Getting Ready for the Double Deuce
Last week I spent an evening in Pittsburgh, in the basement of Mike the Tall's house, recording episodes for "Dodge Intrepid and the Pages of Time." Specifically, we recorded our latest adventure "The Hunt for the Tome of Fire." Fittingly, it was sweltering that night, and the lack of air conditioning or fans made the session even more grueling. But, as always, it was a heck of a lot of fun and very productive.
I set up our Peavy soundboard and my iBook around this little wooden cart (which previously held such board games as "Hero Quest," "Master Detective Clue" and two copies of "Risk"). We huddled around it with our microphones and scripts. Our makeshift recording studios are usually like this; maybe someday someone will actually set us up in a real soundproof studio. But until then we shall be cooled only by our ambition and desire to produce an entertaining radio show (that sounded a little Ayn Randian, but it's true).
It's been a while since our last show, and so I'm really starting to get excited for these new ones. We've got two planned: one this Saturday, and one the following Saturday.
This Saturday, we're performing our first show at Beaver Falls Coffee and Tea Company. It's called Live Sound and aims to recreate the old fashioned radio variety shows of the 30's. I guess it won't be too much of a variety show given that there is only one other act besides ourselves, but it's a start. Our friend, Jason Panella, who has been a long-time fan of the show, will be playing sweet cover songs during breaks in the adventure.
We wrote a specific episode for BFCaT called "I.L.L."--which, if you use the library, specifically in college, you can guess what that means. But the episode acts as a prelude to our "Tome of Fire" show the following weekend. We'll also be podcasting the I.L.L. episode this week. It's probably one of the longest single episodes we've written (it clocks in at over 25 minutes), but it's also the only episode we're performing at "Live Sound," so it'll all even out.
Then, the following Saturday, July 28th, is the big new Cafe Kolache adventure: "The Hunt for the Tome of Fire." It's like all of our normal performances there, featuring four episodes during a two-hour show.
"The Hunt for the Tome of Fire" finds Dodge and Pluck searching out a mystical book in the middle of war-torn Europe. Along the way, they're making some unusual alliances, fighting Nazis, and dipping in to some Yiddish folklore. It's one of our pulpiest shows yet, and I can't wait to start podcasting it.
We're also using the "Tome of Fire" show to collect donations for the real Aliquippa library, the B.F. Jones Memorial Library. As I mentioned before, the library's basement was flooded, leading to the destruction of lots of kids books and archives. Eventually we hope to do a book drive or a fundraiser performance, but for the time being they are only accepting monetary donations.
These five episodes have been written over the past few months and recorded in a hot basement in Pittsburgh, now it's time to share.
Live Sound | Sat. July 21st | 7:30pm | Beaver Falls Coffee and Tea
Hunt for the Tome of Fire | Sat. July 28th | 7:00pm | Cafe Kolache