2008 - A YEAR IN REVIEW

So much happened this year that as we are now in it's final hours, I feel like the roller coaster is coming to a slow stop at the end of the ride. CRT of course, dominated my time. Here is a breakdown of what we did this year!

JANUARY
"The Halloween Tree" is in post production, with Chris editing and Jeff writing music and trying to keep ahead of the game. "The Father Brown Mysteries" are also in Post Production.

ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS scripts are finished, and then continue with multiple drafts.

We begin recording KING SOLOMON'S MINES. Written by JT Turner. Me, JT and Hugh Metzler start a seven session recording gig to get this one done.

FATHER BROWN episode 10 is recorded.

FEBRUARY

KING SOLOMON'S MINES continues to record, with two sessions canceled. I came down with a very bad flu that had me in bed almost two weeks. Recording resumes at the end of the month. Byron Lee is given the task of producing with Chris Snyder as Supervising Producer.

We start "The Colonial Radio Theatre Podcast." For the first time, we'll release a few of our shows to go out on the internet at no charge, in a podcast hosted by Jack Ward in Halifax, NS. These will be released monthly for 1 year.

Walter Koenig (From Star Trek!) agrees to work with us on dramatizing his book BUCK ALICE AND THE ACTOR ROBOT as an audio drama.

MOONFLEET production announced. Lining up recording dates and cast begins. MJ Cogburn, currently working on FATHER BROWN will produce.

THE HALLOWEEN TREE is completed, and Jeff Gage comes over where we play it for the first time. We love it!!

MARCH

KING SOLOMON'S MINES finishes recording. Chris Snyder starts to co-edit the show to get it finished in time for a June release.

FATHER BROWN continues post production with MJ editing episode 9.

March 11: Bill Hammond records new intros for KING SOLOMONS MINES
March 13: Rob Cattell records a test audition for MOONFLEET. He gets the part!
March 18: Foley session for KING SOLOMON'S MINES. African chants and battle cries. Fun!
March 19: MOONFLEET begins recording with session 1
March 20: KING SOLOMON pick-up lines and re-takes
March 24: MOONFLEET recording session 2
March 27: MOONFLEET recording session 3
March 28: BUCK ALICE script is finished on our end. Goes to Walter for re-writes.
March 31: FATHER BROWN recording session.

APRIL

KING SOLOMON'S MINES editing is complete. We decide to do some CD Extras to fill out the fourth CD.

APRIL 1: THE FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES is released on CD by Blackstone Audio.
April 2: Meeting with House of Cool in Toronto about the DIBBLE animation project
April 4: Record the CD EXTRAS segnt of KING SOLOMON'S MINES with John Lovering as host.
April 7: MOONFLEET session 4
April 8: KING SOLOMON is shipped to Blackstone.
April 9: Record a BATMAN pilot for DC Comics.
April 13: Anastas Varinos records his lines for the BATMAN pilot.
April 14: MOONFLEET session 5 - RECORDING COMPLETED. / KSM is shipped to XM Radio in Broadcast form.
April 15: I do three interviews (a podcast, a satellite show, and another podcast)
April 18: Start to edit the BUCK ALICE script. / my friend Kate Phillips passes away.
April 19: 1st meeting on selling our house. Sad day.
April 26: Go to dinner with Walter Koenig and Deniz Cordell at the Bedford Inn to discuss production of BUCK ALICE.
April 28: PERRY MASON - Velvet Claws. Session 1
April 29: PERRY MASON - Velvet Claws. Session 2
April 30: Record Matthew Scott Robertson for BATMAN pilot. 2pm
April 30: Record Joe Zamparelli for PERRY MASON at 4pm

MAY
This month, most of my time is spent cleaning up the house and getting it ready for sale. Dumpster in the driveway, boxes everywhere - you get the picture.

Also, started writing a new comedy series called JERRY AND THE PIRATES, a direct title steal from TERRY AND THE PIRATES. The idea was hatched in a 2am phone conversation with Chris Snyder. So, many of the days in May were spent writing and cleaning.

May 5: Retakes on BATMAN pilot
May 19: FATHER BROWN episode 11 is recorded.
May 21: PERRY MASON - THE CASE OF THE SULKY GIRL is recorded.
May 27: PERRY MASON retakes. 1pm
May 29: JERRY AND THE PIRATES Recording Eps. 1,2,3.

JUNE
Work on the house continues, and writing continues, banging out as many J&tP scripts as I can so we can wrap the entire series by the start of September. XM will air us every Friday, starting Sept. 19th, so we are on a real deadline now. Byron Lee is assigned as producer.

Also, famed Broadway Playwright William Luce (The Belle of Amherst, Barrymore) has agreed to adapt BARRYMORE for us as an audio play. HOW COOL IS THIS?????

June 2: Record Jud Pierce for his role in PERRY MASON - SULKY GIRL.
June 4: FATHER BROWN - THE QUICK ONE is recorded.
June 11: Record SHAKESPEARE'S GHOST with JT, at 2pm. 7:30pm record FATHER BROWN - THE ACTOR AND THE ALIBI.
June 17: JERRY AND THE PIRATES. Recording eps 4,5,6
June 25: FATHER BROWN - THE WORST CRIME IN THE WORLD is recorded.
June 26: BUCK ALICE vocal tests are recorded.
June 27: BUCK ALICE vocal tests are recorded.
June 30: JERRY AND THE PIRATES recording Eps. 7,8,9

JULY
the 1-8th were spent on the road. CRT won the Ogle Award for SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and I thought it would be fun to drive and take some day trips along the way (Niagara Falls, Jamestown NY - home of Lucy, Baraboo, home of the Ringlings) etc. Fun trip! Had a great room at the Sheraton Minneapolis (in the executive section) - and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca in Star Wars) - was also a guest and just a couple of rooms down. Exciting!
July 1: Buffalo, NY. also KING SOLOMON'S MINES is released on CD by Blackstone.
July 2: Madison WI
July 3: Minneapolis, MN. Ogle Awards
July 4: Minneapolis, MN
July 5: Baraboo WI
July 7: Jamestown NY
July 16: FATHER BROWN - Recording ep. 15
July 21: JERRY AND THE PIRATES recording Eps.10,11,12
July 23: FATHER BROWN - Recording Ep. 16. END OF SERIES
July 28: JERRY AND THE PIRATES recording Eps. 13,14,15

AUGUST
August was a crazy month. Writing for J&tP's continues, as well as the house going on the market, a new septic system being installed, and the BUCK ALICE recording sessions.
MJ Cogburn and Seth Adam Sher take over the producing of J&tP's from Byron Lee, who is unable to continue with CRT.
Also, William Luce completes his audio script for BARRYMORE. It's great! He changed a few little things here and there to make the show easier to follow in sound, and also wrote a new opening and closing for the show. Incredible!! He's also a wicked nice guy!

Also in August, CRT decides to do a Christmas Special for our XM Broadcast. This will be a variety show like the ones from 60's. J.T. will write a segment, as will Debbie Roy. I'll write the filler scenes. Debbie turns in her "Victorian Christmas" skit in one day!

AUG 1: Walter Koenig and his wife Judy Levitt arrive from LA. Mary Rogers and I drive them to the Ipswich Inn.
Aug. 2: BUCK ALICE - Recording Day 1. The biggest CRT cast ever assembled in one place at the same time! We record in Ipswich MA. Jordan Rich from WBZ radio is also in the cast.
Aug. 3: BUCK ALICE - Recording Day 2.
Aug. 4: BUCK ALICE - Recording Day 2.
Aug. 5: Drive Walter and Judy to relatives house in Boston. They stayed an extra night at the Ipswich Inn. About 20 hours of recording was done. This will be a huge production to assemble - but we'll do it!
Aug. 14: JERRY AND THE PIRATES recording Eps. 16,17,18
Aug. 18: JERRY AND THE PIRATES recording Eps. 19,20.
Aug. 20: BARRYMORE rehearsal and mic blocking. We are recording this with three mics, (Stage left, center and right) to keep the stage movement from our stage version the same on radio. This way, the editor does need to figure out which way I am walking - which is what would have happened had we recorded on a single mic.
Aug. 21: BARRYMORE recording. Session 1
Aug. 23: BARRYMORE recording. Session 2. The bulk of the final edit comes from this session.
Aug. 26: BARRYMORE recording session 3. This is for the "flashback" scenes, with Matthew Scott Robertson, J.T. Turner, Amy Sheridan, Marcia Friedman.

Also in August, my sister and I buy the house - so I'm not moving!! Now to move a ton of stuff back INTO the house.

SEPTEMBER
Jerry and the Pirates wraps - 24 episodes since May 29th. Phew! That's a lot of writing, folks! Not much happens in September as we re-decorated and painted the recording studio (much thanks to Mary Rogers, Jeff Gage, Madeline Cattell, Marty MacDonald!!)

Sept.8: JERRY AND THE PIRATES. Eps. 21,22,23,24. Season 1 complete.
Sept. 17: BARRYMORE is completed final edit! Awesome job by Chris Snyder.
Sept. 19: JERRY AND THE PIRATES Premiers on XM Radio.

OCTOBER
THE HALLOWEEN TREE is released on CD by Blackstone Audio. Many call it our best production to date.

GDL Multimedia begin to release our shows at low prices on CD. They will have us in Barnes and Noble, Turnpike Stops, Amazon, you name it. Very cool! They have already repackaged and re-issued our POWDER RIVER series.

Also in October, we start recording our Christmas Special for XM.

Oct. 18th: BARRYMORE cast listening party. Lots of fun!! before we ran the show I had Barrymore's TWENTIETH CENTURY playing on the new huge tv screen, and more food than you can imagine. Then at 8, we ran the recording. It's a powerful production. Powerful. I can't WAIT until it's released. William Luce ALMOST flew in for the party, but we couldn't work out the details in time. The CD will be released May 1st.

Oct. 18: My Aunt Dorothy passes away; I always called her "Aunt Dot." Very, very sad. My Moms sister, and one of those people who it seems like they will be here forever. She was a great lady.
Oct. 25: RECORDING music for the CRT Christmas Special 10 hour session.
Oct. 26: Recording music for the CRT Christmas Special - continues
Oct. 27: MOONFLEET pick up lines, recording. 2:30pm. RECORD the CRT Christmas Special, 7pm

NOVEMBER
Another busy month; editing on J&tP continues. MOONFLEET is at a standstill due to the unexpected departure of Byron Lee - so MJ was taken off MOONFLEET to finish the series along with Seth. Because of this, MOONFLEET will not see release until 2009; not good, but what can I do. Our new series, TICONDEROGA gears up for production. We haven't done a historical piece in a few years, so this will be fun.

We also announce Season 5 of POWDER RIVER for 2009.

Also, CRT is now heard on Sirius Radio as well as XM.

Nov. 2: Research Trip. Crown Point, NY
Nov. 3: Research Trip. Fort Ticonderoga, NY. Met with Marci Hall, the marketing director of the fort, and Nick Westbrook, the director of the Fort. The fort is behind our project, and we hope to premier the show there for a fundraiser (at least the episodes that take place during the battle - the entire show will run 12 hours or so). Got some great information, took a ton of notes, and I'm very happy I went up there.
Nov. 10: TICONDEROGA records Eps. 1,2,3.
NOV. 18: RECORDING solos for CRT Christmas Special.
Nov. 20: Auditions for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS in Hollywood, CA
Nov. 21: Auditions for ZORRO AND THE PIRATE RAIDERS in Hollywood CA. Day 2
Nov. 25: RECORD retakes on various lines.
NOV. 26: TICONDEROGA. Records Eps. 4,5,6

DECEMBER
December is filled with writing six new episodes for TICONDEROGA, the final one being finished 30 minutes before we recorded it! Talk about cutting it close!

Dec. 1: THE COLONIAL RADIO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL is released for download.
Dec. 5: Finish my book THE STR ANGEL, written with Debbie Roy. At the suggestion of House of Cool, I wrote the book based on the screen treatment I gave them for a Christmas Special.
Dec. 8: RE-RECORD PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS. Decided to scrap production on the first version of this title and start fresh.
Dec. 15: TICONDEROGA Records Eps. 7,8,9.
Dec. 23: THE STAR ANGEL recorded as book on tape.
Dec. 24: THE STAR ANGEL released as download.
Dec. 25: PERRY MASON AND THE CASE OF THE SULKY GIRL - Download release. Also, CRT's final Podcast release. Sirius-XM broadcasts THE CRT CHRISTMAS SPECIAL.
Dec. 26: PERRY MASON recording - Tom Berry's scenes in VELVET CLAWS.
Dec. 29: TICONDEROGA Record Eps.10,11,12.