Self Help Radio 082214: Bulls

Yup, the radio show today was about bulls.  Not papal bulls, not people who are confident in the stock market, not police officers.  The male version of cows.  Bulls.  Lots of songs about those kinds of bulls, & especially bullfighting & bull riding.  I even had guests to talk about it!

It's not available for you to listen to at Self Help Radio: the website.  Pay attention (if you go there to listen) to username + password information.  The songs I played are below.

Toro!  Toro!

(part one)

"The Bull Is Coming" Lee Fields & The Devil's Personal Band _Rare Funk Liberation_
"Ride The Bull" Quasimodo Jones _Robots & Rebels_
"Lezomkomo (Praise The Cows & Bulls)" Ladysmith Black Mambazo _Songs From A Zulu Farm_

"Little Black Bull" Pete Seeger _Sing With Seeger_
"Little White Bull" Tommy Steele _The Best Of Tommy Steele_
"Ferdinand The Bull" Slim & Slam _The Original 1938 Recordings, Vol. 1_
"El Toro De Goro (The Peace Loving Bull)" Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs _Li'l Red Riding Hood_

"The Cattle Call" Eddy Arnold _Heroes Of The Big Country_
"Bad Brahma Bull" Tex Ritter _Collectors Series_
"Oscar The Yodeling Bull" Peter Denahy _Peter Denahy_

"El Matador" The Kingston Trio _Sold Out_
"The Matador" Johnny Cash _Legend_
"The Matador" Major Lance _Best Of Soul Time: A Selection Of Northern Soul Classics From The Archives_

(part two)

"Old Bull" Wylie & The Wild West _Bucking Horse Moon_
"Bull In The Pen" Black Uhuru _Anthem_

"The Bullfighter Dies" Morrissey _World Peace Is None Of Your Business_
"The Bulls (Les Taureaux)" Shawn Elliott & Company _Jacques Brel Is Alive & Well & Living In Paris_
"Bull Rider" Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell _Old Yellow Moon_
"Bulls" Tania&Juan _Bulls_

"Bull In The Heather" The Go! Team _Proof Of Youth_
"Bullfighters' Bones" The Shrubs _Full Steam Into The Brainstorm 12"_
"Bullfighting" Airport Girl _Slow Light_
"Bullfighter Jacket" Miniature Tigers _Fortress_

"Cattle & Cane" The Go-Betweens _Before Hollywood_
"The Bull Run" Titus Turner _A Walk On The Wild Side_

Whither Bulls?

A long time ago, I was dating a girl, & she liked to go camping.  We would go camping together.  We knew someone who was a park ranger in Utah, so we'd go camping there.  I didn't own a car, so I'd rent a car, & we'd drive together from Austin to Utah to go camping.  Once, after driving forever on what was probably 183 past Llano - or maybe it was 290 west - or maybe it was I-10 on the way to El Paso, depending on how we were getting to wherever we were going - we stopped because she wanted to see some cows who were near the fence.  We pulled the car to the shoulder & walked over to say hello.  They were friendly & glad to have the company I supposed.

At some point some highway patrol officers appeareded & wanted to know what we were doing.  We said we were saying hello to the cows.  They told us we were on private property & needed to be moving along.  They seemed amused that we wanted to say hello to cows.  "You never seen cows before?" they asked us.

I hadn't grown up with cows but a couple of years before I had visited with other friends a dairy where the calves were very friendly & would suckle your fingers.  We slowly realized that it was kind of sad, since they wanted their mothers' milk, but the mothers were busy being milked to give to humans.

Anyway, when we were on the highway, walking back to the car, the highway patrol officers wondering if we were on drugs or something, I noticed that there was a lone bull in a separate section of the fenced-off land.  I guess if he were with the cows he'd be mating with them.  Or maybe he was a steer, a castrated bull, who was just separated from others I couldn't see.  Or maybe I just saw a cow I thought was a bull & made up an entire story from looking at him.  I do that.  You do that too.

I tried to find photos, using Google search, of handsome bulls, but all that comes up is pictures of pit bulls, who are dogs & not bulls at all.  (Some were quite handsome, though.)

The reason for the show is I wanted to play something from the new Morrissey record & I liked the song "The Bullfighter Dies."  I had to scramble to put the show together in less time than I usually take for my show.  I hope it's all right.

Tomorrow from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm in Lexington, Kentucky, & online at the same time at wrfl dot fm.  I'll put the show up later in the day on the Self Help Radio website in case you can't wake up or won't wake up or read this years later.

It's years later.  I never stop to say hello to cows anymore.  But I do wave from the car.

Preface To Bulls: The Power Out

It has been a weird day.  I took a nap as is my wont & woke up, ready to make dinner, & there was a magnificent thunderstorm happening.  (I could've slept through it, but the wife woke me by saying, "Wake up & fix me dinner, depressed person!")  As I walked into the kitchen, everything in the house just stopped working.  At first, it seemed like there was still power, as the washer or dryer continued to spin even as it lost electricity.  But no, the whole house was off.

Here's the news, which I was able to access thanks to my smarty-pants phone: power outage story.

We decided to order out, but it took a while - probably a nearby cell phone tower was out or otherwise incapacitated.  We managed to call one of our few favorite local restaurants - the poorly named Asian Wind - & I ventured out into the world.

Two things first: our garage door opener is of course electric.  So I had to hold the door open as the wife drove the car out.

The other thing was Twitter.  When I finally got some bars, I checked the Twitterworld to see what folks were saying about the power outage.  What they said was, basically, DON'T GO DOWNTOWN.  Apparently students are moving in right now & the absence of power took out all the traffic lights.  Crash smash chaos.  But Lexington loves its sirens, & the power wasn't out for five minutes before we heard screaming sirens all around the city.

I didn't see any accidents, but I did see people being kind as traffic cops waved us through intersections without lights.  It wasn't much of a problem getting to the restaurant to pick up the food, but there was a problem with finding a place to park - lots of folks were escaping from their homes to go out to eat.

We watched old SCTV episodes on the computer while we ate by candlelight.

Which is all my way of saying that I meant to write something else but the world intervened.

I used to tell folks that big storms like we have in Texas don't really happen around here.  At least with the fierceness or regularity that is characteristic of Texas thunderstorms.  But I can't do that anymore.

Man, I am glad the power's back on.  It's sad, strange, & weird how our lives - or at least my life - needs its electronics.

Solidarity

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Thirteen

Alger "Texas" Alexander

For my next-to-the-last episode of Woke Up Early One Morning Blues (next-to-the-last? what? see next paragraph!), I played some catch-up.  I would find so many songs to play for each show but couldn't fit them all in one hour, so this show contains songs that "belonged" to previous shows.  I still think there's a nice flow.

So next-to-last - well - the new WRFL schedule starts a week from today, & there'll be many more students back in town who need precious airtime, so I am losing an hour of my show.  That hour will be Woke Up Early One Morning Blues.  I am sad to see it go, but my focus has always been on Self Help Radio.  The show will reappear at some point - possibly next summer - because the early blues is always on my mind, & I enjoy doing a blues show.

You can listen to this past week's show now at the Self Help Radio website.  The mismatched collection of songs is listed below.

"Whiskey & Women" Black Ace _Texas Slide Guitars 1930-1938_
"Romance In The Dark" Lil Green _Romance In The Dark_
"Where He Leads Me I Will Follow" Blind Willie Harris _Goodbye, Babylon_

"Lonesome Lovesick Blues" Katherine Henderson _Vol. 2 (1927-1932)_
"Whiskey Headed Blues" Sonny Boy Williamson _Sonny Boy Williamson: Complete Recorded Works, 1938-1939_
"On My Way To Heaven" Blind Roy Hays _Sinners & Saints (1926-1931)_
"Snatch It Back Blues" Walter "Buddy Boy" Hawkins _William Harris & Buddy Boy Hawkins (1927-1929)_
"Black Gal, What Makes Your Head So Hard?" Joe Pullum _The Easin' In: Essential Recordings Of Texas Blues_

"Six Weeks Old Blues" John Henry Barbee _Memphis Blues 1927-1938_
"Lonesome Road Blues" Sam Collins _Before The Blues Vol. 1_
"Ain't Going To Lay My Armor Down" McVay & Johnson _Kentucky Mountain Music, Part 3_
"Friday Moan Blues" Alfred Lewis _Harmonica Blues 1920s & '30s_
"Boogie Woogie Stomp" Albert Ammons & His Rhythm Kings _The Many Faces Of Boogie Woogie_

"Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground)" Blind Willie Johnson _Dark Was The Night (1927-1930)_
"Long Lonesome Day Blues" Texas Alexander _Texas Alexander Vol. 1 (1927-1928)_

Self Help Radio 081514: Normality

Who're you calling normal?  Not this radio show!  Oh, all right, just for today, Self Help Radio will be normal.  Why not?  Why not for once be a normal radio show?  I mean, really.

Show is here: Self Help Radio website.  Remember, if you have to have a username & a password, then SHR & selfhelp will probably work.  The songs played today are below.

Stay normal!

(part one)

"I'm Normal" The Emperor _I'm Normal_
"We Are Normal" The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band _Urban Spaceman_
"C'est Normal" Ceux Qui Marchent Debout _Handclapping Zone_

"Normal" Martin Mull _Normal_
"The Speed Of Normal" John Wesley Harding _John Wesley Harding's New Deal_
"Mr. Normal" Wayne County & The Electric Chairs _Man Enough To Be A Woman_

"Pronounced Normal" Wild Man Fischer _Pronounced Normal_
"Pass for Normal" Culturcide _Home-Made Authority_
"Normal People" The Members _The Choice Is Yours_
"Watch Out For The Normal People" The Boomtown Rats _A Tonic For The Troops_

"Dan Abnormal" Blur _The Great Escape_
"Crazy Kind Of Normal" The Rosehips _The Rosehips_

(part two)

"This Is The New Normal" Bubblegum Lemonade _Some Like It Pop_
"Every Boy Wants A Normal Girl" Colleen Green _Sock it To Me_
"Life Returns To Normal" Northern Portrait _Criminal Art Lovers_

"Suis-Je Normale?" Nini Raviolette _Change The Beat: The Celluloid Records Story 1979-1987_
"Total Normal" Eiskalte Engel _Total Normal_
"Normal" Astrud _Superman EP_

"The Normal Family" Andrei Codrescu _No Tacos For Saddam_
"Making People Normal" Bis _Social Dancing_
"Normal" Screaming Females _Castle Talk_
"Normality" Tania&Juan _Normality_

"Gillian Is Normal" Instant Automatons _Messthetics Greatest Hiss # 110: An Introduction To The D.I.Y. Cassette Scene 1979-1984_
"Tight But Normal Squeeze" Robert Pollard _Jack Sells A Cow_
"Normal" Bel Divioleta _Espejos_

Whither Normality?

I have no idea what normal is.  Normal is relative, anyway.  Some people live in fear & hunger, & that's normal for them.  What was normal even a century ago would seem weird to us now - & vice versa.

I do know that WRFL is not a normal radio station.  I don't mean that as an insult, but as a compliment. Every other radio station in the world - or I should say, the vast majority of them - are owned by one of two or three corporations, & they're programmed by a few people in one place, & piped out to each station. It's apparently very profitable for them, but it's such a depressing & cynical way to use the airwaves that could be filled with so much creativity & good music & fun.  It's why a station like WRFL is so valuable.

Will Self Help Radio celebrate normality, or will it (as you probably suspect) have several songs snarkily suggesting that what is normal is dull, mindless, hypnotized, brainwashed, conservative, square?  You'll have to listen to find out.

It's on tomorrow morning from 7am to 9am on 88.1 fm in Lexington, & online at wrfl dot fm.  Of course I'll do what I normally do & put it on the Self Help Radio website after the show, if you're not normally up that early.

It's normal for me to hope you'll listen, right?

Preface To Normality: Normalcy

You can read about Warren Harding's use of the word "normalcy" in his 1920 election campaign.  Though detractors at the time believed he made the word up, or mispronounced "normality," it turns out "normalcy" had been in use for around sixty years before that.  People use it to mean "normality" to this day, probably because of the hubbub surrounding Harding's use of the term.

But according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word normalcy was coined by mathematicians, first recorded in 1857, & used to mean a "mathematical condition of being at right angles."  It notes, wryly, "The word prefered by purists for 'a normal situation' is normality," which, it notes was first recorded in 1849 - barely a decade before "normalcy" was recorded.  Etymologists believe it came from the French.

I don't have a dog in this fight.  I like that the English language is elastic & mutable & I love that words change their meanings over periods of time.  It's sometimes sad when words like "literally" come to mean their opposite because of people who don't really know the word's definition, but if I don't mind a word like "normalcy" being used to mean "normality," I can't complain about changes in the language I don't like.  It's better than the opposite: word stagnation.

Harding, by the way, is known as one of the most corrupt presidents in history.  That might not be entirely true - but he did seem to surround himself (mostly friends & contributors from Ohio) with awful people.  For no real reason, here's a picture of him:

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Twelve

Gladys Bentley

I loved encyclopedias as a child, & I have a mind that loves to categorize & alphabetize.  This week's episode of Woke Up Early One Morning Blues starts something I might never finish - a list of the great female blues singers of the 20s & 30s.  When people think of the blues, they often don't think of these women - but they were among the most popular blues performers of the time.  I go from Ora Alexander to Susie Edwards (of Butterbeans & Susie) on this show, but since I only have two more episodes of the show, I might not return to the list for a good long while.

In any event, you can listen to the show at the Self Help Radio website.  Pay attention to the password info there.  & enjoy the songs I played, which are listed below:

"You've Got To Save That Thing" Ora Alexander _Them Dirty Blues_
"St. Louis Blues" Mildred Bailey _The Ladies In Blues_
"Don't You Make Me High" Blue Lu Barker _The Chronological Classics: Blue Lu Barker 1938-1939_

"Worried Blues" Gladys Bentley _Maggie Jones & Gladys Bentley: Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order Vol. 2 - May 1925 To June 1926 & August 1928 To March 1929_
"West Indies Blues" Esther Bigeou _Esther Bigeou (1921-1923)_
"The Pawn Shop Blues" Lucille Bogan _Lucille Bogan (Bessie Jackson) Vol. 1: 1923-1930_
"Evil Mama Blues" Ada Brown _Territory Singers Vol. 1 (1922-1928)_
"Song From A Cotton Field" Bessie Brown _Down In The Basement: Joe Bussard's Treasure Trove Of Vintage 78s: 1926-1937_

"Peddlin' Man" Liza Brown _(Original) Bessie Brown (1925-1929) & Liza Brown (1929)_
"Mean Eyes (Too Late Blues)" Kitty Brown _Female Blues Singers Vol. 3 (1923-1928)_
"Aunt Hagar's Children Blues" Alice Leslie Carter _Female Blues Singers Vol. 4 (1921-1930)_
"Everybody Does It Now" Martha Copeland _I Can't Be Satisfied, Vol. 2_
"Give Me A Break Blues" Ida Cox _The Blues 1923 To 1933_

"Blind Man Blues" Katie Crippen _Fletcher Henderson & The Blues Singers Vol. 1 (1921-1923)_
"Winter Blues" Madlyn Davis _Paramount Jazz_
"He Likes It Slow" Butterbeans & Susie _Louis Armstrong & The Blues Singers_

Come In, Orson

Words fail.  Words are all we have.

As a child, I was a huge comic book nerd.  I read them & re-read them all the time.  I loved reading other things, but comics were the first thing I read, & I loved them so much I would read them most - even the ones, like war comics, I wasn't terribly interested in.

I loved when things comic-book-y showed up in places other than those little booklets.  I loved Star Wars - a comic book movie if there ever was one.  I loved Star Trek - each episode like a different issue, with recurring villains, revisited plotlines.  & I even loved the silly stuff - like an alien showing up in a television show (Happy Days, of all places) & then getting his own show.

That's the first time I saw Robin Williams, & he made me laugh.  Laugh, laugh, laugh.  Later, in films like Dead Poets Society & Good Will Hunting, he showed a depth that his manic stage persona (his real persona?) didn't hint at.  He seemed human, humble, ridiculous, wise, caring, strong, & devoutly strange.  A comic book character come to life.

Of course, he was more than that, he was like me & you (or at least like you - I could never hope to be so talented), he had problems.  More information will come out in the next few days, but for now I'm going to spend the evening watching YouTube clips & laughing.  Laughing because Robin Williams was really so goddamned funny.

"Mork calling Orson, come in, Orson.  Come in, the Incredible Bulk."  He couldn't help constantly making fat jokes to his space superior.  Oh god, so funny.

Self Help Radio 080814: Acid

Self Help Radio played lots of songs about acid on this show, & by a wide margin (18 out of 26) the songs were definitely about Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, or LSD.  Partially it's a result of rock & rollers being part of the counter-culture that would be attracted to such things, but also I think it's a result of a lack of imagination on the part of musicians.  If the best song about acid rain is REM's "Fall On Me," well, there's a crisis of creativity.

Oh well.  Please enjoy a large number of songs about the kind of acid you watched afterschool specials about.  It's available now at the Self Help Radio website. I remind you of username + password, which equals SHR + selfhelp.  The songs I played around below.

Enjoy!

(part one)

"LSD" The Pretty Things _Get The Picture?_
"Acid (Another Colored Ink Drawing)" The Wild Things _Acid (Another Colored Ink Drawing)_
"I Wanna Come Back (From The World Of LSD)" The Fe-Fi-Four + 2 _Pebbles Vol. 5_
"Acid" Stu Mitchell _Only In America_

"Acid Face Baby" Rote Kapelle _It Moves... But Does It Swing?_
"Acid Bird (live)" Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians _Gotta Let This Hen Out!_
"Acid To My Alkaline" Fujiya & Miyagi _Artificial Sweeteners_
"Acid Baby" Tania & Juan _Acid Baby_

"I Did Acid With Caroline" Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston _It's Spooky_
"Should Have Taken Acid With You" Neon Indian _Psychic Chasms_
"Lysergic Bliss" Of Montreal _Satanic Panic In The Attic_
"LSD" The Mighty Diamonds _Trinity Meet The Mighty Diamonds_

"Battery Acid" Baxendale _You Will Have Your Revenge_
"Adult Acid" Thee Oh Sees _The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In_

(part two)

"Acid Bath" The Hangmen _This Is Psychobilly: 25 Years Of Rockin' & Wreckin'_
"Acid Head" The Velvet Illusions _Acid Head_
"Acid Lady" The San Francisco T.K.O.'s _Bay Area Funk: Funk & Soul Essentials From San Francisco, Oakland, & The Bay Area 1967-1976, Vol. 2_

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" Der Expander Des Fortschritts _Celebrating The Eggman: A Tribute To John Lennon_
"Purple Haze" Johnny Jones & The King Casuals _Atlanta Soul: The Peachtree Records Story_
"White Rabbit" Born For Bliss _Flowing With The Flue_

"Too Much Acid" The Pineapples From The Dawn Of Time _Behind The Banana Curtain_
"The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane" Jeffrey Lewis _The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane & Other Favorites_
"Somebody Spiked My L.S.D." Julian Cope _Floored Genius 4: Brain Donor_
"LSD" Wendall Austin & The Country Swings _Wavy Gravy, Vol. 1: For Adult Enthusiasts_

"The Trip" Kim Fowley _Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, Vol. 2_
"Acid Revolution" Rob Jo Star Band _Soul Jazz Records Presents PUNK 45: Sick On You! One Way Spit! After The Love & Before The Revolution: Proto-Punk 1969-77_

Whither Acid?

It's been so long since I've taken acid that I can't believe I ever did.  Also, thinking about it makes me wish I could do it again.  Why aren't all drugs legal?  Oh yeah, because our society shows no interest in taking care of any of its citizens; the idea of caring for the inevitable needs of people lost to drugs the government was legally responsible for selling is beyond their narrow, thin, empathy envelope.

The show tomorrow won't talk about my experiences with LSD, but there'll be songs about it.  Also, songs about battery acid, & acid's relationship to alkaline, & other non-drug-related tunes.  But, alas, it's rock & roll, so there'll be a lot of songs about the drug called acid.

Tune in, tune out, etc., from 7 am to 9 am tomorrow on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington or hey! online at wrfl dot fm.  I'll put on the SHR website later, but of course by then it might
be a little diluted.

If that can happen with acid.  How would I know?  It's been so long!

Preface To Acid: Trip Advisor

I have a Self Help Radio Facebook page.  Mainly I post playlists there & occasionally pictures of bears.  More people "see" it than this page because they can "like" it & my nonsense shows up in their "feed."  But while it can be much more interactive than this stumpy little blog, it rarely is, because I don't really know how to make it so.  The last time I asked an honest question of my "likes," the idea being that I would use the information to talk about on the show, my smart-ass friends (who make up the bulk of the page's "likes," & who probably haven't listened to my show in forever, if ever) thought I was giving them an opportunity to be "funny" (not funny for real, because this is Facebook), & they made smart-ass remarks.

This morning I was thinking, "Hey! I'll ask a question that some people might answer on the Facebook page!" Here was the question that I thought I might ask, or something like it anyway: "If you've taken LSD, please share your best trip below!"

About two seconds after I thought of that question, I asked myself a question, which was this: "Are you high?"

Facebook - & especially "liked" pages like mine - does not have the same anonymity as some places where users can comment (& be total dicks) to their heart's content behind a fake username.  You sign in mostly as you (or the online you you've constructed, which often has your real name), & your responses are as that you.  Asking people to admit to using an illegal drug - never mind asking them to describe its use - is stupid, & possibly could get them in trouble with employers & other humorless folks down the line.

I could ask people to do so here, where they can comment anonymously, but no one really sees this blog.  Certainly people don't visit here daily.  (I think fewer people see this than my silly Tumblr blog.)  I wouldn't have enough responses to talk about on the show.

But, really, just thinking about this whole process - me considering asking people to fess up on Facebook their drug tales - I just have to ask, "What's wrong with me?"

One More Thing About "Woke Up Early One Morning Blues"

I guess this is sort of a public service announcement to folks to who listen to my pre-war blues show called "Woke Up Early One Morning Blues," which I have been doing all summer on WRFL.  I was fortunate enough to do the show this summer because I was given a three-hour timeslot, which was the result of a lot of programmers going away for the summer.  The understanding was that, when the (mainly student) horde returned, I would have the show trimmed to two hours, the time which most programmers have, & I don't want to lose a whole hour of Self Help Radio, which is the show I most enjoy doing.

The new schedule at WRFL begins August 25, which means I have only three episodes of WUEOMB left.  Ugh, that looks terrible.  There are times when an acronym is completely inappropriate.  My too-wordy-show-name is one of them.

I have only three episodes of Woke Up Early One Morning Blues left.  Is there anything you've been wanting to hear me explore?  Let me know!  & soon!

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Eleven

Peetie Wheatstraw

Episode number eleven of the blues show Woke Up Early One Morning Blues is now available for listening when & if you choose.  It features lots of early blues about that distilled alcoholic drink that George Bernard Shaw called "liquid sunshine": whiskey.

The show is available at Self Help Radio on the web.  The songs I played are below.  Please enjoy this show responsibly.

"Whiskey Man Blues" Scrapper Blackwell & Black Bottom McPhail _Virtuoso Guitar 1925-1934_

"Whiskey & Gin Blues" South Street Trio _Country Blues Outlaws_

"Whiskey Blues" Elzadie Robinson _Elzadie Robinson Vol. 1 1926-1928_

"Me & My Whiskey" Barbecue Bob _The Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order, Vol. 2_

"Whiskey Moan Blues" Clifford Gibson _Clifford Gibson (1929-1931)_

"Whiskey Drinkin' Blues" Tampa Red with Jenny Pope _Tampa Red Vol. 3 (1929-1930)_

"Whiskey Selling Women" Lucille Bogan _Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1 (1923-1930)_

"If The River Was Whiskey" Charlie Poole _Old Time Songs 1926-1930, Vol. 2_

"Whiskeyhead Blues" JT "Funny Paper" Smith _Complete Recordings (1930-1931)_

"Try My Whiskey Blues" Roosevelt Sykes _Roosevelt Sykes Vol. 3 (1931-1933)_

"More Good Whiskey Blues" Peetie Wheatstraw _Peetie Wheatstraw, Vol. 2: 1934-1935_

"Bad Whiskey Blues" Black Boy Shine _Leroy Carr & Black Boy Shine (1934-1937)_

"Rye Whiskey" Tex Ritter _The History Of Country & Western Music Vol. 4 (1931-1934)_

"Whiskey Blues" Bo Carter _Bo Carter Vol. 4 (1936-1938)_

"Whiskey & Good Time Blues" Big Bill Broonzy _Big Bill Broonzy Vol. 8 1938-1939_

"Whiskey Fool" The Yas Yas Girl (Merline Johnson) _The Yas Yas Girl (Merline Johnson) Vol. 2 1938-1939_

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.