AMBIENT ARCANA

"The Badger and The Bear" From "Old Indian Legends" Retold By Zitkala-Sa

 In this episode a friendly family of Badgers helps out a starving Bear, only to have their kindness repaid with cruel betrayal. Also, Blood Magic!
 "The Badger and The Bear." from "Old Indian Legends" Retold by Zitkala-Sa
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Jim Billbrough as The Badgers, The Baby Bear, and The Narrator
Bob Familiar as The Bear
Joey Pesce as The Dakota Avenger
This episode is dedicated to our good friend Tim Halle. Lead singer of 'The Archbishop's Enema Fetish,' founder of a religion worshiping a certain Mrs. Zinman of Newton, Massachusetts, and affectionately called Satan by many who loved him, Tim deserves an episode all his own, but it would need to be a very, very long episode. So instead we present a story about one of Tim's favorite obsessions: Badgers. He was mad about the Badgers. He was also very fond of birds, but that's a story for another day. Maybe. We'll see. It's sort of besides the point allegorically speaking, but anyway...Badgers!
 

"Trace" by Jerome Bixby

In this episode we spend a delightful day in the New England hill country discussing the vagaries of cosmic dualism with a fiendishly pleasant host  in Jerome Bixby's "Trace."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough

"The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke

 In this episode an interstellar trip to a distant nebula brings on a crisis of faith for the spaceship's astrophysicist in Arthur C. Clarke's Hugo Award winning story "The Star."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
 
 We'd like to dedicate this episode to our good friend, band-mate, landlord, and poker buddy Tristram Lozaw.
Tris was an excellent bass player, film composer, magazine publisher, and writer. He was a major force in the Boston Music scene for decades, but, more importantly, our friend.  A simple Google search for 'Tristram Lozaw' will give you some idea of all that was left behind in the mighty wake of his life. We will miss him.

6 (Very) Short Stories By Franz Kafka

In this episode we present a 6-pack of strange and unusual stories by "Mr. Kafkaesque" himself - Franz Kafka.
"At Night," "Poseidon," and "The Vulture" translated by Tania and James Stern
"The New Advocate," "A Fratricide," and "A Dream" translated by Willa and Edwin Muir
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough
 
Story Order: "A Fratricide," "Poseidon," "A Dream," "The New Advocate," "At Night," and "The Vulture."

"One Of These Days" by Gabriel García Márquez and "Razor" by Vladimir Nabokov

 What would you do if you suddenly found your worst enemy completely at your mercy? Would you take revenge? Would you forgive?" Here are two stories that explore what happens when, out of the blue, the opportunity for vengeance arrives.
"One Of These Days" by Gabriel García Márquez
"Razor" by Vladimir Nabokov
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narration by Jim Billbrough

"Strabismus" by Stefan Grabiński

A man finds himself struggling against an invasive intelligence taking over his mind and trying to eradicate everything the man had previously revered and admired in Stefan Grabiński’s “Strabismus.”
Translated by Miroslaw Lipinski
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough

"TIBETAN FOLK TALES" BY A.L. SHELTON, VOL. 4

 Once again we spend the Yuletide season high up in the Himalayas with three stories from Albert Leroy Shelton's 1925 book Tibetan Folk Tales:
"The Wiley Poor Man," "The Story Of The Two Devils," and "The Story Of The Violinist."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narration by Bob Familiar and Jim Billbrough

"In the Compartment" by Stefan Grabiński

 In this episode we explore what happens when a mild-mannered man is not only addicted to train travel but is actually transformed into a bold and charismatic person each time he rides the rails...and the consequences he must face when the ride comes to an end.
"In the Compartment' by Stefan Grabiński
Translated by Miroslaw Lipinski
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narrated by Jim Billbrough
Train sound effects by Pond5
 
Please note: this story deals with some adult themes so parents might want to give it a listen first before letting young kids hear it. No obscene language or explicit descriptions are used and the adult themed passages are portrayed in a rather outdated, quaint, and metaphorical way. At least we hope Grabiński is using metaphors...

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe

 This Halloween, in the grand tradition of horror duo team-ups such as “Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman,” “Billy The Kid vs Dracula,” and “Sharktopus X Whalewolf,” we bring you David Mulholland and Robert Billbrough performing Edgar Allan Poe’s OG dungeon crawl - “The Cask Of Amontillado.”Robert Billbrough as MontresorDavid Mulholland as FortunatoMusic by Man Tray: Kelvin Weston, John Gunther, and Paul BillbroughMusic Production by Paul BillbroughPost Production by Bob FamiliarSound Effects by Pond5

"The Nightingale and the Rose" by Oscar Wilde

 In this episode a selfless Nightingale sings her heart out to create a Red Rose for a lovelorn Student, but is he truly worthy of such a precious gift?
It's Oscar Wilde's poignant tale of blood thirsty horticulture - "The Nightingale and the Rose."
All Music and Audio Production by Bob Familiar
Narration by Joey Pesce
 
Nightingale recordings by Pro Sound Effects