The Rule Rather Than The Exception

Well, just when I thought I had seen everything, and experienced every possible thing that could go wrong, I very naively went to the studio expecting a smooth operation. At first my engineer told me that there was some sort of problem, but then everything appeared to be be ready to go. But I heard some noise coming from the community center next door to the studio, loud music, singing, and screaming. I went over there myself to see that a show was rehearsing for that night with Motown music playing. I told them I was getting ready to do a show that would require more quiet than had been taking place. At first they appeared to be acquiescing, but then the guy who was obviously in charge suddenly starting screaming, "I am contracted from 3 until 9 and we have to do this. We are having a show here soon and need to practice." I asked for a little more quiet, at least until the show was over at 6. So all during the show I heard Michael Jackson and Martha and the Vandellas music accompanied by loud singing and an occasional scream. The show went on, however, and I told my audience about my many challenges, and to bear with me. I liked being honest and found a measure of contentment at simply being sincere. So on we went through the rest of Rome that I had left over from last week. I went a bit faster than I had wanted, but I felt that 2 shows on Rome were enough. Rome is certainly an extraordinary place to see, and the show looks pretty good as a very quick view of what there is to see over a couple of days visit there. I told the viewers that I would be appearing on another cable show later in the week where a local artist and gallery owner Christina Varga, that I knew from visiting her gallery in town, was hosting a show she has had for several years Thursdays from 10 - 11 PM. She will interview me for part of her show, but I have no idea what to expect since I have never seen her show. I tried to stay up Thursday night to watch it, but forgot and was listening to all the commentary about the sad news about one of my favorite baseball players, Gary Carter, who died tragically at aged 57 of brain cancer. So if you read this and would like to see the interview, you can tune in to Woodstocktv.org and watch it supposedly streaming over the web. I am not sure I can DVD the interview since my engineer will not be in town that night. She tried to teach me what to do, so we'll see, if I can tape it, then I will try to put it in Youtube. Also, I will lecturing on Italy at the YMCA of Kingston on Monday evening, March 19 at 7 PM. I have always wanted to do something of a volunteer nature at the Y, so this works very well for me. If it is successful, maybe I will do more than one lecture. I will probably choose Venice as a first lecture, as I did for my first show on WPAT. So that's my story for now, and if you are reading this and perhaps watching my shows on Youtube, once again thank you very much. If you can e mail me to ask a question or even just to say hello, I would be delighted to hear from you at Alansitaly@gmail.com.