IT'S DIBBLE OFF BROADWAY!

Yep, he's an XM Radio Staaa, and now The Dibble Show is heading for the Michael Weller Theatre for an Off-Broadway Christmas run in DIBBLE DOES CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK! My good friends Drew DeCorleto and Teresa Goding at Broken Watch Theatre Co. will be producing this comedy extravaganza that opens Dec. 11th and runs to Dec.30th! This will be a New York Cast, not the cast from the radio show ~ I had hoped to play Dibble for this run, but my Dads illness makes it impossible this time around. Dibble is going to be played by Mark Setlock. Mark was on Broadway in the original company of RENT, and also co-wrote and starred in Fully Commited in which he played off broadway and won the Outer Critics Circle Award, as well as a Drama Desk nomination, and touring the show in Boston, London and all over the place. On TV has been seen in LAW AND ORDER and does some great character voices - so I am sure that Dibble will be in good hands! I'll post more information here when I get it - but all you Dibble fans who live in NYC - I hope you get to the Michael Weller Theatre at 311 West 43rd Street!


I'm very curious to know how our LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW is doing in stores - especially now that the Halloween season is right upon us! XM Radio will be repeating the show on Sunday, so that's exciting!

This has been a very rough week, and I will admit to having trouble writing the scripts needed for Monday nights session. I put the cast on notice that the scripts are on their way, but they will be last minute. I really need to get a jump start on this and get a few episodes ahead.

A DIBBLE HALLOWEEN

We managed to get our brand new DIBBLE'S HALLOWEEN SHOW on XM this weekend! I had sent our 2003 Dibble Halloween special, but it got lost in the shuffle over there (I bet Oprah is taking up all the load in time!)- so we sent the show via a sound file and - presto - its going to run in our DIBBLE time slots this weekend. I think this is a fun episode, and Chris Snyder did a great job editing it together.

We also start running NIGHT TERRORS tonight from Darker projects!

Thats all for now - VERY long day here today. I gotta come up with a couple of POWDER RIVER scripts this week, too! The race is on!

I want to officially welcome our two new editors at CRT - Chris Snyder and Matthew McLaren. Chris resides in Arizona, and has edited season 3 of POWDER RIVER, and is now working on our PHIL BYRNES MYSTERY series. He also edited our re-make production of TREASURE ISLAND. I know I have mentioned Chris before on the blog, but I dont think I have OFFICIALLY introduced him to you. If I did, all the more reason why I need help with the workload - I'm losing my mind!

Matthew lives in Denman, Australia, and is a fantastic editor (we are airing his horror turn THE HOUSE IN THE CLOCK on our XM show in another week). Matt is also working on the PHIL BYRNES show.

We are very lucky to have these two master editors with us right when everything is getting busy busy! I feel like the cavalry has just come over the hill!

Also, please welcome Brandon Cole - a voice actor from Ohio who has joined the CRT players! Brandon played an outlaw in POWDER RIVER - THE NITRO GANG, and just recorded for PHIL BYRNES.

CRT presents NIGHT TERRORS

Next week on our XM Radio Show, we are going to do something we've never done before - present someone else's work! Chris Snyder is our new producer here at CRT (he now produces our POWDER RIVER and PHIL BYRNES series), and when not editing at CRT, he is one of the producers over at DARKER PROJECTS (www.darkerprojects.com). Since CRT is very light in the horror department, I asked Chris if we could run some of the NIGHT TERRORS on our show, and he said yes!
Did you ever think you would hear titles like this on the CRT show; "The Bug Doctor," "Last Call," "Voices of the Soul," "The House in the Clock..." and a bunch more. Lots of Halloween fun coming up!

I have heard quite a few productions from DARKER PROJECTS, and they are very good (Check out THE FALCON BANNER). Let me know what you think of NIGHT TERRORS if you catch them!

Our THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW will also have an encore broadcast on XM Radio, and the first airing is on Sunday the 29th at 7am West, 10am East, and 7pm West, and 10pm East. It may run Mon. or Tues. as well, but the schedule isn't out for that week yet. It seems to being well online and in stores (It's up to #3 on Blackstones top 10 bestsellers list).

This weekend, I am trying to finish up a script (our next Ray Bradbury project, and yes - Ray said I could write the script!) and once again I have three POWDER RIVER scripts to do this week, for an Oct. 30th recording session. I hope I get some story ideas soon - my mind sounds like a wind tunnel lately.

Not much else to talk about - OH, had lunch with J.T. today at my favorite Chinese Restaurant. I'm telling you, folks - the best place to get Chinese and Japanese food is the CHINA CUISINE 235 Main Street, North Reading MA (Corner of Main St & North St - Rt. 28) - Bonnie, Victor, or May will greet you at the door, and tell them Jerry sent you! I'm there at LEAST twice a week - and they make WITHOUT QUESTION the best Mai Tai's I've ever had ... and the drinks ain't bad, either! Check it out if you live in the area - its the best!!

Well, we recorded POWDER RIVER episodes 04-01 and 04-02 last night in a rather crazy off-beat session! I especially remember J.T.'s cell phone playing the INDIANA JONES theme at a moment of dramatic tension (I think this will go down as one of the all-time great CRT bloops)! How actual drama comes out of these sessions I will never know! Three cheers for Derek Aalerud as he is now DRIVING! That's right - I no longer am needed to give him a lift to and from the session! Derek started recording with us when he was 13 I think, so it was very odd seeing him drive off after the session was over ... man, I feel old.

Chris Snyder will continue on as the producer of the series, and I think he did an outstanding job with Season 3 (I haven't edited a PR episode since last year!). Blind since birth, Chris is a testament that a disability should not be an issue in someones ability to do a job, and do it well. In talking extensively with him, you would be surprised how he has been treated in the past - getting accepted to do a job, and then they discover he is blind, and they come up with some excuse why he is no longer needed. That, my friends, is "in your face discrimination" and it infuriates me beyond measure. I know who these folks are that showed him the door - I have heard their work - and to those people I say this ... you would have been much better off with Mr. Snyder as your editor, because he runs circles around what you are churning out now.

I have been introduced to a whole community of very, VERY talented people who are blind, and who work in the audio media as voice talent and editors, and they have all told me stories that hearken to Chris' experiences. I don't get it. I just don't get it. They have the same ability as sighted people - their editing is sharp and skilled and their acting just as good as anyone else who records! I'll be speaking more to this in the blogs ahead. The Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air is very privileged and very proud to have these extraordinary talents join our team.

JORDAN RICH

Well, I managed to get two POWDER RIVER scripts finished this week - not the three I had hoped for; but with my dad undergoing two surgeries this week, the stress factor was on max. I hope they're good - they were not easy to write.

On Friday, myself, Jeff Gage and J.T. Turner were guests on Bostons #1 weekend late night talk radio program, THE JORDAN RICH SHOW. We went on to plug DANDELION WINE, CAPTAIN BLOOD and SLEEPY HOLLOW and talk about modern radio theatre. Jordan does a great interview, and we had a blast. J.T. had just come off stage from his 1776, so he came over to join in the late night fun. I did Jordans show for the first time when we were doing CHRISTMAS CAROL at the Gloucester Stage. It was a memorable night because there was a blizzard going on outside. I remember leaving the studio at 2AM and getting home at 5:30am - a trip that should have taken a half hour. This time was a little easier! Thanks again Jordan, for all your support! In the picture we have Jordan at the far left, then me, Jeff and J.T.

A great night in Bawstun at 1776 at the Lyric! J.T. is a GREAT Ben Franklin, and Peter Carey was fantastic as John Adams!! The entire cast (with one exception - I had trouble with a certain Delegate from Pennsylvania with a Frank Sinatra swagger - which happens to be a role I have played twice -) was incredible (and to that actor - three words of advice - LEARN YOUR LINES!!) and I REALLY enjoyed this production - and that isn't easy since I've done it about 5 or 6 times over the past (yikes) 20 years - AND it happens to be one of my all-time favs .... so I am not throwing these compliments out lightly.
Topped the night off with drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe and now here I am, writing a blog and trying to get an idea for POWDER RIVER 04-02.

1776

Going into Bawstun tonight (I hate the term Beantown, which is what everyone else calls it - I prefer to use the Bawstun accent myself) to see J.T. Turner as Benny Franklin in 1776! IT BETTER BE A GOOD ONE, J.T!! I hardly ever go to plays anymore, so this should be a fun night out, AND I get to have a drink or three first! Going in with CRT players Cynthia Pape and Lincoln Clark.

I have finished the first POWDER RIVER script for Season 4 which starts taping on Monday - so now I hope I can finish two more by Sunday.

Now that I appear to be finished with my rantings, I am back at work writing. Started POWDER RIVER SEASON 4 today - a bit behind schedule what with personal issues and also getting new XM product out the door, BUT - here I am writing Episode 04-01, titled IN CHICAGO (I may change the title, but most likely not). We start taping a week from tomorrow, so I need to bang out three scripts this week (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can ....). Going to see J.T. in 1776 this Thursday night at the Lyric in Baawstun, and then Friday night guesting on THE JORDAN RICH SHOW on WBZ with Jeff Gage, AND, tomorrow night we tape Episode 1 of our new series, FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES; and in-between that, its writing, writing, writing. I must say that, at the moment, the POWDER RIVER script is not coming along as easy as I would like. I really backed myself into a corner at the end of season 3. But, that's what makes it interesting!

You know, when I heard Barbra was touring again (Like Sinatra, MANY farewell concerts over the decades) - I was ALMOST tempted to see her on her Boston Stop. I mean, there is no doubt she is the last of the true "legends" of Show Biz. Can you imagine J-Lo or Ms. Spears still selling out concert halls 40 years from now? It's impossible - because show business doesn't have the foundation anymore to build REAL and LASTING stars. It's all "celebrities" these days. Streisand sang with Judy Garland, Ethel Merman - she was directed by Gene Kelly and Vincente Minnelli ... and she has that voice! But I had a hunch that this would be a political gathering, not just a concert. Lately it's almost impossible to go to a concert without hearing the performer throw out their political views from the stage. K.D. Lang at the South Shore Music Circus slam dunks the administration and blasts the President from the stage ... then Tony Bennett came out for the second half and sang his hits, gave a classy performance,brought the house down, stuck to his legend and not his political views (whatever they may be) and showed everyone what a REAL star is.

That's what I'm talking about here. Now, I don't happen to fall in with Babs'or K.D.'s views, but I wish that these performers would just PERFORM. If you want to go into politics - then go into politics! But I do not want to spend $75.00 to hear K.D. tell me what she thinks of the way the US is being run ... or in Bab's case, $750.00 (thats the top ticket in Boston)!
I have no problem with people speaking their views. If she wants to talk about them on a talk show, or interview - I got ZERO problem with that. But in a concert - I just dont think that's the place. Maybe I'm too old fashioned. And folks - I say this about ANYONE, from ANY party - even the party I belong to! When I go to see a star, I want to hear their songs, not their views on politics. I can go to a rally or a debate for that.
So, when I heard Babs was going to tour, I thought "Hmmmm .... she IS a legend ..." but then I figured I'd have to listen to her political views, so I decided not to shell out the $$$.$$ I'm glad I did, for it seems she has a Bush impersonator as her opening act. I ain't got not problem with that - but not at a concert where I spend $750.00 She is taking the money and turning it over to her charities, which I think is a very noble thing she is doing - but maybe she should have just toured with "A forum with Barbra Steisand." See, she could have filled these arena's with people wanting to hear her political views - and that would be fine. There is a place for everything.
I don't want to use my blog as any kind of political debate forum, and I'm not picking on Babs per-sey, but I just wish these stars would keep their views off the concert stage where we pay to hear it, and that goes for stars of ALL political parties!


Streisand Mocks Bush on Opening Night
Barbra Streisand peppered the opening night of her comeback tour in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a series of digs aimed at President George W. Bush. The 64-year-old is a staunch Democrat and is still appalled that Bush was elected to the most powerful position in the world despite doubts over the crucial result in Florida in 2000. The concert at the Wachovia Center featured a political satire sketch where an actor playing the Republican president reeled off lines including, "I'm concerned about the national debt, so I'm selling Canada," and, "If I cared about the polls I would have run for president of Poland." Streisand has come out of retirement for a series of shows to raise money for a charitable foundation which supports a number of environmental and educational causes.

THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN RIDES AGAIN! Yeah, I know I blogged this the other day,but SLEEPY HOLLOW is getting some great attention in stores and we're excited about it! You can order it from AMAZON, or BORDERS, or BARNES AND NOBLE - and it's also on shelf at B&N and Borders (so they say). Oh! And if you live in JAPAN - we got you covered! Anyway, that's that.

It's odd how many of these online sites take forever to get the cover art posted! Everything takes so much time in this biz. Craig Slaff in NJ painted the fantastic Headless Horseman painting for us, and then Blackstone's art dept. did the incredible cover design! It's one hot lookin' CD!!

We recorded two more PHIL BYRNES mystery episodes last night. Before the session I met up with J.T. (currently a smash hit as Ben Franklin in the Boston turn of 1776 at the Lyric), his some James, and Diane Capen, at the China Cuisine in here in North Reading (An AWESOME restaurant), the we recorded. Next Monday we record the first FATHER BYRNES episode!!