Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Museum Day

Dick Dickenbock, his staff, & his crew are still on vacation for one more week, but I did prepare a show for XRAY tomorrow - prerecorded, mostly music - for National Museum Day, which is May 18. Some say Dick Dickenbock belongs in a museum, so he might have been offended had he done the show live.

That's tomorrow, Sunday, noon to 1pm, on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, online everywhere at xray dot fm.

Free admission on Sundays!

This Week In Self Help (May 11 12 + 13)

Though my shows were on vacation, though my own vacation was waylaid (story coming up), I still had prepared shows to air - & even surprised myself & made a short show for in-between. Here are the recordings that took up my space on the radio this week:

The Dickenbock Report celebrated Irving Berlin's birthday.

Here is the show on the XRAY website.
Here is the show on the Self Help Radio website.

On Monday night I played an hour of songs all entitled "Air" on KBOO.
KBOO does not archive its sub shows.
But here is the show on the Self Help Radio website.

In the place of Self Help Radio, I played three hours of interesting new sounds I've come across recently.

Here is the show on the KBOO website.

Here is the show on the Self Help Radio website.

The Self Help Radio website sometimes needs a username & a password. That would be SHR & selfhelp.

More recordings this week as my "vacation" was due to end on Wednesday.

Self Help Radio 051325: On Vacation Week One

Self Help Radio's first vacation filler show is music in the electronica, jazz, & experimental genres that are (as far as I know) newly released this year & (in my opinion) full of interesting sounds.

You can listen to this show either at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. If you choose the latter, use SHR as a username & selfhelp as a password to access. It was almost all music - I only did backannouncing because, you know, radio. The playlist is below.

Enjoy! I'll have another filler show in a week & Self Help Radio returns the week after that!

Self Help Radio On Vacation Week One

"The Drop" Raiiio _Otros Principios_

"Onanist" Ethel Cain _Perverts_

"Auto Show Day Of The Dead" The Fun Years _Auto Show Day Of The Dead_

"Flower" Numün _Opening_

"Come Out To Play" Sea Of Suns _Come Out To Play_

"Dare" Biomania _System D_

"Underwave" Black Flower _Kinetic_

"When I Was Young & My Heart Had Windows" Christopher Dammann Sextet _Christopher Dammann Sextet_

"Summer Storm" Okonski _Entrance Music_ 

"Iron Giraffe" Takuya Kuroda _Everyday_

"Peach Fuzz" The Pro-Teens _MF Teen: Your Concurrence In The Above Is Assumed_

"Nova" TDJ _SPF Infini: Genesis_

"Surrender" Saroon & Matthew Holmes _Archipelago_

"Acid Tongue" Darwin Chamber X DJ Spun _Episode 2_

"Funkmantra" Hermanito _Please Hold EP_

"PH 15" Devin Maxwell _Selfies_ 

"Beyond The Crystal Sphere" Empyrean Chimes _Empyrean Chimes_

"Feuer - Fire" Simon Grote _Stücke - Pieces_

"Iguana's Window" Roy Werner _Emerald: New Sounds From Moon Glyph Records_

"Children Of Chernobyl" Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith _Correspondences Vol. II_

"Hatif" The Bombillas _Hatif_

"Mayo Con Yayo" Polyrhythmics _Mayo Con Yayo_

"Discomania" Calibro 35 _Exploration_

"Manga Bois" Bella Wakame _Manga Bois_

"Chancletazo" Empanadas Ilegales _Chancletazo_

"Kokiri" Lust For Youth & Croatian Amor _All Worlds_

"Gloam" Emptyset _Dissever_

"The Suicide In Your Eyes" Taylor Art _Falling Out Of Orbit_

"Hopfields" More Eaze & Claire Rousay _No Floor_

"Pomegranate" L'Antidote _Pomegranate_

"Changing States" Matmos _Changing States_

"Providence" Sheldon Agwu _Kintsugi_

Whither Self Help Radio On Vacation Week One?

Self Help Radio the radio show is on vacation for a couple of weeks. Gary the person who does the show may or may not be on vacation. I'll tell that story soon enough.

Because the show is on vacation & because I was able to prepare something in its absence, there will be three hours of interesting sounds - experimental, jazz, electronica, etc. - which I've been listening to this year. No theme, no interviews, no embarrassing attempts to be funny. Just three hours of sounds I found interesting that you may too.

Tonight. Midnight to 3am. 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere.

The picture above, of a streetlight at dawn, has nothing whatsoever to do with anything.

Preface To Self Help Radio On Vacation Week One: How Does A Radio Show Go On Vacation?

Obviously a radio show doesn't go on vacation, the person doing the radio show goes on vacation.

That is, if everything goes well. But what if everything doesn't go well? What if in fact things go horribly awry? Does the radio show - or the person doing the radio show - just not go on vacation?

That might be the case except - what if the person who thought they were going on vacation already prepared shows to be aired during the vacation even if the vacation didn't happen?

Please don't use the word "staycation."

As David Bowie once said, "Sordid details following."

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Irving Berlin's Birthday

(image from the Wikipedia)

Please note: Dick Dickenbock & his staff & crew are on a two-week vacation. They have prepared an episode for you, however, & we hope it plays at its appointed time.

Irving Berlin was born on May 11, 1888. On May 11, 2025, a special all-musical episode of The Dickenbock Report will feature many of his tunes.

That's Sunday, May 11, on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, online at xray dot fm.

Postscript:
It really isn't safe to assume that, as May 11 is also Mother's Day, Dick Dickenbock did not love his mother. It's well-known, however, that she was not all that fond of him.

This Week In Self Help (May 4 + 6)

Technically I'm on vacation though the road trip didn't quite turn out the way it was supposed to. That's a story for another day. Since I'm around - altho there will be shows in the regular timeslots they will be prerecorded so I'm not going to make any live radio for two weeks - I'll do my regular summary. I would've preferred to be on my way to Santa Fe but - that's a story for another day.

Sunday May 4 was National Fallen Firefighters Day. So we a firefighter thing on The Dickenbock Report. Show on XRAY. Show on Self Help Radio Website.

Tuesday May 6 was the day I was supposed to head out on a motorway for vacation fun. So Self Help Radio's theme was motorways. Show on KBOO. Show on Self Help Radio website.

Corporate Standardized Programming followed that show. It's with SHR on the KBOO website. If you want to listen to it by itself: Show on Self Help Radio website.

Pro tip: on the SHR website, use SHR & selfhelp as username & password to access files.

Back to my "vacation" now.

Self Help Radio 050625: Motorways

At the beginning of a two-week vacation, Self Help Radio has a show about motorways. One suspects there will be much time spent on them in the next fortnight!

No time to waste! Gotta pack! Listen to the show either at the KBOO web site or at the Self Help Radio website. If you go to the latter, you might need the username SHR & the password selfhelp.

Most everything that happened on the show is below. See you in two weeks!

Self Help Radio Motorways Show

"Motorway" Blue Orchids _The Once & Future Thing_

"Motorway" Monterey _The Motorway EP_

"The English Motorway System" Black Box Recorder _The Facts Of Life_

introduction & definitions

"Motorway" The Kinks _Everybody's In Show-Biz - Everybody's A Star_

"Motorway City" John Gaughan with The Hermits _You Gotta Love Me Baby_

"Motorway Madness" Horslips _More Than You Can Chew_

"2-4-6-8 Motorway" Tom Robinson Band _Tom Robinson Band_

"Billy & The Motorway Police" Fischer-Z _Word Salad_

interview with author Larry Thomas

"Music 4 Travelling (Motorway Amber Time)" Spöön Fazer _Music 2 Dance 2_

"Like A Motorway" Saint Etienne _Tiger Bay_

"Motorway" Little Boots _Nocturnes_

"Back On The Motorway" Metronomy _Nights Out_

"They're Going To Build A Motorway" Leon Rosselson _Perspectives_

interview with motorway painter Theo Landis

"Motorway To Roswell" Pixies _Trompe Le Monde_

"Separated By Motorways" The Long Blondes _Someone To Drive You Home_

"Motorway" Ikara Colt _Modern Apprentice_

"Motorway" Useless Eaters _Relaxing Death_

"Motorway" Slave _New Plateau_

interview with private motorway owner Todd Lessner

"Our Favourite Motorway" Darren Hayman & Secondary Modern _Pram Town_

"Motorway" California Snow Story _Some Other Places_

"Motorway" Joan As Police Woman & Benjamin Lazer Davis _Let It Be You_

"On The Motorway" Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat _The Most Important Place In The World_

"Motorway A. Revlis B. Lessen C." Audionom _Retrospektiv_

conclusion & bon voyage

"Motorway" Anni B Sweet _Start Restart Undo_

"New Motorway" Kevin Coyne _Sanity Stomp_

Whither Motorways?

(Some Portland motorways)

After tonight's show, there won't be a new Self Help Radio for two weeks. I will have something prepared to air in the timeslot so you don't have to face the indignity of a rerun. But for Self Help Radio, it will be a two-week vacation.

You might know we have a dog with separation anxiety. So we have to take him along. So we thought we'd go on a road trip. Just the Missus & me & our three hounds. What takes you from place to place on road trips? A car. Driving on roads. Freeways. Highways. Motorways.

Something about the word "motorway" made me want to look for songs that specifically mention them. & so I have. & I'll share them with you tonight. Right before the show takes a little vacation.

Tonight! Midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in Portland, online at kboo dot fm.

Preface To Motorways: Vacation

It occurred to me very recently that I hadn't left Portland - or hadn't been outside of the Greater Portland Metropolitan Area - in almost two years*. That would not have seemed too surprising to my mother who, though she was born in Germany, married a GI & lived the vast majority of her life in Texas. Indeed, in her last twenty years, I only think she left the Dallas area a handful of times, usually for weddings - like mine, in 2008. My sister Pat was the same - she had lived in California & Georgia for a few years but ended up living most of her life in a house very close to the house she had lived in as a child.

Basically I don't come from a long line of wanderers. I come from homebodies, mostly unadventurous people who would admire the Thoreau quote "I have traveled a good deal in Concord," if they knew Thoreau existed.

But I felt like I needed a vacation & so after this week's episode, I'll be disappearing for a couple of weeks. I have prepared radio shows to run in the place of Self Help Radio - & also episodes of The Dickenbock Report that will air in its space on Sundays. It'll be a road trip, since we have a dog with severe separation anxiety. But the plans have been made.

So. What could possibly go wrong?

* Okay, I forgot I went to San Francisco last summer. It just feels like I haven't left Portland in two years.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Firefighters’ Memorial Day

There's a confession that needs to be made - the staff & crew of The Dickenbock Report will take a two-week vacation after tomorrow's show. & really, a lot of them were a bit checked out before this. So - we have prepared a show for Firefighters' Memorial Day which we discovered a bit late is a holiday in the UK. Not in the United States. Where the show airs.

However! Dick Dickenbock wants to celebrate fire fighters because he admires any public servants that make their own calendars. So that's what we shall do!

Noon to 1pm tomorrow. On 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, online everywhere at xray dot fm. Maybe now, Dick Dickenbock says, they'll let him climb up one of those ladders!

Oh wait. We've discovered in the United States it's called National Fallen Firefighters Day. So we're on task. Poor Dick Dickenbock!

This Week In Self Help (April 25 27 + 29 & May 2)

That's a picture of my favorite tree in Woodstock Park last autumn right before its leaves turned & fell. It's really apropos nothing. Just wanted to have a pretty picture here.

Here's an announcement! I'm going on vacation for a couple of weeks so there won't be one of these "this week in radio" posts for a while. There will be recorded content in the Self Help Radio/Corporate Standardized Programming space & I'll have a couple of episodes of The Dickenbock Report as well but I'll be busy & not writing about that here. But for this last week...

Friday the 25th I subbed the Songcircle & played songs about painters on Cy Twombly's birthday. Here is the show on the KBOO website. Here is the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Sunday the 27th The Dickenbock Report reported on National Patricia Day. Here is the show on the XRAY website. Here is the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Tuesday the 29th Self Help Radio presented the 77th installment of the Indiepop A To Z series. Here is the show on the KBOO website. Here is the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Also on Tuesday the 29th Corporate Standardized Programming played lots of music by artists we lost in December 2024. It's the last hour of the KBOO file above. But if you'd like to listen to it alone, here is the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Finally - today! Just today I subbed the Songcircle & played lots David Bowie songs covered by other artists. Here is the show on the KBOO website. Here is the show on the Self Help Radio website.

There's a new Dickenbock Report on Sunday & a new Self Help Radio/Corporate Standardized Programming on Tuesday but there I'm leaving Portland for the first time in well over a year. I really need to get out more.

Oh yeah! If you listen to files on the Self Help Radio website, you might need a username & password. Those are SHR & selfhelp.

Self Help Radio 042925: Indiepop A To Z # 77

(All single/album images from Discogs)

Welp. I done did another couple hours of alphabetized indiepop. But really gonna be in the letter S for a while longer.

You can listen to this show on the KBOO website or on the Self Help Radio website. You'll need a username & password at the latter. Those are SHR & selfhelp respectively.

Look at all the song in lovely alphabetical order! Whee!

Self Help Radio Indiepop A To Z # 77

"Footprints On The City" Sharky Favorite _2000 Teenbeat Sampler_

"Through With Love" The Sharp Things _A Moveable Feast_

"Jeane" Sandie Shaw _Hand In Glove_

"Leave All Your Old Loves" The She-Brews _Off With Their Hearts_

"All Comes Out" She Splinters Mortar _Straight From Her Heart_

"Homerun" The Sheets _The Sheets_

"Fragmentary Love" Shelby _Sofa Safari_

"Hero" Shelley _Battery Point (A Sarah Compilation)_

"Mix Tape" Michael Shelley _I Blame You_

"Circle Line" Shelley's Children _The Mask Of Anarchy_

"My Animated World" The Shermans _Casual_

"Noyfriend" Shimura Curves _The Kids At The Club (An Indiepop Compilation)_

"Bite The Apple" Shine! _Shine!_

"Ten Long Years" The Shining Hour _Postcards From Home_

"Empty Ever After" The Shirts _The Shirts_

"Courtney Sat On A Rock" ShiSho _EP Six_

"Teen Line" The Shivvers _Teen Line_

"Shizuka" Shizuka _Momentos Perdidos_

"I, Bloodbrother Be" Shock Headed Peters _Amen (Last Sunshine Deserts Of Él Records)_

"You Can Make Me Feel Bad" Shocking Pinks _Shocking Pinks_

"I Believe In Nights" Shoe Shine Boys _Flying Dutchmen_

"Summer Days" Shoestrings _Pop American Style_

"Blossom (I'm A Super Girl)" Shonen Knife _The Powerpuff Girls: Heroes & Villains_

"Somewhere In China" Shop Assistants _Will Anything Happen (Expanded Edition)_

"Hurry Up Let's Go" Shout Out Louds _Howl Howl Gaff Gaff_

"Hopelessly Wasted" Shrag _Shrag_

"Losing My Cool" The Shrew Kings _The Sound Of Leamington Spa Volume 5_

"Everything" The Shrinking Violets _Everything_

Whither Indiepop A To Z # 77?

Please don't ask why I picked a picture of a neighborhood cat taken last autumn for the image for this post. There's no reason. I feel like I needed a picture. I like taking pictures of neighborhood cats. This spring has wakened in me allergic reactions I've never had before. I am missing the cold damp autumn. There's nothing else!

The Indiepop A To Z series started over 20 years ago in Texas. It has followed me to every place I've been since. I have done 76 installments; tonight's is the 77th. I am in the letter S. I just might never finish the letter S. But that is where I am now. & where I will still be at the end of tonight's episode.

Which airs midnight to 2am on 90.7fm in town & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. It's an oddly obscure genre of music that has captivated so many for quite a while now. I will share two hours of it with you tonight.

Preface To Indiepop A To Z # 77: Shabby Billboard

Above is a picture taken by me which I titled "Shabby Billboard." It was taken in West Fort Worth, Texas, on January 26, 2019. I don't believe I knew then that in a few short months I'd be living in Portland, Oregon. I think I had to run an errand & decided to take a few pictures in a part of town that was - well - kinda shabby.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because of two reasons: one, it seems a lot like one of my radio shows - shoddily put together, of use to no one, & struggling to find something to say. & two, because I'm about to make the 77th installment of a long-running series which is mostly of interest to me. What can I possibly say about that that I haven't already?

Please enjoy this odd picture which I am clumsily using as a metaphor for my show. At least it is as clumsy as my show!

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Patricia Day

(A photo of Patricia Lee Smith by Lynn Goldsmith found here)

April 27 is National Patricia Day. By a strange coincidence it's also my sister Patricia's birthday. Were she still with us, she would not want me to tell you her age. It would still be too young for her to be gone so soon.

In any event, although we will be tempted to play music by famous Patricias like the one pictured above, we will instead talk about the name & also play musical reports about the name - & people with the name. If you know a Patricia, it might be a good idea to let your Patricia know there's a show on National Patricia. Almost certainly they will believe they do indeed deserve a national day.

Sunday April 27 noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, online at xray dot fm.

This Week In Self Help: April 18 20 + 22

(image found here)

This week featured my first three hour Self Help Radio in a really long time - maybe two years. I can't believe I did that for as long as I did. I won't be doing that again any time soon.

If I hadn't subbed The Songcircle a week ago, I'd have only done two shows this week! Speaking of, let me tell you what nonsense I was up to on the radio these past seven days.

Friday the 18th - I subbed the Songcircle. Played a buncha new releases.
Listen at the KBOO website. Listen at the Self Help Radio website.

Sunday the 20th - The Dickenbock Report explored Look Alike Day.

Listen at the XRAY website. Listen at the Self Help Radio website.

Tuesday the 22nd. For Earth Day, Self Help Radio played lots of songs about Mother Earth.

Listen at the KBOO website. Listen at the Self Help Radio website.

If you listen at the Self Help Radio website, you might need a username & password. That is SHR & selfhelp respectively.

Maybe there's something you'd enjoy? Or maybe not.

Self Help Radio 042225: Earth Day 2025 - Mother Earth

(original image here*)

This was the first three hour Self Help Radio in I believe two years! It was long but a bit of exhausting fun. Plus I got to chat with the deejay after me, which I never get to do.

This was an Earth Day show in conjunction with KBOO's Earth Day celebrations. Lots of stuff is happening on this Earth Day, find out what KBOO is doing & has done by clicking here.

Listen to lots of songs about Mother Earth either at the KBOO website or at the Self Help Radio website. At the latter, you may need the username SHR & the password selfhelp. I had a couple of silly interviews but this show was mainly about the music & about our dear Mother Earth. Details are below.

Happy Earth Day to you!

Self Help Radio Earth Day 2025: Mother Earth Show

"Mother Earth" Blood On The Dance Floor _Evolution_

"Mother Earth" Six Nations Women Singers _Heartbeat: Voices Of First Nations Women_

"Samba De Monha Terra (Mother Earth Samba)" João Gilberto _Getz / Gilberto # 2_

"Mother Earth" Stewart Copeland & Ricky Kej _Divine Tides_

introduction/definitions

"Mother Earth" Lightning Hopkins _Lightning Hopkins With His Brothers Joel & John Henry & With Barbara Dane_

"Mother Earth" Emitt Rhodes _The American Dream_

"Mother Earth" Tom Rush _Merrimack County_

"Ol' Mother Earth" Tony Joe White _Home Made Ice Cream_

"Mother Earth" Laura Nyro _Spread Your Wings & Fly: Live At The Fillmore East May 30, 1971_

interview with climate scientist Dr. Rick Sherman

"Mother Earth" Blonde On Blonde _Contrasts_

"Hymn To Mother Earth" Demon Fuzz _Afreaka!_

"Mother Earth" Mick Greenwood _...To Friends_

"Mother Earth" Open Road _Windy Daze_

"Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)" Neil Young & Crazy Horse _Ragged Glory_

interview with Seth Rogers, who lives in the earth

"Mother Earth" The Great White Cane _The Great White Cane_

"Mother Earth" Kool & The Gang _Spirit Of The Boogie_

"Mother Earth (feat. Aloe Blacc & Quantic)" Lanu _Shapes 11:01_

"Mother Earth (feat. Norah Jones)" Wax Poetic _Wax Poetic_

"Mother Earth" Essential Logic _Land Of Kali_

the next interview? featuring Gladys

"Mona Lisa, Mother Earth" Swans _The Burning World_

"Mother Earth" Cultured Pearls _Sing Dela Sing_

"Mother Earth" The Cairo Gang _The Cairo Gang_

"Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth" Neko Case _Middle Cyclone_

"Mother Earth, Father God" Torres _Torres_

NASA Earth fact sheet part one

"Blues For Mother Earth" The Hinges _Postcard_

"Mother Earth" Pentangle _Open The Door_

"Mother Earth" Betsy Rose _Sacred Ground_

"Lifeblood Of Mother Earth" David R. Maracle _Spirit Journey_

"Mi Madre Tierra (My Mother Earth)" Fortaleza _Soy De Sangre Kolla, Quechua Y Aymara_

NASA Earth fact sheet part two

"Chant To Mother Earth" Blo _Nigeria 70 (The Definitive Story of 1970's Funky Lagos)_

"Mother Earth" Bushman _Signs_

"Mother Earth" Chuck Fenda _The Living Fire_

"Mother Earth" Jah Cure _Roots & Culture, Vol. 2_ 

conclusion & goodbye

"Mother Earth" The Shadow Lizzards _Paradise_

"Mother Earth" Sweet _Cut Above The Rest_

* image found at Public Domain Pictures dot net. Original image in the Public Domain.

Whither Earth Day?

(image by Kathy Anderson, found here)

Look at that image up there! Wow!

Yesterday I mentioned how I was overwhelmed with the idea of the literally hundreds of songs about earth that I would have to go through for an Earth Day show & happened onto a way to narrow that number down somewhat: I discovered I had a lot of songs about Mother Earth.

It seems like many people feel a maternal connection to the planet & that makes a lot of sense. We are born on this planet & it sustains us. I decided to make this Earth Day show all about Mother Earth. Three hours of songs about her. With only a couple of silly interviews. Just lots of songs in honor of our Mother.

That's midnight to 3am tonight! On 90.7fm in Portland, kboo dot fm all over earth. On this particular night, Mother Earth has given you permission to stay up late.

Preface To Earth Day: Listen To Your Mother

(image from Wikipedia)

KBOO is having all kindsa cool programming for Earth Day which is Tuesday. I was asked if I'd like to do something for the day - or have my show preempted, probably with something syndicated. Well I didn't like that idea! So I said, I'd do a show with the theme "earth."

But you know me. When I saw I had over five hundred songs that mentioned earth - & countless more that could be said to be about earth - I panicked. I needed to narrow it down somewhat.

How I did that I can tell you tomorrow - although the clue is in the title of this post.

Check out all the cool Earth Programming planned for Tuesday here!