December 23, 2008

Call for questions about cocktails

In case you didn't figure it out from the title to this post, the next show. . . is all about. . .

Cocktails!

So if you've got a question about cocktails that you'd like us to answer, drop us an email or leave us a voicemail message.  All of our contact information is over there on the right-hand sidebar.

I've got a feeling Sal isn't too happy about this show topic, he's been acting really oddly in our production meetings.

In any event, we're also looking forward to having a special guest in the studio for the show, so hang tight, we'll be right back.

November 26, 2008

SITE UPDATE

CONNECT
I JUST FIXED THE COMMENT SYSTEM SO YOU CAN LEAVE FEEDBACK.
SORRY ABOUT THAT.
OH AND THE NUMBERS ARE LOOKING VERY GOOD.
WE HAVE BEEN LIVE WITH THE NEW SHOW FOR A LITTLE UNDER A WEEK AND IT IS STARTING TO CATCH ON.
BOB SWAMI WAS RIGHT.
IT'S CREEPY HOW HE CAN DO THAT.
NO CARRIER

November 21, 2008

The Bob Swami Show Episode 1 - France

<a href="http://thebobswamishow.bandcamp.mu/track/the-bob-swami-show-episode-1">The Bob Swami Show - Episode 1 by The Bob Swami Show</a>

Special guest: Chef Dominique Tougne, Executive Chef of Chicago's acclaimed Bistro 110.

To make it easy for you to listen to the show, download it and share it with your friends, we're using the terrific new service Bandcamp . Bandcamp lets you listen to the show right there or download a copy in one of a variety of formats, from simple MP3 VBR low to Apple lossless (for your iPod) to Ogg Vorbis. Bandcamp also makes it easy to share the show with your friends, embed it on your own blog, etc.
Credits
Episode one of The Bob Swami Show featured Bob Corrigan as Bob Swami, Kevin Spengel as Tony, Apple iMac System Voice Fred as Sal, and Chef Dominique Tougne, Executive Chef of Chicago's own Bistro 110, as himself.
Prior to the main theme to The Bob Swami Show, a brief extract from an "old time radio" commercial for Ironized Yeast was played. You can hear the whole commercial at http://www.oldtimeradiofans.com/old_radio_commercials/ironized_yeast.php - this clip is believed to be in the public domain. We love these old radio commercials.
The theme to The Bob Swami Show, bumpers and end theme are from the song "Binjoum" from the album Binjoum by the group Thiaz Itch. The music that plays under the final segment to the show is the song "Bubblin' Pipe" from the album Binjoum by the group Thiaz Itch. Both are used with permission from their publisher (http://prootrecords.free.fr) and the artist (http://thiazitch.free.fr/). Thanks Mathias! When the time came to select a main theme for the show your work was far and away the best.
At the introduction of the show's theme, you heard the song "Le pont du Gard" from the album Au Lit Les Momes! by the group Au Lit Les Momes. At the end of the show, just before the wrap-up, you heard the song "Berceuse pour un sale mome" from the album Au Lit Les Momes! by the group Au Lit Les Momes. (http://www.jamendo.com/fr/album/441/). It's too bad that the group is no longer together - if you know of other ALLM albums, let us know.
The drumroll sound by Heigh-hoo was downloaded from freesound.org at http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=19433
The various sounds made by Sal when he goes out for a smoke, returns, notifies Bob Swami that the show is ending and counts down for the Speed Round are Cracklebox sounds by tombola downloaded from freesound.org at http://www.freesound.org/packsViewSingle.php?id=62 . The Cracklebox is a marvelous bit of technology you can learn about at http://www.steim.org/steim/cracklebox.php
The Coquette French Style Phone sound by FreqMan was also downloaded from freesound.org at http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=20101
The sounds of the phone picking up and hanging up were created by Justine Angus and were downloaded from soundsnap at http://www.soundsnap.com/node/13007 and http://www.soundsnap.com/node/12642
Disclaimers
All of the so-called answers and other information included in The Bob Swami Show are offered for entertainment purposes only. You are encouraged to come up with your own answers to the great and small questions of life.
For that matter, all information on www.bobswami.com is offered for - you guessed it - entertainment purposes only.
And if you haven't figured it out already, The Bob Swami Show and its characters are works of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The opinions of these fictional characters are their own, which poses a bit of a philosophical challenge, sorry.
Notices
Guests of The Bob Swami Show who are actual real people may or may not receive a ham. Trust me, it isn't a good ham.
Messages left on The Bob Swami Show studio line or e-mail messages sent to ask@bobswami.com may be used on the show. If you don't want them to be used on the show, just say so.
If any artist whose work is featured on this episode of The Bob Swami Show wishes for their work to be removed from the show, please send a message to bobswami@gmail.com and we'll take care of it.
The Bob Swami Show - Episode 1 by Bob Corrigan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License based on a work at thebobswamishow.bandcamp.mu. Please share the show with your friends.

Creative Commons License
The Bob Swami Show is Copyright 2008 by Bob Corrigan

Episode 1 - Discussion

Long-time listener Tatiana got wind of the topic of our first show (Sal must have leaked it to her) and she's sent us the following:


The Bob Swami Show (episode 1) listener feedback from bob swami on Vimeo.


Let's hear what you have to say on the topic - and remember the #1 rule is to be respectful.  We reserve the right to delete abusive comments, but honestly, we don't think we'll have to. Our listeners are a classy bunch.

Episode 1 - Resources

We'll use this post to share links, resources and other information that we talked about in the show, as well as a bunch of other stuff we couldn't get to. If you've got a resource that you'd like to share, let us know and we'll bake it in to this post.

Asterix



One of Sal's favorites, you can read a translated version of the very first Asterix volume here (care of Google Book Search). You can learn about the history of Asterix here, and pick up a few copies for yourself here.

I'm also a big fan of Tintin and Lucky Luke. The Belgian tradition of large-format hardcover comics is also something you should check out. 


Vinaigrette

There are as many vinaigrette recipes as there are houses in France. You can noodle around the web and find Top 10 Lists and even videos on the topic.

But you, dear listener, don't need to do that because here's the best of them all. I encourage you to play with this until you find the proportions that work best for you.
  • 1 clove of fresh garlic, minced finely (get rid of any nasty green cores)
  • A pinch of sea salt
  • Three or four twists of ground pepper
  • A heaping half-teaspoon of Dijon mustard - using a little less is OK
  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
  • 3/4 cup good olive oil
Smoosh together the garlic, salt, pepper and mustard in a wide-mouthed jar or decent-sized glass bowl. I like to use the back of a spoon.

When that's nicely homogenized, pour the vinegar into the garlic/salt/pepper/mustard mixture and mix it up until it's smooth.

Then slowly pour in the oil as you continue to mix until emulsified. Taste from time to time until you've got a flavor you like, you may need to adjust the salt and pepper. No fingers.

One variant I've used and like is to mix rice wine vinegar in with the white wine vinegar, and mix vegetable oil with the olive oil. It all depends what you like.

Pour some of this elixir of the gods into the bottom of a salad bowl, put the salad greens on top, then set the whole thing aside until the end of your meal. Then go ahead and toss everything together and serve with your cheese. 


Cheese

Speaking of cheese, here's where I got that Top 10 French Cheese list that Sal was making fun of. There's also a really strong cheese culture here in America that you can explore, and you don't need one of those foam cheese hats to do it. Valley Shepherd Creamery in Long Valley, NJ is one of my favorites - if you've got a favorite of your own let us know. 


The Big List of Audience Recommendations

Opinel Knives - still the best for your everyday need to cut things up. I'm a big fan of the Opinel #8.

Édith Piaf - France's greatest popular singer. Here's a cool video of her performing Non, je ne regrette rien.

(I'll add more as I dig them up - but I'd really like to add yours, so let's hear from you)

November 12, 2008

News

Hey everybody, welcome to the new website for The Bob Swami Show.

We wanted to let you know that we've got a new show in the works that we'll be posting here in a week or so. We're really excited about what we can do with the show now that it's a "podcast" thing, and who knows, if Tony delivers sooner rather than later, we could find our way back to the air.

Sal has access to this site as well, so you can expect him to post from time to time when he's not producing the show.

I want to thank Adam Koford (a.k.a. Apelad) for creating the banner art for the Bob Swami website.  You may know Adam from his fabulous Hobotopia blog and his remarkable Hobo illustrations in support of John Hodgman's book The Areas of my Expertise. I'm proud to add him to the "friends of the show" list, and I hope you'll visit his website and hire him for all kinds of expensive projects

OK, that's all I've got for now. I'll have more to tell you about once we've finished recording. Take care!

November 08, 2008

HELLO FROM SAL

CONNECT

FIRST OF ALL I AM NOT SHOUTING SO DON'T GET MAD.

THE FIRST OF THE NEW SHOWS WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON.

I WILL POST IT HERE WHEN WE ARE DONE TAPING.

I EVEN THINK YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SUBSCRIBE TO IT ON APPLE ITUNES IF I CAN FIGURE IT OUT IN TIME.

GETTING BACK TO THE FIRST SHOW IT IS ON A TOPIC THAT ONE OR TWO OF YOU MIGHT ENJOY.

AND WE ACTUALLY HAVE AN INTERVIEW LINED UP.

THAT WOULD BE AMAZING SINCE MOST OF THE TIME THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO CALL THE SHOW ARE LOOKING FOR THEIR CAR KEYS OR NEED HELP DECIDING WHETHER THEY SHOULD BREAK UP WITH SOME GUY.

IT GETS DEPRESSING BUT WHAT CAN YOU DO.

OH AND IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE A QUESTION FOR BOB SWAMI YOU CAN CALL THE BOB SWAMI ANSWER LINE.

YOU WILL NOT BE LIVE ON THE AIR SO YOU CAN RELAX.

THE BOB SWAMI ANSWER LINE IS 773-362-4618.

YOU SHOULD CALL FROM WORK SO IT WILL BE A FREE CALL.

JUST KIDDING.

BUT GO AHEAD AND LEAVE YOUR QUESTIONS ON THAT PHONE NUMBER.

AND IF YOU HAVE A SHOW IDEA LEAVE THAT TOO.

OTHERWISE WE WILL END UP JUST USING WHATEVER IDEAS BOB SWAMI COMES UP WITH.

NOT THAT THEY ARE ALL BAD.

JUST SOME OF THEM ARE.

BUT WHAT DO I KNOW I AM JUST A TOASTER.

NO CARRIER