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Campfire S’morgs ’12:  Live from Waa Kee Sha Park in Oswego, IL.   Last year at this time, we took the remote equipment out to the woods to do a live streaming podcast event.   We called it ‘Campfire S’morgs’, a clever play on words if you didn’t figure it out.   If you missed it, you can head over to Episode 57 and listen to us do the show from around the campfire.    Given that the weather was absolutely perfect this weekend, we decided to do this show a week earlier than planned.

In light of a recent tragic campfire accident where two young girls were badly burned from a campfire explosion, Anthony provides helpful tips for keeping safe when building and extinguishing a campfire.    Baba tells some jokes to lighten up the atmosphere, and shares some unusual games that you can play around the campfire.    We then take turns reading some extremely scary ghost stories.    Finally, it wouldn’t be an official campfire without singing, so we all take a stab at singing a John Denver song.   Maybe we should have practiced a bit more before doing this one live.

Also, on a totally unrelated topic, I talk about how I met Verne Troyer, the actor best known for playing the Austin Powers character, “Mini Me”.

Featured Artist of the Week:  Jenna Jentry

I would like to apologize to our featured artist of the week in that I back-announced her as “Jenny Jentry”.   I must have been reading ahead to one of our ghost stories called “Screaming Jenny”.   There is no relation as it turns out.    Anyway, head over to her Facebook page and check her out.

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In this episode, I prep Ally for returning to school – this time as a high school freshman. It reminds me of a feature that Dave and I used to do on the old Smorgasbord radio show. We would help the incoming freshman survive their first week by making their transition to the big school a little easier. Although 30 years later, I am not sure I know all the right moves myself. It’s a good thing for Google. I did some extensive research on the important things to keep in mind when starting high school. This segment transitions nicely to the discussion I have with Ally and my wife Kim about the new girls social group that they are starting, and how that feeds into my new idea for a family-oriented podcast I am launching this fall.

We then weigh in on the Chik-Fil-A controversy without getting too political. Regardless of where you stand on the same-sex marriage issue, you have to admit that they make a pretty darn good chicken sandwich. So we present the official Chik-Fil-A chicken sandwich recipe that you can make at home if you are not in close vicinity to one of their restaurants.

Baba Gonesh stops in to present another installment of Baba News. Featured stories include: A teacher is jailed for beating up and cutting the hair of a 10-year old student for not conforming to the appropriate code, India pampers its pooches, and the debut of the India National Museum of Toilets.

Featured Artist of the Week:  Adrianne Richards

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Pizza, beer, and Baba…that’s how Chris spends his bachelor week while his wife and daughter are on vacation in Arizona.

Chris hosts this week’s show alone and discusses a brand new podcast he will be starting up this fall that will focus on issues facing high school students.

Baba Gonesh calls in to talk about his new business venture and then joins Chris live in the studio for another installment of ‘Baba News’.  Featured stories include:  Bridge in India could collapse due to human spit, Cook is killed for a delay in serving tandoori chicken, and Weird ‘blood red’ rain in India panics people .   Baba also talks about the top reasons for suicide in India which has prompted him to purchase a new domain name “DeathByCeilingFan.com“.

Also featured:  SmorgShow Family Feud (previously aired on episode 26).

Featured Artist of the Week:  Mark Knopfler

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Former Smorgasbord Radio Show Co-Host Dave Jackson is in the studio this week.   Chris and Ally are back from their Mackinac Island vacation and share some stories from the trip.    It’s also Chris’s 17th wedding anniversary, so his wife Kim makes a rare appearance on the show.

Dave discusses the restaurant review of Baba’s Restaurant that he planned to have appear in the New York Times but instead was bumped to the Libby Elementary School publication in Montana.  Baba Gonesh has returned from India with some fresh new stories he personally covered while abroad.

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Ally has graduated middle school and we discuss the awards that were given, including the one for being disciplined no more than once per quarter over the duration of three years.   Really?  Is this an accomplishment?  Has the bar been lowered to the point where this deserves an award?

We give a special shout-out to Tim Janus, the winner of the first ever World Burping Championship who delivered an 18.1 second long belch.

We also discuss 9-year old Martha Payne from Scotland who has been blogging about her school cafeteria lunch program.   She has won the censorship battle against her school council who tried to silence her for posting photos of her school lunch and writing reviews about it.   Ally commented that her lunches are much better than the ones served at her school.    Martha’s blog is now back up and running at NeverSeconds.blogspot.com

For the upcoming Father’s Day weekend, we play a flashback recording of Baba Gonesh from a few years back.  Baba discusses the Father’s Day tradition in India and shares a very touching story about him and his son.   You better have some tissues handy for this one!

Finally, Phillip Donald has returned to our studio with a brand-new track from his forthcoming children’s CD.   Chris and Ally are concerned about his behavior.

Featured Artist of the Week:  Codie Prevost

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After an extended hiatus, Chris and Ally return with another episode.   Chris discusses the technical disasters that have plagued the production studio since the Titanic episode.   We get to hear a couple of Chris’s recent voiceover jobs including an online dictionary reading as well as a farmer character he did for a computer video game.    Chris talks about his new turntable purchase and how fun it was to demonstrate it for Ally and one of her friends.  Chris demonstrates to Ally how the turntable was used to uncover secret backwards messages in rock music.

Other Features include News Balls:  Panda Dung Tea, a man saws off and cooks his own foot in order to continue collecting unemployment insurance, an IT worker is arrested after urinating on his co-workers’ office chairs, Dog Poo-powered WiFi, and a Chinese kid sells his kidney for an iPad.     Baba Gonesh returns to the studio with another installment of ‘Baba News’.

Featured Artist of the Week:  Daniel Link

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On this episode, we travel back in time and take a special look at voyage of the RMS Titanic for this special 100th anniversary of that tragic night of April 14-15, 1912.

This episode originally streamed live at exactly 100 years after the Titanic struck the iceberg.

Our special episode is chock full of facts and statistics about the Titanic:  the construction, the launch, the passengers and crew, the food that was served to both first class and third class passengers including the last meal.   We discuss the tragic accident, the lifeboats, the sinking, and the wreckage.   We get a flavor of what life on the Titanic was like by listening to readings of letters written by some of the passengers.  Music was a special part of the voyage and we play a few tracks that were played on board.       We close out the show with a special rendition of Ally singing, “My Heart Will Go On”.

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Former WDGC-FM Smorgasbord Co-Host Dave Jackson joins Chris in the studio while Ally is on her 8th grade spring break trip in Florida.

Chris and Dave look back on some of their old radio bits including the time when Chris got fired from his job at Time Life Telemarketing.   They discuss a disturbing new product – Twitter toilet paper where you can get your favorite Twitter feed printed on 4 rolls of toilet paper for the low price of $35.

Other features include everyone’s favorite game show, ‘Get a Life’. In addition to giving away a brand new life, Chris and Dave play some of the original ‘Get a Life’ bits from the old high school radio days.    There is an update on Tisha Chicken, the SmorgShow geocache travel bug, who makes a complete return trip home after two and a half years of trying to get to Chicken, Alaska.  Baba Gonesh visits the studio and delivers a dramatic reading of  a classic Indian Folk Tale, “The Hunter and the Doves”.   Finally, Chris and Dave take the show on the road to the local Starbucks where Dave shares a tragic fertilizer story.

Featured Artist of the Week: Damon Hill

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We review some listener feedback from Chris’s Podcast Mastermind group. The consistent theme is that they enjoy the chemistry and interaction between Chris and Ally and want more of that going forward.

Ally is just days away from her spring break trip to Florida with her science class and she walks through her itinerary.    Chris thinks Ally is too young to be heading to Florida for spring break, but thinks spending a day at a turtle hospital is probably harmless.

Chris officially launches his voiceover business website and gives an update on some recent jobs he was awarded.    In conjunction with the website launch, Chris discusses a new podcast he is launching devoted to the voice over acting industry.  The Voice Acting Journey Podcast will debut in April.  

Baba Gonesh visits the studio and presents “Baba News”.   He discusses “Angry Brides”, a very popular game in India based on Angry Birds, only this game allows brides to get their revenge against opportunistic dowry seekers.

Finally, Ally debuts the audio from her award-winning science class video project.

Featured Artist of the Week:  Jonnie Murphy

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Terror in Mumbai!! Baba Gonesh returns from India where he witnessed first hand the chaos and mayhem resulting from wide-spread panic of the rumored “Monkey Man”.  Local residents believe that a peculiar figure resembling a black monkey runs on their roofs at night, swings from tree to tree, kidnaps children, and attacks women before consuming them.  Baba plays actual testimonials from the local villagers describing their personal experiences.

It’s Ally’s birthday and Granny Rose visits the SmorgShow studio to celebrate.    Peet McCain joins us live from Cleveland to give us an update on his bread and breakfast venture as well as his pursuit of a Tuk Tuk.    Returning to the show this week is “Get A Life”, the game where we give away an exciting new life to someone who is in desperate need of one.  If you would like to trade your worthless life in for a new one, call our studio hotline at 312-95-SMORG.  Tell us why you feel you are deserving of a new life and then choose door number one, two, or three.    Your new life will take affect almost immediately, so you better prepare by saying goodbye to your friends and family before calling into the show.

Featured Artist of the Week:  Ed Hale

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We realize that Valentine’s Day is not a happy occasion for everyone, so we went out of our way to make sure this is not a warm and fuzzy and “everything is so wonderful when you are in love” episode.

Chris and Ally discuss Valentine’s Day gifts that guarantee to get you dumped, Baba Gonesh returns with “Thought for the Day: How to Prepare for a Date” as well as his annual reading of his carefully selected love poems.   Ally performs a duet with Phillip Donald, “My Heart Will Go On”.   Chris plays his classic love song written when he was 14.

Also, with the untimely death of Whitney Houston, we share a YouTube video performance of someone trying way too hard to sing Whitney’s classic “I Will Always Love You”.

Featured Artist of the Week : Aitan

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Former Smorgasbord Radio Show co-host Dave Jackson joins Chris and Ally in the studio this week.    On this episode, we celebrate our 2-year anniversary of podcasting by listening to some of the highlights and lowlights of the show.

Chris talks about the Podcast Mastermind group that he has joined.   Baba Gonesh is back with us in the studio to share an update on how his colonoscopy went and then presents Baba News including a tribute to one of his favorite actors and singers, Shammi Kapoor.   Ally and Phillip Donald perform a duet together.

Featured Artist of the Week:  Adam Woodall Band

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Chris and Ally talk about the SmorgShow being added to the Stitcher Radio Network.

Stitcher allows you to listen to the SmorgShow directly from your iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android devices, Kindle Fire, Blackberry or WebOS phones!  Please support our show by downloading the free app and entering the promo code SMORGASBORD when you register.

Also featured:  Baba Gonesh calls Chris and Ally to tell them about his upcoming colonoscopy appointment.   He decided not to visit the studio in person while he preps for his procedure.   Finally, more strange Craigslist listings.

Featured Artist of the Week:   Avi Wisnia

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Chris and Ally ring in the new year by counting down their favorite SmorgShow events of 2011.   Chris discusses Christmas at the Dave Jackson household.

Other topics:  The creepiest Craigslist listings of 2011; Baba Gonesh returns from a long hiatus and presents Baba News.   He is rather boastful after receiving much attention from his performance in our “It’s a Wonderful Life” radio play.

Featured Artist of the Week:  Loretta Hagen

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SmorgShow Theater is proud to present its latest radio play production.  This time, we bring you Frank Capra’s classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the 65th anniversary of the original release.    We had an absolute blast creating this!   We had a cast of dozens out to the SmorgShow studio this past month to lay down their tracks.   The main cast includes:

• Chris Bockay – George Bailey
• Ally Bockay –  Narrator, The Bailey Kids, Tilly, Mrs. Hatch
• Kim Bockay – Mary Hatch-Bailey
• Geoff Wells – Clarence
• Dave Jackson – Joseph, Burt the Cop, Nick the Bartender, Bridgekeeper
• Jerry Malauskas – Mr. Potter
• Daryl Woltman – Mr. Gower, Uncle Billy
• Chase Woltman – Young George Bailey
• Peet McCain – Harry Bailey
• Baba Gonesh – Ernie the Cab Driver
• Domenico DeFazio – Martini
• Terrylynn DeFazio – Ma Bailey
• Larry Coon – Peter Bailey
• Joe Personality – Sam Wainwright

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SmorgShow Theater returns with a new re-enactment of Charles Dickens’  “A Christmas Carol”.   We have updated our 2010 production so that we could include Dave Jackson in the performance.

The Cast:

Chris Bockay: Ebenezer Scrooge

Ally Bockay: Ghost of Christmas Past

Peet McCain: Marley, Ghost of Christmas Present, Nephew Fred

Geoff Wells: Bob Kratchit

Kim Bockay: Mrs. Kratchit

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A special treat for those who have been with us for the past 30 years. On this episode, the original Smorgasbord Radio Show team – Chris Bockay, Peet McCain, Dave Jackson, and Jerry Malauskas – reunite together for the first time in 10 years.

Ally does not make an appearance during this episode because she could not deal with four old men going down memory lane and complaining about the current state of affairs.

Among the various topics discussed:    Peet and Jerry duke it out to play the best Mr. Potter on the forthcoming SmorgShow Theater production of  “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  In the spirit of that classic story, we discuss what life would have been like if there had never been a Jerry Malauskas.     We discuss the culture of high school radio WDGC-FM before and after the Smorgasbord show era, and the impact General Manager Fred Moore had on us.     We discuss the trend of moving away from terrestrial radio and toward internet radio and podcasting.  We also discuss the current state of the music industry.      On a positive note, we do not discuss any of our medical issues.

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iColon:  Chris and Dave talk about a new idea for a less intrusive medical device and we share an outtake from our forthcoming radio play “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

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A special 11-minute episode to bring the audience up to date on the latest happenings and to talk about Ally’s performance in IMEA.

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Get ready for thrills and chills as we present our second annual Halloween SpookFest Episode.

Features include creepy, dramatic readings from Chris and Ally, Granny Rose shares special Halloween recipes that you can make with friends and family including forked eyeballs and funny bones.  Baba Gonesh presents Baba News, ghostly jokes, and a classic Indian folk tale appropriate for Halloween.  We also sprinkle a few Halloween songs throughout the show by Featured Artists: Earl Clifton Radio, Ben Twisted, and Brian Baker.

A good time for the entire family, so gather them up but be sure to hold on to your little ones…This episode is not for the faint hearted!