By now you would think that having been through almost 3 1/2 years of public access misery, I would have gotten used to the various impediments to a well run TV broadcast. Clearly I haven't, but what occurs to me is that just when I thought everything that could go wrong had gone wrong, something else crops up. Arrived at the studio armed with my next show's notes and album, and eager to talk about Tuscany for the last time in the current series. I met someone Ellen introduced me to who had been hired by the township to do computer work. She told him I was a mathematician and an Italophile. Right off the bat I began by explaining that I wasn't really a mathematician, even though I have taught the subject for 43 years in high school and college. Real mathematicians, I assume, remember what they learned in Topology, Numerical Analysis, and Complex Variables courses; I don't! Then I had to explain why I cannot speak Italian fluently, once again using the excuse that my friends in Italy, in their eagerness to better learn the English language to help them in their work, would rather not speak Italian when I am around. Even though this is probably true, by now this fellow probably assumed that all the wonderful things Ellen told him about me were probably not true.
We got everything ready for the show, when at 4:50, Ellen said, "well we have about ten minutes and I cannot get any sound out of that mike. Try that other one." Nothing worked and yet again, I began to unwind with the expectation of going home very soon. At 4:58, when I was already starting to close the computer lid, she suddenly said, "I have it!" We started on time and I meandered through my material on San Miniato and Vinci for the latter focusing primarily on the great Leonardo da Vinci, the most famous resident of the lovely Tuscan town. Of course, I have had bad allergies (or a cold, who really knows) for the past week, and even had trouble finishing my second lecture at the college on Thursday because my voice gave out with about an hour to go. This time after about a half hour my throat started to bother me, and I had forgotten to bring water with me to the studio. Nonetheless, the show came off pretty much as I had wanted it to. I did make a few mistakes, and even forgot the word "background" when I was trying to describe the location of the Leonardo Museum in a photo I was showing.
It WAS fun, however, and it is impossible to tell from the actual video that I had a hard time getting through the show. That finishes off all the material we came home from Italy with last June. Twelve shows covering Lake Como, Cinque Terre, and Tuscany. Of course, I would never have made it this far with that material had the studio not been closed for three months. In that case I would have had to use a lot of albums I have prepared that I intend to use to cover the next two shows before we go and a couple of more when we return to the USA after our trip. Sometimes ideas for future shows come to me faster than at other time, and I am in a creative period right now. The next broadcast will be something I have thought about for quite a while focusing on shopping in Florence, a topic with which I am well acquainted. Then I will concentrate on the most famous street in Rome, the via dei Fori Imperiali. You would think that I couldn't get 40 minutes out of talking about just a street, and this WILL be a challenge, but I think I have enough material to do, especially if I talk about previous shows I did on streets and roads, and throw in some old photos. Then we go to Italy, and when I come back I will do a show on the Renaissance art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That material was obtained during a recent visit when I photographed their extensive collection of wonderful art using my IPhone. Then I have an idea about doing a show on Bridges of Italy, with special focus on Venice and Florence, but also talking about a lot of them around the world. You wouldn't think there would be so many interesting things about bridges, but there surely is. Then I have to work, but by then we will probably have come home with a lot of material from the trip to Venice, Florence, and Lake Como.
So I merrily came home, had dinner, and watched the show to see that there was a period of several minutes when every time the camera was on me, the screen lost its color! I look old enough in color, but in black and white, even older. Yet another problem, and even further infuriating that this had never happened before. Is it possible that there are other issues just around the corner to mar a future broadcast? Murphy would surely have said, oh yes, just you wait!
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Friday, April 10, 2015
Almost Missed the Show
Never happened before. At about 3:45, about 30 minutes before I leave for the studio and all ready to do a show, I sat half asleep on my couch, or so I thought. In actuality I was totally asleep soon after I sat down. I suddenly awoke at about 4:25, groggy, I did not know what I was supposed to be doing, glanced at the clock on my wall, and suddenly bolted upright realizing I had been asleep and was supposed to be driving to the studio roughly 15 minutes away. I rushed out of the house, got into my car, and hastened to the town, where I arrived at 4:45, the latest I had ever gotten there. Nonetheless, the show started without a hitch, except for the fact that sound didn't start until about 15 seconds into the opening segment, not an atypical glitch considering all the problems of broadcasting we usually have. The only thing I was afraid of was not being sharp enough to concentrate on the broadcast, so I tried to wake myself up.
As I look back at the show, I do not see any indication of the fact that I was indeed groggy, once again too critical of myself. The show was part 3 of our Tuscan segment of last year's trip. During this segment I asked Lidia to drive us to two close to her house, yet evocative Tuscan towns. She chose two similar and dissimilar towns, typical for Tuscany. Alike in that they both originated as fortified, castle towns, growing up around the "rocca" and yet preserving the early Medieval flavor. Unlike in that the first town, Montecarlo, was bustling with people, while the second, Seravalle, was completely quiet and subdued. In fact the latter was so devoid of activity of any kind that we could not even find a restaurant or for that matter any person on the streets. Our car was the only one parked at the foot of the town, and the only place we could find to eat was a snack bar where we discovered some ice cream, hardly the typical Tuscan meal we had expected. First of all we arrived a bit too late, about 3:00. Even though in most Italian towns, lunch is served until 3 or 4, this one may have stopped serving at 2 or 2:30. We saw tables outside restaurants, but clearly the action was over, if it had ever started at all. Second, Sunday is not an exciting day to be out and about in Tuscany. Empty of tourists apparently, but no other town activity as you might find on a weekday, as we found out the next day when we went to two bustling towns.
I originally had decided to make Montecarlo one show and Seravalle another, but changed my mind when I realized that the Montecarlo part could not possibly give me anywhere near 40 minutes of broadcast time. I combined the two naturally considering the whole day as a show complete with the tour of the two towns and the pizza party back at Lidia's house with her family. The next show, San Miniato and Vinci, was also supposed to be two shows, but I again will combine them into one, as we did both on the same day. Then I run out of shows based on the May/June 2014 trip to Italy, and unless I want to suspend broadcasting for two months, have to come up with some more material.
In that regard I have two shows on the burner which I haven't looked at for months. Yet they will form two very nice shows. One will be a show I always wanted to do, Shopping in Florence, and the other on the Streets of Rome. The later may be changed to a show in which I focus solely on one street, arguably the most famous, via dei Fori Imperiali. That will finish up the season before heading back to Italy for more material. When I get back I could hustle to create more broadcasts or work on another idea I had during a recent visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. While I was there last time alone, I photographed the Renaissance art of which there is plenty. I will call that show, Italian Renaissance Art at the MET. I like that actually but it will require a lot of work.
In the meantime I must begin to think seriously about what I intend to develop while we are away. It's gotten to the point where before we go anywhere, I first decide where to go based on future shows. The list has begun to be formed and in all likelihood there will be once again a Tuscan part with Lidia and Luca, and a Civita di Bagnoregio part with an anticipated tour by local celebrity, Franco Sala. Next it's Venice where we are staying at a new hotel, in a new area, very closely the Venice Biennale where we will both be as nonparticipants this time around. The off to Lake Como for probably more villas and some spectacular scenery.
As I look back at the show, I do not see any indication of the fact that I was indeed groggy, once again too critical of myself. The show was part 3 of our Tuscan segment of last year's trip. During this segment I asked Lidia to drive us to two close to her house, yet evocative Tuscan towns. She chose two similar and dissimilar towns, typical for Tuscany. Alike in that they both originated as fortified, castle towns, growing up around the "rocca" and yet preserving the early Medieval flavor. Unlike in that the first town, Montecarlo, was bustling with people, while the second, Seravalle, was completely quiet and subdued. In fact the latter was so devoid of activity of any kind that we could not even find a restaurant or for that matter any person on the streets. Our car was the only one parked at the foot of the town, and the only place we could find to eat was a snack bar where we discovered some ice cream, hardly the typical Tuscan meal we had expected. First of all we arrived a bit too late, about 3:00. Even though in most Italian towns, lunch is served until 3 or 4, this one may have stopped serving at 2 or 2:30. We saw tables outside restaurants, but clearly the action was over, if it had ever started at all. Second, Sunday is not an exciting day to be out and about in Tuscany. Empty of tourists apparently, but no other town activity as you might find on a weekday, as we found out the next day when we went to two bustling towns.
I originally had decided to make Montecarlo one show and Seravalle another, but changed my mind when I realized that the Montecarlo part could not possibly give me anywhere near 40 minutes of broadcast time. I combined the two naturally considering the whole day as a show complete with the tour of the two towns and the pizza party back at Lidia's house with her family. The next show, San Miniato and Vinci, was also supposed to be two shows, but I again will combine them into one, as we did both on the same day. Then I run out of shows based on the May/June 2014 trip to Italy, and unless I want to suspend broadcasting for two months, have to come up with some more material.
In that regard I have two shows on the burner which I haven't looked at for months. Yet they will form two very nice shows. One will be a show I always wanted to do, Shopping in Florence, and the other on the Streets of Rome. The later may be changed to a show in which I focus solely on one street, arguably the most famous, via dei Fori Imperiali. That will finish up the season before heading back to Italy for more material. When I get back I could hustle to create more broadcasts or work on another idea I had during a recent visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. While I was there last time alone, I photographed the Renaissance art of which there is plenty. I will call that show, Italian Renaissance Art at the MET. I like that actually but it will require a lot of work.
In the meantime I must begin to think seriously about what I intend to develop while we are away. It's gotten to the point where before we go anywhere, I first decide where to go based on future shows. The list has begun to be formed and in all likelihood there will be once again a Tuscan part with Lidia and Luca, and a Civita di Bagnoregio part with an anticipated tour by local celebrity, Franco Sala. Next it's Venice where we are staying at a new hotel, in a new area, very closely the Venice Biennale where we will both be as nonparticipants this time around. The off to Lake Como for probably more villas and some spectacular scenery.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Castelnuovo di Garfagnana
Originally this show was going to be two separate broadcasts, one focusing on Castelnuovo and one on the Fortezza and the tiny hill town above Castelnuovo of Eglio-Sassi. Then I felt that I would be stretching out a story a bit too far, so decided that it would be more appropriate to combine the albums. This was actually the way we visited all of these places on that lovely day in May when Lidia so graciously drove us all over the area of North Western Tuscany. I would have been hard pressed to find enough material to last for the better part of an hour for two separate shows. As it was this show was only 41 minutes long making it among the shortest broadcasts we ever did.
Ever since our aborted trip to Castelnuovo right after our stay in La Spezia while we visited Cinque Terre in January 2009, I have longed to return. However, the bitter taste of driving on winding roads with hairpin turns made me believe that the best way to revisit the attempt to get there was to have one of our friends with far more experience on such byways drive us up. Returning the car we rented in 2014 in Lucca, right near where Lidia lives in Chiesina Uzzanase seemed the best chance as, after we returned the car, Lidia drove north permitting us to visit first the Devil's Bridge in Borgo a Mozzano, then Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, then serendipitously the Fortezza, and Eglio-Sassi. I say serendipitously because had we not had pizza in that great place in Castelnuovo, we may never have discovered these two amazing locations.
Thus the stage was set for a show on a large swath of North Western Tuscany. I tried in vain to make contact online with someone from the town of Eglio-Sassi first just goggling the town and then following the leads through Facebook. The latter bore the fruit of obtaining some stunning images of Eglio-Sassi in the winter as well as some mundane scenes of a footrace through the town into the countryside. When the three of us first visited the town, we found precious few people around that day. Lidia and I spoke with an elderly woman who told us she had been around the world, but having been born in the town expected to now die there by choice. One can easily see why, amid those beautiful mountains and quaint streets lined with centuries old stone houses. We should also have performed an interview on video, but while Lidia and I spoke with the lady, Laura was nowhere to be seen, off somewhere photographing. Then when Lidia and I sat on the bench overlooking the mountains, there were two men on the bench next to us, but by then I was too exhausted to brother. I think it was a mistake not to bother to interview either the elderly woman or the men; that would have rounded out the show perfectly. Nonetheless, it was a fine show, albeit a bit too short. At this point, having broadcast 107 shows, it doesn't really matter how long the show is so long as it is the better part of the hour.
We are now fully immersed in the Tuscany part (and final segment) of our May/June 2014 trip to Italy. Having consumed the material from Cinque Terre and Lake Como all that remains are two shows, one will be on the day Lidia took us to two of her favorite local towns, Montecarlo and Seravalle, and the next on my request for a return visit to San Miniato to the south of Lidia's house and Vinci to the north east. Both are stunning hill towns and both unvisited by Laura during our many trips to Tuscany. Then, after shows 108 and 109, I am back to scrounging until we again venture back to Italy in late May/June 2015, a trip that will bring us to Florence, Venice, and back to Lake Como. From Florence we intend to again ask Luca and Lidia to take us to Tuscan towns, and then Laura and I will venture south to visit our friend Franco in Civita di Bagnoregio. I have two shows on the drawing board, both begun probably a year ago and both of great interest to me, a show on shopping in Florence and one on my favorite streets of Rome. Then if we still need additional broadcast material, I will have to again try to revisit my creative side (as I did for first two years in 2012 and 2013) and conjure up some new ideas. I could always just have another show called my Favorite Photos of Italy, choose about 25 of the thousands of stunning images we possess and voila, another Alan's Italy original show. We shall see.
Ever since our aborted trip to Castelnuovo right after our stay in La Spezia while we visited Cinque Terre in January 2009, I have longed to return. However, the bitter taste of driving on winding roads with hairpin turns made me believe that the best way to revisit the attempt to get there was to have one of our friends with far more experience on such byways drive us up. Returning the car we rented in 2014 in Lucca, right near where Lidia lives in Chiesina Uzzanase seemed the best chance as, after we returned the car, Lidia drove north permitting us to visit first the Devil's Bridge in Borgo a Mozzano, then Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, then serendipitously the Fortezza, and Eglio-Sassi. I say serendipitously because had we not had pizza in that great place in Castelnuovo, we may never have discovered these two amazing locations.
Thus the stage was set for a show on a large swath of North Western Tuscany. I tried in vain to make contact online with someone from the town of Eglio-Sassi first just goggling the town and then following the leads through Facebook. The latter bore the fruit of obtaining some stunning images of Eglio-Sassi in the winter as well as some mundane scenes of a footrace through the town into the countryside. When the three of us first visited the town, we found precious few people around that day. Lidia and I spoke with an elderly woman who told us she had been around the world, but having been born in the town expected to now die there by choice. One can easily see why, amid those beautiful mountains and quaint streets lined with centuries old stone houses. We should also have performed an interview on video, but while Lidia and I spoke with the lady, Laura was nowhere to be seen, off somewhere photographing. Then when Lidia and I sat on the bench overlooking the mountains, there were two men on the bench next to us, but by then I was too exhausted to brother. I think it was a mistake not to bother to interview either the elderly woman or the men; that would have rounded out the show perfectly. Nonetheless, it was a fine show, albeit a bit too short. At this point, having broadcast 107 shows, it doesn't really matter how long the show is so long as it is the better part of the hour.
We are now fully immersed in the Tuscany part (and final segment) of our May/June 2014 trip to Italy. Having consumed the material from Cinque Terre and Lake Como all that remains are two shows, one will be on the day Lidia took us to two of her favorite local towns, Montecarlo and Seravalle, and the next on my request for a return visit to San Miniato to the south of Lidia's house and Vinci to the north east. Both are stunning hill towns and both unvisited by Laura during our many trips to Tuscany. Then, after shows 108 and 109, I am back to scrounging until we again venture back to Italy in late May/June 2015, a trip that will bring us to Florence, Venice, and back to Lake Como. From Florence we intend to again ask Luca and Lidia to take us to Tuscan towns, and then Laura and I will venture south to visit our friend Franco in Civita di Bagnoregio. I have two shows on the drawing board, both begun probably a year ago and both of great interest to me, a show on shopping in Florence and one on my favorite streets of Rome. Then if we still need additional broadcast material, I will have to again try to revisit my creative side (as I did for first two years in 2012 and 2013) and conjure up some new ideas. I could always just have another show called my Favorite Photos of Italy, choose about 25 of the thousands of stunning images we possess and voila, another Alan's Italy original show. We shall see.
Friday, March 6, 2015
The First Tuscany Show, Lucca
When we returned from the last trip in June 2014, we had a lot of material on Tuscan towns including a solo trip we took to Lucca and three days with Lidia. The first day of that part of the trip occurred before we arrived at Lidia's house in Chiesina Uzzanase. On the way from Cinque to Lidia's house we made a stop for the day. Laura selected Lucca, on the way to Lidia's and a town where she had been in 2009 when we both were ill and couldn't see much of the place. I decided that this series of shows on Tuscany should be a chronological tour beginning at our first destination. Using the 2009 visit as a jump-off point, going back briefly to the solo trip I took there in 2001, when I was between marriages, off we went through a very thorough, but not totally complete tour of Lucca, one of the really special hill towns in Central Italy.
The studio end of the experience went more smoothly than anything I have experienced with relation to Woodstock Public Access Television since early last fall. There were no snags at all, the trailer was well heated, and there was not the faint hint of a glitch. Smooth as silk. The show displayed much of the material we had accumulated during the 2014 visit including a view of four churches, two great and well known piazzas, Napoleone and San Michele, lots of views of side streets (with an overwhelming number of bicycles parked along the way), some nice shots of the town's medieval walls, the great outdoor restaurant where we had lunch, and some very great looking gelato. I even showed how we had photographed the actual street on which we parked so as not to lose the car when we returned from the day. All in all an excellent tour of a wondrous Tuscan town.
So now that Lucca is "out of the way" we now take a close look at several "obscure" Tuscan towns, places where the vast throngs of tourists rarely visit. Lidia selected most of them with input from us. We suggested Castelnuovo di Garfagnana (a place where we almost got to in 2009 and always hankered to return), and then the almost totally esoteric village of Eglio-Sassi, where there are few internet references, and the close by to Chiesina villages of Montecarlo and Seravalle. Then to San Miniato, a town I always wanted to return to after Lidia had taken me there in either 2001 or 2002, and then a return visit to Leonardo's birthplace in Vinci. All these will consume the next three shows and bring us to end of the material garnered from last year's trip. After that, who knows? I have some material from old ideas, mostly about Florence, but by then, we return to Italy.
The studio end of the experience went more smoothly than anything I have experienced with relation to Woodstock Public Access Television since early last fall. There were no snags at all, the trailer was well heated, and there was not the faint hint of a glitch. Smooth as silk. The show displayed much of the material we had accumulated during the 2014 visit including a view of four churches, two great and well known piazzas, Napoleone and San Michele, lots of views of side streets (with an overwhelming number of bicycles parked along the way), some nice shots of the town's medieval walls, the great outdoor restaurant where we had lunch, and some very great looking gelato. I even showed how we had photographed the actual street on which we parked so as not to lose the car when we returned from the day. All in all an excellent tour of a wondrous Tuscan town.
So now that Lucca is "out of the way" we now take a close look at several "obscure" Tuscan towns, places where the vast throngs of tourists rarely visit. Lidia selected most of them with input from us. We suggested Castelnuovo di Garfagnana (a place where we almost got to in 2009 and always hankered to return), and then the almost totally esoteric village of Eglio-Sassi, where there are few internet references, and the close by to Chiesina villages of Montecarlo and Seravalle. Then to San Miniato, a town I always wanted to return to after Lidia had taken me there in either 2001 or 2002, and then a return visit to Leonardo's birthplace in Vinci. All these will consume the next three shows and bring us to end of the material garnered from last year's trip. After that, who knows? I have some material from old ideas, mostly about Florence, but by then, we return to Italy.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Success!!!!
It was not easy tonight. I arrived at the studio later than I ever did fearing that I would not be able to tolerate the cold. It turned out that the temperature was not the biggest problem. I set up and Ellen could not get sound out of either of the two microphones. I was prepared to pack it in once again. Finally after at least ten minutes of fiddling around with the controls and my saying "testing, testing, testing" about a hundred times, she finally said, "ok I got it." We both echoed the same "whew" as we began with the introductory slideshow. "Wait, there's another problem," she suddenly indicated, "Stop the slideshow." I did and we began again. This time it seemed to work and off we went. This was the show which wraps up the Cinque Terre area where we spent three days in May. So, now the only remaining material I have for broadcasts that we acquired from the trip we took in May/June 2014 are the amazing Tuscan towns that we went to alone and Lidia took us to, namely Lucca, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Eglio-Sassi, Montecarlo, Seravalle, San Miniato, and Vinci.
I began the show by discussing the trials of public access television, and the concepts of determination, commitment, and challenge as the bywords to putting out a broadcast on live television. I used the story Bart Friedman and Tobe Carey had related to me when I interviewed them a few years ago on one of my shows in which they told me that when they began broadcasting from the town of Lanesville, not far from here, they had to bring a cable up the side of a mountain to find the highest point for the best reception. That's it. Public access television is exactly like climbing a mountain. It is not for the faint hearted and any attempt at broadcasting must be undertaken with the understanding that it will be a very difficult challenge filled with disappointment and failure. However, when it works, it is a wonderful feeling, and I feel privileged to have now broadcasted 105 shows on Italy.
We try again two weeks from this evening.
I began the show by discussing the trials of public access television, and the concepts of determination, commitment, and challenge as the bywords to putting out a broadcast on live television. I used the story Bart Friedman and Tobe Carey had related to me when I interviewed them a few years ago on one of my shows in which they told me that when they began broadcasting from the town of Lanesville, not far from here, they had to bring a cable up the side of a mountain to find the highest point for the best reception. That's it. Public access television is exactly like climbing a mountain. It is not for the faint hearted and any attempt at broadcasting must be undertaken with the understanding that it will be a very difficult challenge filled with disappointment and failure. However, when it works, it is a wonderful feeling, and I feel privileged to have now broadcasted 105 shows on Italy.
We try again two weeks from this evening.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Another Milestone - Alan's Italy, 20,000 Youtube Views
Yes, amazing to me as that is, Alan's Italy has just gone over 20,000 views. When I began to upload DVD's of the live broadcasts in early 2012, it was meant only to have a place to "park" my productions. I had no idea I would eventually have 71 subscribers and over 20,000 views. To everyone who has viewed at least part of a show, thank you. I also would like to thank Youtube for doing such a great job, my engineer, the tech genius at the studio, the Town of Woodstock, and everyone who has participated in some way especially my wife who is the videographer, photographer, editor and my traveling companion. Also thanks to my wonderful friends in Italy who have enhanced the total experience.
Now, on to 25,000!!!
Now, on to 25,000!!!
Anticipation
After several fits and starts, finally, Ellen, my engineer assures me that I will be able to host my TV show live tomorrow at the usual broadcast time of 5 PM on Woodstock Public Access Television. I am a bit dubious, but today the technical associate was at the studio making sure everything was working. He is a genius, and I trust his opinion on this matter, I am ready!!!! I am eager to give WPAT another chance before I contemplate trying something else. I had even started pricing video cameras, tripods, etc. for me to actually tape my own version in my living room. Then I realized that would compromise the very concept and nature of public access. I resolved to be patient and fight it out until something good happened. I hope it finally has!
Ellen thought I would be doing that same show that was messed up two weeks ago, Show # 104: Monterosso al Mare, Part 2 - New Town, but since I already uploaded the version I did at Panda Studio in Tivoli, I will be going on to the next show, # 105 - Portovenere. This is a town just a few miles south of Cinque Terre also on the Ligurian Coast. The story of why we went there, how we got there, and what we found when we disembarked is the subject of this broadcast. I have some amazingly spectacular and beautiful photos of this really, really charming town. Please tune in to my Youtube Channel. But before that, please cross your fingers for me!!!
Ellen thought I would be doing that same show that was messed up two weeks ago, Show # 104: Monterosso al Mare, Part 2 - New Town, but since I already uploaded the version I did at Panda Studio in Tivoli, I will be going on to the next show, # 105 - Portovenere. This is a town just a few miles south of Cinque Terre also on the Ligurian Coast. The story of why we went there, how we got there, and what we found when we disembarked is the subject of this broadcast. I have some amazingly spectacular and beautiful photos of this really, really charming town. Please tune in to my Youtube Channel. But before that, please cross your fingers for me!!!
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