Preface To Nightmares: On The Way Back From Atlanta

I will be home tonight & will hopefully have time to work on my show but mainly I'll want to cuddle with all my animals at home.

The drive from Lexington to Atlanta is a straight shot down I-75 & if you're somewhere near the Tennessee/Kentucky border around thereabouts - you're driving over some of the Appalachians I believe - the trees this time of year look scrumptious.  I can't share any pictures because I was driving & that would be unsafe, taking pictures from a moving car with all those unsafe Kentucky drivers around!  Do you think I have a death wish or something?

(Don't answer that.)

I had the chance today, when someone said, "It goes without saying," to interrupt & say, "Then don't say it!"

I've always wanted to do that.

Still In Atlanta

It's true, I am still in Atlanta & despite rumors that I am trying to start, I am not attempting to buy vast areas of prime Atlanta real estate & turn it into a Self Help Radio "fun park."  What I am doing here is too dull to mention.

I will mention that I had lunch at this place & it was awesome.  Yes, it's a "vegan butcher."  & they say we vegans have no sense of humor!

I like this city!

In Atlanta

I might be terse or not even writing anything since I'll be in Atlanta for a few days.  Why?  It's not for any plastic surgery, that's for sure.  Have you seen how much that costs?

I hope I get to go to Soul Vegetarian, though!

Apologies for not scribbling things you'll never read on this blog for a couple of days.

A You & I Show For You & Me

A radio show for me you & me!  Called "you & I"!  In which we discover that pronouns are no longer parts of speech!  Do you & I care?  Nope.

A lot of you & I songs below.  (A few you & me songs too.)  The show for you & me about you & I (it sounds awkward I know) is at the Self Help Radio website.  It's in two parts, not two you & I parts, but close: part one & part two.  I wish you & I could enjoy it together!

Thanks for listening!

(part one)

"You & I" Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra _The Popular Frank Sinatra Vol. 2_
"You & I" Betty Davis _Nasty Gal_
"You & I" Stevie Wonder _Talking Book_

"You & I" Silver Apples _Contact_
"You & I" The Onlookers _This Is Mod, Vol. 4: Modities_
"You & I" The Monkees _Instant Replay_
"You & I" The Paddingtons _No Mundane Options_
"You & I" I Start Counting _Catalogue_

"You & I" Rick James _Old School Funk Jams_
"You & I" Yoko Ono _Yes I'm A Witch_
"You & I" Graham Coxon _Love Travels At Illegal Speeds_
"You & I" The Cribs _The Cribs_
"You & I" SPY _Review III (Marsh-Marigold)_

(part two)

"You & I" Albert Hammond _When I Need You_
"You & I" Pete Shelley _XL1_
"Only You & I" Psychedelic Furs _Forever Now_
"Mommy Daddy You & I" Talking Heads _Naked_

"You & I (When We Were Young)" The Strawbs _Ghosts_
"I Think You & I" Skip Spence _Oar_
"If You & I Could Be Sweethearts" The Varieteers _Night Train To Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970_
"If You & I Could Be As Two" Them _The Story Of Them_
"You & I Were One" Dennis Driscoll _A House Full Of Friends_
"You & I Misbehaving" Tilly & The Wall _Wild Like Children_
"You & I Have Seizures" His Name Is Alive _Livonia_

"You & Me" Penny & The Quarters _Eccentric Soul: The Prix Label_
"You & Me" John Cale _The Island Years_
"You & Me" R. Stevie Moore _Lo Fi High Fives…..A Kind Of Best Of_

Whither You & I?

The depths of my nerdiness - coupled with my obsessive-compulsive leanings (undiagnosed) & the fact that I was raised by a narcissistic mother - are not something I am eager to plumb.  But what if?  What if you did an entire show with songs simply titled "You & I"?  Is it at all possible?

Maybe.  (Not really.)  (Hush!)  Though I really did do a show a couple of years ago wherein every song was entitled "Tell Me".  So why not "You & I"?

Also, what the hell does a person who usually talks about his show's theme talk about when the show is about "you & I"?  I don't know much about you, & I fear I know even less about myself.

There's not much to hope for.  But you (& I) can listen tomorrow morning from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm in Lexington & online at WRFL dot FM.  I'll put it on the Self Help Radio website later in the day, but I'll only do it for you & me.  No one else!

Preface To You & I: A Show About Pronouns? Really?

It's just that they're so helpful!

A Peanuts For Today

Seriously, Does Anyone Read This Blog?

I mean, really.  I write stuff about my silly radio show, but it's probably not terribly interesting. & while I sometimes try to be clever, I often fail.

Still, if you are one of the undaunted few who happen upon this in the month of October, 2012, & you'd like to get a Self Help Radio 10th Anniversary Mug - made from real ceramics! - then send an email to this email address - which is gary@selfhelpradio.net - & I can get a mug to you.  My treat!

But who in the world would be reading this?  Seriously, this blog seems more something *I* am required to pay attention to, not you.

There's Spiders In My Anniversary!

Whew!  Ten years is a long time.  Not so long, perhaps, for a tarantula, which might live for twenty years, but for your average spider, that ten times their normal lifespan.

Which is my way of saying, if a spider did Self Help Radio, the show would have ended after a year.

A celebration of spiders on a celebration of longevity.  The show is at the Self Help Radio website, in its web there.  You can listen to it directly in two parts: part one & part two.  But be careful!  The web is sticky!

Thanks for listening, & if you've listened to Self Help Radio for ten years - what's wrong with you?

Here's what I played in each part of the show:

(part one)

"Spiders" Bruce Haack _The Electronic Record For Children_
"A Good Year For Spiders" Ken Nordine _Transparent Mask_
"Inky Dinky Spider (The Spider Song)" Kids Next Door _Hey! Look What I Found Vol. 7_

"Boris The Spider" The Kords _Mindrocker: Anthology Of 60's US-Punk Garage Psych, Vol. 3_
"Spiders & Snakes" World Famous Blue Jays _Star Power!_
"Spiderman" Wreckage _A Pop Sampler_
"Spider & I" The Hope Blister _Smile's OK_

"Spider & The Fly" Barbecue Bob _Chocolate To The Bone_
"The Spider & The Fly" Fats Waller _The Definitive Fats Waller_
"The Spider & The Fly" Von Ruden _Pebbles, Vol. 7: Chicago 2_
"The Spider & The Fly" Monocles _Box Of Trash: Pebbles Box_
"The Spider & The Fly" John Zacherle _Monster Mash/Scary Tales_

"Crawlin' Black Spider" John Lee Hooker _Blues In Transition 1955 - 1959_
"Black Widow Spider" Big Bill Broonzy _Greatest Blues Licks_

(part two)

"Black Widow Spider Woman" Jack Hammer _Horror Hop_
"Ole! Tarantula" Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus Three _Ole! Tarantula_
"Tarantula" This Mortal Coil _Filigree & Shadow_

"Spidereggs" Elf Power _Elf Power_
"Spider" Ed's Redeeming Qualities _At The Fish & Game Club_
"Spiders" Editors _An End Has A Start_
"Spider" K.G. Young _Piccadilly Sunshine # 2_

"Spider" They Might Be Giants _Apollo 18_
"The Man, The King, The Girl & The Spider" Deerhoof _Halfbird_
"Spider" Pants Yell! _Received Pronunciation_
"You Spider" The Jessica Fletchers _You Spider_
"Spider" Swan Lake _Enemy Mine_

"Ziggy Stardust" David Bowie _ The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars_
"Spider" The Merrymen _Pebbles, Vol. 20: The Continent Lashes Back - Sweden_
"Does 'Things Could Be Worse' Mean I Should Be Happy" Beloved Binge _Pockets_

Whither Spiders? Whither A Tenth Anniversary Show?

It occurs to me that, if I am allowed to continue to do Self Help Radio into the future, I might revisit a theme (since I have decided that I should revisit themes on my anniversary shows) about which I have written once before on this blog.  That shouldn't happen any time soon - I've only maintained this blog for the past six years, or 6/10ths of the life of the show.  There are many more shows to revisit that aired before then.  (I'm surprised I didn't celebrate the sixth anniversary of my blog.  But now that I think about it, the reason I don't celebrate many anniversaries is because I never can remember when they are.)

Tomorrow, though, it's all about spiders.  (Even, as I keep getting suggested, spiders from Mars.)  I will be giving away special tenth anniversary Self Help Radio swag on the air & later on my Facebook page.  So please listen!

That's 7 to 9 am tomorrow (Monday) (the 15th of October) on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington & online at WRFL dot FM.  You won't want to miss it, but if you do - & I hope it's not because of a spider bite - you can hear it again & again at the Self Help Radio website.

Happy tenth anniversary, show!  You're still quite juvenile.

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

Yeah, but as I explained around the time of my ninth anniversary, I use the anniversary as a chance to revisit an old theme.  In this case, it is me revisiting a show from March 31, 2004, which I hastily put together that week because I had been bitten by a brown recluse spider.

Oh, yeah.  This guy.

It was a fun show, because people called to tell me all their spiderbite stories.  One person even offered to send me pictures of their necrotized skin.  I said thank you but no.

Looking back, I didn't have time (or try very hard) to find good spider songs.  This time around, I am more prepared.  I might not even play the songs I played the first time around!

(I didn't put mp3s of my shows up then, so I don't have the individual shows linked as I do now, so if you want to see the playlist, it's in the 2004 playlist section.  March 31.  You can just search for "spider.")

Did You Say TENTH ANNIVERSARY?

I did.  & the tenth anniversary is the diamond anniversary.  Here's a tenth anniversary graphic:

Graphic for what? you may ask.  Stay tuned!

Did Anyone Miss Self Help Radio?

I kinda missed doing Self Help Radio this week.  I'll tell you a secret: I was in town.  But I was asleep, having arrived the night before from St. Louis, where I saw Louis CK live at a lovely place called the Fox Theatre.  But I didn't have time to prepare a show, & someone named Allie did the show instead, which I haven't listened to, because what if she's much better at doing my show than I am?  What will I do with my life then?

This is an especially tender time because this week is the Self Help Radio's 10th Anniversary!  It's true!  Sometime around ten years ago, the first Self Help Radio aired on a Wednesday afternoon on KOOP radio, 91.7 fm, in Austin.  If I have time this weekend (& why wouldn't I? I don't really do anything) I'll see if I can come up with "ten years of Self Help Radio" facts & figures.  How many shows, how many themes, all the wasted minutes.

Ten years is a lot of time, isn't it?  I don't think I've done any one activity for ten years.  Except this one, I mean.  It's almost like admitting that I've grown old.  It's nearly a quarter of my life I've spent on this radio show!  & it doesn't even like me!

I was glad for the week off.  I think I'd like to do it more often, if only I could do it without missing my show.  I remember a dude at KOOP would make a show for when he was absent & then just give the recording to someone to play - just sit behind the board & play it - & in the recording he would say, "I'm not really in the studio, so don't call!"

All right, so I guess I'll just show up for Self Help Radio every day for the rest of my life, then.

Whither A Self Help Radio Without Gary?

It's true, tomorrow morning from 7 to 9am, Gary will not be hosting Self Help Radio.  A gracious RFLer named Allie will be hosting instead, a show about autumn.  You can listen on 88.1 fm in Lexington & online at wrfl dot fm.

(Do not report back to me how much better she was than I am.  I already know.)

Off To St. Louis!

To see old friends & Louis CK!

Self Help Radio returns a week from Monday!

Hurricane Self Help Radio!

I survived Hurricane Self Help Radio!  Now I disappear for a week to repair all the damage.

The devastating footage of the storm is at Self Help Radio web central.  The soundtrack for the show is below.  You can listen to part one & then part two.  Or backwards.  It may not look so horrible that way.

I'll be gone next week but back after that for the tenth anniversary show!

Thanks for listening!

(part one)

"The Hurricane Song" Tom Glazer _Weather Songs_
"Hurricane Season" Trombone Shorty _Backatown_
"The Word 'Hurricane'" Air _The Virgin Suicides_

"Hurricane" Levon Helm _American Son_
"Hurricane" Shuggie Otis _Here Comes Shuggie Otis_
"Hurricane" Golden Smog _Another Fine Day_
"Hurricane" The Coathangers _Larceny & Old Lace_
"Hurricane" Prisoners _WiserMiserDemelza_

"Florida Hurricane" St. Louis Jimmy Oden _St. Louis Jimmy Oden Vol. 2 1944-1955_
"Jamaica Hurricane" Lord Beginner _London Is The Place For Me: Trinidadian Calypso In London, 1950-1956_
"Hurricane Blues" Big Lucky Carter _The Complete Goldwax Singles Vol. 1_
"Mr. Science (Hurricanes)" Bob & Ray _Bob & Ray The Lost Episodes Vol. 5_
"Hurricane Fighter Plane" The Red Krayola _The Parable Of Arable Land_

"Tsunami (Cornelius Remix)" Manic Street Preachers _Forever Delayed: The Remixes_

(part two)

"Tsunami" Skywave _Synthstatic_
"Hurricanes" Lewis Black _The White Album_
"Hurricane Edward" The Fall _Levitate_
"Hurricane Waves" Bomb The Music Industry! _Vacation_

"Like A Hurricane" Neil Young _American Stars 'N Bars_
"Hurricane" Echo & The Bunnymen _Crystal Days: 1979-1999_
"It's Only A Hurricane" Fischer-Z _The Best_

"Hurricane" Elevator To Hell _Eerieconsiliation_
"Meathead Hurricane" Knight School _Revenger_
"Halifax In A Hurricane" Howe Gelb _Hisser_
"Hurricane Amore" Ocean Blue _Cerulean_
"Hurricane" Warm Jets _Future Signs_
"The Demon & The Hurricane" Deleted Scenes _Young People's Church Of The Air_

Whither Hurricanes?

I can't remember the last time I took a week off from Self Help Radio.  I don't really like to not do my show.  But I will be out of town next week, & for some reason I am a little glad.  Is that a bad thing?

You see, Self Help Radio is not a job.  I think I would be offended if someone were to pay me money for it.  (Also, I might want to make it better.)  (I couldn't take that sort of pressure.)  (But mainly I'd be offended.)  Since it's something I love to do, I don't like to miss it.

I should save this for next week's blog writings.  Tonight I should be talking about hurricanes.  Or tomorrow.  Tomorrow!

Tomorrow!  From 7 to 9am, on 88.1 fm, WRFL in Lexington.  Self Help Radio is category 3.  You can listen online at wrfl dot fm.  I'll put it up later at self help radio dot net.

Then there'll be no Self Help Radio for two weeks!  Lucky you!

Preface To Hurricanes: Katrina

It seems strange that Hurricane Katrina happened seven years ago.  I was still living in Austin then & we watched horrified as the storm bore down & it seemed like the government wasn't doing a thing to help save a legendary American city.  I guess you can watch the show Treme to see how things went.  I haven't kept up.

I remember the days afterward, when we'd go to Costco & buy things in bulk like water & peanut butter & take them to places where people in cars were loading these things up to drive the five hundred miles to the almost-destroyed city.

One immediate consequence of the aftermath of Katrina - &, it's true, it was a good thing for Austin - was a lot of refugees from the city, their homes destroyed - hell, their lives destroyed - found their way to Austin to start anew.  A bunch of community radio folks from New Orleans came to KOOP radio, & they contributed to the station greatly.  I was even reunited with an old friend who I didn't know had moved away.

It's still hurricane season - it lasts from June to November, at least within the Atlantic Ocean's sphere - so my show is surprisingly still timely.  It's going to take a few more years of hurricanes before we forget how horrible Katrina was, & still is.

I only wish I had visited New Orleans before.  I know it's not the same city anymore.

I Missed A Day

Sorry about that.  I am becoming very unreliable when it comes to the things that I am "supposed" to do.  I put supposed in scare quotes because it doesn't matter if I do them or not.  For example, this blog. According to Google Analytics, it gets around four visitors a day, of which probably three are me.  Hey, who is the other person?  You're probably looking for something else.  There are a few pictures of dogs & cats here, as well as a few playlists for my radio show, but not much else.  Sorry about that.

I write in the blog anyway because I feel I ought to.  I feel like somehow if I stop it'll mean even more obscurity for me.  It's funny, there are blogs I read more or less regularly online, & at some point I really hoped I'd get as much attention as them.  Then I realized I wouldn't.  Then it didn't matter much anymore.  But having to heap extra obscurity past my realization & apathy might be too much.

It's true, I was really tired after Boomslang, & it took me a while to get back into whatever swing my things are in.  Then it was Thursday & I had to write in this blog ("had to" - see what I mean?) & I realized I hadn't even put my show on the website.  So that's what I did Thursday night.

You know what I did Monday after my show, by the way?  I watched the Emmys.  I was up late seeing the Jesus & Mary Chain the night before, & I got three hours of sleep, & woke to do three hours of radio, & came home, & watched the Emmys!

So, apologies for missing a day.  Oh, I'm not apologizing to you - I'm apologizing to me, who visits this blog more than anyone else.  When I read this blog entry again a couple of times, I'll be able to say, "Oh, Gary, it's no big deal.  I didn't even notice."

I Guess I Really Didn't Care

Seriously - I didn't get around to putting this show up till tonight.

Actually, it was pretty exhausting after Boomslang.  I hope you liked the show.  & I hope you know I do care.  I can't help it.

The show is now available for the carefree & careless alike at the Self Help Radio website, or liked directly here: part one & part two.  Be careful!

Thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Apathy" Catchers _Mute_
"Don't Care" Klark Kent _Teenage Kicks_
"Don't Care" Circle Jerks _Group Sex/Wild In The Streets_
"Just Don't Care" Wire _Behind The Curtain_

"I Don't Care" Judy Garland, Lennie Hayton Orchestra _In the Good Old Summertime (O.S.T - 1949)_
"I Don't Care" Helen Shapiro _At Abbey Road 1961-1967_
"I Don't Care" Sherman Evans _I Don't Care_
"I Don't Care" The Chants _Ripples Volume 5: Beach Bash (Surf Pop, Frat Rock & Dance Craze Sounds From The UK)_
"I Don't Care (Demo)" The Pixies Three _Pixies Three: Our History_
"I Don't Care" Peter's Faces _Beat Beat Beat Vol. 4_

"I Don't Care" James Brown _Roots Of A Revolution_
"I Don't Care" Lesley Gore _It's My Party_
"I Don't Care" The Wilde Knights _Scarey Business_
"I Don't Care" Los Bravos _Black Is Black_
"I Don't Care" Dirty Shames _Pebbles, Vol. 8: Southern California Vol. 1_
"I Just Don't Care" The Fifth Estate _Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Back!_

"I Don't Care" The Ramones _The Ramones_
"I Don't Care" The Boys _The Very Best Of The Boys_
"I Don't Care" Television _The Blow-Up_

(part two)

"I Don't Care" Space Negros _Dig Archaeology 1980 - 1990_
"I Don't Care" The Children _The Children_
"I Don't Care" The Spectors _Beat Is Murder: Cockfights & Cakefights, 1992-1996_

"I Don't Care" Mama Guitar _Introducing Mama Guitar_
"I Don't Care" Mary Margaret O'Hara _Apartment Hunting_
"I Don't Care" Christmas Island _Blackout Summer_
"I Don't Care" TV Girl _TV Girl EP_
"I Don't Care" Summer Twins _Summer Twins_

"Pierre" Carole King _Really Rosie_
"Baby I Don't Care" Bryan Ferry _These Foolish Things_
"I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine" Elvis Presley _Sunrise_
"I Don't Care Who Knows" Harold Burrage _The Cobra Records Story_

"I Don't Care (What The People Say)" Cookie Scott & The Chevelles _Allnighter Vol. 5_
"I Don't Care About Your Past" Ella Washington _Southern Grooves_
"I Don't Care Anymore" Doris Duke _I'm A Loser: The Swamp Dogg Sessions & More_