Hey kidz! Welcome to another #RFBatHome, our ongoing series featuring Radio Free Brooklyn hosts who continue to put out new content  from their homes, apartments, childhood bedrooms, children’s bedrooms, closets, hallways, bathtubs… you get the picture, during this #CoñoCarajo of a COVID-19 pandemic. This week, it’s our “Lucky 13:” Dave Colonna and Mike Bradley, a.k.a. “Dave and Giggles.”

Not sure if this is the series’ swansong or not (yeah, I know, we said that last time), but in case it is, it’s sure been swell to shout out these incredible, intrepid, indefatigable member-hosts. As for the rest of youse, we hope you’re all finding safe ways to squeeze any drop of joy you can out of Summer 2020 in this, Our Year of Suck. So here’s a virtual toast to you all for reading and who knows — we may yet have a surprise or two for youse, soon. Till then, keep doin’ what you know you’re supposed to be doin’!
Your friendly neighborhood editorial director,
MicheleC
P.S.: I am finally freed from that damned ankle boot (yaaaaasssssss!!!) so you just may catch me shakin’ it up (safely of course) somewhere soon.

Hello Radio Free Brooklyn, we’re Dave and Giggles. Our show has been referred to as “a bunch of guys you might want to hang out with.” We’re also a variety-interview show that showcases people we find interesting: musicians, filmmakers, artists, and overall odd people. Sure, we laugh, but we also try to be more than that (emphasis on try). Dave is the true New Yorker and Giggles is now in Colorado living the high life with space between his neighbors. But we both have a special place in our hearts for NYC.

We’ve been doing podcasts before podcasts were cool (we, being Dave). Our very first show was in 2009, in an apartment where neither of us lived. In our early days we dragged mixers and mic stands all over New York City to do a show with whatever band or musician wanted to spend an hour with us. Then somewhere around five years ago (we could be wrong) we joined Radio Free Brooklyn (we definitely did the show in the basement below the record store for a bit). We joined RFB because we wanted to have a platform for our show in a real format that had a specific listener base. Dave did everything; Giggles had already moved to Colorado before we went “big.” And now, some thoughts from each of us:

Dave: Pandemics aren’t rewarding. Spending time with loved ones is fun, but Giggles misses a dirty karaoke mic just like we all do. We (well, I) loved the feel of doing the show live from the Bogart studio at 7pm, asking some good questions and trying to make a decent recording. We’re SO great LIVE… but prerecording is just the way we have to do things for now. D & G has always been a show where everyone is welcome and we want our guests to have a great time. We’ve always loved having musicians and anyone that has a great energy. Everyone wants to tell their story and we give them a place to kick back and let it ride (even though we still f*** up the audio sometimes).

Since we’d been doing our show distanced from each other for so long, we were totally prepped for social-distance radio love from my place in Red Hook, Brooklyn. I miss live music, so when someone gifts me with some tunes for our show, I feel blessed. We think we’ve actually had some quality guests on our recent shows during the COVID-19 pandemic, because no one is doing anything and they don’t have a reason to decline a radio spot. (Full disclosure: We guilt them into it: Be on our show, what else are you doing with your life?) We try to keep it positive, but we’re never afraid to get real dark, real quick.

Giggles: It sucks that Dave can’t be in the studio and have guests live. That was the real rush of the radio show experience and why we started doing radio shows in the first place. Have you ever heard your voice amplified by a real microphone in a pair of nice headphones? It’s addicting. Show mode. Go time. I hope doing our show is maybe more important now doing the pandemic. I do these shows so in 20 years my kids might take an interest in hearing what their parents were up to during these crazy times, pandemic or not. I’d prefer the not, but we’re not going to stop showing and interviewing people. I’m a collector of photos, videos and audio. These shows are like little collections of what we were up to and experiencing during this life. Ten years ago, my father called in to our show on Father’s Day. We chatted a bit and a few months later he passed away. I played the audio from that call at his funeral. It was nice to hear his voice and have that recording. Dave and I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, and we don’t know where we’re going with this, but we try to have a good show every show and make it count.

Tune in to “Dave and Giggles” every Sunday at 7:00pm.