Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Card Playing Day

(art by Elmo Hood, found here)

December 28 is Card Playing Day. If you play your cards right - or if you tune in when the program is on - you can hear a discussion about card playing as well as musical reports about card playing, playing cards, & other related issues. You might even get a chance to hear Dick Dickenbock tell the beloved story about the time he was on The Joker's Wild & was kidney-punched by Jack Berry for making a joke about Uno. Or you might not. Maybe Dick Dickenbock doesn't like telling that story.

The Dickenbock Report airs Sunday, December 28, from noon to 1pm on XRAY FM, available on the air in Portland on 91.1 & 107.1fm, & online everywhere at xray dot fm. We expect to hear you say, "Deal me in!"

This Week In Self Help: December 19 20 21 + 23

'Twas the week before Christmas & I was ruining things by being on the radio TOO MUCH.

On Friday the 19th - my monthly appearance on the Songcircle on KBOO - I invited my old radio pal Anni to program the show & have fun. You can listen to that show on the KBOO website or on the Self Help Radio website.

Early on Saturday the 20th I subbed a show on KBOO where I continued to play musicians who died in 2025 - this time getting through all of June I believe. KBOO doesn't archive its sub shows but you can see the playlist on the Spinitron website & listen to the show on the Self Help Radio website.

Sunday the 21st on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM I reported on National Flashlight Day. You can listen to that show on the XRAY website or on the Self Help Radio website.

Tuesday morning the 23rd on Self Help Radio on KBOO I played a selection of my favorite music from 2025. You can listen to that show on the KBOO website or on the Self Help Radio website.

Also Tuesday morning the 23rd on Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO I played more music by artists we lost in 2025, this time mainly from July. You can listen to that show on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio) or on the Self Help Radio website.

Remember: on the Self Help Radio website, you may need a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp) to listen.

& be grateful I am only on the radio a couple more times in 2025!

Self Help Radio 122325: Gary's Favorite Music 2025

Oh man. I have already remembered like two releases I should've included in this collection. Gah I need to keep better records. But anyway.

Here's a selection of some of my favorite releases of the year. I also ask for support for KBOO during our End Of The Year Drive. Support the station that lets me do this nonsense by clicking here.

You can listen to the show on the KBOO website. You can listen on the Self Help Radio website. If needed on the Self Help Radio website use "SHR" as a username & "selfhelp" as a password. Don't use those quotation marks. You understand.

What I played is below. I'll try to pay more attention in 2026.

Gary's Favorite Music 2025 Self Help Radio Show

"Three" Neon Kittens _21 Minutes Of Adventure_

"People Person" Mclusky _The World Is Still Here & So Are We_

"Special Different" Lambrini Girls _Who Let The Dogs Out_

"Portland Town" Heavenly _Portland Town_

"Have U Ever Been 2 Wales" The Bug Club _Have U Ever Been 2 Wales_

"Cologne" Allo Darlin' _Bright Nights_

"Jeanie's Up Again & Blaring Faith By The Cure" Tullycraft _Shoot The Point_

"Rather Not Stay" The Cords _The Cords_

"Mr Young Men" Momus _Acktor_

"Hearsay" Anika _Abyss_

"Celebrities In Cemeteries" The Burning Hell _Ghost Palace_

"Information Content" Horsegirl _Phonetics On & On_

"Saviours Are A Dangerous Thing" The Chameleons _Arctic Moon_

"Living Lo-Fi" Cheekface _Middle Spoon_

"Everyday" Acapulco Lips _Now_

"How Much?" The Slow Summits _Every Intention_

"In Your Town" Paper Jam _This & That_

"Tell Me" Alpaca Sports _Another Day_

"Zinger" Galore _Dirt_

"A Handful Of Tomorrow" The Apartments _That's What The Music Is For_

"God's A Different Sword" Folk Bitch Trio _Now Would Be A Good Time_

"Rocks In My Pocket" The Mountain Goats _Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan_

"Rainy Sunday Afternoon" The Divine Comedy _Rainy Sunday Afternoon_

"Tell It Back To Me" Robert Forster _Strawberries_

"Self Help Song" The Happy Somethings _A Kind Of Longing EP_

"The Heart Is A Foolish Little Thing" Edwyn Collins _Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation_

"The Catalogue" Chime Oblivion _Chime Oblivion_

"Chaplins" HighSchool _HighSchool_

"Boring" Cousines Like Shit _Permanent Earthquake_ 

"Proper" Autocamper _What Do You Do All Day?_

Whither Gary's Favorite Music Of 2025?

(original image here)

Oh you know. I'm gonna play a lot of the music I liked that was released this year. I don't pretend it's a best of. I also don't pretend it's anywhere near complete - it's mainly indie rock & indie pop, & I listen to a lot more music than that. I gathered way more than two hours' worth as well! The main criteria was that I listened to it a lot. That means to me I liked it.

Midnight to 2am, 90.7 fm in Portland, kboo dot fm everywhere.

Preface To Gary's Favorites 2025: The Old Old Argument

Here's a picture of my beagle Stuart - he's a new addition to the household, having adopted him less than two months ago. He's more fun to look at than to read this dumb story. A variation of which I've told a dozen times.

You see, I don't believe you can make a "best of" list. You can make a list of what you think is best for you, but insisting your opinion is somehow authoritative enough to qualify as "the best" is not only incredibly presumptuous but lacks any qualifiers - how are you the one who gets to decide what's "best"? Who does? With what criteria?

Recently - a couple months ago - I had an interaction with a stranger on Facebook. A friend posted a meme about Yoko Ono. It was hateful. It went something like, "Getting an extra day in 2025 is like getting bonus tracks on a Yoko Ono reissue."

Here is my response:

The Yoko Ono hate is so strangely strong to this day.

I personally was very happy to get the Secretly Canadian reissue of Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band from 2016 which had three bonus tracks plus a snippet of studio dialogue. Folks like to shit on her but her releases are far more adventurous (in my opinion) than most of the solo Beatles output of the 1970s (& certainly beyond) & this remains (I think) the only Beatle-adjacent release that includes Charlie Haden & Ornette frickin' Coleman.

I just kinda wish people would stop using her as punching bag for their idea of "bad music" when they have so so many more options out there, especially if they're never actually taken the time to listen to her music.

One of this person's friends responded:
In other words, her music is better than it sounds?

I responded:

Taste in music is subjective, & I happen to like quite a lot of Yoko Ono's music. Your mileage, as they say, may vary. If you have no background in avant-garde music, you probably won't enjoy Yoko Ono's music, but that doesn't make her music "good" or "bad" because that's entirely up to you, & your opinion is your own & has no effect on mine or anyone else's, unless they value your opinion in some way. I understand that you meant your comment as a joke, as was the meme posted, but it's in my nature to point out that sometimes things we think are funny are a little tired & hacky, & that sometimes the things we think are universal - "Yoko Ono's music sucks!" - aren't quite that. Her musical output has been greatly admired by more people than you think, & that's the reason her records get reissued - with bonus tracks. That some of us are very happy to buy.

This person continued:

No Gary, there are objective standards for what constitutes good music....talent being a prime requirement. I would have less of a problem if whatever Yoko did was classified as "performance art," but to describe it as music is an offense to actual musicians, singers and songwriters. Lennon's promotion of Yoko was his joke demonstrating the level of abysmal crap the public, and particularly music critics, were willing to accept as "art." Some people still haven't gotten the joke.

My response:

I don't believe there are "objective standards" for music. Love of music is entirely subjective. This is a much longer discussion than can fit in a Facebook comment, but I can assure you that just because you feel your opinion of Yoko Ono is "true," it doesn't make it true for me & for the many other people who have enjoyed Yoko Ono's music for decades. If you'd like to think I have been duped or haven't gotten the joke, that's fine. It just tells me that I probably wouldn't value your opinion of the music I like. It's not important to me that people share my opinion - I love what I love & I can talk at length about why I love what I love. I understand that's true for many other people too & never feel the need to dismiss or diminish their opinions for that very reason. In the case of this post, I just wanted to point out that the joke didn't work on me because - as I've said - I've bought reissues of Yoko Ono albums because of bonus tracks.

This person's final comment included the statement "I can assure you there are objective standards" - like I would take a stranger's word for it! - he tried to bait me by saying my thoughts were akin to Rush Limbaugh's! - & he ended with this delightful suggestion: "If you'd like to send me a link to what you regard as Yoko's best work we can discuss in detail."

After I had said that if he thought there were objective standards for music, he kindly offered to "listen" to what I liked & then tell me whether it was good or not. Isn't it astonishing that I didn't take him up on that offer?

Which is a very long way of me saying the same thing I always say around this time of year: this is no way anyone can say that their selection of music is a "best of." The most they can say is that it's their favorites. "Best" is not a term one can use to describe musical choice unless you define the parameters of how you make that determination. & even then someone will disagree with your parameters & therefore your choices cannot be "the best."

Sorry for the long post. Luckily very few people will read this!

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Flashlight Day

December 21 is National Flashlight Day. Is it because it's also the longest night of the year? When one might conceivably most need a flashlight? Actually, we don't know. We haven't started doing research for the show yet. We're going to start cramming tonight. After a few drinks. Don't tell Dick Dickenbock! We told him we'd have his copy ready by show time. & maybe we will.

The show is happening tomorrow - Sunday, December 21 - from noon to 1am on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland & online everywhere at xray dot fm. Here's hoping we have enough batteries for the entire show!

This Week In Self Help (December 14 + 16)

As the year winds down, as I take the time to reflect on all the radio shows I've done in 2025... Nope. Don't have time for that! I am doing two (2!) radio shows today! I gotta go work on them!

How did this week go? I'll tell you.

The Dickenbock Report. XRAY FM. It was Monkey Day.
Listen on the XRAY website. Listen on the Self Help Radio website.

Self Help Radio. KBOO. It was Howard Gently Year Four Concluded.

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

Corporate Standardized Programming. KBOO. More artists we lost in May 2025.

Listen on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). Listen on the Self Help Radio website.

Remember: for the Self Help Radio website, use username SHR + password selfhelp.

Now I have to go make some radio shows!

Self Help Radio 121625: Howard Gently Year Four Concluded

Thus concludes a year of Self Help Radio in which Howard Gently appeared on the vast majority of shows. These are his 115th to 126th appearances on the show, & I can't help be amazed at how funny & fresh he kept the character. The bit about towers had me rolling on the floor.

There's not much else to say except I hope this shows my gratitude & appreciation for my friend Russell giving so much of himself to my dumb show. If he had had the time & space to develop Howard Gently for some other medium, it would've made him famous.

Listen to the show either at the KBOO website or the Self Help Radio website. If you choose the latter, make sure you use the username SHR & password selfhelp. Everything that happened on the show except my airbreaks is listed below.

As Howard Gently might have said, "Yule."

Self Help Radio Howard Gently Year Four Concluded Show

"The World In Color" Russell Miles _The World In Color_ (Self-Released, 1986)

"Don't Eat Stuff Off The Sidewalk" The Cramps _Psychedelic Jungle_

Howard Gently on the theme "Sidewalks"

Howard Gently on the theme "Christmas 2017"

"A Hundred Pounds Of Clay" Gene McDaniels _The Very Best Of Gene McDaniels_

Howard Gently on the theme "A Hundred Things"

"Evenings Of Damask" Tyrannosaurus Rex _Unicorn_

Howard Gently on the theme "Evenings"

"Time To Evolve" Bill Hicks _Rant In E-Minor_

Howard Gently on the theme "It's Time To"

"Poisoned Rose" Elvis Costello _King Of America_

Howard Gently on the theme "Roses"

"Tower Of Song" Leonard Cohen _I'm Your Man_

Howard Gently on the theme "Tower"

"Reaching Into In" Ken Nordine _How Are Things In Your Town?_

Howard Gently on the theme "Outreach"

"I'm Gonna Lock My Heart (& Throw Away The Key)" Billie Holiday _Lady Day: The Master Takes & Singles_

Howard Gently on the theme "Keys"

"Night Mail" Public Service Broadcasting _Inform - Educate - Entertain_

Howard Gently on the theme "Silent Retreat"

"The Hall Of Mirrors" Kraftwerk _Trans-Europe Express_

Howard Gently on the theme "Sixteenth Anniversary"

"The Unguarded Moment" The Church _Hindsight 1980-1987_

Howard Gently on the theme "Moments"

Whither Howard Gently Year Four Concluded?

The year 2017 had the most appearances of the Rev Dr Howard Gently of any year from 2014 to 2022 that he appeared on the show. So much so that it's taken four episode of Self Help Radio to play them all. We'll finish that year tonight.

Howard Gently was a creation of my late friend Russell, who improvised interviews with me to air on my show. This is a celebration of him. He was a dear friend & the funniest person I have ever known.

The show is happening tonight from midnight to 2am on KBOO - 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere. & letting Dr Gently have the last word, I hear him say: "Ahimsa."

Preface To Howard Gently Year Four Concluded: Sun Haze

This is a photo taken I think in Lexington Kentucky. I am not sure where. But I stumbled onto it recently.

This week I continue playing bits made for my show in 2017 & 2018 by my friend Russell who is no longer with us. I know he enjoyed making these improvised segments. I don't think he thought they might be enjoyed later. I want to prove him wrong.

He is a person I miss so very much.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Monkey Day

(I found this image on Tumblr somewhere I can't remember)

December 14 is Monkey Day. There are lots of musical reports about monkeys. We'll sift through the most informative. We'll also probably call lots of primates monkeys that are not, technically, monkeys. & Dick Dickenbock will get lots of angry letters. That would be terrible. Unless one likes letters.

The show is on Sunday from noon to 1pm on XRAY. That's on the air in Portland at 91.1+107.1fm & online everywhere at xray dot fm. You'll go ape for the show! (Time to start writing those angry letters!)

This Week In Self Help: December 7 9 + 11

Lots of radio was shoveled this week - I didn't even try to clean it up.

Sunday December 7 was National Letter Writing Day on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY.

Listen to the show on XRAY's website. Listen to the show on Self Help Radio's website.

Tuesday December 9 Self Help Radio had a show about shovels on KBOO.

Listen to the show on the KBOO website. Listen to the show on Self Help Radio's website.

Tuesday December 9 Corporate Standardized Programming continued to play musicians we lost in 2025.
Listen to the show on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). Listen to the show on Self Help Radio's website.

Thursday December 11 I made a fundraiser show which aired on & for Freeform Portland.

Listen to the show on Spinitron (for a couple of weeks). Listen to the show on Self Help Radio's website.

As always - you might need a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp) to listen to shows on the Self Help Radio website.

Now if you'll excuse me - they're making me clean up my mess after all.

Self Help Radio 120925: Shovels

This show, it turns out, is shovel-ready.

You were expecting that, sorry.

Here's the show about shovels. I sometimes feel my shows are random but I heard from someone on Bluesky who's in Chicago that they're using their snow shovels a lot. & here in Portland where new builds are going up everywhere I see lots of shoveling. So it's somewhat appropriate. Although if it is, it's entirely by accident.

Please use your entrenching tools while you listen. The show is now at the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website. If you use the latter, please remember the username SHR & the password selfhelp. Most everything that happened on the show is below.

As Erica Boone would say: BYOS. Bring your own shovel!

Self Help Radio Shovels Show

"Pick & Shovel Blues" Bull City Red _(1935-1939) Complete Recordings In Chronological Order_

"Nine Foot Shovel" Josh White _Songs For Political Action - Folkmusic, Topical Songs, & The American Left 1926-1953_

"Never Hit Your Grandma With A Shovel" Spike Jones & His City Slickers _Strictly For Music Lovers_

introduction & definitions

"Got A Great Big Shovel" Sammy Davis Jr. _Mr Show-Business_

"The Days Of Sand & Shovels" The Winstons _Color Him Father_

"Dig It (Shovel)" The Intentions _Eccentric Soul: Minibus_

"The Broom, The Shovel, The Poker, & The Tongs" Dame Peggy Ashcroft _Poetry Readings_

"The Pick & The Maltshovel" Roger Watson _The Pick & The Malt Shovel_

interview with American Hart Shovel Company CEO Thaddeus Hart

"Don't Forget Your Shovel" Christy Moore _The Time Has Come_

"The Last Old Shovel" Phyllis Boyens _O Sister! (The Women's Bluegrass Collection)_

"One Woman & A Shovel" Carrie Newcomer _The Geography Of Light_

"At Midnight I Will Kill George Lucas With A Shovel" Patton Oswalt _Werewolves & Lollipops_

"Shovel" Aesop Rock _Labor Days_

interview with activist for Shovels For Peace Erica Boone

"Shovel" John Wesley Coleman III _Microwave Dreams_

"15 Shovels" Darrin Bradbury _Artvertisement_

"Said The Shovel" Osees _Protean Threat_

"Shovel Fighter" Matt Braunger _Shovel Fighter_

"Shovelheads" Shriekback _Why Anything? Why This?_

interview with self-help author Chaz James

"The Sir Tommy Shovell" Robyn Hitchcock _Shufflemania!_

"Shovels" Scarves _Delicate Creatures_

"Shovel" Megan Gailey _My Dad Paid for This_

"Shovel" Deep Sea Diver _Billboard Heart_

"Shovel Into Spade Kit" Lilys _Better Can't Make Your Life Better_

conclusion & goodbye

"Shovel" Feedtime _Shovel_

"The Shovel Of Love" Bless _Gums_

"The Shovel Song" Flax Sifter _Flax Sifter_

"Shovel" Danger Gens _Life Between Cigarettes_

"Hells Shovel" Cutthroat Shamrock _The Wake_

Whither Shovels?

(art by Michael Pederson found here)

Just a quick note: this is the last show of 2025 with a new, unique theme. The next three weeks are shows that have "repeated" themes. You can see what those upcoming theme are on the Self Help Radio website.

There'll be time to consider the year later but it's been a fun year for me (at least when I'm talking about the show). I can't believe I've now spent 23 years on this nonsense, but I also can't imagine what else I would be doing.

A show about shovels. Hm. Why did I think of that? I'm tempted to say it had something to do with a movie or television show I saw recently. I spent a lot of this year watching all six seasons of Downton Abbey & just watched the three movies. Maybe shovels play a part in some subplot? I don't know. Isn't that appropriate at the end of the year after months of different themes to just throw up one's hands & say "I don't know! I'm doing a show about shovels! Who cares why?!? It's a show about shovels!"

Anyway, it airs tonight on KBOO. Midnight to 2am. That's 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere.

Please insert your "shoveling manure" joke anywhere into the proceedings, I promise it will be apt.

Preface To Shovels: I Have Shoveled

At first glance at me, one would not have this thought: "That is a person who has shoveled."
For many this might be an insult.
But I have lived more than half a century as a mainly non-athletic type.
One could say I am pretty comfortable with who I am.
This is true:
One time a worker at our house asked my wife if I had an opinion about the work to be done.
She said, "Don't ask him. He's not handy."
The worker - a male - looked ashamed for me. I did not feel the slightest bit of shame.
So should someone stare at me & decide "That is not a person who has ever used a shover," it would not offend me. Indeed, I would understand.
But! I have used a shovel! & many times!
When we lived in Kentucky we had ridiculously long circular driveway.
& we had snows four or five times a year.
& when it snowed, I went out to shovel.
& the picture up there is proof. A snow in 2015.
Though I confess I was not the only one who shoveled that day.
It took quite a while & a couple of hands.
It was below freezing outside & at some point I realized I had become so warm in my winter gear that I had stripped down to a tee shirt.
You may ask, but if you don't care if people don't think you've shoveled, why mention this?
Of course the show this week is about shovels. It's something I think about in relation to shovels.
But also. It's always nice to subvert expectations.
For though one might look as though they cannot shovel, it turns out at least some of them can in fact shovel.

Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Letter Writing Day

December 7 is National Letter Writing Day, so that's what we'll be reporting on on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM. Musical report about letters - some that are letters - plus a Dickenbock Report Book Report &, if there's time, Dick Dickenbock answers your letters on air. (There won't be time for that.)

That's Sunday noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm here in Portland & online everywhere at xray dot fm. We've very sorry, Dick Dickenbock is making us say this, it'll be a show you'll write home about. Again, apologies for that.

This Week In Self Help: November 29 + 30 & December 1 + 2

It was the first year of the pandemic when I took that picture above. A little stand-alone garage in my hood probably abandoned or otherwise unoccupied, covered in graffiti. It's gone now, condos stand in its place, but maybe those new builds are haunted by the ghosts of all that graffiti.

It was a pretty busy week for me. Here's what I did:

On Saturday November 29 I subbed for three hours on KBOO playing soul music. I was not calling it a sub for the show that's usually there, An Evening Of Afrotainment, as I am woefully unqualified to host that show. But it's in the timeslot, so you can listen to it on the KBOO website. & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.

On Sunday November 30 I was on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM for National Computer Security Day. Being an uncreative sort, I just played a lot of songs about passwords. You can listen to it on the XRAY website. & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.

On Monday November 1 very early in the morning I played an hour of music from 2025 which I hadn't gotten around to playing yet on KBOO. It was in a timeslot where there's currently no show scheduled, but you can listen to in on the Self Help Radio website. (KBOO doesn't archive shows that are unscheduled.)

On Tuesday November 2 there was a Self Help Radio show on KBOO about graffiti. You can listen to it on the KBOO website. & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.

Also on Tuesday November 2 on Corporate Standardized Programming I played music by artists we lost in April of this year. You can listen to it on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.

Remember - you might need the username SHR & password selfhelp to listen.

Anyway, I hopefully won't be so busy this next week. I'm gonna go paint a train.

Self Help Radio 120225: Graffiti

Ooo, almost got caught last night! Self Help Radio tags all over Portland! You can graffiti the town with the power of the airwaves!

Graffiti was sung about & discussed, although I didn't get a chance to read dirty graffiti from the walls of Pompeii or - apparently! - from English churches in the 16th century. I miss discovering graffiti in strange bathrooms on my college campus. I remember being in an unfamiliar building & discovering this gem: No matter how beautiful she is, someone somewhere is sick of her shit.

As someone who was never beautiful & who has shit most everyone is sick of, I present the graffiti Self Help Radio episode. Listen at the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website. Remember you might need a username & password for the latter. Everything that happened on the show is below.

Work on your tag. Be careful. Stay out of trouble.

Self Help Radio Graffiti Show

"Graffiti" Benny Hill _The Best Of Benny Hill_

"Graffiti Night Fever" Ivor Biggun & The Red-Nosed Burglars _The Winker's Album (Misprint)_

"Teenage Graffiti" The Pink Spiders _Hot Pink_

introduction & definitions

"The Sound Of Graffiti" Jack Raymond & Haskell Barkin _The Handwriting On The Wall (The Sounds Of Graffiti)_

"Graffiti Crimes" Mi-Sex _Graffiti Crimes_

"Chinese Graffiti" Blue Peter _Up To You_

"Graffiti Love" Violet Strange _Stray_

"Graffiti Bridge" Prince _Graffiti Bridge_

our favorite librarian Carole shares with us books about graffiti

"Sex" Jack Raymond & Haskell Barkin _The Handwriting On The Wall (The Sounds Of Graffiti)_

"Graffiti Limbo" Michelle Shocked _Short Sharp Shocked_

"Graffiti" Throwing Muses _The Real Ramona_

"Graffiti Women" Suede _Sci-Fi Lullabies_

"Graffiti Worth Reading" The Mighty Mighty Bosstones _Pin Points & Gin Joints_

interview with Officer Little of the PPD Graffiti Division

"Whimsy" Jack Raymond & Haskell Barkin _The Handwriting On The Wall (The Sounds Of Graffiti)_

"Small Town Graffiti" Lispector _Small Town Graffiti_

"Wet Graffiti" Sacred Paws _Strike A Match_

"Soft Graffiti" Takako Minekawa _Fun9_

"Graffiti" Atmosphere _Mi Vida Local_

interview with graffiti artist "Jarvis"

"Underneaths" Jack Raymond & Haskell Barkin _The Handwriting On The Wall (The Sounds Of Graffiti)_

"Graffiti Paint" Field Medic _Songs From The Sunroom_

"Graffiti Street" Rayland Baxter _If I Were A Butterfly_

"Graffiti" Maximo Park _A Certain Trigger_

"Delicate Graffiti" Helen Ganya _Polish The Machine_

conclusion & goodbye

"Graffiti Part One" Stereo MC's _Deep Down & Dirty_

"Never Like Graffiti" Emak Bakia _Acuarela Songs_

Whither Graffiti?

When people think of graffiti, they think of the intricate work of some artists - often commissioned, as I believe the art in the image above is - but of course graffiti can just be writing - sometimes names, like tags, or sometimes rude sentences (or not rude, sorry to impose my judgment on them). I was thinking a while back about how in two of the three college stations at which I deejayed, the bathrooms were marked up. Just really, really marked up. Here's a snap of the one at KVRX from around 1995:

& from about twenty years later, something pithy that always made me laugh found in the WRFL bathroom:

In fact it was in a fit of nostalgia that I came across that WRFL pic a few weeks ago & that's what made me think about doing a show about graffiti.

As a side comment: I do wish I had documented those magnificent restrooms more completely. Neither exists any more. The building in which the original KVRX studios lived was demolished around 1999 I think, & the WRFL bathroom was destroyed when the UK Student Center was remodeled around 2015 or 2016. Too bad.

Songs & interviews about graffiti tonight on KBOO. Midnight to 2am. That's 90.7fm here in town & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. Now. I'd better start working on my tag!

Preface To Graffiti: So Much Graffiti

There was so much graffiti all over Portland during the pandemic. This especially happened to businesses that had closed or had closed up for the duration, & to houses that had been abandoned. It must've been a great time to go around painting on things. I remember one morning, when I was doing a show early on XRAY, driving on I-5 going north, I saw three guys just standing on the highway shoulder spray-painting a wall or a pillar or whatever. I don't even know if the police would've stopped at that point.

The city is much more active now & the graffiti level has dropped. There are still some rudimentary tags here & there but hardly any sentences written on the sides of walls as in the picture I took above, dated February 26, 2022. Nearly four years ago, wow. Hard to believe what we've lived through.

Or didn't live through, as the case may be. There are people I don't talk to because of the pandemic. Their inability to understand the deadliness of the virus - coupled with their incredibly stupid fear of vaccines - made me decide I didn't need those people in my life. It was a really dumb time & it continues to be very dumb.

You don't need me to tell you that, tho.