Obligatory Cartoon Mentioning "Self-Help" Presentation

By the brilliant Tom Gauld. 

If only my radio show were as clever!

Drowning In Films Featuring Drowning

(image from the IMDb)

It will come as no surprise to you that, just as drownings happen in real life, they happen in the movies too.  Our resident cinephile Chuck came by this week to talk about films - thrillers, specifically - in which drownings occurred.  You can listen to that show if you missed it at either the KBOO website or the Self Help Radio website.

Chuck has shared some helpful links for you.

Here is the IMDb keyword search list Chuck used to find thrillers tagged with "drowning" & "murder."

Here is his YouTube playlist of films with drowning within.
Here's a list of some films available for free elsewhere.

Chuck used Letterboxd to comment on some of the films he watched.

Chuck watched way more films than he talked about on the air, but he did talk about them on Twitter.  Maybe follow him to see what he's watching?

Be safe out there!

Self Help Radio 040522: Drowning

(Original image here*.)

This is true: a listener called me to tell me that, as a child, he lived in Germany & his father fished in the North Sea.  He said he had nightmares that his father would drown regularly.  I worried that a show about drowning might be triggering for him, but he said no - he actually now dreamed regularly about being rescued from drowning by aliens in spaceships that looked like transparent cubes.

It's true, I fretted aloud that this particular show's subject matter might be too gruesome, & in fact another listener told me that he fully expected the show to be way more sad than it actually was.  Which, come to think of it, is a little triumph for Self Help Radio, which in its way is always way more sad than it means to be.

In any event, if you can stomach a radio show about drowning, which features music & interviews, you can listen now at the KBOO website, or at the show's website at Self Help Radio dot net.  If you choose the show's website, make sure you remember the username is SHR & the password is selfhelp.  All the things that happen on the show are below.

Be safe out there!

Self Help Radio 220405: Drowning

"Drowning" The English Beat _Wha'ppen_

"Drowning" New York Dolls _'Cause I Sez So_

"Drowning" The Luxembourg Signal _The Luxembourg Signal_

introduction, definitions, statistics

"Drowned In My Own Tears" Mitty Collier _Shades Of A Genius_

"Drowning On Dry Land" O.V. Wright _The Soul Of O.V. Wright_

"Drowning In Berlin" Mobiles _The Edge Of The Eighties_

"The Drowning Man" The Cure _Faith_

"Fear Of Drowning" British Sea Power _The Decling Of British Sea Power_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by to talk about movies featuring drowning

"Drown" Black Tambourine _By Tomorrow_

"Drown" Even As We Speak _Feral Pop Frenzy_

"Drown" Beliefs _Leaper_

"Drown" Chastity Belt _Chastity Belt_

"Drown (feat. Kirin J Callinan)" Genesis Owusu _Smiling With No Teeth_

interview with & performance by storyteller Noah Swimmer

"Duck Before You Drown" Dinah Washington _Back To The Blues_

"The Drowned Girl" David Bowie _Baal_

"Drowning Butterflies" Cleaners From Venus _Under Wartime Conditions_

"Drowned Rats" Melbourne Cans _Moonlight Malaise_

"Drown In The Now (feat. Matisyahu)" The Crystal Method _Divided By Night_

interview with lifeguard Jarvis Garvis

"Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning" Morrissey _Vauxhall & I_

"Drowning In You" Pluramon _The Monstrous Surplus_

"Watery (Drowning Is Just Another Word For Being Buried Alive Under Water)" A Sunny Day In Glasgow _Scribble Mural Comic Journal_

"Drowning In Plain Sight" The Delines _The Sea Drift_

"The Drowned Lovers" Nic Jones _Penguin Eggs_

interview with lifeguard & instructor Steve Gunter

"Pouring Water On A Drowning Man" James Carr _Beg Scream & Shout! The Big Ol' Box Of '60s Soul_

"I'm Drowning" Viki Adams _Casino Classics: The Forgotten Floorshakers_

"Ha Ha I'm Drowning" The Teardrop Explodes _Kilimanjaro_

"Drown With The Monster" White Lung _Deep Fantasy_

"Drown Me Out" Pity Sex _Feast Of Love_

"Drowning" Green Pajamas _Narcotic Kisses_

how to tell when someone is drowning - & what to do

"Drowning Head First" Adam Green _Sixes & Sevens_

"Drown" Westkust _Last Forever_

"I'll Try To Ignore The Fact That You're Drowning" Lux _We Are Not The Same_

"Death By Drowning" The Boys Next Door _Hee-Haw_

"Drowning In The Sea of Love" Joe Simon _Drowning In The Sea Of Love_

conclusion & goodbye

"Time Goes Slowly When You're Drowning" Television Personalities _Fashion Conscious_

"Mermaid Drowning On Dry Land" Miles Dethmuffen _Clutter_

*"Drowning In Bricks" by Walter Benson is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.

Whither Drowning?

(image from here.)

A long time ago, back in Austin, when I first started this show, someone at KOOP, which aired the show, came to me & asked about the show.  They said, "Your recent topics or themes seem very negative."  They had a touch of concern in their voice.

Now, I can't remember when this happened exactly - in the show's first year? or the second? I recall I did a show with the theme "broken" & a caller told me I had cursed her entire day with the show.  But I did wonder if I found "negative" subjects more interesting than whatever the opposite was.  Looking back, though, I see no clear pattern either way.

All of this is just to say I wonder what that volunteer would make of a show about drowning of all things.  & I'm not sure how I would explain exactly why the show today is about drowning, except that I came across a few songs recently that were about drowning - not in a physical sense, generally speaking.  & a cursory glance at my collection revealed I had a whole lot of songs involving drowning.  & that's usually how my shows take shape.

But I certainly hope this isn't triggering for anyone!  If so, please don't listen tonight from midnight to 3am on 90.7 fm in Portland or online at kboo.fm everywhere.  It does seem like a horrible way to go.

Preface To Drowning: What A Bleak Subject!

(no idea where I found this sorry)

Drowning is a gruesome thing, & a horrible way to die.  & lots of people drown to death - the World Health Organization says 236,000 people are lost in death related to drowning.  (Read all about it.)  Since humans have generally lived near water - & many of them throughout history have had to cross bodies of water regularly, sometimes on unsafe or shabbily made crafts - it's safe to say people have been dying by drowning for a long, long time.

But does that make it a suitable topic for a radio show?

Perhaps if I reassured you that drowning as a metaphor would make up the bulk of the song choices, would that help make the theme a bit more respectable?  After all, one can drown one's sorrows, or even drown out the bothersome noise around them.  Ray Charles famously sang he would drown in his own tears, & Joe Simon sang of drowning in a sea of love.  & it makes sense - in a world were drowning is so terrible, using drowning as a metaphor for how one is feeling can be quite powerful.

Besides, did you really think I'd get so lurid as to focus on death on this week's show?  To be fair, some of the songs will mention death, just as I have mentioned death in this discussion.  But we won't linger on it.  It won't be exploitative.  We're a not a true crime drama on the Netflicks or anything.

One confession: I haven't found a song that corresponds with a particular meaning I found on the Urban Dictionary:

Drowning, adjective:

You are beyond desperate & thirsty. You would hook up with anyone. It is not good to be drowning.

Jessica : hey Sally what are you looking at

Sally : ohh just the guy over their in the yellow

Jessica : umm I think he is ten. That is half our age not to mention the mud on his pants. Well I hope it's mud!

Sally : I don't care ima go and work my magic. Bye.

Jessica : your drowning

Because I would totally play that song.

The Uncertain Fate Of Bojangles

A year ago on this date, we were walking our dogs in the afternoon & a tiny animal - pictured above - wandered toward us.  He was not frightened nor threatening - he weighed less than our dog Yoko - he was sweet & friendly & he let me pick him up.  I gave him a treat & I looked around for his owner - but there was no one around to claim him.  So I walked him home & eventually we gave him a bath & fed him & I went through all the channels that I could to find his owner.  I posted on Next Door & I also posted on Facebook.

Almost immediately I got a message from someone who wanted to adopt him.  I was cautious & said I'd wait a bit.  I can't recall if I waited for twenty-four hours but that sounds like me, but I did despair that his owner(s) weren't looking for him.  But right before our afternoon walk the next day, I received a message from someone who knew who he was & to whom he belonged.

This means that he spent a day with us.  He was a sweet, sweet fellow.  Not overly concerned with food - very different from our pack - but with a need to be close to someone.  I think we made him sleep in the garage overnight so as not to either cause any issues with our dogs nor give him any sense our home might be permanent.  He was very chill.  He was cool with whatever.  Look at that sweet face!

The message was from someone who lived in a halfway house in our neighborhood.  Bojangles belonged to a woman there who was beside herself with worry.  We said we'd bring him by - & that's how we learned his name.  When we returned him to her, I knew he was home - he showed such affection to her that I was convinced this was her owner.  I was glad to see him home but sad to see him go.

One of the people who had wanted to adopt him followed up with Bojangles' owner.  She was retired military with many issues.  She was a recovering addict & believed that someone in her house had deliberately set Bojangles free.  (I should note we found him several blocks from the house - he certainly had gone a-wanderin'.)  This person attempted to help Bojangles' owner but was rebuffed until, I assume, she just gave up.

At some point, my wife & I went back to the halfway house & clipped the nails of some of the pets there.  (We had bathed & clipped Bojangles' nails when he was with us.)  But we didn't stay in contact with any of the residents & it was not on our normal dog walk path.  I have not seen Bojangles since the day I handed him back to his owner.

A couple of days ago, we happened to walk past the halfway house & it appeared to be undergoing renovation.  I couldn't see if it was occupied but there was a giant dumpster in front & people wandering about in work clothes.  Perhaps it's no longer a halfway house.  Perhaps Bojangles & his owner no longer live there.

Here's what I know: when his owner took him from me, she expressed the joy I feel with my animals.  I had no doubt he was hers, & she his.  I can't begin to imagine what she has experienced & continues to go through.  I can only hope she has Bojangles to help her, wherever she may be.

It Bit

You won't believe I took this gorgeous picture of this terrifying creature - because why would you? I've shown no talent for photography!  Even I can't believe I took it.  Or that I got close enough to take it because I am deathly afraid of insects.  I just remember that my wife wanted to touch it, & it bit her.  It did!  Her finger swelled up.  Maybe some errant entomologist will happen by this blog one day & comment on what kind of bug it is.  As it stands, I have written it a poem.

Oh biting caterpillar!
We must fetch now the painkiller.

As my wife's hand did linger

You bit her on the finger.

She still thinks you're pretty

Despite what you did - which was shitty.

Though this was awful business

She's shown you forgiveness.

Someday I'll hurt her in some manner
(Not something I'd put in a planner)
But I think of how she forgave you
So there's hope that she'll forgive me too.

Although I shouldn't show her this poem.  It's pretty much unforgivable.

Self Help Radio 032922: The Saddest

This was the saddest sunflower I ever met.

Self Help Radio this week was in its own way two different shows.  The first featured artists telling us what they thought was the saddest thing - the saddest stories, the saddest songs, the saddest words.  During that portion of the show, we also talked to guests.

But as you might have noticed I asked on Twitter & Facebook for listeners to submit what they thought was the saddest song they ever heard - & I asked on air, too.  Honestly, it probably could have been an entire show.  As it happened, I just got to songs requests by Anne, Connor, Dave, two Erics, Gretchen, Hayden, Jamie, Keith, Kevin, Leah, Leslie, Michael, Patrick, Russell, & Tommy.  Except for the live requests, I completely randomized what I would play, so I just didn't have the time to play requests by Avalon, Christopher, Crystal, Damian, David, George, Jeff, Jeffrey, John, Jon, Liza, Matthew, Molly, & Suzi.  My apologies - I should've planned better.  I loved hearing all of your saddest songs!

Just a note - Conner called in to request the same song Jamie has requested, so I felt I had to play it!  & someone named Boosiph requested a Tom Waits song, which Keith also requested, so I flipped a coin, & Keith's choice one.

You can listen to the show any time at either KBOO's web site or at the Self Help Radio website. Login info for the Self Help Radio site - username SHR password selfhelp.  All the songs & what happens in-between are below.

You helped make the saddest show into one of my happiest!  Thank you!

Self Help Radio's Saddest Show
"Saddest Tale" Billie Holiday _The Legacy (1933-1958)_
"Saddest Night In The World" The Walker Brothers _The Walker Brothers Collection_
"The Saddest House In Stockholm" Marty Willson-Piper _Spirit Level_

introduction & explanation

"The Saddest Story Ever Told" The Magnetic Fields _The Wayward Bus_
"The Saddest Story Ever Told" The Charade _The Best Is Yet To Come_
"The Saddest Place In The World" Maria Bamford _How To Win!_
"My Saddest Hour" The Five Keys _The Aladdin Years_
"The Saddest Thing" Melanie _The Good Book_

interview with "Saddest Thing I've Ever Seen" columnist Cliff Turnbull

"Na Na Is The Saddest Word" The Stylistics _The Very Best Of The Stylistics_
"Goodbye Is The Saddest Word" Manhattans _There's No Good In Goodbye_
"The Saddest Snack" Matt Koff _Who's My Little Guy?_
"The Saddest Day" Vitesse _A Certain Hostility_
"The Saddest Song I've Got" Annie Lennox _Bare_

interview with composer of "the saddest music ever written" Edgar Jarvis

"The Saddest Lyrics I Have Ever Written" W-X _W-X_
"The Saddest Lullaby" I'm From Barcelona _Let Me Introduce My Friends_
"The Saddest Sentence" Hodera _First Things First_
"Saddest Quo" The Pernice Brothers _Discover A Lovelier You_
"Small Deaths Are The Saddest" Múm _Summer Make Good_

interview with Bummer, the saddest clown in Portland

"Saddest Summer" The Drums _Summertime!_
"Saddest Girl In The World" Alpaca Sports _From Paris With Love_
"Saddest Day" Brilliantine _My Life & The Beautiful Game_
"The Saddest Song" Morphine _Good_
"The Saddest Song Of All" Doug Ashdown _The Age Of Mouse_

interview with healer of the saddest people Sebastian Holder

"Drown In My Own Tears (Live)" Ray Charles _Genius & Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection_
"Long Ride Home" Patty Griffin _1000 Kisses_
"Holocaust" Big Star _Third/Sister Lovers_
"Tonight" Sibylle Baier _Colour Green_
"Alone Again" Biz Markie _I Need A Haircut_

we just heard what Michael, Leslie, Eric, Patrick, & Tom say are the saddest songs they've ever heard

"I Remember Me" Silver Jews _Bright Light_
"At Seventeen" Janis Ian _Between The Lines_
"Pictures Of You (Remix)" The Cure _Pictures Of You_
"Box Of Cedar" Marissa Nadler _Ballads Of Living & Dying_
"Suffer Little Children" The Smiths _The Smiths_

we just heard what Hayden, Anne, Dave, Eric, & Leah say are the saddest songs they've ever heard
also - conclusion & goodbye!

"In A Lonely Place" New Order _Substance_
"Soldier's Things" Tom Waits _Swordfishtrombones_
"Mad World" Gary Jules _Trading Snakeoil For Wolftickets_
"The Chalet Lines" Belle & Sebastian _Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant_
"Baltimore" Randy Newman _Little Criminals_

(those are what Kevin, Keith, Jamie, Connor, Gretchen, & Russell say are the saddest songs they've ever heard)

Whither The Saddest Show?

(I don't remember where I found this image but it was titled 'The Saddest Beer Ever.')

In typical predictable Self Help Radio fashion, this week's show is more focused on songs talking about the saddest things - stories, songs, etc. - than itself being the saddest show.  However!  As I discussed yesterday, I did ask listeners & friends about the saddest songs they heard, & I got a few responses, so at least some of the show - maybe even half! - will be actual songs that someone thought was the saddest they'd ever heard.

This means that while I don't believe the typical predictable Self Help Radio portion of the show would overall make you sad, the sad songs chosen by listeners actually may.  So consider this a warning!  There may be a part of Self Help Radio tonight that might be sad - & "sad" meaning "affected by unhappiness or grief," & not, as is the usual way people describe the show as sad, meaning "deplorably bad."

That's tonight, midnight to 3am, on 90.7 fm KBOO in Portland & online everywhere at kboo.fm.  We certainly hope it'll be the best saddest show you'll ever hear.

Preface To The Saddest Show: Requests

(image from here.)

My very first experience with radio - that is, communicating with a deejay who had a radio show - involved requesting a song.  I told that story on the blog a while back.  If you don't want to read it, here's the show version: I requested a song, the deejay did not play it, & when I called to request it again, he lied to me & said he'd already played it.

Requests have almost certainly been a part of radio since the beginning.  Early rock & roll deejays measured the success of a song by how many times it was requested.  & it certainly is something I have experienced in my many years of deejaying.  I can usually tell when the listener hasn't really been paying attention - or has never heard Self Help Radio before - & requests a song which has nothing to do with the theme.  In general, though, if I have access to a library, & if I can find the song, I will play it for a listener.

There are always caveats.  Many's the time I'm on the air during the day & can't play songs with bad words.  & I've mentioned, if the show has a theme, & the requested song doesn't fit the theme, I also won't play it.*  & of course if I can't find it, I won't play it.  Some folks will tell me "it's on Spotify" & some even send YouTube links, but I worry about quality from such sources.  I prefer to browse through a physical library, not the treacherous digital ones.

There was one listener in Kentucky who seemed so fearful I might not play his request that he referred to them as "suggestions."  "Thanks for the request," I'd say, & he'd quickly correct me: "It's not a request, it's a suggestion."  I would always wonder which deejay had hurt him so much.

The radio culture has changed since I started in 1994 & it seems that calling a show for requests is not a common thing - or maybe I should just say, not in Portland.  One listener called last week to ask if I'd played a certain song that fit the theme.  I said I hadn't, but if he'd like to hear it, I'd try to find it.  He said, "Oh no, don't interrupt your programming for me!"

That kind of humility seems to me ill-suited for the tradition of radio.  As it was, I looked for his song but could not find it.  Perhaps the number of requests has fallen as the number of fulfilled requests have fallen.  Or maybe my experience has been the anomaly - & most people, like eight-year-old me, are lied to by deejays who simply don't want to take requests.

Well, for tomorrow's show, the saddest show, I asked for requests.  I asked for them early, I asked on the Facebook & the Twitter.  I asked, "What's the saddest song you've ever heard?"  & I got nearly thirty responses.  & I'm going to devote part of tomorrow's saddest show to a selection of the saddest songs that some people have heard.  I'm going to ask again on the air.

Because requesting songs on the radio is not dead.  I'd like to make the suggestion that it become a common practice again.  As long as it doesn't hurt you too terribly much if I can't find what you're looking for.

* The most common request I get that I can't play on Self Help Radio is for a band that fits the theme, not a song.  For example, I might be doing a show about zombies & someone requests the Zombies.  But since the Zombies don't have a song about zombies, I won't play that request.

Two Very Different March 26ths

It may seem like a cheat, to use Saturdays on this blog to look back on pictures of this day, specifically ones I've taken, & aimlessly reminisce about them.  It may seem & it may be.  But nonetheless here are two pictures I took on March 26 in the past & they're in two different places, two thousand miles & two years apart.

On this day two year ago (though it feels like it's been a century), a terrible virus was making its presence known & people understandably panicked.  & I for some reason went to Costco, & saw this:

Those were weird times, when shelves were empty like it was North Korea, or a communist country in the 1970s.  I remember when they eventually got toilet paper & they allowed only one per customer, & I waited in line for it.  Just two years ago.  Imagine.

The other picture was taken on this day in 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas, in my backyard.  I would occasionally see a beautiful woodpecker come down & take a bite from my bird feeder.  & on this day I would take perhaps the best picture of him ever:

There is so very much I don't know about birds, but I remember looking this fellow up & confirming with my next-door neighbors.  I seem to remember it being a red-bellied woodpecker.  That links suggests I was right.  I would've loved a yard full of them.

We have yet to set up a bird feeder here in Portland.  I am not sure why that is.

Antipathy For Self Help Radio Day

From Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy no less!

(Sorry - I forgot where I found this - but almost certainly on Tumblr.)

Also can I remind you that Olivia Jaimes' Nancy (which you can read here) is delightful & I think worth your time?  Okay, then I will remind you!  I just did!

Self Help Radio 032222: Too Much

The sign above, in a picture I took many moons ago in Texas, conveys what I think is too much information.  It has the unenviable task of telling you that not only is the "express lane" coming up, but it's coming up pretty soon, & we know that because it's just a half-mile away.  What's more, you have very little time - this is a Texas highway, probably I-30, which has at times five lanes on each side - to get over to the left lane, which is not the standard exit.  But it's all for naught!  Because the time postscript, in warning-sign-orange, tells us it's closed.  Thanks for reading.  You'll find another express lane by & by.

It's almost like a short story except the ending is a disappointment, not an O. Henry-esque twist.  Which may be why I chose the image - except for the whole "too much information" part - because every episode of Self Help Radio is like an overlong short story with a disappointing ending.

Howsoever you choose to perceive the show, it's now at both the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website for your listening pleasure.  There were songs & guests galore - perhaps too much of such things - & those are detailed below.

No matter what you think about Self Help Radio, we think you are too much!

Self Help Radio Too Much Show

"Too Much" Jimmy Reed _Just Jimmy Reed_

"Too Much" Rosie Flores _Working Girl's Guitar_

"Too Much" Blondie _Pollinator_

introduction & definitions

"It's All Too Much" The Beatles _Yellow Submarine_

"I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night" The Electric Prunes _Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era_

"Too Much Yang Energy" Charles Schwab _Sonic Damn Nation_

"Too Much Going For You" Holly Golightly _Laugh It All Up!_

"Nothing's Too Much (Nothing's Too Good)" Billy Young _Deep Soul Treasures (Taken From The Vaults...) (Volume 1)_

interview with wrestler Tommy "Too Much" Turner

"Too Much Pressure" The Selecter _Too Much Pressure_

"Too Much Monkey Business" Chuck Berry _The Chess Years_

"She's Too Much For My Mirror" Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band _Trout Mask Replica_

"I Think Too Much" Aziz Ansari _Dangerously Delicious_

"You Talk Too Much" Run-DMC _Greatest Hits_

interview with travel writer Damien Craig

"Too Much To Bear" Doris Duke _I'm A Loser (The Swamp Dogg Sessions... & More)_

"You Had Too Much" Lonnie Johnson & Violet Green _Roots & Blues_

"Too Much Violence" The Clean _Modern Rock_

"Too Much Acid" Pineapples From The Dawn Of Time _Behind The Banana Curtain 1975-2000_

"Too Much Space" Lisa Germano _In The Maybe World_

interview with psychologist Dr. Sunshine Daydream

"Too Much Of Nothing" Bob Dylan & The Band _The Basement Tapes_

"There's Too Much Love" Belle & Sebastian _Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant_

"Too Much" Julie Doiron _Heart & Crime_

"Too Much Time" Nona Hendryx & Gary Lucas _The World Of Captain Beefheart_

"Too Much Of One Thing" The Go-Betweens _Bright Orange Bright Yellow_

interview with life coach Jarvis Condo

"You Drink Too Much" State Street Swingers _The Music Of Prohibition_

"Too Much Weight" Mickey & Sylvia _Love Is Strange_

"You Yakity Yak Too Much" The Flippers _The Best Of Flip Records Volume 3: The Mess Around_

"Too Much 21st Century" Bauhaus _Go Away White_

"Way Too Much" Wavves _V_

"Need Too Much" Lisa Prank _Perfect Love Song_

a rumination of things there are too much of

"Too Much On My Mind" The Kinks _Face To Face_

"Just Too Much To Hope For" Tammi Terrell _The Complete Motown Singles | Vol. 8: 1968_

"Too Much For You" Bobby Angelle _The Soul Of Money Records_

"Too Much" The Feelies _Only Life_

"Too Much" Lucky Soul _Hard Lines_

"Too Much Information" The Police _Ghost In The Machine_

conclusion & goodbye

"Too Much Too Drink" Milky Wimpshake _Lovers Not Fighters_

"Too Much In Love" The King Khan & BBQ Show _What's For Dinner?_

"Too Much Woman" Alison Stevenson _Eat Me_

"Too Much Make Up" A Giant Dog _Pile_

"Too Much Space" Hey Hey My My _Hey Hey My My_

"I Shared Too Much With Her" Gospel Music _How To Get To Heaven From Jacksonville, FL_

"Too Much E" Lloyd Cole & The Negatives _The Negatives_

Whither Too Much?

 

(image from here)

When the world is too much with me, when I feel too little inspiration from things, I often retreat into a phrase or a word as a theme for Self Help Radio.  & that's what's happening on this week's show - everything on the show will somehow feature the small but potent phrase "too much."

Perhaps I also should have featured "too many" but as it stands, there was almost too much music to get through for tonight's show - too many songs if you will.  There will also be interviews, which may be too much even though there's three hours to fill.  If this seems like too much for you, just remember: the show's theme is "too much"!

It's happening tonight on 90.7 fm KBOO, kboo.fm on the computer or phone with computer on it, in the much too much late hours of midnight to 3am.  It just might be too much for you.  & that's the point.

Preface To Too Much: Isn't Three Hours Too Much

(image & article answering that question here)

A long time ago, when I first starting doing Self Help Radio, I was oh so glad & grateful to have an hour-long show on the airwaves at KOOP.  It was very competitive at that time on the station - most shows were thirty minutes or an hour, & the two hour shows had been around for a while.  & frankly, I had come up with the idea of exploring a different theme every week out of a kind of desperation - I needed an angle to get my show approved.  So who knew if I could fill an hour a week with a show about donuts or diapers or whatever?

But when I had the opportunity to do the show for two hours, I took it.  & then when the station decided to change the schedule, I was happy to do ninety minutes.  & I kinda felt at the time that that was the perfect show length for Self Help Radio.  When I started at WRFL in 2010, the timeslot was three hours long - so I divided the time between a freeform show & Self Help Radio, although eventually I did expand it again to two hours, & ended with a two hour show before I left Kentucky.

When I moved SHR to KBOO, I knew I wouldn't be splitting the timeslot - but I did wonder if maybe I should reserve the last hour for something else, like only instrumentals, or perhaps "re-running" a previous show.  Eventually I decided, you know what?  I will do a three-hour show.  They've given me three hours.  Nothing else made any sense.

But to answer my own question: yes, three hours is too much.  When I have five interviews, it is handy, but I wouldn't have so many interviews if the show were only two hours long.  & I hold out hope that either a) the station decides to carve up the late-night hours into smaller timeslots so more shows can happen or b) I get an earlier two-hour timeslot at some point.  Because doing three hour shows - & then doing the Dickenbock Report - yes, that's too much.

Bo Live

This is a terrible picture taken from quite far away at a Bo Burnham concert I attended in Atlanta on this day in 2015.  I had become familiar with him when I was reviewing material for WRFL & we got a digital copy of his album, What., which would've been in December of 2013.

We didn't normally get comedy records, & I was very baffled by the first track, which is nearly ten minutes long, & which is mostly pantomime (not great for an audio medium).  But I was intrigued by it - & was glad to see the actual show on Youtube not long after.  That started me on the Bo Burnham journey - which led to this show, in which I was old enough to be the father of about 95% of the attendees.

Atlanta was a bit of a schlep from Lexington, Kentucky, where we lived, but we would often have to travel outside the city to see shows - usually Cincinnati or Louisville, but we went to Columbus & Nashville & even St. Louis if a band or comedian only came that close to us.

We don't have that problem in Portland!  Lots of shows come here - of course now I just have to feel comfortable to go to see them.  Which I am probably not.

Remind me to tell you how I fucked up seeing him on his next tour, which would be his last for a while - & that story is the subject of a song he did on his extraordinary Netflix show from last year.

Ginger(bread) Books

(images from Good Reads)

If you listened to this past week's Self Help Radio, you heard our librarian friend Carole talk about books involving gingerbread.  Why would she do that?  Well, it was The Ginger Show.  You didn't listen?  Maybe go do that now - at either KBOO dot fm or at the Self Help Radio website - & when you're done, check out the books she talked about, which were:

The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth, illustrated by Barbara McClintock

The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone

The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires, illustrated by Holly Berry

The Gingerbread Man Loose In The School by Laura Murray, illustrated by Mike Lowery
(This is the first of a series about the Gingerbread Man - the link will mention the rest!)

Hansel & Gretel by Bethan Woollvin

& Gingerbread For Liberty!: How A German Baker Helped Win The American Revolution by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Vincent X. Kirsch

You might find all or some of these good fits for your library! Or you might just want to read them at the library. Either one will make Carole very happy.

Self Help Radio 031522: The Ginger Show

Did Self Help Radio broadcast from this place this week? Alas, no!

Whilst sipping ginger tea, & delicately nibbling on ginger snaps, hoping to return home for a cold ginger beer post-show, I sat in the lonesome KBOO studios this morning & presented a radio show about ginger. Of all kinds! The name, the root, the red-head. & probably more. It was a very long show.

& surely it can speak for itself, so let's just tell you the what & where, were you foolish enough to miss it.  You can listen whenever you'd like, preferably while eating ginger &/or hanging out with a ginger (but do the latter gingerly), at both the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website.  As always, I remind you, should you choose the latter, you'll need a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp) to listen.

Lots of music & lots of stuff happened on the show.  All is detailed below.  & please don't forget to support KBOO radio right now!

Self Help Radio 220315: The Ginger Show
"Ginger" Wayne Parker _Rare Fifties Boston Rockabilly, Vol. 1_
"Ginger" Lovers _Star Lit Sunken Ship_
"Ginger" Twin Sister _Vampires With Dreaming Kids/Color Your Life_

introduction & definitions

"Prejudice" Tim Minchin & The Heritage Orchestra _Tim Minchin & The Heritage Orchestra_
"Ginger Geezer" Vivian Stanshall _Teddy Boys Don't Knit_
"The Land Of Green Ginger" The Orb _Back To Mine_
"Gingersnap" Jamie _Gingersnap_
"Do The Ginger Snap" Little Bobby Moore _Only Young Once - The King Records Story 1962_

interview with diviner Sammy Jarvis

"Ginger" Ginger Valley _Country Life_
"Ginger" The Lilys _A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns_
"Mother Ginger (narrated by Jim Weiss)" London Philharmonic Orchestra, Stephen Simon, Conductor _The Nutcracker_
"Ginger Haired Man" Gallery _Nice To Be With You: All Time Greatest Performances_
"Ginger" The Front Bottoms _Back On Top_

interview with our library friend Carole (part one)

"Ginger Bread" Frankie Avalon _The Best Of Frankie Avalon_
"Sweet Gingerbread Man" Bobby Sherman _With Love, Bobby_
"Gingerbread" Jumprope _Shining Sun_
"The Gingerbread House" Plasticland _Wonder Wonderful Wonderland_
"Gingerbread Abode" Helen Austin _Always Be A Unicorn_

interview with our library friend Carole (part one)

"Princess Of The Gingerland" The Glitterhouse _Color Blind_
"Ginger Man" Barry Goldberg Blues Band _Blowing My Mind_
"Ginger Bread Man" The Shades _Green Crystal Ties Volume Ten (60s Garage Band Flashback)_
"Ginger Ale Yawn" Wolfie _You're Lucky I'm Skinny_
"Ginger Ale" The Clean _Modern Rock_

another installment of Marge's Large Kitchen

"Ginger & Spice" Hoagy Carmichael _A Portrait Of Hoagy Carmichael_
"Gingerbread Coffin" Rasputina _Cabin Fever!_
"Ginger Park" 50 Foot Wave _Golden Ocean_
"Ginger's Boogie" Ginger Smock with the Jackson Brothers _Boogie Woogie Gals: Boogie Songstresses & Piano Stylists_
"Ginger Kisses" Modern Girlfriends _Modern Girlfriends_
"Jackass Ginger" Poi Dog Pondering _Volo Volo_

Gary's moderately amusing ginger ale story

"Ginger" Neil Sedaka _The Brooklyn Demos (1958-1961)_
"Ginger Snaps" Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham _L'Avventura_
"Ginger" Hooverphonic _No More Sweet Music_
"Ginger" Speedy Ortiz _Foil Deer_
"Ginger" T.J. Assembly _Let's Go Down & Blow Our Minds: The British Psychedelic Sounds Of 1967_
"Playing Cards With Gingerbread" WinterKids _Memoirs_

conclusion & goodbye

"Ginger (La Rue Remix)" The Sensualists _Adaptations_
"Jack & Ginger" Ill Ease _Live At The Holiday Sin_
"Ginger, Baby" Ex Norwegian _House Music_
"Ginger" Georgia's Horse _Weather Codes_

Whither The Ginger Show?

Majestic root.

Ginger can mean or be many things.  It can be the delicious root pictured above.  It can mean (in UK slang mostly) a red-headed person.  & it can be a name or nickname (often based on the color of one's hair).  & that's not even talking about the adjective!  Tonight all of the word's meanings will be explored on Self Help Radio's show about ginger.

Perhaps it's these myriad reasons that made me start collecting songs about ginger & gingers in the first place.  Certainly there are more songs about the name than the vegetable, although if you add in gingerbread & ginger snaps & even ginger ale, it attempts to even the number somewhat.  I assure you it had nothing to do with this being the week of St. Patrick's day, the traditional holiday celebrating the Irish, whose folk are famously red-headed!  Howsoever the theme did occur to me, we shall have a show about all kinds of ginger tonight.

Listen from midnight to 3am on 90.7fm in town & online everywhere at kboo.fm.  Many songs, a few interviews, lots of embarrassing talking from me.  The usual!

Preface To The Ginger Show: I Cooked With Ginger Tonight!

(No, not that Ginger! Image from here.)

While Tina Louise is definitely the Ginger of my childhood, I wasn't cooking with her tonight, nor was I watching Gilligan's Island while I was cooking.  Come to think of it, I haven't watched an episode of Gilligan's Island in decades.  But they're burned into my brain from childhood, so I don't have to.  No, I was cooking with the root, which I hate having to peel, & also I don't enjoy grating it either.

If you bet me that I hadn't actually eaten ginger in anything other than gingerbread or ginger ale before I was twenty, I would take that bet - if you showed ginger root to me when I was fifteen, I wouldn't know what it was, let alone that it was edible.  To be fair, I was mostly confused & ignorant when I was fifteen, so it's not that I was simply culinarily ignorant.  Although I was.

My mother, in her eighties, once asked my sister Karin, "Did I cook for you when you were a kid?"  She wasn't getting senile - well, she was, but this wasn't an example of that - my mother was kind of realizing she hadn't been a very good cook.  I can remember maybe five meals we regularly had, & they weren't of the "more than one item" variety - we might have bread, but hardly any sides.  I can imagine my mother lacklusterly listening to her mother trying to teach her how to make meals.  Almost certainly my mother had a very small repertoire of spices - salt, pepper, perhaps some paprika - although she told me she found paprika a bit too spicy for her tastes.

This is sad but true: I didn't eat Indian food or Chinese food until I was in at least my third year of college.  I wasn't too adventurous but I also didn't really know about the other cuisines.  & I really didn't start cooking in earnest until maybe a little over ten years ago.  That's when I became familiar with ginger.  Which I cooked with tonight!  I made a recipe called "Thai Golden Curry."  It took an eighth of a cup of ginger.  I was supposed to grate it, but I did not.  I chopped it as small as I could.

It occurs to me that I don't really know the relationship between the ginger I cook with in non-dessert foods & the ginger in gingerbread, how it works, what the story is.  I must do some research.

& for the record, I was way more into Mary-Ann than Ginger.  When I was like eight.