The Gary Files # 7: Gary Numan

(I found this picture here.)

An explanation: Since the name Gary is going extinct, I thought it incumbent upon me to celebrate more notable Garys than myself.  This is the seventh of a series!

Gary Numan is, according to the Wikipedia, "an English singer, songwriter, musician, & record producer."  You probably know him, if you know of him at all, from his hit single "Cars."

When did you first become aware of him?  I heard & enjoyed the song "Cars" on the radio.

You like it?  Sure, it was catchy.  It was the beginning of new wave music, & it coincided with my discovery of other bands that would, briefly, appear on commercial radio, thanks to their popularity.  I would say they appeared in spite of the corporate radio structure.

Did you know anyone who hated him?  Oh yeah.  My friend Russell thought he was a Bowie rip-off.  He spoke of him with great disdain.  At the time, I hadn't heard anything else but "Cars," & wasn't really in a position (had no money, had no know-how) to explore any artist.  I didn't know about independent record stores, etc.  What I liked & knew about was confined to what I heard about on the radio, what I had been given to me by friends on cassette, & my older brothers' meager classic rock collection.  If they had a Gary Numan disc, I wasn't interested enough to listen to it then.

But did you start liking him later?  I like him fine, mainly the Tubeway Army stuff, & the album Replicas.  I confess that while I have a few of his 80s & 90s releases, I haven't listened to them much.  But boy do I know people who really love him.  Whew.

Did you know he married a member of his fan club?  Really?  When?

1997.  Ah.  He must be one of those musicians who really benefit from having an online presence.  But I suppose he's also much more popular in Britain than he has ever been here, since I know his 80s albums did well there.  Maybe I should have listened to more of his stuff before I started answering questions about him.

Is his name really Gary?  Yes, but his last name really isn't Numan.  His full name is Gary Anthony James Webb.  Sounds rather British.

I think Gary Numan is a pretty good punk rock name, even if he really isn't punk rock.  When a dude renames himself, he may feel like a new man.

Do you know why he was named Gary?  I have no idea.  He was born in 1958 so it might not be because of the actor.  Perhaps it was the name of a friend of his parents in London.  It's not something that's easy to find online.

Are 'friends' electric?  You know I hate to ask.

Hallowe'en Spooktacular!!

It turns out that I've been hoarding old Halloween shows on my site, & perhaps you opt out of the old Halloween fun & games, so why not listen to old radio shows of questionable quality?  In alphabetical order below are five old & one new Self Help Radio Halloween shows plus one RFL sub show that revised & expanded on an old Halloween show.  Enjoy, if you can!

Halloween 2015: Clowns!

Halloween 2014: Mummies!

Halloween 2013: Hell!

Halloween 2012: Nightmares!

Halloween 2011: Graveyards!

Halloween 2010: Haunted Houses!

Halloween 2010 Bonus: Zombies!

Self Help Radio 102715: Halloween 2015 - Clowns!

(I found the original image on the Clownopedia.)

There were two interesting phone calls I got yesterday (I should say especially interesting - all of the calls I get are interesting!) regarding this show I did about clowns:

The first caller told me something I didn't know, which is that clown colleges are apparently closing all across the country.  It surprised me that there was more than one clown college, as I had known about only one, which closed in the last century.  But, as I hate & fear clowns, as all sane people should, I said "Good!"  The caller did not share that sentiment, but did imply that my show was part of the general zeitgeist that's resulted in people not wanting to be clowns anymore.  I also think he hung up on me!

The second caller asked me, "Are you really afraid of clowns?"  I was taken aback!  What sort of person would do an entire radio show about clowns, revealing his anxiety & phobia on the public airwaves, talking with his psychologist, his spiritual advisor, & a former clown about his apprehensions?  It's almost like that person imagined that I would pretend to be someone else for the sake of the show's theme, that I would air fake interviews with funny people pretending to be experts!  I have no idea how anyone would get such an idea.

In any event, if it's a Halloween show you want, it's a Halloween show you'll get.  You may listen to it, if you dare, anytime at the Self Help Radio website.  It's so frightening I had to password protect it, so you'll have to find that information on the page.  It's in two parts, & what songs are in those two parts are listed below.

You've been warned!

(part one)

"Be A Clown" Judy Garland & Gene Kelly _De-Lovely Cole Porter_
"Bravo Pour Le Clown" Edith Piaf _The Essential Collection_
"The Clown" Roy Orbison _Orbison 1955-1965_

"No One Really Loves A Clown" Johnny Crawford _The Complete Del-Fi_
"Everybody Loves The Clown" Nirvana _All Of Us_
"Everybody's Clown" Johnny Dynamite _Southern Soul Showcase_
"Space Clown" Jobraith _Jobraith_
"Space Klown" Sissybar _Songs For Peeps_

"Killer Klowns" The Dickies _Killer Klowns From Outer Space_
"Clowny Clown Clown" Crispin Hellion Glover _The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be._
"Clown" Ric Menck _The Ballad Of Ric Menck_
"The Clown" Chuck Wilder _Eccentric Soul: The Tragar & Note Labels_

"The Clowns Are In Town" The Go-Betweens _G Stands For Go-Betweens: The Go-Betweens Anthology Volume 1_
"Clown Strike" Elvis Costello _Brutal Youth_

(part two)

"Clown Town" Steve Clayton _Clown Town_
"Jumper Clown" The Wedding Present _It's A Gas_
"Chromium Clown" Gary Wilson _Alone With Gary Wilson_

"Don't Send In The Clowns" Zorak _Space Ghost's Musical Bar-B-Que_
"Tears Of A Clown" The Beat _What Is Beat?_
"Don't Kill The Clowns" Soda Fountain Rag _Sometimes I Wonder If You Have A Heart_
"Death Of A Clown" The Kinks _Something Else By The Kinks_

"Eiderdown Clown" The Scots Of St. James _Circus Days: UK Pop-Sike Obscurities, 1966-1970_
"Pantomime Clown" Damien Youth _Strangest Hits, Vol. 1_
"Cabaret Clown" Marc Almond _Varieté_
"Clown Town" Laughing Clowns _Throne Of Blood, Reign Of Terror_

"The Clown Prince" The Triffids _The Black Swan_
"The Way Of A Clown" Teddy Randazzo _The Way Of A Clown_

Whither Clowns?

(I found that image here.)

Halloween shows!  They're the bane of my existence!  That might be appropriate!  But I notice a lot of deejays are happy to break out "The Monster Mash" once a year, & probably a lot of audiences are happy with that.  But not me!  I want to make sure each Halloween show is different than the last, because, of course, there are many different elements of Halloween that can be explored.  So, Self Help Radio has done shows about ghosts, vampires, monsters, zombies, werewolves, haunted houses, graveyards, nightmares, hell, & mummies. Such a long list! Where does the restless programmer go from here?

As an avid fan of Halloween, you must agree that there are surely some things out there that are scarier than all of these. For years, as I did these shows, I knew - I knew - in the back of my mind I was forgetting the worst of all. The terror that, unlike many of these others, was very real, was almost common, that had, unlike mummies or zombies, convinced the rest of the world that they were harmless, objects of delight for children, beings that could easily exist in a theatre or a three-ring circus without being frightening of all. These were - it hurts to say this - the clowns.

You've heard that line, the best trick the devil pulled was convincing everyone he/it doesn't exist. I disagree. I disagree vehemently. The worst trick pulled on the human race was clowns convincing the world they were objects of fun, & not fearsome creatures making nightmares into reality.

Self Help Radio will expose these horrors on the show this afternoon! It's on from 4 to 6 pm in the airwaves on 88.1 fm (in Lexington) &; in the computer waves at wrfl dot fm.  Tune in!  It may save you from a clown!

Preface To Halloween 2015: Clowns! - Scared Of Clowns

There are a few good articles online about coulrophobia, or fear of clowns.  (That word is a recent coinage - have clowns been getting more scary in the last few years?)  I will link them below for your reading convenience (I will be sharing them on social media all day today too):

This Telegraph article shares "their terrifying history."

This Psychology Today article talks about why we get afraid in the first place.

The Vulture has an interview with a Harvard psychiatrist about why I'm so scared of clowns.

One more:

The Smithsonian Magazine has a history of people being frightened by clowns throughout history.

Self Help Radio tomorrow will shock & startle with two hours of (gulp) clown songs!

Marilyn & Her Hi-Fi

Almost certain she'd be listening to Self Help Radio if she were around these days.

The Gary Files # 6: Gary Gygax

(Image from his Wikipedia page.)

An explanation: Since the name Gary is going extinct, I thought it incumbent upon me to celebrate more notable Garys than myself.  This is the sixth of a series!

Gary Gygax was, according to the Wikipedia, "an American game designer & author best known for co-creating with Dave Arneson the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Gygax has been described as the father of D&D."

When did you first become aware of him?  In ninth grade, when I was introduced to D&D.  His name was on all the books: Advanced D&D (which I always called The Dungeon Master's Guide), the Monster Manual, & the Player's Handbook, all of which I acquired in time.

Were you a super-nerdy D&D player?  I wanted to be.  But the group I was with wasn't very adventurous (no pun intended).  I remember in my first game asking the Dungeon Master, after he said I did five points of damage to some creature, "What did I do?  Did I take off a limb?  Was there lots of blood?  Will he be able to have children?"  The DM looked at me blankly & said, "You did five points of damage.  Now roll again."

Did you do things to exacerbate the situation?  That's overstating it.  But once I realized that they were not going to be inventive & fun, I went ahead & had my own fun.  I had a paladin I named Perry.  I did this because they were naming their characters Frodo & Bilbo & the like.  When I got a ranger, I named him Iridium, which everyone liked, until I told them it was the name of a metal element.  Then they frowned again.

So you didn't play for a very long time?  All told, probably less than a year.  My friend Scott, who had introduced me to the game, moved away, & then there were only three of us.  Scott kind of was our common friend, we didn't really hang out as a trio after that.  It's very possible that they found other people to play & didn't invite me.  Scott & I would still talk about our characters, but I'm sure he found other people to play with, too.  I never did.

Wait.  I think there might have been an opportunity to play again later in high school, & I might even have joined a group, but my heart wasn't in it.  I was more into listening to music & dealing with my depression at that point.

Was it cool that the guy who invented D&D was named Gary?  I didn't think about it at the time, but then, I never noticed in those early days that I was usually the only Gary in my class.  But I do think the name was unfamiliar enough that for many years, some people would remember my name as Greg.

Is his name really Gary?  It's his middle name.  His full name is Ernest Gary Gygax.  I'm sure he dropped the Ernest for the alliteration.  "Gary Gygax" sounds like the alias for a Stan Lee/Jack Kirby super-villain.

So, the name, it's probably because of Gary Cooper again?  He was born in 1938, so, probably.

What the hell sort of name is Gygax?  Wikipedia said his dad was Swiss.  But.  Your guess is as good (& maybe as equally uninformed) as mine.

Self Help Radio 102015: Belonging

(Original image here.)

Do we belong?  This is probably not a question that philosophers & deep thinkers have been asking & answering for many, many years.  It hadn't occurred to me, actually, until I started thinking about doing the show.  But once I did think about it, it became one of the many questions I ask out loud in public places that earn me dirty looks & threats from neighborhood toughs.

Self Help Radio this week attempted to resolve whatever issues about belonging there might be, but not with tired tactics like conversation or reasoning.  Instead, lots of songs said things like "you belong to me" or "you don't belong to me" or "I belong to you" or "I belong to nobody."  You get the drift.  Maybe some questions were answered, however, questions like, "Do heiresses belong on a university campus with their talking dogs?"  & "Is there a sense of belonging in Hollywood"?  & of course "Is the sort of guy who writes a book called You Don't Belong going to be a total jerk?"

You may find out what & who belongs yourself - it might be you, after all - by listening to this week's Self Help Radio episode.  You can find it on the Self Help Radio website.  Please pay attention to the password info there.  The show is in two roughly hour-long parts.  What is played in each hour is listed below.

Once you've downloaded it, the show belongs to you.  No take-backs!

(part one)

"Make Me Belong To You" Barbara Lewis _Hello Stranger: The Best Of Barbara Lewis_
"You Belong To My Heart" Julie London _Sings Latin In A Satin Mood_
"You Belong To Me" Cherry Vanilla _Venus D'Vinyl_

"Tonight You Belong To Me" Cubsimo Grafico _Tout!_
"This Is Where I Belong" The Kinks _Face To Face_
"Your Love Belongs Under A Rock" The Dirtbombs _Ultraglide In Black_
"A Sense Of Belonging" Television Personalities _The Painted Word_

"She Belongs To Me" Bob Dylan _Bringing It All Back Home_
"You Belong To Me" Elvis Costello _This Year's Model_
"Do I Belong?" The Hidden Cameras _Origin: Orphan_
"Right Here Is Where You Belong" Jerry Washington _Cheatin' Soul & The Southern Dream Of Freedom_

"Your Heart Belongs To Me" The Velvelettes _Does Anybody Know I'm Here?: Vietnam Through The Eyes Of Black America 1962-1972_
"She Belonged To Another" The Statesiders _Mindrocker: Anthology Of 60s US-Punk Garage Psych, Vol. 12_
"You Belong To Me" The Chesterfield Kings _Stop!_

(part two)

"We Belong" The June Brides _For Better Or Worse_
"It's The Love" The Breeders _Mountain Battles_
"You Belong With Us" My Favorite _Love At Absolute Zero_

"My Heart Belongs To Daddy" Mary Martin _American Musical Theater: Shows, Songs, & Stars, Vol. 2_
"Where Does Your Heart Belong?" The School _Reading Too Much Into Things Like Everything_
"I Belong To Nobody" Flaming Hands _Tales From The Australian Underground: Singles 1976-1989_
"Belong" The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart _Belong_

"She Doesn't Belong To Me" Pete & The Pirates _Little Death_
"You Belong With Me" X-Teens _Love & Politics_
"Bengali In Platforms" Morrissey _Viva Hate_
"Your Mind & We Belong Together" Love _Forever Changes_

"Need To Belong To Someone" Isaac Hayes _Black Moses_

Whither Belonging?

(I found this image here.)

Ah, a radio program about belonging!  This could indeed be ironic, because certainly for most radio deejays, doing a radio show is a solitary experience.  (I can't speak to commercial radio deejays, however - but they usually don't program their own shows themselves, so it's not something I can relate to.)  But those of us who love radio were drawn to it because of its ability to create a temporary community through love of music.  Sharing what one loves is surely a way to facilitate a sense of belonging.

It turns out, though, I'm kind of a loner.  I have many theories why that is, & it must have something to do with how I was raised, because most if not all of my siblings are (or appear to be) friendless.  Certainly my mother seems content to be by herself most of the time, or to have maybe one or two people whom she sees socially every once in a while.  I'm at my most gregarious when I am part of something I feel strongly about - especially non-commercial radio.  Outside of that, I'm usually reading, or listening to music, or watching a movie, or looking around the internet - stuff that doesn't require a community at all.  Perhaps I don't belong anywhere?

Today of course there are lots of songs about belonging (& not belonging) on Self Help Radio, so I hope you find your way over to 88.1 fm in Lexington (or wrfl dot fm everywhere else) around 4pm till around 6pm for this week's show.  If not, of course, I'll archive it on the SHR website, but you'll feel more like you belong if you listen live.

Just sayin'.

Preface To Belonging: That Groucho Marx Joke

It is going to take all my power to refrain, on tomorrow's show about "belonging," from mentioning one of my favorite quips of all time, by one of my favorite people of all time, Groucho Marx.  He wrote, in his book Groucho & Me: 

I sent the club [the Friar's Club of Beverly Hills] a wire, stating: "PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION.  I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER."

To this day I find that so damn funny.  But I won't mention it tomorrow.  I promise.

But it does bring to mind something very real that I often found happening back in the days when I was youngish, carefree, & dating.  I would find myself with a lovely young lady with whom I might or might not have much in common.  There was an initial attraction, so we were going out, but something was off.  I guessed I didn't like her as much as I thought, or perhaps the fact that we had very little in common was more glaringly obvious by the day, but I knew the relationship was doomed.  In most cases, the relationship would end, of course, before that time - a bright young woman would naturally see me for the mediocre human being I am.  But if it were to go on - almost as if by intertia - I'd withdraw, possibly become more passive-aggressive, in order to sabotage the thing.

It doesn't matter what or how, but the relationship, whether two dates or two months long, would end.  & then suddenly - it never failed - suddenly, magically, I would fall heels over head in love with the woman.  I would be obsessive.  I would be heartbroken.  & I thought it might be sour grapes, at first, but I think the opposite would be more true: people usually nurse hate with a broken heart.

No, for me, it was the very Marxist revelation: I admired them for having the good sense, the exquisite taste, to reject me.  Dating me was a mark against them.  Dumping me was such a tremendously wise decision that it caused me to swoon.

In other words: I found it very hard to date a girl who would have someone like me as her boyfriend.

This of course happened in the absence of real love.  When real love happened, I was never bored, or focused on how little in common we had, or anything like that.  & there was no sudden insight of love when the relationship ended - I stayed in love because I was always in love.

Anyway - I won't talk about that, or the Groucho Marx quote tomorrow.  I swear.

Photo Of What I Am Convinced Is The Average Self Help Radio Listener

The Gary Files # 5: Gary Larson

(I found this picture here.)

An explanation: Since the name Gary is going extinct, I thought it incumbent upon me to celebrate more notable Garys than myself.  This is the fifth of a series!

Gary Larson is, according to the Wikipedia, "an American cartoonist, the creator of The Far Side, a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to over 1,900 newspapers for fifteen years, until 1995."

When did you first become aware of him?  A few years after the cartoon's debut in 1980.  I think one of the two Dallas papers (that existed at the time) carried it.  If it were the Dallas Times Herald, which was the more liberal of the two (& which went out of business in 1991), that would make sense - that was the paper that was most often in the house.

Did you like it?  I loved it.  Oh my god, it was so funny.

Do you have a story about reading The Far Side at school & getting into trouble?  I do!  In my senior year, I had a physics class which was taught by a coach who was waaaaay over his head.  A lot of the time, we just sort of sat there while he encouraged us to read.  None of the experiments we were supposed to do worked as they should have - not even the teacher's.  The class was my last period of the day, & one Friday, the teacher was clearly not wanting to teach, & my friend Mike Jones brought a Far Side book, & we read it together at our desks (which were, as in science classes, giant tables) & we laughed & laughed.  Every cartoon seemed funnier than the last.  I was laughing so much I was crying.  The teacher got more & more angry until he threatened to send both Mike & me to the office if we didn't shut the hell up.

Did your appreciation of the comic change over time?  I haven't read it in years, but I remember a girlfriend of mine had a collection that I read in the crapper at some point, & I was surprised how quaint it seemed.  Though I did think it had funny moments.

Why do you think you felt that way?  Maybe so much of what was innovative about the comic had become so much a part of the culture that it now seemed old hat.  Or maybe my sense of humor had changed since high school.

It was probably the first one.  I still laugh at the same dumb things.

Is his name really Gary?  Wikipedia says so.

Do you know why he was named Gary?  He was born in 1950.  It's all Gary Cooper's fault.

Did you know there's a beetle named after him?  Lucky bastard.

Self Help Radio 101315: Rollercoasters Revisited - A 13th Anniversary Show!

(Original image here.)

It was a fun show yesterday, with nice calls & lots of well-wishing, & hardly anyone telling me they're surprised the show has lasted this long.  Almost no calls were about how awesome roller coasters are, which made me sad.  I wanted us to bond over that subject!

There's really nothing I can add to this, except I need to find out when amusement parks are mostly empty, because I'd love to ride every roller coaster there in one day.  Am I getting too old for that?  When I told people this summer I loved roller coasters, they thought I was joking.  We'll see who has the last laugh!

The show this week is chock full of guests, so if you're into that, you're in luck!  It's now available for your listening pleasure at the website my shows live on.  Did I mention username/password?  Did I say SHR/selfhelp?  I can't recall.  The show is in two parts, what songs I played in each part are listed below.

Hey!  No line jumping!

(part one)

"Roller Coaster" Chuck Higgins _So Long_
"Roller Coaster" Little Walter _The Complete Chess Recordings_
"Love Roller Coaster" Big Joe Turner _Big, Bad & Blue: The Big Joe Turner Anthology_

"Rollercoaster" Dear Nora _We'll Have A Time_
"Roller Coaster By The Sea" Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers _Rock 'n' Roll With The Modern Lovers_
"Rollercoaster" Everything But The Girl _Amplified Heart_
"Rollercoaster" Michael Shelley _Half Empty_

"Roller Coaster Blues" Diana Dors _Sex Kittens In Hi-Fi: The Blondes_
"Roller Coaster" The Partridge Family _Bulletin Board_
"Rollercoaster" Sportique _The Matinée Summer Splash_
"Emotional Rollercoaster" Romanovsky & Phillips _Emotional Roller Coaster_

"The Rollercoaster Ride" Belle & Sebastian _The Boy With The Arab Strap_

(part two)

"Rock & Roller Coaster" Tony Crombie & His Rockets _Great British Rock & Roll, Vol. 2_
"Roller Coaster" Bobby Caver & Group _Never Leave Me_
"Roller Coaster Ride" American Death Ray _Smash Radio Hits_

"Roller Coaster" The Ides Of March _Ideology 1965-1968_
"Rollercoaster" M Ward _Post-War_
"Fear Of Rollercoasters" The Lucksmiths _Why That Doesn't Surprise Me_
"The Rollercoaster Song" The Lilac Time _Paradise Circus_

"Rollercoaster" Spirea X _Fireblade Skies_
"Rollercoaster" Northern Uproar _Northern Uproar_
"Rollercoaster Ride" The Whitest Boy Alive _Rules_
"Rollercoasting" Helen Love _Radio Hits 2_

"Rollercoaster" Sleater-Kinney _The Woods_
"My Rollercoaster" Kimya Dawson _Juno OST_

Whither Roller Coasters Revisited?

(I found this image here.)

It was probably late summer/early autumn 2000 - around fifteen years ago - that I put in an application for a show at KOOP radio in Austin, Texas.  I had no idea what I was getting into.  The station had been rocked by in-fighting for a couple of years - you can see on this webpage what the losing side in the battle thought - but I was blissfully unaware of what I was getting into.

Without going into specifics - there were some crazy things that happened at that station during my eight years there - I began to volunteer but found out they had no real path for newcomers to get a show.  Programmers basically got to keep their shows as long as they wanted them, unless they did something really stupid, like steal or, worse, cross the people in charge.  I knew a lot of people there - many of them former KVRXers like myself - so I helped train, I got involved, & I waited.  I waited & waited & waited.

Something happened - a few hours opened up - I don't recall how or why - in September 2002 - & I campaigned for a show.  The name "Self Help Radio" is something I came up with at the very last minute - I remember then-Station Manager Angela Keaton laughing happily when I told what I was going to call my show.  I had toyed with many others - my friend Joe suggested I called the show "Be My Radio Friend," & I even worked out a Mr. Rogers-type theme song for it.  But "Self Help Radio" - a reference, ultimately, to my own desperate need for all kinds of self-help - took, & despite some people thinking it's an actual self-help radio show - like dozens of my "followers" on Twitter - I am happy I called it that.

The themes were there from the beginning as well, but if I had a copy of that first show for you to listen to, you'd be surprised how unfocused it was.  I didn't actually come up with the idea of talking about the themes, along with playing songs about them, until perhaps the end of the year.  It was so obvious that of course I missed it.  The show has always been, & will continue to be, a shambling work-in-progress.

The first show aired on October 9, 2002.  Now it's thirteen years later.  I don't even want to count the number of shows I've done, or the number of themes I've covered.  Doubtless it's over six hundred shows, maybe the same number of themes (though I revisit them from time-to-time - like today!).  & yet I feel like I have a few more shows in me.  Silly old me.

You can listen today from 4-6 pm on 88.1 fm in Lexington - that's WRFL, you know - & you can listen online at wrfl dot fm if you're out of town &/or don't own a radio.  I'll be speaking with lots of guests, including the show's head writer & a fellow who sued me over the idea of the show, & of course there'll be lots of songs about roller coasters - & hopefully not some of the same as I played the first time around.

Oh yeah - you can win a tee shirt too!  If you listen!

Preface To The 13th Anniversary Show: Reflections On Thirteen Years

Oh no, I'm not going to spend time writing about the last thirteen years of this show right now!  I'm self-involved, but I'm not that self-involved.

Instead, let me show you this:

It's the 13th anniversary design by Suloni Robertson, who also designed the original logo.  I'm going to have some shirts made in honor of the anniversary, & you will have a chance to win one on tomorrow's show!

It's lovely, isn't it?  She's my favorite artist.

So: no reflections on thirteen years.  I was actually going to see if I could dig up the old cassette of my original roller coaster show from 2004 & try to digitize it - but I wasn't feeling masochistic enough.

Secure Your Things, People

This is a picture I took at King's Island this summer.  (I talked about that trip here.)  As someone who likes to take dumb pictures (& whose pictures have taken over the show's Tumblr blog), I really really wanted to take out my crappy little digital camera & attempt to take photos on the ride.  But that collection made me hope everything I had would stay in my pockets!

Turns out I didn't have a lot to worry about - I fit snugly into the seats & my things were in my pockets.  Not that I didn't check after every damn ride.

Why am I thinking about this?  Because I am listening to songs about roller coasters for this week's show, of course.  I went to Columbus a week or two ago, & I drove home on a chilly Thursday morning in the rain, & passed King's Island, which (I believe) is closed for the season.  It looked quite desolate & alone.

Thinking about it, though: I wonder what that grand amusement park looks like covered in snow?

The Gary Files # 4: Gary Peacock

(I found this picture here.)

An explanation: Since the name Gary is going extinct, I thought it incumbent upon me to celebrate more notable Garys than myself.  This is the fourth of a series!

Gary Peacock is, according to the Wikipedia, "an American jazz double-bassist."  He started performing in the 1960s, notably playing with Bill Evans, Albert Ayler, & even Miles Davis.  He is still with us, at the age of eighty, & I hope still performing.  (Update: he is!)

When did you first become aware of him?  Probably on the mid-1960s Albert Ayler records, especially Ghosts.

Are you a fan of jazz bassists?  Honestly, I know very little about the bass guitar, in jazz or otherwise.  I try very hard when I listen to Peacock's sessions to pay attention to his artistry, but he strikes me as in the same vein as the late, great Charlie Haden.  I like how versatile he is.

Did you know he studied Zen Buddhism in the late 60s?  I didn't, but I have read about it.  I imagine it helps musicians a lot to practice mindfulness, which is something you can learn in meditation, which you can learn as you study Buddhism.

Ever seen him live?  I haven't.  I would have liked seeing him playing with Ayler, as well as the stuff he did with Keith Jarrett in the early 80s.  I really need to spend more time with Peacock's work as a leader.

Is his name really Gary?  As far as I can tell, it is, & he apparently has no middle name.

Do you know why he was named Gary?  It's gotta be Gary Cooper, again.  Peacock was born in 1935!

Anything else you want to say?  No, but if you'd like to see him play, here's a snippet:

Self Help Radio 100615: Everybody Knows

(Original image here.)

Well, lookee here.  I done did an entire radio show with every song titled "Everybody Knows."  Oh, there were a couple of songs with parentheticals next to them - a "(Part One)," a "(The River Song)," & an "(Except You)."  But I've always been told that you're not supposed to say that part.  Therefore, boom!  An entire two-hour show with every song with the same title.  It may not be impressive, but it is something that I like to do, therefore my self has been helped by this radio show.

But wait!  There's more!  I myself visit a town in Ohio where everybody knows everything!  I talk to a scientist who's written a book called Everybody Nose in which he postulates that everything we know comes from our sense of smell!  & I interview a cagey CIA analyst who's written a book called Stuff Everybody Knows!

All this & - if I haven't mentioned this before - every song I play is called "Everybody Knows"!  Seriously, I can't understand why my cats don't find this as amazing as I do.

The show is available now at the Self Help Radio website.  You say username/password?  I say SHR/selfhelp .  On the website you will see the show is in two parts - I will list the songs I played in each below but I don't really have to because... oh you know.

Thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Everybody Knows" Louis Prima with Sam Butera & The Witnesses _The Wildest Comes Home_
"Everybody Knows (Part 1)" Little Johnny Taylor _Everybody Knows_
"Everybody Knows" Sean Buckley & The Beatcrumbs _Beat It! Killer Tracks From The Roarin' 60's_

"Everybody Knows" The Dave Clark Five _Everybody Knows_
"Everybody Knows" Lost _The Arf! Arf! El Cheapo 2-CD Sampler_
"Everybody Knows" Brenda Holloway _The Motown Anthology_
"Everybody Knows (The River Song)" O.V. Wright _Down & Out: The Sad Soul Of The Black South_

"Everybody Knows" Incredible Kidda Band _Too Much, Too Little, Too Late_
"Everybody Knows" Half Japanese _Fire In The Sky_
"Everybody Knows" The Decemberists _Otis' Opuses_
"Everybody Knows" Three Finger Cowboy _Kissed_
"Everybody Knows" The Corner Laughers _Tomb Of Leopards_

"Everybody Knows" Leonard Cohen _I'm Your Man_
"Everybody Knows (Except You)" The Divine Comedy _A Short Album About Love_

(part two)

"Everybody Knows" James _Laid_
"Everybody Knows" Ride _Firing Blanks (Unreleased Ride Recordings 1988-1995)_
"Everybody Knows" The Cherry Orchard _The World Is Such A Groovy Place_

"Everybody Knows" Lunchbox _Lunchbox Loves You_
"Everybody Knows" Sex Ghost _Sex Ghost EP_
"Everybody Knows" The Free Association _David Holmes Presents The Free Association_

"Everybody Knows" East Village _Drop Out_
"Everybody Knows" Slow Loris _Routine Glow_
"Everybody Knows" Ballard _Bucky_
"Everybody Knows" Candybomber _Everybody Knows_

"Everybody Knows" Men Without Hats _Love In The Age Of War_
"Everybody Knows" Sheer Agony _The Unruly Sisters_

Whither Everybody Knows?

(I found this image here.)

A few years ago, I sent my show's playlists to a mailing list based on a band I liked, because the members wanted to know what I played. (It occurs to me I don't belong to lists like those anymore.  I wonder why.)  I'm not going to remember the theme of the show when I sent one particular list out, but the response I got was something like, "Gary's kinda going off the deep end."

(It might have been the show with the theme Here I/You/He/She/It/We/They Come.  But I can't recall.)

The point of mentioning this is that, at some point, I kinda got tired of themes that were mostly nouns.  Themes that were things.  My dumb process of making this show involves me suddenly noticing something about the music I'm listening to, & thinking, "That would be a good theme!"  Sometimes they're verbs.  Sometimes they're phrases.  Phrases recur in songs, you know.

In the case of this show, I was listening to Leonard Cohen (like I said yesterday) & wondered whether there were enough songs that were called or said "everybody knows."  That was the genesis of this show.

But it gets better!  I am kind of obsessed about doing a show in which all the songs have the same title.  I've only managed to do this twice.  (Here & here.)  Guess what?  It's happening again today!  That's right - every song today has the title "Everybody Knows"!

Don't believe me?  Listen!  The show is on today from 4 to 6pm on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington, & online at the same time online.  Yes yes, I'll archive it tomorrow at SHR web central.  Of course I will.  Everybody knows that!

Preface To Everybody Knows: The Great Man

This week's show has the theme "Everybody Knows." & I think everybody knows the song that was the inspiration & impetus for it. Here's that extraordinary old man performing his wonderful song live.