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- Bobby's Snacks Vol. 34: That's Just Wednesday
Bobby's Snacks Vol. 34: That's Just Wednesday
Bob Raymonda
December 15, 2024
Happy #AudioDramaSunday Pals!
Chiming in here a bit later this week, as I’ve just spent a very brief weekend upstate visiting family. I’m sitting here on the Amtrak home and feeling very full, both physically and emotionally speaking. It’s been fairly low-key: dinner with my mom and step dad Friday, followed by the movies with just step dad, all day yesterday with my brother, two sisters, and one of their two kids, followed by some annual ginger bread house decorating and six rounds of Scattergories with what I dub “Bob Rules.” Which essentially just means that, the stupider your answer is? The better. And esoteric cheating is fine, as long as you remember to put a comma or a parenthetical explaining it. There were a lot of people that I would have loved to have seen, even if I didn’t make an attempt to connect with any of them. But at this time of year, when the air is cold and my feet are colder, all I want in the world is some time to relax with the folks I love the most. (Cheesy posed family photo incoming:)
This week has been a bit of a draining one, honestly. I received some news on Tuesday that wasn’t a surprise, but was a disappointment, and sent me down a bit of a spiral. Though, now that I’ve had a few days separation (and some furious creative productivity in response to a bit of rejection), I’m feeling better about the situation. 2025 is set to be a life-changing year for me in ways that I’ll talk about here eventually, but at this point in time, I’ll keep a bit more vague about. And while I haven’t achieved every goal this past year that I was aiming toward, I’m still inordinately proud of the progress I’ve made alongside a partner, a family, collaborators, and friends with whom I consider myself lucky to be around.
One thing I am incredibly stoked to share with all of you is that my band Ghost Tour did officially just release the first single we ever recorded together, “Performative.” This one features production by Billy Mannino over at Two Worlds Recording Studio in Queens, who's worked with some other really fantastic bands like Oso Oso, Macseal, and Prince Daddy & the Hyena. Our single artwork was done by Kelsey Roberts, and our first music video was directed by (and features!) Ry Dempsey from For Lack of a Term. I know I’ve said it here before, but it bears repeating: chasing music as a hobby again, after I’ve spent so many years feverishly only pursuing my writing career, has been one of the greatest joys of my life. Being up on stage, or in our practice room in Astoria, alongside my buds Mike Andronico and Michael “Beanie” Freyre, playing loud and fast rock tunes is legitimately the greatest gift I could ask for.
We performed a single release show last Friday with our pals in Frnd Crcl, Secret Gardens, and Øff Guard, who also just released a killer EP called, “Complex Machines.” It was an amazing way to end this year in music (though you’ll have a chance to see Mike & Beanie again acoustic on 12/28), and one I was lucky enough to celebrate alongside my brother, who hadn’t had a chance to see us yet. I can’t wait to get back in the studio to lay down a few more of these, and get back up onstage as many times as my shitty knees will allow.
And now? Let’s chat some fiction.
I’m still an episode behind on this bad boy, but it continues to bring me an enormous amount of joy every single time. I’m particularly loving the ship between Hornblass and Trent, Demon and Angel-extraordinaire. Honestly though? That thing about these episodes that gets me most every single time is the new pun-names of beloved mall-brands of our childhood. Killing an hour in a parrot themed stoner restaurant called Dollaritavile? That’s time well spent.
The aftermath of the horrifying shared experience of our three disparate adventurers was one that was fantastic to return to. As this new series goes on, and we become more and more familiar with the new normal around the Un, we can go deeper on the characters who round out these new journey. What I’m also incredibly happy about is that the most recent episodes connect more explicitly with a couple of one-shot tie-in comics that were released earlier this year by Dark Horse. I am so glad this IP was picked up by a company with the kind of resources behind Critical Role, because I really never want this world to end.
It’s been a minute since we’ve checked in with our beloved ex-junkie chef, Marisol… and presumably, it’ll still be another few more minutes until we actually do! Because in this bonus episode, released between season two and three, but taking place during the events of season one, we revisit the events of her failed city hall marriage to Nina from the perspective of her ex. It’s a delightful subversion, as we see that the bombast of Marisol’s POV chipped away for a nervous interview with a nameless journalist. I’ve been fortunate enough to read the full draft for this shows upcoming final season… so please trust me when I tell you that the wait for the full thing will be finally worth it. And in the meantime? We’re damn lucky to have some more work by JM Scott out in this world.
I genuinely can’t believe that we’re already just about through another season of this brilliant show. There’s only one more episode until this world and its utopic (if a bit ethically suspicious) Society hibernates for another year. And honestly? It feels like Kat Waterford is getting a bit desperate. It’s clear that this job, while maybe a bit creatively beneath her, is mostly serving as an opportunity to get closer to her beloved and estranged ex-wife. While it’s not entirely obvious if the feeling is reciprocated, thanks to the creative way her responses are distorted Ala the teacher in the old Charlie Brown cartoons, it must mean something that Kat is feeling so bold as to even ask her out to dinner. Very pumped to see how this all wraps up!
New work released by the dynamic duo that is Dan Powell and Marc Sollinger is always a reason to celebrate. And yet, for reasons both practical and outside of my understanding, I dragged my feet on this one a bit. Sure, I wanted to be positive that I had an uninterrupted 103 minutes within which to consume it, but in a previous era of my life, I would have cleared up time in my calendar to do so. Still, I’m so glad that I saved this for just the right moment. The work’s presentation as an album makes it feel distinctly different than a more serialized audio drama. With a combination of atmospheric tracks underneath monologues spanning a story across centuries, it’s wildly effective on every single level.
The story is at times bleak and others hopeful, tracking in its way an entire civilization of humans who have 1) left Earth, and 2) have no hope of surviving the entire length of the journey it’ll take in order to reach a new one. Entire families rise and fall as a culture is created and bitterness fomented among those precious (tens of thousands of) few who understand the necessity of their work, but can’t help but resent their inability to reap the rewards. A triumph, as is to be expected from Dead Signals, and one that has me even more excited to release a project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half with my friend Jeff Van Dreason from Greater Boston, which also exists as a concept album of sorts, if in an entirely different suit.
You’re gonna hear this from me twice today, but I have never met two people so hopelessly devoted to the theater than Lauren Grace Thompson and Ian Geers. In their professional lives, of course, but also in the work of the worlds they create through fiction podcasting. The entire idea of holding an open casting call for new John Watson impersonators to work at an amusement park run by the very same retired PI who resented them is magnificent, and getting to witness it even more so. This episode is, as always, taut and hilarious, and continues the rich trend in the work of this beautiful creative partnership. Also… a wild Beth Eyre appears, and that’s always a reason to celebrate!
I will never tire of telling all of you how brilliant my friends are. In fact, that’s the entire thesis statement of my work, in this here snacks. But good god, what a tremendous year being had by Gabriel Urbina, Sarah Shachat, Evangeline Young, Peter Coleman, Jeffrey Nils Gardner, and Alan Rodi. This, the penultimate episode of their 4-part reimagining of Bram Stoker’s Dracula is what I’ve been waiting for all year long. Getting to follow Mina Parker, who has just discovered the greatest secret and weakness of the titular vampire, only to be thrown into a nightmarish asylum and treated as a pariah for the simple crime of being right. The performances here are, as should come as no surprise, fantastic. But what really gets me this time is the immaculate sound design of feral vampires on the run through the woods. It’s just perfect in every single way and you absolutely must listen.
Guess what!? It’s still time to talk about the brilliance that is Gabriel Urbina! It’s time for the beginning of his stint on this incredible show, and to start things off? Let’s all get real weird together about the mythical and maniacal presence that is Leonard. This whole script was a joy, as should never surprise you when written by such a singular voice in our medium, but it was heightened in every single way by the sheer effortless chemistry shared by series stars Michael Turrentine and Hilary Williams. I am so excited to see what other wild journeys this next batch will force Malik and Jamie to live through. Lord knows, they’ll weather it together. Like the rest of us.
Y’all. I really can’t believe it this day is finally here after all these years. I’ve said a lot over on BlueSky about what it’s taken to get this show back off the ground, and the legitimate fears I had about whether or not it’d be better to just abandon the whole thing… and if your reception so far has been any indication, we were absolutely right to persevere. I want to thank each and every one of you who has had a chance to take a listen so far. Your reception has meant everything to the team and I… and has us even more stoked for you to see what else we’ve got up our sleeves. In fact, the last half hour of my train upstate Friday night was spent listening to the first (score & credit-less) version of episode two and you really aren’t prepared for what’s next. The blend of humor, horror, pathos, and perseverance that’s coming your way is next level stuff, anchored by our stellar cast (both new and returning), and some career best work by my brother, Adam Raymonda. Stay tuned. Shit for our friends Wanda and Captain Root are about to get really bleak… and really real.
My second to last listen of the week (and day) was the last episode of the year for this team, and what a gift it was. Three monologues from three fan favorite characters: The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home, Michelle Nguyen of Dark Owl Records, and Cecil’s old nemesis turned best friend and brother in law, Steve Carlsberg. I’m always happen when our radio host passes off the mic, and this was no different. Each vignette a satisfying looks both forwards and back, to the stories told across the last twelve months, and those that will come in the next twelve.
Speaking of Lauren Grace Thompson and Ian Geers’ love of theater, my god, their episode of season 5, part 3 was hysterical. Following Lady Macbeth through not one, but two lives chock full of bored dissatisfaction and an endless thirst for something more, we begin to understand why Arthur doesn’t particularly like her all that much. And yet, while he isn’t quite sold on providing her with what she’s explicitly asking for, he ends up giving her so much more. An immortality of sorts that pales in comparison to the decade+ of peace and prosperity brought about by her marriage to the king. I grinned from ear to ear listening to this one. Amazing stuff!
BONUS SNACK
There was a huge part of me that didn’t want to care about this one after the heartbreak I felt when The Acolyte was unjustly cancelled earlier this year, but what can I say? I’m a sucker for my own special interests, and what John Watts, Christopher Ford, and co. have pulled off with this production has been wonderful. There are of course (as with anything made by this mega-corp) plenty of holes to poke through it… but the chemistry of the four leads is effortless, the mystery is genuinely intriguing, and the creature and set design has been top notch. There’s a character (pictured above) voiced by Alia Shawkat introduced this week that has got to be one of my favorite glup shittos ever to be introduced. And casting the lead singer of TV on the Radio as one of the parents petrified by their children’s spontaneous call to adventure? Genuinely inspired.