Golden Couplets

(helpful definition from the video here.)

Speaking of The Golden Show, which we'll stop doing after today, our own eminent versifier, Sir Archibald Von Poesy, shared with us couplets about famous golden things all through the show.  You can listen to the show - at either kboo.fm or at selfhelpradio.net - if you'd like to hear them during the show, but to share his wit & wisdom, we thought we'd isolate them here for your reading enjoyment.  So enjoy them.

Be careful on the famed Golden Gate Bridge!
Should you fall, all that's left would be a smidge.

Should you long for a dog whose not an over-achiever
Might I suggest for you a golden retriever?

You're going to the Golden State? I must warn ya -
You're actually traveling to California!

If you're concerned about your family's dietary morale
Do not subject them to the buffet at the Golden Corral.

Abandon all regrets, all hatred, all fears
& you'll enjoy the best of your golden years.

I enjoy any pint, with gusto, without fail,
Even if you want to call a blonde a golden ale.

I don't enjoy mathematics but if you say so
I'll express admiration for the golden ratio.

On Golden Films

(image from the IMDb)

On lucky weeks, we get a visit during the show by our resident cinephile, Chuck, who watches lots of movies about whatever the theme is & talks about a few of those films.  This week he stopped by to talk about movies whose title (or alternate title) featured the word "golden."  Because it was the "Golden Show."

If you didn't listen, shame on you!  Luckily you can do so at either kboo.fm or at selfhelpradio.net.  Once you've done so - & it's all right if you just listened to Chuck's segment - you can use the following links to see the films he talked about & find out more information about them

Here is the IMDb search Chuck made to find "Golden" films.
Here is his YouTube playlist with the movies he discussed - & more!
Here is the IMDb list of some films available for free elsewhere.
& here are his Letterboxd reviews of the golden movies he wanted to review.

Follow Chuck on Twitter & you'll know what he's watching - & when he'll be on the show next!

May I just say that I find that movie poster for On Golden Pond pretty awful?  I wouldn't go to see the film based on those terrible drawings of the leads!

Self Help Radio 061422: The Golden Show

It did seem like this week was a golden opportunity to have a golden show.  Some think we live in a golden age of radio, but I am more likely to subscribe to the golden mean - let's not get too carried away.  

Can I also apologize for not having an official "animal of the show" this week?  You'll recall that, in the running, were the Golden Lion Tamarin, the Golden Tortoise Beetle, the Golden Apple Snail, the Golden Slender Mongoose, the Golden Eyelash Viper, Gee's Golden Langur, the American Goldfinch, the Golden Poison Dart Frog, & the Bolivian Golden Bat.  You can look at pictures of them here.  How could we choose between them?

Anyway, it was a busy show.  Luckily you can listen to it now at either the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website.  Pro tip: a username (SHR) & password (selfhelp) are needed at the SHR website.  Lots of things happened on the show, the details are below.

The golden hours pass into the golden days which become the golden years.  We all want to stay golden.

Self Help Radio Golden Show
"Golden" A Girl Called Eddy _A Girl Called Eddy_
"Golden Age" Cult Of Youth _Love Will Prevail_
"Golden Gate Bridge" Rose Melberg _Portola_

introduction & definitions

"Golden Lady" Stevie Wonder _Innervisions_
"Golden Mean" Tanya Donelly _Whiskey Tango Ghosts_
"Golden Ring" George Jones & Tammy Wynette _Golden Ring_
"Golden Loom" Bob Dylan _The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991_
"Golden Cities" Lisa Germano _In The Maybe World_

interview with King Midas

"Golden Age Saturday" Cleaners From Venus _In The Golden Autumn_
"Golden Frames" Shannon Shaw _Shannon In Nashville_
"Golden Green" The Wonder Stuff _Hup_
"Golden Years" Léa Sen _Modern Love_
"The Golden Age Of Aviation" The Lucksmiths _Staring At The Sky_

interview with plastic surgeon Dr Harry Jarvis

"Silence Is Golden" The Beths _Expert In A Dying Field_
"The Man With The Golden Hand" The Octopus Project _Fever Forms_
"Golden Egg" Clara Engel _Their Invisible Hands_
"Golden Age" Beach Fossils _Beach Fossils_
"Sister Goldenhair" The Hummingbirds _Tuesday_

our librarian friend Carole stops by the talk Little Golden Books

"Golden Brown" The Stranglers _Feline_
"Golden Thing" Throwing Muses _The Real Ramona_
"Happy The Golden Prince" Robyn Hitchcock _Eaten By Her Own Dinner_
"Golden Slumbers" Blue Roses _Abbey Road Now! (Mojo Presents The Beatles' 1969 Classic Re-Recorded!)_
"Golden Torpedo" Milk Lines _Ceramic_

a visit from our resident cinephile Chuck to talk about movies with Golden in the title

"Golden Hours" Ida _Ten Small Paces_
"Golden Hair" Syd Barrett _The Madcap Laughs_
"Golden Lights" Twinkle _Golden Lights_
"Golden Waters" The Monochrome Set _Dante's Casino_
"Golden Clouds" Calliope Musicals _Color/Sweat_
"Golden Sea" French Films _Imaginary Future_

idioms with golden

"Golden Summer" Helen Love _Summer Pop Punk Pop_
"Golden Haze" Wild Nothing _Golden Haze EP_
"Golden Square" Pipas _Golden Square_
"Golden Days To Come" Last Leaves _The Official Matinée World Cup EP_
"Unless You're Golden" Bella _No One Will Know_
"The Golden Bough" Steven James Adams _Old Magick_

conclusion & goodbye

"Golden Flute" Dengue Fever _The Deepest Lake_
"Golden Birds" Easy _Radical Innocence_

Whither The Golden Show?

(The last rays of the sun turn the tops of the trees golden.)

Theme-based shows often rely on colors.  Colors are probably the easiest of themes.  Because of my contrary nature, I tend to shy away from the "easiest of themes."  I think in fact when I did a show about the color green, I asked listeners & Facebook friends to pick the songs.  There were way too many songs about the color green.

& I noticed that I had previously done a show about gold a decade ago.  Which is a color but also you know a precious metal.  I felt it was time to return to a color on Self Help Radio but I thought maybe if I specified a color descriptor - an adjective, basically - it might make it easier.  I settled on "golden."  & I have lived to regret it.

There were so many golden songs that I decided that I would mostly (but not entirely) rely upon songs from this century.  & I would forego my many deep-dives into different genres & stick with the indie rock.  There's probably a country or blues or soul golden show out there - it won't be this week's Self Help Radio.

With all that in mind, you may still want to tune in to 90.7 fm KBOO tonight (or online at kboo.fm) from midnight to 3am.  There'll be guests & stuff.  It'll be golden.  Because that's the theme.

Preface To The Golden Show: Oh No What Have I Done

(I found this on the internet in 2015. I have no idea where.)

Something I have complained about before - so much I feel I could be a bore - is that I prefer my themes to be quite narrow.  Because while finding songs for an obscure theme might be a chore, what's worse is if the theme's too broad there's always more - like drops of rain gathering in a wheelbarrow.

Hold on, was I rhyming there?  Okay, I'll stop that.

There are too many songs with "golden" in the title or repeated in the lyrics.  Way too many.  I feel like I need to impose other restrictions.  Because Sunday's nearly over & I still have so many songs to listen to.

What might those restrictions be?  How can the show be organized?  Why didn't they pick a picture of a golden hamster with a golden apple?  It's obviously whatever they called Photoshopped before you could Photoshop things.

All right then.  Back to listening to songs.  I certainly hope you appreciate all I do.  You know, sitting here listening to songs.  Such a difficult thing I do.

Urban Ruins

One of the strangest things that happens when a business fails is that they're not somehow required to clean up or otherwise alter the remnants of their existence in a place.  Take this picture - which I snapped five years ago today in Fort Worth, Texas.  There was once a Pancho's restaurant here.  They were long gone - but their fading sign was still there for the world to see.

But do you know what happened?  We left Fort Worth in May of 2019, but according to Gorgle Maps, by December 2018 - barely six months before we left - some enterprising entrepreneur rebranded that sign:

Yep, the former Pancho's sign became a pharmacy sign.

Which may or not may prove my point?  Did I have a point?  I can't remember.

Oh yeah I was going to tell a Pancho's story but I will save it for some other time.

Rain

It rained all day today. You might be saying, "So what? It's Portland, man!"

Yes, it rains here, but it's not often a constant rain.  We have walked the dogs in-between patches of rain.

Today, after about noon, it started raining.  & it hasn't stopped.

Someone in Austin posted a weather chart of this week.  The highs are all over 100 degrees.

There was a news report a couple weeks ago - local news - it asked, "When will Portland break 80 degrees?"

It won't happen for a while.  Certainly not with all this rain.

Self Help Radio 060722: Knees

How I wish I could say something interesting or pithy about knees!  The only thing I can think is, one day my knees will fail me.  I know several people whose age I am quickly approaching who had to have some form of knee surgery - including (shudder) knee replacement.  A show about knees caused me to contemplate the fate of my knees.

Instead though I should have enjoyed the celebration of the knee!  It knocks when we're afraid!  It goes weak when we're in love!  When we are trying things out, we first go in up to the knee!  & when we want something, whether from a love or a god, we go down on our knees as a sign of our humility.

But.  Once I slipped on the ice & landed on my knees.  I was utterly astonished I didn't ruin my kneecaps then & there.  Probably I just started their ruin.  I will be in a doctor's office one day & they're going to say to me, "Did you break your patella in around 2015?"  Okay, I'll stop fixating on that.

Please enjoy a show about knees with only a small amount of discussion of knee injuries.  You can listen now & any time at either the Self Help Radio KBOO page or at the Self Help Radio website.  If you choose the latter, remember the username SHR & the password selfhelp.  You'll need that information.  Everything that happens on the show is below.

Take care of your knees!!!!

Self Help Radio 220607: Knees

"Knee" Ken Nordine _Wink: Ken Nordine Does Robert Shure_

"Skinny Knee Bone" Freakwater _Scheherazade_

"Kneebone" Joe Armstrong & Group _Southern Journey 1: Georgia Sea Islands, Volume I_

introduction, featuring the Anatomy-O-Tron 3000!

"On Bended Knees" Barbara Lewis _The Complete Atlantic Singles_

"Down On My Knees" Willie James _Lost Deep Soul Treasures Volume 2_

"She Gets Down On Her Knees" Yoko Ono _Season Of Glass_

"Knee Deep In Love" Q _Dancin' Man_

"An Owl With Knees" The Books _Lost & Safe_

interview with athlete Jarvis Montcrieff

"Knee Deep In Clover" Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson _Lover's Heaven_

"On Your Knees Cowboy!" The Hepburns _The Last Thing I Saw Before I Said Goodbye_

"Dancer With Bruised Knees" Kate & Anna McGarrigle _Dancer With Bruised Knees_

"Knee Jerk Reaction" The Green Circles _Antipodean Screams_

"Knees" Injury Reserve _By The Time I Get To Phoenix_

interview with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Timothy Patterson

"Highway Knees" T. Rex _Tanx_

"Making Love To A Vampire With A Monkey On My Knee" Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band _Doc At The Radar Station_

"Knee Deep In The Blues" The International Submarine Band _Safe At Home_

"Knee Deep" Kelly Slusher _Invited To Dinner_

"Scarred Knees" Esther Phillips _From A Whisper To A Scream_

interview with author Dr. Todd Saget

"Weak In The Knees" Shades Of Blue _Diggin' Up Down Under!_

"Knees Up Mother Brown (Knees Down Mother Brown)" Scaffold _Thank U Very Much_

"Down On Your Knees" The Popguns _Eugenie_

"The Bee's Knees" Bitesize _Sophomore Slump_

"Hand To The Knee/Tshimbala Mulumbayi" Congotronics International _Where's The One?_

idioms with knees

"Down On Bending Knees" Johnny Copeland _Down & Out (The Sad Soul Of The Black South)_

"Down On My Knees" Eddie "Blues Man" Kirkland _It's The Blues Man!_

"Get Up Off Of Our Knees" The Housemartins _London 0 Hull 4_

"Knee Trembler" The Close Lobsters _Headache Rhetoric_

"Knee Deep At The NPL" Camera Obscura _Underachievers Please Try Harder_

a discussion of the song "Oh Susannah"

"O Susanna" Andrew Calhoun _Grapevine_

"Oh Susannah" Neil Young & Crazy Horse _Americana_

"Banjo On My Knee" Mike Settle _The Mike Settle Shindig_

"With My Banjo On My Knee Blues" Louisiana Lou _Flowers In The Wildwood (Women In Early Country Music 1923-1939)_

"Oh Susannah" Hazel Holler _Hazel Holler_

conclusion & goodbye

"Weak At The Knees" Steve Arrington's Hall Of Fame _I_

"Fall On Your Knees" Larkin Grim _Parplar_

"Down On Your Knees" The Wake _Tidal Wave Of Hype_

"Let Loose Of My Knee" The Nivens _From A Northumbrian Mining Village Comes The Sound Of Summer_

"Get Off Your Knees" The Waltones _You've Gotta Hand It To 'Em: The Very Best Of The Waltones_

Whither Knees?

(image from the Wikipedia)

Why a radio show about knees?  Would you believe it's because I did a radio show about socks?  But it's true!

Back in November, over a thousand years ago, Self Help Radio explored socks.  You can still listen to that show if you want to!  One type of sock - we had a couple of songs about it - was the "knee sock."  It occurred to me that I hadn't done a show about a body part in a while, & that I wondered if there were lots of songs about knees.  That's how that idea started.

Now it's time for that idea to become a real live radio show to disappoint everyone!  It'll happen tonight on KBOO - which is  on the air in Portland at 90.7fm & online everywhere at kboo.fm - from midnight to 3am.  All sorts of knee songs plus the usual ridiculousness.

Although no songs about knee socks.  They belong in the socks show!

Preface To Knees: The Knee Of A Lost Love

It may shock most people to know this, but I was young once, but then as now I didn't really enjoy taking pictures of me.  It was brutal enough to look at myself every time I had to in a mirror.  But thinking about knees, I seemed to remember a picture of me which was taken as I was holding the knee of my girlfriend at the time.

& so I found it.  It's up there.  I am all of 24 years old & my hair & beard were long.  We had decided to take pictures that day because I was going to shave my beard off.  There are probably pictures of that somewhere.  Imagine all the time you have when you're young!  I hardly even seem to have the time to take a leisurely shower!

When I thought about this picture, I honestly thought the knee was more prominent.  I thought it might take up enough of the picture that my face would be obscured.  Alas!

Also, sorry.

There's Always Something After The Show...

This picture:

was taken at the end of January on one of the dog walks the wife & I take (with the dogs of course) around the city.  I believe this was in Gresham, we went to walk through a park, & instead of walking back through it, we took a longer route through the neighborhood around it.  This was on a fence of a house which stood on the corner of a neighborhood road & a much busier street.

(There's a folder on my computer full of the many pictures I take when I am out & about.  I don't have a lot of time to go through them, so I am way behind, having only gotten to late January in early June.)

What's the story?  What is happening?  I can only guess.  But more than anything I wish I had found this before this week's show!

"Tim's Front Yard"

On Self Help Radio's show about yards this past week, we presented six never-before-aired episodes of the beloved radio serial "Tim's Front Yard."  Previous generations would gather at the appointed hour, just past dinnertime, to thrill to the tragicomic adventures of Tim, who wanted the perfect front yard, & his neighbor Bob, who wanted the neighborhood to look as good as possible.  The show ran from the early 1940s until radio died, & is fondly missed by many, especially those who never heard it.

Self Help Radio was proud to air the otherwise unheard episodes but unfortunately, it was in installments during the show, & no one in their right mind listens all the way through an episode of Self Help Radio.  It's three extremely painful hours long!  So for those who wish just to hear the serial, you can conveniently listen to all six parts right now by clicking this link.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, to see the front yard as a metaphor for the world, with Tim the Everyperson, & I guess Bob can be seen as both the powerful god whose capriciousness we cannot abide & the eternal antagonist who sharpens us as a stone sharpens a blade.  I mean, I wrote my senior thesis on the serial but it's been a really long time since high school.  The magic of a beloved work of radio theater like this is that it can mean whatever the fuck you want it to mean.  Please enjoy.

Self Help Radio 053122: Yards

(Yes, it's a picture of my backyard.)

While there are lots of songs about lots of different kinds of yards - farmyards, schoolyards, courtyards, stockyards, junkyards, barnyards, brickyards, to name but a few - backyards seem to be the most common subject of "yard songs."  I just quickly counted eighteen songs on this show about backyards, at least in the title, & that's more than half the songs on the show.  So.  I thought I'd share my backyard with you.  I took that moments ago.  It's actually quite a lovely afternoon here in Portland today!

Meanwhile, late last night (or early this morning), I played on the radio for three hours, talked about & played songs about all kinds of yards.  As I mentioned previously, there were no songs about the yards we use in measurement, nor were there songs about graveyards.  Turns out I covered that one year for Halloween.

Please enjoy lots of songs about yards.  No matter which yard you happen to be listening in.  The show is over at the KBOO website.  It's also on the Self Help Radio website.  If you go to that last one, make sure you bring the username SHR & the password selfhelp.  But you'll be able to download the show!  Everything that happens is below.

Hm. I might go nap in the backyard now!

Self Help Radio Yards Show

"Yard" The Birthday Party _Prayers On Fire_

"Yard" Black Belt Eagle Scout _Mother Of My Children_

"I Don't Want To Play In Your Yard" The Vonnair Sisters _Goodbye To Toyland_

introduction & definitions

"The Farm Yard Connection" Fun Boy Three _Waiting_

"Swing In The Backyard" Lightnin' Hopkins _The Legacy Of The Blues Vol. 12_

"Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard" Me First & The Gimme Gimmes _Have A Ball_

"The Backyard" Stevans _Rupture_

"Courtyard" Bobbie Gentry _The Delta Sweete_

interview with yard sale aficionado Jeremy Rogers

"Yardsale" Lifestyle _At The Risk Of Sounding Pretentious_

"Yard Sale" Jimbo Pap _It Can Always Get Worse_

"Clean Up Your Own Yard" Jackie Moore _Sweet Charlie Babe_

"Keep In Your Own Backyard" Peter Skellern _You're A Lady_

"Backyards" Broken Social Scene _Bee Hives_

interview with yard of the month winner Terry Jarvis

"Backyard Blues" Wilson's T.O.B.A. Band _The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records 1917-1927, Volume 1_

"New Stock Yard Blues" Robert Wilkins _That's No Way To Get Along_

"Barnyard Boogie" Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five _Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five_

"Back In Your Own Back Yard" Nancy Wilson _Hello Young Lovers_

"The Yard Went On Forever" Richard Harris _The Yard Went On Forever..._

interview with "In The Yard" author Curtis Derren

"Back Yard Movement" The Mighty Threes _Africa Shall Stretch Forth Her Hands_

"In Your Backyard" Reptaliens _Multiverse_

"In The Backyard" The Rosebuds _Life Like_

"Junkyard" Alex Chilton _High Priest_

"Junkyard" U.S. Girls _Bills & Aches & Blues_

idioms!

"The Big Back Yard" Robert Merrill _New York, New York: A Vintage Portrait_

"Back of the Yards" The Jack Teter Trio _Johnson Rag_

"My Backyard" Mose Allison _My Backyard_

"Barnyard Soul" Roscoe & Friends _Barnyard Soul_

"Brickyard Blues" Love Machine _Love Machine_

"Rain In My Backyard" The Moments _Sharp_

Scotland Yard?

"Scotland Yard" John Cale _Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood_

"Government Out Of My Backyard" The Skywriters _The Skywriters_

"Backyard" The Big However _Las Vegas Amusements_

"Active In The Yard" Mission Of Burma _Forget_

"Backyard" Sløtface _Try Not To Freak Out_

"Sunny Backyard" The Intelligence _Everybody's Got It Easy But Me_

conclusion & goodbye

"Rock In The Yard" Upside Drown _Mood Music_

"Backyard Guys" 20/20 _20/20_

Whither Yards?

(It's true, there's at least one yard in Portland mostly full of statuary.)

In the years when I lived with my mother & siblings, I was mostly in apartments.  We didn't have enough money to own - or even rent - a house.  There was no yard to maintain or mow or rake.  To be sure, I was occasionally bribed by older siblings to mow or take their yards, but obviously never as often as the kid who grew up with a front or back yard.

The first place I lived - it was a duplex - which had a yard, the landlord mowed the yard for us.  It wasn't until we bought our first house in - gosh, 2005? - I would've been 37! - that I spent any time dealing with the care & upkeep of a yard.  Having dogs one kind of needs to have a yard.  The most time I spend in my backyard now I spent with my dogs.

Self Help Radio late tonight will talk about all kinds of yards.  Not just yards in front or or behind homes, but shipyards, schoolyards, churchyards, many different yards - probably not Rudyards, though.  I don't really know any, actually.  Is there anyone named Rudyard who'd like to be my friend?

Listen from midnight to 3am tonight (or Tuesday morning if you want to be technical) on 90.7fm in Portland & online at kboo.fm.  To celebrate the humble yard.  But not the measurement!

Preface To Yards: The Backyard Just Outside Austin

(image from here)

The Backyard was a music venue about twenty miles west of Austin in I believe the city of Bee Caves.  On this website, which doesn't seem to know it's been closed for over a decade, it says, "The Backyard is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country in a natural, open-air setting enveloped in the shade of 400 year old live oaks. This one of a kind amphitheater hosts music of a varied & eclectic mix of musicians."

The Backyard is a venue I think I went to more than I actually did.  I saw Elvis Costello there at least three times - his gigography says he performed there four times, so maybe I saw him there four time.  I saw Belle & Sebastian there twice.  My three favorite shows there were Leonard Cohen in 1993, Richard Thompson in 1994, & Morrissey in 2007.

It was a very secluded place, with a dirt parking lot, & no matter how hot the day was - & it was usually hot - it felt about fifteen degrees cooler under those trees.  It was a lovely place to see a show.  & for some reason, I didn't go out there between 2004 or so & 2007, & when I did, holy shit.

A mall had sprung up around it.  It was like a completely different place.  We parked in an actual parking lot & walked past a Best Buy.  It was indicative of the changes Austin went through before I left - I can't be certain, but there were probably people who complained about the noise of the live shows at the Backyard which caused it to close.

It was such a nice venue to see music.  Here's how isolated it was: when Leonard Cohen played, he came out alone with a guitar for a few songs.  He had just started the song "A Singer Must Die" when - as if on cue - a police car came screaming past outside.  The place was so out-of-the-way there couldn't have been more than a dozen cars that drove by during his entire show.  He stopped playing & said, "Listen. What a sad, lovely sound."  & he waited for the doppler effect to subside before he started an entirely different song.

It was at the Backyard that I saw Richard Thompson for the first time, just him on a guitar with a stand-up bassist at his side.  I had never heard the song "Beeswing" before & his performance of it made me cry.  Tears just falling down my cheeks.  & he would crack jokes in-between the songs as he retuned his guitar.  He gave me emotional whiplash.

& after I had back surgery, I painfully made my way out to the Backyard to see Belle & Sebastian.  I lay on one of the grassy parts & enjoyed the show & it was almost a ritual event to ease my transition back into the world.

Despite being a huge fan, I had never seen Morrissey, not the least because he hardly came to Austin & also he cancels shows a lot.  So seeing him in 2007 was just a joy.  Look!  Here's a picture of it!  I'm in the audience you can't see.

It would be strange to do a show about yards & not think about the Backyard.

The weird news: this website says it'll reopen in 2024.  But will you be able to sneak in to see Elvis Costello & the Attractions at their soundcheck?  I don't believe you will.

Fire Escape (Again)

There has been mention on this blog before of fire escapes.  I am fond of/in love with/borderline obsessed with them.  & I've never been on one!  It's so unfair.  Except for the "needing to flee a fire" part.  I haven't done that either, & I'm glad about that.  I just wanna hang out on one on a hot night.  That's all.

Here's a doubtless unsafe fire escape that I took a picture of on this day in 2017.  The Dallas building was at the time abandoned - its Wikipedia page doesn't note its fate.  I believe on the morning of the very last episode of the KNON program I did, in 2019, I met a friend in Deep Ellum for lunch & took some pictures of it being renovated.  Please don't ask me to try to find those.

Nowadays it's not abandoned, & it's not a bank either - it's a hotel.  The Pittman Hotel.  That web page shows how they managed to save some of its design.  It was finished in 2020, & I haven't been in that part of Dallas in a very long time.  & probably won't any time soon.

But I wonder if they saved the fire escape!

Flowery Films

(image from the IMDb)

On the last show of the KBOO Spring Membership Drive - which ends tomorrow so if you haven't given, give now! - our resident cinephile Chuck stopped by to talk about films featuring flowers - although not with that level of alliteration.  This was the last of the shows organized around the theme of the "Hive Drive" - we did shows about bees, honey, buzzing, stinging, & finally flowers.

You didn't listen?  You fool!  Do so now at kboo.fm or at selfhelpradio.net!  Then check here for important links once you've heard Chuck talk about the films.  & here they are!

Here is the IMDb keyword list Chuck used to find films tagged with "flowers."
Here is his YouTube playlist featuring films he discussed & more!
Here is the IMDb list of some films available for free elsewhere.
Here are his Letterboxd reviews of flowery flower films.

As always, I urge you to follow Chuck on Twitter so you can keep up with what he's watching!  Knowing Chuck, he's already started watching films for the next time he's on the show!

Look at all the flowers we gave you this week!

Self Help Radio 052422: Flowers (Again)

Here it is, the last of the "Hive Drive" KBOO Spring Membership Drive shows - we've previously covered bees & honey & stinging & buzzing - now we return to a theme previously covered by Self Help Radio in 2009.  The "flowers" show aired on WMUL in Huntington, West Virginia, in August of that year, & if you actually heard the show at that time, you would have been the only one.

This show was hopefully heard by maybe two people, & you can see below the songs are grouped (should I say "bunched"?) into specific flower sets - buttercups, sunflowers, lilies, daisies, roses, gardenias, violets - I didn't have time to get to sets featuring songs about daffodils, marigolds, & tulips, & I also had like an hour more of songs just called "flowers" - & in-between I talk to local florists & also try to raise money for KBOO.  That's the purpose of these shows!  If you haven't already helped, please do so now!

You can listen now & anytime at either the KBOO Self Help Radio page or at the show's website at Self Help Radio dot net.  At the show's website, use the username SHR & the password selfhelp to download the show.  Every song that's played, & the stuff that happens in-between, is listed below.

Please enjoy this lovely bouquet of a radio show.

Self Help Radio Flowers Show

"Flowers (Demo)" The Psychedelic Furs _The Psychedelic Furs_

"Flowers" Irma Thomas _After The Rain_

"The Flowers" Nits _Doing The Dishes_

introduction & definitions

"Buttercup (feat. The Neal Hefti Singers)" Neal Hefti & His Orchestra _Pardon My Doo-Wah_

"Build Me Up Buttercup" The Foundations _Build Me Up Buttercup: The Complete Pye Collection_

"Buttercups & Daisys" Strawberry Story _Clamming For It_

"Buttercup" Beezus _Lives Of The Saints_

"Buttercups" Dressy Bessy _Sound Go Round_

interview with florist Russ Campbell

"Sunflowers" The Baroques _Purple Day_

"Sunflower" The Springfields _Singles 1986-1991_

"Sunflower" Le Futur Pompiste _Your Stories & Your Thoughts_

"Sunflower" Mercury Rev _The Light In You_

"Sunflowers" Roy Ayers, Adrian Younge, & Ali Shaheed Muhammad _Jazz Is Dead 2_

interview with florist Jarvis Moynihan

"Lilies" Julie Tippetts _Sunset Glow_

"Lilies" Cranes _Loved_

"Calla Lilies" The Caribbean _Plastic Explosives_

"The Blackest Lily" Corinne Bailey Rae _The Sea_

"Lilies" Bedbug _I'll Count To Heaven In Years Without Seasons_

interview with florist Robby Turner

"Daisies" Doris _Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby_

"Daisy A Day" Jud Strunk _Super Hits Of The '70s - Have A Nice Day, Vol. 11_

"Daisies" The Real Tuesday Weld _Where Psyche Meets Cupid_

"Daisies" Mean Lady _Love Now_

"Daisies" Pins _Hot Slick_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by!

"Roses" Milltown Brothers _Scared To Get Happy (A Story Of Indie-Pop 1980-1989)_

"Roses" Blouse _Blouse_

"Roses" Tomorrows Tulips _Eternally Teenage_

"Roses" Le Chat Mort _Roses_

"Roses" Camila Fuchs _Kids Talk Sun_

a discussion of "the language of flowers"

"Blue Gardenia" Dinah Washington _For Those In Love_

"Gardenia (feat. Bonnie Graham)" Rodd Keith _I Died Today_

"Gardenia" Kelley Stoltz _Circular Sounds_

"Gardenia" Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks _Real Emotional Trash_

"Gardenia" Iggy Pop _Post Pop Depression_

conclusion & goodbye

"Violets" Momus _The Poison Boyfriend_

"Sweet Violets" Dinah Shore _The Dinah Shore Collection_

Whither Flowers (Again)?

(A neighbor's buttercups.)

Today is the last Self Help Radio of the 2022 KBOO Spring Membership Drive.  (Help out here plz.)  It was dubbed the "Hive Drive" by KBOO staff & Self Help Radio arranged its themes all through the drive to fit with that conceit.  Therefore, we had shows about bees, about honey, about buzzing, about stings, & now, we go most general, to a show about flowers.  So essential to the hive!

It is a daunting task to do a show about a subject so general as flowers because there are (we counted) seven hundred million kabillion googolplex songs about flowers.  Tonight we'll focus on mostly individual kinds of flowers in each set.  That will help narrow it down somewhat.  Although even that wasn't very easy.  I surely listened to at least four hundred million kabillion songs.  & I probably won't even play one you think I should!

Listen tonight (or tomorrow morning to be more precise) from midnight to 3am on 90.7fm KBOO in Portland & online at kboo.fm.  & don't say I never give you anything - tonight I am giving you flowers!

Preface To Flowers: Again?

(Spring is lovely in Portland.)

In the late summer of 2009, the wife & I (& our three dogs & two cats) had moved to Huntington, West Virginia, where I had found a home for Self Help Radio on the college station there, WMUL.  On August 4, around 6pm (I don't know why that time), I did a show with the theme "flowers."  In my typical fashion, I didn't just randomly pick songs about flowers; each song had to either be called "Flowers" or the name of a kind of flower (ie, "Violets").  You can see the playlist here.

This blog existed back then, I wonder what I wrote in it?

For the entry called "Preface To Flowers" - yes, I've been doing that for years now - I said, after the colon: Really? Flowers? When Did You Become Like Every Other Lame "Theme" Radio Show Out There?

& I wrote,

Wow, the title of this blog post is really hostile. It's making me defensive.
Can I answer tomorrow? I'm catching up on "Weeds" & "Nurse Jackie."
Weird. I think whoever titles these blog posts is really disappointed in me.

God, I wasted a lot of time watching "Weeds" & "Nurse Jackie."

What did I write for the "Whither Flowers?" post?  I wrote:

I know, I know, I know. Most everyone who does some sort of radio show where they get to select the music (as opposed to those who have their music chosen for them by corporate computers who manipulate focus-group tests to favor artists they've poured pots of gold into) does some sort of theme show at least every once in a while. What separates Self Help Radio from the rest (I like to think) is that the show doesn't repeat itself with regularity, it doesn't usually tailor the theme to temporal situations (though there are exceptions), & it goes out of its way to avoid themes of a broad nature (like, I don't know, "love" or "cars") which anyone with an iPod & a couple of friends could do at a moment's notice. This is not to denigrate those sorts of shows, it's just not the way I want to do Self Help Radio. I want to explore themes that require a little bit of time, thought, crate-digging, finagling, desperation, tears.

So, um, why "flowers"? Isn't that one of the easy ones?

Ha ha! You misunderstand my love of arbitrary limitations! For this week on Self Help Radio, not only will the show not be a simply free-for-all about "flowers," but the songs I play will - must - have to simply be either songs called "flowers" or songs about a type of flower pluralized. So there'll be songs called "Roses" or "Daffodils" or "Violets." Them's the rules. There may be a very beautiful song called "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" but unless it's called "The Tulips," it can't be on this week's Self Help Radio.

You see? Saddling myself with preconditions that no one but me cares about - that's the Self Help Radio way.

By the way, my apologies to the nice bakery who wrote hoping I was doing a show about flour. One day, friends. One day.

But why revisit the theme?  I'll tell you tomorrow.