Computer Failure, Wonderful People, Stunning Scenes

After shooting the breeze with Ellen for quite some time, as I arrived to the studio early, Ellen suddenly realized that she could not get the TriCaster to work. In the past they has usually meant an inferior quality of photos, but I just looked at the video of the show, and the photos came out pretty good, so in line with my limited knowledge of the whole technical aspect of the production, I have no idea what's going on. That's why Ellen is there ! She gave it a while to figure the whole thing out, and eventually decided to use what she refers to as "the Focus" (again from my point of view, no clue !) At first I was disturbed, but then settled into a really wonderful show. The show highlighted one of the great hill towns of Central Italy, Southern Umbria, Orvieto, where Laura and I had a marvelous time back in May of this year. We were treated very well, had interviews with several residents, dined at great restaurants, and showcased the whole experience over two shows, #'s 29 and 30. Show 29 was tonight and centered around Franco Sala, my friend who lives in Orvieto, but whom we met in Civita at his restaurant Antica Forno. His is charming, talkative, funny, and a great friend who showed us around the town, stopping to talk to many people. Going out to dinner with him requires leaving a half hour early, because he will stop 10 times to converse with just about everyone going in and out of shops and restaurants. We call him Orvieto's Unofficial Mayor. He was one reason for our visit to Orvieto and visiting with two of our best friends who live in Lanesville up here, Sharon and Ric, so we hope visiting Orvieto will become a regular part of our Italian experience from now on. I can't talk too much about the actual broadcast, there by now that has become more routine. I never thought I would get to say that, but even when there are minor difficulties, as the night of the show, we continue relatively unfazed ! Very happy to have reached that place. I can say that putting together the show, a process which takes me basically all week, was fairly straight forward once I decided that it would be over the two weeks. That certainly relieves a lot of pressure to get everything in. In a more relaxed manner, I can really settle down and take my time. Incidentally when I say the show takes all week, I don't mean working continuously; I actually work for an hour or so, and then leave it for another time. Different times and days always gives me different perspectives, and usually things change over the course of the week. For example,  it became obvious to both of me that, because I had the 3 short videos of the Etruscan Necropolis, I didn't need so many still images, and I removed many of them. Unfortunately I forgot to remove many from the ending segment, so there are just too many of those. That will be corrected during the next show. The best part of the show was the weaving in and out of the video interviews with first Franco twice, one back in 2009 and the other during our last trip in May 2012, and the interview of Gianni, the owner of Hotel Duomo. I must do more of those in the future. I mean I have many more to show, but personally I love the interviews. It makes everything more personal (as if the show is not my personal statement !). Everyone always asks me why I travel to Italy so much, and I never quite know what to say, but when you see these interviews with some of the people we have met over the years, it is clear that my passion centers around being treated as if we were family by the residents. I suppose that is the real reason for my absolute love for Italy. The people are just so charming, down to earth, and pleasant. On a related matter, here is an update on my second book (the first one has been edited by Xlibris and awaits my final approval). I have changed the theme for the 87th time !! I just keep changing, honing a narrative that presents my unique perspective. There have been so many books written about Italy, that it is hard to find a different perspective, so I have settled on the theme of people. Each part of the book will be titled by the people who have had the most influence on my life of Italian Travel, namely Lidia, Luca, Laura, Franco, and Ric and Sharon, and of course my engineer, Ellen. Then the chapters will focus on the actual experience that took place, because of these people. So forward I can now go with the different direction for which I have been searching and I hope and pray I can finally finish something after 15 years of trying to put these thoughts down on paper. Thank you for patiently reading these blogs, and have a great week. Buon giorno e buona fortuna !

High Noon on Alan's Italy

Ya know the famous scene from the great movie High Noon, with Gary Cooper, with the theme song playing in the background during the last few minutes before the clock struck high noon. For those of you who may have only seen this movie, oh perhaps 20 times, and don't remember (I have seen the movie, I would say at least 500 times - mostly because my mother loved this movie and very often it was the only movie on Million Dollar Movie during the 50's and 60's when I was growing up(on Million Dollar Movie the movie of the week played each day at I think 7:30)), the character played by Cooper, Will Kane, the sheriff of this town, is scheduled to meet a train off of which will step the criminal he put behind behind bars, and now is out of prison and with his 3 cohorts waiting, has vowed revenge. No one in the town will help him, so he must face these 4 killers alone. After trying in vain to gather up a group of town citizens to help him, he is now alone in his office with his head down on his desk, exhausted after a furious fight with his deputy(played by Lloyd Bridges of Sea Hunt Fame), waiting for the clock to tick out the final seconds. As it does the music, which is great, is playing with the cadence which hightens the suspense until at exactly high noon, the train whistle marks the climactic moment. By now you are wondering what the heck this has to do with Alan's Italy Show # 28. Well last night I was privileged to have Professor Eve D'Ambra, an expert on Ancient Roman History, to help me explain the various elements of the Roman Forum, and casually with perhaps 15 minutes to go until air time, decided to show her the presentation I had put together. On the very first slide, I indicate her professorship at Vasser College, which, of course, was spelled wrong. It should have been Vassar. So with the clock ticking down the final minutes, tick, tick, tick, and High Noon playing in the background (in my head of course), I tried frantically to change that only slide in 2 places, the actual presentation and the ending montage that is played to conclude the show. I have to create a new slide by going into my word processing program, select the image that accompanies the text, copy it, place it into the album, and then place the same slide into the ending montage at the exact location, tick, tick, tick. All this with Eve, her husband, Franc Palaia (one of my favorite guests, whom you probably remember), and their daughter, Lily, sitting close by, Ellen preparing her part, and the screen of the computer already altered for the presentation of the show. Let me say that prior to this moment each week, I have spent hours getting ready and go through at least 3 or 4 dry runs, just to see it everything works. Nobody knew this but I felt like crying, and was hoping she would say to me, don't worry no one will ever notice the "e" instead of the "a". Well she didn't and rightly so, because, as I agreed, for this show, really everything had to be perfect. So picture the music, the clock ticking down the seconds, tick, tick, tick, the killer coming off the train, getting his guns, asking if everything is ready, and Kane feeling quite nervous knowing he would now have to face the 4 killers alone. At first I couldn't figure out what was going on, because I was too nervous; I never like to work under pressure, and even in college started to study for a test weeks in advance, not like those famous last minute cram sessions made so popular by, well, just about every other college student I ever knew, ya know the one the last hours on speed or tons of coffee trying to stay awake. I usually watched TV the last day before and even now do that the day of the show.Eventually I did it (Just as Will Kane killed the outlaws (helped by his wife, played by Grace Kelly)), somehow, someway, and the show was very successful with Eve doing an amazing job of explaining my favorite location in Rome. Her expertise was obvious, and even if no one got anything out of this, I surely loved the hour of pure joy. Eve will be back in 3 weeks to do a show on Roman Portrait Busts, and I just cannot wait. Nest week and the week after will be my long awaited double show on Orvieto, my favorite and one of the prettiest hill towns in Italy. Me alone and no matter how screwed up I made it (I hope not of course), the show WIll go on. So thanks a bunch to long deceased Gary Copper and the composer of that famous song that my mom and I loved, High Noon.

Warning: Don't Watch on an Empty Stomach

That was the warning I gave to people I knew would be watching Alan's Italy Show # 27 - Culinary Masterpieces at La Spada of Florence. On an empty stomach as I had for the show, one will end the show and make for the nearest cache of large quantities of food. We went out to dinner afterward at The Bear Cafe in Woodstock, the best restaurant in town, and I never ate so much. I blamed it all on the show, which made me starved to death. So back to the show. Lidia introduced me to this restaurant 15 years ago, and I have been having meals there, alone and with friends and family ever since. The place is owned and operated by Giuseppe, who, with his brother Claudio, and friends Agostino and Claudio (who are cousins) run the best restaurant in Florence and certainly my favorite. Since I know virtually nothing about cooking, and people are continually asking me when I would be doing a cooking demo, I asked Lidia, before our last trip to Italy, if she could ask Giuseppe to give us an interview (deep down hoping he would at least talk about how he cooks such amazingly delicious food). Tonight's show highlights an interview we did with him last May 21 at the restaurant and a 25 minutes cooking demonstration in which Giuseppe cooks us a 3 course meal. It was outstanding to present such a wonderful show with Giuseppe as the star. He is a wonderful man, charming, handsome, talented, and gracious. Although Lidia translated for him in the first 2 interviews, when he gave Laura and me the cooking demo, he spoke English very well. So I would like to thank Giuseppe and his co owners for not only the demo, but for their extraordinary kindness to us this past visit and also over the years. If you are planning a trip to Florence, please stop by La Spada at # 62 via della Spada and tell Giuseppe Alan's Italy sent you. Otherwise the evening was uneventful. Thank God !!!! Everything went very smoothly, no hassles as the ones which have plagued my show for weeks. Smooth as silk, a pleasure to produce and perform, but not so exciting to write about to you ! On the book front, I just cannot decide on a topic for my next book. First I thought it should be on Florence, but just cannot muster the enthusiasm. I thought I would start with some obscure towns in Tuscany, but I don't have enough of them yet, perhaps only about 10 or so, so I may venture into Umbria and Alto Lazio for additional material. I'll keep you posted. I do not wish to write about well known places such as Siena, Sam Gimignano, Montalcino, etc. but rather something entirely different. My first book already written, Alan's Italy: My Personal Journey is currently being edited by the company XLibris, which seems excellent so far, despite some bad reviews I have recently read. I will keep you posted. Bouna note e buona fortuna.

Two False Starts and Then Success

Arrived at the studio early so that Ellen could show me the newsletters she had created during the early stages of the history of Woodstock Public Access Television, when the station was still broadcasting on Channel 6. They are fascinating, and in their time, they served to assist their viewers via articles and monthly schedules. It was also used as a fund raising technique as "members" of the studio were mailed copies. Also copies were available in local stores. I told her that if I had the time, it would be something I would like to reinstate. Then my guest, Franc Palaia, arrived and we set up his visual aids for his presentation on Ancient Roman Aqueducts. Ellen then shut the air conditioning (on arguably the hottest day of the year so far), because the noise interferred with the audio of the broadcast, and off we went into Show # 26. After the introduction, during which time both Franc and I studied the photos (I never get tired of seeing the photos), I began to introduce the evening's show. Suddenly the studio phone rang, and someone who was watching it live at home, called to say that there was no sound on the broadcast. We get so few calls during the show, that I just had the feeling this was not going to be a good call. Ellen told us to stop immediately, and she and Richard (who designed the studio and maintains it) fixed whatever was wrong (I never know what's going on there), and off we went once again. On the second try the show was very enjoyable, and Franc's photography just amazing. His knowledge and interest in this area of Roman history made for an excellent show, complete with an abundance of beautiful images. On another matter, earlier in the week I had an idea to write a book about Italy using my slant on things, ya know, truly ALAN'S Italy, but quit after 2 chapters, because I lost interest and found the things I was writing just restating many things that every other guidebook contained. I instead decided to write a book about the amazing experience I have had producing the TV show, and the total experience of first getting it on the air, my myriad illnesses that derailed the project, and finally, how I conceive of and create shows weekly. I called it Alan's Italy: My Personal Journey, and although I talk a lot about the show, also spend a lot of time relating stories of my experiences in Italy, and why I became so passionate about it. It took about 6 days, writing for perhaps 3 or 4 hrs a day to create what appears to be about 120 - 150 pages (as far as I can tell). When I tell people that, they appear to be amazed at how quickly the book was written. I, in my continued attempt to be as modest as possible, use the line used by James Cagney in the movie Yankee Doodle Dandy, one of my favorite movies of all time. The character he plays, George M. Cohan, has somehow gotten into the dressing room of the famous actress and singer, Faye Templeton, to try to convince her to let him write her a show. Faye indicates that she has no time to talk to him, because she is in the middle of doing a performance now, and afterwards tries to get home quickly to Westchester (which she indicates is only 45 minutes away, but a world of difference), because she likes to get as far from Broadway as possible. When she exits to go back on stage, he writes her a song, Only Forty Five Minutes From Broadway. Then when she returns after the next act she is performing, and he presents the song. When, amazed, she asks how in the world he wrote a song so quickly, Cagney, or Cohan, explains that the lighting was bad, otherwise it would have been faster ! That's what I said, but I am quite considerably less famous that the incredible song and dance man, who also composed some of the world's greatest music. I then found an online publishing company who will publish the book for a few hundred dollars, complete with editing and marketing services, although I will be able to also market it myself. Perhaps someone on the planet will buy it, but since my mom and dad have passed away already, and I would have doubtless sold an additional four or five hundred copies right there !  This, however, fulfills yet another dream of mine. The company has already started the editing process, and the book may be published within the next few months in hardback. I immediately started to write another book, this time focussing on places in Tuscany that most tourists never see, because all the guidebooks focus on places like Siena, Montalcino, San Gimignano, etc. I will talk about and show some stunning images of places to which my native Italian friends have taken me over the past few years, relatively obscure, out of way places that are, nevertheless, amazing and wonderful. It's called Alan's Italy: Tuscan Adventures, and will doubtless take more than a week to write (perhaps two).Have a great day and thanks for reading this blog !

Balloons, Tillies, and record Number of Phone Calls

To celebrate my 25th show (amazing is all I can say) I wore my Tilley Hat, the characteristic hat I wear whenever I am on a trip and that everyone sees me wear in the photos of the show. So for the first time there I was hat on and asked the audience for phone calls to tell me how it looks. Just as I was telling people that this was the hat I wear when traveling, the phone rang, and there was Laura telling me that I should relate the reason I am wearing the hat. Since I had just finished telling the viewers that this is the famous hat they see in phtoso, I thought Laura had called to remind me to talk about the incredible reputation that Tillies have. I did that, but Laura thought that I should have shown photos of my wearing the hat on trips we have taken, so that may have to added. During the next few minutes two friends of mine called to reassure that the hat was a good idea. Nonetheless, I believe that I will only wear the hat for special occasions. This was the first time I here had 3 phone calls on one show. It was great, but while spending time on the phone, once I started the show quickly learned that those five minutes would set me back time wise from my initial planning. This show would be very special, because I was focussing on my favorite street in Florence, via della Scala, where I have spent the better of each trip to Florence at the hotel, Lidia's store, and several other places. It was a very personal story and I only hoped my viewers would enjoy it. I had some nice interviews with people from the hotel, with Lidia and some nice hotel pictures. The street itself is not very pretty, and charming as many others in Florence, but that wasn't the point, or was it. It was as if someone says something negative about a family member you have disparaged many times. Family is family, after all, and Alan's loves of places in Italy are also off bounds. LOL So, I had to do this show probably to satisfy some narcissistic reality. As the show was starting, and I began the initial segment, Ellen quickly told me to can it and start over. We did that and the show progressed flawlessly (except that I ran out of time without about 5 additional minutes of air time needed, so I did the usual rush job). When I came home to view the show in its entirety, I realized that when I placed the show on Youtube, I would have to cut that first aborted 30 second segment. As I was doing that, I realized that just as the introduction was beginning, balloons could be seen moving across the screen. At first I wanted to remove them, but then realized that conforming to the concept of this being the celebration of my 25th show, I should leave the balloons. Ellen later revealed to me that the balloons had been a mistake, a left over from a previous show. I told her today that it was genius of her to show the ballons in line with the festive air of the milestone I had achieved. Now I only hope I can have those balloons again for the 50th show; I could certainly wear the hat again ! Once again if you see the show and like the hat send me an email (Alansitaly@gmail.com) and let me how you like it. Thanks again.

Luca's Gift Turns into a Show

I get ideas for shows at odd times. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night with an idea and start writing my thoughts and composing as show using the photographs. Or perhaps while driving in the car, with my rock music playing something hits me, most inconvenient, since I usually hope I remember by the time I get home. The idea for last night's show came from a book given to me by my friend Luca during our most recent trip to Florence in May. I always admired photos Luca and Mary have on their walls of photographs of 19th century Florence. The book contains a bunch of such photos, and when he gave it to me, I immediately thought that this would make for a good show. While I was in Florence one evening just before we went to bed, it came to me that a show which consists of showing a 19th century photo, and then the modern one, and even perhaps showing them side by side would make for an interesting presentation. From that point on while I was in Florence, I endeavored to go to the spot in the city where the old photo had been taken, some as long ago as 150 years and try to take the same picture or at least something similar. I did that for many of the photos in the book. When I got back to the USA, I began to put together all the material I had, scanning photos from the book, searching out older photos Laura had taken during previous trips, and adding to that the ones I personally took just after Luca gave me the book. I worked perhaps harder than I ever did before for a show, and the result was last night's show, Show# 24 - Florence, Then and Now. Luca had also showed me additional photos of places not even covered in the book, such as the excellent photo of the Piazza Repubblica showing the slums located there in 1860, and he also focused my attention on the loggia from that same spot which had been moved to the Piazza dei Ciompi after Florence became the national capital after the Unification of Italy in 1871 by Victor Emmanuel. Laura had taken this loggia photos a few years ago, but we could never figure out where or what it was. It simply sits peacefully in the middle of a piazza near the Synagogue. Coupled with the modern photos, it makes for excellent viewing. While back home in Woodstock, I also figured out how to present 2 or 3 photos side by side in a frame, and Florence, Then and Now became a reality. I prepared for this show, as I said, for many hour, but after I did the show complete last night, I must say I had a bit of a let down. Fortunately I now will be doing some shows that will be deeply personal. Another idea struck me to focus on my favorite things in Florence such as streets, piazzas, parks, and restaurants, not to mention my favorite hotel, Croce di Malta. So, next week is the beginning and the first of such shows will focus on my favorite street in Florence, via della Scala, highlighting the hotel, gelaterria on the corner, Lidia's store, Gioia Chiara, the Herb Store from the 15th century, my second favorite restaurant in Florence, Grotta di Leo, and a sweets and chocolate store, Dolceforte. There will be interviews, especially at the hotel, and interesting facts about the venues. From this point on I will also be using many of the interviews we did at hotels and restaurants, so I will once again recharge my batteries and delve into new territory. This show was dedicated to my dear friend, Luca Rolloni. Thank you Luca !

A Bottle of Cough Medicine Saves the Day !

When I awoke this morning, I still had a lingering cough from that allergy thing I have had for the past few weeks. I was worried I would not be able to do the show, since I did not want to cough my way through one hour, so I went to the doctor. When I arrived there to get the medicine, I was told I had to make an appt, because they did not want to just give me it without having me see a doctor. I made the appt for later in the morning and went walking at the reservoir (2 miles) while I was waiting for the appt. I then came back, saw a new doctor I had never seen, got the cough meds, promised the doctor I would help her plan a trip to Italy, and scampered home to write a plan for the doctor. I took the cough meds at 1 PM just to test it out and found that I needed the full dosage of 2 teaspoons so had another 2 hrs later, went to the studio, and did the show, flawlessly !!! Thank goodness for modern medicine. First Ellen and I were told some people were going to be using the adjoining community center for summer stock rehearsals, but it was not a Flamenco Dancer so that was an improvement. It turned out I didn't even notice them. I was a bit apprehensive about doing this kind of show with all videos and perhaps 15 minutes of my introductions. Laura and I had done several interviews with a lot of very interesting people, and this night inaugurated the concept of Alan's Italy: In Their Own Words. It was pretty good I guess, as I viewed it later. Once it was uploaded to Youtube, I realized it had to edited front and back, so that is going on now, so if you go to it before the editing process is complete, which takes a few hours, you will hear some extraneous noise at the beginning and end. Otherwise, Show # 23 is there now for all to see with some very interesting stuff by four extraordinary people. Susan Chalkley, Resident Artist, at the Villa La Palagina, where we stayed while visiting Luca in Figline Valdarno, is the first. She was a lovely, fun person we got to know, and we took her to dinner in Florence soon after the video was made. Andrea Martellini, a Spokesperson for the Five Star Movement in Italy, a movement to try to root out corruption in the Italian Government was just a charming and wonderful guy with a great plan and plenty to say. Drs Roger Crum and Bill Shuerman, Professors at University of Dayton had brought a group of students from their University to study in Florence for a month. We met them at La Spada where we ate every night of the stay in Florence. They are both extremely nice people, fun, intelligent, with great knowledge of Florence and interesting stories to tell. I hope to do more shows with the same theme in the future. I have a bunch of interviews I have taped in Woodstock of people we know who have an Italian story to tell, so if this goes over well, I will continue with the theme. I would like to interview Andrea again, but on Skype, live on the show this time with him in Italy and me in Woodstock at the studio; I hope we can work that out. I felt a little strange, because I just did a lot of listening to the videos, instead of talking so much, but this is, I believe, a great idea for a show. Next week using a book my friend Luca gave me about the 19th century photography of Florence taken by the Alinari Brothers, I will do a show called Florence Then and Now discussing the old photos and the newer ones 150 years later. I will compare the same venues with the changes that have occured. It looks good with what I have done so far. Stay tuned. Thanks for tuning in to the blog and the show.