Self Help Radio 080114: Sunrise

Just minutes after the sun rose, in Lexington, Kentucky, Self Help Radio played two hours of songs about the sunrise!  Not only that, but guests talked about the spiritual nature of the sunrise, about monetizing the sunrise, & about never having seen the sunrise!  It embarrassed the sunrise, but at that point it wasn't really the sunrise, so no one was unnecessarily concerned.

It can be listened to now or at your leisure at the Self Help Radio website.  Don't forget about the user/password combo!  The songs I played are listed below.

Please enjoy!

(part one)

"Sun Arise" Rolf Harris _The Best Of The Sixties_
"Sunrise" The Divine Comedy _Fin De Siècle_
"Sunrise" Pulp _We Love Life_

"Sunrise" Lambchop _No You C'mon_
"Sunrise" Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan _Hawk_
"Sunrise" Petra Haden _Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out_
"Sunrise" Tania & Juan _Sunrise_

"The House Of The Rising Sun" Nina Simone _The Blues_
"Sunrise, Sunset" Connie Francis _Sings Jewish Favorites_
"I Like The Sunrise" The Free Design _You Could Be Born Again_

"Watch The Sunrise (Single Version)" Big Star _Keep An Eye On The Sky_
"Sunrise (Turn On)" Chesterfield Kings _Psychedelic Sunrise_

(part two)

"Waiting For The Sunrise" Yoko Ono _Approximately Infinite Universe_
"The Sun Rising" The Beloved _Happiness_

"Sunrise Serenade" Connee Boswell _Heart & Soul_
"Blues Before Sunrise" Ray Charles _In The Beginning: 1949-1952_
"Sunrise Highway" Peter Anders _Sunrise Highway_
"Sunrise Highway" The Trout _The Trout_

"Where Does The Sun Rise" Dorothy Collins _Experiment Songs_
"Orchid Sunrise" The Harbour Pilots _Welcome To The Wetherbeat Scene 1988 - 1991_
"I Always See The Sun Rise" Little Name _How To Swim & Live_
"The Sun Also Rises" Fever Tree _Fever Tree_

"Please Sunrise Please" Barbara Acklin _Please Sunrise Please_
"Beyond The Sunrise" Belle & Sebastian _Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant_

Whither Sunrise?

I plan terribly.  At some point at the beginning of summer, I said to myself, "Hey!  By August I'll be doing my show & the sun will rise so I should be a show about the sunrise!"

I should have remembered that that sort of information - which you used to have to have an almanac handy to get to, you know, before the invention of the Internet - is freely available.  So - three months ago - I could've just checked, you know.  Sites like Time & Date dot com have handy sections for things like sunrise & sunset.  On August 1st - when my sunrise show is airing - that's tomorrow! - when do you imagine the sun will rise?

6:41 am.

That's 19 minutes before my show is on.

If I wanted to do my show when the sun was rising, I could've just waited three weeks.  After August 23rd, the sun will rise after seven & later.

But no.  The Self Help Radio sunrise show will air from 7 to 9 am tomorrow - well after sunrise - on 88.1 fm in Lexington, & online all over at wrfl dot fm - so at least some folks will get to listen as the sun rises, if they want.

Or you can wait until after I've put the show up at the Self Help Radio website, & listen to it on the next sunrise.

Sheesh.

Letting One's Hair Dry Naturally Vs. Using A Blow Dryer

What sort of hotel/motel doesn't furnish a hair dryer for its guests?  This is not a riddle with a funny answer.  It may not even be a question with an answer.  Is the answer "a no-tell motel"?  Is the answer "a place you found on Airbnb"?  I don't know.

Do I care about the answer?  Do I care about the argument of blow dry vs. natural dry?  I remember having shorter hair that took very little time to shampoo & also never was dried by blow.

At this point, I am feeling a bit awkward.  "Blow dry" is a real thing.  "Dry by blow" is not.  In fact, "dry by blow" sounds dirty.  I apologize.  It was not my intention.  I was attempting a kind of parallelism of the clauses in the last sentence but it's obvious now that I should have said "to shampoo & never to blow dry."  Much more parallel.  Still awkward.

But now I've said it, & I can't take it back.  That is one of life's vagaries.  Or do I mean vicissitudes?  Or  am I just thinking of pretty words that begin with the letter v?

Today I let my hair dry naturally.  I was too lazy to pull out the blow dryer.  But normally I blow dry my hair.  In two weeks, I'll be in another country far from here where it'll be quite humid & I wonder if the hotel/motel I am staying at will have a hair dryer.  Also, whether, with 100% humidity, it will really matter.

It occurs to me that I am writing this on a computer & I could simply delete the awkward sentences up there.  I could also xkc0[qd]P


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Sorry about that!  A wasp just landed on my keyboard & I was trying to alternately avoid it & also kill it.  It got away.  I don't know how it got into the house.

My cat Boone has captured & eaten it.  He tells me, since when a cat captures & eats an insect it gains all its life experience, that wasps are frightened by blow dryers.  Since the wasp did not hear the blow dryer today, he assumed it was safe to come into the house.

I think he's fucking with me.

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Ten

Juanita "Arizona" Dranes

Sorry this is a day late!  Here's last week's episode of Woke Up Early One Morning Blues.  I spent an hour exploring blind early blues performers - since it's something of a blues cliché that you'd have "Blind" in front of your name.  They were a talented & surprisingly diverse bunch.

What I didn't explore is why it seems like there were so many visually-impaired blues musicians at the time.  I refer you to this inconclusive discussion on the Straight Dope messages boards if you wish to hypothesize some.

The show is now available for listening on the Self Help Radio website.  What I played is below.

"Early Morning Blues" Blind Blake _All The Published Sides_
"Banty Rooster" Blind Pete & Partner _Blues & Gospel: Miss. Field Recordings 1934_
"Cross & Evil Woman Blues" Blind Gary Davis _Country Southern Blues_

"I Believe I'll Go Back Home" Blind Willie Davis _American Primitive Vol. I: Raw Pre-War Gospel_
"Bye & Bye We're Going To See The King" Arizona Dranes _Arizona Dranes (1926-1929)_
"Honey In The Rock" Blind Mamie Forehand _Folk Music In America, Vol. 15: Religious Music: Solo & Performance_
"Black & Tan" Blind Boy Fuller _Mama Let Me Lay It On You (1926-1936)_
"Crazy 'Bout My Baby" Blind Roosevelt Graves _Complete Recorded Works (1929-1936)_

"Honey, Take A Whiff On Me" Blind Jessie Harris _Alabama: From Lullabies To Blues_
"Match Box Blues" Blind Lemon Jefferson _The Rough Guide To Blind Lemon Jefferson_
"Keep Your Lamp Trimmed & Burning" Blind Willie Johnson with Willie B. Harris _Dark Was The Night  (1927-1930)_
"Bell Street Blues" Blind Willie McTell _Complete Recorded Works, Vol.3 (1933-35)_
"How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times & Live" Blind Alfred Reed _Hard Times In The Country_

"Outside Woman Blues" Blind Willie Reynolds _The Rough Guide To Delta Blues_
"Been Listening All The Day" Blind Joe Taggart _Before The Blues, Vol. 2_
"Harmonica Blues" Sonny Terry _Complete Recorded Works 1938-1945_

Bluesy Ooops

I know you already think I'm a lazy dumbass, & that I don't really love you, but I did mean to put the most recent episode of "Woke Up Early One Morning Blues" on my website today.  Unfortunately, I got to doing other stuff, & have no time for the rest of the day.  My bad!  My word!  I'll do it tomorrow.

Really, it's not you, it's me.

Self Help Radio 072514: Backwards

After all those years of people telling me I am backwards sort, I did a backwards radio show.  Or, really, I played a lot of backwards songs.  Which is not to say the songs were backwards themselves, but were about backwards things.  At no point did anyone say, "mih ssim, mih ssim, daed si luaP," however.  Which is just as well.

Hey!  The show is now at Self Help Radio online.  Please remember username/password info, available on the page.  It's to protect the show from stupid people trying to take down the page.  The songs I played are below.

!yojnE

(part one)

"Sdrawkcab (Backwords)" Lothar & The Hand People _This Is It, Machines_
"Backwards & Forwards" December's Children _Backwards & Forwards_
"Headcoat On Backwards" Thee Headcoats _Bleached Earls_
"The Backwards Alphabet" Soupy Sales _Use Your Noggin'_

"Up The Hill Backwards" David Bowie _Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps)_
"Counting Backwards" Throwing Muses _The Real Ramona_
"Talking Backwards" Tender Trap _Language Lessons_
"My Son Spells Backwards" The Victorian English Gentlemens Club _The Victorian English Gentlemens Club_

"Backward Century" The Loud Family _Attractive Nuisance_
"Backwards Again" Ant Farmers _Yarn_
"Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" Tame Impala _Lonerism_
"You Got Your Head On Backwards" The Sonics _Introducing The Sonics_

"Driving Me Backwards" Brian Eno _Here Come The Warm Jets_
"Racing Backwards" Blank Dogs _Phrases EP_

(part two)

"Count Backwards (Rock & Roll Never Dies)" The Secret History _The World That Never Was_
"Backwards" Tania & Juan _Backwards_

"Backwards Town" Eugene Chadbourne _Country Protest Anew_
"Backwards" Smile Smile _Marry A Stranger_
"Talking Backwards" Real Estate _Atlas_

"Backward Bill" Shel Silverstein _A Light In The Attic_
"Bent Backwards" Mrs. Kipling _Sunny Sunday Smile_
"The World Backwards" Broadcast _Work & Non Work_
"Backward Town" Grapes Of Wrath _Treehouse_

"Bend Over Backwards" Archie Powell & The Exports _Great Ideas In Action_
"Cigarette In Backwards" The Suburbs _Ladies & Gentlemen, The Suburbs_

Whither Backwards?

I kinda spend all day Thursday working on my show for Friday.  This is because I am a magnificent procrastinator, & because, like all procrastinators, I believe I work well under pressure.  It's really only because I have been doing this for like twelve years (Self Help Radio, that is) & I've developed a system that I get anything done at all.

I don't really work all day on my show, though.  I do work in bits & pieces, & then, suddenly, it's 11pm, & I guess I'm done.  All right then.  Oh yeah.  Write in the blog.

I can't remember why I thought a backwards show would be fun.  Maybe that Eno song?  Or the Throwing Muses song?  Or the similarly-titled Secret History song?  Whatever.  I got enough stuff together for a two-hour-long backwards show.  Plus I'll talk to my ridiculous friends, who are pretending to be people they're not.  That's fun.

Tomorrow from 7 to 9 am on 88.1 fm in Lexington, online everywhere there's a long enough cord at wrfl dot fm.  I'll have it up by noon so you don't have to wake.  Anyway, you're just lying to me & saying you'll listen.  You never do.

Preface To Backwards: A Backwards Post

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I Forgot

I forgot I had a blog today.

I forgot for a moment that I did a dumb radio show in the middle of Kentucky that very few people listen to.  Not to be a jerk to the very few people who listen to the show (a small subset of which may actually enjoy the show).

I feel bad about it, because I really don't do very much else in my life.  I've thought about volunteering for causes I believe in, but you know how it is, you're busy playing a video game & then suddenly it's after five & their offices are closed & what're you gonna do?  I mean, the liquor store stays open till 10!  That's what I call convenient.

I'd like to apologize, but my "posting" to this "blog" is erratic, which guarantees that no one really comes here regularly.  So I apologize to me.  I'm sorry, me, you dumbass, I forgot to write in our stupid blog.  What were you doing?  Posting pictures no one will ever look at on the dumb Tumblr blog?  What a fucking moron.

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Nine

Ida Cox

This past week's episode of Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, which featured singles released in 1939 (although some of them were recorded in 1938) is now available for listening at the Self Help Radio website.  I thought I should do a show with less scratchy vinyl than usual, so I picked the year war started in Europe - when Americans were still distracting themselves with the boogie woogie.

Please remember that to listen you'll need a username & a password.  They are available on the website but I can confide in you that they're also here, SHR/selfhelp.

The songs I played are below.

"Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)" Robert Johnson _The Complete Recordings_
"Frankie & Albert (Part 1)" Lead Belly _Sings & Plays_
"Roll 'Em Pete" Joe Turner _The Boss Of The Blues_

"Good Gravy" Sonny Boy Williamson _Black Name Blues_
"Floyd's Guitar Blues" Andy Kirk with Mary Lou Williams & The 12 Clouds of Joy _The Very Best Of Jazz_
"Booker T. Blues" Washboard Sam & His Washboard Band _Washboard Story_
"Preachin' The Blues" Big Bill Broonzy _Big Bill Broonzy, Vol. 8: 1938 - 1939_
"Melancholy" Meade Lux Lewis _Backwater Blues_

"Boogie Woogie Stomp" Albert Ammons & His Rhythm Kings _The Many Faces Of Boogie Woogie_
"Four Day Creep" Ida Cox _Ida Cox, Vol. 5: 1939-1940_
"My Daddy Rocks Me, No. 2" Trixie Smith _Trixie Smith, Vol. 2: 1925-1929_
"Everybody Oughta Make A Change" Sleepy John Estes _Working Man's Blues_
"Jivin' Woman Blues" Blind Boy Fuller _Sweet Honey Hole

"You Can Mistreat Me Here" Tommy McClennan _Big Joe Williams & The Stars Of Mississippi Blues_
"Better Not Let My Good Gal Catch You Here" Johnnie Temple _Johnnie Temple, Vol. 2: 1938-1940_
"The Fives" Jimmy Yancey _Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1: 1939-1940_

Self Help Radio 071814: Candles

An entire radio show made in defiance of electric light!  That's how it is.  The candle show flickered briefly & then was extinguished, but I have saved an impression in mp3 form.

The show was fun.  I spoke with a fellow who claimed to own the world's oldest candle, Tania called in & played a song, & a jet-lagged Dr. Howard Gently talked about the spiritual significance of candles - in addition to all the great music played!

You can listen now at the Self Help Radio website.  Please remember that the mp3s are now password protected, so if you want to listen, you'll need a username/password combo, which is on the site, or you can just remember SHR/selfhelp.  The songs I played are below.

Enjoy the scents & the beautiful flame!

(part one)

"Candle Song" Holly Golightly _Laugh It All Up!_
"Candle Mambo" Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band _Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)_
"Candle" Lydia Ainsworth _Right From Real, Pt. I_

"Don't Burn The Candle At Both Ends" Louis Jordan _Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five_
"Burn My Candle (At Both Ends)" Shirley Bassey _Burn My Candle: The Complete Early Years 1956-58_
"Burn That Candle" Bill Haley & His Comets _Live It Up!_
"Wax Candle" Harverson Apricot _Psychedelic Schlemiels: Lost Sounds From The Britpsych Scene 1966-1969_

"Candle" Sonic Youth _Daydream Nation_
"Candleland" Ian McCulloch _Candleland_
"Glass Candle Grenades" Cocteau Twins _Head Over Heels_
"Black Candle" Leo Graham _Lee Scratch Perry: Public Jestering_

"Brief Candles" The Zombies _Odessey & Oracle_
"Light A Candle" Neil Young _Fork In The Road_
"Can I Get There By Candlelight" David McWilliams _Reflections Of David McWilliams_

(part two)

"A Candle's Fire" Beirut _The Rip Tide_
"Light A Candle" Orange Cake Mix _Infinite Beauty_
"Six Hundred Candles" Tiny Town _No Place Like Rome_

"No One Can Hold A Candle To You" Morrissey _I Have Forgiven Jesus_
"The Candle Burned Out" The Shout Out Louds _Work_
"Candlesticks" The Cannanes _Caveat Emptor_

"Seven African Powers" Russell Miles _Six Tunes By "Russ"_
"Candlelight" The Gestures _The Big Hits Of Mid-America: The Soma Records Story 1963 - 1967_
"Black Candles" Blue Bus _Magic Cube_
"Light The Glass Candle" Glass Candle _30 Seconds Before The Galico Wall_

"Roman Candle" Bedhead _Beheaded_
"Roman Candles" Half Japanese _Greatest Hits_

Whither Candles?

When I first came to Austin, I was responsible for the very first time for buying all of my food for myself.  I had applied to the University of Texas too late to get into the dorms, so I didn't have a cafeteria or a meal plan.  Up until that point, I had survived on meals made by my mother or me at home (from foodstuffs in the house) or on fast food.  Luckily, there was a big supermarket within walking distance of my apartments, & visit there I did all the time those first two years I lived in apartments south of the river in the area known as the "Riverside Student Ghetto."

(I just tried to find the place on Google Maps, but the area is so developed now - it's been over twenty-five years, man - that there are shops in front of the supermarket, instead of the giant parking lot I knew.  The street in front, too, has been widened.)

I had of course been in supermarkets before, so it wasn't like this was a new experience, but in general, the grocery stores I'd visited in Garland were much smaller, & didn't have things like housewares or more than two aisles of frozen foods.  One of the aisles I came to enjoy, for no apparent reason, was the aisle that had the religious candles.  They were solid, sturdy things, with lots of colors, & weird things written on them that I hadn't encountered so far in my life, being surrounded mainly by protestants.  I mean, look at this assortment from the Wikipedia:

Astonishing, right?  I bought a couple, sheepishly, but didn't really light them.  I wouldn't have known what they were for.  In a way, my fascination was filled with mockery; but I can't deny that they held an attraction for me: the lovely, unfamiliar images (Jesus with his heart glowing out of his chest!) & the prayers on the back (concentrate on your petition!) were just outside my world enough to make me feel I was being somehow transgressive - even though I was never really a Christian.

I gave one of the candles to a friend in the early 1990s, & he did what I could never do - he wrote a song about it.  I will play that song tomorrow.

I've decided to have a look around to see if I can find these candles in Lexington, & if so, I'm going to buy them & keep them somewhere around the house.  They were, in a way, the inspiration for this show.

& it's happening tomorrow!  Seven to nine a.m. (7-9am) on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington, online at the same time at the WRFL web site.  & later, of course, before the candles burn at, at Self Help Radio's new secure location.

You May Have Noticed (You Haven't Noticed)

All mp3 files on the Self Help Radio home page are now password protected.  I know!  I complained about it yesterday & today it's like, wow!  The username & password are on the front page, in a sort-of but not obvious place.  It's this paragraph:

(You can click it to make it bigger.)

I didn't want to write USERNAME: + PASSWORD: but I didn't want it to be hard to find, either.

Why is this happening?  Well, a couple of weeks ago, someone created a kind of program which went through my site & downloaded all the files.  This is a problem because there are a lot of radio shows there, & my web provider got mad at me (although it wasn't my fault) & shut down my site.  I begged & pleaded & did a few things that were probably useless, & my site reappeared.

Then, last week, it happened again.  I did more begging & pleading & a lot of reasoning.  My site came back up but it seemed obvious I needed to do something else.

Here's the thing: very few people know about my radio show, & there a smaller subset of those folks who listen to it.  (A smaller number, I would say, like it enough to download whole episodes.)  So when there's suddenly someone downloading (in a small span of time) 73 episodes, it's probably someone causing mischief.  Password-protection can hinder most of these situations, although, as one technical support person mentioned to me, there are people out there who can write sophisticated programs, too.  I hope I'm not on those folks' radars.

I hope that this doesn't keep people from listening to or discovering my dumb little radio show, & in that spirit, I will mention that, if you can't find the username on the web site (for whatever reason), & you can't find it written somewhere on the Facebook page, then I can only perhaps suggest that if you had to have a username, it might as well be SHR, & if you had to have a password, it might as well be selfhelp.

At this point, it's the best I can do.

Now let's hope I can put all this drama behind me.

On Pins & Needles, Not On Candles At All

Didn't I do a needle show recently?  Oh yeah!

Remember last week around this time, when my site went down?  Well, I am in the process of trying to make the site slightly less susceptible to attacks by douchenozzles, but I am waiting for the folks from my hosting company to communicate with me about my changes.  If I don't hear from them today - a week after we've last spoke, I think - I'll contact them again.  Meanwhile, I'm waiting for the next attack - & the next flurry of phone calls in which I try to explain to every other person - I get a mean person & then a nice person, each time, over & over - that I am in fact doing everything I possibly can short of gutting my website & isn't there now a paper trail?

There appears to be (in my completely unscientific survey) in about half of the tech folks I talk to a lack of empathy & a weird desire to conform to whatever rules there are, no matter how much I explain.  To them, I am violating the terms of service & anything that has gone wrong is my fault.  They refer to files downloaded by an automated program as "malicious," as if they were asking to be used to disrupt online traffic.  The other half act like they're completely on my side, & they're the ones that actually help.  I hope they get more money than the meanies.

I went to the dentist today & while the dentist did the drilling, it appeared that the dental assistant did the filling.  That's unusual, isn't it?  Now the novocaine is wearing off.  It's a terrible feeling, like getting drunk at lunch & sobering up in the afternoon.  Ugh.  Ow.  I think I chewed up my lip while it was numb!

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Eight

Memphis Minnie

I woke up early Friday morning feeling a little lonesome so the music I played on the show reflected that.  Maybe listening to some lonesome blues will help you feel less lonesome.

The show can be enjoyed now at Self Help Radio on the web.  The lonesome songs I played are huddling together below.

"Lonesome Woman's Blues" Rosetta Crawford _Clarence Williams & The Blues Singers, Vol 1: 1923-1928_
"Lonesome Weary Blues" Bertha "Chippie" Hill _Louis Armstrong & The Blues Singers_
"The Lonesome Road" Gene Austin _The History Of Pop Radio (1920-1927)_

"Lonesome Lovesick Blues" Blanche Calloway _1925 - 1935_
"Lonesome & Sorry" Lillie Delk Christian _Hociel Thomas & Lillie Delk Christian: 1925-1928_
"Long Lonesome Blues" Blind Lemon Jefferson _The Best Of Blind Lemon Jefferson_
"That Lonesome Rave (Bertha Henderson, vocals)" Blind Blake _All The Published Sides_
"Lonesome Blues" Henry Williams & Eddie Anthony _Violin, Sing The Blues For Me_

"So Lonesome" Ramblin' Thomas _Roll & Tumble Blues_
"Lonesome Frisco Line" Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton _Roots 'N' Blues: The Retrospective_
"Lonesome Man Blues" Lee Green _Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1 (1929-1930)_
"Lonesome Mind Blues" Speckled Red _Complete Recorded Works 1929-1938_
"Lonesome Day Blues" Blind Willie McTell _Complete Recorded Works, Vol.2 (1931-33)_

"Homesick & Lonesome Blues" Blind Boy Fuller _The Slide Guitar: Bottles, Knives & Steel_
"Look Down That Long Lonesome Road" Unknown Group _Deep River Of Song: South Carolina - Got The Keys To The Kingdom_
"Minnie's Lonesome Song" Memphis Minnie _Queen Of The Country Blues: All The Published Sides, 1929 - 1937_

Self Help Radio 071114: Ruby

Is my website still up?  For now?  Okay.

This morning I had a gem of a show - all about rubies, or Rubys, as the case may be.  Only one person called to tell me he didn't like anything I was playing!  It was a good day.

The show is here as long as the website is: Self Help Radio website.  It's also in two parts, here & here.  The beautiful deep red songs I played are below.

Please enjoy & thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Ruby" Merkin _Music From Merkin Manor_
"Ruby" Silver Apples _Contact_
"Ruby" Sneakers _Sneakers EP_

"Ruby" Ray Charles _Genius & Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection_
"Ruby" Boss Hog _Girl Positive EP_
"Ruby" Simon Bonney _Everyman_
"Ruby" The Apples In Stereo _Her Wallpaper Reverie_

"Ruby" Kristin Hersh _Sunny Border Blue_
"Ruby II" Amy Millan _Honey From The Tombs_
"Ruby" Kaiser Chiefs _Yours Truly Angry Mob_
"Ruby" Tania & Juan _Ruby_

"Ruby Tuesday" Melanie _Melanie_

(part two)

"Rubylove" Cat Stevens _Teaser & The Firecat_
"Little Ruby Rain" Markley _A Group_
"Ruby Dean" Bobby Womack _Understanding_

"Rock & Roll Ruby" Warren Smith _The Sun Records Collection_
"My Little Ruby" Chan Romero _The Del-Fi & Donna Records Story_
"Wicked Ruby" Danny Zella & His Zell Rocks _Wicked Ruby_
"Rock-Ola Ruby" Sonee West _Rock-A-Billy Dynamite_

"See Ruby Fall" Johnny Cash _Hello, I'm Johnny Cash_
"Ruby Ann" Marty Robbins _Marty Robbins Rocks_
"Ruby, Are You Mad At Your Man?" Cousin Emmy & Her Kinfolk _From The Vaults: Decca Country Classics 1934-1973_
"Ruby Dear" Talking Heads _Naked_

"Hey Ruby (Shut Your Mouth)" Ruby & The Party Gang _The Sound Of Philadelphia - Funk, Soul, & The Roots Of Disco 1965-73: Philadelphia Roots, Vol. 2_
"Ruby Horse" The Wonder Stuff _The Eight Legged Groove Machine_
"Rhubarb Ruby" The Spectors _Beat Is Murder: Cockfights & Cakefights 1992-1996_

Whither Ruby?

God, it's been an exhausting week.  Website attacks, dentists, lack of sleep - blergh.  I just need to stare at a picture of cute animals being sweet to one another:

Well, that helps a little.

Tomorrow, a show about people named "Ruby" & also lots of talk about the gemstone called a ruby.  It's happening from 7 to 9 am on the 88.1 fm frequency in Lexington & its surroundings, or online at wrfl dot fm.  I hope you can listen - there's lots of neat stuff happening then & there.

If I still have a website in the afternoon, though, I'll put the show up for you, if you're not up to hear it.

Site Down

While I was on vacation last week, I got an email from my web hosting service that said that my site had been suspended because too many files had been downloaded from the server in a short period of time.  In talking with a support person at the place, I discovered it looked like it came from a handful of very similar IP addresses.  We both agreed it seemed malicious, & although it violated the company's terms of agreement, it wasn't my fault (though of course it was my responsibility to deal with it).  They gave me several options, I picked the cheapest one (which was free but required I enter in the offending IP addresses & block them).  Then my site was restored.

The same thing happened today, but the person I just talked to, while trying to be a sensitive bro, told me I had to remove the offending files before my site could be restored.  That's basically every radio show on the site.

Do you know how many people download & listen to my shows?  Very few.  I've been with this hosting service since 2009.  Nothing like this has happened before this month.  & yet, for some reason, I'm being told the only two solutions are gutting the site (well, I could put the shows on Soundcloud or Youtube - this seems the equivalent of the folks at Wal-Mart telling me how to get food stamps) or paying more for a private server which would also be shut down the minute some asshat wrote a program that downloaded the entire site in an hour.

I am so exhausted by all this.  I no longer want to stay with this company, but I also have no time to research other companies to find something better or at the very least not worse (though the bar has been set rather low).  Until such a time, or in the small chance there's a simpler solution to the problem (they haven't yet responded to my last "ticket"), the site won't be there.

This is something they haven't said to me, but I'll say it to you: I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Tumbler

The front page of the Self Help Radio Tumblr site

You've heard me say this before: I'm terrible at promoting things.  I have a Twitter account (here) but I don't feel nearly clever enough to write something in it every day (I've been trying to put into words some wry observation I've wanted to make about realtors but can't seem to do it); I only got it because I felt like everyone was saying it was a good thing to use to connect with "fans," something I'm not sure I have.  & a while back, someone was talking about Tumblr.  So back then, sure, I started a Tumblr blog.

Wow, Tumblr has become something very different than I thought it would.  It's sort of true to say it's kind of an open-air Facebook, but also not.  Initially, I used the Self Help Radio Tumblr site (here) to post pictures I scanned or stole from the web with music videos.  It was something I did when I remembered it existed.

A couple of months ago, though, some of the Tumblr blogs I stumbled on had photographs - not reblogged photos, but photos taken by the owners of the blog.  They weren't spectacular, but there was a nice, personal feel to them.  & I said to myself, I have a digital camera, I should take pictures, &, if I like them, I can put them somewhere.

So I share them on my personal Facebook account, but also on my Tumblr site.  Above you can see the most recent two pictures I've taken.  I don't give any details on the blog (no one cares), but I will here: one of those was taken at an elementary school playground in Dallas, & another in downtown Lexington.

I know the pictures are mainly interesting to me.  But in case you didn't know they existed, I wanted to show them to you.  If you don't want to tell me what you think, that's cool.

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Seven

Sleepy John Estes

I have put up the most recent episode of my blues show, Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, on the Self Help Radio website.  You can listen now!

The show, which I hastily prepared after I returned from vacation, features songs I didn't have time to play on my previous six shows.  I don't think it sounds awful for all that - but what I played is below:

"The Old Folks Started It" Minnie Wallace _Memphis Jug Band: Associates & Alternate Takes (1927-30)_
"The Gallis Pole" Lead Belly _Country Blues Outlaws_
"Black Woman Swing" Champion Jack Dupree _Cabbage Greens_

"Louise Louise Blues" Johnny Temple _Essential Blues Friends Blues_
"Easin' Back To Tennessee" Sleepy John Estes _Working Man's Blues_
"The Meeting In The Air" Mr & Mrs F H Lacy _Black Religious Music (1930-1956)_
"Poor Lazarus" Vera Ward Hall _Deep River Of Song: Alabama From Lullabies To Blues (1934-1940)_
"Whiskey Head Woman" Tommy McClennan _Tommy McClennan, Vol. 1: Whiskey Head Woman_

"Pony Blues" Sonny Boy Nelson _Complete Recordings...1936_
"Mama, You Don't Mean Me No Good" Little Brother Montgomery _Complete Recorded Works (1930-1936)_
"Tampa Strut" Georgia Browns _Atlanta Blues: Big City Blues From The Heartland_
"Good Looking Girl Blues" Furry Lewis _The Complete Vintage Recordings Of Furry Lewis (1927-1929)_
"Sleepy Woman Blues" Robert Petway _Mississippi Blues (1935-1951)_

"Pinebluff, Arkansas" Bukka White _The Complete Bukka White_
"I'm Going To Write & Tell Mother" Robert Hill _Blues Cafe_
"The Devil's Dream" Sid Hemphill _Afro-American Folk Music From Tate & Panola Counties, Mississippi_