There's Always Something After The Show...

This picture:

was taken at the end of January on one of the dog walks the wife & I take (with the dogs of course) around the city.  I believe this was in Gresham, we went to walk through a park, & instead of walking back through it, we took a longer route through the neighborhood around it.  This was on a fence of a house which stood on the corner of a neighborhood road & a much busier street.

(There's a folder on my computer full of the many pictures I take when I am out & about.  I don't have a lot of time to go through them, so I am way behind, having only gotten to late January in early June.)

What's the story?  What is happening?  I can only guess.  But more than anything I wish I had found this before this week's show!

"Tim's Front Yard"

On Self Help Radio's show about yards this past week, we presented six never-before-aired episodes of the beloved radio serial "Tim's Front Yard."  Previous generations would gather at the appointed hour, just past dinnertime, to thrill to the tragicomic adventures of Tim, who wanted the perfect front yard, & his neighbor Bob, who wanted the neighborhood to look as good as possible.  The show ran from the early 1940s until radio died, & is fondly missed by many, especially those who never heard it.

Self Help Radio was proud to air the otherwise unheard episodes but unfortunately, it was in installments during the show, & no one in their right mind listens all the way through an episode of Self Help Radio.  It's three extremely painful hours long!  So for those who wish just to hear the serial, you can conveniently listen to all six parts right now by clicking this link.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, to see the front yard as a metaphor for the world, with Tim the Everyperson, & I guess Bob can be seen as both the powerful god whose capriciousness we cannot abide & the eternal antagonist who sharpens us as a stone sharpens a blade.  I mean, I wrote my senior thesis on the serial but it's been a really long time since high school.  The magic of a beloved work of radio theater like this is that it can mean whatever the fuck you want it to mean.  Please enjoy.

Self Help Radio 053122: Yards

(Yes, it's a picture of my backyard.)

While there are lots of songs about lots of different kinds of yards - farmyards, schoolyards, courtyards, stockyards, junkyards, barnyards, brickyards, to name but a few - backyards seem to be the most common subject of "yard songs."  I just quickly counted eighteen songs on this show about backyards, at least in the title, & that's more than half the songs on the show.  So.  I thought I'd share my backyard with you.  I took that moments ago.  It's actually quite a lovely afternoon here in Portland today!

Meanwhile, late last night (or early this morning), I played on the radio for three hours, talked about & played songs about all kinds of yards.  As I mentioned previously, there were no songs about the yards we use in measurement, nor were there songs about graveyards.  Turns out I covered that one year for Halloween.

Please enjoy lots of songs about yards.  No matter which yard you happen to be listening in.  The show is over at the KBOO website.  It's also on the Self Help Radio website.  If you go to that last one, make sure you bring the username SHR & the password selfhelp.  But you'll be able to download the show!  Everything that happens is below.

Hm. I might go nap in the backyard now!

Self Help Radio Yards Show

"Yard" The Birthday Party _Prayers On Fire_

"Yard" Black Belt Eagle Scout _Mother Of My Children_

"I Don't Want To Play In Your Yard" The Vonnair Sisters _Goodbye To Toyland_

introduction & definitions

"The Farm Yard Connection" Fun Boy Three _Waiting_

"Swing In The Backyard" Lightnin' Hopkins _The Legacy Of The Blues Vol. 12_

"Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard" Me First & The Gimme Gimmes _Have A Ball_

"The Backyard" Stevans _Rupture_

"Courtyard" Bobbie Gentry _The Delta Sweete_

interview with yard sale aficionado Jeremy Rogers

"Yardsale" Lifestyle _At The Risk Of Sounding Pretentious_

"Yard Sale" Jimbo Pap _It Can Always Get Worse_

"Clean Up Your Own Yard" Jackie Moore _Sweet Charlie Babe_

"Keep In Your Own Backyard" Peter Skellern _You're A Lady_

"Backyards" Broken Social Scene _Bee Hives_

interview with yard of the month winner Terry Jarvis

"Backyard Blues" Wilson's T.O.B.A. Band _The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records 1917-1927, Volume 1_

"New Stock Yard Blues" Robert Wilkins _That's No Way To Get Along_

"Barnyard Boogie" Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five _Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five_

"Back In Your Own Back Yard" Nancy Wilson _Hello Young Lovers_

"The Yard Went On Forever" Richard Harris _The Yard Went On Forever..._

interview with "In The Yard" author Curtis Derren

"Back Yard Movement" The Mighty Threes _Africa Shall Stretch Forth Her Hands_

"In Your Backyard" Reptaliens _Multiverse_

"In The Backyard" The Rosebuds _Life Like_

"Junkyard" Alex Chilton _High Priest_

"Junkyard" U.S. Girls _Bills & Aches & Blues_

idioms!

"The Big Back Yard" Robert Merrill _New York, New York: A Vintage Portrait_

"Back of the Yards" The Jack Teter Trio _Johnson Rag_

"My Backyard" Mose Allison _My Backyard_

"Barnyard Soul" Roscoe & Friends _Barnyard Soul_

"Brickyard Blues" Love Machine _Love Machine_

"Rain In My Backyard" The Moments _Sharp_

Scotland Yard?

"Scotland Yard" John Cale _Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood_

"Government Out Of My Backyard" The Skywriters _The Skywriters_

"Backyard" The Big However _Las Vegas Amusements_

"Active In The Yard" Mission Of Burma _Forget_

"Backyard" Sløtface _Try Not To Freak Out_

"Sunny Backyard" The Intelligence _Everybody's Got It Easy But Me_

conclusion & goodbye

"Rock In The Yard" Upside Drown _Mood Music_

"Backyard Guys" 20/20 _20/20_

Whither Yards?

(It's true, there's at least one yard in Portland mostly full of statuary.)

In the years when I lived with my mother & siblings, I was mostly in apartments.  We didn't have enough money to own - or even rent - a house.  There was no yard to maintain or mow or rake.  To be sure, I was occasionally bribed by older siblings to mow or take their yards, but obviously never as often as the kid who grew up with a front or back yard.

The first place I lived - it was a duplex - which had a yard, the landlord mowed the yard for us.  It wasn't until we bought our first house in - gosh, 2005? - I would've been 37! - that I spent any time dealing with the care & upkeep of a yard.  Having dogs one kind of needs to have a yard.  The most time I spend in my backyard now I spent with my dogs.

Self Help Radio late tonight will talk about all kinds of yards.  Not just yards in front or or behind homes, but shipyards, schoolyards, churchyards, many different yards - probably not Rudyards, though.  I don't really know any, actually.  Is there anyone named Rudyard who'd like to be my friend?

Listen from midnight to 3am tonight (or Tuesday morning if you want to be technical) on 90.7fm in Portland & online at kboo.fm.  To celebrate the humble yard.  But not the measurement!

Preface To Yards: The Backyard Just Outside Austin

(image from here)

The Backyard was a music venue about twenty miles west of Austin in I believe the city of Bee Caves.  On this website, which doesn't seem to know it's been closed for over a decade, it says, "The Backyard is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country in a natural, open-air setting enveloped in the shade of 400 year old live oaks. This one of a kind amphitheater hosts music of a varied & eclectic mix of musicians."

The Backyard is a venue I think I went to more than I actually did.  I saw Elvis Costello there at least three times - his gigography says he performed there four times, so maybe I saw him there four time.  I saw Belle & Sebastian there twice.  My three favorite shows there were Leonard Cohen in 1993, Richard Thompson in 1994, & Morrissey in 2007.

It was a very secluded place, with a dirt parking lot, & no matter how hot the day was - & it was usually hot - it felt about fifteen degrees cooler under those trees.  It was a lovely place to see a show.  & for some reason, I didn't go out there between 2004 or so & 2007, & when I did, holy shit.

A mall had sprung up around it.  It was like a completely different place.  We parked in an actual parking lot & walked past a Best Buy.  It was indicative of the changes Austin went through before I left - I can't be certain, but there were probably people who complained about the noise of the live shows at the Backyard which caused it to close.

It was such a nice venue to see music.  Here's how isolated it was: when Leonard Cohen played, he came out alone with a guitar for a few songs.  He had just started the song "A Singer Must Die" when - as if on cue - a police car came screaming past outside.  The place was so out-of-the-way there couldn't have been more than a dozen cars that drove by during his entire show.  He stopped playing & said, "Listen. What a sad, lovely sound."  & he waited for the doppler effect to subside before he started an entirely different song.

It was at the Backyard that I saw Richard Thompson for the first time, just him on a guitar with a stand-up bassist at his side.  I had never heard the song "Beeswing" before & his performance of it made me cry.  Tears just falling down my cheeks.  & he would crack jokes in-between the songs as he retuned his guitar.  He gave me emotional whiplash.

& after I had back surgery, I painfully made my way out to the Backyard to see Belle & Sebastian.  I lay on one of the grassy parts & enjoyed the show & it was almost a ritual event to ease my transition back into the world.

Despite being a huge fan, I had never seen Morrissey, not the least because he hardly came to Austin & also he cancels shows a lot.  So seeing him in 2007 was just a joy.  Look!  Here's a picture of it!  I'm in the audience you can't see.

It would be strange to do a show about yards & not think about the Backyard.

The weird news: this website says it'll reopen in 2024.  But will you be able to sneak in to see Elvis Costello & the Attractions at their soundcheck?  I don't believe you will.

Fire Escape (Again)

There has been mention on this blog before of fire escapes.  I am fond of/in love with/borderline obsessed with them.  & I've never been on one!  It's so unfair.  Except for the "needing to flee a fire" part.  I haven't done that either, & I'm glad about that.  I just wanna hang out on one on a hot night.  That's all.

Here's a doubtless unsafe fire escape that I took a picture of on this day in 2017.  The Dallas building was at the time abandoned - its Wikipedia page doesn't note its fate.  I believe on the morning of the very last episode of the KNON program I did, in 2019, I met a friend in Deep Ellum for lunch & took some pictures of it being renovated.  Please don't ask me to try to find those.

Nowadays it's not abandoned, & it's not a bank either - it's a hotel.  The Pittman Hotel.  That web page shows how they managed to save some of its design.  It was finished in 2020, & I haven't been in that part of Dallas in a very long time.  & probably won't any time soon.

But I wonder if they saved the fire escape!

Flowery Films

(image from the IMDb)

On the last show of the KBOO Spring Membership Drive - which ends tomorrow so if you haven't given, give now! - our resident cinephile Chuck stopped by to talk about films featuring flowers - although not with that level of alliteration.  This was the last of the shows organized around the theme of the "Hive Drive" - we did shows about bees, honey, buzzing, stinging, & finally flowers.

You didn't listen?  You fool!  Do so now at kboo.fm or at selfhelpradio.net!  Then check here for important links once you've heard Chuck talk about the films.  & here they are!

Here is the IMDb keyword list Chuck used to find films tagged with "flowers."
Here is his YouTube playlist featuring films he discussed & more!
Here is the IMDb list of some films available for free elsewhere.
Here are his Letterboxd reviews of flowery flower films.

As always, I urge you to follow Chuck on Twitter so you can keep up with what he's watching!  Knowing Chuck, he's already started watching films for the next time he's on the show!

Look at all the flowers we gave you this week!

Self Help Radio 052422: Flowers (Again)

Here it is, the last of the "Hive Drive" KBOO Spring Membership Drive shows - we've previously covered bees & honey & stinging & buzzing - now we return to a theme previously covered by Self Help Radio in 2009.  The "flowers" show aired on WMUL in Huntington, West Virginia, in August of that year, & if you actually heard the show at that time, you would have been the only one.

This show was hopefully heard by maybe two people, & you can see below the songs are grouped (should I say "bunched"?) into specific flower sets - buttercups, sunflowers, lilies, daisies, roses, gardenias, violets - I didn't have time to get to sets featuring songs about daffodils, marigolds, & tulips, & I also had like an hour more of songs just called "flowers" - & in-between I talk to local florists & also try to raise money for KBOO.  That's the purpose of these shows!  If you haven't already helped, please do so now!

You can listen now & anytime at either the KBOO Self Help Radio page or at the show's website at Self Help Radio dot net.  At the show's website, use the username SHR & the password selfhelp to download the show.  Every song that's played, & the stuff that happens in-between, is listed below.

Please enjoy this lovely bouquet of a radio show.

Self Help Radio Flowers Show

"Flowers (Demo)" The Psychedelic Furs _The Psychedelic Furs_

"Flowers" Irma Thomas _After The Rain_

"The Flowers" Nits _Doing The Dishes_

introduction & definitions

"Buttercup (feat. The Neal Hefti Singers)" Neal Hefti & His Orchestra _Pardon My Doo-Wah_

"Build Me Up Buttercup" The Foundations _Build Me Up Buttercup: The Complete Pye Collection_

"Buttercups & Daisys" Strawberry Story _Clamming For It_

"Buttercup" Beezus _Lives Of The Saints_

"Buttercups" Dressy Bessy _Sound Go Round_

interview with florist Russ Campbell

"Sunflowers" The Baroques _Purple Day_

"Sunflower" The Springfields _Singles 1986-1991_

"Sunflower" Le Futur Pompiste _Your Stories & Your Thoughts_

"Sunflower" Mercury Rev _The Light In You_

"Sunflowers" Roy Ayers, Adrian Younge, & Ali Shaheed Muhammad _Jazz Is Dead 2_

interview with florist Jarvis Moynihan

"Lilies" Julie Tippetts _Sunset Glow_

"Lilies" Cranes _Loved_

"Calla Lilies" The Caribbean _Plastic Explosives_

"The Blackest Lily" Corinne Bailey Rae _The Sea_

"Lilies" Bedbug _I'll Count To Heaven In Years Without Seasons_

interview with florist Robby Turner

"Daisies" Doris _Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby_

"Daisy A Day" Jud Strunk _Super Hits Of The '70s - Have A Nice Day, Vol. 11_

"Daisies" The Real Tuesday Weld _Where Psyche Meets Cupid_

"Daisies" Mean Lady _Love Now_

"Daisies" Pins _Hot Slick_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by!

"Roses" Milltown Brothers _Scared To Get Happy (A Story Of Indie-Pop 1980-1989)_

"Roses" Blouse _Blouse_

"Roses" Tomorrows Tulips _Eternally Teenage_

"Roses" Le Chat Mort _Roses_

"Roses" Camila Fuchs _Kids Talk Sun_

a discussion of "the language of flowers"

"Blue Gardenia" Dinah Washington _For Those In Love_

"Gardenia (feat. Bonnie Graham)" Rodd Keith _I Died Today_

"Gardenia" Kelley Stoltz _Circular Sounds_

"Gardenia" Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks _Real Emotional Trash_

"Gardenia" Iggy Pop _Post Pop Depression_

conclusion & goodbye

"Violets" Momus _The Poison Boyfriend_

"Sweet Violets" Dinah Shore _The Dinah Shore Collection_

Whither Flowers (Again)?

(A neighbor's buttercups.)

Today is the last Self Help Radio of the 2022 KBOO Spring Membership Drive.  (Help out here plz.)  It was dubbed the "Hive Drive" by KBOO staff & Self Help Radio arranged its themes all through the drive to fit with that conceit.  Therefore, we had shows about bees, about honey, about buzzing, about stings, & now, we go most general, to a show about flowers.  So essential to the hive!

It is a daunting task to do a show about a subject so general as flowers because there are (we counted) seven hundred million kabillion googolplex songs about flowers.  Tonight we'll focus on mostly individual kinds of flowers in each set.  That will help narrow it down somewhat.  Although even that wasn't very easy.  I surely listened to at least four hundred million kabillion songs.  & I probably won't even play one you think I should!

Listen tonight (or tomorrow morning to be more precise) from midnight to 3am on 90.7fm KBOO in Portland & online at kboo.fm.  & don't say I never give you anything - tonight I am giving you flowers!

Preface To Flowers: Again?

(Spring is lovely in Portland.)

In the late summer of 2009, the wife & I (& our three dogs & two cats) had moved to Huntington, West Virginia, where I had found a home for Self Help Radio on the college station there, WMUL.  On August 4, around 6pm (I don't know why that time), I did a show with the theme "flowers."  In my typical fashion, I didn't just randomly pick songs about flowers; each song had to either be called "Flowers" or the name of a kind of flower (ie, "Violets").  You can see the playlist here.

This blog existed back then, I wonder what I wrote in it?

For the entry called "Preface To Flowers" - yes, I've been doing that for years now - I said, after the colon: Really? Flowers? When Did You Become Like Every Other Lame "Theme" Radio Show Out There?

& I wrote,

Wow, the title of this blog post is really hostile. It's making me defensive.
Can I answer tomorrow? I'm catching up on "Weeds" & "Nurse Jackie."
Weird. I think whoever titles these blog posts is really disappointed in me.

God, I wasted a lot of time watching "Weeds" & "Nurse Jackie."

What did I write for the "Whither Flowers?" post?  I wrote:

I know, I know, I know. Most everyone who does some sort of radio show where they get to select the music (as opposed to those who have their music chosen for them by corporate computers who manipulate focus-group tests to favor artists they've poured pots of gold into) does some sort of theme show at least every once in a while. What separates Self Help Radio from the rest (I like to think) is that the show doesn't repeat itself with regularity, it doesn't usually tailor the theme to temporal situations (though there are exceptions), & it goes out of its way to avoid themes of a broad nature (like, I don't know, "love" or "cars") which anyone with an iPod & a couple of friends could do at a moment's notice. This is not to denigrate those sorts of shows, it's just not the way I want to do Self Help Radio. I want to explore themes that require a little bit of time, thought, crate-digging, finagling, desperation, tears.

So, um, why "flowers"? Isn't that one of the easy ones?

Ha ha! You misunderstand my love of arbitrary limitations! For this week on Self Help Radio, not only will the show not be a simply free-for-all about "flowers," but the songs I play will - must - have to simply be either songs called "flowers" or songs about a type of flower pluralized. So there'll be songs called "Roses" or "Daffodils" or "Violets." Them's the rules. There may be a very beautiful song called "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" but unless it's called "The Tulips," it can't be on this week's Self Help Radio.

You see? Saddling myself with preconditions that no one but me cares about - that's the Self Help Radio way.

By the way, my apologies to the nice bakery who wrote hoping I was doing a show about flour. One day, friends. One day.

But why revisit the theme?  I'll tell you tomorrow.

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

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

For some reason, I make a new intro for my show every year.  I didn't do this from the very beginning - I used the same intro from 2003 to 2005 - but it became a habit to do it annually after that.  I believe I would do it in May because that's when the schedule changed at KOOP (in Austin) but also when the summer semester started at WRFL (in Lexington).  Last year I didn't get around to it till June for some reason, which means I've used the current intro for less than a year.  But I had the notion to make one before May was done, & so I have!  & here it is:

Here's the 2022 Self Help Radio Intro!

This year Self Help Radio will turn twenty, which means I've left behind a lot of frickin' intros.  If you would like to hear the previous ones, here they are:

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

You can listen to the 2003 intro here.

You can listen to the 2005 intro here.

You can listen to the 2006 intro here.

You can listen to the 2007 intro here.

You can listen to the 2008 intro here.

You can listen to the 2009 intro here.

You can listen to the 2010 intro here.

You can listen to the 2011 intro here.

You can listen to the 2012 intro here.

You can listen to the 2013 intro here.

You can listen to the 2014 intro here.

You can listen to the 2015 intro here.

You can listen to the 2016 intro here.

You can listen to the 2017 intro here.

You can listen to the 2018 intro here.

You can listen to the 2019 intro here.

You can listen to the 2020 intro here.

You can listen to last year's intro here.

This is the only place I make a big deal about it, but I am a little sad I didn't get to say goodbye to this past year's intro.  I like it quite a bit.  But time marches on!

Random Friday Thoughts

This photo was just posted on the Self Help Radio Tumblr Blog with the caption "apparently things in that tree need to calm the fuck down."  I post a lot of pictures I take on that blog.  It has next to nothing to do with the radio show.  All of those pictures are posted to my Facebook account, too.  If only there were some kind of social media application that specialized in images!  But we know there's none.

Yesterday was Pete Townshend's birthday & on the Dickenbock Report I played a bunch of covers of Who songs to celebrate.  I'll put that show up after next week's Self Help Radio.  It's caused me to listen to Who records for the first time in a long time.  Gosh, I like them a lot.  If you'd ask me if I were a big fan of the Who just a week ago, I would've said, "I liked them a lot when I was in my teens & early twenties but now..."  Now I'd tell you I might be a bigger fan than I was then!

At dinner with a neighbor couple tonight, I discovered that the male half of that couple once worked on a documentary about The Highwaymen.  He told me Willie was the showman, Waylon the storyteller, Kris the insecure one, & Johnny the rather ailing one.  It was wonderful & it meant I am now just one or two degrees of separation from those country luminaries.  He also got to hang with Foghat.

In the evening (like now) my cat Bolan needs his dried food refilled or else he'll cry all night long so I usually fill a little bowl & toss some treats on top.  The treats are in a cabinet directly below the magnetic doohickey which keeps the cabinet doors closed.  Every time I grabbed the treats I scratch the top of my right hand.  Tonight I finally drew blood - & moved the fucking treats.  I was going to take a picture but I am too tired.  It's time for bed.

Self Help Radio 051722: Sting

(Original bee image here. Sting's face from here.)

Sometimes the internet fails you.  I had hoped that someone would have made an image somewhere of Sting getting stung by bees or something else.  But nope!  So I had to make one.  & that's what you see above - Sting's his usual cocky self, you just know he's going to get stung!  Fingers crossed.

Of course, the show had very little to do with Sting, just a couple of songs & a bit - most of the songs were about things that sting - bees in particular - & stings as things that hurt, as in "death where is thy sting?"  There's even a set with the word "stingy," which, I discovered, some from the word "sting."  Plus the usual nonsensical interviews.

Listen to the sting show now - it won't hurt you - at the KBOO web page or at the Self Help Radio web site.  Remember at the latter, you'll need a username - SHR - & a password - selfhelp - to listen.  But you can download the show!  All the stuff that happened (more or less) is below.

Self Help Radio Sting Show

"Sting Like A Bee" The Mighty Sceptres _All Hail The Mighty Sceptres!_

"Bumble Bee (Sting Me)" Wilson Pickett _In Philadelphia_

"Queen Bee" John Lee Hooker _The Classic Early Years 1948-1951_

introduction & definitions featuring the Definition-O-Tron 3000

"Beestung" Kristin Hersh _Hips & Makers_

"The Bees" Belly _King_

"Bee Sting Stings" Tullycraft _City Of Subarus_

"The Sting" Sad13 _Slugger_

"Bee" The Sugarcubes _Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!_

interview with poetry teacher Mr. Jarvis

"Never Let The Same Bee Sting You Twice" Richard "Rabbit" Brown _The Greatest Songsters 1927-1929_

"Stinging Snake Blues" Memphis Minnie _Queen Of The Country Blues (All The Published Sides 1929-1937 In Chronological Order)_

"I Got Stung" Elvis Presley _Elvis 2nd To None_

"Honeybee" The New Birth _Shaolin Soul (Episode 2)_

"Sting Me Baby" Jo Ann Garrett _Dance Floor Disaster_

interview with scientist & educator Alex Hess

"Honey Bee (Keep On Stinging Me)" Diana Ross & The Supremes _Love Child_

"A Bee Without Its Sting" The Go! Team _Get Up Sequences Part One_

"(Hurts Like A) Bee Sting" Lucky Soul _Hard Lines_

"I Got Stung" Bonnie Dobson _Bonnie Dobson_

"Beesting" Buildings Breeding _Buildings Breeding_

trendspotting with Martie Smartie

"Sting Me Mr. Strange Man" Eloise Bennett _The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records 1917-1927, Volume 1_

"Death Sting Me Blues" Sara Martin _In Chronological Order Volume 4 (1925-1928)_

"Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting?" Eric Mingus & Gary Lucas _The Harry Smith Project Live_

"Death Where Is Thy Sting" Pat Brennan _The Executioner's Last Songs Volume 2 & 3_

"The Sting" Editors _The Weight Of Your Love_

a dramatic reenactment of an interview with Sting

"Why Sting Is Such An Idiot" Allen Clapp & His Orchestra _One Hundred Percent Chance Of Rain_

"I Killed Sting" Bitesize _Beastfest 2002_

"A Bee Will Sting You" Barry Louis Polisar _Off-Color Songs For Kids_

"Honey-Bee Sting" Fire Hydrant Men _Missed It By That Much!_

"Bumblebee Sting" Dulcie Younger & The Silencers _Kitty, Kitty ...Growl!_

"Beesting" Winterpills _Central Chambers_

idioms!

"Stingy Blues" Cootie Williams & His Orchestra _1945-1946_

"Stingy Little Thing" Hank Ballard & The Midnighters _Nothing But Good: The Federal/King Recordings 1952-1962_

"Silas Stingy" Petra Haden _Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out_

"Bee Stings" Warren Defever _I Want You To Live 100 Years_

"Stung" Deer Tick _Born On Flag Day_

"Sunlight Feels Like Bee Stings" HTRK _Rhinestones_

conclusion & goodbye

"I Got The Stinger" Jabbo Smith's Rhythm Aces _1928-1938_

"The Stinger" Sam Taylor, Jr. _The Tunnels Of My Mind_

"Stinger" Ursula 1000 _Mondo Beyondo_

"Sting Sting Sting" The Sick Lipstick _Sting Sting Sting_

"September Sting" The Pale Fountains _...From Across The Kitchen Table_

"Sting In The Tale" Red Guitars _Slow To Fade_

Whither Sting?

(image from here.)

As I mentioned yesterday, the theme this week is "sting" not "Sting," so don't expect songs by that Police man.  Instead, expect songs about being stung - a lot of time by bees - because (if you haven't already guessed) the show continues to work on themes during the KBOO Spring Membership Drive, also called the "Hive Drive."  We've had shows about bees, honey, buzzing, & now stings.  In addition to being quite a challenge - there aren't as many songs about being stung or stinging as one might expect! - it's also a chance to encourage you to help KBOO out during the Drive, which you can do by clicking here.

There are also a couple of cool limited edition shirts you can get: the "hive drive" shirt & the KBOO roots shirt.  All to help out the radio station that foolishly lets me do Self Help Radio.

Speaking of, the sting show (not the Sting show) is on tonight from midnight to 3am on 90.7 fm & online at kboo.fm.  I'd warn you about painful itching & swelling but that happens naturally during my shows, not just this one.  Hope you listen!

Preface To Sting: No, Not That Guy!

(image from here.)

When I was a kid - I guess around the time I was a tween into my teenage years - I was pretty big fan of the Police.  They seemed unlike most of the bands on the radio - & I never really liked a lot of what is now considered classic rock or heavy metal.  I was too poor to buy their records but luckily they were popular - on the radio all time - & I remember funny mishearings of lyrics because I didn't know the titles of the songs.  I had thought, for example, the song "Spirits In The Material World" - because Sting prefaces singing that in the song with "we are" - I thought he was saying "Obstinance In The Material World," with "obstinance" being one of those words I had to look up one time in a book I was reading.  Speaking of books, I had no idea who Nabokov was, so in "Don't Stand So Close To Me," I heard Sting sing "Just like the old man & that book by now becomes..."  In that sense, the song "Don't Stand So Close To Me" transformed into a book!  That seemed clever to me.

In ninth grade, the Police released Synchronicity & I remember finding it very weird that someone like Sting - handsome beyond imagining, obviously filthy rich, & undoubtedly painfully self-assured - look at that picture up there! - that he would write a song like "King Of Pain."  Also, the idea that the Loch Ness Monster was caused by pollution seemed pretty silly to even me at the age of fourteen.  The record seemed to lack some charm but I still listened to it lots, enough to get pretty sick of the hit single on it, which for some reason I can't recall & I'm not even going to try!

But like a lot of things with popular culture, what made me lose interest in the Police ultimately was people I didn't respect who really loved the Police.  It's probably a character flaw, but I have found that the fans of some artists/musicians end up making me think less of those artist/musicians  - even though of course it's not the artists/musicians' fault!  One of those people was a fellow in my Latin class who, for a presentation, played the song "Wrapped Around Your Finger" because it mentioned Scylla & Charybdis.  That's all he did!  Played the song & said, "See!  It mentions Scylla & Charybdis." & he got a fucking B!

(To be fair, I don't remember what I did, but I do know it involved actual research.)

What ultimately made me lose interest in Sting - I did listen to & somewhat like Andy Summers & Stewart Copeland solo projects - though not Animal Logic - what was I saying?  Oh yeah, what made me lose interest in Sting was his solo projects.  I tried really hard to like the Turtles album but its singles seemed insufferable to me, & the one after that - it has a pretentious Shakespeare title & that song that I never want to hear again about we'll be together & oh fuck oh fuck now it's stuck in my head my love is a flame that burns in your name get the icepick I will just keep stabbing my brain from my ear to hopefully kill the section that keeps that song there I don't care what memories or knowledge I lose just don't make me have to think about that song ever again.

These days I can listen to the Police & enjoy them but I don't think I'll ever listen to another Sting record.  & this week's show isn't about him, although I'll probably have to mention him.  No, it's about the sensation of being stung.  & I'll talk more about that tomorrow.

Home Sweet Portland Home

This picture was taken by me on this day three years ago.  I thought for a minute it might be the day we arrived in Portland, but nope! It's when our stuff arrived.  Winston & Yoko had been missing their beds.

This information I discovered because I keep something like a journal which is really just a list of things I did that day to help me jog my memory.  It's kinda futile because I remember less & less but at least I know we didn't arrive in Portland on May 14.  We arrived the night of the 10th.

This was the house we rented when we first got here.  It was way too big for us & much to expensive & we had to lie about having cats but they didn't mind the dogs.  It let us explore our neighborhood & the house in which we live is about three or four blocks away from the rental.  I always wonder where we might be living if we found a different place to rent once we arrived in Portland.

Hey! I wrote about that place some time ago on the blog!  So maybe go read that?

New Shed

That's the new shed being built.  In late October.  Seven months ago.

The new shed has been completed for a while now.  It's even being used.  Mainly for storage.

Mostly the shed was assembled by my wife. Although she had help. The base of the shed was built by a professional.

For my part, I carried the long piece of wood & helped put them in place.  Exactly my skill set.

It still has that "new shed" smell.

Part of me wanted the she to be like a "tiny house" for guests to stay in. Except we don't have guests.

& it would be frankly very expensive & maybe even very difficult to for example add electricity & plumbing to it.

We used to have a swingset in our backyard but we never really used it.  But now we have a shed.

Hm.  I should probably go take a picture of the current shed.  No, it's too late.  Oh well.

Self Help Radio 051022: Buzz (Again)

(I found the original "image" on Tumblr so long ago I'm not sure where.)

It says "Buzz (Again)" because it's the second "buzz" show I've done - the first being in February 2013 at WRFL in Lexington, Kentucky.  But rest assured, this is all-new!  Well, not all new.  I repeat a few of the songs from the 2013 show.  Oh, & I also play a couple of recordings of me on the original show back in 2013.  Oh dear maybe I shouldn't say "original" show.  Anyway, all the guests are new, there are many more songs on this show, & it was for a good cause!

Because this "buzz" show is in honor of the KBOO Spring Membership Drive, which is a "Hive Drive."  I've previously done shows about bees & honey, & now it's time for buzz.  More bee-related themes coming up!

Listen to the show now at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. You'll need a username/password (it's SHR/selfhelp) to listen at the Self Help Radio site.  But you can download it!  All the stuff that happens is below.

KBOO is all the buzz so donate to help us out!

Self Help Radio Buzz Show

"Buzz" Pylon _Chomp_

"Buzz" Throwing Muses _Limbo_

"Buzz" MomusMcClymont _MomusMcClymont_

introduction & definitions

"I'm A King Bee" Slim Harpo _The Best Of Slim Harpo_

"Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee" Julie London _Swing Me An Old Song_

"Why Does A Bee Buzz?" Marais & Miranda _More Nature Songs_

"Bee" Bari Koral Family Rock Band _The Apple Tree & The Honey Bee_

"Queen Bee" Sylvia _Lay It On Me_

interview with barber Caspar Hamilton

"Mr. Buzz" The Flying Dutchmen _Contrasts_

"What's Buzzin', Cousin?" Cab Calloway & His Orchestra _1942-1947_

"Buzz Me" Ella May Morse _The Very Best Of Ella Mae Morse_

"Lucky Buzz" Richard Buckner _Since_

"Buzz Buzz Buzz" Eddie Noack _Psycho: The K-Ark & Allstar Recordings, 1962-1969_

interview with bassist Buzz Baker

"Buzzz Going Round" The Flatbackers _Sharon Signs To Cherry Red_

"Buzzcity Talking" XTC _Go 2_

"Eardrum Buzz" Wire _It's Beginning To & Back Again_

"Buzz Buzz Buzz" The Primitives _Lovely_

"Buzzin' Fly" Tim Buckley _Happy Sad_

interview with otolaryngologist Dr. Oswald Jarvis

"Buzzin'" Kathy Zee _Restless Doll_

"The Buzz" John Wesley Harding & The English UK _Making Love To Bob Dylan_

"Buzz" Maddie Medley _Coming Of Age, Pt. 1_

"Buzzin'" Asian Dub Foundation _Rafi's Revenge_

"Buzzin'" Panjabi MC _The Album_

demonstrations of buzzingNed Dry talks buzzwords

"Busy As A Bee (I'm Buzz, Buzz, Buzzin') (vocals, Helen Forrest)" Benny Goodman _The Real... Benny Goodman_

"Buzzin' Bee" L. Curnutt & The Ramblers _Rocky Hoodlums Go Maximum_

"Buzzing Bee" Keith Hudson _From One Extreme To Another_

"Get A Buzz" The Pretty Things _Get A Buzz: The Best Of The Fontana Years_

"The Orderlies (Winecoop Reacts Too Quickly To Buzzer)" Bob & Ray _The Best Of Bob & Ray, Vol. 1: Excerpts From The Bob & Ray Public Radio Show_

"Bloodbuzz Ohio" The National _High Violet_

buzzy idioms

"Buzz" Lord High Fixers _Flaming Burn Out! An Estrus Benefit Comp_

"Buzz" Cockeyed Ghost _Neverest_

"Buzz" Lemuria _Get Better_

"Love Buzz" Shocking Blue _At Home_

"Saddle Up A Buzz Buzz" The Cramps _Stay Sick!_

"Robot Buzz" Memmaker _How To Enlist In A Robot Uprising_

conclusion & goodbye

"Buzz Buzz Buzz" Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers _Back In Your Life_

"Buzz Buzz Buzz" The Treniers _A Proper Introduction To The Treniers: Go! Go! Go!_

"Buzz Buzz A-Diddle-It" Freddie Cannon _His Latest & Greatest_

"I Gotta Buzz" The Buzz _RGM Rarities Vol. 2 (The Beat Groups Era)_

Whither Buzz?

(No, not that Buzz! Image from here.)

Tonight's show has the theme "buzz."  It's a theme the show has explored before, but I decided to return to it because we're in the middle of the KBOO Spring Membership Drive, or the "Hive Drive," & having already done shows about bees & honey, I thought we should have a show about "buzz" - the sound people like to say bees make.  Yes, there will be more bee songs!  But also songs about different kinds of buzz.

If you want to help out - to become a member or renew your membership or just make a donation - you can do so here!  There's also a cool "Hive Drive" shirt you can purchase here!

The show will air tonight from midnight to 3am on 90.7 fm in Portland & online everywhere at kboo.fm.  Surely the city is buzzing about it?  No?  Ah well.

Preface To Buzz: Didn't You Already Do A Buzz Show?

(I made this image for this blog over nine years ago; I don't remember where the original image came from.)

Hasn't there already been a Self Help Radio show with the theme "buzz"?  Yes, there has!  It aired on February 22, 2013, on WRFL in Lexington, Kentucky.  Here's what I wrote in the blog in the "preface to" post (it was entitled, "Preface To Buzz: Buzz Off!"):

Here's the thing.  If you look up the definition of "buzz off," not only is it "chiefly Brit." but it means "to go away; to leave; to depart."

But if you go to an online thesaurus & look for synonyms (is there a special figure of speech for phrases that are synonyms?) for "buzz off," you get these: "bugger off, scram, fuck off, get."

It seems like the phrase is not as innocent as one might think.

Let's go to the Urban Dictionary!

Oh that wasn't very nice.  It just says it means, "Go away."

It doesn't seem to be very polite to say "buzz off."  But is there a polite way to say it?

& here's what it said on the "Whither Buzz?" post I wrote the next day:

I didn't hear the buzz but I did get a buzz cut with a buzz saw.

That buzzing noise from some far-off buzzer is telling you Self Help Radio's show about all kindsa buzz is happening TODAY on 88.1 fm WRFL.  That's from four to six Lexingtime.  You can listen to it in the city or, if you're not in the city, but you are in your computer, you can listen to it on the WRFL web page.

The buzzing in your head may never stop, since I will put the show later on the Self Help Radio web site.

I'm just going to be going buzzzzzzzzzzzz-zzz-zzzz-zzzz-zzzzzzz-zzz-zz-zz-zzzzz-zzzzzzz all damn day long.

If these posts seem unusually pithy, it's because at the time I was acting as Music Director for WRFL & didn't have a lot of time to write nonsense in the blog.  But I did make the show, which I recently listened to, & will share some of it on the show this week.

But - why am I revisiting the theme buzz?  I'll talk about that tomorrow!