Greater Blogston

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Episode 5 is Available Now! I wrote some of this and edited the sound on all of it and I have to say I’m pretty proud. Let me know what you think! 

I’ve been listening to a lot of Prince this week for obvious reasons. Death seemed to be a preoccupation for Prince. It’s referenced in some of his biggest hits, from 1999 (”they say tomorrow, zero-zero, party’s over, oops, out of time”) to “Let’s Get Crazy,” which begins with the Purple one paying his respects, funeral minister style (”Dearly beloved”) and later finds him singing, “We’re all excited and we don’t know why. Maybe ‘cause we know we’re all gonna die.” Also: “You better live now before the Grim Repear becomes knocking on your door.” Obviously, this is a huge literary trope. Carpe diem, right? Seize the day. I like to think Leon seized the day in his own way. He obviously didn’t have the life most of us want -- but he lived to the fullest in his own way, by his own rules -- right up to and including his death. He wills himself into it, after all -- solely because he can’t count on whether or not he would survive the roller coaster. He takes ultimate control over his destiny, even if it means saying goodbye to any further planning. For the rest of us -- just how easy is it to seize the day? There are days when I sit around and think about how differently I’d like to live if I was truly unafraid and uninhibited. I don’t want to paint a messy picture of my life. I’m not living in constant fear. I have lots of fun and I enjoy my life tremendously. But there’s always more. There’s always more that I yearn for. And one day, I won’t be able to do any of those things that are hanging just over my head. I won’t even be able to yearn. I’ll be dead. The clocks are ticking for us all. I’m not trying to be morbid. It’s just a fact. And while I’m never going to let go of all my inhibitions and live to the fullest (I’m no Prince, after all), I’m working hard on being a little less afraid. While I still can. I urge all of you to do the same. *Photos from the Waltham Watch Factory.

Episode 4 - Leon at the Watch Factory.  This is my favorite episode so far. The performances are all top notch, especially the ladies. It’s a sad one though, so, heads up on that. Also, we list content warnings in the show notes. Those are posted on our website too (greaterbostonshow.com)

Episode 3! 

It’s been a tough week. Work has been kicking my ass in all sorts of new and exciting ways and I’ve been falling behind on the "promote Greater Boston on social media” front. When you start a blog and an Instagram to promote your fictional podcast, you do so earnestly and with good intentions. But then real life settles in and you realize, “oh crap, I haven’t updated in forever and I need to write something and post something but I’m WAY too busy and oh-yeah I also co-manage the Facebook and Twitter account but I also need to edit episode 7 and listen to episode 3 and plan season 2 and finish tweaks on episode 5 and -- “  Well. You get the idea.  We knew that after our first episode came out, we’d have a dip in listens for episode 2. Not everyone was going to come back right away. Not everyone was going to come back at all.  But that dip was bigger than expected and it hit me harder than I expected. I may have freaked out a little bit. We’re in the panning stages of season 2 and with all the work that went into writing and producing the first season, I started having second thoughts. Is doing this worth the time and commitment? Making the show is a lot of fun. Promoting it is something I don’t feel like I’m particularly good at. This started a flow of thoughts on that front. How could I be promoting the show better? What should I be doing differently? What are other people doing? What do they have that we don’t? It’s stupid, really. I need to just chill and relax. The show has two episodes released so far. It’s too early to worry about losing an audience before we even have one.  My issue is that I overthink everything and I’m hyper-critical (on myself more than anyone else). I’ve also found a lot of incredible podcasts thanks to promoting our own, podcasts with great writing and voice talent that feature time travel and sci-fi ideas and intriguing story structures and cutting-edge formats.  In comparison, ours is -- well, different. Not too long ago, a friend asked me a few questions about the show. The conversation pretty much went like this. Friend: So who’s the main character? Me: We don’t have one, it’s an ensemble.  Friend: What’s the main story. Me: The Redline secedes from Boston and Cambridge and Somerville and becomes its own independent city. Friend: That’s insane. Me: I know. Friend: Does it have cliffhangers every week? Me: Not really. Friend: Is it a mystery? Me: No. Friend: Is it done in like a fake NPR format? Me: Nope. Friend: Found footage? Me: No. Friend: Uhh. Okay, well, good luck. I’ve replayed this conversation a lot the last few days, to the point where I started questioning myself, questioning our creative decisions, questioning a lot of things. But now it’s Friday and I just had a beer and some tacos. I’ve thought about it and I realize -- yes, our show is different, it’s unlike anything else, it’s quirky as hell and sometimes very dark and sometimes very silly -- but this is the story I wanted to help tell and this is the way I wanted to help tell it. Part of me is a lot like Leon. I want to know with certainty that this is going to work out. That we’ll have an audience. That a second season is warranted.  But Leon is dead. It’s time to shrug my shoulders, embrace uncertainty and let him go. 

Our second episode came out Tuesday. Sorry about the lack of promotion. I’ve been super busy. Hope you have the time to listen and enjoy. 

Oh yeah! Our first episode is up. Check it out. What kind of a terrible blog am I, anyway? Jeez.

Our first episode debuts tomorrow (eeek). To prepare for the launch, I wanted to write a bit about its development so anyone who is interested can know as much about the episode as possible (theoretically, there could be such a person. Right? Right?) 1). The Cold Open. Greater Boston started as a project solely from my co-creator, Alexander Danner. I’ve written before about how this project started as his baby and how I eventually became involved. One of the things I suggested early on was getting interviews with Boston residents, asking them questions related to the themes of the particular episodes and the show as a whole. A lot of these interviews took place at the college where I teach (the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology) and many of them featured my students. They were really good sports about our questions and I thought this was a good way to highlight more of Boston’s diversity (since I’ve also written before about how our show’s cast is unfortunately a little too white as a whole). When it came time to edit the first episode, I really pushed for the idea of a cold open, something to listen to before we dip into the meat of the show. One of the questions we asked people was a fairly open ended “What makes Boston great and what could make it greater?” The answer we received from Tia in the open of the show was our absolute favorite response and as soon as we heard it we knew we wanted it to be the first thing everyone heard. Her enthusiasm for Boston was infectious and her metaphorical comparison of how we’re a clean city (”like eating a clam”) captured both the humor and quirkiness of the show. 2). Our Title Intro / Music. During the recording process, Alexander was thinking ahead to when we would be editing and planning for little details that I probably never would’ve considered, things like “do we have a previously on Greater Boston section, and if we do should we say previously on Greater Boston or previously in Greater Boston?” (we eventually decided on ”previously in’). One idea he had was for our title intro and he asked several of our cast to record a list of Greater Boston cities and towns. He wanted to make an overlapping collage culminating with the name of the show. When we edited the first episode, we worked hard on creating the desired overlapping effect and it took probably longer than it should have (we were still getting used to sound editing, after all) but in a lot of ways it was a great tutorial to prepare us for editing as a whole. I really like how it brings in different voices and speaks more to the theme of community the show deals with. Our theme music is a version of the classic “Charlie on the MTA” performed by friends of ours, Emily and Dirk (fiddle and concertina). There’s two version in the show, the upbeat title music and the minor key version for the credits. I loved the feel of the music as soon as I heard it because while it has one foot in the past (much like a lot of the show) it also feels like something you could hear from buskers on the Red Line. Emily, Dirk and their friend Adrienne (who plays the hurdy-gurdy – that’s right, the hurdy-gurdy) recorded a lot of old standards outside of the public domain that we’ll plan to use all season and I’m excited to share them with listeners as the season progresses. 3). Location, Location, Location? The show takes place in the greater Boston area (duh) but it was important for us to make key fictional differences with our universe. In a lot of ways, these are subtle changes but some are more subtle than others. The biggest example is the inclusion of Wonderland (the farthest northern point on the MBTA and the last stop on the Blue Line) as an amusement park close to Revere Beach (the first public beach in America, for the record). Wonderland was an amusement park at the beginning of the 20th century, but was open only for a few years (1906 to 1911 specifically). It reopened as a dog racing track in 1935, but that closed down in 2009 (after a Massachusetts ballot initiative outlawed dog racing, by the way). Our plot is set in the modern day, but in our world, Wonderland never closed and remains an amusement park. This is significant for a lot of reasons. Boston is a city that’s obviously steeped in history and there are all sorts of historical tours that have to do with the formation of our city, our country, and our overall development. Our laws are sometimes considered antiquated too, tied in with our puritan roots. When I first moved here from New York State in 2002, I couldn’t believe that alcohol wasn’t sold in gas stations and convenience stores, and was never sold on Sunday’s (that changed in 2004, by the way, thanks to yet another ballot initiative). There are other examples in the show, too. The Someday Cafe in Davis Square is a coffee shop I visited often when I first moved to the city. It closed in 2006. It was never an exceptional coffee shop. The coffee was fine, but the decor was virtually nonexistent, the seating downright ratty (lots of torn up old couches probably nabbed from the street after students moved out) and the tables wobbled each time someone walked past. That said, I really liked it. I did a lot of writing there and I have a lot of good memories there. At another point in the show, we mention how the streets of the North End are still sticky from the great molasses flood of 1919, in which a molasses holding tank exploded and flooded the streets, killing over 20 people and injuring dozens more. The detail about the streets still being sticky reminds me of Boston and our history in general. We’re a progressive city, for the most part. We move forward with innovation and technology. But so much of our city remains tethered to our past. Our history grips us tightly and refuses to let go; sometimes on an individual emotional level, and sometimes on a wider institutional level. I mean, think about Spotlight, a movie that highlighted how an old, paternal institution like the Catholic church can intimidate an entire city into silence about horrible, abhorrent crimes. In our universe, more parts of our past are still present to the point where they can slow you down and force you to pick up your feet and move forward. The past and the future collide in this way and we attempt to celebrate both simultaneously on the show. At times, examining our history closely while we ride on into the future can feel like a roller coaster ride. So strap in, hold on tight and enjoy our first episode.

Happy Super Tuesday, Massachusetts. I hope you go out and vote. The plot of Greater Boston revolves around a fiery eccentric gathering signatures for a Massachusetts ballot initiative that would allow part of the MBTA (the Red Line, specifically) to secede from Boston and the other cities it comes into contact with and form its own,independent municipality. Crazy? Sure. But hey, it’s 2016 and Donald Trump could be president (shudder). Anything goes, folks. Let’s take a look at other wacky ballot initiatives in Massachusetts history. 1928: Question 1 - Authorizes Certain Sporting Events on Sundays. Because apparently that needed to be voted on! Also, “certain” sporting events? Kind of vague, isn’t it people of the 20′s Commonwealth? 1932: Question 1 - The Legalization of Chiropractics, which Massachusetts voted down -- not the last time either. Being a chiropractor wasn’t legalized until 1964 (Massachusetts being one of four states who outlawed chiropractics up to that time) and licensed chiropractors working beyond the law could face a hefty fine and possible jail time. 1933: Question 2 - Question 2 repealed the prohibition of alcohol in Massachusetts three years before FDR came into office and did the same thing at a federal level. Knowing Boston, I’m honestly surprised prohibition didn’t end ten years earlier. 1944: Question 1 - Requiring a Fair and Concise Summary of Each Ballot Initiative to be sent to Voters. Whoops! Even though ballot initiatives had been common in Massachusetts since the 19th century, this didn’t get passed until 1944. Which makes you wonder -- did they send out a concise summary for this initiative or did they wait until after it passed? 1970: Question 5 - Providing a Position for the State Government to take Regarding the War in Vietnam. Hey, did you know that US States need to ask their citizens opinions on unpopular wars? No, of course you didn’t know that, because it’s ludicrous. In particular, this initiative asked what kind of response Massachusetts should have to Vietnam as an issue. Should we pull out immediately? Should we pull out gradually? Should we (ahem)...”win” (as nearly 15% of delusional Massachusetts voters thought still actually possible). The majority voted for a scheduled withdrawal, which is really just a nicer way of saying “please get us out of this stupid proxy war as soon as humanly possible.” 1972: Question 3 - Removes The Prohibition of Paupers Voting. Umm. Paupers. PAUPERS? Are you kidding me? I’d be less surprised if this was an initiative outlawing the word “paupers” from common usage, a practice that surely must have fallen out of fashion by then (one would hope). Even more surprising? While the initiative passed overwhelmingly, nearly 22 percent of voters voted against it! Who were these people? Old money blue bloods worried about who was going to tend to their fields? 1978: Question 6 -  Prohibiting the assigning or denial of a student to a public school based on "race, color, national origin or creed.” This is great and all, but 1978? Isn’t this a little late after Brown v. Board of education? Undoubtedly, this law had more to do with the violent response following busing and forced desegregation after a federal judge ruled that Boston needed to integrate its schools in 1974. So it’s tempting to look back at this and see it as a positive initiative, but really this was about ending desegregation. Not that desegregation was handled well in Massachusetts (or in Boston specifically) and busing was an especially naive concept in many ways. The real issue had to do with the lack of diversity in the neighborhoods themselves, and that is unfortunately directly connected with poverty and how much the state was spending on different educational institutions within the poorest neighborhoods.  1988: Question 4 - Shuts Down Nuclear Power Plants that Produce Nuclear Waste. Soooooo -- all of them? Doesn’t matter, because this initiative was overwhelmingly voted down. Ahh, the Reagan era. What a wonderful time to be radioactive. 1996: Question 1 - Prohibits the use of dogs and bait in hunting bear and bobcat. The only initiative is about hunting animals that quite frankly are better off left alone. ‘96 was a slow year, you guys. That’s all for now, but who knows what kind of crazy initiatives 2016 will bring?

Our fourth trailer for Episode 1, only two weeks away from today. Subscribe now!

The first episode launches on March 15th. The Saturday after we release the first episode, we plan to celebrate the launch somehow. We’ve been discussing a few options Help us figure it out. I’m taking a poll. Vote for your favorite. 1). We ride the Redline and party with as many of our willing cast members and musicians as possible, handing out promotional materials for the show to unsuspecting fellow commuters. 2). We set-up shop outside one of the T stations, play some music from the show, interview willing would-be commuters questions that we could then incorporate into later episodes while handing out promotional materials. 3). We do a promotional pub crawl! Or a T-Crawl! We get the cast and musicians together, all wearing red (or green -- it’s close to St. Patrick’s after all) and either bar hop, playing music and handing out marketing materials -- OR -- we ride the Redline and hit a bar on each stop. Same idea, more T, less crawl. 4). We do nothing. We stay home. We read books and spend time with our family. Screw the launch. Screw celebrating it. Screw promoting it. Vote!

1. sabsonline (aka my incredible sister-in-law Lydia). 2. TommyHillfigerStuff (presumably no relation). Thanks for reading.