Glenn Carella's "Mid-Life Crisis" Blog

Get Out and VOTE!!!

2009-11-02T17:23:00.003-05:00

I've almost forgotten about the blog thing since life has taken a couple of zigs and zags. Things are stabilizing here at Crisis Central (a contradiction if I ever typed one) so I will keep this one short and sweet.

Once a year we are obliged to get off our butts and make the trip to our local polling places to go into the little booth with the curtain thing going on. I will do so as I have done almost every year since 1976. There are actually some newcomers running for local offices so I have real choices.

I've gotten more effin' robocalls this year than ever before- and I've enjoyed hanging up on them. Most of them were from the established folks who are instilling fear of young folks and people with darker skin. I'm glad they out-gas that way, though, it makes my choices more justifiable.

Your griping has more legitimacy if it is punctuated by the throwing of the little lever thingy-dingy. If however, you are not willing to pull said lever thingy-dingy, please give the rest of us the courtesy of shutting your mouth about things political.

The wife-type carbon-based life form (a.k.a. The Mistress Of Mainstream) is in the political maelstrom in a big way. That said, she struck a sore point with me by asking who I would vote for in the local election cycle. I gently (meaning without swearing) reminded her that there was a thing called a secret ballot... and to me that is sacrosanct. Nothing but love for ya, wifey, but it ain't none of your bid-ness.

Tomorrow, get up from in front of the computer/tv/easy chair/hookah/whatever and get your parts to the polling place and make like a citizen!

Peace be with you,

Glenn

PS- Listen for the new opening song on My Mid-Life Crisis starting the day after Election Day. It's time...

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

2009-09-16T21:33:00.004-04:00

After an abbreviated summer we rush headlong into fall, so it would seem. I'm still sleeping indoors and doing voice auditions on a daily basis between two web sites. And of course, still doing RandoRadio on a weekly basis.

Little by little the puzzle pieces fall into place. I'm finding more interesting music from local people and Facebook people that are not so geographically local- but just a mouse click away.

I'm still at one cat here, and he is sounding more and more like Cyriak's critter in this Youtube video--

Every now and then I get a bee in my bonnet about changing the name of my show. After all, how long can one reasonably maintain the notion of ongoing Crisis without any solution? What am I attracting by continuing to give life to this notion?

But most importantly, what in in the name of Pope Bob WOULD I call this show? The usual playlist looks like it has been put through a blender (and I'm sure I would incur the wrath of some copyright lawyer by calling it Radio Free Cuisinart). A consistent musical theme simply isn't there, especially if I get going into some obscure ethnic genre and obsess on it.

Perhaps the blurb on the Rando Radio Website would give a clue- "the road less traveled"... almost sounds like an NPR thing. The Firesign Theatre line always lurks around- "you can't get there from here!"

Decisions Decisions Decisions.

I will keep on keeping on, and remain open to suggestions.

In the words of the late Robert Anton Wilson, "Keep the lasagna flying!"

Peace be with you,
Glenn

Cats, Katz, et.al (but I'm not sure who Al is...)

2009-08-06T14:49:00.003-04:00

To quote my friend Captain Weird, "Greetings fellow Earth People"!

It has been a time of losses and gains- I'm happy to report that the latter outweigh the former and all is well as long as I let it "be".

Let's get the loss out of the way. After 16 years I had to assist my beige tabby cat Nicky in dropping his body. His biological functions started failing very quickly and luckily I was there to monitor the situation and act accordingly. The folks at Hudson Valley Animal Hospital In Valley Cottage, NY were the absolute greatest in their empathy and caring support in my situation. My profound thanks to Dr. Puzzio and every staff member there, and R.I.P., Nicky.

Now for the good stuff. I am an unabashed fan of Nora the Piano Cat. The latest adventure in this world reached a new high for me as the YouTube video of Catcerto was posted. Lithuanian composer Mindaugas Piecaitis became taken with the ongoing videos of Nora and contacted her human friends, Betsy Alexander and Burnell Yow!. (Yes, the exclamation point is part of his name) He edited portions of the videos and composed a piece that was performed this past June. Here is the video-

I have a soft spot for this cat, and I'm waiting for this recording to be released so I can legally play it on RandoRadio (since everyone knows we don't do unauthorized bootlegs).

The next good event that has broadened my view of the musical world is meeting (via FaceBook) trombonist/composer/bandleader/ lordknowswhatelse Marco Katz- Here is a link to his website.
In addition to his formidable musicianship he cares deeply about the business world that musicians and performers have to machinate in. Please check out his site- and if you find him on FaceBook tell him I sent you.

I'm back to pursuing voice work, learning Microsoft Publisher 2007 and doing my best on my new airshift at RandoRadio. I'm on from 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm on Wednesday. I'm enjoying being a part of this wonderful group of people who bring music of all genres to the web. And they haven't changed the locks on the studio door so I can still get in. I guess that's a good thing.

That's it for now, so click on all the embedded hyperlink thingy-dingies, Check out Nora and Marco and keep listening to RandoRadio! It shouldn't be a total loss...

Peace be with you,
Glenn

The Best Crisis Is A Movable One!!! Wednesday For The Win!

2009-07-14T19:06:00.003-04:00

Greetings to all! Nine months of steering yellow-painted vehicles around Rockland and Westchester have given birth to a fresh view on life and its weirdness. The only reaction I can abide moves me to shitcan logic and go forward with a mixture of intuition, amazement and inspired action. Allow me to elaborate (otherwise this will be a real short blog entry):

I had run myself into a real funk by last autumn, and utter desperation led me to respond to one of many postcards that had been sent out by a local school bus company. In addition to getting a commercial driver's license, I discovered the skill of getting up before the chickens during the dead of winter on a daily basis. The Abraham-Hicks folks call this "contrast". After a while, I was calling it a job.

The good thing about about this was experiencing the oft-stated concept "the darkest hour is just before dawn". And I learned it day after day. Now, to quote the great philosopher Roberto Duran, "no mas!!!"

In this round-about fashion I'm announcing the moving of my RandoRadio program to Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm Eastern Daylight time. I will maintain the mandate of running the roads less traveled, just like the blurb on the website says.

More will be forthcoming as I further transition into a new world, and I will stifle the urge to paint my car "National School Bus Chrome".

Peace be with you,
Glenn Carella

Almost safe for human consumption...

2009-06-10T20:47:00.004-04:00

Yes, it has been a stupid long time since I have posted to this blog. Two things have contributed to this- my survival job and Facebook. By way of explanation-

My stint at school bus driving is coming to an end. June 26 is my last day. This gig served the purpose of getting me out of the doldrums when the economy tanked and enabled me to re-structure my debts so it is much cheaper for me to continue sleeping indoors.

Now I will be able to resume full-time auditioning for voice-over work and grasp other opportunities that are presenting themselves. I am heartened that several of the small business people that I am friendly with are seeing the tides turning. In a little over two weeks, it will be my turn to go back into the water.

I have also acquired some new work habits and skills that will enable me to get more out of each new day (not the least of which is the ability to get up much earlier than I ever have).

As for Facebook- while I still enjoy the GrayBloke's YouTube explanation (scroll further down my blog entries) I find myself being able to wrap my brain around this thing. Even more important- so do a number of my contemporaries. That makes the whole thing a lot more fun!

My RandoRadio program is flowing fairly well of late and it too is great fun every Saturday afternoon. The traffic on the way to the studio is getting more evil as the weeks go along and I will have to compensate- when all is said and done, it's all good.

I will leave you with a YouTube video that was responsible for jump-starting my inspiration. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Click here to see it- they disabled the embedding.

Don't forget to visit the RandoRadio website by clicking on the Rando logo at the top left of my blog page. I'll be back sooner, I promise.

Peace be with you,
Glenn

When pigs fly... or when Swine Flu...

2009-04-30T18:51:00.002-04:00

I think it was Obama's consigliere Rahm Emanuel who alluded to never wanting to waste a perfectly good crisis. The monetizing of this one particularly sticks in my craw. While the best way of preventing the spread of this illness is proper and frequent hand washing, a company called Purell bought a full page ad in today's New York Times pulling a quote out of a document from the Center for Disease Control and using it to pimp their product. Who knows how many other papers this has run in- and a full page NYT ad is around $140,000. You still pick up the bottle. The germs are still there to get to someone else. The germs that survive the Purell are STILL on your hands.

WASH. WITH. SOAP. AND. WATER.

I spent ten years around folks whose livings were made in American hospital operating rooms. Trust me, they all WASHED.

While we are on the topic, in the same issue of the Times (the paper whose mission it is to keep me crazy) had this article about the inability to contain this illness. Here is a link to the article.
The one line that made my head spin was a quote from a Dr. Michael Osterholm that showed how vulnerable we really are in an economic sense when the concept of closing the borders is invoked. Not only would we have no source for sterile hospital masks, gloves, gowns and other related stuff but even important drugs and/or the raw materials needed to make them. Then he said "Our global just-in-time economy means we are dependant on others... A Kellogg's Nutri-Grain bar has ingredients from nine countries in it"

So let me see if I get this straight. If the borders were to close tomorrow one of the largest cereal companies in this great land of ours couldn't manufacture a freakin' cereal bar? How are we supposed to successfully build the next generation of automobiles when we can't make a cereal bar under our own power? Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?

If this was no more than a marketing opportunity for some well placed pharmaceutical companies, the governments would do what they did a few years back for the SARS epidemic. Lock down cities and whole parts of countries and ground flights to MAKE SURE that travel is restricted. The company I used to work for was sweating bullets during that episode because it had moved most all of its production to Singapore, and NOTHING was going in or out for a while.

Luckily, there seem to be no major issues in the suburban area that includes Garnerville, NY. There will be a facility wide Arts Festival and here is a link to their website. RandoRadio will be celebrating its first full year of streaming- webcasting- digital hurling- whatever. Go click on the RandoRadio picture at the upper left and go to OUR website to see more of what we will be doing. We will also be asking for some kind of economic stimulus because RandoRadio Is Too Big To Fail!!!

Of course, the main idea is you will hear the effects of your stimulus with us immediately, not months or years down the road.

Time to figure out what will really work for the live show this Saturday. Check out our website and give a listen.

Peace be with you,
Glenn

"You Can't Get There From Here"

2009-04-17T20:36:00.004-04:00

And if you are a Firesign Theatre aficianado you know the next line is "...but I'm looking for the same old place!" I'm on the cusp of another show and running through some of the stuff I will be playing tomorrow. Sometimes there is a method to this process and other times it depends on what snakes have been stirred up in my head during the past week. It can fall into place nicely or it can get really ugly.

While I am pulling stuff that ties in with my own sensibilities I have to remember that I am doing programming for a listener base that is used to what "RandoRadio" is. One of my bugaboos is trying to find a way to reasonably incorporate that which is known as "classical music" into a free-form format and I have not been successful quite yet. There are fewer and fewer venues for this kind of music save some NPR stations and even that is becoming more of a piecemeal thing.

I was royally pissed when the local NPR station WNYC-FM pulled its daytime classical music programs after 9/11. They believed it was more important to simulcast their AM talk show stuff and keep New York City gazing into its own navel. Good bye Steve Post and Margaret Juntwaite. They relegated Mr. Post to the junkheap and you may hear Margaret every now and them if you're lucky. As our friends across the pond say, "oh, sod it".

I'm listening to the Sufjan Stevens CD "Michigan". If he only had a clue that 5 years later the tumbling automobile business would give this release even more significance. The track playing now is "Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head (Rebuild! Restore! Reconsider). I should tie that in with the new John Rich song "Shuttin' Down Detroit".

Please click on the RandoRadio globe picture to visit our website and consider some economic stimulus to keep us going. RandoRadio Is Too Big To Fail!!! Just keep telling yourself that.

Peace be with you,

Glenn

So I took the plunge, see?

2009-04-10T21:50:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I know it's been a while. Time seems to fly along much more quickly when you spend much of the week being up before the chickens. Thanks to converging religious holidays I actually got a couple of weekdays off- lost pay but gained some sleep. Whatever...

The previous post nonwithstanding I took the next step into the world of social networking and set up a Facebook presence. While the start was a little shaky I've managed to ease into it and for now, all seems well. I've even participated in a couple of the group time-waster activities and lived to tell about it.

The only collateral damage from this seems to be some increased activity on my old Classmates.com account. The problem is that they wised up and I now would have to pay for content I used to see for "free" (translated as "live with the cookies/spyware the site would throw into my machine). I'll have to consider that over the weekend.

I already pulled the content for tomorrow's show and it will veer off in several different directions during the course of two hours. I have yet to settle into a groove after over a year of doing this, and perhaps that is a good thing. There is so much good musical stuff out there that it would be a crime to confine oneself to a single genre or style. For the most part I try to keep the sets from getting too schizophrenic. Sometimes I don't quite succeed.

But if I got it right all the time it wouldn't be much of a CRISIS now, would it???

Thanks for looking in, and continue to listen to RandoRadio. Remember that we require fiscal stimulus to operate, and RandoRadio IS TOO BIG TO FAIL!!!!! Please go to our website and help bail us out to the best of your ability. The biggest difference between bailing us out and bailing out a bank is that you HEAR THE RESULTS OF YOUR STIMULUS INSTANTLY!!! Heck, all that other bail-out crap will take months or years before any results get to us. We even have T-Shirts, mini "Lava-Lamp" tchotchkes and other goodies. Please Go to our website- YES, YOU CAN!!!

Time for bed- Saturday morning wushu class starts early.

Peace be with you,

Glenn

FaceBook finally explained to me via b3ta and YouTube

2009-02-27T11:02:00.004-05:00

February is just about done and I am a very happy camper. The winter utility bills have been killers. That's what I get for wanting to sleep indoors, I guess.

It's probably a generational thing, but so-called "social networking" sites have get to get me excited in any real way. I was never an entirely social critter while growing up, and the superficiality of most high school and college interactions never really made an impact on me. The reality is that at my age, most of the people that I was friendly with either moved far away or died. Having used the service called classmates dot com to no avail I can't imagine what good stalking people on other websites would do.

But thanks to YouTube and a regular contributor to b3ta.com, I have been enlightened as to how the whole thing REALLY works. Check this out...

I feel so much better now...

As a public service, have a new mantra-
Just keep your media player on Rando Radio 24/7/365. You need no other internet radio station. Just keep your media player on Rando Radio 24/7/365. You need no other internet radio station. Just keep your media player on Rando Radio 24/7/365. You need no other internet radio station. Just keep your media player on Rando Radio 24/7/365. You need no other internet radio station. Just keep your media player on Rando Radio 24/7/365. You need no other internet radio station.

Peace be with you,

Glenn Carella

And the Cold War was bad because...

2009-02-11T17:35:00.000-05:00

When I grow up....

2009-01-19T10:17:00.002-05:00

Belated Happy New Year to all! I have no bus work today so I can get caught up on some other things. Like this blog. Or sleeping past 6 AM. Whatever.

One of my ham radio friends who has moved to a warmer place passed along a YouTube video that is now public domain. I share it here to give folks some context as to how we got here, and the only thing to add to this is the conversion of the wave energy (analog) to those little ones and zeroes (digital) for spewing over the web.

Many thanks to John Samuels for this one. By the way, the "OH2FFY" you see at the video's end is the call sign of the ham whose efforts moved this work to YT. John's call is K2CIB, and mine is N2GOP. I spoke of ham radio in an earlier blog post, and we use infrastructure called the atmosphere to get our signals from point to point. Click here to learn something about it... I dare you!!

The infrastructure of the web is still fragile enough and porous enough that it is subject to disruption in a number of ways from your own machine to lord knows where else in the food chain. There are many waypoints between our RandoRadio studio and what finally arrives in your computer.

Radio's expenses are more front-loaded (higher up-front cost) but once you are going it costs the same whether 10,000 or 100,000 listen to you. On the internet the startup cost is lower, but since you are charged by bandwidth usage, the more popular you are your costs skyrocket. We need your support to keep going, both in listening and in finance. This stuff doesn't just happen.

I would love nothing more that to be able to take our programming and move it to shortwave radio. With the current sunspot cycle slowly rising we could have a global audience for sizable chunks of the day, and they wouldn't even need a computer to hear us.

FYI, there is still a bunch of domestic shortwave bradcasting going on here in the US. Since major media companies have no way of tracking individual listeners in radio in the same manner as the web, they have no inclination to push that form of media. But when your power fails (as well as the power for all the surrounding infrastructure) what will you do with your computer? About the same as you will do with your cell phone. Not a lot. See also Katrina, 2003 Northeast blackout, communications failures after 9/11, the list goes on and on.

That said, I'm settling into a decent pattern with my show until the next bizarro event in my life. Stay with us. It only gets better. Trust me.

Peace be with you,
Glenn

The Year Is Almost Done...

2008-12-29T19:51:00.003-05:00

As I'm typing this there are great things going on in Rando Radio world! We have been moving along with programming, live remote webcasts, further incorporation of the U-Stream live video tool and music music music!!!!

Even though the world is going through major conniptions right now, we are keeping the faith and expanding our capabilities in order that you the listener can enjoy more of the Rando Radio experience. The free-form format is not dead and will not die on our watch.

When you visit our web page and go to the section named "The Vault", you can get sample shows and their respective playlists to listen to when you want to. You can interact with us by going to the "DJ Pages" area. You can join us and help us financially to keep this commercial free music thing going. But there is something else you can do to help...

As you may be aware, internet webcasters have to pay royalties to music companies at a rate disproportionately higher than satellite broadcasters (and lots more than regular AM and FM stations that pay next to nothing). We are also subject to a series of arcane regulations written by dumb-spit politicians and signed off on by President William Jefferson Zipper. This low point in legislation is known as the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998. While it is not as oppressive as the Patriot Act and and a little less offensive than FISA (supported wrongly by a man whose name is similar to Bark At Yo Mama) it negatively impacts all internet music entities large and small.

Basically, it was drawn up by a bunch of boneheads who were made to fear the phenomenon known as Digital Audio Tape. If any of those dopes could have seen what was really coming down the pike they could have encouraged Al Gore not to invent the internet.

All we really want is a royalty structure similar to what satellite radio pays; after all we believe in performers and composers getting their just recompense. Congress revisits this "Internet Radio Equality Act" every now and then- it is one of the few things Congress could pass that wouldn't kill anyone. At your convenience please rattle your Congress-Critters' cages every now and again. Now is a really good time to do this as all the "big-money" people are heading for the hills.

There you have it. My show has mutated yet again with my lifestyle being re-arranged by a new day gig... getting up at 5 AM and up before the sun to drive kids to school, and finally getting to do voice auditions in the time between shifts. There is voice work out there and I will continue plugging away at it. Have a happy and safe New Year!

Peace be with you,
Glenn Carella

Currently scheduled on Saturday afternoons from 1:00 PM until 3:00 PM Eastern Standard time, UTC 1800 to 2000 for you folks on other parts of the planet!!

Ho Ho Ho and other related noise...

2008-12-06T09:13:00.002-05:00

One of the downsides of driving a school bus is that we listen to a lot of commercial radio between runs. It seems that despite the economy going flat-line the "Holiday related" noises start earlier every year. Not only does this diminish the meaning of the Christian holiday but it puts everyone else in the background. Check out the following light-hearted take on that:

I see Hillary got her Christmas present early. Bill Richardson would have been the better choice in that post, but the Great Conciliator chose to take care of his fellow Illinois buddy. New York buddy. Arkansas buddy. Whatever.

RandoRadio's first remote broadcast project was by all accounts a resounding success and kudos all around for the folks who made it happen and the performers who gave of their time and talent. And did you catch Lou Cannizzaro's interview program with Reverend Billy??? What a great audio/video event! This stuff doesn't just happen, folks! We need your support- go to our website, www.randoradio.com

I've got to get to pulling out stuff for my next show- I will try not to roll into "humbug" mode, really. Maybe.

Keep breathing, everyone. We will get through this thing one way or another.

Peace be with you,
Glenn

But he hasn't parted the Red Sea yet...

2008-11-09T11:33:00.003-05:00

I guess stuff like this is going to be popping up left and right until January 20th, 2009.

Here is the link just in case the embedding doesn't work.

In geek news, the Federal Communications Commission has finally done something right and voted for the opening up of the "white spaces", swaths of frequencies that will be opened up upon the final extermination of analog television transmissions taking place on February 17, 2009. All of the stations that used to live on channels 2 through thirteen are being sent upriver to the land of the UHF channels (the ones labeled 14 through 80 something).

With this event we now have a chance to get broadband for the masses via the latest generation of wireless networking. More frequencies available nationally make for an environment where solutions can be implemented on a national basis (where cool things like economies of scale kick in making everything cheaper).

Let's hope that it happens sooner rather than later. By the way, Dubya still has over two month to finish running the United States into the ground. Yes, he can.

Peace be with you,
Glenn

What a long strange trip its been...

2008-11-06T14:16:00.003-05:00

Things are mutating again in MLC Land. My daily routine has been upended by the need to have some "regular" money coming in. I have been training to become a school bus driver with the goal of working mornings and afternoons, thus having the gap in between and after to continue seeking voice work. At the same time, I have embarked on some continuing voice training AND my Tai-Chi instructor has us starting a new extended form.

Needless to say this is impacting on other activities. I find myself having to move my weekly Rando Radio showtime to a Saturday afternoon, with the first one possibly this coming weekend. The past couple of shows have found a mix that I am comfortable with and a flow that is more in keeping with the RR vibe. If my last eBay shipment gets here on time I may have a viable substitute for the Elk so they can get a proper rest.

The bus company I am working for has a very interesting mix of humanity, and I have to admit that I was getting more isolated from the human part of the outside world for a while. One cannot maintain a sane balance if one only hangs with "like minded" people. Your "reality tunnel" gets smaller and smaller until the remaining aperture lets very little get through and a low-grade paranoia sets in (read Robert Anton Wilson's COSMIC TRIGGER to get more background on the concept of a reality tunnel).

Election Day has come and gone and the domestic and global stock markets are continuing their tanking. Too bad the business world and the banks cannot seem to share the love that is going around. Then again, they didn't give a rat's ass before and nothing of substance will change until January. Can we watch the economy continue to free-fall? Yes, we can.

Everything happens the way it is supposed to, and I guess we are being chastised by the universe for being accomplices in the pillage of Iraq and our inability to see past the Weapons of Mass Delusion. Let us make sure that a President Obama is not inclined to start one of his own conflagrations just to help cinch some political deal. This is, after all, the same Obama that sold us out to the Fascists in his wrong-headed vote on FISA this year. If clicking on FISA doesn't bring up the link, here it is to copy and paste-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Act

Don't get me wrong- McCain Palin was a disaster waiting to happen and I'm glad to see that business over. But I remember what the Staple Singers said about smiling faces. A line went something like "beware of the handshake, that hides a snake". As they say on WBAI, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION.

Peace be with you,
Glenn Carella

The age of "Parlor Tricks"

2008-10-17T09:48:00.001-04:00

I miss the comic strip "Pogo". I can't help but remember the classic line (or something close to it-
"We have met the enemy and they is us!" Speaking of the classics, here is a great one courtesy of YouTube (gobbless da innernetz)-

I'll be interviewing for a new "day job" today hence no new Crisis this week. Last week's show mixed it up fairly well; I think I'm finding my path slowly but surely. Stay sane out there!

Peace be with you,
Glenn

An Electoral Emission

2008-10-04T13:17:00.002-04:00

I was going to start my last show with this but technical difficulties reared their ugly heads. I will start next weeks show with it but here is a "sneak preview".

I'll tell you now, I am confiding
I've little use for Joseph Biden.

Rather on the river Styx be sailing,
than dressing moose with Sarah Palin.

Try as I might, I'm not much calmer
when contemplating the great Obama,

I find myself joining the refrain-
"No more Bush- and lose McCain"

What then would keep me from ending it all?
Send them all to Gitmo, just give me Ron Paul!

Peace be with you,
Glenn

It's been a while...

2008-09-18T14:28:00.003-04:00

I ran on too long last go-round, apologies...

This is turning into a weird month although it didn't start that way. I got a cd from a former high school classmate (singer-songwriter Karen Benedetto, this is a link to her website ) of a 9/11 tribute song she had written. I was so taken with the song that I wound up doing a short apolitical tribute on my own. If you weren't able to hear it, it has been placed on the Rando Radio Vault Page along with the playlist. Just click on the Rando Radio Logo on the left of this page and upon arrival at the website, click on the tab top right marked "The Vault".

I will start mutating my program again, but it will still be mainly classically oriented for the near future. I enjoy the more relaxed pace from the production side and hope that the same feeling translates to the listening side.

If you haven't done so, be sure to go to the bottom of this page and subscribe to this blog, so you will be notified when I come up for air and attack the keyboard instead of the microphone.

Back to more auditions. You can hear me selling my voice to the world here or here. Barring the unforseen, a fresh show will make its way to the internet tomorrow afternoon.

Peace be with you,
Glenn Carella

Classical Music? What kind of Crisis causes that?

2008-09-03T13:58:00.002-04:00

My last show in August was all classical music. I had been feeling a bit scattered all the prior week and something had to be done to get me back on track.

I have been getting the impression that the program was becoming the embodiment of "ten pounds of stuff in a five-pound bag". The listener count seemed to be bearing that out, so I decided to use the platform of my RandoRadio program time to give some breathing space to a musical genre that doesn't get a whole lot of exposure in these parts.

The pieces tend to be longer so it makes things a lot less frenetic in the studio. It also gives folks at their computers a chance to appreciate a different kind of energy from these works. I have touched on modern classical from time to time- but having this format will allow programming of whole movements as opposed to snippets and pieces.

In commercial broadcast world, classical music is shrinking with the exception of (some) PBS stations. The New York metro area has only one full time classic station that I am aware of, and the major PBS station trashed most of its daily classical music for simulcasting the talk shows broadcast on its AM outlet. Cost containment, I guess.

Give me some feedback on this programming choice, if you will. Otherwise, I will just keep looking at the listener numbers and keep trying until something works. My main goal is to enjoy what I do, and hope that enjoyment comes across.

Peace be with you,
Glenn

PS- The elk callers are on hiatus until further notice. Peace and quiet on the mike breaks.....

All Quiet on the Married Front...

2008-08-20T20:37:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to post a quick note to let folks know I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth after the stirring events of 08/08/08. My wife and I were the guests of honor at a party thrown by my Tai Chi instructor and one of my fellow students. Almost the whole student body turned out with their friends/husbands/wives/significant others. The crowd also included library people and friends of the party host's. It was a beautiful evening full of love and good vibes. My soul is still smiling over it!

My wife made a couple of requests for tomorrow's show. One afternoon we were sitting here in the home studio at Mid-Life Crisis Central and she just starting spinning the CD racks- we went back and forth just listening to different things. Another mind adding to this will be a good thing over time. That said, she is more of a video person than a music person (and she is not thrilled with the Elk Calling thing but she tolerates throat singing). I am not sure if she will come on the microphone with me some day but we will see...

I'm heading to an Amateur Radio gathering in Boxboro Massachusetts this weekend (Yes, the emphasized areas are hyperlinks, just click on the little buggers). Otherwise known as "ham radio", this hobby has kept me off the streets and out of trouble for quite some time. I have been putting signals out over the air since high school, and one of the pleasures of owning my own house has been the ability to hang antennas nice and high to facilitate communications in a number of different modes.

Why "ham radio" in a world of broadband, cell phones and all kinds of digital folderol? All of the aforementioned accoutrements depend on INFRASTRUCTURE to work. Said INFRASTRUCTURE usually takes a dive during major storms and other kinds of cataclysmic events. If you live in Tornado Alley, Hurricaneville, ForestFire Town or other such places, you have seen men and women shadowing public officials allowing them to communicate with each other when cell sites and other communications modes have collapsed. Click here for some more pertinent information.

The instruction one takes to get a Ham Radio license teaches you about things technical and natural. Yes, I am waiting for the latest sunspot cycle to kick in so I can be heard across continents while running about 100 watts of power. I got hooked as a kid by listening to shortwave radio- I ran a wire to the metal fire escape of the fifth-floor walk-up in the Bronx where I lived to use as an antenna. Radio South Africa came in as loud as the local broadcast stations.

When my folks moved to the 'burbs in 1966, I met a fellow whose father was a ham. He and I wound up taking instruction in another ham's house and we attained our first licenses back then. The interest continued until my high school graduation. At that point I found out about things like women, partying and other such things. Then came college and my first real job, marriage and divorce/ single parenthood. Being housebound night after night caused me to consider things past- and the radio technology was still there. I picked up a portable shortwave radio and started listening again. I met a counterpart in another microscope company who was a ham, and that was it. I got re-licensed in 1986 and have remained so ever since.

I have a license issued by the same Federal Communications Commission that handles (or mishandles- depending who you speak to) all types of communications entities. I have a call sign that was computer assigned based on my license class. I throw that piece of minutia out because when people see it (N2GOP) they presume it is some form of vanity call (not unlike a vanity license plate on your car). In a word, NO!!!! The "N" is the prefix (one of the prefixes assigned to the United States by international treaty), the "2" denotes it was issued in the second call area of the US that includes New York State and New Jersey, and the "GOP" was the next available group of three letters that completed the call sign. By comparison, Commercial broadcast station call signs begin with either a "W" (east of the Mississippi River) or a "K" (west of the Mississippi). This convention only applies to BROADCAST stations. Cable entities can call themselves whatever they want.

I have gone on much longer than I thought I would, but that is just how it is sometimes. It is time to feed the fish and get the garbage out (domesticity, gotta love it). Be well and keep on listening.

Peace be with you,
Glenn

A Great Dance/Music Vid- Until the Lawyers pull it down...

2008-08-09T14:39:00.004-04:00

In alphabetical order, many thanks to Arthur (NY) and Marushka (FL) for sending me this one. The Pilobolus dance company was created in 1971 and this is a link to their information page. They do very intriguing stuff with balance, perspective and innovation. While I am embedding the YouTube video of an appearance they did on the Conan O'Brien late night show, I have no way of knowing how long it will be until the lawyers have it pulled.

It still works as of this posting date. It is a great presentation done to the tune of the Lovin' Spoonful's song "Summer In The City".

This post's title was inspired by reading about the cat and mouse game being played by entities who paid over a billion dollars for Olympic broadcast licensing fees and folks using the internet to see stuff in real time and without commercials. I have to admit being a little conflicted on this one.

1) As a host and producer of stuff on RandoRadio I fully agree with our stance to be totally legal and pay our stipend to LoudCity dot com with the hope that resulting royalties will find their way to the artists. My research indicates that there is more than a modicum of wishful thinking in this, as the only way any performer sees a dime of this money is if they have the presence of mind to register themselves with an entity called SoundExchange (the digital arm of the RIAA). No registration, no money. As I am not a performer I have no way of knowing how diligent SoundExchange is in advising performers of this as they get to sit on a pile of money if artists aren't signed up (an artist's pre-existing affiliations with ASCAP, BMI or whatever have no standing in the digital world).

2) As a reasonably avid user of the internet (and as someone using the internet to earn money) I realize the need of open access to stuff made available on the web. Boundaries as we know them are disappearing, much to the consternation of some people. When an American business like NBC broadcasting makes a contract with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) including a huge payment for broadcast "rights", they presume to impact the existing news organizations of other sovereign nations who also put their content on the web for their own citizens both at home and abroad. The fact that others can search for and find this content on their own is just the nature of the beast. For an American corporation to demand that a news agency of another country pull its content from the web strikes me as a bit totalitarian.

2a) Then again, they could just be taking a cue from the host country who routinely throttles web content. "If you can't beat'em, join'em".

We are living in "interesting times".

Finally, the "Countdown Clock" is gone. As of 2:00 pm yesterday (18:00 UTC) I am now legally wed. The local newspaper had a good time with this, and here is a link to their article. There is some transitioning as my wife moves into "Mid-Life Crisis Center" and my ability to continue continue the "crisis" as such may be a tad dubious. But, Elk Willing, I will do my best.

Peace be with you,
Glenn Carella

What can you do with five notes?

2008-07-28T12:39:00.006-04:00

I just stumbled across this one while on a web "detour". There is something to be said for not depending too heavily on search engines- if their view is too narrow, you miss a lot of good stuff.

I won't add anymore to what is here as it speaks for itself.

Peace be with you,
Glenn

But for a lousy exchange rate....

2008-07-19T22:19:00.006-04:00

While I was tooling around on the BBC website I saw a headline "Monk evangelizes heavy metal".

Huh?

Seems that there is this 62 year old Capuchin Monk named Brother Cesare Bonizzi. Fifteen years ago he went to a Metallica concert, and the sheer energy of the music shook him to the bottoms of his sandals. Here is a link to the BBC article. And for your dining and dancing pleasure,

The only distribution site I could find for the cd was in Italy (Italian Monk, Italian Band, duhhhh). It would cost me almost forty bucks to get the darn thing. The band is called Fratello Metallo (Metal Brothers). Brother Cesare's website is in Italian, (here is a link to it) but if you click around you will see the album cover. Clicking on it opens a box that will enable you to hear three songs on the cd. Good Stuff.

FYI- euro 11.5 for the cd and euro 12 for shipping to the US. Last I looked, the Euro was equal to USD (United States dollarettes) 1.60. Thank you, George!!!

I did create an account on the Italian distribution site, though. If I get a second stimulus check (yeah, Washington is making noises about that) then I'll pony up the cash.

On a totally unrelated point, in a few short weeks, I will no longer be a single person as my girlfriend and I are tying the knot. Will that be the end of the "Mid-Life Crisis" or will the crisis take on a new dimension? Only time will tell. Keep on Listening!

Peace be with you,
Glenn Carella

All right, so I HAVE been under a rock for a while...

2008-07-09T13:02:00.002-04:00

As I have been known to mention, the New York Times tries to make me crazy. Today it totally made up for it. It presented the story about the Dancing Man, Matt Harding. Here is the YouTube video that some five million people before me have seen:

This is so simple yet so moving. A guy does this simple dance, then he starts doing it in other places. The Times story gives the progression of events as to how the phenomenon grew and how a subtly placed sponsorship sent him all over the world.

But watch this video and see the real meaning of "Peace on Earth". Especially in the scenes where he is joined by children from all over. For all the insanity that makes up our life, this strikes me as a true beacon of hope. One man dancing.

Peace be with you,
Glenn

PS. Here is a link to the New York Times Story

2008-07-02T21:30:00.002-04:00

I might as well get it out of the way now... I'm a cat person. When my orange tabby isn't around, his hairs are. The other guy, a black short-haired scaredy-cat, just sheds nonchalantly over areas that best display black fur. Right considerate of him...

This is from my friend Marsha in Florida (birds, cats and Lord knows what else)-

Interesting Indian music lurks in the background of this video, and NO ELK.

They are resting.
Peace be with you,
Glenn Carella