Friday, September 12, 2008

HALLOWEEN COMES EARLY


CRT's production of Ray Bradbury's THE HALLOWEEN TREE is currently ON
SALE at Amazon, for only $10.17!! This program will NOT be broadcast on
our XM show due to contractual arrangements, so I hope you order it and
give it a listen - we here at CRT think it's our best work to date (so
do the folks at Blackstone), and it is also the first production to
feature our brand new music software - the best on the market!! Be sure
to review it if you hear it!! The photo on the amazon site (as well
as the older reviews) is from the book. For some reason Amazon thinks
our shows are books. Oh well!

For double your Halloween fun, check out our Award Winning production of Rays Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Monday, September 08, 2008

JERRY AND THE PIRATES wraps tonight!

We had our first recording session on May 29th, and tonight, Sept.8th, we have our last session - completing 24 episodes! They start airing on XM Radio, Sonic Theatre, Fri. Sept. 19th, in our usual daily time slots - so, Mon-Thurs. will be various CRT programming, but every Friday, it's JERRY AND THR PIRATES.

I play Jerry Davenport, a Hollywood screenwriter who has left CA to live in the quiet coastal town of Marblehead, MA. Peace is soon shattered with the arrival of his three nephews - Paul (Rob Cattell), Richie (Connor Doherty), and Preston (Ricky MacDonald). Rounding out the cast are Diane Capen as Jerry's girlfriend, Tracy Kirkbride, Lincoln Clark as his agent, Mr. Cranker, Marcia Friedman as the housekeeper, Mrs. Thorn, and J.T. Turner as the nosey next door neighbor, Mayor Quigley.

The show is our homage to the TV sit-coms of the 60's and 70's, complete with laugh tracks and goofy music (supplied by CRT Music Master Jeff Gage).

Here is a list of the episodes, and their scheduled air premiere airdates;

JERRY and the PIRATES

Season 1. XM Radio, Ch. 163. 24 Episodes. Fridays, 4Am, 12pm, 6pm EST.

Fri. Sept. 19: Episode 01 SHIVER THE TIMBERS.
Jerry’s three nephews arrive unexpectedly.

Fri. Sept. 26: Episode 02 EVERYTHING’S COMING UP PETUNIAS
The kids write a speech for Mayor Quigley.

Fri. Oct. 3: Episode 03 THE HOUSEKEEPER COMETH
It’s Mrs. Thorns first day on the job, and she causes some ripples with her schedule.

Fri. Oct. 10: Episode 04: THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT.
Richie takes trombone lessons.

Fri. Oct. 17: Episode 05: BUILDING RAMPS
Richie builds several ramps in the back yard for his Quad.

Fri. Oct. 24: Episode 06: GUNFIGHT AT THE OKEY DOKEY CORRAL
Jerry continues to work on his western script.

Fri. Oct. 31: Episode 07: THE HALLOWEEN HORROR
While out trick-or-treating, the boys stumble upon Dracula’s castle.

Fri. Nov. 7: Episode 08: THE HISTORY LESSON
Paul is in a panic with his upcoming history test at school.

Fri. Nov. 14: Episode 09: THE STUCK UP BRIDGE
The Marblehead Bridge is stuck, and Preston is unable to get home.

Fri. Nov. 21: Episode 10: WOODEN SHIPS AND IRON HISTORY TEACHERS.
Paul is having trouble with his new history teacher – Mrs. Banecker … nicknamed Battle-ax Banecker.

Fri. Nov. 28: Episode 11: PASS THE STUFFING
Preston gets a role in the Thanksgiving show at school – a role he would rather not play.

Fri. Dec. 5: Episode 12: WHEN LOVELY AGATHA CAME TO TOWN
Mayor Quigley’s niece arrives for a visit, and has eyes for Paul.

Fri. Dec. 12: Episode 13: CRANKERS BIG DATE.
Jerry and Tracy plan a romantic evening at the exclusive Novak’s Restaurant, while Cranker is meeting a financier at the same place, same time. The boys hatch an elaborate plan to keep the two parties from seeing each other.

Fri. Dec. 19: Episode 14: PINOCCHIO PRESTON
The story of Pinocchio is retold – Pirates style.

Fri. Dec. 26: Episode 15: CHRISTMAS SHOW
Jerry goes on a last minute shopping spree with the Mayor, while the kids stay home and attempt to decorate the tree.

Fri. Jan. 2: Episode 16: EVERY ROSE HAS A THORN.
Mrs. Thorn is in a bad mood after loosing the Housekeeper Of The Year Award.

Fri. Jan. 9: Episode 17: THE DAVENPORT MELLER-DRAMMER
The boys stage an old fashioned Melodrama to raise money for their favorite charity – Paintball.

Fri. Jan. 16: Episode 18: PRESTON’S PET.
Preston finds a horse, and brings him home.

Fri. Jan. 23: Episode 19: POETRY BY RICHIE
Richie tries to impress a girl at school by writing a love poem. Jerry wants to help him, and writes one which mistakenly falls into the hands of Miss Banecker, who thinks Jerry wrote the poem for her.

Fri. Jan. 30: Episode 20: RICHIE THE SNOB.
Fame goes to Richie’s head after he wins the Soap Box Derby.

Fri. Feb. 6: Episode 21: THE BOY IN THE IRON VASE.
Richie gets his head stuck in an silver vase, once owned by Napoleon, and valued at $10,000.

Fri. Feb. 13: Episode 22: WHEN A WISH IS FROM A STAR.
Teen movie star, Brayden Flynn, arrives at the Davenport home to do some research for a new movie role – Jerry’s “The Continental Kid.”

Fri. Feb. 20: Episode 23: I CANNOT TELL A LIE …. HONEST.
While everyone gets ready for the movie to start shooting, Preston gets caught up in the action and dreams he is young George Washington.

Fri. Feb. 27: Episode 24: LIGHTS! CAMERA! ASPIRIN!
Hollywood arrives in Marblehead to film Jerry’s movie, “The Continental Kid.”

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

NEW FATHER BROWN release


Our 9th FATHER BROWN mystery is now available. THE ORACLE OF THE DOG is at Lulu.com
Lulu is our new download partner, and I encourage anyone who buys CRT downloads to give them a try. This episode will be released to our other download sites next week.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

HALLOWEEN TREE NOW AVAILABLE

Seems that Amazon is shipping THE HALLOWEEN TREE! It was not scheduled for release until Oct. 1, but I noticed it said "in stock," so I ordered it, and it came in 2 days! I think this is CRT's finest hour to date (well, 2 hours), and my thanks again to Ray Bradbury for allowing me to write the script from his amazing book! Check it out - and be sure to leave a review! THE HALLOWEEN TREE

OUR AUGUST PODCAST - KIDNAPPED.




Our September podcast is our 2005 production of Robert Lewis Stevenson's KIDNAPPED. You can hear program by clicking HERE. Again, our thanks to THE SONIC SOCIETY for hosting our monthly podcast, which will only run thru January! KIDNAPPED has a great score by Jeff Gage - hope you check it out. Part two will be available Sept. 25th.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

PROGRESS

BARRYMORE is recorded! We did the show in three sessions, and now it goes to Jeff Gage for music, then to Chris Snyder for editing, then off to the publisher the second week in September, for a Dec. 1 release. William Luce did an amazing job re-working the script for audio. I love it, love it, LOVE IT!!

Hmmm ... is THE HALLOWEEN TREE available already? I saw it on AMAZON.COM saying that it was in stock, but the release date still said OCT. 1; so I ordered it, and now they are saying it has been shipped! So, unless there is some other HALLOWEEN TREE for $14.95, I think this could be ours! Many have said that this is CRT's finest show to date. I can't wait to see what people think.

JERRY AND THE PIRATES is almost finished recording its first season! We have taped 17 episodes since May 29th, and we tape 3 more tonight, and then the final 4 on Sept. 8th. It premeirs on XM RADIO SONIC THEATRE Friday, Sept. 19th!

The month of September we will be closing down production as we renovate the CRT Studio!!!

In October, we will begin recording our newest series, TICONDEROGA, an action adventure tale set in 1758, during the French and Indian War!

Also in October, we will be recording the very first COLONIAL RADIO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! This will be a one hour old fashioned variety Christmas Show, just like the ones Bing Crosby and Andy Williams would do! These were the kinds of shows I grew up watching every Christmas, and we thought it would fun to bring the format back. Lots of music and skits, look for it right after Thanksgiving! It will also broadcast as a one hour special on XM Radio, SONIC THEATRE

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Recording Saturday

It's rare that we record on a Saturday, but today we are doing just that with BARRYMORE. We had two really good rehearsals (we taped Thursdays, and it's releasable, so today should be even better). After this, we have one more session on Tuesday(Flashback scenes). We called William Luce during the session on Thursday, and he got to speak with our director, Joe Zamparelli, and Jud Pierce, who plays the prompter, Frank. I've said it before, but I am just blown away with the very full and detailed re-write Mr. Luce has given his original script for our audio presentation. He is truly one of the great Broadway Playwrights.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

THE HALLOWEEN TREE


In just a little over a month, we will release our third production with Ray Bradbury; THE HALLOWEEN TREE!
We've been sitting on the completed production for about 8 months, and I can't wait to see what people think of it.
This is the first show to feature our brand new music upgrade program. The music is magnificent. Not only does it have the most music in any CRT production (I think only 5 or 8 minutes of the 2 hour program does not have music underscoring it), but I also think it's one of our finest shows to date. You can hear the trailer on the CRT homepage. You can pre-order the show from Amazon HERE
Pre-sales are doing very well. The show should also be available in Barnes and Noble in October. The download is now available on Audible.com - but you know how I feel about the sound quality on Audible.

NEW DOWNLOAD STORE

We are starting to put all of our CRT titles up on LULU.COM This is a download site, like the others we are on; except on this one we have a bit more control as to how long it takes to get a show released (pretty much in an instant), and also we get a better percentage from sales - and since we're a little company, we need all the help we can get! So for those of you who may download CRT shows, this is the place to do it from!
I downloaded a test version for myself, and the sound quality is just as good as the original.
Audible.Com changes our files to about 16bits (and seem incapable of returning phone calls and emails), and the sound is horrible; it sounds like we recorded underwater; to give you an idea, the files we send them are 128bits. Big difference. So give Lulu a try! We only have a few shows listed now, but more will be added each day.