Recently in Art and Media Category

I am writing a lot about art, music, and food lately, but it has been really affecting me.  My wife, Barbara, is a figurative painter.  Last night we went to an opening at the MPG gallery at 450 Harrison Ave and saw the work of a fine figurative painter, Jim Peters from Truro, MA.  His fugurative work is beautiful.

I was sceptical at first, but I am still listening to and adding to my list of artists on Pandora.  I listen to and actively seek Jazz resources and Pandora, in my short experience really delivers.  They say they focus on the long tail, so I have been a little disappointed that they don't have some of the more esoteric artists that I like.  However, I wrote to their support desk and got a great response.  I learned this from Tim Wetergren, the founder of Pandora when I asked him about the jazz catalogue:

We take the same approach to the jazz catalogue that we do to all other genres.  We make sure that we have all the seminal recordings and hits going all the way back (only limited by what's in print), then build a big catalogue of lesser known, indie catalogue around that.   Our music covers the entire jazz spectrum, from hard bop to west coast smooth jazz so it's not a narrow catalogue that's affecting the quality of recommendations. 

One additional point is that we work really hard to find what we like to call the 'great long tail'  - all the best music, regardless of popularity.

Personally, I think we still have a ways to go, but that's part of what makes this so much fun.

Any suggestions for artists we're missing?

I suggested a number of artists and labels I could not find: Carla Bley, Lew Tabackin, and Toshiko Akiyoshi and a small label About Time.

This time Michael Zapruder, a songwriter on the West Coast, wrote me back:

"Looks interesting. Me, I scour the weekly Forced Exposure, Aquarius and Downtown Music Gallery Mailorder emails for our avant-jazz fix. They have amazing records, usually with very accurate and enticing descriptions. I'll look these folks up right away. Keep 'em coming"

What a great response, someone who has as much fun with this stuff as I do.  Zapruder is an interesting guy and it is worth looking his music up on iTunes, his most recent album is "This is a Beautiful Town".

Imagine!

One of my favorite bands, The Bad Plus, has a weblog that I discovered when I went to their web site. They play comtemporary jazz.

Before Bloggercon started this morning, Dave Winer asked what songs we should sing to open Bloggercon. I remember the names of three of the losing candidate songs. I was at a loss for the words of the songs, but I was lucky to have my computer. Here are the songs, with links to the lyrics:

Brandy (You're A Fine Girl), the Looking Glass.
Words and Music by Elliot Lurie

We also thought of some more geographically relevant songs:

Charlie on the MTA

Yankees Suck
it is a little raunchy but describes perfectly how Bostonian's feel about the Yankees.
BTW, the band is called BenderX and you can listen to the song here: http://www.benderband.com/mp3.html

We ended up singing "Take me out to the Ball Game" and the National Anthem. (everyone knew the words)

So next time, we'll be ready with the words of other songs; I am sure that Joey knows the music!

I had a long animated conversation about video blogging with Steve Garfield tonight. He was recently recognized in Time Magazine as "no ordinary blogger" in an article entitled "See Me, Blog Me". I especially liked his most recent video posted on the site: Making Toast.

Here is a photo of the animated discussion Steve and I had. (photo via Sooz) I am in blue, Steve is in black.

Tomorrow, at Bloggercon, there will be a number of conversations about video blogging in sessions on Infrastucture and also Personal Television Networks.

BTW, I also wanted to mention that in Steve Garfield's portfolio of weblogs he also is the author of the "School of Rock Super Fan Site Weblog". For Jack Black fans it is awesome!

This morning Howard Stern played a serious and very funny April Fools joke on his listners. He made believe his show was pulled off the air and any people fell for it. Do a search on Feedster to see the laments. I was stuck in traffic in Boston this morning and listened as the whole thing unfolded. Two moronic jocks took Howard's place playing silly pop music. Later Howard went on a tear about free speech, George Bush and this Republican administration. It was all very funny and he made his point!

BTW, from Howard's website you can register your complaints to the FCC.

Several months ago, I auditioned for a comedy show on ABC called "My Life is a Sitcom". I did not get selected to act on the show, but the show started to air last Sunday at 7:30 PM. Joe Mozian, the creator of the show, sent me an email today complaining that ABC has not done much to promote his show. He included a link to a special promotional video for the show.

I am writing this post because my daughter saw me on TV in the advertisement for the show. I have gotten no recognition from Joe Mozian nor ABC despite the fact that they are using my image. Well, I want to complain that Joe Mozian has not done enough to promote me. This is my life as a comedian! I thought I had a future in this business.

Anyway, here is the email I got from Joe Mozian:

I know I shouldn't bite the hand that feeds me, but...chomp, chomp, chomp...

Dear Friends,

I'm a bit PO'd that ABC Family has done squat to promote My life is a Sitcom, so I made a funny tongue-in-cheek video in protest.

In spite of a severe lack in marketing, the numbers for the 1st show far exceeded their expectations. I know this is all thanks to you guys and gals for spreading the word.

Hope you all get a kick out of the video.

http://www.joemozian.com/upset.htm (The windows version is a much better quality.)

Watch for NEW Episodes of My Life is a Sitcom every Sunday at 7:30 PM on ABC Family

Joe

PS - I think they repeat each episode the following Sunday at 12:30 AM (that's Saturday night, really)

I created this html newsletter for my wife, who's show, "All about me, Part II", opens in Boston on November 28th. The newsletter does not render as well as I would like, but it OK. It looks better in an email. I used MS Publisher to put together the document. It was wonderfully easy.

Download file

My wife, barbara poole, is a figurative painter. Her new show opens at the Bromfield Art Gallery in Boston on November 28. Here is an example of her recent work. I think it will be a spectacular show.

My daughter must have told everyone in her dorm and on her soccer team that her Dad got called back after his audition for the new ABC sitcom "My Life is a Sitcom". As soon as they saw me they chirped and giggled, asking about when I was going to LA to do the show. I told them that Joe Mozian, the comedian on the show, had to be on Oprah on Friday and probably was not thinking about me or my ability to play his Dad, just yet. I have not heard from him even after my very nice thank you letter. I suppose I will never hear. My scrape with an actors life ends after one audition! Ugh. Of course, my wife tells me to give it up, I am not TV material and I am not even funny. In fact, I must be 25 years younger than Joe Mozian's real Dad, Oscar. if that makes any difference. I could be made up to look old, but right now, I am just a partly balding middle aged man.

Today I thought it would be nice to write Joe Mozian a thank you letter for letting me audition on his show "My Life is a Sitcom". Here is my letter:

Dear Joe,

All of the beautiful young ladies from LA that coached us in the hall on how to behave before our audition with you had a number of good tips that I thought you would appreciate:

1. Ssssssh
2. Be quiet
3. This is a comedy show, be funny!
4. Talk loudly!
5. Be quiet
6. Give him shit, right back, you guys are here because you’re loud.
7. Be quiet.
8. You’ll have to wait while he auditions Ben Franklin.
9. Ssssssh.

You might remember me: I am the one of the non-actors that is unemployed and selling all his family’s old stuff on eBay. I know my family only has my best interest in mind, but, my dining room is filled with everybody’s junk! My daughter brought me all of her beany babies to sell, there must be hundreds, and she wants to make a million dollars. My father sent me fishing reels. My mom keeps bringing me nasty, dusty old books. My wife keeps telling me to bring things up from the basement and sell it. Now, I have a full time job sending everybody’s trash all over the world. This is not the job I wanted.

You asked me a good question during the audition which I did not have a good answer for. I have thought about what I should have said (as you always do), so I thought I would write you an email to tell you my answer.

Here is your question: “So Ralph, what is wrong with kids today?”

My answer, after some thought is (in an especially cranky voice): "Don’t get me started, Joe, these kids today are too noisy. They’re loud. I dunno, you guys played outside, you weren’t that noisy. Today they walk louder, I think, they talk louder, their games are loud, Joe, ...tell them to turn it down! I’m worried about these kids. They're fast too; kids are much faster today, and they are always hanging around. Ya know. They are always around. Why aren’t they in school?"

Good answer? So Joe, HIRE ME!

Best regards,

Ralph

My wife and kids were thrilled and appalled that I got a call back for "My Life is a Sitcom". Never having done this before, I can say that I was surprised as well. There were about thrity fifty year olds at the audtion this morning when I arrived at Faneuil Hall at around 10:00 am. Lots of disorganied crew members were running around with walkie talkies, trying desperately to get themselves organized for the audition. All the actors and comedians went first, they were told not to say that they were actors or comedians, just to say that they were regular people. Remember, this is a scripted reality sitcom, so professional actors, I guess, are required to make it funny.

After the stand up comedians and the actors, the wannabes stood getting ready for our 2 minute date with Joe Mozian. We stood in the hallway outside Fanueil Hall, being told to be quite every few minutes. How can you stay quite, while also building up your energy to audition for a roll as a Dad in a Sitcom? It took all our energy away. Also, a lovely women kept coming out saying, THIS SHOW IS A COMEDY, BE FUNNY!
What a gas.

Finally it was my turn. I walked in with a big smile, and Joe said, HI DAD! I introduce myself, talked about being from Boston and described the business I am creating on ebay. Joe asked me two questions I wasn't prepared for: "So Ralph, what's wrong with kids today?" ..and.. "Ralph, What should every kid know, that they don't know right now?"

Of course there are many things I could say, but here are the two things that I said: For the trouble of kids question I did a riff on the fact that as a old man, kids are noisy and do noisy things. It gets worse as they get older. For the question on what kids should learn to do, I did a riff on tinkering and fixing stuff, since no one knows how to fix anything anymore. I've lost perspective on how I did, (remember, I am not an actor), so I don't know if I was funny or not, hopefully I had good energy.

Next we looked a picture of Joe's Dad and I was instructed to at the camera and look worried, angry, and disgusted. As a Dad, these are all things I know how to do.

I'll be surprised if I get called back.

My wife nearly chocked to death when she heard who I was talking to. I thought that I had totally humiliated myself, but they must have liked that about me. I wish I watched TV, then I would fell more confident about my call back.

I don't watch much TV and I am not a funny guy, but somehow my wife convinced me to audtion for a real life sitcom pilot to be cast in Boston and filmed in LA. She said I was perfect, I am old and I was a Dad. I looked at Joe Mozian's site and the guy is really funny. I don't think he'd say the same about my site.

To get in the mood, my wife and I thought about how funny our life is. The audition was in Boston at the Nine Zero hotel. There is no parking on Tremont Street in the middle of Boston, so my wife waited in the car with my daughter while I auditioned. My daughter, who is fifteen, was mad. We picked her up from a sleep over at a friends, just to have her sit in the car with her Mom, while I audtioned for a stupid show to play an old guy. She came up to my audition, mad as a wet hen, to pester me and demand how much longer it was going to take. It was another happy family moment, that I will cherish.

Download file

This is a possible opening sequence for a web site I am building for my friend Frank Sacci, who is a composer living in LA. Let me know what you think.

I found this image as I was surfing today at Done Talking, a photo weblog. It reminded me of the new tunnel in Boston, which looks like this.

larger view

Take a look at my new "about me" page on ebay. It lists all my current auctions. I am currently selling my collection of rare jazz albums. I am hoping others will recognize their value! I am discovering my inner merchant.

I watched the DVD of La Femme Nikita, the film by Luc Besson this evening. What a friggin' good movie. I saw the film years ago and have never forgotten it. The filming of the violence is frightenly graphic and the use of color is superb, especially the blue in the pharmacy. She is a really beautiful sociopath without a conscience. I also love Victor, the cleaner, who show up to turn a bad situation into a bloody mess.

Shakespeare's Macbeth was performed from July 18 through August 10 2003 on the Boston Common. My son, Oliver Poole, played Macduff's son, who is slaughtered along with his mother, by Macbeth's thugs. These murders set the stage for the final confrontation between Macbeth and Macduff. The entire production was well concieved and staged by Steve Mahler and the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Jay O. Sanders plays Macbeth, and, because he is so physically big, he is a very commanding and convincing Macbeth. I have seen the play 5 times and it keeps getting better. Several years ago, I saw Jay Sanders in "The Taming of the Shrew" at the Delacorte in NYC. He was great in that show too.

Through David Gurteen Knowledge Letter I found a series of thirty webcasts from the Tate on various subjects. Webcasting opens up Tate's events to visitors who are not based in London, enabling them to experience and participate in online presentations.

The one that caught my interest was Theodore Zeldin's talk called "The Camera at Work". The Camera at Work series explores historical, sociological and aesthetic issues related to the photographic representation of work. It coincides with Tate Modern’s major exhibition Cruel and Tender

They present a superb series of talks by artists, curators and social critics.