Whither Boom?

Boom show because Boomslang.  Duh.

I am very tired so hilarity &/or embarrassment will probably ensue.  The only difference between that & a regular show, I suppose, might be the hilarity.

Tonight!  10pm to midnight.  88.1 fm in Lexington & the surround booms; wrfl dot fm everywhere.

Unless you're at Boomslang, which is where you should be.

Preface To Boom: Slang

Seriously, WRFL is bringing 42 bands here.  Over three nights.  At lots of venues.  & I'm helping.

Boomslang Number 5, 2013.

You should really come out.  It's going to be great!

What Is This Boomslang I've Heard So Much About?

Is it a music festival?  Is it a "celebration of sound & art"?  Is it a deadly snake?  Is it happening in Lexington this weekend?

Yes.

Find out more: Boomslang Web Central.

Here's a picture of a music festival:

Doesn't that look like fun?

Plain Ol' Chant Show

Eep!  It's Boomslang week at WRFL so as a volunteer I am waist-deep in work for the festival!  I barely got around to editing this!

A show about chant.  Chanting.  Chants.  Get it?  It's now at Self Help Radio web site.  It's in two parts: one part, two part.  Red part, blue part.  List on chantsongs below.

See you at Boomslang!

(part one)

"The Chant (Take 1)" Jelly Roll Morton _The Jelly Roll Morton Centennial: His Complete Victor Recordings_
"Chant In The Night" Sidney Bechet _Ken Burns Jazz: Sidney Bechet_
"Hawaiian War Chant (Ta-Hu-Wa-Hu-Wai)" Spike Jones _The Best Of Spike Jones & His City Slickers_

"Gloria XI" Edmundite Novices _Gregorian Chants_
"Chant Of The Jungle" Sid Bass & His Orchestra _The History Of Space Age Pop, Vol. 2: Mallets In Wonderland_
"Cubano Chant" Martin Denny _Ultra-Lounge Tiki Sampler_
"Fishing Chant" Del Vikings _An Angel Up In Heaven_
"Indian Alphabet Chant (A I Iddy I O O O)" Lucia Pamela _Into Outer Space With Lucia Pamela_

"In Praise Of Rama" Deben Bhattacharya _Religious Chants From India_
"Maori Indian Battle Chant" Ella Jenkins _You Sing A Song & I'll Sing A Song_
"Monk Chant" The Monks _Black Monk Time_
"The Chant" Keith Everett _The Chant_
"Hari Om & Deva Chant Interlude" Bobby Callender _The Way (First Book Of Experiences)_

"Three Mantra Chant" Buddhist Monks Of Maitri Vihar Monastery _Tibetan Mantras & Chants_
"Mean Machine Chant" The Last Poets _Change The Beat: The Celluloid Records Story 1979-1987_

(part two)

"Chant To Mother Earth" Blo _Nigeria 70: The Definative Story Of 1970's Funky Lagos_
"Chant Down Babylon" Junior Byles & Rupert Reid _129 Beat Street: Ja-Man Special 1975-1978_
"Chant To Jah" Dr. Alimantado _Born For A Purpose_

"Death Chant (Honor Song)" Leroy Selam _Folk Music In America, Vol. 15: Religious Music - Solo & Performance_
"Let's All Chant" Michael Zager Band _Let's All Chant_
"Chant" Public Image Limited _Metal Box_
"Chant Number Nine" Axemen _Three Virgins, Three Versions, Three Visions_

"Azaan" Fatima _Surahz Muslim Temple Chants_
"Chant" Robyn Hitchcock _I Often Dream Of Trains_
"Happiness Is Just A Chant Away" Chumbawamba _Shhh_
"Chant With Me" Nib The Psychic Fiend _Sonic Damn Nation_

"Traditional Chant" Igbayen _Live From Festival Au Desert, Timbuktu_
"Chant Of The Paladin" Dead Can Dance _The Serpent's Egg_

Whither Chant?

I don't chant - I'm not a member of any religious or spiritual group.  I don't even meditate - though I'd like to.  I suppose I enjoy songs with chanting in them.  & I enjoy chants - if you're saying "songs" in French.  I enjoy songs, & I am sometimes pretentious.

Still, at some point in the past year I noticed that chants were coming at me from different points & at different angles.  I thought to myself, I should do a show about chants.  & now it's going to happen.

That seems a prosaic explanation, which has only the virtue of being as true as it's boring.  Most of my shows come from pretty banal origins.  One day I'll have an insight or epiphany perhaps, & maybe even be struck by an actual muse.  But really, Self Help Radio gets an idea from somewhere, lets it sit in some sort of quiet for reflection (though not chanting), & then emerges, somewhat disheveled, as the uncomfortable radio show it is.

It's on tonight!  On 88.1 fm WRFL!  From ten pm to midnight!  Eastern time zone!  Also online at WRFL dot FM!

I'll probably just chant through the airbreaks.  You have been warned.

Preface To Chants: What Kind Of Chants Should I Take?

That's an awful pun, sorry.

I knew a woman once who was Japanese who worked with me.  She had married an American GI & he had brought her back to the States.  But their marriage fell apart so when I knew her she was single.  Not that I had any interest in dating her.  She was quite sweet & pleasant to work with, though it was often amusingly difficult to communicate with her.

She was usually having financial issues, probably because of her divorce & being separated from her family.  (I got the impression her family frowned upon her marrying an American.)  She would ask all of her co-workers advice about purchasing things, & she would openly daydream about things she really wanted - sometimes clothes, sometimes jewelry, sometimes big-ticket items like property or a car.

One day she was talking about an expensive car she wanted.  She said, "I am going to chant for it."

I said, thinking she was mistranslating a word, "Do you mean, 'pray for it'?"

She said, "Oh no, I don't pray.  I am a Buddhist."

I was a little perplexed by this.  Weren't Buddhists, I wondered aloud, supposed to be detached from the material world, since desire caused suffering?

She laughed at me as if I were naïve.  She explained to me that you could use Buddha energy to make things happen for you.  The Buddha wanted you to be happy!

I of course thought she was full of beans & had discovered some bastardized - or, worse, Americanized - form of Buddhism that completely inverted the teachings of the Buddha.  The conversation I recreate above is a summary of what we talked about, not actual quotes.  I wouldn't remember exact words anyway, but it would have covered more than five minutes to share a few sentences with her - her English wasn't great.

This first-person narrative online explains to me something I never bothered to follow up on: this is apparently a form of Buddhism called "Nichiren Buddhism."  The Wikipedia page establishes this as a venerable strain of Buddhism, older than Protestantism.  However, the blogger's experience suggests that it's exactly the sort of Buddhism my old co-worker was practicing.  "Earthly desires equal enlightenment," a practitioner tells the narrator.  She points out that they were not chanting "for altruistic things."

Hm, do I currently know any practicing Buddhists?  I should ask them about this group.  If you read this & you have something to add or correct, please do so!

I don't remember my co-worker's name - it's been over twenty years since I last saw her - but I thought about her when I decided to do a show about chanting.  I hope she's gotten everything in her life she's chanted for!

I Wish I Had More Things To Say About The State That I Am In

I have the suspicion (said he) that a lot of what you say is wrong.

If that's true (said I), why don't you attempt to disprove these things I say?

I would, I would (said he), but I don't think I know enough.

Ah! (said I) so you don't know that I am wrong but you feel that I am wrong.

I don't think (said he) it's coming entirely from a feeling.  For example, part of what you're saying may contradict something that I know to be true, but just a part, so I can't entirely dismiss what you're saying.  However, that part is crucially important to your argument, & so it tends to make me distrust the entire thing.

Shall I even ask (said I) what part of what I've suggested goes against something you know is true?

Well of course (said he) I can't think about anything in particular you've said right now.

Of course (said I).

Please don't be sarcastic (said he).  Some people don't have a quick mind.  Or good recall.

Then perhaps (said I) when I say something that seems to be untrue or, as you put it, "wrong," you can speak up at the time or while we're talking instead of suggesting, like you have, that two or three incidents have invalidated most of what I say.

You know (said he), you have I guess it's a rhetorical trick or something because you've managed to make it sound like it's just been two or three times instead of most of the time.

Well (said I) you can't even give me one example, which makes it a pretty bold statement since you & I have been having conversations for years.  Or...

What (said he)?

Or perhaps (said I), this is something you've only noticed in the past few months.

No (said he).

Which begs the questions (said I), why bring it up now?

I don't know (said he).  Maybe I've been meaning to & it just came out.  What were we talking about before?

The new Star Trek movie (said I).

Oh yeah (said he).

In which case (said I) I don't know if anything I said at that time might be construed as wrong, as I was just giving you my opinion of the film.  You might disagree with my opinion, but I don't think you can say an opinion is "wrong."

You can't (said he)?

I don't think so (said I).  At best an opinion can be informed.

What do you mean (said he)?

I mean (said I), I can make a comment about a jazz record like "I don't like this record," but since I'm not a huge fan of jazz or since I don't know much about it, my opinion would mean less to someone who knows way more about jazz than I do.

Oh (said he).  Maybe I wasn't talking about opinions then.

You don't remember what you were talking about! (said I).

You always have to be right (said he).

Tennessee

I got a smoldering call during my Tennessee show (not on the air) in which a curt fellow, sounding as if he was talking with his mouth pressed up against the phone's microphone, asked me, without saying hello, "Well, what part of Tennessee are you from?"  I told him I was actually from Texas.  It seemed to flummox him that someone would ever want to do a radio show with songs about Tennessee unless they felt some sort of birth-related connection to the state.  When I pressed him about why this concerned him, he said, "I just don't like Tennessee."  Fair enough!

Someone from Tennessee was listening in, however, & he said the show made him feel less homesick.

Even if you're not from Tennessee, you can feel less homesick by listening to the show now at the Self Help Radio web presence.  Or you can just click to hear one of the two parts: part I | part II.  The list of Volunteer State Songs are below!

Thanks for listening, Kentucky (& the rest of you)!

(part one)

"On The Banks Of The Old Tennessee" Mr. & Mrs. J.W. Baker _Flowers In The Wildwood: Women In Early Country Music_
"Wreck Of The Tennessee Gravy Train" Uncle Dave Macon _Hard Times In The Country_
"In The Hills Of Tennessee" Jimmie Rodgers _The Singing Brakeman_

"Tennessee Dog" Jimmie Strothers _Folk Music In America, Vol. 11: Songs Of Humor & Hilarity_
"Easin' Back To Tennessee" Sleepy John Estes _Jailhouse Blues_
"Tennessee Border" Tennessee Ernie Ford _16 Tons Of Boogie: The Best Of Tennessee Ernie Ford_
"Tennessee Saturday Night" Ella May Morse _The Very Best Of Ella Mae Morse_
"In Sunny Tennessee (with Hal Lone Pine)" Betty Cody _The Successful Hillbilly Era Of Betty Cody_
"Tennessee Wig Walk" Bonnie Lou _Doin' The Tennessee Wig Walk_

"The Ballad Of Davy Crockett" Bill Hayes _Hello Children Everywhere_
"My Little Home In Tennessee" Mac Wiseman _The London American Story_
"Tennessee Toddy" Marty Robbins _Marty Robbins Rocks!_
"Tennessee" Carl Perkins _Atomic Platters: Cold War Music From The Golden Age_
"Tennessee Zip" Kenny Parchman _The Essential Sun Rockabillies_

"Tennessee" Jan & Dean _All The Hits, From Surf City To Drag City_
"Tennessee Waltz" Anna King _Back To Soul_

(part two)

"Tennessee" Jimmy Martin _Tennessee_
"Rocky Top" The Osborne Brothers _From The Vaults: Decca Country Classics 1934-1973_
"Worried Now In A Tennessee Town" Mississippi Joe Callicott _The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions_

"Down In Tennessee" Ohio Express _Chewy, Chewy_
"Tennessee Bird Walk" Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan _Classic Country: 1969-1975_
"My Tennessee Mountain Home" Dolly Parton _My Tennessee Mountain Home_
"Tennessee Whiskey" George Jones _The Essential George Jones: The Spirit Of Country_
"Tennessee Stud" Johnny Cash _American Recordings_

"Tennessee" Arrested Development _3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days In The Life Of..._
"Tennessee" Silver Jews _Bright Flight_
"Tennessee" The Galactic Heroes _How About San Francisco?_
"Tennessee Blues" The Howling Brothers _Howl_

"When It's Iris Time In Tennessee" Rick Pickren _The State Songs, Vol. 3_
"Suddenly Tennessee" Lee Hazlewood _For Every Solution There's A Problem_
"Tennessee Houn' Dog Yodel" Marvin Rainwater _M-G-M Hillbilly Vol. 1_

Whither Tennessee?

I am ambivalent about Tennessee.  Both Memphis & Nashville seem nice, & Nashville has a great vegetarian restaurant called the Wild Cow which is pretty much better than any restaurant within a fifty mile radius of me.  & it's just three hours away!  I am mostly not a happy Kentucky vegan.

The rest of the state, I don't know.  It's like that all over, though.  I am not in lockstep with rural or even suburban America.  They think I'm a lefty pinko overeducated commie.  I am mostly just scared of them.  We both think the other is wrong, wrong, wrong.

I do thank Tennessee for having the sort of fucked-up racial & class-oriented situation to help in the rise of the blues, country, & rock & roll.  That stuff does not come from a well-ordered society.  It comes from need & want & sweat & alcohol & ambition & repression. It comes from a heart that needs to explode & it's got no place else it can turn to.  I sometimes think I will never be anything more than the thirteen year old boy lying next to the radio & using the music I loved to interpret & understand my life.  I sometimes think I'm right about that.

Lots of songs about Tennessee tonight!  From 10pm to midnight on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington, but online at wrfl.fm in Tennessee.  (& other places too.)

Preface To Tennessee: For No Real Reason, Blowfish

Or pufferfish.  Whatever.

Pufferfish, Pufferfish pictures, Pufferfish facts courtesy of National Geographic.

You're welcome.

Donuts!

Being a vegan is often a sad thing - when one chooses to live in an ethical manner, one often gives up things that one enjoys - like donuts, which more often than not have milk &/or eggs in them.  Except.  The wife love donuts slightly more than she loves me.  So she got me this book - Chloe's Vegan Desserts by Chloe Coscarelli, who looks extremely happy on the cover of the book - probably because she possesses the amazing ability to replicate desserts that are non-vegan in a delicious vegan manner.

Tonight - as you can see - we made vegan donuts.  & man oh man are they delicious.

Gotta go.  Donuts are calling me - to consume them!

Indiepop A To Z # 41

Look, I know I have a problem.  I know there's nothing healthy in playing an alphabetical list of bands on the radio, especially when (after 41 episodes) I am still in the letter H.  This can't end well.

But it can continue just fine!  The show is available for your twee ears at Self Help Radio dot net & the direct links to the show in two parts is part one here & part two here.  Alphabetical list of songs from Horse to Hunky below.

Thanks for listening & encouraging me to take my medication!

(part one)

"I Can't Decide (Harvest Mix)" Horse Shoes _EardrumsPop 100_
"At The Blood Drive" Hospital Bombers _At Budokan_
"Betty Wang" Hospitality _Hospitality_

"Swallow My Pride" Hot Booth _No More Of Your Fairy Stories: An Indiepop Loveletter to The Ramones_
"Shipwreck" Hot Club De Paris _Drop It 'Til It Pops_
"Eddie Deezen" Hot Fudge Free For All _Laugh Hard - It's A Long Way To The Bank_
"JPG In The Sun" Hot Lava _Lavalogy_
"Basketball" Hot Pursuit _Teenbeat 2002_

"Time Is On Our Side" Hot Rain _The Sound Of Leamington Spa, Vol. 1_
"The Lovecats" The Hot Rats _Turn Ons_
"Kiola Beach" Hot Spa _Ashell II_
"Photosynthesis" The Hot Toddies _Smell The Mitten_
"Emails" Hotpants Romance _The International Hotpants Romance_

"Why Me?" A House _The Way We Were: The Best Of A House_
"5:00" Ron House _I Stayed Up All Night Listening To Records_

(part two)

"Shine On" House Of Love _The Best Of The House Of Love_
"Warp Factor 13" Househunters _Warp Factor 13_
"Happy Hour" The Housemartins "Live At The BBC_

"Blue Sunshine" The Hoverchairs _Just Another… Compilation_
"Learning To Keep My Mouth Shut" How Many Beans Make Five _One Last Look_
"Wavin' My Arms In The Air" Huck _Winter's Mist_
"Emma Peel, Formula One" Hula Hoop _Louisville - Leeds - TKO!_
"River Of Honey & Mud" Hulaboy _Knowing We Was Right From Da Start_

"Being Boiled" The Human League _Reproduction_
"Andy Fell" Human Sexual Response _In A Roman Mood_
"Sometimes Set Free" Human Station _Beikoku-Ongaku # 15_
"Where The Light Breaks" Human Switchboard _Who's Landing In My Hangar?_
"I Forgot" Human Television _All Songs Written By: Human Television_

"Word Gets Around" The Hummingbirds _loveBUZZ_
"It's Love" Hunky Dory _Over The Rainbow_

Whither Indiepop A To Z # 41

I feel weird.  Normally, at least for the past few months, at 7:30 pm on a Friday, my show has been off for ninety minutes & I've only begun to drink enough to move beyond the inevitable crushing disappointment I feel after trying to make a decent radio show & failing miserably.  But now - holy smokes! - my show is about two & a half hours away from being on.

I think I'll go for a dog walk.

Meanwhile, if you're a fan of the indiepop, or a completist, or have been following my ridiculous "Indiepop A To Z" series (you can listen to virtually all the previous episodes on the Self Help Radio archive page), or happen to be listening to the radio on a Friday night, then you can hear tonight's show from ten to midnight on 88.1 fm in Lexington &/or (I ain't picky) wrfl dot fm.

We're at the very end of the indiepop h set.  We might finish them tonight!  Okay, we won't finish them tonight.

Preface To Indiepop A To Z # 41: Did I Mention Self Help Radio Has Moved?

Yeah, the show moved.  In time, on the same radio station.  It didn't move to Phoenix or anyplace like that.  Still in Lexingtown.  You can look at the new schedule over at the WRFL website.  You can find Self Help Radio now after the excellent Uncle Bill Show at 10pm.

Why move?  I guess the show, like its host, suffers from a kind of inferiority complex, & felt a better show should have the drive-time slot.  So Matt Clarke's WRFL Surf show will air from 5 to 6, with Matt doing general format for an hour before that.  It'll be more consistent than Self Help Radio - & frankly, more fun.

I also like the idea of being up at the station when no-one else is.  Night time is usually deserted.  & since it's Friday, if anyone's listening, they'll be listening in their car going from place to place - they won't be paying much attention.  Attention means people ask questions like, "Why is this show on drive time?"

The same will probably be asked about the ten to midnight slot, though.  Maybe I've been doing this ridiculous program too long.

Will you still listen?  If you ever listened, I mean?

What's Everybody Talking About?

Hey, everybody seems a little upset about something.  What's everyone talking about?  Is the country going to become involved in another in an endless series of overseas conflicts that only benefit the political ruling class & corporations, with the burden of payment on the average citizen?  Or was it some pop culture thing planned by other (or the same?) corporations to generate outrage that succeeded, like it always does, even though it's not any more brazen than the last pop culture thing?

I have spent a lot of time attending & listening to talks & speeches by prominent progressive thinkers who tell me that Americans are actually quite intelligent, & I have read lots of positive books from very smart people who say things like, "Don't underestimate the brilliance of the American people."  & I want to believe that because most of my friends (& acquaintances) are actually bright, thoughtful people, but even they cluck cluck when the next carefully orchestrated "affront" happens, often arguing that it's helpful to pay attention to such things because it's helpful to know what "everyone" is paying attention to.

I guess I'm saying that, instead of believing that I am becoming cynical, I am letting the overwhelming evidence sway me, as it should, into thinking that no, Americans aren't terribly smart.  I used to hate the judgmental quality of songs like the Housemartins' "Sheep" or the Dead Milkmen's "You'll Dance To Anything", probably because the attitude is somewhat superior, condescending, & designed to make the listener, feel like he or she isn't the sheep, or the robot who'll dance to whatever.

I've no interest in pretending I'm any better than anyone else.  I'm overwhelmed & saddened by the fact that everyone lost their shit because a corporate pop star at a corporate awards show did something vaguely scandalous just like the corporate pop star before her, & the one before that, & the one before that.  & it's not even that we should instead be talking about whether the country should be bombing the fuck out of some new place instead - we obviously should not.

It's just that we shouldn't be talking about something a corporation dreamed up to shock us.  We just shouldn't care.  We should be smarter than that.  We probably shouldn't be listening to music made by corporations anyway.

But we care, a lot.  We listen to corporate music, a lot.  & it turns out we're not smarter than that.  & we probably never were.

On Edge

Self Help Radio attempts to be edgy by doing a show about edges.  Because if there's one thing Self Help Radio does, it's take things literally.  It's very much like an not-very-smart animal.  That thinks it's pretty smart.

The entire show about edges is not on the edges of the Self Help Radio website but in fact floating in the middle of the page like most of the other content.  But if you want to go directly to the files, you don't even have to edge over there, just click here for part one & here for part two.  The list of edgesongs is at the end of this note.

As always, thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Edge Of Nowhere" The Sunday Group _Scarey Business_
"At The River's Edge" Wet Paint _Just For Kicks Vol. 1_
"Falling Off The Edge Of The World" The Easybeats _Gonna Have A Good Time: The Complete US & UK Singles Collection_
"Razor Edge" Ranee & Raj _Piccadilly Sunshine, Vol. 12_

"Darkness On The Edge Of Town" Bruce Springsteen _Darkness On The Edge Of Town_
"Over The Edge" The Wipers _Over The Edge_
"Cutting Edge" Nails _Hotel For Women_
"At The Edge Of The Sea" The Wedding Present _Tommy_

"The Cutting Edge" Frank Tovey _Snakes & Ladders_
"Picnic On The Edge" Hector In Paris _Silent Radio_
"Cliff Edge" The Bats _The Law Of Things_
"From The Edge Of The Deep Blue Sea" The Cure _Wish_

"Over The Edge! (Excerpt)" The Firesign Theatre _Pink Hotel Burns Down_

(part two)

"The Edges Are No Longer Parallel" Morrissey _Maladjusted_
"Edge Of The Ocean" Ivy _Long Distance_
"Over The Edge" Fuzzy _Hurray For Everything_

"Losing My Edge" LCD Soundsystem _LCD Soundsystem_
"Sur Les Bords De La Seine" Marina Celeste _Acidule_
"On Edge" Piano Magic _Ovations_

"7 Strokes To Heaven's Edge" Guided By Voices _Hardcore UFOs: Delicious Pie & Thank You For Calling_
"Water's Edge" Secret Shine _The Beginning & The End_
"I Sat On The Edge Of My Bed & I Sang You Velvet Underground Songs" Catnaps _Why Don't You Whisper?_
"Edges & Corners" Standard Fare _The Noyelle Beat_
"River's Edge" Talk Normal _Sugarland_

"Walking On The Edge" Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Dub Syndicate _Adrian Sherwood Presents The Master Recordings, Vol. 2_

Whither On Edge?

This is how I know I lived my entire life in Texas: I just bought something at the store & it came out to be $3.16 & in my brain, I started to say, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son..."

I know I am not currently in Texas because the person behind the counter did not get really happy & say that out loud to me.

That anecdote has nothing to do with Self Help Radio today, which is a show entitled "on edge."  It's not going to be a show about being nervous - it's going to be a celebration of edges.  I'm sure it's a lot more exciting than it sounds - but not much more.

It's on today - today! oh shit! - from 4 to 6 pm on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington.  It will also be streamed simultaneously on the WRFL web site if you're nearer to a computer than radio frequencies.

In any case, I hope you'll listen!

Preface To On Edge: Problems With Nerves

Gary is a worrier.  So is his mother.  Is worrying genetic?

Gary asked his dogs.  The one that understood English did not understand the question.  He said, with bright eyes, "Treats?"  It sounded like a whine.  But Gary understood Doglish.

Gary asked his cats.  They all understood English but they pretended they did not.  They laughed at him behind his back.

Gary asked his wife.  She said, "Why are you worrying about this?"

Gary asked the ugly person in the mirror.  The ugly person in the mirror mouthed his words back at him hatefully.  Then the ugly person in the mirror sneered at him.

Gary asked the Internet.  The internet call him "a fag" & told him "real men don't worry."  However, the internet also told him that he won a lottery in a country he'd never been to - it was a lottery he hadn't even entered! - so Gary forgot all about worrying as he quickly sent his bank information to the nice person who wrote the unbelievable news in terrible English to him.

Then he started to worry about what he would do with all that money.

The Sadness Of Backyard Dogs

There's a recorded PSA (public service announcement) that runs on the station occasionally about adopting cats & dogs from the "pound" (as it used to be called) or Humane Society or whatever.  It says, "A human is the best thing to happen to a shelter animal."

But is it?

There was this Irish Setter (I think that was the breed) who we'd see every day on our dog walk.  He (I assumed it was male) was very old, & he was always in the same place - on the back step of his house (the house was on the corner of an intersection, so we'd walk past the back yard), usually on his side, sleeping.  I never got close enough to actually see how old he might be, but he seemed at least partially blind & would bark at us if he heard us.  One thing I could tell is that his fur was filthy & matted - he was obviously not terribly well cared for.

When his owners were in the backyard, however, he was animated.  He so badly wanted to be talked to, touched, interacted with in any way.  & I never saw - granted, I was just walking by most of the time - I never saw any of them - the father, the mother, the kids - pay him any attention.

He was always outside, he had a small shelter next to the garage, but in heat or cold, he was in the backyard.  Early morning or late night.  I don't imagine he ever was allowed inside.  I got so sad & angry walking by that I told the wife we should change the route so we wouldn't have to walk by.  I had a feeling the dog would be dead out there one day & the family wouldn't notice him until he started to smell.

I feel bad about that - but what could I do?  The dog "belonged" to those people, & they probably provided him with the bare minimum necessary for him to live on.

We changed our dog walk & didn't pass the house any more.  A couple of times this summer we ended up walking past & the dog wasn't in the backyard any more.  I looked for it each time, but it's certainly gone.  It broke my heart but I thought to myself at least its suffering is over.  I am glad I don't know the details of its passing,

I didn't feel so bad about walking by anymore, & occasionally now we do.

Tonight, as we walked by, a new dog was there, barking at us as we passed.  I just felt so so sad.  Usually I try to give treats to neighborhood dogs to calm them down & to get to know them.  I don't want to get to know this dog.  Once he stops being lively, he'll be all by himself in the backyard for the rest of his lonely life.

I know this is traditionally how humans have raised animals, & I know dogs are stronger than we are, & have co-evolved with us, & understand that relationship.  This family treats its dogs about the same way most people have treated dogs since humans first domesticated them.  & certainly the kids will treat their dogs the same way when they're grown & have pets.

But don't we know better now?  Shouldn't we know better now?

Damn it just depresses me.

Alligators & Crocodiles

Two hours of scary crocodilians!  Someone could get a leg bitten off!

Learn the difference between alligators & crocodiles over on the Self Help Radio web site.  Or listen to the show in pieces as if snapped into two by a gator's powerful jaws: part one & part two.  Old reptile song list below.

Thanks for listening & for pete's sake be careful!

(part one)

"Alligator Story/Alligator Crawl" Louis Armstrong _Hot Fives & Sevens_
"Gator Wobble" Memphis Jug Band _He's In The Jailhouse Now_
"Alligator Meat" Joe Swift With The Johnny Otis Band _The Swingtime Records Story_

"Later Gator" Freddie Mitchell _Later Gator_
"See You Later, Alligator" Bobby Charles _See You Later, Alligator_
"Juicy Crocodile" Cellos _Rang Tang Ding Dong_
"Alligator Wine" Screamin' Jay Hawkins _Real Life_
"Meaner Than An Alligator" Ty B & Johnny _Rockin' The Bop Vol. 2_

"Alligator Man" The Greenbriar Boys _Best Of The Vanguard Years_
"Gator Tails & Monkey Ribs" The Stix & Stonz _Jack The Ripper_
"The Alligator" The US Four _Teenage Shutdown: Jump, Jive, & Harmonize_
"Warlord Of The Royal Crocodiles" Tyrannosaurus Rex _The Definitive Tyrannosaurus Rex_
"Gator Bait" Gaturs _New Orleans Funk - The Original Sound Of Funk 1960-75_

"Crocadilla" Spider Jive _Man Chest Hair_
"It's A Cold Night For Alligators" Roky Erickson & The Aliens _The Evil One_

(part two)

"Crocodile" Monty Python _Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album_
"Crocodiles" Echo & The Bunnymen _Crocodiles_
"Crocodile Tears" Red Guitars _Slow To Fade_

"Alligator Song" Bilders _Pyx (1985-1988)_
"Crocodile Cryer" Martin Stephenson & The Daintees _Crocodile Cryer_
"Crocodile" XTC _Nonsuch_
"Alligator Boogaloo" The Knockouts _Attack Of The Terrible Boots_

"Alligat'r" Peppermint _Keep Your Chin Up There, Sailor_
"Le Crocodile" Would-Be-Goods _The Morning After_
"Alligator Skin (Jumbler)" Tilly & The Wall _O_
"Alligator" The Babies _Our House On The Hill_

"Jon The Croc" Guided By Voices _Class Clown Spots A UFO_
"Cry, Crocodile" Tiger High _Catacombs After Party_
"Alligator Dance" Human Eye _Into Unknown_
"Alligator" Guards Of Metropolis _Alligator_