Oh Gee Pee Oh Gee on 04/20/25

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Hosted by: 
Jeremy R
Produced by: 
KBOO
Program:: 
Oh Gee Pee Oh Gee
Air date: 
Sun, 04/20/2025 - 8:00pm to 10:00pm
Chart from 1493 text titled Practica Musica. At the bottom is Silent Thalia at the top sits Apollo on the left side are a column of nine muses on the right are the notes of the a minor scale in the center is Cerberus whose three heads point down and whose
More Images: 
The Goddess Isis sits on a throne, instructing two disciples. To her right is Hermes, whose eyes appear aware of dreams. To her left is Moses whose eyes are intent upon her
In a dark corner a bearded artist listens as death in its skeletal form plays a violin with only one string
Music For An Easter Night And Doing What You Know Is Right
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Broadcasting with gratitude, sorrow, and love from the rightful lands of Cowlitz, Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, Tualatin Kalapuya, Wasco, Molalla, Ita'xluit, Watlala, and other original peoples of
the big river
 
This is K B O O 90.7FM 
Portland's community radio.
 
This show's called Oh Gee, PeeOhGee, I'm your neighbor, Jeremy, and I'm glad to be here with you for the next two hours as we consider this moment from a variety of perspectives a
midst a variety of good music.
 
Like the track beneath my voice, Alexander Borodin’s masterpiece In The Steppes of Central Asia, performed by the Ukraine National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Theodore Kuchar conducted
 
 
And that spoken word track we heard at the top of the hour
Money Rant by the late great Benjamin Zephaniah who would have celebrated his birthday on April 15th had he not completed life December 7th, 2023. That’s okay, we’ll celebrate it for him, belatedly
 
And we’ll be right on time for celebrating Easter, as well. Even if you’re not christian it’s a good time for thinking about the symbols of rebirth and any modes of forgiveness that may be present in your own belief system, we’ll take a closer look at these later in the program in an excerpt from a talk given by Joseph Campbell
 
But first let’s take a moment or two to think about the ways in which the circumstances of Jesus’s Life, Death, and Resurrection might mirror the circumstances of your own life.
 
Have you ever felt unique among all creation?
 
Have you ever been feared because of the truth you bravely acted to convey?
 
Have you ever been tempted in the desert but instead chose to pray?
 
Have you ever been betrayed by a friend? 
Have you ever been betrayed by your own wayward people?
Have you ever been innocent yet condemned?
 
Then you my friend
are not alone
 
 
Even if you are not christian you can still academically appreciate the story of Jesus as a potent example of the Hero’s Journey, that template of the essential human story.
 
He was born on the run
 
He left a loving home and a good job behind because it was more important that he find a way to fulfill his highest purpose.
 
As he traveled he found that it was necessary to accept the aid of others even as he was delivering to them the rarest of treasures
Grace, Empathy, and Love
 
But despite this constant giving of gifts, mercy, and wisdom a small group of influential individuals still chose to torture and murder a good man, to say nothing of God in the Flesh
 
Have you ever been tortured, humiliated, or maimed by the very people you were trying so desperately to help? 
Have you ever forgiven selfish, violent fools, 
even as they were taking everything from you?
 
Will you be there waiting for them on the other side when they die?
 
A fascinating and often overlooked part of the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus is the three days he spent in the earth. 
 
This is the part where he continues the human experience of death by descending into the afterlife. A place called Sheol In the Old Hebrew Cosmology. 
 
Probably important to state right off the bat that although Sheol and Hell sound very similar and both serve similar functions these are nevertheless distinct concepts and the words have distinct etymologies. 
 
Hell has a soundly reasoned germanic pedigree while Sheol’s origin is less certain but perhaps descended from a root that was borrowed into Hebrew from the now-extinct Hurrian language. 
 
Sheol was the place where the souls of the dead were kept. The afterlife. As I said the etymology is uncertain but some scholars believe it descends from the same root as sha’al which means to inquire or to borrow. Sha’al; Sheol
Shah-al She-oll
 
This place of asking or of borrowing was not at that time considered a place of punishment. Sheol was the place where all souls went after death, regardless of the quality of choices they had made. Jesus changed that, not just for christianity but for Judaism as well when he spent three days Harrowing Hell.
 
 
When jesus entered the afterlife he gathered Adam and Eve and Abel and the saints and prophets and the souls of children and other innocents and led them out of Sheol and into the Kingdom of Heaven. In that so often overlooked act what the Lamb of God had done was to separate the afterlife into discrete functions. A place of punishment and a place of reward while still retaining its sense as the place of asking.
 
This scene, the Harrowing of Hell is depicted on The Tower card of many tarot decks, where the smashed tower represents the gates of hell, bent and broken and if you look close there at the base you’ll see the redeemer leading the lovers back into the light   
 
Just some things to think about on this April, Easter night
as we begin this first set with Bob Dylan’s 1981 performance of Thief On The Cross
 
Right now on member supported KBOO
 
 
[PLAY FIRST SET]
 
 
 
This is K B O O 90.7FM in Portland and we just heard Sinead and the Chieftains with a track that's near and dear to the hearts of Irish people the world over, 
honoring the brave men 
And Women
Who fought and died for Irish independence in The Easter Uprising of 1916. That was Foggy Dew serving also as a stark reminder that Settler Colonialism is always wrong.
 
Prior to Foggy Dew we heard one of the world's greatest masters of sacred steel, Brother Glenn Lee giving us the aptly titled track Joyful Sounds
 
Preceding Brother Glenn Lee we heard Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the queer black woman who taught Elvis Presley and the rest of the world how to play Rock N Roll, from her we had the track Can't No Grave Hold My Body Down
 
And that followed Lord, Let the Train Roll Easy by the inimitable Clara Ward, whose birthday will be tomorrow on the 21st
 
 
And again we began that Easter set with Bob Dylan's Thief On The Cross
 
 
Next up we’ll hear part of a talk given by the late public intellectual Joseph Campbell who walks us through some of the symbology of the hermetic tradition and explains how it corresponds to the mosaic Buddhist and Christian traditions
 
I believe his descriptions are sufficient but if you would like to enrich the experience by having before you some visual aids these are available right now on the KBOO website at the episode page for this program. 
 
Now please enjoy this excerpt from Joseph Campbell's wonderful lecture series, Mythos
 
on member supported radio
Kay Bee oh oh 
 
 
[PLAY SECOND SET]
 
 
 
We just heard Lament Of The Three Marys performed by Voices of Ireland
 
Next take some deep breaths and prepare to listen close, Bloodhounds because here comes
Today's Cold Case
[Play Bloodhound Gang]
Today's Cold Case is the 1988 disappearance of CRYSTAL SPENCER 
 
Crystal Spencer was a young woman who left her small hometown of Ukiah California at seventeen and headed south to Hollywood. She had headshots made and landed a few small parts in commercial spots but it wasn't enough to pay the bills. She was recruited into sex work by a police officer named Horace Joseph McKenna Jr, or Mac for short. Mac owned several illicit clubs including the one Crystal danced at 4 nights a week.
 
Anonymous sources claim Mac pressured the dancers to perform privately for his friends in law enforcement at exclusive parties inside creepy warehouses. These same sources have said Mac was in the process of trafficking girls overseas at the time of Crystal’s disappearance but these claims remain unsubstantiatedà.
 
What's certain is that Crystal was last seen by her recent boyfriend Anton Kline on May 4th 1988 at her apartment.. At that time she reportedly displayed mild flu like symptoms but was otherwise in good spirits. 
 
On May 6th Crystal called her sister and told her she was very very sick, but Crystal had a reputation in the family for being a hypochondriac so her sister thought it probably wasn't as bad as Crystal claimed and so did nothing.
 
Then A few hours after midnight On May 7th Crystal’s nearest neighbors, a former Miss America and her husband, Jet heard noises coming from Crystal's apartment 
There was screaming, crashing and sobs which they characterized as sounding as if someone was being tortured. 
 
Despite feeling certain that someone needed immediate help they nevertheless consciously chose not to call emergency services or to intervene directly, themselves. 
They just didn't want to get involved. 
Eventually the noises stopped and the couple returned to sleep.
 
Six days later the smell of rotting flesh was so strong that other neighbors finally called police to take a look.
 
They reportedly found a badly decomposed body nude from the waist down and wrapped in a phone cord
 
Crystal's family were forbidden from viewing the body and it was quickly cremated.
 
Crystal’s boyfriend Anton was later able to view the autopsy report and the body it describes doesn't appear to be that of 28 year old Crystal Spencer. 
 
Even after decomposition the body measured five foot seven and one hundred forty pounds, which was far too large and heavy to match Crystal’s five foot nothing, one hundred five pound frame. Bodies don’t lengthen seven inches at death
 
and most blatant of all the coroner had x-rayed the entire body and found none of the metal plates and pins which had been holding Crystal’s ankle together ever since reconstruction following an adolescent accident.
 
If this wasn't Crystal Spencer's body then where was she? And who was this?
 
Stranger still when Anton received her FBI file under a freedom of information act request he found that it was massive and that 21 pages had been fully redacted. Why would the FBI have any record at all on a young struggling actress?
 
Perhaps it had something to do with her boss, Mac, the former cop who was allegedly seeking to traffic her overseas and who was himself murdered by his business partner less than a year after Crystal’s disappearance.
 
It's hard telling not knowing but
Perhaps she was a federal informant who got found out and killed for it
 
Maybe she was trafficked to Asia and a recent corpse substituted to cover up her disappearance
 
Maybe she died of Toxic Shock Syndrome and the coroner mixed up her remains due to carelessness rather than intentional deception
 
Maybe you have the investigative instincts necessary to look past the lights and the lashes to see the truth reflecting in the eyes of 
Crystal Lene Spencer.
 
To all you Bloodhounds who undertake the task
I say, Good Hunting 
 
With more on that here's a song released around the same time Crystal disappeared
From Tracy Chapman’s eponymous 1988 album here's a song simply titled 
Why?
 
Right now on Our Community Radio
K B O O Portland
 
PLAY THIRD SET]
Well we've talked about the good on this Easter Sunday and with the case of Crystal Spencer we have began to cast our gaze towards Evil
 
So let us now confront it
Specifically its Banality
The word Banal meaning commonplace or boring was borrowed into English from French 
who got it from Latin, 
who took it from a proto germanic word that I kid you not is reconstructed as Bannannã 
Which meant to Proclaim, summon, or forbid
But over the millennia the original sense has transformed into our modern usage of the word Banal to mean predictable, boring, and basic
 
When we say the Banality of Evil we don't mean that we consider the mass murder of children to be boring, what we mean is that the people who most often carry out Evil Deeds tend to be commonplace, unremarkable people who don't think very much at all about the choices they make.
 
With more on that here's a clip from Philosopheasy on Hannah Arendt and the Banality of Evil
 
Right now, on member supported kay-boo
 
 
 
[PLAY FOURTH SET]
 
You're on 90.7FM
Kay bee oh oh,
this show's called
Oh Gee PeeOhGee,
my name's Jeremy
and we just heard
 
A great new song called American Survivor by Arlo Indigo, the stage name of Jeremiah Brunnhoelzl and I daresay if anyone knows about surviving it's Jeremiah Brunnhoelzl. He survived a wild childhood in Alaska and the loss of his father at a far too early age. He survived his stint as a starving artist in our own city of roses before making the big move to the Big Apple. 
 
Most recently he has survived the loss of his mother, which is one of the absolutely hardest partings of any human life. Still this man has survived and the artist is ever more alive, transforming tragedy and sharing the wisdom that arrives through the processing of grief and the integration of personal experience. Thank you, Jeremiah Brunnhoelzl
 
 
Prior to Arlo Indigo we heard another 
Brooklyn band 
TV On The Radio with a song called Killer Crane honoring their bass player, the late great Gerard Smith who passed from life far too young on this day in 2011
 
From busking on the subway to sharing the big stage with his hero and peer Tunde Adebimpe Gerard Smith did a lot of living in his 36 years.
 
Thank you for the music, Rest in Peace sir
 
Well in addition to marking the departure of Gerard Smith, today also marks the arrival of Tito Puente who was born this day 1923
 
In this next set we'll honor Tito and a few other artists celebrating their birthdays today
Beginning with
 
Oye Como Va
Listen how it goes
Right now, on Kay be oh oh 
 
 
[PLAY FIFTH SET]
 
Kay Bee Oh Oh Portland
A member supported community radio station that's even older than those 
Nice Polite Republicans over at NPR
If you really care about freedom 
then you will have realized by now that we are one of the last existing non commercial, non corporate radio stations left 
in this quickly collapsing civilization
 
God willing our community will survive it, intact.
 
To that end please consider visiting KBOO dot ef em and becoming a member today
 
To all of our members: thank you
 
Well in that last set we were celebrating some birthdays and mourning some losses
 
Ending there with one of our dearest neighbors, singer songwriter and full-time werewolf Michael Hurley who departed this life on April 1st 2025
 
He was hungry for humans and loved
skipping stones across the face of the deep
dispensing riddles that turn over in sleep. We miss him very much.
 
I don't know what instrument you play or what key you howl in but I know that Michael Hurley left a space for you and me and everyone to join in on that last track. Little Blue River. We’ll all meet up there some day and play our bit of that parting gift from a good neighbor and a great Cascadian
 
Rest in peace Michael Hurley
 
And rest in peace to poet and genocide survivor Paul Celan, who died this day, 1970
 
Prior to mourning Michael Hurley we were celebrating the birth of another local, Alela Diane
with a heartfelt track titled Take Us Back
Which has the apt line 
“I've a friend who lives out by the river's mouth, 
he knows the fiddle's cry is an old sound”
 
Before Alela Diane we heard Carina Round
singing For Everything A Reason. Carina Round was born this day 1979
 
Born this day 1965 was April March from whom we heard Baby Blue. Fun fact April March was also a major contributor to 
The Ren And Stimpy Cartoon 
so all you kilted yakmen say 
Happity Happity birthday 
woof woof 
meow meow 
beep beep
 
And again we began that birthday set with Oye Como Va by Tito Puente
 
So happy birthday Tito Puente, April March, Carina Round, Alela Diane, and you too 
 
If it is your birthday, I hope it's been a good'n
 
Let's recap shall we?
 
 
On tonight's show we heard wise words from Joseph Campbell
 
Revisited the 1988 cold case of Crystal Spencer
 
considered the differences and sympathies that exist between the hermetic, mosaic, and Christian traditions
 
we learned that the word Banal means basic and boring and that it was famously used to describe the average perpetrators of genocide, who tend not to think about things very deeply and just do whatever they're told.
 
And we considered Christ’s harrowing of hell as well as the evolution of the Apostle's Creed from the old Roman Symbol, both important links connecting Paganism and Christianity.
 
well I've enjoyed spending this time with you and as it draws again to a momentary close I want you to know
that you are an important part of this community and I'm glad we're neighbors.
 
If you'd like to learn more about what we heard or you just wanna have another listen you can go to kay bee oh oh dot org, select audio then list of programs and scroll on down to PeeOhGee 
which is written phonetically
Papa Echo Echo
Oscar Hotel
Golf Echo Echo
That's how ya spell PeeOhGee
 
 
Going to see us out now with a brand new track from Babatunde Adebimpe’s first ever solo release which dropped on the 16th, as well as a 1990 classic from Bootsy Collins but first, remember friends:
 
Finding the path doesn't meetcha the end
Even when close ya won't see that far
Strive past those obstacles, then depend 
upon your faith and just be as you are
 
You are the Planet and you are the Star
 
 
Until next time
be well, do good
 
[PLAY BABATUNDE ADEBIMPE & BOOTSY]
 
 
 
Topic tags: 
Arts/Culture, Faith/Religion/Spirituality, Music
Genre(s): 
Eclectic

Episode Playlist

  • Time
    8:00
    Artist
    Benjamin Zephaniah
    Song
    Money Rant
    Album
    Reggae Head
    Label
    57 Productions
  • Time
    8:11
    Artist
    Bob Dylan
    Song
    Thief on the Cross - Live Nov. 10, 1981
    Album
    Trouble No More: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 13 / 1979-1981 (Deluxe Edition)
    Label
    Columbia/Legacy
  • Time
    8:15
    Artist
    The Ward Singers
    Song
    Let The Train Roll Easy
    Album
    Just Over The Horizon
    Label
    Savoy Records
  • Time
    8:18
    Artist
    Sister Rosetta Tharpe
    Song
    Cain't No Grave Hold My Body Down
    Album
    Gospel Train
    Label
    Ancien Prodige
  • Time
    8:20
    Artist
    Glenn Lee
    Song
    Joyful Sounds
    Album
    Sacred Steel Instrumentals
    Label
    Vanguard
  • Time
    8:25
    Artist
    The Chieftains
    Song
    The Foggy Dew (with Sinéad O'Connor)
    Album
    The Essential Chieftains
    Label
    NITRON media
  • Time
    8:30
    Artist
    Alexander Borodin
    Song
    In the Steppes of Central Asia
    Album
    20 Years Of Classical Music: Naxos Anniversary Collection (Naxos Denmark)
    Label
    Naxos Special Projects
  • Time
    8:33
    Artist
    Joseph Campbell
    Song
    The Mystical Life
    Album
    Mythos
    Label
  • Time
    8:51
    Artist
    Voices Of Ireland & The Stuart O'Connor Dance Troupe
    Song
    The Lament Of The Three Mary's
    Album
    Riverdance
    Label
    K-Tel
  • Time
    9:00
    Artist
    Alexander Borodin
    Song
    In the Steppes of Central Asia
    Album
    20 Years Of Classical Music: Naxos Anniversary Collection (Naxos Denmark)
    Label
    Naxos Special Projects
  • Time
    9:01
    Artist
    Tracy Chapman
    Song
    Why?
    Album
    Tracy Chapman
    Label
    Elektra
  • Time
    9:05
    Artist
    Philosopheasy
    Song
    The Banality of Evil
    Album
    The Banality of Evil
    Label
  • Time
    9:14
    Artist
    TV On The Radio
    Song
    Killer Crane
    Album
    Nine Types of Light
    Label
    Interscope
  • Time
    9:20
    Artist
    Arlo Indigo
    Song
    American Survivor
    Album
    American Survivor
    Label
    Arlo Indigo
  • Time
    9:26
    Artist
    Tito Puente
    Song
    Oye Cómo Va
    Album
    El Rey Bravo
    Label
    Fania
  • Time
    9:31
    Artist
    Hetty Koes Endang
    Song
    Hati Lebur Jadi Debu
    Album
    Hati Lebur Jadi Debu
    Label
    PT Musica Studios
  • Time
    9:35
    Artist
    Carina Round
    Song
    For Everything a Reason
    Album
    Things You Should Know
    Label
    Self Release
  • Time
    9:40
    Artist
    Alela Diane
    Song
    Take Us Back
    Album
    To Be Still
    Label
    Rough Trade
  • Time
    9:45
    Artist
    Michael Hurley
    Song
    Little Blue River
    Album
    Little Blue River
    Label
    No Quarter
  • Time
    9:54
    Artist
    Tunde Adebimpe
    Song
    God Knows
    Album
    God Knows
    Label
    Subpop Record Group
  • Time
    9:58
    Artist
    Bootsy's Rubber Band
    Song
    Disciples Of Funk
    Album
    Jungle Bass
    Label
    Island Records
  • Time
    9:59
    Artist
    Mic Crenshaw
    Song
    The Movement
    Album
    Earthbound
    Label
    Global Fam

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