Self Help Radio 071217: Rubber

(Original image from this video, which, oh why not, just watch it.)

Yes, an entire show about rubbers.  Surprisingly, though rubber clothing & "rubbers" make their appearance, the show focused more on rubber bands (lots of rubber bands), rubber balls, rubber dolls, & other rubbery things.  Who knew rubber had sparked the imagination of so many?

In addition to the music, I talked to my spiritual advisor, the CEO of a rubber corporation, an entrepreneur who hawks miracle rubber trees, & a critic of the show looking to set records straight.  I note when the interviews happen in-between the sets.  All in all, it's more interesting than trying to take off a rubber wet suit, but only just.

You can bounce yourself along to the Self Help Radio website to listen.  You will need a username ("SHR") & a password ("selfhelp") if you want to listen.  The show is in two parts, & all the rubber songs I played are listed below.

The German word for rubber may be Gummi.  That seems inappropriate, but how would I know?

(part one)

"Rubber Bouncy Ball" The Telephone Company _Panda Brain!_
"Rubberbands" Bruce Haack _Hush Little Robot_
"Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)" The Gap Band _Gap Band III_

"Rubber Ball" The Avons _The Best Of The Sixties_
"Red Rubber Ball" The Diodes _The Diodes_
"Rubberhead" Steve Martin _Comedy Is Not Pretty!_
"Rubber Band" David Bowie _The Deram Anthology 1966-1968_
"Rubberband Girl" Kate Bush _The Red Shoes_

interview with the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently

"Rubber Dolly" Mississippi John Hurt _D.C. Blues: The Library Of Congress Recordings, Vol. 1_
"Rubber Biscuit" The Chips _Great Googa Mooga!_
"Rubber People (Decca Demo)" Adam & The Ants _Antmusic For Sexpeople_
"Rubber Room" Porter Wagoner _What Ain't To Be, Just Might Happen_

interview with CEO of Fruchter Rubber, David Fruchter

"Stretchin' Out (In A Rubber Band)" Bootsy Collins _Stretchin' Out In Bootsy's Rubber Band_

(part two)

"Rubberneckin' (Paul Oakenfold Remix)" Elvis Presley _Elvis 2nd To None_
"Stretch Your Rubber Band" The Meters _Anthology_
"High Hopes (with Eddie Hodges)" Frank Sinatra _Sinatra In Hollywood: 1940-1964_

interview with rubber tree entrepreneur CJ Buchanan

"Rubber Duckie" Ernie _Sesame Street: Platinum All-Time Favorites_
"Put My Rubber Doll Away" Bill Monroe _Bluegrass (1959-1969)_
"Rubber Ducky Massage Parlor" Conception Corportation _Complete Conception_
"Red Rubber Army" Robert Pollard _Jack Sells The Cow_
"The Rubberband Man" The Spinners _The Best Of The Spinners_

interview with critic of the show Allen Shariaty

"Fancy Rubber Things" The Gargoyles _Steamflapper_
"Wood, Lead, Rubber" Agent Ribbons _We Are All Awesome_
"Tight Black Rubber" Frank Black _Bluefinger_
"Rubber Quince" Tania Rivas _Rubber Quince_
"Rubber Ball" Talulah Gosh _Backwash_

"The Rubber Band" Eddie Bo & The Soulfinders _New Orleans Funk, Vol. 2_
"Funky Rubber Band" Popcorn Wylie _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 11B: 1971_

Whither Rubber?

(Tapping a rubber tree.  Image from here.)

For the past few weeks it seems like I've been hearing songs - not voices - I don't hear voices - unless I'm hearing lines of dialogue from television or film or comedy or spoken words records - or in songs of course - I mean to say I'm not hearing specific voices that seem to be speaking only to me which are also telling me to do things - which might mean that I am saying that I don't hear voices that tell me which themes to explore on the show - although that would be much easier than my current process - anyway as I was saying I was hearing songs - & yes of course the songs had voices in them, human voices, so by listening to songs I've been listening to voices but my initial digression was a clarification because the phrase "hearing voices" has a specific meaning in our culture - maybe I should start again.

For the past few weeks it seems like a lot of the songs I've been listening to were about rubber bands. I was listening of course to a bit of funk.  & I thought to myself, I should do a show about rubber bands!  But then it occurred to me that that was perhaps too narrow a theme.  That maybe I should include other rubber things.  So I did.  I expanded the scope of the theme.

There are still probably many more rubber band songs than others, but the show has been entirely rubberized.  I'm sure it'll be elastic fun.

& it's on tonight on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington & online at the LCR web site (make sure you choose WLXU) from 9-11pm eastern, 8-10 central.  It'll keep moisture out & be very easy to clean.  Promise!

Preface To Rubber: My Early Experience With That Word

Rubber is this word that somehow walked the line between clean & dirty, which made it frequently funny, when I was a kid.  I have a memory of not knowing if I should say it out loud unless it was as an adjective, i.e. rubber eraser, rubber ball.

"Rubbers" is of course what people have called condoms since - when?  The Online Etymology Dictionary says it dates from the 1930s, but the Wikipedia entry on condoms disagrees, saying:

The rubber vulcanization process was invented by Charles Goodyear in 1839, & patented in 1844. The first rubber condom was produced in 1855, & by the late 1850s several major rubber companies were mass-producing, among other items, rubber condoms. A main advantage of rubber condoms was their reusability*, making them a more economical choice in the long term. Compared to the 19th century rubber condoms, however, skin condoms were initially cheaper & offered better sensitivity. For these reasons, skin condoms remained more popular than the rubber variety. However, by the end of the 19th century, "rubber" had become a euphemism for condoms in countries around the world.

Whom should I believe?

Of course, my classmates didn't really talk about condoms until the pubescent shit storm that is middle school, & all I knew is that there was something called rubbers & it had to do with sex.  So one time in seventh grade, when a female classmate came in late to first period because it was raining, & she came in in rain gear, & the teacher said, "Honey, go ahead & take off your rubbers," referring to her galoshes, the guys in the class lost it.

"Honestly," the teacher said, "you boys should grow up."

At this point I should mention that the only sex education available to students of the Garland Independent School District was a filmstrip produced some time in the early 1960s shown in fifth grade.  No follow ups, nothing.

Not that we wouldn't have laughed anyway.

* Their reusability?!?

Speaking Of Traffic

This happened yesterday in Fort Worth.

Someone who knows better than I do must tell me why certain places are more prone to severe weather.  I was dropping someone off at the airport & drove toward the city which looked as though some Tolkien-level evil was about to descend.  On the highway, the rain came at the car horizontally,
accompanied by hail, & people stopped, or drove slowly, or sought refuge under overpasses.

Foolishly I drove through some water but our plucky Prius was up to the task.  I waited the storm out under a business' carport - not much help, because as I pointed out, the rain & hail were being blown sideways into the car - I tried to get out to take a look - & pictures - but was soaked just cracking the door.

My journey home was through side streets, since, as the article above points out, some main roads were impassable.  When I got home, my animals were safe, the car didn't appear to have hail damage, & the only casualties were two tree limbs from two of our pecan trees which, fortunately, did not fall near the house.

Boy did I feel guilty about not being with my pups.  Winston, who just turned ten, is quite frightened by storms.  I hope the others comforted him.

But speaking of traffic - except for the giant truck behind me that kept honking at me to move along on the highway, everyone behaved quite well, slowing down with visibility was nonexistent, & mostly not being dicks.  I'm not sure if I had been stuck in-between cars & rising water that I'd not freak out, but certainly being in terrible weather keeps one on one's toes.

I'm telling you, it was harrowing.

Things I Really Hate # 1: Being Stuck In Traffic

(This nightmare photo from here.)

You know, I'm the sort of guy who doesn't hate things.  If someone I know says they hate a band or a musician, I am more likely to say I just don't like them.  Opinions are opinions, there's no accounting for taste, etc.  I once told someone at a radio station who was shitting on an artist that they just didn't like them, that many other people liked them, that they couldn't dismiss them out of hand as "bad" just because they had a negative opinion.

But traffic is different.  Look.  Human drive cars.  Humans who are stupid have accidents that cause traffic.  Humans who are stupid decide in a situation where their attention should be on the road to do other shit.  They decide to drive poorly.  They decide to talk to their moronic friends on their phones. They decide to do anything but as quickly as possible get from one place to another.

This happened yesterday: while taking my wife to the airport, I found myself on a highway reduced to a standstill.  At one point, someone decided to just sit in her car & use the time to rummage through her back seat.  Yards of empty space opened before her idling minivan.  People honked.  To no avail.

The reason for the slowdown was an accident at an important exit so also fuck those guys.  But traffic slowdowns are not excuses to fuck around.  Everyone in their cars is just as important as everyone else.  When you as a driver decide to be nonchalant, you're fucking everyone else over.  Also, if you decide you're more important than anyone else, &, say, decide to drive on the shoulder - you're also fucking everyone else over.  God damn it!

But that moment when everyone isn't moving, & it seems like nothing is happening, & there's no way out - agh! I hate that.  I feel like someone who's about to go crazy.

Today I drove in a terrible storm.  Rain & hail were blowing sideways, the streets filled with water, it was terrifying.  But I would prefer that to being stuck in traffic.

Seriously.

Self Help Radio 070517: Warnings

(Original image here.)

Here is an episode of Self Help Radio that should've aired last night, but didn't, most probably for reasons involving human error, i.e. me.  I'm pretty sure it's my fault & I apologize.

Since I live in Texas & the show airs in Kentucky, the show is pre-recorded for your protection.  Therefore I can share with you the show (sprinkled with LXU spots so it feels like a real broadcast) & you can listen at your leisure.  I was pretty proud of this show, which I think has a good mix of music as well as some very funny bits by my very funny collaborators.  If you just listen & fast-forward through to the interviews, I will not be offended.  They're the best part of my shows!

Wait! I hear you say.  Why not just air the episode next week?  My wife said the same thing.  Alas, I feel like the show is done, I am already at work on the next one, I want to keep things moving.  If I had all the time in the world, maybe.  But for now it seems weird & wasteful for me to sit on my hands all next week & do nothing.

Please enjoy this week's show - no warning necessary - available now at Self Help Radio dot net.  It's in two parts - you know the drill - plus I note below when the interviews happen so you can find them easier.

Next time, maybe I'll be able to give you a little warning when I fuck something up.

(part one)

"The Warning" Paul Hunter _Earth_
"Warning" Junior Delgado _Effort_
"A Warning" Conception Corportation _Complete Conception_
"Warning" The Humans _Project Blue_

"Early Warning System" Red Deer People _Between Two Waves: The Second Wave_
"Positive Warning" Lake _Circular Doorway_
"Without A Warning" The Amazers _Curtom Funk_
"I Warned You Baby" Frankie Lee Sims _The Ace Blues Masters, Vol. 2: 4th & Beale & Further South_

Interview with my spiritual mentor the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently

"You Better Heed My Warning" Larry Dale _New York City Blues: The Big Apple Blues Scene 1951-1954_
"Everybody Warned Me" Bill Morrissey _Inside_
"Warning Sign" Talking Heads _More Songs About Buildings & Food_
"Warning Shots (feat. Sleepy Wonder & Gunjan)" Thievery Corporation _It Takes A Thief: The Very Best Of Thievery Corporation_

Interview with our friend Allen Shariaty in Maryland

"World Without Warning" Anne Clark _Pressure Points_

(part two)

"You Have Been Warned" The X-Certs _Avon Calling: The Bristol Compilation_
"Storming Warning" 3-Action! _(Don't Lose That) Stealin' Feelin' 12"_
"Early Warnings" Love Is All _Two Thousand & Ten Injuries_

"Brother Take Warning" Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys _King Of Country Music_
"Warning Parental Advisory" John Wesley Harding & Steve Wynn _Just Say Anything (Vol. V Of Just Say Yes)_
"Warning Labels On Alcoholic Beverages" George Carlin _When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?_
"Without A Word Of Warning" Gary Lewis & The Playboys _A Session With Gary Lewis & The Playboys_
"I Warned You Do Not Make An Enemy Of Me" Los Campesinos! _Romance Is Boring_

Interview with Warnings Specialist CJ Buchanan

"Heed My Warning" Louis Jordan _Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, Vol. 5: 1949-1950_
"Warning Blues" Johnny Otis & His Orchestra with Linda Hopkins _Midnight At The Barrelhouse (Rockin' California R&B 1945-1951)_
"I'm Warning You Baby" Lightnin' Slim _Authentic Excello R&B_
"Double Warning" I-Roy _Don't Check Me With No Lightweight Stuff (1972-1975)_

"Frozen Warnings" Nico _The Marble Index_
"Sky Warning" James Pants _Seven Seals_

Whither Warnings?

(A warning sign warning you to pay attention to warning signs*, found here.)

Oh man, I have to apologize for how many times on the show tonight I'm going to warn you about things.  I'm going to say over & over, I just know it, that I warned you, that you should heed the warning, that you've been warned.  I'm so sorry.  I won't be able to help myself.

& damn it, I just realized that that's kind of a warning, too!  Warning: I will be warning you about me warning you on a show with songs about warning.  Jiminy Crocker, I'm a fucking cliché.

Anyway, here's another warning: Self Help Radio is on tonight (!) with a show about warnings.  From 8-10pm central time, 9-11pm eastern.  On WLXU 93.9 fm in Lexington, on the computer at Lexington Community Radio online purt near everywhere.

After all these warnings, well, you're on your own.

* Are these signs unique to Texas?

Preface To Warnings: Happy Fourth Of July!

Hope you didn't blow yourself up today.  Apparently a lot of people do.

Maybe instead on this day you take a moment to read the Declaration Of Independence?  Maybe if more people did, this might be a more thoughtful country?  Or what?

More dumb radio stuff tomorrow!

Things I'm Really Afraid Of # 1

These fuckers:

Seriously, they scare the shit out of me.  One flew into our house last night - yes, they fly - & I just freaked out.  My wife was all like, "It's just a bug," but as I tried to explain to her, one, fears are by their nature irrational, & two, since I was a kid, I was aware they they're basically just icky survival machines but the fact that occasionally they seem to be coming after me makes it hard to forget they don't have agency.

Truly I am really afraid of these awful insects.  Agh!  I can't stand looking at that image anymore!  Gotta go!

(Ugh, that image from this web page.)

Might I Share?

Some of you may have noticed that I have subbed three different KNON shows in the past two weeks.  It was a punishment of riches - KNON deejays either usually have collaborators on their shows or simply do not miss shows.  But I was the lucky beneficiary of three morning shows in less than two weeks.  My gratitude cannot be understated.

But ah!  Someone, who shall not be named but who is a real person I promise, wrote a nice email to the station's Traffic Director, & he shared it with me.  So I would like you to see it too.  It went like this (all caps in the original, although I have italicized it to set it apart from this text):

Loyal listener here with two quick thoughts*:

CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A GARY SHOW?!?

His fill-in shows have been a DELIGHT. Tuesday for Nil, and yesterday and today** were SO. MUCH. FANTASTIC. Eclectic, educational, unpredictable, funny. (Even when the @!#?-%  CD player was uncooperative this morning.)

End of email.  How nice is that?

Honestly I can't say if even a dozen of these would mean getting a show on KNON, but, as it stands, it remains (after nine months) the best chance for Self Help Radio to be heard in the D/FW Metroplex.

Which is not to say I am ungrateful for the love that Lexington & WLXU continue to give to this ridiculous radio show I do.  I am utterly amazed that Self Help Radio continues to air in Lexington & I truly love WLXU & WLXL for their diversity.  I just really, really want to do the show live again.  I think you can understand that.

But until that time, getting sweet & supportive emails like this will sustain me.  My damaged self-esteem may grumble, but I recognize it's really cool & nice.

* I don't include the second thought as it is not pertinent to the praise of me I am sharing.

** Written after the Thursday & Friday Morning Blend sub shows.

Self Help Radio 062817: Mercy

(Found the logo at this logo-generating site.)

What happened this week on Self Help Radio?  Did someone find oneself at the mercy of something or someone else?  Did another person or several persons ask or even beg for mercy?  Were their calls for mercy?  Who needs all this mercy?  You?  Me?  Yes.

One might have thought it was a particularly ridiculous little show, but that's only if one had not heard Self Help Radio before.  So many songs about mercy!  (The list is below.)  But that's not all!  An interview with up & coming country act The Mercy Siblings!  An interview with the author of The Power Of Mercy!  Yes, even an interview with the CEO of Mercy General hospitals!  Plus, a song written exclusively for the show!  Do you see all these exclamation points?  Do you think they are used frivolously?  Well, they are!  But don't let that bother you!

The show can be listened to with or without mercy (there's already plenty of mercy there) at the Self Help Radio website.  It's in two parts; which song is in which part is below.  Pay attention to username/password information!

& you'll find yourself saying "oh mercy!" all the day long.

(part one)

"I'm At The Mercy Of Love" Fats Waller _1936_
"Please Have Mercy" John Lee Hooker _The Classic Early Years 1948-1951_
"Mercy" Lorrie & Larry Collins _The Rockin'est_

"Somebody Have Mercy" Sam Cooke _The Man & His Music_
"Have Mercy Mr. Percy" Laurel Aitken _You Got Me Rockin' (The Blue Beat Years 1960-1964)_
"Have Mercy On Me" George Jones _Ragged But Right: The Starday Years Plus_
"Have Mercy Baby" James Brown _The Singles, Vol. 3: 1964-1965_
"Mercy Mercy Mercy" The Cannonball Adderley Quintet _Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live At "The Club"_

"Sisters Of Mercy" Leonard Cohen _Songs Of Leonard Cohen_
"Have A Little Mercy" Jean Wells _Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures_
"Everybody Cryin' Mercy" Mose Allison _Allison Wonderland_
"Mercy Mercy Baby" Ray Barretto _Acid_

"Death Don't Have No Mercy" Rev. Gary Davis _Live At Newport_
"Have Mercy Judge" Chuck Berry _Have Mercy: His Complete Chess Recordings 1969 To 1974_

(part two)

"Mercy Baby" Tim Jacob _Eccentric Soul: Smart's Palace_
"Please Have Mercy Baby" Honey & The Bees _Come Get It: The Complete Josie Recordings 1970-1971_
"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) (Stereo Promo Version)" Marvin Gaye _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 11A: 1971_

"Mercy Mercy" The Count Bishops _Speedball Plus 11_
"Have A Little Mercy" Mighty Diamonds _Tell Me What's Wrong_
"Mercy Dash" Shriekback _Jam Science_
"Merciless" The Railway Children _Recurrence_

"The Mercy Seat" Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds _Lovely Creatures: The Best Of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1984-2014)_
"Mercy Seat" Ultra Vivid Scene _Ultra Vivid Scene_
"What Mercy Is" The Luyas _Too Beautiful To Work_
"May Today Be Merciful" Jail Weddings _Meltdown: A Declaration Of Unpopular Emotion_

"Mercy Was A Bee" Tania + Holy Worm _Mercy Was A Bee_
"Mercy" The Jazz Butcher _Last Of The Gentlemen Adventures_

Whither Mercy?

(Probably not a real street*.  Image from here.)

Why mercy?  Why not mercy?  Couldn't we all use a little mercy?  Just a little?

You are right to be disappointed with this answer.  I have none better.  At some point in the past few months I thought it would be nice to do a radio show about mercy.  I myself have no religious or supernatural beliefs, so I don't see mercy as being part of any religious tradition.  But most certainly there is a strain of that thought in many of the songs you'll hear on the show tonight.

The show tonight!  That's true!  It's on from 8-10pm central, 9-11pm eastern on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington & online at the Lexington Community Radio website (just make sure you choose WLXU).  There are guests & lots of songs.  It should be quite merciless in its discussions of mercy.  Wait.

* But it is apparently a real television show.

Preface To Mercy: The Most Famous Mercy Song Is...

What do you think?  In my brain, when I heard the word "mercy," I immediately thought of this one:



Which, I know, isn't technically about mercy, but the word mercy was used as an interjection almost as soon as it came into the English language.

Anyway, the more I thought, the more I came to think it might be this one:



There's this one, which was covered as much as the previous one:



& one that's dear to my heart:



& one that mesmerized me when I first heard at the age of twenty:



The video is mesmerizing me now!

What "mercy" song do you think is the most famous?

This Happened Today

Someone from my past - someone I knew when I was a teen - friended me on Facebook tonight.  She said she joined Facebook just to find me.  She wanted to thank me for all the music I shared with her when we were younger.

That's how Facebook is supposed to work, isn't it?  That's nice.

Gosh, I guess we sort of lost contact maybe in 1994 or so.  I seem to remember visiting her in Dallas some time before I started deejaying, which was in August 1994.  It may have coincided with the use of email - she & I would write letters to one another.  Once I had email, though, I stopped doing that.

Anyway.  That happened & now I have to stay up late to work on this week's show.  I don't mind.  It's nice when nice stuff happens.  It doesn't seem like nice stuff happens all that often.  So it's nice to note when it does.

Everybody's Got One

When I was a kid, my brother Ralph* would sing songs that made prominently use of the word "love" replacing that word with the word "drugs."  For example, he would sing the song "All You Need Is Love" as "All You Need Is Drugs."  I suppose he thought that was clever.

He was at the time a big proponent of drugs, most specifically marijuana.  When I was in high school, I was adamantly against all drugs, for many reasons, among them how dopey it made my big brothers when they were high**.  I'm not sure what he thought he was doing trying to convince a fifteen-year-old boy to find marijuana & smoke it, but I'm certain my own inexperience - I was probably quoting him dubious facts & figures I had learned in a health textbook - was just as weird & annoying.

At the time we talked - & I remember this for some reason as clear as day, I remember him being in my bedroom, & the two of us looking out the window, & him bringing up drugs for no reason at all.  & specifically I remember him mention, because he knew I was a big fan of the Beatles, that John Lennon says at the end of the song "I Am The Walrus," "Everybody smoke pot."

"That's not what he's saying," I said.  "He's saying, 'Everybody's got one.'"

My brother said, "What the hell does that mean?"

I told him I had recently read*** John Lennon's last interview in Playboy where he talked about the songs & he said it meant a penis, a vagina, whatever - everybody's got one.

My brother scoffed.  "Of course he would say that," he said.  "He has to."

There was a moment there when I wondered if my brother knew anything about John Lennon.  I said, "He's very forthcoming in that interview about drug use, like his heroin addiction, & the fact that he & Yoko smoke pot.  Why would he choose to lie about it at this point, especially when he's devastatingly honest about all the rest of the songs they ask him about?"

My brother didn't have a response to that, but he stubbornly insisted, as is the way of my family, that he was right & the person who wrote the song was wrong.

This was part of a revelation that continued the process of my alienation from my family - both in my desire not to interact with them because of their defensiveness & in their reaction not to interact with me because of my tendency to shoot down, with facts & evidence, their generally wrong assertions.  The revelation was this: my family in general often doesn't know what they're talking about.  My brother had been a Beatles fan before I was born & still thought he knew better than John Lennon.  Could understand the motivations better than the man himself.  Would rather believe what he thought was true than accept what the person himself said was true.  This would happen again & again in my teen years, whether it was about music or politics or history.

It occurs to me that this story is completely without a good ending, & there isn't one - not that I remember - but if I am allowed to make up an ending, which I think I should be able to, it would go like this:

My brother just sort of shook his head at me, giving me a look of disgust & almost muttering "fucking know-it-all" under his breath.  Then he paused & said, "So do you wanna buy some pot?"

Really, I wish it ended that way.  & maybe one day I'll believe it did.

* Yes, I have a brother named Ralph.
** I have three big brothers, but I am referring here to the younger two.  My oldest big brother is quite the square, & has probably never tried pot.
*** I had at that time consumed as much information about the Beatles as I could, including several biographies.

Self Help Radio 062117: Venus

(Original image here.)

We went to Venus & back this week!  We took a goddess with us!  It was intense!

& also quite silly.  I won't lie.  There was silly astronomy & silly mythology.  & this was just in the interviews!  The songs were probably also somewhat silly as well.  Frankly I don't know how you put up with it.  Oh, you just don't listen?  Fair enough.

The show is now available for interplanetary listening at the Self Help Radio website.  Pay attention - you'll need a username & password to listen, & those are on the site's first page.  It's divided into two more or less equal parts - each around sixty minutes each - & the songs played in those parts are below.

Wear something loose & comfortable - it's hot on Venus!

(part one)

"Life On Venus" The Tornados _Ridin' The Wind: The Anthology_
"Transmissions From Venus '94" Man Or Astroman? _Astro Launch_
"Destination Venus" The Rezillos _Can't Stand The Rezillos: The (Almost) Complete Rezillos_

"Venus" Sam Cooke _Hits Of The 50s_
"Venus In Blue Jeans" Jimmy Clanton _Venus In Blue Jeans_
"Love Hymn To Aphrodite" The Mountain Goats _Hot Garden Stomp_
"Venus In Furs" The Velvet Underground _The Velvet Underground & Nico_

"The Song From Venus" Stephin Merritt _Obscurities_
"Girl From Venus" Perrey & Kingsley _In Sound From Way Out_
"Killer Robots From Venus" The Arrogant Worms _Russell's Shorts_
"Big Eyed Beans From Venus" Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band _Clear Spot_

"Venus" Television _Marquee Moon_

(part two)

"Venus" Nervus Rex _Nervus Rex_
"Mars Loves Venus" The Brunettes _Mars Loves Venus_
"One Touch Of Venus" Greta Keller _American Songbook Series: Kurt Weill_

"Venus Loon" T.Rex _Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow_
"Jet Silver & The Dolls Of Venus" Be-Bop Deluxe _Singles A's & B's_
"Venusian Star" Licorice Roots _Strangers In Marshmallow Boots_
"Ultra-Powerful Short Wave Radio Picks Up Music From Venus" Yo La Tengo _Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo_

"Venus Eccentric" Neon Hearts _Short Sharp Shock_
"Venus" X-Teens _Big Boy's Dream_
"Shapes Of Venus" Clone Defects _Shapes Of Venus_
"Venus" The Wedding Present _Saturnalia_
"Sunray Venus" Throwing Muses _Purgatory/Paradise_

"53 Miles West Of Venus" The B-52s _Wild Planet_
"Nightflight To Venus" Boney M. _Nightflight To Venus_

Whither Venus?

(Nice map of Venus, in case you get lost on the planet, from here.)

Trying to remember when I first thought of doing a show about Venus...  I can't.  But I know I was thinking about the planet, not the goddess.  I'm an astronomy nerd.  I was very excited, for example, when the first images of Pluto were appearing a couple of years ago.  It makes me a little sad that our lives are consumed by the small section of the universe we occupy, that many of us don't look up at the sky & think about the immensity in which we live.

But at some point I realized I should be thinking about the goddess, a goddess of love, who shares her name - well, who gave her name, in a sense - to the planet.  Initially, I thought to myself, "Shouldn't I save it maybe for a Valentine's Day show?"  (I am still regretting wasting Cupid on a non-Valentine's Day show
.)  But as I gathered songs - & jeez there are a lot of songs about Venus - I realized that it would be best to share the show with planet & goddess songs as the planet & the goddess share the name.  Plus four people voted for that!

So, you know, I feel obligated.

The show about Venus is on tonight from 8-10pm central, 9-11pm eastern, on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington, & online everywhere at the Lexington Community Radio web site (choose WLXU).  Lots of songs, lots of guests, less & less of me - just like you like it!

Preface To Venus: THAT SONG

(image from here.)

People have told me the classic song about Venus is this one, Frankie Avalon's Venus</â>. Written by Ed Marshall & Peter DeAngelis, the song was Avalon's first number one hit, & probably is most familiar to people my age & younger from its use in the TV show Dexter, as one season's serial killer's theme song.  I'm sure that's something Avalon hoped for when he recorded the tune in the late 1950s.

But for me, & people like me, who grew up in the 1980s, it's the Bananarama song that is most familiar.  This song was on MTV every hour of every day for what seemed like years.  It didn't hurt that the women in the band were super cute.  I might have watched the video for that very reason.  But it was a little freaky when, because I was barely out of my teens, I discovered the song was a cover of a song from the 1960s.  In the 1980s there were loads of covers.  Each one seemed to surprise me anew.

For someone doing a radio show, situations like this find one at a crossroads.  Play the original?  Play the famous cover?  Ignore?  Redefine?  Abort!

Maybe you don't feel this.  Certainly for some this is an easy solution.  Not this radio show!  In the collection of the person responsible for this mess (me), there are five or more covers of this song.  What to do?  What to do?

Luckily there are so many songs about both the goddess & the planet Venus that this will end up being no big deal.  But still - there's always more to agonize about, you know?

Poll Results! Something Else!

Recently I put up a poll up on Twitter asking if this week's show, which has the theme "Venus," should be about the planet, the goddess, or both?

Actually, the poll is still active - you can vote if you want on Twitter - but as of now, with a whopping
four votes, "both" leads at 75%!  So I guess that's what I'll do, then.  Don't say I never listen to you!

Here's something else: I'll be subbing the Tuesday Morning Blend on KNON in Dallas tomorrow morning from 7-9am central time.  It's basically a freeform show so there won't be a theme or anything, but if you'd like to hear me on the radio, & you're in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, it's on the air at 89.3 fm, & if you're anywhere else, or in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex in front of a computer, it's at KNON dot org.

Staring At NASA Photos All Father's Day Long

(Like this one, from here.)

Hey, if you haven't spent any time just wandering around the NASA image of the day page, you're missing out on some lovely pictures of places & things humans don't think too much about.

It's funny, I often wonder what it would be like to see the earth from space, but now that I think about it, it would be much, much more interesting to see space from space.

Anyway, in preparation for this week's show, which is about the second planet from our sun, it might be good to brush up with basic facts about Venus.  I know I have been!

By the way, happy father's day to the appropriate folk.  I never really knew my father, & he's no longer with us, so the holiday in general hasn't meant that much to me.  & frankly, my children - four dogs & four cats - are total assholes & didn't get me one gift this year.  Ingrates.  Even now, at least four of them are curling up on the sofa with their mother!