Thursday! Between the Zines: The Stars Could Be Right.
V4, I18
I have a confession: I like making little videos for Instagram. Of course, some of you don’t have accounts there, which is just fine, because I also like sharing those videos here, too!
Back in the days of the Wuhan Flu, I did a little thing on Facebook I called “Mild Shenanigans with Jimmie Bise”. Mostly, I sang a goofy little theme song I made up on the spot one afternoon, read a couple poems, talked a bit about how things were going with me, and tried very hard to encourage you to do cool things in the face of a vastly uncool world. It lasted a couple few months, I think — four or five? Maybe more! Honestly, I didn’t keep track of it all that much, which is well out of character for me. In fact, I don’t think any of the videos are still on Facebook. I only mention this because, well, the IG videos remind me of what I used to do with Mild Shenanigans and because I keep coming back to broadcasting.
Some of you remember when I used to host my own podcast. It was called The Delivery and ran on Tuesday evenings every week for about four years1. In a couple ways, it was well ahead of its time. For one, we did it live, using a web site called Justin TV2. I’d hook up with my friend and Producer, SuperMegaProducer Mike, on Skype and, using a Rube Goldberg arrangement of software that just plan worked, we’d record the whole thing. So, while I was making the show, you could tune in live and see the whole thing, including the stuff that didn’t make it into the main show. Often, I’d have a guest for half the show and we’d chat a little bit in the bits before and after we recorded, which was always a ton of fun. And the guest weren’t slouches, either! I spoke with Robert Davi, Peter Robinson (who wrote the “Mr. Gorbachev! Tear down this wall” speech), TV writer and producer Rob Long several times3, Senate and House candidates, famous columnists, musicians…all sorts of folks. And my interviews weren’t about the normal stuff like what all they did for a living. I wanted to talk with them about their loves and passions — the stuff about which other people almost never asked them. It was a blast and the guests seemed to enjoy themselves — several of them came back for second, third, and even fourth shows.
Anyhow, I did that and another podcast with my friend Tania about sci-fi shows we loved that lasted a year or so. I’ve talked about doing a couple of others that never quite got off the ground4. What I’m trying to tell you is I like to talk a lot, which is odd since I am very much an introvert. But I also love sharing cool things I’ve found in the world and encouraging people to make and find their own cool things so one day I might find them too! It’s a dilemma, I tell you, and I don’t have a good solution for it except for going back to the microphone or phone camera and making some silly little thing to share with you.
Was there a point to all this, you may be asking yourself. Well, yes. Kind of. Sometimes you try something that doesn’t work, not because it didn’t suit you nor because you weren’t good at it, but because the time wasn’t right. Maybe you didn’t know quite how to get it to the people who’d love it the most. Maybe whatever you did was just a touch ahead of its time5. Maybe you had the ambition for it but not quite enough skill to pull it off. All of that’s okay. You made something cool and it didn’t get where you wanted it to go. Not your fault. Good ideas don’t always show up when they’re likely to be the most effective and plenty of people have launched amazing things that didn’t work out the way they’d imagined. If the idea is good, and durable, it’ll still be there and maybe the next time you pick it up, the stars will be right.
That hope is why, even now, I’m thinking about giving a little live show another go6. Maybe this time will be the best time. Maybe not. Who knows?
So what do you have in the back of your mind right now — that thing you’ve tried once and again, couldn’t get quite right, but can’t quite give up either because, well, you know? Tell me what’s up!
Okay, a couple things. First, I’m giving the message at my church’s Good Friday service. I’m told there’s an excellent chance it will be broadcast on our YouTube channel. If you’re interested, the service starts at 7 PM Eastern, and my part (and the live stream) will start around 7:15 or so. If it happens, you can see it here. Just check the “Live” tab and see what happens!
And lastly, let’s go out with a story, how about it?
The Call Did Not Come from Inside the Dimension
This all happened back around 2008-2010, I think? It’s okay if you didn’t know. Most people didn’t, even among my own friends and family!
Which eventually became Twitch.
He wrote and was an Executive Producer for Cheers, among others.
Making a podcast takes a lot of work, if you want to do it well, which I do!
You could find a couple dozen shows like The Delivery right now. I’d even argue that The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson was essentially The Delivery with a ridiculously-talented host and the resources of an entire network behind it.
Not very soon, though. I have a bunch of things to get off my plate and a creative/life/work schedule to sort before I can drop a new thing into it.