Preface To One Night Only: One More Night

Above is a picture of my two boy cats, Boone & Bolan.  I know virtually nothing about how animals remember, or whether they feel loss, or whether they even notice their sister is gone.  We tried to show them her body after she died, but they weren't interested.  & I am the first to admit I am reading a great deal into their actions today, but they seemed a bit listless, & they spent a great deal of time together.  More than they usually do?  It seemed that way to me.  But all I could think about today was my cat Bronte's absence.  So I expected that that's what they feel.

The theme for this show is "one night only."  I never thought I'd be thinking about moments in my life in relation to the theme.  But though I know that all my animals will go at some point, that there will always more one last night, & though I guess I knew that Friday was my one last night with Bronte, I wish I could have one more night, with her happy & well, & me free of the sadness of knowing it was our last night.

Alas, that's not possible.  & grief, grief is such a tenacious fucker.  So forgive me if I dwell, if I look for her in my other animals, in my day, in what occupies my mind.  She was so beautiful & she was always around.  Her absence is felt like I've lost some part of me, or worse, some sense, the sense I had that complemented by sight, hearing, smell, taste, & touch.  & it's no more.

Another Loss

We said goodbye to our beloved Bronte this morning.  That picture above is from her 14th birthday, which was barely a month ago.  She was beset by all manner of ailments, as I described previous on this blog here & here, but recently her kidneys began to fail, & despite our best efforts, it progressed too fast & took her from us with very little warning.

There's so much more to write about her but I have been crying & grieving all day long, & of course spending time with her remaining siblings.  Something about loss makes one feel acutely aware there's not enough time to love the ones you love so you try to make up for it.

If I were a poet or a musician, I'd write songs about her, so sweet & magical was that unbelievably fuzzy cat.  To think when she turned up on our doorstep twelve years ago I thought we didn't need another cat!  My wife knew better, & this morning, after her death, we looked at the hundreds of photos we have of her, & remembered her in healthier, happier times.

Our beautiful fuzznika.  I hope she knew how loved she was.

Home Ec

(image from here.)

In middle school - in eighth grade - I took a Home Economics course.  I don't remember too much about it except a) we made pizza, which I love, & b) I sat near some guys who didn't know I existed & listened to them talk about their lives & watched them torture geeks in the class that I had much more in common with.  It was a strange crash course in being a fourteen-year-old boy in Texas in the early 1980s.  They had tips on bathing, clothing, & girls that I had otherwise no access to.  I kinda wish I took notes but also that I could've asked them follow-up questions without getting mocked or possibly beaten up.

That I was ignored was sort of par for the course for my middle & high school years, although my older brothers did their level best to terrify me & make me think I'd be picked on & abused by the mean kids or the cool kids or whatever.  It's sad that that's what I got out of Home Ec though, because it would've been nice to learn something about cooking.  Or life, really.

Previously on this blog, I've complained - or maybe I've just noted - that my upbringing, including my schooling, left me utterly unprepared for adulthood.  I have friends who share this thought.  As I get older, I realize that there's so much more that could have been taught than cooking.  It's probably impossible to tell children who believe they're immortal & invulnerable that death looms sooner than they think.  That you may have to spend considerable time & resources taking care of aging parents & other relatives.  That you yourself may become a parent.  That there's a chance you'll struggle with mental illness, with addiction, with chronic health issues - or that you'll be close to someone, either a family member or someone you're in a relationship with, who has these challenges.  & maybe someone should spend a little time talking to anyone who might want to own a pet about all that entails, the love & the heartache.

This morning a neighbor who works in the mental health field & I talked about this.  Last year my mother died but she suffered from late-stage Alzheimer's before it happened.  Before that, she had health issues & good ol' fashioned senility, & fortunately my sister took her in & cared for her the last years of her life.  My wife is good about reminding me that we have no children & therefore will not have that option - as she helps her sisters take care of her own aged mother.

Not that I would've taken any of that seriously, the whole idea of life lessons.  But I feel like someone should've tried, with the same imperceptible vigor with which they tried to teach us the passive voice or the age of the earth or the quadratic theorem.  Holy shit, maybe they did.  But no, I think I would've remembered my few friends & I making fun of the utterly square teacher trying to explain to us about aging relatives.

It's no consolation that it was a "learning on the job" moment for my mother when her parents got to that point.  I take no comfort that the previous generation was as ill-prepared for life as I was.  & I have no real way to end this dumb meditation on the problems of time & age.  It just happens to be on my mind.

Shouldn't I be talking about a radio show or something?  Sheesh.

Self Help Radio 083121: Indiepop A To Z # 66

(All images from Discogs.)

You know the drill!  Another four months, another dizzying set of delicious indiepop in a semblance of alphabetical order.  This time around - still in the letter P! - we started with the Pets & ended up with Pixies.  & don't fight me, I know Pixies aren't indiepop.  I often add bands I feel are indiepop-adjacent or influential to the genre - & Pixies influenced lots of bands, including ones much more twee than they.

The show was live in the KBOO studio, & I managed to say a few things in-between the songs.  I also decided against including a performer I wanted to include - but you'll have to listen to hear my real-time decision making.  Truly it was gripping radio.

You can listen now & whenever at both the Self Help Radio website & at the show's page at the KBOO website.  If you go to the former, make sure you remember you'll need a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp).  Otherwise, both recordings are exactly the same.  Every song I played is below.

Back to the normal nonsense next week!

Self Help Radio Indiepop A To Z # 66

"A Lighthearted Lovesong" The Pets _Love & War_

"Timeless Words" Petset _Sound-Sphere_

"Suicide Mind" Phantom Dog _Suicide Mind_

"She Means Everything To Me" Louis Philippe _Jackie Girl_

"Young Love Be Your Monkey Tonight" The Philips _The Ammonites/The Philips split_

"The Sinking Of The S.S. Danehower" The Philistines Jr. _The Sinking Of The S.S. Danehower_

"Pink Frost" Martin Phillipps _Songs From Solo Below_

"The First Phrase At High Noon" Phoebe Quest _The Windward Sound_

"Silent Place" Phony _Good Times - Silent Place EP_

"Watermelon Crush" Photo Jenny _Pop Japanese Style!_

"La Fuite En Arrière (En-joy) (The Escape Back)" Photon _Between Two Waves: The Second Wave_

"Radio Girl" Pi Ja Ma _In The Air EP_

"Pretend To Be Here" Pia Fraus _Nature Heart Software_

"Non-Fiction" Piano Magic _Seasonally Affective (A Piano Magic Retrospective 1996-2000)_

"(A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The) Toystore" Pianosaurus _Groovy Neighborhood_

"Lie Until Dawn" The Picasso Twins _Some Mardi Sandwich_

"Don't Turn Around" Picnic _Plug EP_

"Dead" Picture Center _Dead_

"Wet Dream" The Piers _Secretly In Love & Everybody Knew EP_

"Smoke" Pigeons _Liasons_

"Chemically Yours" Pilgrims _Something's Burning In Paradise_

"Monday Suit" Pillow _Learning To Labour_

"Tropic Of Capricorn" The Piltdowns _Will There Be Time For Tea?_

"Milk Bar" The Pines _It's Been A While_

"Thin End Of The Wedge" Pink Noise _Thin End Of The Wedge_

"Shelly Anne" Pinkie _Sharon Fussy_

"Burn The Citadel Down" Pinkie & His Band _Pinkie & His Band_

"Glow Vastly" Pinkshinyultrablast _Grandfeathered_

"I'm On The Inside" Pinky _I'm On The Inside_

"Mortal Soul" Pinto _Short Songs About Longing Are Better Than Long Songs About Shortcomings_

"Cruel & Unusual" Pipas _A Cat Escaped_

"Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me" The Pipettes _We Are The Pipettes_

"Even Flu Can't Kill You" Pirigwa _Butane Gas Mon Cher_

"The Knife Thrower's Daughter" Piroshka _Love Drips & Gathers_

"Bags Of Gold" Jay Jay Pistolet _Happy Birthday You_

"Jump Out From The Bed!" Pitcher56 _Her Abiding Memory_

"BST" The Pitkins _Killing Me Again_

"Shine" Pitwork _Shine_

"September" Pity Sex _White Hot Moon_

"Gigantic" Pixies _Surfer Rosa_

Whither Indiepop A To Z # 66?

(image from here)

There have been - let me check - oh yes - 65 - that's sixty-five - previously episodes of the Indiepop A To Z series.  There's nothing really I can tell you about the shows that you probably haven't already heard.  But in case you haven't:

Every four months or so I return to a series I began in Austin a very long time ago in which I attempt to play bands who fall into the "indiepop" category (what is indiepop?) plus sometimes bands that I believe are influential to the genre as well as some indiepop-adjacent bands I feel are somehow important to include (sometimes just because I like them).

65 episodes seems a lot, so I must already be done, yes?  No.  I began the letter P on the 63rd episode & there are lots of performers & musicians who start with that letter.  I will begin with the band The Pets, pictured above.  I am not sure where I will end, but it won't be at the letter Q.  Not tonight.

Personally I love this genre & I believe it makes great radio.  But you be the judge.  Listen tonight from midnight to 3am on 90.7fm KBOO Portland, online at kboo.fm & decide.

Would it sweeten the pot to know I'm doing the show live?  I mean, it at the very least means I'll make dumb mistakes!

Preface To Indiepop A To Z # 66: Still In The Letter P

(image from here)

Just sitting here listening to bands whose names start with the letter P.  Being kind of chill about it because I get to do the show live.  I can't tell you how great it is not to have to worry about recording.  It does feed into my deeply held belief in procrastination, it's true.  But it's also relaxing.

Not that procrastination is relaxing, but somehow I don't get worried about getting things done on time until it's nearly time.  Then I do worry.  & make no mistake, I am more wound up as midnight on Monday approaches - especially if I am still in the process of gathering.  Because I almost always feel like I never have enough.

Anyway, I am listening to songs now for tomorrow's show & I'm thinking, wow, it would be fun to simply have a bunch of people who love indiepop sit around & pick songs for the show.  What is the most representative of this artist?  That would be fun.  Right now, it's just me & a few animals sleeping behind me.  & I don't think they're really listening.

Bassets

One thing I do on dog walks - & I make sure to ask the owner permission before I do it - is give treats to the dogs who I see on those walks.  At this point, with many years of dog walks under my belt, in several cities, there are dozens of dogs I've made friends with.  It may not be surprising I don't remember their names.

This pair - I don't remember if they were brother & sister - were two bassets who lived in Lexington, Kentucky, in a home behind what initially was a place that specialized in prosthetics but which turned into, right before we moved, a foot & ankle center.  I guess it was a podiatrist's practice?  Anyway, having beagles we are partial to hounds of all kinds & these two were delightfully loud & sweet.  They of course enjoyed treats, & the owners enjoyed the attention we gave them - we had to walk behind the prosthetic/podiatrist place to visit them, as their backyard did not abut the street - & they were often in the backyard with the dogs.

Dang it, I'm frustrated I don't recall their names.  My wife probably does.  I'd ask her but I don't currently know where she is.

Anyway, I took this picture on a summer dog walk seven years ago today, August 28, 2014.  I know there's a chance they are no longer with us, but I am grateful I don't know for sure.  They were very well taken care of, & that's something I don't always see on dog walks.

Everything's Quiet At The Ol' Five & Dime

(Here's a picture of an actual five & dime store.  From here.)

This week's show - next week's show - whatever - is another of my indiepop a to z shows, so I will have no interviews or other stuff, just songs with me talking in-between.  & since it'll be me in the studio, I don't have to record my airbreaks, which means a little less work for me.  I can't tell you how much work it is to record one's airbreaks.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again: yes, I could just record it live as if I were live in the studio but as I listen back I am compelled to edit out mistakes & dumb things I say & all that.  I am incapable of letting it go when I have the ability to change it.  On my first show back on KBOO, me being a little nervous & somewhat unused to being live on the air, I got a call from a listener who laughed & said, "It's great hearing you making all the rookie mistakes! Your recorded shows were too perfect!"

So this week feels like it'll be quiet for me, but since I was raised in a convenience store, thinking about a five & dime store has made me think a little about my past.  I wish I had taken more photos or somehow saved more data because I can't be sure, for example, how much things cost back then.  Let's say forty years ago, in 1981, a time before I was allowed to work in the store (I was 13) but certainly a time when I was behind the counter observing my mother working.  What did things cost?

Here's what I found looking around the webs:

The price of a pack of cigarettes?  Around 65¢.  I do remember them being that cheap.

A candy bar?  Around 25¢.

A can of soda?  Maybe 35¢.
A comic book? I believe 60¢.  They got expensive very quickly; five years before they were half that.

You might be thinking, hey Gary!  What about things like milk, bread, fruit?  Well, it was a convenience store, & those things were usually priced more expensively than at a grocery store.

One site says gas was $1.25 a gallon in 1981, but surely that's a national average.  In Texas, gas didn't seem to rise above a buck a gallon until the late 80s or early 90s.

It's hard to find that information without looking too deeply which is why I wish I had kept some kind of record.  I honestly expected - as I guess we all do about our lives when we're young - that I'd be around the same things for - if not always, at least for most of my life.

Have I mentioned how many independent convenience stores there are in Portland?  That's a discussion for another day, though.

Self Help Radio 082421: Holograms/Catenary Wires Interview

Okay, technically, the Catenary Wires interview isn't an episode of Self Help Radio.  I had the pleasure of talking to Amelia Fletcher & Rob Pursey - two people who have made some of my most favorite music in the entire world - & the conversation was so enjoyable to me that I interspersed it with their music & it came out to be around 90 minutes long.  If you listen to the show on the KBOO website, that's what happens first.  & the first set of songs below are songs I played during the interview from the couple's various bands.

Then in a truncated version of Self Help Radio, possibly the first ninety-minute-long episode I've done in almost ten years, I play lots of songs just called "Hologram" & a few others about holograms, plus talk to my spiritual mentor & to an artist who has an art collective called "The Holograms."  It goes by way too fast - if you blink, you'll miss it.

Side question: can ears blink?

The show is now at the Self Help Radio website.  For your convenience, here's a direct link to the Holograms show.  & here's a direct link to the Catenary Wires interview.  If you'd prefer to listen to the show at the KBOO website, why, I've already shared that link with you.

I hope you enjoy.  Here's a pic of Amelia & Rob from the Catenary Wires website:

& here are the playlists:

Self Help Radio Catenary Wires Interview

"Talulah Gosh" Talulah Gosh _Backwash_

"I Fell In Love Last Night" Heavenly _I Fell In Love Last Night_

"C Is The Heavenly Option" Heavenly _Le Jardin De Heavenly_

"P.U.N.K Girl" Heavenly _P.U.N.K Girl_

"Itchy Chin" Heavenly _The Decline & Fall Of Heavenly_

"Ben Sherman" Heavenly _Operation Heavenly_

"Hopefulness To Hopelessness" Marine Research _Sounds From The Gulf Stream_

"Oh Katrina" Tender Trap _Film Molecules_

"6 Billion People" Tender Trap _6 Billion People_

"Do You Want A Boyfriend?" Tender Trap _Dansette Dansette_

"Intravenous" The Catenary Wires _Red Red Skies_

"Sixteen Again" The Catenary Wires _Til The Morning_

"Face On The Rail Line" The Catenary Wires _Birling Gap_

"I Sold My Soul On EBay" Swansea Sound _I Sold My Soul On EBay_

"Swansea Sound" Swansea Sound _Swansea Sound_

Self Help Radio Holograms Show

"Hologram" Urinals _Negative Capability...Check It Out!_

"Hologram" Iko _I Am Zero_

"Hologram" Purrbot _Civil Unrest_

introduction & definitions

"Hologram" Katie Herzig _Apple Tree_

"Hologram" These New Puritans _Hidden_

"Hologram" TV Set _Farewell_

"Hologram" The Lennings _Inside_

"Hologram" Lydia Ainsworth _Right From Real_

interview with the Rev Dr Howard Gently

"Hologram" Dirty Ghosts _Let It Pretend_

"Hologram" Yacht _I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler_

"Hologram" Axel Tosca _Axel Tosca_

"Hologram" The Horrors _V_

"Hologram" Tacocat _This Mess Is A Place_

interview with Theophile Jones of the Holograms

"TVC15" David Bowie _Station To Station_

"Gerry & The Holograms" Gerry & The Holograms _7" Up!_

"Dating The Hologram" Ad Frank _The World's Best Ex-Boyfriend_

"Her Hands Were Holograms" Fred Thomas _Kuma_

conclusion & goodbye

"(Un)Happy Hologram" Nits _Knot_

Whither Holograms?

(This is your holographic brain on Self Help Radio.  Image from here.)

Tonight's Self Help Radio will be a trick of the light.  It was also be shorter than usual, & start later.  But why?  Is this because holograms are kind of annoying?  Well, no.  It's because...

Earlier this month I had a chance to talk with Amelia Fletcher & Rob Pursey of Catenary Wires, & it was a wonderful conversation which spanned their career, which includes Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research, Tender Trap, & concurrently with the Catenary Wires, Swansea Sound.  I will take the opportunity to play songs from the over thirty years (!) they've been making music as well as chat.  That will be the first part of the show.

The second part will be holograms.  Will it be real?  No.  Will it include holographic Tupac?  Sure.

Tonight! Midnight to 3am on 90.7 fm KBOO & online at kboo.fm.  Oh no.  I just heard hologram Tupac is double booked.  I guess we'll get the EMH from Star Trek Voyager instead.

Preface To Holograms & The Other Thing: The Other Thing

(image from here)

Okay, yeah, this week's Self Help Radio is going to be about holograms but before the show I am going to spend a little time - probably an hour - talking to & playing music from those two up there.  That's Amelia Fletcher & Rob Pursey & they've been making the kind of music I love for well over thirty years.  I had a chance to talk to them a couple weeks ago & I'll play most of that conversation for the first hour of the three I am given on Tuesday mornings.  They have nothing to do with holograms.  Unless - did I talk to holograms of them?  That can't possibly be!

Me, I have no idea if I am a good interviewer but I one time read or heard someone say you didn't have to be when you're talking to interesting people, & luckily Amelia & Rob had great insights, great stories, & I'll play many of their great songs in-between.  I was a bit amazed I got to talk to them, actually.  But I will keep myself mostly out of it, & play what they said.

& then, you know, my dumb Self Help Radio show, this week apparently about holograms.

Nashville Denial/Eclipse

Today I have two pictures from my past.

This is one of those pictures - it was taken six years ago in Lexington, Kentucky - that might be a hit on the internet if anyone ever saw this blog.  Or maybe not - what does "Nashville Denial" mean anyway?

Obviously, it's the back door of a place called Nashville Dental.  It's apparently a chain of dental offices.  Anyway, I thought it was funny.

& then, on this day four years ago:

There was a partial eclipse of the sun in Fort Worth.  I attempted, with my cheap camera, to capture it, & failed miserably.  Except!  If you look in the top left corner of the photo, you'll see a reflection of the partially eclipsed star.  My camera simply couldn't take all that light - but it did manage to capture a bit of the eclipse after all.  I think that's pretty cool.

Lunch On Film

(A screencap from Welcome To The Dollhouse that I found here.)

This week's show was about lunch, & although he admitted he's not a fan of lunch, our resident cinephile Chuck stopped by to talk about films with feature lunch.  What films?  You can listen to the show (like, I don't know, at the show's website) but also you can visit the following helpful links.

Here's Chuck's Twitter thread about lunch films.

Here's the YouTube playlist of films & other sundries related to lunch in film.

Chuck writes Letterboxd reviews of the films he watched - read them here.

Here's the IMDb list of films available to stream for free elsewhere.

& finally, the keyword searches:

Feature films tagged with "lunch."

Shorts tagged with "lunch."

Though it's way past dinnertime, I'm hungry for some lunch.  Maybe there are some lunch films I can watch while I eat a late post-dinner lunch?

Self Help Radio 081721: Lunch

That photo at the top of this blog was taken from inside my room at my house in Fort Worth, Texas.  We had a lovely oak tree in front, & one day some workers at a nearby house took their lunch under the tree.  I snapped the show, because I completely understood - it was a tree which invited you to have lunch under it.  Had I not lived in the house, I might have done so myself - though now that I no longer live there, I wish I had done it at least once.  It was truly a remarkable old tree.

We had lunch early in the morning (or in the middle of the night, depending on your perspective) this week on Self Help Radio.  Many songs about lunch were played, many aspects of lunch were discussed, & guests talked about power lunches, whether lunch was the most important meal of the day, & lunch in the movies.  As well, the premiere of Vance Chamberlain's three-act radio play happened in the last hour.  One listener suggested that the show was appropriate because I was usually out to lunch.  But as far as I know, no one lost their lunch during the show.

You can listen to the show now & any time at both its own web page at selfhelpradio.net & its own web page at kboo.fm.  As mentioned above, many things happen & many songs are played.  Those are detailed below.  They say there's no such thing as a free lunch - but there is a such thing as a free lunch show - which is this week's Self Help Radio!

Self Help Radio 210817: Lunch

"Happity-Yappity Appetite (The Lunch Time Friend)" Sylvia & Murray Winant _It's Fun To Eat_

"Who's For Lunch Today?" Albert Hammond _The Free Electric Band_

"Lunch" Stella Donnelly _Beware Of The Dogs_

introduction + history of lunch

"I'll Buy You Lunch" Linaire _Linaire_

"Lonely's Lunch" You Say Party! _XXXX_

"The Luncheon" Arlene Golonka & Betty Walker _Bob Booker & George Foster Present: You Don't Have To Be Jewish_

"Merchants Lunch" Red Clay Ramblers _Merchants Lunch_

"Miss Otis Regrets (with the Pogues)" Kirsty MacColl _Galore (The Best Of)_

interview with Hollywood Power Lunch Enthusiast Denver Smith

"Yesterday's Lunch" Lemuria _Get Better_

"Lunchtime Love Affair" The Cartoons _Goodbye Nashville Hello Camden Town: A Pub Rock Anthology_

"Lunch Lady Land" Adam Sandler _They're All Gonna Laugh At You!_

"Wot's For Lunch Mum? (Not Beans Again!)" The Shapes _Songs For Sensible People_

"Lunch Hour" June Valli _Let's Have A Party (Girls Gone Rockin' Vol. 2)_ 

interview with nutritionist Bart Dinner

"Lunch Time" Gabby Omollo & Omondi Jassor _Lunch Time_

"Lunch Menu" David Price _Lunch Menu Call-In Service_

"Give Your Lunch To A Lemming" Pig Rider _The Robinson Scratch Theory_

"Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner" Kermit Ruffins _Big Easy_

"The Animal Lunch" Caspar Babypants _Hot Dog!_

Chuck stops by to talk about films featuring lunches

"Candy Lunch" Lilly Hiatt _Walking Proof_

"Take An Indian To Lunch (Pilgrim's Progress)" Stan Freberg _Presents The United States Of America, Vol. 1: The Early Years_

"Lunch Box" The Spectors _Beat Is Murder: Cockfights & Cakefights 1992-1996_

"Lunchbox" Mo Phillips _Occasional Yogurt_

"You Only Love Me For My Lunchbox" Asylum Street Spankers _Mommy Says No!_

Vance Chamberlain's "Lunch": Act I

"Lunch In A Bucket" Jimmy Bell _The Songs Of John D. Loudermillk: Sittin' In The Balcony_

"Phil Ochs & Elvis Eating Lunch In Morrison's Cafe" Reg Meuross _Faraway People_

"I Took A Memory To Lunch" Tom T. Hall _100 Children_

"Uni Lunch" Typical Sisters _Love Beam_

"The 3 Martini Lunch" Graham Parker _Live! Alone In America_

"Liquid Lunch" Caro Emerald _The Shocking Miss Emerald_

Vance Chamberlain's "Lunch": Act II

"Don't Let The Record Label Take You Out To Lunch" Jeffrey Lewis _It's The Ones Who've Cracked That The Light Shines Through_

"Lunch Hour" Skip & Flip _It Was I: The Very Best Of Skip & Flip_

"I Need Lunch" Dead Boys _Young Loud & Snotty_

"Lunch" Muckafurgason _Tossing A Friend_

"Lunchline" Yoni & Geti _Testarossa_

Vance Chamberlain's "Lunch": Act III

"Girls Just Want To Have Lunch" Weird Al Yankovic _Dare To Be Stupid_

"Lunchtime (Tin Foil Robots)" The Board Of Education _Central Services Presents The Board Of Education_

"Them Lunch Toters" Mason Williams _Them Poems & Things_

"The Little Lunch Box" George Hamilton IV _Abilene_

"Snappy Lunch" The VW Boys _Snappy Lunch_

conclusion & goodbye

"Summer In My Lunchtime" Bog-Shed _Step On It_

"Cut Lunch" Models _Cut Lunch EP_

"A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch" Dead Kennedys _Frankenchrist_

Whither Lunch?

(Cartoon by Zach whom you can support here.)

Something I wonder - did you know there's been a Self Help Radio show about dinner (that was in 2005!) & also one about breakfast (back in 2010)?  You might ask, why did it take so long to get lunch?  Have you been to lunch in this town?  I mean, pre-pandemic.  You might wait an hour to get your lunch!  Be glad it only took Self Help Radio eleven years to get to lunch!

Sorry if your lunch is cold.  I confess, I can't remember why I wanted to do a show about lunch.  Maybe it was just time?  Maybe it was one of those weird moments where I was struggling to find a new theme & also I was having lunch & I said to myself, "Say! How about a show about lunch?"  That wouldn't surprise me.  If that's how it happened.  I mean, I eat lunch every day.  So it's on my mind a lot.

This is true: I live with a woman who will often talk about what she'll have for lunch the next day while she's eating lunch.  She plans for future meals during present meals.  It's a little unsettling.  When I'm in the middle of lunch, though, I am all about that lunch.  Too bad food isn't allowed at the KBOO studios currently, as I would otherwise totally pack a lunch.

But you can!  Break out the lunch box for tonight's Self Help Radio, all about lunch, on 90.7 fm KBOO, online at kboo.fm!  It's on midnight to 3am which is lunchtime today.  I have so decreed!  Now let's dig in.

Preface To Lunch: A Complicated History Of Lunching

(searching for "terrifying lunchroom," I found this? from here)

Nowadays I find myself a bit amazed by folks who can eat three meals a day - who have something for breakfast, have a nice lunch, & a decent sit-down dinner.  In my adult life, I've left breakfast behind.  I'm either up way too late to have anything resembling a breakfast, or if I do, I'm hungry about an hour afterward & up until lunch.

It wasn't always this way.  I'm sure I had three meals a day (plus snacks) when I was a kid.  I'm not sure they were quality meals - my mother worked at a convenience store near my elementary school & I have memories of her giving us packaged donuts & cinnamon rolls for breakfast - but I did have a breakfast, I'd eat lunch at school, & we'd have some kind of dinner - my mom wasn't much of a cook - but she'd put something in front of us as we watched television around 6:30pm.

Something changed in high school.  I didn't really enjoy the vibe of the lunchroom.  I didn't like waiting in line for mediocre food, I didn't like trying to find some place to eat, I didn't enjoy whatever I might bring.  At this point, I believe I was left to fend for myself, lunch-wise - either my mother gave me money, or instructed me to make my own - & I knew I'd rather spend the money on other things (usually comic books).  So I spent my lunch hours, from tenth grade on, in the library.  Much of this had to do with having fewer friends in tenth grade, & sadly almost none of it had to do with the racist mural in our lunchroom.

When did I eat?  I think I might have had something for breakfast, & something when I got home, right after school.  It became second nature, I almost never expected to have lunch when I was in high school.  Once I started working, I would eat after school whenever I was hungry, & usually fast food.  I am pretty sure that I got my own meals at some point most of the time after eleventh grade.  The transition to college was pretty easy because I had fended for myself for so long.  Fent for myself?  It seems like the past tense of fend should be fent.  Anyway.

In my adulthood, I gave up breakfast, mostly, altogether.  Occasionally I'd have breakfast with someone, but left to my own devices, I simply waited for lunch.  When I was a smoker, I'd usually have a cigarette or two to start the day - I understood the charm of a cup of coffee & a cigarette even if I never had coffee.  I was always running too late for work or whatever to get something & - this is crucial - the woman I've lived with for almost twenty years now doesn't eat breakfast either.

Mostly though breakfast is either too heavy & makes me want to sleep right afterwards, or it's too light & I'm hungry all the way through to lunch.  My body must be dumb - if I don't eat breakfast, I don't feel hungry until right before lunch.  Not if I have breakfast!

So we celebrate lunch this week.  But why?  Maybe I'll tell you tomorrow.

Bldg

The picture above, which I called "Bldg," was taken five years ago today.  My feeling is that it's been cropped for artistic effect - but I don't believe I have the original anymore.  It's most probably one building among the many that line I-75 - or "Central Expressway" - in Dallas.  August 14, 2016, was a Sunday, & there's a possibility that I was in town to visit my mother.

That being said, it might also be a building in Fort Worth.  I don't really know.  But my brain is telling me Dallas.  My brain could be & often is wrong.

We had just moved back to the Metroplex that month, & I was a little stunned by all the buildings.  The tallest building in Lexington is I believe thirty floors tall; the tallest in Dallas is over twice that.  & of course there are so many more tall buildings in Dallas.  Lexington has but a handful.

Also, the Texas sky, especially full of clouds, is quite lovely.  I have so many pictures of the Texas sky!  & here's one of them.

Nobody Cares, But

(I found this image here. But read blow how I found it.)

The thing I want to mention, I want to mention not out of self-pity or any sense of disappointment.  & I don't mean to shit on any radio station, which is why I won't mention any radio station.  But, every week, I endeavor to cobble together two (2) radio programs & one of them, this week, did not air.  To be fair, about 1/6th of it aired, before something happened at the station (I was told "the modem was down") & it was off the air & in fact most of the next show was off the air too.  & it's very safe to say, nobody cared.

Again, this is not self-pity.  I sometimes imagine what it would be like to have a popular, well-liked, much-listened-to radio show.  I would imagine that, should that show somehow go off the air, there would be people who would complain.  For example, in Lexington, Kentucky, for a time I did a morning show after which Democracy Now would air.  I was in charge of making sure it started on time.  Sometimes there was an error in getting the newest episode.  We got a lot of angry calls about that.

My show yesterday morning?  No one even noticed it was off the air.  At the very least, no one notified me, & no one mentioned it on Discord, the app that Freeform uses to interface with its listeners.

The show, which I had prepared for World Elephant Day, was also a show for the Freeform Summer Fundraiser.  The nature of Freeform - an all-volunteer, low power fm station - means it took hours to mobilize volunteers to get the station back on the air.  I feel most badly about that - I hoped my blathering might get more donations to Freeform.  Alas.  What I did mostly didn't air.

Oh no!  I didn't mean to mention the radio station!  Sorry.

Yes, I'll put in on the Self Help Radio website next week.  No one listens to it there, though. Of the last ten Dickenbock Reports I've placed there, a total of zero have been listened to.

Therefore I feel safe to say no one will listen to that show.  It won't help the Freeform Fundraiser at all.

But me?  I couldn't give less of a fuck.  Listen or don't listen, I don't care.  I make radio shows whether or not anyone listens.  I do it out of joy.  Nobody cares?  Dude.  Welcome to my life!

Self Help Radio 081021: Waterfalls

(Original image here.*)

This week's Self Help Radio was about waterfalls.  There are lots of waterfalls in this part of Oregon.  How many have I visited?  You mean counting today?  None.  Look, it got hot!  Yesterday I was going to go to one just twelve miles south of me, but there was this heat advisory & I felt like napping, & well, I didn't go.  But I will!

The show's one achievement - using "achievement" in the broadest possible sense - is that I played twenty songs just called "Waterfall."  I wish I could've filled the entire show with songs just called "Waterfall."  I bet there are three hours of songs called "Waterfall."  I might have listened to that many.  But!  I didn't like a lot of them.  & one of the cool things about programming your own show is that you don't have to play songs you don't like!

Also there were no guests on this show - though there were lots of interruptions!

Listen now at the Self Help Radio website (where you will need a username & password, which are SHR & selfhelp) & at the KBOO website (where you won't need such things).  All the songs I played & all the things that happened during airbreaks are detailed below.

Gosh! Waterfalls are pretty!

Self Help Radio Waterfalls Show

"Waterfall" The Smoke _...It's Smoke Time_

"Waterfall" Jimmy Cliff _Jimmy Cliff In Brazil_

"Waterfall" Aguaturbia _Volumen 2_

introduction/conversation with the show's producer

"Waterfall" Jane _Here We Are_

"Waterfall" Carly Simon _Playing Possum_

"Waterfall" Merrell Fankhauser _The Maui Album_

"Waterfall" The Stone Roses _The Stone Roses_

"Waterfall" Engine No. 9 _Peppermint Stick Parade_

definitions with the Definition-O-Tron 3000

"Waterfall" Riverside _One_

"Waterfall" Hassan Hakmoun _The Gift_

"Waterfall" Ilene Adar _First Sound_

"Waterfall" First Nation _First Nation_

"Waterfall" James _Hey Ma_

Archibald Von Poesy interrupts!

"Waterfall" Quintron _Too Thirsty 4 Love_

"Waterfall" Yonlu _A Society In Which No Tear Is Shed Is Inconceivably Mediocre_

"Waterfall" The Fresh & Onlys _Play It Strange_

"Waterfall" Acid House Kings _Music Sounds Better With You_

"Waterfall" Fred Thomas _Kuma_

new report Rick Wright interrupts!

"Waterfall" Josephine Foster _Blood Rushing_

"Waterfall" Fear Of Men _Loom_

"Waterfalls" Chris Carpenter _A Heavy Dose Of Lyte Psych_

"Waterfalls" Paul McCartney _McCartney II_

"Waterfalls" Why? _Elephant Eyelash_

Ned Dry interrupts! plus a performance with Captain McCheese

"Waterfalls" Me'Shell Ndegeocello _Ventriloquism_

"Living In A Waterfall" Howe Gelb _Hisser_

"Rose Waterfalls" Jennifer Castle _Angels Of Death_

"Sunshine's A Waterfall" Chip Taylor _New Songs Of Freedom_

"Over The Waterfall" Michelle Shocked _Arkansas Traveller_

"Silver Waterfalls" Siouxsie & The Banshees _Superstition_

a few fun facts about Niagara Falls

"Niagra Fall Blues" Kid Cole _The Rough Guide To Unsung Heroes Of Country Blues, Vol. 2_

"Niagra Falls" Jimmy Thackery & John Mooney _Sideways In Paradise_

"Niagara" The Wedding Present _Dalliance_

"Two Weeks With A Good Man In Niagara Falls" The Hummingbirds _Va Va Voom_

"Niagara" Ohbijou _Metal Meets_

"Niagara Falls" Harlem Shakes _Technicolor Health_

conclusion & goodbue

"By A Waterfall" Dick Powell _The Man From 42nd Street_

"An Old Water Mill By A Waterfall" Milton Brown & The Musical Brownies _The Complete Recordings 1932-1937_

"(When The Moonlight Fell) On The Waterfall" Martha Tilton _The Liltin' Miss Tilton_ 

"Down By The Waterfalls" Warner Mack _The Early Years: Southern Rockabilly 1957-1962_

* "Oregon Waterfalls" by Evan-Lovely is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Whither Waterfalls?

(Willamette Falls, from Wikipedia.)

Wow, Willamette Falls, pictured above, are just twelve miles south from where I live?!?  Why haven't I gone to see them yet?  What better things have I had to do?

Though I'm probably not what one might call a connoisseur of waterfalls, which I chalk up to living most of my life in Texas, which is not known for its plentiful waterways, I am certainly one who appreciates them.  & as I thought about them, & mulled over them, & especially as I found myself stumbling onto more & more songs about waterfalls, I thought, "That would be a good theme for Self Help Radio."  Especially while we still have water!

So that's what's happening tonight, on Self Help Radio, on 90.7 fm KBOO Portland.  Online at kboo dot fm.  It'll be from midnight to 3am.  I'm sure there'll be lots of tunes & maybe even guests?  & no one has to go over any falls in a barrel.

Preface To Waterfalls: Oh Wow All The Waterfalls Near Portland!

(image from here)

Before I left Fort Worth, my next-door neighbor Jim revealed to me that he absolutely loves waterfalls, & that he has in fact visited the Pacific Northwest just to see waterfalls.  I must have filed that knowledge away because, well, Self Help Radio this week is about waterfalls, & I was looking around the web wide web & discovered this article, which tells of "6 Incredible Waterfalls To Visit Near Portland."

The article goes from "incredible" to "the best" because the Internets can't make a like without asserting opinion as fact, but it's pretty stunning to discover that all six of these are within thirty-five miles of where I live.  In fact, they're all pretty near one another, although I'm sure you have to hike to find them.  I'm sitting here all like, "What the hell have I been doing during this neverending pandemic anyway?"  & I reply, "Dumb radio shows."

Will the waterfall show be dumb?  Oh sure.  But it'll also be purty!

All My Animals

A year ago today, on August 7, 2020, when we felt this pandemic - which hasn't yet ended - would never end, I took the above picture.  It is a rarity in my collection - a picture of all of my animals in one room together, & also captured on a camera by me.

On the divan or bench by the window, from left, is Bolan (black cat), Boone (orange cat), & Pauline (leggy beagle).  On the yoga in the bottom left is Winston.  Sunning themselves on the little round dog (should I say "pet") bed, is Yoko (chihuahua) & Bronte (orange cat).

Winston is obviously on his way somewhere, so he wouldn't be in the picture long.  Yoko would probably follow me wherever I was going, once I left the room.  & who knows what Pauline was doing.  In any event, the scene would not have stayed this way for very long.  So I'm glad I took it!

Kids In Film

(image from here.)

This week's show was about the kids.  Our friend Chuck stopped by to talk about different kinds of films involving the kids.

Make sure you check out Chuck's Twitter feed.

Chuck keeps a YouTube playlist of the films that he's watching.

He focused this week on four terms, which are reflected in the following IMDb keyword searches:

"Child Hero"
"Group Of Friends"
"Childhood"
"Child Protagonist"

As always, we hope this is a starting point for you - that you discover lots of movies about this topic.  Because there are!  So many movies about kids.  Oh Em Gee!

Self Help Radio 080321: The Kids

(Why yes, this is Gary's first grade class photo! Can you spot him?)

This week, Self Help Radio played songs & talked about "the kids."  The kids that were both all right & (it turns out) all shite.  The kids that just wanted to have fun, & would never been divided if they were just united.  All kindsa kids.  Dumb ass kids, skinny indie kids, stray kids, rich kids, even homeless club kids.  We were all about the kids, even if the kids say the darnedest things.

We also talked to a person with two many kids, a Hollywood producer who is working on a television show for kids, & the host's spiritual mentor, who talked about his kids.  We discussed idioms involving kids, & the show's resident cinephile shared films involving the kids in different roles.

Despite all this, the show wasn't kid-friendly, which is to be expected.  So please don't let the kids listen to the show about the kids.  Make sure the kids have the happiest of childhoods so they can group up to be the adults we hoped we'd turn out to be.  But we had to listen to radio shows in the middle of the night despite not being allowed to.  That's where it all went wrong for us.

Listen at the show's website or at the KBOO website.  What happens on the show is below.

Self Help Radio The Kids Show

"Kids" The Concretes _Hey Trouble_

"Kids" Field Mouse _Hold Still Life_

"Kids" Dream Wife _Dream Wife_

introduction & definitions

"The Kids Are Alright" The Who _Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy_

"The Kids Are Back" Criminals _The Kids Are Back_

"Kids Are Too Small" George Carlin _On The Road_

"The Kids Are Sick Again" Maxïmo Park _Quicken The Heart_

"The Kids Are All Shite" Mikrofisch _Masters Of The Universe_

interview with the Rev Dr Howard Gently

"Ton Up Kids" Dave & Ansel Collins _Trojan Club Reggae Box Set_

"Dumb Ass Kids" The Suburbs _Si Sauvage_

"I Don't Want Kids" Jen Kirkman _Self Help_

"Bridge & Tunnel Kids" Mister Loveless _Grow Up_

"Homeless Club Kids" My Favorite _Joan Of Arc Awaiting Trial_

interview with Hollywood kids' show producer Denver Smith

"Who Don't Like Kids" Sparks _Propaganda_

"You Better Sit Down, Kids" What Else _Bonograph: Sonny Gets His Share -The Classic Songs Of Sonny Bono Interpreted By Today's Hippest Artists_

"Kids" Bill Hicks _Salvation (Oxford November II, 1992)_

"Two Little Kids" Peaches & Herb _Love Is Strange: The Best Of Peaches & Herb_

"Because We're Kids" Bob Dorough & Bill Takas _Beginning To See The Light_

interview with Matt Angel, who has a lot of kids

"Kids Like You" New York Dolls _Dancing Backward In High Heels_

"My Ex-Classmates' Kids" The Fall _Are You Are Missing Winner_

"My Kids" Brian Regan _All By Myself_

"Little Kids (Ladytron Remix)" Kings Of Convenience _Versus_

"If The Kids Are United" Pluramon _The Monstrous Surplus_

another installment of Chuck's Happily Unsophisticated Cinema Korner, about films prominently featuring kids

"We Hate The Kids" The Indelicates _American Demo_

"Four Skinny Indie Kids" Half Man Half Biscuit _Four Lads Who Shook The Wirral_

"When I Was A Kid" The Harmaleighs _She Won't Make Sense_

"When I Was A Kid" Woody Allen _The Night Club Years 1964-1968_

"The Kids At The Club" Comet Gain _Realistes_

"The Kids Just Wanna Have Fun" The Legends _Up Against The Legends_

a discussion of idioms involving kids

"Let The Kids Dance" Bo Diddley _Hey Bo Diddley_

"Lousy Parents & Messed-Up Kids" Culturcide _Home-Made Authority_

"We Are Kids" Lacrosse _Bandages For The Heart_

"Kids In America" The Muffs _Hamburger_

"Rich Kids" The Drums _Abysmal Thoughts_

"The Richest Kids" This Is Ivy League _This Is Ivy League_

conclusion & goodbye

"Whizz Kids" The Undertones _Hypnotised_

"Nothing For The Kids" The Holloways _So This Is Great Britain?_

"Army Of Silent Kids" Soda Fountain Rag _Sometimes I Wonder If You Have A Heart_

"Stray Kids" Juliana Hatfield _There's Always Another Girl_

"Just Like Kids (Miau)" Hinds _The Prettiest Curse_

Whither Kids?

(image from here.)

A show about kids?  Yes!  A kids' show?  No!  It's late, there'll be some naughty words.  Don't let your kids stay up so late!  Although I myself stayed up quite late as a kid, especially during summer vacation.  & I might have been hoping to listen to naughty words on the radio!

The journey to this show was a bit circuitous & it began with me compiling covers of 1980s songs for my own amusement.  I discovered that the Pretenders song "Kid" (which I know is from 1979 but I think of it as an 80s song) has been covered several times - most recently by Tanya Donelly & The Parkington Sisters.  I thought about a show featuring different songs about different kids - from Billy The Kid to the Cars' "Misfit Kid."  But what I discovered in my initial research was that musicians liked to write songs about different types of kids - weird kids, indie kids, bridge & tunnel kids - & of course the word "kids" doesn't have to mean "children" - much like Bogey saying, "Here's lookin' at you, kid," the word could be used as a term of endearment, or as something condescending, or in the same way we use "guys" to mean a group of people including boys & girls.

It seemed I had a way to narrow down the theme a little.  Then last week on the show someone requested "The Kids Are Alright" by the Who & I suddenly had to expand the show to include songs about "kids."  & that's what I did.  Maybe it made it a more diverse show?  I have hours & hours of songs to choose from!

Also of course there'll be interviews.  Four of them!  It was a busy week.

The results will be available for you to hear tonight from midnight to 3am on 90.7 KBOO in Portland & online at kboo.fm.  Please don't let your kids listen to it.  Especially if they're the young kind of kids.  The older kind might just think it's too dorky.

Preface To Kids: Too Many Kids

(This image, which is from here, is what one finds who one searches "too many kids" on the googla.)

Welp, it happened again.  I picked a theme for which there were patently too many options.  Just imagine!  A theme like "kids"!  What was I thinking?

That's something I guess I'll answer tomorrow (?) (probably not), I just want to whine.  I want to whine because I have been doing this for almost twenty years & one of the reasons I do this show is to challenge myself, to discover new music & to play a cool mix of music that's not simply my favorite songs.  It's hard.  Lots of times I'm like "but I could play that song" but I don't want to.  I don't want it to be easy for me.  But then there's a theme where there are literally hundreds of songs that would fit - I'm going to naturally gravitate to the songs I know because I simply don't have time to listen to all of the ones I find.

This weekend - yesterday - I was at a memorial service for a neighbor who died a couple months ago.  The brother-in-law, an affable fellow, was talking about how he was terrified to retire.  Now he says, "It's the best job I ever had!"  & he confided in me, "I don't really know how I ever did anything when I had a job.  I have no time to get anything I want to do done now!"

& that's the weird thing - I don't currently have a job but I used to do Self Help Radio when I was employed full-time.  I promise you, I will be scrambling to have the show done before I leave for KBOO at 11:30pm tomorrow night.  How in the world did I get anything done back then?

Anyway, back to listening to songs.  I already have four hours' worth saved up, but what if I miss something good?  This is why I scramble.