Self Help Radio 031414: Melt

"I'm melting! Melting! Oh what a world!"

Self Help Radio melts today, as hopefully all the ice & snow of this intolerably long winter have finally melted & will not bother us again until - well, with the way things are going, September - but let's hope it's over for now & the sun will warm us for a few more months.  The show therefore is an ode to the melting of the world that follows winter.  Or something.

Hey!  You can listen now & feel a little melty too!  It's up now at self help radio dot net!  You can also listen to the show directly from these here links: part one & part two.  Songs with low melting points are listed below.

Thanks for listening, solids!

(part one)

"Melt!" Siouxsie & The Banshees _A Kiss In The Dreamhouse_
"Melt" Guitar _Sunkissed_

"Melt Me" Lily & Maria _Lily & Maria_
"Melt Close" Section 25 _Always Now_
"Melt Against Yourself" Straightjacket Fits _Melt_
"Melt Away" Galaxie 500 _This Is Our Music_

"Summer's Melting My Mind" The Go-Betweens _78 'Til 79: The Lost Album_
"I Melt With You" The Rondelles _In Their Eyes: 90s Teen Bands Vs. 80s Teen Movies_

(part two)

"Melted Crayons" Fog _You Don't Know Ninja Cuts_
"Melting Arthur" Robyn Hitchcock _I Wanna Go Backwards_
"Let it Melt" The Mayfair Set _Young One EP_

"Melted Pat (live)" Guided By Voices _Hardcore UFOs: Live At The Wheelchair Races_
"Jennifer Meltdown" Ed Hines Band _Girls; Their Hearts_
"The Melting Wall" Golden Triangle _Double Jointer_
"Melted" Ty Segall _Melted_
"The Great American Melting Pot" Lori Lieberman _Schoolhouse Rock: America Rock_

"Ice Melts" Matt & Kim _Sidewalks_
"Ode To Janice Melt" Army Navy _The Last Place_
"Melting Ice" Ladytron _Gravity The Seducer_

Whither Melt?

Above is the Schoolhouse Rock video for "The Great American Melting Pot," a lovely ode to immigration & its role in populating America.  It's one of the songs I'll play on tomorrow's Self Help Radio, though I don't think I'll talk about it much.

I still love it, as I love much about Schoolhouse Rock, although this particular one has some troubling elements to think about once you grow older.  (Not as much, thankfully, as the one about manifest destiny.)  For one thing, the rosiness of the song is bittersweet when you take high school American history & learn about nativist movements (not to mention just watching the news today with regards to "illegals" from Mexico).  For another, it completely ignores two important groups (although one of them is mentioned in the "recipe" that Lady Liberty thumbs through during the chorus) & those are the enslaved Africans who didn't want to come here in the first place, & the natives who were already living on the North American continent, & who were killed to make room for the predominantly white Europeans who arrived.

That's a funny thing, isn't it - how children are taught almost-mythic history until the time they can presumably grasp more complicated subjects.  I am reminded about learning about World War I in middle school - we just glossed over it - but it baffled me.  The Germans, like in the easier-to-understand World War II, were the bad guys, but they weren't Nazis yet.  For example, though they sank the Lusitania, they did it because we were supplying their enemies.  I couldn't wrap my head around why America would go to war simply because an Archduke was assassinated a couple of years before.

Chances are, no one had yet been allowed to broach the subject of "imperialism."  Nowadays it's understood that World War I was a war between imperial powers, & America chose sides when it finally (against popular support, & breaking Wilson's campaign pledge) decided to join the fray.  Nothing good came out of it, & it directly led to Hitler coming to power.

I think it's the same thing with the Schoolhouse Rock video.  You want to make children believe that this America was a remarkable place that not only welcomed people looking to make a better life, but also that America regularly celebrated them.  Never mind how the Irish & Germans were treated in the mid-19th century, or the Italians & Russians in the late 19th century, or the Chinese pretty much all the time, or the Vietnamese in the late 1970s, or the Mexicans ever since I can remember.  That'll come later.

It's a lovely little myth that I wish everyone grew up with, because it's certainly colored how I've felt about immigration.  "What good ingredients, liberty & immigrants."  Lynn Ahrens wrote that, & it's a nice (almost) rhyming couplet.

My wife tells me it used to make her happy because the grandmother in the animation has a "Kiss Me, I'm Polish" button, & her parents & she are Polish.  That's the magic of the short - it made people who were already here proud of their country, & people who identified as the children of immigrants proud of their parents.

One of the Youtube comments says that children are now taught that America is less a "melting pot" than a "salad bowl."  I wonder if that's meant to help people preserve their own cultural identity, since the components of a salad are more readily identified singularly; things in a stew do tend to mush together.  I don't know.

Children don't like salads all that much, though.  It seems a metaphor that may have some problems.

SNOW.

It is snowing as I write this.  It's March 12 & it's snowing.  Winter officially ends in a week & it's snowing.  & it's not so bad here - glad I'm not in Chicago - but come on!

Here's a graphic that pretty much sums up my feelings about this overlong winter we've been having:

It's from the person who has this web site.  & she lives in Massachusetts.

I posted this to Facebook the other day:

(It was something I found on Tumblr, so I don't know who originally made it, sorry.)

A friend in Austin said, "Invert it for Texas."  It's true!  I don't know how it happened, but I went from a place where it's hot most of the time to a place where it's cold most of the time.  Is there not some place where there's a sensible winter AND a sensible summer?  It's maddening!

Oh, Tuesday

I kinda forgot about you.

My apologies.

No really, I mean it.

It was a lovely day.

You would have ignored me, too, if you had the chance.

Sorry.

Really.  I mean it.

Sorry!

Thank You!

Thanks to everyone who listened during Self Help Radio Week.  It's not every day an obscure show can declare its own week, & it was fun doing a show every day, but also not a little exhausting.  It will be with relief that I return to the one-show-a-week schedule.

As always - if there's a theme you explored on Self Help Radio, or you want to make suggestions for upcoming themes, you can visit Self Help Radio's website to see what's coming up & then write an email or even write something on the Facebook page.  Help yourself!

& again, much thanks.

(The image above was taken from this website.  It belongs to them.)

Self Help Radio 030714: Hope

Well, I hoped I'd get this show posted in time.  But I guess it'll have to be a few minutes late.  Hey!  Do you see what I did?  For the second time only - this was the first time - I've done an entire show with songs all entitled the show's theme.  So here you are!  A hopeful show with all twenty songs called "hope"!  (All the background music I play under my airbreaks are called "hope" too.)  What a way to end Self Help Radio week!

The show is of course on the Self Help Radio website, but there are direct links to each part: part one here & part two here.  The song list (all the songs are called "Hope"!) is below.

Thanks for spending Self Help Radio week with me!

(part one)

"Hope" Hep Stars _It's Been A Long Long Time_
"Hope" Quicksilver Messenger Service _Quicksilver_
"Hope" Klaatu _Hope_

"Hope" The Go-Betweens _Send Me A Lullaby_
"Hope" Bauhaus _Burning From The Inside_
"Hope" Unrest _Fuck Pussy Galore (& All Her Friends)_
"Hope" The House Of Love _The House Of Love_
"Hope" Massive Stereo Sellout _By Now_

"Hope" Yothu Yindi _Tribal Voice_
"Hope" Nitin Sawhney _Migration_

(part two)

"Hope" Some Velvet Sidewalk _The Lowdown_
"Hope" Kristin Hersh _Strange Angels_
"Hope" Red Dye No.5 _Pure Spun Sugar_

"Hope" Tree Fort Angst _Last Page In The Book Of Love_
"Hope" The Shining Hour _Long Lost_
"Hope" Cloud Cult _The Meaning Of 8_
"Hope" Atmosphere _To All My Friends, Blood Makes The Blade Holy: The Atmosphere EPs_
"Hope" Lewis Black _Stark Raving Black_

"Hope" Boris _Attention Please_
"Hope" Seasick Steve _Hubcap Music_

Self Help Radio 030614: Swamps

Day four of Self Help Radio week finds us mired in a show about swamps! Luckily the show features not only lots of swampy songs, but also helpful hints on how to walk through swamps if that's the sort of thing you want to do. Also, the question is asked & answered: are there swamps in Kentucky?

Find out at the Self Help Radio website, or go straight to the show (it's in two parts) by choosing either part one or part two.  The songs I played are below.

Keep an eye out for crocodiles!

(part one)

"Caroni Swamp" Phil Madison _Calypso Pioneers_
"Mississippi Swamp Moan" Alfred Lewis _American Primitive: Pre-War Revenants 1897-1939, Vol. 2_
"Swamp Fire" Martin Denny _Ultra-Lounge, Vol. 1: Mondo Exotica_

"Swamp Thing" The Chameleons _Strange Times_
"Swamp (live)" Talking Heads _Stop Making Sense_
"Swamp Song" Blur _13_
"The Swamps" Widowspeak _The Swamps_

"Chloe (Song Of The Swamp)" The Ravens _Birds Of A Feather_
"Swamp Girl" Kay Martin & Her Bodyguards _Kay Martin & Her Bodyguards_

(part two)

"Swampland" Scientists _Blood Red River 1982-1984_
"Swamp Witch" Deadbolt _Haight Street Hippie Massacre: Best Of Deadbolt_
"Swamp Buggy Badass" Quintron/Miss Pussycat _Swamp Tech_

"Mah Sanctum" Nick Cave _And The Ass Saw The Angel: Readings & Music_
"Swamp Lily" Roy Acuff _King Of Country_
"Pompadour Swamp" Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band _Bluejeans & Moonbeams_
"Swamp Of Love" King Tuff _King Tuff_

"Swamp Thing" Tochigi _Tochigi_
"Swamp Woman" The Cryin' Out Louds _Texas: A Collection Of Texas Garage Punkers_
"More Swamp Than Elvis" Bloody Marys _Sixteen Hail Marys (The Best Of 1985 - 2004)_
"Swamp Campfire" Monster Rally _Coral_

Self Help Radio 030514: Indiepop A To Z # 43

Self Help Radio week continues!  If only someone were paying attention!

I continue with my self-explanatory & terribly OCD Indiepop A To Z series.  We're tearing through the Is right now.  Should have them finished by the next show!

You can listen of course right now at the Self Help Radio website or go directly to the show: part one is here & part two is here.  A worryingly alphabetical list is below.

Thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Meet Me Again" The Impossibles _Knowing Where It All Leeds_
"Lazy Summer Days" In A Day _Just For A Day_
"Rip Off" In A Spring _A Chance To Shine - Dorian Records Compilation_
"This Brilliant Evening" In Embrace _In Embrace_

"Grow" In Rain _Rough Trade Singles Club_
"Where Do I Stand?" Incredible Blondes _Where Do I Stand? 7"_
"Blue Cheer" Incredible Force Of Junior _Let The World Fall Apart_
"I Wouldn't Change A Thing" Incredible Rainbow _Sofa 1_
"Julia, We Don't Live In The '60s" The Indelicates _Julia, We Don't Live In The '60s_

"Talkin' Smoking" Indian Rope _Beikoku-Ongaku # 14_
"Pennyweight" Individual Fruit Pie _LemonLine Volume One_

(part two)

"The Moment" Indurain _What You Get For Being Naive_
"Halleluja!" [Ingenting] _Tomhet, Idel Tomhet (Emptiness, Nothing But Emptiness)_
"Contrafus.oo.watch" Ingo Star Cruiser _Little Molly Has A Treat For You, Vol. 1_

"Speak Our Minds" The Innocence Mission _Glow_
"This Is How It Feels" Inspiral Carpets _The Singles_
"Sydney" Insta _Airpop Terminal 2_
"France" Intastella _Intastella & The Family Of People_
"1994" International Waters _1994_

"Obstacle 1" Interpol _Turn On The Bright Lights_
"Hearts & Flowers" Into Paradise _Under The Water_

Self Help Radio 030414: Castles

Self Help Radio week continues!  & so far, no one's threatened to beat me up!

As I was listening to these songs about castles, I was wondering if I have ever been in a castle.  I think I have - when I was a child.  Not so much in my adulthood.  I don't think I've ever even been in a White Castle.  But there are lots of good songs about castles!

The show is available for listening now now now at Self Help Radio Castle.  If you can't wait for the drawbridge to lower, you may go there directly by clicking the following links: first part | second part.  A castle full of songs is listed below!

Thanks for listening!  Sorry it's so drafty in here!

(part one)

"My Castle's Rockin'" Alberta Hunter _The Women Of Classic Jazz: Female Artists 1939-1952_
"Bethlehem Castle" The Jacobites _The Ragged School_
"Queen Of Sandcastles" The Sporting Life _ A House Full Of Friends_
"Castle Of Nothing" Rollin Hunt _The Phoney_

"Paper Castle" Rotary Connection _Collecting Peppermint Clouds Vol. 1_
"Castles In The Sky" Blonde On Blonde _Circus Days UK Pop-Sike Obscurities 1966-1970_
"The Castle" Love _Da Capo_
"Castles In The Air" Colour Field _Virgins & Philistines_
"The Abandoned Castle Of My Soul" The Gothic Archies _The New Despair_

"Castles In Spain" Armoury Show _Waiting For The Floods_
"Castles Of Wales" The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir _...And The Horse You Rode In On_

(part two)

"She Lives By The Castle" Felt _Poem Of The River_
"Castle Train" Easy _Magic Seed_
"Castles In The Grave" John Maus _A Collection Of Rarities & Previously Unreleased Material_

"Gruesome Castle" The Wake _Here Comes Everybody + Singles_
"The Golden Castle" Watoo Watoo _Seven Summers (International Pop Vol. 2)_
"Clogged Castle" Boat _50 Sweaty Boat Fans Can't Be Wrong_
"Skull Castle Decorator" Bill Baird _Diamond Eyepatch_
"The Castle" The Lovely Eggs _Wildlife_

"The Turqoise Castle" The Dentists _Dressed_
"Cardboard Castles" James Kirk _You Can Make It If You Boogie_
"The Castle" Cocoanut Groove _Madeleine Street_

Self Help Radio 030314: Tests

Self Help Radio week begins!

Please do not open the Tests show until your instructor has told you to do so.  Remember, you only have the length of the Tests show to complete the Tests show.  There will be no curve.

Your booklet is available at the Self Help Radio website. Please note the exam is in two parts: part one is here, & part two is here.  The subjects you will be writing about are in the song list below.

Good luck!  No cheating!
xo gary

(part one)

"I Dreamed I Had To Take A Test..." Laurie Anderson _United States Live_
"Put It To The Test" They Might Be Giants _Here Comes Science_
"A Test" The Reivers _Saturday_
"Testing Time" Edwyn Collins _Hope & Despair_

"Just A Test" Beastie Boys _Hello Nasty_
"This Is Not A Test" Bikini Kill _Revolution Girl Style Now!_
"This Is A Test" Wendy James _Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears_
"This Is A Test" Oppenheimer _Oppenheimer_
"This Is Only A Test" Ross Beach _Orange Gerbera Daisies_
"This Is Only A Test" Smoking Popes _This Is Only A Test_

"Princess, You're A Test" Bearsuit _The Phantom Forest_
"Classical Music Quiz" Cake On Cake _Hymns I Remember_
"Fight Test" The Flaming Lips _Fight Test_
"AIDS Test" Chris Rock _Cheese & Crackers: The Greatest Bits_

(part two)

"Silly Noises Quiz" Monty Python _Monty Python's Previous Record_
"I Never Finished A Test" Edson _Unwind With Edson_
"Everytime I Pass The Test" The Skywriters _The Skywriters_
"Testcard Girl" Talulah Gosh _Backwash_

"Literacy Test Song" Pete Seeger _Gazette, Vol. 2_
"Testing The Bomb" Shel Silverstein _I'm So Good I Don't Have To Brag_
"Test" Don Dixon _Note Pad # 38_
"Pencil Test" Yo La Tengo _Prisoners Of Love: A Smattering Of Scintillating Senescent Songs: 1985-2003_
"Metal Test" Material _Memory Serves_

"Test Pilot" The Fizzbombs _Surfin' Winter 12"_
"Lie Detector Test" The Aluminum Group _Pedals_
"Finals Season" The Cocker Spaniels _Withstand The Whatnot_
"Test Of Time" Temples _Sun Structures_

Self Help Radio 022814: Split

What's worse than one Self Help Radio? A Self Help Radio split in two!  Okay, each episode of Self Help Radio is in fact split in two.  But the show has got all meta & is now about splitting as itself is split.  What's more, the show features an interview with a professional splitter & some spiritual advice for those of us who often feel as though we're split in two.  & of course, lots of songs.

Listen to the show!  It's now at Self Help Radio web site.  Or perhaps you'd prefer to listen directly?  The two halves are here: part one & part two.  The split list of songs are below.

Before I split - thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Banana Split For My Baby" Louis Prima _Angelina_
"Cherry For A Banana Split" Nipsey Russell _Things They Never Taught At School_
"We're The Banana Splits" The Banana Splits _Here Come The Banana Splits_

"You Can Split" Youngblood Smith _Big City Soul, Vol. 2_
"I Live In A Split-Level Head" Napoleon XIV _They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haa!_
"Let's Split" Syd Barrett _Opel_
"Split To The East" Jandek _Staring At The Cellophane_
"Split Second Feeling" Cabaret Voltaire _The Original Sound of Sheffield '78/'82_
"Love Split With Blood" Dog Faced Hermans _Hum Of Life_

"I've Got A Splitting Hedachi" The Dickies _Dawn Of The Dickies_
"Splitting In Two" Alternative TV _The Image Has Cracked_

(part two)

"Split" Liliput _Nag Nag Nag_
"Split Up The Money" Vic Godard & The Subway Sect _Twenty Odd Years: The Story Of Vic Godard & The Subway Sect_
"Split Myself In Two" Meat Puppets _Meat Puppets II_
"She Splits Me Up" Crocodiles _Crimes Of Passion_

"Split!" That Petrol Emotion _Babble_
"50/50 Split" Beatnik Filmstars _Beezer_
"A Beauty Of Love That Splits The Body In Two" Thee Headcoats _The Messerschmitt Pilot's Severed Hand_
"Split Single With Happy Lounge Labelmates" Half Man Half Biscuit _Four Lads Who Shook The Wirral_
"Cat & Split" Extra Medium Pony _11868_
"Split Minute" Darker My Love _Alive As You Are_
"Split Like A Lip, No Blood On The Beard" Buke & Gase _General Dome_

"Splitting Up" Edwyn Collins _Doctor Syntax_

Whither Split?

One day I split in two.  Was it mitosis?  Was it meiosis?  Was it youosis?  I have noosis idea.

I said to the new me, "Now there's two of us, we can work twice as long on each Self Help Radio show!"

But I looked horrified & said, "Screw that!  There's two of us!  Now we'll have enough time to do all the things that we've been wanting to do!"

I asked, "What are all the things we wanted to do?"

I replied, "Wait.  Don't you have a bucket list?"

I said, "No.  No, I don't."

"But," I said back to me, "isn't there something we've wanted to do our entire lives?  Exciting places to go?  Amazing things to see?"

I chuckled.  "You're new," I said.  "You haven't quite remembered how frightened & defeated we are."

"Oh," I replied.  "Well."

"Want to work on this week's Self Help Radio with me?" I asked.

"Sure, I guess," I said.  "What's the theme?"

"Split is the theme."

"How appropriate!" I said.  & we both laughed.

Sad, sad laughter.

The Internet Is Good/Bad For Obsessions

This wonderful article on my favorite game show - Match Game - led me today to YouTube which has an untold number of old Match Game episodes for me to watch.  I loved that show as a kid - & I'm not entirely sure why.

I had older brothers & sisters who cursed like sailors, & my brothers left pornographic magazines in the bathroom that I'd leaf through looking for cartoons or other things that would fascinate my comic book-loving brain (at a certain age, looking at naked people is kinda boring), so I don't think I was ever over-tittilated by the innuendo & risqué language & situations.  I know I found it funny, but I expected it - there were girls at school who would giggle & act horrified if they heard me say "fuck," so I imagine it would scandalize them much more than it would me to watch Match Game.

I think I liked the game show aspect of it - filling in the blanks! - & I know I loved Richard Dawson & Charles Nelson Reilly & even Brett Somers.  It was also fun to see people I saw in other television shows (though I knew Dawson from Hogan's Heroes) (& I'll bet every one of them had appeared on the Love Boat &/or Fantasy Island).  & I loved how ridiculously playful Gene Rayburn was (though honestly he also kinda creeped me out) (it may be because he resembles my mother's boyfriend at the time).  As the article linked above points out, it was like being invited to a cocktail party - on a garishly colorful set (although I'm certain I watched most of the episodes on a black & white television) with that insane microphone Rayburn used.

But even though I wrote a "review" for the show on the IMDb a lifetime ago - in 2001 - I missed this documentary, called "Behind The Blank," which aired in 2002 on the then-called Game Show Network, which at the time aired two episodes per night.  I recommend it!  It's fun to listen to older versions of my 1970s friends talk about the show - Gene Rayburn says, "We were just a bunch of friends having a good time."  The magic of the show was that they made you feel like you were one of their friends, as well.

Gotta go back to watch more now!

"Hollywood Sign Generator"

Thanks to this site (which looks to be out of date, so I hope they saved Cahuenga Peak) (I suppose they did?) (I can't find any information about it) - anyway, thanks to that site, I can make everyone see what Hollywood would be like if it were cool.

Or - wait - the opposite of cool.

Self Help Radio Week In A Week!

Next week is Self Help Radio Week!  Every day of the week is a new episode of Self Help Radio!

Yeah, I know it's not that exciting.  But it'll be fun!  I promise!

Here are the five themes the show will be exploring next week:

Monday: Tests
Tuesday: Castles
Wednesday: Indiepop A To Z # 43
Thursday: Swamps
Friday: Hope

Craziness!

Self Help Radio 022114: Dig It

We dug into our music collection today (groan) to find lots of songs about digging, whether of the "to excavate" meaning or of the "like, understand" slangy meaning.  If you dig through the show, perhaps you'll find something you'll dig (please stop).

The show is available for listening hooray! at Self Help Radio website place.  Should you want to simply click a button to immediately get to a show, & who could blame you, I have direct links here: part the I | part the II.  Soon you'll be digging on the songs that I played, which are handily listed below.

Hey! I dig you!

(part one)

"Diga Diga Doo" Bob Thompson _The History Of Space Age Pop, Vol. 1: Melodies & Mischief_
"I Dig Everything" David Bowie _Early On 1964-1966_
"I Dig Your Kind" Barons _Society Don't Let Us Down_
"I'm Digging You Digging Me" Boyce & Hart _I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight?_
"I Dig Your Mind" The Nervous Breakdowns _I Dig Your Mind_

"I'm A Ginseng Digger" Wally Burke _I'm Just The Other Woman! MSR Madness Vol. # 4_
"I Dig Love" George Harrison _All Things Must Pass_
"Do You Dig It" Titus Turner _What It Is! Funky Soul & Rare Grooves (1967-1977)_
"Dig On" Pablo Moses _Pave The Way_
"I Dig You" The Cure _Seventeen Seconds_

"Dig That Groove Baby" Toy Dolls _Dig That Groove Baby_
"Dig Me" King Crimson _Three Of A Perfect Pair_

(part two)

"Dig A Hole" The Wolfgang Press _Standing Up Straight_
"Dig For Fire" Pixies _Bossanova_
"Can You Dig It?" Mock Turtles _Can You Dig It?: The Best Of The Mock Turtles_

"Digging My Feet In The Ground" Smack Dab _Majestic Root_
"I Dig You" Beat Happening _Beat Happening/Screaming Trees_
"I Dig You" Boss Hog _Boss Hog_
"Dig My Pig" Anton Barbeau _17th Century Fuzzbox Blues_
"Digging For Water" White Rose Transmission _Magic Boomerang_

"Archaeological Dig" State Broadcasters _The Ship & The Iceberg_
"Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds _Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!_
"Dig You Out" Male Bonding _Endless Now_
"Dig A Little Deeper" Peter Bjorn & John _Gimme Some_

Preface To Dig It: I Have Measured Out My Life In Shovels

Not true!  Why do I assault TS Eliot in this way?  I have barely held a shovel since I was but a boy.

I did shovel a bit of our driveway during the last month when we were covered in snow (it's gone - for now - & it's 70 degrees right now but it's windy & storms are coming).  I didn't do the entire driveway because it's very big.  Here's a Google Maps picture of our driveway:

Perhaps you can tell that we have one of those driveways that people call "circular drives" even though it's mainly an arc.  If you can't tell, it's because that big tree is hiding the topmost part (which would show you our front door & garage door too).

As you can imagine, that's a hell of a lot to shovel.  I couldn't keep up.

But it is a driveway - on private property - & knowing that fact, you'd be pretty surprised how many people use it as a means to turn around.  It seems a little rude.  Also, when I see a car driving up, I wonder, "Who can that be? Is it a friend coming to visit?"  Then I have to say, "Oh, no.  Just a douchebag doing something he'd get really pissed if someone did on his driveway."

So yes, I've held a shovel this year.  It doesn't make up for all the years I haven't held a shovel.  But I wasn't using it to dig anything up - just trying to dig out of lots & lots of snow.  & failing to do that.

What Is… Self Help Radio Week?

Is it something "declared" by the United States Congress?

Is it something horrified schoolchildren must study in third grade?

Is it a blatant attempt by a self-help industry to cash in on all the attention & money that realtors make during Real Estate Week?

Is it a chapter in my upcoming autobiography describing how long it normally takes me to make one damn Self Help Radio show?

No, no, no, & no.  It is none of the above.

Here are some hints as to what it really is:

1) It's completely made up.  By me.  I have decreed it.  No one else will observe it or will even care.

2) It won't really last a week.  It'll last five days.  So it should be called "Self Help Radio Work Week."

3) But I am calling it "Self Help Radio Week."

4) More details will be detailed next week!

But don't be too excited about it - if it's possible to get even a little bit excited - because it's no big deal.  I just never get to "tease" anything on this blog, & I wanted to see what it felt like.

It feels a little dumb.

You Are Not Currently Following Any Blogs

That's what blogger tells me every time I come here to write something about my dumb radio show.  It makes me feel bad.  Should I be following any blogs?  I mean, I should, right?  Being that I should be part of the blogger community.  That makes a certain amount of sense.

Which blogs ought I follow?  Before you answer that - might you want to know something about my likes & dislikes?  I like indie music, obviously.  & comic books (I think also that's obvious).  & Star Trek.  Um.  Is that a good place to start?

Blogger doesn't suggest any blogs for me to follow.  It has a button called "Blogger Buzz" which appears to want to show me how to make more money with my blog - only I don't really want to make any money with my blog.  I know that sounds downright un-American of me, but I do all this as a labor of love - I have never made a cent doing Self Help Radio.  Though I've lost a lot of money & time doing it!

There is this list (from 2008) of the most popular blogs on Blogger (Self Help Radio's blog didn't make it, alas). Here's a list of 2013's "best bloggers," according to Time Magazine (also I am not on this list).  I have a feeling this whole "finding blogs to follow" is going to take a little time.

Which brings me to: hey! No one's following me!  At least I don't think so.  How would I know if someone was "following" the Self Help Radio blog?

It's all rather confusing.  If you have a blog you think I should follow, let me know.  I will attempt to do some recon & be back at base before reveille.  Gary out.

The Diggers

According to Wikipedia, the Diggers were "a group of Protestant English agrarian socialists, begun by Gerrard Winstanley as True Levellers in 1649, who became known as Diggers, because of their attempts to farm on common land."  I first heard about them on a Billy Bragg record (he was covering a tune by Leon Rosselson, called "The World Turned Upside Down"):



Chumbawamba have a song about them as well:



As someone who's never been terribly political in practice, but pretty political in talk, & who grew up in conservative suburban Texas, the Billy Bragg song seemed damned inspiring.  Utopian communities in the United States have usually been religiously based - I couldn't place myself in a Shaker community, or with the Beechers.  But stories of the Paris Commune & the Diggers have always made me wish I could belong to something that idealistic & good even though it would be doomed to failure.

(I had similar feelings about the recent Occupy Wall Street movement & the Arab Spring - hopeful they would succeed, but knowing in my cynical, defeated heart they would fail.)

(I might also mention here some of my work in community radio - but I won't.)

These two songs were in my mind as I thought about a show with the theme "Dig It" (which is the theme for this week's show, of course).  In addition to songs about actually digging things (like with one's hands, or shovels, or cranes), & songs about "digging" things like hipsters & hippies might say, there are these two songs about a seventeenth century socialist movement.  How does one fit them into the context of a radio show with the theme "dig it"?

Maybe one just mentions them on one's blog?