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.

Yet Another Delay

The show that was scheduled for Friday, Jan 30 was once again called off because of technical difficulties. We will try again next week, Friday, February 6.

Progress Report

Danielle Maloney of Panda TV sent me the video of the show that she and Matt had put together with a tremendous amount of editing. Piecing everything together, each component of my broadcast, they created a beautiful version of Alan's Italy Show # 104. Considering the small amount of time we spent on the project, they did a magnificent job!! I would first like to thank them for a great job. There were a few problems with the synchronization of the voice with the photos, but all in all it was quite wonderful. I decided to do the same show on my usual broadcast medium, Woodstock Public Access Television and compare. That WPAT version is scheduled to air live on Friday, Jan 30. Then I will have the dilemma of which to upload to Youtube. I may place both, and let my viewing audience compare the two, but not sure as yet. Some feedback from my viewing audience would be helpful, but that ain't happening!!!!!

Thus, this Friday I may be back on the air in the usual way and I am very excited. That studio will be yet another broadcasting challenge for any WPAT producer, small, cold, shakes with the wind, but, sigh, home sweet home! Then I will probably return to my usual one show every two weeks. Although I now have a supply of about 6 or 7 shows, that will run out fast if I try to do too much too fast. I spent the entire day yesterday working on honing shows and planning for future ones. Then hopefully we will return to Italy at the end of May and create more.

I hope you get to see show # 104 some time Friday evening on Youtube.

Back on the Air (I hope)

Ellen just called to tell me we are scheduled to be in the temporary studio on Fri, January 30, 2015. Alan's Italy may be on the air, live and on Youtube once again!!! If so I am going with Show # 104: Monterosso al Mare, Part 2 featuring Bar Colpi di Timone and the interview with the owner, Giancarlo Basso. If we are really producing our first show in 3 months, then expect a new video on Youtube sometime soon afterward. Meanwhile, we are gradually approaching 20,000 Youtube views. Probably in a few weeks at the current rate. We are also approaching 8,000 reads on the blog. Stay tuned!!!

Good News

After spending two hours with the people at the PandaTV studio, it appears that I will be able to create more shows using their facilities! We start next Monday with shows 104 and 105. I will then get the DVDs and subsequently upload to Youtube. The techs at Panda are so competent with computers, it was astounding to me, a mere neophyte, to see what they are able to do. Apparently they will tape my voice doing an actual show, save my photos on a separate drive, along with the intro and concluding slideshows, and everything will be synced and overlaid to produce a show. I sort of knew all of this could take place, but with the process that we did in Woodstock being do different, I never gave it much thought. There might also be a way to edit, which would defeat the whole concept of my making mistakes - with which I have always been simultaneously frustrated and charmed! Therefore, on Monday evening I will keep you informed of the goings on at their studio and maybe even be able to upload two more shows to my Youtube channel. Stay tuned.

Stirrings and a New Direction

My small hiatus of 5 weeks from broadcasting have produced movement from my inertia to begin to think about a different approach to getting the show on the air and on Youtube. I have contacted PandaTV which services Tivoli, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Rhinecliff on the other side of the Hudson perhaps 35 minutes from Woodstock. The director of the Panda TV public access, a big supporter of mine, has consented to help me get my computer hooked up to their system for some live broadcasting while we wait for eternity or the new broadcasting facilities to be up and running in Woodstock, whichever comes first. My appt with a system geek is set for Wed, Jan 7 at 11:30 AM. We shall see. I have about 8 shows on the drawing board and it would take a bit of work to get them organized for broadcast. Yet I miss the whole thing and look forward to moving ahead making things happen instead of waiting for the water to wash over me as I lay lazily on the beach. (my feeble attempt at metaphor!).

I will keep you posted.

Update on Alan's Italy

No end in sight for any new broadcasts. I was told that the equipment from the studio has been moved into the new location for the year which is basically a trailer. Ellen just left me a message that I shouldn't expect to go on the air either this or next week. As far as I know there is no end in sight. I could broadcast from Panda TV in Tivoli, but since I am still working at the college for another week, I can wait. The repeat system used by the town of Woodstock for their off-hours shows might be up and running much sooner than any live broadcasts, but that doesn't help anyone who watches my show regularly on Youtube. Those people will just have to surf through the 103 previous episodes.

My own feelings about this situation is a combination of resignation to something I cannot help, plus a feeling that perhaps I needed a respite. It's been almost four weeks since the last live broadcast, and I really haven't missed it much, partly because I have been very busy, and partly because I may be tired of it. I need to be told that there is a target date for a new show, and to then do my usual routine of getting ready and doing a performance. That may give me a greater feeling of connection to the show than just sitting here not knowing what is going to happen.

Meanwhile, I have shied away from thinking much about our plans for our Italian adventure for next May/June, because with Laura's recent accident, we have to see how she is doing. I assume we are going since it is a bit far in the distance. I certainly will not have trouble now extending the shows until next May since this hiatus gives me more flexibility. I may even combine some of the almost planned Tuscany shows from my last trip. Many of these shows were intended to be stand alone shows on some of the small towns, but since I will not need to create so many shows since it is already December, I may just combine a couple. The experience only lasted a couple of hours of actually visiting the towns.

Will keep you informed.