News
from the Ossman
From Ossman: 4/18/02
The following is the schedule for XM live in-studio broadcasts:
April 27 #7
May 18 #8
June 22 #9
July 27 #10
August 31 #11
September 28 #12 |
Subject to change with reasonable
notice.
September 28th, it's impossible for me to be in LA and I plan to do this
show from the Island. October date(s) may depend on projected FT tour.
It would be good to do the show live (or as live) on the road.
Ossman at Audio Theatre Festival Workshop
(posted 3/20/02)
Joining the ATW staff this year is David Ossman of The Firesign
Theatre. David will be spending the week in West Plains teaching writing and performance
workshops. Hešll also join the staff and participants as a cast member of the live two
hour audio theatre performance that ends the workshop week.
David has been a radio writer/producer/performer since 1959. His career spans
the decades from pioneer FM in New York City to the "hippification" of AM in Los
Angeles, and from cultural rebellion at National Public Radio to extreme comedy for XM
Satellite Radio.
Ossmanšs work has won several important broadcasting awards and been
nominated for three Grammys, the first in 1988 for Otherworld Media's "The War of the
Worlds" 50th Anniversary Production in collaboration with his wife, Judith Walcutt.
Most recently David and the Firesign Theatre were nominated for a 2002 Grammy
for their current comedy release "Bride of Firesign."
With Judith, he has also written and directed the recent four-CD
"Centennial Celebration of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", and other
internationally broadcast audio dramas including "The Empire of the Air",
"The Red Badge of Courage", Raymond Chandler's "Goldfish", and Norman
Corwin's "We Hold These Truths."
Ossman's collaboration with The Firesign Theatre extends back thirty-five
years and includes 17 CDs, currently in print from Sony/Columbia Legacy, Rhino Records,
Firesign Theatre Records (http://www.firesigntheatre.com/)
and laugh.com, and three DVDs, including their PBS comedy special, Weirdly Cool.
Ossman is a poet, playwrite and actor; his most recent stage credits,
including roles as Mark Twain and e. e. cummings. He also appeared as
"Cornelius" in the Disney/Pixar film "A Bugs Life."
If you have any questions about the conference, travel, or housing and meals
please call NATFšs Executive Director Sue Zizza at (516) 483-8321.
See www.natf.org in
the coming weeks for more details
Fellow Firehead, Brian Curtis, asked:
Hi Doc,
Wondering if you had any info regarding the impending release of the ALL DAY
MATINEE DVD. I've had one on order with Amazon since November, and Whirlwind doesn't seem
to be getting any closer to bringing the bugger out . . . I remember waiting for BACK FROM
THE SHADOWS to crawl out, but this is getting ridiculous.
Any info (particularly of a positive nature) would be good. And any
news re: a Rhino retail release of WEIRDLY COOL would also be good . . .
David responds: (3/15/02)
Dear Doc,
The Matinee, according to Amazon, won't
be out until the end of this month. I don't know about Rhino retail on the DVD. I believe
they have to keep it back until after the Spring PBS fund drive season.
David
| An email from a Firehead to the Tiny Dr:
(3/1/02) "What's the story behind the extra cut on
the Sony Electrician CD "Shaktras..."? Also, what about the animation
section that was cut from "Everything" movie. ER made a comment in the news
group."
David replied:
" 'The Mantras and the Chakras'
(official title) was a sketch we wrote for the 'Electrician' album but never finished
producing. And, by the time we were working on it, we pretty much agreed we had a
two-sided 'album' in what we'd already done.
"Also, Ravi Shankar parodies didn't seem likely to outlive the Summer of
'67. The music that is there was roughed in by Cyrus Faryar. I vaguely recall the sessions
and have always felt 'Don't fret Grandfather' to be the funniest line.That'll tell ya
something!
"Columbia must have found the 4-track tapes (were they already mixed
down?) in the batch of masters they plucked out of the New Jersey saltmines for the
re-issue. The big question is how could they clip the first 20 seconds off the top of
'Electrician'?
"The 'animation section' we never had the money to produce in 1975 when
we made the 'Everything' movie was the 'Don Bruhaha' section (from the album) in which the
listener is changed into a bird and flies through a mystical landscape. It could have been
very beautiful - a parody of the Castenada book jackets of the time. It would have begun
when Bowman & Archer are drinking their concoctions and ended with the phone ringing
in Wholeflaffer's office, the 'Nino the Mindbender' scene, if I remember the album
correctly.
"We left the space for it, in hope we might someday get it made."
Ungrammyfiedly yrs,
David
Date: February 13, 2002
Hello Lew!
As with PP this has been a very slow year's beginning. However, I
did do a three-day run of the play I co-wrote - THE WINTER VISIT - which brings together
Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain and H. D. Thoreau in Emily's house one cold afternoon to have
a civilized conversation about literature. My co-author is a local actress, Martha Furey,
who plays Emily.
I still have long hair and a very bushy moustache from my Twain.
The third actor is another Whidbey Island local and long-time theatre and
music performer named David Licastro. Total audience at the Whidbey Island Center for the
Arts was about 250 over the three days. Very good reception - people really enjoyed
spending time with these writers.
Orson and Preston will be joining the rest of Firesign at the Grammys -
Judith won two Gold Seat tickets from the local NARAS chapter. We'll all be in LA for a
week from the 21st to the 28th.
I've finished the MS of my latest book of poems - ROUNDTRIPS, REFUGES AND THE
INFRATHIN - and I'm looking for a way to get it attractively out to people who might be
interested. Also on the poetry front, I hope finally to get a CD out which includes the
beautiful audio productions with music of poems from PIECES FOR SPEAKERS - foundpoems
which date as far back as "Time Capsules" (1972). I need only to go through some
tapes of poetry readings to pull out a few of my favorites.
Firesignwise, FOOLS continues with #5 - a pre-Grammy party. Thanks to Taylor
Jesson each show is archived and excerpted so that we'll be able to efficiently choose a
selection (probably after the first 6 shows) for CD release. With the recently released
laugh.com CDs, my new CD burner and the availability of hours and hours of radio material,
FOOLS always includes rarely-heard archival material and bits from the obscure albums.
More CDs en route from laugh.com as we continue to work with them.
You know about the production of ELECTRICIAN in LA. Those folks want to
continue to perform it, and cycle in other Firesign scripts, which seems a great idea to
me. I think if we could make scripts more readily available we'd have many more
performances around the country. Wouldn't if be fun to see GIANT RAT on stage??
Proposals are circulating for an EYKIWRONG video special or series and for an
AYWTO special as well as a regular stint on NPR.
That's it from here.
Thanks for your work and all the best,
David |
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