Shows
Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Good Conversation, Sweet InspirationWe're back! The Good Ship Ghostlight is on the air, with musical guests including Zoe Thiessen, Silas Short, Bruce Cockburn, Carolyn Arends, Slim Smith & The Uniques, and a swell new story by Mike Mason about his close encounter of the fifth kind with John Lennon!
2025-05-2158 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: SOS! Emergency Transmission! Pirate radio under attack!EMERGENCY BULLETIN. Good ship Ghostlight taking on water, may be lost at sea. Mayday! Mayday! All ships at sea - ASSISTANCE REQUESTED!
2025-04-0715 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Rare Treasures & Little-Known FavesToday on Ghost Light Radio we'll spring into April with a tasting menu of seasonal Soul Food tunes you've never heard before. Best consumed fresh (like, before Wednesday?), we've got ultra-rare music from the likes of Paul Simon, Johnny Cash, Amy Winehouse, The Beatles (AKA The Quarrymen), and even an off-the-beaten-track track or two from Old Blue Eyes himself. PLUS a heapin' helpin' of obligatory, delectable Canadian Content.
2025-04-011h 08Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: The World Is Too MuchHere we are, aboard the Good Ship Ghost Light, lost at sea, our mind tossing like the ocean, setting sail for someplace a little less storm-toss'd. Even though it's Saturday, I'm makin' tonight Sunday, searchin' for a relax, pullin' from the jazz stacks...
2025-02-231h 17Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Overdue FindsWe're clearing out the Soul Food closet, hauling out all the neglected-but-not-forgotten treasures that didn't quite fit in episodes past. Discoveries old and new: music very old and brand spankin' new, poems about love from many sides - up and down, win and lose, break-ups past and pending - and stories about songs I've been waiting too long to tell. There might even be stuff I found in a book or two that I need to get back to the library...
2025-01-221h 22Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: A Feast of EpiphaniesA January 6th special broadcast, thinking about kings and princes and rock and roll and even one last helping of festive leftovers - it's the twelfth day of Christmas, after all! Featuring the maiden voyage, the very first spin, of my brand new 1955 disc from Sun Records...
2025-01-071h 17Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Ghosts of Christmas Presence PastThis week on Ghost Light Radio, bits and pieces from forty years worth of Christmas shows at Pacific Theatre. First Christmas: An Entertainment, Cotton Patch Gospel, Dreams Of Kings And Carpenters, and of course Christmas Presence itself. From Lawrence Ferlinghetti to Bone Man Slim, seasonal selections with a theatrical flavour.
2024-12-201h 26Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: True NorthSixty years of Canadian music - and radio! - in an hour and a quarter. We'll take a road trip with the son of a Saskatchewan premier, travel from the Cowichan Valley to Vancouver to Winnipeg to Toronto in search of CanCon, check up on some illustrious expats, and tune in the voices and sounds of a couple generations of north-of-the-49th radio. And you out east, don't worry, we'll pick up the cross-country journey after Christmas. Maybe call it "Strong and Free."
2024-12-071h 14Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: No Particular Place To GoWe're playing exactly what we feel tonight on Ghost Light pirate radio, from Robert Zimmerman to Doris Mary Anne Keppelhoff, Domenico Modugno to Gary Keillor. The mailbag is full to bursting - Iwan from Cardiff, Tim from Saskatoon, Jack from Des Moines and Norm from Etobicoke - as we ruminate on happenings great and terrible, from Bakersfield to the moon.
2024-11-231h 12Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Back On The Air!We're back! Had ourselves some shore leave - almost three years worth, that oughta do - and it seems like high time to unfurl the sails, unpack the microphone, and start spinning some tunes once again. New releases and really old favourites, requests and discoveries, flotsam and jetsam, just right for this present moment. Or any moment, come to think of it...
2024-11-091h 08Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Show Tunes (but not THAT kind of show tunes), Pt 2Just before disappearing into the rehearsal hall to work on Pacific Theatre's "How The World Began," Ron looks back on some more of his favourite shows, and their music: Mercy Wild, Jesus My Boy, You Still Can't, Godspell, The Disappearing, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Doubt, The Rainmaker. Just keeping that Ghost Light burning...
2022-02-261h 05Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Show Tunes (but not THAT kind of show tunes), Pt 1January 27, 2021 was host Ron Reed's last day on the job as Head Chef at the Pacific Theatre Diner, and tonight he and Jack Nicholson mark the one year anniversary of that occasion by looking back at some of Ron's favourite shows, and the music that enhanced their distinctive Soul Food flavour. The Casino, The Foreigner, Tent Meeting, A Bright Particular Star, and more - tasty tunes from skits that schmeck.
2022-01-2953 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: The Ronnies, Pt 1The first annual presentation of our Ronnie Awards, in the spirit of the erstwhile, affable co-host of Radiolab, Robert Krulwich. Oysters and pearls, Christmas oranges, the ultimate Specialty record, free men and gentle men and jazz royalty in Moscow and Paris and much closer to home - dilettantes, aficionados, raconteurs and flaneurs all. And there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last...
2022-01-091h 05Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: December 2, 2021Stormy seas, bright fields. Ports of call: Liverpool, Wales, Boston, Nanaimo, Detroit, and more. Music and words to knit up the raveled sleave of care...
2021-12-0351 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: November 5, 2021The pirate radio crew is back from shore leave, and tonight we're playing favourites! Sent in by our loyal listeners, our faithful followers, and our sleepy supporters. Gilette, David, Rachel, Norm, Donnie, Nelson, Marianne, Spencer and the two Karens. Including an interview with our audio technician, Mr. Hugo Taney, who's got some high tech advice for Kenton "Sleepy" Klassen...
2021-11-051h 20Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: October 20, 2021Broadcast like no one's listening! A tribute to radio DJs everywhere, from the Good Ship Ghost Light - Lester the Nightfly, The Count, Deke Duncan, Gary Keillor, Symphony Sid, and that Top Ten Thousand guy, whatever his name was.
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Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: October 8, 2021Thanksgiving weekend! At least here in Canada. So of course we'll visit an elevator in Utah, a place that sells used office furniture in Los Angeles, out on San Fernando Road, an unemployment office in France, the Hitsville recording studio in Detroit, a sheep farm in Kentucky, even (if only for a moment) a children's home in Liverpool... Folks are thankful all over the place! Pull up a chair and join us for a fine turkey dinner, with all the trimmings. Updated October 20, to make room at the table for the Mad Farmer himself, Mr. Loren Wilkinson.
2021-10-091h 01Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: September 30, 2021Tonight we bid adieu to September, and welcome October - with a return to the theatre! And all kinds of other great things. Will Eno's WAKEY WAKEY at Pacific Theatre, baseball in New York and Toronto and on the schoolyards of Vancouver, surprise election results in Richmond (don't worry, we won't talk politics), a rain dog afternoon at my local strip mall, and of course, great music of all kinds. Not forgetting Canada's first, and long overdue, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We might run overtime, just a little...
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Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Summer Edition - September 14, 2021Summer's over, and Soul Food heads back to school with one last look over its late-night shoulder - at summer movies and end-of-summer songs, at childhood and childhood's end, with even a couple poets (Diane Tucker and Brad Aaron Modlin) along for the ride. "They say that all good things must come to an end..."
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Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Summer Edition - August 28, 2021It's late at night in the late summer, and we're keeping it alive here for you on the friendly Ghost Light airwaves - summer jobs, summer loves, and a visit to the state fair. We've got another selection from my dad's record collection, poetry by Barbara Crooker, a middle-of-the-night encounter with a much more mysterious DJ, August faves from the May family, and our tribute to a famed jazz drummer who said goodbye this week.
2021-08-281h 05Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Summer Edition - August 21, 2021Late night memories of summer jobs in the Okanagan and fated encounters on "the ragged green edge of the world" - Susan Alexander thinks back to Osoyoos and I return to Tofino. We also remember summer music festivals with Sweet Honey In The Rock and The Original Sloth band, explore Nelson Boschman's Top Tunes 'o Summer, and soak in the sounds of Corinne Bailey Rae, Kacey Musgraves, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Boz Scaggs, The Langley Schools Music Project, a Daniel Amos side project, and a couple George Harrison tunes, one from his solo years, the other with his first band...2021-08-211h 07Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Summer Edition - August 14, 2021It's a hot night, and we take refuge from the heat in memories of summer music festivals, talking about The Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 ("Black Woodstock"), Canada's Festival Express in 1970, the first ever Vancouver Folk Music Festival in 1978, and the return of Miles Davis in 1981. Featuring the hot sounds of The Lovin' Spoonful, Charlie Peacock, Nina Simone, B.B. King, The Band, Bruce Cockburn, Peter Tosh, Miles Davis, Sidney Bechet, and more. Cool.
2021-08-1458 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Summer Edition - August 7, 2021Tonight we take our show on the road, with traveling companions Ira Glass, Carolyn Arends, Zaac Pick, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, Chuck Berry, Charlie Peacock, Bobbies Dylan and Troup, Spencer Capier, Michael Hart, the Nordic Chamber Choir, and the Road Scholars. Buckle up, Radioland.
2021-08-081h 08Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Summer Edition - July 17, 2021More summer music, and now poetry even! Ain't we classy. More Temptations, Los Zafiros, Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban, The Avett Brothers, Diane Tucker's Nostalgia For Moving Parts, Poolside, Jackie Mittoo, Marcia Griffiths, Aaron Chapman & The Milkshake Murder, two Quartets - Chico Hamilton and Charlie Haden - and the one and only Jo Stafford.
2021-07-171h 02Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food Ghost Light: Summer Edition - July 10, 2021We're back! Mostly music this summer, with odd bits of other stuff. Ibrahim Ferrer, Percy Faith, The Flamingos, The Ink Spots, Rita Payés, Vic Damone, The Temptations, The Miracles, Bob Dylan, Toots & The Maytals, Etta James, Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Also the Top Ten Thousand anniversary, Danny Finkleman, Ross Porter, road trips, Dad and daughters and granddaughters and music, summer weddings, Barcelona jazz, Joe Versus the Volcano, Omega Man, The Princess and the Warrior.
2021-07-131h 03Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - July 11, 2020 v2Ordinary Time, Mailbag, Annual Top 100 Countdowns, annuses horribili, Elvis, Back To The Movies! (Even The Ones You Don't Like), Vertigo, Andreis Rublev and Tarkovsky, Joe Morgenstern, Peter Norman and 2001: A Space Odyssey and the worst night of Alex North's life. Featuring music by Nelson Boschman, Bruce Cockburn, Lance Odegard, Jonathan Anderson, Nina Simone, Johann & Richard Strauss, Alex North, and Brooks Williams.
2020-07-121h 03Soul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - May 31, 2020The Twilight Zone, Garrison Keillor, Billy Collins, Luci Shaw, Scout the Dog, and - around the 18 minute mark - next season and beyond at Pacific Theatre. Featuring music by Michael Hart, Carolyn Credico, and Patrick Holland (AKA "Project Pablo").
2020-05-3135 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - May 28, 2020W.H. Auden, W.P. Kinsella ("The Thrill Of The Grass"), and a letter from my Bundesliga-loving pal Marty in Germany. Featuring music by Ken Whitely & The Original Sloth Band, Bruce Cockburn, Jacqueline Schwab, and Taj Mahal.
2020-05-2847 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - May 15, 2020The Trip To Bountiful (with Kira Fondse, Paige Louter, and Erla Faye Forsyth), "The Star" by Diane Tucker, Prepping for the Apocalypse, the Cheerful International Film Festival, Bundesliga Alert, and Jalen Saip Phones It In. Featuring music by Spencer Capier & Carolyn Arends, Garth Bowen, Michael Hart, Laura Koch, Petula Clark, and Big Joe Turner.
2020-05-1647 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - May 1, 2020Dialing Down, In Praise of Phone Calls, Phoning It In: Bar Mitzvah Boy (with Gina Chiarelli, Mark Leiren-Young, Richard Newman, and Ian Farthing), and Mailbag. Featuring music by Carolyn Credico, Zaac Pick, Pee Wee Crayton, Etta James, Andy Statman and David Grisman, Brian Thiessen, and Portishead.
2020-05-0241 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - April 24, 2020Day 11557, The First Annual Earth Day International Film Festival, Thelma Schoonmaker, high school guidance, fresh Hot Cross Buns from Loren Wilkinson, and New York: Goings On About Town. Featuring music by Percy Faith, Barry and Lyn and Cara Luft, James Danderfer, Frank Sinatra, and Al Jolson.
2020-04-2538 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - April 18, 2020Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour, Squirrel Cop, plague dancing, Persons Of Color Aristocracy, legal challenges, You Can't Take It With You, and Mailbag. Featuring music by The Staple Family, Wyndham Thiessen & While Rome Burns, Bone Man Slim, Chris Hawley, Fats Waller, Viper Central, and Percy Faith & His Orchestra.
2020-04-1940 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - April 15, 2020Veterinarians, coronabrain, Today At The Movies, Mailbag, and the Re-United Nations. Featuring music by Zoe Thiessen, Chris Hawley, Carolyn Credico, and Paul David Hewson.
2020-04-1638 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: Easter Presence, Act 2 - April 11, 2020Hope you had a good Intermission. Time for some more Presence - like Christmas, but, well, for Easter. Act Two features Rebecca deBoer, Loren Wilkinson, Nicola Shannon, and me, reading from from Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sheila Rosen, David Kossoff, Luci Shaw, and Michael Symmons Roberts. With music from Miriam Jones, Ken Whitely, Cheryl Bear, Gillian Welch, Carolyn Arends, Julee Glaub, Viper Central, The Original Sloth Band, and Taj Mahal (joined by the Pointer Sisters). So let's close the lobby doors, settle in, get comfortable, and turn off your devices - well, except the one you're listening to this on. Enjoy...2020-04-1156 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: Easter Presence, Act 1 - April 10, 2020Hello! And welcome to Act One of Pacific Theatre's Easter Presence. Like Christmas Presence, it's a potluck of food for the soul - salads and hotdishes and dessert, pretty much whatever folks had on hand and wanted to bring bring to the table. Music and literature by a host of Pacific Theatre's artists and friends, including The Nelson Boschman Trio, Jon Ochsendorf, Chris Hawley, Rick Colhoun, Adrian Walther, Ira & David, Ken Whiteley, Chantal Gallant, Laura Koch (of The Kwerks), Peter La Grand, Ian Farthing, Leigh Ann & Ryan Howarth, Kirsty Provan, Allen Desnoyers, and Michael Hart. With readings from Lucy Grea...2020-04-1144 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - April 6, 2020Damien, Shakespeare's plague, Spencer Capier (as usual), Bard on the Beach, Ensemble Theatre Company, Original Sloth Band, Passion Week movies, Easter Presence, Frederick Buechner, Yo-Yo Ma, Simon Webb. As they say on Men In Blazers, "We've got a packed show tonight..."
2020-04-0733 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - April 4, 2020Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, Today at the Movies, Sean O'Casey, John Patrick Shanley, The Beatles, and more! Featuring Julie Casselman, John Voth, Spencer Capier, Tim Dixon, Laura Koch, Adri Boschman, and the lady in the Killucan cemetery.
2020-04-0532 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - March 31, 20202020-04-0428 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - March 27, 20202020-04-0434 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - March 24, 20202020-04-0420 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - March 22, 20202020-04-0428 minSoul Food: The Ghost Light SeasonSoul Food: The Ghost Light Season - March 21, 20202020-04-0421 min