Preface To Style: The Style That Is No Style

Anyone who's ever looked at me knows that I don't really have much style.  It might be concluded that I don't care very much about how I look, but it might also be concluded that there's a part of me that wishes I could care about my look but a) that seems like a hell of a lot of work & 2) have you seen how I look?

When I was younger I took a kind of spiteful sort of pride in not giving a shit about how I dressed.  I remember saying something of the sort to my German teacher in college & he said, "What are you talking about?  You have a definite style!  Those ratty tee shirts, the same old pants?  People recognize you right away?"

It was a bit deflating.

Years later, someone at KOOP, totally unsolicited, said to me when I walked into the station, "Oh god you dress like a thirteen year old boy!"  I told her I was uncomfortable with her referring to me as "god."

There have been women in my life who liked to dress me up, but that never lasted too long - again, I never had much patience for it.  Tee shirts are comfortable, you gotta wear pants, I never liked wearing sandals or flip flops so it's basically tennis shoes, & that's pretty much it.  The faithful ensemble.

One thing that I might have discussed before is the liberation from style that leaving high school brought me.  Who knows how I was judged in high school but I remember realizing when I first lived alone that no one gave a shit about what I was wearing.  In college, people would drag their asses into class barely out of pajamas.  I remember in eighth grade these guys I was sitting next to making fun of some kid who wore the same pair of pants every day - they checked because they made chalk marks on his leg or something - & that made me make sure to change pants every day.

In college?  I pretty much owned two pairs of pants for four years.  No one gave a shit!

Or they did, I guess, but I didn't hang around those kinds of people.

In Dreams

Searching online, I couldn't find a study that tried to figure out how many people remember their dreams versus how many people don't.  My sister Karin, for example, tells me she never remembers her dreams.  My wife rarely does.  The check-out person at Sprouts told me...  Well, I didn't ask him.  He was too busy doing that thing where he pretends he really likes what I bought.  I think that's weird & very off-putting.  It doesn't reinforce my shopping behavior one bit.  Stop that!

As for me, I remember many of my dreams, & usually wake confused that I'm no longer in the dream or disappointed it's ended.  Sometimes I can even return to my dream once I've been awakened.  Here's something interesting: According to this article, "People who remember their dreams more often are more likely to wake up during the night. The processes that store memories are generally 'turned off' during sleep. Waking up after a dream would allow the brain to encode it into memory."

That's interesting to me because I am a pretty light sleeper, if I haven't overindulged in whiskey the night before.  (Though I still remember dreams when I have had a drink or two.)  (In fact, if I've only had a drink or two, enough to get a little buzzed, my dreams are more intense.)  Last night, for example, my dog Winston woke me about two hours after I fell asleep to let him out.  He does this by sitting up & whining.  He knows either me or the wife will wake up, he doesn't care who.  The way my wife sleeps, I know I would've been the one to always get up when the baby cried if we had had kids.  Anyway, maybe because of this, I remember a few of my dreams last night.  They were exciting!

There's a part of me that thinks I've dreamt like this my entire life.  I remember telling friends about a particularly vivid dream I had in twelfth grade.  It affected me then as dreams do now.  & I fucking love to dream.  I hardly ever have nightmares, unless somehow replicating similar frustrations I experience in real life is nightmarish.  But since I've never really believed in supernatural things, I don't dream in supernatural subjects, although sometimes superheroes show up.  Like they do.

Which reminds me: when I used to do acid, many moons ago (it's been two decades now), I never had those religious experiences that people claim to have, whether it's seeing their deity of choice or experiencing a oneness with the universe or really anything supernatural that the experience might confirm for you, like telepathy.  I guess I knew that there was a drug fucking with my brain & nothing I was experiencing was unnatural in any way.

But I was listening to a podcast recently (I'm tying these threads back together now) discussing Michael Pollan's new book & he points out that we remember our acid experiences far better than we do our dreams, & I wondered out loud to the podcast that maybe it's because we have those experiences while awake.  (The podcast did not give a shit about my insight.)

Ha ha, you thought I was going to talk about a particular dream, didn't you?  Nope.  It's no longer allowed on this blog.

Poem Generation

It's true, I shouldn't like this but I kind of do.  It's an online poem generator.  It's basically a Mad Libs-type set up, but I am delighted by it.

Here's the haiku it wrote for me for this week's theme of "style":

Squeamish afternoon
A stylish partner cackles
before the armchair

The only words I didn't provide the generator were "a," "before," & "the."  So basically I wrote it, bitch.

Oh, & I got it to write a sonnet, too.  Appropriate to this week's show, of course:

Ode to Style

My trendy style, you inspire me to write.
I love the way you convince & trap,
Invading my mind day & through the night,
Always dreaming about the ruthless caps.

Let me compare you to a slick buffoon?
You are more caring, fatuous, & glib.
Proud sun heats the daring peaches of June,
& summertime has the glaring ad-lib.

How do I love you? Let me count the ways.
I love your blessed coercion & sadness.
Wanting your conformity fills my days.
My love for you is the staring gladness.

Now I must away with a toothless heart,
Remember my great words whilst we're apart.

But I know I could do better.  Not right now, but I certainly could.

But check out the free verse poem!

Style

Why would you think the beauty is immanent?
The beauty is the most transient visual aspect of all.
Now temporary is just the thing,
To get me wondering if the beauty is passing.

The tone is not lovable!
The tone is exceptionally unlovable.
Never forget the spiteful & unlovable tone.

Pay attention to the elegance,
The elegance is the littlest quality of all.
Down, down, down into the darkness of the elegance,
Gently it goes - the miserly, the wee, the runty.

Flair is brainwashing.
Brainwashing is flair.
"Ahem," said the flair,
& "ahem" then "ahem" again.

Now I quite like that!  Maybe I'll share some of these on my show!

Self Help Radio 060118: Hollywood

(Original image here.)

My gosh!  It's opening night!  & aren't you dressed fancy!  Strange that one should go to such trouble for a silly radio program.  But it's a show about Hollywood!  & everyone knows Hollywood loves a party.

But isn't Hollywood in trouble now?  Sexual harassment, gender inequalities, stars & producers discovered as rapists - who wants to throw a party in that atmosphere?

Self Help Radio is here, not to party, to turn a cold, sober eye on the dream factory known as "tinsel town."  & when it says eye, it means mainly lots of music plus a couple of interviews & maybe one segment which features a Bob Seger song.  Will Hollywood recover from such scrutiny?  Will Hollywood even notice?

Of course not, & you probably won't either.  But if you'd like to descend in the Hollywood Babylon that is this week's Self Help Radio, you can listen whenever you'd like at the Self Help Radio website.  Use the username "SHR" & pass the password "selfhelp" to get the same access celebrities do.  The show's about two hours long - like the length of a movie - & you'll see some credits below.

Believe me, you got the makings of a star!

"Hooray For Hollywood" Johnnie Davis & Frances Langford _American Songbook Series: Johnny Mercer_
"Hollywood Or Bust" Dean Martin _Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis At The Movies_
"Welcome To Hollywood" Asylum Choir _Look Inside The Asylum Choir_

intro

"Green Tennis Visor" Luxuriator _Green Tennis Visor 7"_
"Big Sister In Hollywood" The Lil' Hospital _Heavy Metal_
"The Hollywood Golden Guild Awards" Superego _Superego Season 4, Episode 5_
"Hollywood Squares" Seth Bogart _Seth Bogart_
"Hollywoods Decision" Bitter Springs _Best Bakers On The Island_

interview with Hollywood agent David Fruchter

"Hollywood Swinging" Kool & The Gang _Wild & Peaceful_
"Holly Wants To Go To California" Funkadelic _Uncle Jam Wants You_
"When Hollywood Goes Black & Tan" Cleo Brown _Here Comes Cleo_
"Hollywood Tailswinging" Dr. Octagon _Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation_
"Burn Hollywood Burn" Public Enemy _Fear Of A Black Planet_
"Grouch & Chico, Hollywood Agents" The Marx Brothers _3 Hours 59 Minutes 51 Seconds with The Marx Bros_

classic replay of Mark "High Over Hollywood™" Miller interview

"High Over Hollywood" Idha _Melody Inn_
"Hollywood" Codeine Velvet Club _Codeine Velvet Club_
"Hollywood, We Did It All Wrong" Bleached _Welcome The Worms_
"Tinsel Town Rebellion" Frank Zappa _Have I Offended Someone?_

Dramatic Readings Of Classic Rock Songs: "Hollywood Nights"

"Madame Hollywood (featuring Miss Kitten)" Felix Da Housecat _Lektroluv (Mix'd By Dr Lektroluv)_
"Hollywood" Secret Rooms _Solution Disillusion_
"Theme From Hollywood" Megapuss _Surfing_
"When I Get To Hollywood" The Monochrome Set _Spaces Everywhere_
"Hollywood Affair" The Honest Johns _Meteor 1986-1990_

closing

"Somewhere In Hollywood" 10cc _Sheet Music_

post mortem

Whither Hollywood?

(Image from Wikipedia.)

Oh crap, I was in my trailer all day - these location shoots are tough - & I didn't get to write about this week's show (which will "drop" {as the kids say} tomorrow) but it's kind of crazy because this week's show is about Hollywood!

& where am I?  I'm in Death Valley, California wrapping up four grueling weeks of shooting for the newest project, which is of course Self Help Radio: The Movie.  Except it's been going through rewrites & now may be entitled Self Help Radio: The Podcast: The Movie.  In any event, it's got everything that you love about Self Help Radio without all that Self Help Radio.

They've hired me on as a script consultant but after I did some consulting they gave me a Co-Associate-Producer title & made me sit in a trailer playing video games all day.  Did I mention the cast?  Clooney! Streep!  Hanks!  Bumstead!  Schicklgruber!  It's amazing.  Not that I've met them.  They put my trailer about two miles from the actual site, & as far as I know, it's not technically about Self Help Radio anymore.  But wow, what an experience!  I hope they can get my air conditioner working again, it gets hot in here.

Anyway, I'll be back in time tomorrow for a show about Hollywood which should be great because I am now a movie veteran.  Noon tomorrow at Self Help Radio dot Net.  I'll have stories!

Preface To Hollywood: Have I Ever Been To Hollywood?

Have I?  I've been to Los Angeles, but have I ever been to Hollywood?

Looking online, I'm pretty sure I have.  I haven't seen the Hollywood Walk Of Fame or other landmarks, but I've driven in the area.  Did I know it was Hollywood?  Nope.  Did I care?  Not really.

At some point in my youth, I thought I wanted to act.  In ninth grade, I auditioned for two of my high school plays & took a semester of "theatre arts."  I felt like if I could memorize stuff - & I could - I would be a good, if not great, actor.

Heck, I even got to go to another high school to do improv!  But I did terribly.

& then, when I got a small part in the second play, I was unable to come to rehearsals because the teacher/director couldn't keep to the schedule.  I probably wrote about this here.  In frustration, I quit the play.

In twelfth grade, my friend Terri encouraged me to audition for a production of The Crucible.  I don't know what I expected - I'm sure many of the best parts went to people who had been involved actively in the Thespian Society for their entire high school careers.  & who were, of course, much better actors than I was!  They did give me a part with a few lines, & I declined.  I was too old to relive my ninth grade experience.

But still I thought I might be good at "acting."  I daydreamed about doing it, but never really followed through - at best, when I discovered radio, I found I could sometimes over-emote or ham it up for comedic effect.  Once I even "emceed" a friend's performance art show, in which I guess I played a role.  But time went by, I never actively pursued any type of performance except on the radio - no stand-up, no improv, no plays.

In my first or second year in Lexington, one of the deejays I knew at WRFL took me aside & said, "Hey, we're making a movie, & we think you'd be great in the role of the main character's father."

Oh yeah, I thought.  I'm old enough to be playing fathers now.

The part had only a few lines, but it took a long time to shoot them.  I had to continually eat slices of tomato & it made me a little ill.  But I thought it was fun.  Until.

Though the movie was never released, the kids making it did show it, & put it online (protected) for us to see.  It was a very long movie & I confess I didn't make it all the way through it.  But I did see my part.  & man, was I bad.

Not adequate, not mediocre.  Downright bad.  & I realized then I had no chance of being a good actor.  Not now, of course, but also not then.  I didn't want it enough, I didn't try.  I let inconvenience deter me.  I thought myself better than small parts.  & I don't even know if I would've enjoyed the life.  But I didn't try.  So I would never know.

But I'm not sad about it!  I never really had much of an interest in being in Hollywood.  Everything's fine.

Should I Share?

There's a story I have to tell but I have to be careful about how I tell it because I don't want to betray confidences & I don't technically have permission to share private emails.  But I think I can be vague enough that it won't be obvious whom I am talking about.

The chance of Self Help Radio airing in Dallas pretty close to zero.  There are simply no outlets & there's not any space opening on KNON any time soon.  So someone I know suggested someplace else.

This would not be "syndication."  The station would operate much like WLXU, I would send prerecorded shows, the same thing.  Why would I do that if I left WLXU, you wonder?  Well, the WLXU decision had to do with the timing of the show in relation to my Tuesday show here in town.  I didn't feel comfortable with the idea that I, as a non-community member of a community station, could demand a different timeslot.  & I think I mentioned that it had been increasingly uncomfortable to me that I didn't live in Lexington anymore.

The station in question is internet-only & had people (a couple of whom I know) who do shows there who live in different parts of the country.  One of these people recommended me, actually.  It was a very kind thing to do.

& yep, I got the response today.  The show was rejected.  Oh I wish I could quote the entire email, it's a magnificent rejection letter, with the compliments at the beginning, & the blade coming down at the end.  The person in charge told me the reason for the rejection was (& this is the key phrase) "too consistently unthrilling [musical] choices."

Wow, I feel like someone just threw a ball at my head & made a big cartoon bump grow comedically!  But I confess I won't take this opinion too much to heart because the person also wrote, "I'm sure you are a well-loved radio person. I can HEAR that you are a well-loved radio person."

For the record, I've barely been a "well-liked" radio person in my many years stinking up the airwaves.  I can't imagine what would make someone think I was "well-loved"!  The person's judgment is therefore faulty & it makes sense that I shouldn't take this rejection too personally.

As if!  I will be unable to sleep tonight because of this!  But I'll be fine.  I hope!

Rejection just isn't any fun.

Sinking In

This is a good John Mulaney joke:

"I was a very nervous kid, I was anxious all the time when I was younger, but what's nice is that some of the things I was anxious about don't bother me at all anymore.  Like I always thought that quicksand was going to be a much bigger problem than it turned out to be. Because if you watch cartoons, quicksand is like the third biggest thing you have to worry about in adult life behind real sticks of dynamite & giant anvils falling on you from the sky.  I used to sit around and think about what to do about quicksand!  I never thought about how to handle real problems in adult life, I was never like 'Oh, what's it gonna be like when relatives ask to borrow money?'

"Now that I've gotten older, not only have I never stepped in quicksand, I've never even heard about it!  No one's ever been like, 'Hey if you're coming to visit, take I-90 'cause I-95 has a little quicksand in the middle. Looks like regular sand, but then you're gonna start to sink into it.'"

Where I found that, by the way, was not on John Mulaney's web site (you, when a comedian would normally have transcripts of his jokes, sheesh), & I didn't transcribe it from the track on YouTube.  Nope, I found it on a song lyrics site.

That's weird, isn't it?  I can understand wanting to understand the lyrics of songs.  I am listening to Before & After Science as I write this & I never know the entire lyrics of "King's Lead Hat" no matter how many thousands of times I've heard it.  & hey, lyrics sites!  If Eno has never published his lyrics, then let's agree that the line "draw bananas on the bathroom walls" is nowhere near as great as the line "draw my manners on the bathroom walls," which also makes more sense in a sense.

Anyway, I've noticed this one site, Genius dot com, not only has transcriptions of comedians' routines (like the John Mulaney bit I quoted above) but also entire books.

You wanna read one of my favorite books, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson?  It's there.  You have to look for separate chapters, but hey!  Someone you don't know nor trust has annotated it!

Is the book already in the public domain?  & why hasn't someone awesome made it into an awesome movie yet?  Life is such a disappointment, & I'm saying that having not seen Solo yet!

Here's a last confession: I contribute to a lyrics site.  I've commented on songs & I've added lyrics, often transcribing them from the songs like I'm in tenth grade trying to desperately figure out Elvis Costello lyrics ("Is he saying Alka Seltzer the occasional?!?!?").  I've actually thought I knew all the lyrics to a song & had to give up.  I won't tell you which one though.  No one really likes my comments on the songs.  One guy even insulted me!  It's the internet!

These are the things I think about while preparing my Tuesday morning show.  I really should go back to listening to music though.

Self Help Radio 052518: Humming

(Original image here - which will also teach you how to hum!)

Here we are again.  Humming to ourselves while listening to music, while passing the time, while waiting or staring or wondering or trembling.  Humming, always humming.  Did I read somewhere that the earth hums?  I did!  For some reason I never got around to talking about it on the show.

& it's because there were so many songs about humming!  I thought I might have to play songs about hummingbirds or humbugs or humdingers but nope!  Too many damned songs about humming.

You can listen to the show now at the Self Help Radio website.  I guess this is the direct link.  Username is SHR, password is selfhelp.  It's one giant file almost two hours long, please look at the songs I played below & also the extras therein.

& I hope to one day get this damned hum out of my head.  Here's how the show goes:

"Darling, I Hum Our Song" Eddie Holland _The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 2: 1962_
"Uh-Hum-Mm" Sonny James _A Capitol Rockabilly Party, Pt. 3_
"Hum & Strum" "Doc" Cook & His 14 Doctors Of Syncopation _That's What I Call Sweet Music: American Dance Orchestras Of The 1920s_

intro & definitions

"Humming Forever" Drug Boyfriend & Holy Worm _Humming Forever_
"Wayward Hum" Vashti Bunyan _Lookaftering_
"The Humming Song" Martin Mull _I'm Everyone I've Ever Loved_
"Humming" Pete & The Pirates _Little Death_
"Hummin' To Myself" Connee Boswell _Sammy Fain Songbook_

interview with "The Hummer," David Fruchter

"Hum A Song (From Your Heart)" Lulu _From Crayons To Perfume (The Best Of Lulu)_
"Hummin" Cocoanut Groove _Madeleine Street_
"Seven Days (The Humming Song)" Hank Locklin _Please Help Me I'm Falling_
"You Got Me Hummin'" Sam & Dave _The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968_
"Can You Hum A Tune" L.A. Carnival _Would Like To Pose A Question_

interview with Dr. Zap Beepsman

"Just Humming Along" Al Bowlly with Roy Fox & His Orchestra _Just A Bowl Of Cherries_
"The Humming Song" Gorky's Zygotic Mynci _Spanish Dance Troupe_
"Hum With Courage" Tenniscoats _The Theme Of Tenniscoats_
"The Humming Wires" Siouxsie & The Banshees _Downside Up_

interview with Hum For Change founder Jessica Pleader

"Hum Along & Dance" The Temptations _Emperors Of Soul_
"Humming Waters" Vic Damone _Strange Enchantment_
"Hummin'" Majic Ship _The Complete Authorized Recordings_
"Hum This Song" Marlena Shaw _From The Depths Of My Soul_
"Je T'Aime Hum Hum" Les Bel Canto _L'Histoire Des Groupes Des Années 60_

conclusion & goodbye

"Humming Blues" Joe Linthecome _Hokum, Blues, & Rags_
"Walkin' & Hummin'" Ferlin Husky _Chronogical Classics 1953-1954_
"Hummin' The Blues Over You" Brenda Lee _The Very Best Of Brenda Lee_
"Hummin' A Heartache" Clarence 'Frogman' Henry _The Complete Singles_
"18 Wheels A Hummin' Home Sweet Home" Red Sovine _20 All-Time Greatest Hits_

post mortem

Whither Humming?

(Image found here.)

Stop the presses if you've read this story before:

In the late 18th century, or maybe it was the early 17th century, a seventeen-year-old whose name was sadly forgotten penned a treatise, also now lost, about humming, connecting it to both the Enlightenment & also the Disillusionment.  How do we know about this treatise, if it is, as I said, lost?  Because before it was lost, it was circulated & people talked about it, duh.

People also copied bits of the treatise into their own treatises, sometimes to argue against it, sometimes to use it as support for their theories.  So we know what this forgotten seventeen-year-old thought about humming: he thought it was better than almost anything.  Not only that, he thought it had spiritual & curative properties.  He thought people should hum to stay well, he thought that you could hum sickness away from the ailing, he thought that humming kept one young.

For years, this intriguing bit of writing, known as the Hum Manifesto, has been sought after by people who seek things like that.  & earlier this month, an intact copy was found in a warehouse in San Bernardino, in a crate of spoiled fish, in the back where the crate had been misplaced.  Initially thought to be an exceptional forgery, scholars have determined it may well be the original & shipped it to the Smithsonian for further study.

But, alas, Trump was doing weird things with postal rates & the manuscript never made it to the archives.  There are rumors it ended up at a bed & breakfast in Lawrence, Kansas, where it sits under a copy of Guns & Ammo, waiting for its moment.  Some say they saw it hitching a ride to Reno on Highway 50 somewhere between Ely & Eureka.  Others claim it defected to China, where it could hum with impunity, having never learned their language.  But wherever it is, & especially where it isn't, I think it would be proud to know it inspired this week's Self Help Radio, a show about humming.

The episode will be available Friday May 25 at noon (central) on the Self Help Radio website.  You will like it, especially if you don't know the words.

Preface To Humming: Hummingbirds?

(Image from here.)

Over on this show's Facebook page, I wondered out loud whether a show about humming (which is what this week's show is about) should feature songs about hummingbirds.

The Wikipedia page about humming says, "The 'hum' that a hummingbird creates is created by resonance: in this case by the passage of air against wings in the actions of flying, especially of hovering."  So, hummingbirds do hum, but do they qualify for inclusion in a show about humming?

Or should there be an entire show about hummingbirds?

& while we're at it, why didn't awesome Australian band the Hummingbirds ever write a song about humming or hummingbirds?  Their jangle pop was amazing.

At this point I don't know if we'll add hummingbirds to the mix.  I'd love to hear an argument either way.  Okay.  Back to listening to music about humming.

Tumblr Blog I Like # 4

Again, this isn't a Tumblr blog, I don't know why I write that, but I discovered this comic on Tumblr so I assume it's somewhat connected with Tumblr.  It's called War & Peas.

I know, not very inventive.  But it's funny!  Look:

You can find it at war & peas dot com.  I like it!

Nearly A Week Off

The wife & me went to Chicago for a few days.  As is my wont, I walked around a lot & took pictures, some of which will doubtless make it to the Self Help Radio Tumblr page in the coming months, & also we ate lots of vegan food.

Chicago's vegan section is all on its north side, & because I had only been to Chicago a few times before (maybe three?) I wasn't quite prepared for two things: one, how compact it all seems, & two, how long it takes to get from one place to another even though it seems like you're just a couple of miles away.

One of my wife's colleagues, with whom we ate at the trusted Chicago Diner, told us there's a joke/saying/whatever in the city which goes like this: How long does it take to get to a place in Chicago?  Thirty-five to forty minutes.

There's a similar joke around here in the D/FW Metroplex.

Chicago doesn't have as many highways as we have, despite having impressive, densely-packed sprawl.  So I can drive (in non-rush-hour moments) forty-five miles in forty-five minutes, but that's a lot longer in Chicago & anyway, you're only going to make twenty miles (if you're lucky) in forty-five minutes.

Enough of that.  I enjoy mass transit.  I liked riding the trains.  I saved my Ventra Card like a souvenir.

What was I talking about?  Oh yeah, vegan food.  We saw old Lexington friends at Arya Bhavan, a vegan Indian restaurant, which, on a Wednesday night, has no other customers but us.  In fact, they closed early & made us leave because they had to be somewhere else.  I regret not getting to go to their Saturday buffet.  Oh Em Gee.

We went to Chicago's vegan pizzeria, House Of Za, & got a Chicago-style to go while eating pull-apart garlic bread & vegan monkey bread while we waited.  I confess I was a little disappointed, maybe I don't like stuffed pizza, I liked it more the next day but that's always true.  I would want to eat more the next time.

What was really amazing was the Break Room at the Upton Naturals place where they make their products.  It was a small place but I swear I haven't had migas that good since Austin.

The weather was perfect for walking around.  I suppose we should've done more touristy stuff.  At one point we got lost in Cicero (who gets lots with GPS on your phone? people who aren't using the GPS on their phone) & I swear we found ourselves driving by a drug corner like in The Wire.  It was a ways from the main road, I guess it would have to be, I had never thought about it before.  We just smiled & drove on by.  But we could've bought drugs!

Anyway, I got the Morning Blend to do tomorrow & SHR this week.  Back into the swing of things I go.  How was your week?  Did you miss the show (don't answer that).

Most Mortem

Whew.  I am so fucking bad at this fundraising thing.  The only pledge I got today was from someone at the station.  I was supposed to raise two grand over three pledge days to justify my existence & despite six hours of begging & pleading on the radio - & trying to make something worth listening to - I barely made one-eighth of that.  If I got a call tomorrow saying, "Sorry, buddy, we can't afford to have you stinking up our airwaves any longer," I wouldn't be able to deny it.

Before this last show I looked over this brief article of tips for pledge drive.  What I try to hook people with - unsuccessfully, obviously - is the whole idea of community radio.  The idea of a real person playing music in a room, a person who chooses the music, who loves the music, who's the architect & builder of the program you're listening to.  I guess that's not enticing enough.

But could I do better next time, should I be allowed a next time?  I guess I'll have to try.

One good thing is this: defeat never encourages me.  The fact that I didn't do very well the first time was like a gut punch.  The second time was a mild headache.  This last time was simply what I expected would happen.  & I tried not to be a "crabby pledge person" whose "down energy dampens enthusiasm," since no one was listening all the way through.  But toward the end, after half a dozen attempts to get any call at all, I did more or less give up.

How bad was it?  You can listen to the show for the next thirteen days on Radio Free America.  I wish I could edit out the breaks, because I think the Bowie covers were great.  But, you know, not enough to donate to the station that was playing them.

Reminder

There will be no new Self Help Radio this week.  I mentioned it on the show last week, but you might not have heard the show last week, & so I thought I should mention it here this week.

It's funny, if I had still been doing the show on WLXU, I probably would have gotten a show done, since I turned them in on Tuesdays to air on Wednesdays.  But since I'll be out of town Wednesday through Saturday, I won't be able to get a show done.  I don't plan nearly well enough, nor do I have mobile recording equipment so I could record on the fly.

Anyway, you won't miss the show.  But I felt obligated to let you know.

What else do you wanna talk about?

Self Help Radio 051118: Natural Radio

(Self Help Radio logo by Suloni Robertson; sticker from here.)

Yes, finally!  One hundred percent natural radio!  No additives, no chemicals, no weird hormones, no strange preservatives, nothing but radio, except, of course, it's not on the radio at all, it's more pretending to be radio in a podcast-y kind of way, & that's it, isn't it?  The only way in this modern media landscape for radio to be natural is for it not to be on the radio.  & so this week's episode delivers!

Listen to it now or whenever you want at the Self Help Radio website.  It's one giant file, almost two hours long, & everything that's in the show is listed below.  Oh yeah: pay attention, you'll be asked for a username & a password.  Those are "SHR" & "selfhelp" respectively.

Hope you enjoy!  As Wilford Brimley might say, "It's the natural thing to do."

"Natural" The Pale Fountains _Pacific Street_
"Natural" Leon Gardner _Keb Darge's Legendary Deep Funk, Vol. 2_
"Natural" Arrested Development _The Best Of Arrested Development_

show introduction with the Definition-Tron 4000

"Natural Life" Cool Ghouls _Cool Ghouls_
"Natural High" Mike Wallace _Mixed Up Minds Part Five: Obscure Rock & Pop From The British Isles 1970-1974_
"Natural" George Carlin _When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?_
"Natural's Not In It" Gang Of Four _Entertainment!_
"Natural Man" The Dirtbombs _If You Don't Already Have A Look_

interview with naturist David Fruchter

"Natural Woman" Katie Stelmanis _Join Us_
"Natural Guy" Louis Prima & Keely Smith _The Capitol Recordings_
"Act Naturally" The Beatles _Help!_
"Let It Come Naturally" Wilson Pickett _Funky Midnight Mover: The Atlantic Studio Recordings (1962-1978)_
"Alone Again (Naturally)" Squirrels _Scrapin' For Hits_

Gary (a different Gary) calls the Self Help Radio Self Help Line

"I'm A Natural Born Gamblin' Man" Merle Travis _Sixteen Tons_
"Natural Born Lover" Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings _Naturally_
"Mr. Natural" Mental As Anything _Essential As Anything_
"The Natural" Nord Express _Nord Express_
"Natural Kind Of Joy" That Petrol Emotion _Manic Pop Thrill_

Old Man Dickenbock interrupts!

"The Natural Girl For Me" The Chad Mitchell Trio _The Best Of Chad Mitchell Trio: The Mercury Years_
"It's A Natural Fact" Billy Childish & Holly Golightly _In Blood_
"Natural Resources" Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco _The Past Didn't Go Anywhere_
"Natural History" Desperate Bicycles _Another Commercial Venture_
"Natural High" Bloodstone _Soul Hits Of The '70s: Didn't It Blow Your Mind? Vol. 11_

last airbreak with only a few tears

"Natural Natural Ditty" The Jewels _B-Bomb Baby_
"Natural Soul Brother" Danny White _New Orleans Funk (New Orleans: The Original Sound Of Funk 1960-75)_
"(What's Under) The Natural Do" John Kasandra _The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1968-1971_
"So Natural" Gold-Bears _Are You Falling In Love?_
"Be Natural" Martin Creed _Love To You_

show post mortem

Whither Natural Radio?

(This image, from here, is from a "natural burial" website.  Use your imagination!)

What the hell is "natural radio"?  You might think field recordings, or perhaps a remote from a pleasing camp site during this lovely green spring.  But nope!  It's just a show where every song somehow invokes the word "natural."

By the way, it won't use the word "supernatural."  It almost did, but then I thought, oh fuck, that would be a pretty good Halloween theme.  You must know I am running out of Halloween themes.  Eventually it will just be me making "booooo" sounds with some cheap wind sound effects for two hours.  Soon.  But not so soon!

So this week, tomorrow at noon, you'll find out what natural radio is.  It's nothing special, it's the same old horse hockey I've done since this show began.  But there are some great tunes.  So I hope you'll listen!

Preface To Natural Radio: Last Minute Shopping

One thing I have always disliked is when one becomes familiar with people who work at a place that one visits regularly.  My sister Pat used to eat it up.  If I went shopping with her, if I were home from college, we'd go to her neighborhood Minyards, & she knew everyone & introduced me to them.  I hated it.  I wanted to buy shit & get out.

When "pay at the pump" was introduced, that was the coolest thing for me.  I remember stopping at a gas station that was closed late one night on my way to or from Austin & just buying gas.  That was cool.  Of course I do that a Costco now but there's a person paid to walk around & say hello to you.  I fucking hate that.  & of course there are "regulars" who talk to that person.

& yeah yeah I'd use self-checkout if I could everywhere I go.

This is a true story: when we first moved to Huntington, which is a small town, I ordered pizza twice from a place.  The second time, the person who answered the phone recognized me & recognized the same order.  I never went back there again.  (This is not entirely about my point - I became vegan in the fall so didn't order pizza anymore.)  (But my wife still brings this up.)

It's like I find it tacky when people want to be friendly like that.  It drives me nuts.

But here's the thing: I don't really like online shopping.  I don't do Amazon because it's a giant monolith that's destroying what's left of offline commerce that Wal-Mart didn't decimate.  But I guess I prefer it to being around actual people.

Having said that, at Sprouts this week, one of the regular cashiers called me "sir" & I told her she could call me Gary.  She said she didn't know, & I said yeah, people like me didn't get to walk around with nametags on.  Though I wish we could!

Well Yeah This Morning

This morning I did tolerably better on the Tuesday Morning Blend for the KNON Pledge Drive.  I actually more than doubled last week's take but, you know, it's not much when I didn't make very much last week.  These are the names of the folks who pledged: Anne, Shelby, Connie, Baron, & Chris.  There have been only five of them.  I remember them all.  Oh, wait.  My wife pledged too.  That was kind of her.  She looks at me with very sad eyes.

Next week I'll do one more, I'm going to do a show about superheroes, someone suggested it, I wrote that person's name down, I'll do a shout-out.  I have to admit I have no idea how to raise money, I'm terrible at it, I wish I were better, such is life.  At some point someone is going to realize they'd be better off putting someone else on the air at that time & I will go quietly.

If you did donate online, here, for example, I won't know about it for a while.  It goes through some Byzantine process to find its way to the final total.  Anyway.  At this point, it doesn't really matter.  I am nowhere near my goal nor will I reach it.  Such are vagaries of radio fund raising.

Wow, this is so damaging to my self-esteem!

Going Back In

Last week, you may recall, I discussed raising money for KNON on the first day of the station's Spring Pledge Drive. I was not sanguine about it, & it turned out it was quite hopeless indeed: I did not do well.

Tomorrow it happens all over again!  Since it's National Teacher Appreciation Day tomorrow (& the whole week is National Teacher Appreciation Week), I thought I'd do a show entirely about teachers & school.  Because, of course, teachers in our society have so much money & they can donate to community radio stations without it affecting their budgets at all.

Yep, I'm fucked.