Self Help Radio 072023: 1987 (Continued)

(images from Discogs)

Here ya go. Two more hours of my favorite music from 1987. (This is continued from a show earlier this year.) It can't be stressed any more how important a year this was for me. & if I were doing radio then - which I wasn't - it would've sounded very much like this.

Listen to the show at the Self Help Radio website. Use the username SHR & the password selfhelp to do so. There are no interviews or anything this week, it's all music & a couple of memories. The song list is below.

Oh, to be 19 again. I bet I'd stick fuck everything up!

Self Help Radio 1987 (Continued) Show

"Gary's Song" American Music Club _Engine_

"Return To Yesterday" The Lilac Time _The Lilac Time_

"Julie Profumo" The Cleaners From Venus _Going To England_

"Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me" The Smiths _Strangeways, Here We Come_

"In Spite Of These Times" Close Lobsters _Foxheads Stalk This Land_

"A Million Miles" The Wedding Present _George Best_

"Fish" Throwing Muses _Lonely Is An Eyesore_

"Wrong Wrong Wrong" Fastbacks _...And His Orchestra_

"Ahead" Wire _The Ideal Copy_

"Lips Like Sugar" Echo & The Bunnymen _Echo & The Bunnymen_

"Heartbreak Beat" The Psychedelic Furs _Midnight To Midnight_

"Jennifer She Said" Lloyd Cole & The Commotions _Mainstream_

"Luminous Times (Hold On To Love)" U2 _With Or Without You_

"What Went Wrong This Time?" The Siddeleys _What Went Wrong This Time?_

"Ask Johnny Dee" The Chesterfields _Kettle_

"If I Said" The Darling Buds _If I Said_

"Sally Cinnamon" The Stone Roses _Sally Cinnamon_

"Sign On The Line..." Fizzbombs _Sign On The Line..._

"Beats + Pieces (Mo' Bass Remix)" Coldcut _Beats + Pieces_

"Christianity Is Stupid" Negativland _Escape From Noise_

"Masterhit (Part I & II)" Front 242 _Official Version_

"Neo Geo" Ryuichi Sakamoto _Neo Geo_

"The Model" Big Black _Songs About Fucking_

"Mandinka" Sinéad O'Connor _The Lion & The Cobra_

"Bury Your Love Like Treasure" The Blue Aeroplanes _Spitting Out Miracles_

Whither 1987 (Continued)?

Hey look. It's a picture of me. Up a tree. Probably in January 1987. I grew my first real beard that winter. & shaved it off sometime before spring. Also I am wearing a Sid & Nancy tee shirt. I saw that movie at the Varsity theater in Austin in the fall of 1986. I have no idea where it went. The tee shirt I mean. The Varsity closed in 1987 I believe. It later became a Tower Records. I'm not sure what it is now.

This week's show forgoes all the interviews & other silliness to continue playing music I love from 1987. It's a very important year for me. Sure, I was in college & learning & all that nonsense, but also I was spending what little money I had on music.

The first 1987 show aired in January on KBOO, which is where Self Help Radio was at the time. You can listen to it here. At least look at the playlist so you won't think today that I missed something. This is a continuation. While I was listening to songs this week I started getting panicky about that. Don't make me panicky about that!

The show is on today, Thursday, noon to 2pm on Freeform Portland which in town is at 90.3+98.3fm & is online everywhere at freeform portland dot org. Again, mainly music with a smattering of memories. A good time is guaranteed for some.

Preface To 1987 (Part Two): Another 1987 Anecdote

This might be a story I've told before. I warn you, it has some hateful language in it. I apologize but it's kinda the punchline. So. It's necessary I think.

This happened to me in 1987. I was 19 years old. I came back to Garland on Spring Break, which would have been mid-March. I was in my second semester of college at the University Of Texas At Austin. Most of my family lived in Garland, Texas.

Having nothing to do one day I wandered over to where my sister Pat & my brother-in-law Dan lived. That's the very house up there, as it looked a few years before Pat died. They mostly thought me unusual but my sister in particular felt family should look out for family. My brother-in-law did not like me, thought me arrogant & thought my dislike for manly endeavors like working on cars made me soft. He was always trying to get me to do things like chop wood, things I wasn't very good at, which then left me open for humiliation & mockery. To his credit, my brother-in-law didn't seem to enjoy making fun of me as much as my brothers did. My little brother lived with Pat & Dan at the time.

We hadn't had a good relationship for most of our teens, my little brother & me. Around the time I began to be obsessed with music & comics, he took a different route & found people to play basketball with. He felt like he was in a competition with me & I didn't really feel that way at all.

Anyway, as I stepped into Pat & Dan's house that March day in 1987, there was some commotion. I was told to go up to the crawlspace at the top of the house - it wasn't an attic, I mean, you can see in the picture above. I was instructed by my brother-in-law to hold a pipe. There had been a freeze which had damaged a pipe & someone needed to prevent the pipe from leaking while repairs were being made. I had the proper skill set for such a task & Dan knew it.

How long I lay up there I don't know. I am afraid of bugs so I worried a spider or something might crawl on me. Occasionally Dan would say "You okay up there?" so I knew I wasn't being forgotten. I let my mind drift, played some songs in my head, & began to notice the temperature rising.

At some point, my little brother poked his head into the crawlspace. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," I said.

Without any real preface, he blurted out, "I bet I've fucked more girls than you have."

I started laughing. He said, "What? What?" - thinking I was somehow putting him down.

"If you have fucked one girl," I told him, "you've fucked more girls than I have."

His face, from what I could see looking down the narrow crawlspace, had a confused look. I wasn't playing the game correctly, you see. I was supposed to say "Nuh-uh!" & counter with some bullshit or other. But I hadn't played that game with him or anyone in a long time.

He didn't quite know how to respond. So he just said, "Faggot," & disappeared.

Plane

Sometimes I take pictures in lieu of journal entries. I don't save all the photos I take but I save some. Like the one above. What is it a photo of?

Unfortunately, I have no context. It was taken on this day in 2014 in Lexington, Kentucky. I was almost certainly attracted by the worn-out sign, by the failure of the bottom part to indicate where the airport was.

Where was I? Possibly on the road, maybe New Circle Road. The other pictures I've saved from that day do not give me any clues. & how is that helpful as a journal? It's not.

Look at this:

This is a picture taken in my front yard. It indicates to me I didn't really go anywhere that rainy day.

So where did I take the picture? Probably in my neighborhood. Is it a mystery? It is not. Not at all.

Yes Buffet

Here is a photo I took in Grand Prairie, Texas, in March. I titled it "My philosophy - the sign."

It's this place. I didn't think I would enjoy the place & we didn't eat there - just stopped long enough to take the picture. I still haven't really gone into a sit-down restaurant to eat - I mean technically I did during that visit - but in one case, we sat in the patio area & I put my mask on as soon as I was done eating, & in the second case, we were the only people in the place.

There were two great buffet places in Austin I kinda miss. One was an Indian restaurant which we used to cater our wedding. The other I think was called Shanghai Palace & they helpfully kept the vegetarian food on a separate - what would you call it, cart? table? buffet row?

Shanghai Palace is long gone, but the other place, Star Of India, is still there, on Anderson Lane, near one of the Alamo Drafthouse satellites. Before I became vegan, my favorite thing there - besides the saag paneer - was these - were these - that sounds better - were these Indian tater tot things filled with cheese. Never seen them anywhere else.

Nothing I've read about Yes Buffet suggests they have such innovations - or that they segregate (or even offer) vegetarian/vegan food.

But what a sign!

Self Help Radio 071323: The Dumb Show

(Original image here)

Dumb show? More like FUNmb show, amirite? Oh that was dumb.

My week of computer hell continued yesterday with my laptop deciding to malfunction a half-hour before the show, so I began the show in a kind of panic. You may recall I was having issues with my web host last week - they appear to have been fixed without any input from me, which validates my original belief that it wasn't anything I was doing wrong - so computer fuckery came home to haunt me. But. No matter how dumb I was, how dumb the things happening to me were, how dumb ultimately everything I do is - the dumb show aired & that's all I could hope for. Gosh I'm dumb.

You can get in on all this dumbness by visiting the Self Help Radio website. Remember, to listen you'll need a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp). The entire show can be downloaded for later, & everything that happened is mentioned below.

Hey! You're not dumb I'm dumb!

Self Help Radio's Dumb Show

"Dumbbell" The Cadillacs _The Complete Josie Sessions_

"Dumb Head" Sharades _Let's Go - Joe Meek's Girls!_

"Young, Dumb" Curtis Blandon _Lost Deep Soul Treasures Volume 1_

introduction & definitions

"Dum Fun" Bonnie Hayes with the Wild Combo _Good Clean Fun_

"I Love You, You Big Dummy" Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band _Lick My Decals Off, Baby_

"Dumbo The Flying Elephant" Joan Gerber _The Story Lady_

"The Dumb Waiters" The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast _Can't Stop It! Australian Post-Punk 1978-82_

"Dumb" Poprace _Clear EP_

interview with self-described dumb person Wendy Ebersoll

"Dum Dum Girl" Talk Talk _It's My Life_

"Yeah, I'm Dumb" Grover _My Wild Life_

"The Dumb Gay Friend" Patton Oswalt _Finest Hour_

"We Play Dumb" Shampoo _Girl Power_

"Dum Dum" The Vaselines _The Way Of The Vaselines: A Complete History_

interview with Winston Evers, who has a "solution" for dumb people

"Poor Dumb Bird" Ida _Ten Small Paces_

"Big Dumb Man" John Maus _A Collection Of Rarities & Previously Unreleased Material_

"Teenagers Are Dumb" Jen Kirkman _Hail To The Freaks_

"Young & Dumb" The Lucksmiths _Warmer Corners_

"Dumbhead" The Shermans _In Technicolor_

interview with Walter Edwards, who likes dumb people

"Dumb It Down" Pernice Brothers _Discover A Lovelier You_

"Young & Dumb" The Soft City _The Soft City_

"Dumb Things" Doug Benson _Potty Mouth_

"Sticky Dumb Gum" Tada Tátà _Tada Tátà_

"Don't Act Dumb" Sonny & The Sunsets _Hit After Hit_

interview with Webster Engels, who doesn't like the word dumb

"Dum Dum" The High Violets _Heroes & Halos_

"Dumb Baby" The Coathangers _Nosebleed Weekend_

"Hey Dummy" The Exbats _E Is 4 Exbats_

"Dumb Dad?" John Heffron _The Better Half_

"Life Is Hard, But Life Is Hardest When You're Dumb" Austin Lounge Lizards _Small Minds_

conclusion & goodbye

"Dumb All Over (live)" Frank Zappa _Have I Offended Someone?_

"Dummkopf" Parsnip _Health 7"_

"Dumb" The Beautiful South _Quench_

Whither The Dumb Show?

(image from the Wikipedia)

First of all, I do know what a dumbshow is. Says the Wikipedia,

Dumbshow, also dumb show or dumb-show, is defined by the Oxford Dictionary of English as "gestures used to convey a meaning or message without speech; mime." In the theatre the word refers to a piece of dramatic mime in general, or more particularly a piece of action given in mime within a play "to summarize, supplement, or comment on the main action"

In the Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance, Michael Dobson writes that the dumbshow was originally "an allegorical survival from the morality play." It came into fashion in 16th-century English drama in interludes featuring "personifications of abstract virtues & vices who contend in ways which foreshadow & moralize the fortunes of the play's characters."

This week's Self Help Radio will not be a dumbshow. It will be a dumb show.

Second of all, that just means lot of song featuring the word "dumb." But not dumb meaning "mute," instead dumb meaning "not very smart." Depending on how mean-spirited you're feeling, you could say a "dumb Self Help Radio episode" is redundant, or to be expected, or the norm. Please insert your favorite insult here. But really I was just digging lots of tunes that featured "dum" or "dumb" or "dummy" & thought wow it would be really dumb to do a dumb show. & so I shall.

When? Today! Noon to 2pm Portland time!
Where? In Portland! On 90.3+98.3fm!
But also! Online at freeform portland dot org!

It's not really for me to say but I think it might be dumb to miss it.

Preface To Dumb: Bumper Stickers

Isn't it fascinating what people will put on their cars? Imagine that one thought - Baby Boomers Are Dumb - so resonated with this driver that the sticker was purchased & put in a place where anyone driving near could read it & where it would be particularly hard to remove. I've never removed a bumper sticker before but I assume it's hard to do. It must be a pain.

For the record, I have two bumper stickers on my car. One is a Freeform Portland bumper sticker, one is from a local place & it says "Vegan, I heart you." The vegan one was the first bumper sticker I have put on a car since I had my first car back in the 1980s.

One friend I had put lots of band stickers on his car back in the day. I didn't have a car by then & so I might've done that. Family members put bumper stickers that said things like "Whoever dies with the most toys wins." It's like putting a one-liner by a comedian on your car - "Take my wife, please!"

& I've never made bumper stickers for Self Help Radio. Who would want one of those?

Learning How To Be Supportive

(Portland is supportive)

Some people are kind. Some people are kind & clear-sighted. Some people are kind & pragmatic. I confess that I think I am kind but I am neither pragmatic nor clear-sighted.

Oh damn I am judgmental. I approach things after the judgment. That can be so harmful. I will do almost anything for a friend (my wife has some stories she finds infuriating) but it doesn't mean I won't think that it's not necessarily the best thing I can do.

This is my way of saying I need to learn how to be supportive without the judgment. I have a friend who is amazing in this manner. I asked that person's advice today. It was so simple & it hadn't occurred to me. It bypassed so much judgmental bullshit.

Once upon a time, I found myself presenting in front of a group of people an orientation for one of the radio stations at which I volunteered. It was entirely by accident. We hadn't planned who would talk first. So I got up & talked & I said what I believed: that community radio is a marvel, a sacred space (in the most secular definition of sacred). Media is depressing & sad, it's anonymous, even public radio sounds the same from show to show, but the idea that you can come to a community radio station & do the show you want to do - that anyone could do that - that's as precious a belief as I can hold.

A person from the station afterwards came up to me & said, "You're so critical of so many shows, it was amazing to hear you talk about how great the station is." & I thought, "It's because I may not like the shows but I love the idea of community radio. I will fight for this station & all community radio stations."

My conversation today suggested I focus less on the subtle general criticism & more on the idea. In that way it might be inspiring. In that way it might be more helpful.

In that way perhaps I am learning how to actually be supportive.

Goldilocks

("Story of Golden Locks" by Seymour Joseph Guy from here)

Last week's Self Help Radio - a show about locks - featured a visit from our favorite librarian, Carole, who talked to us about the history of the story of Goldilocks, & also two books exploring the story in different ways.

The evolution of the Goldilocks story discussed was found in large part in this article from the Toronto Public Library.

She talked specifically about two books:
Goldilocks & The Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems
& Professor Goose Debunks Goldilocks & The Three Bears by Paulette Bourgeois & Alex G. Griffiths

What? You didn't hear Carole's segment? You can listen to the show at the Self Help Radio website. & after she talks, I play a bunch of Goldilocks songs!

Self Help Radio 070623: Locks

Apologies for the delay. I have been having issues with my web hosting company & what appears to be some change in their FTP protocol. There have also been some exceedingly condescending tech folks, one of which actually asked me, "Have you tried turning it off & then turning it back on again?" If you download the show this week, it'll be from my Guggol Drivel. It's a band-aid but I hate not having the show out there somewhere, even if no one really listens to it.

It was a show about locks! There were songs! Interviews! Goldilocks! Lockers! A guest locked in a room! So much that is probably wrong that maybe I should be ashamed! But I am not! What do I care! It's my radio show! I have funny people who help me! I am not shackled to your ancient ideas about shame!

Ahem. Okay. Well. You can listen to the show at Self Help Radio Web Central. It's actually not called that. It sounded cooler in my head. Everything on the show is below. I'm gonna lock myself away for a while now, chatting with people half a world away about why file transfer protocol just suddenly stopped working for me. You know, when I can still upload things to Guggol Drivel!

Enjoy.

Self Help Radio Locks Show

"Who Stole The Lock From The Hen House Door" Otto Gray & His Oklahoma Cowboys _Serenade In The Mountains_

"I'm Gonna Lock My Heart" Carmen McRae _Sings Lover Man & Other Billie Holiday Classics_

"Unlock The Lock" Jimmy Nelson _Unlock The Lock: The Kent Records Story, Vol. 1_

introduction & definitions

"Locking Up My Heart" The Marvelettes _The Complete Motown Singles | Vol. 3: 1963_

"Locked In A Room" The Poets _Beat It... (Killertracks From The Roarin' 60's)_

"Lock Me In Your Heart" The Apollas _The Best Of Loma Records: The Rise & Fall Of A 1960's Soul Label_

"Behind Locked Doors" The Missing Lynx _The Psychedelic Experience Vol 3 (Psychedelic Illusions)_

"Locked In Your Love" Dee Dee Warwick _I Want To Be With You The Mercury Blue Rock Sessions_

interview with locksmith to the stars Steve Lassiter

"Behind That Locked Door" George Harrison _All Things Must Pass_

"Wedlock Is A Padlock" Laura Lee _Women's Love Rights_

"Locked-In" Firehose _Ragin', Full-On_

"Locks & Bolts" The Carousel _I Forgot To Remember To Forget_

"Locked Out Of The Love-In" One Thousand Violins _Locked Out Of The Love-In_

our favorite librarian Carole stops by to talk about Goldilocks

"Goldilocks & The Three Bears" Rosemary Clooney _Memories Of You_

"Gold Locks (feat. Jean Grae)" MC Frontalot _Question Bedtime_

"Goldilocks & The Three Bears" Joan Gerber _The Story Lady_

"Goldilocks" Don French _Saints & Sinners Vol. 6_

"Goldilocks Zone" Grass Widow _Internal Logic_

interview with Steve Lockwood of Lockwood's Lockers

"Locked In A Room With Betty" P. Paul Fenech _Daddy's Hammer_

"Locked Groove" Kitty Craft _Beats & Breaks From The Flower Patch_

"Locked Away" Robert Forster _I Had A New York Girlfriend_

"Love Lock" The Bad Signs _Black Magic Moments_

"Lock The Locks" The Streets _Computers & Blues_

interview with Sandra Lewis, host of the In A Locked Room podcast

+ conclusion & goodbye

"Lockdown" Soft Regime _Hard Feelings_

"Lock On The Door" Audacity _Hyper Vessels_

"Lock, Stock, & Teardrops" Wednesday _Mowing The Leaves Instead Of Piling 'Em Up_

"Macbeth Witches Scene" Christopher Keown _Macbeth_

"It's Locked Away" Band Of Susans _Wired For Sound_

Whither Locks?

Though it's true there was a Self Help Radio episode about keys once upon a time, & that some of the songs (naturally) mentioned locks, there was never been a full episode about the noble lock, without which the key would have a meaningless existence.

Shall we ponder the ambivalent lock, which may protect our belongings but also take away our freedom? Oh indeed we shall! With many songs, stories, & interviews! & it won't cost a thing - not even a lock of your hair - because it's on the radio!

But why, you may ask, is there a radio show about locks at all? Was I locked in a closet a goodly portion of my childhood? Is it impossible to unlock my heart, to discover my true feelings? Should I be locked away once & for all for the betterment of our world? Were these reasons for a radio show about locks? Or did I simply hear a bunch of songs about locks & then think, hey, that might be a good idea for a show? I don't suppose we will ever truly know.

What is true: Self Help Radio airs from noon to 2pm Portland time this afternoon on 90.3+98.3fm in town & online everywhere at Freeform Portland dot org. For a show about locks, it is key that you listen.

Too corny? Yeah, I'm feeling bad about it already.

Preface To Locks: Locks On The Gates Of Empty Houses

There's a street in my neighborhood that has at the very least three empty houses - I call them "ghost houses" although I don't believe in ghosts - & I'm not entirely sure they're all completely uninhabited. The owners of my favorite ghost house come by the spring & early summer to tend to a garden on the property, for example. & one of the ghost houses has a suspiciously well-kept lawn. But I think they're all mostly empty. & there could be many reasons why.

One empty house (not on this street but very near) suddenly had repair crews & all kinds of remodeling going on after many months of just sitting there, & a neighbor told me that the house had been owned by two siblings who fought about its fate - one wanted to rent it out, the other to sell it. They were in a stalemate until one of them died - the one who wanted to rent it out. The house was fixed up & sold. So you see. Why they're empty is all speculation.

Though I do suspect at least one of them has a very old occupant who is passing their last days in the home they've lived in for decades & it's dark & lonesome & quite terrifying in there. Mainly it's terrifying because I think it could be my fate. Especially if in my old age I can't afford the internet.

My favorite ghost house, though, is fenced all around, but the fences are locked with a padlock. That's the picture above. Taken this afternoon. Not that I'd sneak in. I felt I was trespassing leaning over the fence to take this picture!

Fireworks

As the day ends, jerks in our neighborhood, not caring about all the animals they might frighten nor the fires they may cause, explode fireworks into the night.

My dog Pauline comes to me, panting, just terrified. I do my best to comfort her.

Yay America.

Brötzmann

(image from Wikipedia)

Free jazz legend Peter Brötzmann died on June 22. I became an admire only after I was completely baffled by his work. & I was lucky enough to see him perform live in Austin in the early parts of this century.

Tonight in the last hour or so of Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO, I'll play some of his work. I haven't heard all of it. Some of it didn't resonate with me. Some of it I find fucking transcendent. In most cases I find it fascinating & challenging. What a life!

Midnight to 3am on KBOO - 90.7fm & kboo.fm. If you can tune in.

Self Help Radio 062923: Howard Gently Year One

Sorry for that terrible graphic. I have not a lot of time today. Anyway, my friend Russell would have chuckled at it. I hope.

On the show I explain the whole premise, but suffice it to say, as a tribute to my dear friend, who died two weeks ago, & who gave so much to me, to my life, to my dumb radio show, I played the first eleven times he appeared on Self Help Radio as the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently. I found myself laughing out loud in the studio yesterday & that helped a little. He made me laugh for four decades, I am so glad I have recordings of him being funny, he can make me laugh for the rest of my life.

The Howard Gently Spectacular can be listened to now at the Self Help Radio website. Please remember to use the username SHR & pass the password selfhelp in order to download & listen. There's also the Corporate Standardized Programming episode from Tuesday if you find the KBOO website interface weird - if you download the show, you can fast forward to the parts that interest you. What happened on the show is below.

There'll be another Howard Gently Tribute before too long.

Self Help Radio 230629: Howard Gently Year One

"Know You" Russell Miles _Know You_

"Split Up The Money" Vic Godard & The Subway Sect _Twenty Odd Years: The Story Of Vic Godard & The Subway Sect_

"Split" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: February 28, 2014_

"This Is A Test" Wendy James _Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears_

"Test" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: March 3, 2014_

"Summer's Melting My Mind" The Go-Betweens _78 'Til 79: The Lost Album_

"Melting" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: March 14, 2014_

"Breathless" X _More Fun In The New World_

"Breath" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: April 11, 2014_

"Watch Her Disappear" Tom Waits _Alice_

"Disappear" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: May 1, 2014_

"You Just Can't Push Me (demo)" The Cars _The Cars_

"Push" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: May 16, 2014_

"Sunny Afternoon" The Kinks _Face To Face_

"Afternoons" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: May 30, 2014_

"Needles In The Camel's" Brian Eno _Here Come The Warm Jets_

"Needles" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: June 6, 2014_

"The Devil Ain't Lazy" Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys _San Antonio Rose_

"Laziness" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: June 13, 2014_

"Lemon & Lime" Herman's Hermits _Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter_

"Limes" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: July 4, 2014_

"Seven African Powers" Russell Miles _Six Tunes By "Russ"_

"Candles" The Rev Dr Howard Gently _SHR: July 18, 2014_

Whither Howard Gently Year One?

On the Self Help Radio website, the theme today is "Russell." That was very much the theme of this week's episode of Corporate Standardized Programming, which aired on KBOO on Tuesday. That show featured many of my late friend's songs, pranks, & musical choices, along with the bits he created with me for Self Help Radio. It was both exhilarating & emotionally exhausting to celebrate my dear friend in this manner. I have still hours of material of his I could go through. But I thought I would concentrate, on Self Help Radio, on the character he created for the show.

It became apparent as I listened, chronologically, to his bits, that I couldn't pick out my favorites. That I couldn't condense into two hours what was years of work. I know he did have his favorites & I know there were some he wasn't particularly excited by, but to me that was the idea - let's watch the character change & grow, let's listen when sometimes he wasn't as funny as his genius moments. Let me celebrate it all.

Many moons ago, Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli had a celebrated comic series called Batman: Year One. It told the story of, well, the first year that Bruce Wayne operated as the Batman. It has become a story idea that DC Comics has done for many characters - & even places - there was recently a Gotham City: Year One. It took place in the 1960s. I decided to co-opt the term & make it literal - I am playing today every time Dr. Gently appeared on Self Help Radio in the first year - starting in February, 2014. There were 19 Dr. Gently spots that year - I doubt I will get to them all.

To break up the bits, I'll play songs from each show that I either know or suspect Russell liked. I knew his musical taste very well - he helped build the foundation for my musical taste - so that was easy. The hard part will be trying to keep my emotions from exploding while listening to my friend, whom I will never get to talk to again, make me laugh over & over & over.

The show airs from noon to 2pm on Freeform Portland. In town that's at both 90.3+98.3fm & online it's freeform portland dot org. It will feel a bit different from other shows. Because it's about an extraordinary person & the gift he gave me & my dumb radio program.

Preface To Russell: The Road To Howard Gently

Sometime in early 2014 I was looking to make a change. I had been doing Self Help Radio for twelve years & I could've kept doing it the way I was - the show was much like the Dickenbock Report is now, without the silly conceit of being a newscast. But I wanted to add something new to it. Much like the bifocals & mustache that changed Dr. Gently up there, I wanted something that might have seemed cosmetic but which would transform the show a little.

What I wanted were interviews with "experts" about each week's theme. I knew it wasn't an original idea, but I felt like it might help the show become closer to being actually entertaining. There would still be lots of music, I'd almost certainly continue talking a lot, but if I could just entice friends of mine who were actually funny to help...

Russell was probably the first person I asked. He wasn't trained in improv & he didn't much like the idea of doing a different character a week, but he quickly came up with the character of the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently, a Deepak Chopra-esque New Age charlatan with whom I, as a host & acolyte, would be completely taken in by. He would be of indeterminate age - in some interviews, he discusses being a young man in the 1960s - & of often indeterminate wisdom - one of his funniest lines would be, after reading something obviously from the Wikipedia, Gently would say, "& I'm not reading this, Gary." He would often have slips of the tongue which, like much malapropism, would be unfortunate & often offensive. & he would be very focused on wringing as much money out of me (& you, if possible) as he could.

Gently appeared on Self Help Radio from February 2014 until last October. I went through his first year & discovered he appeared on the show nineteen times in eleven months. We might discuss what Gently might say before recording & I would sometimes crack Russell up with suggestions, but he hardly ever used my ideas. Instead, he'd slip into character & go whichever way his comic instincts told him he should. They were always right. I wish I'd saved our longer interviews because he would crack me up & then my laughing would crack him up. We had so very much fun doing these.

After listening to nineteen Gently appearances I knew I couldn't go through six or seven years worth of faux interviews & make it out alive. So instead tomorrow on the show I'll focus on the first year of Howard Gently. & return again soon to more of his funnies. How can I not play every time he appeared on the show? Gently was born on Self Help Radio, he made Self Help Radio something better, he needs to be remembered on Self Help Radio. Starting from his first appearance.

Corporate Standardized Programming Brother Russell Show

(image of "Brother Russell" from the back of his second CD, found here)

Last night (or this morning - it's been a long day) I paid tribute to my friend Russell on my KBOO show Corporate Standardized Programming. You can listen to the show here.

That is of course not a picture of Russell. I have a vague memory of him showing it to me when he found it. I realize now looking at it, I didn't center it properly when I edited it. Oh well. He was always a little off. He might appreciate that joke,

The show was not easy to do. We don't often have literally hours of recordings of people we will never see again. In some cases, I was present when the recording happened. I have memories of Russell sharing his recordings with me. For one of his songs, he shared with me early mixes. I was always one of his biggest fans. My only regret is I couldn't find one of my favorite songs of his. If I do find it, I'll play it on Self Help Radio on Thursday. I'll discuss my plans for that show tomorrow.

Maybe there's some things you'll discover about Russell, maybe you'll like his songs, maybe there's a prank call you hadn't heard yet. I think he might be a bit embarrassed by all this, which is fine. He should've promoted himself more. Or picked better friends to promote him. Because as you know about my own self-promotion, I fucking suck at it.

Okay. Gotta get to work on Thursday's show.

Radio Filled With Brother Russell

Tonight on my show on KBOO, Corporate Standardized Programming, I'll play lots of pranks featuring the woman on the left up there, the venerable Melba Jackson, as well as interviews I conducted with the fellow on the right up there, the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently. The person in the middle of that picture is my friend Russell, who is no longer with us. He will be represented by lots of music he wrote & recorded. He was a very dear friend, a person whom I knew for decades, who shared so much life with me that it's strange & sad that he's not here to do that anymore.

Pranks & music & improvised radio interviews. & more? It'll happen midnight to 3am on 90.7fm KBOO Portland, kboo dot fm.