Now THIS is cool.

REALLY, REALLY COOL. http://www.hitchhikerslive.com/

Farewell to El Fiendo

It’s always hard when a sound man goes silent. But unfortunately, this is the case today, January 19, 2012, as the audio book and audio drama communities are learning of the passing (the evening before) of the audio producer/director/writer we affectionately called “El Fiendo,” better known to the world as Yuri Rasovsky. He was 67, and had been battling cancer for some time. Over the course of three decades, “the nation’s most decorated audio dramatist” was honored with The Grammy, two Peabody Awards, five Ohio State awards, nine APA Audie Awards, four Major Armstrong awards, two CPB awards, The Independent Publishers Audio Award, The Gabriel Award, The Joseph Jefferson Award, the NFCB Golden Reel, the Mark Time Lifetime Achievement Award, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Bradbury Award, and on a personal note, I’m proud to say that he was the third-ever recipient of the National Audio Theatre Festivals Norman Corwin Award for Excellence in Audio Theatre, but more on that one later.

Yuri was the founder of the National Radio Theater in Chicago, and led that organization from 1972-1987, moving on to create the Hollywood Theater of the Ear in 1993 in Los Angeles, where he produced and directed (and usually served as writer) at least one full-length audio drama a year in between audio book recordings. His work has been published by Blackstone Audio, and presented on NPR, the BBC, the CBC, and radio stations around the country. His shows include, many of which you can find via Blackstone Audio, include The Mark of Zorro with Val Kilmer and Elizabeth Pena, Black Mask Audio Magazine Vol. 1, Black Mask Audio Magazine Vol. 2: The Maltese Falcon with Michael Madsen as Sam Spade, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with John DeLancie.

Yes, his nickname was “El Fiendo.” Yes, he came across as an irascible curmudgeon, but one with a heart of gold. He could motivate any actor to put their best foot forward, and never ever compromised when it came to the finished product. Don’t believe me? Take a listen to any one of those pieces mentioned above. What you hear is quality, no fluff.

In October, I journeyed to Los Angeles as part of the aforementioned-on-this-blog Audio Art of Animation Workshop, where as part of our weekend, the National Audio Theatre Festivals, with our friends Phil Proctor (of the Firesign Theatre), Melinda Peterson (his wife), and Helen Engelhardt, formally presented him with the Corwin Award at Post Creations near Hollywood, where he was completing work on Measure for Measure for Blackstone and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. While he chose to keep the award at home because it was “so damn heavy,” he accepted with grace and humility. I’m glad I got to shake his hand, if only once.

I can’t remember what we were looking at, but it must have been interesting.

The tributes are pouring in on Facebook, but I think Phil and Melinda put it best in a recent e-mail: “God knows, we will really miss the dear old bastard.” With a smile and a tear we toast to Yuri’s memory, and send our best to his “Lorna Doone,” Lorna Raver. RIP.

Introducing John Strain as…The Black Bat

The AudioComics Company is pleased to announce the casting of San Francisco Bay Area stage actor John Strain in the title role of The Black Bat, part of the production company’s Pulp Adventures anthology series, and a pivotal character in the forthcoming Moonstone AudioComics offering, Battle for LA. As with The Domino Lady, The AudioComics Company’s world-premiere productions featuring The Black Bat will mark the first time that the pulp character has graced the airwaves.

The Black Bat first appeared in the July 1939 issue of Black Book Detective, in the origin story “Brand of the Black Bat” written by Norman Daniels under the house name G. Wayman Jones. Both the Black Bat and Batman hit the newsstands around the same time, and both Thrilling Publications and National Comics (respective publishers of the characters) claimed the other was a copy. National (now of course known as DC) editor Whitney Ellsworth, who had previously worked for Thrilling’s head Ned Pines, negotiated an arrangement between the two companies, allowing both characters to exist (staving off potential lawsuits).

The world believes that District Attorney Tony Quinn is blind from a gangster’s attack. In truth, he is able to see, the result of a secret operation where the corneas of a murdered small town sheriff were grafted onto Quinn’s eyes. To everyone’s surprise, not only can Quinn see normally, but he can see in complete darkness. While blind, he had developed the necessary skills of the blind, all of which stay with him after he regains his sight. Posing as a blind man to throw both cops and criminals off the trail, “Special District Attorney” Anthony Quinn, armed with a pair of .45’s, becomes The Black Bat, a vigilante determined to bring those who slip through the system to justice…by any means necessary. For this reason he is wanted not only by the underworld but by the authorities as well. Aiding Quinn is his “girl Friday” Carol Baldwin, daughter of the slain sheriff; Butch O’ Leary, the over 6’5” giant with fists of fury; and Quinn’s “valet,” one-time hood-gone-straight Norton “Silk” Kirby.

John M. Strain holds a BA in Literature with an Acting minor from San Francisco State University, an MFA in Acting from UC Irvine, and a Teaching Credential from Chapman University. Some of his Bay Area roles include Bobby from David Mamet’s Bobby Gould in Hell, Feste from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and Mendoza in The Politics of Decay. Southern California roles include Linder in A Raisin in the Sun, Eddie in Fool for Love, and Zarius Michaels in the short film Hold On! (Semi-finalist, Triggerstreet.com).  Most recently, John played Robert in the AFI short Morning Latte, and Adolf Hitler in the premiere stage production of Disney in Deutschland. John currently teaches English, Study Skills, Journalism and helps run “Read Aloud” public speaking tournaments for young adults in the city of San Francisco.

As mentioned, John will first suit up as The Black Bat in a San Francisco recording studio this spring, when the character appears alongside The Phantom Detective, G-8, Secret Agent X, and The Domino Lady (Karen Stilwell) in Battle for LA, based on the Moonstone one-shot by CJ Henderson and Mark Sparacio.

The Domino Lady…in the studio…

And here’s another one for you (thank you Tom and Karen!):

The Green Lama…in the studio…

Courtesy of the exceptional work of Karen Stilwell and Tom Spingola:

Very very busy working on…

Titanium Rain Volume One, Honey West: Murder on Mars, The Green Lama and the Curse of Liberty Island, The Domino Lady: All’s Fair in War, The Batsons: Carmilla’s Crush, and The Batsons: The Trouble with Fang! And have you checked out the new website recently? www.audiocomicscompany.com

AudioComics in 3D

Last night Bill, Elaine, and I had a great meeting with two incredible collaborators on our next BIG AudioComics project after Ttitanium Rain Vol. 1 (and yes, there are two equally great volumes to come). While I can’t talk about the project or collaborators yet (obviously), I can say three things: 1) this will be the first AudioComics production to be recorded in Los Angeles, which we’re excited about, 2) our collaborators are two of the coolest guys livin’ and workin’ in Hollywood, and 3) this will also be the first AudioComics piece to be recorded in 3D holographic sound.

Now the actual term here is 3D binaural sound, or Kunstkopf binaural sound, but we’re sticking with “holographic” as it just sounds groovier. We had discussed, Bill and I, recording a production in 3D a long time ago…before Starstruck in fact. We’ve decided to try it now as this piece screams out for holographic sound! While 3D sound works wonders when you hear it on your stereo speakers, the sound is even better with the headphones on. Kunstkopf literally means “art head,” referring to the German-manufactured Ku81 microphone. This mic is literally a head, nicknamed “Fritz:” a mannequin or solid rubber head with microphones set inside the inner ear chambers. The actors are then positioned around the head, and the action is literally choreographed around the listener. Likewise any specific live SFX happens around the head, so that when you slip on the headphones and close your eyes, you are convinced that someone is speaking six inches from your left ear, that someone is whispering right into your right ear, and something is rapidly gaining speed right behind you scaring you enough to make you TURN AROUND TO MAKE SURE NOBODY’S THERE…nope, it’s all in your head.

To give you an idea of what 3D sound is like in audio drama, we take you to the ZBS Foundation, where you can buy, in addition to Starstruck, CD’s and downloads of ZBS’s “Cabinet of Dr. Fritz” series, which was originally produced for NPR, back when NPR actually aired audio dramas. http://www.zbs.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=5_31 for compact discs, and http://www.zbs.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=5_32 for Mp3 downloads. They’re worth your time to hear, and will give you an idea of what we have planned.

AudioComics Pulp in San Francisco

On Saturday, November 19, AudioComics Pulp history was made on Mission Street in San Francisco at Broken Radio Studios, site of the legendary Coast Recorders Studio. Ably engineered by Piper Payne, Craig Neibaur, Karen Stilwell, and the members of the Pulp Adventures Acting Company (Bill Chessman, Suzan Lorraine, Kevin Donnelly, Mandy Brown, Peter Carini, Peter Papadopoulos, and Perry Aliado) recorded our first of many Green Lama and Domino Lady audio movies (or in this case audio shorts).

Pete Carini said it best when it was all over: “about twenty minutes from now I’m going to have an adrenaline crash.”

One of the things that I love about the process is that it is an adrenaline rush for everyone involved, especially the director! The actors need breaks, I personally can’t do it; gotta keep rolling like a rocket!

From New York City to San Diego we traveled over the course of seven hours, with Karen “The Domino Lady” Stilwell in a black evening gown, no less. Karen’s boyfriend, Tom Spingola, generously donated his time to video the sessions, so AudioComics Pulp will have a YouTube presence as well. And we have enough great outtakes for that all-important track: the blooper reel! (Thank you, Kevin and Craig!) Next week your humble director begins the first edit on the voice-tracks, and Bill Dufris has a plethora of SFX and period music to put us in the mood. So as we prepare for our mandatory tryptophan overdose, enjoy a few more photos from our AudioComics Pulp session, and tell your friends to buy a download or two or three of The Green Lama and The Domino Lady next February! But now…photos!

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go…

Great Green Lama read-through last night; off to recording studio tomorrow! And Adam Garcia and I had a chance to talk about Jethro Dumont’s future…including the obligatory “why the heck didn’t we think of this before???” idea…pre-Thanksgiving post mortem to come next week! Stay tuned!

Yes, we’re on Facebook!

Had a great last Domino Lady rehearsal via conference call today; Saturday the 19th we hit Broken Radio for the first Pulp Adventures recording!

By the way…you do know The AudioComics Company has a Facebook page, right? NO? Well, you can find us at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-AudioComics-Company/223614914346480. C’mon, come “like” us!