Thursday, April 30, 2009

Voom Voom and Barry

Recently I posted videos almost back to back. When I do a video response I like to have a traditional BillTvMacon video ready in case new visitors come to the channel. Voom Voom went better than I thought it would. The nice thing about posting when I have three topics is that you may have to apologize for the content, but never for the lack of content. lol A couple of hysterical replies to the video. One from TheLOLCamel named The Swine Flu Is Coming.

And, I'm really glad to see Barry Aldridge posting his Questions again. He is so good at encouraging participation from others. Thanks, as always, Barry!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

MyNameIsChrisYeah

There have seen so many great YouTube posters of late. I happened on a channel of Mr. Chris Somers, MyNameIsChrisYeah. He is a 15 year old YouTube poster who recently asked if he could do an interview with me. I had been interviewed by Barry Aldridge who is the industry standard for this sort of thing. Barry sent a list of questions in Barry's style which is fun and informational.

What set Chris apart is that he included comedy ideas. I have to add that Chris Somers edited everything. I offered no suggestions or comments. This was, after all, his video. When I read, "hands Bill a piece of toast" he knew I knew exactly what to do. I'm thinking, "this guy is amazing!" Chris also included other things and left me the opportunity to do whatever I wanted at the end, which was to give him back a peanut butter sandwich. Chris even crammed the sandwich in his mouth which was improvisational. This dude is really advanced. Even his reactions to my replies, like almost eating the chocolate treat, were hysterically funny. And, don't miss the smiley face he does at the end.

So I was on a chat with Ali (RogueBluejay) and Chris at the same time. Alasdair thought I had something to do with the comedy bits. When I explained that Chris did it all he was amazed as well. Bottom line is I hooked them up and Ali did a Tweet on Chris' channel to draw more subs.

The idea is that there is so many channels with great videos that deserve so many more subscriptions. The problem is that people don't know about them. I am truly glad that a great guy is getting the recognition he deserves. Well done, Chris! Yeah!


Friday, April 24, 2009

Take On Me Challange

I love the "personal" part of YouTube. I have made many great and talented friends, like Will and Matt.

CaptainWilhelm (Will) is one awesome dude. He's the one who started this whole "Take On Me" Challenge. I invite you to join if you haven't. Also mmmStaley (Matt) did a video response which didn't work as he had hoped because of technical reasons. He is an incredible musician as well.

About my response. I couldn't use the backtrack Will left to be downloaded because the pitch was too high for my Beaker impression. My background includes 12 voices and a 2 liter fizzy drink bottle and a plastic cup of computer screws. Wish I could play guitar worth crap. Anyway, The entire video is lip synced. If you want a copy, there's a remix MP3 of the song.

Thanks for all of the attention the video has gotten. I love YouTube!

Monday, April 20, 2009

RADIO Contests

I get more comments from some Radio Vlogs on YouTube than almost anything. Viewers my age remember those days fondly, and younger enjoy the nostalgia. We live in an interesting time when those 12 to 15 love the Eagles, Hendrix and John Lennon as much as me. I love that about the way things are now.

We did lots of television, print and billboard advertising. The two television commercials were both done by companies out of Nashville. "Sister" was filmed at someone's home the studio had rented for the day. I don't remember the name of the guy who played Sister but he knew every script to the Andy Griffith Show by memory. Unreal.

The studio commercials were actually produced and edited by Filmhouse in Nashville, TN and filmed in our Macon television studios. It's a fake radio set. We did 12 commercials in 12 hours that day. I have to bring 6 changes of clothes. Things I didn't know about filming this type of commercial is they also put makeup on your hands.

The one thing people want to know is how did they do the money drop and was it real money. Nope. It was "showbiz" fake money and it was a guy on a ladder above us. There was a Styrofoam cover put over the counter with two holes. One for me and one for Donna. So what looks like money filling the area we're in is just some money covering the counter. The down side to that commercial was that when we'd screw up, they had to pick up money and drop it again. lol

When I finished the shoot, I went home and got ready to go to Atlanta. The indoor soccer team I was helping with had a playoff game at 9:30 that night. That was a long day!

Friday, April 17, 2009

YouTube New Chanel Design

I tried the new YouTube channel design for a day and went back to the original template. Beta testing isn't supposed to be ready for everyone and, indeed, it is not. We'll all have to be patient as YouTube tries to "find itself" again. The good news is that they are allowing people to test it and comment. That's a great sign.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Bill Elder And The Blue Dukes

I love music and it's no wonder I'm drawn to musicians and what they do. Matt, who is a fellow YouTube poster and friend, plays trombone. So when his signature picture had him playing trombone this story came flooding back. It's one that I'll probably never do a video about so I thought it would be fun to post it here.

My uncle passed this along after my dad died in 1986. William Elder Jr. had to leave Duke University to serve in World War II as a pilot. While he was at Duke, he had a band. You see, he played trombone. His band was pretty popular they tell me. It seems dad had assembled some great musicians. When he left to fly his former band was needing a new leader. An underclassman took them on. According to my uncle, his name was Les Brown. And that was the band that became the "Band of Renown." That's right. Les Brown And His Band Of Renown who played for Bob Hope for almost 50 years. I have to admit I get a lump in my throat when I see this video.

BTW, my nephew, Chris, also played that same trombone in his high school band and still has it today.

Thanks, Matt, for reminding me of this. Keep playing, dude!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Russian Gymnastics Team

I've gotten many messages about my Youtube post on the Russian Gymnasts. Since this blog is for further information about my videos, I thought I'd post some excerpts from an Archive page on my web site.

They spoke hardly any English (although they knew more words than they would let us know) and we didn't know Russian. That night we just were with them watching them watch TV, play ping pong, and Nintendo. Aleksei at Coliseum The night at the Coliseum was magic. They were incredible.
A gymnast named Aleksei Grigoriev wowed the crowd with his "one arm" move on the high bar. Another gymnast, Aleksei Nemov did a magnificent "Floor Exercise". Randy asked me to emcee the event, and I readily accepted. The evening of the exhibition I could hardly believe my eyes. Macon had never seen gymnastics like that. It was very close to the last night of Gymnastics at the Olympics. Very fun, very upbeat. Naturally, the crowd was won over by their talent and charm. The next day we were on a bus to Atlanta to the Georgia Dome to get a first look at the site of the Olympic Gymnastics events.

On the way home we stopped at a K-Mart to shop. Imagine, non-English speaking Russians and Americans shopping til you drop in two different languages! (I almost got my new friends in deep trouble when we were five minutes late to the bus.) The athletes were to be back at the bus at 4pm exactly. After about an hour and a half of shopping it was time to go to meet the bus. My watch was apparently five minutes behind the Coaches watch. We were five minutes late and she was not pleased. The guys were laughing about the expression on my face when she shook her finger in it. When we arrived back at the dorm, Aleksei Gregoriev walked toward the door of the dorm, stopped, and turned around. Making a "steering wheel" motion with his hands, he pointed to my car. He wanted to drive it ! There was an empty field behind the dorm. I had a world class athlete in my car teaching him to drive a five speed.

Lots of stories to tell, but I'll spare you. We can't keep in touch like we used to do. But the place they hold in my life will not diminish.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

365Project

I got a message from Lamarr (wilsontech1) that a couple of people were unable to do a video for the 365 Project channel on YouTube and could I come up with something Friday to be sent in no later than Saturday. So, I did the video that I was going to post on my channel to them. A big "thank you" to everyone who has subscribed. About 40 so far. You're only on the channel for a day. I also love how Maggie's picture from the day before was on the page while my video was up. I'm thinking that's really why I got the subs. lol



Sidebar note: The video that's up now, "Do You Tweet?" was done in two hours. I wanted something original to be there when new folks stopped by to check out the channel.

Thanks to all who subscribed and to The 365 Project for just being awesome!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April Fools On YouTube

It's interesting what YouTube did last night. Many videos are upside down today on this April Fools Day. I don't pay anything for the service so I can't say much about it. But you can opt out via a link on the right so videos will appear normal.