Self Help Radio 101714: Soup

Mmm, soup!

Lots of soupy songs today (including soups that may not exist) & some soupy talk on the show.  I have nothing really to add, except the show has been sufficiently salted.  You really don't need to add any more.  Think of your blood pressure!

The show can be listened to now & any time really at the Self Help Radio website.  Pay attention to the password info!  & the songs I played are listed below.

Enjoy!

(part one)

"The Soup Song" New Singers _Songs For Political Action: Folk Music, Topical Songs & The American Left 1935-1954, Vol. 1 - The Leftist Roots Of The Folk Revival_
"No Soup" Charioteers _Swing Low, Sweet Charioteers_
"Soup" The Impacts _Now Is The Time_

"Chicken Soup With Rice" Tammy Grimes _Where The Wild Things Are & Other Stories by Maurice Sendak_
"Strange Things In My Soup" Allan Sherman _My Son The Box_
"Romany Soup" Tyrannosaurus Rex _Unicorn_
"The Same Old Soup" Joe Tex _Green Green Grass Of Home_

"The Wonderful Soup Stone" Bobby Bare _Bobby Bare Sings Lullabys, Legends, & Lies_
"Praise The Lord & Pass The Soup" Johnny Cash _The Folk Singer_
"(Take Your Elbow Out The Soup) You're Sitting On The Chicken" Ian Dury & The Blockheads _Laughter_
"Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)" The 8th Day _The 8th Day_

"Soup Pot" The Billy Nayer Show _The Billy Nayer Show_
"Soup Spiller" Bitter Springs _Five Die Filming This Lazy Lark_
"Cold Dog Soup" Guy Clark _Cold Dog Soup_

(part two)

"Soup" The Mighty Boosh _The Complete BBC Radio 4 Series The Mighty Boosh_
"Pumpkin Soup & Mashed Potatoes" The Fall _The Unutterable_
"Stone Soup" King Khan & The Shrines _Mr. Supernatural_
"Ketchup Soup" Teen Idols _Short Music For Short People_

"Nine Bowls Of Soup" They Might Be Giants _Here Come The 123s_
"Soup" MJ Hibbett _Hibbett's Superstore_
"Soup" The Wedding Present _El Rey_
"Can Of Soup" Deniz Tek _Detroit_

"Alphabet Soup" Catnaps _Why Don't You Whisper?_
"Eyeball Soup" The Uncluded _Hokey Fright_
"Quantum Soup" Laetitia Sadier _Something Shines_

"Soup" Can _Ege Bamyasi_

Whither Soup?

Do you need a reason, ever, to do a radio show about food?  I try to stay away from food, myself, on the radio, mainly because there are lots of songs about meat, & I don't want to play them.  I remember reviewing a CD recently in which a person talked about going to heaven & eating barbecue up there.  It completely baffled me that someone would imagine going to heaven - the place where the god they believe in lives - & they'd still slaughter animals to eat.  It conjures up the image of the soul of a poor calf mistreated & murdered for veal, & its soul rising up to heaven, & once there - it gets murdered again!  How awful!

There are a few meat soup songs on tomorrow's show, I confess.  I suffered through them.  But mostly, you know, the soup songs are silly or metaphorical.  Like all that is important in life.

Is that true?

The show's on tomorrow morning from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington.  It's also online at WRFL dot FM.  & of course I'll keep the soup show warm & put it on the
Self Help Radio website.

But if there's no bread left when you get there, it's your own damn fault!

Preface To Soup: I Was In Louisville All Day

I went to Louisville to see an old friend.  We ate at a weird fusion sushi bar & then had whiskey across the street at a bar waiting for people who want to dance to show up.  I took my friend to his hotel as soon as the people who wanted to dance started showing up.

I didn't have any soup at the sushi restaurant.  I think I'll make myself some soup tomorrow.  Because I should.

Comic Book Nerd Television Show Round-Up

No one cares, but I should mention that my dumb ratings for dumb comic book television shows if not for you but for me why the hell not?

"Gotham" is not terribly interesting at this point.  I wish someone like Ed Brubaker were writing it.  It seems to suffer from what I call "episoditis," a disease that afflicts television shows that want to stay on the air as long as possible.  The show treads water as long as it can, waiting for milestones or (more likely) ratings weeks to do interesting things.  It's the reason cable is better than network television.  Apparently there'll be a full season of the show, but it needs to find some kind of focus or else no one will give a shit.  Despite being extremely fertile ground for storytelling.

Tonight's "Agents Of SHIELD" was fun but I am still not interested much in the show.  Clark Gregg is great as Coulson but I often find his wisecracking, in the context of the show, utterly awkward & baffling.  But I stick with it despite, seriously, being bored with most of what's going down because, & I can't stress this enough, I watched all ten seasons of Smallville
.  So if I finally give up on this show in a couple of years, no skin off my back.  I wish it were better.  But I forget it, most of the time, right after I've seen it.
"The Flash" is a lot of fun, & the machinations of Professor Zoom are enough to keep me at the edge of my seat.  It's only two episodes in, so I reserve the right to change my opinion later, but I've enjoyed the two episodes I've seen.  I just hope they don't kill the whole "he's new at this!" to death.  Barry Allen is a smart guy.  He'll learn fast.  Get it?  "Fast"?  Why aren't I writing this show?

"Arrow" was the best comic book show I've watched in a long time the last two seasons.  Ask me in December how I'm feeling.  I'm still a little heartbroken at the death of Caity Lotz's character.  Let's hope she gets a superhero show all her own.  Oh my!  Caity Lotz as Wonder Woman?  Did I say that out loud?

I Am Skeered Of Twitter

There are two (or maybe three, why in the world would I even attempt to make this sort of generalization) kinds of folks on the Twitter:

1) Funny people being clever.

2) People who think Twitter is like Facebook but they don't know everyone can see everything they write.

Now that I think about it, there are more, which includes people who promote shit on Twitter plus people who forward things on Twitter, & really, how different is Twitter really from Facebook because oh who care there's no argument here move along.

I feel like I can't be genuine on Twitter because I represent a radio show but also I feel like I can't compete with the funny people because I'm not really funny.

This is an example of a Twit I wrote today:

"Someone asked me how long I've been married & if I had 'the seven year itch.' I said I might have, but it turned out to be terrible eczema."

Not funny!  Someone's done this before!  It made random people laugh but they're not Twitter!  What the fuck am I doing?

Ah well.  I'm used to this.

Self Help Radio 101014: Heaven Revisited (A 12th Anniversary Show)

Yay! 12 years of Self Help Radio! Oh boy! Oh no!

I think it was a fun show.  I like being able to do an entire show with every song having the same title.  I've only done that once before.  & I may never get a third chance.

The show features twenty-four songs called "Heaven" (not counting the songs in the airbreaks over which I talk, which are also called "Heaven") plus interviews with heaven expert Jeff Stevenson, with author Charmagne Fluffernutter, author of The Six Animals You Meet In Heaven, & with my spiritual advisor, the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently, who knows a thing or two about heaven.  Again, it was a fun show, although not good enough to justify twelves years of this nonsense.  Twelve years!  Where did my life go?

Listen at the Self Help Radio website!  Pay attention to password info.  Pray there's not twelve more years of this!

Thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Heaven" Joey & The Lexingtons _Heaven_
"Heaven" The Rascals _Freedom Suite_
"Heaven" Boxcar Willie _20 Great Tracks_

"Heaven" Pere Ubu _Datapanik in the Year Zero: 1975-1977_
"Heaven" Squeeze _East Side Story_
"Heaven" Girls At Our Best! _Pleasure_
"Heaven" Psychedelic Furs _Mirror Moves_

"Heaven" Talking Heads _Stop Making Sense_
"Heaven" Robyn Hitchcock _Fegmania!_
"Heaven" Eurthymics _Savage_

"Heaven" Kristin Hersh _Strange Angels_
"Heaven" The Woodentops _Wooden Foot Cops On The Highway_

(part two)

"Heaven" The Frazier Chorus _Ray_
"Heaven" The Golden Palominos _Pure_

"Heaven" Majestic _The Majestic 12 Years 1994-1998_
"Heaven" The Rapture _Echoes_
"Heaven" Bitter:Sweet _The Mating Game_
"Heaven" Club 8 _The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming_

"Heaven" Envelopes _Here Comes The Wind_
"Heaven" Pocket (feat. Mark Burgess) _A Force Of Nature_
"Heaven" Frankie Rose _Herein Wild_

"Heaven" Popstrangers _Antipodes_
"Heaven" ChameleonsVox _m+d=1(8)_
"Heaven" Pomegranates _Heaven_

Whither Heaven?

On December 3, 2003, I did what was somewhere between my 45th & 49th episode of Self Help Radio*.  The theme was heaven.  My show in those days was an hour long, & not terribly well-constructed**.  I didn't, for example, have music under my voice during airbreaks.  In a real sense, I was still "finding my voice" for the show.

I believe I have a tape of that show, but I didn't think about playing it till just now, & I don't have time to try to find it & digitize it.  Too bad!  It would be interesting to listen to it!***

In 2008, when the show was six years old, I hit upon the idea of revisiting an old theme on my anniversary.  So when this, my twelfth anniversary, rolled around, & I was looking at old playlists, it hit me that I could re-explore a theme & also do something I love to do (I've only done it once before, though): have a show where all the songs on the show have the same title.  It'll happen tomorrow: the show will revisit the theme "Heaven" & all the songs will be called "Heaven."  Yay!

It's on Friday morning from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm in Lexington or online at WRFL dot fm.  If you're celebrating the anniversary early, & aren't able to wake up early enough, I understand, & I'll put the show on my website later in the day.

Twelve years!  I can't imagine there'll be twelve more.

* I don't know how to count which shows are official shows.  At that time, there was a show called "The Pilot Show" the hour before SHR.  I was the person tasked with being there to watch over new & trainee programmers.  Oftentimes, they would cancel at the last minute, so I made it a habit to have an extra themed show prepared in the case that that occurred, which it did somewhat often.  But do I count those?  If so, 49th is the more or less right number.

** Yeah, yeah.

*** For interesting, read: painful.

Week Of Heaven: Thursday

Last day of Self Help Radio's anniversary week celebration of obvious songs.  Because the show debuted in Austin on 10/9/02 - exactly twelve years ago today! - this week the show revisits an old theme - "heaven."  Here's the last music video with "Heaven" as its title - & all the songs I'll play tomorrow will be titled "Heaven" - today it's the Eurythmics!

Week Of Heaven: Wednesday

Continuing Self Help Radio's anniversary week - the show began on October 9, 2002 - I revisit an old theme on anniversary shows - I'll return to the theme "heaven" (first visited in December 2003) & every song I play on Friday will be called "Heaven." I'm posting videos of the most obvious "Heaven" songs I know. Yeah, they're all from 1978 - 1987. Today: Robyn Hitchcock!

Week Of Heaven: Tuesday

As I said yesterday, this week's show is Self Help Radio's 12th Anniversary.  On my anniversary shows, I revisit an old theme, & so I'll be revisiting the theme "heaven" &  every song I play on will be called "Heaven."  I'm posting videos of the most obvious "Heaven" songs I know.  No surprise: they're all from 1978 - 1987.  Today: Psychedelic Furs!

Week Of Heaven: Monday

This week's show is Self Help Radio's 12th Anniversary.  The show first went on the air on October 9, 2002, in Austin, on 91.7 fm KOOP.  On my anniversary shows, I revisit an old theme, & so I'll be revisiting the theme "heaven."  Plus, every song I play on the show will be titled, simply, "Heaven."  From Monday to Thursday this week, here & on my blog, I'll post videos of the most obvious "Heaven" songs I know.  No surprise: they're all from 1978 - 1987.  First up, Talking Heads!

Self Help Radio 100314: Thrills

What a thrilling show!  What a show full of thrills!  A show for thrill junkies & thrillseekers!  You'll be thrilled!  I'm certainly thrilled!  Or am I over-selling this?  Are songs about thrills - even when thrills are gone - intrinsically thrilling?  I think thrills are in the eye of the be-thrilled.  If that's a word?

The show is now available for listening at the Self Help Radio website.  In addition to lots of music, which is listed below, there are interviews with actual thrillseekers as well as an on-the-street report by Marge Most.  It's as thrilling as I could make it, anyway.

Thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Thrills" The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience _The Size Of Food_
"Cheap Thrills" The Mothers Of Invention _Cruising With Ruben & The Jets_

"The Thrill Is Gone" Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees _They Called It Crooning_
"The Thrill Is Gone" Roy Hawkins _Bay Area Blues Blasters_
"The Thrill Is Gone" Clydie King _Brown Sugar_
"Thrills & Chills" Helene Smith _Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label_

"Simply Thrilled Honey" Orange Juice _Coals To Newcastle_
"My Biggest Thrill" The Mighty Lemon Drops _Happy Head_
"Life Without A Thrill" Brideshead _Some People Have All The Fun_
"The Thrill Was All Mine" The Cherry Orchard _This World Is Such A Groovy Place_
"Less Than Thrilled" Love Is All _Two Thousand & Ten Injuries_

"You're My Thrill" Billie Holiday _The Definitive Collection_
"Baby You Thrill Me" Amos Milburn _The R&B Years: 1954_
"I'll Thrill You" Shirley & Lee _Shirley & Lee Rock!_

(part two)

"Thrill Me" Camille Howard with Roy Milton & His Solid Senders _The R&B Hits: 1947_
"Thrill Of Your Love" Elvis Presley _From Nashville To Memphis: The Essential 60s Masters_
"You Thrill Me (Through & Through)" The Everly Brothers _The Price Of Fame_

"Thrill Of The New" St. Christopher _Bacharach_
"The Thrill Of It All" Bauer _Can't Stop Singing_
"Thrill" Daniel Johnston _Rejected Unknown_
"The Thrill Of Thirty Seconds" Skint & Demoralised _Love, & Other Catastrophes_

"Thriller!" Pere Ubu _Dub Housing_
"The Thrill Of It All" Hey! Hello! _Hey! Hello!_
"Thrill Me" The Undertones _Get What You Need_

"The Thrill Of It All" Roxy Music _Country Life_
"You Still Thrill Me, Babe" Webster's New Word _You Still Thrill Me, Babe_

Whither Thrills?

A long time ago, attempting to make Self Help Radio into a better show, I started trying to imitate the Firesign Theatre - not their high concept albums, but their radio shows on community radio in the late 60s/early 70s.  They were mainly improvised, & very very funny.  Since I was doing the show myself, & since I'm not terribly funny, I forewent improvisation, but I attempted to copy a couple of Firesignish things.  One of them was fake ads.  I'd read them out in those days - I didn't always have a lot of time for editing, & wasn't that good at it, & also didn't have a decent mic at home.

I stopped doing that once I started doing shows outside of Texas.  I don't know why - I had more time to try to be funny, & could have gotten better equipment.  But I started doing it again this year, & every show now has at least four attempts at me being funny: two fake ad spots, two "others," sometimes skits, sometimes other stuff.  Are they funny?  Oh, probably not.

I also started this year something I've wanted to do for a long time: have the same people on regularly as "experts" - but pretending to be different people.  I have asked my funniest friends if it's something they'd like to do, & most of them (not all of them) have said sure!  One of them, my friend David, can be awfully convincing.  On the RFL Facebook page, a fellow asked people who don't listen to my show about bullfighting in Kentucky - I think this person didn't know it was all grade-A David Fruchter horse-hockey.  That's how good he is.

Anyway, I had a point, & it was this: I didn't want to do the same characters over & over.  I said to myself, "Every skit or voice that I do on the show should be unique."  It actually makes me think that the reason I stopped doing that is because it can be pretty exhausting.  Listening to comedians talk on Marc Maron's podcast, one learns that some of these people spend years honing a character.  & I, an untrained, mostly unfunny dumbass on a little radio show, was poo-pooing that?  What a douche.

I'm thinking about this not because it has anything to do with this week's show, which is about thrills (& of course this blog post is completely unthrilling), except one thing: there's a recurring character appearing on the show.  I have changed my mind, & I repeat people.  He's a "poet" called Archibald Von Poesy, & his main characteristic is that his "poems" all rhyme, but each line rhymes.  So the rhyme scheme would be AAAAAAA etc.  He returns to the show tomorrow.  I have no idea if anyone likes him or thinks he's funny.  I find him easy to slip into.

Actually, there are two recurring characters: disgruntled reporter Marge Most shows up again.

Again, there's no real reason for me to mention any of this.  But the show is on tomorrow from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington, online at wrfl fot fm, & of course I'll put it up as soon as I can afterwards on the SHR website.  I also live tweet it, so you can follow along on my twitter thing if you're so inclined.

Oy this is so the opposite of thrilling.  I hope the show is better!

Not To Put Too Fine A Point On It

You might think that I am trying to somehow curry favor with the fine, funny comedians over at Superego because I keep talking about the time that they followed & then didn't follow me on Twitter, but really, if I talk about them, it's because they are awesome & however much I yell about them, I hope it means more people discover them.

Which is why I was ecstatic that there was a new Superego podcast released today.  & it's so good & it's so funny.  Holy shit, I wish I could be as funny as these people.  Please, go download it & listen, & seek out their old episodes, & pay them lots of money, & turn them into superstars, & have them replace everything that's considered famous or good in our popular media, because it will be a better world, a funnier world, a smarter world.

If the superegos behind Superego would create & produce the new Fall television schedule, there would be fewer failures, & more exciting dramas.  Shunt McGuppin as a crime-solving country music singer?  Holy shit, I'm there for seven or more seasons!  Also, I'm buying the DVDs, & then, later, spending money I don't have on Blu-Ray versions of episodes I already own!

Seriously, though - these folks are giant comedic talents & you need to listen to them.  Go to their website. You'll be glad you did.

(I said that last bit in a Wilford Brimley voice.  Could you tell?)

Moments On Twitter, Part II

I understand that the people I like & admire are nowhere near as famous as the people most humans like & admire.  For example, if I had tweeted something & some huge pop star were to favorite it or retweet it, I'd think it was nice, but not really care much about it.  (I generally assume that the super famous have people who handle their social media for them anyway.)  So when something happens that makes me happy on Twitter, it's bound to be musicians or comedians or writers that I wish were as famous as the nameless, faceless, usually blonde pop stars that teens look up to & music writers waste time writing about.

I mentioned last week how happy I was for the brief moment - oh so brief! - that the comedy geniuses at Superego followed Self Help Radio on Twitter.  (I'm @SelfHelpRadio, by the way.  If you want to follow me.)  Today something equally exciting happened to me.

One of my favorite bands in the world is My Favorite, who are sort of defunct.  The main songwriter, Michael Grace Jr., has an entertaining Twitter feed that I follow, & occasionally briefly interact with.  (On Friday we agreed on the greatness of the Psychedelic Furs' Talk Talk Talk for example.)  (By the way, Grace's follow-up band to My Favorite, the also-now-defunct Secret History, is amazing too.)

Today, as I was reading that this day in history was the day that James Dean died, at the age of 24, in a car accident, I was reminded of a lyric from the My Favorite song, "James Dean (Awaiting Ambulance)."  I looked around for pictures of Dean & then tweeted something to Michael Grace, Jr.  Below is the tweet & his response.

As you can imagine, it made me very, very happy.

In the way a retweet from [insert whoever has the number one single in the United States right now] never would.

Do I Have To Write In The Blog Today?

I have nothing to say today.  Just a bunch of dumb questions.

Can you italicize words in Blogger blog titles?

Why would anyone - anyone - "like" a corporation on Facebook or follow one on Twitter?

Is there any point in arguing anything with anyone anymore?

I just finished reading the book Idiot America by Charles Pierce, but I can't remember buying it.  Am I getting old?  Did you recommend it to me?  Did you give it to me?

Is there an online game that's fun to play in the same way early video games were fun to play which you also don't have to play with other (real) people?  (Also free?)

What do you do when your wife finally gets bored of you?

Self Help Radio 092614: Scenes

& now! A behind-the-scenes look at Self Help Radio!

Hunh.  It's pretty much as expected: a dude playing songs from CD & a computer, occasionally pulling a microphone down & talking to it.  The programmer's booth sort of clean, but also sort of grimy.  Complete lack of charisma evident in the deejay - & furthermore, he has a face for radio.  Well.  That was exciting.

But hey!  This week's show (which was about scenes) is now available at the Self Help Radio website!  You don't have to make a scene or anything.  All the songs I played are listed below.

As always, thanks for listening!

(part one)

"That Is The Scene" Baskervilles _Baskervilles_
"At The Scene" The Dave Clark Five _The Best Of The Dave Clark Five_
"Street Scene" Leon Mitchison _Cold Heat: Heavy Funk Rarities, Vol. 1: 1968-1974_

"The Breaking Up Scene" Honeybus _She Flies Like A Bird: The Anthology_
"Same Old Scene" Roxy Music _The Thrill Of It All_
"Crush The Scene" Tullycraft _The Singles_
"Making The Nature Scene" Sonic Youth _Confusion Is Sex_

"Hey Scenesters!" The Cribs _New Fellas_
"That Girl, That Scene" Frankie & The Heartstrings _The Days Run Away_
"This Scene Is Happening" Liquid Faeries _La-Di-Da...  So Far..._
"Hipsters, Scenesters, Teenstars & Fakers" Amy Linton & Stewart Anderson _Knowing We Was Right From Da Start_

"Freak Scene" Dinosaur Jr _Bug_
"Shirt Scene" Marc Riley With The Creepers _Shadow Figure 12"_
"Queen Of The Scene" Go-Kart Mozart _On The Hot Dog Streets_

(part two)

"Scenes" Tania Rivas _Scenes_
"The Recognition Scene" The Mountain Goats _Sweden_
"Leave The Scene Behind" The Wave Pictures _Instant Coffee Baby_

"No. 1 Hippie On The Village Scene" The Fifth Estate _Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Back!_
"The Contemporary Scene" Mood Six _A Matter Of!_
"Scream (Till You Make The Scene)" Stephin Merritt _Obscurities_
"Fight Scene" The Kamalas _The Kamalas_

"Music Scene" The Fall _Live At The Witch Trails_
"What's That Scene" Male Bonding _Endless Now_
"On The Scene" The Friggs _Rock Candy_
"Domestic Scene" The Radio Dept. _Clinging To A Scheme_

"The Crying Scene" Aztec Camera _Stray_
"I Want A New Scene" Mitch Easter _Dynamico_
"This Scene Is Dead" We Are Scientists _With Love & Squalor_

Whither Scenes?

I feel like I've told this story before.  I've never been part of any "scene."  At best, I've been involved at some radio stations but never with the well-liked group at the center.  I did what work I could, but mostly I worked alone, & that's still true.

Never part of the scene, never one of the cool kids.

In actuality, I would never have been part of any of the cliques in high school because not only was I a fat nerd, but also I naturally gravitated toward loner status.  So I didn't even really have any nerd friends.  It's no surprise that the only people I am in communication with from my high school is a fellow who moved to Austin after ninth grade (where we reconnected in my college years) & a friend who was in the grade above me, another loner who I rarely saw at school.  My best friend in high school went to a different school in a different city; we met because of (nerds) our comic book collections.

(My loner status did keep the bullies away from me.  Attached to nothing & no-one, I wasn't much fun to pick on.)

Flash forward to sometime in 1994 or 1995.  A pretty girl who did a show at my first radio station, & who was obviously well-liked, was chatting with me about another girl at the radio station, who was involved in management, but was unattractive & overweight.  The unattractive girl had just started dating someone, a kind of clumsy, & yes, overweight, fellow, who was not well-liked.  I didn't know either of them very well.

The pretty girl said to me, "Isn't it hilarious that they're dating each other?"

I didn't get the joke.  Was something wrong with either or both of them?

"No," she said.  "She's so awful & he's so awful.  & they're dating!"

I asked for more clarification, & the pretty girl got more specific: she was referring to their weight & their general unattractiveness.  & then something hit me.

"Oh no!" I said out loud.  "I've become one of the cool kids!"

The pretty girl didn't know what I meant, so I explained: I used to be the sort of person that people like her talked about behind my back, & now I was talking about people like me behind their backs!

She quickly backpedaled, & tried to explain that she meant that they were not nice people, or kind people, or anything besides their physical unattractiveness, but I was lost in a kind of daze.  I never thought that I'd be on the other side of that world.

& I really never would - the pretty girl & I never became friends, & in fact, while I remember her first name (& not her last name), she probably doesn't remember me at all.  & she wasn't part of a scene, anyway, so this story is only peripherally related to the show this week.

Which is on tomorrow from 7am till 9am.  You can hear it live in Lexington at 88.1 on the fm dial, & live anywhere at wrfl dot fm on the computer dial.  I'll put the show up later that day on the Self Help Radio website like I do, in case you're not up early.  Because the sleeping-in scene is the one I wish I belonged to these days.

Spleen Venting

The spleen is an organ.  It's on the left side of your body, protected by the ribs.  It's about as big as your fist.  I've read that it's "soft & red."  Let me ask my wife, the anatomist.  "What color is the spleen?" U ask here.  She says it's "burgundy-pinkish."  Then she adds, "It's a little purple."

The Word Detective talks about the phrase "vent one's spleen" here.  He explains, "The spleen’s job is to act as a sort of filter for the blood, but in medieval times, when each bodily organ was thought to be the home of one emotion or another, the spleen was regarded as the seat of melancholy. There was apparently a brief period later on when the spleen was suspected, improbably, of supplying humor & good cheer, but by the late 16th century it was decided that the spleen was the source of rage and ill-temper. Thus 'spleen' has for several centuries been a metaphor for 'anger,' 'resentment' & general crankiness."

I wish this blog had a more personal slant to it - I suppose it could - but maybe I'm not the entirely confessional type that I used to be, both on my radio show & on the internet.  (I used to write crazy confessional stuff on the usenet.)  I recently had an interaction with a local business that didn't quite make my blood boil, but irked me enough to write them about.

I'll speak in generalities.  I had a bad experience at the local business.  I contacted the local business by email that night, explaining the situation.  In the email, I didn't ask for anything.  I simply told the story of the shabby treatment I received & mentioned that I shopped there a lot.

I waited a week for a response.  The response from the local business, while containing something of an apology, completely belittled my experience while insisting that my email could in fact be a "teaching moment" for its employees.

I wrote back & told them that I wouldn't be patronizing the local business anymore.

It's so interesting - a franchise of a corporation would have written the most slavishly apologetic response possible.  They would have detailed the employee code of conduct & let me know how the employee involved in my bad experience would be disciplined.  They would have responded to my email within a business day & would have attempted some kind of recompense for my experience.

But this local business?  The best they could manage was a tepid apology & a shrug of the shoulders in a response as warm as a form letter.  It was astonishing.

You know, I've had issues with places before - I did go into detail on this very blog about a horrible experience with an airline a few years back.  But for some reason, I don't think much would be accomplished with venting my spleen about this local business in this manner.  I don't think it will change anything & I suppose I'm not as angry - I just feel that I shouldn't help support the place any more.

The biggest surprise is that my wife used to really love the place.  But apparently she's had bad experiences there, too.  She remarkably has agreed with my - well, it sounds like a boycott, but really it's just an ignoring - of the place.

Sorry to be vague.  Not enough spleen to vent, I guess.

Moments On Twitter

I've recently started "live tweeting" my show, which means (& who knows if I'm even using the phrase "live tweet" correctly) that I say on Twitter what I am playing when I do my show as I am playing it.  Usually it's with the hashtag "nowplaying" & I mention RFL's Twitter account (< a href="http://www.twitter.com/WRFL">@WRFL
) & the web page, where you can listen live: Superego.  They're crazy funny, & sharp as hell, as their bits are all improvised.  Well, after I played it, I got a note that they were following my Twitter account!  Gosh!  The proof is above.
They did soon think better of it, however, & unfollowed me almost right away, & I can't blame them, I'm nothing compared to them.  But it was fun to think they noticed me for a second!

Two of the Superegotists (do they call themselves that?) did favorite my tweet later.  That was nice.

Go listen to their podcast!  There's a new one right now, & it's great!  gosuperego.com!