Continued Woes and Perhaps a Big Change

Arrived at the makeshift studio last evening to very cold and uncomfortable circumstances mixed with the lack of bathroom facilities, my goal was to get in and get out as quickly as possible. Even driving into the parking area was a challenge as the way was blocked off.  We nonetheless got off pretty well and I went through the same Show # 104 that I had previously performed at Panda TV a few weeks earlier. Everything appeared to go off without a hitch, but when I got home, after a three hour interlude when I met a friend for dinner, I discovered that there was no sound on the DVD. I tried everything I usually do, but could not get sound. After contemplating what to do and getting rapidly very frustrated and irritated, I called Ellen and told her that the situation was too intolerable and stressful for me to continue attempting to broadcast at Woodstock Public Access. I went to bed thinking that Alan's Italy was now a merely a memory and that this blog would be my last one ever.

Laura had suggested before I went to sleep that I work with the Panda TV people to better synchronize the voice with the images during their editing process. I literally slept on the idea, and determined to contact Danielle at Panda Studio to ask her if we could do another show. I sent her an email indicating that I could do a show and personally supervise the meshing together of the images with the voice. I am awaiting a response, but I believe that is the way we will go for the immediate future.

My goal will be to put together the next show # 105 on the remarkable Ligurian town of Portovenere. In the meantime # 104, the second half of the show on Monterosso was uploaded to Youtube last night with all its blemishes, so please forgive me. It is nonetheless better than nothing for the moment, and in the meantime I will work to make a better production for the next upload, whenever that shall be.

The other news is that my friend Franco Sala, who owns the best restaurant in the amazing town of Civita di Bagnoregio in Alto Lazio, will be visiting NYC this week. I will take him and his partner Nina to a snack before their scheduled show they will be seeing on Tuesday. We will discuss my idea of doing a two part show on Civita with part 1 being his personal guided tour of the town and part 2 focusing on his wonderful restaurant Antica Forno.