Self Help Radio 061314: Lazy

Whew, doing a lazy radio show sure tuckered me out.  I think after this I'm going to nap.

If you didn't hear today's show - lazypants - you missed tons of great music, an interview with Curt Lack of Lazybones Magazine, a report from Marge Most at the 2014 Laziest Person In Lexington Pageant, & a great conversation with my spiritual mentor the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently about how not to be lazy!

The show is now available at the Self Help Radio website, or, for those too lazy to click more than once, here are the direct links: part I + part II.  A litany of lazy tunes is listed below.

Yawn!

(part one)

"Lazy" Marilyn Monroe _The Voice, Songs & Films Of Marilyn Monroe_
"Lazy" The Nuns _The Nuns_
"Lazy" Moe Tucker _I Spent A Week There The Other Night_

"Lazy" Daniel Johnston _Songs Of Pain_
"Lazy" The Primitives _Lazy 1986 - 1988_
"Lazy" Love & Rockets _Earth Sun Moon_
"Lazy" It's A Musical _The Music Makes Me Sick_

"Lazybones" Louis Armstrong _The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-46)_
"Too Lazy" T-Bone Walker _The Original Source_
"Lazy Boogaloo" George Guzman _Explosivos (Deep-Soul From The Latin Heart)_
"Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer" Tex Williams _Those Lazy Hazy Days_

"Just Lazy" The Footprints _You Got A Ticket To A Mobile_
"I'm So Lazy" Let's Wrestle _Nursing Home_
"We're Selfish & Lazy & Greedy" Go-Kart Mozart _Instant Wigwam & Igloo Mixture_

(part two)

"Lazy Life (Of No Fixed Identity)" Super Furry Animals _Hometown Unicorn_
"Striving For The Lazy Perfection" The Orchids _Striving For The Lazy Perfection_
"Lazy Miss Daisy" The Bartlebees _What Is It All About?_

"Lazy Day" The Boo Radleys _Everything's Alright Forever_
"Lazy Day" Beach Fossils _Beach Fossils_
"Lazy Days" Cali Giraffes _All My Life 7"_
"Lazy May" Essex Green _The Long Goodbye_

"The Devil Ain't Lazy" Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys _San Antonio Rose_
"Lazy Man's Lament" Carroll County Ramblers _More Of The Carroll County Ramblers_
"Lazy Fat People" The Barron Knights _Lazy Fat People_
"Lazy Boys" Nuclear Regulatory Commission _Lazy Boys_

"Lazy Line Painter Jane" Belle & Sebastian _Lazy Line Painter Jane_
"Lazy Heart" Black Tambourine _Black Tambourine_

Whither Lazy?

"'Tis the voice of a sluggard -- I heard him complain:
'You have wak'd me too soon, I must slumber again.'"
(Isaac Watts, 1674 - 1748)

Oh man, I'm the sluggard in that quote!  I nap too much.  I have a list of things - easy things, simple tasks - that I try to get through every day, & I rarely finish that list.

For example, writing in this blog is on that list, & look - it's after 7pm as I write this.  The lazy show will air in roughly twelve hours!  How lame is that?

Anyway - you see - it's the lazy show on Self Help Radio tomorrow from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm in  Lexington & online at wrfl dot fm.  If you're too lazy to wake up - I totally understand - I'll put it on my website around noon.

Unless I get a case of the lazies.

Peter Dinklage With A Mullet

high school is hard

Today is the birthday of awesome actor Peter Dinklage, whose amazing work in Game Of Thrones makes the nerd in me so incredibly happy, even if it appears his character is about to die.  (No spoilers!)

For the record, he's a year younger than I am.  So it's nice to have a slightly embarrassing high school picture to show for his birthday, knowing all the while he's always going to be more amazing than I am.

I never had a mullet in high school.  If he & I had gone to the same school, I'd be either one or two years ahead of him (summer birth children were often put in the class after their birth-months).  He looks like he was part of the decade he was in, the 1980s (latter half).  I looked then, as I look now, like a slovenly boy who'll never grow up who wears whatever someone left around for him to wear.  Like now, I would let my hair grow until it was too much to deal with & then get it cut off.  I have only been to barbers a few times in my life - lately, I get the wife to cut my hair, & in the old days, it was usually a friend.

My shabbiness extends to my facial hair.  Although I cut that myself.

In my high school, if you had a hint of stubble, some male authority figure - usually a vice-principal - would make you go to the nurse's office & shave, with just soap & a razor that had been there for years.  Ha ha, that'll teach us personal grooming!

That's one thing Peter Dinklage & I probably had in common in high school - we shaved every morning!

Happy birthday to him!

The Lute, Maligned

a lute

I don't know what it is about the lute that draws my derision.  If someone these days, for example, wants to sing the praises of Sting (the dude who used to be in the Police), I will usually say something snide about him in reference to his lute music.  "He can't be in the new Constantine television show," I might say, "because he has ten more albums of lute music to record."

So today I was reading about the lute & beginning to feel a little more sympathetic to it.  In particular, I was saddened by the late developments of lute which had as many as thirteen strings, making it difficult to play & hard to keep in tune.  I also felt sad that, as its popularity waned, some folks transformed their lutes into guitars.  Could there be anything more insulting to a musical instrument than someone making it into a different musical instrument?  It's like your partner loving you more after plastic surgery.  The decline of anything makes me feel sympathetic, since I myself was born in decline, & things continue to get worse.

But then, on the Wikipedia's page on the lute, I read this:

The player of a lute is called a lutenist, lutanist, "lewtist" or lutist.

Really?  Fuckin' REALLY?

Every other musical instrument player is happy to add an -ist suffix to their instrument & go to town.  Violinist.  Pianist.  Clarinetist.  Who the hell do lutists - the only name they should use, & certainly not "lewtists" - think they are to add a whole other syllable to their name to make themselves sound more important?  Lutenist?  Are you sure you don't mean Ludenist, one who makes Luden's lozenges?  For fuck's sake.

That clinches it for me.  Sympathy all gone.  Lutes suck.

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Four

Ishman Bracey

Here's the fourth episode of my blues show, Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, which airs the hour before Self Help Radio.  This episode focuses on the Delta blues originators.

It's available now on the Self Help Radio website.  The list of artists & songs I played is below.

"Low-Down Mississippi Bottom Man" Freddie Spruell _The Paramount Masters_
"Trouble Hearted Blues" Ishman Bracey _Legends Of Country Blues: The Complete Pre-War Recordings Of Ishman Bracey_
"Blue Harvest Blues" Mississippi John Hurt _Hard Times Come Again No More, Vol. 1_

"Canned Heat Blues" Tommy Johnson _Canned Heat (1928 - 1929)_
"Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues" Charley Patton _Founder Of The Delta Blues (1929-1935)_
"Mississippi Bottom Blues" Kid Bailey _Pure Vintage Blues: Future Blues_
"Over To My House" Elvie Thomas & Geeshie Wiley _Going Away Blues_
"Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues" Skip James _The Complete Early Recordings Of 1930_

"My Black Mama, Pt. 1 & 2" Son House _Blues Images Presents 1920's Blues Classics, Vol. 2_
"Future Blues" Willie Brown _The Greatest In Country Blues (1929-1956), Vol. 1_
"All Around Man" Bo Carter _Them Dirty Blues_
"Too Long" Charlie McCoy _Charlie McCoy (1928-1932)_

"My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon" King Solomon Hill _Mississippi Blues: Rare Cuts 19_
"Rambling On My Mind" Robert Johnson _The Complete Recordings_

Self Help Radio 060614: Needles

Agh!  I wish I had used a pin cushion!  Lots of pinpricks all over my fingers!  Ow!

Self Help Radio's show about needles (very pointy!) is available now for listening to at the show's website.  I think it's fun - in addition to an interview with Nick Ramirez of Needles, California, & a visit with my spiritual advisor, the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently, I get a phone call from Tania & her imaginary friend!  & they sing a song!!

Want to go directly to the show?  Here's part I & here's part II.  The songs I play are listed below.

Thanks for listening & be careful!

(part one)

"Needles In The Camel's Eye" Brian Eno _Here Come The Warm Jets_
"Silver Threads & Golden Needles" Everly Brothers _The Price Of Fame_
"One Iddy Biddy Needle (& A Little Bit Of Thread)" Freddie Scott _Mr Heartache: The Best Of Columbia Recordings_

"Needle Of Death" Bert Jansch _Bert Jansch_
"The Needle & The Damage Done" Henry Kaiser _The Bridge: A Tribute To Neil Young_
"Dirty Needles" Screeching Weasel _Short Music For Short People_
"Busy Needles" Bearsuit _Team Ping Pong_
"The Perfect Needle" Telescopes _Scared To Get Happy: The Story Of Indie Pop 1980-1989_

"Aunty Nanny Thread The Needle" Children Of Nevis & St. Kitts _Caribbean Voyage: Nevis & St. Kitts Tea Meetings_
"Needle Sing" Woody Guthrie _Songs To Grow On For Mother & Child_
"If I Had A Needle & Thread" Shirley Bassey _Burn My Candle: The Complete Early Years 1956-58_
"Hey, Bobba Needle" Chubby Checker _20 Twistin' Hits_
"Needle In A Haystack" The Velvelettes _Hitsville USA_

"Needles & Pins" Flat Duo Jets _Bonograph_
"Needle Time" Elvis Costello & The Imposters _The Delivery Man_

(part two)

"Thread The Needle" Al White & The Hi-Liters _Jerk! Shake! & Vibrate!_
"Needle In The Hay" Elliot Smith _The Royal Tenenbaums OST_

"Pins & Needles (In My Heart)" Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys _The Honky Tonk Years 1950-1966_
"Pins & Needles" The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir _The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir_
"Pins & Needles" Who's Gerald? _Young Blood_
"Needle & Thread" Richard Thompson _Sweet Warrior_

"Thread The Needle" Clarence & Calvin _The Fame Studios Story 1961-1973_
"Thread Your Needle" Dave Edmunds _Tracks On Wax 4_
"Needle Mythology" Duffy _Duffy_

"Needle's Eye" Heidi Berry _Pomegranate: An Anthology_
"Needle's Eye" Jean Ritchie _Field Trip_
"Thin As A Needle" Starflyer 59 _Ghosts Of The Past_

Whither Needles?

I don't know why I've decided to do a radio show about needles.  These things happen.  I am not & never have been an IV drug user.  In fact, when I am at a doctor's office, & I have to have my blood drawn, I tell the phlebotomist to let me lie down, look the other way, & not talk about what he or she is doing; otherwise I may faint.  My addiction to heroin would be doomed from the start.

As well, I don't sew.  Occasionally, I think about taking it up.  Recently, wanting to mend a hole in a pair of shorts, I looked up "how to sew" on the webs.  It turns out it's a little more complicated than threading a needle & looking at an online chart.  I pretty much decided at that point that I'd probably never really learn how to sew.

The only thing that comes close is a turntable needle - & I confess I don't use the old turntable as much as I used to.  I've probably mentioned this before: I miss vinyl.  I miss the size of records, the feel, the album art, the giant lyric sheets.  Aesthetically, they're the best.  The shitty CD booklet & the sterile little compact disc will never compare favorably.

It's just - it's complicated to play vinyl.  Digital music is so much more convenient.  I've digitized a lot of my vinyl - a time-intensive process that's not too much fun - & it's made it easier for me to "carry" it up to do radio shows.  (It's also tarnished me in the eyes of vinyl lovers - when I deejayed an outdoor thing at RFL a couple of years ago, one of the directors there said, "Deejaying from a laptop - yuck."  But the station doesn't own a deejay kit with CDs - it's either vinyl, or a laptop or iPod.)

The show will celebrate needles, but I'm not someone who thinks about needles in a celebratory way.  But hey!  When I think about doing a show about needles, I immediately think about the sample from "Pump Up The Volume" that goes, Put the needle on the record.  So maybe vinyl was the inspiration after all.

It's happening tomorrow morning from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington, & online at wrfl dot fm.  I hope I haven't been needling you too much with all this needle talk - but - it's appropriate.

Preface To Needles: Bad Weather

As I write this, there's a thunderstorm bearing down on us & a tornado warning & god knows what else(*).  Here's what the radar looks like:

I have to feed the animals in a second & I don't think a couple of the cats are going to even come out of hiding.  Of course, the gluttons in the house (the male cats) would eat if we were on a boat in stormy seas.

It's funny, the sky was ominous & goofy all day today but there were no storms - they went above us & below us.  Well, they're here now!

I have been listening to needle songs all day.  I have been arranging for a couple of interviews for the show on Friday.  I have not once did anything with any needles, not even a phonograph needle.  It was all digital.

I confess I'd like to do driving around in this bad weather - but the wife & hungry animals won't let me!

(*) According to the Weather Underground website, relaying info from National Weather Service, this is what else:

"Strong thunderstorms with dangerous lightning...torrential rain... and 40 mph winds...

Continuous cloud to ground lightning...torrential rain reducing visibilities...and gusty winds of around 35 to 40 mph...are expected with these storms.

Torrential rainfall is occurring. Expect ponding of water on local roadways. Drivers should slow down and turn on their headlights if encountering heavy rains."

All Kinds Of Needles

There are lots of kinds of needles.  The show this week is about needles.  I only thought of basically three kinds of needles: needles for sewing, needles for syringes, & of course phonograph needles.  I had no idea there were so many different kinds of needles for sewing.  The same can be said for the kind of needles that one uses with syringes.  Is the same thing true for phonograph needles?  Luckily someone has answered this questions for me.

The wife thinks I am squeamish & possibly thinks I have a fear of needles.  The fear of needles, according to the Wikipedia, is known variously as aichmophobia, belonephobia, or enetophobia.  If you read the Wikipedia article, you will learn that most of the ways they treat needle-fear is to find a different way to administer whatever medicine one needs other than through needle.  It makes me, a consummate Star Trek geek, think immediately of the hypospray.  In that article I just linked to, it links to this report: MIT Builds A Needle-Free Drug Injector.  For the sake of people who hate needles, I hope this assertion is true: "The future of medicine could be needle-free."

Unfortunately, Self Help Radio this week is not needle-free.  But the needles you will encounter will not break the skin.  In fact, all the needles will be conceptual, & ingredients of songs & talk.  There is nothing to fear, except maybe not liking the show.

Please enjoy this small collage of the three different kinds of needle discussed above:

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Three

Sippie Wallace

Once again, before Friday's Self Help Radio, I brought Lexington another hour of old scratchy blues on my show Woke Up Early One Morning Blues.  This week I played some singles released in 1927.

You can listen to the show now or whenever you'd like at Self Help Radio Dot Net, which is where I archive my shows.  The playlist is below.  Hope you like.

"Honey In The Rock" Blind Mamie Forehand _A Soul Chronology, Vol. 1: 1927-1951_
"James Alley Blues" Richard "Rabbit" Brown _Blues From The Western States 1927-1949_
"I'm A Mighty Tight Woman" Sippie Wallace _Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2 (1925-1945)_

"John Henry" Henry Thomas _Texas Worried Blues (Complete Recorded Works 1927-29)_
"T.B. Blues" Victoria Spivey _Victoria Spivey Vol. 1 1926-1927_
"If You Don't Like It Like I Want It Done (I'll Get Somebody Else)" Laura Smith _Laura Smith Vol. 1 (1924-1927)_
"Ninety-Nine Year Blues" Julius Daniels _Prison Blues_
"Cow Cow Blues" Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport _Cow Cow Davenport Vol. 1 (1925-1929)_

"Dyin' Crap-Shooter's Blues" Martha Copeland _Martha Copeland Vol. 1 (1923-1927)_
"All That I Had Is Gone" James P. Johnson _Perry Bradford & The Blues Singers (1923-1927)
"Church Bells Blues" Luke Jordan _Raggin' The Blues: Essential East Coast Blues_
"Barbecue Blues" Barbecue Bob _Barbecue Bob Vol. 1 (1927 - 1928)_
"Southern Man Blues" Walter Beasley _Sylvester Weaver Vol. 2 (1927)_

"Mamlish Blues" Ed Bell _Complete Recorded Works (1927-1930)_
"Levee Blues" Lucille Bogan _Lucille Bogan Vol. 1 (1923-1930)_
"New Prison Blues" Peg Leg Howell _Atlanta Blues: Big City Blues From The Heartland_

Self Help Radio 053014: Afternoon

An afternoon show in the morning?!?  Who greenlights this nonsense?

Oh, I suppose, if you must listen to it, you can, now, at the Self Help Radio web presence.  If you can't bear to go there, you can access the show directly by clicking part I or part II.  In addition to the songs listed below, you'll get to hear a song sung over the phone by Tania Rivas, interviews with poet David Fruchter & spiritual guru Howard Gently, & a surprise visit by Werful, the WRFL monster.  It may take all afternoon to digest it all.

Have a great afternoon!

(part one)

"Afternoon" Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers _Rock 'n' Roll With The Modern Lovers_
"The Afternoon" The Apples In Stereo _The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone_
"All Day Afternoon" The Judybats _Pain Makes You Beautiful_

"Good Afternoon" Honey Smugglers _Besides Which EP_
"In The Afternoon" Revolving Paint Dream _Creation Soup, Vol. 1_
"In The Late Afternoon" The American Revolution _The American Revolution_
"Sunny Afternoon" The Kinks _Face To Face_

"Sunday Afternoons" Cleaners From Venus _Golden Cleaners_
"Sunday Afternoon In Belgrave Square" Trevor Billmuss _Fading Yellow, Vol. 8_
"Any Day's A Sunday Afternoon" The Collage _The Collage_
"Lazy Sunday Afternoon" Toy Dolls _Cheerio & Toodlepip!_

"My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon" The Siddeleys _Slum Clearance_

(part two)

"Afternoon In Bed" The Bats _Thousands Of Tiny Luminous Spheres_
"Perfect Afternoon" The Softies _It's Love_
"The Opposite Of Afternoon" Unknown Mortal Orchestra _II_

"Gestern Nachmittag" Helen Shapiro _Immer Die Boys_
"Bugles In The Afternoon" Lee Hazlewood _The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood_
"Heaven In The Afternoon" Belle & Sebastian _The Third Eye Centre_
"Autumn Afternoon" Acid House Kings _Pop, Look & Listen!_

"Cloudy Summer Afternoon" Bill & Boyd _Cloudy Sunny Afternoon_
"Rainy Afternoon" Mrs. Kipling _Change_
"It Rained On Monday Afternoon" The Hit Parade _With Love From The Hit Parade_
"English Afternoon" Bob Lind _You Might Have Heard My Footsteps: The Best Of Bob Lind_

"Two In The Afternoon" Dino, Desi, & Billy _The Complete Singles_
"Afternoon Glare" The Storybook People _Do You Believe (1394)_
"Mid-Winter's Afternoon" Liberation News Service _A Deadly Dose Of Wylde Psych_

Whither Afternoon?

As I write this, the afternoon is four hours old, & it's been a warm, lovely day.  It rained a little as we drove to Louisville to visit the vet that looked at our little beagle, Winston, & the news was cautiously good.  We listened to the 500th episode of Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, & it's one of those things that the wife & I often stop at different points to talk about.  He certainly puts himself out there in a way that I can't ever imagine doing.

The clouds burnt away & it was sunny when we got home, but the wife & I decided to nap away the afternoon, since we had to wake up early & drive an hour away, but also because we're fans of naps.  Now I'm awake, &, since I live next-door to a daycare, I can hear children playing as well as the whirr of ceiling fans in the house, & around me the animals in my life are sleeping until they decide they need to go out, or bug me for food, or demand love from me.  Meanwhile, I'm wasting the afternoon putting my show together.

My wife is one the phone in the bedroom with a colleague, & I just heard her say, "In the afternoon…" in reference to a meeting.

Unfortunately, Self Help Radio's show about the afternoon will air in the morning, from 7 to 9am tomorrow (Friday) on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington.  (Or online if you click that link there.)  If you're not up until the afternoon, never fear!  I'll have it up sometime around noon - or the afternoon at the latest.

I couldn't do otherwise.

Preface To Afternoon: Mindset

I might have mentioned - I did mention - that I was going to visit my mother this weekend in Dallas, so I handed the show off to my pal Daryl who was going to show everyone how terrible I do my own radio show.  In fact, as I write this, I was supposed to be on the road, perhaps even arriving in Memphis, where we were going to have yummy Ethiopian food.  Instead, I am making dinner for the wife & trying to catch up on songs I usually would've spent the weekend listening to.

What happened is our little pooch, Winston, got ill.  We've been watching him very closely & will be taking him tomorrow to a specialist in Louisville.  I think he'll be fine - he's been getting progressively better - but there's a better-safe-that-sorry attitude that one should have with beings that can't ever tell you exactly what's ailing them, that encourages me to visit a vet who'll understand his signs much better than I ever will.

It has meant, however, that I haven't really had the proper mindset for working on a radio show.  Which can be puzzling - I knew we weren't leaving on Sunday.  & yet - I've been working on the show off & on since then & I still haven't gotten much done.  I'll probably be working on it into the evening on Thursday.

Which reminds me - how long have I been doing this?  It's twelve years this August!  It's the closest thing to a regular job I have - & I still don't have much of a process for it?  What the hell?

There are a lot of good "afternoon" songs, though.  I will have a tough time picking which ones to play.

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Two

Blind Willie Johnson

Last Friday, before Self Help Radio, I produced another hour of my country blues program, Woke Up Early One Morning Blues.  This hour focused on early gospel & religious-themed recordings.

The show is now available for your listening pleasure (scratchy, hissy, old bakelite vinyl-y) at the Self Help Radio website.  I hope you enjoy.  What I played is below.

"Woke Up This Morning With My Mind On Jesus" Blind Roosevelt Graves & Brother _The Rough Guide To Gospel Blues Legends_
"John The Revelator" Blind Willie Johhnson _Anthology Of American Folk Music_
"God Give Me A Light" Louisville Sanctified Singers _Gospel Classics_

"I'm Gonna Cross The River Of Jordan Some O' These Days" Jaybird Coleman _Ten Years Of Black Country Religion 1926-1936_
"God Don't Like It" Blind Willie & Kate McTell _Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 3 (1933-1935)_
"Shall We Gather At The River" Uncle Dave Macon & His Fruit Jar Drinkers _The Half Ain't Never Been Told, Vol. 1_
"Shout All Over God's Heaven" Fisk Jubilee Singers _Folk Song America: A 20th Century Revival_
"Paul & Silas In Jail" Washington Phillips _I Am Born To Preach The Gospel_

"I'll Lead A Christian Life" Golden P. Harris _Before The Blues, Vol. 2: The Early American Black Music Scene_
"Noah & The Flood" Norman Haskins _Deep River Of Song: Virginia & The Piedmont - Minstrelsy, Work Songs, & Blues (1934-1942)_
"Heaven Is My View" Bo Weavil Jackson _Backwoods Blues (1926-1935)_
"Sinner You'll Need King Jesus" William & Versey Smith _The Songster Tradition Complete Works (1927-1935)_
"River Of Jordan" The Carter Family _Wildwood Flower_

"Hard Times" Elder Curry & His Congregation _Hard Times Come Again No More, Vol. 1_
"Lamb's Blood Has Washed Me Clean" Arizona Dranes _Arizona Dranes (1926-1929)_
"Lover Of The Lord" Huggins & Phillips Sacred Harp Singers _Goodbye, Babylon_

Happy Memorial Day!

Remember when I said that I'd be off this week because I was going to visit the Mother in Dallas?

Well, plans change.  One of our hounds has been under the weather.

So - a new Self Help Radio & a new Woke Up Early One Morning Blues this Friday!

Now - back to snoozing.

Self Help Radio 052314: Walls

Walls went up today on Self Help Radio!  Walls were breached!  Walls were erected & walls came tumbling down!  It was a whole lot of work for some rightly pissed-off bricklayers.  I'm surprised I didn't get a mouthful of mortar!

You can now feel cooped up between four walls by listening to the show at Self Help Radio web central.  There are direct links, too, if you can't be bothered to click a couple more times: part I | part II.  The songs I played are below.

Have a happy Memorial Day weekend!

(part one)

"Walls" Flowers _Icehouse_
"Walls" Red Letter Day _Table & Chairs_
"Walls" Shout Out Louds _Work_

"At Home With The Walls" The Passmore Sisters _Violent Blue_
"Tear Down The Walls" Fred Neil & Vince Martin _Tear Down The Walls_
"Break Down The Walls" Mikey Dread _Beyond World War III_
"Green Walls" Toy Love _Cuts_

"Yellow Walls" Jackson C. Frank _Blues Run The Game_
"I'm In Love With My Walls" Birdland With Lester Bangs _Birdland With Lester Bangs_
"Ideas For Walls" Men Without Hats _Rhythm Of Youth_
"Round These Walls" The Tokey Tones (& Friends) _Stroke: Songs For Chris Knox_

"Hello Walls" Faron Young _Essential Hits_
"(Empty Walls) A Lonely Room" Bob Luman _Livin', Lovin' Sounds_

(part two)

"Four Walls" Jim Reeves _He'll Have To Go & Other Hits_
"Hello Walls # 2" Ben Colder _The Best Of Ben Colder_
"I'm Gonna Paper All My Walls With Your Love Letters" Dean Martin _The Capitol Years_

"Singing Rule Brittania (While The Walls Close In)" The Chameleons _What Does Anything Mean? Basically_
"Walls Come Tumbling Down!" The Style Council _Our Favourite Shop_
"Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache" The Bandwagon _The Northern Soul Story, Vol. 2_
"Poison In The Walls" The Go-Betweens _Bright Orange Bright Yellow_

"Walking Into Walls" Honeybunch _Time Trials: 1987-1995_
"Cathedral Walls" Big Red Bus _The Sound Of Leamington Spa, Vol. 1_
"White Walls, Quiet Halls" The Mabels _The Closest People_
"The Concrete & The Walls" Elf Power _Elf Power_

"TVs & Walls" Moped _The Horrible Truth About Moped_
"Tear Down These Walls" 1919 _The Complete Collection_

Whither Walls?

How many walls must I have about me, that I think to do a radio show about walls?  Walls from my awful adolescence, walls to protect & walls to defend, walls to obscure & walls to confuse.  What walls have been built that I haven't even been aware of, but exist nonetheless.  My therapist's children's children will go to college thanks to me!

Well, I'm not sure how we'll examine walls on tomorrow's show, just sure of there being fine music like you expect from Self Help Radio, plus wackiness mixed with tedium.  Equals same old thing.

What?  I'm not good at selling my show!  My therapist tells me it's a defense mechanism.

Tomorrow morning from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm in Lexington, & online everywhere at wrfl dot fm.  I'll put the show online afterwards.

Oh, & remember!  A new episode of Woke Up Early One Morning Blues at 6am!

Preface To Walls: Ceilings & Floors

I googled this: "How is a wall different than a floor or a ceiling?"  All the responses involved doing similar things (like soundproofing) to all three parts, rather than even venturing a guess at the differences between the three.

This is intolerable.

Imagine, if you will, a world in which everything is turned on its side.  In such a world, two of our walls would become the floor & the ceiling, while the floor & the ceiling would unceremoniously become walls.

How would each part adjust to its new circumstance?  I can think of a few troubling scenarios.

First of all, doors, which are commonly found mostly in walls, would be a little useless if now on the floor (unless there's a basement).  Were doors to end up on the ceiling, well, it would make answering the door even more of a chore than it currently is.

Furthermore, cellar doors or trap doors, or even skylights, will probably make poor door choices for the new world which is on its side.

Here's another thing: plumbing.  I don't know much about plumbing but it does seem to me that the pipes that I assume are what people talk about when they talk about plumbing would not increase one's property value should they be sticking boldly out of the side of the house rather than into the ground where they (again, I am assuming this) connect in a fascinating way to the sewer.

& I bet you've thought of this one: in larger buildings, which is to say those with many floors, or "stories," the walls when the building is on its side will be much, much larger than the ceiling & floor.  This would cause places where building grew up instead of out because of space restrictions to become completely clogged, with no room for bike lanes or promenades or any of the things that make city life worth tackling.

I am no architect nor private detective so I can't begin to truly understand the severe differences between floors, ceilings, & walls, & it bothers me like bug bite that someone with more know-how hasn't tackled this issue before.

It's your time, young genius!  Do it quickly, though - one never knows when the world will be turned on its side!

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode One

Bessie Smith, Empress Of The Blues

As I keep mentioning because I don't really believe anyone listens to me (thanks Mom!), I am doing a show this summer called Woke Up Early One Morning Blues.  It's a pre-war blues show, focusing on the country blues but, because the genre hadn't really been defined yet, it's something of a free-for-all genre wise.  Or it can be.

This past week's show is available for listening if you're interested at SHR web central.  I hope it's nice to hear.  Here's what was heard to those who were there to hear:

"Crazy Blues" Mamie Smith _Mamie Smith Vol. 1 (1920-1921)_
"Arkansas Blues" Lucille Hegamin _Lucille Hegamin Vol. 1 (1920-1922)_
"Give Me That Old Slow Drag" Trixie Smith _Trixie Smith Vol. 1 (1922-1924)_

"'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do" Bessie Smith _The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1_
"Bo-Weavil Blues" Ma Rainey _Mother Of The Blues_
"Shake That Thing" Papa Charlie Jackson _Papa Charlie Jackson Vol. 1 (1924 - 1926)_
"Black Snake Blues" Victoria Spivey _Fattenin' Frogs For Snakes: The Essential Recordings Of The Blues Ladies_
"Black Snake Moan" Blind Lemon Jefferson _The Rough Guide To Blind Lemon Jefferson_

"Singin' The Blues" Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra _Ken Burns Jazz_
"Georgia On My Mind" Mildred Bailey _The Early Years_
"Stack O'Lee" Mississippi John Hurt _Avalon Blues: The 1928 Sessions_
"I'm So Glad" Skip James _Complete Early Recordings Of 1930_
"Last Kind Words Blues" Geeshie Wiley _American Primitive: Pre-War Revenants 1897-1939, Vol. 2_

"Bull Cow Blues" Big Bill Broonzy _Essential Blues Friends_
"Milk Cow Blues" Kokomo Arnold _Milk Cow Blues_
"Strut That Thing" Cripple Clarence Lofton _Broke, Black & Blue, Vol. 3: Good Whiskey Blues

Sorry, Another Wasted Day

I don't know how I lose days like today.  Today was all about the pets - a sick pup & a sick kitten.  I didn't even shower today, that's how disgusting I am.

Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll try to be more on the ball.  Here's something I found on the internets to amuse you: