Self Help Radio 090925: Moonlight

Last night - though I think it got cloudy during the show - I drove to KBOO under the light of a waning gibbous moon - I missed the full moon by one day! The moon was still high in the east as  I drove so it was behind me - alas, not lighting the way. I didn't see much of it on the way home.

But the show seemed somewhat popular - I got more requests than usual - but perhaps that's because it wasn't an obscure theme. Let that be a lesson to you, Gary! I was lucky to be able to fill about three-quarters of them.

Listen in the moonlight - or if you need some moonlight - at either the KBOO website or the Self Help Radio website. If you choose the later, you may need the username SHR & the password selfhelp to access. Everything that happened on the show is below.

Enjoy the moonlight!

Self Help Radio Moonlight Show

"Mr. Moonlight" The Beatles _Beatles For Sale_

"What A Little Moonlight Can Do" Peggy Lee _Jump For Joy_

"By The Light Of A Magical Moon" Tyrannosaurus Rex _A Beard Of Stars_

introduction & definitions

"Dancing In The Moonlight" Liza Minnelli _The Singer_

"All By Yourself In The Moonlight" Whispering Jack Smith _Me & My Shadow_

"Magic Is The Moonlight" Julie London _Julie London Sings Latin In A Satin Mood_

"Moonlight On Vermont" Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band _Trout Mask Replica_

"Moonlight Africa" Edikanfo _The Pace Setters_

our favorite librarian Carole stops by!

"Moondance" Champion Sisters _In The Mood_

"Yes, There Ain't No Moonlight" Louis Prima & His New Orleans Gang _1937-1939_

"Moonlight On The Beach" The Lewis Sisters _The Complete Motown Singles | Vol. 5: 1965_

"Underwater Moonlight" The Soft Boys _Underwater Moonlight_

"Moonlight In Glory" Brian Eno & David Byrne _My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts_

interview with Moonlight Society founder Jarvis

"Moonlight Mile" Lee Fields & The Expressions _Faithful Man_

"Moonlight In Vermont" Billie Holiday _Songs For Distingué Lovers_

"By The Light Of The Silvery Moon" Fats Waller & His Rhythm _1942-1943_

"Moonlight" Cherry Vanilla _Venus D'Vinyl_

"Birds In The Moonlight" The Titillators _That's The Night_

interview with business consultant Timothy Bell

"Let's Dance" The Futureheads _The Eighties_

"I Remember Moonlight" The Crookes _Chasing After Ghosts_

"Moonlight Darling" Carnival Park _Her Kindercrush_

"Goodbye Moonlight" Falcon Jane _Legacy_

"Moonlight Devil" Divisionists _Daybreak_

conclusion & goodbye

"Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?" Bauhaus _Burning From The Inside_

Whither Moonlight?

Yesterday I mentioned that I've tried unsuccessfully for years now to take a decent picture of the moon. Almost always I try to take pictures of the full moon, since that's the most impressive. One reason it's so impressive is that the night time world seems so strangely illuminated by a full moon. When that is the case, I often wonder what it was like being out & about when there was only the light of the moon to guide you. I don't think I've experienced that except perhaps when camping - & even then I don't know if I've ever been camping under a full moon.

It was one of those moonlit nights this summer when I thought maybe moonlight might be a good theme for the show.

Tonight, should we be able to see the moon in cloudy Portland, it's waning gibbous - I miss the full moon by one day. Hopefully you'll be able to listen to Self Help Radio in plenty of moonlight - but even if you can't, there'll be lots of moonlight coming from the radio.

The show is on from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland, & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. Altho maybe not on the moon.

Preface To Moonlight: Prepare For Some Terrible Photos Of The Moon!

At some point in time, around 2014, I noticed my wife had a digital camera she wasn't using. I asked if I could use it. She replied - she is averse to giving definitive yes or no answers - she said, "You can if you want to." So I started taking pictures, not very good pictures, I don't have much of an eye, but I posted them to Facebook anyway, since I post pictures of my animals there, & I posted them to my Tumblr blog, which I wasn't doing anything else with. (It's here by the way. I still post pictures there.)

One of the things I love doing is looking at the moon. I would love to have a decent enough camera to take really good pictures of the moon. But I do not. It doesn't mean I don't try. Another thing I love to do is use the pictures I take to illustrate the themes for my radio show. It means I don't violate the copyright of another artist/photographer & get my radio stations in trouble. It also means I don't have to look around for a photo to illustrate my show.

The show this week has the theme "moonlight." I have taken lots of terrible pictures of the moon. Which means I am taking pictures of moonlight. Which means I get to share with you those pictures. I apologize. But also, I am glad! Otherwise I'd have to spend time looking for pictures of moonlight when you can't imagine the number of songs that mention moonlight I am going to have to listen to!

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Beer Lovers Day

September 7 is National Beer Lovers Day. While noon may be a little early in the day to be enjoying a beer, The Dickenbock Report hopes you enjoy reporting - including musical reports - about beer.

That's tomorrow, Sunday, from noon to 1pm, on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, & online everywhere at xray dot fm. If we're lucky, Dick Dickenbock will tell that story about how he & Foster Brooks used to trade places & no one noticed (for the millionth time).

This Week In Self Help: August 29 + 31 & September 2

Above is a picture of the walls of Edinburgh Castle taken when I visited Scotland in 2016. It's pretty much the only picture of a castle I've ever taken. & since Self Help Radio this week had the theme "Avalon," it's also the closest picture I have that relates to that theme. Otherwise it would be more pictures of mist & fog.

Here's what I was allowed to get away with on the radio this past week:

On XRAY FM on August 29 I subbed an afternoon show, just playing songs & tawking.
Listen at the XRAY website. Listen at the Self Help Radio website.

On XRAY FM on August 31 I had an episode of The Dickenbock Report reporting on National Zoo Awareness Day.

Listen at the XRAY website. Listen at the Self Help Radio website.

On KBOO on September 2 was that aforementioned Self Help Radio episode about Avalon.

Listen at the KBOO website. Listen at the Self Help Radio website.

On KBOO on September 2 as well right after Self Help Radio I had an episode of Corporate Standardized Programming wherein I played lots of new releases.

Listen at the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). Listen at the Self Help Radio website.

Of course I must remind you that if you listen at the Self Help Radio website you might be asked for a username & password. Those are SHR & selfhelp respectively.

Wisely Portland did not let me be on the radio the remaining 162 hours of the week.

Self Help Radio 090225: Avalon

Self Help Radio traveled to Avalon for this show. Figuratively, of course. Avalon is a legendary place. It most probably never really existed but that hasn't kept people from looking for it! They could've just waited for this show - there are enough Avalons on this to satisfy most Avalon searchers. I even know someone named Avalon - I talk to her on the show - maybe she's the Avalon someone's been looking for! What I'm saying is, instead of spending all that money going to Glastonbury Tor, maybe just listen to this show when you feel like seeking Avalon.

You can visit the Avalon show anytime you'd like at either the KBOO web page or the Self Help Radio web page. If you choose, the latter, please remember the username SHR & the password selfhelp - you may need them. Everything that happened on the show is listed below.

Now we wait for Arthur's inevitable return.

Self Help Radio Avalon Show

"Avalon Town" Bing Crosby _The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings 1954-56_

"Avalon" Nat King Cole _The Unforgettable Nat King Cole_

"The Avalon Boogaloo" George 'Harmonica' Smith _Blowing The Blues_

introduction & definitions

"Avalon, My Home Town" Mississippi John Hurt _Rediscovered_

"Stones For Avalon" Tyrannosaurus Rex _Unicorn_

"Avalon" The McCalmans _Ancestral Manoeuvres_

"Key To Avalon" Eliza Gilkyson _Undressed_

"Avalon Of The Heart" Van Morrison _Enlightenment_

interview with my friend Avalon

"Avalon" M People _Fresco_

"Fields Of Avalon" Idha _Troublemaker_

"Avalon" The Hang Ups _The Hang Ups_

"Good Old Pig, Gone To Avalon" Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard _'Em Are I_

"Avalon Or Someone Very Similar" Yo La Tengo _Popular Songs_

interview with Arthurian Studies Professor Irwin Cottington

"Avalon" The Rosebuds _Songs From Crap Kingdom_

"Avalon" Black Whales _Through The Prism, Gently_

"Avalon" Foxygen _Hang_

"Avalon" Hudson Abadeer _Languor & Dolomite / Volume Two_

"Avalon" The White Buffalo _Darkest Darks, Lightest Lights_

interview with president & founder of the Portland Avalon Society: Chester Hardington

"On The Avalon Stairs" Fruit Bats _The Pet Parade_

"Take Me Avalon I'm Young" Pond _9_

"Avalon" Blur _The Ballad Of Darren_

"Road To Avalon (feat. KT Tunstall)" Brian Lopez _Tidal_

"Avalon" Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi _They're Calling Me Home_

conclusion & goodbye

"Avalon" Matthew Ellis _Matthew Ellis_

"Avalon" Coral Collapse _Symmetries_

"Avalon" Daddy's Beemer _Tangles_

Whither Avalon?

(illustration of Avalon from here)

When it comes to these themes I explore, I sometimes have straightforward ways of deciding on them & sometimes roundabout ways. Because I write in this blog about the origins of my themes I try to keep in my mind how they came about. & this one was one of the more roundabout ways.

Recently I was watching the second & final season of Netflix's adaption of the comic book The Sandman. I enjoyed though I found it somewhat s l o w & a little too self-serious for me. I also probably found the (spoiler alert) bodiless Orpheus a little too ridiculous when I was probably supposed to be more sympathetic. It just made me laugh. You can talk & sing without lungs? Yay magic! Anyway.

Because the show had long moments of characters glaring at each other my mind wandered a lot, & I tried to remember if Neil Gaiman in the Sandman comic ever dealt with Arthurian legends. I might even have visited the Sandman Wiki to see if the names Arthur or Merlin were noted there. (I still can't remember so if they did turn up in The Sandman, remind me if you can in the comments.) After I had found myself back to watching the show, & the glaring had turned to sulking, I started to wonder if I had ever done an Arthurian-themed episode of Self Help Radio. I guess I hadn't.

Obviously I could've chosen anything but Avalon seemed promising, so I made a note & started looking for songs. It helped that I have a friend named Avalon that I could interview for the show. Once I felt I was ready, I began putting that show together. Thanks Sandman series!

The Self Help Radio Avalon show happens tonight, Monday September 1, from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland & online at kboo dot fm. Tonight is the night I get to pull that sword from the stone!

Preface To Avalon: King Arthur & Me

(The cover of Camelot 3000 # 1 found here)

As a child, I loved fantasy & sci-fi more or less equally, though when it came to old stories of Britain, I was much more attached to Robin Hood than to King Arthur. It took the comic book above, Camelot 3000 by Mike W. Barr & Brian Bolland, to draw me into that legend. It was of course both fantasy & sci-fi - it took place in the year 3000 - but the story was great & Bolland's art remains magnificent. What really hooked me to the Arthurian legends was the essay Barr wrote in the back of the first issue about Thomas Malory's Morte D'Arthur, which I checked out from the library very soon after I read that piece, &... Never finished. It was written in difficult old English & not all that gripping. I was just fourteen, I wasn't really going to suddenly go nuts for something written like the Canterbury Tales. I might have mentioned this to my tenth grade teacher, who might have suggested T.H. White's The Once & Future King to me. That was more my speed. I think I read that book twice in a row.

Golly I had so much time when I was young.

We did have movies we could turn to when we liked legends - sometimes old ones, like Errol Flynn in Robin Hood - but while there were lots of Arthur movies out there - I was too young to watch Excalibur but would see it later - I think my favorite Arthur movie of the ones I've seen remains Monty Python & The Holy Grail.

This website ranks the Arthurian movies worst to best. I am surprised I never saw The Sword In The Stone. But I guess by the time I was off to college I had consumed as much King Arthur as I wanted. Tho now looking at that list it appears I want more. Dang it.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Zoo Awareness Day

(sign at the Dublin Zoo, found here)

Are you not aware that we still keep animals in zoos for our own amusement? Also that zoos often employ smart, caring people who work to make sure the animals' lives are good? That's the function of National Zoo Awareness Day, & on The Dickenbock Report tomorrow we shall endeavor to make you aware of zoos, whether you're currently aware of them or not.

That's Sunday, August 31, from noon to 1pm, on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, & online everywhere (even at most zoos) at xray dot fm.

It turns out Dick Dickenbock wasn't even aware there was a zoo awareness day!

This Week In Self Help: August 24 & 26

It was one of the first regular weeks I've had in a while - I just did my three shows. One show of which follows immediately another show so it's like it's only two shows. Which means I got more sleep than usual!

The Dickenbock Report reported on National Knives Day.

Listen at XRAY website. Listen at Self Help Radio website.

Self Help Radio continued the Indiepop A To Z series with the 78th installment.

Listen at KBOO website. Listen at Self Help Radio website.

Corporate Standardized Programming played more artists we lost this year.

Listen at KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). Listen at Self Help Radio website.

If you listen at the Self Help Radio website, you may need this information:
Username: SHR. Password: selfhelp.

Really it was nice to get more sleep than usual. It might just be I'd sleep best without radio!

Self Help Radio 082625: Indiepop A To Z # 78

(images in collage found at Discogs & Bandcamp)

This show was a show of two firsts, one trivial, one alarming. The trivial first is that, for the first time ever, I deliberately (not accidentally) went out of alphabetical order. You can see where on the list below. I explain why during the show. The alarming first is that, for the first time ever, I fundraise for a station that is truly under threat of a fascist government. There's a lot of begging for donations to KBOO on this show. You can find out more - & help! - at this web page. Sorry to interrupt the music with what we in the biz call "pledge pitches." But it has to be done or there's no place for as unprofitable a show as Self Help Radio!

You can listen to this episode anytime at either the KBOO web page or at the Self Help Radio web page. If you choose the latter, please note the username SHR & the password selfhelp. It was all music (except for the begging) so below is a list of songs that appeared on the show.

Next indiepop alphabet show is in December!

Self Help Radio Indiepop A To Z # 78 Show

"Losing It" Shrimp Tractor _Losing It_

"Carefree Clothes" Shrubbies _Memphis In Texas_

"Weiter Weiter" Shy _Pullover_

"Alison Song # 4" Shy Camp _Friendly Society - A Harriet Records Compilation_

"Omtagning" Sibiria _Norrlands Inland_

"Sunshine Thuggery" The Siddeleys _Slum Clearance_

"Of My Heart" Signed Papercuts _Of My Heart_

"AM Radio" The Silent Boys _Beauty Tips_

"Until I See You" Silent Film _Moshi Moshi (Pop International Style)_

"City Ghosts" The Silent Reach _Secondment_

"The Forest" Silent Truth _A Chance To Shine: A Dorian Compilation_

"Time Zones" Silly Pillows _New Affections_

"Advice To The Graduate" Silver Jews _Starlite Walker_

"TV Playtime" Silicon Teens _Music For Parties_

"I Have Known Love" Silver Apples _Contact_

"The Lonely Singer" Silver Scooter _The Blue Law_

"Preciously Inside" Simpático _The Difference Between Alone & Lonely_

"Nice" The Simpletons _Matter_

"Come Together" Since November _Stamp Collecting (For Beginners)_

"Feels Like Summer" Sing-Sing _The Joy Of Sing-Sing_

"Do What You Say (Richard, Richard)" The Singing Bush _Drive-In Season_

"The Hanging Tree" The Singing Ringing Tree _The Hanging Tree_

"Fotos" Single _Monólogo Interior_

"Out In The Traffic" Single File _Out In The Traffic_

"Your Mouth Is On My Mind" Sink Tapes _How You Mean_

"You Can't Push Me Away" Sinking Ships _Out Of Key Harmony_

"It's You" La Sintesis _September EP_

"She's Cuckoo" Siouxsie & The Banshees _Downside Up_

Whither Indiepop A To Z # 78?

Every four months I try to get closer to the end of my Indiepop A To Z series. Begun with the letter A in 2004, I am now in the letter S, where I'll probably be for quite a while. I have nothing more to say but I share with you a picture I took of something a child put up on a fence in our neighborhood. Why is it so cute when a child misspells a word? It's so cute to spell cute "cuet"! & I confess I can't draw a star that "adorabl."

Listen tonight from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland, kboo dot fm everywhere.

Preface To Indiepop A To Z # 78: Cute Animals

One defining feature of me is that I am wholly incapable of successfully making any sort of mark on social media. It's not that I wouldn't like lots of people knowing about my show, it's that it's a kind of work - self-promotion - that I find inherently distasteful. I do sometimes wish I was better at it, not for my own sake, but if I were good at getting someone's attention, I might be able to help raise money for the radio stations at which I volunteer. It is a sadness that I can't contribute financial to them commensurate with my love for them.

Over on my otherwise barren Bluesky account, I post pictures of my youngest animals every day. I do this as much for me as for anyone else - it's nice to see how they grow & change over time & making it into a ritual benefits me in the long run. I wish I had many more pictures of all my animals. I am sad I don't. I know my memories of the time I spent with them will fade - my own brain may well betray me. If my heart doesn't give out on me first.

This week I'm playing more indiepop & cute animals are part & parcel of the substance of twee. I remember going to a show & my then-girlfriend trying to convince the band afterward that the beagle was the most indiepop of animals. They may well be. I don't really make pronouncements like that. Not when there are adorable chihuahuas in the world!

This was not meant to be me moaning about anything. Just showing pics of my animals. As I listen to indiepop for the next silly show.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Knife Day

August 24 is National Knife Day. We will be reporting on knives on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM. We have spent the whole week reminding the staff & crew about knife safety. We have reviewed first aid procedures. We have asked that no one bring knives from home. When last we reported on this day, there was a lot of blood. Stitches were required. One of our interns lost a finger. It is not one of the safer days to report on.

That's Sunday, August 24, 12-1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere. There was so much blood last time, though. So much blood.

This Week In Self Help August 15 17 19 + 21

Another busy week damn.

Friday the 15th: The Songcircle on KBOO.
All new releases.
Listen at KBOO. Listen at Self Help Radio.

Sunday the 17th: The Dickenbock Report on XRAY.
National I Love My Feet Day. Really.
Listen at XRAY. Listen at Self Help Radio.

Tuesday the 19th: Self Help Radio on KBOO.

The theme was eternity.

Listen at KBOO. Listen at Self Help Radio.

Tuesday the 19th: Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO.
Continuing Self Help Radio's theme, lots of instrumentals with "eternity" in their title.
Listen at Self Help Radio. (It's included in the KBOO file for Self Help Radio above.)

Thursday the 21st. Subbing Welcome To Your Good Day on XRAY.
Just playing music & talking about stuff.
Listen at XRAY.

The picture of the clouds above is supposed to be some attempt to show eternity.
I'm outta ideas here.
If you go to the Self Help Radio website, you might need the username SHR & password selfhelp.
I promise next week will be far less busy.