Self Help Radio 070414: Limes

Limes!  America's fruit!  I hope!  There seems to have been a miscalculation somewhere!  Keep smiling!

The lime-song shortage is greatly exaggerated.  There are loads here!  Listen at the Self Help Radio website or directly: part one is here & part two is here.  Lime songs below!

Happy birthday, limes of America!

(part one)

"The Lime Song" Leslies _Totally Brilliant_
"Lime Tree Arbour" Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds _The Boatman's Call_
"Limes" Tania & José _Limes_

"Lemon & Lime" Herman's Hermits _Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter_
"Lemon & Lime" Three Finger Cowboy _Kissed_
"Lemon & Lime" Jad Fair & R. Stevie Moore _FairMoore_
"Two Lemons, One Lime" The Wave Pictures _Beer In The Breakers_

"Coconut" The Muppets _Muppet Hits_
"The Lime-Juice Tub" A.L. Lloyd & Martyn Wyndham-Reade _The Great Australian Legend_
"The Lime Juice Ship" John Roberts & Tony Barrand _Across The Western Ocean_
"Out Of The Lime" New Mendicants _Into The Lime_
"Leaf & Lime" High Llamas _Beet, Maize, & Corn_

"A Little Splash Of Lime" Sportique _A Christmas Gift From Fortuna Pop! Volume 2_
"Nesbitt's Lime Soda Song" Negativland _Escape From Noise_

(part two)

"Fizzical Lime" Sheer Agony _A Fixture Records Sampler_
"Gin & Lime" Esbee Family _Peace Of Mind_

"Cherry In My Lemon & Lime" Three Riffs _Hot Harmony Groups 1932-1951: That's The Rhythm, Vol. 1_
"Cherry Lime" The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion _Extra Width_
"Lime Jelly Grass" Renaldo & The Loaf _Songs For Swinging Larvae_
"Limes & Skulls" Jonathan Fire*Eater _Jonathan Fire Eater_

"Lime-Lime" Subsonics _In The Black Spot_
"Lemons & Limes" Fuzzy Bunnies _Lemons & Limes_
"Lime House" Breeders _Pod_
"Lemon & Lime" Mark Morriss _Memory Muscle_
"Emerald & Lime" Brian Eno _Small Craft On A Milk Sea_

"Wrong Number" The Cure _Galore: The Singles 87 - 97_
"Lemon-Lime Face" The Octopus Project + Black Moth Super Rainbow _The House Of Apples & Eyeballs_

Whither Limes?

I think I just wanted to play the Leslies song called "The Lime Song."  I don't think the song mentions limes at all.  It should set the tone for the whole show.

I have it on good authority that the Reverend Doctor Howard Gently (whom you should follow on Twitter, duh) will call & I've arranged to interview the Lime King.  That should be fun!

It's happening tomorrow morning from 7 to 9 am on 88.1 fm in Lexington & online at WRFL on the web.

Yes, I know it's the Fourth of July & you'll be in bed, but I couldn't be bothered to do an America-themed show.  Anyway, there's a parade & stuff later.  You can go to that.

Limes!  What was I thinking?

Back On Track

I got back from vacation yesterday but I didn't write to tell you here because there was a problem: my website was down all day long.  I spent the evening on the phone with nice tech support people for my hosting company, who were cool & professional even though I was a bit impatient & stressed out.  It was a weird end to a nice vacation - to get an email in the morning in Memphis saying my website was down for reasons I didn't understand.  It turns out, it was attacked by a Chinese bot of some kind that basically downloaded the site, & because there are lots of mp3s of radio shows, it clogged up everything.  Maybe one day I'll tell the entire story.  But the upshot is, I'm home working on a show about limes, & my website is happily up.

I just found this picture on the Wikipedia in the section about the color lime.  I think we had this book when I was growing up.  I wish I had the whole series now!

I look forward to returning to the show, & I thank Daryl for subbing last week.  He was probably amazing - I shouldn't listen to the show or else I'll feel like just giving it to him.  Rats!

Preface To Melancholia: I'm On Vacation, Damn It!

Please remember that the wonderful Daryl Cookie will be hosting Self Help Radio this week instead of me.  I wish I could be there to listen to his show!  Instead, I'll be hanging out with a bunch of skunks.

You get to listen to it, though!  You're lucky!

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Six

Jaybird Coleman

I won't be hosting Self Help Radio this week, as I'll be on the road tomorrow & in Dallas by Friday, but if you have the time & inclination, you can listen to last Friday's episode of my country blues show Woke Up Early One Morning Blues.  It's available for listening now at the Self Help Radio website.  This episode is all about harmonicas!  The artists I played are below.

Also: there won't be an episode of Woke Up Early One Morning Blues this week, but I'll be back on the Fourth of July!

"Whiskey & Gin Blues" South Street Trio _Bobby Leecan & Robert Cooksey: Complete Works in Chronological Order, Vol. 1 (1924-1927)_
"Police & High Sheriff Come Ridin' Down" Ollis Martin _Barrelhouse Blues_
"Man Trouble Blues" Jaybird Coleman _Blues Masters: Country Southern Blues_

"El Watson's Fox Chase" El Watson _The Great Harp Players (1927-1936)_
"Davidson County Blues" DeFord Bailey _When The Sun Goes Down, Vol. 1: Walk Right In_
"Touch Me Light Mama" George "Bullet" Williams _Alabama Harmonica Kings (1927-30)_
"Mean Low Blues" Blues Birdhead _American Primitive: Pre-War Revenants 1897-1939, Vol. 2_
"Sugar Pudding" Memphis Jug Band _Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2 (1928-1929)_

"Wang Wang Harmonica Blues" The Carver Boys _Mountain Blues: Blues, Ballads & String Bands 1927-1938_
"Riding The Blinds" Eddie Mapp _Georgia Blues (1928-1933)_
"Medley Of Blues: All Out & Down, Old Time Blues, Hog In The Mountain" Freeman Stowers _Sinners & Saints (1926-1931)_
"Mr. Devil Blues" Jed Davenport _Broke, Black, & Blue, Vol. 2: Broke & Hungry Blues_
"Devil In The Wood Pile" Noah Lewis _Gus Cannon & Noah Lewis Vol. 2 (1929 - 1930)_

"The Spasm" Daddy Stovepipe & Mississippi Sarah _Good For What Ails You: Music Of The Medicine Shows, 1926-1937_
"Lost John" Sonny Terry _Complete Recorded Works 1938-1945_
"Poor Boy Blues" Jazz Gillum (as Bill McKinley) _Roots 'N' Blues: The Retrospective_

This Week

I'll be visiting Dallas this week.  Going to see the Mom & also eat at the city's amazing vegetarian & vegan restaurants.  Have I mentioned that there are no vegan or vegetarian restaurants in Lexington?  A barbecue place just closed nearby & this sign was up for a while:

There's a chalkboard behind the front door that says, "New restaurant coming soon!"  I don't imagine it'll be too vegetarian/vegan friendly.

There's a nice website - happy cow dot net - which has a helpful list of vegetarian, vegan, & veg-friendly restaurants in various places.  I used it to find places to eat when we were in Puerto Rico last year, & will use it when we go to Vietnam in a couple of months.  I keep meaning to write more reviews for it, but I tend to get shy of my own opinions from time to time.

Who'll be doing Self Help Radio this week if not me?  My buddy Daryl will.  You can look at the sorts of things he plays on the playlist at wrfl dot fm.  He says he'll do a show about "melancholia."  I believe him!

& I know I usually put up my blues show on Mondays but I've been trying to gather things to listen to for the drive.  So I'll do it tomorrow.  I promise.

Self Help Radio 062014: Racing

I may not ever have won any sort of race, nor even seen a horse or automobile race live, but I know a thing or two about racing.  Like everything else I know, it's what I've absorbed from songs.  This show is the sum of my knowledge.

Also!  I interview Nick Ramirez, horseracing's biggest fan, & the Reverend David Fruchter of the Church of NASCAR, & Tania calls & sings a song for me.  & you, too!

You want to listen?  No?  If you change your mind, the show is over at the Self Help Radio website, or through direct links: part I & part II.  Vroom vroom!  The songs I played are below!

Buckle up for safety!

(part one)
"A Day At The Races" The Art Of Noise _In No Sense? Nonsense!_
"The Race" Christopher _Piccadilly Sunshine, Vol. 1: British Pop Psych & Other Flavours 1968-1970_
"It's A Race" The Enemy _Streets In The Sky_

"Hot Rod Race" Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan _Juke Box Boogie_
"Race With The Devil" Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps _Loud, Fast & Out Of Control: The Wild Sounds Of 50s Rock_
"Drag Race" Don Pearly _Drag Race_
"Cat Racing Track" Bob & Ray _1975_
"Hot Rod Lincoln" All _Allroy's Revenge_

"Camptown Races" Abner Jay _The Backbone Of America Is A Mule & Cotton_
"Race-Track Blues" Johnny Moore's Three Blazers _Charles Brown 1946_
"A Race Between A Ford & A Chevrolet" Oscar Ford _Folk Music In America, Vol. 10: Songs Of War & History_
"The Race Is On" George Jones _The Essential George Jones_
"Bicycle Race" Be Your Own Pet _Killer Queen: A Tribute To Queen_

"Arms Race" The Attractions _Mad About The Wrong Boy_
"Space Race" Mi-Sex Mi-Sex _'79 - '85_

(part two)

"Wild Goose Race" Brigadier Jerry _129 Beat Street: Ja-Man Special 1975-1978_
"Rat Race" The Specials _The Singles Colection_
"The Submarine Races" Jan & Dean _Ride The Wild Surf_

"Racing With The Moon" Vaughn Monroe _The Great Ones_
"Super Racearound II" Firesign Theatre _Boom Dot Bust_
"Formula One Racing Girls" Helen Love _Radio Hits 1_
"Speed Racer" Two Nice Girls _Like A Version_

"Boy Racers A Go Go" The Haywains _Get Happy With The Haywains_
"Boyracer" The Brunettes _Boyracer EP_
"The Boy Racer" Morrissey _Southpaw Grammar_
"Raceway" Comateens _Comateens_

"The Race Is Over" Phillip Boa & The Voodoo Club _Diamonds Fall_
"The Race Is On Again" Yo La Tengo _I Am Not Afraid Of You & I Will Beat Your Ass_

Whither Racing?

a racing flag

I used to have a friend, he came out to me in 1987, he was the first (semi-) openly gay person I knew (although not, it turned out, the first gay person I knew, since later a couple of people I knew in high school came out).  He has nothing to do with racing, which is the theme of thing week's Self Help Radio, but as I thought about racing just now, having to write this blog entry, I thought about racing flags, like the one pictured above, & I remembered how this friend once told me & my buddy Joe (who also knew he was gay), he told us this:

"I don't like the word flag.  I don't know why."

My friend Joe started laughing & said, "It's because it sounds like fag!  You don't like being called fag!"

My gay friend said thoughtfully bit his lower lip, "No, that's not it."

But try as he might, he couldn't put his finger on his aversion to that word.

People become friends because they have something in common, & I did have a lot in common with my friend, & one of those things - which, even though I haven't spoken to him in years, I would bet is true - is that we both never attended any sort of race.  Not any track & field-type competition, not a car race, not even a horse race.

What!?  I live in Lexington, Kentucky, & I haven't gone to a horse race?!?  It's true.  Something about the "sport" makes me uncomfortable.  Actually, a lot of things.  I've spoken with people who work in the field & they assure me that (they always say "in their experience") the horses are treated with respect & love, but then there are articles like this one: "The Ugly Truth About Horse Racing," which have a journalistic objectivity that those invested in the horse racing world can't really have.

It makes it hard for me to actually motivate to go see a race - even if I could probably walk to the nearest track from my house.  I became vegetarian because I didn't want animals to have to die for my survival; I'd hate to enjoy the brutal treatment of animals for entertainment.

Nevertheless - without celebrating or going into specifics - Self Help Radio tomorrow morning will be about racing in general.  It's on from 7 to 9am on the 88.1 fm frequency if you're in Lexington, & online at wrfl dot fm.  (& you don't have to race to a radio or computer to hear it if it's on too early - I'll put it up on my website later in the day, promise!

Preface To Racing: No, Not Songs About Race

It's not that hard to find songs about racing but it's also not hard to find songs about race, & I didn't want to do a show about race.

I read a recent tweet somewhere that said (paraphrase) "In ten years marijuana & gay marriage will be legal but people will still hate black folk."

One time I was sitting around the dinner table at my sister's & someone said, "I don't know why they want us to learn about the Civil War.  It was so long ago, what's it got to do with today?"

I got to bust out my historical knowledge & say, "Everything about the Civil War is still around in our culture today!"

Which is my way of saying, yeah, that tweet is probably right.  If we haven't mended centuries of racial oppression in a hundred & fifty years, it'll probably not be fixed in a decade.

I am pessimistic about a whole swath of things, so feel free to ignore me.

But the songs will be about vroom vroom racing & stuff this week, not races & racism & that sort of thing.

Here's another negative tweet I read recently, this one by Brandon Baskin: "You're about 500 years, 7 colonized continents, and countless atrocities too late for the whole 'we're all one race' stuff."

Again, not about race, but racing.  That's my point.  That's all I meant to say.

Something I Like (Maybe You Will Like Too)

I like this person, Sarah Andersen.  Well, I know next-to-nothing about her - but I like her comics, especially what she calls "Sarah's Scribbles."  Maybe I wouldn't really like her if I knew her but there's something about her comics that makes me think I'd like her.  I've been reading comics, comic books, comic strips, etc., for a long time.  I think the people whose work I like best are people I'd like.

I could be wrong.  I met Dave Sim once.  I don't think I liked him all that much.  (He didn't like me very much, either.)

In any event, you can look at Sarah Andersen's comics here: sarahcandersen.com.  I recommend them.  Maybe you will like them as much as I do.

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Five

Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport

I've just put the fifth episode of my blues show, Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, up on the Self Help Radio website.  This episode is a lot of early piano blues.  Boogie woogie starts here.

Here's what I played:

"Barrel House Man" Will Ezell _Will Ezell (1927-1931)_
"Honky Tonk Train Blue" Meade Lux Lewis _The Boogie Woogie Boys_
"Alabama Strut (Ivy Smith, vocals)" Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport _Before The Blues, Vol. 3: The Early American Black Music Scene_

"Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" Clarence "Pine Top" Smith _Jazz In The Charts, Vol. 8: Ain't Misbehavin' 1928-1929_
"Walking Blues" Raymond Barrow _Really The Blues? A Blues History, 1893-1959, Vol. 1_
"Raised In The Alley Blues" Freddie Brown _Rare Paramount Blues (1926-1929)_
"Weary Heart Blues" James Wiggins _Classic Blues Accompanists_
"Broke Down Engine" Lonnie Clark _Down in Black Bottom: Lowdown Barrelhouse Piano_

"44 Blues" Roosevelt Sykes _1929-1941_
"On The Wall" Louise Johnson _Charley Patton: Essential Blues Friends_
"The Right String, But The Wrong Yo-Yo" Speckled Red _Complete Recorded Works 1929-1938_
"Ashes In My Whiskey" Walter Davis _Please Remember Me: 1930-1947_
"If You Haven't Any Hay Get Down The Road" Skip James _Hard Time Killin' Floor_

"Fat Mama Blues" Jabo Williams _Boogie Woogie & Barrelhouse Piano, Vol. 1 (1928-1932)_
"Midnight Hour Blues" Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell _Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 4 (1932-1934)_
"61 Highway" The Sparks Brothers _The Sparks Brothers 1932-1935_

Self Help Radio 061314: Lazy

Whew, doing a lazy radio show sure tuckered me out.  I think after this I'm going to nap.

If you didn't hear today's show - lazypants - you missed tons of great music, an interview with Curt Lack of Lazybones Magazine, a report from Marge Most at the 2014 Laziest Person In Lexington Pageant, & a great conversation with my spiritual mentor the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently about how not to be lazy!

The show is now available at the Self Help Radio website, or, for those too lazy to click more than once, here are the direct links: part I + part II.  A litany of lazy tunes is listed below.

Yawn!

(part one)

"Lazy" Marilyn Monroe _The Voice, Songs & Films Of Marilyn Monroe_
"Lazy" The Nuns _The Nuns_
"Lazy" Moe Tucker _I Spent A Week There The Other Night_

"Lazy" Daniel Johnston _Songs Of Pain_
"Lazy" The Primitives _Lazy 1986 - 1988_
"Lazy" Love & Rockets _Earth Sun Moon_
"Lazy" It's A Musical _The Music Makes Me Sick_

"Lazybones" Louis Armstrong _The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-46)_
"Too Lazy" T-Bone Walker _The Original Source_
"Lazy Boogaloo" George Guzman _Explosivos (Deep-Soul From The Latin Heart)_
"Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer" Tex Williams _Those Lazy Hazy Days_

"Just Lazy" The Footprints _You Got A Ticket To A Mobile_
"I'm So Lazy" Let's Wrestle _Nursing Home_
"We're Selfish & Lazy & Greedy" Go-Kart Mozart _Instant Wigwam & Igloo Mixture_

(part two)

"Lazy Life (Of No Fixed Identity)" Super Furry Animals _Hometown Unicorn_
"Striving For The Lazy Perfection" The Orchids _Striving For The Lazy Perfection_
"Lazy Miss Daisy" The Bartlebees _What Is It All About?_

"Lazy Day" The Boo Radleys _Everything's Alright Forever_
"Lazy Day" Beach Fossils _Beach Fossils_
"Lazy Days" Cali Giraffes _All My Life 7"_
"Lazy May" Essex Green _The Long Goodbye_

"The Devil Ain't Lazy" Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys _San Antonio Rose_
"Lazy Man's Lament" Carroll County Ramblers _More Of The Carroll County Ramblers_
"Lazy Fat People" The Barron Knights _Lazy Fat People_
"Lazy Boys" Nuclear Regulatory Commission _Lazy Boys_

"Lazy Line Painter Jane" Belle & Sebastian _Lazy Line Painter Jane_
"Lazy Heart" Black Tambourine _Black Tambourine_

Whither Lazy?

"'Tis the voice of a sluggard -- I heard him complain:
'You have wak'd me too soon, I must slumber again.'"
(Isaac Watts, 1674 - 1748)

Oh man, I'm the sluggard in that quote!  I nap too much.  I have a list of things - easy things, simple tasks - that I try to get through every day, & I rarely finish that list.

For example, writing in this blog is on that list, & look - it's after 7pm as I write this.  The lazy show will air in roughly twelve hours!  How lame is that?

Anyway - you see - it's the lazy show on Self Help Radio tomorrow from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm in  Lexington & online at wrfl dot fm.  If you're too lazy to wake up - I totally understand - I'll put it on my website around noon.

Unless I get a case of the lazies.

Peter Dinklage With A Mullet

high school is hard

Today is the birthday of awesome actor Peter Dinklage, whose amazing work in Game Of Thrones makes the nerd in me so incredibly happy, even if it appears his character is about to die.  (No spoilers!)

For the record, he's a year younger than I am.  So it's nice to have a slightly embarrassing high school picture to show for his birthday, knowing all the while he's always going to be more amazing than I am.

I never had a mullet in high school.  If he & I had gone to the same school, I'd be either one or two years ahead of him (summer birth children were often put in the class after their birth-months).  He looks like he was part of the decade he was in, the 1980s (latter half).  I looked then, as I look now, like a slovenly boy who'll never grow up who wears whatever someone left around for him to wear.  Like now, I would let my hair grow until it was too much to deal with & then get it cut off.  I have only been to barbers a few times in my life - lately, I get the wife to cut my hair, & in the old days, it was usually a friend.

My shabbiness extends to my facial hair.  Although I cut that myself.

In my high school, if you had a hint of stubble, some male authority figure - usually a vice-principal - would make you go to the nurse's office & shave, with just soap & a razor that had been there for years.  Ha ha, that'll teach us personal grooming!

That's one thing Peter Dinklage & I probably had in common in high school - we shaved every morning!

Happy birthday to him!

The Lute, Maligned

a lute

I don't know what it is about the lute that draws my derision.  If someone these days, for example, wants to sing the praises of Sting (the dude who used to be in the Police), I will usually say something snide about him in reference to his lute music.  "He can't be in the new Constantine television show," I might say, "because he has ten more albums of lute music to record."

So today I was reading about the lute & beginning to feel a little more sympathetic to it.  In particular, I was saddened by the late developments of lute which had as many as thirteen strings, making it difficult to play & hard to keep in tune.  I also felt sad that, as its popularity waned, some folks transformed their lutes into guitars.  Could there be anything more insulting to a musical instrument than someone making it into a different musical instrument?  It's like your partner loving you more after plastic surgery.  The decline of anything makes me feel sympathetic, since I myself was born in decline, & things continue to get worse.

But then, on the Wikipedia's page on the lute, I read this:

The player of a lute is called a lutenist, lutanist, "lewtist" or lutist.

Really?  Fuckin' REALLY?

Every other musical instrument player is happy to add an -ist suffix to their instrument & go to town.  Violinist.  Pianist.  Clarinetist.  Who the hell do lutists - the only name they should use, & certainly not "lewtists" - think they are to add a whole other syllable to their name to make themselves sound more important?  Lutenist?  Are you sure you don't mean Ludenist, one who makes Luden's lozenges?  For fuck's sake.

That clinches it for me.  Sympathy all gone.  Lutes suck.

Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, Episode Four

Ishman Bracey

Here's the fourth episode of my blues show, Woke Up Early One Morning Blues, which airs the hour before Self Help Radio.  This episode focuses on the Delta blues originators.

It's available now on the Self Help Radio website.  The list of artists & songs I played is below.

"Low-Down Mississippi Bottom Man" Freddie Spruell _The Paramount Masters_
"Trouble Hearted Blues" Ishman Bracey _Legends Of Country Blues: The Complete Pre-War Recordings Of Ishman Bracey_
"Blue Harvest Blues" Mississippi John Hurt _Hard Times Come Again No More, Vol. 1_

"Canned Heat Blues" Tommy Johnson _Canned Heat (1928 - 1929)_
"Screamin' & Hollerin' The Blues" Charley Patton _Founder Of The Delta Blues (1929-1935)_
"Mississippi Bottom Blues" Kid Bailey _Pure Vintage Blues: Future Blues_
"Over To My House" Elvie Thomas & Geeshie Wiley _Going Away Blues_
"Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues" Skip James _The Complete Early Recordings Of 1930_

"My Black Mama, Pt. 1 & 2" Son House _Blues Images Presents 1920's Blues Classics, Vol. 2_
"Future Blues" Willie Brown _The Greatest In Country Blues (1929-1956), Vol. 1_
"All Around Man" Bo Carter _Them Dirty Blues_
"Too Long" Charlie McCoy _Charlie McCoy (1928-1932)_

"My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon" King Solomon Hill _Mississippi Blues: Rare Cuts 19_
"Rambling On My Mind" Robert Johnson _The Complete Recordings_

Self Help Radio 060614: Needles

Agh!  I wish I had used a pin cushion!  Lots of pinpricks all over my fingers!  Ow!

Self Help Radio's show about needles (very pointy!) is available now for listening to at the show's website.  I think it's fun - in addition to an interview with Nick Ramirez of Needles, California, & a visit with my spiritual advisor, the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently, I get a phone call from Tania & her imaginary friend!  & they sing a song!!

Want to go directly to the show?  Here's part I & here's part II.  The songs I play are listed below.

Thanks for listening & be careful!

(part one)

"Needles In The Camel's Eye" Brian Eno _Here Come The Warm Jets_
"Silver Threads & Golden Needles" Everly Brothers _The Price Of Fame_
"One Iddy Biddy Needle (& A Little Bit Of Thread)" Freddie Scott _Mr Heartache: The Best Of Columbia Recordings_

"Needle Of Death" Bert Jansch _Bert Jansch_
"The Needle & The Damage Done" Henry Kaiser _The Bridge: A Tribute To Neil Young_
"Dirty Needles" Screeching Weasel _Short Music For Short People_
"Busy Needles" Bearsuit _Team Ping Pong_
"The Perfect Needle" Telescopes _Scared To Get Happy: The Story Of Indie Pop 1980-1989_

"Aunty Nanny Thread The Needle" Children Of Nevis & St. Kitts _Caribbean Voyage: Nevis & St. Kitts Tea Meetings_
"Needle Sing" Woody Guthrie _Songs To Grow On For Mother & Child_
"If I Had A Needle & Thread" Shirley Bassey _Burn My Candle: The Complete Early Years 1956-58_
"Hey, Bobba Needle" Chubby Checker _20 Twistin' Hits_
"Needle In A Haystack" The Velvelettes _Hitsville USA_

"Needles & Pins" Flat Duo Jets _Bonograph_
"Needle Time" Elvis Costello & The Imposters _The Delivery Man_

(part two)

"Thread The Needle" Al White & The Hi-Liters _Jerk! Shake! & Vibrate!_
"Needle In The Hay" Elliot Smith _The Royal Tenenbaums OST_

"Pins & Needles (In My Heart)" Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys _The Honky Tonk Years 1950-1966_
"Pins & Needles" The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir _The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir_
"Pins & Needles" Who's Gerald? _Young Blood_
"Needle & Thread" Richard Thompson _Sweet Warrior_

"Thread The Needle" Clarence & Calvin _The Fame Studios Story 1961-1973_
"Thread Your Needle" Dave Edmunds _Tracks On Wax 4_
"Needle Mythology" Duffy _Duffy_

"Needle's Eye" Heidi Berry _Pomegranate: An Anthology_
"Needle's Eye" Jean Ritchie _Field Trip_
"Thin As A Needle" Starflyer 59 _Ghosts Of The Past_

Whither Needles?

I don't know why I've decided to do a radio show about needles.  These things happen.  I am not & never have been an IV drug user.  In fact, when I am at a doctor's office, & I have to have my blood drawn, I tell the phlebotomist to let me lie down, look the other way, & not talk about what he or she is doing; otherwise I may faint.  My addiction to heroin would be doomed from the start.

As well, I don't sew.  Occasionally, I think about taking it up.  Recently, wanting to mend a hole in a pair of shorts, I looked up "how to sew" on the webs.  It turns out it's a little more complicated than threading a needle & looking at an online chart.  I pretty much decided at that point that I'd probably never really learn how to sew.

The only thing that comes close is a turntable needle - & I confess I don't use the old turntable as much as I used to.  I've probably mentioned this before: I miss vinyl.  I miss the size of records, the feel, the album art, the giant lyric sheets.  Aesthetically, they're the best.  The shitty CD booklet & the sterile little compact disc will never compare favorably.

It's just - it's complicated to play vinyl.  Digital music is so much more convenient.  I've digitized a lot of my vinyl - a time-intensive process that's not too much fun - & it's made it easier for me to "carry" it up to do radio shows.  (It's also tarnished me in the eyes of vinyl lovers - when I deejayed an outdoor thing at RFL a couple of years ago, one of the directors there said, "Deejaying from a laptop - yuck."  But the station doesn't own a deejay kit with CDs - it's either vinyl, or a laptop or iPod.)

The show will celebrate needles, but I'm not someone who thinks about needles in a celebratory way.  But hey!  When I think about doing a show about needles, I immediately think about the sample from "Pump Up The Volume" that goes, Put the needle on the record.  So maybe vinyl was the inspiration after all.

It's happening tomorrow morning from 7 to 9am on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington, & online at wrfl dot fm.  I hope I haven't been needling you too much with all this needle talk - but - it's appropriate.

Preface To Needles: Bad Weather

As I write this, there's a thunderstorm bearing down on us & a tornado warning & god knows what else(*).  Here's what the radar looks like:

I have to feed the animals in a second & I don't think a couple of the cats are going to even come out of hiding.  Of course, the gluttons in the house (the male cats) would eat if we were on a boat in stormy seas.

It's funny, the sky was ominous & goofy all day today but there were no storms - they went above us & below us.  Well, they're here now!

I have been listening to needle songs all day.  I have been arranging for a couple of interviews for the show on Friday.  I have not once did anything with any needles, not even a phonograph needle.  It was all digital.

I confess I'd like to do driving around in this bad weather - but the wife & hungry animals won't let me!

(*) According to the Weather Underground website, relaying info from National Weather Service, this is what else:

"Strong thunderstorms with dangerous lightning...torrential rain... and 40 mph winds...

Continuous cloud to ground lightning...torrential rain reducing visibilities...and gusty winds of around 35 to 40 mph...are expected with these storms.

Torrential rainfall is occurring. Expect ponding of water on local roadways. Drivers should slow down and turn on their headlights if encountering heavy rains."

All Kinds Of Needles

There are lots of kinds of needles.  The show this week is about needles.  I only thought of basically three kinds of needles: needles for sewing, needles for syringes, & of course phonograph needles.  I had no idea there were so many different kinds of needles for sewing.  The same can be said for the kind of needles that one uses with syringes.  Is the same thing true for phonograph needles?  Luckily someone has answered this questions for me.

The wife thinks I am squeamish & possibly thinks I have a fear of needles.  The fear of needles, according to the Wikipedia, is known variously as aichmophobia, belonephobia, or enetophobia.  If you read the Wikipedia article, you will learn that most of the ways they treat needle-fear is to find a different way to administer whatever medicine one needs other than through needle.  It makes me, a consummate Star Trek geek, think immediately of the hypospray.  In that article I just linked to, it links to this report: MIT Builds A Needle-Free Drug Injector.  For the sake of people who hate needles, I hope this assertion is true: "The future of medicine could be needle-free."

Unfortunately, Self Help Radio this week is not needle-free.  But the needles you will encounter will not break the skin.  In fact, all the needles will be conceptual, & ingredients of songs & talk.  There is nothing to fear, except maybe not liking the show.

Please enjoy this small collage of the three different kinds of needle discussed above: