Sometimes, the scripts we write for ourselves don’t sound as good when spoken out loud as they did in our heads. When that happens, we have to rewrite the show in real time. This is what that sounds like.
Author: jake
Blooper: words are hard
In which I have to say the words tomaszewski and ostracization in the same sentence. (mildly NSFW)
Blooper: Math is hard
How do you know that the hosts of a history podcast were humanities majors, not hard science? Listen to us try to subtract 1942 from 1993.
Blooper: Jake’s chair
What does it sound like when a podcast host’s chair almost overturns during a recording session? You’re about to find out.
Episode 39: Tragedy at Cocoanut Grove
The 1942 fire at Boston’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub killed a staggering 492 people, making it the deadliest fire in Boston history and one of the deadliest fires in US history. For Boston, it is the deadliest modern disaster of any type. Only the smallpox epidemics of the early 1700s and the 1918 Spanish flu rival it for loss of life.
Episode 38: The Reign of Charles “King” Solomon
This week’s show is about Charles “King” Solomon, also known as Boston Charlie, whose criminal enterprise placed him at the head of organized crime in Boston throughout the prohibition era. He reached influence at the national level, set policies in play that led to tragedy at the Cocoanut Grove, and in death, left a wake that may have led to the rise of Whitey Bulger.
Continue reading Episode 38: The Reign of Charles “King” Solomon
Just say “Massachusetts”
Here’s a fun blooper from Jake. While I was hosting solo last week, I ran up against the Boston history podcaster’s Achilles heel… a complete inability to say the word “Massachusetts.” I stumble almost every time, and it’s a word that comes up a lot. Here, I try several times to say “Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination,” with sad results.
Episode 37: This Week in Boston History
Your humble hosts are out having summertime fun this week. Don’t worry, though… Jake is flying solo this week, and bringing you this week’s historical anniversaries. We’ll be back next week with a real episode.
Episode 36 Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, Part 2
In this episode, we continue our tale of Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, picking up at the end of the War of The Spanish Succession. We’ll learn about some of the most fearsome and notorious pirates in history, as well as one of the most ineffective. We’ll see how one of these pirates gave a founding father his start in public life, which US president’s great grandfather bought a former pirate as a slave, and what other president’s great grandfather decapitated a pirate with an axe.
Continue reading Episode 36 Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, Part 2
Who let a cow in here?
It’s been a while since I shared a blooper, so here’s a fun one. That cow that interrupts my discussion of a Revolutionary War skirmish? My dog, groaning with boredom in the background. You’d be shocked how often I have to edit similar vocalizations out of the podcast.