Last Call for Radio Fun- and a Sven Nod on “The Flash”!

Time is running out if you want to attend this Sunday's "Those Were the Days" 45th anniversary event- live at 2 pm at the Irish-American Heritage Center in Chicago! The radio  show, heard every Saturday afternoon on WDCB- 90.9 FM-and also available streaming online, is a weekly celebration of the Golden Age of Radio, hosted by our friend Steve Darnall- who took the reins from the show's original host and creator, Chuck Schaden. Both these gentleman will be present for the live event, as well as the show's announcer and co-host Ken Alexander,Trace Beaulieu of MST3K, special musical guests Reginald Robinson, the West End Jazz Band, and the Famous Brothers featuring Will Clinger. Also appearing-he who is Sven's secret identity, Rich Koz! There will be recreations of some great radio program episodes and  some surprises.

Tickets will ONLY be pre-sold- online at wdcb.org  or by calling 630-942-4200 during business hours, and the last day for sales is tomorrow, Friday the 1oth. NO tickets will be sold at the door. In other words- you might want to order yours ASAP!

For those unable to attend, highlights from the event will be broadcast on a future "Those Were the Days" program- we'll make sure to warn you here on the blog when they will air !

And now for something completely flattering- maybe you saw the recent episode of the CW's 'The Flash"- in which our friend Mark Hamill played the evil villain- the Trickster! Well, Mark revealed  that, when he was addressing the crowd he had just poisoned (unbeknownst to them) at a big city hall party, he made a joke about the mayor- "let's hear it for Mayor Bellows, folks-he doesn't just yell at his staff- he bellows!" He then ad-libbed an unscripted line- "see what I did there?"- which Mark indicated to me is one of his favorite Sven-isms I use that always tickles him- so he decided to toss it in as a nod to me! That pretty much blew me away! He was absolutely great in that role, by the way- you may know he played the same character in the 1990s "Flash" series- and here's hoping the Trickster makes some return visits!

Mark also mentioned that he got to work with the late great Stan Freberg on a "Garfield" animated show- and heard some great stories about Stan working on "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World"! How fortunate that he got to work with such a great comic genius!

I have heard that the WGN show "Chicago's Best" has shot a segment at Lincoln Park's Squared Circle restaurant- and that they featured the Svengoolie burger! The show with that segment will air sometime next month.

More news as it comes up- meanwhile, order your "Those Were the Days" tickets asap- and, come back here Saturday for a preview of this week's Sven show!