After 52 shows I finally did one on Umbria ! I had been debating with myself for over a year about whether to even do a show on Umbria considering the dearth of available photos. During our first two trips to Umbria in 2006 and 2007, we were using our new digital camera, and were still taking a lot of photos the old-fashioned way. The only time we returned to Umbria occurred when we stayed there for 3 nights in 2012. So even though we had visited Orvieto, Perugia, Todi, Spello, Spoleto, Assisi, Citta della Pieve, we had very few photos. For some reason we took quite a few videos, but really only two or three were worthwhile to broadcast on the show. When we returned to Orvieto in 2012, Laura took a lot of photos, perhaps several hundred. We actually returned to Umbria in 2008, but weren't really aware that we were there ! We were staying in Cortona a lovely town at a hotel high up above the town, the Hotel Corys, and were planning to visit Lake Trasimeno on the way to Montepulciano for a look at this stunning lake. That story is told on the show. I wasn't even aware that Lake Trasimeno, and the town we used for the view, Castiglione del Lago, were a part of Umbria. In 2008 we had started to explore Tuscany in earnest, so didn't have much time for anything in Umbria. We were planning to visit the south Umbrian towns of Narni and Terni during the 2012 trip, but then were so tired from the long journey to Orvieto from the USA that we canceled that.
So that's the background. I was very reluctant to do a whole show show about a place where, although I had spent quite some time, didn't have many images. For months I debated with myself constantly. The iPhoto album entitled "Umbria" sat there month after month. I would go to it again and again wondering if I should build a show around it. Finally two months ago I decided to do an Umbria show, use some of the photos from the Orvieto experience and 2 videos to introduce the show, include the Lake Trasimeno, and Citta della Pieve experience, show a couple of videos, one of a short stroll in Spello and one of a short description of the hotel experience in Urbino, and take the rest of the material from the internet. Apropos to the hotel video in Urbino, I also decided to throw in a non-Umbria town, since it is close to Gubbio in the northern Umbria, and also because I have even fewer photos of that very historical town. And then finally, since I felt insecure about sustaining 60 minutes on a topic I was so tentative about for so long, I threw in several 'asides' - newsy topics about Italy. This is actually an idea I love and will do a lot under similar circumstances. Not really what one might call a "filler" but really just topics of interest when the show is light on photos. To wit, Luca had just sent me the Florence Newspaper, a paper which summarizes Florentine goings-on. That was chock full of interesting stuff about Italy in general, and Florence in particular. Also, of course, the Pope just resigned so that was a good item to talk about, and Mt Etna just erupted, spewing it's innards all over the place and I showed a spectacular image. Plus, and finally, I felt so badly about having identified the Rialto Bridge as the Accademia Bridge in Show # 52, that I did something I have stopped doing, using a subsequent show to correct errors from the previous one. So I did a brief talk about the bridges of Venice once again. I don't know why I keep misidentifying things I know so well, but under the lights, pressured by time elements, and the whole aura of the live show, I guess I get flummoxed at times. As Donald Fagen of the group Steely Dan indicates in his song "Deacon Blues" - "I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play it wrong." I suggest the same thing for anyone who is critical. Sorry.
Meanwhile there was a concert in the community center next door which ended at about 5 and for the first half of the show, from about 5 until 5:30, there was the noise of that show ending with people talking, and chairs being moved around. When I arrived to the studio at 4:30 I tried to cut across the stage area to get to the bathroom, but gave up when I opened the door of the studio and was looking at the back of this guitarist who was in the process of entertaining an audience of about a hundred people. All of these issues may have derailed the show at the beginning, an apt topic for my book, Birth of a Television Show, but nothing fazes me that much anymore, and I took it in a good-natured way, even my knowing so little about Umbria. I even quoted my friend Luca whose comment about the comparison of Umbria and Tuscany appears in my second book, My Personal Journey. Otherwise it was a fine show as I later watched the whole thing. On the DVD I took home to upload to Youtube, there was a 20 second period at the beginning to edit out, and a 10 second end. Sometimes Ellen and I get so caught up in talking after the show that she forgets to fade out the ending and it just kept rolling along the same images we showed at the beginning of that segment of the show. When left alone the slide-show just goes into a continuous loop. If we decided to take a 20 minute break, it would keep going on and on and on....
This week was weird because Youtube had my video views at 5,997, ready to go over 6,000, which would have been wonderful to see, but then suddenly the number 5,425 appeared !!!! Somehow over 500 views disappeared, and let me tell you there is no way to ask a question of anyone at Youtube. I even tried calling google's corporate offices and was on hold for 20 minutes before hanging up. I did notice that there were many views that lasted perhaps 2 seconds, as the general average length of time people were watching seemed low indicating that many people get there, take a look, and get lost. It really doesn't matter much as I just like having the compilation of all 52 shows (now 53) in one very accessible location - that really is the purpose of the Youtube connection and I am happy to have it !
I also received an e mail from the Program Director at the New Paltz Public Access TV Station who wants my shows to broadcast to the New Paltz community, nice idea, since I will be starting my teaching there in the continuing ed program in a few weeks.
Next week Ric Hirst joins me for the Viterbo Show with wonderful images of that great city in Northern Lazio. I had many images, so many in fact that what was supposed to be a combination Viterbo/Tuscania show was divided up into two parts. That's what I like, going out for a day of sight-seeing and getting two potential shows in one fell swoop ! Grazie per la lettura. Ciao.
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