Da Bruins, Radio Coverage, Writing and Stuff

Well, congrats to the Boston Bruins are in order...they pulled out Game 7 in fine fashion last night, beating Vancouver on their home ice, 4-0.


As a native New Englander, I well remember the last time the Bruins won the cup, in 1972.  I was only about six years old at the time, and being the dumb kid I was, I wanted the Rangers to win.  No idea why.


I was producing the Senators' win over the Thunder on the Ticket last night, but I made it to my car by early in the third period.  It was already a done deal; the Canucks just could not get back into the game.


I tuned to Home Ice, the hockey channel on Sirius/XM.  Now in playoff sports, S/XM takes the home radio feed, so I got to hear the Vancouver broadcast team handling the call.  To my surprise they were playing it straight.  No real homerism, they called the game right, fairly and professionally.  Something that is lost on NESN and quite a few American commentators.


The only crack came after the empty-net goal...the color guy said, "That sucks."  And I'm sure it did.  The guys appealed for calm, as they were watching a CTV raw feed from the city...does Vancouver have professional rioters living there?  It's clear to me those people were out to start trouble, and were not real hockey fans.


Either way, I'm glad the Bruins won it, a long time coming, and happy for Tim Thomas, the University of Vermont product...yay, Catamounts!


I went to UVM for about two months one summer, that's my only connection.


That said...another day of editing SDS-1...it's getting much better.  My friend Riz and I had a brief talk about the recent feelings thrown down by a publisher...they have good points, but the readability is still there.  Riz of course would tell me if it wasn't...she pulls no punches.


Another game tonight at the Ticket, and I hope I can keep up a good level of concentration on the edit.  This needs to be finished and soon.


"Five Fifty-One," track from Bruce Cockburn's new CD on my Walkman...nice...trying to keep it together here...much to do.


So yeah...B's fans rejoice, Canucks fans clean up their city and I have to get on with life.

Weekend from HELL...Reconsidered...

Okay...I cannot say I'm crawling from the wreckage, because I'm probably still in it.  What have I been doing?


It's been a Weekend from Hell, in terms of being busy.  I had to do what I call the turnaround; Saturday afternoon/evening at WITF, doing KYW Sports.  Got some sleep, and was back up there for the first shift Sunday morning.


That ran until just before five, then rushed over to Clear Channel to produce the Bears playoff game on the Ticket.  


You know you're dealing with sports junkies when you arrive at the station and find your boss rocking his custom-made Flyers jersey, with Jeff Carter's name and number.  The Flyers were still battling the Sabres, and every team of interest was in a win or go home situation.  Sixers won, but the Flyers and Bears were both in need of victories.


Now, I've blogged in the past about the hellish nature of Hershey Bears hockey games and the conditions at Clear Channel.  Well, this night things worked alright.  One hell of a game I'm working, while Art is watching the Flyers in the WHP live studio.


*Walkman Update* -- I'm starting mine because of certain things going on in the Office...I am no longer in a patient mood and must get this done while people talk about ghosts and stuff.  You have to be here.


"Rollercoaster," by Black Mountain is first up...well, it was the last song in the shuffle, and when you turn on the Walkman there it is.  Loud, heavy shit...NOT the Ohio Players/RHCP disco song, either.


Okay...so the Sixers faced elimination and beat the Heat earlier in the day.  Flyers in big trouble with Buffalo; the game goes back and forth, and Art is living and dying with the Flyers.  My friend Randy "the Rock" Johnson lives and dies with the Sabres, so there you are.


"Amazing Journey," the Who...Live at Leeds remastered.  Nice...


Game goes to overtime...I can see the game on the TV monitor through my window from the Ticket across the hall and into the window of WHP.  Art's glued to the screen.


During an intermission interview I get the chance to take the loooong walk down the hall, through the secured doors and into the bathroom.  MURPHY'S LAW OF RADIO #69:  THE RESTROOM SHALL ALWAYS BE THE FURTHEST PHYSICAL POINT FROM THE AIR STUDIO THAT IS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.  NO EXCEPTIONS.


So anyway, I'm coming back; I hear a SCREAM!!!


"Down on the Farm," James Blundell is next...interesting segue.


Immediately I wonder...is Art having a coronary or did he fall on his sword?  Did the Flyers win or lose?


He screamed more than once.  Anyway, yeah...the Flyers pulled it out in OT, so there's a Game 7 in that series.  Art was so relieved.


Okay...he leaves not long after, and I continue to work a very contentious playoff game between the Bears and the Charlotte Checkers.  This is a Game 6, too; the defending AHL champions are on the verge of getting rolled in the first round by the former Albany River Rats.  


1-0 until late in the third, when the Bears finally push one past the Checkers' goalie, a guy named Murphy who has had Hershey's number all year.  Jubilation!  Redemption!  You can just hear it through the voice of John Walton...they might just get 'er done!


Now, I've done pretty well to keep the game tight, and I'm not having any trouble.  Except that pesky Macro (told you about those) that's mocking me at 8 pm.  


The computer Macro is a command that orders the computer to take over, with specific programming at a specific time.  These Macros are also fired usually every hour to keep the computer and the station synced up with the network.


"Bad News is Coming"  --  Luther Allison, title track of a Motown album from '72.  The only bluesman on Motown.  Beautiful, gritty stuff.


Now...I can kill that Macro if I want.  My friend and colleague Rob showed me a method of working the computer and the macros so I can get a smoother transition.  Easy enough.  I actually was able to figure out what to do.


Well, it all goes for nothing, because 90 seconds into OT, Charlotte scores...to again quote Rob, with a borrowing from Walton's own verbiage..."GOOD MORNING, GOOD NIGHT, GOOD LORD!"


Not quite what John says.  Anyway, game over, season over, that's it, that's all.  Went out well, John said nice things about us, and we're outta there.  


Transition set, done and back to regular programming.  Okay!  Finally ended that season on a good note.


Now, the night ain't done yet!


I decided not to go home, because it was pointless to drive all that way, sleep four hours (maybe) then get up for WITF (again) and Morning Edition.  So I availed myself of "Chez WITF."


There is a bed somewhere in the building (I won't say where) for employees who are overnighting due to bad weather.  I think that's what it's for...essential personnel or something like that.  There are also showers.


Very nice.  So I did crash out, and much to my surprise I did get about four hours of sleep before the alarm went off.  Okay...last leg of the triple.


"Morning Edition" had some minor glitches of my own doing, but none that anyone would have noticed.  News went fine, mechanics getting better.  


The stressful part is building a news log from scratch.  I mean, the stories are pretty much all there, apart from anything you find on the overnight.  Steps, lots of steps and computer stuff to do.  On and on and on...


Did the first two hours, and didn't do bad at all.  Tim's happy with me, thankfully.  So...here I am four hours later, still awake, working  on three cups of coffee since early this morning and a large marble mocha and trying to keep enough energy going to finish one or two last tasks before I go to bed.  Really.


"Rambunctious Boy," John Fogerty comes over the Walkman.  "Blue Moon Swamp" was a great CD, stands up to "Centerfield" easy...in fact, it kills "Centerfield."


More ideas have come for "Silk Road Days," and I'm going to be adding more to the front of the plot.  This book could go a bit longer than the others I've written.  Not a series, at least not yet.  I gotta see where this thing goes.  I have no idea.


Damn, it's a nice day out there.  Sun's out, gonna be like 80 today, if not hotter.  Back to WITF Thursday and Friday for this...so I'll again be awakening at 2:30 in the morning soon.  Joy.


But now I've a couple days off.  What to do, what to do?  Well, I have a lot to do.  My brain needs to digest more stuff from the job, and I have to arrange and schedule so much shit.


"I Me Mine"  --  The Beatles (the Let it Be Naked version).


With that, I gotta do something...crash, burn, something........................

The Week in Review (and the Banshee Screams of Various Creatures)...

Well, if that didn't get your attention, I'm not sure what will.  I've managed to crawl from the wreckage of the past week, and can now look back with some satisfaction at how things went.


Another two hours yesterday as the host for "Morning Edition" on WITF.  Getting better, feeling a lot more comfortable in this position.  I'll be back in next week for a few days, as I get my hands on more of the levers and figure out how to do all of it.


Tim Lambert has been quite a patient master, and I appreciate his calmness under pressure.  The situation has now become clear, as to how I suddenly got an opportunity at a job I was passed over for.


Since Tim is now WITF's News Director, he is sitting in on the mornings, and basically doing two jobs and burning the candle at both ends.  I've become the #2, and will continue to sit in on the mornings for a time.  The new guy is coming over from an area TV station, and he's got business to finish with them, before he can assume the host position.


I have never met him, but he is well regarded and respected, and will do damn well, I'm sure.  I'm just happy to get the shot I am, so it's cool.


Got nice compliments from friends and colleagues, and I'm very relieved for that.  If I was fucking up, I'd hear about it!


So yeah, a very relieved individual I am, and I can actually take a little pride in a job done.  Not perfect; I'd give my grade a B or a B-, but that's not bad for a starter.


Also got a chance to play instrumental music from Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters' new CD, Spreading the Love during the tops of the hours.  That's what you were mostly hearing on :58 break if you were listening...great stuff.


That said...I also did a lot of writing in my brain for "Silk Road Days."  Got a little more out yesterday, and have embarked on Chapter 17; still not sure how this is gonna turn out.  No idea.


Gotta get back to it; have the Senators game on 1460 the Ticket tonight, which should be reasonably good.  Then another Weekend from Hell.


At the Office, I heard the banshee screams of a small bipedal creature; not a complete day without that.


Trying to figure out the rest of what I'm supposed to be doing...things are weird like that.  Anyway, feeling pretty well chuffed that I got the worst part of the training over, and I gotta stay cool for the next steps.


I also have to continue the writing, and carry on with the other radio things...KYW Sports Saturday and Sunday, then the Bears playoff on the Ticket, and then early Monday at WITF...this is calling jobbing.  When you don't have a full-time gig, you take the work you can get.


Life goes on.

The Week from Hell...is just a few hours away...

Here it comes!  But first, my updated link at my agent's site:


http://sullivanmaxx.com/clients/gates-tory/


As you'll note, there's a lot of stuff I'm working on, writing, have written, and so forth.  Look about and you will see a very neat little site, and I'm quite thrilled to have them in my corner.


That said:  I've spent most of the midday writing out what I hope is a good guide book for my training at WITF, which starts early tomorrow.  It's back to "Morning Edition" training, and I hope to be proficient enough to get a shot at an hour or so on the air.


I've felt incredibly confused and overwhelmed at points, when I tried to synthesize more than one set of notes on this.  This includes a guide on the things you need to do and say, plus the WITF program log, which are two very different documents.


Then there's my notes; now I'm hopeful I've got the guidelines down so I don't sound a complete twat in the production studio tomorrow.


I'll be tanked up on coffee and liquid crack ~URRR!~ Amp, or its equivalent.  Don't get me wrong; I love Monster energy drinks, which was Ahltyrra's unofficial sponsor as certain people in the band trained on it.


Coffee Monsters are fucking wonderful, but also expensive.  Amp is sold in the vending machines at ITF, and they're essentially the same stuff in Monster.  Also cheaper, mind.


Anyway...I'm gonna be a wreck, but I've got a little better handle on things.  I'll be in early to make sure I'm on it.


The Week from Hell is coming...I'll be doing three days of training, then I've got a Senators game at the Ticket on Friday, two days of WITF/KYW sports work, and oh yes, a Bears playoff game at the Ticket on Sunday as well!


This the most paying work I've had in over a year!  Nice.


Walkman stuff...Doyle Bramhall, Senior's version of "Baby What You Want Me To Do" is done...Stones doing "Ventilator Blues" is running.  Walkman been running over time the past two or three hours.


I'm exhausted, and it's not even 2:30 in the afternoon.  In 12 hours I need to be up to get ready for another day in the studio.  Work, work and more work...


The writing is not on hold.  "Silk Road Days" is going through my brain as I try to figure the next step for Chapter 16, and how I'm going to get everything in.  This could be one long book, or perhaps I can fit it all in.  I've no idea.  It could be another damned series, who knows?


I have so much stuff piled up and ready to go; but we need to get that first one done.  Also need to get hold of Riz (she of the Letters from the Disgruntled Fringe blog), and Jen (our intrepid artist and GameStop expert).  


Rargh...need to figure out what else I'm doing here.  This is life, as we know it...always on edge and not always that certain.  Feh!


"Beautiful Swimmers," by Jimmy Buffett now...very different.  Onward...