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FELLOW
PROFESSIONALS
The
folks listed below stand out among many people I know who excel in
their fields. I work with each of them and can vouch for their talent
and competence; they are all really good people, too. This list is a
constant work in progress, so check back frequently to see
who’s been added!
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PRODUCERS
AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES:
Note:
Although I’m cross-linked at some of these sites, the main
reasons they're on this page are the high quality of their work, their
reliability as people, and the good times I've had working with them.
Here are just a few of my favorite people and places; I'm grateful to
have many - with more to be added.
Sica Productions
belongs to Dave Sica, one of the most creative corporate producers I
know, a master of new technology and an scholar of old. Dave collects
and restores classic radios and TV’s. (Ask him
about his four “lollipop”
Philco Predicta televisions.) Among many other things, he digitized the
entire Benefit
Street/The American Dream album, took my profile photo at LinkedIn
and Facebook, allowed me to succeed him as President of ITVA (now MCA-I)
New Jersey, and shepherded the "great reawakening" and
maintenance of this website. Consider him "friended" a dozen times over.
Holdcom
is the company that put my voice on some of Madison Square Garden's,
Radio
City Music Hall's and Robert Wood Johnson's on-hold messages among
hundreds of others!
(We've been doing this for a few years!) They are arguably the leading
message-on-hold company (they also do audio for websites
and on-line training), put out high quality work, and are a great bunch
of people to know.
HCCS
(Health Care Compliance Solutions) is the leading provider of online
compliance training and tracking solutions to healthcare facilities,
and I've been the voice of most of their courses for almost 20 years!
Produced by DEG Productions,
we record at Creative Sound Works with
another long-time radio friend, Bruce Figler, in the aptly-named
Pleasantville, NY.
Panetta Studios
is
one of favorite places to work. Angelo Panetta and engineer Siara
Spreen always make me (and every other voice person who comes in) sound
good, plus Angelo is a remarkable
musician and soundtrack composer as well.
Liz de Nesnera is
a great friend, a remarkable voice talent in English and French (and
Russian if pushed!); her superb "ears" have been an invaluable help in
assembling my new
demos. If my male voice won't do it for you, try calling Liz!
TriVue
Entertainment
produces many of the
“Spotlight On:” programs which run on many PBS
stations nationwide (including WLIW). I am privileged to be narrate
many of these programs since 1995.. President Larry Cohen is a
creative and innovative producer, as well as being a really nice
guy! Check the “Paul on the Web” links to see and
hear many of these programs.
Antland Productions is
"audio central" with Emmy-award sound designer "Uncle Roy" Yokelson at
the heart of it all. He was Woody Allen's go-to sound person for over
20 years. Also, he throws great parties!
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UNIQUE AND EXCITING RADIO WEBSITES
With
a long and varied radio career before I entered the voice-over field,
my love for the medium at
its best has never faded. While far too much of what's on
the commercial dial has become a waste of electricity, here are some
sites to take you to some of the best stations I know or knew:
WBRU,
Providence, RI is where both my wife and I started in radio at our alma
mater.
Brown University's 20kw FM is the oldest college station in the US in
continuous operation (since 1936), and a successful commercial station
in a Top 20 market. I helped to found its freeform rock format, which
evolved into today's modern-rock success.
Although always an extracurricular activity, it has nonetheless been
voted Rolling Stone Magazine's Station of The Year. Streaming
audio.
WBRU
IN THE 60s is
primarily for station members during the transition from closed-circuit
on-campus AM to its
early FM
days. Histories of me and many of us from those days are posted
there;
among our illustrious alumni are Ralph Begleiter formerly of CNN; and
Andrew
Fisher, President of Cox Communications. There are also airchecks
and on-air
production from my teenage radio years; consider yourself warned!
WWUH
is the University of Hartford's "public alternative" voice. Their
"magazine format" of a variety of music, news and community programming
is still working well and serving central Connecticut with programing
not heard anywhere else. Streaming
audio.
WFMU
is New Jersey's homegrown completely freeform station at 91.1 FM
– if "home" was a hip musician’s or
artist’s loft with hundreds of fascinating alcoves.
Non-commercial, non-conformist, totally strange and wonderful. Erudite,
self-indulgent, highly-intelligent people playing the absolute best and
worst music you'll ever hear. It's worth staying tuned to, because that
best song will be on in just a moment. The website will entertain you
for hours—then check out their links! Streaming
audio and unique archives.
CBC
music channels play a wide variety of Canadian artists and songs mostly
unheard in the US - but if you'd been listening you would have heard
some amazing talent here first, including Arcade Fire, Broken Social
Scene, Neko Case, Great Lake Swimmers, The Wilderness of Manitoba and
dozens more. CBC-3, the indie channel, is the most adventurous (if not
as off-the-wall as WFMU), but there's plenty here to enjoy. (CBC-Sonica
and CBC-3 are also on SiriusXM up in the 160s.)
WOVV
is "Ocracoke's Village Voice," in a unique island village on North
Carolina's Outer Banks. Within their approximately
6,000 year-round population is a disproportionately large group of very
creative people. When they're not on live, their automation system is
packed with an eclectic mix of all kinds of music. They're even kind
enough to let me get on the air once in a while and remind myself why I
loved to do freeform radio. As "live and local" as they can be! Fun,
too.
WDRC,
Connecticut's legendary first radio station, has an
unofficial website devoted to its multifaceted history and exceptional
staff. Always more influential than the size of its market, WDRC dates
to
1921, operated one of the world's first FM stations, was a leading
national tastemaker in the heady rock and pop days of the 1960's and
went to FM rock programming in the 70's. This deliciously obsessive
site chronicles
the station's history, has classic on-air samples of
many of its personalities (including yours
truly, with an aircheck and a very nerdy photo), and reflects
the love and devotion to the station in its prime of its staff and
listeners alike. Think I
exaggerate? See for yourself! (To better reflect the excitement of the
Hartford "rock wars," a page devoted to WPOP, the "crosstown rival"
station, can be found there, too.)
NJARC
is not a broadcast site. The New Jersey Amateur Radio Club, as their
constitution says, "educate[s] the membership and promote[s] the
collection, restoration and repair of antique and collectible radios
and related items." Remember the fun machines we watched and listened
to? NJARC does – and keeps them working. Thanks to the multi-faceted
Dave Sica
of Sica
Productions for the link.
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MUSIC
AND MUSICIANS
I was raised
to be a child prodigy, which gets tough when
you get to be an adult and you can't just be cute anymore!
Later I went
broke trying to be a rock star. So I music-directed and deejayed on the
radio
for many successful years and later became a voice-over person, but
never lost
my interest in music – everything from seriously great stuff
to the indefinable
"whatever." The following sites are minimally commercial – or
non-commercial – and are mostly run by hobbyists, fans
and musicians
themselves. I claim no responsibility for their activities or content;
I just enjoy visiting them. Hope you do too!
SPECTROPOP - If you like Brian
Wilson, Phil Spector, girl groups, “sunshine pop”
and exquisite vocal
harmonies, this remarkably-researched site delves deeply into these
areas plus
many other superbly talented producers and artists you may not already
know
(such as Gary Zekley, Gary Usher and Curt Boettcher) but whose work
you've
probably heard. And that's just the beginning. If you like the
ambitious,
intelligent pop of the ‘60's, or if you thought Brian
Wilson’s recent
"Smile" tour was something akin to a transcendent experience, you'll
spend many happy hours here. Explore the discussion list, too;
you’ll find
correspondence from original artists, producers, and sidemen, plus many
current
professional music writers – and my comments under my old
radio handle,
”Country Paul.” Truly, paradise for the aficionado.
The direct link to the
discussion pages is http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/spectropop/.
GOATS IN TREES-
Every now and then the music of a particular artist just takes over
your
brain for a while. In 2000, I first heard Goats In Trees on WPKN in
Connecticut. Their exceptional self-titled debut CD has been a favorite
ever
since. Their fine second CD, "Smoke and Mirrors," was released in
December, 2001, and guitarist/writer Jason Crigler’s solo CD
came out in 2004.
Chief songwriter and lead singer Monica Cohen Crigler's memorable voice
combines charm, strength and vulnerability into a potent package.
Sadly, her husband,
Jason, was hit with life-threatening health issues and the band's
future was in jeopardy; but in 2014, following his miraculous recovery,
the reunited group released their third CD, "The Golden Thread," a
collection well worth the wait. Check them out!
BOTH SIDES NOW
PUBLICATIONS encompasses an encyclopedic
list of record-label discographies and histories in many styles and
eras.
Praised by no less an authority than the Encyclopedia Brittanica for
its
accuracy and thoroughness, it reads less like academia and more like
the
heartfelt life's work of dedicated fans. Use this important musical
research
archive for reference, or just get lost in the memories. There's also a
discussion group to help you do that.
THE ALL MUSIC GUIDE
- Biographies, discographies, album reviews and critiques, and other
information
make this site an encyclopedic resource for all kinds of music. They
don't
cover everything ever released, and a few errors have sneaked in, but
you'll be amazed at what is
there.
THE ROCKABILLY
HALL OF FAME takes you
deeper into this musical style than any other portal, another reason
that fan
sites are so much more fun than commercial ones. Hear “true
roots of rock and
roll” in this mating of country, rock and blues. The best of
it is a bit crude,
often deceptively simple, and drives like a steamhammer. No site could
be
totally inclusive, but this comes close!
KEY OF Z
- Irwin Chusid is a long-time fixture of WFMU.
He is also a renowned producer,
musicologist, and collector of some of the strangest and out-there
sounds ever
recorded. “Outsider music” is to sound what
“outsider art” is to visuals: work
created by people who may or may not be schooled in it – or
even competent –
but who are driven to create. Some songs are hysterical, some
wonderful, some
evilly bad, some so earnest as to be heartbreakingly poignant; all are
fascinating. The website introduces you to
Irwin’s remarkable
book, “Songs In The Key of Z,” and two
CD’s which give an overview of the
“stars” of this music. You've been warned.
PHIL MILSTEIN is
an amazing and complex musical historian, whose interests cover
everything
from song poems to contemporary. As of this writing [2014], his
personal site
contains obscure music, primarily out-of-print, in mp3 format for free
downloads. Phil’s song-poem website, http://songpoemmusic.com,
is devoted to the
“found art” in those quirky recordings made when
you “send in your lyrics to be
put to music by a professional.” PBS aired a program about this
phenomenon, and several volumes of CDs collect
these
original recordings in all their “glory.” Bring your sense of irony and
open-minded amazement and prepare to be strangely
entertained.
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PROFESSIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS
MCA-I, "The
Organization Formerly Known as ITVA," is a business development and
networking group for all professionals who "tell the story for hire."
It started almost 35 years ago in North Jersey as a group of in-house
corporate producers coming to terms with corporate visual
communications moving from film to tape, and is now a worldwide
organization based around corporate communications, training,
capabilities or for whatever primarily non-broadcast purposes the
moving image can be used, whether linear or non-linear, analog or
digital. Well over half my contacts are directly or indirectly related
to my membership in ITVA/MCA-I, and I'm a former President of the North
Jersey chapter.
More
to come…
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HIGHWAY HOBBYISTS AND URBAN
HISTORY
As
the "Have Voice, Will Travel" voice-over person, the travel is often
part of the fun. Here are some of my favorite highway
history—and other—sites put together by some
entirely obsessive and devoted folks with enough time to pursue their
hobby. Much of this stuff is absolutely fascinating!
NYCROADS.COM
has detailed information on roads and bridges built and not built,
including exit numbers. Find answers to many questions you never knew
you had, such as, "Why is the Garden State Parkway interchange with
I-78 incomplete?", "How come I-78 and I-278 never join?", and hundreds
more. Also highway histories and area maps from 1928 to the present.
For "real people" as well as highway hobbyists.
PHILLYROADS.COM
- When you're tired of the New York area, travel south! Same wonderful
obsession with detail and history.
BOSTONROADS.COM
- …And
when you’ve finished
in Philly, the same enthusiast has gone into depth about the highways
of
Greater Boston.
KURUMI
is a totally obsessive and wonderful site. There are Connecticut
highways plus a bunch of other road information, all with excellent
graphics.
Among
other fascinating tidbits,
discover The
Devil’s Roadgeek Dictionary page. (For example: New
Jersey Turnpike, n. - An
ingenious thoroughfare familiarizing the traveler with all aspects of
the Garden State, so that sweeping generalizations may later be made
therefrom.)
FORGOTTEN
NEW YORK - Do you know what you're traveling over,
under, or near? Much more than just a road-fan site, this extensive
e-library is a treasure trove of urban archaeology, including links to
other unusual stuff. It's a thoroughly-researched tribute to the
richness of NYC, beautifully designed with dynamic graphics. Fun stuff!
You'll never look at the city in the same way. (Their "links" page
alone is worth discovering.)
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TRAINS
AND BOATS AND PLANES
RIDING THE RAILS
"Have
Voice, Will Travel" sometimes means taking the train. Every wonder how
the subway system became what it is? Here are some of the more
interesting sites regarding the subways and other railroads put
together by some devoted folks with the time and commitment to pursue
their hobby. Some of this stuff is absolutely fascinating—and
remember, for virtually every interest, there is a hobbyist!
NEW
YORK SUBWAY RESOURCES is an extremely extensive unofficial
site, replete with links and links and more links. Authoritative and
remarkably well researched. If you like trains, this will grab you for
hours.
THE
NEW YORK, WESTCHESTER & BOSTON RAILWAY (see another great
site here)
was
an extravagantly-built and under-utilized commuter line in Westchester
and the Bronx that is sorely missed in modern times. The Bronx's Dyre
Avenue subway line is the last operating remnant; its beautiful 180th
Street
Station, just refurbished,was the Westchester’s former headquarters. As
a
rail hobbyist, this is "my
railroad"; I grew up in New Rochelle, NY, two blocks from the hulking
concrete shell of the abandoned North Avenue Station, and have been
haunted by the "what if’s" of this line since childhood.
THE
JOE KORNER offers more magnificent obsessions from
another fascinating New York train person, Joe Korman. Also interesting
music notes and links, plus links to other neat stuff, too, including
the ever popular Darwin Awards. (Special thanks to Joe for being the
first person to cross-link me!)
JOE
BRENNAN, another completist, has lots of trains,
pictures, links, etc. You'll get happily lost here as well. Joe is a
denizen of Columbia University; give him an A+ for style and substance.
And if you get tired of trains, he’s got variants of
Beatles’ recordings, the Bee Gees’ songbook, and
other unusual tours.
THE CATSKILL MOUNTAIN RAILROAD
operates two segments in Kingston and Phoenicia, NY. This beautiful
heritage line has beautiful rides in the mountains, but is in imminent
danger no thanks to irrational political pressures. Check out their
wensite, and take a ride or two!
THE
FLYING YANKEE - Once upon a time, this sleek 1930's
icon ran from Boston to Montréal until it was retired and
displayed at the Edaville Railroad. Its rusting and vandalized carcass
was moved to New Hampshire several years ago, and is being restored
from the frame up to its pioneering sleek grandeur. Check on the
progress of this unique streamliner as it is prepared to run again!
(FYI, its sister train, the Burlington Zephyr, has been only
cosmetically restored, and is on display in a parking garage in
Chicago!)
THE
LATE GREAT PENNSYLVANIA STATION - The wrecking ball
pulverizing this magnificent structure in 1964 was what finally turned
New York City’s attention to preserving its valuable
architecture. This site is based on the excellent book of the same
name, and proves that what now passes for Penn Station is a sad shadow
of the "real thing." This is one of four books by historian
Lorraine Diehl profiled at this site.
AND
FOR THE NAUTICAL MINDED:
THE
CANAL SOCIETY OF NEW JERSEY - 74%
of New Jersey is bordered by water: the
Hudson River, the Atlantic Ocean, and Delaware Bay and River. Before
roads and
rails, the early industrial age travelled by
canal. Two
of the most famous were The Morris Canal and The Delaware &
Raritan Canal.
The Canal
Society's
pages tell the histories of these two main routes of commerce; The
Morris Canal
is almost completely lost to time, but much of the D&R remains
as a linear
state park.
No
planes yet - got any outstanding recommendations?
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FRIENDS
Please
check out some really good friends who are also really good at what
they do:
TIGER
MOON GEMS has beautiful silver, gold, and beaded
handmade necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, pendants and brooches.
A portion of their income is donated to help save endangered big cats.
Even without that incentive, the company is worth checking out. Owned
and operated by friend since college, Noel Brennan, she’ll
ship anywhere. (Pronounce her first name like Christmas.)
JAMES
BEACH BRENNAN, photographic illustrator, has been
bringing visual poetry to corporate and product photography for over 40
years – and to artistic, portrait and documentary photography
for much longer than that. I know him even longer than I know Noel, and
his excellent work speaks for itself. Based in Rhode Island, Jim
travels easily. His web pages load quickly, too, even on slower-speed
modems.
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THE UNUSUAL, THE QUIRKY AND THE
STRANGE
The
following are definitely "out there," and may not be to everyone's
taste. However, they may also be some of the most interesting things on
the net. You’ve just gotta know where to look! Here are some
places:
WEIRD
NEW JERSEY is the on-line version of the
famous/notorious magazine. I moved here 10 years ago, and never
previously encountered a place that celebrated its eccentricities with
quite the verve of New Jersey. From Shades of Death Road to the
Turnpike, The Sopranos to the Boss, Jersey’s cool. (And you
can say "Jersey" and people know what you mean. Ever try that with York
or Hampshire? Fuhgeddaboudit!)
THE RHODE ISLAND DICTIONARY
- Then again, "Little Rhody" has its own language and terminology.
Although this site doesn’t provide samples (but you can buy
the book), here are a couple: "PSDS" ah what a guhrl can get at a
jewelery staw at the mwall (say it out loud fast….), a Fawd
is something you drive, you drink a cabinet, and two people walking
down the street go side by each. It may be the smallest state, but
it’s got the biggest haht. (That’s "heart" to the
rest of the country.) I love the place. Awnest.
MODERN
RUINS is a site for folks curious about just what
the title says. Abandoned mansions, hospitals, railroads, even entire
towns. Mostly northeast US for now. Not weird, just eerie and morbidly
fascinating; OK, it's a bit weird. Good pictures, too.
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