It’s time for more great Audio Drama! This time hosts David and Jack take a visit out to Split Valley from Caroline V. McGraw, James Hansen and Eddie Prunoske!
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Sonic Society #673- Split Listening(072224)
[MUSIC PLAYING] This episode is brought to you by Experian. Are you paying for subscriptions you don't use, but can't find the time or energy to cancel them? Experian could cancel unwanted subscriptions for you, saving you an average of $270 per year, and plenty of time. Download the Experian app. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions are eligible. Savings are not guaranteed. Paid membership with connected payment account required. You are listening to the new Mutual Audio Network. Welcome home. The following audio drama is rated PG for Parental Guidance. [MUSIC PLAYING] Good morning, everyone. We hope you're keeping warm wherever you are. I'm Jack Ward. This is the Sonic Society, featured on Sunday's Showcase on the Mutual Audio Network. And my traveling companion in your audio journey is David Alt. Good morning, all. Yes, don't you miss traveling in that wind wagon boat across the sea of glass? Oh, yes. Those wonderful days, weren't they? Ah, we'll have to go again sometime. Oh, that would be good. But I am a little bit surprised at you. Me, how so? Yeah, well, we're nearly at the end of January, and you haven't told everyone about Nazrim 2021 yet. That is indeed true. I have been truant in telling folks about Nazrim in my defense. This is the busiest time of the year for my Clark Kent job, and we're in the middle of moving Madcon 2021 to Madcon 2022. Well, that is probably a good idea, yes. Well, we have to make sure the pandemic is well past us all, and everyone feels better about traveling. Regardless, we will go on a bit of a journey today. With this week's feature, Split Valley, brought to us by the talented Meg McCarry. Sit back and enjoy this great new series, as it all begins right here. On the Sonic Society. Hang on, Jack, you still didn't talk about Nazrim. No time now. Hello. Hello there. You're up right here. This is steep. You're my age. You can do it. It's still steep. I guess I'm used to it. I grew up around here, you know. This is it? Here? This is it. I haven't touched them. Can you tell me what I'm looking at here? You can see it. Right. I'd just rather have you say it. It'll be better for the-- we'll edit it. Oh, who's we? Pardon? No, we have a producer. Tim, he was supposed to come with us, but he got food poisoning, so he's back in New York. And if you could just say your name, I'll put that earlier. Oh, yeah. Ready? I'm Gus Finch. I'm the mayor of Split Valley, New York. Have been from was five years, one re-election last year in a landslide. Split Valley, New York, population 58. Well, there's another census coming up soon, but yes. We are the second smallest town in New York state. Green Island is the smallest. And Split Valley is 47 square miles? It is. Can you say it is a complete sentence, please, so I-- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. OK. Split Valley is 47 square miles. Mostly forest-- it's mostly forest land of the-- Who let it? It's mostly forest land of a coniferous nature. And what portion of that is commercial logging? Yeah, I grew up about 35 miles down the road, as they say, in Bolton Landing, right on the Hudson. You woke up every morning with it right outside my window. I love the Adirondacks. You're not going to have really gone anywhere after Penn, but I decided I wanted to move back, give back to this region. Best place on Earth. Best people on Earth. So here's where I found this particular pile about four months ago. It was a rainy summer, and it's, well, you can feel it. Snow in the air now, about to be November. It's still here. It looks like a little statue of some sort. I don't know how to statue. What is it? The sculpture, I suppose. Wow. Yeah. Now, don't you want to take a picture of it? Sure. Sure. Hold on. My hands are full. Melanie? Melanie, make sure those photos go to the cloud. Yes, if the shared folder is the cloud, I think that's... I just want to make sure I can find them again. These are remarkable. Something in there called a diva cup, according to Sandy. Sandy's my fiance. It could have gone the rest of my life not knowing what a diva cup is, right? Oh, you know, huh? What do you think it is? Some sort of signal? We have mail cubbies at Columbia Public Radio, and my favorite part of the day is seeing mine filled to the brim. Most of it, I throw away. It's catalogs, junk mail, discount flyers for products I already own. But often, I will glimpse loopy handwriting, a stamp fixed crookedly on an envelope. The four East Cleveland men arrested in their teens have been exonerated after five years in prison for a wrong form or conviction, interest in the case built after the podcast Nowhere to Run, picked up the murder of Tabitha McGill, who was found dead the day after her 16th birthday. Adam Kleinhofer, a journalist and podcaster for Columbia Public Radio, first reported on the mishandling of evidence and lack of police oversight, drawing attention to a seemingly open and shut case. Nowhere to Run, our podcast about four young men jailed for a crime they didn't commit, hit a chord I never could have guessed. Almost two years later, I still get letters and cards from listeners. That's the thing about a show like ours. It happens in the moment, then lives forever. So when I saw the plain white postcard with its smeared writing, I thought it might be another word of thanks from someone who just discovered us. But no. Here, Adam, we are here. Come find us. No signature, just the postmark. Split Valley, New York, huh. Where had I heard of Split Valley, New York before? It sounded familiar, the kind of place Manhattanites escaped to on the weekend, an Amtrak away. It's on the edge of the Adirondack Park and isn't known from much. That small population seems to be its only defining feature. Then I remembered, I read the New York Times front to back every day, and in October, there was a regional story about Split Valley's contract with two trees paper, one of the largest pulpers on the eastern seaboard. But when I Google, nothing much else comes up. No Yelp reviews of the local diner, no cabins for rent on Airbnb. Still, it's only a four-hour drive, and that postcard, a town with so few people, someone at the post office, the only post office for a 45-mile radius, might know who'd sent me the card. So, my assistant Melanie and I hit the road. She drives, I call the mayor's office. We're ready. Take seven. I'm Gus Finch, I'm the mayor of Split Valley, New York, have been for almost five years, one re-election last year in a landslide. Turns out there is a local diner. Biscuits on Route 9N tucked far back into the trees. It's the only restaurant within the Split Valley town limits. Its tables are covered in red checkered plastic cloth, and it serves breakfast. No matter what time of day, breakfast. Hey Red, do you have any idea who might have written this? Red's lived here his whole life. Yeah, owned this place since '92. Yeah, right? Red? You know Finchy, I don't take living here my whole life to be a point of pride. I was just giving our guests some local points of reference. Do you have any idea what this postcard might be in reference to? Let's see here. Well, now you're looking for what, ghost stories, some lore about Split Valley, ancient spirits. Oh, he means native peoples. I'm native peoples. I'm just looking for whoever wrote that card. I wonder if it has anything to do with those piles of trash up in your fort's woods. I've seen them when I was hunting. Filled with all the stuff my girls used to have, ladies' things. Pipe down! You fellas have an omelettes, huh? Do you want chives? All of a sudden it's best when it's got chives. Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? It's 1.30 in the morning. I was just woken up by a knock on my door. I just received another postcard. This time it was at my motel room door. Same handwriting, no postmark. This one says, "Dear Adam, I'm glad you're here. It's time for you to see where I live." I'm glad you're here. This is Melanie Levin, production assistant and researcher to four Adam Kleinhopper. It's 9 o'clock in the morning in Split Valley, New York. I'm in the parking lot of the Icarus Motel and Lodge on Old Mill Road. I am the only guest. I don't have a car. Adam Kleinhopper is gone? Yeah, the car is gone and so is he. Episode 1 of Split Valley features Paul Gallat his soothing male voice, Matthew Cohen as Adam, Kylie McQuail as Melanie. Amir Darwish as Finch. Inez Del Castillo was news anchor and James Webber as Red. Written by Caroline V. McGraw, sound designed by James Hanson, directed by Eddie Prunowski. Music composed by Luke Santi, produced by Five on a Match. Have you ever been running away from the life you chose? Tears streaming down your face, your back nodding and buckling under the weight of all the possessions you could carry and you don't know why you chose to take what you took. All you need is your self and some cash and the possibility of a freedom you used to know and long to know again. Ravens understands. Ravens. Makers of the most comfortable slippers you've ever known. With over 4,000 5-star reviews, now make sneakers you can do anything in. Anything. Code Split Valley at checkout to receive $10 of your first pair. Ladies, it's your pal, Laura. I know, I always say that, but I really do feel like your pal. It's been a fantastic month here. Spring is just my favorite time of year and all the beautiful flowers and my little garden are just, oh my goodness, they are just looking up at the sky, faces turned toward heaven saying, I miss this, I'm a so lonely old winter gimme what you got Mr. Sunshine. So my daughter Cassie had her 14th birthday party, which was really just her and a bunch of other 8th-grade girls sitting around a rec room on their phones, texting about other girls who weren't there. No, they're good girls with good values and seeing Cassie and the young woman she and her friends are becoming, it just gives me a lot of hope for the future. Not to be too political. There did come one moment in the evening when I came downstairs with some fluffer-nutter sandwiches because I have absolutely turned into my own mother, that is just a fact I'm going to have to live with, that they were really paying attention to each other. No eyes on the phone or the TV, they were doing each other's makeup, using Caldwell Cosmetics new Angelica line, I'm just so excited about this launch, I've been keeping it a secret for so long, the Angelica line comes in perfect colors for teen girls to make a statement without being too over the top, there are these fabulous palettes with some neutrals, this lovely little blush stick, makes a statement without being, you know, and three lip glosses in this pink, a clear of course, and this sort of fabulous plummy shade. Now what I really wanted was for Cassie to model some of these looks for you, she's just such a beautiful girl, that poor-less skin, you know, and really knows herself, her own mind, she isn't feeling well today, so I just thought I'd do it for you, if a product works for one age group it should work for all, and I really want you to see how versatile this line is. Now, all you have to do is talk to your local Caldwell Cosmetics rep about getting these new colors added to your kit, the minimum order is 15, but I say take 30, heck, take 45, go get fast, and make sure to tag Caldwell Cosmetics in your unboxing bonus and videos. I didn't really think about it until right this second, but I've only ever had male glosses. I've been working since I was 17, so almost 12 years, let's see, yeah. My boss at the pool, that's number before senior year that was Dylan, he was only like a year older than me, and then at the radio station at Vassar it was this guy, what was this? Perry, right, he was really cool, really talented, and he's doing really well I think, as far as I can tell from social media, or whatever, and then when I worked at the Apple store for a year, Craig, he sucked, and then here, or not here, but Columbia radio I was hired by Steven, and then, is that another one? Even after Steven I worked for Johan, he was great, he always let me pursue my own stories, even if he didn't, well he didn't let me air any of them, but he let me use the studio to build up, what the fuck? And then Adam, I've been his assistant almost two years, huh, I'm seeing, this is for later, I'm seeing another one of, it's a small tower about maybe two feet tall, almost in the shape of a Christmas tree, but it's made of discarded tubes of mascara, a lipstick, and a tampax applicator, yep, I see some blood, just a little residual, yikes, also packets, old packets of, I'm taking a picture, of course, the packets of like sanitary wipes, like you know I use them to wipe down airplane seats, and around this thing there's, there's nothing, I've just come from the road, I entered about, well I've been walking about an hour and a half, so maybe, maybe four miles up the road from the Icarus, a little more, and I did not see one car, I passed a big two trees lumber truck, but it was just sort of parked at the edge of the woods, it's 11.30am, but yeah, I was just thinking about all my bosses, because Adam is gone, and I don't know where he is, so I called her office, and I didn't freak out, but I sort of did a thing where I was like, hello, and I fished around a little bit to see if maybe anyone had seen him without really revealing, I don't know where the hell he is, and it was super clear no one had seen him and also that no one missed him, I mean no one had noticed he's gone, I mean, I thought about reporting the car that stole him, but I don't want to, he might have gone somewhere totally innocuous, like antiquing, and just forgotten to tell me he's done that before, I called his phone, and it goes straight to voicemail, I left, well, let me two messages, and one of them was like, Adam, Adam, Adam, madam is that hi are you hiking hi uh no i'm just i was just taking a walk gorgeous day yes it sorry can i ask do you live here in the woods uh no just in split valley are you uh local i'm steff melonie hi hi melonie what are you looking for i i was just looking at this but were you looking for it or did you find it i just saw it i guess happened upon it i'm not local to answer your question i'm just hiking are you local no i'm just taking a road trip finding myself i'm i'm staying at the Icarus motel down the road i just come up here to take my mind off my troubles it's so peaceful yeah i'm sorry i'm sorry if i've intruded sorry it's okay no really sorry sorry no shit don't be sorry melonie the eternal speed of god damn okay yeah excuse me sorry uh i've seen a few of these around do you know what they are they look like signposts to me uh remind me of your name again i'm steff oh i thought you were gonna say your last name that is my last name it's the last name i ever intend to have so you're just road tripping huh well i guess you could say i'm i'm interested in finding what these posts lead to what's the worst thing that ever happened to you happened to me or like worst thing that i caused oh wow now i want to hear the worst thing you caused i i ripped my sister's baby tooth out we were we were in a fight over like a barbie or maybe a skipper and and i was on top of her and she was yelling about skipper or barbie and i reached down into her mouth where this tooth was like loose but not at the point where there was just a thread between the gum and the root i've i ripped it out just blood everywhere the worst thing that happened to me i think i could probably answer but i i really think the worst is yet to come all right you warm enough i'm yeah i'm pretty warm this way it's a long walk you'll warm up episode two of split valet features paul guy at his soothing male voice make mikari as laura kylie mikweil is melonay and michelle back as staff written by caroline v mcgraw sound designed by james hansen directed by eddie prunalski music composed by luke santie produced by five on a match hmm this episode of adam cline hovers nowhere to run injustice in east cleveland is brought to you by magic inbox let us cast a spell on your email magic inbox uses your voice to answer emails and you never have to see them magic inbox we know you use code run for fifteen percent off your first email purge clean up and answer bot nowhere to run episode three the mother mrs delphin are you mr kine hopper yes that's me hi oh you have a girl with you i do i do this is my assistant melonie she grew up in cleveland you did where dear uh oh good an east side girl like me i want to offer you tea but i don't drink it so i never have any coffee oder delphin is a stooped woman it's the first thing i noticed when i studied pictures of the court steps the day of the verdict although not an old woman i placed her in her mid 40s her back makes almost a perfect see she looks like a question mark those are all pictures of darius that's his first communion there is in the baseball team he was pretty good not great but uh he loved being on the team is that michael camp yes and uh fredi wallop's there too they've been friends since they were little i lived here since before and darius when i was pregnant with jenny my oldest fredi wallop and michael camp along with darius and another young man paul harcourt were arrested for the brutal stabbing murder of their neighbor tabitha mcgill in late 2015 all of them were 18 seniors at east cleveland's shaw high school oh and uh i uh i remember when tabby mcgill's mother was pregnant with her because darius was uh almost two and tabby's mother was so pregnant some women just carry in that big way and i thought to myself no thank you not again was darius friends with tabby they they uh got along i don't know darius dated a lot of girls well maybe they don't i don't know they call it hanging out now but he was always on his phone texting a girl but he wasn't i i think it was only one at a time but i i think you saw tabby as a kid he wasn't uh he wasn't interested in her my neighbor made them for me everyone has been has been very kind they know i'm struggling they know darius didn't do it they know the appeal they they know it's what it's doing to me they're delicious if darius the other voice if he had done this thing i wouldn't be talking to you of course i wouldn't i probably wouldn't be talking to him i wasn't i'm not that kind of mother that would just love and support her son if he i would still love him probably but i i went to stand by him i would lie speak on his behalf i have very expensive attorneys i'm not that kind of mother but he didn't thinking of him he just they just transferred him to a prison almost in colomas i don't spend much of my time with the mrs. dolphins of this world the stooped the broken the ones caught up in circumstances beyond their control i spend a lot of time among people with exceptional luck i consider myself a person of exceptional luck i cannot imagine a world where i am accused of a crime i didn't commit and if something like that were to happen i cannot imagine it lasting sticking surely someone would come to help me someone smart who trusts me will fix everything but i sit in her kitchen with its ancient lace curtains its mismatch chairs the plate of cookies her c-shaped back and i think i have to be the smart one i have to be the person who steps in for mrs. Delphin and freddy's mother and michael's mother and paul no one else is coming it's me the caldwell cosmetics website is a distinctly mid-2000s affair even though the company is active and thriving it feels cluttered and stuck in time when i click the link for lipsticks i get a 404 error when i click the link to become a representative i'm taken to a payment page with no explanation as to what i'm signing up for i'm promised i will get a welcome packet after my credit card is charged i'm not interested in becoming a caldwell cutie yes that's the name for newbie caldwell reps i'm interested in the message boards you don't have to be a caldwell rep to post on the boards you just need to create an account so i do most of the threads are about swapping product okay i've got too much of the caramel latte palette anyone want to swap in exchange for some of the new glosses with a few threads complaining in an incredibly cheerful manner about how they're failing at recruiting other cuties anyone here having trouble finding people to fill your down line i've been trying to recruit my friends and they say thanks but no thanks i know they're great products they should sell themselves but on forage i'm the one who has to do the talking lol you were not alone same girl but there is another kind of thread amongst the emojis and exclamation points one is simply titled coordinates 44 degrees zero minutes and one second north 74 degrees 30 minutes and zero seconds west it's not much of a code those are obviously latitude longitude but why are they on a multi-level marketing company's message board another thread is simply titled what should i leave a scarf brightly colored or if you don't have that anything that could fall out of your purse i scour the rest of the threads spending hours sifting through sales tips beauty tips please for help with recruitment and sometimes strange spam or in the case of one post with no replies a breakdown of how the cosmetics industry is tied to the illuminati and then as i'm about to sign off for the night a thread pops up have you seen this woman i click and suddenly a photo of a woman with vibrant red hair fills my screen whoever uploaded it didn't realize how high residence i have to scroll over and down to see the entirety of her face a stick straight bob sly eyes big teeth i've never thought of teeth as cheerful but that's the only word that comes to mind she's in her late 40s but her skin is wrinkle free and luminous i refresh at the bottom of the photo if you've seen this woman please call and then a number so i call because i have seen this woman episode 3 is called Valley features Paul Guyhead his soothing male voice Matthew Cohen as Adam guiding the quail is Melanie Christine Campbell as Mrs Delson Susanna Jones is female voice one in Estel Castillo as female voice two and Alice Jocala as female voice three written by Caroline feme McGraw sound design by James M7 directed by a pinov skate enclosed by Luke Santee produced by five on a match (music) the mysterious case of split valley is sponsored by Caldwell cosmetics what's better than high quality makeup and skincare at an affordable price buying it from someone you know and trust Caldwell representatives are your neighbors your sisters your aunts your friends they're every woman and so are you visit our website to be connected to your local representative and mention split valley for 10% off your purchase Caldwell cosmetics you might not recognize yourself where are we going if you if you don't mind me asking father not a lot but not a little it's only 3 p.m but the light is already fading maybe we're just going further into the forest the trees getting more dense overhead it's just a little further hey where are you from? New York the city before that why does there have to be it before because I have eyes I'm not like Clarice darling this is a this is a Patagonia coat I was born in Wisconsin Racine I'm from Cleveland oh Ohio there's also a Cleveland Tennessee but no one ever assumes I mean that one but I always clarify so you're from Cleveland did you hear that yes we're getting closer yeah my mom she she always was a really good mom I have friends with bad moms so I know she was really really great actually King Cassie had a lot of fights but she always protected us it's weird to like talk about her in the past tense because I actually she might be totally fine I think she is actually I think I'd know but my dad just said she like I think she just like wanted a better life I think she was always trying to do stuff that made her life better and our life better but it's hard to make three four people's lives better so she thought she'd just concentrate on her own but I always answer the phone that's why I answered even though you came up with you know unknown and not usually scammers she could call she's going to call I think and I can tell her all the cool stuff I'm up to so oh morning let's go find Laura who's Laura you're not here to see Laura no no I am I just I wanted to hear how you'd describe her I don't I don't really know what to expect Laura Laura saved my life she saved everyone's life everyone you see here I see a lot of women I see women washing clothing in a small stream I see a wood chipper with the two trees logo rusty used for hanging washing I see women intense breeding each other's hair breeding myself does that help you in what way does it make you feel safe I guess it does yes actually it does then I'm sorry I don't ever want to make another woman feel unsafe just a little ways longer I thought she might be here for the singing circle but sometimes she goes farther into the woods to think meditate so this is cool what is this it's a place where you won't have to be afraid anymore [Music] Episode four of split valley features Paul Guy at a soothing male voice Kylie McQuail does melody Michelle Beck is Steph Owen's son is the father Stephanie Batsford Monica Lurch and Sarah Jane Mumford as the woman's chorus written by Caroline C McGraw sound design by Jane Keaton directed by Eddie Kronoski or as opposed to a pose by Luke Santy produced by Five on a Match [Music] and that's this week's show please check the show notes for links for both shows this week at sonicsociety.org and please be sure to contact us on all the various social media zines including twitter @sonicsociety and @davidalt facebook through the sonic society group and audio drama radio drama lovers and of course we are a proud member of the mutual audio network at mutualaudionetwork.com now Jack you know what's coming uh Nazram? John Bell and his new year special oh no oh no okay um that's not my fault oh all right then what about Nazram okay okay Nazram well the national audio drama script writing month is the darkest month of the year and the shortest February go to the sonic society website and plan out your writing goals we'd love love love to have you involved is that any better David it's a it's a bit better yeah I still think it should be Gads Rim for global or Yads Rim for international or I know I'm a stickler for following the nano rhyme most of it see you next week folks I'm Jack Ward and I'm David Alt thanks so much for joining us and have a lovely day bye now the sonic society is written and produced weekly by Jack J Ward and David Alt with original music by Sharon B at Sharon B dot com all features interviews and audio drama shorts are owned completely by their originators and provided to the sonic society by Creative Commons licensing the society itself originates from Halifax Nova Scotia Canada thanks for listening [Music] this has been an electric bikuna production [Music] you can listen to classical and brand new audio dramas through the mutual audio network subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify or iHeartRadio today there's eight different podcasts one for each day of the week and genre and the mutual audio network broadcast feed so you don't miss a day of your favorite shows subscribe to mutual audio tonight Good night!