Cameras and a Very Special Guest

Professor Eve D'Ambra stole the show with an extraordinary performance tonight. Her focus on Roman Portrait Busts and Female Beauty was an amazing presentation that was fabulous. This was her second and final appearance on the show for this summer. She is now back to work at Vassar College which she teaches Art History. I invited her to return any time for any show she wants. I hope she will take me up on it. It is a joy to share the stage with a brilliant professor of art, for me a dream come true. Just before the start of the show her husband and excellent artist, Franc Palaia, who has been with me on the show several times, decided to show his expertise with the camera and asked to handle one of them with Ellen. I had some doubts that they could pull this off with no preparation, and sure enough at the beginning of the show there were some problems. I am seen talking into the wrong camera, because I was talking into Ellen's camera, while apparently Franc's was on the screen. It straightened out, but I was a bit dismayed by that. From  now on Ellen runs the show. No other problems, however, no other people using the studio just before we did, no community center activity, no extraneous noise, no console issuers. Everything was smooth. I will be away next week, so Ellen will show another broadcast, Michelangelo in Florence, one of her favorites. That was a fine show. Otherwise I will be back for the Aug 24 show, which will be the first part of a two part show on Western Tuscany, with part 1 focussing on the area known as the Alpi Apuane, and also Lucca, Barga, Chiesina, where my friend Lidia has a townhouse. Then the week after will be Pisa. Meanwhile my first book nears production and second one has been submitted for review. The first will be called, Alan's Italy: The Birth of a Television Show and the second, Alan's Italy: My Personal Journey. Please look for both. Also I will be starting a web site, which will incorporate all my projects, my two blogs, TV show, books, lectures, and teaching of classes all summarized into one easy format (I hope !). Be well, and thanks for your time ! See ya in two weeks.

The Long Wait and a Late Start

I had arrived very early to take photos of the studio for my book, Alan's Italy: The Birth of a Television Show, and work proceeded on schedule as she photographed some shots as one enters the parking lot of the Community Center, where the studio is located. As we were parking to go inside the studio, Ellen was waiting outside to tell us that there was a show which has been given the 4 - 5 PM slot and we had to wait until 5 PM to set up for the 5 PM show ! Doing some quick mathematics, I soon came to the conclusion that we would not have enough time to get set up. Ellen assured me that we would get on the air, and she would shortcut her show which normally comes right after mine at 6 PM.At first we spoke with local personality, Joe Barton, who is having some problems with the legal system at the current time, as we waited patiently outside, but then I ducked into my car and tried to take a snooze, with my air conditioning on, and radio playing some of my favorite tunes. Just as Jimi Hendrix' Along the Watchtower came on, Ellen knocked on my glass and indicated that we could try to get in a bit earlier than 5 and see what happens. Of course, I had to wait for the end of the song, because, hey, you just cannot interrupt Jimi Hendrix in mid song. Eventually we entered the studio and began frantically to set up as quickly as possible. Somehow we managed to start, but almost twenty minutes late at 5:20 PM. I tried to be relaxed and I think succeeded for the most part as I began a show that I was looking forward to, the story of Luca and Mary taking us to eastern Tuscany for the via dei Sette Ponti, not really a street, but a country road through the mountains just south and east of Ltheir home in Figline Valdarno. The scenery was lovely, and the towns among the most charming and unique I have ever seen in Italy. The show came off flawless, except that once again Ellen had to use the Focus Method instead of the Tricaster. Otherwise everything went like clockwork, and thank goodness Ellen was the producer just after me, because otherwise I can't imagine what would have happened. So on the other front, my book about my show changed its name to the one above, and my second book, now almost finsished will be called Alan's Italy: My Personal Journey. So that's it for now. Buona notte.

What's Happening in My Italy Life - An Update

Well, I feel it is incumbent upon me to fill my readers in on some of the things that are happening to me in my Italy life. Not sure how well this will be received by my readers (I do apparently have a following according to the continual increase in the number of people who are reading this ), because I promised that everything on here would be related to producing Alan's Italy. But here goes. My first book, Alan's Italy, My Personal Journey, is about half way through the production stage. I have no idea when it will be "out", but I think the editing stage is over. It is about 50 pages long; I thought it would come out longer after production, but hey, what can you do. So it will be easier to finish. I am somewhat excited about it, but my real excitement comes from my second book, now slightly more than half done, Alan's Italy, Friends and Other Miracles (so far the working title). It covers everything I have ever experienced in traveling around Italy, but not in chronological order, like my other blog on Travelpod.com, but in another order that relates to my friendships with people who live in Italy, Laura's impact on my life and work, which is enormous (!), my friends Ric and Sharon, and the TV show. I think it is good, really good, and that is very very exciting. It is a memoir, but focussing on my traveling experiences as opposed to my work experience as a math teacher, assistant principal, and college teacher. My third book will cover my 41 year career as in education, with particular emphasis on my 26 years as a supervisor. I have a bushel full of stories to tell, as only someone who was close to the power base of a NYC high school could possibly have, and I wasn't as close sometimes as I wish I had been, so much of this will be my view of things from the second rung down the ladder. It will give a view of the running of a high school that few people have ever seen. I only hope that after I finish book number 2, I have any energy and creativity left. I wrote some of book 3 while walking around the track at the Y this morning, and I think it will be very good. I hope XLibris works out because having a book self published is a very good experience so far and there will be many more books to come as long as my mind hangs in there. I am also, of course, teaching a course this fall in the Lifespring Program, which is basically a continuing ed program up here. I have that ready to go, with written materials and 6 lectures just about totally planned. The course I am doing for New Paltz Lifetime Learning in the spring 2013 will use the same format, but will require 2 more lectures to be created. I am also planning a trip for us for next May and June (2 1/2 weeks) to Orvieto, Figline Valdarno, Florence, Venice (for the Bienale), and perhaps the Dolomites and Lake Como, like in terms of days 2,1,5,5, 3. It will be expensive, but hey ya only live once. I am also batting around the idea with Laura to have our 10th anniversary party in Florence in May 2014. A bunch of people will be invited, but I have no illusions about how many people may come; I know it will be small, but I want to try. We haven't decided yet. We would have a day long celebration in which I would provide a tour of Florence in 2 parts separated by a pizza party at our fav pizza place, cocktails at the hotel, and dinner at La Spada, and gelato on the Piazza Santa Maria Novella. Everyone who came would have to purchase their own plane ticket, pay for all hotels, and everything except that day's activities. I would get a low rate for people who stayed at Croce di Malta, and I would try to arrange for lesser priced dinners at La Spada in case anyone wanted to eat there during their stay. I would also provide assistance for anyone who wanted to travel around Italy, but we would plan our own trip, Laura and I which I am hoping will include a long awaited trip to Sicily. A few people actually said they would think about it when I broached this a party recently. That's what is happening, plus of course I play the guitar usually 4 or 5 times a week in my den, and walk and swim at the Y. It can be done, and I only hope for one thing: GOOD HEALTH. Without that all is lost.

A Series of Minor Disasters, Then Tranquility

I hate when this blog starts out with all these negative things that go on at the studio, but since the blog is about the experience of doing the show, it is appropriate to do that. Nonetheless, unless you like hearing about horror stories, I apologize, but this is reality. I arrived at the studio and Ellen and I spent a lot of time talking about the history of the studio for a book I am writing, my week off from doing the show which will cause her to show an old show on August 24, and a variety of other things. Suddenly she told me she lost power, and started to work on the power strip which is right next to my table, unable to get it working. We plugged in the system to another outlet, and suddenly that darn bulletin board fell down again, and there I was with ten minutes to go, holding up the power strip with one hand and the bulletin board with the other. We got that all squared away, she returned to the console, and said she couldn't get the Tricaster to work. I don't care that much anymore, because after last week, when the same thing happened and we did the show using the Focus Method (whatever any of these things actually are !!!!), and I liked it. The photos were just slightly off, and I like that little window in the right hand corner with my picture, although it obscures some of the photos I am showing. Then suddenly everything clicked into place, and the magic words that I just love to hear, "quiet on the set," rang out by Ellen, and everything just became very mellow as I started the Opening Segment of the show. Ya know I should say those words when I can't quite fall asleep at night and see what happens, because when I hear that I immediately relax."Quiet on the set" sort of harkens back to my childhood when my mother would close the book she was reading to me, kiss me on the cheek, whisper "good night" and turn out the light, and I would fall peacefully into that wonderful sleep that only a happy, secure, young child could possibly enjoy. The movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" kind of epitomizes that feeling that even amid the absolute incredible unrelenting horror of World War I, there could possibly be some peaceful moments. So back to the show and as I stared vacantly, but happily at the images and listened to that music for the umpteenth time, I never get tired of it, but actually to me it is like taking a tranquilizer. Then into the show on Orvieto with all the videos and images left over from the previous week. The wonderful video of Gianpiero at the restaurant, La Palomba was the highlight for me. It was so much fun that night when Franco Sala took us there for dinner, and we were treated like kings. Gianpiero and his family are wonderful people. Then the photos of the other restaurant we loved, La Grotta with Franco (another person) and his waitress, Mirella being taught by me how to fold a napkin using my "special" technique, which I will demonstrate next week before the main part of the show. I wanted to do a video of Mirella, but she felt that after a whole night of serving people, she didn't look her best; actually she looked beautiful. Also, after a while it gets weird always taking videos in every place we go, my new life. Even when we were in Rome in an outdoor restaurant, our favorite in Rome, Teatro di Pompeo, we vowed not to even mention Alan's Italy, but wound up talking all night about it and taking a video of a bunch of people. The show was fine, and that's it for Orvieto until perhaps next year, when Gianpiero promised some kind of cooking demonstration that I would like to take him up on, only of course if Alan's Italy is still in existence. I mean how long can this thing go on ?