Then This Happened: Musical Stories

Send us Fan Mail On August 8, 2004, a tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band dumped an estimated 800 pounds of human waste from the bus's blackwater tank through the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago onto a passenger sightseeing boat sailing in the Chicago River below. STORYTELLER Gina Palm  BAND Fiddle - Sam Hyson  Piano - Matt Griffo Drums - Mike Amandes Bass - Tom Urwin  Acoustic Guita...

Send us Fan Mail Chance the Snapper is a four to five foot long alligator that was found swimming in the Humboldt Park lagoon, in Chicago , Illinois , on the evening of July 9, 2019. The animal was named after Chance the Rapper in an online poll conducted by the Block Club Chicago news website,beating other suggested nicknames such as Ruth Gator Ginsberg, Croc Obama, and Frank Lloyd Bite. The alli...

Send us Fan Mail CHARNA HALPERN Charna Halpern (born June 1, 1952) is founded the ImprovOlympic , now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close , she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community. Many prominent comedians performed at iO, from Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Myers,  She and Close co-authored the book Truth in Comedy: The Manual of...

Send us Fan Mail In 1910, Halley’s Comet was due to pass close by Earth — and everyone from religious fanatics to news reporters stoked the fires of a global panic, believing it was the end of the world. Samba/Bossa Nova Band (Chambered Electric/Acoustic Guitar) Mercedes Sara Landazuri (Ukulele Bass) Adam Haus (Percussion) Leo Peña  18" bass drum 14" snare Hi hat Ride & stand Pandeir...

Send us Fan Mail The Curse of the Colonel refers to a 1985 Japanese urban legend regarding a reputed curse placed on the Japanese Kansai-based Hanshin Tigers baseball team by the ghost of deceased KFC founder and mascot Colonel Sanders . The curse was said to be placed on the team because of the Colonel's anger over treatment of one of his store-front statues, which was thrown into the Dōtonb...

Send us Fan Mail When complex computer programs were first written in the 1960s, engineers used a two-digit code for the year, leaving out the "19." As the year 2000 approached, many believed that the systems would not interpret the "00" correctly, therefore causing a major glitch in the system STORYTELLER Jonald Reyes  BAND Piano, Organ - Matt Griffo Drums - Mike Amandes Bass...

Send us Fan Mail The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint. The painting was done by women at three different factories, and the term now applies to the women working at the facilities: one in Orange, New Jersey , beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois , beginning in the early 1920s; and a third facili...

Send us Fan Mail The Montreal Screwjob was an infamous unscripted professional wrestling incident that occurred on November 9, 1997, at the Survivor Series pay-per-view at the Molson Centre. Vince McMahon and his employees covertly manipulated the outcome of the match between Bret Hart, the reigning WWF Champion, and Shawn Michaels.  Storyteller Chris Hanley BAND: Charlie Malave (vocal, guitar, el...

Send us Fan Mail Most Brazilians believe their national identity is closely tied to the country’s music, as it unites those of all social backgrounds and creates a place of refuge from real life. However, as the dictatorship gained more control and became increasingly strict during the mid-1960s, innovation and creativity in art greatly diminished. One key figure in uprooting this paradigm was Cae...

Send us Fan Mail Aileen Wuornos is an American serial killer who murdered at least seven people in 1989–90. Her case drew national attention to issues such as the relationship between gender and violence and the legal treatment of acts of self-defense by women. Storyteller Sharron Palm BAND: Charlie Malave (vocal, guitar, electronic drums, synth) Matt Griffo (piano, vocal) Lily Emerson (vocal) Sup...

Send us Fan Mail About 27 tonnes of caramelised brown goat cheese - a delicacy known as Brunost - caught light as it was being driven through the Brattli Tunnel at Tysfjord, northern Norway in 2013. The fire raged for five days.  Told by Asgeir Døhl Dybvig from Oslo, Norway. BAND: Charlie Malave (vocal, guitar, electronic drums, synth) Matt Griffo (piano, vocal) Lily Emerson (vocal) Gordon Walters...

Send us Fan Mail A coyote bit a little boy, Chicagoans wanted the coyote dead, but Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation in suburban Barrington, IL stepped in to show everyone Mercy. Listen to the unedited podcast and help support the episodes at --> https://www.patreon.com/mattgriffo  <-- Malic White (Storyteller) BAND: Matt Griffo (vocals, ukulele, keyboard, bass) Brittany Flynn (vocals) And...

Send us Fan Mail Cosmic science. Black holes and how we know about them thanks to multiple scientists and LIGO (The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory).   Listen to the unedited podcast and help support the episodes at --> https://www.patreon.com/mattgriffo  <-- Drake Shrader (Storyteller) BAND: Matt Griffo (vocals, bass, electric guitar on "I'm On The Sun" so...

Send us Fan Mail This is a Story about Cap Streeter, a drifter who schemed his way into creating what is now one of the most expensive parts of Chicago. Steph Charaska (Storyteller) BAND: Drake Shrader (vocals)  Holly Souchack (vocals) Mary Hynes (vocals) Lexi Alioto (vocals)  Arne Parrott (guitar)  Matt Griffo (vocal/piano/bass) Dan Krackhardt (cajon) Support the show Support the show via Matt Gr...

Send us Fan Mail The woman who threw a dildo at Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce on New Zealand's national day. Listen to the unedited podcast and help support the episodes at --> https://www.patreon.com/mattgriffo  <-- Robbie Ellis (Storyteller) BAND: Drake Shrader (vocals)  Brittany Flynn (vocals) Andy Masters (guitar)  Matt Griffo (vocal/piano/bass) Mike Amandes (cajon) Sup...

Send us Fan Mail In 2019, a scandal arose over a criminal conspiracy to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities . The investigation into the conspiracy was nicknamed Operation Varsity Blues . Listen to the unedited podcast and help support the episodes at --> https://www.patreon.com/mattgriffo  <-- Danielle Elizabeth (Storyteller) BAND: Drake Shrader...

Send us Fan Mail Jane Fonda has had a life full of activism and has now begun “ Fire Drill Fridays .” The protests, which Fonda refers to as "Fire Drill Friday," are to show support for a Green New Deal and bring awareness to the ways in which climate change affects other parts of human life, such as women's rights, access to drinking water and global militarism. It's amazing t...

Send us Fan Mail An art feud over color between Stuart Semple and Anish Kapoor. They have been feuding since 2016 when Kapoor received exclusive rights to the Vantablack pigment , said to be the blackest shade of black ever created. In retaliation, Semple created the "pinkest pink" paint pigment and banned Kapoor from purchasing it, shortly followed by his Faze colour-changing paint . No...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode comedian Ron Ervin tells the story of Paul McCartney getting arrested in Tokyo in 1980.  Listen to the unedited podcast at and help support the episodes at --> https://www.patreon.com/posts/32302553 <-- Ron Ervin (Storyteller) BAND: Brittany Flynn (vocals)  Matt Castellvi (vocals) Arne Parrot (guitar/piano)  Matt Griffo (vocal/piano/ukulele/melodica) Mike Ama...

Send us Fan Mail Balloonfest '86 was a 1986 event in which the United Way of Cleveland in Ohio set a world record by releasing almost one-and-a-half million balloons . The event was intended to be a harmless fundraising publicity stunt , but the balloons drifted back over the city, Lake Erie , and landed in the surrounding area, and caused problems for traffic and a nearby airport. The event...