CAPTAIN BLOOD - JULY 28TH!

July 28th sees the release of CRT's first CD (after 11 years of Cassettes) with our 7 hour production of Rafael Sabatini's CAPTAIN BLOOD. Blackstone Audio, our new publisher, is releasing the CD set. It's already on the Blackstone Best Seller List, AND it's doing well with advance sales on Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, and Borders. How exciting is this?? We worked so hard on this one, and the whole thing was written, recorded, scored, and posted in 3 and 1/2 months (working an average of 20 hour days). I am very proud of this one, and the CRT players nailed it, and with luck, the recording will outlast us all.

Today its more writing for POWDER RIVER, and that as they say, is that. I am also starting to work on the new Bradbury script here and there (adding in music cues and sound FX cues). I'll turn full attention to that when we finish season 3 of PR later this month.

The new Bradbury production records the last week in August! Nancy Curran Willis has signed on to direct once again! Mr. Bradbury is actively involved with the progress of the production! The show is going to scare the HELL out people! This is gonna be GREAT!!!

More updates;

Chris is all caught up on his editing for POWDER RIVER, until next week that is. Oh, some more cool news (unless I mentioned this before, which i could have because my memory is basically shot), thank's to Chris Snyder, episodes 11-20 of POWDER RIVER Season 3 will be in SURROUND SOUND! The gunfights should sound better than ever!

What a week!

Well, Mr. Bradbury loved our production of DANDELION WINE! He liked it so much we are going to be doing another one of his books for him! I'll spill the title when the publishers are finished ironing out the details - but it's a good one (well, they're ALL good, actually)!

Boston TV Icon REX TRAILER http://www.rextrailer.tv/ will be Guest Starring in two episodes of POWDER RIVER. This is amazing. Rex had a weekend TV show called
"Boomtown" that ran on WBZ TV Boston from 1957 to 1974. I think that's where I developed my love for westerns. It's gotta be; I was watching Rex when I was three, and I didnt see my first John Wayne movie till I was 14! The episodes with Rex will air on XM sometime in November.

Meanwhile, Back in Boston

A family illness prevented me from traveling to Minneapolis for the Mark Time Awards; and I canceled my flight at the last minute. Our new producer, Chris Snyder, flew in from Arizonza for the ceremony, and accepted the award for Colonial.

Writing continues. I have a new idea for a brand new series! I'm going to keep it under wraps until I have scripts and dates ready, but I am VERY excited about it! With luck we'll get to it before the year is out.

I RAVE AT CRITICS

Sent off "Dandelion Wine" to Ray Bradbury. Knowing he is going to listen to the production is causing me some serious "opening night jitters!" I hope what we created comes close to the vision he had when he wrote the script. I celebrated with some Mai Tai's, and then wrote another Powder River script for the session on the 17th.

I need to get another script done, but I won't tackle that until tomorrow.

The Captain Blood cover art looks awesome!! Check it out at BlackstoneAudio.com under July releases. It can be ordered from any B&N or Borders come July 28th, and should be on the shelf at Christmas. It's also at B&N and Borders online sites - the $19.95 version.

Is this a blog or an advertising site? It's a blog. But I figure a blog is where you write what is happening in your life, and right now, my life is 100% CRT

Our "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" has won the Ogle Award for Best Fantasy Production of 2005! I am VERY excited and happy about that! This production was a bear to produce, and write, and it's nice to see it get some recognition. What would it have been like without Lincoln Clark? He was the BEST Ichabod Crane I've ever heard. I also think it's one of my favorite J. Gage scores.

I have a brand new series for CRT in the planning stages!! Film at 11


OK, some NON CRT blogging

Has anyone seen "Poseidon?" I want to see it. I loved the original, and can't imagine an upside down ship without dear old Shelly Winters screaming "MANNY! MANNY!" but I hear the effects are amazing.

Ty Burr of the Boston Globe slammed "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" This guy hates everything. Remember when critics were REALLY critics (Elliot Norton, anyone?) This guy comes from the "Kevin Kelly Poison Pen School of Critics." You see every other review on this movie gives it 3 1/2 or 3 stars, but old Mr. Burr gives it 1 and a half. AND, a friend of mine who was at the advance screening saw Mr. Burr leave the theatre twice during the film, and then he left before the credits rolled. And then he has the nerve to post his opinion to the Boston Globe???

I guess he reviewed the parts he actually watched. I have seen several Baaawstun Critics in action (names withheld), and every time, I wondered WHY in hell anyone PAYS them for their worthless, biased opinions.

Don't get me going on critics.

Show me a critic and I'll show you an actor who never made it.


~JR

Yea!

FINISHED "Dandelion Wine" tonight!! I celebrated with a few exotic drinks at the pub.

We got the job in January, got the script in March, adapted it with sound and music cues in April, recorded in May, and then from mid-May to June the music was composed and editing started the last week in May. I think we have a winner here. Mr. Bradbury wrote an incredible script, and WHAT an honor to be able to have recorded it for him! It gets released everywhere December 1st! NOW, I plan to take one day off, then I gotta start writing the final 10 Powder River scripts, which we record in July.

Now, I am going to watch Jimmy Stewart in "Spirit of St. Louis," one of my favorite movies!

Off to Minneapolis on Friday!

Cheers
J

Editing Editing Editing

Just a short entry today. Work continues on "Dandelion Wine," AND - we are releasing episode 1 of "Powder River - Season Three" this week! I'll be uploading it to Spoken Network on Thursday and it takes a day or two to go "Live," so look for it this weekend! All the episodes of "Captain Blood" are up on Spoken Network as well.

Back to work now.
cheers
JR

Progress Continues

After a few days of dealing with a new phone line being put in, which also caused my DSL to be turned off in the process, I am FINALLY back to work here! We have 8 completed episodes for "Powder River - season 3" in the can, all done and ready to air; two more in editing, and we begin recording again July 10th, which means I need to start writing the scripts! We have a VERY special guest star coming on the show for two episodes, which I'll announce as the date gets closer!

"Dandelion Wine" continues in post production and is sounding good.

I'm off to Minneapolis July 7-9 for the Mark Time Awards bash at the Sheraton, and looking forward to meeting people from the Audio Drama world whom I've known of for years. Also, I think I'll be meeting Dean Spratt who has played seasons one and two of "Powder River" on his weekly Satellite show on the WOKIE Network - so it should be a fun three days.

Long weekend ahead of serious editing, making up for lost time, and doing an interview with John Lovering in Portsmouth NH about our 1999 production "Little Big Horn" which he is running on his show next week. That should be fun. I'm not the worlds be subject for an interview, but I'm getting the hang of it.

The upcoming June 28th release of "Captain Blood" is VERY exciting. It's quite a feeling seeing pre-sale blurbs for it in Borders and Barnes and Nobel after a freezing cold winter of recording and editing. What a whirl wind production that was.
cheers
JR

COLONIAL IS ON THE BLOG

After leaving "My Space" because I couldn't deal with the nuts and spam, the AUDIO ADDICT suggested I try this little place! I thought it would nice to have a site to update our progress and productions with The Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air, which is now in it's 11th year!

Well, another day of recording. Did some line punch ins for "Powder River" Episode 03-09 and 03-10. Also, editing continues on "Dandelion Wine" for Ray Bradbury. We have 2 weeks to finish the project. So far, I'm not worried. All is going well with this one.

July will be the last BIG busy month of the year, and I can't wait till it's over. I am determined to have a calm and easy August. After "Dandelion Wine" finishes, I need to write and record 10 more episodes for "Powder River." We are recording EVERY Monday night in July (a first) and now's the time to take bets on whether or not I finish the scripts. We need them for XM, so they GOTTA get done soon. The Powder River series is our most popular show on XM. Sooo, 20 new episodes on the way, and I plan on 20 more starting in October.

What else - Oh! New CD Releases!!

"Captain Blood" will be released July 28th on Six CD's, and also on cassette tapes and mp3! I don't know all the outlets yet, but I've seen it at B&N online, as well as Wal-Mart online and even places in Germany and Japan!

"Legend of Sleepy Hollow" will be released on CD October 1st. It will be in Barnes and Nobel, Borders, Amazon, and a bunch of other places.

"Dandelion Wine" should be out for Christmas.

Chris Snyder is doing a FANTASTIC job as our new producer on "Powder River." He has already turned in 2 episodes and a third on the way!

Thats all for now,
cheers
JR