Meet-Ups | Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Turning the Page

March 4, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Brian Page comes from a place I want to go.

He's been on the periphery of my consciousness here 'n' there…like at VOICE 2008…but we became much closer as one of 12 participants in Pat Fraley's AudioBook workshop November '08.

Brian is about my age, my size, and my place in life. Both his parents are now gone, and he's at a crossroads. Thing is…he's coming from the North, and I'm coming from the West, and we're both hoping to go South Southeast.

Brian showed up here in Vegas tonite. He sat-in during a newscast, then got the nickel tour of the TV station. A nice conversation over pasta followed…over at Landry's restaurant.

My background is formulaic. Everything about news broadcasting is fairly regimented. Oh, sure, there's some wiggle-room, but I can't launch too far afield in the tight confines of the camera without losing a few viewers here 'n' there, and we're losing plenty without that these days thank you very much.

Brian, on the other hand, is a thespian. I think he told me he's been in 50 plays over the last 9 years. Shakespeare, Neil Simon, Noel Coward, and more. He produces radio shows…and he's a voice actor.

Actor.

See?

He HAS under his belt the experience I think I lack to truly find my rightful and lucrative place in this voiceover universe. Sure, I may possess a few tricks or a little edge here 'n' there he hasn't learned yet, but put us in front of the same mic with the same copy, and you're going to get a more expressive read out of Brian 80% of the time.

That's my assessment.

I'm not envious. I'm invigorated by Brian.

The last time I acted was as the King in "THE KING AND I" in 1970.

Time to dust off the skills, and bring them to bear in my new chosen career.

Thanks for that, Brian!

CourVO

Filed Under: Meet-Ups Tagged With: announcer, announcing, artist, audio, Audiobooks, audiotx, Demos, documentaries, ISDN, male voice, male voice artist, male voiceover, narrating, narrations, Podcasts, source connect, speaker, speaking, voice acting, voice actors, voice work, voicing

What a Week!

January 11, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

This was destined to be a heckuva week…and all expectations were met.

C-E-S kinda turns things upside down in Vegas. City fathers are most concerned about how much money the convention will bring to the area, but most locals just wish they could get access to the show floor to see all the new "stuff". Being a member of the media, I was lucky to be able to get in most anywhere.

For me, it meant meet-ups. Two men at the top of my list practically fell into my lap. On the left is Joe Klein… "The New Media Guy", and in the middle is "Dr. Frank", Frank Viggiano of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Both are real gentlemen, and real smart.

One of the first things the three of us did (after lunch, of course) was to go see the item that was creating the biggest buzz at the show: Palm's "Pre" phone.

We ended up getting a personal demo from Peter Skillman, the VP of Design for Palm. The phone is real slick, and is a genuine contender for those who want to do the IPhone one better.

'Next day was the "WordCamp" conference in town. A smallish convention of around 200 for bloggers who prefer WordPress as their blog medium of choice.

The event was put together by Las Vegas John Hawkins on a wing and a prayer, and it turned out to be a huge success with speakers the likes of Chris Brogan and Jim Kukral. John's the guy in the red t-shirt on the left in this pic.

I also met up with some of Vegas' top Tweeples at WordCamp, and continue to be impressed with the level of expertise among those locals who interact on Twitter.

We even talked about how cool it is to finally meet in person after relating in the virtual world for so long.

Thanks all of you for being so open and friendly to this newcomer!

Now….what does this all have to do with voice-acting?

Only this: Good, smart, friendly people are around every corner if you look for them. That lesson came through loud and clear when I became part of the voice over community, and I'm so glad to see it survives in other sectors, too.

Tomorrow (Sunday), if I'm lucky, I'll attend the last of the trifecta of conferences in town this week: the "Affiliate Summit West", and likely see a few more tweeples, as well as reprising my meet-up with those I saw today. It's a tight community…and a great one!

CourVO

Ah…New York!

November 1, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

'Jealous of all the "stuff" there is to do in The Big Apple. Erik Sheppard posted the notice below of a promising meet-up scheduled for December. Take pics and spread 'em around, OK?