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Thursday, Sep 8 2022, 10AM
Music Heals: Mental Health. As we acknowledge the struggles of mental health and emotional well-being that so many of us deal with and how music, and community, can really make a difference. From 5 AM to 7 PM we’ll be reading your stories and playing your requests. Send yours in to stories@kexp.org and tune in.
From Matt:
"With everything going on the past couple years my depression and bipolar have gotten much more acute. When I’m at work and start to feel I’m losing to bad thoughts I turn to Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns. It is long enough and builds enough I can check out and tune into the song and always feel better at the end.
It’s become a joke between my partner and I and she just rolls her eyes when I start putting it on but it’s become an unlikely safe place for me."
From Rhiannon:
"John Richards also saved my life. Sometime in the first 6 months of the pandemic, I was having a very hard week…. I decided to reach out to John and KEXP telling them I was having a very hard morning and I needed to hear some Sufjan Stevens. John quickly messaged me back and gave me the comfort I needed. In that moment. I am convinced that message and feeling of community is what ultimately stopped me from doing something foolish. Thank you guys so much for being here."
From Gavin:
"Thanks for playing 'This Year'. It has been my personal theme song for, well, far too many years recently. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to explain to my coworkers why I'm crying at my desk. Also, is there any chance we could hear 'Extraordinary Machine' by Fiona Apple? It's another theme to keep me moving forward and always motivates me. Because we are all of us extraordinary machines. Thanks again. These shows matter a LOT. "
From Kelley in Bham, AL:
"Good morning, KEXP. Music does heal and brings people and community together. It’s brought so much joy, friendship, healthy coping (dancing/seeing live music/ even release through sobbing to some sad song or empathic relating/connecting to others in similar mental states.) Speaking of live music, I’m feeling great joy and happiness today after seeing Courtney Barnett (CB) last night at Iron City music venue in my hometown of Bham, Alabama. I’m sure I first heard CB several years ago on KEXP where I often first hear great music, old and new."
From Dana:
"Would you puhleeez play Smokey Brights 'Ocean Shores'? They are one of the greatest live bands ever to grace Seattle stages & having the crowd shout back (""...its DEPRESSION!"") is really something to be a part of! Thx $1M for *all* that you do for US."
KEXP & Cloudbreak Music Festival Present: Smokey Brights 10 year Anniversary 2024
Friday, Nov 22, 2024
Event Info
From Valerie in NorCal:
"Hi Cheryl!! I'm sure you've gotten a mountain of messages today but I just wanted to say how much these days and KEXP mean to me. I started streaming this station while I was in a deep, lonely crisis and it was definitely my lifeboat through and through. Not only are the DJs the friendliest warmest ppl ever but discovering oodles of new music really reminded me of my passion, who I am, and a bigger world waiting for me out there, when everything felt small, dark, and cramped. Thanks for keeping me going I love love love KEXP and massively admire the vulnerability from all of yall 💜💜💜💜 I would say if I had to choose one song that has kept me going, it would be 'While You're Alive' by Jeff Rosenstock."
10:39 AM
1st spin?!
From Sarah in Seattle:
"My amazing nephew was raised with the Kinks and when he was very young, he would sing 'Superman' over and over and over. He graduated college in 2019 and proceeded to move to a new and exciting city. Then, in March, 2020, COVID hit. His roommate moved back home and he was left alone. He, too, moved back home and proceeded to try to carve out a life. I remember being fresh out of college - meeting people, socializing and finding myself. His experiences were cut very short. After 2 years of working virtually and living alone, things have been very difficult for him- he is working on his mental health. One great thing he's done is quit his job to focus on his mental health and has taken a job with more meaning and will be going into work (with real people!) My heart goes out to ALL people, especially the younger ones whose socializations/growth/finding yourself was forever altered by COVID. Can you please play 'Superman' by the Kinks in honor of my beautiful nephew while he enters a new chapter in his life? Thank you"
Music Heals: You Are Not Alone. As we acknowledge the struggles of mental health and emotional well-being that so many of us deal with and how music, and community, can really make a difference. From 5 AM to 7 PM we’ll be reading your stories and playing your requests. Send yours in to stories@kexp.org and tune in.
From Maya:
"Like many who grew up in abusive households, I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety my whole life. It’s an exhausting way to live. Gravity felt heavier for me than it seemed to for everyone else. In the midst of a depressive period, I instinctively turned toward everything comforting and familiar but music ceased to be a refuge for me. Instead of hearing my favorite songs One year, I complained to a friend that music was ruined and they sent me an album I’d never heard before: 'Blacklisted' by Neko Case. The sound of her voice and that guitar felt melancholy and profound and cathartic. It wasn’t trying to cheer me up — it was trying to find me in the dark. One year. It became the only album I could listen to and I listened on repeat. The song ‘I Wish I Was the Moon Tonight’, in particular, resonated deeply. When I hear it today -- nearly two years since my last severe depressive episode — I feel gratitude that it was there for me when I needed it."
From Erin:
"Wow, first of all, thanks for this. Started the pandemic with a newborn and struggled with postpartum depression. Not sure if 'Nightswimming' by REM qualifies in this lineup but the melody is so just beautiful and can really calm me when I feel things spiraling beyond my control. Thanks again."
From Ian:
"My friend died of a drug overdose 2 weeks ago. I watched the Medical Examiners take his body away. This man collected friends with effortless love and generosity but knew instinctively how to challenge perspectives and opinions without ever questioning the depth of a friendship, which just opened up a realm of possibilities. A couple of days after, my son gave me his earbuds, told me he thought the music was uplifting. I just started crying. That’s how it goes. I function, I do what I can to help his friends and family. Those moments in between, I’m breathing, trying to work, listening to music. Quivers 'You’re not always on my mind'. Bowie’s 'Heroes'. Really doesn’t matter, because whatever’s playing just reaches in and hits exposed nerves. Music may heal in the long run, but first it breaks you, takes you to your rage, tosses you into the abyss you didn’t know existed until that friend died. I’ve had friends and family die before, and the older you get, the more it happens."
LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century, died Thursday after 70 years on the throne. She was 96.
The palace announced she died at Balmoral Castle, her summer residence in Scotland, where members of the royal family had rushed to her side after her health took a turn for the worse.
With the death of the queen, her 73-year-old son Charles automatically becomes monarch, though the coronation might not take place for months. It is not known whether he will choose to call himself King Charles III or some other name.
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born in London on April 21, 1926, the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York. She was not born to be queen -- her father’s elder brother, Prince Edward, was destined for the crown, to be followed by any children he had.
But in 1936, when she was 10, Edward VIII abdicated to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, and Elizabeth’s father became King George VI.
In April 2020 -- with the country in lockdown and Prime Minister Boris Johnson hospitalized with the virus -- she made a rare video address, urging people to stick together.
She summoned the spirit of World War II, that vital time in her life, and the nation’s, by echoing Vera Lynn’s wartime anthem “We’ll Meet Again.”
“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again,” she said.
And recently, when Alicia Keys started singing "Empire State of Mind" at a concert for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, many were confused. As it turns out, Keys sang about New York because Queen Elizabeth wanted her to.
From Patrick:
"Can you play 'Blowup the Outside World' by Soundgarden? It's a hard song to hear knowing that Chris Cornell lost his battle, but it makes me feel a connection and understanding that I'm not suffering alone. Thank you."
From James in Olympia:
"I had to go on short term disability from my job for severe depression a few years ago. My sister invited me to visit her in Austin and we spent a day doing an art project together and listening to music. When Future Island's 'Seasons (Waiting on You)' we both got up and danced and I felt all the sadness, the rage, the fear, and the hopelessness bubble up and I was able to face it and that moment was when my journey back to health began. Music does heal."
From Ivan:
"Cheryl. I hope you realize how much of a public service KEXP is. We are tethered together cosmically... Through music and discovery. And I have have to have to have to listen on days like this because it unites us all.
Since my dad died for the dumbest perceivable reasons of a new pacemaker installation…I have struggled so hard to stay happy. You know you miss them when you constantly have dreams and they are still there. When somehow you talking to yourself and you realize you're still trying to have a conversation with them, and then silence. And suddenly you have a knot in your throat because you realize they are gone and never coming back. Or when you wake up from a dream where you are hugging them and you begin to weep.
My father always hummed 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' it was never relevant for me until he passed away. Pablo was my bridge over troubled water. My dad. I miss you papa. Please tell your listeners that you frequently have to tell them you love them and that they're not alone ;)
I was wondering if you could spin Simon and Garfunkel’s 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' eternally grateful ;) Love always."
From Rachael:
"I just recently started listening to KEXP in the morning and midday and it’s completely changed my disposition. I’m crying at work listening today because I (like everyone) struggle with my mental health and keeping a positive attitude in these absolutely horrifying times. I wanted to request a song for my mom (she might not be listening), but throughout the pandemic she lost her mom and brother. I was “lucky” to be there for her when they both passed, it was absolutely heart wrenching and I think of all three of them every day. I’m requesting 'Let It Be' by the Beatles, I know I had to listen to it a billion times to just cry my heart out, and I’m already doing that so I thought why not ask for that one. I love KEXP so much, thank you so much for all you do. All my love, Rachael"
From Jordan in Folsom:
"I wrote this message from the depths of my deepest depression to date. I wrote it with the hope that I would send it to KEXP once I fought my way through my depression: In July 2022 I suffered the worst major depressive episode of my life. I cried all day for weeks. My life came to a very abrupt halt. I was paralyzed with fear. What if I wasn’t a good mom (my children were ages 1 and 3 at the time)? What if I was dying? What if I will feel like this for the rest of my life? As I lay in bed, trying to breathe and stop my mind from racing, I heard the song 'Self Centered Blues' by Natural Child and it helped put me in a space of calm, for a few minutes I knew peace. If you are out there feeling scared, anxious, or depressed: I see you, I hold you in loving kindness, find your breath, and never forget you are not alone. Thanks for all you and KEXP do."
From Lisa in Tukwila:
"Hello to my friends at KEXP!
I am a 48 year old, white, Jewish Lesbian who was very recently diagnosed with a mood disorder (Bipolar 2 with hypomania.) I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, great niece and very good friend (I am told!) I am a successful small business owner and am actively engaged in community activism and social justice work. My options are to “struggle” with mental illness in the form of a lesser version of mania (hypomania) or to “live my best life” working with my brain chemistry and physical bodily symptoms and taking pharmaceutical drugs. I’m choosing the latter; to LIVE WITH this diagnosis. I sincerely hope the continued stigma of mental illness starts to ebb. I don’t want to be ashamed any more. Here's a song for a Best friend who was once my first girlfriend: 'Androgynous' by the Replacements. Thank you very much for encouraging us to tell our stories. This is so important. Especially now, when we still feel so far apart from each other.
Keep up the AMAZING work and play that you do so beautifully!"
From Kirsti:
"This last year has been really rough—on top of the pandemic, I lost 2 dear friends to cancer and ended up estranged from my parents. Sometimes grief is too deep for words and music steps into the gap.
I was listening to Cheryl’s show one day when she played 'La Vita' by Beverley Glenn-Copeland. Something about that song hit me deep in my core in a way I can’t even describe, but that every music lover knows.
I’m so thankful for artists like Beverley Glenn-Copeland who bring healing through music to people they’ve never even met and for DJs like Cheryl Waters who share that music with people who don’t know yet how much they need it.
I’d appreciate hearing La Vita by Beverley Glenn-Copeland again today. Thank you."
From Jack in Seattle:
"One of the best ways music heals is that it lets us get to the hidden parts we know are there but can't access. For years, like so many of us, I would bottle up sadness, stress, trauma, etc., and then have this nagging feeling that I needed to cry, but be unable to get to the well of emotions bc it seemed like too much. Sia's 'Breathe Me' would instantly tap into it and let the release come. I had a dog, a rottweiler mix named "Faye," who was so in tune to the situation that she would hear the first few piano bars and jump down off the couch in the other room and to come and sit next to me while I cried. She did it every time she heard the song! Would love to hear this tune in celebration of KEXP highlighting music healing us all, with a special nod to all the animals, including Faye who is long gone now, who can hear and feel what we are going through even before we know it."
From Ariana:
"Hello, I was wondering if you can play 'Wildflowers' by Tom Petty. This song has helped me through a lot of lows in my life. I found it important to remind myself that I deserve to belong somewhere I feel free."
From Mary:
"Hi there lovely KEXP friends—I wanted to ask you to play Feelin’ Good Again by Robert Earl Keen.
For 15 or even 20 years (not even the doctors know) I had an undiagnosed brain tumor pressing on my right frontal lobe. Before the headaches or the problems walking, the main symptom I had was depression—specifically, anhedonia. Nothing that used to bring me pleasure felt good anymore. Music, socializing with friends, being outdoors—I knew intellectually that I loved these things, but I couldn’t *feel* them anymore.
After they found and removed my tumor, part of my physical therapy was walking as much as I could. It was early on in the pandemic and that’s the only thing that felt safe anyway, so I walked and walked and walked, listening to KEXP on my headphones and crying because everything was so alive around me. It was like the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps from gray Kansas into technicolor Oz. Colors were brighter, the birds were louder, the flowering trees smelled like heaven on earth. Best of all, music could move me again. With KEXP as my guide, I started being interested in new music again after years of not really caring. I dug out old records too and when I heard these REK lyrics “A chill north wind was blowin’ but the spring was comin’ on / As I wondered to myself just how long I had been gone” I recognized myself, coming back home to my own life.
Feeling things doesn’t always feel good—there’s pain and grief in the mix too, especially in these times. But life is so precious and I know that more than ever now. I hope everyone out there suffering gets to feel the joys of coming home. xo Mary"
From Jeff:
"I know all of our individual voices, shared through our requests, can remind us all that we can both live our private emotional lives and give ourselves a voice in the company of humanity.
And sometimes you give reflection to us who would wish to tell Fate to go look at himself in the mirror for a change and not make us change him.
So let's call 'Rusty Cage' by Johnny Cash to remind us all that we can all direct ourselves towards our own lives, inside and out.
I hope the audience would like it."
Music Heals: Mental Health. As we acknowledge the struggles of mental health and emotional well-being that so many of us deal with and how music, and community, can really make a difference. From 5 AM to 7 PM we’ll be reading your stories and playing your requests. Send yours in to stories@kexp.org and tune in.
From Dana:
"My husband and I are KEXP supporters and the station has seen us through many happy and difficult times. We recently lost our dog Duke who was a member of our family and like a first child to us. I had my daughter in November of last year and have been struggling with the loss of my first baby while trying to be a mother to my baby girl. While grieving, dancing and crying around the house with my daughter while listening to ABBA’s 'Chiquitita' has helped me process this horrible loss and hopefully send the message to her that it’s okay to be sad and grieve when you need to and it won’t last forever. Thanks for all you do!! Music heals."
From Rob:
"Hi Cheryl, I know there are a lot of requests.. 'Save it for a rainy day' by the Jayhawks always seems to lift me when I'm struggling.. thank you all again for today.. you're not alone.."
From Laura in Chicago:
"I listened to your show, appropriately enough, as I was riding my bike to my therapy session (with only one earbud in because safety first!). I so appreciate your openness about your own mental health struggles. I'm seeing more and more people, well known or not, talking about their struggles openly and it's a wonderful thing. I think that's part of what gave me the courage to quit my job recently and just BE for the first time in my life. I met you at the KEXP 50 celebration but I was too nervous to simply say "thank you for making me feel part of a community of imperfect people trying to do our best every day." I don't have a song request but a New Order song is always welcome! ❤️"
From Kai in Port Townsend:
"Thank you KEXP! So much crying, in a good way! Today is helping me so much. I often struggle with not feeling like enough (in my career, marriage, parenting, as a daughter and friend) and I can get overwhelmed by all the hard stuff in the world. Music helps pump me back up and make me think that I am enough and I'm not alone and I can do hard things. Dancing especially helps! Can you please play my favorite pump me up, can't tear me down song? "I love it" by Icona Pop and Charlie XCX"
From Nina:
"I think about this edition of Music Heals every year. And every year rolls around and I don't tell my story. In past years I might have spoke of my ongoing battle with anxiety and depression. I might have touched on how much harder it is when you can't find a therapist and don't have healthcare. But I didn't. Procrastination, no motivation, impossible to concentrate, impulsive, can't sit still. . . . Wait . . .
When I got my official ADHD diagnosis, the picture started to fill in. (It's often missed in women and girls since it can present differently.). When I started to treat my ADHD, the other things got mostly quiet. Having the right diagnosis and medication has been life changing for me. I'm not in constant crisis anymore and I can breathe deep, beautiful breaths. Can you please play IDLES 'Television' to remind folks that there is always someone there (Thank you King County Crisis Line) to get you out of that garbage negative self talk.
Thanks for listening. I hope this story resonates and can help someone."
From James in Cambridge, ON:
"Hi Cheryl,
I felt inclined to open up after listening a bit today. I've been going through a rough spell lately. I parted ways with my employer in March, was heavily burnt out after a few hard years working during a stressful pandemic period and just needed a break. I took some time to do some self introspection at just what went and why it seemed I was so easily disposable from workplaces, as this had been my 4th such job loss in my career. Around this time my daughter's teacher mentioned that my wife and I should get her a behavioral assessment for ADHD. Realizing this condition was hereditary, I started looking at myself and discovered I too may have had ADHD. This shook me a fair bit. I was 42 years old and apparently oblivious to all the flashing lights and warning signs that had been there my whole life.
Both my daughter and I have gone through assessments that confirmed what we already had a pretty good idea was there, that we're both neurodivergent. I'm slowly putting myself back together and figuring out this new reality. It has been difficult to learn some of these life challenges that I thought normal were apparently things I had to work a lot harder to reconcile. I find I get emotional watching people talk about the subject, because it's so obviously me and always has been. I've been quietly trying to deal with these challenges and I think I'm now at a point where I want to share more broadly and find that community of belonging that I know exists. Days like Music Heals are genuinely helpful for healing and growth. Letting people know it's okay to not be okay. I'm looking forward to trying some prescription medications next week that could genuinely change my life for the better. I'm positive that good things are just around the corner for me and that these last couple months of struggle will have a huge payoff.
The song that's really connected with me over the last few months is Heavy Heart by Bartees Strange. This past year I have thought I was broken at times and like Bartees I do feel like I should go to Toronto more often."
From William:
"I've personally struggled with depression and social anxiety most of my life. Growing up it was written off as having a bad day or a case of the butterflies, but looking back on it all it was much deeper than that. Now, as a parent, I've come to realize that my daughter Etta is encountering these same struggles. One minute she's a social butterfly and the next minute she is hit with crippling anxiety that I know all to well. One song that I've introduced to her in the past year that I've added to her playlist, is "Ladyfingers" by Luscious Jackson which seems to help quell her anxiety and we have a good father- daughter sing along. Thank you for putting together programming such as this and offering a welcoming, safe place that we can be ourselves. Have a great day!"
From Katie:
"I gave birth to Miss Shiloh Lou Ryan on July 16, 2016 via emergency c-section. She came into this world early. She came into this world tiny. She came into this world mighty and beautiful.
14 weeks prior, our 20 week imaging appointment had revealed that her small size was not reflective of this stage of development. We would be closely monitored. As we drove home, my first born daughter asked why I was crying.
A car is a good place to cry. I've been living with and managing depression since my tweens. In the advent of motherhood and career, my commute was the closest thing I had to "me time". One particular morning, I heard an interview with a band called Cloud Cult. The lead singer spoke of how his music and the creative process helped him process the loss of his child. I bought the album and listened to it throughout the remainder of my pregnancy. There was a realism to it. An honest and naked acknowledgment of the complexity of emotions that make life painfully and tragically beautiful. It began, "Life is a story we're meant to live through, and both me and you are the pages."
I said goodbye to Shiloh Lou Ryan on February 9th, 2017. She succumbed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) while at daycare just shy of 7 months old. I held her tiny foot in my hand as the doctors and nurses tried to revive her. Primal cries came from my soul and reverberated out my mouth. But in the background of my mind, over and over and over I heard, "Life is a story we're meant to live through and both me and you are the pages. I'll tell you a tale and most of it's true. You see, I came here for you through the ages." I don't know how, but I started to thank her. I thanked her for the joy of her presence for more than 6 whole months. For her contagious smile. For all she had and knew she would continue to teach me. She left this world early. She left this world loved beyond measure. She left this world mighty and beautiful.
To this day, I ask myself how I came out the other side of that experience with the capacity to change and grow and continue on with life, but I know that the music was with me throughout. I guess there are more pages to our story that have yet to be filled."
Hello and welcome to The Afternoon show with Evie. Today is Music Heals" Mental Health day, as we acknowledge the struggles of mental health and emotional well-being that so many of us deal with and how music, and community, can really make a difference. Know that you are not alone. Thanks so much for being here.
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Groundbreaking artist SOPHIE died in 2021 after an accidental fall: www.kexp.org
Here's the video for the beautiful song "It's Okay to Cry": www.youtube.com