Merry Christmas

Hi All: I just wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

On Christmas Eve I took my 10 year old cousin Samantha to Symphony Hall to see the Boston Pops Christmas Concert. What an amazing time that was. I can't even decscribe how beautiful Symphony Hall looked all decked out with incredible decorations; and the concert was breathtaking. This was Samantha's first time to see an orchestra, so it was fitting she saw one of the best in the world!

We had a table close to the stage, and you could feel the floor vibrate from the 100 plus company. This Christmas is on the melancholy side for me, with the recent loss of my Dad, but seeing Sam with a huge smile on her face, all dressed up in her Christmas best, helped a lot ... and was a quiet reminder that life goes on.

Samantha made her CRT debute in A CHRISTMAS CAROL when she was a year and ahalf old. (she is the youngest Cratchit who says "HI" as Bob Cratchit enters his home), So, tonight she is home, waiting for Santa, and she showed me for the first time this year, the true magic of the Christmas Season. Merry Christmas to all of you, and the best of the holiday season.

Cheers- Jerry

COLONIAL CHRISTMAS

Colonial has produced a few Christmas shows between 1997 and 2004. Some of them are on the air next week! I hope you can tune them in.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2004)
Airing
XM Radio, Ch. 163, Mon. Dec. 24 at 5am, 6:30pm

WAMU 88.5FM Washington DC (with Internet stream) Mon. Dec. 24 at 7:00pm

KGOU Central Oklahoma. (With Internet stream - I'll post the air time on the CRT blog when it is announced)

CRICKET ON THE HEARTH (2000)
Airing on XM Radio, Ch. 163
Mon. Dec.24th at 12pm, 8am, and then in three parts, Wed.-Fri. at 4am, 12pm, 6:30pm

THE SEVEN POOR TRAVELLERS (1997)
Airing on XM Radio
Dec.24th at 4pm, Dec. 25th at 5:30am, 1:30pm

DIBBLE'S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (2003)
Airing on XM Radio
Dec.24th at 2am, Dec. 25 at 7am, 3pm.

DIBBLE ON THE AIR and DROOD IN BOSTON with a couple of CRT Players

This TUESDAY, DEC. 18TH, John Lovering will air a Dibble episode from 2003 called THE PERFECT TREE on his RADIO THEATRE program. Originating out of Portsmouth NH, you can listen to the show on a live Internet stream.

Last night I was at the Speakeasy Stage Company in Boston to see THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. One of our CRT Players, Andrew Glynn, had a role in it, so I wanted to check it out. He did a fantastic job, and I am looking forward to working with him in upcoming projects. That's him on the left in the picture. On the right in the same picture is David Krinitt, who played "The Cowardly Lion" in our WIZARD OF OZ series about seven years back! I didn't get to see David after the show, but I wish I had. He was great, and this was the first time I saw him on stage - before this is was always at the microphones. His performances was a
hi light. The show plays thru Dec. 30th and is well worth a visit if you are in Boston over the Christmas Season.

Speaking of upcoming projects, I am just about finished with my script for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS! I am hoping to get this project going in January. I haven't taped a show since GUNS OF POWDER RIVER in May!

Has everyone finished their Christmas Shopping yet? This is the first time I have done most of it by Internet.

I got my tree up though - and it's all decorated. This is the first time in seven years that I have had a tree. With the recent loss of my Dad, and my Mom gone since 2001, the holiday season is not very merry, but I am trying to just forge on and stay above water.

Other news - lets see ... I fell on some icy steps this past week; bruised my back, twisted an ankle, gashed my right arm and cut the back of my leg. Then we had that ridiculous snowstorm where everyone hit the panic button and clogged the roads so the plows couldn't get through, and it took me five and half hours to get home in a trip that normally takes 75 minutes. What did I do when I got home??

I STARTED TO LOOK AT PROPERTY IN FLORIDA!

We'll see about that!

Father Brown Coast to Coast!

Today our FATHER BROWN series begins a five day run on XM Radio! J.T. Turner is fantastic in the lead role, and I am very happy with the way this series has turned out. My thanks to writer M.J. Elliott for adapting the stories for radio, M.J. Cogburn and Matt Maclaren for editing, and Kevin McLeod for the music. Check it out!

JT TURNER in A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Hey folks - WHO LIVES IN THE BOSTON AREA??? Do yourself a favor and drive on up to the beautiful seaport city of GLOUCESTER to the WEST END THEATER and see CRT star J.T. TURNER in his incredible one man show of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Dickens himself would tour the world reading from his book and acting out all the roles. Well, I've seen this show and JT doesnt read it - he has it memorized and acts it out as if Dickens himself were telling you the tale. I've seen the show and I can tell you its a great night out to celebrate the season. I may even see it again this weekend! Maybe I'll see you there?? If you have any CRT Cd's or tapes, I am sure JT will be around to autograph them after the performance. Here is a link the West End Theater Website for more information and directions. Performances are Fri. Dec. 7th at 7:30pm, and Saturday Dec. 8th at 3pm and 7:30pm.Tickets are $15.

FATHER BROWN - THE FLYING STARS

Another FATHER BROWN episode now available on Spokennetwork.com It's
THE FLYING STARS. Father Brown has been invited to a Christmas
masquerade, which becomes the target of another robbery. You can
download it here .

COLONIAL RADIO WILL PRODUCE ZORRO

Well, I've had to keep this under wraps until everything was signed,
but I am very happy to announce that Colonial has teamed with producer
John Gertz to bring ZORRO to the world of audio drama! Mr. Gertz owns
the copyright to Zorro (which was aquired by his father in 1940 from
Zorro's actual creator,Johnston McCulley), and he was co-producer on
the recent motion pictures with Antonio Banderas. The book I am
dramatizing for audio is ZORRO AND THE PIRATRE RAIDERS, and let me tell
you - this is going to be one exciting story! I am finishing up the
script now, and I hope to start production in January for a Springtime
release. The show is being produced in episode form for radio, and will
be released as a 2 CD set for retail. We'll produce it on a grand scale!
I'll post more updates (casting, recording, editing) as the project
takes shape.

POWDER RIVER RELEASE

GDL Multimedia is releasing POWDER RIVER Season 1 on December 20th. The
season is broken up into three CD packs, at the low cost of $9.95
per volume. These will soon be seen in truck stops and highway stops
across the country. There are also now on sale (Vols. 1 and 2) for pre-orders. Here is the link for Vol. 1

SEASON ONE. VOL. 1
and
SEASON ONE. VOL. 2

MARY POPPINS

On November 17th I took my favorite cousin Samantha (on the left), and her cousin, Jessica, to NYC to see their first Broadway show ever - MARY POPPINS, at the New Amsterdam Theater. Now, how lucky are these kids? ... After the performance, they got a private backstage tour with Mary Poppins (Ashley Brown), Bert (Gavin Lee), and Jane ( Alexandra Berro)and Michael Banks (Matthew Gumley) themselves! What a day!!

Wishing you all .....

A Happy Thanksgiving with your families, and especially to all our Armed Forces members around the world.

ON THE AIR

XM is running our RED BADGE OF COURAGE this week on Ch. 163. We did this one back in 2000, and it holds the honor of being the ONLY CRT show to be released without a music score! I was hoping for a "documentary feel" for the show. I don't know if it works or not - but there it is.

Over at JIM FRENCH PRODUCTIONS, you can hear an audio stream of POWDER RIVER; episode 8, NEW BEGINNINGS. This is actually two episodes edited together to form a single, one hour show. Works pretty good! Check it out, be sure to VOTE in their poll if you liked the show, or not!

Up in Portsmouth, NH, we will be heard on John Loverings Tuesday Night Show, WSCA-LP Radio Theatre. On Tue. Nov. 20th they will run THE PLIMOTH ADVENTURE - VOYAGE OF MAYFLOWER, from 1999! After which he will play a Dibble Thanksgiving Show from 2003 called THE GOOD OLD DAYS. Check them out - there is a live audio link on the station site so you can hear the broadcast anywhere in the world.

Then, on Dec. 18th, John will run Dibble's THE PERFECT TREE, and again, you can hear the broadcast on the stations website (you will find the links on the audio theater site I linked to above). After Dibble, he will run an awesome Grouch Marx show from 1954.

NEW FATHER BROWN EPISODE

Our newest FATHER BROWN episode has just opened on SPOKEN NETWORK for download. THE SECRET GARDEN stars JT TURNER as Father Brown, and many of you have emailed me asking when we would release a new episode - so, here it is!! In the next several weeks, look for Father Brown in THE FLYING STARS and THE INVISIBLE MAN.

CRT HALLOWEEN ON XM RADIO

For the third consecutive year, SONIC THEATER will present a Halloween Broadcast of our 2005 production THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. This broadcast kicks off a full day of SPOOKY HALLOWEEN PROGRAMS on Ch. 163, and it can be heard at midnight, Halloween morning (too late for the youngsters I'm afraid, unless they are on the West Coast where it airs at 9pm Oct. 30th!)
At 9pm (EST) they will run one of our earliest productions, THE LADY IN BLACK. This dates from 1996 and was recorded on analog tape! Still holds up pretty good though for an 11 year old recording and one of our oldest programs still in circulation.

Back in Business

Thank you to everyone who sent cards and emails over the past two weeks; they were very much appreciated. My Dad had been ill for six years, but always rebounded; and only three weeks ago he seemed to be bouncing back once again, but things turned and two days later he was gone. This one rocked me pretty hard, and still does, but at least now I can focus a little better and hopefully get some work done.

We have POWDER RIVER AND THE MOUNTAIN OF GOLD in post production right now. This will be done in the next few days and we should have it up for download by the end of the month. This one features REX TRAILER and his tv sidekick SGT. BILLY O'BRIEN! It's going to be a fun show.

MJ COGBURN continues post work on our FATHER BROWN MYSTERY series, and we are hoping to get these done by the end of October for a possible Christmas CD release. This will give us a total of eight episodes (and another 8 are planned)

Ray Bradbury'sTHE HALLOWEEN TREE is now in music scoring! I think I can say that this is going to be one of the most incredible music scores on ANY CRT show; we are debuting our new music system with this one, and the results are quite spectacular.

Our production partners at THE HOUSE OF COOL in Toronto pitched THE DIBBLE SHOW to a number of broadcasters at MIPCOM JR and MIPCOM in Cannes, France, earlier this month.This is the place where all the major broadcasters from around the world go to buy next years shows. We have several interested parties in the show, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can seal a deal in the next few weeks. You can see the DIBBLE animatic at the House of Cool website. Click on "House Work,: then "Original content," then "television," and a small tv screen will pop up; Dibble is the middle icon under this screen. click it and you will see the animatic. Also, to the left of the screen are numbered blocks. These have some drawings from the show.

This week I am going to be working on our POWDER RIVER episodes for Jim French's IMAGINATION THEATER. We are on the first Sunday of each month on radio stations all over the U.S. I am going to try and get a few months ahead of the game. Since Imagination Theater is an hour long show, I am taking two PR episodes and re-cutting them into a single episode. This means the credits also need to be re-recorded and edited; so, there is some work involved. You can hear the episodes online; they are streamed the week after they broadcast.

We are also expecting POWDER RIVER to be available on GDL Multi Media. They were due for release this month, but I don't think we have heard anything from them yet. We'll keep an eye on it and post the info when it is available.

Thats all for now. Adios.

COMING ON NOV. 1ST

my Dad

Kenneth W. Robbins
Aug.30, 1919 - Oct. 2, 2007.
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

OCTOBER 1st.

AMAZON.COM

Random Thought

From YAHOO News: Lights! Camera! Revolution! Unhappy with what he considers Hollywood's monopoly on the silver screen, President Hugo Chavez is bankrolling Venezuelan movies through a state-run film studio. Maybe he can get his buddies Harry Belafonte and Sean Penn to star in a few of them.

POWDER RIVER BACK ON THE AIR AT W0KIE!

In October of 2005, Dean Spratt contacted us about running POWDER RIVER on his Thursday night show on the W0KIE Satellite Network.We ran the first three seasons on Deans show - and he even guest starred in two episodes - before is untimely death in January of this year. We were contacted a short while ago by Janet Ross who runs a show on W0Kie on Sunday nights, and she wanted to run the series. So, we agreed to run POWDER RIVER on her show, S&J Assylum, Sunday Nights at 11:00pm EST! You need winamp to listen online; and you can hear the broadcast at the W0KIE site, by clicking on one of the several live stream links HERE. Season 1 started Sept.23rd - so remember - Sunday Nights at 11!

POWDER RIVER coming soon to Highway Service Centers!

Yep, you heard it right! POWDER RIVER is saddling up and hitting new trails, all repackaged and ready to entertain truckers and travelers across the country! In October, GDL Multi Media will release season one. We are very happy to be joining our friends at Jim French Productions to bring Audio Drama to the Interstate Highways at a low price; 5 episodes will be sold in each volume, in a two-CD set. The release date will be posted here.

A NEW BRADBURY PROJECT

In just a couple of weeks, Blackstone Audio will release our production of Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES!

I am VERY happy to announce that we are now working on our third collaboration with Mr. Bradbury - THE HALLOWEEN TREE. Our cast includes J.T. Turner along with some very talented youngsters - Matthew Scott Robertson, Anastas Varinos, Connor Doherty, Curtis Brauner, Dan Duran, Jacob Rosenbaum, Rob Cattell, and James McLean. Nancy Curran Willis directs, Chris Snyder is the producer, and Jeffrey Gage is working on the music. We hope to wrap up post production in January or February, 08.

Bloopers Anyone?

For the first time EVER, I have posted a few bloopers from some of our recording sessions on the CRT FAN SITE. There are a few from CAPTAIN BLOOD, FATHER BROWN, and POWDER RIVER. If people like them, I'll put some more up.

CRT's J.T.TURNER ON STAGE IN BOSTON

Any CRT fans in the Boston area Sept.7-Oct.13 should stop by the LYRIC STAGE COMPANYto see J.T. Turner in the role of the tavern keeper in MAN OF LaMANCHA! Last year J.T. got rave reviews as Ben Franklin in their production of 1776, and I'm sure this show will be every bit as good. J.T. appears with CRT as Westbrook Ahern in THE DIBBLE SHOW, Mr. Dark in SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (Oct. 1, Blackstone Audio), Lavasseur and the Governor in CAPTAIN BLOOD, several guest star roles in POWDER RIVER, FATHER BROWN, and his own A VISIT WITH AESOP.

SOMETHING WICKED arrives in OCTOBER!

We got word from Blackstone that our production of Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES will be released on CD, mp3 and Cassette Oct. 1st!
This is my favorite Bradbury story, and we got a good response from Bradbury authority Phil Nichols, of BradburymediaUk.com, and he said he would be posting his review when the show is released. Ray loved it also, which is the most important thing. Jeff's score is, again, fantastic, and the performances ain't too bad either! The two leads are played by Anastas Varinos (Treasure Island) and Matthew Scott Robertson (Guns of Powder River), and you can't miss the CHILLING performance by J.T. Turner as the evil Mr. Dark. Others in the cast include Diane Lind, Diane Capen,Tom Berry,Lincoln Clark,Teresa Goding, Shonna McEachern,Joseph Zamparelli Jr.,Marcia Friedman, Allysa Mello, Dan Gelinas, and Rik Pierce. The show was directed by Nancy Curran Willis, and the post producer was Chris Snyder.

Ray Bradbury wrote the script, based on his original novel!!

Sooo - if you're looking for a scary 2 hours for Halloween - put this on the CD player, turn the lights out - and this will surely put a chill up your spine! Info will be posted on the CRT website home page when ordering information is available. ~JR

GUNS OF POWDER RIVER RELEASE

It's finally here! We thought we would have this one out in July, but at last we are able to offer our 226th production - GUNS OF POWDER RIVER in download format. GUNS is a feature length program, and I think fans of the show will enjoy it (hopefully even non-fans :)

Most of the cast from season one returned to Studio G for the May 26th recording session: Shane Clarke, Sam Donato (from Florida no less), Cynthia Pape, Lincoln Clark, and it was great how everyone just fell into the old characters and made everything click. Chris Snyder did an outstanding post production. We are planning to release our next Powder River feature, POWDER RIVER and the MOUNTAIN OF GOLD late this fall, with our special guest stars Rex Trailer and Sgt. Billy O'Brien! But that's later! Right now - here's GUNS OF POWDER RIVER

ON XM AUG. 13 - 31

CAPTAIN BLOOD returns for a three week run on SONIC THEATER, XM. CH 163. Dramatized from the book by RAFAEL SABATINI.
MON: Kirke's Dragoons
TUE: Human Merchandise
WED: Plans of Escape
THU: Pirates!
FRI: The Rebel-Convicts

Late Night Conversation

I thought we would have released GUNS OF POWDER RIVER by now (I had promised mid-July), and hopefully we will have it on Spoken Net this week, and XM shortly afterward. I'm at the mercy of our editors, and I can only push so much. I haven't edited a show myself since DANDELION WINE a year ago! Sad to say our editor in Australia who I raved about has not worked out, as he left the FATHER BROWN project hanging with two incomplete acts of two different episodes, and an entire episode. Unprofessional and frustrating has been the experience "down under." He did great work, but if you don't deliver, you dont deliver.End of story. End of case. I should have noticed something was wrong as far back as April, when my eyebrow was first raised at one of the many excuses. I must be slipping, or getting old. The shows will now be completed by Chris Snyder when he gets a chance, but my hope of getting FATHER BROWN released this fall is pretty much crushed.

TOM SWIFT is now in post-production and sounds just fine! I think folks will like this little slice of Americana from the early 1900's.

We have upgraded our entire music department with the worlds best music software program! This cost a bundle and I am dying to hear the results. We are now in talks to bring a TV/ Movie Icon to life in Audio (as I mentioned before), and its possible that that production will be the first to debut with our new music program.

This coming week we have new air times on XM Radio. We were lucky, as many shows got the axe. We have a lot of loyal fans on XM, and they let XM know it! Our new times are ok, and we cant complain. We are going into our third season with Sonic Theater! THE DIBBLE SHOW is now airing Thursdays at 3:30, EST. Not the best slot for Dibble, which is mostly for kids (it will run 12:30 in the West, during school hours), but we'll take it. The staff at XM have been very good to us.

POWDER RIVER continues to generate fan mail here at CRT! We've had requests for autographed photos, scripts, caps, mugs. I think we need to get some stuff made up; what do you think?

It's a great feeling knowing that POWDER RIVER has caught on. The other night I was listening to the Radio Classics station on XM. It was an old Lone Ranger show from 65 years ago. I started wondering if, perhaps 65 years from now, when I'm long gone, if someone would be listening to a POWDER RIVER episode saying "Man, this thing was recorded 65 years ago!" It's a nice feeling, knowing that someone who perhaps isnt even born yet, might be enjoying your work years from now. I hope so, anyway.

3:10 To Yuma

Hey you Powder River fans, here's some cool news! On Sept. 7th the BEST
WESTERN in YEARS is going to be released nation wide! It's called 3:10
To Yuma, and it stars Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, and Peter Fonda.
Tonight I saw a sneak preview with J.T. Turner in Boston -with Peter
Fonda in the house! I can't say enough about this one. Wait till you
see it! Tonights screening had no credits and a slapped on music track -
but without all that, it is a powerful gutsy western the way John Ford
used to make them! Wait till you see it!You're gonna love it! Peter
Fonda delivers one of his best performances, and brings the Fonda
legend back to the classic westerns. Man oh man, what a night!
Hollywood can still deliver!

Ernie Day

I was very saddened to have read that Ernest Day had died this past November. Ernie was an INCREDIBLE cameraman, Director of Photography, and Second Unit Director.
I met Ernie in the summer of 1987 when I was in Montreal to start work on the film APRIL MORNING that was to Star Robert Urich and Tommy Lee Jones. Pretty much all of my two weeks on the picture was with second unit, and I got to know Ernie very well on the set. I couldn't believe I was working with the man who photographed LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, and I let him know it! We had a lot of laughs, and he was very giving of his time to me with all my questions about shooting a picture. A couple of days on the set when the rain poured down, he invited me to sit in the camera truck and we would discuss all the films he had worked on. He also gave me some really cool bits to do in the picture, and those are two weeks that I will always remember with great fondness. I wrote to him a couple of times after the movie ended, but, after time, as it is with many shows, the cast and crew drift apart. The last time I saw him was in the production office of the movie, and as I was leaving he said "I think we made a good one here!" I said something back like, "We'll do it again!" Well, we never did, and I never saw him again after that day.

I thought about him today, looked him up, and saw that he had passed away. A wonderful man. He was nominated for an Academy Award for A PASSAGE TO INDIA. Some of the films he photographed include BECKET, EXODUS, THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS. STONE, LORD JIM, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, RYANS DAUGHTER, NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, MOONRAKER, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, RAMBO 3, APRIL MORNING, and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, his final credited film.

So you've seen his work. Next time you see one of these pictures, know that they were shot by a good guy. a real good guy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE

Our friend Kate Phillips turned 94 on July 19th! Kate was known in her
Hollywood years as Kay Linaker, and appeared in featured roles in such
pictures as DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK with Henry Fonda, BLOOD AND SAND
with Tyrone Power, KITTY FOYLE with Ginger Rogers, THE INVISIBLE MAN
with John Barrymore and many more, including a few CHARLIE CHAN
pictures! I met Kate in 2003 when she saw our BIG CHRISTMAS RADIO BROADCAST OF 1946 at the Claremont Opera House in NH. She's quite a lady, and has
known everyone from Bing Crosby (she used to babysit his kids, and
said the claims of abuse is "bull"). Glenn Miller, Errol Flynn, and on
and on. Kate also wrote the screenplay for the motion picture THE BLOB, as well as a ton of radio shows and TV shows, including BONANZA and LASSIE. She gave me some great pointers on script writing! Kate still teaches film at Keene State College! She doesnt have
a computer, so she won't see this posting, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY anyway,
Kate! She's one amazing lady. ~JR

Show Biz Royalty

I'm in Cohasset MA tonight with Liza Minnelli! (She has GOT to guest star on THE DIBBLE SHOW- how cool would THAT be?).

This week I'll see the first storyboards for THE DIBBLE SHOW from our friends up in Toronto at HoC! I can't wait to see how it's developing. Also, we are now in talks with a rather successful motion picture producer in CA about bringing an iconic character to life in a radio series! This is VERY exciting stuff, and I hope I can tell you all about it soon.
Also, in another couple of days I will be able to announce our third collaboration with Ray Bradbury, but we have to wait until the agents do their thing.

New Times on XM

After a comfortable two years in a nice time slot on XM Radio, Colonial is being moved to a NEW spot on Sonic Theatre! CRT will now be heard at 4am, 12pm, 6pm EST, and THE DIBBLE SHOW will air on Thursdays at 3:30pm! All this starts August 6th. All in all, not bad.

SONY - Entertaining the Future, and RUINING my schedule.

You know, there was a time when I SWORE by SONY. Everything in "sound" the I had was built by them. I had a CD player that lasted 18 years! EIGHTEEN YEARS! It still works - the only reason I replaced it was because it would not play back computer burned CD's (I dont think those were commonplace back then). Then I got a NEW player, that would play the computer burned CD's. It died after three years. Just took on a mind of its own and would not play the right tracks or the right CD's, or would start playing them then switch to something else all on its now.
So now I find myself using a sound editor from SONY and it causes me nothing but headaches and ulcers. Today alone I ditched 5 CD's when this "entertaining the future" system failed to burn all the tracks that were programmed. SONY, while you are "Entertaining the future" I suggest you spend some time entertaining how to make your products actually work properly "today." And I wish to thank you for putting me several hours behind schedule.Love and kisses - JR

DIBBLE CROSSING

From his Radio series to his TV series - Dibble is getting closer to coming to the tube (well, they're not tubes anymore, are they?)! Just a teaser :)

Working today on a DIBBLE teleplay (yeah!). Plans for the day include checking out J.T. Turners show up at the West End Theater in Gloucester. He's doing "THE SCARECROW OF RUMNEY MARSH." Yes, I know it should be "Romney", but I guess the author decided no one would notice moving the classic "Dr. Syn" story from England to Mass. I always loved the Disney movie and I've considered doing an audio drama of the book in the past. Perhaps this will light a fire under me. Who knows. The picture I've posted is from the website at the theater.

POWDER RIVER seems to be doing good biz in it's CD release! That's pretty cool! I'm working on getting Season 5 recorded and done by the end of August. That's all for now - back to writing.

I just learned that former CRT Player Armand Fillian passed away on
July 2nd from cancer, at the age of 66. Armand was with us for the
WIZARD OF OZ series (1999), playing the Guardian of the Gate, and the
evil vegetable wizard in "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz," and many other
voices in those programs. He also played Lord Bowley in THE CHIMES
(2000). He had a great character voice and brought a lot of color to
our recordings. Rest in peace, Armand.

It's the Fourth of July and we're all a year older! Busy day here at the old writing desk. Our DIBBLE SHOW tv project is gaining speed, and it's very exciting. House of Cool is in the process of doing a short animation test, and I've sent them some sound clips to work off of. Can't wait to see it. In the meantime, writing on POWDER RIVER season 5 continues. I need to get some of these recorded this month.

SEASON 4 RELEASE

POWDER RIVER SEASON FOUR has just been released (July 1) by Blackstone! They have released a season a month starting back in April - and this is it for a while with the gang in Clearmont. I am writing season 5 right now, and the two-hour feature GUNS OF POWDER RIVER is in editing, and will run on XM later this month. Also, aside from writing the PR scipts, I am reading two books (prospects for upcoming productions), writing some treatments, and we have several productions in various stages of completion, as well as upgrading our music dept. So, things are far from slow around here. How was your weekend?

DANDELION WINE wins BEST PRODUCTION

Our production of Ray Bradbury's DANDELION WINE has won the Gold Ogle Award for Best Fantasy Production of the year by the American Society For Science Fiction Audio! This is the second year in row we have won the top honor (last year we won for THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW). Got a very nice letter from David Ossman (of Firesign Theatre Fame) who will hand out the awards on July 6th in Minneapolis. The show was a marathon of production, recording in two sessions, and edited in two weeks. Thanks to our Director, Nancy Curran Willis, and especially to Ray Bradbury who wrote the script (based on his 1957 novel).

new releases

Early listenings by "preview people" are saying that SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES is good one! Our FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES, VOL. 1 is completed and will soon be sent off to our publisher. M J Elliott is writing the scripts for Vol. 2. Looking forward to recording them. GUNS OF POWDER RIVER is now in editing, and we are still planning a mid-July release.

RANTS

I haven't ranted in a while.

Rosie wants the PRICE IS RIGHT job?? I'll never watch again. I guess she is going to try and recapture her "Queen of Nice" gig. Too late - the true colors have been flown.

Mayor Bloomburg - what are you thinking??! Two words to remember - ROSS PEROT (and he had billions too)

I havent watched it, because I cant stand reality TV, but AMERICA'S GOT TALENT - I mean - we have David Hasselhoff judging TALENT??!!!!!

Almost got rear ended today by a nice oblivious lady in her BMW chatting on her cell phone, laughing, and having a hell of a good time. I saw her in my rear view mirror as she got closer and closer. If I didnt swing out of the lane where I was PARKED, she would have gone right into me. Seeing as how she ran right through a red light, its amazing she didnt hit anyone. Last I saw of her, she was still holding the phone to her ear, driving merrily on her way. The dark side of me thought that I should have let her hit me. I would have had a stiff neck, but the world would be rid of another dangerous driver.

remember the world before cell phones?

Angela Lansbury should have won the TONY Award. Saw her last month at the Music Box in NYC; great performance!! WHo was that woman who won? Remember the "good old days" when people didnt act like idiots when they won awards? I was watching some old clips on Youtube of the old Oscar and TONY broadcasts. How times have changed. Angie would have brought some class into the act.

Saw Christopher Plummer last month also, in INHERIT THE WIND. Awesome production, but I already wrote about that last month (Angela and Plummer in one day - fantastic). Still - I was rooting for him!!

thats enough. back to writing. aloha.

Production wraps!

June 17, 2007 - Post production is completed on Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES! What I originally thought would be a 3 month post turned into a 10 month post. First time I miscalculated - but it was worth it - we got a good one here :)

BUSY BUSY!

Lot's going on! Lessee ... our production of Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES is going to be ready this week. I should be able to let Ray hear a preview week after this, and also send it off to Blackstone. This one took much longer than I expected, and we met with some delays, but it will be worth it. Another incredible score from Jeff, and a great edit from Chris. Also ready this week, our FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES, Vol. 1 will be ready to ship off to our publishers as well! These are some really cool episodes edited by our amazingly talented 19 year old editor in Australia, Matt McLaren! The music for this series is by Kevin Mcleod, and scripted by M.J. Elliott in England; and I can't forget to mention the great J.T. Turner, who stars as Father Brown. We have been releasing them as downloads, but Blackstone will do a spiffy CD release.

GUNS OF POWDER RIVER has finished recording, and the 1st rough cut is done as well. This will go into final edit in the next couple of weeks and will be released in July.

Speaking of POWDER RIVER, Season 5 started production last week, and we taped three fun-filled episodes with Rex Trailer and Sgt. Billy O'Brien! These are going to be three of my favotie episodes - I can tell! How cool was it to see these two legends from Boston TV (and my youth) perform together again? Thanks a ton to Sam Donato who made it all happen! The episodes we taped are a little lighter after the intense ending of Season 4. These were done without most of the regular cast, since the episodes take place in California, not Wyoming - but the show returns to Clearmont for the next batch, recording soon. Season 5 will hit the air in September.

We have just upgraded our music department, and Jeff now has some brand new top of the line tools to turn out some scores like you have never before from CRT! This is VERY, VERY exciting! The first production that will boast this new sound will be THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SWIFT, which will start post-production soon.

I had my first "Live chat" with some CRT fans last night. Lots of fun!

Thats all for now. Back to the editing desk.

If it's Monday ......

... I must be recording! Tonight we start recording Season 5 of POWDER RIVER with three episodes and guest stars REX TRAILER and SGT. BILLY O'BRIEN from TV's BOOMTOWN! Rex appeared with us in Season 3, and it's great he's coming back for these episodes. These episodes take place in California, so most of the regular cast does not appear in the season openers.

Also on Monday, I'll be starting to edit GUNS OF POWDER RIVER, which will be broadcast in July. Should be a fun show.

This coming Saturday I'll be hosting my first "live chat" with the members of our CRT Yahoo Fan Group. Should be fun!

A cold and damp day in Boston. How is it where YOU are?

NEW RELEASE!

CRT has just released FATHER BROWN - THE THREE TOOLS OF DEATH on Spoken Network.

POWDER RIVER SEASON 3

POWDER RIVER Season 3 is released on June 1st! Nothin' better than a good western for the summertime! Great for long car trips (Yeah, I'm soundin like a salesman - but its exciting!). This season features Sheriff Dawes on the cover.

WRITING, WRITING!

GUNS OF POWDER RIVER is 90% recorded; now I just need the "book end" scenes on Thursday night, and we're ready for editing. Just finished a 16 hour writing session, so this is a short entry.

MEMORIAL DAY

Honoring former CRT Players
William Nesti. d.1996 - Seabee's
Carl Malenchini. 1942-2003 U.S. Marines

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. -John F. Kennedy

RECORDING DAY

In a few hours the mics will turn on and we'll be underway with GUNS OF POWDER RIVER!
I'm looking forward to this one. Sam Donato has flown up from sunny Florida to incredibly hot Boston, and he gets to do the same next week when we record the first three episodes of season 5! I am excited about the cast for this one - and I think it's an exciting script! I think we should have it ready for July!

Season 5 will be sporting some new opening credits, and the show will travel more - meaning not all the episodes will take place in Clearmont. In fact, the first three episodes of the new season take place in California. The season will record in June, July and August, and will kick off our third season on XM Radio in September!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUKE!

I can't believe that this weekend would have been John Wayne's 100th Birthday! I love the Duke, and here is a VERY COOL SITE and event that I would kill to attend! Watch a John Wayne picture this weekend and celebrate one of Hollywoods greatest movie stars!

Back to Woik

Back from NYC. Caught two shows - DEUCE Starring Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes, and INHERIT THE WIND starring Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy! Both shows were great. Deuce has been pretty much universally panned by the critics, but why is it these days every play needs to be Hamlet??? The sold out house that I attended was laughing, very attentive, and lots of smiles. It was a fun show and I loved it.
"Inherit the Wind" has always been one of my favorites, and this one was incredible. Front row seats, Christopher Plummer about 5 feet away doing a scene on the steps leading up to the stage ... a great night! Got to meet Brian Dennehy afterwards, so that was cool. Dinner at Sardis ...all in all, a good trip! Now back to the writing grind. We record GUNS OF POWDER RIVER this weekend, and then on June 4th the first three episodes of Season 5. Those are the scripts I'm doing now. So - its back to woik.

Whats new around here and Random thoughts

After a one year hiatus, I am going back into the editing room for some hands-on production work. The last production I edited for CRT was DANDELION WINE (and every production that came before it); and since then most of my CRT time has been spent scheduling, recording, and writing (and writing, and writing); but I've decided that I need more splicing and dicing in my life - so I am going to be editing!

Useless random thoughts?
~
I feel very old
Mothers Day can really suck
I could easily move away from this New England weather. I need to think of that more.
-so why am I looking at a huge house in North Hampton NH?
My world moves much too slow for me
I write better in bars
I need a vacation ... But bad. It's been 7 years or so.
I dont listen to audio books, in fact, I dont even like them.
I heard an interview with someone from LA Theatre works lamenting on how 'young people dont go to the theatre anymore." LADY - an Orchestra ticket for a Broadway musical can reach $250.00! The cheap seats are 50!! TOUCH REALITY - ITS REFRESHING.

My top 10 Pet peeves;
1) A person talking with their mouth full. I dont want to SEE the process, thank you!
2) Guys wearing baseball caps in restaurants.
3) The same baseball caps worn backwards.
4) Cell phones in movie theatres!!! And people talking on them! I love paying 12 bucks to hear someones conversation.
5) Those awful "cricket phones" that chirp. Do they have a vibrate mode?? And then both parties shouting into them! Just what I want to hear in a nice restaurant.
6) Excuses.
7) People who are mean to kids
8) People who are mean to their pets
9) small talk
10)Leaf Blowers

Ok, I vented. now back to writing the script

TOM SWIFT WRAPS

Last night we finished recording TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE, which will be released for broadcast as THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SWIFT. I think this will also be fun production when it is edited and scored. I am hoping to have it on-air in July. The CRT players rose to the occasion once again and turned in some fun performances - special thanks to Matthew Scott Robertson who played Tom, Hugh Metzler who played his father, and Quent Risher who played Rad! This was Quent's first return to CRT in 10 years! All in all, a fun time, great recording sessions, and one more reason why I love recording for CRT, and last night brought us to 220 productions!

POWDER RIVER - SEASON TWO IS RELEASED

Season 2 of my western series POWDER RIVER was released on May 1st! A couple of favorite episodes in this batch are SON OF THE MORNING STAR, BLOOD ON MONTANA SNOW, THE BLIZZARD,and JENNY WHITE. I think this is my favorite season so far. Not sure though.

ITS MAY!

Thanks to everyone who came out to see us in Gloucester this weekend! It was a great run and a lot of fun at the West End Theater. Tonight we recorded episodes 1,2,3 of THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SWIFT, and it was an enjoyable session. Matt Robertson is playing Tom, and he's a lot of fun (and a good actor!)He is backed up by CRT vets Hugh Metzler, JT Turner, Quent Risher, Derek Aalerud, Lincoln Clark, Shonna McEachern and Marcia Friedman. All in all, a great night, topped off by last call at the pub where I took some NY Yankee Bashing from John at the bar! Oh, it's tough being a Yankee's fan in Bawstun.

REX IS BACK!

Rex Trailer will be making three more appearances on POWDER RIVER in Season 5! These episodes will take Britt MacMasters to California, and will lead off the new season. Also guest starring will be Bill O'Brien - better know to millions of Boston TV fans as SGT. BILLY! I am so excited about this! I watched BOOMTOWN each and every weekend for many, many years ... and this is just so damned cool! In the picture you see CRT's SAM DONATO, SGT. BILLY O'BRIEN, and REX TRAILER in BOOMTOWN.
Man, those were the good old days.

Updates, Updates!

BARRYMORE is up in Gloucester this week at the West End Theater! The set looks great in this venue. Hope to see you in Gloucester!

I'm back to writing POWDER RIVER. Right now I am working on the two hour special, GUNS OF POWDER RIVER, and after that, I'm all ready to start in on Season Five (as soon as I can get some ideas for 15 new episodes)! We'e lining up some special guest stars for these new episodes, and I am very excited about it. The series will be in production from June thru August.

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SWIFT starts Monday night, as we tape three episodes.

Production is winding down on our second Ray Bradbury production, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. It's been a very long production schedule on this one, but worth the wait. I think it will blow people away when they hear it. It is quite spectacular.

POWDER RIVER CD RELEASE

Check out the final release cover art to our "POWDER RIVER Season One" CD / Cassette / MP3 release!! The shows have been re-mastered, and in some cases, new sound effects added (not a lot, but some :)The shows sound great. 15 episodes are included here, including one of my favorite PR stories, THE WINE OF LIFE.

I saw the "official" POWDER RIVER cover art today, and it looks pretty cool. Went to Gloucester to the West End Theater, and Gordon Baird, who is bringing BARRYMORE to Gloucester - congrats on the Equity Card!! Gordon opens this week in CRAZY FOR YOU at the NORTH SHORE MUSIC THEATRE. Try to catch it (after you catch BARRYMORE)

BARRYMORE IN GLOUCESTER

I'm really looking forward do doing BARRYMORE at the West End Theater in Gloucester next week. We are there for three days, April 27,28 at 8pm and Sun. April 29 at 5pm!
Judson Pierce will be playing the role of the prompter, Frank. We had a run thru with Jud the other night and he was great!!! For CRT fans, Jud played the wooden saw horse in our WIZARD OF OZ series, and he's also won a few 'best actor' awards!
This is a cool theatre and I can't wait to do the play there! See ya in Gloucester!