Catching up.
Over 2 weeks without an entry – I’m in withdrawal! I’ve been leaning on my friends and colleagues like
Bob Souer,
Karen Commins and
Elaine Singer to hold down the voice-over blogging fort. If you haven’t checked out their recent entries yet you’re in for a treat. Karen’s retrospective on the construction of her voice-over studio is fascinating reading!
Since my last report there has been happy fallout from the article about me in the Gazette – a local toymaker who read the article (actually, his wife called him at work and read the article to him over the phone) asked me to do the voice for a talking doll he is pitching to
Mattel.
The words “local toymaker” alone are enough to make me sit back and marvel at the amazing place where I live. My town had fewer than 30,000 people at the last census, yet it contains an incredible density of talent. The number of media professionals here seems remarkable for a region that is so far from a major city.
When I think of toymakers I think of Santa’s workshop, although I’m assured that this man’s studio bears no resemblance to that North Pole locale. It’s mostly computers. He tells me he comes up with about a hundred toy concepts each year, of which 30 make it to development, of which maybe 2 are sold, of which 0-2 make it to toy store shelves. People who know him tell me he makes a pretty good living. I’m looking forward to visiting his studio soon to get a better sense of what he does and how he does it.
Since my last blog entry I picked up my new business cards, designed for me as a gift by Slav Vaskevich of
Vaskevich Studios. I’m nuts about them. Slav’s original design included a microphone, which I was hesitant to use because they are so
overused. We compromised and he replaced the Electrovoice RE20, a microphone I don’t care for and don’t own, with a Soundelux U195, which is the mic I use and love. I got the cards just in time to take them to a Chamber of Commerce party where business cards were traded furiously, and a number of people oohed over my cards. Several raffles took place at this party and ironically my shiny new cards didn’t win me anything, whereas my old dull card had snagged tickets to an Arlo Guthrie concert at the last raffle in which I participated – courtesy of the
Ad Club of Western Massachusetts and
Business West. But many raffles lie ahead I’m sure :)
MCM’s shiny new business card, front and back
Speaking of Arlo Guthrie, that concert took place last night. My husband and I enjoyed it immensely and I was truly thrilled to be able to see this American icon perform, after so many years of enjoying his music. I had not even realised that his home base is only an hour away in the Berkshires, although he spends about 10 months a year on the road. Mr. Guthrie performed with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra on this occasion. I wondered about our fellow concert goers as I studied the crowd – all ages were represented but it was definitely an older crowd on average, and not just senescent hippies – perhaps it included a lot of season ticket holders who might not otherwise have sought out Arlo Guthrie. During the intermission one elderly attendee called to an acquaintance a few rows up: “Tuesday I’m gettin’ a new knee!!” I am not making this up. My husband concluded that this man was definitely a season ticket holder and that the knee operation was necessitated by years of sitting in that concert hall, where the rows of seats are packed closer together than in any concert hall I have ever seen. They are literally so close together that anyone over 5’ 3” would be uncomfortable. But never mind the seats. We heard some old favorites last night, including the current version of the fluid story of Alice’s Restaurant, and City of New Orleans with orchestral accompaniment. Mr. Guthrie sang a lovely song he wrote in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, his father’s This Land is Your Land as well as quite a few songs I had not heard, and told lots of funny stories. He only gave one curtain call, and then he sang Lead Belly’s Goodnight Irene, popularised by the Weavers – one of my husband’s favorites that he used to sing to our children when they were little. We did not hear the song I loved to sing to the kids when they were babies: Hobo’s Lullaby, but I can always dust off the turntable and get out Arlo Guthrie’s record of that name if I need to hear it, which I most certainly do!
I will be keeping tabs on Mr. Guthrie’s performance schedule in hopes of hearing him again, but this busy man’s plans do not appear to include New England venues in the near future. Carnegie Hall a week from now and after that he’s all over the country and very much in demand. I am so thankful for the opportunity to hear him. An inspiring figure, a gifted singer-songwriter and a great American.
That’s the news from MCM Voices. I’m trying to finish up a very large narration project for my educational software friends this weekend as they have deadlines looming. But I needed to get some written words out of my system first!
Labels: Arlo Guthrie, voice-over blogs, voice-over business
