Curious

OK, Halloween night coming up in a few days. We're all curious about what kind of attendance we'll enjoy at the Avalon Theatre to celebrate the 20th year--some 75 shows--of Radio from Downtown. Sure, there are parties, trick or treat for the wee ones, and the weekend events that go on and on...just like this one. Impossible to plan a gig when there's not another one happening; you'd go nuts. So I don't bother trying to figure it out. Besides, it's Halloween, and I couldn't resist commemorating the 71st anniversary of the original War of the Worlds broadcast. But we have pulled out all the stops (an organist's metaphor) to make people aware of the production: I've made brief appearances on the two Salisbury TV stations, WBOC and WMDT; sat for an interview with Suzy Moore of the Avalon for the Easton cable channel; had audio promos running on WCEI-FM, WESM-FM, WRYR-FM, and WNAV-AM; and had a nice mention from Liane Hansen on this past Sunday's Weekend Edition Sunday--no details, but she said she'd be gone next Sunday because she'll be down on MD's Eastern Shore in a WOTW production by Radio Free Delmarva--OK, she used the old name...which shows you how long she's been aware of the show. I've been trying to get her down there since I worked on her show, back in 94, before we changed our name to Radio from Downtown.

Anyway. Some of this stuff is on our website. We're also featured prominently on the Avalon's site, have a nice posting on the website of Maryland Life magazine, and I'm hoping to be the subject of a couple articles in the Salisbury Daily Times, the Easton Star Democrat, and the Annapolis Capital, in their weekend sections due out Thursday or Friday this week.

Will all this make a difference? Who knows? Since you can listen live on the radio or the internet, or wait for the rebroadcast to come around in a week or two, it's hard to say whether people crave the live experience or not. I know we do, otherwise we'd just put this together and do it in a studio, without the benefit of the live audience. But what fun is that?

So I hope you'll show up, just to see if we can pull it off. Our track record is good. The timing's a little more difficult on this one, but that just adds to the excitement--or, in my case, the anxiety and stress level. But I've been there. And everybody's ready. So I'll see you there, no?

(Click player below to hear the original 1938 WOTW broadcast!)