Friday, August 31, 2007

Mmmmm...Chesterfield!

Click here for this wonderful audio download - a crisp, refreshing 1940's ad for Chesterfield cigarettes. Gosh, they make them sound so APPEALING! And then there's this cutie in the magazine ad waving that checkered flag with her un-ciggied free hand...it makes me want to RACE down to the corner stand to buy some Chesterfields! What ingeniously insidious, iniquitously interesting, and interminably intoxicating marketing. But we're much too sophisticated to fall for that type of advertising in this day and age, right? RIGHT?!? Yeah, right.

Some Audio


Okay, now I'm cooking with gas - I've got a little tasty TOTM audio tidbit for you all! One of our short original ads from one of our shows at the Jack Benny Center For The Arts in Waukegan...done in (*gasp*) 2006! This one has Christopher Wild as the announcer, and stars versatile Virginia Fitzgerald (she plays live keyboard AND acts up a storm) as "Mom" and Laura Jansen (my sister who also acts up a storm, and writes up a few nice cloudbursts) as "Dottie". I'm even in there at the end for a quick line as "Dad".

Click Here for LyeCo Ad

Enjoy!

COMMENT!

Calendar Page


Here's a cool way to keep track of your upcoming appointments (and our upcoming shows!). Simply print out this calendar page, and put it somewhere that you happen to frequent. I'll try to have some interesting and unusual radio-related pictures as backgrounds, so you'll come back for more. I'll also try to post a new one about every month...ENJOY!

Time Travel


Okay, and just in case some of you might like to do some time-travel of your own, here's a nifty Dick Tracy Radio Club card from the 1930's. Print it out, fill it out, and become a Junior Detective!

WELCOME!


Hullo, there!

Welcome to the "Theatre Of The Mindless" blog. First off, please remember that the idea behind this blog is some discussion: monolog/dialog/weblog...see? So for now, first off, it's just a monolog - I'm the only guy saying anything. But once you reply, we can begin to have a dialog.

I'm still working out the main direction that I'd like for the blog, but mainly, it will be about the audio performance group "Theatre Of The Mindless" (or TOTM for short!). Posts about our upcoming shows, how we prepare, tips on writing audio drama, tips on recording, etc.

Firstly, some info about the group: we've been doing this for almost ten years now, in the far north suburbs of Chicago. We've all got day jobs (of course!), but really enjoy doing the radio on stage thing. It's almost like time travel, with the 1940's costumes, antique microphone props, and real old radios on stage!

The older folks in the audience enjoy the show mostly for nostalgic reasons, I think...and most of them only got to hear the old shows, not actually see them being performed. The younger folks have only the slightest inkling of what old time radio (OTR) was, so this is all new to them (!). And the youngest folks, the kids, enjoy it for what it mainly is: storytelling. A lot of the little ones go home and put on radio shows of their own. Now that's a compliment. No need for OTR to completely die out...we just need to fan the flames a bit!

Okay, that's it for openers. Seen us? Comments? Questions? Please reply - THANKS!