Self Help Radio 022118: In One's Head

(Original image here.)

This week you got to spend Self Help Radio in someone's head.  Was it in his head?  In her head?  In my head?  In your head?  Yes, yes, it was.

How could that be?  Was it a miracle of modern science?  Was it an aural hallucination?  Was it a trick of memory, a manipulation of senses?  Naw.  It was just a radio show with a bunch of songs about things "in my mind," "in your mind," etc.  But I think it went well!

You can listen to the show now & whenever at the Self Help Radio website*.  There is, you know, a username & password requirement, but those are not a secret, they're on the front page.  The show is in two approximately hour-long parts, & what's in those parts, including the interviews, is listed below.

Experience what it's like to be in another's head!  For once.

(part one)

"Too Many Stars In His Head" Pearly Gatecrashers _Spectacular!_
"Harmony In My Head" Buzzcocks _Operators Manual_
"In My Head" Skating Polly _Lost Wonderfuls_

"In My Head" Dum Dum Girls _Only In Dreams_
"Rockets In My Head" Astropuppees _You Win The Bride_
"Stuck In My Head" Tim & Adam _Tim & Adam_
"Heaven Is In My Head" Aquarian Blood _Last Nite In Paradise_

interview with Dennis Quaid

"Vacuum In My Head" Pere Ubu _Ray Gun Suitcase_
"In My Head" Asobi Seksu _Fluorescensce_
"Voice In My Head" Boys Forever _Boys Forever_
"Movies In My Head" The 6ths _Wasps' Nests_

"In My Head" The Psychedelic Furs _World Outside_
"I'm In My Head" toyGuitar _In This Mess_

(part two)

"Dead In Your Head" Bleached _Ride Your Heart_
"Your Words Are Still Stuck In My Head" The Garlands _The Garlands EP_
"In My Head" Holiday Ghosts _Holiday Ghosts_

interview with Dr. Karl Dolla

"Fire In My Head" The Nits _Ting_
"Music In My Head" Psychic Ills _Inner Journey Out_
"Sing In Your Head" Space Ghost _Yeah, Whatever..._
"Rocks In My Head" Mouse & The Boys _Just For Kicks, Vol. 1_
"All In My Head" Good Shoes _All In My Head_

interview with David Fruchter

"In My Head" The Ballet _Mattachine!_
"All In Your Head" Thomas Tantrum _Mad By Moonlight_
"In One's Head" Drug Boyfriend _In One's Head_
"In Your Head" Kendra Smith _Five Ways Of Disappearing_

"All In Your Head" Secret Shine _There Is Only Now_

* To go directly to the show, the link is this one.

Whither In One's Head?

(I found this image here.)

Back in the day, at KOOP in Austin, & I've probably told this story before, but maybe after all this time I'll have remembered different details or, worse yet, added some details in the telling, like you do, but I had one particular listener who really, really, really wanted me to do broad themes, like "cars" or "colors" or "birds."  Usually, it's because he had a lot of suggestions, but mainly because he was getting a little tired of some of my more - I don't know, shall we call them, conceptual? - themes.

The show that I think irked him somewhat, & set the precedent maybe for later shows that relied on phrases rather than nouns, was the one with the theme Here I/You/He/She/It/We/They Come.  In fact, when I wrote about it here on the blog eleven years ago, I think I was talking (in my head) directly to him:

Self Help Radio is not shackled nor trapped by the conventions of other radio shows that require their "themes" to be solid things, like the intestines or pellets or clubhouses or cheese. We attempt to expand the very idea of ideas. Everything can be a theme, especially those things that are least thematic. So we can have a phrase as a theme. Why not? It's not like there's a body out there that can tell me what I can & can't play on the radio.

Things would get much worse with the show's themes, of course, or perhaps it can't get much worse than "in one's head."  You know, songs in which what is in your head, in my head, in his head, in her head, etc. is discussed.  Is that a good theme?  We'll see, won't we?

The show is on tonight on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington & online on their website from 9-11pm eastern.  I just wanted to put that in your head.  Hope it stay in there!

Preface To In One's Head: Phrenology

(Image from here.)

Phrenology is/was (do people still believe it? I bet there are some) "a pseudomedicine primarily focused on measurements of the human skull, based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, & that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules."  That's from the Wikipedia.  It's a testimony to how silly it is that I've never met anyone who believes it or has even shown an interest in it.

This is in sharp contrast to both tarot card reading & astrology, two things I came across casually in my adolescence that I found mildly interesting but discovered, in college, that people really, really believed in.  I happened upon a tarot deck in my first year away from home, memorized what the cards were supposed to mean, & would do readings for my roommates.  I wouldn't say I got good at it, but I did notice that they took my "predictions" very seriously, to the point that one of them got anxious because it seemed like something bad was going to happen to him.  I stopped doing it soon after that - I quickly saw that I was using the information I knew about them to craft their future.  I never believed I was harnessing some kind of mystical power.

Astrology has a stronger pull (that's an astrology pun) on people, especially a couple women I was very fond of in my post-college days in Austin.  One of them runs an astrology business these days I think, & would probably be offended that I am lumping it in (that's a phrenology pun) with phrenology.  I remain unconvinced by it, & never really took it all that seriously, & I am surprised that people are still into it, but I do appreciate that if you really, really get into astrology, you get to learn fascinating skill which betray its astronomical roots, like using precision measurements of planetary positions to make charts.

There's another observation I often make about astrology, which is that it seems to me especially attractive to women for some reason.  Whenever I've met a man who is really into it, a little prodding leads him to confess it was a woman he knew (often one he had a relationship with) who indoctrinated him.  I should look to see if my own experience is something that others have noted.

Anyway, I do wonder why no one I came across ever really, really got into phrenology.  I think it would have been fun, or perhaps just creepy, had I known about it, to be the guy at the party that put his hands all over people's heads & told them that the part of their head that controls, say, their mastery of language, had weird bumps that told me they'd be good at Romance languages.  In those impressionistic days of college, I'm sure I would've convinced some folks there was something to it, & I wouldn't have had to really memorize what a card did or what Jupiter being in a constellation meant.

& yeah, I know phrenology was about what was on one's head, not in one's head.  But it was in my head just now so I thought I'd write about it.

2800

This is the blog's 2800th post.  It's bound to disappoint.

Right now I need to hit the hay as I have to wake up tomorrow & do the Tuesday Morning Blend on KNON.  Then I have to rush home & work on this week's Self Help Radio.

It's not hard to believe I've gone through two thousand eight hundred posts on this blog when they're as gripping as this one.

Should there be cake?  That's a lot of candles!

Thanks To You

At this point in time, I'm not sure if the other radio show I do, the Tuesday Morning Blend, will this week be another Pledge Drive show, because as I write the station is so very near its goal, but whether I have to beg on the air one more week (I will certainly have to do it again in May), I have many people to thank for it being a successful one for me & the station, even though the first two shows I did as the Tuesday Morning Blend were Pledge Drive shows.

& thank people I shall, on the air & here on the blog, as soon as I have a list of people to thank.  Wait, I don't have a list?  Not right now.  Sorry.  That may seem lame, as I did thank them on the air during the show, but in the hustle & bustle of the paperwork at the end of each show, it didn't occur to me until too late to just write names down so I'd know whom to thank whenever.  That's my bad & I'm sorry.

Back in the day, the last time I did Pledge Drive, at KOOP in Austin -

I was going to say something else, but let me tell you a brief anecdote.  At a recent KNON benefit at which I was volunteering, someone asked me about my past radio experience in Austin, & I said that yes, I have volunteered before at K-O-O-P.  I spelled out the call letters as one might do for a legal ID, although most of us usually just said KOOP, like co-op.  The station was supposed to be cooperatively run.

But the person I was talking to said, "Ah, yes, of course, KOOP" - KOOP rhyming with "poop."

Old-timers at KOOP hated when people said KOOP like "coop."  In fact, they insisted that we put a period in between the two Os on all official documentation, including bumper stickers & the like.  It would read KO.OP 91.7 fm.

Some disagreed.  I was one of them.  I myself never said "KOOP" like coop because I know it was supposed to be co-op.  But people who never heard the station - because no one on the air ever said it like "coop" - well, they generally didn't know the nature of the name, as they never really heard the station, just saw the call letters & pronounced it like they heard it in their head.  That's how we knew we were talking to a listener or not.  It was handy.

Of course I corrected the guy I was talking to, but he had given himself away.  He may have heard of KOOP, but he never actually heard the station.  Which is cool, I didn't judge him or anything.

End of digression.

- the last time I did a Pledge Drive, at KOOP in Austin, I did terribly.  I don't know why, the time the show was on, the smaller listening audience, my own inexperience, no one actually liking my show, I can't be sure, but past experience made me feel like I was not going to do terribly well this time around.  & that didn't happen.  I did pretty well.  Certainly better than I thought.

& that's all thanks to you, the folks who pledged.  Whose names I will share.  When I get them.  Which I will.  Thank you.

Self Help Radio 021418: Valentine's Day 2018 - Roses

(Original image here.)

Well, now that Valentine's Day is over, what are we supposed to do with all these damn roses?  They're obviously not going to stick around for long.  Plus, dried flowers are a bit depressing.

Or are they?  According to this website, you can do many things with dried rose petals, from potpourri to bath tea.  Bath tea?  Read the website, I don't have time to explain it to you.

In any event, watching flowers given out of love die doesn't have to be a metaphor for your relationship.

One thing that won't dry up & crumble away is this year's Valentine's show for Self Help Radio, which was about roses.  If you want to think of lost love, or never-gained love, or just roses, this is the show for you.  In addition to bouquets of tunes, there's interviews with a spiritual dude, a rose vendor, & a Dr. Love.

The show is coming up roses over at the Self Help Radio website.  You'll need a username & password to listen, but it's there, on the page.  The show is in two parts, & the songs & other things in each part is listed below.

Happy Valentine's Day!

(part one)

"Roses" The Magnetic Fields _69 Love Songs, Vol. 2_
"He Who Picks A Rose" Edwin Starr _25 Miles_
"Cover Me With Roses" Jackson C. Frank _Blues Run The Game_
"New Rose" The Damned _Damned Damned Damned_
"Red Roses" Lefties _Pop American Style_

"Sally Go 'Round The Roses" The Jaynetts _Sally Go 'Round The Roses_
"Bouquet Of Roses" Dean Martin _Dean "Tex" Martin Rides Again_
"The Yellow Rose Of Texas" Stan Freberg _Capitol Collectors Series_
"A Good Year For The Roses" George Jones _The Essential George Jones: The Spirit Of Country_
"I Threw Away The Rose" Merle Haggard _Down Every Road 1962-1994_

interview with the Rev Dr Howard Gently

"I Touch Roses" Book Of Love _Book Of Love_
"Roses In The Park" Liechtenstein _Survival Strategies In A Modern World_
"Everything's Coming Up Roses" Johnny Mathis _Rhythms Of Broadway_
"White Roses For Blue Girls" My Favorite _Joan Of Arc Awaiting Trial_
"Luminous Rose" Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians _Globe Of Frogs_

(part two)

"My Rose Of Old Kentucky" Bill Monroe _Blue Moon Of Kentucky_
"Poisoned Rose" Elvis Costello _King Of America_
"I Got A Rose Between My Toes" Lou Carter _Louie's Love Songs_
"The Palace Roses" Todd Andrews _I'm Just The Other Woman! MSR Madness Vol. 4_
"Honeysuckle Rose" Fats Waller & His Rhythm _1934-1935_

interview with rose vendor Bingham Killkid

"Love Is A Rose" Neil Young _Decade_
"A Rose For Emily" The Zombies _Odessey & Oracle_
"She Is Like A Rose" The Orange Peels _Square_
"You Supply The Roses" Memphis _You Supply The Roses_
"Rose In The Devil's Garden" Castaway Stones _Make Love To You_
"Rose" The Fall _Shift Work_

interview with Dr Love

"Stoned Roses" Drug Boyfriend _Stoned Roses_
"The Rose" Jonathan Richman _You Must Ask The Heart_
"One Red Rose" John Prine _Storm Windows_
"Room Full Of Roses" George Morgan _The History Of Country & Western Music, Vol. 17 (1949)_

Whither Roses?

(Found here.)

Why a show about roses?!?  Because it's Valentine's Day, of course!

Valentine's Day is one of those shows that I celebrate every year, except instead of a general theme (like Christmas), I focus on one aspect of the holiday.  I have done a Valentine's Day show nearly every year since the show's inception, except in 2006, when the show was off the air because the station had caught fire.

In 2003, I did a general show, thinking I'd be doing it much like the Christmas show, but the next year found me following my instincts toward more specific themes.  Thus:

On February 11, 2004, the show was about love.
On February 9, 2005, the show was about hate.
On February 9, 2007, the show was about crushes.
On February 8, 2008, the show was about jealousy.
On February 14, 2009, the show was about boyfriends, so the next year, on February 8, 2010, the show was about girlfriends.
On February 8, 2011, I played self-described love songs.
On February 13, 2012, the show was downright lovesick.
On February 8, 2013, I had songs that finished the sentence love is...
Four years ago on this date, February 14, 2014, I figured I'd do a show about valentines (including Valentine's Day, of course).
The next year, on February 13, 2015, I had many songs about famous lovers.
On February 9, 2016, the show was about heartbreak, & last year, on February 8, 2017, the show was about sweethearts.

This year, of course, everything's coming up roses.  So if you're not too busy with your own valentine, I have prepared a bouquet of songs about roses tonight on Self Help Radio, which airs from 9-11pm eastern on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington & everything online at Lexington Community Radio dot org.

If not, don't worry - the flowers will stick around for  while.

Preface To Valentine's Day 2018 - Roses: Flower Allergy

For most of my life, I never had a Valentine.  That never seemed much of a problem, since I thought, as many people do, that Valentine's Day was a manufactured holiday which caused more misery than happiness.  Read this:

Ten reasons why Valentine's Day is overrated.

Yep, pretty sure I felt that way.  Furthermore, I don't think I've ever bought roses for a Valentine.

The closest I came was in desperate heartbreak, more than two decades ago, when I would write to the woman who broke my heart, letters trying to tell her I was doing well but obviously desperate & lonesome & sad, in which I would put flowers I surreptitiously stole from nearby gardens.  I lived at the time in a nice area of Austin called Hyde Park & as I stumbled to & from work at the University - I chose to walk because I couldn't sit still, my misery was continual, a bus ride was intolerable - & it was during a lovely spring - I would lean over wooden fences to pick flowers & hurry away, all to be put in envelopes, to wither & dry in the trucks of the postal service, to fall out of the envelope as this former lover wearily read another of my useless scribbles to her.

Now that I am married, one might think that Valentine's Day is a chance to have a special night with my beloved, but I chose a woman who is not in the least romantic, who would hate for me to spend money on things like flowers for which she has no use, & who has no problem with me doing a radio show on the night of that holiday.

& you know what?  While I don't tend to look down upon or condemn anyone who celebrates the day with the traditional offerings of chocolate, dinner, & roses, I don't think I was ever made for that life. Though of course in my own dumb way I celebrate it, right?  I do a radio show about the day every year!

Schizophrenia

These last couple of weeks have been hard, & I hope Self Help Radio isn't suffering because of it.

How have they been hard, Gary?

Well, you must know I'm doing two shows, the one this blog is about, & the Tuesday Morning Blend on KNON.

Yes, you say, but you've done two shows at the same time before, right?

Will you let me finish?

Sorry, buddy.

Where was I?

Whining about having two radio shows.

Oh yeah.  It's actually not the having of two shows, it's that one of those shows requires me to beg for money to keep the show & the station on the air.  I haven't done that in over a decade, when I had to do it at KOOP, & I wasn't very good at it then.

This happens tomorrow?  Didn't you have to do it last week?

Yeah, I did, & I guess I did all right.  But...

But what?  Can't you just be glad you did all right?

I could, except...  Look, damaged self-esteem is nothing to be trifled with.

I understand.

It's not my show yet.  It's still someone else's show.

So you're working extra hard?

Oh yeah.  Making them themed & everything.  Trying to make them special.  You know?

You're losing it, buddy.

Damn it, I'm losing it!

Pledge Drive, Amirite?

There's another Tuesday Morning Blend on Tuesday & it's still Pledge Drive.  Here's a perfect pitch from Jake Likes Onions.  I hope that guy makes a donation.

Self Help Radio 020718: It's Time To

(Original image here.)

In conversation with my therapist, I expressed unhappiness when my mind makes up themes that aren't very exciting or just don't make a lot of sense.  Our conversation went something like this:

ME: Why can't I do shows with simple themes like cars or cats or countries?
MY THERAPIST: Penis envy.
ME: What?
MY THERAPIST: It's a classic case of penis envy.
ME: But I have a penis!
MY THERAPIST: (looking over his notes) I knew that.
ME: Can we talk about the show, please?
MY THERAPIST: Are you sure you have a penis?
ME: Please don't make me show it to you again.
MY THERAPIST: Hold on, I need to make a note for myself about what I should talk to my therapist about.
ME: For fuck's sake.
MY THERAPIST: Language!

In any event, the show with the theme "it's time to" came & went & unfortunately was captured for posterity.  You be the judge of its value, I am already working on the next one, which luckily has the straightforward theme "roses."  But of course that's another problem: the more straightforward themes have far more songs.  I have over three hundred to listen to!

Please enjoy this week's Self Help Radio over at Self Help Radio dot net.  Password/username required, they're on the site.  Two hours of program divided in two, what's on both parts is listed below.

It's time to forget this ever happened.

(part one)

"The Muppet Show" The Muppets _Television's Greatest Hits, Vol. 3: 70s & 80s_
"It's Time" The Times _Pop Goes Art!_
"It's Time" Cessna _This Is Stereophonic Sunshine_
"It's Time" BMX Bandits _BMX Bandits Forever_

"Time To Change" Michael Carpenter _Right To Chews: Bubblegum Classics Revisited_
"Now's The Time To Fall In Love" Dick Robertson with Gene Gardos & His Orchestra _Brother Can You Spare A Dime? Great American Songs Of The Depression_
"Time To Get Ready" The Bats _The Law Of Things_
"Time To Scream & Shout" Múm _Smilewound_

interview with television host David Fruchter

"Time To Lose" The Thermals _More Parts Per Million_
"Time To Go" Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs _You Can't Buy A Gun When You're Crying_
"Time To Ring Some Changes" Richard Thompson & Linda Thompson _RT: The Life & Music Of Richard Thompson_
"Time To Chill" DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince _He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper_
"It's Time To Get Funky" D-Mob featuring LRS & DC Sarome _Turn Up The Bass 4_

(part two)

interview with the Rev. Dr. Howard Gently

"Time To Get Up" Los Microwaves _Life After Breakfast_
"Time To Name The Dog" Great Plains _Length Of Growth 1981-89_
"Time To Listen" Film School _Fission_
"Time To Evolve" Bill Hicks _Rant In E-Minor_
"Time To Wait" Tall Dwarfs _The Sky Above, The Mud Below_

interview with writer Owen Schur

"Time To Go" La Sera _Music For Listening To Music To_
"Time To Get Away" LCD Soundsystem _Sound Of Silver_
"It's Time To Go Now" Gladys Knight & The Pips _The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 7: 1967_
"It's Time To Go" The Organ _Sinking Hearts_
"Time To Move Along" The Northern Lights _No Time_
"It's Time To Come Home" The Rentals _Lost In Alphaville_

"Goodnight, Sweetheart, It's Time To Go" The Platters _The Magic Touch: An Anthology_
"Buddy It's Time To Go" Earl King _Earl's Pearls: The Very Best Of Earl King (1955-1960)_
"Now It's Time To Say Goodbye" Kitchens Of Distinction _Capsule (The Best Of KOD 1988-94)_

Whither It's Time To?

(Original image here.)

Look.  We talked it over.  We had a long conversation which felt like a meeting & yes, other people were brought in.  I won't say it didn't get a little heated from time to time.  At some point someone made a 12 Angry Men joke & that amused half of us.  Suddenly it was dark outside & no one wanted to be there & there was a baby crying & no one knew where the cat was & I swear I had a panic attack but at the end of the night we all agreed that we might as well do the damn show even though let's face it, it's a dumb theme.

It's time to?  Seriously?

Seriously.  Tonight on WLXU 93.9 fm in Lexington & online at Lexington Community Radio Dot Org, Self Help Radio will dutifully fill in the blank at the the end of the statement "It's Time To ______."

When is it time to listen?  Oh yeah, from 9-11pm eastern.

Preface To It's Time To: First Pledge Drive Show Postmortem

As I was saying yesterday, I am terrible at raising money.  I actually told a story last year about an experience selling candy for a middle school organization, which I will repeat here:

Finally - & this may have happened in 1982, because it feels like something that would have happened at the end of the year - I was in Beta Club - it's where I met Russell, I was very amused by his heckling at the dire meetings we had - & occasionally we were told we had to sell stuff for whatever club budget shit.  In this case it was M&Ms.  I lived in an apartment complex with lots of poor people, who knew a fifty cent box of M&Ms was no deal at all when you could walk to the Minyard's & get them for twenty cents, so I didn't sell many.  I actually barely tried.  I hated selling things.  I had tried before, tried to solicit newspaper subscriptions & just hated it.  Hated knocking on doors & hated pushing products.  I helped my mother at a convenience store, I would wait while people picked out what they wanted to buy & then came to me.

When the time came to collect, I returned a nearly-full box to the Beta Club sponsors.  One of them - the same woman, I believe, who was my Yearbook Club sponsor - was furious with me.  She accused me of not trying, of being lazy, of being indolent.  I told her, because I couldn't really see the point, that I didn't enjoy & wasn't very good at selling things, & if it was a condition of my membership that I sell a certain amount of M&Ms to be in the Beta Club, I guess I wouldn't be in the club.  She just stared at me, then gave a cry of exasperation, & left.

You see, I didn't really understand about things like service groups & college applications back then - how could I?  None of my siblings had gone or would go to college, & my mother was a working-class woman raised in Germany, where none of her family would have even dreamed nor had the opportunity for higher education.  I didn't really know what Beta Club was for.  I didn't like the meetings, I didn't like the parties - although my friend Russell tells me that it was one of the parties where we sat in someone bedroom & talked about the Beatles.  I vaguely recall that.  That's how a friendship was born.

Russell was watching, too, when I gave back the M&Ms & explained myself.  I looked at him & saw him wide-eyed.  It may be why I remember the story.

Nope, I never got better at the selling thing, & eventually just flat-out refused, offering my services in other capacities for organizations that needed them.

My experience with Pledge Drives has been equally dire.  Later I would learn more about the process, but we had occasional drives on KVRX, at which I did dismally.  I was not in a happy emotional place for Pledge Drive failure in those days.  Pledges Drives at KOOP - which we called Membership Drives - were pretty bad, too.  On one occasion, my then-girlfriend Magda made a big donation because you could hear me despair on the air.  I felt so grateful to be at WRFL where students fund the operation - & I was dreading being on KNON because they rely on listener support way more than any station I've ever been at.

So how'd I do?  I was saved from a dismal start by a kind person who became an KNON Elite Music Sponsor.  I also discovered some friends made donations online, which I appreciated.  So it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  But there's always next week!

But I'm not going to worry or fret about that just now - I have Self Help Radio tomorrow!

Tomorrow Is Eek!

Yes, tomorrow is my first Tuesday Morning Blend as its regular host, but - this is where it gets hairy - it's all a Pledge Drive Show.

What? Yes! It's the KNON Winter Pledge Drive!  Click that link & support community radio in Dallas - & maybe mention the Tuesday Morning Blend?

Back to me, though: do you see the predicament I am in?  I am going to be doing my first show.  But I am going to be on the radio begging people for money.  Which is fine, but the sort of people who are most likely to give money to a radio show are people who are familiar with the host - & the previous host of the Tuesday Morning Blend, as I mentioned yesterday, is immensely beloved.

But of course I can't not ask for money, KNON is listener supported, & it needs every dollar it can get.  It will be perfectly understandable if no one donates tomorrow.  I accept that.  Except.

Holy shit my self-esteem will take a beating if no one gives anything to the show!  My history with pledge drives is that I am not good at them.  So, frankly, the show tomorrow might be brutal.

Wanna listen?  It's on from 7-9am central on 89.3 fm in Dallas & online at knon dot org.

Seriously.  It's going to be brutal tomorrow.

Shift Change

This was in the KNON newsletter on Friday:

What's going on?  Did Gary & Jason have a falling out?  Did someone get fired?  What the hell?

No, Jason & I didn't have a spat, nor did anyone get fired.  Nil, who has hosted the Tuesday Morning Blend on KNON for quite a while, has left the station for personal reasons.  She has been absent a while but had to make it official last week.  Meanwhile, Jason, who has been helping me with the Wednesday Morning Blend, wanted his own show - & should have it! - but couldn't do Tuesday mornings.  My schedule is a lot more free - plus I was feeling weird about having two shows on the same day.  I know, it was in two different cities, in two very different stations, on two wonderful community stations - but still, that much Gary in a day is not a good thing for anyone.

So, this Tuesday, I am moving to the Tuesday Morning Blend while Jason begins his solo performance on the Wednesday Morning Blend.  Like with taking over Pippin's show (he who previously hosted the Wednesday Morning Blend), I have very big shoes to fill - Nil did radio in a way that I don't, & maybe can't, engaging with local musicians & connecting with the community.  (You can see how wonderful things were on her Tuesday Morning Blend Facebook page.  I will create another one for my version of Tuesday Morning Blend.  She doesn't need me mucking up her wonderful radio world.)

You see, I'm more from the old, lonesome fellow in a deejay booth playing music school of radio.  But I have learned much from Nil's show.  I hope I don't disappoint the people who loved listening to her!

Maybe you'll listen this Tuesday?  I'll mention it on the Self Help Radio Facebook page & on the show's Twitter feed.  But I'll talk more about the Tuesday show here tomorrow.

PS Would you like to be subscribed to the KNON Newsletter?  You can do that here!

Self Help Radio 013118: Idiots

(Original image here.)

What a mean idea for a show!  What's next?  Morons?  Imbeciles?  Dumbfucks?

Personally I don't endorse this kind of negativity on the radio.  Oh, I know, I said, "This is neither a celebration nor condemnation of idiots & idiocy" or something like that last night, but simply entitling a show "idiots" puts hostility out into the universe.  For example, what if someone were feeling like an idiot when he or she listened?  Wouldn't that make things worse?  Aren't we all just hanging on a thin thread over here?  Damn it all.

What's done is done.  Let's just hope that there are more uplifting Self Help Radio episodes in the future.  Though, frankly, that particular forecast looks grim.

Listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.  You're not an idiot, you know about the username & password.  The show is two hours long, in two, idiotic parts.  The songs & the interviews in the show are noted below.

Non-musical portions of the show written & performed by the usual gang of idiots.

(part one)

"The Idiot" Fol Chen _Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made_
"Idiot" Oy Vey _Botanical Curiosity_
"Idiot" Dollys _Tense_

"Idiot Button" Evans The Death _Expect Delays_
"Crawling With Idiot" Elbow _A Cast Of Thousands_
"A Stiff Idiot Is The Worst Kind!" The Firesign Theatre _Just Folks... A Firesign Chat_
"Idiot Dancers" Industrials _Industrials_
"Idiot's Delight" John Wesley Harding _Dynablob_

interview with writer David Fruchter

"Idiot Joy Showland" The Fall _Shift-Work_
"Reasons Not To Be An Idiot" Frank Turner _Love Ire & Song_
"An idiot's End" Daniel Johnston _Songs Of Pain: Dan Johnston 1980-81_
"Idiot Savant" Fosca _Diary Of An Antibody_
"Museum Of Idiots" They Might Be Giants _The Spine_

(part two)

Self Help Radio panel discussion

"I Was A Teenage Idiot Dancer" Cleaners From Venus _Town & Country_
"Dance, Idiot, Dance" Chumbawamba _ABCDEFG_
"Classics Of The Contemporary Drama: 'The Idiot'" Christopher Guest & Bill Murray _Buy This Box Or We'll Shoot This Dog: The Best Of The National Lampoon Radio Hour_
"Idiot Heart" The Mendoza Line _We're All In This Alone_
"Idiot Strength" The Nightingales _What A Scream (1980-86)_

interview with broadcaster Allen Shariaty

"Why Sting Is Such An Idiot" Allan Clapp & His Orchestra _One Hundred Percent Chance Of Rain_
"Idiot Child" Madness _The Liberty Of Norton Folgate_
"Village Idiot" Van Morrison _Hymns To The Silence_
"Village Idiot" Volcano Suns _All Night Lotus Party_
"Global Village Idiot" Wondermints _Big Deal Corporate Annual, Vol. 1_
"Idiot Wizards" Knight School _Revenger_

"Idiot Wind" Bob Dylan _The Bootleg Series, Vol. 2: Rare & Unreleased, 1961-1991_
"Idiot Son" Damien Youth _Happy_

Whither Idiots?

(Image from here.)

Between you & me, I don't care much for the word idiot.  In addition to the fact that it's usually pretty insulting, it has a difficult psychological history: people who had a "mental age" of three years or less & an IQ less than 30, were considered "idiots."  That classification has fallen into disfavor, but the aspersion still stings.

Why, then, do a show about the word?  To challenge any lingering conceptions?  To redefine the word  for better usage?  To confront those who use the insult with the requisite disgust & scorn?  Um.  No.

Actually, I just found a lot of good songs about idiots.  I don't think I have the energy to challenge, redefine, or confront.  I can barely remember to floss!

Listen to a show full of idiots, including yours truly, tonight from 9-11pm eastern on 93.9 fm WLXU in Lexington & online at the Lexington Community Radio website.  I'd say you'd be an idiot to miss it, but I'm not that kind of guy.

Preface To Idiots: Two Of My Favorite Idiots

This one:

Which probably is referencing this one:

One of my favorite albums, one of my favorite books.

The Iggy Pop image is from Discogs.  The book cover I found here.

Mark'll Sink Us

Mark Edward Smith died last Wednesday.  I have nothing important to add about him, his life, his music, his legacy.  Smarter people, better writers, journalists, critics, they're doing their thing.  More important than all of them, the music he made in his life will live long, long after him.  As someone who's long considered the Fall his favorite band, I wanted to say some things about him.  He was an unlikely hero, & most probably he & I wouldn't have even liked each other.  Who knows?

Like everyone else on the planet who first heard the Fall, I was charmed by "Totally Wired."  It encouraged me to buy a singles collection, probably this one.  I dug "Totally Wired" but I wasn't ready for the rest of the songs.  I listened to it maybe once or twice, then (as was my custom in those days) I sold it back to the record store for half price & bought more records.

It's not that the Fall were difficult listening, just different listening.  I was more accustomed to bands like the Smiths, the Cure, Echo & The Bunnymen, New Order, Joy Division.  In fact, my next encounter with them was buying the single for "Hit The North," which I liked because it was weirdly catchy, something I didn't think the Fall could be.  If I had chosen to explore his years with his wife Brix influencing him in a more poppy direction, I might've become a Fall fan earlier.  But I didn't.  I kinda wrote them off.

Years later I worked in a place where we could play music we liked & the guys who worked there played the Fall.  A lot.  In many of such cases, familiarity breeds contempt - it's the opposite of the radio model, & it's how it works with me with music I don't like.  But not with the Fall.  Slowly my mind was being rewired to understand them.  Interestingly, the CD I asked to borrow from my coworker was the b-sides collection from the Brix years, 1984-1989.  I burned a copy & listened to it non-stop for a week.  & the obsession began.

Let me say something about fans of the Fall: they're a funny, loyal, grumpy lot, very critical about their favorite band's music, very outspoken with their opinions.  When I first discovered the internet, I subscribed to many mailing lists dedicated to bands & musicians I liked.  I think it was on the Elvis Costello list that I discovered that an unspoken rule was, the newest record was the best.  Always.  Anything contrary might lead to angry emails from more devoted fans telling me I didn't understand, I obviously never liked the musician, & I should probably fuck off.  Which I did, from pretty much every list.  I understood then as now that everyone's opinions differ, & none are better than another's, but if I couldn't say I enjoyed All This Useless Beauty far less than This Year's Model without being threatened, it wasn't healthy for me to be involved.

Not so with Fall fans.  In general, they may hate 25 to 50 percent of the band's output.  The UK fans had funny punny names of albums they liked - my favorite was "Shite-Work" for "Shift-Work."  The truth is, being obsessed with a band that changed so much (or, as John Peel put it, a band that was always different & always the same) & was so prolific, you had to be prepared for some stinkers.  I mean, most Dylan fans won't agree with this, but I think the guy has released way more terrible records than good ones.  It's just that the good ones are fucking incredible.  & I think that that could be said about the Fall (though in my opinion there are far more good records in their catalog as a percentage than in Dylan's - & I say this as a huge Dylan fan).

Honestly I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.  I don't even really know how to explain how the Fall infected me.  Half the time I don't really know or care what a particular Fall song is about.  I know they're about something but I also know that I love what I consider Mark Smith's ambivalence about language.  The fellow who titled records things like Perverted By Language & The Utterable certainly knew the power of words, but I think he mostly saw that they were fickle things, probably useless in real communication with others, but in general the poorest & best tool we had.  More than that, I think Mark Smith loved words, loved to speak/sing them, loved to make sounds that approximated words, loved to put them together in curious ways, almost in a Gysin-esque cut-up manner, but not quite like that.  In the Peel Sessions he recorded around the time of The Real New Fall LP, I think for the song "Contraflow" but possibly "Theme From Sparta FC," Smith just blurts out, "Chewbacca!" during the song.  It's not in the LP version, it probably wasn't anything he was thinking about even before recording started.  It's a fun, weird word to say.  So he said it.

That's the main thing I love about the Fall.  Listening to Mark Smith say words.  Listening to him flirt with rhyme, with things like verses & choruses, with chants, shouts, noises, squeaks, shrieks.  I have misunderstood Fall lyrics constantly, & when I discover the mistake I am certain Smith intended to confuse.  Recently I saw the video for "Eat Y'Self Fitter," & was reminded that I thought Smith was singing, "Don't want to be a victim," when instead he was singing, "Don't want to be a Mit-Dem," which is an English political reference I was never going to get.  In the video, they flashed my misinterpreted lyrics.  I laughed out loud.

When one of my heroes dies, I often devote an entire show to him or her, but I am completely at a loss when it comes to the Fall.  I've played them on the radio for years now, I don't think they're a band that encouraged covers, I don't even think bands that claim to be influenced by them sound all that much like them.  I feel lucky I got to see them three or four times, & I feel lucky one of those times I got to watch the band break up (the Fall was basically Mark E. Smith & anyone who joined him).  I was going to go see them in Louisville last fall but they cancelled because of Smith's health.  It was something I didn't regard much as ominous - I once saw him when he had a cast on because of a broken leg - but I do wish I could've seen them one last time.

Here's another thing: I didn't like their record from last year all that much.  I'll revisit it, but it was the
first record of theirs in years that I didn't listen to over & over all year long.  Jeez, this is such a terrible tribute to someone whose work has meant so much to me for a very long time.  But I don't think I can do any better.  I'd recommend you read Sean O'Neal's piece about Smith for the AV Club instead.  I got to know Sean on the Fall mailing list & got to see him jump onstage & sing at a Fall show in Austin.  He knows how to write these things, I don't.

One thing I do know is the world is a poorer place without Mark E. Smith in it.  The band Stars tweeted "there will never ever ever be another Mark E. Smith" & they're right.  Holy shit, we were unbelievably fortunate that we lived in the time when there was a Mark E. Smith.

As for you - if you've never heard the Fall, or heard them but didn't like them, or heard them & thought they were okay but never followed up - seek them out, try them on, see if they can't rewire your brain.  If they do, there are hours & hours of interesting words & sounds, of anger & rage & sarcasm & joy, of everything you expect from music & some things you didn't even know music could do, all of this & more waiting for you.  There'll never be anything like them again.

Goodbye & thank you, Mark E. Smith.  I can't even begin to express what your songs have done to me, for me.  & I hope you won't mind, I probably won't be making a tribute show for you, but I will be playing your songs on the radio as long as people let me be on the radio.

Grammys Redux

As I write this, the Grammys are on.  I think.  I haven't checked, it might be tomorrow.  I wanted to take some time today to write about the death, last Wednesday, of one of my heroes, Mark E. Smith of the Fall.  But the day got away from me, & I'll need to sit a little bit before I write anything.

Mark E. Smith would never have even been considered for a Grammy - & as an example from the time when he did win an award, it seems pretty obvious he wouldn't have given much of a shit anyway.

Anyway, four years ago, I wrote a blog post about why I don't watch the Grammys.  Maybe it's worth revisiting tonight?