Banana Books/Banana Movies

On the show this week, we had our favorite librarian Carole stop by to talk about some books featuring bananas, & our resident cinephile Chuck talked about bananas in movies.  Here's what Carole talked about, & here's a picture of one of those:

(image from Good Reads)

She discussed:

Counting To Bananas: A Mostly Rhyming Fruit Book by Carrie Tillotson & Estrela Lourenço 

Second Banana by Blair Thornburgh & Kate Berube

& Chiquita Banana's Recipe Book by United Fruit Company Home Economics Department

Obviously clicking the links gets you to the books' Good Reads pages.  & of course if you'd like to listen to Carole, listen to the show!  You can hear it at the Self Help Radio website, at the KBOO website, & at the XRAY website!  Oh my!

& the movies Chuck talked about?  Here's the poster for one of them:

(image from the IMDb)

Chuck watched films tagged with "banana" on the IMDb.  Here's that list.

He made another list on Letterboxd (be sure to click on read notes). As well he wrote some reviews on Letterboxd.

Here is his YouTube playlist, & here is the IMDb list of films available to stream elsewhere for free.

As above, you can find Chuck this past week's Self Help Radio, & you can hear him at the Self Help Radio website, at the KBOO website, & at the XRAY website!

Go bananas!

Sweet Winston

We said goodbye to this little nugget yesterday. For over fifteen years he's been our concern, our joy, our bother, our love, our sweetest moment of every day. I'll have much more to say about him later because he was an extraordinary hound who lived an extraordinary life. But I am sitting in a dark room right now with the million tiny pieces of my heart scattered about & it's going to take awhile to put enough of it back together before all that.

Self Help Radio 112222: Bananas

Well we certainly hope you'll go bananas for this show! We might have let it slip that there are a bunch of banana songs on today's show.  Maybe that appeals to you?  If not, better split now!

So many songs, a few interviews, some dire news about the banana's fate - it's not the sort of show you'd slice up & put in your cornflakes, but it should sweeten your day.

You can listen to it when you feel it's ripe in two places: at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website.  If you choose the show's website, you'll need a username & a password - they are SHR & selfhelp - & you can download the show!

Everything that happens is below.  Hopefully you don't find it green - we wanted the show to be bright yellow with brown flecks!

Self Help Radio Banana Show
"Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" Harry Belafonte _The Best Of Harry Belafonte_
"The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana) (Single Version)" The Banana Splits _We're The Banana Splits_
"Banana" Family Fodder _Monkey Banana Kitchen_

introduction & definitions

"Yes! We Have No Bananas" Furman & Nash _Yes! We Have No Bananas_
"I've Got The Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues" Eddie Cantor _The Columbia Years: 1922-1940_
"Banana Oil" Vaughn De Leath _Ukulele Lady_
"Banana In Your Fruit Basket" Bo Carter _Raunchy Business: Hot Nuts & Lollypops_
"Banana Man Blues (I Don't Want That Thing)" Memphis Minnie _Queen Of The Country Blues (All The Published Sides 1929-1937 In Chronological Order)_

interview with a person named Bananas

"Banana Boy" Eden Ahbez _Eden's Island (The Music Of An Enchanted Isle)_
"Bananeira (Banana Tree) (ft. Mr Vegas)" Sergio Mendes _Timeless_
"Banana" Madlib + Joyce Moreno feat. Generation Match _Red Hot + Rio 2_
"Boiled Bananas & Carrots" Peter Sellers Presents Alfred The Grate & His Kings Of Collapso _Dark Side Of The Goon_
"Banana Beat" Quintron _Sucre Du Sauvage_

our favorite librarian Carole stops by!

"The Name Game (7" Version)" Divine _Blackbox - Wax Trax! Records: The First 13 Years_
"Bananas" Billy & Lillie _The Swan Records Story 1957-1962_
"Green Banana" Frank Chickens _We Are Frank Chickens_
"Banana Smoothie" Amanda _Primitive Swagger_
"Faust Banana" The Fall _The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by!

"I've Never Seen A Straight Banana" Billy Jones & Ernest Hare _Wonderful Nonsense: Fun Songs Of The Roaring Twenties_
"I Like Bananas (vocals, George Elrick)" Henry Hall & The BBC Dance Orchestra _Animal Crackers_
"When Banana Skins Are Falling (I'll Come Sliding Back To You)" Tony Randall _Warm & Wavery_
"Wally Ballou: Arrival Of Banana Boat 'Sitting Duck' Part One" Bob & Ray _Classic Bob & Ray, Volume Three - Selections From A Career: 1946-1976_
"Goin' Bananas" Side Effect _Goin' Bananas_

interview with banana fan Frank Gore

"Guru Banana" Kevin Ayers _Sweet Deceiver_
"Bananas To The Beat" Yello _Solid Pleasure_
"Banana Meltdown" Dub Narcotic Sound System & The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion _Sideways Soul: Dub Narcotic Sound System Meets The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion In A Dancehall Style!_
"Banana Peel" Thomas Mudrick _(((Boing)))_
"Bananachek" Brak _Brak Presents The Brak Album Starring Brak_
"The Road Of Love Is Paved With Banana Skins" BMX Bandits _Down At The Hop_

discussion: the fate of the banana

"Banana Fanna" The Jaguars _Absolute Funk Vol. 5_
"Chips-Chicken-Banana Split" Jo-Jo & The Fugitives _Jamaica To Toronto - Soul Funk & Reggae 1967-1974_
"I'm A Chiquita Banana" Patti Clayton _TeeVee Toons: The Commercials_
"Bananafishbones" The Cure _The Top_
"Banana Woman" Bonde Do Rolê _Tropicalbacanal_
"Tie Me Bananas" Me & My Drummer _Love Is A Fridge_

conclusion & goodbye

"Smokin' Banana Peels" The Dead Milkmen _Beelzebubba_
"Banana Republic" The Boomtown Rats _Mondo Bongo_
"Banana Flip" Guru Guru _Tango Fango_
"Bananas" Jah Wobble _The Inspiration Of William Blake_
"Monkey Banana" Fela Kuti & Africa 70 _Before I Jump Like Monkey Give Me Banana_

Whither Bananas?

(image, like it says, from marcjohns.com)

It was time, we all agreed, for another show about fruit.
But we needed one this time of positive repute.
We'd last done beans (though not technically this show*)
& many people don't think they are fruits you know!
Before that, pumpkins - that was on Halloween!
Very few fruits want to be part of that scene.
We had apples & cherries, lemons, strawberries,
Evens melons - though some think them adversaries -
Anyway, what fruit should we cover this time?
Pineapple? Kiwi? Pomegranate? Lime?
We queried our listeners from Texas to Montana
& surprisingly no one mentioned the banana!
They said "nectarine" & "orange" & many said "plum"
We started to suspect they all thought we were dumb.
But what was the source of our particular suspicion?
It was of course the sin of omission.
Bananas to them appeared to be somewhat taboo.
That's when we knew what we were going to do.
Bananas it would be! Before the end of the year!
(Also we found few songs about nectarines, to be clear.)
So as we abandon this versifying style
Please pretend we are telling you this with a smile:

Self Help Radio's show about bananas airs tonight on KBOO from midnight to 3am.  That's Portland time! That's on 90.7fm in town & online at kboo.fm.  Lots of talk & music about bananas.  I hope you'll see the appeal.

* It was on the Dickenbock Report, not Self Help Radio.

Preface To Bananas: The Fruit Series Continues

Did you know? There's been a long, secret series of fruit-based shows on Self Help Radio. They don't seem to be connected - they have appeared so far apart in time & don't seem to relate to one another - but those who have listened closely understand: it's a fruit series.

How has it progressed?  Look here:

Cherries in 2004.
Strawberries in 2005.
Lemons in 2008.
Melons in 2010.
Apples in 2017.
Pumpkins last year (for Halloween).
Beans just this year.

What? Pumpkins & beans? They're not fruit! Or are they?

But Gary, I hear you ask, why bananas? Why now? Why such a gap between melons & apples? When will we hear shows about oranges, pineapples, kiwis?  Will it all end with tomatoes?!?

Wait & see. Or hear. It's a radio show. Wait & hear.

Cold Out There

Thankfully not icicle cold. Altho I suppose there would be icicles if it were wet out there.
That picture was taken in Kentucky on this day in 2014.  It had snowed that day.
Here it's just bitter cold with a cold, cold wind.
So I picked this old anniversary picture.  It's as cold as it feels outside.

New Hours Of Operation

(clip art from here)

For those who would like a friendly warning about when I am on the radio, these hours appear to be accurate for at least the rest of this year:

Self Help Radio airs Tuesdays midnight to 3am.  For some that could be Monday night.  That is on KBOO, which is at 90.7fm in Portland & online at kboo.fm.

A two-hour version of that show airs Saturdays 5-7am.  That is for everyone early Saturday morning.  This happens on XRAY FM, which is at 91.1 & 107.1fm in Portland & online at xray.fm.

The Dickenbock Report now airs Thursdays noon to 2pm on Freeform Portland, which is on 90.3+98.3+101.5fm in Portland & online at freeformportland.org.

Yes, that's seven hours of radio a week.  I'm very sorry about that.

The KBOO Self Help Radio page is here.  The XRAY Self Help Radio page is here.  The Dickenbock Report on Freeform Portland's page is here.  As always, almost all my shows can be listened to at the Self Help Radio website.

Self Help Radio 111522: Chains

Self Help Radio unbound!

Yes, I've always wanted to sound like a caption for a 1960s Marvel comic book.

The chains show was (unsurprisingly) not off the chain.  It was a lot like other Self Help Radio shows, actually.  There were lots of songs, about all different kinds of chains (although, as you can see below, there were sets about chain gangs, balls & chains, & daisy chains), there were guests talking about chain-related things (detailed below), & of course I was there making the whole thing a little less pleasant. 

If you must listen, you can do so in two different places: at the KBOO website, or at the Self Help Radio website. The latter will require a username (which is SHR) & a password (which is selfhelp) but also you can download the show there if you want.  The shows that were played & much of the things in-between are noted below.

All you have to gain is the chains you might already have lost! (Or something.)

Self Help Radio's Chains Show
"Chains" The Cookies _The Complete Cookies_
"Chains" Iggy Pop _New Values_
"Chains" The Wolfgang Press _Funky Little Demons_

introduction & definitions

"Chain Gang Bound" Bumble Bee Slim _Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order Vol. 1_
"DeKalb Chain Gang" Fred McMullen _Georgia Blues Guitars (1928-1933)_
"I'm Free From The Chain Gang Now" Jimmie Rodgers _The Singing Brakeman_
"Chain Gang Boun'" Josh White _Songs For Political Action - Folkmusic, Topical Songs, & The
American Left 1926-1953_
"Chain Gang Blues" Johnny Temple _Broke, Black, & Blue_

interview with performance artist Erin Dahl

"Chain Of Fools" Aretha Franklin _Lady Soul_
"Chained" Marvin Gaye _The Best Of Marvin Gaye_
"Chained & Bound" Bettye Swann _Don't You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me?_
"Bat Chain Puller" Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band _Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)_
"Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow)" John Prine _Bruised Orange_

interview with bicycle chain collector Bucky Masters

"Ball & Chain Blues" Peg Leg Howell _Atlanta Blues (Big City Blues From The Heartland)_
"Ball & Chain Blues" Memphis Minnie _Queen Of The Country Blues (All The Published Sides 1929-1937 In Chronological Order)_
"Ball & Chain" XTC _English Settlement_
"I Love You Like A Ball & Chain" Eurthymics _Be Yourself Tonight_
"Ball & Chain" Bangles _Sweetheart Of The Sun_

interview with diet expert Joey Carson

"Why She's A Girl From The Chain Store" Buzzcocks _The Complete Singles Anthology_
"Chain Of Love" The Undertones _Sin Of Pride_
"Chain Smoking" Vic Godard _T.R.O.U.B.L.E_
"Silver Chain" The Apples In Stereo _Tone Soul Evolution_
"Chained" The Ropers _All The Time_

interview with propagandist Carlito

"Chain Store Daisy (from Pins & Needles)" Ruth Rubenstein _The Smithsonian Collection Of Recordings American Musical Theater Shows, Songs, & Stars_
"Daisychain" Richard Buckner _Bloomed_
"Daisy Chain" The Frank & Walters _The Frank & Walters_
"The Daisy Chain" The Growlers _City Club_
"A Chain Of Flowers" The Cure _Join The Dots (B-Sides & Rarities 1978>2001 The Fiction Years)_

idioms!

"Chain Gang" Sam Cooke _The Man & His Music_
"Back On The Chain Gang" The Pretenders _Learning To Crawl_
"Links On The Chain" Phil Ochs _I Ain't Marching Anymore_
"Chain Mail" James _Justhipper (The Complete Sire & Blanco Y Negro Recordings 1986-1988)_
"Chain Of Keys" PJ Harvey _The Hope Six Demolition Project_

conclusion & goodbye

"Lion In Chains" Nap Eyes _Thought Rock Fish Scale_
"Chain Reaction" Can _Soon Over Babaluma_

Whither Chains?

What do chain gangs, daisy chains, & balls & chains have in common?  Okay, I know that they may have used chains with balls attached for people on the chain gang, & that in their spare time, perhaps a chain gang member might sit miserably in a field & absent-mindedly create a daisy chain, but in my case I was trying to be clever & say, "In the course of an afternoon listening to music I heard songs about all three which made me think hey! Maybe I should do a show about chains!"

That's all.  Now all I can think about is one of the most troublesome chain gang members, fitted with a ball & chain, protesting his cruel punishment by refusing to work on the roadside & instead making a chain of flowers.  & suddenly this seems way more interesting than the radio show I am making tonight.

Which is a show about chains of all kinds.  Except chainsaws.  I decided to leave out chainsaws.  I figured one day I might do a show about saws & could use chainsaws then.  You don't care about this.  I'm sorry I'm rambling.  Now I'm imagining that convict being beaten by sadistic guards.  I've started a terrible movie in my head & it won't stop.

Anyway, if you're around tonight from midnight to 3am Portland time, listen to Self Help Radio's show about chains.  On 90.7fm in town & online at kboo.fm.  I promise it won't be as awful as a chain email.

Preface To Chains: These Kinds Of Chains?

(image from here)

These kinds of chains? You're gonna do a show about these kinds of chains? Because I'll be honest I've never seen you wear these kinds of chains, Gary! I've never even seen you wear a necklace! Or any kind of jewelry! I suppose you can make a radio show about something you don't have any real experience with, but chains seems pretty specific. This website says there's three main reasons a fellow might wear a chain: as a fashion statement, as a symbol, & because gold is timeless. If we break that down, we know you're not making a fashion statement, Gary - the main statement your fashion makes is "Help!" & if there's anything you avoid, it's symbolism. You're a literal dude. As for gold being timeless - for someone who spends most of his money on music, I doubt you'd want to waste precious dollars on gold. So it can't be that these chains are what the show is about. Did I get that right? These aren't the chains Self Help Radio will be playing songs & talking about, are they? Well? Are they? No? I thought so.

Sound Machine

This is a photo taken on this day in 2019, three years ago.  It's a little device I found in the XRAY studios right when I started to do my first show there.  I think when I finally posted it to Facebook, I wrote something like "the key to every moderately successful radio show."

But I actually didn't really try it.  & I haven't seen it since.  Which may be why my shows are so terrible.

The Year You Were Born

(A hundred years old today. Thanks Etsy!)

You're one hundred years old today?
Yes.
You don't look it!
Thank you.
You look much older than that.
What.
You look biblically old.
Stop.
Those old biblical dudes who lived to be 900 but were just piss & shit machines.
I told you to stop.
Or what? You're going to fight me?
That's right!
Come at me, then, Methuselah!
Pow!
Oh shit you just punched me!
That's right asshole.
I just got decked by a hundred year old man.
Not really. I'm just thirty-two.
What the fuck.
I tell people I'm a hundred because I look like I'm a hundred.
Worse.
You want me to hit you again?
Sure. This time I'll hit back!
Wait.  You will?
You fucking bet I will.
You'd hit a hundred year old man?
You're not...
Did you hear that?  This guy wants to hit me! & I'm one hundred years old today.
Jesus Christ.
He only lived to be like thirty.

Self Help Radio 110822: Alice's Show

(images found on the Wikipedia Commons*)

While this show failed to find an Alice who wanted to talk to the show about being an Alice - & to be fair, there were some who were willing but not available this past week - I think you can say Self Help Radio did its best to represent as many Alices as possible, in song & with commentary.

As I usually say when I do these kinds of shows, I hope you know an Alice you can share this with.  Or if you're an Alice yourself, even better - you can think the show is for you!  Because of course it is.

The show is available now at both the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website.  If you listen to it at the show's website, you'll need a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp) but you'll be able to download it if you want.  Everything that happened on the show is listed below.

Who's in the collage above?  There's a legend at the very bottom of this post!

Self Help Radio Presents Alice's Show
"Alice Blue Gown" Edith Day _The Smithsonian Collection Of Recordings American Musical Theater Shows, Songs, & Stars_
"Alice From Dallas" Buddy Jones _The Louisiana Honky Tonk Boy_
"The Story Of Alice (Part 1)" The Chad Mitchell Trio _Blowin' In The Wind_

introduction & definition (featuring the Definition-O-Tron 3000!)

"Walt Disney's Story Of Alice In Wonderland" Robie Lester _Walt Disney's Story Of Alice In Wonderland_
"Alice In Wonderland" Neil Sedaka _The Real... Neil Sedaka (The Ultimate Collection)_
"Alice" Gil & Johnny _Alice_
"Alice In Wonderland" The Berkeley Kites _Alice In Wonderland_
"White Rabbit" Shannon & The Clams _Gremlins Crawl_

Marge Most interrupts to talk about Alice Coltrane

"That Alice" Laura Veirs _Warp & Weft_
"Alice" Cocteau Twins _Treasure Hiding (The Fontana Years)_
"Alice" Tom Waits _Alice_
"All The Girls Love Alice" Emeli Sande _Goodbye Yellow Brick Road_
"Alice Mae" R. L. Burnside _Mr. Wizard_

Ned Dry & Captain McCheese present a tribute to Alice Cooper

"Alice" The Sisters Of Mercy _Alice_
"Alice's House" The Psychedelic Furs _Mirror Moves_
"Watching Alice" Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds _Tender Prey_
"Here Comes Alice" The Jesus & Mary Chain _Automatic_
"Alice Everyday" Book Of Love _Candy Carol_

Sir Archibald Von Poesy presents his poem "Alice"

"Whatever Happened To Alice?" Rosemary's Children _Él Records - The Legendary B Sides_
"Alice's Wings" Charlotte's Web _Heart Trouble_
"Shame About Alice" Strawberry Story _Clamming For It_
"Love You Alice/D" The Apples In Stereo _Fun Trick Noisemaker_
"Alice D" Lovs e Blur _Behind The Banana Curtain 1975-2000_

Marge Most interrupts to talk about Alice B. Toklas

"I Love You, Alice B. Toklas" Harpers Bizarre _Harpers Bizarre 4_
"Gertrude Stein & Alice B Toklas" Shelley Berman _The Edge Of Shelley Berman_
"Alice Long (You're Still My Favorite Girlfriend)" Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart _The Anthology_
"Who Planted Thorns In Miss Alice's Garden" Tom Northcott _Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults_
"Alice" Mott The Hoople _The Hoople_

What do the Kabalarians think of the name Alice? A report.

"Aurora Bori Alice" Cotton Mather _Kontiki_
"Alice" Yellow Fever _Cats & Rats_
"Alice Please" Bubblegum Lemonade _Sophomore Release_
"Japanese Alice" Wild Nothing _Life Of Pause_
"Alice, I Want You Just For Me!" Full Force _Electro Funk Sessions_

conclusion & goodbye

"Alice's Restaurant Massacree" Arlo Guthrie _The Best Of Arlo Guthrie_
"Alice" Darwin Deez _Songs For Imaginative People_
"Ugly Alice" Damien Youth _Bride Of The Asylum_
"Alice Was A Dream" Mr. Flood's Party _Mr. Flood's Party_

-----

*The Alices in the image are, left to right:
Row one: Princess Alice, Alice Brown, Alice Stone Blackwell, Alice Bailey, Alice Guy Blanche, Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Row two: Alice B. Toklas, Alice Stokes Paul, Alice Brady, Alice Lake, Alice Terry, Alice White
Row three: Alice Sapritch, Alice Coachman, Alice Ghostly, Alice Barber, Alice Munro, Alice Coltrane
Row four: Alice Walker, Alice Cooper, Alice Krige, Alice Evans, Alice Eve, Alice Braga
There are of course many more famous Alices, this was not meant to be exhaustive.

Whither Alice's Show?

(image taken from here)

Sadly, there will be hardly any Linda Lavin on tonight's Alice show.  & as I mentioned yesterday, no interviews with any Alices, either.  But there'll be lots of songs about people named Alice - some of whom are famous - as well as information I can share.

It's really fun to play lots of songs about a person (or at least a person's name) & it seemed it was time for me to tackle a different name.  I once shared a few Alice songs with a person named Alice.  I have forgotten most everything about her - I think we worked together - but I wish I had known there were this many songs about Alices.  She would've gotten more than the two or three I knew at the time!

If you're an Alice, or you know an Alice, maybe you'll want to listen tonight on KBOO, from midnight to 3am.  That's at 90.7fm here in Portland town, online everywhere at kboo.fm.  It will please any Alice & many of the Alice-adjacent.

Preface To Alice's Show: An Alice Show Without Alices

(random Alice-related image from this Tumblr site)

It pains me to report that this week's Self Help Radio, which will feature songs about all kinds of Alices, will have no interviews with any Alice.  It's been the habit of the show, when exploring a name, to talk to people who share the name, to ask if they like the name, how they got the name, etc.  I don't personally know any Alices, but I asked on the air & I asked on the Facebook & I asked on the Twitter, & even those who showed a modicum of interest said no or were unable to schedule a time.

The sadness of having an obscure radio show.

Youth Group

Here's a picture I took on this day in 2017 which I entitled "Youth Group."

According to the sketchy dumb notes I keep about my life, I went to see "Thor Ragnarok" on this day five years ago, & almost certainly took this picture from the parking garage in downtown Fort Worth where a favorite movie theater was.

Hey! It's been a long day!  I did my first XRAY show from 5-7am today. Forgive me if I have very little else to offer.

But I think I took the picture after the movie, which I doubtless saw at a matinee.  I would never dally before a movie, needing to get there as soon as I could.  I remember liking the film, at any rate.

Self Help Radio On Two Days A Week?!?

Oh my stars & garters!  Here is interesting news!

Self Help Radio has joined the XRAY family!  It will air from 5-7am on Saturdays on 91.1 & 107.1 fm which is of course XRAY FM.

Does this mean it will no longer be on KBOO?  Nope, we'll still be there early Tuesdays.

Does this mean there will be two different themes explored every week?  Uh, no.  Wow that would be a lot of work.  The Saturday show will be a shorter version of the previous Tuesdays show - but I'll add new stuff just in case someone listens twice.

Why do it then?  I dunno.  A different timeslot.  A different audience.  More fun on the radio!

Luckily it's on early so most of Portland still won't be subjected to it!

Listen to the XRAY version of the "infinity" show tomorrow on xray.fm from 5-7am Portland time!

Self Help Radio 110122: Infinity

Does an episode of Self Help Radio feel like it might go on forever?  This week instead of just seeming like it takes an infinity to get through one of these shows, it just explored the theme "infinity."

During the show, a person who identified himself as a mathematician told me two definitions of infinity, which he used to explain to his son, whom he identified as a "child" although he revealed the son is 26 years old.

Number one: think of the largest number you can think of.  Then add the number one.  That's infinity.

& number two: infinity is a four & a half hour long Jerry Garcia song.

There's really nothing I can add to that.  You can listen to the show in one of two places: the KBOO website or the Self Help Radio website.  At the latter you'll need a username & a password, which are selfhelp & SHR respectively, & you can download the file there if you want.  Everything that happened on the show is below.

A finite show about infinity.  The Self Help Radio way.

Self Help Radio Infinity Show
"Infinity" They Might Be Giants _Here Come The 123s_
"Infinity Suite" Burnt Ones _The Space Lady & Burnt Ones_
"Infinite Trips" Peaking Lights _Cosmic Logic_

introduction & definition

"Infinity ytinifnI" These New Puritans _Beat Pyramid_
"Infinite Roads" The Hawaiian Pups _Split Second Precision_
"You're A Reflection Of Infinite Chaos" Outrageous Cherry _Our Love Will Change The World_
"Billy Infinity" Bill Nelson _Atom Shop_
"Infinity" Desdamona _The Source_

interview with my friend Gus, who has a fear of infinity

"Spud Infinity" Big Thief _Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You_
"Infinite Combinations" John Wesley Harding _New Deal_
"It's Infinite" Lomelda _Hannah_
"December Infinity" Lee Noble _Ruiner_
"Infinity Avenue" Electric Sunset _Electric Sunset_

interview with Hank Ralph, who has an Infiniti dealership

"Neighbourhood Of Infinity" The Fall _Perverted By Language_
"Approximately Infinite Universe" Yoko Ono _Approximately Infinite Universe_
"Masculine Infinity" CS Yeh _Transitions_
"Infinity" Mouth Music _Shorelife_
"Infinity Of Rhythm Instrumental" AmmonContact _You Don't Know: Ninja Cuts_

interview with creator of Infinity Lad & Eternity Lass Jeff Clarement

"Infinitely Late At Night" The Magnetic Fields _i_
"Infinity Net" Sisu _Light Eyes_
"Infinity Pools" The Smittens _City Rock Dove_
"Infinite Mile" King Tuff _The Other_
"The Infinite Shoeblack" Nits _Giant Normal Dwarf_

interview with Betsy The Spirit Guide about how to spend infinity

"Infinity" Suuns _Hold/Still_
"Infinity" Catnaps _Why Don't You Whisper?_
"An Infinite Loop" Hutch & Kathy _Hutch & Kathy_
"Bound For Infinity" Renaissance _Prologue_
"Infinity" Montreal _A Summer's Night_

Dr. Jeff Green explains infinity

"Infinite Potential" Luke Vibert _Compilation Tracks For Which I Was Never Paid_
"Infinity + 1" Klangwelt _The Age Of Numbers_
"Infinite Snow" Monolake _Silence_
"Infinite Everywhere" Eric Hilton _Infinite Everywhere_

conclusion & goodbye

"To The Infinity" DJ Krush _Strictly Turntablized_
"Infinity (MTR 12" Mix)" Eon _Void Dweller_
"Sweet Honeybee Of Infinity" Boy Robot _Rotten Cocktails_

Whither Infinity?

(image from here.)

Ha ha! & you thought three hours of Self Help Radio felt endless! Get ready for the meta event of the year: a radio show that you desperately wish would just end already covers the topic of infinity! If we're lucky we'll get caught in a time loop & you'll never hear from us again!

Yes, I know it's Halloween night but the show starts at midnight so it's officially November 1 & Halloween is over.  If you want to listen to some Self Help Radio Halloween shows there's tons of them on this web page.

If you're not in a diabetic coma, tune in to 90.7 fm from midnight to 3am Portland time (in Portland town) or wherever you are at that equivalent time at kboo.fm.  For a show about infinity.  What?  I didn't tell you how a show about infinity came about?  Are you sure?  Try reading again from the beginning.

Preface To Infinity: Nightmares

(image from here)

There's something called apeirophobia - which sounds like a fear of the thing you use to get to your boat on a lake or river or sea or whatever - but which is actually the fear of infinity.  We'll talk on the show tomorrow with someone who experiences this but I've been thinking about whether I have felt such a fear, & it reminded me of common nightmares I had as a child.

To understand the first one, it must be said I was very close to my mother until my teenage years.  Like all mothers I suppose she managed to instill in me a trust & loyalty that was seemingly permanent - until I started paying attention to her.  Once I started to recognize her many faults, I didn't feel as close to her - & certainly stopped trusting her or feeling a loyalty to her.  For a long time I thought that was a natural thing, but my brothers never stopped feeling that way toward her, so I guess my disillusionment with her was unusual in our family.

Anyway, before my teen years, a common nightmare would be that she & I would be sitting together & then the earth would move & she would somehow begin separating from me.  She seemed utterly oblivious but I was horrified, & I tried to go to her but the distance between us became a chasm.  In addition, it seemed as though that distance was exponential - I wouldn't have understood that as a child - but the more I tried to get to her, the more it seemed like she'd get farther away, the distance doubling with every attempt.  I would wake up from such dreams crying, horrified, feeling abandoned & alone.

My insecurities wouldn't let me abandon such horror even after I probably wouldn't have been so upset to have my mother wrenched from me.  So the dream changed in my teenage years to me being alone & suddenly realizing how vast the universe is.  In this iteration of my dream the distance between me & everything else seem to increase exponentially.  & it was for me mathematical - I could feel the distance growing as if squared again & again.  & it made me feel inconsequential, helpless, & utterly alone.  I would wake from such dreams in a cold sweat, absolutely terrified & unable to shake that feeling for a long time afterwards

Luckily as I got older this dream faded away - not because I felt any more secure, or because I found someone who made helped my insecurity & loneliness, but because I became more comfortable with those feelings.  They felt lived-in by my mid-1920s.  I haven't had that sort of dream in probably decades.

Was it a fear of infinity?  Do I still have a remnant of that in me?  & if I do, will a show about infinity help or help?  I don't know!