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- Bobby's Snacks Vol. 10: Right Back To It
Bobby's Snacks Vol. 10: Right Back To It
Bob Raymonda
March 24, 2024
Happy #AudioDramaSunday y’all!
This week felt like it both flew by and crawled along at a snail’s pace at the exact same time. I had some loftier goals on the production side of things that all ended up going by the wayside, but I’m trying to be gentle with myself about that. Self-imposed creative deadlines are just that… self-imposed, and so when life gets in the way, we’ve gotta just brush ourselves off and make new deadlines rather than waste a whole bunch of time punishing ourselves about it.
One thing I did get to do was have a final Ghost Tour practice before our first full-band show at Arlene’s Grocery tonight. It has truly been such a joy reconnecting with this part of myself that I abandoned so long ago. There’s nothing that quite unlocks a crucial part of my spirit like being up onstage, in any capacity, so knowing that I get to do so tonight (and that it’ll just be the first of many such nights) is bringing me a whole heckuva lotta joy.
That said, it’s particularly beautiful outside right now and I’d like to go for a walk in the sunlight before it disappears again so we’re gonna just jump right in this week:
The season finale is upon us and god damn what a cliffhanger to leave us off on. There were no simple, happy resolutions here, which should be no surprise when it comes to a world of such Arctic Horror, but I won’t lie and tell you that I expected it. There was something about where the previous episode that gave me some hope of a tidier resolution, but instead I’ll be hanging over here on the edge of my seat until the show returns! On that bright side, Fool & Scholar Productions has released the trailer for the second season of their fantastic Don’t Mind series, so there is certainly plenty more from this team on the horizon sooner rather than later!
We’re coming up on the end of Gideon Media’s newest series, which means that we’re finally getting to unveil some giant revelations about just how Mikey and Lem ended up so far beyond their original goal point, in the cold reaches of space. While I’ve been privy to the entire series for months now, I actually purposefully saved this episode and the upcoming finale for myself, so that I could hear them in real time with the rest of the audience, because while I may have known where this story was going, I thought experiencing how it got us there in real time would be a treat. And I was absolutely right. Go listen to this show!
The first episode of Observer Pictures’ new miniseries dropped this week, and wow, can Faith McQuinn write a monologue with the best of them. I love this deeper look we’re getting into what things were like for people when AVS first emerged, rather than following along with the folks who are still trying to improve the world after its devastation 30 years later. One of the things I was hoping to do this week was dialogue edit my own episode of this series, which stars two actors who I absolutely adore, but c’est la vie. Directing these two folks alongside one another was a dream come true, and while it won’t be released for the rest of y’all for a few months yet, I’m excited to hear what you think.
Tzila Guthrie has been one of my favorite characters in this series since the very beginning, and if there’s one thing I knew, it’s that she wouldn’t sit still while her father was in danger. So while it’s been a moment since we’ve checked in with her, I knew there was no chance that she’d have listened to the Saskias and stayed behind when she knew that there was a chance of their reunion. It was also so fun to see her in her element weaving her way around The Highest Light. And that extremely emotional and well-deserved ending? chef’s kiss
I have been waiting literal years for the launch of the newest Wayland Productions’ show: a spinoff of We’re Alive that KC Wayland has been teasing for ages, and what a premiere it was! Going back to 2009, the beginning of the zombie outbreak, and following along with a bunch of kids who just got to summer camp on Catalina Island? I knew it was a premise ripe for some incredible storytelling, and I was absolutely right. The cast is endearing as all get out, and the chaos of their present situation is saved for the latter half of the premiere, after the ensemble has had plenty of time to establish their chemistry with one another. I can’t wait to see what happens next, and oh hey: if you’d like to see this team finish the story they began 15 years ago, consider donating to their Kickstarter campaign!
Showing back up to Harry’s place didn’t give Whiskey the tense reunion she was simultaneously hoping for and dreading… in fact, it didn’t give her any kind of reunion at all. She spends several of her broadcasts railing against Harry’s presumed cowardice, in leaving just before Whiskey showed up… only to get to the final one and realize: someone is here and it’s not Harry. This show has such a fantastic habit of dropping its most intense updates in mere minutes of runtime, and always keeps me fiending for more. Incredibly curious to see where it goes next!
I’m sorry, but you really can’t beat this show when it comes to podcast comedy. You can try, and I’ll appreciate the hell out of you if you come close, but there’s no way you can hold a candle to their years of commitment to the bit at this point in time. Meeting Nicholas Summers, and learning about his work with James Cameron on Titanic, which was historically inaccurate because of the studio’s insistence of cutting out the scenes where we see the crew loading lifeboats with tins of beef instead of passengers was hilarious. Also, I’ll never not love that this world’s barometer for pop cultural dominence will always revolve around a person’s love for Jumanji. Speaking of supporting creatives, this team is a part of the Maximum Fun Network who are currently running their yearly pledge drive, so now’s the perfect time to sign up.
I’ve spent a lot of my life resisting the allure of country music because of where I grew up in Central New York, a place I less than lovingly dub The Deep North. That being said, I can’t help but feel a certain affinity towards the stuff I’d hear playing on the stereo at my step grandparents’ house, so as soon as I heard that this show was coming out, I knew that I had to listen. Not to mention the fact that one of the supervising producers on the series was the one and only Eleanor Hyde. What I love about this show is how it’s shining a light on a deeply important figure from the Nashville music scene of the mid-60’s and 70’s who you likely haven’t heard from: Sue Brewer, a woman who opened up her apartment after hours to the likes of Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Shel Silverstein so they could run a sort of drunken songwriting salon that served as the birthplace of some of our most iconic tunes. It was a wonderful bit of historical fiction, and the entire cast (anchored by Mandy Moore) was incredible. Totally worth a listen!
BONUS SNACK
Katie Crutchfield has been a favorite artist of mine for going on eleven years now, since my wife introduced me to her when we first started dating all the way back in 2013. And gosh, watching her career grow and develop in that time has been a sight to see: from the kind of soft acoustic indie bedroom pop, to embracing the full band punk aesthetic, to more recently embracing her Alabama roots and writing the kind of yearning Americana that you just can’t help but listen to over and over again. And while this journey into her own heritage may not have began with Tiger’s Blood, she’s certainly perfected it at this point. This record rules. I can’t wait to see her play some of the tunes live later this year.