Self Help Radio 061416: Fog

(Original image here.)

Yes, a radio show about fog.  It occurs to me I didn't mention why I was doing a radio show about fog.  The answer is, I'm not sure.  I don't know when the idea came to me or why it came to me in the first place.  Honestly, I usually don't pay much attention.  It's like I'm in a fog much of the time.

Luckily, it was perfect weather for a foggy show, & you can find that show (& maybe even some weather) over at the Self Help Radio website.  It was two hours long, but for reasons that I don't understand, I've divided the show into two, & the music in each part (but not the chatter, nor the interviews) is listed below.

Interviews!  Yes!  I interviewed a meteorologist who likes fog, a cult leader whose organization worships fog, & my own spiritual advisor, who has help lift me out of my own personal fog.  That's in the show, too!  It's not just music.  Duh.

Geez, I can't see my hand in front of my face!

(part one)

"FOG" Richard Davies _Barbarians_
"Fog" Peppermint _Keep Your Chin Up There, Sailor_
"Fog" Kristin Hersh _Sky Motel_

"Foggy Mountain Breakdown" Flatt & Scruggs _1964-1969_
"Foggy River" Bill Monroe _Bluegrass (1959-1969)_
"Foggy Mountain Top" Hasil Adkins _The Wild Man_
"Footsteps In The Fog" Ceramic Hello _The Absence Of A Canary_

"Foggy Foggy Dew" Paddy Roberts _Songs For Gay Dogs_
"Bad Fog Of Loneliness" Neil Young _Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972_
"Shadows On A Foggy Day" Flying Machine _Flight Recorder_
"Fogbound" The Smoke _The Smoke_
"Foggy Bottom" Halo Benders _The Rebels Not In_

"Foggy Notion" Velvet Underground _Peel Slowly & See_

(part two)

"Fog Song" Antarctica Takes It! _The Penguin League_
"The Fog Of Trujillo" The Lucksmiths _Warmer Corners_
"Foggin' Up The Window" Robin Luke & Roberta Shore _Robin Luke: The Complete DOT Records Singles_

"Foggy Eyes" Beat Happening _Music To Climb The Apple Tree By_
"Foggy" BMX Bandits _Bee Stings_
"The Morning Fog" Kate Bush _Hounds Of Love_
"Feel Like Snakes Twisting Through The Fog" Liliput _Kleenex/Liliput_

"Fog Bound Pinhead" Thee Headcoats _The Kids Are All Square - This Is Hip!_
"Fog Over Frisco" Yo La Tengo _That Is Yo La Tengo_
"The Fog Rose High" Craft Spells _Idle Labor_
"A Foggy Day" Lyn Collins _Check Me Out If You Don't Know Me By Now_

"Foggy Tuesday" Saker _We Can Fly, Vol. 5_
"Kisses & Fog" Pines _All Is Fair In Love & Chickfactor: CF Mixtape 1_

Whither Fog?

(Lots of fog pictures like this one here.)

Before I moved to this part of the world, an acquaintance regaled me with stories about the epic fog that happened in the Appalachian Mountains, telling me that there were times that highway 64 was closed down because of so much fog.  It reminded me of a time when I was returning from Houston - this had to be in the 1990s - back to Austin, driving down highway 290, which was at the time basically a one-lane road, & which that night was covered in fog.  There was no light save the light from my control panel in the car, & the light from the headlights was basically stopped by a wall of white just a few feet away.  I couldn't see houses or businesses I was passing, I couldn't see streetlights.  I concentrated on the yellow lines, & I drove slowly - a car could easily come out of the fog right in front of me - or worse, someone could be driving faster than I was behind me, & ram me.  Texas drivers, like every other kind of American driver, are assholes.

Something was happening in my head, & I had turned off whatever I was listening to - or, since it was a cassette, I think it came to that point on the cassette where there was silence leading to end of the side - & suddenly it was just me, the car, the headlights, & the fog.  & I reached over & turned off the headlights.

To this day I have no idea what the fuck I was doing.  I was suddenly driving a car at around 45 miles per hour on a highway in the middle of Texas in a thick, thick fog, with no lights on.  I don't know how long I did this - probably just seconds - but I felt a pain behind my eyes & said, "Shit!"  I turned the lights back on, & changed the cassette - very carefully.

There's no explanation for what happened.  Certainly I had no death wish at the time, nor was I ever prone to daredevil thrills.  Later on I wondered if there were some kind of "fog sickness" that's just as insidious as seeing a mirage in the middle of a desert.  Or if I were just a dumbass.

Speaking of me being a dumbass, Self Help Radio is on from 4-6 today on 88.1 fm, wrfl dot fm online.  I'll have a dry ice machine in the studio!

No, no, I won't.

Preface To Fog: Cloudy Days

(This image found here.)

Actually, I'm a little freaked out by fog.  I've never even seen the movie The Fog.  I think it might really freak me out.

You probably already know this but there is a Facebook page for the show, & sometimes I link to these dumb blog posts, & yesterday's Facebook post was read by & reacted to by a lot of folks.  I'm sorry the announcement wasn't more interesting.  I'll try to really have something important to announce the next time I make a big deal about announcing something.

But here's an embarrassing story: This morning I was very, very tired, but I had to take the dogs on the daily walk.  I try to walk them every morning around eight, & usually there's no one around, but today I ran into a couple & their little girl in a park with their dog, whom I had met before, & I asked about her name.  The little girl told me, & I repeated it, & I said, "Yeah, she's really fucking cute."

The parents didn't respond but I immediately felt mortified, & my dogs were barking to play with the other dog so I skulked away without apologizing.  There isn't any excuse, it was an awful thing to do, & I have been angry at myself all day for it.  I'm not going to be neighborly anymore, & certainly not with only a couple hours sleep in me.

How I wished it had been foggy this morning!

Another Damn Announcement

(Clip art found here.)

You may recall that last year I made a couple or three "announcements" on this blog.  The first announcement was in anticipation of leaving Lexington, which was a plan that fell through, as announced a little over a month later.  God, that was humiliating.

Later on, I announced that I would be doing another radio show.  That show, called Cradle To Grave, has run for twenty-four episodes, with its twenty-fifth airing this Friday.  This announcement has nothing to do with the first announcement; instead, this "announcement" has to do with the latest announcement, as kind of a booked.  That announcement goes like this:

The twenty-fifth episode of Cradle To Grave will be the last one I do, at least for now.  If you haven't heard the show, well, you're not missing anything; but if you have, you may wonder how much work goes into it.  It turns out, a lot.  It's partially my fault.  For example, a show on KOOP radio in Austin called Graveside Service, which was an inspiration for Cradle To Grave, wisely devotes its time to musicians who have died during the week of the show, not just the day of the show.  I doubled-down, in my usual unthinking way, by focusing on both death anniversaries & birthdays.  I do a lot of research, & for artists who are not band leaders or big names, I have to spend time to discover if, for example, a notable jazz bassist has played on any records I have.  It is rather time-consuming.

& honestly I can't say I have better things to do, but I do have other projects (at least one of which I get paid for) that are taking up more & more of my time.  & I don't want to sacrifice the time it takes to do Self Help Radio, which is my baby, & a show I have the most fun doing.

Therefore.  Sigh.  To reiterate: this week's episode of Cradle To Grave will be the last one I do.  At least for now.  If in the future I find myself with the free time, I'll come to WLXU, hat in hand, on my knees, begging it please, might I have another go.  But for the present, I would like to walk away from the show doing it the way I designed it, the way I wanted to do it, & not be forced to change it just because I don't have the time for it.

As always, I hope you understand.

Cradle To Grave, Episode Twenty-Four

Here's the twenty-fourth episode of Cradle To Grave!  Lots of birthdays & death anniversaries!  I am both celebratory & sad over the course of two hours!  There's not much else to say about this show!

Plus, it's weird to talk about things that happened on yesterday in history so it seems to me I am mainly archiving these shows for posterity, but perhaps June 10th means a great deal to you because it's your birthday or it's the day you died & you'd like to know what musicians were born & died on your birthday/death day.  If so, this show is for you.  & probably only for you.  Ah well.

The show is now at the Self Help Radio website, which is password protected but that information is on the page so it shouldn't be a problem.  The shows I played are below but in many cases you'll have to listen to find out just who is being celebrated/commemorated!

(birthdays)

"Barataria" Halfway House Orchestra _A Portrait Of New Orleans Jazz_
"Careless Love" Bunk Johnson's Street Paraders _The Good Time Jazz Story: New Orleans_
"I Mean You" Coleman Hawkins _1946-1947_
"Sentimental Summer" Buck Clayton's Big Eight _Buck Clayton 1945–1947_
"I Thought I'd Do It" Hattie McDaniel _The Ladies In Blues_

"The Man That Got Away" Judy Garland _The Great Ones_
"Samba De Monha Terra" João Gilberto _Getz/Gilberto # 2_
"Smokestack Lightnin'" Howlin' Wolf _The Chess Box_
"Beautiful, Beautiful Love" Schoolboy Cleve _Tuff Enuff: The Ace Blues Masters, Vol. 3_

"One Too Many Mornings" Bob Dylan & The Hawks _Live 1966 (The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert)_
"Angel Fingers" Wizzard _Let's Have A Party_
"Cannonball" Breeders _Last Splash_
"How About Hero" Kelley Deal 6000 _Go To The Sugar Altar_
"Hypocrite" Lush _Split_

(death anniversaries)_

"One By One" Jimmy Elledge _One By One_
"Three Miles South Of Cash (In Arkansas)" Carolina Cotton _Yodeling Blonde Bombshell Vol. 1_
"Giddy Up A Ding Dong" Freddie Bell & The Bellboys _The Cruisin' Story: 1956_
"Rockin' Rollin' Stone" Andy Starr _Classic Rockabilly: Hot Rock_
"One Summer Night" The Danleers _The Doo Wop Box_

"I've Got News For You" Ray Charles _Genius + Soul = Jazz_
"Fever" Earl Grant _The Versatile Earl Grant_
"I Wouldn't Give A Cripple Crab A Crutch" Gene Conners _Coming Home_
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" The Shirelles _The Best Of The Girl Groups, Vol. 1_
"Rocking Chair" Ruddy Thomas _Rocking Chair 7"_

"Nobody's Sweetheart" Jacques Gauthe _Paris Blues_
"Moon River" Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians _By Special Request!_
"Sunshine Day" Osibisa _Welcome Home_

"Love Can't Turn Around" Farley Jackmaster Funk & D. Pandy _The History Of The House Sound Of Chicago_

Self Help Radio 060716: All Yours

(Original image here.)

No, I can't say I understand the show this week.  Yes, maybe I think it failed to accomplish what it set out to do.  No, I don't believe that I know what it actually did set out to do.  Yes, I should spend more time thinking about the show's theme & less time just pulling ideas out of my ass.  No, nobody is actually asking me these questions.  Yes, I'll stop pretending someone is.

If you must listen to this show, listen for the interviews: a listener named CJ calls in; a writer named David Fruchter is interviewed; & my spiritual mentor the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently phones to warn me that I might have brought some evil back from Scotland.  You can do like my wife does & tune all the times I talk out.

The show is all yours at the Self Help Radio website.  The songs I play are below.  I'll try better next time.

(part one)

"Yours" Julie London _Sings Latin In A Satin Mood_
"Yours" Mickey & Sylvia _Love Is Strange_
"Yours All Yours (vocals Sally Gooding)" The Three Peppers _1937-1940_

"Yours Truly" Pee Wee Crayton _Pee Wee's Blues: The Complete Aladdin & Imperial Recordings_
"Yours Sincerely" Rosemary Clooney _Love_
"Forever Yours" Bobby Vinton _Mr. Lonely_
"Lovingly Yours" Mockingbirds _The Mod Scene_
"Truly Yours" The Spinners _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 6: 1966_

"Yours Love" Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton _Always, Always_
"Exclusively Yours" Rupie Edwards _Hot & Sticky: 26 Killing Rocksteady Shots_
"Yours Eternally" Don 'Sugarcane' Harris _Sugarcane_
"Instantly Yours" Bill Nelson _The Two-Fold Aspect Of Everything_

"Emotionally Yours" Bob Dylan _Empire Burlesque_
"Yours Truly" Mighty Mighty _Sharks_

(part two)

"Chemically Yours" Pilgrims _Something's Burning In Paradise_
"Sincerely Yours" Brideshead _In & Out Love_
"Compulsively Yours" The Mendoza Line _I Like You When You're Not Around_

"Take Me, I'm Yours" Squeeze _Squeeze_
"Obsessively Yours" Adorable _Sistine Chapel Ceiling_
"Incomprehensibly Yours" David Candy _Play Power_
"Accidentally Yours" Irene _Apple Bay_

"Yours Untruly" Gramercy Arms _The Seasons Of Love_
"Yours Tonight" Burnt Palms _The Girl You Knew_
"Yours Alone" Dum Dum Girls _I Will Be_
"Severely Yours" Wax Idols _American Tragic_

"Baby I'm Yours" Math & Physics Club _Baby I'm Yours_
"I'm Not Yours" Angus & Julia Stone _Down The Way_

Whither All Yours?

(I don't know what it means either, but I found it here.)

Yeah, really!  What the hell does that theme mean, "All Yours"?

To understand this theme, we need to travel back in time, 123 years in fact, to June 7, 1893.  We're also traveling over to South Africa, where a very young, very moustached Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi performed his first act of civil disobedience, causing a stir by refusing to move from segregated first class.  He was thrown off the train.

But young Gandhi was allowed to ride first class the next day, which did not stop him from becoming a pain in the butt of the British Empire, then in its height (the Empire, not its butt).  For you see, the British looked at the world & said, "It's all ours!"  & Gandhi said, "It's not all yours!"

Now, a century & twenty-some-odd years later, people from the former British Empire play Americans on television & in the movies, while many Americans see an orange-haired toad as their savior.  Stay with me, I'll make sense in a second.  I had written something down about jazz & about salt.  The salt march, I think, figured into this, or maybe it has something to do with high blood pressure.

Well, anyway, something-something & that's how Self Help Radio became all yours!  It's really a glorious story, & when I find my notes, I'll update this post.  Oh no!  The cat's eaten them.  Sigh.

Since the show is all yours, you might as well listen.  It's on from 4-6pm on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington & wrfl dot fm.  Since it is all yours, you may want to come early - there might not be a lot left at the end of the show.

Preface To All Yours: Everything I Own Is Digital

"What is 'cloud'?" asked the master.  "Have they tricked us into thinking what we own is in the air?"

The pupils looked amazed, & paid heed.

"Cloud," said the master, "is just a way for those who have to own the things they sell to those who have not."

The pupils puzzled over their master's provocative pronouncement.

"You!" said the master, pointing to a pupil, "you have bought a thing which you cannot hold in your hand!"

"It is true, master," said the pupil.  "Yet I hold its container in my hand."

He proudly displayed his cellular phone.

"Bah!" said the master.  "You do not even own that!"

The pupil looked ashamed, for it was true that he leased his phone.

"Indeed," said the master, "you should heed the words of the prophet Watterson: 'There is no cloud.  It's just someone else's computer.'"

The pupils were astonished, for the master had quoted a meme.  One pupil giggled.

"Oh stop being so juvenile," said the master.  "Like our ancestors in their dusty tomes would know a thing about computers!"

The pupils hung their heads in deference.

"All right, all right," said the master, testily.  "Go meditate or something.  Just leave me be!"

But Now I Have To Eat Twice As Much Since You're Not Here!

Says the cook to the Skype image.  The Skype image is frozen., the connection is bad  Something is cooling on the stove, & it worries him.  It's dinner for two, & there is only one person here.

The cook contemplates eating out.  He lives in a small town, but every driver seems impatient to get to the somewhere near they're going as fast as they can to get to.  He barely misses a collision on the way to get take-out.  One car, trying to change lanes to pass another car, does not check its blind-spot, & does not stop changing lanes when the cook leans on the horn like he is flattening dough.  The cook, shaken & in utter disbelief, decides to get take-out anyway.

He is the only person in the town who uses the turn single.  He is very aware of this.  He uses the turn single when he is leaving his driveway.

Household duties, once divided between two people, seem incredibly onerous now.  But as he doubles up on chores & obligations, he finds his mind is a blank when it comes to halving recipes.  Just use half the ingredients! he says to himself in the empty kitchen.  He realizes he hasn't needed to run the dishwasher for two days.

The house seems quieter somehow.  It must be, with only one person stumbling through it.  He turns the ceiling fans on in shifts, to make the air circulate in different ways throughout the day.  Thinking music might help, he plays a record he loves, & he plays it loud, but the silence between the tracks is louder, like a chasm.

Yet he has no trouble getting to sleep.  Yet he has no trouble waking up.

Cradle To Grave, Episode Twenty-Three

Back! After a month away!  I was completely unmissed!

Also I apparently beat the technical difficulties I dealt with a month ago.  I did this by doing the show on a laptop, something that I never thought I'd do.  I think it went okay - & it was surprisingly easy.  But - should radio be easy?  Maybe not.

Some great births & deaths to celebrate & commemorate today!  Available now at the Self Help Radio website!  The songs I played are below!

(birthdays)

"Bumble Bee" Memphis Minnie _Queen Of The Country Blues: All The Published Sides, 1929-37_

"J'ai Deux Amours" Josephine Baker _Exotique_

"My Heart's Delight" Dakota Staton _I Hate Cherries (Serious 50s Female Jivers)_

"Hold On This Time" Fontella Bass _I Need To Be Loved_

"Love Ain't No Toy" Yvonne Fair _The Bitch Is Black_

"Howl (Radio Edit)" Allen Ginsberg _Howls, Raps, & Roars_

"Walking By Myself" Jimmy Rogers _Blues Greats_

"Wild & Free" Curtis Mayfield _Curtis_

"Tijuana Taxi" Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass _Going Places_

"Yakety Sax" Boots Randolph _Yakety Sax_

"What A Way To Die" The Pleasure Seekers _What A Way To Die_

"Country Honey" T.Rex _Tanx_

"Little Doll (Original John Cale Mix)" The Stooges _The Stooges_

"One Of The Boys (UK Single Version)" Mott The Hoople _All The Young Dudes_

"Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?" Lloyd Cole & The Commotions _Rattlesnakes_

"Fantastic Cat" Takako Minekawa _Losing Money & Losing Friends_

(death anniversaries)

"It's Gonna Be You (vocals Ozzie Nelson & Harriet Hilliard)" Ozzie Nelson & His Orchestra _The Uncollected Ozzie Nelson & His Orchestra_

"Strange Enchantment" Skinnay Ennis & His Orchestra _Swingin' Uptown: Big Band 1923-1952_

"The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" Sam Butera & The Witnesses _Ultra-Lounge Vol. 4: Bachelor Pad Royale_

"Slow Down & Cool It" Piano C. Red _Slow Down & Cool It_

"Birth Of The Boogie" Bill Haley & His Comets _From Western Swing To R-O-C-K_

"Zorba The Greek" Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass _!!Going Places!!_

"The Rockford Files" Mike Post _Television's Greatest Hits 70s & 80s_

"Around" David Carradine _Grasshopper_

"Lonely Boy" Andrew Gold _Super Hits Of The '70s: Have A Nice Day, Vol. 19_

"Whatever I Am, You Made Me" Koko Taylor _Koko Taylor_

"Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)" Benny Spellman _Crescent City Soul: The Sound Of New Orleans 1947-1974_

"The Whole World Is A Stage" The Fantastic Four _Beg Scream & Shout: The Big Ol' Box Of '60s Soul_

"Jesus, Puerto-Rican Boxing Champion" Elodie Lauten _ Orchestre Modern_

"Sonic Reducer" Dead Boys _Young Loud & Snotty_

Self Help Radio 053116: Scottish Pop (Again)

(All album/single covers taken from discogs.com.)

All right! We get it! You went to Scotland! Enough already! Jeez! No one makes this big a deal about their vacation! Cripes! Sheesh! For fuck's sake!

Whatever.  These are great tunes from a great time in music from a great land.  Sue me if I get to process vacations on the radio & you don't.

Listen to show: here.
Username/password (important): SHR/selfhelp
Songs I played (in each part):

(part one)

"Chance Meeting" Josef K _Chance Meeting_
"Gone Wrong" Avo 8 _Gone Wrong_
"Simply Thrilled Honey" Orange Juice _Simply Thrilled Honey_

"Mattress Of Wire" Aztec Camera _Mattress Of Wire_
"Candyskin" Fire Engines _Candyskin_
"Forevermore" The Bluebells _Forevermore_
"Feathers-Oar-Blades" Cocteau Twins _Lullabies_
"Honey At The Core" Friends Again _Trapped & Unwrapped_

"Stop The Rain" Suede Crocodiles _Stop The Rain_
"Fifty Years Of Fun" Biff Bang Pow! _Fifty Years Of Fun_
"Where The Traffic Goes" The Jasmine Minks _Where The Traffic Goes_
"Dreaming" The Wee Cherubs _Dreaming_
"Upside Down" The Jesus & Mary Chain _Barbed Wire Kisses_

"King Mob" Rote Kapelle _Big Smell Dinosaur EP_
"Don't Slip Up" Meat Whiplash _Don't Slip Up_

(part two)

"You Supply The Roses" Memphis _You Supply The Roses_
"All Fall Down" Primal Scream _All Fall Down_
"Paper Wraps Rock" Momus _Circus Maximus_

"I Don't Wanna Be Friends With You" The Shop Assistants _Will Anything Happen_
"Hang-Ten!" The Soup Dragons _Hang-Ten!_
"Going To Heaven To See If It Rains" The Close Lobsters _Forever, Until Victory! The Singles Collection_
"E102" BMX Bandits _E102_
"Sign On The Line..." Fizzbombs _Sign On The Line..._

"Splashing Along" Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes _Cabinet Of Curiosities_
"Heard About Love" Big Gun _Heard About Love_
"Get Out My Dream" Clouds _Get Out My Dream_
"Forever (Swansong)" The Incredible Blondes _Where Do I Stand?_

"Not Unloved" The Pastels _Comin' Through_
"A Secret Goldfish" Baby Lemonade _A Secret Goldfish_
"Driving Skills" This Poison _Magazine_
"Jack & Julian" The Bachelor Pad _The Albums Of Jack_

Whither Scottish Pop (Again)?

(This is from Wikipedia.)

To make something very clear: I actually didn't visit any record stores when I was in Scotland.  Did I mention it?  I was in Scotland for a week!  Anyway, none of the music I will play today is from magical "finds" made in dark Edinburgh basements.  This is all music I have loved for a very long time, put under a theme ("Scottish pop") & played hopefully in an enjoyable way.

& as I explained yesterday, I have sort of done this before.  What I wanted to do on this show, was play the non-Scottish song, "Scottish Pop," by Spearmint, which you can listen to here, in which the singer namechecks several Scottish musicians/bands:

The Secret Goldfish, Edwyn C,

Nectarine No. 9, Bobby G...

Stephen Pastel, Raymond McGinley

Adventures In Stereo, Emma P,

Stuart Murdoch, Duglas T

These are truly giants of Scottish music.  In case you don't know, Edwyn C is Edwyn Collins of Orange Juice, Bobby G is Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, Stephen Pastel is the patriarch of the Pastels, Raymond McGinley is from Teenage Fanclub, Emma P is Emma Pollock of the Delgados, Stuart Murdoch is from Belle & Sebastian, & Duglas T is Duglas T. Stewart of BMX Bandits.  Most of these artists date from around the time of the Spearmint song, but as I started gathering music, I was finding that there was so much Scottish pop in the 1980s, that I abandoned my idea to base it around the Spearmint song.  Instead, my focus was going to be music much earlier.

No Scottish pop post 1980s?  That means no Secret Goldfish, Nectarine No. 9, Teenage Fanclub, Adventures In Stereo, Delgados, or Belle & Sebastian!  Oh no!  Yeah, so maybe my obsessive-compulsive self will feel like continuing the series into the 1990s.

As it stands, actually, I might not even get to bands from 1987!  You can find out how it goes by listening to Self Help Radio today from 4-6pm on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington, wrfl dot fm online.  It won't be much more than me & music, so don't expect any bells & whistles or even fake Scottish accents.  Just lots & lots of Scottish pop!

Preface To Scottish Pop (Again): What, Again?

Yes, again.

Technically - if you wanna get technical - I've never done an episode of Self Help Radio with the theme "Scottish Pop."  Oh sure, if you go to Self Help Radio's "Table Of Contents" page - it's actually more like an index, but whatever - it shows that I did a show with the theme "Scottish Pop" on the first day of the year, 2005.  That was over a decade ago, at a radio station a thousand miles away.  But!  If you look carefully, it says "Ear Candy Sub Show."

"Ear Candy" was an awesome show on KOOP that ran for more than ten years I think & was hosted most of the time by one or two women named Jennifer.  (I actually had both Jennifers precede me for a time in the slot before my old 9-11pm KVRX show in the 1990s.)  The KOOP website may still have a page for the show.  It does.  It's not much help.

Anyway, since it was New Year's Day, & since even back then it was widely known that I don't have a life, I was often asked to do radio shows on that & other holidays.  & that day, inspired by the Spearmint song "Scottish Pop", I did an entire show of, well, you know.

So, why revisit the theme again?  There are two reasons: one, I just got back from a trip to Scotland; & two, I needed a theme close to my heart that I could complete in just a couple of days.  & guess what?  Here it is!

But I suppose I'll talk more about it tomorrow.

Things To Do During A Week Without Self Help Radio

Silly!  There'll be a Self Help Radio this week!  It'll just be hosted by Matt!  & it'll be about swimming!

It's a safe bet it'll be better than a Self Help Radio hosted by Gary, so tune in!

Going Away Again

After tomorrow, this blog will be refreshingly silent - I'll be "vacationing" again, but this time I'll be away a week.  The awesome Matt Clarke, who does "The Weekend Wave" on WRFL on Fridays in the same time period Self Help Radio is in (only on Fridays instead of on Tuesdays) will be hosting.  I'll talk a little more about that tomorrow.

What shall I talk about today?  Here's a funny story: I take a particular prescription pill every day with vitamins because I must NO I'M NOT TELLING YOU WHAT IT IS, but for reasons I don't understand, I keep in a similar bottle right next to it on the shelf a bottle of muscle relaxants which I was prescribed a while back for something I don't remember NO I'M NOT BEING COY.  Today, I accidentally took the muscle relaxant instead of the regular pill so I've been sleepy all day.

Holy Pharma!  It just occurred to me that I maybe should take a couple of those so I can sleep on the plane tomorrow!  I can't sleep on planes, you see.  I'll ask the wife if that's safe.  Or if I'll be groggy for too long.  Because I am a little groggy now, & I took the pill more than eight hours ago.  I took it on an empty stomach, too.  Hmm.

Anyway, I thought had something to say today, but as the wife pressures me to pack my bags & get my shit together, I suddenly got all queasy because it's becoming real, the long wait at the airport, the flight, the reorientation - I wish it were something I could get used to.  & I might not get any sleep tonight!

Self Help Radio 051716: Attack!

(Original image here.)

Well, that was a weird show.  Hey!  I always say that the reason that I like doing Self Help Radio, especially with the concept of organizing shows around "themes," is that it forces me out of my comfort zone, where I would probably play the same stuff over & over.  This week got diverse, I tell you what!

It's also my last Self Help Radio for two weeks, so I hope you'll tune in next week when Matt Clarke, who hosts the excellent Weekend Wave show.  He'll do a show about swimming!

Meanwhile, this week's show can be listened to by visiting the Self Help Radio web page.  Just enter username "SHR" & password "selfhelp" & you'll be ready to attack.  There are two distinct hours of the show, & the songs I play for you in each hour are listed below.

See you in a couple of weeks!

(part one)

"Attack" The Toys _The Toys Sing "A Lover's Concerto" & "Attack"_
"Love Attack" Spencer Wiggins _Goldwax Northern Soul_
"Man Attack!" The Revillos _Attack!_

"Heart Attack" Don & Dewey _Shakin' Fit_
"Broken Heart Attack" Jerry Reed _Alabama Wild Man_
"Sweet Heart Attack" Dolenz Jones Boyce & Hart _Dolenz Jones Boyce & Hart_
"Heart Attack" Classic Ruins _1+1<2_ p="">"Heart Attack" The Deltas _Boogie Disease_

"Camouflage Attack" Swell Maps _Messthetics #103 ('D.I.Y.' & Indie Postpunk From The Midlands 1978-1981, Pt. I)_
"Attack" Public Image Limited _Public Image (First Issue)_
"Anxiety Attack" Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel _Sink_
"Ready 2 Attack" Special Ed _Legal_

"An Actual Attack" Negativland _Ikebana: Merzbow's Amlux Rebuilt, Reused, & Recycled_
"Asthma Attack" The Fiery Furnaces _Gallowsbird's Bark_

(part two)

"Panic Attack" Buttersprites _Buttersprites_
"Under Attack" Scout _All Those Relays_
"Tak! Attack!" Black Affair _Pleasure Pressure Point_

"Groovy Heart Attack" The Hit Parade _More Pop Songs_
"Heart Attack" Wavves _V_
"(Like A) Heart Attack" The Briefs _Off The Charts_
"Kurt Wagner's Heart Attack" Lambchop _Treasure Chest Of The Enemy_

"Delay-Decay-Attack" Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia _Indian Ink_
"Attack Music" These New Puritans _Hidden_
"Attack" Seedling _Let's Play Boys & Girls_
"Panic Attack" Atmosphere _You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having_

"On The Attack" Langhorne Slim & The Law _The Way We Move_
"97 Heart Attack" Earlimart _System Preferences_

Whither Attack?

(I found this image here.)

Oh no, this is another one of those shows for which I have no real reason why I chose the theme.  "Attack"?  Where could that have come from?

But it turns out there is a story from this, & it turns out, it's about Halloween.  What?  Listen:

Quite often I have complained (like here) that at some point I am going to run out of scary Halloween themes.  I've covered all the big ones - vampires, mummies, zombies, etc. - what happens when there are no more?  In recent years, I've managed to find ones I thought were cool though off the beaten path: graveyards, haunted houses, clowns.  As I was gathering material for this week's show, it occurred to me that I was using up a potential Halloween theme: there were many songs with the names of classic horror films, like "Attack Of The Giant Ants" or "Shark Attack."

This has happened before.  Once, I did a show about Cupid - in July.  It would've been a great Valentine's Day show.  & once I did a show about snakes, which would've been a great Halloween show.  Well, I wasn't going to let this happen again.  I took the songs that would've fit the Halloween theme out of consideration for today's show.  They'll be part of a future Halloween show.

Will it be this year's Halloween show?  Nope!  While I was fretting about wasting a theme, I came up with another one, a good one.  You'll find out what it is in October.  I wish my mind didn't work like that but damn, it does.

Meanwhile, today's show about "attack" (whatever that means) is on from 4-6 pm on 88.1 fm in Lexington & online at WRFL web site.  Spoiler alert: lots of songs about heart attacks.  That could've been an entire other theme!

Preface To Attack: Cartoonish Violence

Have a look at this cartoon, the first part of which is this:

At some point in your adult life, you'll turn around & look at the cartoons/comics you enjoyed when you were a kid, & you'll be astonished at all the violence in them.  Sure, the violence is exaggerated - it's a cartoon, after all - but boy, is it weird from an adult perspective to, say, see Lucy constantly beat up her little brother Linus, or, as the comic above illustrates, see Homer Simpson choking out his son.

This is not an attempt to blame cartoons or comics for violence, or to suggest there's a desensitization at work, or anything like that.  When I was a kid, I was pretty aware they were not real.  But there is real violence in the world, & especially violence toward children, & boy does the cartoon violence translate badly into the non-cartoon world!

Validation! (or is it) Confirmation!

Do you remember back here when I wrote this:

My brain believes that when certain memories I have are put somewhere else - saved in a journal, or a letter, or an email, or anywhere other than my brain - it (the brain) can safely forget them, or store them someplace obscure in the dusty vaults of the mind.

It turns out that scientists have been studying this for some time now.  This article, for example, says outright that "We know we can depend on Google for information, so we don't bother remembering it."

Another study I read this weekend - which I can't find anywhere right now - basically had a group of people memorize answers to trivia questions, & were told that some of the answers could be found via search engine while some couldn't.  The subjects of the study were more likely to remember the answers they were told they couldn't find online later.

The strange thing is, a lot of these studies feel familiar to me, so think I've read these articles before.  Thus, this probably isn't "my brain theory" at all, but the results of scientific studies I once perused which correspond with my own experience.  But why can't I remember reading them in the first place?

Oh yeah - I knew they were online.

What Is Vacation, Anyway?

There are many reasons why I might not like vacations.  One is, simply, that at home I am surrounded by everything I love, not the least of which are my dogs & cats, who (usually) can't come with.  A second might be that I grew up quite poor, & didn't ever take vacations as a child.  It just wasn't something we did.  When my mother would go back to Germany - she took me once, when I was six - it was to visit her family.  When I went again, in 1992, at the age of 24, I was bored out of my mind.  I didn't speak German well, I didn't really know anyone there, & my mother was at home, so when I suggested sightseeing, she understood it to mean I was taking her away from being with her brother & sister & their kids.

When I finally started  going other places when I was in my twenties, I didn't understand a lot of the common things folk did on vacation.  First & foremost, flying seemed out of the questions.  Why fly when you could rent a car? Never mind that that took much, much longer - flying seemed a luxury.  Another thing: hotels.  When I drove to see my friend Dale in Los Angeles, in 1995, I dropped off my girlfriend in Moab, Utah (that's a long story), & made the trek across Utah & Nevada toward the Bay Area.  When it seemed obvious I wouldn't make it in one go, I didn't find a cheap motel outside Reno to hole up in - I slept in the car.

That was half my life ago.  Whether I am better or not about traveling is a matter of debate - my wife likes to boast she is always the last person on the plane, while just contemplating such a situation increases my blood pressure to dangerous levels.  Hotels remain a weird, uncomfortable place for me - & not just because someone else was sleeping here the night before - or bedbugs, or whatever,  but just because they're not places I was ever made familiar with as a kid.  & don't get me started about Air B&B!

Luckily my wife, who was raised in a more affluent family, navigates this world better than I do.  She has to put up with my anxieties (which she mocks me for) & my occasional nervous outburst, but she knows what she's doing & most importantly knows she's in charge.

As for enjoying the vacation - oh good lord, how does one do that?

Self Help Radio 051016: Forgetting

(Original image here.)

Hooray! I remembered to do a radio show!

Probably I've thanked Jenny enough for the suggestion.  There were so many songs that I could've filled four hours if four hours were mine to fill.  Can you believe Self Help Radio was once an hour long?

Here's something I do at the end of each day: I keep something like a diary or journal.  It's not full of deep thoughts - don't really have those - but rather it's a list of things I did that day.  I imagine one day when I read over it, I'll be puzzled (or saddened) by my meaningless waste of days, or my memory will fill in the blanks (which may still leave me puzzled or saddened).  One thing I will do is mention what television shows I may have watched that day.  I always forget them.  I can't even rely on a particular show that's on a particular day because I DVR most shows & watch them later.  Even if I've taken two hours to watch a movie, I will struggle at the end of the day to remember which movie it was.  Such is my brain.

But you know what?  I know the words to lots of Elvis Costello songs.  A fair trade-off?

Before I forget: the show about forgetting is over at Self Help Radio website.  It's in two parts.  What's in each part is below.

That's all I can remember that I wanted to tell you.

(part one)

"Forget" Mission Of Burma _Forget_
"Forget" Witches _Forever_
"Forget" Ed's Redeeming Qualities _It's All Good News_

"Forgive & Forget" Acid House Kings _The Sound Of Young Sweden_
"Forgive & Forget" Making Marks _A Thousand Half-Truths_
"Forgive & Forget" I Was A King _Old Friends_
"Laughter & Forgetting" David Sylvian _Gone To Earth_

"How Can I Forget" The Temptations _Emperors Of Soul_
"Forget About That Mess (Part 1)" The Marvels _Absolute Funk, Vol. 4_
"The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget" The Raindrops _The Best Of The Girl Groups Vol. 2_
"You Won't Forget Me" Sandie Shaw _Sandie_
"Clean Forgot" The Cannanes & Steward _Communicating At An Unknown Rate_

"I Keep Forgettin'" David Bowie _Tonight_
"True Love Tends To Forget" Bob Dylan _Street Legal_

(part two)

"I Forgot To Remember To Forget" Elvis Presley _The Sun Records Sessions_
"I Can't Forget" Leonard Cohen _I'm Your Man_
"I Don't Mind If You Forget Me" Morrissey _Viva Hate_

"Amnesia" The Mekons _Rock & Roll_
"Teach Me To Forget You" Lyres _Lyres Lyres_
"Everyone Will Forget You" Watoo Watoo _This Is Stereophonic Sunshine_
"Forget" Burnt Palms _Back On My Wall_

"Forget You All The Time" Cloud Nothings _Cloud Nothings_
"You Forget So Easily" ExLovers _You Forget So Easily_
"Have You Forgotten The Bomb?" Barcelona _Zero One Infinity_
"Forget The World" Kleenex Girl Wonder _Ponyoak_

"Should God Forget" The Psychedelic Furs _Book Of Days_

Whither Forgetting?

(I found this image here.)

The reason I'm doing a show about forgetting is simple: Jenny suggested it!

That seems crazy, doesn't it?  You can just email me or call me during the show & I'll do a show based on the theme you thought of?  That's some kind of craziness!  But it isn't.  I will always assume your ideas are better than mine because, you know, I am intimately familiar with my ideas.  They are usually bad ideas.

So: today you can listen how Self Help Radio ruins Jenny's idea for a show!  It's on from 4-6pm today on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington + also too online at wrfl dot fm.  I hope you remember to listen, but, you know, if you don't - fair enough.

Preface To Forgetting: My Stupid Brain Theory

This is a theory of the brain I have, which I am certain is stupid, & which may apply only to me, & which I don't have any evidence to back it up with except my own personal experience, & which I haven't actually gone out & read anything to try to support it, possibly because I am afraid I am wrong.  So it's probably best called the Narcissistic Gary Brain Thought-Thing.  Here it is:

My brain believes that when certain memories I have are put somewhere else - saved in a journal, or a letter, or an email, or anywhere other than my brain - it (the brain) can safely forget them, or store them someplace obscure in the dusty vaults of the mind.

The most recent example of this happened when I was re-reading this short story I wrote over twenty-five years ago.  It's a sad truth that I one time wanted to be a writer - but, as this blog demonstrates, it's obviously not something I was ever good at.  But in the story, I described something that had really happened to me, involving my mother & a relative.  It was a somewhat traumatic experience, & it shook me - I was accused of something I hadn't done, & luckily my protestations of innocence were accepted.  But I hadn't thought about it for years - probably not since I wrote the story.  How could that be?

Because my brain said, Oh, he wrote this down. Put that somewhere way down. Let's make more space for Bob Dylan lyrics!

It gets worse: now that my brain knows that I can access almost any information on the little computer I keep in my back pocket, it stores in difficult-to-access parts of itself things that I really should know.  I couldn't bring immediately to mind the director of It's A Wonderful Life the other day!  Frank Capra!  How hard is that to remember?  Not hard at all!

Honestly, it'll only get worse.  & it could just be old age, or alcohol use, but I suspect we're all experiencing some aspect of this in our lives.  We know we have access to so much information that we used to either have to keep in books or in our brains.  No more.  If I can't remember that guy that was in that film, I can describe the film in a search engine & it's better than any recall I've ever had.

Forgetting, alas, is the future.  Let's just hope we don't forget how to work the external brains that will have more information than we would ever need or want.

Not Another Movie Review!

No, of course not.  But I did see Captain America: Civil War this afternoon, & my only comment here, since this isn't a movie review, is that it was the Marvel movie I have enjoyed most since the first Avengers movie.  (Well, not counting Deadpool, but that didn't feel like it took place in the same universe.)

Instead of a movie review, here's a movie experience review, sort of like I wrote here.  The experience today was nowhere near as unpleasant as that, but I was surrounded by (all male) geeky types whose (mostly happy) comments I could hear as they whispered to each other about different things in the movie.  To my direct right were two young men who, before the movie & during the credits, talked about the comic series from which Civil War was drawn, how exciting certain comic book movies were on cable ("Dude! Fantastic Four is on HBO Go!" "Dude! Is it any good?" "Dude! The first half is!"), & random comments about how the various preceding movies related to one another.

Not to suggest this hindered my enjoyment of the movie - they weren't rude or anything.  I was just bemused by it all, as if I were somehow better.  & then - sigh - during one of the scenes with the Scarlet Witch & the Vision, I leaned over to my wife & said, "In the comics, those two get married."

My wife couldn't have cared less.  But I thought to myself, Oh no! Me too!

Look: I knew it all along.  I was just amazed at how, in middle of my eye-rolling, I so quickly, in that element, reverted to my core geek mode.

Cradle To Grave, Episode Twenty-Two

This is a post-mortem.

Normally I post a recording of the radio show I do on Fridays, Cradle To Grave, on the Self Help Radio website on Saturdays.  I don't expect anyone will listen, but it's part of my ritual.  I put SHR up on Wednesdays, CTG on Saturdays.

But there's no recording of the show on the website right now.  That's because I only did half the show.  If you listened, you'd know why.

When I do my radio shows, I usually bring up CDs.  I have stuff on vinyl, but I usually digitize it before I bring it up.  What that means is that some of the CDs I have are home-burned.  I buy mp3s, I download stuff, etc.  & you know what?  Some CD players don't like home-burned CDs.

During the show, in the last quarter-hour, one CD player started skipping during on song.  I interrupted, I played another song - hey, I have more than enough stuff for the rest of the show, I have birthdays & deathdays I don't get to.  But when I used the CD player again, it skipped again, with a different CD.

Okay.  This CD player - which worked fine for me the last two shows I did - in the same room! - was rejecting now my burned CDs.  I thought about doing a total John Peel & trying to do the show entirely from one player - I'd have to talk while I was changing out CDs.  But then!  The second CD player started skipping.  It was the end of the hour.  I decided not to suffer through an entire hour with the uncertainty of the CD players rejecting my CDs.

At WRFL, I would have had a backup - I bring stuff on a flash drive - but I don't know if I can play songs at LXU from the computer that has the automation on it.  So I just said "uncle."  I apologize for that.

Here's what the second hour would have looked like:

"Piccolo Pete (Parker Gibbs, vocals)" Ted Weems & His Orchestra _Marvellous!_ (ASV)
"Happy Days Are Here Again (vocals by The Rollickers)" Ben Selvin & His Orchestra _Sony Music 100 Years: Soundtrack For A Century_
"Don't Let The Rhythm Go To Your Head (Let The Rhythm Go To Your Feet) (Chu Berry, vocals)" Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra _Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra_
"Waterworks" Kai Winding Sextet _Early Bones_
"Mountain Greenery" Barney Kessel _Music To Listen To Barney Kessel By_

Death commemorated here were Ted Weems, songwriter Milton Ager, saxophonist Franz Jackson, Kai Winding, & Barney Kessel.

"Lili Marlene" Marlene Dietrich _Marlene Dietrich_ (Habana)
Venus" Dickie Valentine _The Joe Meek Story, Vol. 5: The Early Years_
"I'll Be Home" Flamingos _The Complete Chess Masters_
"Daddy Rollin' Stone" Otis Blackwell _Chicken Shack Boogie, Vol. 3_
"Sweetback" Viola Wills _Sister Funk_

Death commemorated this set were Marlene Dietrich, Dickie Valentine, Paul Wilson of the Flamingos, Otis Blackwell, & Viola Wills.

"The Road Is So Long" Carey & Lurrie Bell _Second Nature_
"Can I Get A Witness" The Steampacket _The In Crowd: UK Mod R&B-Beat, 1964-1967_
"Blowin' In The Wind" Stevie Wonder _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 6: 1966_
"Emma" Hot Chocolate _Super Hits Of The 70s: Have A Nice Day, Vol. 14_

Deaths commemorated here were Carey Bell, Mickey Waller of the Steampacket, Clarence Paul singing with Stevie Wonder, & Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate.

The last song I was going to play was in remembrance of one of my heroes, Grant McClennan, who died ten years ago, May 6, 2006.  I would've played "Cattle & Cane" by the Go-Betweens.

Next week I'm out of town but I don't know what I'm going to do in two weeks.  I have resisted bringing up a laptop - that has its own problems.  Right now I'm going to concentrate on the next Self Help Radio.  Otherwise I'm get frustrated all over again.

Self Help Radio 050316: Bees

(Original image here.)

Since I've started inviting my funny friends on my show, I've had not-so-much time to occasionally be serious about things that matter to me, & one of those thing is of course the decline of the bee population.  There isn't quite a consensus about the cause - some say climate change, some say pesticides, & there are other theories.  What seems clear is that humans are responsible in a very clear way, & that's sad indeed.

Since I couldn't say this on the show - no time! - I have said it here.  Sometimes dumb radio programs are where people find out important things.  However dumb the show was, though, I hope it was entertaining where it couldn't be thought-provoking.

You can listen now at the Self Help Radio website.  Pay attention to the password stuff, it's on the front page.  I played a bunch of songs, they're listed below, in the section of the show where you can find them.

Here's hoping you enjoy!

(part one)

"Why Does A Bee Buzz?" Marais & Miranda _More Nature Songs_
"Busy Bee Boogie" Hal Serra & Carol Marks _Animal Hootenanny_
"Buzz Buzz Buzz" Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers _Back In Your Life_
"New Bumble Bee" Memphis Minnie _Queen Of The Country Blues: All The Published Sides 1929-1937_

"Flight Of The Bumble Bee" Harry James & His Orchestra _Swingin' The Classics_
"Queen Bee" John Lee Hooker _The Classic Early Years 1948-1951_
"Bee Sting Stings" Tullycraft _City Of Subarus_
"Humble Bee" John Wesley Harding _The Confessions Of St. Ace_

"Happy Yellow Bumblebee" Of Montreal _The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy_
"Honeybee" Girlfriendo _One_
"Like A Honey Bee (Honey Bee)" The Carousel _abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz_
"A Sleepin' Bee (from House Of Flowers)" Diahann Carroll _American Musical Theatre: Shows, Songs, & Stars, Vol. 3_

"Beehive" Boss Hog _Boss Hog_
"Taster Of The Honey (Not The Keeper Of The Bee)" The Jones Girls _The Music Merchant Story_

(part two)

"Beestung" Kristin Hersh _Hips & Makers_
"The Bees (The Bees)" His Name Is Alive _Stars On ESP_
"Honey Bee" Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon _The Golden Torch Story (A Collection Of 18 Classic Northern Soul Shakers)_

"Honey Bee" Jon & Robin _Elastic Event_
"The L.S. Bumble Bee" Peter Cook & Dudley Moore _We Can Fly, Vol. 1_
"Beeswing" Richard Thompson _Mirror Blue_

"Ohio Town Saved From Killer Bees by Hungry Vampire Bats" Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo _Strange But True_
"I'll Be The Bee" Ruth & Al _Crescent City Soul: The Sound Of New Orleans 1947-1974_
"Tumble Bee" Karl Blau _Shell Collection_
"See Sea, Bee, & Me" Guitar _Sunkissed_

"Muscle Belt" Bearsuit _Muscle Belt_
"Leisure Bees" Tacocat _Lost Time_

Whither Bees?

(This image is from the Wikipedia bee page.)

This is a bit embarrassing - I am not entirely sure why I am doing a show about bees.  Sometimes someone will call the show & suggest a theme, & occasionally someone will email & ask for us to explore a theme, but more often than not, it's just some dumb observation I make that leads to a theme.  Although I am noticing some memory slippage as time goes by, & my drinking probably destroys more brain cells than television, I cannot for the life of me remember why I thought about doing a show about bees.

Don't get me wrong - they're super cool animals.  There are a bunch of songs about "the birds & the bees," the old euphemism parents once used to cover the embarrassment of talking to their children about human sexuality, but I avoided those songs for this show, since they're not really about bees themselves.  What those songs reminded me of was the sixth grade - when our science class covered actual birds & bees.  I remember my twelve-year-old self wondering if this was what was meant by "the birds & the bees."  Or if I should be digging deeper?

Look at that!  I can remember impressions I made when I was a child, but I can't think about what might have happened in the last few weeks that said to me, "Hey! Do a radio show about bees!"

Oh well.  All I know is that there are great songs, I have good, funny interviews, & best of all the show can't sting you!  Listen from 4-6pm on 88.1 fm in Lexington & you can listen online everywhere at the WRFL web site.

How different is this show from a show I did three years ago with the theme "buzz"
?  Oh no, I recognize two songs from that show I may play today!

Preface To Bees: EpiPens

In a couple of the fake interviews for this week's shows - these are parts I might have edited out, because I tend to edit out my own contributions, whittling them down to more or less pertinent questions for my funny friends/guests - I mentioned that I was allergic to bees.  But I have a confession to make: I don't know if I am.  I have never been stung by a bee.

Why would I say, & actually believe, that I am allergic to bees?  Because once my mother told me I was.  That was it!  I'm sure she was telling me that I had a dangerous allergy because she wanted me to be safe, & not to fuck around with bees, creatures that might sting me if I stupidly put my hand into their hive or something.  My mother is pretty much afraid of everything, & that fear was quite easily passed down into all her children.

& you know what, it worked!  It worked so well that I have never been stung by a bee.  I remember watching in awe as a middle-school friend not only got stung by a bee (I was so freaked out I almost cried) but calmly took the stinger out of his skin.  He looked briefly at it as if it were as threatening as a splinter & tossed it away.

As threatening as a splinter!  My mother once told me I absolutely had to get splinters out of my skin as soon as possible because otherwise they'd continue traveling downward, get into the blood vessels, & make their way to your heart, where one tiny splinter could stab & stab & stab you until you fucking died.

If she felt that way about a splinter, imagine what horrors a bee sting could inflict!  Honestly, I don't even know if my mother knew about allergic reactions or going into anaphylactic shock or any of that shit.  She just erred on the side of being terrified of the entire world & made sure to burden us with her suspect wisdom at every opportunity.

The weird thing is how long it took me - well into adulthood - to figure out how bogus it was.  Take, for example, fire ants.  Fire ants would bite you until you died, said my mother, & that's why you should be careful walking around them.  Only, my little brother once stood in a fire ant hill, got bitten all over his legs, was in a lot of pain, was covered in calamine lotion for a night, & didn't die.

It's a testimony to how much a child relies upon the parent that I didn't call my mother out after my brother lived.  Because when I saw those ants crawling all over him, I thought he was going to die.

Anyway, bees.  I'm still afraid of bees, & actually most insects that are larger than a dime.  & who knows?  Maybe I should carry an EpiPen with me.  For all the hell I know, out of the thousands, if not millions of things my mother told me that turned out to be hysterically wrong, she might be right about this.

New Intro Time Again Again Again Again!

With the exception of 2004 - who the hell knows what was going on then - there has been a new Self Help Radio intro each year at some arbitrary time - usually when the station begins a new schedule.  But since the show premiered in October, the first intros probably happened then.  I have no idea when they moved to May.  Probably when KOOP started a new schedule at the beginning of May.  Anyway.

The WRFL Summer Schedule starts - when?  Oh yeah, May 8.  That felt weird to me, having a new intro being the second week of the month.  So I made this year's intro today.  Hope you don't mind!

This Tuesday, around 4pm, you will hear this:

The Self Help Radio 2016-2017 Intro!

Whee!  Hooray!  Huzzah!  Good lord!  Oh no!

& in case you care, here are the intros from shows of self help past:

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.

Finally, even if you're sick of it, here's the intro I've been using for the past year.


Strangely, I have no idea if anyone listens to these or enjoys them or pays any attention.  But if you do, I hope this year's intro pleases you.  You're going to be hearing it for fifty-two or so weeks!

Cradle To Grave, Episode Twenty-One

From Duke Ellington to Jerry Seinfeld, from a blues great who died young to a synthesizer freak who lived a long life.  That's this week's Cradle, & that's this week's Grave.

Perhaps I should say something about Mick Ronson.  Of all the folks whom I played this week, he's probably the one I've listened to - really listened to - the longest.  My friend Russell made me a Bowie tape when I was thirteen, & even though I don't think "Moonage Daydream" was on it, there were definitely tracks from four of the five albums Ronson played guitar on for Bowie.  So even though I know Ronson had a solo career, & worked with many others (including Dylan), I can't separate him from the life-altering guitar work he did with Bowie.

Why do I feel the need to explain my choices?  I don't know.  But though I think the flow of this show is a bit clunky, I like the music I played.  I hope you like it too.

The show sits, sighs, & waits for you at the Self Help Radio website.  The births are in the first hour, the deaths in the second hour.  The songs played on the show are below.

(birthdays)

"Tourist Point Of View" Duke Ellington & His Orchestra _Duke Ellington's Far East Suite_
"Do It Again" April Stevens _Ultra Lounge, Vol. 6: Rhapsodesia_
"Autrefois" Pink Martini _Hang On Little Tomato_
"Baby Don'tcha Worry" Tammi Terrell _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol 6: 1966_

"K&H Boogie" Big Jay McNeely _The Hoy Hoy Collection: Rock Before Elvis_
"I Can't Quit You Baby" Otis Rush _The Essential Otis Rush: The Classic Cobra Recordings 1956-1958_
"Lost John" Lonnie Donegan _The Collection_
"A New Way To Cry" Willie Nelson _Willie Nelson 1961_
"Punchy Wunchy Wickey Wackey Woo" Hasil Adkins _The Wild Man_

"Crimson & Clover" Tommy James & The Shondells _The Complete Singles Collection_
"Dizzy Dizzy" Can _Anthology - 25 Years_
"A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing)" Romeo Void _Instincts_
"The King Of Joy" Bill Drummond _Creation Soup Volume Four_
"Men & Women" Jerry Seinfeld _I'm Telling You For The Last Time_

(death anniversaries)

"When The Sun Goes Down" Leroy Carr _When The Sun Goes Down, Vol. 3: That's Chicago's South Side_
"Mississippi Road" J.B. Lenoir _Folk Music In America, Vol. 7: Songs Of Complaint & Protest_
"Choo Choo Ch'boogie" Kenny Roberts _Rockabilly & Hillbilly Hell Raisers_
"Pastures Of Plenty" Cisco Houston _Cisco Houston Sings The Songs Of Woody Guthrie_
"The Home Of The Blues" Sammy Lawhorn _Rockin' Rhythm & Blues From Memphis_

"You Took Advantage Of Me" Miff Mole & His Little Molers _Echoes Of The 20s & 30s_
"Muddy Miss" Jimmy Jones Big Eight _Jimmy Jones 1946-1947_
"The Strut" James Moody _Wail Moody, Wail_
"Yellow Dog Blues" Cat Anderson _Plays W.C Handy_

"Dune Buggy" The Surfaris _Fun City, U.S.A._
"Penny Lane" The Beatles _1967 - 1970_
"Love Heals" Colours _Love Heals_
"Moonage Daydream" David Bowie _The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars_

"Relay Circuit" The Copper Plated Integrated Circuit _Plugged In Pop_

Self Help Radio 042616: Indiepop A To Z # 50

(I got all the album/single cover images from discogs.com.)

Here's a confession about this show, my fiftieth (!) entry in my indiepop a to z series: I fucked up twice.  In my first airbreak, a WRFL member just came sauntering into the deejay room - even though the "on air" light was bright red outside - as if it were the most natural thing in the world - & did whatever she was doing in there.  Then she left.  It totally threw me off my game.  I lost my train of thought, I got irate, & I just went straight to reading a PSA.  That is preserved in the airbreak of the show.  Sigh.

What isn't preserved is the end of the next-to-the-last airbreak wherein I forget which CD was in which player, & accidentally didn't play the Lightning Seeds song that was supposed to be next.  I very clumsily stopped the song I played instead, & stumbled on-air trying to figure out where the errant CD was, & got lucky on the second try.  But you know what?  I edited that out of the show now on the website.  Because I can do that!

Because sounding terribly unprofessional is something I should really only do once a show, especially since I sound awful unprofessional most of the rest of the time.

In any event - here it is, the second episode of indiepop L, now at the Self Help Radio website, in two delicious parts, in for real alphabetical order.  You know about the password, right?  It's on the front page.  You know what songs I played, right?  Well, they're right below this.

Be twee.

(part one)

"Love & Understanding" Legendary Hearts _In A World Like This..._
"Bigfoot" The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group _Sniff_
"Nothing To Be Done" The Legends _Up Against The Legends_

"Maple Leaves (7" Version)" Jens Lekman _Maple Leaves_
"Nemo's Land" Lemon Curd _Nemo's Land EP_
"I Wonder If I'll Ever See You Again" The Leopards _I Wonder If I'll Ever See You Again_
"Any Day Now" Leslies _Moshi Moshi (Pop International Style)_
"Pop Love" Let's Be Honeys _Popsongs For My Poor Self_

"Three Limbs" Let's Go Naked _Three Limbs_
"All Happy Endings" Let's Whisper _The Shortest Days_
"We Are The Men You'll Grow To Love Soon" Let's Wrestle _In The Court Of The Wrestling Let's_
"Rotten Love" Levy _Rotten Love_
"Kitchen At Parties" Jona Lewie _On The Other Hand There's A Fist_

"Don't React" Liberty Ship _The Matinée Summer Splash!_
"Kind" The Liddles _Welcome To The Wetherbeat Scene 1988 - 1991_

(part two)

"Postcard" Liechtenstein _Survival Strategies In A Modern World_
"Inside Out" Life Studies _Homeward 7"_
"The Leanover" Life Without Buildings _Any Other City_

"Yard Sale" Lifestyle _At The Risk Of Sounding Pretentious_
"Big Shoe Boy" Ligament Blub Brothers _Big Shoe Boy 7"_
"Yuri's Hair Salon" The Legendary Len Liggins _Yuri's Hair Salon_
"Springtime" The Lighthouse Keepers _The Exploding Lighthouse Keepers_
"Everyone I Know" Lightning Love _November Birthday_

"Pure" The Lightning Seeds _Cloudcuckooland_
"He's Not A Boy" The Like _Release Me_
"New York" Like Honey _Leaves_
"Office Rock" The Lil' Hospital _Heavy Metal_
"I Went To The Dance" The Lilac Time _& Love For All_

"My Heart Bleeds" Lilac Trumpets _The Sound Of Leamington Spa, Vol. 6_
"Any Place I've Lived" Lilys _A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns_

Whither Indiepop A To Z # 50?

Holy springtime, there will soon be fifty of these?  & we're still in the letter L?  By that calculation, I'll finally be done when...  let me see...  carry the seven...  pie are square...  ah!  When there are no more radios & global warming will have changed us all into happy blob creatures living in nutrient-rich saunas.  So - 2032?

Yes, it's the continuation today of the ridiculous indiepop a to z series.  We started the letter L last time, & will begin with the Scottish band Legendary Hearts.  Where will it end?  You'll have to listen to find out.  Fans of lists, alphabetization, & indiepop may enjoy themselves.

Today, from 4-6pm, on 88.1 fm WRFL, & simultaneously online at wrfl dot fm.  Lots of great music from musicians you may have never heard before.  That's one of the things radio is good for!

Preface To Indiepop A To Z # 50: Show Math

Here's something I was thinking about when it hit me that I have done almost fifty episodes of this weird "indiepop a to z" series: what percentage of the total shows I have done are these episodes?

At one time I tried to keep a count of the number of Self Help Radio shows I've done.  That was something I was usually too lazy to update, but once I added a "table of contents" (really, a list of the shows) to my website, it became easier for me.  Using a line counting function in BBEdit, I have a rough number: 716 shows.

Please understand, these are not 716 different themes - I have repeated themes, like Christmas & Halloween shows, & I re-visit a theme on the show's anniversary.  But it does mean around 716 different episodes of Self Help Radio.

Is that number correct?  Probably not, but it's a decent ballpark estimate.  In the thirteen & half years I've done Self Help Radio, it makes sense that I would've done around 700 shows.  I imagine I've done around forty-eight shows a year, counting time off.  Some years more, some less.  Sometimes I've had to take breaks because I've changed stations or cities.  That happens.

The math gets easier, then: fifty indiepop a to z shows out of seven hundred shows equals about seven percent of Self Help Radio shows.  Probably less, but it's a nice number.

Should I do more?  Maybe every three months instead of four?  Because, you know, at this rate, I'll never finish.

Heck, tomorrow I won't finish the letter L!

Who Here Knows The Best Way To Get Illegal Drugs In This Town?

Once upon a time, there was a dealer.  The dealer was not only a distributor of illegal drugs, he was also a user of same.  This dealer however just sold marijuana, in a state where the drug was illegal.  He was a nice enough sort, easygoing in the clichéd manner that people imagine potheads are.  In fact, when they thought about it, most of his customers would swear they had never seen him angry.

But a select few of his clientele had seen him angry.  In fact, those few, after witnessing his blow-ups, realized that his constant, uninterrupted use of marijuana probably had an unintended purpose: yes, it was getting & keeping him really high, but it also appeared to keep a magnificent lid on a terrifying anger problem.

Why did the dealer get mad with only these few of his customers?  It was because of one word.

Notice that he was referred to in the first paragraph above as a "distributor of illegal drugs."  He would not refer to himself in that way.  It's because he did not think of marijuana as a drug.

But if marijuana were not a drug, what was it?  He had a ready answer for that: "It's natural," he would say.  "It's found in nature."

If you were to casually refer to him as a "drug dealer," the drug dealer would flip out. "It's not a drug!" he would scream.

Most folks - because they wanted their drug in the form of the marijuana being sold - would simply recoil, unaware they'd made a faux pas, though used to the legendary sensitivity of drug dealers, & say, "Sorry, man, I didn't mean it!"

But one time, a younger man, a new customer, perhaps, one who had actually grown up with an older brother with a bad temper, & the mother he inherited it from, this person didn't react in the same way.  He saw it for what it was: a weird, irrational, defensive freak-out.  After the dealer had screamed his piece, his eyes bulging out, his mouth open, his face an unusual shade of red, this customer calmly took out his phone, punched something into it, & then read out loud, "The marijuana plant contains the mind-altering chemical delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is a drug."

The dealer, unused to being gainsaid or challenged in any way, said, "That - that doesn't make it a drug, a chemical name."

The customer punched some more things into his phone & said, "Drug, noun.  A medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body."

The dealer just stood there, looking quite confused.

The customer turned to go.

"Wh-where are you going?" the dealer said.

"I know what you're going to say," the customer said.  "I grew up with people who fly off the handle.  You're just going to tell me to get the fuck out."

"But," said the dealer somewhat plaintively, "don't you want your pot?"

Cradle To Grave, Episode Twenty

From Kentucky to India.  That's the path this week's Cradle To Grave took.  I don't know if that's good or not.  I was chatting with a very opinionated someone about college radio in general last week, & he told me there were two defining characteristics of that media: the inability to read & the lack of flow.  He said, "Whenever college students have to read something on the radio, they make you wonder how they got into college at all."  He later complained that every college deejay thinks it's funny to, say, play a pretty classical music piece, & then follow it with a black metal song.  "I wish," he said, "it could be put into their brains how many people change the station in disgust."

Naturally, I have begun to worry about this show.  Since I have no control over who was born or who died on a particular day, I have to work with the material fate gives me.  One solution might be for me to do what the late, great John Peel did, & chat briefly in-between every song, but I think I speak for the universe when I say nobody wants that.

How bad could it be?  As an example, in the last set of the show, I played a rock & roll tune from the 1960s & followed it with a folky song.  I don't think it flowed all that well.  But I wanted to play both songs before the end of the show.  & I thought, "Well, they're both women singers, so..."

Please, hypothetical listener, don't change the station in disgust!

The show, which is about April 22, even though it's no longer April 22, is now at Self Help Radio's website.  It's in two parts, birthdays & death anniversaries, & what I played is below, although sometimes the musician being celebrated or commemorated is not the main artist - so you might want to listen to find out who it is!

"Trademark On What I Found" Bob Gallion _MGM Hillbilly, Vol. 2_
"Way In The Hee Hi Hoo" Lemon Nash _Papa Lemon: New Orleans Ukulele Maestro & Tent Show Troubadour_
"Wichita Lineman" Glen Campbell _Wichita Lineman_
"Black Diamond Bay" Bob Dylan _Desire_

"Better Get Hit In Yo' Soul" Charles Mingus _Mingus Ah Um_
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" Mel Carter _The Best Of Mel Carter_
"Sweet Jamaica" Laurel Aitken _You Got Me Rockin' (The Blue Beat Years 1960-1964)_
"Boogie'n With George" George Smith _Now You Can Talk About Me_
"Nosey Joe" Bull Moose Jackson _Badman Jackson That's Me_

"Zulu King" Cannibal & The Headhunters _Land Of 1000 Dances_
"I Can Fly" The Herd _The Complete Herd_
"Tempted" Squeeze _Spot The Difference_
"The SAS & The Glam That Goes With It" Earl Brutus _Tonight You Are The Special One_
"Confusion" New Order _Palatine, Vol. 2: Life's A Beach_

(death anniversaries)

"Hoola Boola Dance" Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools _The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records, Vol. 1: 1917-1927_
"A Monday Date" Earl Hines _Louis Armstrong & Earl Hines 1928: The Smithsonian Collection_
"Boy! What Love Has Done To Me!" Jane Froman with Al Goodman & His Orchestra_ Those Wonderful Girls Of Stage, Screen & Radio: Original Records Of The 30s_
"Love Can Change The Stars" Victor Marchese & Jane Powell _Reaching For The Moon_
"All I Have To Do Is Dream" The Everly Brothers _Classic Everly Brothers_

"Calling Jesus" Rev. Louis Overstreet _His Guitar, His Four Sons, & The Congregation Of St. Luke Powerhouse Church Of God In Christ_
"Witches Brew" Marilyn Cooper, Leslie Uggams, Barbara Sharma _Hallelujah, Baby! (Original Broadway Cast Recording)_
"Moon Over Rio" Robert Farnon _Betty Page Jungle Girl Exotique Music_
"I Only Have Eyes For You" Jimmy Bee _Los Angeles Soul: Kent-Modern's Black Music Legacy_

"Joycie Girl" Don Pullen feat. Sam Rivers _Capricorn Rising_
"High Flying Bird" Richie Havens _Mixed Bag_
"Is There Anything I Can Do" The Ashes _The Peanut Butter Conspiracy: Spreading From The Ashes_
"The Rebel Girl" Hazel Dickens _Don't Mourn - Organize! Songs Of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill_

"Bhajan In Raga Pilu" Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman _Violin_