Self Help Radio 052523: Trembling

Things you can tremble with: fear, excitement, anticipation, indignation, anger, cold. Will you tremble with any of these on this show about trembling? Or would you rather quiver? Or shiver?

Howsoever you prefer to tremble, there's a radio show for you, & it's this week's Self Help Radio. There are plenty of songs about trembling as well as the usual silly interviews & awkward airbreaks. It might be worth a few furtive trembles.

Listen to it now at the Self Help Radio website. Remember there's a username/password requirement - try SHR/selfhelp. Hey buy you can download the show if you wish! Everything that happened is listed below.

Self Help Radio Trembling Show

"Standin' Here Tremblin'" Muddy Waters _The Chronological Muddy Waters 1948-1950_

"Tremblin'" Wynonie Harris _Lovin' Machine_

"Tremblin'" Birdie Green _Super Soul Sisters_

introduction & definitions

"Tremble" Malcolm Dodds _The Malcolm Dodds Story_

"Talk Back Trembling Lips" Debbie Stuart _Hazy Memories Volume One_

"Tremblin'" Gene Pitney _Young & Warm & Wonderful + Just One Smile_

"I Tremble For You" Waylon Jennings _Love Of The Common People_

"Tremble" George Hamilton IV _To You & Yours, From Me & Mine_

interview with writer/director Otto Glenn

"Tremble (My Girl Doesn't)" The Wolfgang Press _Water_

"All Of A Tremble" St. Christopher _Dig Deep, Brother 1984-1990_

"Tremble" The Verlaines _Ready To Fly_

"Knee Trembler" Close Lobsters _Headache Rhetoric_

interview with Dr. Stanley Gadd

"Not The Trembling Kind" Laura Cantrell _Not The Trembling Kind_

"Make Me Tremble" Joey Ramone _...Ya Know?_

"Tremble" Better Than Ezra _Surprise_

"Trembling Peacock" Destroyer _This Night_

interview with sound collage artist Theodore Sand

"I Thrust These Trembling Fists Into The Air" The Love Letter Band _Even The Pretty Girls Take Medicine_

"Tremble" Carnivores _If I'm Ancient_

"Trembling Away" Baby Jesus _Baby Jesus_

"Feel Me Tremble" Did You Die _Royal Unicorn_

interview with historian Roberta Garson

"Trembling" Lemuria _Recreational Hate_

"Tremble" Kalbells _Mothertime_

"Silver Trembling Hands" The Flaming Lips _Embryonic_

"Trembling Stylee" Little John _Trembling Stylee_

conclusion & goodbye

"I Tremble" The Winnerys _...And The Winnerys_

"Hothead Handshake Tremble" Charlie Fawn _Charlie Fawn_

"Tremble" The Information _Mistakes We Knew We Were Making_

Whither Trembling?

(from here)

Trembling is such a delicate thing - shaking seems downright vulgar compared to it. Trembling also seems to indicate a vulnerable situation - your lips tremble for a kiss. I think of nervous moments where my body seemed to tremble uncontrollably - & yet it also seemed my trembling was unnoticed - & unnoticeable.

Once again thinking about how I only have two hours for Self Help Radio these days, I have been looking for themes that will give me enough songs to fill that time - but only just enough. I'm not sure when the idea of trembling entered my head, but I think I couldn't initially find enough songs. Which was a challenge of a sort. So I went ahead & scheduled the show.

That show happens today! Wow. I'm all a-tremble! It's on noon to 2pm Portland time on Freeform Portland, which is on the Portland radio dial at 90.3 & 98.3 fm & luckily online everywhere at Freeform Portland dot org. Lots of fun stuff planned. Hope you can tune in.

Preface To Trembling: A Haiku

(a trembling icon found here)

Here goes:

You can't say trembling

Is something that's resembling

Plain old dissembling

First of all, bonus points for me, a haiku whose lines also rhyme. Even if it makes no sense.

Also: dissembling is a word I learned from a person in ninth grade who used it incorrectly. He would often accuse me of dissembling when he thought I was lying. I looked it up & tried to correct him but he felt I guess it was close enough to lying to be used in that way. I remember I said to him once, in response, "I'm no dissembler, I'm just mendacious," & he started using the word "mendacious" all the time.

For some reason, I think the fellow's name was Troy. We met in a Theatre Arts class, & maybe he was a junior or even a senior, because I didn't see him or talk to him after that class. Anyway, years later he came up in conversation with a pal & that person said, "He was always accusing me of dissembling!" & I said, "It was his way of calling you a liar." My friend said, "But that's not what dissembling means!"

High Above The Clouds

Two years ago today, I was flying up in the air away from the Dallas area & back to Portland. I had given the eulogy at my mother's memorial, which I wrote about here. My mother had died the previous September but because of the pandemic we had to wait a few months to gather.

Someone asked me today if I am "visited" by my mother in any form. Since I don't believe in anything supernatural, I wouldn't see a ghost or a spirit or anything like that. I don't think such things exist. But I do occasionally hear her voice, accompanying a memory, & since I spoke to her every Sunday for most of the last twenty years of her life, I will sometimes reflect on her on Sundays.

This is a story I've probably told before, but in 1974, when I was six years old, my mother took me & two of my brothers to Germany to visit family there. I had no real sense of what Germany was, how far away we would travel, anything like that. What I did know what that I was going up in a plane above the clouds, & I was going to see what I knew for a fact would be there: angels.

It's true. I thought angels lived on top of the clouds. I worried a bit about the plane hitting them, but figured they knew how to avoid them. & when I looked out the window - I told no one about my expectations, having learned that my family often called me "stupid" or worse when I said something as fact that wasn't so - I was shocked & disappointed that there weren't any angels there.

It was crushing. Once we got to Germany, I think I was still a bit sad to find out angels didn't live above the clouds. & it might've explained some of my reaction to the experience. But that's a story for another time.

It would be twelve years before I got on a plane again, on a short flight to Austin in the summer of 1986 for college orientation. Looking out the window to see the clouds is always a highlight. How much more amazing are they now without the expectation of anything silly as angels.

Andy Rourke

(image from Johnny Marr's Twitter account)

When I first starting listening to the Smiths, I was listening to the words that Morrissey sang. That was the most immediate, most important thing to me. I had been listening to music my entire life but wasn't a musician, so didn't know much about guitar, bass, keyboard, drums. But I knew that I wouldn't be able to experience the songs if the music weren't also something I liked.

As I got deeper into music, as I found music that affected me like the Smiths, as I continued to listen to the Smiths long after they no longer existed, I started to pay attention to the musicianship. I came to understand how incredible Johnny Marr's music was - especially when later both he & Morrissey abandoned that sound. Songs that I had listened to hundreds of times, I discovered, became new to me when I focused on individual instruments. In the case of the Smiths, it was Marr's shimmering guitar - & then, Rourke's melodic bass.

It turns out I have a thing for bass players whose instrument sings instead of simply keeping time. I think of Bruce Thomas of the Attractions & Mark Monnone of the Lucksmiths. There are moments in Smiths song where the guitar & bass seem to be singing a duet. Rourke's playing was never showy, but it always felt essential. I am not a musician but I thought if I were a musician I would love to be playing along with someone like Andy Rourke.

He was four years older than I am. It seems a little selfish to say 59 is too young to die. But it surely is.

Gosh, I wish I could've said thank you to him for being such an amazing part of so much music I love. But I suspect lots of people - scores of people - hundreds of people - told him that. & so tonight I'll play some Smiths on the radio, because thank you Andy Rourke.

Self Help Radio 051823: Telegraphy

(Original image here.*)

During research for this show, I discovered that "telegraphy" means "the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message." (Wikipedia definition.) This means things like semaphore, signal fires, drumbeats - whereas initially I had thought it just meant the telegraph. So I focused on those songs rather than other possibilities. Which now seems like a missed opportunity.

But! The show was (I think) fun nonetheless. At least I had fun putting it together & doing it. You may not feel the same way. The only way to know is to go listen to - it's now at the Self Help Radio website! Remember to use the username SHR & to pass the password selfhelp. All the songs & the interviews that happened are listed below.

& yes, "... . .-.. ..-. / .... . .-.. .--. / .-. .- -.. .. ---" is Morse code for Self Help Radio.

Self Help Radio Telegraphy Show

"Telegram" Charles Kelley _Rhythm & Blues Goes Rock 'N' Roll Volume 2_

"The Telegram" Bobby Sherman _Found In The Basement Vol. 5_

"Telegram" Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames _The Whole World’s Shaking (Complete Recordings 1963-1966)_

introduction & definitions

"Télégramme" Edith Piaf _The Complete Recordings 1946-1963_

"Un Telegrama" Eydie Gormé _I Feel So Spanish_

"Telegram Tuesday" Blossom Toes _We Are Ever So Clean_

"Telegram For Miss Marigold" The Rokes _Let's Live For Today: The Rokes In English 1966-68_

interview with telegram company operator Leaton Lee

"Hey Western Union Man (Send A Telegram)" Cliff Bennett _Into Our Lives: The EMI Years 1961-1969_

"Telegram Sam" T. Rex _The Slider_

"Telegram Of Love" The Hues Corporation _I Caught Your Act_

"Telegraph Your Love" Pointer Sisters _Break Out_

interview with author Erlene Fanning

"Telegraph Line" Jaime Aff & Christine Langner _Schoolhouse Rock_

"Telegraph" Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark _Dazzle Ships_

"Gifts & Telegrams" Patrik Fitzgerald _Gifts & Telegrams_

"A Telegram, The Telegraph" Vitesse _Chelsea 27099_

interview with telegraph museum owner Arlo Wareham

"Last Telegram (Demo)" Walking Floors _Messthetics #102: (D.I.Y. 77-81 London II)_

"Telegram" No-Song Kutkotz _Personal Anarchy_

"Heart Telegraph" Divinyls _What A Life!_

"Overseas Telegram" Mick Harvey _Intoxicated Man_

interview with Samuel Morse descendent Cody Morse

"Don't Telephone - Don't Telegraph (Tell A Woman)" Tex Williams _Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! 25 Greatest Hits_

"Grandpa Was A Telegraphist" Peter Denahy _Dyamberin_

"The Telegram" The Medallions _Speedin'_

"Telegraph" The Frampton Brothers _I Am Curious (George)_

conclusion & goodbye

"I Guess I'll Have To Telegraph My Baby" George J. Gaskin _The 1890's Vol. 1: Wipe Him Off The Land_

"Telegraph Melts" Jandek _Telegraph Melts_

"Telegramme" Telegram _Operator_

* original image is Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0). Image manipulated by me to add Morse code & SHR logo.

Whither Telegraphy?

(image from here)

This is going to seem unbelievable, but I recently discovered that the idea for this show came from a very unexpected place. A couple months back I decided to tackle The Sound & The Fury again. William Faulkner's novel begins with a daunting stream-of-consciousness narrative from a mentally challenged 31-year-old man who doesn't seem to be able to distinguish between now & then. The book also has characters who share the same name which requires you to pay very close attention to context. I re-read the first chapter after I read the next two, which are narrated (still rather confusingly) by the first narrator's brothers.

The third brother is named Jason (like his father) & he's a petty man, incredibly racist, indulgently so, who desperately wants to make money because of a lost opportunity from his youth. In some scenes he's at a telegraph office wanting to find out the latest information from the New York Stock Exchange. He has some choice words about how the telegraph is used by Eastern elites to screw the little guy in Mississippi.

& I think that's what got me thinking about the telegraph. It's almost unimportant to the narrative. But as someone who's never sent nor received a telegram I made me think about working in a telegraph office. & that led to today's show.

Which is on from noon to 2pm Portland time on 90.3+98.3fm here in town & online everywhere at Freeform Portland dot org. Lots of music & talk about telegraphy - but this is the last time probably you'll hear about The Sound & The Fury, at least from me.

Preface To Telegraphy: Telegraph Line

One thing I wonder is, when I first saw this Schoolhouse Rock video, "Telegraph Line," if I knew what a telegram was. I was eleven when it first aired, so probably. But maybe this little video not only taught me what a telegraph was, but also the nervous system too!

A Nice Thing Happened Today

My hounds seemed very excited today about something under our shed. My wife thought it was a raccoon. It turns out it was a very handsome Siamese cat. I went out to feed it, took a picture of it, & posted it to Next Door. That turned out to be a good thing because within the hour I had received word from someone who claimed to be its human.

& she was! She came to the house & there was this wonderful moment where she talked to the cat hiding under the shed & the cat came to her. I fucking love that, I love proof that there's a connection. The cat didn't like being put into a carrier, but what cat does? It went home with its human.

The cat went missing two days ago, it lives a half mile away & crossed a very busy street & traversed nine blocks to make its way to our shed. I'm glad it did! Every missing cat poster I see makes me very sad.

The Siamese's name is Beau. This was also a poignant moment for me. Earlier this year we said goodbye to my cat Bolan, whom I often called Bo. The idea that I might rescue a cat called Beau (pronounced "Bo") stirred up in me all the feels. At least I rescued one cat called Bo this year. God damn it.

Beau is happily back with his humans & we get a win on the scoreboard that increasingly favors sadness & tragedy. & speaking of sadness & tragedy - thank you Next Door. You enable unhappy people, racists, & reactionaries, but you are good at reuniting people with their pets. Maybe you should have stopped at that?

Rita Lee

(from her Wikipedia page)

It was a sadness to hear of the passing of Rita Lee about a week ago. As a strange coincidence, my wife was recently doing research in Edinburgh & one of her collaborators was a Brazilian who asked her, when she told him I did radio, if I knew who Rita Lee was. I guess he was in the room while we were talking on the phone. I said, "Sure, from Os Mutantes." He seemed pretty impressed.

My own experience with her music was with the Mutants plus her 1970s solo records. I didn't really pay much attention to her work in the 1980s, which was when she became a superstar & earned the title of "Brazil's Queen Of Rock." It's something I'll try to remedy in the future.

For now, I will pay tribute to her with the music I do know, & will play about an hour of her work solo, with Os Mutantes, & with Tutti Frutti, tonight on KBOO on my show Corporate Standardized Programming. It'll be a poor tribute but that appears to be the only sort of tributes I am able to give.

That's midnight to 3am Portland time on 90.7fm in town & online everywhere at kboo dot fm.

Self Help Radio 051123: Tilt

Here's a confession: this week's Self Help Radio was not live. I would've loved to do it live. I had planned to do it live. But. We got a new puppy. & the wife is out of town. & he does not like to be left alone. "But Gary," you say, "he probably needs to learn to stay in his crate yadda yadda blah blah." No he doesn't. He deserves every happiness & I couldn't enjoy two hours on the radio knowing he was barking & crying the whole time. There will be plenty of challenges in his future, I will not be one of them.

Anyway, I recorded the show Thursday. While I was editing, he & I were often playing tug-of-war. He needs to stay with me at all times because he is not potty trained. & that's another thing!

What? Radio show? Oh yeah. It's at the Self Help Radio web page (username SHR, password selfhelp). You can listen any time. The theme was "tilt." Lots of folks helped out. You can see their contributions below.

Please enjoy. It was all for the puppy.

Self Help Radio Tilt Show

"Tilt" The Howling Hex _Knuckleball Express_

"Tilted" Kristian North _Passion Play_

"Tilted" Sugar _Beaster_

introductions & definitions - featuring the Definition-O-Tron 3000!

"Tilt-A-Whirl" Leo & The Prophets _Flashback - Volume 4_

"Tilt-A-Whirl" Trapper Schoepp _Bay Beach Amusement Park_

"Tilt-A-Whirl" Glo-Worm _Glimmer_

"Tilt A Whirl" Piney Gir _Mr. Hyde's Wild Ride_

"Tilt-A-Whirl" Alyeska _Crush_

interview with tilt-a-whirl enthusiast Aubrey Tanner

"Tilted Crowd" Packs _Woah_

"Tilt" Scott Walker _Tilt_

"Full Tilt Boogie (Pt. 1)" Uncle Louie _Uncle Louie's Here_

"The Tilt" 7th Wonder _Thunder_

interview with jousting/tilting booster Sir Toby Dwyer

"Don Quixote" Gordon Lightfoot _Don Quixote_

"Tilting At Windmills" Weddings, Parties, Anything _Roaring Days_

"Tilting At Windmills" Tree Fort Angst _Last Page In The Book Of Love_

"Tilting Windmills" The High Llamas _Cold & Bouncy_

interview with Tilt Collective founders Dobbin & Bacon Tyler

"Tilt-A-Whirl" The New Duncan Imperials _Loserville_

"Tilt-A-Whirl Girl" The Push Stars _Meet Me At The Fair_

"Tilt-A-Whirl" Slobberbone _Crow Pot Pie_

"Tilt-A-Whirl" Burnside Project _The Networks, The Circuits, The Streams, The Harmonies_

"Tilt-A-Whirl" Bright Eyes _Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was_

a visit from our resident cinephile Chuck
+ conclusion & goodbye

"Tilt" Joe Jackson _Colour Collection_

"Tilt" Edward Ball _Catholic Guilt_

"Tilt You Up!" Enon _Lost Marbles & Exploded Evidence_

"Full Tilt" The Not-Its! _Kidquake_

"Tilt" The Monochrome Set _Charade_

Whither Tilt?

("Dream Of The Rarebit Fiend" Sunday strip by Winsor McCay, March 9, 1913 found here)

Yes, the theme of this week's show is "tilt." Not "tilting." "Tilt" can be a noun, you know. It just feels more like a verb. Oh look! It just now occurs to me that italics is tilted text. Wow. Um. Where was I?

In discussion with someone recently, I breathed a sigh of relief that I don't have to fill three hours with songs about a particular theme anymore. However, I do seem to be choosing themes which might not even fill two hours. & so it is with "tilt." I of course have two hours of songs which involve that word. But I couldn't have filled three hours. Not even close.

Why the theme? You might want to blame Edward Ball, since I was listening to his album Catholic Guilt a lot recently. Or maybe Scott Walker, whose album Tilt kind of haunts me. Or maybe I'll never know why I chose the theme "tilt." I just know it's happening today.

It is? Yes! From noon to 2pm Portland time on 90.3+98.3fm in town & online at Freeform Portland dot org. Lots of music! Lots of talk! Lots of tilting!

Preface To Tilt: Jousting Around

(from the Wikipedia page on jousting)

These past few days I've been a single dad & am trapped in a house with a puppy who hasn't been potty trained. It's been exhausting. So I have nothing to really say about tilting vs jousting, whether they're synonyms, or whether tilting is a form of jousting or vice versa. I do like this, from the Wikipedia entry linked above:

They met each other roughly with spears, & the French squire tilted much to the satisfaction of the earl: but the Englishman kept his spear too low, & at last struck it into the thigh of the Frenchman. The earl of Buckingham as well as the other lords were much enraged by this, & said it was tilting dishonorably; but he excused himself, by declaring it as solely owing to the restiveness of his horse.

If you had to have a subtitle for tomorrow's show, it would doubtless be "tilting dishonorably."

Four Years Ago, In Idaho

Four years ago today, we were on the road from Twin Falls, Idaho, to Portland, Oregon. My wife had a minivan with lots of stuff crammed in it - including three dogs. I had our little Prius with three cats. I documented that drive here on the blog, starting with this post. If you're curious.

So today is the four-year-anniversary of arriving in Portland. I have no regrets. I love it here. I love the people, I really love the food, I really really love the radio stations that let me help out. It's funny, I thought I might not be able to make the drive - we drove five hundred miles a day - but now I really don't think I could make that drive. But it's cool - I don't plan on going anywhere.

At some point outside of Boise - where we stopped & ate - I was falling asleep & my wife noticed & she called me (she was in front I think). It probably saved my life - or kept me from a dumb accident. But look at that road up there! Until we made it to the mountains of eastern Oregon it was a little dull. At least you could drive terrifyingly fast!

The Nicest Thing

We recently adopted a kitten & a puppy. I might have mentioned them already. We have three other animals - two dogs & a cat - all around the age of ten. The old dogs don't like the new cat but have had experiences with cats so don't mess with him. The old cat is fond & protective of the new cat. But the new puppy is generally disliked by all three of the Old Guard. So what happens?

The new puppy (Pete) & the new kitten (Bluto) become buddies, that's what happens. It's the nicest thing. They play too - it seems Pete is a little rough, but when I try to pull Bluto to safety, he goes back to play.

Last night I needed to check on Pete, & discovered him in the living room:

They just like each other. Again - it's the nicest thing! I hope it lasts.

Self Help Radio 050423: Get A Grip

Here's a caveat about this week's show as it appears on the Self Help Radio website: it's not exactly how it aired. There were technical difficulties which caused me to delay the first airbreak. I played an instrumental track while I got help. What I have shared on the website removes that instrumental track (since I talk over it during the first airbreak) which shortened the show, so I added a song at the end that was not broadcast originally.

What was important is that the funny people who add so much to my otherwise bland show got to be heard. I was afraid I wouldn't get to share their contributions. & they were great this week! If you listen at all, it should be for their creative additions.

The show is available to be listened to now at the Self Help Radio website. Remember, you'll need a username (which is SHR) & a password (which is selfhelp) to listen. Below is a list of the songs I played & a brief description of what happened during the airbreaks. For a show whose host barely has a grip on things other than the occasional whiskey glass, it could've turned out much, much worse.

Self Help Radio Get A Grip! Show

"Your Love's Got A Grip On Me" Nick Todd _Rockin' At The Hop_

"I'm Losing My Grip" The Rivingtons _The Liberty Years_

"Devil's Grip" The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown _The Psychedelic Years Revisited_

"Monkey Grip Glue" Bill Wyman _Monkey Grip_

introduction & definitions & focus group flashback # 1

"Don't Lose Your Grip On Love" Brinsley Schwarz _Nervous On The Road_

"Get A Grip On Yourself" The Stranglers _Stranglers IV (Rattus Norvegicus)_

"The Grip Of Love" Tom Verlaine _Tom Verlaine_

interview with martial arts master of many grips Jeff Piper

"Their Grip" Elti-Fits _Messthetics # 106 The Manchester Musicians Collective 1977-1982_

"Get A Grip On Yourself" Pearl Harbor & The Explosions _Pearl Harbor & The Explosions_

"The Grip Of Love" Ghost Dance _Gathering Dust_

"Grip Of Fear" The Blanche Hudson Weekend _Standing On The Lift To The Scaffold: 2009-2013_

interview with Todd Mattel, inventor of the GI Joe Kung Fu Grip
focus group flashback # 2

"Grip It" Trouble Funk _Saturday Night Live From Washington D.C._

"Grip The Mic" Ultramagnetic MC's _New York What Is Funky_

"Break The Grip Of Shame" Paris _Tommy Boy Greatest Hits_

"Grip Like A Vice" The Go! Team _Proof Of Youth_

interview with clinical psychologist Dr. Leonard Dirt

"Grip" Inspiral Carpets _The Beast Inside_

"Thorn In Yer Grip" The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa _Susurrate_

"Get A Grip" Spectrals _Bad Penny_

"Get A Grip" B Boys _No Worry No Mind_

"The Grip" Chris Knox _Almost_

conclusion & goodbye & focus group flashback # 3

"Get A Grip" A Certain Ratio _ACR Loco_

"Don't Let Go Of Me (Grip My Hips And Move Me)" Mike & Brenda Sutton _Don't Hold Back_

"Thighs High (Grip Your Hips & Move)" Tom Browne _Phat Trax - The Best Of Old School, Vol. 2_

Whither Get A Grip?

(Wikipedia says "OK Grip")

"Get a grip" is one of those themes that says to the hypothetical listener "Is Gary all out of ideas?" To which a Gary might reply, "Oh yes! A long time ago!" But this extremely hypothetical listener might press on, saying, "It's an idea, though, isn't it? Even if it isn't a good one." To which Gary almost certainly will say, "That's the tagline for Self Help Radio!"

While I can't be sure what reason I have for this theme, I believe it began with a Stranglers binge which led me to look for songs that used the phrase "get a grip," which is an idiom that one online dictionary defines as "to control one's reactions or emotions; often used as an imperative urging someone to calm down." Naturally, I didn't find enough songs I liked to make an entire show with just "get a grip" tunes, so any song featuring the word "grip" filled out the playlist. & when I thought I had enough, a show was planned.

That show airs this afternoon 12 to 2pm Portland time on 90.3+98.3fm & online at Freeform Portland dot org. & I had fun making it. That might mean it's worth a listen.

Preface To Get A Grip: (Parenthetical Titles)

(image from Discogs)

It's interesting to me that the original single for the very famous Stranglers song "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)" (which is pictured above) listed the song title as "Grip." Technically, that's true - if there are words in parentheses in a song title, you don't have to say them - which begs the question, why put them there in the first place?

This article attempts to answer the question of why that is. It points out that the Simple Minds song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" can simply be referred to as "Don't You," which I think is just dumb. Someone did compile a list which they put in their subjective "order of parenthetical charm." I'm sure you have favorites.

What was the first song to do this? I couldn't find out but I suspect it first became common in the 1960s. Some theorize it was a way to draw attention to the song if the title wasn't repeated in the song. Or perhaps it made it easier to find on a seven-inch record sleeve economically - you could just write "Sweet Dreams" instead of "Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These." A time saver of a sort. But what do I know?

One thing that has happened occasionally is that people act like some songs have parenthetical titles when they just don't. As someone who has looked at a lot of playlists over the years, I am a little surprised by this. To take two examples:

A person at one station who regularly played a certain Depeche Mode song always listed it as "(Your Own) Personal Jesus." It turns out they had downloaded the song with that title. They never bothered to check if that were the case.

A person at another station (& I've been told this is quite common) always referred to the Joy Division song as "Control." Apparently they thought the original title was "(She's Lost) Control." This is almost certainly because of the movie of the same name, which doesn't have that song on the soundtrack, but a quick look at the tracklisting of both the "Atmosphere" single (which has "She's Lost Control" as a b-side) & the album Unknown Pleasures (on which the original version exists) will note there are no parentheses in the title of that song. Still, on playlists, that person wrote that they played the Joy Division song "Control."

Personally, I just write the whole song name. Most of the time. I just noticed that last week I wrote the Rexy song as its title "(Don't) Turn Me Away." Probably just copying & pasting. I generally write "Don't You Forget About Me" or "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" without the parentheses. & when I play the Stranglers tomorrow, I won't be playing "Grip." I'll play "Get A Grip On Yourself."

New Intro Time Again Again Again Again Again Again Again Again Again Again Again!

(There's a sample from this movie in this year's intro! Image from IMDb.)

There's a good reason to make an "intro" for your radio show - it automatically separates your show from the previous one. It may also include a legal ID - you gotta have one of those - & it may show off (or cast in a bad light) your audio editing skills. I have a generic intro for the Dickenbock Report, & I play a George Carlin bit at the beginning of Corporate Standardized Programming (which is where the show gets its name) but every year, around the beginning of May, I make a new intro for Self Help Radio.

Why the beginning of May? I think it's because that's when the schedule changed at KOOP - the station in Austin where the show originated - but also probably because when the show was on a college station, like WRFL, it marked the end of the spring semester & the beginning of the summer.  Sometimes I don't get to it at the beginning of May - last year it was the middle of May, the year before that it was June - but I had some time yesterday & here it is - the new intro:

Ta-da! The 2023 Self Help Radio Intro!

Wanna hear the previous ones? No? Oh. Well, here they are in case you change your mind.

You can listen to the 2002 intro (my first!) here.

You can listen to the 2003 intro here.

You can listen to the 2005 intro here.

You can listen to the 2006 intro here.

You can listen to the 2007 intro here.

You can listen to the 2008 intro here.

You can listen to the 2009 intro here.

You can listen to the 2010 intro here.

You can listen to the 2011 intro here.

You can listen to the 2012 intro here.

You can listen to the 2013 intro here.

You can listen to the 2014 intro here.

You can listen to the 2015 intro here.

You can listen to the 2016 intro here.

You can listen to the 2017 intro here.

You can listen to the 2018 intro here.

You can listen to the 2019 intro here.

You can listen to the 2020 intro here.

You can listen to the 2021 intro here.

You can listen to last year's intro here.

It's a little weird to call this final intro on the list "last year's intro" when I played it last week. But I suppose one should think of the intros like television seasons.  That was the 2022-2023 intro; the new one is the 2023-2024 intro. But. It's too late to go back & change everything!

Belafonte

(Image from the Wikipedia*)

Harry Belafonte seemed a larger-than-life performer when I was a child. I remember how delighted I'd be when he showed up on television shows - like the Muppet Show. Later I found out more about him & it turned out he was also an awesome human being. When I was able to find & listen to his records, I loved how much he loved exploring music. As you know, he died on April 25 at the age of 96 - an extraordinary life well-lived.

On Monday nights/Tuesday morning, I have a show on KBOO. I record it over the weekend & it's mainly a chance for me to play lots of music separated from the silliness & theme-focus of Self Help Radio & The Dickenbock Report. It also gives me the ability to celebrate & remember artists we've lost like Belafonte. So for the first hour of the show tonight, I'll be playing some of my favorite Belafonte tunes from his first decade of recordings.

It's on midnight to 3am Portland time on KBOO - 90.7 fm in town kboo dot fm everywhere. I know I cannot really capture his talent in a few songs, but I did want to take the time to play his music. He was, as I've said, extraordinary.

*By Carl Van Vechten - Van Vechten Collection at Library of Congress, Public Domain,