Radio Drama Revival

Episode 264 – Sci-Fi February Is A Go!

captainradio — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 04:59:27 +0000

We kick off our Sci-Fi February with Great Northern Audio Theater’s fanciful anti-saga, Thwack That Dirigible!, performed before a live audience at last year’s Mark Time Awards ceremony during the CONVergence CON for science fiction and fantasy media in Bloomington, MN.

Brian Price of Great Northern Audio Theater, who directed this piece that was also produced by his frequent collaborator, Jerry Stearns, joins us after our feature to give us an update on the upcoming 15th Anniversary Mark Time Awards which will feature some very special guests.

Brian also reminds producers they have till March 1st, 2012 to submit their sci-fi or fantasy/horror audio dramas for the competition by visiting the registration and information page at Great Northern Audio.

Finally, we get a personal glimpse at how former Texas Gulf Coaster Captain Radio™ is getting along with Old Man Winter on Fred’s rural Maine goat farm.

Listen carefully and you’ll hear an audio cameo appearance by Tanja Milojevic from Lightning Bolt Theater of the Mind.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast264.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 264

Episode 263 – North to the Yukon!

captainradio — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:55:15 +0000

We conclude our series New Year, New Audio, as Captain Radio™ guest-hosts once more for Fred Greenhalgh traveling abroad in Africa. On tap for our feature is the Captain’s own non-commercial redux of an episode from the very popular Old-Time Radio series, Challenge of the Yukon. Get ready for plenty of drama, intrigue, and action as your favorite Canadian Mountie and his furry, scene-stealing sidekick continue their relentless pursuit of lawbreakers in the days of the Yukon Gold Rush.

[RATED AD-G]

Sue Zizza of Sue Media and the National Audio Theater Festival returns briefly to help Radio Drama Revival honor distinguished audio dramatist Yuri Rasovsky who passed away last Wednesday, January 18th, 2012.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast263.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 263

Episode 262 – There Is A Field, Part 2

captainradio — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:28:08 +0000

Captain Radio™ once again guest-hosts for vacationing Fred Greehalgh as we continue our series New Year, New Audio, which challenges you to step outside your past listening routine, to try something different for you. When you come across something new for you that you really like, share with others about it, so they can broaden their horizons as well.

Last week we featuree the first of a two-part docu-drama, There Is A Field, adapted by Marie Tueje from Jen Marlowe’s play of the same name.

Aseel Aslih

This poignant audio drama explores the life of youthful Aseel Aslih of Arrabeh, Israel. Aseel strove to find a healthy personal identity and peaceful purpose in life while coping with the stark political realities still faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel.

We continue this week with Part 2. After recovering from the shock of her brother, Aseel’s, death, his older sister, Nardeen determinedly seeks answers to the many questions the tragic incident poses for her family as well as their entire community of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

We are very pleased to have as our interview guest for this episode Marie Tueje who produced this audio drama adaptation by Jen Marlowe of Donkey Saddle Projects, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, human rights advocate, author and playwright.

[RATED AD-PG-13 for some strong language]

Download audio file (rdr-podcast262.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 262

Episode 261 – There Is A Field, Part 1

captainradio — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 04:30:04 +0000

Captain Radio™ hosts once more for vacationing Fred Greehalgh as we continue our series New Year, New Audio, which, yeah, kind of dares you to step outside your past listening routine, to try something different for you. When you come across something new for you that you really like, share with others about it, so they can broaden their horizons as well.

Last week we enjoyed satirical short-shorts from the new “Rythmical Ravings and Rants”, or RRRants, consortium of modern UK troubadors.

This week we flip the theater mask to feature the first of a two-part docu-drama, There Is A Field, adapted by Marie Tueje from Jen Marlowe’s play of the same name.

We are very pleased to have as our interview guests for this episode Jen Marlowe of Donkey Saddle Projects, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, human rights advocate, author and playwright for There Is A Field as well as Aseel Aslih’s younger sister, Siwar Aslih, calling in all the way from Haifa, Israel.

[RATED AD-PG-13 for some strong language]

Download audio file (rdr-podcast261.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 261

Episode 260 – RRRants Are Good For The Soul

captainradio — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:22:51 +0000

What a wild and eventful week for us here in Alfred, Maine (Fred’s hometown).

Fred’s life is a furious pile of boxes bags and wires as he and Amy gear up for a five week trek to one of the most dynamic and intriguing countries of the world, South Africa. While there, Fred hopes to connect with some of South Africa’s varied audio drama lovers and record sounds of curious critters from local baboons to the hippopotamus (from a distant, he assures us).

So what to do with Radio Drama Revival programming for that period? In hopes to keep the same quality podcast productions flowing. Fred had even come up with an exciting new theme for the first set of 2012 programs, New Year, New Audio, to challenge all of us to try out audio drama genres and troupes not on our personal “short list”, then to share any genuine great new finds in production and talent with others to get them interested in doing the same or in listening for the first time to modern independent audio drama. But as time grew short for his trek, this mini-series did not seem fit to happen.

Just when he’d reconciled himself to substituting OTR re-runs of Baby Snooks and The Alan Young Show, serendipity struck with sweet vengeance. By insane coincidence, a recent yardsale find (a gorgeous one-of-a-kind hardwood cathedral OTR radio and phonograph) turns out to coince-accidental-and-destructionally be the powerful and noisy secret Auralan Resistance teleportation device. Next thing you know, our own Captain Radio™ was standing before me, dusting himself off, wondering what to do for a whole month while the “radio” recharged.

And you know it, dudes: Fred made him an offer he couldn’t refuse … try as he might!

So, while Fred’s away soaking up sun in South Africa, our own Captain Radio™ will be hosting Radio Drama Revival while shoveling snowed-in driveways and learning the gentle art of milking cantankerous Maine goats twice daily in sub-zero wind chills. We can’t tell you how much this thrilled the native Texan. No, seriously, we can’t.

To get our New Year, New Audio series off on appropriately eccentric footing, we open with three clever and satirical sketches cooked up by the fun patchwork of “unusual” poets, songwriters, and storytellers now part of the UK’s Rythmical Ravings & Rants (RRRants) non-profit consortium of modern troubadours. Visit festivals with a curmudgeon’s trained eye, turn a committee meet inside out, and carefully deflect observation while discoursing with talking critters, all this week on one of the most action-packed and fun Radio Drama Revival episodes ever!

Download audio file (rrrants-are-good-for-the-soul.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 260

Episode 259 – Illuminating Swordspoint’s Daring-Do with Ellen Kushner and Sue Zizza

Fred — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 04:24:24 +0000

With the New Year upon us, we seek to capture one last audio gem from 2011: the new illuminated audiobook Swordspoint, directed and produced by Sue Zizza and narrated by the author, Ellen Kushner. This dashing audio adventure is further complemented by a full suite of actors including Dion Graham, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, and Simon Jones.

We speak Sue and Ellen to learn more about the genesis of this enchanting title and the peculiarities of combining a single narrator with a full cast, and how you go about picking the best scenes to render when you have 11 hours of material to work with. The resulting work merit high praise, including these words from Neil Gaiman: “throughout the entire book’s soundscapes you will hear the cadences of the marketplace, the music of the drawing rooms, and of course the ring of steel drawn from the scabbard.”

We even get a taste of swordsplay before our show wraps today. First up, a review from Captain Radio of the UK sci fi audio serial, Golden Age.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast259.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 259

Episode 258: A Christmas Special that Overrules a Horrendous Plot

Fred — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 03:36:56 +0000

Photo by kevin dooley

Yuletide greetings dramatites! We’re delighted to share with you a 2008 retelling of a treasure from the golden age of radio, Norman Corwin‘s “The Plot to Overthrow Christmas,” revamped for you by our good friend Richard Fish.

This 35 minute romp of rhyming verse introduces us to Nero, violining in hell, and co-opted into a plot to assassinate Santa Claus. Except Santa Claus is not all as it seems, and sometimes the cold can do more to warm the heart than the flames of hell…

We give time to celebrate the spirit of Christmas (and please, I hope you laugh as much as I did during the section about the congressional body in hell) and also think about the passing of audio great Norman Corwin, who passed to the next world this year at age 101. His work is as heartwarming about Christmas and as indicting of the odious as it was 73 years ago.

We also have a very special review from comrade Captain Radio, who reviews a suite of retellings of A Christmas Carol – the new Blackstone Audio production (with sound design by We’re Alive‘s co-creator Shane Salk), Quicksilver Radio Theatre‘s, Voices in the Wind and even Lifehouse Theater. It is indeed a classic tale! And the Capt’s splendid review gives you tastes of the range of them, from the rich and embellished, to the spare and haunting.

Finally, we launch a new donation program – FinalRune Fivers (won’t you consider donating $5 to this show?) – and give a special shout-out to our friends at the Wireless Theatre Company. Their ever increasing library of top-notch audio drama this year features some fantastic Christmas radio plays.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast258.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 258

Episode 257: The Monte Christoan Count Gets His Revenge

Fred — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:58:14 +0000

This week we have the second installment of the classic The Count of Monte Christo by Alexander Dumas, dramatized for you by Lifehouse Theatre on the Air.

With origins in California-based community theatre, LifeHouse Theater On-The-Air is a new effort to create dynamic audio drama to entertain and educate audiences of all ages and walks of life. They produce classic stories from literature, history, the Bible, and the biographies of quotable notables. Visit their website for over a half-dozen exciting titles.

In Count, we meet Edmond Dantes, a naïve youth whose promise to his dying mentor sends him to stony imprisonment on Château d’If. In our previous installment, he met “The Mad Priest” who taught him to read and to fight… skills which allow him to escape his prison and sail the seas in search on a fortune on the island of Monte Christo – a fortune which allows him to enact his vengeance. But as we learn, vengeance comes at a high, high price.

First up, a delicious Captain Radio review of the new post-apocalyptic sci-fi audio serial, Our Fair City, which combines campiness and cartoonish characters to paint a tainted picture of corporatism.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast257.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 257

Episode 256: A Swashbuckling Embarcation of the Holiday Season

Fred — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:44:26 +0000

OK, so we’re not quite edging into what would be traditionally called “Holiday Programming” here, but we do have a wonderful treat – the swashbuckling classic The Count of Monte Christo by Alexander Dumas, dramatized for you by Lifehouse Theatre on the Air.

In Count, we meet Edmond Dantes, a naïve youth whose promise to his dying mentor sends him to stony imprisonment on the Isle of Monte Christo.

First up, a delicious Captain Radio review of the fantastic (in the truest sense of the word) Fruits Baskets radio drama based on the manga.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast256.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 256

Episode 255: Sweeney Todd’s Barbary Falls in a Trap

Fred — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 01:07:28 +0000

This week we are thrilled to be featuring work by Grammy-nominated dramaturge Yuri Rasovsky, whose 2012 production The Mark of Zorro is up for Best Spoken Word Album of the Year. We hear a teaser from that new work available either through Blackstone Audiobooks or on Audible.

Also in this edition is Captain Radio, with a taste of Lifehouse Productions’ Count of Monte Christo.

And then week 4, the bloody culmination of Yuri’s 2007 production, Sweeney Todd and the String of PearlsSweeney Todd and the String of Pearls. Week 4 runs a starving pie shoppe baker, a curious kid and the gallant Martin Gestry into diabolical confrontation – and conclusion. The sensation of 19th century London has returned in plays, film, and now, audio drama, in this masterful rendering by radio great Yuri Rasovsky.

Yuri proves that audio drama offers storytelling tools unavailable in any other medium, mixing in grisly violence, unsettling performances, and sonic interludes.

With permission from the producer, here is Blackstone Audio‘s release of . If you like what you hear, find almost 2 dozen other titles by Yuri also available through Blackstone.

Part 4 of 4

Download audio file (rdr-podcast255.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 255

Episode 254: A Barbarous Black Friday with Sweeney Todd

Fred — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 22:54:57 +0000

Week 3 continues our foray into 19th century London, where Fleet Street is home to the “Demon Barber” Sweeney Todd, a snickering, dour man whose customers mysteriously disappear, only to reappear in pies at the neighboring pie shoppe. But when a man bringing word of Martin Gestry – a lovesick sailor – disappears along with a string of precious pearls, inquiring minds look deeper into the goings-on of Sweeney’s shop.

The sensation of 19th century London has returned in plays, film, and now, audio drama, in this masterful rendering by radio great Yuri Rasovsky.

Yuri proves that audio drama offers storytelling tools unavailable in any other medium, mixing in grisly violence, unsettling performances, and sonic interludes.

With permission from the producer, here is Blackstone Audio‘s release of Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls. If you like what you hear, find almost 2 dozen other titles by Yuri also available through Blackstone.

Part 3 of 4

Download audio file (rdr-podcast254.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 253

Episode 253: A Bit More Polishing Off from Olde Sweeney Todd

Fred — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 04:55:40 +0000

We return again to 19th century London, where Fleet Street is home to the “Demon Barber” Sweeney Todd, a snickering, dour man whose customers mysteriously disappear, only to reappear in pies at the neighboring pie shoppe. But when a man bringing word of Martin Gestry – a lovesick sailor – disappears along with a string of precious pearls, inquiring minds look deeper into the goings-on of Sweeney’s shop.

The sensation of 19th century London has returned in plays, film, and now, audio drama, in this masterful rendering by radio great Yuri Rasovsky.

Yuri proves that audio drama offers storytelling tools unavailable in any other medium, mixing in grisly violence, unsettling performances, and sonic interludes.

Part 2 of 3

Download audio file (rdr-podcast253.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 253

Episode 252: Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber Strikes

Fred — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:34:05 +0000

On Fleet Street in Olde London there once lived a barber called Sweeney Todd, whose greatest pleasure was “polishing off” his customers who found themselves first bereft of wordly goods and then shuffled off this mortal coil. Those unlucky enough to go in for a shave found themselves ground up into some famous meat pies… A secret that continues for years until Sweeney is wrapped up in a story of a mournful lover and a lost precious string of pearls.

The sensation of 19th century London has returned in plays, film, and now, audio drama, in this masterful rendering by radio great Yuri Rasovsky.

Yuri proves that audio drama offers storytelling tools unavailable in any other medium, mixing in grisly violence, unsettling performances, and sonic interludes.

Part 1 of 3

Download audio file (rdr-podcast252.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 252

Episode 251: A Scene from the Horror Hotel

Fred — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:38:29 +0000

Just because we don’t feel that we get quite enough spooky programming during the month of October, we’re continuing our tradition of re-upping the spooky tales for the month of November. This week, it’s our esteemed friend Roger Gregg, who produced a spooky ghost number with the Gaiety School of Acting’s 2010 class (a Dublin, Ireland based advanced theatre training school).

The show is Scene from Horror Hotel: Episode 1, and by the end of it, you’ll start to wonder where all the other episodes went… The show is masterfully stylized, and not quite a satire of the modern ghost classics such as The Shining. Come on, every haunted hotel needs to have a bath tub, right? Stay tuned for a special secret track at the end…

Before we get into our main feature, Captain Radio is back with a review of Demon Eyes by John Ballentine’s Campfire Radio Theater.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast251.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 251

Some notes from Roger on the production:

The scene features wonderful performances by Margaret McAuliffe and Genevieve Hulme-Beaman.
For location realism, Margaret got in her bathing suit and we filled the bath to record this scene.

The scene was recorded with a portable HD recorder and a Rode Stereo Microphone.

Draining the bath was recorded wild in situ. The other bath sounds were created naturally by the actors in the scene, rising from the bath and so forth. The scripts were taped to the walls of the bathroom to faciliate maximum free movement.

Transcontinental Terror Halloween Horror Streams Tonight

Fred — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:07:22 +0000

Halloween Horrors are here for your listening delight, tune starting 7PM EDT:

The second annual Transcontinental Terror audio horror streaming extravaganza features:

The Wireless Theatre Company (London, England)

“Curse of the Wolfman.” Here! Look here, for this haggard man who shuffles along this deserted road, his soul as bare and barren as the moors around him, his tears cutting through his heart like the road slices this open plain. His name is Covell. Covell the Wandering one. Let us fly toward him on the wings of a crow, and circle above him, looking down at his ragged coat, his tattered hat, his worn old boots and bundle, then let us swoop down in to his brain and listen to the wretch’s thoughts! His voice is a low growl, like the distant rumble of thunder…
“Cask of Amontillado.” Edgar Allan Poe’s short but enigmatic masterpiece. Set in an unnamed Italian City, we hear the story of how Montresor lures Fortunato through the catacombs into the Montresor family vault and there chains him up and bricks him in for eternity. Why he does it we will never know, but he does so with a casual savagery that is truly chilling. “Cask’ was recorded on location in ancient vaults. Every footstep and cough, every brick and every echo are captured and you will never forget hearing the final, faraway declamation: ‘In pace requiescat!’

Electric Vicuna Productions (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

“The Muse of Madness” speaks to the dark recesses of where story comes from. Angus plunges the depths of a lake to discover an ancient urn that holds a primeval god that wishes to remake reality into days of darkness and pain. The Hell that comes from when Angus goes into the shadows of this world of creativity threatens to swallow up the world, and there is only one way to save humanity from his “Muse of Madness.”
“Faith” explores what it is that underlies belief, what drives human beings to take their beliefs to the farthest regions so that it can overshadow everything else. Ted is a tortured soul who is left with no options and nothing left to believe but a single dark mission, realizing that it will probably end in tragedy and arrest but being driven to do nothing less than follow this course.

FinalRune Productions (Portland, Maine)

“Intensive Care” (with Aural Stage Studios). It’s late night in a hospital and visiting hours are over. A young patient discovers that he has a mysterious roommate who begins to terrorize him. As our protagonist screams for help, he realizes his is just one of many screams in this demented hospital…
“Dark Passenger.” Two teenage friends start scaring each other on the drive to a dismal “haunted” house on the coast of Maine. But when their innocent fun starts to become all too real, they soon realize what true terror is. A nod to Stephen King in a tale inspired by a true story too haunting to forget.

Chatterbox Audio Theater (Memphis, Tennessee)

Live Halloween Broadcast. For the fourth consecutive year, Chatterbox Audio Theater will present an anthology show of short horror stories that are guaranteed to chill your blood! Chatterbox actors, musicians, and sound effects artists gather in the studio to deliver this special performance, which is broadcast LIVE every year over WKNO-FM in Memphis, TN. This year’s show includes four terrifying tales — tales involving demons, werewolves, and things that squirm hungrily in the dark. Not for the faint of heart!

Icebox Radio Theater (International Falls, Minnesota)

“The Demon.” Four people huddle in a church basement as a violent and somehow unnatural thunderstorm rages outside. As the niceties of organized religion begin to peel away like so much dead skin, the four discover dark places they dared never go before. And — that they are not alone…

The Willamette Radio Workshop (Portland, Oregon)

“Dracula.” WRW is proud to present a fitting radio tribute for the Halloween Season: a recreation of Orson Welles’s first program for the Mercury Theater on the Air: Dracula!

Episode 250 – HALLOWEEN Special Continues, with a Grind Down the Grist Mill

Fred — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:35:01 +0000

Halloween not… ground you up already? Still fresh enough for some new ghoulery? Well, good! In a rare move, we have a double-double feature, courtesy of Scott Hickey with The Grist Mill.

We feature two previously never-heard Grist Mill episodes in this special bonus episode, #250, which seemed an apropos way to mark the milestone.

These two delights were both written and produced by Jeff Adams (leader of the soon to be arriving Transcontinental Terror night train), and featuring George Ledoux, is THE DARK RIDE. What happens when a stranger arrives to a run-down traveling fair, offering too sweet a deal to let him open up an old ride?

Followed by AS YOU WISH.COM. The internet is a wonderful thing. Some say it can even grant all of your wishes. But, the real question is – do you really want it to?

Part 2 of 2 of our 2011 Halloween audio horror story special.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast250.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 250

Episode 249 – Halloween Horrors! Intensive Care by Aural Stage/FinalRune and Damned Godzillas…

Fred — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:33:04 +0000

It is HALLOWEEN my freakish audio fan folks, and to celebrate we have a positively gushing font of blood and chills this year. Fresh off the mixing deck, I’m proud to release the new collaboration of Aural Stage Studios and FinalRune Productions – Intensive Care by James Comtois.

The show involves Alex, a young man who finds himself in a run-down New England hospital following a car accident. Strange conversations from patients and staff make Alex realize that no one ever seems to make it out of the hospital alive… time is running out for him to make his escape. And where the hell is his girlfriend Elizabeth?

Following this spooktacular new work, we have another special treat: from the special collection of Richard Fish, we have an episode of Sci Fi Channel’s gone but not forgotten Seeing Ear Theatre (wonderfully eulogized by SFF Audio). The show, written by none other than J. Michael Straczynski and starring Steve Buscemi, is called “The Damned are Playing at Godzilla’s Tonight,” which asks the essential question… What IS it truly worth sacrificing to live out your dreams?

We also give a shout-out to our much-loved producer David Accampo of Wormwood, who is working on a new graphic novel called Sparrow and Crowe.

Listen, and shriek! A special bonus Episode 250 goes with today’s trick or treat.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast249.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 249

Episode 248 – 19 Nocturne Boulevard Brings Us a “Dunwich Horror”

Fred — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:45:44 +0000

In a backwater town in 19th century New England, a trio of professors from Miskatonic University uncover something dreadful. Something invigorated by this book, the Necronomicon… To commemorate their third anniversary, 19 Nocturne Boulevard is featuring this four-part audio nightmare by grand master HP Lovecraft: The Dunwich Horror.

We feature the first of four episodes, as well as take a moment to reflect on Norman Corwin’s passing, talk up this weekend’s Friends of Old Time Radio convention, and savor another promo for FinalRune and Aural Stage’s upcoming horror feature, Intensive Care.

And if all that wasn’t quite good enough… we have a Captain Radio review of the third season of Mask of Innana! We are rich in audio, folks.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast248.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 248

Episode 247 – Fangoria Audio Horror Takes a “Late Shift”

Fred — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:51:18 +0000

Late at night at a local shopping plaza, some serious labor violations are taking place. Crooked management and intimidated store owners go beyond hiring illegal workers – they employ a cadre of the living dead.

So begins “The Late Shift,” part of Dreadtime Stories, a collaboration between Carl Amari and Fangoria Entertainment and introduced by Malcolm McDowell. You can go to Fangoria each month for a new show, available for free as an ad-supported stream or as a $1.99 pristine quality download. We’ll have it hear for you through October 31.

Other tasty treats include a promo for FinalRune and Aural Stages’ new collaboration, Intensive Care by James Comtois, and Captain Radio’s review of Mr. Bronze.

Enjoy these macabre morsels!

COMMITTED TO THE RADIO DRAMA REVIVAL ARCHIVES. Visit Fangoria’s Dreadtime Stories website to listen…

Episode 246 – Horror Arrives with a Deadly Meal

Fred — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:14:39 +0000

It’s October again, and as ever, is it HORROR-ible! OH yes, folks, we’ve got a 5 week stretch of terrifying audio goodies for you, starting this week with a fresh work by radio drama living legend Tom Lopez.

ZBS says of “Recipe for Murder”

The stories were recorded on location in Montreal, in the bistros, the sidewalk cafés, the cobblestones streets, in bars and back alleys, in cars, on buses, even on the subway. These mysteries are superbly sound rich.

Recipe for Murder is a co-production of the CBC and ZBS. In fact, Meatball Fulton did a lot of the recording and Tim Clark composed all of the music.

The Detective
Jean-Claude is a sous-chef and an amateur detective. He loves food (there’s mouth-watering descriptions one could die for), but he’s also very curious, and often finds himself in awkward if not life-threatening situations.

The Stories
In the first story, A Sweet Death, Jean-Claude learns the secrets of delectable, and deadly, hand-dipped chocolates. The second story, Buzz Buzz, centers on various delicious edible insects; Fugu deals with Japanese cuisine, and in The Ghost of Miz B, it’s the theatre and what may be the ghost of Sarah Bernhardt.

And It’s Free
Starting the first week of October, and every week thereafter, you’ll be able to hear another mystery from Recipe for Murder. It’s free.

Magnifique!

We also whet your appetite for the undead with a preview of 19 Nocturne Boulevard‘s upcoming Dunwich Horror. Happy 3rd anniversary 19!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast246.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 246

Episode 245: Primordial Gods, Alive and Romping in New Orleans

Fred — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:54:58 +0000

In modern day New Orleans, ancient gods are at work. Movie producers are dying, powerful forces strike the land and the names Shango, Oya, and Ogun are heard on the wind.

Mixing mythology and modern urban fantasy, Primordials is a boldly original, comic-book level adventure story along the lines of Highlander or Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.

In this introduction to the series, we meet the cast of characters, learn of their origins in Nigeria, and experience some angry god action. The series continues on iTunes and has a great website with character art at: http://theprimordials.com/

First up, Captain Radio reviews the space opera, Warp’d Space.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast245.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 245

Episode 244 – It’s a Mean Thing, This Thing of Ours

Fred — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 03:39:43 +0000

This week we are pleased to feature another producer new to the show (indeed, new to radio drama altogether) – Scott Spaulding, whose new gritty mobster drama, “This Thing of Ours,” is sure to tear up the pristine streets of radio drama land…

In 1970s New York, it’s not easy to be a wise guy – not when someone botches a move on the boss and it starts not being so clear who to trust. Snappy writing, high production values and fine casting make this tough new drama something to get really excited about. Radio drama hasn’t had its version of The Sopranos, but here it is – look no further for good mobster drama.

Before our feature, Captain Radio returns with a 5th dimensional take on the politically incorrect comedy, Eddie K.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast244.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 244

Episode 243: Everyone (Including Us) Digs Bill Evans

Fred — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:22:21 +0000

Photo of Bill Evans at a German Jazz Workshop by Heinrich Klaff

Music sometimes takes a backseat to sound effects and dialogue in radio plays, but not in this lush play called Everybody Digs Bill Evans (the radio drama, not to be confused with the famous jazz album of the same title).

This 40-minute play, by Toronto-based playwright Bill Ballantyne, follows an imagined early career of Bill Evans when he was still a jazz unknown. The play pits his unique approach to impressionistic jazz against the expectations and commercial ambitions of music producers at the time. With some really delicious music in between!

First up, Captain Radio‘s review of a sound portrait by Mike Manafette, surveying the history of immigrants passing by Ellis Island.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast243.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 243

Episode 242 – The Flying Bike Sees a Movie Get Made

Fred — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:48:51 +0000

This week we have an original new treat for you – a new original tale called The Flying Bike, by Karl Hirsch.

What exactly IS the Flying Bike? Well, it’s a concept, it’s an idea, it’s a vision. Oh, and it’s a screenplay. A screenplay that really, really, really shouldn’t become a movie. But it’s going to. This bizarre chronicle of a terrible movie being made is audio’s commentary on why we do what we do!

Kicking off is Captain Radio with a review of This Thing of Ours, a mobster tale from Decorative Air and Scott Spaulding.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast242.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 242

Episode 241: Down in the Lab with the Doc, a Little Wampum, Sweet, Sweet Vampire and the Freedom Bones

Fred — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 23:20:40 +0000

Alas, all good things come to an end. After a splendid time trippin’ dimensionality tweaking trip in Return to Inverness, Jack Flanders and Mojo finally get to the bottom of the energy disturbance in the mansion of Inverness. A few old friends appear again and in them depths there be dragons! But the real question is – what do you do about an energy that creates massive magic mushrooms, and what does Saint Seymour really have to do with anything?

Before we get into the Invernessing, we hear from Captain Radio, who is thrilled this week to be introducing his own original show! Mosey on over to Sonic Society’s Summerstock for a dose of Challenge of the Yukon.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast241.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 241

P.S. If you like this journey, check out the newest Inverness series, Steam Dreamers of Inverness! (now with several episodes), the original Fourth Tower of Inverness, or many other Jack Flanders adventures over at ZBS. This is as good as audio drama gets!

Episode 240: Inverness, Week Four – Little Frieda, Four Towers, and Creepy Rakshashas!

Fred — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 07:06:44 +0000

In week four of our feature of Return to Inverness Jack Flanders meets an old friend, goes places he probably shouldn’t go, and gets out by the hair of his chinny chin chin. But where, oh where is this strange energy coming from? And whose that splendid saucy sister with the razor sharp teeth? Only one more week after this one to go…

Before we get into the Invernessing, we hear from Captain Radio, who reviews a triumvirate of audio horror satire stories.
Download audio file (rdr-podcast240.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 240

Episode 239 – Wherein We Meet a Dragon, Are Touched by a Unicorn and See a Forbidden Tower

Fred — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:54:07 +0000

For our third installment of the Return to Inverness things are starting to get odd for Jack Flanders. A touch by a mystic unicorn sends his world aloft while things continue to disappear. Plus there’s that dragon to be worried about…

Before we get into the Invernessing, we hear from Captain Radio, who reviews the program The Radio Museum which takes listeners on an auditory exploration of the golden age of Radio.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast239.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 239

Episode 238 – We Return to Return to Inverness

Fred — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 03:30:51 +0000

This week is our second installment featuring Return to Inverness, set some years after Jack Flanders started his mystical journeymaking and spiritual globetrotting.

Upon the death of Lady Jowls, Jack finds himself back at Inverness, having inherited a generation of kooky inhabitants and dazzled by the mysterious that still remain. As if the tricky tenants weren’t bad enough, stuff starts disappearing, and mystical beings start being sited on premises…

Also, Captain Radio reviews Minister of Chance, a lush, soundscape heavy tightly acted science fiction epic. We are very, very excited about his new project and thrilled to be sharing it with you.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast238.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 238

Episode 237 – Steamy Dog Days Bring Us Back to Inverness

Fred — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 00:01:29 +0000

For the month of August (and into November) we take an interlude to a mansion high atop a hill, with thousands of mirrors looking inward… the towers of Inverness!

The original Fourth Tower of Inverness is the classic mystical trans-dimensional journey which brought ZBS to the ears of a generation of listeners. We have the distinct pleasure of featuring the second installment of the series, Return to Inverness, set some years after Jack Flanders started his mystical journeymaking and spiritual globetrotting. Upon the death of Lady Jowls, Jack finds himself back at Inverness, having inherited a generation of kooky inhabitants and dazzled by the mysterious that still remain.

Oh, and Captain Radio is here with a review of Camino Real Productions’ The Mesmerist.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast237.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 237

P.S. If you like this journey, check out the newest Inverness series, Steam Dreamers of Inverness! (now with several episodes)

Episode 236 – We’re Alive, But There Might Be Others…

Fred — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:00:33 +0000

We have featured We’re Alive periodically since their stunning a href=”/episode-18-the-zombies-are-coming-but-were-alive/”>debut in late 2009, but things seem to be extremely exciting right now for the show – having recently grossed 4.5million downloads, a remastered Season 1 of the series is now available in major bookstores thanks to a distribution deal with Blackstone, and even on Audible!

Of course, none of this would be all that interesting if we didn’t have frighteningly cunning, slathering hordes of the undead hunting down our heroes, which We’re Alive continues to deliver in force. We post this show on the eve of their Season 2 finale, featuring the Silver Ogle-Award winning show There Might be Others as well as a new interview with creators Kc Wayland and Shane Salk.

First up, Captain Radio with a triumvirate of audio lovers talking about up and comers – yours truly, Julie Hoverson and Jack Ward all chime in on our 3 favorite up and coming audio producers. Who are yours?

Download audio file (rdr-podcast236.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 236

Captain Radio Visits Dead Line Anthology

captainradio — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:55:14 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com
Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Dead Line Anthology / Shorts (series)
Producer: Jack Ward
Production Company: Electric Vicuña
Type: Dram
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Length: Anthology episodes – about 25 minutes; Shorts – 5-15 minutes
Rating: AD-PG* (psychological horror, mortal danger/fear)
Availability: Free – Electric Vicuña

Greetings, Audionauts! Captain Radio here with a visit to Electric Vicuña’s Dead Line Anthology, from Electric Vicuña, made possible by RØDE Microphones.

[SOUND BYTE]

And so the mysterious disembodied Dead Line telephonic voice ushers listeners into another dark journey through mystery, horror, and, usually … murder.

As might an old Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, each macabre tale begins mundanely enough, perhaps like a pair of generationally-alienated businessmen getting away on a hunting weekend, as in Clay Pidgeon Shooting …

[SOUND BYTE]

Soon, though, things begin to seem out of place as dialog exchanges or character actions build up viscerally uncomfortable apprehension:

[SOUND BYTE]

Then, suddenly, the dark journey twists violently off into stark and irrepressible horror as, here, a stunned husband listens to his doomed mistress plead desperately for help over voice mail:

[SOUND BYTE]

From 2003-2005, pioneer audio drama podcaster Jack Ward aired The Shadowlands old-time radio series from a public radio station in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Having authored and produced over a dozen originals among these shows, Ward joined forces in 2005 with Shannon Hilchie to host the Sonic Society, which focused on original audio drama from independent producers. Initially, associated Sonic Society producers included Jerry Robbins of Colonial Radio Theatre, Jonithan Russell of DreamRealm Enterprises, and Gregg Taylor of Decoder Ring Theatre.

In 2009, Ward formed Electric Vicuña to branch into audio cinema, voice acting, audio books, and audio anthologies. Regarding the latter, his colleagues encouraged Ward to develop a horror/mystery anthology that would more immediately fulfill evolving audio drama listener taste than would science fiction or fantasy equivalents.

He responded with the Dead Line Anthology that opens and closes on the slightly menacing telephone narrator signaling a warning or challenging the listener to explore the subtle edgy inner significance, or occasionally the message, revealed by the chilling story.

Later, Ward added the Dead Line Shorts as vignettes of evil that cut to the chase of their story, tossing listeners immediately into “the dark moment”, often requiring them quickly to suss out from the contracted plot and dialog what precisely is happening.

[Dead Line theme music]

Despite having already turned in over a half decade of continuous original creative production, Ward’s Dead Line tales, long or abbreviated, come across as refreshingly original with plenty of spine tingle, more plot twists than a Celtic pretzel, and plenty of unexpected moments when you may suddenly and instinctively wish to cover your ears, as horror movie viewers might shield their eyes, from the fearful scenes unfolding within your imagination.

Listen to the Dead Line Anthology and Dead Line Shorts at Electric Vicuña.Com.

Remember – passionate, unique audio transforms our world …You start with RØDE™

Visit RodeMic.com

CaptainRadio.com Reviews originate on the Radio Drama Revival podcast. Subscribe to free weekly downloads of more top-notch, independently-produced modern audio drama from around the world at RadioDramaRevival.com.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-dead-line-anthology-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio™ Visits Electric Vicuña’s Dead Line Anthology and Dead Line Shorts

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Episode 235 – Jack Ward’s Electric Vicuna Has One Soul Survivor

Fred — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:29:47 +0000

We interrupt steamy summer to showcase the showcases – with an excellent Captain Radio review of Audio Drama Talk, Audio Drama Directory, Audio Drama Wiki, and the Audio Drama Review (which pulls no punches to the point of fault).

We congratulate Captain Radio for a great article on his first production, then move on to featuring Jack Ward’s Electric Vicuna Productions with their Ogle Award honorable mention, Soul Survivor.

In the modern day, who wins when a devil and an angel sit on an adolescent girl’s shoulders? With an excellent vocal performance by Shannon Hilchie and post-production by John Bell from Bell’s in the Batfry.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast235.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 235

P.S. Don’t miss The Sonic Society’s Summerstock Series, with fresh remakes of OTR shows both classic and off-the-beaten-path. Two new shows available already, so check it out!

Episode 234 – Whoever Wishes with Cayenne Chris Conroy

Fred — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:19:27 +0000

Experiencing TEKnikal diffikulties? We hope you will after this podcast featuring the marvelous Cayenne Chris Conroy and his 6-year-running comedy podcast (with splashes of sci-fi adventure).

TEKDIFF won the 2010 Gold Ogle for their production of the show we feature today, “Whoever Wishes,” a blissfully surreal comedic romp through the misadventure of a father looking for his son. With cunning pokes at the nature of war and peace, the relentless grind of modern living and into the great beyond… or something like that.

This sound rich production was written, directed, produced and VOICED all by Chris – pretty amazing stuff, and worth a bow for his virtuosity alone.

First up, Captain Radio featuring Electric Vicuna‘s Dead Line Anthology, a modern redux of chilling OTR shows such as Suspense and Inner Sanctum, from the multi-talented Jack Ward in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast234.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 234

Captain Radio Reviews: Knighttime

captainradio — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:38:54 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: The Secret of Donotalado (from the Knightime series)
Producer: “William”
Production Company: The Hazardous Players
Type: Comedy
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 15-20 minutes each episode
Rating: AD-G*
Availability: Free to Listen – The Hazardous Players

Greetings, Audionauts! Captain Radio here with a review of KnightTime’s The Secret of Donotalado, from The Hazardous Players, made possible by RØDE Microphones.

Too seldom do we see natural entertainers emerge from party antics as bonafide stars. When it happens, they tend to be delightful absurdists. Witness Steve Martin’s party shtick, The Great Flydini and Victor Borge’s classical grand piano party gymnastics both placing often among Top 100 Comic Routines.

Educated artist, turned realist carpenter, “William” in like manner delights in excavating his childhood of listening QUI-ET-LY (so his parents wouldn’t hear) to late night radio dramas and finding ways to foist that experience on his son and easily recruited accomplice, Sam.

Sam’s 10^th birthday party proved a turning point for “William”, who loved to create “seriously complex” treasure hunts. A series of concealed outdoor audio players, when found, gave young partiers “Where next?” clues embodied in the pre-recorded voices of ancient knights. When family and friends heard the clues afterward, “William” found himself surrounded by instant fans, urging him to unleash these marvelous characters into broader realms.

Once “William” also realized that he shared “a hidden aptitude for odd voices and a secret desire to act” with Comic CON buds “Lewis” and “Justin”, the trio launched, in his words, a quest “to pool our talents, to overcome our insecurities, and to construct a fantasy world both epic and absurd,” major emphasis, of course, on the last.

[SOUND BYTE]

Aimed at “children” young and old, the KnightTime series of audio dramatic chapter books takes Audionauts to medieval Udenland and the farcical exploits of buffoonish but able agéd survivor, Sir Cottington, his more genteel “Sancho Panza” straight man, Sir Bratwurst, and their long-suffering genius curmudgeon guardian dragon, Nigel, who, though perhaps the most “grounded” character in the KnightTime universe, has his moments:

[SOUND BYTE]

In The Secret of Donotalado, scheming young King Theodor, seeks to rid his court for at least a year of the bungling, naturally interfering duo of Cottington and Bratwurst:

[SOUND BYTE]

That’s about it on plot, folks. As it goes in Life, often it’s not the destination but the journey that counts. Recalling situation antics characteristic of creatives Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and Monty Python, the knights’ subsequent harrowing, comical picayune adventures through weird, enchanted landscapes, replete with magical plants and creatures, fills up the score card pleasingly.

[SOUND BYTE]

While online, be sure to enjoy “William’s” warm and very amusing artwork as well as entries in the clever Professor Flannagin Henchwood’s Guide that catalogs and further details magical flora and fauna encountered in KnightTime.

Listen to the KnightTime audio dramatic chapter book, The Secret of Donotalado, at HazardousPlayers.com.

Remember – passionate, unique audio transforms our world … You start with RØDE™

Visit RodeMic.com

Captain Radio.com Reviews originate on the Radio Drama Revival podcast. Subscribe to free weekly downloads of more top-notch, independently-produced modern audio drama from around the world at RadioDramaRevival.com.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-the-secret-of-donotalado-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio™ Reviews The Secret of Donotalado from the Hazardous Players

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Episode 233 – Back From #CVG2011 with Stories To Tell and a Trip to 1918

Fred — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 23:46:42 +0000

Today we stagger back from a GREAT trip out west to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the CONvergence science fiction and fantasy convention (known to you Twitterers as #cvg2011).

We received the 2010 Silver Mark Time for FinalRune‘s production The Cleansed: Episode Zero and celebrated with other winners, including Jonathan Mitchell (who created the spectacular Moon Graffiti), Matthew and Monique Boudreau and Samantha Mason of 1918, Domien and Eline of The Witch Hunter Chronicles, Cayenne Chris Conroy of TEKDIFF, and Jack Ward of Electric Vicuna/The Sonic Society rounding out this year’s winners, plus Brian Price, Jerry Stearns and Kris Markman of Great Northern Audio Theater, Jeff Adams of Icebox Radio Theater, and Scott Hickey of The Grist Mill. That’s a lot of sonic energy!

We talk to these folks, recap the experience at CONvergence, and go on to play 1918 Season One in its entirety. And did I mention Captain Radio‘s great review of the Hazardous Players’ production Knighttime? Stay tuned…

Download audio file (rdr-podcast233.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 233

Episode 232 – Phil Proctor & Capt Radio Chime in on NATF 2011, As We Head to MN

Fred — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:05:51 +0000

With the weeklong National Audio Theatre Festivals 2011 workshop just behind us, we catch up with Captain Radio who were our ears on the ground in West Plains as well as Phil Proctor of the Firesign Theatre.

Phil talks about his career in audio starting with the legendary comic studio albums of Firesign in the countercultural 60s and 70s and transition into a career of voice acting for films, TV, animation and video games.

Phil is also a judge for the Mark Time Awards, which this week gave out awards to a number of producers including Jonathan Mitchell, myself, 1918, Brad Lansky and the Anti-Starc, Whoever Wishes (by Tekdiff, who get a special shout-out from Phil Proctor), We’re Alive, Electric Vicuna, and The Witch Hunter Chronicles. Whew!

Finally, we wrap with the 2010 Mark Time radio show – and promise audio from more from #CVG2011 next week!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast232.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 232

Captain Radio Reviews: The Cosmic Express

captainradio — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:24:00 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: The Cosmic Express
Producer: Joseph C. McGuire
Production Company: Radio Theater Project
Type: Drama
Genre: Sci-Fi, Speculative
Length: 16 minutes
Rating: AD-G*
Availability: Free to Listen – Radio Theater Project

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here, brought to you by RØDE Microphones, with a review of The Cosmic Express from Joseph C. McGuire and Radio Theater Project.

Be ever so careful what you wish for!

[SOUND BYTE]

In the far future, when, for most, work is more past-time than drudge, Eric Stokes-Harding (voice by Carl Waluconis) relieves his techno-lifestyle boredom by authoring adventure stories in former exotic Earth locales now erased by urbanization. He does so the hard way, speaking to an antiquated, voice-activated typewriter-replicant. Though less inclined to stray from her own modern voicewriter, Nadia (voiced by Laura Hale) shares her husband’s wistful longing to interact with more natural apparata:

[SOUND BYTE]

Their commiserating heightens until they genuinely long to abandon their sterile modernity for somewhere far more primal and sensually extreme – somewhere, perhaps, like …:

[SOUND BYTE]
Providentially, an experimental new long-distance travel mode exists, The Cosmic Express, a means so quaint and so familiar to a modern listener that perhaps it was restored from off a dusty shelf in an old 23^rd century relic shoppe.

Or perhaps the reverse: Three-and-a-half decades after sci-fi author Jack Williamson penned this short story, perhaps a Los Angeles beat cop, and a wannabee Hollywood screenwriter, named Roddenberry conceived something akin to the Cosmic Express as he prepared to make a little television history.

Regardless, the Stokes-Hardings eventually bribe Cosmic Express operator Charlie (voiced by Matt Clausen) with a metal flask of rare, very aged ambrosia. Faster than you can say, “Beam us up, Scotty”, the pair finds themselves stalking the showery alluvial jungles of Venus. All too soon, though, unexpected reverse nostalgia sets in just as neighbors come to call:

[SOUND BYTE]

It helps the couple’s cause little, meanwhile, that Charlie has met his liquor-holding Waterloo in the rare, very aged ambrosia.

The Cosmic Express is the first episode in producer Joseph C. McGuire’s public radio series project, Future Past, which debuts in September, 2011. Produced at Skagit Valley College radio station, KSVR, Future Past will dramatize stories written during the pre-World War II Golden Age of Science Fiction.

While this premier effort might seem, and sound, unpretentious compared to current flashier independent audio production benchmarks, it does authentically recall the audio austerity broadcast during the prime years of network AM radio drama.

Listen to Joseph C. McGuire’s Cosmic Express at the Captain Radio™ Audio Drama Showcase, or hear it and other Radio Theater Project productions at Radio-Stories.Blogspot.Com.

Remember – passionate, unique audio transforms our world … You start with RØDE™

Visit RodeMic.com

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-the-cosmic-express-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio™ Reviews Joseph C. McGuire’s Cosmic Express from Radio Theater Project

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Episode 231 – NATF Brings us to the Homefront, while Capt Radio takes us on the Cosmic Express

Fred — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:19:56 +0000

This week we set our sights on West Plains Missouri, where each year a national audio pilgrimage concludes with a spectacular live show broadcast across the world. The National Audio Theatre Festivals concludes their weekly workshop with a live show TONIGHT, June 24, 2011 starting 8:30PM EDT. Tune in at: http://www.kkdy.com/index.php

In the meantime, check out our show where we feature NATF’s 2005 production of “Homefront,” a touching tale of a son who sets out time-traveling to change circumstances with his WW2-bound father.

Also, Captain Radio is back with a review of The Cosmic Express by Joseph C McGuire.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast231.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 231

Episode 230 – Firesign Wants to Know… Immortality, or Death?

Fred — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:40:21 +0000

We conclude our feature of the legendary Firesign Theatre, the “4 or 5 Krazee Guys” (Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman and Phil Proctor) whose embellished sterephonic comedy recordings altered the minds of a generation. After a 17 year hiatus they returned in 1998 to warp our minds again with this lampooning of the end of days, Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death.

After 13 years this album is still shockingly relevant, with end of the world fever, crazy used car deals, problems with the internet, celebrities gone haywire, and big budget beer.

In addition to their legendary studio albums (such as Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers!, which we hear today), the troupe had hundreds of hours of live radio experience, and had a particularly special era of a program called “Dear Friends.”

A new boxed set (which we wrote about back in February) contains ALL of this material – a whopping 80+ hours – along with beautiful art and hilarious anecdotes. Listen to the show for samples, or check out the DUKE OF MADNESS MOTORS boxed set and buy it today!

MEGA THANKS for Phil Proctor for giving us permission to broadcast this terrific stuff. We also take time to shout out for the National Audio Theatre Festivals, who are preparing for their annual pilgrimage to West Plains Missouri later this month.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast230.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 230

Captain Radio Reviews: Every Now and Then

captainradio — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:09:48 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Every Now and Then
Producer: Voices in the Wind
Type: Drama
Genre: Mystery/Suspense, Romance
Rating: AD-G*
Availability: Free – Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here, sponsored by RØDE Microphones, with a review of Every Now and Then from David Farquhar and Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre.

While shopping for a friend’s wedding gift, young marrieds Frank and Diane (respectively voiced by Hollywood television and audio veteran Gregg Rainwater and by Noelle Dupuis) seem close to drawing serious lines in the sand when unruffled antique store owner, Mr. Sagan (voiced by Norm McLeod) sensibly intervenes to smooth things over:

[SOUND BYTE]

Deciding to give the shop a chance, Frank becomes intrigued with an old gramophone. Mr Sagan demonstrates its use before escorting Diane elsewhere to browse. Frank sits in an old nearby chair to remove a pebble from his shoe and suddenly experiences the first of several shocking and disorienting reciprocal transitions.

Listen to producer David Farquhar begin to show off a bit of sound engineering skill as he transports us instantly from a creeky, squeaky antique shop to the middle of a bustling street totally somewhere else:

[SOUND BYTE]

Perhaps the persistent shocks keep Frank a little slow on the uptake, not realizing as we do that the chair and the gramophone together control his continuous time sliding between now and 1903. There he exists as Johnny, a young family man leaving on a fateful sea voyage with Diane’s oblivious Edwardian era lookalike, Mabel, and their hauntingly lovely and enchanting young daughter, Virginia (voiced by Alexandra Poole).

Gradually, and understandably, Frank’s hold on reality loosens. Which reality is reality? Yet, his heart finds manifold reasons to cherish his loved ones regardless when they exist, especially spell-binding, innocent Virginia.

The tranquil trip is suddenly marred by a raging storm. Frightened, Virginia asks her father to tell one of the strange tales that he shares with her alone about how things will be when she is an “old lady”:

[SOUND BYTE]

On deck moments later, tragically separated from Mabel and facing the storm’s full fury, the pair desperately clings to each other as Farquhar’s thunderous audio background and award-winning script writer George Zarr’s emotional story simultaneously peak:

[SOUND BYTE]

Even if Every Now and Then might seem a bit nostalgic for jaded modern tastes, listeners will enjoy the mystery, growing suspense, and redemption of heartbreak in the end.

The play itself has a somber footnote. When Farquhar originally conceived an artifact-centered story, he at first collaborated on a script with Erin Connelly, a public radio audio drama rising star and gifted artist in many other ways. Following the shock of Erin’s sudden tragic death in a car accident before completing the script, the project drifted.

[SOUND BYTE]

Eventually, Radio Works’ Sue Zizza recommended that Farquhar bring George Zarr’s experience and craft aboard both to finish the script and to direct the final production. Zarr completed the script at his New York home before flying to Chatham, Ontario. There the play was performed and recorded in about three days utilizing Rainwater and a clearly talented and empathetic cast of local actors.

Zarr went on to script nearly a half dozen more audio dramas for Design Sound Productions as it gradually morphed into today’s Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre.

Listen to David Farquhar’s Every Now and Then at the Captain Radio™ Audio Drama Showcase, or hear it and other Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre productions at VoicesInTheWind.ca

Remember – passionate, unique audio transforms our world … You start with RØDE™

Visit RodeMic.com

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!
Download audio file (captain-radio-every-now-and-then-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio™ Reviews David Farquhar’s Every Now and Then from Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Episode 229 – Firesign Theatre’s Don’t Crush That Dwarf, and More Mad Motors

Fred — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:41:59 +0000

Audio comedy was never quite the same thanks to the antics of The Firesign Theatre, the legendary multi-trackin’, sound embellishing, sterephonic surrealistic psychedelic merry band of Phil Austin, Peter Bergmen, David Ossman and Philip Proctor.

Also, Captain Radio is here to cover Voices in the Wind from Canada, whose latest production is “Every Now and Then.”

Download audio file (rdr-podcast229.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 229

Captain Radio Reviews: The Headhunters

captainradio — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:32:22 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: The Headhunters
Producer: Galaxy Press/Galaxy Audio
Type: Drama
Genre: Action Adventure
Rating: AD-PG13* (extended scenes of violent jungle fighting)
Availability: Paid – Galaxy Audio – Stories from the Golden Age

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio™ here, sponsored by RØDE™ Microphones, with a review of …

[SOUND BYTE]

Pulp fiction exploded onto newsstands and bookstores to experience a Golden Age in the 1930’s and 40’s. During its hay-day perhaps 30 million readers each month consumed thousands of mystery, science fiction, western, and action-adventure stories featured in upwards of 900 magazines. Even today most of us recognize writers’ names from this epoch, including Rice-Burroughs, Bradbury, Heinlein, Lovecraft, and Gardner.

Perhaps the most prolific pulp fiction writer, if not also the most enduringly popular, would be L. Ron Hubbard. Like Hemingway and Melville before him, Hubbard lived his life embedded in the realms from which his fast-paced imaginative tales sprung onto the pages of “pulp rags” like Thrilling Adventures, Argosy, and even Romantic Range.

In 1936, The Headhunters, a novella typical of Hubbard’s action-adventure style, appeared in Five Novels Monthly. In it, square-jawed protagonist, Tom Christian, and pert heroine, Diane Forsythe, follow her academically tunnel-visioned father into obvious eponymous danger. Seriously complicating their lives is, Punjo Charlie who is so intent on dispossessing Christian of alleged vast “buried treasure” that a full armed conflict erupts in the jungle:

[SOUND BYTE]

Galaxy’s multicast audio books build a “movie of the mind” through sound, striving to give listeners dramatic action and scenes of conflict thoroughly spiced with Hubbard’s page-turning detailed narrative. For example, here Christian silently but contemptuously sizes up Professor Forsythe’s entourage of jungle greenhorns:

[SOUND BYTE]

The Headhunters cast includes theatrical standout, Thomas Silcott, and Marvel™animation’s Hulk (Fred Tatasciore) as well as Brooke Bloom, R.F. Daley, Jim Meskimen, Josh R. Thompson, and Max Williams. In this audio excerpt from a documentary video clip, Meskimen speaks as Senior Director, joining actors Thompson and Christine Huntington to recap the prodigious scope and ambition of Stories from the Golden Age:

[SOUND BYTE]

You can find Galaxy Audio’s dramatic send up of The Headhunters as well as 152 other prime L. Ron Hubbard audio adventures at GoldenAgeStories.com .

While you’re there, check out some lively and interesting “special features” videos that document the ambitious production of these dramatic audiobooks.

Remember – passionate, unique audio transforms our world … You start with RØDE™

Visit RodeMic.com

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!
Download audio file (captain-radio-the-headhunters-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio™ Reviews L. Ron Hubbard’s The Headhunters from Galaxy Audio

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Episode 228 – Firesign Theatre Goes Mad, While We Wait for the Electrician

Fred — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 03:39:49 +0000

While best known for their studio albums (such as Waiting for the Electrician Or Someone Like Him, which we hear today), the troupe had hundreds of hours of live radio experience, and had a particularly special era of a program called “Dear Friends.”

Treasures, and a huge thank to Phil Proctor for giving us license to broadcast this terrific stuff. We also take time to shout out for the National Audio Theatre Festivals, who are preparing for their annual pilgrimage to West Plains Missouri later this month.

Also, Captain Radio is here to cover Headhunters, one of the latest titles from the L Ron Hubbard Tales from the Golden Age collection.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast228.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 228

Captain Radio Reviews: The Swamp

captainradio — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:07:35 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: The Swamp
Producer: Tanja Milojevic and LightningBolt Theater of the Mind
Type: Drama
Genre: Horror Mystery

Rating: AD-PG*
Availability: Free – LightningBolt Theater of the Mind

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Tanja Milojevic’s The Swamp from LightningBolt Theater of the Mind.

If you ever experienced ghastly fear trying to escape a nightmare presence but unable to awaken, then you know Rachel’s terror.

[SOUND BYTE]

This hungry, menacing demon dream swamp metaphorically overflows into her conscious existence. First, Rachel (voiced by Milojevic) abruptly loses her best friend, Alice (voiced by Amanda Fur) when their college expels Alice for surreptitiously cheating off Rachel’s exam. Then, after Rachel pleads vainly with her mother (voiced by Deborah Adams) to forego a simple driving errand in an icy blizzard, Rachel receives the worst of all calls:

[SOUND BYTE]

Finally, adding to Rachel’s growing horror, the relentless swamp dream demon returns, this time with unholy help as Rachel’s mother, apparently casting blame for the accident, joins him in terrorizing her.

[SOUND BYTE]

The only seeming positive in Rachel’s waking life is the sudden appearance of dark, handsome, and very mysterious fellow student, Blake, who quickly, and quite literally, entrances her:

[SOUND BYTE]

Eventually, we gain the eerie sense of having missed a key scene along the way. By the time both we, and Rachel, learn what’s missing, it’s hideously late in the game … maybe too late.

Milojevic’s unhurried but increasingly suspenseful pace of revelation here renders The Swamp’s sudden finale all the more shocking, while the denouement “chaser” is served up suitably well chilled.

Milojevic emigrated with her family from Serbia to America at age 6. Since 2008, by day, she pursues an undergraduate degree in English Writing with a minor in Communications from Boston’s Simmons College. After-hours, she pursues her calling as an independent audio drama producer at which she steadily has improved.

For example, The Swamp, actually enlarged and scripted from a high school English Lit writing exercise, comes smartly decorated with background and bridging music so discriminately selected that I wished to hear the scoring again apart from the play.

Appearing instinctively to leverage her visual-impairment, Milojevic also aptly employs her keenly attuned hearing to evoke college environs and voices as binaural backdrop to her drama. You’ll need headphones or good stereo speaker separation to catch this particular nuance, but listen closely to this clip from The Swamp in which a professor’s voice seems at first to wander about randomly until we realize that he’s passing out student exam sheets:

[SOUND BYTE]

Having already completed over ten independent audio productions, Milojevic has also begun to create Spirit Blade Underground Alliance series episodes of Out of the Night in collaboration with Spirit Blade producer, Paeter Frandsen.

Ms. Milojevic, who aspires to graduate work at UMass and, thereafter, to teach Braille, seems also to be well underway with a moonlight career as a talented independent audio producer and voice actor.

Hear Tanja Milojevic’s The Swamp on the Audio Drama Showcase at CaptainRadio.com, and listen to all her productions at LightningBoltTheaterOfTheMind.Mypodcast.com.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-the-swamp-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews Tanja Milojevic’s The Swamp from Lightningbolt Theater of the Mind

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Episode 227 – Eurydice Goes Down, Down, Down

Fred — Fri, 27 May 2011 13:51:35 +0000

Well, they call it Greek tragedy for a reason – and we have it in full force this week with the conclusion of Roger Gregg’s The Stuff of Myth. Orpheus finally gets his chance to plead for his Eurydice back and – by God – he gets her! But whatever you do, dude… don’t look back. Phil Proctor and Melinda Peterson truly shine in their unforgettable renditions of Hades and Persephone.

This great production won a Gold Ogle in 2007 and has gotten rave reviews as a stage play. After many times trying to schedule this into the show and failing, for May 2011 we’ll be featuring all four episodes of “The Stuff of Myth” plus a bonus mythological encounter as part of RDR’s spring festival of Bacchus.

First up, Captain Radio focuses on emerging producer Tanja Milojevic, whose Lightning Bolt Theater of the Mind production has a new original tale out, “The Swamp.” Don’t get sucked down.

We wrap with Cables to the Ace: 83 from Roger Gregg

Download audio file (rdr-podcast227.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 227

Cables to the Ace: 83 by Thomas Merton, from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF THOMAS MERTON, copyright 1968 by the Abbey of Gethsemani.
Music, Sound Design, Production & Direction by Roger Gregg. Crazy Dog Studios. 2011.
Voices: Jamie O’Neill & Alicja Ayres
Voice Recording by Colm Coyne.
Video by John Merriman.

This video is from ‘Selections from Cables to the Ace by Thomas Merton’ – a concept album by Roger Gregg, made with the Gaiety School of Acting Class of 2011.

Cables To The Ace can be found in The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton.

Captain Radio Visits Pendant Productions

captainradio — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:08:19 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Pendant Productions
Executive Producer/Founder: Jeffrey Bridges
Type: Drama
Genre: Multiple – Anthology, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Super Hero, Fan Fiction

Rating: Primarily adult fare similar to graphic novels*
Availability: Free – PendantAudio.Com

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a visit to mega audio drama site, Pendant Productions.

In 2004, with the support and participation of friends and family, bound together by a love for all things Star Trek, Jeffrey Bridges launched Pendant Productions and its first series, Star Trek: Defiant. His goal was to use fan fiction to produce old-time radio chapter serial excitement for modern audiences. Not surprisingly, the second Pendant offering was Superman:

[SOUND BYTE]

When Bridges began to podcast, his energy, excitement, and prolific success at producing fan fiction audio drama readily infected others. Soon additional series from a small horde of new associate podcast producers and their minions virtually doubled Pendant output.

In this way, Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Martian Manhunter, among other DC super heroes, joined Superman, while Star Wars and the original series, Earth-P, joined Star Trek. British super-spy, James Bond, and archaeologist extraordinaire, Indiana Jones, round out a stellar fan fiction podcast lineup.

With so much low-to-no-budget production ongoing, and with so many producer “buddies” getting into the action, Pendant early pioneered remote recording techniques. Far-flung actors read and record their lines with on-hand equipment, then somehow post their recordings to the program “mother ship” to mix new shows.

Taking a slightly new tack in 2007, Bridges struck an alliance with Genesis Avalon producer, Kathryn Pride, to develop an anthology series, Seminar. Each futuristic episode opens with a reverbed Instructor introducing a class learning experience which can be as simple as retrospectively “observing” actors Richard Castro and Bernadette Groves enjoying an enriching, if ultimately sad, Moment of connection:

[SOUND BYTE]

In 2009, Pendant premiered Green Arrow (voiced by Mark Bradford) who enjoys quite different “moments” of connection with gorgeous, tough, and icy hip crime-fighter, Black Canary (voiced by Anna Rodriquez). G.A. scripting neatly combines mundane scenes of witty alter ego realism with obligatory punchy super hero banter:

[SOUND BYTE]

Individual Pendant series producers strive conscientiously to hit their own personal high marks while enjoying the heck out of what their doing. The result, at minimum, is a Pendant Productions virtual mega-mall of entertaining, enjoyable, and frequently escapist audio drama featuring something almost certain to tantalize any listener.

Explore Jeffrey Bridges’ massive audio drama site, Pendant Productions, by visiting PendantAudio.com.

Pendant Productions stats (at time of review):
Total available episodes: 869
Total runtime: 433 hours, 15 mins, 08 secs
Commentary tracks (not included in runtime): 441
Total podcast hits: 46,748,000
Total mp3 downloads: 11,050,000

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-pendant-productions-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio Visits Pendant Productions

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Episode 226 – Orpheus’ One True Love, Pendant Power and Rats

Fred — Sat, 21 May 2011 03:02:57 +0000

The seductive backdrop of Ancient Greece returns in sticky sweet splendor in round 3 of Roger Gregg’s The Stuff of Myth. Orpheus recounts the journey to find – and lose – his one true love, Eurydice. In this installment Orpheus finally meets, and loses, his one true love. Tragedy at its funniest!

First up, Captain Radio‘s tribute to the prolific production prowess of Pendant Productions, an audio house that has released a staggering 800+ dramas over the years from dozens of podcasts. And a bonus treat from Roger Gregg, a sample of his new poetry/music montage Cables to the Ace!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast226.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 226

Cables to the Ace: 19 by Thomas Merton, from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF THOMAS MERTON, copyright 1968 by the Abbey of Gethsemani.
Music, Sound Design, Production & Direction by Roger Gregg. Crazy Dog Studios. 2011.
Voice: John Merriman & Tiernan Kearns.
Voice Recording by Colm Coyne.
Video by John Merriman.

This video is from ‘Selections from Cables to the Ace by Thomas Merton’ – a concept album by Roger Gregg, made with the Gaiety School of Acting Class of 2011.

Cables To The Ace can be found in The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton, – get a copy!

Captain Radio Review: Too Much of a Good Thing

captainradio — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:13:52 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Too Much of a Good Thing
Producer: Elsa Lankford and Black Crow Productions
Type: Comedy/Drama
Genre: Social Satire

Rating: AD-G* (mild swearing)
Availability: Free to Listen on PRX (Free Listener Registration Required)

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Elsa Lankford’s Too Much of a Good Thing from Black Crow Productions.

Some global cultures have well-known, presumably independent news gathering outfits working alongside reasonably respectable commercial enterprises.

American news-gathering falls largely upon the shoulders of both commercial and intensely-sponsored “public” organizations.

Both, of late, have received their fair share of cynical criticism for dubious content, methods, objectivity, and, importantly, independence.

The separation between news and sponsorship can become precariously blurred, as our Too Much of a Good Thing protagonists learn while watching “news” that seems more broken than “breaking”:

[SOUND BYTE]

Laura, a wannabe mystery writer (voiced by Danielle Lenhard), and her Helen Reddy-obsessed intimate roommate, Trina (voiced by Lankford) step outside to try to fathom the news frenzy engulfing the house next door.

When Trina defends neighborhood trash collector Joey (voiced by Patrick Zemeral) from media pillorying, “ace” live reporter Dank Stevens (voiced by James Armstrong) soundly repudiates her:

[SOUND BYTE]

The reporter then presses on to fast-breaking coverage of … unicorn abuse.

Soon, a furtive figure recruits the amenable ladies to investigate the mysterious comings-and-goings in the neighborhood, just as the old News Director at “Channel 7.5” (voiced by Grace Enriquez), explains the (sad) facts of news evolution to Dank:

[SOUND BYTE]

When neighborhood uber-gossip Mrs. Lewis (Enriquez again) abruptly is hired and upgraded to become the new Channel 7.5 News Director, Lankford unleashes through her a droll and thinly veiled volley at network newsgathering credibility:

[SOUND BYTE]

Satire eventually shifts more toward a genuine mystery, and imperiled Laura and Trina uncover a plot so large and so sinister that even Monty Python writer/director Terry Gilliam’s dark fancy would be tickled.

While the play hints at autobiographical asides and harbors some fun, if not essential, dialog, its virtually unrelenting satire seems all too suited to modern network news-mongering.

Listen to Elsa Lankford’s Too Much of a Good Thing from Black Crow Productions at PRX.org.

During your visit, you may also wish to hear Lankford’s half-hour documentary about a neighborhood bypassed by road construction entitled, Rooted and Unrooted: West Baltimore’s Highway to Nowhere.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-too-much-of-a-good-thing.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews Elsa Lankford’s Too Much of a Good Thing from Black Crow Productions

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Episode 225 – Sprites and Satyrs, and Cables hit the Ace

Fred — Fri, 13 May 2011 17:11:59 +0000

The saucy splendor of Ancient Greece heats up this week as Orpheus recounts the journey to find – and lose – his one true love, Eurydice. In this installment we meet some nymphs, a romping satyr, and a career on the road that ends in a doozy.

First up, Captain Radio‘s review of a hilarious satire of television news, Too Much of a Good Thing. And a bonus treat from Roger Gregg, a sample of his new poetry/music montage Cables to the Ace!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast225.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 225

Music, Sound Design, Production & Direction by Roger Gregg. Crazy Dog Studios. 2011.
Voice: Cillian O Gairbhi.
Voice Recording by Colm Coyne.
Video by John Merriman.
A Gaiety School of Acting production as part of Gregg’s course on Acting In Audio 2011.

Special Thanks to Dr. Pearson & The Thomas Merton Center. See: www.merton.org

Used by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

This video is from ‘Selections from Cables to the Ace by Thomas Merton’ – a concept album by Roger Gregg, made with the Gaiety School of Acting Class of 2011.

Cables To The Ace can be found in The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton, – get a copy!

Captain Radio Review: Saki’s Quail Seed

captainradio — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:00:13 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Quail Seed (19 Nocturne Boulevard Anthology)
Producer: Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions
Type: Drama
Genre: Social Satire

Rating: AD-G*
Availability: Free – 19NocturneBoulevard.com

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Saki’s Quail Seed, adapted and produced by Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions.

High-profile classic literary oracles, like H.G. Wells and George Orwell, have astounded readers with profound and often disturbing scientific and social insights into the future. However, audio drama producer Julie Hoverson holds that lesser-known but certainly competent writers, such as Edwardian era author H.H. Munro, known better by his pen name, Saki, could cleverly employ biting humor to reveal equally rare foresights into mundane matters:

[SOUND BYTE]

Struggling small businesses today could garner an insight or two from Quail Seed which opens with Mr. Scarrick, a small-town shop owner who, having just topped off his inventory, abruptly faces dismal Christmas sales:

[SOUND BYTE]

However, some local gossips, trying to be discrete as they surreptitiously browse Scarrick’s lowly local establishment before traveling to the big city to make their purchases, witness two bizarre visitations, first, that of an unusual boy:

[SOUND BYTE]

Even as the ladies cackle feverishly over the departed boy, a stranger and more imposing customer stalks in:

[SOUND BYTE]

In no time the entire exurban community is abuzz, both about the strange visitors and Scarrick’s puzzling perfidy. On subsequent days, shoppers mill about the store, draining the shelves of goods, at last gasping when the strange boy, the imposing man and Scarrick’s deceit all score an encore. With that, the rumor dam crumbles:

[SOUND BYTE]

And no one can resist shopping at Scarrick’s thereafter for fear of foregoing the finale of all this unfathomable intrigue, perhaps … not even you.

Saki’s engaging satire, minimalistically, tastefully, and warmly adapted by Hoverson, might well be served as a delicious after-dinner dessert with a sherry apéritif or Turkish coffee. Though Hoverson jests about making relatively casual casting decisions for her many works thus far, no character of Quail Seed seems truly out of place or unapproachable here. Enjoy.

Listen to Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Production’s adaptation of H.H. Munro’s Quail Seed currently podcast on the Captain Radio’s Audio Drama Showcase or by visiting 19NocturneBoulevard.com where you can hear three other standout Saki yarns as well as over 60 other short Hoverson pieces.

You can also hear a podcast of Hoverson’s Mark Time Award-winning scifi drama, The Outpost, right here on Radio Drama Revival.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-quail-seed.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews Quail Seed from Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.