I felt very uncomfortable doing tho show last evening. Part of the reason was that I was very, very tired. Another thing was that I was very hungry and hadn't really eaten much that day (always very bad for me), and thus felt weak in addition to hunger. I also had my new summer teaching assignment on my mind. And finally, once again my engineer had trouble getting everything right, and only did when I made a suggestion. You know things are bad in the studio when we get on the air because of a suggestion that I make!!!!! Also, I hadn't realized that this was the first broadcast since before we went away, so five weeks. All this combined to make this a difficult performance on my part, although, and I kept thinking this all during the broadcast, my audience probably had no idea of any of this. I made several mistakes throughout, just as I used to do in the "old" days; the most annoying and perhaps glaring (but again perhaps unnoticeable) when describing the work in the Uffizi by Botticelli, I indicate that the artist depicted the Medici Family over "three centuries" when I meant to say "three generations." I thought that was my most annoying error, but unfortunately I did not realize it until I was viewing the show at home several hours later. In the Adoration, which is my favorite of Botticelli's work, we see Cosimo il Vecchio, his son Piero, and the young Lorenzo off to the side - hardly three centuries!!! I also picked up a few other mistakes along the way, but the mistake I just mentioned was the one which kept me awake all night.
I liked being on the air again, talking about our recent trip to Italy, "the agony and the ecstasy" a weird combination of magnificence and great strain and anxiety (watch the show). Now the hard part - putting together enough shows to last for the next year. I have a couple which I could fashion into shows quickly, but to get everything together will require time, a commodity I may have trouble finding since my teaching schedule will be totally dominating my time, at least for the next five weeks. Then since I have applied for a full time position at the college, that could be a future difficulty.
In the meantime it is on the schedule that the makeshift studio may closed for a while and we will be moved into the new studio in the refurbished Woodstock Community Center. Last time taking the equipment out of the old studio and setting up the trailer temporarily consumed several months. If that occurs, I will surely not be very upset, because time is what I need most to get the new year's broadcasts together. Do not expect a show now for perhaps three weeks. That show will probably be the one which is about 25 % completed on my favorite sculpture museum in Florence, the Bargello, the former prison and now the National Museum of Sculpture. After that, if we are not closed down, I will probably begin the new year of broadcasts with the one titled, Oasis in Castello, Venice - Hotel Sant'Antonin. I owe the gracious and dedicated owner of the hotel in which we stayed in Venice the honor of my first show of the new season.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Back in the USA!!!
On Tuesday, May 26, we left Newark Airport and the next day flew first to Zurich, Switzerland, and then the next day connected to a plane which landed in Florence for the first time ever and this was wonderful. For every other time we have visited this great city, we arrived by train. After we landed, a short taxi ride and wham, in the hotel!!!! However to get to this point we left home at noon on Tuesday, had a 2 1/2 hr car ride, 3 hr wait (it could have been less but I like to get places early), 8 1/2 hr plane flight to Zurich, 4 hr layover, and a one hour flight to Peretola, Florence's airport. For the next day and a half we relaxed with great food, and did very little. I developed a minor stomach disorder which extended to Friday and prevented our day trip to Civita di Bagnoregio and Orvieto to visit with Franco. That was disappointing, but I just could not travel such a distance the way I felt. Saturday Lidia and her friend Sabrina and her husband, Giulio, drove us around Tuscany visiting the stunning town of Badia a Pasignano (never heard of it before), lunch at Cantinetta di Rignana (high in hills overlooking Tuscany - beautiful), and then the town of Montefioralle, a really fun and relaxing day with Lidia doing all the driving. Sunday Luca took us to Volpaia in the Chianti Region of Tuscany, near Greve in Chianti. Although I have been all over in Chianti, this is one place to which I had never been. We had a great time dining at a great restaurant. He then insisted on driving us home back to Florence!!!!!
On Monday, June 1, we wheeled our luggage down via della Scala to the train station Santa Maria Novella (SMN) about 10 mins away. Then a high speed train, 2 hrs, to Venice, water taxi to Hotel Sant Antonin. This amazing hotel is only two years old, but already one of the top places in Venice and for very good reason. The Scarpa Family owns the hotel and Elena runs it for her father who worked in the stunning back garden. In fact when I first saw him, I thought he was THE gardener instead of the owner!!! She gave us an amazing room right off the marvelous garden with its own entrance, and beautiful full wall of windows overlooking our own private patio. We were treated as if we were part of the family, with warmth, caring, and excellent service. The reception people are friendly and accommodating recommending a wonderful restaurant, Jonny's. You get to meet Jonny and he is very pleasant, helpful choosing the right dish for you (gave us Spaghetti Vongole - Vongole means Clams even though it was not even on the menu!), and his restaurant is right on a wonderful campo (piazza) in the charming and less touristy Castello Sestiere of Venice. The food was delicious. The hotel and restaurant have quickly become our new standard for every trip we ever take to Venice!!!! Elena gave a wonderful 10 min interview in the garden on the history of the hotel and a bit about her family. Thank you Elena and Jonny.
For recreation we spent two miserably hot days at the Biennale. The art was weird and I hate to say, not that pleasing to me - but what do I know about art? The art is presented in a very non A/C area (it would probably cost way too much to air condition the place). It is fun, however, visiting such a plethora of creative geniuses, a veritable World's Fair of Contemporary Art. We had for lunch one of the days one of the best salads we ever had in a lovely garden. Another day we visited the Palazzzo Bembo, largest of the "collateral exhibitions" and the scene of Laura's work in 2013. Also no A/C but really a fun two hrs with some magnificent stuff. The heat, however, was oppressive, the crowds in the most heavily trafficked areas of S. Marco and Rialto overwhelming, and we always had the impression we were being ripped off (which we probably were). One of the highlights of the whole stay in Venice - 4 days - was the Bead Store a short 5 min stroll from the hotel. Here Manuela and Moulaye run an amazing business at Muranero, Arte African in Vetro. The latter is from Senegal, studied bead making in Murano claims to be the only African in the business (I don't doubt it), teaches and makes stunning beads right before your eyes. Manuela then puts them together for you as you also watch and runs the business. We have a great video of our interviews with him, her, and also his bead making which will make for a wonderful TV show. However wonderful it was to be in Venice, the oppressive heat for sure put a damper on everything.
Then again water taxi picking us up right from the dock in front of the hotel, whisked us to station, Santa Lucia, and then another high speed train ride of 2 1/2 hrs to Milan. Everything going well for this transfer until we were told our connecting train to Varenna was cancelled due to suicide on the tracks. We waited for an hour, by now exhausted from the heat, boarded a train which had no A/C and people who were dying to just close every window for a reason I have yet to determine, and finally arrived in Varenna on Lake Como at 3PM, although only an hour late. The worst part of having a train canceled in Italy is that it is very difficult to find out any information. The lines are unbelievably long. In this case there was one official walking around giving people advice; if not for him, we might be still waiting there on line. Marco Barili's wife Nelly picked us up at the station in Varenna and off we went to Hotel du Lac for our room overlooking the lake with balcony. It was good to get to a place where we had very little to do. In the past we had seen all the villas open to the public, visited most of the towns on the lake, so basically spent each day sipping prosecco at Bar il Molo on the lake. We did an interview with Simone's publicist, Giuditta, in his new venture, il Bottaio, which last year was devoted strictly to art, but now a maze of 5 wonderful stores - see the show which will focus on this. But again, not much doing here thankfully except for the day we took the ferry to Bellagio and had lunch at the Baita Belvedere high in the hills above the town with absolutely positively breathtaking views of the landscape below. We also walked the approx 11/2 miles from Varenna to the tiny town of Fiumelatte where they boast the smallest river in the world. It is a spout of water from the rocks that empties into Lake Como during part of the year. It was a beautiful thing to see. For dinners we ate at Vecchia Varenna and Cavatapi, both old standards for us, one other evening at Bar il Molo, and the final night at Sole for wonderful pizza.
Then Marco's Taxi Service back to Milan Malpensa for the ride home, 9 hrs which became 12 hrs when Newark Airport was closed for a while. We landed in Hartford, Conn, refueled, and finally arrived 3 hrs late. Got home at 9 PM after a 22 hr trip!!!!! Now experiencing the worst jet lag I ever had. My jet lag seems to be getting worse each year. We came to the conclusion that 15 days away was too much, and we will probably cut that back significantly in the future. The transfers very hard so we might limit that even further than we have already to perhaps a maximum of two different locations. And finally when one travels in June, there is always the chance for very hot weather so an earlier time may be in the cards as well. However just too early to start thinking about the next trip.
Please tune into Alan's Italy during the fall to see my take on the experiences we had!
On Monday, June 1, we wheeled our luggage down via della Scala to the train station Santa Maria Novella (SMN) about 10 mins away. Then a high speed train, 2 hrs, to Venice, water taxi to Hotel Sant Antonin. This amazing hotel is only two years old, but already one of the top places in Venice and for very good reason. The Scarpa Family owns the hotel and Elena runs it for her father who worked in the stunning back garden. In fact when I first saw him, I thought he was THE gardener instead of the owner!!! She gave us an amazing room right off the marvelous garden with its own entrance, and beautiful full wall of windows overlooking our own private patio. We were treated as if we were part of the family, with warmth, caring, and excellent service. The reception people are friendly and accommodating recommending a wonderful restaurant, Jonny's. You get to meet Jonny and he is very pleasant, helpful choosing the right dish for you (gave us Spaghetti Vongole - Vongole means Clams even though it was not even on the menu!), and his restaurant is right on a wonderful campo (piazza) in the charming and less touristy Castello Sestiere of Venice. The food was delicious. The hotel and restaurant have quickly become our new standard for every trip we ever take to Venice!!!! Elena gave a wonderful 10 min interview in the garden on the history of the hotel and a bit about her family. Thank you Elena and Jonny.
For recreation we spent two miserably hot days at the Biennale. The art was weird and I hate to say, not that pleasing to me - but what do I know about art? The art is presented in a very non A/C area (it would probably cost way too much to air condition the place). It is fun, however, visiting such a plethora of creative geniuses, a veritable World's Fair of Contemporary Art. We had for lunch one of the days one of the best salads we ever had in a lovely garden. Another day we visited the Palazzzo Bembo, largest of the "collateral exhibitions" and the scene of Laura's work in 2013. Also no A/C but really a fun two hrs with some magnificent stuff. The heat, however, was oppressive, the crowds in the most heavily trafficked areas of S. Marco and Rialto overwhelming, and we always had the impression we were being ripped off (which we probably were). One of the highlights of the whole stay in Venice - 4 days - was the Bead Store a short 5 min stroll from the hotel. Here Manuela and Moulaye run an amazing business at Muranero, Arte African in Vetro. The latter is from Senegal, studied bead making in Murano claims to be the only African in the business (I don't doubt it), teaches and makes stunning beads right before your eyes. Manuela then puts them together for you as you also watch and runs the business. We have a great video of our interviews with him, her, and also his bead making which will make for a wonderful TV show. However wonderful it was to be in Venice, the oppressive heat for sure put a damper on everything.
Then again water taxi picking us up right from the dock in front of the hotel, whisked us to station, Santa Lucia, and then another high speed train ride of 2 1/2 hrs to Milan. Everything going well for this transfer until we were told our connecting train to Varenna was cancelled due to suicide on the tracks. We waited for an hour, by now exhausted from the heat, boarded a train which had no A/C and people who were dying to just close every window for a reason I have yet to determine, and finally arrived in Varenna on Lake Como at 3PM, although only an hour late. The worst part of having a train canceled in Italy is that it is very difficult to find out any information. The lines are unbelievably long. In this case there was one official walking around giving people advice; if not for him, we might be still waiting there on line. Marco Barili's wife Nelly picked us up at the station in Varenna and off we went to Hotel du Lac for our room overlooking the lake with balcony. It was good to get to a place where we had very little to do. In the past we had seen all the villas open to the public, visited most of the towns on the lake, so basically spent each day sipping prosecco at Bar il Molo on the lake. We did an interview with Simone's publicist, Giuditta, in his new venture, il Bottaio, which last year was devoted strictly to art, but now a maze of 5 wonderful stores - see the show which will focus on this. But again, not much doing here thankfully except for the day we took the ferry to Bellagio and had lunch at the Baita Belvedere high in the hills above the town with absolutely positively breathtaking views of the landscape below. We also walked the approx 11/2 miles from Varenna to the tiny town of Fiumelatte where they boast the smallest river in the world. It is a spout of water from the rocks that empties into Lake Como during part of the year. It was a beautiful thing to see. For dinners we ate at Vecchia Varenna and Cavatapi, both old standards for us, one other evening at Bar il Molo, and the final night at Sole for wonderful pizza.
Then Marco's Taxi Service back to Milan Malpensa for the ride home, 9 hrs which became 12 hrs when Newark Airport was closed for a while. We landed in Hartford, Conn, refueled, and finally arrived 3 hrs late. Got home at 9 PM after a 22 hr trip!!!!! Now experiencing the worst jet lag I ever had. My jet lag seems to be getting worse each year. We came to the conclusion that 15 days away was too much, and we will probably cut that back significantly in the future. The transfers very hard so we might limit that even further than we have already to perhaps a maximum of two different locations. And finally when one travels in June, there is always the chance for very hot weather so an earlier time may be in the cards as well. However just too early to start thinking about the next trip.
Please tune into Alan's Italy during the fall to see my take on the experiences we had!
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Last Show of Season
As we get ready to embark upon the next adventure in Italy, one final show was produced using a compilation of older material acquired over several years. I was going to produce a show focusing on the streets of Rome, but found one of them so interesting, that my focus changed to just that street, the via dei Fori Imperiali. The street which connects the Ancient Roman iconic Coliseum with the Medieval Palazzo Venezia, the venue in which Mussolini spoke from its balcony has played a very large role in my exploration of Rome since my first trip in 1992. In fact it was on this street that I had one of my first Italian meals, as did my wife, and others on the corner of via dei Fori Imperiali and via Cavour. The street has enough history to merit its own special museum right on the avenue. The dichotomy of the splendor of a monumental street for the egomaniacal Mussolini and the destruction he wrought on an historic location is ever present throughout this show. Nonetheless, whether the street continues to become the focal point for millions of visitors to Rome trying to imagine the magnificence of the Ancient World or the current mayor gets his way and recreates the famous avenue remains to be seen. Nonetheless, this is my take on one of the most famous places in Rome.
Meanwhile back at the studio, we knew that there would be no live broadcast due to a problem with a Time Warner problem. The tech people indicated that broadcasting live produces a green screen. Since I never recalled this being an issue before, I once again came to the conclusion that no matter what the problem may be, it will always be unique; a stunning reminder of the ever present challenge of public access that I apparently (and a bit bewilderingly) find so appealing to me! Then we lost our color, but finally everything was straightened out, and off we went with a perfect production, except for some mistakes I made along the way. I don't think I was in a sharp frame of mind considering the various flubs I made in a few places. Probably I had the upcoming trip on my mind, which after 20 years of travel still is a challenge for someone like me. It is complicated anyway traveling on one's own around Italy for two weeks, but throw in my usual bit of anxiety and voila, my mind was diverted for sure. Anyway a nice show, featuring yet another of my favorite topics, streets of Italy, unfolds very nicely.
Off we go back to what a former Italian friend of mine used to call "the homeland" when we spoke and then there will be a hiatus of several weeks, perhaps months, until the new material, whatever that will be, will be broadcast. All I have currently on the drawing board are two shows, Italian Renaissance Art at the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Bridges of Italy. The former is quite ready to go and the latter in its infant stages of development. Plus we never know the status of the new studio which is scheduled to open around now. If we get the go ahead for that, it could take quite a while for the tech people to move everything back in and connect the wires. I will continue to keep my followers posted on the status of Alan's Italy via the Blog. I will probably not be blogging on my Travel Pod site, so this could it for a couple of weeks. Ciao!
Meanwhile back at the studio, we knew that there would be no live broadcast due to a problem with a Time Warner problem. The tech people indicated that broadcasting live produces a green screen. Since I never recalled this being an issue before, I once again came to the conclusion that no matter what the problem may be, it will always be unique; a stunning reminder of the ever present challenge of public access that I apparently (and a bit bewilderingly) find so appealing to me! Then we lost our color, but finally everything was straightened out, and off we went with a perfect production, except for some mistakes I made along the way. I don't think I was in a sharp frame of mind considering the various flubs I made in a few places. Probably I had the upcoming trip on my mind, which after 20 years of travel still is a challenge for someone like me. It is complicated anyway traveling on one's own around Italy for two weeks, but throw in my usual bit of anxiety and voila, my mind was diverted for sure. Anyway a nice show, featuring yet another of my favorite topics, streets of Italy, unfolds very nicely.
Off we go back to what a former Italian friend of mine used to call "the homeland" when we spoke and then there will be a hiatus of several weeks, perhaps months, until the new material, whatever that will be, will be broadcast. All I have currently on the drawing board are two shows, Italian Renaissance Art at the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Bridges of Italy. The former is quite ready to go and the latter in its infant stages of development. Plus we never know the status of the new studio which is scheduled to open around now. If we get the go ahead for that, it could take quite a while for the tech people to move everything back in and connect the wires. I will continue to keep my followers posted on the status of Alan's Italy via the Blog. I will probably not be blogging on my Travel Pod site, so this could it for a couple of weeks. Ciao!
Friday, May 8, 2015
In The Heat of the Night
The studio was perhaps 100 degrees when I arrived at 4:35 PM. Ellen indicated that we should perhaps forget tonight, but we trudged on only to find that it became unbearable. I shed my jacket, and tried to deal with the intense heat. There were a few glitches clearly caused by the equipment being too hot as well. Therefore during the show the viewer gets to see some strange things such as close-ups and then a quick reversal on my image, unique fading in and out, a blacked out image of me, colorful lines going every which way. Ellen just asked me if we should do it over, and I said, nah, it's part of the charm and aura of public access and I want to keep it just as it is. In the future, however, it would be folly to try such a thing again, but for health reasons. Ellen and I became physically ill when we got home from the intense and extremely uncomfortable heat.
Meanwhile, the show carried itself through the maze of shopping that makes Florence, Italy not only the center of the Italian Renaissance, repository of some of the greatest art in history, but also what I referred to as "one giant department store." Leather goods, clothing, jewelry, food, and just about anything you can think of is exhibited in every venue, markets, stalls, department stores, along the Ponte Vecchio, via Tournabuoni, via della Scala, piazzas and the sides of the river called Lungarni. Featured is a ten minute video interview of one of the nicest stores in Florence, Dolceforte at number 21 via della Scala. The owner of the food specialty store is Elena who gives a wonderful tour of her amazing gourmet food. I also have a pasta making video from a nearby osteria, and finally a great video of street performers entertaining the people along the via Pallazuolo.
We have one more show, My Favorite Street in Rome, via dei Fori Imperiali, and then we are off to Italy for my 23rd and Laura's 16th trip. Hopefully we will bring back a lot of great stuff. Now I will submerge my body in ice water to cool off.
Meanwhile, the show carried itself through the maze of shopping that makes Florence, Italy not only the center of the Italian Renaissance, repository of some of the greatest art in history, but also what I referred to as "one giant department store." Leather goods, clothing, jewelry, food, and just about anything you can think of is exhibited in every venue, markets, stalls, department stores, along the Ponte Vecchio, via Tournabuoni, via della Scala, piazzas and the sides of the river called Lungarni. Featured is a ten minute video interview of one of the nicest stores in Florence, Dolceforte at number 21 via della Scala. The owner of the food specialty store is Elena who gives a wonderful tour of her amazing gourmet food. I also have a pasta making video from a nearby osteria, and finally a great video of street performers entertaining the people along the via Pallazuolo.
We have one more show, My Favorite Street in Rome, via dei Fori Imperiali, and then we are off to Italy for my 23rd and Laura's 16th trip. Hopefully we will bring back a lot of great stuff. Now I will submerge my body in ice water to cool off.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Fighting Murphy's Law
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!
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!
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.
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