Category Archives: SmorGlog

Click to Watch Video

This is “Silent Movie Allison”. Chris’ daughter, Allison, performs again! It’s a silent movie about a turkey surprise after smelling gifts…yeah I don’t know…so just kick back, relax, and keep your hand OFF that mouse! It’s also Allison’s 10th Birthday! Man, where did the time go??

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Click to Watch Video

Here is a video of my daughter and her best friend performing in the 4th grade variety show. They are reenacting that old Brady Bunch scene where Greg and Mike do the Father-Son talent show. Mike does a dramatic reading of a Longfellow poem, “The Day is Done”. It’s so boring that special effects are added by Peter and Bobby from the theater balcony to make it more interesting. My daughter takes on that role of the boys in the balcony.

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

This cleaner is SO fired! First the unexplainable stinky pants, and now this flannel shirt comes back with too much starch. I literally took it out of the bag and dropped it on the floor like this. It is standing on its own.

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Happy New Year! Forgive me for my lengthy absence from this weblog.  The holidays were nice and now it’s back to the real world.    I had a very interesting day today.  I have been using a home delivery service for my dry cleaning for about 3 years now.  No major issues – very convenient, reliable – until today.  I unwrapped the garments that were delivered yesterday and I nearly passed out from the very peculiar odor that was coming off them.   It was a cross between vomit and manure – not exactly sure which but neither scenario is pleasant.  

For some strange reason it was just the pants – shirts were fine.   They must have switched to a new dry cleaning agent or something.  I have been trying to get this mystery solved all day today with the dry cleaner.  In the meantime, I left the bag of clothes out to air dry in our laundry room.  Now the wife and daughter called to tell me the entire laundry room smells like throw up.  I guess the vote is in - and the winner is vomit!

I  just received an email saying that “Bernie” was looking into it.   More later.

-Webmaster Chris

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB)

This is a classic recording of our 36th president. LBJ was actually the first president to record all his Oval Office meetings and phone conversations. This is an actual phone recording of LBJ with his tailor.

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Okay – I am so ready to move on from the big 25 year anniversary hoopla.  In fact, to be honest, it was such a disappointment.  Not a single acknowledgment from anyone.  Dave was inaccessible.   There was no reunion.  I am finished with recognizing this milestone.  Time to move on…

Next big event is coming up – #41 for me.   Peet is coming out for the big birthday celebration.   New photos to be posted soon from whatever we end up doing.   Kinda expect this one to be lower key than last year’s celebration.

Until then, enjoy whatever is going on in your life.

Webmaster Chris

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

This is the 3rd posting in a series of installments this month.

Today marks the 6th anniversary of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks.  A very reflective kind of day.   The weather in Chicago is much the same as it was on Tuesday 9/11/01.   It also has that back-to-school crispness in the air which puts me back to an earlier time, 9/11/82 to be exact. 

It was a Saturday - the first night of the brand new Chris and Dave Smorgasbord radio show.  The pressure was high.  We had been promoting the show for a couple of weeks and we knew we were going to have many listeners on opening night.   Outside of doing a few promos together, Dave and I had never really been on opposite sides of “the glass” before – the divider between the two studios.  We certainly did not have the rhythm or timing down in our back-and-forth banter.  Looking back from 25 years later, I think we did alright on opening night.   It was the start of something big – not only would we go on to produce more than 50+ shows together, but we would also go on to form a pretty solid friendship that lasts to this day. 

A couple of standout moments from the first show – The HPs’ (abbreviated for “Hop On Pop”) performance of Dr. Seuss’ “Mr. Brown Can Moo” and the debut of ‘Homework Hotline’ (where we received a gameshow bell later in the week from the first contestant, who ended up becoming my girlfriend for 3 years after that). 

At this point, I felt Dave had more control over the show, both in terms of execution but strategic direction.   Not only did he work the controls, and answer the phones, but he chose essentially all the music.   This is why lots of Frank Zappa, rare Zeppelin tunes, and Al DiMiola ruled the airwaves (of course, at this time I was still very much into Styx, Queen, ELO and REO, so I am not sure what would have been better).  

I close for now wishing all a Happy Anniversary, especially to those who supported us on our first day!  I will make one more posting later this month where I will discuss the fallout/aftermath of our first couple of shows, including our first run-in with management which almost ended our show for good after week #2.

Cheers.

- Webmaster Chris

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

This is the second in a series of installments this month.

So, as we approach 9/11/07 – the 25th anniversary of the first Chris and Dave Smorgabord show, I’ve been reflecting back on some of the early emotions I experienced at that time.   As I mentioned in the last posting, Dave and I were paired up and assigned the key Saturday night prime-time slot.  This was “cruising” night – you know, anyone who was anyone had a driver’s license and was out cruising the streets of the western Chicago suburbs.   As the old slogan went, “WDGC-FM…150-watts of music right in your face”, we had a 15-mile radius, capable of reaching as far south as Bolingbrook, as far north at Addison, Hillside to the east, and Batavia to the west.      We had to be good – or suffer extreme humiliation at school on Monday morning since pretty much anyone at DGN High School had the potential of listening to us.    We also had the rest of the WDGC staff waiting for us to fail – most of them jealous that we had been given one of the top 3 timeslots.   However, much of the worst was behind me by this point since the senior graduation class of 1982 was out of there.   Plus, Dave was a senior so collectively we were starting to be big fish in a small pond, as it were.

The first thing we did after learning about our pairing was record a series of sound effects and radio promos, we picked an opening show theme song, and wrote some very rough scripts of quick bits to do on-air.  We did some of these in my basement recording studio, and others in the WDGC studio after the station went off air for the day.    Everything else was pushed aside during those last two weeks leading up to opening night (which might explain my grades during the first semester of my junior year).  We also felt we needed business cards.    This was in the old days when you had to visit a printer and sketch out what you wanted.   We thumbed through a book of logos to put on the cards and for some strange reason we settled on palm trees (for our second season in 1984 we had karate guys).   You can see what we finally ended up with at another section of this website.    

And that was pretty much it as I recall… we were ready for our big debut.  

Check back during the week of 9/10 and read about some of my memories of opening night, initial feedback from the audience, and a story about that special package we received from a fan after the first show.

- Webmaster Chris

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

As we head into the Labor Day weekend, I thought I would submit my first post on the topic of our fast-approaching milestone date.   It’s really hard to believe that in just a couple of weeks, we will hit the 25th anniversary of the first Chris and Dave Smorgasbord show.   I didn’t realize until recently while going through some old scripts of the old shows that our first broadcast as a radio duo was actually on September 11, 1982.  

It was about this time 25 years ago when I was finishing up my last summer broadcast before heading into my junior year at Downers Grove North High School.    I was still trying to find my voice and style during that summer when I had my first solo radio show.  I had the afternoon time slot and Dave Jackson followed me on the broadcast schedule.  I believe I had just finished up some wacky bit when Dave said he enjoyed listening to me all summer and thought it would be good to do a show together with me in the fall.   I was shocked.   Dave was a year older than I was.  No one at this stage of my high school radio career wanted anything to do with me, let alone actually compliment me on my show.     Dave was a respected member of the WDGC staff, so I knew this would be a good move for me to be paired up with him.   I quickly accepted and we submitted our request to management.   The next big shocker was that we were slotted in the enviable timeslot of Saturday nights from 8-10pm.  

We had less than two weeks to prepare for our first show.   We quickly consulted Peet McCain on what we should call the show.  He coined the name “Smorgasbord” to reflect a hodge-podge of things, where we could pretty much do anything and it would fall nicely within the scope of the name.   And so the Smorg show was born.

Check back often as I submit more memories as we reflect on the start of it all.

-Webmaster Chris

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Greetings, all!   I apologize for not posting sooner, but it has been a very busy few months.  I can’t believe we are heading into May.  First off, I made a job switch and I am back in the Market Research industry after a few year hiatus.   So it has been busy just trying to learn the new job.

Most recently…last weekend in fact…Peet came up to visit and we had a great weekend catching up.  Nothing formal…no videos…no creative writing…just guys bonding.   But the big news out of all of it was that we managed to track down Dave Jackson after losing touch in 2004.   We had heard that he was going through rough times health wise, but learned that he received a new kidney after a considerable amount of time on the waiting list.  So Dave ‘Scoop’ Jackson is back!!!   We had a good talk and we will be getting together at the Downers Grove Omega sometime in May.   Gotta run for now, but wanted to share the good news.

-Webmaster Chris

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Click to Watch Video

I recently found this video clip on my daughter’s video camera. I forgot all about this. It’s rather silly but it captures me in full fatherhood entertainment mode. Kudos to the special effects team.

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere , And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms.

This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.”


–Author unknown

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Season’s Greedies to all!   This will be my last post for 2006.   Looking back, it was a relatively non-eventful year.   Every so often it is good to have one of those.   

Looking ahead to 2007, expect to see more changes to the website.   Some of you have already commented on the recent changes made.  The most obvious change being we have moved to a full-screen display for most of the pages.  We will continue to fine tune the layout and make navigation much easier.   For next year, expect lots of skeletons to come out of the closet.   ChickenTongue Productions has just invested in a major systems overhaul making it much easier to post vintage audio and video clips from yesteryear.   And it couldn’t have come at a better time:  2007 marks the 25th anniversary of the Chris and Dave Smorgasbord Show.   25 years!  Amazing how time flies.    We will be celebrating that milestone all of next year.

Until then, please have a very Merry Christmas and a safe, Happy New Year.  

- Webmaster Chris 

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Greetings once again.  I was out of commission for a while due to a crashed PC.  I don’t mean just your everyday, casual no-big-deal kinda crash.  I mean the ultimate death crash.  After speaking with Dell customer support (which was outsourced to El Salvador) for over two hours, the drive was definitely non-accessible.   Everything lost – pictures, music, everything.  Yes, I know – how can it be that someone who is so technically inclined did not back up any of this valuable stuff?  I am still asking myself that question.  Anyway, I was back up and running just in time for Cyber Monday!    All will be good for the economy.  

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.   Check back soon and often.

-Webmaster Chris 

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Happy Friday the 13th everyone!  Many folks who attended my party last week have written to me asking for the recipe for the birthday cake shots that were served.  Here you go.  Thanks to Kelly for the contribution!!

Birthday Cake Shots (aka Chocolate Cake Shots)
1/2 shot vodka
1/2 shot Frangelico Hazelnut Liqueur
Slice and have ready one slice of lemon per shot
Place on a small plate two tablespoons of sugar per shot
Take one slice of lemon, dip both sides in sugar, lick sugar off lemon (do not swallow yet)
Take the shot, swallow, and bite the lemon slice

.     MMMMMMMM – Enjoy!

Share this:

Share/Bookmark

Thanks for checking in.   I thought I would finally jump on the blog bandwagon now that it seems everyone is doing it.   The big theme this month is my 40th birthday.  I just had the most awesome celebration with my closest friends going back over 30 years.   Man does that make me sound old or what?  The weekend kicked off with a slight scare – I got a text message from one of our guests who was traveling up from the Kansas City area telling me that she heard about a Portillos beef recall on the radio.  Of course, that is what we were serving, so I was in a panic trying to get the scoop.   All ended well when we learned our beef was safe.

What an exciting first blog entry, huh?   More to follow, I promise.  Cheers!

- Webmaster Chris

Share this:

Share/Bookmark