Self Help Radio 120925: Shovels

This show, it turns out, is shovel-ready.

You were expecting that, sorry.

Here's the show about shovels. I sometimes feel my shows are random but I heard from someone on Bluesky who's in Chicago that they're using their snow shovels a lot. & here in Portland where new builds are going up everywhere I see lots of shoveling. So it's somewhat appropriate. Although if it is, it's entirely by accident.

Please use your entrenching tools while you listen. The show is now at the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website. If you use the latter, please remember the username SHR & the password selfhelp. Most everything that happened on the show is below.

As Erica Boone would say: BYOS. Bring your own shovel!

Self Help Radio Shovels Show

"Pick & Shovel Blues" Bull City Red _(1935-1939) Complete Recordings In Chronological Order_

"Nine Foot Shovel" Josh White _Songs For Political Action - Folkmusic, Topical Songs, & The American Left 1926-1953_

"Never Hit Your Grandma With A Shovel" Spike Jones & His City Slickers _Strictly For Music Lovers_

introduction & definitions

"Got A Great Big Shovel" Sammy Davis Jr. _Mr Show-Business_

"The Days Of Sand & Shovels" The Winstons _Color Him Father_

"Dig It (Shovel)" The Intentions _Eccentric Soul: Minibus_

"The Broom, The Shovel, The Poker, & The Tongs" Dame Peggy Ashcroft _Poetry Readings_

"The Pick & The Maltshovel" Roger Watson _The Pick & The Malt Shovel_

interview with American Hart Shovel Company CEO Thaddeus Hart

"Don't Forget Your Shovel" Christy Moore _The Time Has Come_

"The Last Old Shovel" Phyllis Boyens _O Sister! (The Women's Bluegrass Collection)_

"One Woman & A Shovel" Carrie Newcomer _The Geography Of Light_

"At Midnight I Will Kill George Lucas With A Shovel" Patton Oswalt _Werewolves & Lollipops_

"Shovel" Aesop Rock _Labor Days_

interview with activist for Shovels For Peace Erica Boone

"Shovel" John Wesley Coleman III _Microwave Dreams_

"15 Shovels" Darrin Bradbury _Artvertisement_

"Said The Shovel" Osees _Protean Threat_

"Shovel Fighter" Matt Braunger _Shovel Fighter_

"Shovelheads" Shriekback _Why Anything? Why This?_

interview with self-help author Chaz James

"The Sir Tommy Shovell" Robyn Hitchcock _Shufflemania!_

"Shovels" Scarves _Delicate Creatures_

"Shovel" Megan Gailey _My Dad Paid for This_

"Shovel" Deep Sea Diver _Billboard Heart_

"Shovel Into Spade Kit" Lilys _Better Can't Make Your Life Better_

conclusion & goodbye

"Shovel" Feedtime _Shovel_

"The Shovel Of Love" Bless _Gums_

"The Shovel Song" Flax Sifter _Flax Sifter_

"Shovel" Danger Gens _Life Between Cigarettes_

"Hells Shovel" Cutthroat Shamrock _The Wake_

Whither Shovels?

(art by Michael Pederson found here)

Just a quick note: this is the last show of 2025 with a new, unique theme. The next three weeks are shows that have "repeated" themes. You can see what those upcoming theme are on the Self Help Radio website.

There'll be time to consider the year later but it's been a fun year for me (at least when I'm talking about the show). I can't believe I've now spent 23 years on this nonsense, but I also can't imagine what else I would be doing.

A show about shovels. Hm. Why did I think of that? I'm tempted to say it had something to do with a movie or television show I saw recently. I spent a lot of this year watching all six seasons of Downton Abbey & just watched the three movies. Maybe shovels play a part in some subplot? I don't know. Isn't that appropriate at the end of the year after months of different themes to just throw up one's hands & say "I don't know! I'm doing a show about shovels! Who cares why?!? It's a show about shovels!"

Anyway, it airs tonight on KBOO. Midnight to 2am. That's 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere.

Please insert your "shoveling manure" joke anywhere into the proceedings, I promise it will be apt.

Preface To Shovels: I Have Shoveled

At first glance at me, one would not have this thought: "That is a person who has shoveled."
For many this might be an insult.
But I have lived more than half a century as a mainly non-athletic type.
One could say I am pretty comfortable with who I am.
This is true:
One time a worker at our house asked my wife if I had an opinion about the work to be done.
She said, "Don't ask him. He's not handy."
The worker - a male - looked ashamed for me. I did not feel the slightest bit of shame.
So should someone stare at me & decide "That is not a person who has ever used a shover," it would not offend me. Indeed, I would understand.
But! I have used a shovel! & many times!
When we lived in Kentucky we had ridiculously long circular driveway.
& we had snows four or five times a year.
& when it snowed, I went out to shovel.
& the picture up there is proof. A snow in 2015.
Though I confess I was not the only one who shoveled that day.
It took quite a while & a couple of hands.
It was below freezing outside & at some point I realized I had become so warm in my winter gear that I had stripped down to a tee shirt.
You may ask, but if you don't care if people don't think you've shoveled, why mention this?
Of course the show this week is about shovels. It's something I think about in relation to shovels.
But also. It's always nice to subvert expectations.
For though one might look as though they cannot shovel, it turns out at least some of them can in fact shovel.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Letter Writing Day

December 7 is National Letter Writing Day, so that's what we'll be reporting on on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM. Musical report about letters - some that are letters - plus a Dickenbock Report Book Report &, if there's time, Dick Dickenbock answers your letters on air. (There won't be time for that.)

That's Sunday noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm here in Portland & online everywhere at xray dot fm. We've very sorry, Dick Dickenbock is making us say this, it'll be a show you'll write home about. Again, apologies for that.

This Week In Self Help: November 29 + 30 & December 1 + 2

It was the first year of the pandemic when I took that picture above. A little stand-alone garage in my hood probably abandoned or otherwise unoccupied, covered in graffiti. It's gone now, condos stand in its place, but maybe those new builds are haunted by the ghosts of all that graffiti.

It was a pretty busy week for me. Here's what I did:

On Saturday November 29 I subbed for three hours on KBOO playing soul music. I was not calling it a sub for the show that's usually there, An Evening Of Afrotainment, as I am woefully unqualified to host that show. But it's in the timeslot, so you can listen to it on the KBOO website. & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.

On Sunday November 30 I was on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM for National Computer Security Day. Being an uncreative sort, I just played a lot of songs about passwords. You can listen to it on the XRAY website. & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.

On Monday November 1 very early in the morning I played an hour of music from 2025 which I hadn't gotten around to playing yet on KBOO. It was in a timeslot where there's currently no show scheduled, but you can listen to in on the Self Help Radio website. (KBOO doesn't archive shows that are unscheduled.)

On Tuesday November 2 there was a Self Help Radio show on KBOO about graffiti. You can listen to it on the KBOO website. & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.

Also on Tuesday November 2 on Corporate Standardized Programming I played music by artists we lost in April of this year. You can listen to it on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.

Remember - you might need the username SHR & password selfhelp to listen.

Anyway, I hopefully won't be so busy this next week. I'm gonna go paint a train.

Self Help Radio 120225: Graffiti

Ooo, almost got caught last night! Self Help Radio tags all over Portland! You can graffiti the town with the power of the airwaves!

Graffiti was sung about & discussed, although I didn't get a chance to read dirty graffiti from the walls of Pompeii or - apparently! - from English churches in the 16th century. I miss discovering graffiti in strange bathrooms on my college campus. I remember being in an unfamiliar building & discovering this gem: No matter how beautiful she is, someone somewhere is sick of her shit.

As someone who was never beautiful & who has shit most everyone is sick of, I present the graffiti Self Help Radio episode. Listen at the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website. Remember you might need a username & password for the latter. Everything that happened on the show is below.

Work on your tag. Be careful. Stay out of trouble.

Self Help Radio Graffiti Show

"Graffiti" Benny Hill _The Best Of Benny Hill_

"Graffiti Night Fever" Ivor Biggun & The Red-Nosed Burglars _The Winker's Album (Misprint)_

"Teenage Graffiti" The Pink Spiders _Hot Pink_

introduction & definitions

"The Sound Of Graffiti" Jack Raymond & Haskell Barkin _The Handwriting On The Wall (The Sounds Of Graffiti)_

"Graffiti Crimes" Mi-Sex _Graffiti Crimes_

"Chinese Graffiti" Blue Peter _Up To You_

"Graffiti Love" Violet Strange _Stray_

"Graffiti Bridge" Prince _Graffiti Bridge_

our favorite librarian Carole shares with us books about graffiti

"Sex" Jack Raymond & Haskell Barkin _The Handwriting On The Wall (The Sounds Of Graffiti)_

"Graffiti Limbo" Michelle Shocked _Short Sharp Shocked_

"Graffiti" Throwing Muses _The Real Ramona_

"Graffiti Women" Suede _Sci-Fi Lullabies_

"Graffiti Worth Reading" The Mighty Mighty Bosstones _Pin Points & Gin Joints_

interview with Officer Little of the PPD Graffiti Division

"Whimsy" Jack Raymond & Haskell Barkin _The Handwriting On The Wall (The Sounds Of Graffiti)_

"Small Town Graffiti" Lispector _Small Town Graffiti_

"Wet Graffiti" Sacred Paws _Strike A Match_

"Soft Graffiti" Takako Minekawa _Fun9_

"Graffiti" Atmosphere _Mi Vida Local_

interview with graffiti artist "Jarvis"

"Underneaths" Jack Raymond & Haskell Barkin _The Handwriting On The Wall (The Sounds Of Graffiti)_

"Graffiti Paint" Field Medic _Songs From The Sunroom_

"Graffiti Street" Rayland Baxter _If I Were A Butterfly_

"Graffiti" Maximo Park _A Certain Trigger_

"Delicate Graffiti" Helen Ganya _Polish The Machine_

conclusion & goodbye

"Graffiti Part One" Stereo MC's _Deep Down & Dirty_

"Never Like Graffiti" Emak Bakia _Acuarela Songs_

Whither Graffiti?

When people think of graffiti, they think of the intricate work of some artists - often commissioned, as I believe the art in the image above is - but of course graffiti can just be writing - sometimes names, like tags, or sometimes rude sentences (or not rude, sorry to impose my judgment on them). I was thinking a while back about how in two of the three college stations at which I deejayed, the bathrooms were marked up. Just really, really marked up. Here's a snap of the one at KVRX from around 1995:

& from about twenty years later, something pithy that always made me laugh found in the WRFL bathroom:

In fact it was in a fit of nostalgia that I came across that WRFL pic a few weeks ago & that's what made me think about doing a show about graffiti.

As a side comment: I do wish I had documented those magnificent restrooms more completely. Neither exists any more. The building in which the original KVRX studios lived was demolished around 1999 I think, & the WRFL bathroom was destroyed when the UK Student Center was remodeled around 2015 or 2016. Too bad.

Songs & interviews about graffiti tonight on KBOO. Midnight to 2am. That's 90.7fm here in town & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. Now. I'd better start working on my tag!

Preface To Graffiti: So Much Graffiti

There was so much graffiti all over Portland during the pandemic. This especially happened to businesses that had closed or had closed up for the duration, & to houses that had been abandoned. It must've been a great time to go around painting on things. I remember one morning, when I was doing a show early on XRAY, driving on I-5 going north, I saw three guys just standing on the highway shoulder spray-painting a wall or a pillar or whatever. I don't even know if the police would've stopped at that point.

The city is much more active now & the graffiti level has dropped. There are still some rudimentary tags here & there but hardly any sentences written on the sides of walls as in the picture I took above, dated February 26, 2022. Nearly four years ago, wow. Hard to believe what we've lived through.

Or didn't live through, as the case may be. There are people I don't talk to because of the pandemic. Their inability to understand the deadliness of the virus - coupled with their incredibly stupid fear of vaccines - made me decide I didn't need those people in my life. It was a really dumb time & it continues to be very dumb.

You don't need me to tell you that, tho.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Computer Security Day

(by Stephan Dybus)

November 30 is National Computer Security Day. Although Dick Dickenbock doesn't own a computer, & the use of his cell phone is tightly monitored, he does feel confident he can report about the best way to protect yourself in our dangerous cyber world. Probably something to do with passwords.

Find out Dick Dickenbock's passwords on XRAY FM tomorrow, Sunday, November 30, noon to 1pm. Listen in Portland at 91.1+107.1fm & online at xray dot fm. Spoiler alert! His password is "password."

This Week In Self Help: November 21 23 + 25

(I have no idear where I found this image originally, but it's here)

A busy week! How do I start? Way back a Friday ago.

Friday the 21st. The Songcircle on KBOO. New releases. Listen here at KBOO. Listen here at Self Help Radio.

Also Friday the 21st. Also on KBOO. I subbed Plugged In. I played lots of pretty electronica from this year. Listen here at KBOO. Listen here at Self Help Radio.

Sunday the 23rd. The Dickenbock Report on XRAY. It was Eat A Cranberry Day. Listen here at XRAY. Listen here at Self Help Radio.

Tuesday the 25th. Self Help Radio on KBOO. A birthday show for my wife with lots of songs about birthdays. Listen here at KBOO. Listen here at Self Help Radio.

Also Tuesday the 25th. Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO. More new releases. Listen here at KBOO (after Self Help Radio). Listen here at Self Help Radio.

At Self Help Radio you might need: username SHR, password selfhelp.

Hopefully not such a busy week ahead. Happy holiday weekend!

Self Help Radio 112525: Magda's Birthday Show 2025

Here it is, the annual birthday show I make for my wife. She said "Thank you for making a birthday show for me" drowsily as she drifted off to sleep. Marriage saved for one more year!

About a third of the songs on the show were from 2025. That includes older songs on new releases, like the Red Sleeping Beauty singles collection & the John & Yoko box set. Most of the rest were songs I just came across this year. I have a folder - this is true - full of birthday songs that I don't really like all that much. I always think one year I'll release a deliberately sub-standard birthday show, so that's why I keep them. But I continue to find birthday songs I like so - not yet!

Have a birthday party & listen to the show either on the KBOO web page or on the Self Help Radio web page. If you choose the latter, you might need the username SHR & the password selfhelp. In any event, bring your own hats & cake. I ate all the cake.

Happy birthday!

Self Help Radio Birthday Show 2025

"Happy Birthday" Mocca _Funfair_

"Happy Happy Birthday" Bitter Cherry Jam _Road To The Vegetablets_

"Happy Birthday" Red Sleeping Beauty _Pop Songs_

introduction & explanation

"Happy Birthday" Black Country, New Road _Forever Howlong_

"A Happy Birthday Song" John Tabacco _You Get Old - You Get Everything_

"Timmy's Birthday" The Firesign Theatre _Dope Humor Of The Seventies_

"Happy Birthday Yoko Ono (Jam)" John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory & Special Guests _Power To The People_

"Archie Stephens' Birthday Party" Shrug _Fresh Fish_

interview with Magda's 7th grade boyfriend Chad

"Birthday" Joni _Avalanches_

"I Don't Know Why Double Birthday" Saintseneca _Highwallow & Supermoon Songs_

"Happy Birthday Old Folk" Walter Brennan _Old Rivers_

"My 8th Birthday" Big Top Heartbreak _Deadbeat Ballads_

"Is It Worth It (Happy Birthday)" Cate Le Bon _Michelangelo Dying_

interview with Wojciech & Agnieszka, who were in the Polish community with Magda

"Happy Birthday Late" Starlings _Korda Komp 4_

"Song For Molly Parden (Happy Birthday Darling)" Johanna Samuels _Bystander_

"White Lady With A Birthday Party" Nicole Byer _Big Beautiful Weirdo_

"Happy Birthday" Tommy Crimes _Album_

"Picture Of The Birthday" Crawl Babies _Send My Badge! - Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 1_

interview with Oliver, who had been a grad student with Magda

"Bad Birthday Bash" The Vandals _When In Rome Do As The Vandals_

"Birthday" Snuff Redux _Birthday_

"Happy Birthday To A Bookworm" Ernie Kovacs _The Ernie Kovacs Album_

"Birthday" Warren Teagarden _Haiku Islands Volume Two_

"One More Trip Around The Sun" Cari Cari _One More Trip Around The Sun_

conclusion & goodbye

"Happy Birthday" Fats & His Cats _Die Singles 1962-1968_

"Birthday Bash" The Hants _Bible Belt Warbling_

"Pretend Birthday" Automatic Children _New Is Beautiful_

"Birthday Dream" Human Culture _Human Culture_

Whither Magda's Birthday Show 2025?

(image from here)

Nearly every year that Self Help Radio has been in existence - that's like 23 years now - I have dedicated a show to the love of my life - first when she was just my girlfriend, now as my wife - around the time of her birthday. Do I play songs that make me think about her? Do I share songs that we both love equally? Nope! I play songs about birthdays. She's still charmed by it tho.

What makes the show difficult for me is that I don't repeat recordings. Which is to say, I may play covers of famous birthday songs, but once I've played that recording of the song, I don't repeat it. So I need to find new birthday songs - either ones that have been released in the last twelve months or ones I have otherwise missed - on every birthday show. & that's a challenge!

You can find out how I do tonight on KBOO - 90.7fm in Portland, kboo dot fm everywhere - from midnight to 2am. Heck, it might even be your birthday!

Preface To Magda's Birthday Show 2025: I Got You A Card

Hope you like it.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Eat A Cranberry Day

(image from here)

November 23 is Eat A Cranberry Day. We've stocked up on cranberries in all manners of food - sauce, juice, pie, & more - & Dick Dickenbock demands we eat cranberries while we report on the fruit tomorrow.

That's Sunday, from noon to 1pm, on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere. Why wait for Thanksgiving?

This Week In Self Help: November 16 + 18

Another week in which I only did the radio shows I'm supposed to do. Here's how that went:

The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM reported on National Button Day.

Listen to that show: on the XRAY web page | on the Self Help Radio web page.

Self Help Radio on KBOO FM had a show about freedom.
(All the songs were in fact titled "Freedom.")

Listen to that show: on the KBOO web page | on the Self Help Radio web page.

Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO FM continued the freedom theme.

Listen to that show: on the KBOO web page (after Self Help Radio) | on the Self Help Radio web page.

Remember! You might need on the Self Help Radio web page
username: SHR password: selfhelp

This next week tho I'm going to be a little more busy I think.