gregsblog : Greg Littlefield - Male voiceover talent.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Up, Up and Away

For the last 13 years, I've considered myself very fortunate to have become part of Andrea's family. I wasn't just a son-in-law or brother-in-law, but a son and brother.

Our family lost their father yesterday afternoon after an 8-month battle with lung cancer. The discovery and severity of the disease last November knocked us all out and since then, I've watched my family's hearts break a little more each day.

Paul Herson was a man who loved his family and shared his child-like wonder of the world with his kids and grandkids every chance he had. Whether it was local events, baseball games, countless balloon rallies (hence the title of this entry), or the trips he and my mother-in-law took to Europe and South and Central America, we certainly have all been blessed with more than our share of memories. He was also a fabulous photographer who left large volumes of material behind to illustrate how he saw the world. One day soon, with his blessing, these photographs will go to work to help the cancer organizations that worked so hard to try to stymie the disease that had ravaged his body.

He left us exactly how he wanted; confortably in his own bed with his wife and daughters with him. It's the moment for which Andrea wanted to be up here and no more than a car trip away. We had all hoped it would have come 15-20 years from now.

With the sea lions in Galapagos just a couple months ago. He was pretty determined to make this trip and thankfully, the doctor gave him the OK to go.

With Andrea and Jeffrey at Fenway, June 2004.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 10:37 AM • Comments (1) Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

New Digs!

I know, I need to do some treatment and all that, but so far it really beats the snot out of the HUGE basement I was working in before. The space over the computer is less than six feet high because of the ducting and all that. All in all, this is probably a 5'x6' workspace. I'm just glad I finally get to make use of the small rack that I picked up a few years ago in Austin. It's awfully spiffy for holding the mixer, soon-to-be-replaced proc and other various items.

My trinkets and toys finally get to breathe after being locked up in storage for two years. :) Plus, the sound libraries are at a handy arm's length now. Below, you'll see the door that opens into the basement. This photo was taken from the door that goes into the finished room downstairs.

Onward and upward! Next stop: reflection management junction.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 10:22 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Monday, June 02, 2008

RIP Bo Diddley

When I saw Bo Diddley in 1992 in San Antonio, he just rocked. One of the best shows I had ever seen. Not sure I could ever repay Mark Waldrop for giving me the ticket at the last minute, but if I ever get a chance to, I hope it'll be enough.
Posted By Greg Littlefield At 1:04 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Speaking of San Antonio media...

My apologies if I'm becoming the media section to compliment the wonderful Homesick Texan blog, but I had the chance to meet Don Colson over the weekend. Don has been in the Bangor market for a long, long time. As it turns out, however, he was the anchor at KSAT (see the entry about Joe Fowler below... They've crossed paths.) while I was in high school and college. Andrea and our son were working at the Children's Miracle Network telethon on Saturday and our daughter and I went for a little while to watch and then went home for a rest. I turned on the telethon and heard Don being introduced and heard him being introduced. I didn't think it could have been the same Don Colson, but sure enough, once he started talking I recognized him. I gathered my daughter and we went back to the mall so I could at least introduce myself and let him know I remembered him from San Antonio. He taken aback slightly, but was happy to know I remembered.

On the way home, I realized how powerful one's memory can be. I recognized his voice after not hearing it for some 25 years.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 12:46 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

The Universal Fire

I've only been through the Universal Studios tour three times in my life, but the one thing that struck me about the events over the weekend was that Courthouse Square was lost in the blaze. Before it was used in Back to the Future, I remember being told that it was used in the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" movie. (Which is awful to me now that I've watched it as an adult, but when I was 14, it was cool to see Aerosmith, Alice Cooper and Steve Martin all in one film... Plus the soundtrack album was pretty good, too... It was the first time I had ever heard a vocoder used in music.)

Another piece of Hollywood history slips away.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 12:39 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Of Infomercials and Ballcaps

For some reason, I was up late Sunday night. Since it costs a hell of a lot of money to live in Maine, we're limited to 20 cable channels at present. (You sacrifice the other 900 channels for the ability to afford to live somewhere where you wake up and smell the pine every morning. Fair trade in my book.)

While flipping through the channels, I found a familiar face. One I hadn't seen in at least 25 years. The still-exuberant but slightly aged face of Joe Fowler. Many might know him as the energetic pitchman for many products featuring in late-night infomercials. To me, and a lot of other folks who lived in San Antonio sometime around the early eighties, he was the energetic and somewhat exasperating sportscaster for KSAT-TV. His schtick? The Boo Hat. I honestly wish I could remember the whole routine, but there would come a time when he would don the cap and start dissing the bad plays, transactions, etc. of the day. I believe he even wore it when he made an appearance at one of my high school's football pep rallies. Naturally, the Boo Hat was for whichever team we were facing that week. It was obnoxious and silly, but folks like me remembered it. Now, it's entrenched in my memories of my coming of age in San Antonio. It's lumped in there amongst the Cap'n Gus' moustache, the Via Buppets, the George Gervin posters, the KTSA $5500 Buttons and bumper stickers, the playground equipment from Hemisfair Plaza, the Bandera Road Drive-In, and all the other things that made San Antonio what it was back then.

Feeling nostalgic, I searched around Youtube and found this great special that KENS-TV produced for their fiftieth anniversary in 2000. The series included a lot of things I had since long forgotten.

The point of this exercise? None, really. I sometimes revisit the things I knew along my path to getting here and rediscover characters or experiences that I can dust off and store away for later. Joe Fowler is one of those characters that can be built upon when I need it. Boo Hat optional.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 10:25 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Refuse to Lose

Well, it's two weeks later and I still haven't gotten back here to update the ol' blogarooni to do a write-up about Bob Bergen's Animation Workshop in Boston a couple weeks ago. For that, I apologize. I think I had to let everything soak in before putting fingers to keyboard to write about the experience.

The whole weekend was fabulous. I took off Friday so I could make the four hour trip to Boston and not have to worry about not getting there until 10:30pm like usual. I stopped and had a great lunch with my pal DB Cooper. We talked about everything from the workshop and my experience with getting it together to local small town politics (because that's what Mainers do, ya know...). After getting a photo together (as is VOBB custom), I hopped back on I95 and cruised down to Boston.

Anyone who has taken his workshops know what it's like. He's a good teacher and has a very good insight into the "biz" that he shares well with the students. It's a workshop I highly recommend to actors wishing to highten their vocal talents in the booth. Having a good set of acting intuition and skills definitely helps, but he gears the work toward anyone who is willing to work and listen.

That said, I'd have to say that the most important personal lesson I took away from the entire experience was what I had learned during the three months previous to the workshop date: If you believe in something enough, you can not give up.

What exactly do I mean by that? Well... I basically assumed responsibility for making things happen in January; three months before the workshop date. I figured that could be enough time to get the word out and get the interest going,. but part of me wondered if I wasn't cutting it just a wee bit close. Without going into details, there was a point along the way where I wasn't sure this weekend was going to happen. After talking with Bob, Moe and Andrea about how things were going, I decided to stick with it and see it through. I adopted a mantra of "Refuse to Lose" and basically didn't give up. Not even when American Airlines cancelled all those flights on the day he was supposed to fly out to Boston. I stuck with it and perservered in the face of adversity. I went completely against my own nature, kept going and succeeded. At least, judging from how well everyone and everything gelled that weekend, it was a success.

That was a big lesson for me that I have to apply to this path that I've chosen for myself. The mantra will be displayed somewhere in whatever workspace I put together for myself in our new house up here.

What I actually brought out of the workshop was a chance to be directed in the booth by a man who has spent his entire adult life there. That's what I went for because I spend a lot of time in the basement directing myself. I know if I expect to get any further along the path I want to follow, I need to be able to take direction from others. In person is best (as opposed to back-and-forth emails...). I feel that this experience has heightened my ability to both take direction and direct myself. I've started looking into acting classes in my area and spoke with a couple folks from the workshop about doing readings via Skype or some similar technology. I may be in a remote area right now, but one thing's for certain after this experience.

I refuse to lose.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 11:28 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Aaand we're back!

Well, suffice it to say that a lapse of concentration caused me to take my server offline for a day. Thanks to Chris at Midas Networks for un-doing my done. I wouldn't have been able to drive from Bangor to Austin to fix my wee mistake, so I appreciate him giving me a hand with getting everything back up and running again.

Yesterday, I had typed up a long entry about this last weekend, but by the time I finally got around to clicking on the POST button, my connection had timed out and I lost the bugger. I'll take another crack at it soon.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 5:39 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Monday, April 07, 2008

Article on Bob Bergen in Nashua Telegraph

Here's a nicely written article about the upcoming Weekend Workshop with Bob Bergen in Boston this coming weekend! (It's finally HERE! Joy!)
Posted By Greg Littlefield At 1:48 PM • Comments (0)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

All Sold Out!

I officially filled the last spot for the Boston workshop, so now I can spend the next few weeks looking forward to it as much as everyone else who signed up for it!

There's a fella down in Connecticut named Anthony Piselli who is working on hosting several VO workshops in Hartford over the summer featuring folks like Jim Alburger and Penny Abshire, Julie Williams, and Bob Bergen(encore!). Once he gets more details together, I'll be able to post a link to them!

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 9:42 AM • Trackbacks (0)

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Only Two Spots Left for Bob Bergen in Boston!

Man, am I glad to be able to say that! I've done stuff like family reunions (for 150+ people) and the like, but bringing Bob Bergen to Boston has definitely been a learning experience for me. It's also been great fun to connect with folks from all over New England who are just as (if not moreso) giddy about this workshop than I am! It's going to be a lot of fun and to be able to do it with the nice folks at Dexter really tops it all off for me. Brian has been very helpful and eager to help out however he can. To me, that says a lot about a business. After years of working with various establishments in my day job, I can pretty much tell the good guys from the players... Brian's in the first column.

I even made up a special shirt that I just ordered for the weekend. It's not WB related at all, but the theme and its origin are at the heart of my pursuit of all that is VO. In a way, it's like that one fortune cookie fortune we all keep tucked away in our wallets to keep us going when things don't go so well.

Got some imaging to get cracking on tonight, but man, is it nice to breathe again!

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 7:05 PM • Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

That Agency Thing

A couple years ago, I came across this on either a website or blog or something that dealt with classic voice performances. I archived it somewhere and promptly lost these files until I unpacked some CDs that I had forgotten about since our big move to New England a year and a half ago. Before this re-discovery, I had searched frantically for the site from which I originally had gotten them without any luck. I was glad to have found these and present them here for your enjoyment.

What is it? Well, had I found the site I was looking for, I would be able to tell you. It's a sketch featuring June Foray and Paul Frees about an advertising agency that was put out by CBS to illustrate the benefits of sticking with radio advertising. Anyway, if any of you have information on this, please let me know. In the meantime, enjoy "That Agency Thing"

This text will be replaced by the flash music player.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 10:10 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Monday, February 25, 2008

Oh, Like YOU Haven't Had This Conversation...

Allow me to open myself up a little tonight.

When I decided to pursue a career using my voice, I came up with a stupid little idea for a demo that I thought might work. What it turned into was an exercise in character separation and self-direction. The premise was simple; all the voices that rattle around in my head are notified that it's time for a change of vocation for me and that they are in charge of choosing what should be next. This is was product. After this segment, the suggestions would start being fired off; each one receiving a "did that!" in response (I've crammed a lot of different jobs in a short time...). Finally, someone would yell out "How about commercials?" and then the piece would wind down from there and end happily ever after. However, after I got done with the first segment, I somehow got bored with the concept and shelved it.

Why am I bothering you with it? Well, because I found it while cleaning up my hard drive, for one. Second, I felt there was some sort of lesson here. Mostly that, if you can't find good copy to practice with and record for yourself, WRITE YOUR OWN and see what happens! Strive for something that impresses the crap out of you when you're done with it. Knowing what I had to work with, I was kinda proud of this bit. A little of it ended up in my character demo, in fact. So I think of it as my "SMiLE", in a way...

And who knows? Maybe tomorrow, my caffiene buzz will wear off and I'll scramble to delete it. Until that time, however, have a giggle at my expense.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 9:41 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Monday, February 11, 2008

Truck Day!

I have to admit, it's fun to live in an area where the day when a major league baseball team's equipment is loaded into a moving van to be transported to Florida is akin to a national holiday.

Complete with photo gallery, y'all...

A co-worker passed this along to me on Friday, so I have no idea how long this has been up. Rockstar is allowing folks to call their phone lines as a rabid talk radio listener and leave a message that might be used in their upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV release. Didn't see anything about payment, unfortunately.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 9:49 AM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Bob Bergen in Boston - April 12th & 13th!

Moe Egan and I have been working to bring Bob Bergen, the voice of Porky Pig, to the Boston area the weekend of April 12th and 13th! Once we finalize studio arrangements, we'll release the official information. However, this is such a great event that I wanted to get the word out so those who want to join us can get their deposits in to reserve a spot!

Topics covered will include:
- Character development and maintenance
- How to categorize your characters so you have a repertoire to refer to.
- The business of the business, i.e. demos, agents, marketing, etc.
- Proper vocal care so as not to cause damage to the vocal cords.

...and LOTS more! Each participant will receive a copy of their studio work complete with Bob's direction.

Space is VERY limited for this weekend, so the sooner you get your spot reserved, the better. I've already heard from folks around New England and Canada! Contact me for information on how to save your place for this fun and empowering weekend with Bob Bergen!

UPDATE: You can now find all the information here!

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 9:22 AM • Trackbacks (1)

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

This isn't 2004

...but we went and saw the 2007 World Series trophy anyway!

I've also noticed that hits are picking up on the site lately. Lotsa hits, yet no contacts. Tweaks are probably in order.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 4:42 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Environment is everything.

Like many of you, I have my equipment set up in my basement. My plan is to wall off a small corner of that somewhat large space to use as a vocal booth. I received a copy of Rod Gervais' "Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros" after reading Brian Hart's opinion on the book.

The booth is now finished... ...in my head.

I encountered a problem with my plans for building my space in the basement a few weeks ago when, coincidentally, our heat went out. The boiler room is adjacent to our part of the basement (the floorplan of which is shaped like the state of Utah, with the boiler room taking up the missing northeast corner; if that makes any sense...) and during this time started making a "gromm gromm gromm" kind of noise that droned from every register in our unit, twenty-four hours a day. Needless to say, I wasn't able to do any work or auditions because of this, so we called the management company to report the loss of heat and the noise in the boiler room.

Long story made short (Yay!):

The pipes in the empty apartment at the end of our building froze and burst, thus flooding that apartment and, get this, dumping water into the heating system for our apartment. The plumber came and blew out the pipes. Noise went away; heat came back.

Now I have to clear out my workspace again as it has become littered with Diet Pepsi cans and CDs. During this down time (thank goodness for the day job...), I set up my Atari Flashback 2 Console with an old TV and played games with the kids. Still love that Combat!

We're also looking for a house of our own now. The first thing I check is the basement in each of the houses we've looked at so far. It's going to be trickier than we first thought to find "THE" house. More on that as it develops...

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 12:09 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Long live the king

No, this isn't a post about Elvis. We had to have our 15-year-old pup put to sleep today. Andrea got Taz from the Humane Society in Austin a little over 12 years ago and our time with him ended earlier this evening. Our whole family got to say goodbye and he went quietly and without pain.

He was somewhat nervous and skiddish at times, but always gentle and very loving. His (dare I say) cheerful demeanor eased a lot of life's roadbumps over the last dozen years. He just had a way of looking like he was smiling at you and had something to say. He had a soft head to snuggle while he bathed you with kisses. He could jump three feet off the ground, straight up when he got excited at feeding time. He had a beautiful plume of a tail that not so much wagged as swished when he saw us come home. That's how we'll remember him. Always.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 8:06 PM • Comments (2) Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Only the nose knows

My wife thought I was insane when I brought home a neti pot a couple years ago after reading about it in Jim Alburger's Second Edition of The Art of Voice Acting. I figured it had to have been worth a try since I have a somewhat large Anglo-Saxon schnozz and was frequently having troubles with sinus infections, allergies, etc. I followed the instructions carefully (for once) and found that it worked for me! I haven't had a sinus infection since and really haven't had any colds, either. Now, I don't use it every day; just when I feel something coming on or stuffing up. It's about the only real relief I've had since they've taken pseudoephedrine off the market thanks to the brainiacs that found ways to crush it up, cook it up and screw themselves up with it (thank you, Actifed, for all you've done for me... You're missed.).

Well. Now. It seems Oprah's turned the masses onto this centuries-old method of keeping the sinuses clean. What's the immediate impact of that? Certainly not a lot of folks finding something that helps them live life a little better.

No sir.

It brought a whole slew of new videos to YouTube made by folks who decided to try it for themselves (including the brilliant whiskey snorter mentioned in the NYT article and a fellow who uses a metal tea kettle...). I won't include links to those, but they're there. just do a search for "neti pot" on YouTube and you can bet that everyone who says "it sucks" in their description did it wrong.

For once, though, I was slightly ahead of my time. And Oprah. Just remember: You read it here first.

Posted By Greg Littlefield At 2:44 PM • Comments (2) Trackbacks (0)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Holiday Cheer - VO-BB Style

The inimitable Philip Banks gave members of the VO-BB an assignment: bring the story of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (aka The Night Before Christmas) to life. So, we all set about recording our parts and, in the end, we were delighted with what we had all done together. Thank you, Philip!
Posted By Greg Littlefield At 9:48 PM • Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)