Vote for Me!

I submitted a read to the Neil Gaimain contest. Give it a listen and if you like it, vote for me!



Thanks!

Star Wars Clone Wars Voice actors (HD)

This video is very instructive and OH MY GOD, how much do I want to be a part of this cast!!!

Voicing Fame

Now here is an interesting video that brings up some interesting questions about hiring celebrities for voiceover work.

I especially loved the little segment at the end where people like MJ Lallo, Pat Fraley and James Arnold Taylor show just a few tiny examples of how truly talented REAL voiceover actors can be.

Sound Advice

I met Dan Friedman of ProComm Voices at Faffcon 2 in Atlanta.

Dan hosted a number of sessions around the technical aspects of being a voice talent. His sessions were fantastic and he even gave a way a couple of copies of his new book Sound Advice - Voiceover from an Audio Engineer's Perspective.

In fact, Dan is running a little contest where you could win a free copy of Sound Advice so go check it out.

While I haven't read it yet, judging from the information he shared with us during Faffcon, I am betting it's a real hum-dinger!

Accent on Accents

Want to learn now to do dialects and accents? Well here are two great resources:

Here is a North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns which was posted on Facebook by Kat Keesling. Thanks Kat!

And here, Julie Williams over at the Voice-Overs.com Forum is compiling a long list of resources for anybody looking to work on their accents and dialects titled Accent-uate the dialect links!. Thanks Julie and Joe The Actor!

Some useful stuff from CourVO

I met Dave Courvoisier face to face at Faffcon2 and what a wonderfully funny, generous, geniune person he is.

He recently posted some fantastic resources for voice actors and small business people that I thought you might appreciate. Take a look at Dave Courvoisier's Voiceover Blog and I think you'll agree.

Faffcon2 Electric Boogaloo

I had the privilege to attend Faffcon 2, Electric Boogaloo this past weekend in Atlanta. That's me right behind the Faffcon2 logo with the blue shirt and goatee!

For those of you who don't know, Faffcon is billed as the Voiceover Un-Conference. The sessions are peer conducted and somewhat unstructured since quite often, the person conducting the session may have just thought of the topic that morning!

Nevertheless, the quality of the information being shared by these incredibly talented and generous people is priceless. In fact, some of it was pure gold, hence the concept of the Golden Nugget! A Golden Nugget is some bit of information that an individual takes away from any given session, that really resonates for them and helps them move their business in a positive direction.

I came away from Faffcon 2 with a virtual treasure chest full!

For me, one of the most amazing parts of Faffcon was getting to meet, talk with, have dinner with, laugh with and yes, even sing with some of the most talented professionals in the industry. Some of these people I have known online for some time but had never met in person. What fun it was to finally meet face to face!

Here are some the wonderful people who attended:

Amy Snively - Our organizer and hostess. Thanks Amy!

Bob Souer

Brad Venable

Bruce Miles

Catalina Parks

CC Heim

Chris Mezzolesta

Cliff Zellman

Connie Terwilliger

Dale Leopold

Dan Friedman

Dan Lenard

Dave Courvoisier

David Goldberg

Doug Turkel

Elaine Singer

Eric Souer

Fran McClellan

Fred Filbrich

George Washington III

Hawk Stevens

Holly Stevenson

Jamee Perkins

Jodi Krangle

John Florian

Johnny George

Justin Barrett

Karen Commins

Karen Souer

Kelley Buttrick

Kevin Silva

Larissa Gallagher

Lee Gordon

Leesha Saunders

Lisa Rice

Liz de Nesnera

Loren Kling

Lynne Houle

Mara Junot

Melissa eXelberth

Mercedes Rose

Mike Carta

Mike Wong

Moe Egan

Mrs Hughes

Natalie Stanfield Thomas

Pam Tierney

Paul Armbruster

Pete Newman

Peter O'Connell

Randye Kaye

Rich Owen

Rosi Amador

Rowell Gormon

Sterling Schiessler

Susan Bernard

Talmadge Ragan

Tanya Schoenwolf

Tasha Johnson

Taylor Morgan

Trish Basanyi

Vance Elderkin

Walter Olson

Wayne Thompson

Wendy Zier

Zak Miller

While I didn't get a chance to connect with every single person there, I can say that every person I did connect with, or share a session with, or have dinner with, or sing Karaoke with, is a person who touched my life in a positive way and who I will never forget.

Thank you all and I look forward to to seeing you at . . .

Faffcon 3, Sept 23 - 25 in Hershey PA.

See you there!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I had a wonderful time at the VO Mixer last week and connected with some people I'd only ever known via the VO-BB and email correspondence. It's great to actually meet these people in person and experience how warm and wonderful so many of them truly are.

I just wanted to share the talents of some of these wonderful people by inviting you to give a listen to the VO-BB rendition of the beautiful Christmas Poem, "Twas The Night Before Christmas" over at the blog of my friend Bob Souer. I think you'll really enjoy it.

Then you can take a look at a newer video version of the same poem below.

Looking Forward to the 2010 VO Mixer this weekend!

I've missed this event the last 2 times it happened but I'm not missing it this time!

Over the years, I've connected with a number of wonderful, generous people online on the vo-bb and other places.

Well, I finally get to meet some of those people in person and I am really looking forward to it!

If you are one of those people, see you Saturday!

Laughter on the 23rd Floor

I am playing the role of Val in the current production of Laughter on the 23rd Floor at the Sayreville Main Street Theater.

The showdates are as follows:

Fridays - October 22. 23, 29, 30 at 8:00PM

Saturdays - November 5 & 6 at 8:00PM

Sundays - October 24, 31 at 2:00 PM

Synopsis: The Show takes Place in the writer's room of the "Max Prince Show" in NYC in 1953. It is loosely based on the "Your Show of Shows", "Sid Caesar Show", whose writers were Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen and many, many other recognized comedy writers. Considered to be one of Neil Simon's funniest plays this production is sure to keeping you laughing.

I hope some of you can come on down.

It should be a laugh riot!

If I'd made it to the finals . . .

I was in a karaoke contest recently and made the semi-finals.

Had I made it to the finals, I would have sang the following . . .



So, whaddaya think?

Recent gig for Dialogic

This gig came purely from networking and is a perfect example of the benefit that you can receive when working with a Bilingual Voice Actor.

First we did the piece in English, then the same piece again, but this time in Spanish.

Here is the Dialogic IVVR piece, first, in English:




And here we have it again, but this time in Spanish:



Thanks so much to my friends at Dialogic for selecting me to work with them on this project.

Personally, I think it turned out pretty well.

What do you think?

Joe Rodriguez on Telemundo for UB.net

Here's a nice little spot I did for UB.Net which is currently airing on Telemundo, late Saturday nights during the Bellator Championships programming.

20 Years of the Simpsons

FOX Television started broadcasting in 1986.

In 1989, they launched a controversial television show which looked like a kids cartoon show but was aimed at adults.

Who woulda thunk that The Simpsons would still be on the air 20 years later!

According to ABC News, The Simpsons is now the longest-running scripted nighttime series on TV!

The Simpsons and thei charaters from the show have become household names all over the world.

The voice over actors who star as the main characters on the show, Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns), and Hank Azaria (Chief Wiggum), are probably the luckiest people in the history of voice acting!

Actually, this is probably one of the most talented and versatile group of voice actors ever assembled. Most of the cast do the voices for multiple characters on the show. Dan Castellaneta alone has done over 100 Simpsons character voices!

Being part of an animated tv show has been a dream of mine since I began exploring voice acting. My very first VO class was an animation class.

I've had the opportunity to do the occasional cartoon voice here and there, but to be on a show like the Simpsons is the ultimte dream for any voice over talent.

I mean, these guys make around 400k each, per episode! Is that a dream gig or what?!!

Envy aside, I give my congratulations to the cast of The Simpsons. You've awed and inspired me for 20 years now and I wish you 20 more years of success!

By the way, if you guys ever need a replacement or somebody to speak a little Spanish in an episode or two, give me a call will ya!

Time for New Years Resolutions

I've been reading on other blogs about the kinds of resolutions people are making for 2010.

The thing about resolutions is that they have gotten a bad rap. We all know that most people make resolutions, then forget them about as quickly as they made them. It's a bad cliche at this point.

This year, I resolve to make NO RESOLUTIONS! Instead, I am going to make some GOALS for my year.

My goals are designed to make 2010 my BEST YEAR EVER.

I expect there will be modifications to those goals throughout the year and that there will be obstacles to achieving those goals throughout the year but that is all to be expected and will be dealt with as the year progresses.

One of the first things I learned about goals is that you have to keep track of them. If you don't track them, you won't achieve them. You don't need an advanced degree in astrophysics to know that's the truth.

So how does one track goals?

I found some neat tips on the Lifehacker website for some tools that may be helpful in tracking goals. You might find some of them useful. Check out the Five Best Goal-Tracking Tools on their site for some ideas.

Besides tracking goals, I also plan to use whatever tricks I can find or develop, to help make my goals a reality. I found another nice article on Lifehacker titled "Top 10 Mind Hacks for Making Your Resolutions Stick".

Some of these ideas are great. I plan to use at least some of them.

As for the rest of my goals for this year, I'll keep the specifics to myself for now but I'm sure mine are similar to yours since we pretty much all want the same things in the areas of prosperity, health and happiness.

So good luck with your resolu . . . goals for this year, and let me know how you progress along your path.

Oh, one of my other goals is to blog more regularly. Not daily, but definitely, more regularly. I think this post is a good start.

Don't you?

P.S. Just came across this great list of 10 things to do instead of making New Years resolutions.

It's gonna be a great show!

If you happen to be in NJ and want to see a really great show, come down to Playhouse 22 in East Brunswick and checkout "Guys and Dolls"



Did you see that guy on the right? Handsome dude, huh! Anyway, the show runs October 30th through November 22nd

Playhouse 22 in the East Brunswick Cultural Arts Center
715 Cranbury Road
East Brunswick, NJ 08816

Friday and Saturday Performances @ 8:00 PM - Sunday Performances @ 3:00 PM

For tickets call: (732) 254-3939 or visit www.playhouse22.org
Regular Prices: $22
Seniors & Students: $20
Group Sales available

Talkin Funny for Money

Every year my teacher and friend Pamela Lewis, holds her "Talking Funny For Money" class in NYC at Full House Studios, 123 W. 18th St, 7th floor.

This may be kinda short notice but this years class is on October 10th thru 13th. If you are interested, you can call Carole over at Full House at 917 363 9877 ASAP.

There are only 10 actors accepted for this intensive workshop. I took it a couple of years ago and I recommend it.

Sessions will be October 10-13. Sat, Sun, Mon, & Tues evenings, 7pm to 10pm.

This workshop is a lot of fun and you'll learn a bunch as well. The cost is just $299.00.

If you decide to take the class, tell Pamela that Joe Rodriguez sent ya!

I volunteered to narrate for Hearthebill.org

I am proud to announce that I've volunteered as a reader at HearTheBill.org which was founded to provide an audio version of the healthcare bill currently being heatedly debated in Washington DC.

All the narrators are volunteers and together, we are providing America with the ability to better understand what it is our politicians are trying to achieve with this bill.

I hope through our efforts, we can get people to a place where they can actually support this important legislation.

Hear the Bill

A bunch of my online VO friends participated in this amazing project where they recorded the entire President Obama Health Care Bill for your listening pleasure.

Now there is no excuse for not getting informed on this extremely important topic.

To hear the bill, go to http://hearthebill.org/.

A Fascinating Article about the Audiobook Biz

Heidi Schooler wrote a fascinating article over at Backstage.com where she interviews the amazing Mr. Pat Fraley and Marc Cashman about the Audiobook Biz.

It's called (Audio) Book Smart. It's an interesting read and I highly recommend you pop over and give it the once over.