The Adelaide Show Podcast

08/08/2025

One year after doing a special episode about the SA Variety Bash, and one day after dropping an episode reminding us to be human as we use AI tools, Steve Davis heads off on a very human endeavour, eight days on the road in the South Australian Variety Bash 2025. He will hopefully evolve into a podcaster once again upon his return. Next stop, Burra.

07/08/2025

NEW EPISODE: The AI Rant - A Nuanced Rebellion Against Digital Sleepwalking

What happens when you conduct a philosophical 23rdstreetdistillery whisky tasting with OpenAI's ChatGPT while exploring whether humans are becoming digital sheep?

In this special crossover episode, Steve Davis delivers an unflinchingly honest examination of our relationship with artificial intelligence. No breathless tech enthusiasm here - just real talk about the trade-offs we're making, with his Talked About Marketing colleague, David Olney.

This episode features:
- A restaurant analogy that perfectly captures our AI moment
- Philosophical whisky tasting with ChatGPT exploring consciousness and taste
- Why AI flattery is rewiring our brains for the worse
- The hidden costs of digital convenience
- Original songs warning against our smartphone addiction

Ready to think differently about the technology in your pocket?

Listen now at TheAdelaideShow.com.au

https://theadelaideshow.com.au/podcast-episodes/418-the-ai-rant-a-nuanced-rebellion-against-digital-sleepwalking/

Steve explores AI's impact on humanity through philosophy, whisky tasting with ChatGPT, and original songs warning against digital dependency.

27/07/2025

Have you heard about the bomb plot at Adelaide Oval?

Don't worry, it's fiction... but former military intelligence analyst Michael Ball chose our iconic venue for very real reasons.

Turns out Adelaide is actually a hotbed of spies and intelligence operations!

In episode 417, Ball reveals why modern espionage looks nothing like James Bond ("if you're doing car chases and explosions, something's gone horribly wrong"), how he uses empathy as a weapon in his intelligence work, and why his 14-year-old protagonist Zoe Baird succeeds through resilience rather than superpowers.

Plus: We taste-test Bickford's Australia's new sugar-free cordials (spoiler: they're magnificent) and debut an original 80s anthem for local newsreader legend, Mel Usher.

PS Shout out to Dymocks Books for stocking this local author's Young Adult debut novel.

Listen now on all podcast platforms or here: https://theadelaideshow.com.au/podcast-episodes/417-bomb-plot-at-adelaide-oval-with-michael-ball-and-zoe-baird/

Former military intelligence analyst Michael Ball discusses his debut young adult thriller featuring Adelaide Oval under terrorist attack.

26/07/2025

No matter where you are in South Australia tonight, we hope you’ve spent the evening running around on soggy grass to make the most of this balmy winter.

02/07/2025

The Stirling Players, Adelaide has an antidote for winter chills - heartwarming, laughter-inducing theatre in the hill.s

If there's anything that justifies heading out into the cold, surely it's the promise of a quirky, slightly absurdist play with a young cast playing multiple characters from a play that broke box office records when it was first produced.

“Almost, Maine” by John Cariani features nine plays in one under the Northern Lights in Maine, USA. The title refers to the town, Almost, which is almost in Canada and almost not in the USA (which might be the desired state, these days).

On one night, eight couples explore love and friendship with a large dollop of magic realism, romance and some surprise endings. And who doesn't like a surprise ending?

Enjoy a complimentary sherry when you arrive, and huddle around the roaring fire before you roar with laughter.

This production showcases some of the groups best, young talent, pictured: Back: Toby Vincent (Assistant Director), Tim Stoeckel, Oliver Medwell, Sam Ewart. Middle: Harri Wolff,
Annabel McGregor, April Strevens (Production Manager). Front: Kodi Jackson, Ben Proeve (Director) and Kaila Barton. Photo by Daniel Salmond.

Evening shows 11th , 18th and 19th 7.30 pm, Matinees Saturday 19th , 2 pm and 3pm on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th. Running time: Two hours including 15 mins interval. Venue: The Stirling Community Theatre, 7 Avenue Road, Stirling.
www.stirlingplayers.org.au
Tickets https://www.trybooking.com/DBFRS
Adult /Conc. $20-$27
Student Rush at the door (with ID) $15. No booking required.

27/06/2025

From a shop floor still (that had to be remodelled to make work) to global gin success: Sean Baxter's Never Never Distilling Co. journey proves passion + persistence = world-class spirits.

Plus Steve discovers his "spiritual home of gin" in Navy Strength Juniper Freak!

And The Violets return for their 30th anniversary show at The Gov on August 29.

So much, triple distilled into this episode!

Sean Baxter's gin masterclass transforms Steve's palate while revealing Never Never Distilling's journey from shed to global success.

14/06/2025

Look at us going all Glam Adelaide and Adelady on you for World Gin Day. Never Never has a bold new look and new gins, ready to take on the big players. Meanwhile, Bottega Berry and Gin Gelato capped off a superb day at Hains & Co.

31/05/2025

There’s not much signal coverage through these areas, so remember to download a few episodes to get you through, especially our Coober Pedy one.

30/05/2025

A 15-year-old wine that doesn't taste 15 years old. A cube that shouldn't exist. A conversation that turns quantum physics into poetry.

Listen to what happens when Chester Osborn pours his d'Arenberg "Vociferate Dipsomaniac" (yes, that's really the name) and it transforms before our very palate - from violet gardens to dark chocolate, teaching us that great winemaking is really just the elegant management of faults.

"It's like watching the same movie, but they've shifted me from Cinema One to Cinema Four with an IMAX screen," Steve discovers, as one wine becomes three different experiences over 90 minutes at The Duke of Brunswick.

Episode 415: Where Salvador Dali meets McLaren Vale, and time becomes as malleable as melting clocks.

Chester Osborn reveals how surrealism, Salvador Dali and impossible architecture transformed McLaren Vale winemaking forever.

25/05/2025

Anybody know what these blue lumps are in my weather app?

19/05/2025

JUSTICE AT LAST!

Look what we dug out of storage - The Adelaide Show's ORIGINAL podcast vehicle! This beauty, now in storage at Old Tailem Town Pioneer Village, never managed more than 25km/h in its heyday, which seemed painfully slow... until today.

As of today in South Australia, new road rules require drivers to slow to 25km/h when passing vehicles with flashing amber lights - including roadside service vehicles (and podcast vehicles, possibly).

So after all these years, our vintage mobile studio wasn't underpowered - it was just 70 years ahead of the safety curve!

Perfect timing to rediscover this piece of our heritage during History Trust of South Australia's History Month, don't you think?

Next question, where shall we do our next roadside recording?

16/05/2025

Wow. I've taken the Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram across to Granite Island before, but while there during a Visitor Information Services Network conference this week, being put on by Visit Fleurieu Peninsula, I had a chance to visit the stables and hear from the team about how they manage and train and love their horses.

It was an eye opener, helping me understand that horse/human bond that would have been common in the time before the combustion engine.

Anyway, I was reflecting on Murray, the horse who pulled us over and back yesterday, and the thoughts some people have that it shouldn't be happening in this day and age, and the overwhelming array of stories of joy and delight and therapy that these horses make possible.

I penned some words and then got a little help to render this song a virtual band.

Looking forward to having an episode on this topic soon.

- Steve Davis