The Mischke Roadshow: Recent Episodes
TD Mischke
After a 22-year talk-radio career, TD Mischke escapes his soundproof booth and hits the road in search of adventure, eccentrics, whimsy and insights. Instead of bringing life into the radio studio, he decides to head out and meet it on its own terms, letting the gypsy call guide him. The Mischke Roadshow features podcasts, videos, writing, and photography. Find it all at www.mischkeroadshow.com @tommymischke on Twitter.
A man who's been a commercial fisherman for over 80 years presents a meditation on the concept of work.
Following hundreds of thousands of Americans on their great pilgrimage to the total solar eclipse.
For a decade, it's been a part of every single road trip, but I've not spoken of it until now.
Pulling aside the cardboard sign, once again, and sitting down with the person behind it.
We've been serenaded by ads all of our lives. Music and merchandise, a marriage made in hell.
Buckle up, and come marvel at the life of a mystical artist, maverick scientist, and genius mathematician.
A trip to Nova Scotia brings a visit with a Canadian who has a whole lot to say about that big ol' neighbor to the south.
A trip to Nova Scotia brings a visit with a Canadian who has a whole lot to say about that big ol' neighbor to the south.
A young woman grows up with two worlds competing inside her, and plants a flag in the world that won.
A summer trip to Martha's Vineyard offers a rare opportunity to take the Roadshow out of an old beat-up vehicle, and into an old beat-up boat.
The music here is all about the stories, they say. So, sit back and hear a tale or two.
Pointing my car toward the Southeast, and allowing the wheels to roll me back to another time, another place, another sound.
The official state motto of Nebraska is, "Honestly, We're Not For Everyone." ...Well neither is this show.
In Prichard Alabama there's a man with a story to tell. It's worth hearing. No spoilers. Just listen.
A Dakota Indian is reborn into the soothing blood of his people, after years wandering in a bitter and foreign wilderness.
Everybody needs a buddy and Mischke finds his in a diminutive furry creature, and on a most auspicious occasion.
One woman's intimate experience with death changes her life, and leaves her longing to change the way we die.
A brilliant and gifted artist has an extraordinary childhood in Harlem, followed by a dark and troubling descent, which culminates in a hauntingly brutal crime.
The extraordinary suicide story of Matt Lanier, and the unique role he's playing in the lives of those whose loved ones have taken their own lives.
A college professor remembers a time, long ago, when he single-handedly changed the course of American music.
A single life in small-town America moves in a meandering 70-year arc, culminating in a simple kitchen table chat on a cool winter day.
Stumbling upon two lives in Baltimore that reaffirm the town's claim as the East Coast Mecca of Eccentricity.
An unnerving trip into the world of a woman terrorized for years by a large, menacing, shadowy figure, always appearing in a black hat.
Disappearing into the oldest magic store in America, and leaving the real world behind.
A return to Nice, France, after three and half decades away, brings misty musings on the passing of time
A passing snapshot of humanity, in the 21st century, taken from behind the wheel, at a red light.
Stumbling upon the free, unique, eccentric residents of Orcas Island, in the Pacific Northwest. Another heartfelt celebration of humanity.
Stumbling upon the free, unique, eccentric residents of Orcas Island, in the Pacific Northwest. Another heartfelt celebration of humanity.
The Mississippi may connect my city to America's most exotic city, but New Orleans is another planet entirely.
One last trip back in time to the old days of radio. One last nostalgic visit to the world of the Mischke Broadcast.
A trip to the intimate, candlelit world of a Certified Cuddlist, followed by an exploration of the Cuddle Party phenomenon.
A visit with a lifelong Ely Minnesota resident who's nearing the end of an unusual, unpredictable, exhilarating, harsh and hardscrabble existence.
Baptized by great trauma, Kevin Kling has emerged imbued with good humor, profound wisdom and deep empathy.
The hard-earned, dangerous, rugged, and slowly fading world of the American cowboy, as viewed through the eyes of Western ranchers.
Climbing into the big rigs with a couple of long-haul lifers who have a lot to say about life on the road.
A visit with a lone worker from a thrift store broadens into a compelling tale of four expats from Louisiana bound together by music and rebellion.
There are extraordinary and miraculous lives, and then there's the unfathomable unimaginable existence of Lonnie Holley.
The unheralded career of Mr. Paul Shepherd. He longed for a PGA trophy. But life had other plans...
Behind the wheel when the sun goes down: The mood, the mystery, the mayhem, and the magic.
He turned his back on modern urban life, with all it's rattling distractions, and escaped to a remote Yellowstone cabin. There he's lived for 43 years, a two-hour snowmobile ride from humanity.
A trip across Wisconsin brings encounters with a restless hitchhiker and an eccentric man with the world's most unusual diet.
Willie Nelson strolls past me in an Austin airport and seems to bless the program with a flood of heavenly Texas tunes. This Roadshow celebration of song centers on the work of the next generation of Austin songwriters: Kevin Russell, a.k.a. "Shinyribs."
Getting hopelessly lost in the wilds of North Carolina leads to encounters with three eccentric mountain men.
Three different Iowa towns offer three different portraits of eccentricity: A James Kirk groupie, the worst stage act in Midwestern history, and a farmer's quirky sex life.
A black man, growing up tough on the rough streets of San Francisco, becomes a local media celebrity, then abruptly escapes to a tiny all-white farming community in South Dakota. ...There's a story here.
The air between the World Trade Center towers was this wonderful madman's playground. It was all illegal, of course. But this genius of creativity was not to be stopped.
An old commercial fisherman invites me onto his porch, on the shores of the Mississippi, in Northern Illinois. There, he pours the wine, and talks of his calling.
A family tree of tragedy. Three generations, three killings, three survivors. A Navajo tale.
Making friends in Fayetteville: Three women and two men invite me into a hidden little home, in an alley behind Maxine's Tap Room, for a night of Arkansas storytelling.
Diverse musicians who find the irresistible call of home deep in the bible belt, and their very identity reflected in the rivers of their town.
Deep in the Sonoran desert, in the far Southwestern United States, there is a world unlike anything else found on planet earth. It's a renegade outlaw community of outcasts, recluses, and "free-range humans." Welcome to the land of Slab City.
MLK's death sent the city into a decade long tailspin. Elvis's death marked the beginning of its rebirth. A wholly unique collision of converging influences leaves it unlike any other American city. Welcome to Memphis Tennessee.
The best baseball town in America is overrun by cerebral chess fanatics, and it will never be the same again.
The second hour of a two-part Nashville Road trip: Interviews with the man behind the "Paul McCartney is Dead" rumor, and the 19-year-old boy-wonder who got the Beach Boys band rolling when they were all just kids.
A road trip to "Music City" brings with it great stories of Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson and many others.
An interview with career military man Tom Dunne: From his trip into New York harbor, as an Irish immigrant, through teen years on the streets of Chicago, and on into adulthood, in the jungles of Viet Nam.
A visit with Boots Hinton, the son of one of the men who killed Bonnie and Clyde down in Louisiana, back in the 30's. Boots runs a place called The Ambush Museum. He said his Pop kind of liked Bonnie and Clyde, and was a little sad to have to "shoot 'em all to hell."
Actor, Dancer, Model, Cheerleader, Stripper, 3rd-Degree Black Belt, Hulk Hogan Imitator, Kid's Party Entertainer, Stand-Up Comedian....If the warm spotlight's beaming, David's rarely far away.
Receiving the worst cancer prognosis you could imagine, and years later, being alive to tell your tale. Three different survivors recount their journey.
Abstract art offers a language we all know, but often fail to connect with. It's the language of our deepest self. And it is unspeakable.
Annabelle Garcia, daughter of the legendary Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia, talks about her unconventional upbringing, the horror of fame, the beauty and sadness of her father's life, and the dangers of leaving LSD on the table when 2-year-olds are in the room.
The plane is torn apart, on the side of an icy mountain, in a raging blizzard. He's 11-years-old, and everyone else has been killed....Will his dead father save him?
After almost 30 years behind bars, a convict strolls back to the old neighborhood where the world seems strange, alive, invigorating and intimidating.
A 90-year-old man attempts to change the world with a simple product plucked from his local store shelves.
The Life of an Actor: An interview with Rich Sommer, from the television series Mad Men.
A visit to historic Kansas City, and a welcoming tavern, triggers thoughts of going back in time, and leads to a conversation with a man who's determined to make that a reality.
LGBT Pride in the Firey Bible Belt:
An unexpected drive past the Westboro Baptist Church, in Topeka Kansas, triggers an historical journey through America's complex psyche.