“In light of these events, I’ve become an Anti-Semite.”

“You are a Microsoft Word success story.”

“Blah!  Shazam!”

“It was Frank T.J. Mackey’s sled.”

“I give house-painting two stars.”

And much, much more!

Marshall York adrift in the mysteries of his mind.

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 29-Goodnight Ypsilanti was mostly recorded in January 2011, left to marinate for the remainder of the winter, and then finally edited and unleashed on September 12, 2011.

Thanks so much to Marshall York for stopping by Hootenanny Studios lo those many moths ago to share his music and philosophies on making said music, and if you’re like us and can’t get enough of the man, listen to his two 31 Songs/31 Days records here, and come see Borealis at the PIT on Wednesdays at 9 PM (for free!).  Thanks also to Alan Smith for his ceaseless co-hosting awesomeness, and also to Lorraine Cink, Michelle Ciotta, and Sean Reidy for their vocal talents.  Our outro music is by Virginia Coalition, and they are just plain the best forever.  Thanks most of all to you, lovely listener, and we’ll see you at Exit 30, the production of which begins right…NOW!

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 28-White Lightning was recorded eons ago–who even knows anymore.  Anyway, now it is here, fresh with the jamness.

Thanks so much to The Bottom Dollars for appearing on the show and sharing their story as well as their sounds.  If you’d like to download their new EP The Halcyon Days, you can do so for free right here.  We are also grateful to Sharkey, Flat Top, and Wolfhunter, as well as DJ Flav, for their customary brilliance.  Thanks also to our extraordinarily generous new sponsors, and most of all to you for tuning in!  We’ll see you at Exit 29, the production of which begins…RIGHT NOW!

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 27-The Texas Handbook was recorded and produced from January 2-March 2nd under a wide variety of different mental and weather conditions.

It features special guest Jon Bolden all the way from Austin, Texas, to whom we are extremely grateful for trekking out to the wilds of Brooklyn from the swankypants hotel he was staying in for New Years’.  FACT: at the end of the conversation when Ben and I remark that it is time to go eat some burritos, we instead ended up sitting in Hootenanny Studios for a while longer talking about Things with Jon, who is one of the nicest fellows you are ever likely to encounter.  Thanks also to Ben and DJ Flav of course, and, in the unlikely event she is reading this, Julia Zagaria.

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s show, and we’ll see you at Exit 28.  Production begins right…NOW!

Thanks to poster-maestro Dan Angeloro for the hot design!

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 26-Palentine’s Day was broadcast live on February 13, 2011.  We’re mum on whether or not releasing episodes more diligently was one of our New Year’s Resolutions, but suffice it to say we’re damned glad we finally got one done.

Huge thanks to our musical guest Matt Singer, and we hope to see you sippin’ yo’ drank this Thursday night at his Living Room show.  We’ve had that tune “Chicago” that he plays on the show today stuck in our heads ever since we heard it, and it was a distinct pleasure to have him back on the program this afternoon.  Thanks as always to Mistress of Fine Arts Alison Klein, Ben Masten, DJ Flav, and Gerrit Hall for kickin’ it with their customary aplomb, and do come check us in HORK! this Saturday at the PIT.  The full audio of the “studio” version will be available here one week from today, our sleep cycle for the week be gol-durnt.

If all goes according to plan, we’ll be live again next Sunday afternoon, which means pre-production for Exit 27 begins right…NOW!

As you are most likely aware, you savvy listener you, podcasting has really exploded over the course of the last year or so, particularly in the realm of comedy.  We at Bright Machine Productions would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for making The Road 2 Shambala part of your listening rotation, and hope you’ll stay tuned in 2011, for we have many exciting plans, best beloveds.  We invite your feedback anytime via email at shambalaradio[at]gmail[dot]com, or via voicemail at 909-SHA-ZAPS.

Look for Exit 26 in this space later this week, and until then, keep on pickin’, winnin’, lovin’, and sinnin’…

Click here to download it, or stream it below…

The cast and crew of Radiotheatre's "The Time Machine"

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 25-Eccentric Druid Billionaires was produced and recorded December 14-20th, 2010.  It caused a quartet of extremely agreeable and good natured theatre folk to stay much later at the Red Room than they probably would have preferred, and caused certain podcast hosts to nearly miss their Bolt Bus home to Virginia for Christmas.

Speaking of the aforementioned theatre folk, our sincere gratitude and admiration are due to Dan Bianchi, Frank Zilinyi, Kate Siepert, Wes Shippee, and Emily Owens for setting up and providing a fascinating conversation about Radiotheatre’s current live-action radio-play version of The Time Machine.  Gerrit and I saw the show and then got to interview the creators on the very stage upon which they’d just performed, which made my inner theatre-nerd jump for joy.  I personally found Mr. Bianchi’s reflections on the value of the radiotheatrical storytelling medium very moving and thought-provoking, and hope that you will enjoy the interview.  If you do, you should proceed directly to the Red Room, where the production runs through 12/29.

Thanks also to Alan Smith and Alison Klein for their expert opinions in this week’s installment of Quality Control, to Gerrit for co-hosting the Radiotheatre interview, and also to DJ Flav, who pinch-hits for G.T. Boswell this week with a moving ode to the Christmas spirit.  Our gratitude also goes out as always to Virginia Coalition for letting us use their lovely music on the program, and finally to you marvelous people for tuning in.  Thank you so much for lending us your ears once again this week; we hope you enjoy the show and look forward to seeing you at Exit 26, which goes into production…RIGHT NOW.

Click here to listen, or git yo stream on below…

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 24-Dark Horses was broadcast live on December 12, 2010, and the uploaded version contains two very slight edits that only those who were in the room for the recording will be able to spot.  INTRIGUE!

Thank you so much to our extremely awesome special guest, Jesse Andrews of The Young Dads, and once you experience the goodtimes, you’re gonna wants to be in attendance this Saturday night at 9pm at Bar 4.  Our thanks as always to Alan Smith, Gerrit Hall, DJ Flav, and Boswell, as well as Virginia Coalition for our intro and outro music.  We of course invite you to share your thoughts on the show or anything else at all via e-mail at shambalaradio[at]gmail[dot]com, or voicemail at 909-SHA-ZAPS.  Also, if you are wondering if your plans for Saturday could possibly get any more awesome, you’re in luck, because our sketch comedy group Audience of Two is presenting an all-new show at 7pm at The PIT, and we would love to see you there!

We’ll see you next week at Exit 25, the production of which begins…RIGHT NOW!

Oh my God, I played so much Assassin's Creed 2 while I was bouncing the audio for this episode.

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 23-Architectured! was recorded live on December 5th, 2010 at Hootenanny Studios.  Die-hard fans of the program have perhaps noted that Livestream recorded a video of us recording the show (unbeknownst to us), but we are in the process of attempting to figure out how to delete this video, because our hair looks all janky in it.

Extreme thanks to Liz-E Rothwell for dropping by unexpectedly for an in-studio appearance and sharing her opinions on radiators and spoonable ketchup, as well as coining the phrase “pulling a Sam,” which, by the way, is something you should try to avoid, dear listener.  Thanks as always to Gerrit Hall, Alan Smith, DJ Flav, and G.T. Boswell–in the case of those latter two chaps, we owe you one big time.  And of course our very deep gratitude to the groovalicious dudes of Virginia Coalition for allowing us to use their sweet sweet music.

We hope you enjoy the show, and that, should you have any opinions or concerns about it, you will contact us at once, for we always love to hear from you.  Otherwise, we shall plow ahead with our preparations for Exit 24, which begin…RIGHT NOW!

Thanks to Ben Masten and DJ Flav, without whom we’d have been unable to cook these cakes, and you can see The Man They Call Masten performing live on stage with the host of this program on Saturday 11/20 at 7pm at the PIT for just $8.

Please feel free to share any thoughts about the program via email to shambalaradio[at]gmail[dot]com, or voicemail at 909-SHA-ZAPS.  We will incorporate your notions into Exit 23, the production of which begins…RIGHT NOW.

Thanks so much to our special guest Mr. Joe Berkowitz, whose exploits can be followed on Twitter as well as Tumblr, who wrote this awesome article in The Awl which we discussed with him on the show, and who brought the word “smang” into our lives, which, as near as he can tell, he heard for the first time in the video above.   Check out in particular his “We Were Promised Hoverboards” project; it’s a pretty great idea and we heartily recommend to any publishers who read this space that they award him a seven-figure deal with all deliberate speed.  Thanks as always to Gerrit Hall, Alan Smith, and DJ Flav for preventing the show from being an hour of a confused, underslept madman frantically adjusting dials in hopes of producing sound, and of course to Ben Masten, with whom the aforementioned madman always feels privileged to share the stage as Audience of Two.

It is not yet clear whether or not we’ll be able to do another live show next week, but by hook or by crook, we’ll have Exit 22 for you a week from today right here.  As a matter of fact, production starts right…NOW.

See 'em at the Knitting Factory on Tuesday 10/26!

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 20-We Got Beefs was recorded and edited soup 2 nuts in a single Sunday (October 24th to be exact), which is a first for us here in Procrastination Ville (pop. numerous unfinished recordings).  If all goes according to plan, and the good people at Ustream stop being utter snakebitches, this practice of (hopefully) live broadcasting and recording will continue apace for the foreseeable future.  So get ready for THAT.

Our sincere thanks to Gerrit Hall, Alan Smith, and Miz Yseult Tyler of Quiet Lights for hanging out with us, waxin’ awesome on the verbal tip, as well as for not becoming annoyed and leaving when we wouldn’t stop complaining about Ustream not working.  SO ANNOYING.  Ustream, that is, not these amazing wondrous peoples.  Also checking in as a peoples of amazing-ness and wonder is the one and only DJ Flav, who, as always, found a way to get Boswell’s dulcet tones into your headphones despite the not-insignificant hurdle of Boswell being a certifiable madman (not to mention a certain show host giving him extraordinarily short notice that a recording from Boz was needed).

HEY–come see Quiet Lights with me, Alan, Gerrit, and other right-thinking, groove-orientated youngfolk THIS TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE KNITTING FACTORY.  It’s going to rule.

We’ll be back next Sunday with a (hopefully, oh God please) live Halloween special, for which we welcome your suggestions and ideas via the usual channels: shambalaradio@gmail.com and 909-SHA-ZAPS.  Our pre-production begins…NOW!

I

What is this? What? A new podcast episode? SURELY YOU JEST.

But nay! It is TRUTH–we have arrived at Exit 19 on the Road 2 Shambala, recorded, um, at various points between mid-May and October 5th, 2010, at Hootenanny Studios in Brooklyn, NY as well as our new, as-yet-unnamed recording/living digs. What a long, strange trip it’s been since Exit 18! As we touch on in the show’s intro, it was a hell of a crazy summer, replete with The Lu moving to VA for grad school, traveling about with Audience of Two doing some comedy on the road, and moving into a new apartment–my first time flying solo, as indicated by the current contents of my fridge: half a can of coffee, two Stellas, and some Wheat Thins. But you, dear listener, are surely not concerned with these trifles: you want your audio fix, and I am glad to provide it this week, with the assistance of some very important peoples:

• Virginia Coalition, whose music we are rocking exclusively this week
• My brother Jake, who sent his guest appearance 6,000 miles across the sea only to have it languish in our inbox for five months, because we are snakebitches
• Mike Brofman, Aditi Sriram, and Aaron Hollander–the latter of which literally moved to a new city between the time we recorded Vital Topics and today, when it is finally airing. This relocation was likely fueled by outrage as a result of our production delay, and had little to do with his pursuit of a PhD in theology at the University of Chicago.
• DJ Flav, for helping Boswell locate his tape player
• MOST IMPORTANTLY: All of you for sticking with us! It’s good to be back, and we are SO sorry that we stayed away so long.

As always, we encourage you to contact us with your thoughts on any and all matters via voicemail at 909-SHA-ZAPS or email at shambalaradio@gmail.com. As soon as we are done kicking ourselves for this latest extended hiatus, we will git crackin’ on Exit 20. Cue Back in the Saddle…

Dana & Candice will tell YOU what rhubarb is.

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 18-Rhubarb Warriors was recorded and edited at Hootenanny Studios in Brooklyn, NY, from March 14th-May 2nd (yeesh) 2010 in Brooklyn, NY.  During this same time period, a long, cold winter completed its slow transition into spring, Congress passed comprehensive health care reform, and Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants won almost half as many games as he won all of last year.

This show features the brilliance of Candice Comisi, Dana Variano, Gerrit Hall, Mr. Flapjacks, and of course G.T. Boswell, all of whose patience whilst the production schedule ground to a halt is deeply appreciated by the Management, who are also extremely grateful for the patience of You the Listener in bearing with us through this mysterious sojourn through the Jungles of Delay–we would like to say we learned a great deal about ourselves whilst we were lost therein, but in reality we emerged with only near-mortal wounds from the Scorpions of Self-Doubt and a blurry photograph of the Future Ghost.  Exit 19 will not, we can comfortably assure you, take nearly as long to glide into your ear canals–as a matter of fact, production begins…RIGHT NOW!

Special thanks as always to Virginia Coalition for the use of their marvelous music for the intro and outro!

Matt Singer performs live at the all-new Hootenanny Studios, where drinks are kept cool with ease

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 17-Uncle Tim’s Mountain was recorded and edited March 7-12th at the brand-new Hootenanny Studios in Brooklyn, NY–listen for the subway rumbling not far beneath the floorboards of our challenging but comfortable new basement digs.

Let us assure you, friends, that there is no more awesome way to inaugurate your new home-studio than to have Matt Singer come play awesome tunes therein–we hope you enjoy our conversation and his fine guitar stylings as much as we enjoyed recording ‘em, and thank him immeasurably for stopping in to spend some time with us.  Please check out his Live At The Warehouse album–a free download, with all donations benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

We are also, of course, joined by our regular cast of brilliant chatterboxes and bon-vivants, Alison Klein and Gerrit Hall, as well as The Lu, who, I think, renders it nigh impossible to forget our studio phone number with this week’s Search 4 Delicious.  Boswell is in fine form as always, and he’s even got a new intro tag that took much longer to make than it should have.

Thanks, as always, to all of you, darling listeneezies, and please don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of the show via voicemail at 909-SHA-ZAPS or email at shambalaradio[at]gmail[dot]com.  Production on Exit 18 begins right…NOW!

As inevitably happens, the dance-bizzlies go crinky-dunque.

Farewell, old friend.

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 16-Stuck Between Stations was recorded and edited February 21-26th at Stuck Between Studios (for the last time!) in Brooklyn, NY.  It required taking a sick day from work and not getting any of the packing done that we were supposed to be doing for the big move to Hootenanny Studios.

Thanks to this week’s Panel of Distinguished Experts: MFA Alison Klein, QOA Candice Comisi, and SOB Gerrit Hall, as well as listeners Lorraine (of Girls Side), Ksenia, Jill, and Lauren for their awesome contributions to the show this week.  Thanks also to Boswell, whose ear for poetry has only grown sharper with age, and that snow kidding.*

Thank you so much to all of you, ladies and gentlemen, for listening to these first 18 episodes broadcast from Stuck Between Studios.  We’ll be coming to you from the brand new Hootenanny Studios next week with Exit 17, which goes into production right…NOW!

*As you can probably guess, this grammatical failure only makes sense once you’ve listened to the show.

This is totally awesome!  Lorraine, one-half of the dynamic duo Girls Side, has recorded an incredibly sweeeeeeet keyboard version of the Lu’s song from last week’s Search 4 Delicious segment, an original tune regarding her use/overuse (depending upon if you ask her or me) of the words “cozy,” “festive,” and “cheerful.”  Thanks Lorraine!

Day of THIS

The Road 2 Shambala: Exit 15-Day of the Mushroom was recorded and edited at Stuck Between Studios in Brooklyn, NY February 12-18th, 2010.  Critics are already calling it “caffeine-fueled.”

Thanks to Michelle of Girls Side for the link to the most amazing website in the world (besides www.girlssiderules.com, of course), and to the Washington Post for printing this.  The Lu and Boswell are to be reverently bowed to as usual for their mind-blowing audio prowess, as are awesome listeners Aaron, Jobo, Josh, Ben, Nick, Nicola, and Nate for their awesome emails and voicemails.  You too can email and/or voicemail us at shambalaradio[at]gmail.com and 909-SHA-ZAPS, respectively, and we humbly hope that you will do so.

Thank you so much as always for tuning in, dearies, and I hope you will join me in getting AMPED UP for Exit 16, the production of which begins right…NOW!