Thanks!

I never really understood the Jack Benny turning 39 every year gag until now (now that 39 is in my long ago distant past)!

Thanks to everyone who sent me e-cards, card cards and emails on this, the darkest of days. Seriously, they were very much appreciated!

CAPTAIN BLOOD continues to sail - and thanks to all of you who have written to me about it (It's always great to hear that someone is listening!!).

More later - just wanted to say thanks to everyone!
cheers
Jerry

Vacation thoughts

How nice is this?? The first Monday in four weeks that we are NOT recording! After a POWDER RIVER marathon - recording 10 episodes in 4 weeks (and writing them all in the weeks between each session) - I am really enjoying the stress-free day. CAPTAIN BLOOD appears to be going well! I have yet to see the finished packaged product, but hopefully that will happen this week.

Today is one those incredible New England days - it feels like 78 or so, and there is a strong, cool breeze and the air is clear with no humidity. I'm still glued to the writing desk, but its nice with the window open. I decided that next summer I am taking a vacation! I haven't had one in years. I am thinking maybe a week on the Cape, or something quiet up north. Maybe two weeks. I love my work, I really do, and so far this year I've written 37 scripts, re-vamped two others, and still have a full length program to write, 20 more episodes of POWDER RIVER starting in October, and editing new programs, and our XM series, and recording on top of all that .... so yep, I could use a break! Waaa waaa waaa. No, I'm not complaining - I'm just looking forward to some time away. But you know what will happen? When I am away, I will come up with new ideas, and after a week I'll be dying to get back to work. Odd.

A FUN NIGHT

Well, last night we got most of the cast together and broke the champagne bottle over our production of DANDELION WINE! It was a great party with tons of food and deserts (including Marcia's 100 proof tart), and the show was played on the incredible BOSE system ... almost three months to the day that we recorded the vocals! Now we sit back and hope we have a hit on our hands. The program will be released December 1st, and will be available on shelf at Barnes and Nobel, Borders, and online everywhere, worldwide!

In other news, Chris Snyder is going a mile a minute on the POWDER RIVER series, and we are only five episodes away from total completion!!

I am also VERY happy to announce that we are going into production with a brand new series!! This September we roll on a new Detective, film-noir style drama called A PHIL BYRNES MYSTERY, written by Sable Jak. I love the scripts, and I am looking forward to producing this series!! I'm figuring out the casting now.

That's it from the writing desk,
cheers
JR

UPDATES

We held our final audition yesterday for our upcoming production of Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and we cast the two lead roles, which are played by two 13 year old boys. I always get nervous when a role needs to be played by a youngster, because you run the risk of not being able to cast it. Well, we had FIVE incredibly talented kids read for these two roles. Each had their own unique personalities and charisma and I wanted to cast ALL of them (and I am not just saying that). Boy, these guys were good. I emailed Ray when I got home and asked him about another story of his that I would like to do - so we could have all these kids in it, and he said YES!! I need to adapt the book into a script, so I will do that soon and hopefully, if they are available, we'll capture all these incredible talents in that production.

J.T. Turner is great! He read with these kids so I could listen to the voices, and I really appreciate his opening his Church so we could have the auditions there. Thanks, J.T.

Nancy Curran Willis is going to direct this production, as I have mentioned before. She is always so prepared! Nancy did a fantastic job with DANDELION WINE, and I know she will go to town with the dark side of SOMETHING WICKED.

Speaking of DANDELION WINE, we are having a cast listening party this Thursday night!! This will be the first time the cast has heard the show, so it should be a fun time!

POWDER RIVER - Season Three is DONE!! We recorded the last three episodes last night. It was a great session, and it was awesome having Tom Berry and Mark Cafazzo back in Studio G playing two of our most hideous villains in the series to date. Season 3 starts airing this Thursday night on the W0kie Satellite Network (the link is on the CRT site under "Colonial on the Air" on the home page) and it will run every Thursday night at 11pm. ) It opens our second season on XM Radio Sept. 4th!!

That's all for now! Hope you're all having a good summer!
cheers
JR

WANT TO HEAR SOMETHING WICKED?

Auditions today at 2 for the new Bradbury project, and more on Monday, as we cast our 2 lead actors. We record at the end of the month, so time is short (as it always seems to be).
What IS the new Bradbury project you ask?
It's none other than SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.

After he heard our production of DANDELION WINE, Mr. B asked us if we would be interested in producing this incredibly scary story - of course I said YES right away (its one of my favorite books), and an hour later he sent me the script via email. I cleared the schedule and put it into immediate production (once the agents and publishers worked out the details)!

I spoke with Mr. B on the phone the other day, and he is such a nice man. We discussed an idea that we had for the music in two of the key scenes (well, our Director Nancy Curran Willis had the idea), and he LOVED it! So, as soon as I am done with the POWDER RIVER episodes, I will modify the script he sent me for audio (sound and music cues - not the dialog) and we're on our way. As we were finishing our conversation, I thanked him again for the chance to do these shows, and I mentioned I was very happy he liked Dandelion Wine. He said "On to the future - SOMETHING WICKED!" THAT's Ray Bradbury.

Also new at CRT, we will be producing 15 episodes of a brand new detective series (a female detective no less!) that I am very excited about! I am hoping to get those underway in September.
Lot's going on - and never a dull moment.
ON TO THE FUTURE!
~JR

POWDER RIVER winds down

Had a GREAT recording session yesterday for POWDER RIVER, taping two more episodes (why do I still say tape when we record digital?). Next week are our last three episodes for Season 3, and I am looking forward to getting a break from writing western yarns. I love it, but it's time for a break. Here are the episode titles ~

01-03: WANTED
02-03: BANDIT'S PASS
03-03: JUST LIKE HOME
04-03: JUDGE PARKER
05-03: THE AWFUL TOOTH
06-03: MORGANS TOWN
07-03: MORGANS TOWN, Part 2
08-03: MORGANS TOWN, Part 3
09-03: TILL DEATH DO US PART
10-03: THE WINDS OF THE PRAIRIE
11-03: THE BRIDE FROM THE EAST
12-03: THE INSTANT OF UNEXPECTED
13-03: THE WAGON BOY
14-03: THE NEW OWNER
15-03: MOMENT OF TRUTH
16-03: RETURN OF THE LEGEND, Part 1
17-03: RETURN OF THE LEGEND, Part 2
18-03: THE NITRO GANG
19-03: JACK SHERMAN ESCAPES
20-03: TWILIGHT

I mean, that's a lot of POWDER RIVERS (and I still need to write and record episodes 13,14,15, which we tape next Monday).

I think we have some good episodes, and so far we haven't jumped the shark. Everyone has signed on for Season 4 (with luck, the shark will stay away), which I am hoping to record in Oct. and Nov.

WRITING NEVER SEEMS TO END

Four scripts in a week and a half. Three were recorded last Monday, the fourth will be recorded this coming Monday (July 31), and I have one more to finish for this Monday (umm, taping on the the 31st as well). You might say I am POWDER RIVER crazy. These scripts dive in to what makes certain characters tick, so they have been very difficult to write, especially since I have no idea what makes these characters tick.
I can't think of anything more scary than looking at a screen that says POWDER RIVER - ACT 1 - PAGE 1 on it, and knowing that 27 pages must follow.
ANYWAY, I'm not complaining - just wish they were all finished. Things are really taking off here, and I am THRILLED that we got Chris Snyder on the team to help with the editing. Season 2 episodes for XM are due - like NOW - as well as our weekend XM show with Dibble - then there is the new BRADBURY project to get into production (auditions for the kids roles this week)..... all I want to do is go to a cabin in New Hampshire and listen to the loons. OK, I know I'll go crazy after three days, but what the hell.

it's Sunday

What a week - Recorded 2 POWDER RIVER episodes on Monday, then went to Rex Trailers BOOMTOWN 50th Anniversary show at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway Theater in Somerville (You have GOT to check out his amazing theater, and Jimmy is the BEST), AND - I had to write three new POWDER RIVER episodes that tape tomorrow night.

I know that BOOMTOWN started my love of westerns.

Seeing Rex and Sgt. Billy onstage - WOW. that's all I can say. Time stood still. I was 10 again.

All of you who didn't live in Boston in the 60's and 70's - boy, did you miss out.

And you need to check out Michael Bavaro's amazing film on BOOMTOWN (the link is on our site at www.colonialradio.com ). Even if you didn't live here during those years, you will still be amazed. Thanks, Mike - and Jimmy, and Sgt. Billy, and Sam, and of course, Rex!

Adios for tonight, pardner,

~JR

THE HEAT GOES ON

Boston is in the middle of a heat wave. "It's 94 but it feels like 100" the weatherteleprompter readers say. Can one REALLY tell the diff between 94 and 100 degrees??

Anyway, in the middle of all this heat, we recorded two episodes of POWDER RIVER last night with Rex Trailer. What an incredible Gentleman. He had fun, laughed a lot, turned in a great performance, and signed everyone's script! Rex is a true Boston Legend, and what an honor to have had him appear on the show. Without question, the BEST night ever in old Studio G.

~JR

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.