Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Zoo Awareness Day

(sign at the Dublin Zoo, found here)

Are you not aware that we still keep animals in zoos for our own amusement? Also that zoos often employ smart, caring people who work to make sure the animals' lives are good? That's the function of National Zoo Awareness Day, & on The Dickenbock Report tomorrow we shall endeavor to make you aware of zoos, whether you're currently aware of them or not.

That's Sunday, August 31, from noon to 1pm, on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, & online everywhere (even at most zoos) at xray dot fm.

It turns out Dick Dickenbock wasn't even aware there was a zoo awareness day!

This Week In Self Help: August 24 & 26

It was one of the first regular weeks I've had in a while - I just did my three shows. One show of which follows immediately another show so it's like it's only two shows. Which means I got more sleep than usual!

The Dickenbock Report reported on National Knives Day.

Listen at XRAY website. Listen at Self Help Radio website.

Self Help Radio continued the Indiepop A To Z series with the 78th installment.

Listen at KBOO website. Listen at Self Help Radio website.

Corporate Standardized Programming played more artists we lost this year.

Listen at KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). Listen at Self Help Radio website.

If you listen at the Self Help Radio website, you may need this information:
Username: SHR. Password: selfhelp.

Really it was nice to get more sleep than usual. It might just be I'd sleep best without radio!

Self Help Radio 082625: Indiepop A To Z # 78

(images in collage found at Discogs & Bandcamp)

This show was a show of two firsts, one trivial, one alarming. The trivial first is that, for the first time ever, I deliberately (not accidentally) went out of alphabetical order. You can see where on the list below. I explain why during the show. The alarming first is that, for the first time ever, I fundraise for a station that is truly under threat of a fascist government. There's a lot of begging for donations to KBOO on this show. You can find out more - & help! - at this web page. Sorry to interrupt the music with what we in the biz call "pledge pitches." But it has to be done or there's no place for as unprofitable a show as Self Help Radio!

You can listen to this episode anytime at either the KBOO web page or at the Self Help Radio web page. If you choose the latter, please note the username SHR & the password selfhelp. It was all music (except for the begging) so below is a list of songs that appeared on the show.

Next indiepop alphabet show is in December!

Self Help Radio Indiepop A To Z # 78 Show

"Losing It" Shrimp Tractor _Losing It_

"Carefree Clothes" Shrubbies _Memphis In Texas_

"Weiter Weiter" Shy _Pullover_

"Alison Song # 4" Shy Camp _Friendly Society - A Harriet Records Compilation_

"Omtagning" Sibiria _Norrlands Inland_

"Sunshine Thuggery" The Siddeleys _Slum Clearance_

"Of My Heart" Signed Papercuts _Of My Heart_

"AM Radio" The Silent Boys _Beauty Tips_

"Until I See You" Silent Film _Moshi Moshi (Pop International Style)_

"City Ghosts" The Silent Reach _Secondment_

"The Forest" Silent Truth _A Chance To Shine: A Dorian Compilation_

"Time Zones" Silly Pillows _New Affections_

"Advice To The Graduate" Silver Jews _Starlite Walker_

"TV Playtime" Silicon Teens _Music For Parties_

"I Have Known Love" Silver Apples _Contact_

"The Lonely Singer" Silver Scooter _The Blue Law_

"Preciously Inside" Simpático _The Difference Between Alone & Lonely_

"Nice" The Simpletons _Matter_

"Come Together" Since November _Stamp Collecting (For Beginners)_

"Feels Like Summer" Sing-Sing _The Joy Of Sing-Sing_

"Do What You Say (Richard, Richard)" The Singing Bush _Drive-In Season_

"The Hanging Tree" The Singing Ringing Tree _The Hanging Tree_

"Fotos" Single _Monólogo Interior_

"Out In The Traffic" Single File _Out In The Traffic_

"Your Mouth Is On My Mind" Sink Tapes _How You Mean_

"You Can't Push Me Away" Sinking Ships _Out Of Key Harmony_

"It's You" La Sintesis _September EP_

"She's Cuckoo" Siouxsie & The Banshees _Downside Up_

Whither Indiepop A To Z # 78?

Every four months I try to get closer to the end of my Indiepop A To Z series. Begun with the letter A in 2004, I am now in the letter S, where I'll probably be for quite a while. I have nothing more to say but I share with you a picture I took of something a child put up on a fence in our neighborhood. Why is it so cute when a child misspells a word? It's so cute to spell cute "cuet"! & I confess I can't draw a star that "adorabl."

Listen tonight from midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland, kboo dot fm everywhere.

Preface To Indiepop A To Z # 78: Cute Animals

One defining feature of me is that I am wholly incapable of successfully making any sort of mark on social media. It's not that I wouldn't like lots of people knowing about my show, it's that it's a kind of work - self-promotion - that I find inherently distasteful. I do sometimes wish I was better at it, not for my own sake, but if I were good at getting someone's attention, I might be able to help raise money for the radio stations at which I volunteer. It is a sadness that I can't contribute financial to them commensurate with my love for them.

Over on my otherwise barren Bluesky account, I post pictures of my youngest animals every day. I do this as much for me as for anyone else - it's nice to see how they grow & change over time & making it into a ritual benefits me in the long run. I wish I had many more pictures of all my animals. I am sad I don't. I know my memories of the time I spent with them will fade - my own brain may well betray me. If my heart doesn't give out on me first.

This week I'm playing more indiepop & cute animals are part & parcel of the substance of twee. I remember going to a show & my then-girlfriend trying to convince the band afterward that the beagle was the most indiepop of animals. They may well be. I don't really make pronouncements like that. Not when there are adorable chihuahuas in the world!

This was not meant to be me moaning about anything. Just showing pics of my animals. As I listen to indiepop for the next silly show.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Knife Day

August 24 is National Knife Day. We will be reporting on knives on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM. We have spent the whole week reminding the staff & crew about knife safety. We have reviewed first aid procedures. We have asked that no one bring knives from home. When last we reported on this day, there was a lot of blood. Stitches were required. One of our interns lost a finger. It is not one of the safer days to report on.

That's Sunday, August 24, 12-1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere. There was so much blood last time, though. So much blood.

This Week In Self Help August 15 17 19 + 21

Another busy week damn.

Friday the 15th: The Songcircle on KBOO.
All new releases.
Listen at KBOO. Listen at Self Help Radio.

Sunday the 17th: The Dickenbock Report on XRAY.
National I Love My Feet Day. Really.
Listen at XRAY. Listen at Self Help Radio.

Tuesday the 19th: Self Help Radio on KBOO.

The theme was eternity.

Listen at KBOO. Listen at Self Help Radio.

Tuesday the 19th: Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO.
Continuing Self Help Radio's theme, lots of instrumentals with "eternity" in their title.
Listen at Self Help Radio. (It's included in the KBOO file for Self Help Radio above.)

Thursday the 21st. Subbing Welcome To Your Good Day on XRAY.
Just playing music & talking about stuff.
Listen at XRAY.

The picture of the clouds above is supposed to be some attempt to show eternity.
I'm outta ideas here.
If you go to the Self Help Radio website, you might need the username SHR & password selfhelp.
I promise next week will be far less busy.

Self Help Radio 081925: Eternity

Driving to do the show last night, I reflected on how many late-night radio shows I've driven to, in all kinds of weather, in the darkest nights on the loneliest highways. Not to mention road trips driving through the middle of nowhere. My closest intimations of eternity have been in moments like those - alone in a moving vehicle, often listening to only the ambient noise caused by automobile & movement through space, seeing very little beyond what the headlights can show, or a light in the distance, or (if I'm lucky) the moon & some overachieving stars. Time, which was obviously moving forward as I was, still seemed to be slow, or even still, as you might yourself feel when you can't judge your own speed by another object nearby.

Maybe someone was driving down a similar highway listening to the show too. & maybe they had the same experience & it blew their minds.

Listen to a radio show about eternity in two places: the KBOO website & the Self Help Radio website. If you are asked for a username & password, maybe try SHR & selfhelp. All the things that happened on the show are listed below.

& don't worry - it's a show about eternity but it's only two hours long.

Self Help Radio Eternity Show

"Eternity" Peck's Male Quartet _The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records, Volume 2 (1928-1932)_

"From Here To Eternity" Frank Sinatra _The Complete Capitol Singles Collection_

"Eternity" Ernest Kador _The Specialty Story_

introduction & definitions

"Three Day Eternity" Richie Havens _Mixed Bag_

"Eternity" Glenn Yarbrough _Let The World Go By_

"One Minute Past Eternity" Hank Locklin _Hank Locklin & Danny Davis & The Nashville Brass_

"Eternity" Buell Kazee _Buell Kazee Sings & Plays_

"Eternity In Between" Morgen _Morgen_

interview with mystic Madame Ruby

"From Here To Eternity" The Only Ones _Even Serpents Shine_

"Eternity Is Here" The Gun Club _The Life & Times Of Jeffrey Lee Pierce & The Gun Club_

"Eternity Road" Lowlife _From A Scream To A Whisper_

"From Here To Eternity" William S. Burroughs _The Best Of William Burroughs From Giorno Poetry Systems_

"From Her To Eternity" Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds _From Her To Eternity_

interview with the Rev Wesley Fish

"Eternity" Imperial Teen _Seasick_

"Promises Of Eternity" The Magnetic Fields _69 Love Songs_

"Eternity Changed Her Mind" Outrageous Cherry _Why Don't We Talk About Something Else EP_

"Eternity" Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith _Mummer Love_

"Into Eternity" Jens Lekman _Night Falls Over Kortedala_

coming to terms with eternity Eternity visits!

"Eternity" Marty Feldman _The Crazy World Of Marty Feldman_

"Eternity" Siddal _The Crossing_

"What Feels Like Eternity" Metric _Formentera_

"Baby, Eternity" Amber Arcades _European Heartbreak_

"Eternity" Paris Angels _Sundew_

conclusion & goodbye

"Eternity" Here Come The Mummies _Terrifying Funk From Beyond The Grave_

"Brief Eternity" Bobby McFerrin _Vocabularies_

Whither Eternity?

One day recently eternity was on my mind. Not in any supernatural sense - I don't have any supernatural beliefs - but in the sense of "can things go on forever"? I think I had been reading about planned robotic missions to Saturn's moons & I thought about humans putting themselves in spacecraft traveling to other stars & how long it would take & how it would feel like eternity to us but not to them. & when I think about eternity I think about the Thoreau line: "As if you could kill time without injuring eternity!"

Which is very clever but doesn't really mean anything, which may be why I appreciate it. I don't believe that wasting time - which what the idiom "kill time" means - has anything to do with one's soul (I don't believe humans have souls) so I don't think it impacts their lives after death (since I see no evidence that such a thing exists). I repeat though that I think it's clever & it would probably be a great line in a song.

The point is this - when I find myself pondering something - like the concept of eternity - sooner or later my brain, which is always in the process of working on radio shows, thinks, "Would this be a good idea for a radio show?" & once I feel like enough of the pieces are in place for the show, I schedule it. This show happens tonight.

& yes, like most of my shows, it will feel like an eternity but will only be a couple of hours. The jokes write themselves.

Tonight! Midnight to 2am. 90.7fm in Portland. kboo dot fm everywhere. & then out to eternity!

Preface To Eternity: My First Glimpse Of Eternity

That's it. That's Steve Ditko's drawing of Eternity from the Dr. Strange comic. I don't know if when I was a kid I had an idea of what "eternity" meant but I'm sure when I came to understand the concept I thought about this incredible drawing by Steve Ditko. Even now, after being familiar with it for most of my life, it continues to astonish me. Just amazing.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National I Love My Feet Day

August 17 is National I Love My Feet Day. To a person, none of the members of the Dickenbock Report staff - including Dick Dickenbock himself - loves their feet. We have an explicit "keep your shoes on" policy at the Report because frankly the feet we have are either difficult to look at or just smell awful. Maybe something about radio news lends itself to a total lack of healthy foot care. Perhaps what we reveal in our reporting will help us all out. Anyway, dog & cat feet are more awesome.

Get your feet ready for tomorrow at noon on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & xray dot fm everywhere. & no not take your shoes off before you enter the house. We'd rather you track dirt in then have to deal with whatever surprises your exposed feet will reveal.

This Week In Self Help August 8 10 12 + 14

Oh dear I was on the radio a lot this week. Eek!

Last Friday the 8th I subbed a show on XRAY. Listen to the show on the XRAY website. Listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Sunday the 10th on the Dickenbock Report I played tunes for National Lazy Day. Listen to the show on the XRAY website. Listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Later that day I played two hours of electronica on KBOO. KBOO doesn't archive its sub shows but you can listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website. & you can see the Spinitron playlist here.

Tuesday the 12th on Self Help Radio I played songs & talked about porches. Listen to the show on the KBOO website. Listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

After that show on Corporate Standardized Programming I played an hour of new releases. It's included on the KBOO website file above. Or you can listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Finally yesterday Thursday the 14th I subbed another show on XRAY. I have not put it on the Self Help Radio website yet but you can listen to the show on the XRAY website.

As always, for the Self Help Radio website, you may need the username SHR & the password selfhelp to listen.

That was probably too much radio. Somebody should say something.

Self Help Radio 081225: Porches

It's no secret - since it's all I've been talking about here recently - I love porches. I take pictures of porches here in Portland. Look at those porches! Even the ones that can use some work are better than no porch at all. I would rather die falling through the rotting boards of a neglected old porch than live at a place with no porch! Okay, maybe not. But I wouldn't mind just falling & surviving & hanging out with the rats under the porch for a while.

Hey! Look at all these songs about porches! Plus I've added some silly fake interviews! & I talk at length about how KBOO should have a porch! It was a warm night in Lexington - I hope someone was listening from their porch.

Listen to the show now at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. If you choose the latter, remember the username SHR & the password selfhelp. Everything that happened on the show - well, all the songs I played, anyway - is mentioned below.

Now! I'm gonna sneak over to my neighbor's porch & take a nap!

Self Help Radio Porches Show

"Last Night On The Back Porch" The Andrews Sisters _The Andrews Sisters Sing The Dancing 20s_

"On The Front Porch" Burl Ives _Summer Magic_

"Sleep On The Porch" The Stewart Brothers _R&B Humdingers Volume 11_

introduction & definitions

"I'll Leave The Porch Light A-Burning" Billy Grammer _Old Foolish Me_

"Front Porch" John Hartford _'Gentle On My Mind' & Other Originals By John Hartford_

"Sitting On The Porch" Kate Wolf & The Wildwood Flower _Back Roads_

"On The Old Front Porch" Tiny Tim _God Bless Tiny Tim_

"Old Man Moses' Front Porch Rhythm Band" The Hardy Boys _Wheels_

interview with Ruth McAllister, who never leaves her porch

"I'm Gonna Sit On The Porch & Pick On My Guitar" Johnny Cash _Silver_

"The Front Porch Song" Robert Earl Keen _No Kinda Dancer_

"Sittin' On The Front Porch Swing" Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, & Tammy Wynette _Honky Tonk Angels_ 

"Porch Flambe" Scruffy The Cat _The Good Goodbye: Unreleased Recordings 1984-1990_

"Porch Song" Porchupines _Swirl_

interview with Clarence Holter, who does a podcast from his porch

"Old Southern Porches" Dale Ann Bradley _Old Southern Porches_

"Porch Song" Trailer Bride _Smelling Salts_

"Porchlight" Neko Case & Her Boyfriends _Furnace Room Lullaby_

"Stu's Porch" Toadmortons _The Toadmortons' Collection_

"Rock Upon A Porch With You" The Boy Least Likely To _The Best B Sides Ever_

interview with Jarvis Costello, who builds porches

"Flypaper Porch Light" Dirt Bike Annie _Hit The Rock!_

"Obscene Back Porch Floating" Experimental Dental School _Jane Doe Loves Me_

"Porch Swing" Emergency Bible Study _Birthday Girl_

"Sitting On The Porch At Night" Horse Jumper Of Love _Natural Part_

"Porchlight" The Antlers _Green To Gold_

conclusion & goodbye

"Porch Boogie" Rose City Band _Garden Party_

"Front Porch Rain" Jackson Scribner _Jackson Scribner_

Whither Porches?

Many moons ago I wrote a series of haikus* about my wife's envy of other people's gardens. It turns out I have porch envy. The difference between my envy & my wife's is that she has cultivated a garden. But I can't just make a porch out of thin air. I guess you could say we have something like a porch but it's really just a little raised square by our front door. No space for even a chair. & I have taken lots of pictures of other people's porches. Especially recently.

It occurred to me I should make a radio show about porches, not because I imagine it will somehow magically create the right circumstances for me to have the porch of my dreams, but because recently porches have been on my mind. Oh how I'd love a porch! I'll have to settle for a radio show about porches instead.

That show is happening tonight on KBOO from midnight to 2am. That's 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere. It's on late but it'll be a warm night so maybe listen on the porch. You lucky dog!

* I know haiku plural is haiku but it doesn't sound right to me so I add the plural s.

Preface To Porches: Porches I Have Known

It's not a secret, I love porches. I don't know if I've always loved porches, but in my adult life, certainly in the 21st century, I have admired porches - even envied them.

The picture above is the porch of my house in Lexington, Kentucky, which wasn't covered, & which wasn't much of a porch, though there were some times we stood there & surveyed the neighborhood. Probably the best porch I've ever had was in Austin, Texas, in a rental owned by a pretty odious dude, a porch on which my nephew & I drank all summer long, & I even sang with musical friends who played guitar. That was a good porch. It had a swing.

My current house doesn't have a porch. I've petitioned the wife with ideas of creating a porch but it has fallen on deaf ears. She hasn't spent time just reading on a porch. Or drinking gin & lemonade watching the day turn into night. Or maybe she's afraid if we had a porch - a front porch, mind - I'd never come inside. That's a real worry to be sure.

One thing I have to admit is that I've never lived in one of those places in the south that has a great bit wraparound porch with ceiling fans from the days before air conditioning. I lived in a room in a house that had a decent porch in that style, but the only time I was on it was drinking with my landlord who was hitting on my girlfriend. So not a fond memory.

Which is my way of saying - if you have a great porch, invite me over! I'll bring the gin & lemonade!

You lucky bastard.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Lazy Day

August 10 is National Lazy Day. In fact, it's supposed to be much hotter than normal in Portland on that day & heat makes everyone really lazy. The staff is already dozing. Maybe there'll be a show. Maybe not. Surely someone will rise to the occasion?

Tonight noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & online at xray dot fm everywhere. It'll take almost no effort for you to listen, anyway.

This Week In Self Help Aug 1 3 + 5

That's another lame picture I've taken, this one of a ridged potato chip (not one of the more commercial brands) because Self Help Radio this week was about ridges. The funny thing is, as I wandered around the house looking for decent light to take the picture, my dogs followed me wondering what the hell I was doing with that food that should belong to them. I did not give it to them when I was finished.

Here's radio things I did on the radio this last week.

August 1 on KBOO on The Songcircle I played lots of songs about August because it was August first.
Listen on the KBOO website. Listen on the Self Help Radio website.

August 3 on XRAY on the Dickenbock Report I finished the two-part special on the year 1925.

Listen on the XRAY website. Listen on the Self Help Radio website.

August 5 on KBOO on Self Help Radio I had a show about ridges.

Listen on the KBOO website. Listen on the Self Help Radio website.

Also August 5 on KBOO on Corporate Standardized Programming I played songs by artists we lost in February of this year.
It's the last hour on this KBOO link, but you can also listen on the Self Help Radio website.

The next Self Help Radio is about porches. I'm sure there will be better images. I love taking pictures of porches!

Oh yeah - the Self Help Radio website might ask for a username & password - those are SHR + selfhelp respectively.

Self Help Radio 080525: Ridges

Look I know that's just a close-up of a rock & not an actual ridge there aren't any real ridges nearby in Portland & I didn't have the time or to be honest the wherewithal to drive to Rainier or Hood or St Helens just to snap a picture of a ridge so cut me some slack here please. Because I did an entire radio show about ridges & you know what if you can have ridges in your fingerprint there can be small ridges on rocks in your garden which you thought might fool somebody but it's obvious it's not.

Anyway, here's your radio show about ridges. I found lots & lots of songs about the Blue Ridge Mountains & lots & lots of songs in the bluegrass genre, but I tried to be evenhanded & sparing with both. It's still a lot folky tho. Not a lot of indiepoppers spending time on ridges.

Listen to the show now at the KBOO web site or at the Self Help Radio website. For the latter you might need the username SHR & the password selfhelp. Most of the things that happened on the show are listed below.

& if I get to a ridge I'll change out that lame picture!

Self Help Radio Ridges Show

"There's A Blue Ridge In My Heart, Virginia" Abe Lyman & His California Orchestra _Abe Lyman & His Californians Volume 2 (1926-30)_

"My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains" The Carter Family _Wildwood Flower_

"Blue Ridge Cabin Home" Flatt & Scruggs _1948-1959_

introduction & definitions

"Blue Ridge Mountain Blues" Bill Monroe _Bluegrass 1959-1969_

"Run The Ridges" The Kingston Trio _The Capitol Years_ 

"Rocky Ridges" The Castels _Rocky Ridges_

"Gladys Ridge" James Keelaghan _Small Rebellions_

"Ridge Rider" Judee Sill _Judee Sill_ 

interview with realtors Jack & Judy Foster

"Blue Ridge Mountains" Townes Van Zandt _High, Low, & In Between_

"Hicker Nut Ridge" New Coon Creek Girls _So I'll Ride_

"Up On The Ridge" Joe Ely _Twistin' In The Wind_

"Pine Ridge" Kid Dakota _The West Is The Future_

"Put The Oak Ridge Boys In The Slammer" Austin Lounge Lizards _Paint Me On Velvet_

interview with entrepreneur Tex Duncan

"I Sit On The Ridge At Dusk" Dirty Projectors _The Getty Address_

"Rigomortis (On The Ridge)" Danny Cohen _Shade Of Dorian Gray_

"Blue Ridge Mountains" Fleet Foxes _Fleet Foxes_

"Dandelion Ridge" The Shelters _The Shelters_

"Up On The Ridge" Sarah Louise _Deeper Woods_

interview with journalist Lucy Wayne

"Fire On The Ridge" Jenny Don't & The Spurs _Fire On The Ridge_

"Kelly Ridge" Eric Lindell _Revolution In Your Heart_

"Missionary Ridge" Shovels & Rope _Little Seeds_

"Ridge Rider" Makar _Fancy Hercules_

"The Ridge" Julian Taylor _The Ridge_

conclusion & goodbye

"The Ridge" Sarah Neufeld _The Ridge_

Whither Ridges?

(image from the Oregon Ridge Nature Center website)

Why a radio show about ridges? What the hell are ridges anyway? Like, thin lines of rock? What the what?

It's so boring that this always happens - I just recently found myself listening to a lot of songs that mention ridges. & the weird thing is, almost none of them were bluegrass songs & almost none of them mentioned the Blue Ridge Mountains. That is odd because a large amount of the songs that I found for the show were in the bluegrass genre & were about the Blue Ridge Mountains. Anyway, my brain says to me, "Are there enough songs about this for a show?" & I respond, "Let's look!" & then a show starts to take form around me & my brain.

That show happens tonight at midnight on 90.7fm in Portland (where I don't think we have many ridges) & online kboo dot fm everywhere (where many ridges abound).

Preface To Ridges: Ridgewood Shopping Center

When I think of the word "ridge" I think of a place in Garland, Texas, which still exists, which occupied a singular space in my life for many years. In addition to living for a short time on a street called Ridgewood - which I talked about here - I lived for a time next to a place called - as you can see in the sign there - the Ridgewood Shopping Center.

Here are some places I've written about it before - a specific set of memories about the part of the center nearest to the apartments where I lived here, & about the library I spent way too much time in here, & about the carnivals that might shop in the empty parking lots here. Here is an article about the Ridgewood Theater, with lots of info in the comments.

As I said, I lived next to this space for at least four years, from around 1977 to 1982. I can still walk around the space in my head. I was there when they opened a Minyard's - though I was not a paying customer, still they gave me a little plant which I never took care of & it died in my room. I shoplifted there, & at the local TG&Y, & at a little pharmacy called Drug Mart. There was a Sears store where I think people picked up things they ordered - it wasn't a giant Sears department store, just a little showroom or maybe an outlet store. Around the back, there would be giant boxes as for refrigerators & other appliances which we would take & make into big forts in the filthy parking lot behind the store. We would spend hours making them & probably disgruntled employees would break them down & throw them back into the trash the next day.

When video game spaces became a thing, someone opened an arcade on one of the side areas of the shopping center. My mother, who worked, would give me & my little brother money for dinner - imagine that! we fed ourselves sometimes when we were next even yet tweens - & we might buy a can of Spaghetti-o's & use the rest to put in arcade games we never got good at. That space closed & a Domino's Pizza opened - which I believe is still there.

In fact, the shopping center is still there. The area now being predominantly Latino, there's a Fiesta & another discount shopping center which seem to be the dominant businesses there. There's a Family Dollar where the Sears outlet store used to be. The theater stands unused for decades now - I think I last time I went in there was in the early 1980s, before high school. Indeed, the last time I did most anything in that shopping center was when I lived near it. The information I have about it now is by going briefly to Goober Maps to look around. My oldest sister, who lived quite near it till her death in 2015, had decided to go to other, farther shopping centers by the 21st century - tho I remember a time when she shopped at that Minyard's & new everyone there & introduced me as "my brother who's in college."

Wow I can actually still walk around that Minyard's in my head. The magazine rack - where the comics were too - were in a back corner of the store where the restrooms were. I'd hang out back there & read comics - especially the oversized tabloid editions which they did not get at the convenience store at which my mother worked - & then sneak back into the employee area where the restrooms were not to use the bathroom but to drink from the water fountain they had there.

My oldest sister would often keep, along with her son, our niece, the only two I think that were born at the time (my oldest brother's niece was around, too, but older & my sister never watched her), & I have a fond memories of pushing them through the aisles in a shopping cart & spinning it around. They of course loved it & my sister hated it - but I always wanted to give them the sort of fun I wanted as a kid.

Mostly now I think about walking home from the library to my apartment complex with an armful of books. Walking through the big parking lot which never held as many cars as it could - it's why they'd put traveling carnivals there! Sometimes in the heat, sometimes in winter gloom. I would narrate my life as if I were the only person left alive - always pretending, always in my head - & the books were how I would keep myself a part of humanity. What television show or book or movie or comic was I pretending to be in? It wasn't all that far off to how I really felt.

My relationship to Ridgewood Shopping Center, like I said, was situational. I hardly ever went back once I had left the area. Though I did I think in 2015 take some pictures there - one of which is above, the other of which - this is the theater's marquee - is here: