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- Bobby's Snacks Vol. 41: On & On (& On & On)
Bobby's Snacks Vol. 41: On & On (& On & On)
Bob Raymonda
April 13, 2025
Happy #AudioDramaSunday Pals!
The big day is getting extremely close now, which is nerve wracking, but something that I feel as prepared for as I possibly can (which is to say, barely prepared at all). That being said, every single time Sam and I are in public and see a baby (or toddler… or pre-teen… or teenager…) I say, “Hey, we’re going to have one of those!” I’ll be honest: this definitely was not originally on my 2025 Bingo card, but I’m feeling such an overwhelming flood of excited emotions for being able to share the parts of this world that I adore with a new little human being that we can (hopefully) help guide into becoming a kind, loving, and creative whole person. And that is a gift that I was never really sure I would be able to give myself, or my family, so, yeah. Lots of emotions are competing for my attention, both big and small, but luckily I’ve got art and music and podcasts to help me cut through to the joy of it all.
Last night Ghost Tour played our last show together in this iteration before my impending baby-induced hiatus. And while it had it’s kinks (a too-stacked 4-band bill meant that we didn’t play until close to midnight, a malfunctioning drum throne postponing that even further), I’m still really grateful that I got to have that experience. On top of that, we’ve got rough mixes of our upcoming EP that I’ve already listened to an absolutely insufferable amount of times. And while they still have a long way to go before they’re even remotely releasable, I’m so excited for to see how folks interact with this batch of songs. And, you know, to get back on the horse once my little bean’s got her first round of vaccines so we can start writing our first proper full length.
Yesterday Sam and I went for a spontaneous lunch date to Karenderya, a family-owned Filipino restaurant that also just happens to be one of our favorite spots in all of Westchester County. Today, we took our second trip across the bridge to Nyack to see Coheed & Cambria accept the “key to the city” (despite it only being a village) and playing a short acoustic set. It was really cool to see a band I’ve loved since I was 13 play some stripped down, alternate takes on tunes both classic and brand new, while telling stories about growing up in the very neighborhood where they were playing (inside a gazebo outside a super market) in front of a huge crowd of fans both local and from out of town.
But there’s a lot for us to talk about, so let’s get started:
If you follow me on any of my last few remaining beacons of social, you know that we’re crowdfunding for season 4 right now. And to kick off that campaign, we created a fun little April Fool’s Day Special that came together very quickly in a way that I’m super proud of. Today we’re presenting another show we love, and next weekend we’ll have a combo 4/20 Meets Easter Special that I’m also just so tickled by, so keep an eye out for that. I want to send out a sincere, heartfelt thank you to everyone that’s supported us so far, and also earnestly ask: if you haven’t yet, and you could spare a few bucks, it’d mean the world to us. I know things are tough out there for everybody, but I cannot wait to bring this entire season to life, and we really need your help to be able to do so. We’ve been announcing episode titles and cast members at every 5% funded, all of which I’m excited about, though if I’m being honest, I’m most anxious to talk about what we’ll be unveiling at 25%, which we just so happen to be $315 away from. We just got to produce that episode this week, and when I tell you that session was a literal dream come true for me to put together, know that I’m very much not exaggerating there.
I’m not entirely caught up to this new weekly comic book adaptation from DC, Realm, and Andas Productions, but wow: the first two episodes are so special. I’m honestly impressed with the approach here: rather than attempting to tell a brand new story starring the world’s greatest detective like other Batman podcasts in the past, this show aims to directly adapt classic runs from throughout comics history. And yet, somehow, that feels like the fresher take here? Especially getting to follow along with episode releases and being able to witness the direct panels that the show is utilizing for this conversion to an audio medium. Under the stewardship of an indie (and not so indie) audio fiction titan like Fred Greenhalgh, and the fresh, brilliant perspective of Roshan Singh Sambi, as well as the entire team of all the producers, actors, and composers involved in bringing this show to life, I’m positive that we’re in for something really special.
God damn, that was good. The season two finale of this show finally dropped, and it was such a doozy. Rictor has been such an impeccable villain ever since he was first revealed, but to be able to witness as Hannah peeled back the myriad layers of his onion that really made him into the monster he became was chef’s kiss. Bravo to Tom Schalk for his work in this episode in particular, as we go all the way back to the beginning and meet the even bigger asshole who made this man tick for all of these years. It was an impressive piece of work from everyone involved, and has me even more thrilled to see what adventures we’ll go on through the wasteland in season three.
After a series of really delightful misadventures, it was high time we got a series of revelations as juicy as what this episode had to offer. Finding out that Telesphore used to be a rival spy and that his closest friend and confidantes have no idea of this information puts the whole crew into some serious danger, and threatens to upend the very fabric of Iyer, Winterlich, & Co. I know we’re coming up on the end of season three here, and I also know that I’m going to be wildly impatient to get back into this world once we get there. And yet? I also just so happen to know that I’m going to have the distinct privilege of writing one of those episodes once it arrives, and that has me absolutely buzzing for what kind of hijinks I can put my pal Josh Rubino and friends through, when that day comes.
It’s always a gift to discover a show right before they begin releasing a new season, which is what happened for me here! I’m not fully caught up, but I caught the first episode back in the boarding house, and gosh am I so glad to be here all over again. It was a really nice reveal at the end of the season to discover that even more of the previous residents of Lucas' room had left behind cassettes about their time living there. Obviously because it extends the ability for the show to keep going for years to come, but also because it’s just nice to have the scope of this little version of New York City widened that much more. Plus, having Sadie as a proper member of the cast adds a whole new dimension that I’m so ready to follow along with. So! Go catch up to this delightful little queer YA gem.
This was a fun twist of an episode! It’s so rare that Cecil ventures out into the world of his town during a broadcast, so having some on-location reporting from inside of Labyrinth HQ was a nice change of pace. It felt extremely Severance-coded in a way that I absolutely loved. Also, we got more of an update from James Urbaniak’s previously-thought-to-be-dead Leonard Burton, which is clearly a big part of this year’s overall plot through-line, and has me so ready for another installment of the series later on this week.
I really have no idea what kind of special minerals David S. Dear’s got in his drinking water, but good god, would I love a little bit of that. There is very little that this man can do that won’t immediately have me rushing to press play, but wow, his turn in this show’s most recently monologue minisode as Enoch was so special. There’s just something so perfectly folksy and welcoming in the introduction of his place in Karo’s home world of October, and I am so excited to see how else he’ll fit into the show’s overarching narrative. But in the meantime, I just feel mighty blessed to have spent twenty minutes listening to him speak.
I had two episodes of this show to listen to over the last two weeks, but its really Moon Madness that I need to call out here. This isn’t to say that Something in the Night was any less brilliant, because it wasn’t, but good god the work that Sarah Golding did with this script was next level. There’s just something about the way that Isadore Dominov’s script unfurls, with little details that are scattered about just so, and snowball together into an ending that punched me in the gut. It’s a tour de force of an episode all the way around, and I’m so glad to have spent time with it. It felt instantly classic in the way that only original episodes of The Twilight Zone could.
We’re officially to the penultimate episode of season two here, and Christ, is this year an improvement on the first in every single way. Folding the supposed disappearance of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson into the overarching narrative was the perfect opportunity to give our erstwhile private detectives something really meaty to solve, but the way in which they’ve been folded back into the narrative? Utter genius all the way around. The finale is already in my inbox, after having supported this team’s Indiegogo, but I’m not quite ready to take the dive in just yet. That said, I know I’ll be pressing play as soon as it’s in my public feed tomorrow AM, so stay tuned for how I feel about how it all wraps up!
I finally had the time to marathon the rest of this series, which was perfect timing, since it just released it’s final episode! And wow, it should come as no surprise to any of you, but this whole journey was seven thousand levels of perfect. I was already sold having listened to the first few releases, but I’ll tell you, when I got to Chapter 11: The Story, I realized that this adaptation was on a whole other level. The work that Alan Burgon does as The General, describing his own town’s interactions with a lovely, mysterious, and ultimately dangerous girl who may or may not (definitely) be the same person that Sarah and her family have come across was so hauntingly perfect. I’m obsessed. And I’m even more anxious to hear their take on Frankenstein once that’s in the world!
I’ve genuinely had this show on my to-listen list for years, but finally had the opportunity to encourage myself to dive in when they sponsored a drop on the Forgive Me! feed today, and wow, was I missing out. It’s giving me Six Feet Under meets Pushing Daisies vibes, with a little bit of Mare of Easttown sprinkled in for good measure, and all of those things get my brain firing on all cylinders. Watching a coroner solve murders by talking to the corpses he’s giving autopsies to is just so me-coded, and I am legitimately super psyched to catch my way up to the rest of the series in time for their own upcoming fourth season.
Look, it should come as no surprise to anyone that an episode of this show involving the Roman Empire would be written by none other than the brilliant David K. Barnes, whose own sitcom Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later made a meal of that setting last year, but I was tickled by the development nonetheless. And the fact that it’s based on a real, true story of a conniving politician who purchased his way into the title of Emperor, in an attempt to steal it from two warring generals on two opposite ends of the empire’s borders? Absolutely incredible. But what really got me was the final twist, in which the client gets to discover the fruits of his collaboration with The Brotherhood of the Phoenix. Maybe it isn’t always such a good thing to be well known, is it?
Y’all have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this day to come. I was lucky enough to play two small (though I’d like to think integral) parts in bringing this world together: first, in a day long session of background VO alongside Jordan Cobb and Michelle Agresti, which started with my first ever (too brief!) in-person meeting with indie audio fiction legend Briggon Snow, and second, by dialogue editing the first pass of the full season. And my god, did I know that it was going to be as special as it is. Gabriel Urbina, Sarah Shachat, Octavia Bray, Ellen Winter, and Zach Valenti (and so, so many others) have built the perfect horny and messy music-focused millennial sitcom of our generation. It’s giving equal parts High Fidelity (2000) AND the tragically cancelled High Fidelity (2020), with a soundtrack of all certified bangers, and a cast with the kind of chemistry that most productions can only dream of.
And you know what’s funny? Is that even though I’ve had access to just about every draft of every episode? I specifically chose not to listen to any of them beyond the dialogue edits, so that I could get to experience these scripts in their fully realized splendor. And god… am I honestly glad that I did. Listening through with fresh ears this week was such an absolute treat, and one that I’m so glad we finally get to share with the world. Because good God. We deserve another season of this show. So please! Go listen! And rate! And review! And shout about it from the roof tops! It’s exactly what this team needs in order to maybe, just maybe, move that needle in the right direction.
Last, but not least, it’s time for a trip back into my own work with our first (of two) season two minisodes. You’ll notice a pattern once the next one is released next month: but I selfishly wrote both scripts in order to work with actors who weren’t involved with this year’s story, for… well, spoiler related reasons. And getting to bring back Bob Frame as Uncle Vern was a particular treat. It’s a small, but mighty flashback that originally ended up on the cutting room floor from the third of fourth draft of the season, but worked its way back into the season with an extra wraparound hyping up the action that’s to come later this week when episode 5 comes out. And gosh, I’m so excited for y’all to hear that one. It’s one of our most shocking, intense, and fun chapters yet.
To bring it back to the day I had today, I thought it’d be fun to chat about Coheed & Cambria’s newest album in their 20+ year career of nerdy, sweeping, epic sci-fi concept albums. I’ll be real with you: there was a stretch of time there from about 2007 to 2013 where I thought I’d moved past my need for this band’s work. Part of that had to do with my own reception to some of the singles from Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV: Vol 2.: No World For Tomorrow (hello Feathers, a song I still can’t get behind to this day), but also because I went to SUNY Purchase. You see, Purchase was a place that was incredibly formative for me both as a musician and a story teller, and yet, it was also a place where I felt like I needed to tamp down certain aspects of myself because they weren’t considered cool or trendy. I spent a long time pretending that I wasn’t as into the pop punk, emo, and prog music that made me me anymore to fit in, when really what I should have been doing was not giving a fuck.
Once I had graduated and had a few years removed from this community, I started to dip my toes back in, and while their middle to later career albums have struggled to ever reach the heights of In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3 or Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV: Vol 1.: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness for me, I have been genuinely happy to engage with their work again. Not only because concept albums are like catnip for my brain, but because they’re one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, and fire on all cylinders no matter the venue or context. So when I heard that this record was being released this year, I was thrilled. I loved the pre-release singles, and am already back into the story because of the current run of comics adapting No World For Tomorrow, and yet I couldn’t possibly be prepared for how hard this one would hit me. It felt like it took me back to their 2005 heights while also adding some new depth and flavor to the equation. It was doubly special for me because the Kurt Vonnegut quote So It Goes, which also happens to be the text of my first tattoo from all the way back in 2009, plays a huge role in the themes of the record. Listening to it for the first time felt like coming home in the best way possible.