Michelangelo and Ric Return

Two years ago my intent was to create two shows on Michelangelo, one for his works that appear in Florence and one for his works in Rome. One of the earliest shows, number 9 in fact, had Ric Hirst, my friend and sculptor in marble, narrating the technical aspects of Il Divino's work. After waiting quite a while during which time many others ideas intervened to take precedence, Michelangelo in Rome finally aired a couple of hours ago. I created the nucleus of the show, and then Ric and I honed that product with his making several suggestions on how to make the presentation better by adding or deleting several photos. I then looked it all over at home and added a few photos to enhance the product, and voila, what you, as viewers will see is that final version begun so long ago.

Everything was relatively smooth except that whenever I have a guest with me, I forget to do my normal chores of television production in the studio and I did several mishaps before and after the show. Even Ellen became distracted when she received a phone call a few minutes before we were scheduled to go on the air. We later agreed that we do our best when we are alone in the studio with no last minute phone calls. Nonetheless, the phone call was important and having Ric Hirst with me a priceless and remarkable exercise in broadcasting. Ric's expertise, breadth of knowledge about just about everything, and insights are invaluable and made for a wonderful experience for me. I feel like I am in school with a private art history professor sitting at my side. It doesn't get any better for an Italophile like me. Ric even promised to return soon to do a show on the Orvieto Cathedral, a stunning architectural achievement from the Middle Ages complete with the stunning frescos by Piero della Francesco. In fact I have several ideas for Ric during the coming year.

Next week, I will do my show on one of my favorite restaurants in Florence, La Grotta di Leo. I first started to dine here in the 1990's continuing during my solo visits of the early 2000's up to the present. This very informal but excellent restaurant has been the kind of place I return with great comfort and confidence that the meal will be superb, especially the pizza. Everything here is tasty and the employees are always helpful and appear happy to be working there. In this case we will have several video interviews with the owner, pizza chef, and a few waiters. In the coming weeks we have a show about the shop owners in Orvieto with interviews and then will come a series of shows on several of the smaller towns surrounding Florence like Colle di Val d'Elsa, Citta della Pieve, and Pistoia. Then I will have several shows revisiting a theme I used during the first year using the Alinari photos of the 19th century. I purchased two books while in Florence which have a treasure trove of stunning images.

Meanwhile, as you know, I am back at college teaching and loving it, but will never give up Alan's Italy so stay tuned.

A Show That Just Had to be Broadcast

Several months before we left for Italy for our May/June trip, I began to communicate with our friend, Susan (whom we met at the Villa La Palagina in Figline Valdarno in 2012), who conveyed to 5 Star Movement Spokesperson, Andrea Martellini my desire to interview members of the movement who had been part of the recent success. After months of back and forth emails, which can only be described as negotiations, we agreed on a time, place, and format. Alan's Italy Show # 75 is the product of that endeavor. My first choice of venue had been the same location in which we interviewed Andrea back in 2012, namely the back lounge of the hotel in Florence, a quiet, peaceful, and relaxing venue during which time Andrea bewitched us with a wonderful presentation of his views and the views of the 5 Star Movement, and the movement's founder, Beppe Grillo. This time, however, they insisted on meeting in Figline Valdarno at a place of their choosing. Originally they wanted me to also meet perhaps half dozen representatives, all newly elected, for a two hour pre-interview session for some orientation. I told Susan that I just didn't have time for that and frankly did not want to interview so many people. I insisted that they narrow it to just a couple of people, limit the interview to a one hour (at most) informal discussion, and agreed to meet in the Figline Town Hall. I brought my dear friend Luca with me for translating purposes, and with Laura performing the videography off we went. We were told to meet them in the village piazza, where they then led us to a busy and noisy restaurant. Right away I was dubious of the choice of location, but eagerly followed along with my entourage.

We sat at the back of the restaurant and began what became three different video segments totally a bit less than 30 minutes. We did 3 shorter segments because at the time Laura and I were unsure whether the camera, a sophisticated canon, but not intended for extensive videography, would shut down after a time, so we kept stopping. That issue was not the problem, however, as the excessive noise of a busy restaurant became the real stumbling block. When we viewed the video at home in Woodstock, we felt that there was so much noise from the dishes being moved around, people talking, and the general racket of a busy eatery, that we might not even show any of it on an actual broadcast. I, nonetheless, created a show around the three videos, with some background about Beppe Grillo, the founder of the movement, the previous interview we did with Andrea in 2012, and the best part of all, a short 5 minute interview at my friend Luca in his home that evening in which he talks about the plight of the average person in Italy dealing with the extremely horrid economic conditions. He also spoke about why he voted for the 5 Star Movement. With the finished product just about honed for the actual show, I decided upon the schedule for the show # 75, and went about my business of creating programs about the Palazzo Bembo (shows # 70, 71, 72), the Jews of Italy (shows # 68 and #69), the 3 Venice Hotels (show # 74) and Venice Neighborhoods (show # 73).

Amid all the problems I had with show # 70 having had to re-tape the show twice after the original broadcast, I also struggled with the idea of whether to do the 5 Star Movement Show at all. Throwing care to the wind, I did it last night amid the additional turmoil of doing the live broadcast. First Ellen told me that the channel wasn't functioning well with frequent blackouts during broadcasts. Then I noticed during the show that the voices were not properly synched to the lips of the speakers. Then Ellen told me there were sound problems. And on and on. I took the DVD home, looked briefly at it, so disgusted about the whole project, I nonetheless decided to download to my computer and then upload to Youtube. Then I intended to explain the whole mess on this blog, and chalk up the whole disaster to the amateurish, cable access, live broadcast excuses I always use. I liked that idea a lot so people can see how difficult this whole project had been over the past almost two years.

I just watched the show and it really is not so bad, and I must admit rather fulfilling to have come through all this and been able to view a finished product. You can still hear the voices fairly well, especially if you really concentrate, the lips are perfectly synched, and the message the speakers convey is so important for the United States, all "free" societies, and the world of politics in general, that I am actually proud to now present to you Alan's Italy Show # 75: Italy's Miracle Election, the Movimento Cinque Stelle (5 Star Movement), The People Who Made it Happen.

Whew ! Thank God that's over. Now on to other projects. Next week I take a break and return with Ric Hirst and Michelangelo in Rome, a show I began to organize almost a year ago about Il Divino's work in Rome.

Show # 70 Returns

Alan's Italy Show # 70: The 55th Venice Biennale, Palazzo Bembo, Part 1 has returned. After weeks of revising and making it a better all around production, I have taped the updated version and uploaded it to Youtube. It can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phcv0ryFD-A on my Youtube Channel.

I am very happy that is out of the way since it completes the 3-part series that really started months ago, continued at the biennale itself, and continued even further as I worked on the shows at home. I think for an amateur producer on a cable access station it is good. If this were CNN or PBS, well I am not so certain that they wouldn't fire me ! But I am not a TV producer by trade; I am a math teacher, so if anyone ever wishes to rate me, then come into my class not into my studio ! LOL In fact even as a TV producer, I am working with very limited resources. Ellen did an amazing job of editing, and if I had that ability, I could probably do a better job of producing, but alas, I have not the time or the inclination to become an expert editor. She did me the favor, but really her services would need to be compensated, if I relied on her to do this job on a regular basis.

Anyway, here it is, and if anyone out there in cyberland has been waiting for this, as I have, then all I can say is enjoy, not only show # 70, but 71 and 72, now the complete 3-part series. Now on to other projects !