

"New Idols" The Long Blondes _Singles_

interview with promoter Carl Reese

"Idoleyes" This Poison! _Magazine 1986-1988_

"Das Idol" Die Blizelbeeren _Frische Beeren EP_

"Favourite Fallen Idol" Adorable _Against Perfection_

"Something I Idolise" The Pristines _"Teen Fraud, Pop Whore" (Part-One)_

"Sonnet 105" Eli Wallach _The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets_

"Dress Like Your Idols" Boat _Dress Like Your Idols_

a discussion about the difference between an icon & an idol

"Wooden Idols" Jarboe _Thirteen Masks_

"Idol Worship! Idol Worship!" Love As Laughter _Laughter's Fifth_

"The Bones Of An Idol" The New Pornographers _Twin Cinema_

"The Idolness Of Gods" Echo & The Bunnymen _The Fountain_

"American Idol" Marc Maron _Final Engagement_

"Idol" Cleaners From Venus _The Late District_

conclusion & goodbye

"Barren Idol" Romantic States _Corduroy In Italy_

"My Idol" Stereo Total _Ah! Quel Cinéma!_

"Idols" Like A Motorcycle _Dead Broke_

"You're The One I Idolise" Wild Billy Childish & CTMF _Last Punk Standing... & Other Hits!_

"Irrational Idol Thinking" Psychic Markers _Psychic Markers_

"Ídolo (Feat. Angelica Garcia)" Adrian Quesada _Boleros Psicodélicos_

Whither Idols?

That picture above is something I found on a internets over ten years ago, so I can't tell you where it's from. Trying to find it using a search engine's reverse-lookup feature shows me it was a joke replicated many times - but I suspect I found the original image on Tumblr at some point.

& yes, the picture shows icons but the show tonight is about idols - from the religious ones to the ones we admire for being figures in popular culture. I just liked the picture about icons.

There is a very dumb roundabout way I came to the theme. I was driving somewhere in Portland - probably in my hood - when I passed a Dollar Tree. (It must've been in my hood as there is one nearby on Foster.) For the longest time when I would see the name of that discount store, I would try to come up with some joke that will allow me to use the punchline, "I, Dollar Tree" - which would sound like "idolatry." It might even be something I could work into a radio show - but I suppose the theme would have to be "idolatry."

The thing is, there weren't all that many songs about idolatry, but there were lots about idols. So I decided to do a show about idols. I never did figure out a way to use the "I, Dollar Tree" pun. & I probably won't. So I share it with you now.

Told you it was dumb.

Preface To Idols: A Felt Record

(image from Discogs)

This is a record of which I am fond, Felt's 1984 release The Strange Idols Pattern & Other Short Stories. Curiously, there's not a song on the record called "The Strange Idols Pattern" & idols are not referenced in any of the songs so nothing from the record will show up on this week's program. It is Felt's third record & contains three songs of theirs I would consider excellent examples of their excellence: "Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow," "Dismantled King Is Off The Throne," & "Crystal Ball."

Though I suspect a later deep-dive in the Creation label would have led me to discover Felt eventually, I was introduced to the band when I won one of their records on the radio. I was listening to KNON in Dallas in the summer of 1987 & I was the caller who won The Pictorial Jackson Review. The deejay asked me if I knew about the band, I said no, he said, "Oh you're gonna like them." & he was right!

One thing you'll never really see on this blog is music criticism from me because, one, I'm not a critic, & two, I don't think my opinions, such as they are, are valuable enough to anyone but me to have any desire to share them. As I have said before, I am lucky - I get to play the music I like on the radio. Critics use their own standards to try to persuade their audiences what is "good" or "bad" or "important." None of that makes any difference to me vis-a-vis your opinion. If you don't like something I like, that affects me not at all (although I guess it means you won't want to listen to my radio show). I'd much rather share things I like with you than explaining to you why I don't like things. & even when I don't like things, it doesn't bother me that someone else might like it. It's all subjective.

But if you asked me if I'd recommend this record, I'd say, sure! Though I'd tell you my favorite Felt record is Poem Of The River. There's a couple of (probably out-of-print) singles collections called Absolute Classic Masterpieces which give a thorough overview of the band. I don't rank my favorite bands but I can tell you Felt are one of my favorite bands.

& they're a band I thought of when I knew I was going to do a show about idols. A shame that they don't have a song I can play on the show.