This may well be the shortest post I’ve ever written . . . which some people will find most enjoyable! The new cgabriel.com is now up and running!
We’re still making tweaks, adding the last nine or 10 posts, incorporating new plugins, working out the kinks, etc. But in the coming weeks, and most importantly for loyal readers of Blog Harbor, my blog will now reside permanently at cgabriel.com.
I’ll be pointing this blog’s URL to cgabriel.com so if you happen to type in the longstanding Blog Harbor URL, you’ll be redirected. Assuming it works properly.
Everything that lives here will simply move over there . . . if it’s not already moved. Plus, there will be a lot more features that will begin showing up. Things like Gabriel’s Angels, Gabriel’s Gallery, polls and much more.
So take a moment and swing by cgabriel.com. I think you’ll like the way it looks, it’s easy to navigate, there’s a direct link for my radio program’s audio stream and there’s free popcorn.
One week in the books and what a week it was. Being a daily talk radio host is tantamount to doing what I did on stage for 26 years: You’re out there for all to see. Some like you, some don’t. Some sing your praises like a brilliant chorus, others insist you’re in the wrong business at the top of their lungs.
No matter where opinions fall, it’s all good. The very essence of talk radio is opinions. I’ve got one on most everything. So do listeners, emailers and all the folks at other stations. Bring it on; the more the merrier!
Prior to going on air, the week began with an article on me in the The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. Very nice piece basically setting the table for the kind of program I’d be bringing to Fargo. At that point I had done five “tryout” shows on 970. Shortly after the article was published, the fun began. Reader comments ran the gamut, from people saying WDAY made a strong move hiring me to others referring to yours truly in less-than-flattering terms.
Having been cheered and trashed in stage reviews by major newspapers from London to Los Angeles, there isn’t anything good or bad I’ve not read about myself. It comes with the territory. And quite honestly, I’ve agreed with the negative reviews on more than one occasion.
Regardless, life couldn’t be better behind the microphone at AM 970 WDAY. I work with people who understand and embrace the reality there’s life beyond politics. That there really are people in this country who would like to turn on a radio talk show and go in a direction other than the left bashing the right, the right bashing the left or both sides bashing themselves.
I mention that because it’s been said to me on more than one occasion, i.e. “You’re NOT a political talker? WHAT? Well…………what the hell you gonna talk about?” Exactly.
Pick any 10 people on the street and ask them their favorite flavor of ice cream. Odds are you’ll get 10 different flavors. My favorite depends upon which company we’re talking about. Ben & Jerry’s: Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. Baskin-Robbins: Chocolate Chip. Hagan Daz: Butter Pecan.
It’s the same with radio. You have your favorite stations and your favorite talkers. In Fargo, it’s no different. But one thing that’s decidedly different: Us. WDAY. We play the game a little differently than the others. We have the idea that a burger can be more than mustard and ketchup. It can be blackened, have some sauteed onions and mushrooms, maybe some fresh bleu cheese and just for good measure, a little roasted garlic spread on the bun. My talented colleagues, Ben and Tracy at 5:30 am and Jay Thomas at 2:00 pm…they’re anything but basic condiments.
Week One for me was everything from my good pal James Denton from ABC’s Desperate Housewives to our own morning news anchor on WDAY’s First News, Chastity Walberg, to North Dakota State Softball coach Darren Mueller to pediatric ophthalmologist Dr. Seth Silbert from Hennepin County Medical Center. And in between all of them, we talked about insane immigration laws (the insanity of trying to deport an 11-year-old girl back to Poland over something she had no control over), tobacco legislation, Lefse, homelessness, wind and our “beyond the fringe” segment we call Top Five at 10. Throw in the One Minute of Your Life You’ll Never Get Back and a host of things designed to give you a laugh…or a chuckle…perhaps a smirk…at the very least, an internal smile you don’t have to outwardly admit to….and we think we’ve got a pretty good foundation for something really interesting, definitely different and quite welcoming for everyone.
We’re going to enlighten, inform and entertain. And we’re going to do it our way. Every day. The Christopher Gabriel Program is the 11,463rd Most Popular Radio Talk Show in the World. And with your help – your phone calls, your emails and your willingness to take only short naps during the program – we’ll catch lightning in a bottle and skyrocket into the top 10,000…
Soon. Very soon.
I knew it would happen. I just knew it. My producer here at 970 WDAY, the multi-talented, very sharp, very clever and somewhat devious Erik Matson, has put up what is apparently called The Christopher Gabriel Program Fan Page on………………….. Facebook.
In Fargo, No One Can Hear You Scream.
It wasn’t that long ago I wrote The Seven People in the World Not on Facebook. If you’ve read the piece – and really, why wouldn’t you have read it - you’re clear on my Facebook position. And even as I type this it remains intact. However, just as the wind rolls through Fargo sweeping away anything not tied to a flagpole, I’m now forced, thanks to Devious Erik, to face Hurricane Facebook head-on.
So now, I have a Fan Page.
What the hell is a Fan Page? Erik tells me – with a very straight face laced with a hint of “now tell me again, what rock have you been living under these past few years?” – I need to have a Fan Page. He also tells me I should put it in upper case. I asked why…he said “don’t ask.”
Apparently, when you have a radio program you’re required by international law to have a Fan Page…upper case…I’m not asking why.
And that sound you hear – I hear it – is every person who knows me, many who don’t know me and some who wish they didn’t know me saying “I TOLD you Facebook was in your future!”
And so it goes. The Christopher Gabriel Program has a Fan Page. On Facebook. My biggest question: Will anyone join?
Word has gotten back to me the sports book at Harrah’s has set the over/under for The Christopher Gabriel Fan Page sign-up at seven (7). I’m taking the under.
Finally, I’m told I need to join Facebook to access my own program’s Fan Page. The Dark Side has arrived at my office door. Facebook people. You DO remember what they look like, right?
illustration credit: © Mac McRae
Greetings to all of you! I don’t normally put personal messages on Blog Harbor but with so many wonderful emails sending good wishes to me and my family as we transition to Fargo, I wanted to give everyone a quick update. To me, this is a far better way to reach out to everyone as opposed to a bulk email.
The first installment of The Christopher Gabriel Program – seems funny to type in what amounts to a version of Third Person – will indeed be on June 8. I can promise you the show will be fun, interesting and a good mix of current events (we’ll call this “The Buzz”), entertainment, family, sports . . . pretty much most anything is on the table. The only thing you won’t hear is angry, political talk. That’s not to say we won’t broach the occasional major issue. We will. But I’d like you to think of this program as a talk show version of Cheers: It’ll be interesting, it’ll be fun, we’ll definitely have some laughs and everybody is welcome.
On the family front, we’re in the hunt for a house. So far we’ve found a few real possibilities. Please send good vibes to our cool city hard by the Red River as living in a hotel is fun for our daughters – an indoor pool with a slide is a beautiful thing – but eating out day after day gets old. Fast. Real fast.
The people up here – as I’ve said on the air and to anyone who’ll listen – could not be more welcoming and delightful to me and my family. It’s all been more than we could ask for and to everyone in the Fargo-Moorhead area who’ve already touched our lives, thank you for inviting us into your home, literally and figuratively.
Finally, you do not want to miss the first program on Monday. My guest will be . . . let’s just say he’s a household name from a big-time, primetime show on network television.
Best regards,
Christopher
photo credit: 
dacotahsgirl
I knew all about Bison in North Dakota. I knew there were a lot of them and I knew it was North Dakota State University’s nickname. And all the people at my new home, AM 970 WDAY, told me “By the way, you’re going to hear some crazy stories about giant, mutant Bison . . . ridiculous. Crazy stories to scare people away. There’s no reason to even consider them.” And so I didn’t. Until now.
photo credit: CanadaGood
with Harrison Beillor
Tired
by Marvin Glickman
I’m too tired to move
I don’t mean move
To a different city
I mean move
Like walk from the table
To the bathroom
I’m too tired to think
Well, maybe not
because I’m writing
A poem about
Being tired
I’m just tired
“Tired” by Marvin Glickman. © Big Sky Press, 1953. Reprinted with permission.
It’s the birthday of astronomer Matsui Hirogawa, born in Nagano, Japan, 1923. It was Hirogawa who championed the concept that Earth was originally the second planet from the sun. When visiting his grandparents’ farm in Sensichi, Japan he would often stay out in the rice paddies long after the sun went down to make calculations supporting his theory. Using a complex series of bowls, Hirogawa concluded that Earth, not Venus, was in fact the second planet from the sun. His father, a respected scholar from the University of Sensichi, was appalled by his son’s absurd theory and, fearing embarrassment being brought to the family, proceeded to send his trained pelican, Fujita, on a seek and destroy mission. When Fujita got to Hirogawa, a fight ensued ending with Fujita breaking Hirogawa’s nose with his beak. Eventually Hirogawa changed his position, and that of the Earth and Venus, saying he could no longer stand up to Fujita’s daily intimidation tactics.
***
Eat well, work hard, and give me a call.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Host: Harrison Beillor
Producer: David Allen
Technical Director: Wendy Gabriel
Inspiration: The Writer’s Almanac, with Garrison Keillor
I thought it might be nice to take a moment to reflect on the direction and goals for my new radio program at AM 970 WDAY in Fargo (ND).
For those of you who are regular visitors to Blog Harbor, you’ve probably noticed a little less activity here over the past week or so. Several days ago, the normal Eye on Monday feature was no where to be found. And the same for today, as The Farmland Almanac with Harrison Beillor is not running in its normal Thursday time slot. The reasons have to do with change in the air for both yours truly and Blog Harbor.
Two months ago I got word of a talk radio station in Fargo, North Dakota – AM 970 WDAY – looking for a new weekday host. I did a little research and discovered WDAY was a “heritage” station with more than 80 years of history. In a nutshell, they were the real deal in a smaller market. They are also the voice of the North Dakota State University Bison. NDSU is relatively new to Division 1 sports but has made quite a splash in their big-time infancy with an appearance in this year’s NCAA basketball tournament (losing to Kansas in the first round) and the NCAA softball tournament, the Bison currently in the round of 16 about to face Arizona State with a trip to the College World Series on the line.
So I sent my materials up to them hoping for the best. About a month passed and then their program director contacted me saying “You’re in the good pile.” It wasn’t much more than that. I emailed back to thank him for the heads-up and filed it away as hopeful. Another month passed and this time, he called. He had one question: Would I consider coming up for several on-air auditions. Naturally I agreed. Two days led to five. And five days led to an offer to be a new weekday host.
To suggest I’m excited for the opportunity given to me by WDAY would be an understatement of mammoth proportions.
Obviously this will necessitate leaving Minneapolis, a city I’ve come to love. Fortunately, my older daughter hasn’t yet entered kindergarten, the younger one is only two and she goes anywhere there’s food and places to run, and my wife, herself a syndicated writer, can do her thing anywhere. So on the family front, all is well.
As for Blog Harbor, within the next few months you’re going to be seeing some significant changes. Namely, Blog Harbor is going to be absorbed into my website when the redesign is complete and released. And while features like The Farmland Almanac with Harrison Beillor, the Gabriel Theatre on the Air, Eye on Monday, Nikos, videos and obviously my posts will continue as always, the programming of the content – when, how often and what days things show up - will be getting reworked as well.
Finally, one other change: The name “Blog Harbor” is probably going to be retired when the website is fully open for business. There are several reasons for that, the primary one being a matter of simplicity. Looking at the bigger picture, it becomes a case of Less is More.
The next month promises to be just this side of insane with selling one home, finding another, beginning a daily radio program, continuing to write and create content for my blog . . . and all of this being done in a new town.
Fortunately, we’re blessed to be going to a warm and welcoming place like Fargo. The people there, both those I’ll be working with at WDAY and so many others we met, extended themselves in ways unlike anything my wife and I have ever experienced in the 20 years we’ve been together. As native Midwesterners, we shouldn’t have been surprised.
They made us feel like one of them.
with Harrison Beillor
***
Eat well, work hard, and give me a call.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
KQMB Host: Terry Svinale
Producer: David Allen
Technical Director: Wendy Gabriel
Inspiration: The Writer’s Almanac, with Garrison Keillor
If you haven’t already done so, make sure and read Part 1 of my interview with Sandy Boren-Barrett. She’s got a lot to say and every word is well worth your time.
Here’s Part 2:
CG: Sandy, over the years during rough economic times people have gravitated to the arts for a bit of an escape. What kind of impact has our current economic climate had on Stages?
Sandy: Stages has been very fortunate so far. My theory, and it’s simply a theory, is that families will make choices. The parents may not go out to eat or to a movie alone, but what they will not compromise is their time or activities with and for their kids. Not if they can avoid it.
One of Stages Theatre Company’s core values is affordability and access. Every time you turn around you’ll find a discount coupon – free child’s ticket – pay what you can performance – or scholarship opportunity. I believe affordability is what’s holding us up. High-quality theatre at an affordable price. We’ve gained patrons during all of this who say “this is my first show at Stages.” But I would be kidding myself if I thought we hadn’t lost some precious families and schools that can’t afford it. That breaks my heart. There is absolutely no one that would be turned away if they couldn’t afford to bring their kids to see a show at Stages. I say that – and I mean that.
We received a thank you letter from a mom who brought her two kids to see our fall production of How I Became A Pirate using comp tickets from our Open Door scholarship program. And she gushed, on and on – it was the first play her boys had seen and they were entranced. She then went on to say she was going to begin “saving money to be abler to buy tickets to bring them to see The Wizard of Oz.” Amazing, it humbles me.
CG: This year you’ve run the gamut of material – from sweet and charming productions like Good Night Moon to The Shadow Thieves , a darker, one might almost say borderline sinister, work. Each of them were beautifully realized, from the acting right down to the last lighting cue. With material so broad, can you explain the process of how a season at Stages comes to be?
Sandy: First of all, I peruse each and every Scholastic Book Order propaganda that comes home with my kids. I get at least one or two every few weeks. In those I see what’s “hot” on kids’ reading lists. I check out all the Newbery winners, past and present, and talk to all the teachers I have the opportunity to work with. So many of our shows are based on books that a teacher has said “Hey, you guys should do (fill in the blank)“ Sometimes a book will be suggested and then within days I’ll actually see or hear about that book several times and I think, ‘man that is a sign.’ I spend lots of time in libraries and bookstores too.
The next thing to do is begin the process of finding out if an adaptation exists, is it one that fits the Stages critieria, or if we can approach the book writer and publisher to get the rights to adapt the book into a play or musical. I almost always prefer to adapt it ourselves because then we have certain controls you simply don’t have if you use an existing adaptation. And frankly it provides work to local playwrights and composers. Sometimes material is selected for the season because a really great script already exists and it fits what we want that year.
I look to craft a season that has a breadth of material but has enough that suits each particular age group so that families that want to purchase a package or season ticket have enough to pick from if they have kids that are 10-12 and kids that are 3-5. It’s all about balance. I’ve found that our audiences like a good story but love a good musical. So, we do quite a few musical commissions.
Some shows are picked, as in the case of Shadow Thieves because Bruce Rowan, the Director of New Play Development, has begun an email exchange with the book writer who is originally from Hopkins, Minnesota and has found her book to have a wonderful local following.
I can tell you I never craft the season alone. Some shows take years to acquire the rights to and some come quite easily. But we’re in a constant state of “selection.” It takes months and sometimes years. And sometimes just when you’ve given up on a title, you get a response from the publisher saying “go for it!” And then…you jump. It is really a challenging and exciting part of what I do.
CG: Two more questions. When I was at Peef , there was a woman behind me who said to her husband “I can’t believe we’ve never been here before…” They weren’t there with children, so the implication was clear: They were coming back for more. As you look ahead, how do you view Stages’ place in Twin Cities theatre?
Sandy: I think that Stages Theatre Company serves an incredibly diverse audience. True story - just yesterday an older woman was standing at the box office and the staff was busy on the phones, which is always a good sign. I approached her to ask if I could help her and she said she wanted to order two season tickets for the entire 09-10 season. Silly me assumed it was for her and a grandchild. When I mentioned that she said, “Oh no, my husband and I have season tickets here (STC), and just love it. We have season tickets to the Guthrie too, and like it here just as well.” I just smiled and told her she had made my day.
Really, I go back to the fact that everyone wants to be entertained. That means different things to different people and sometimes it’s simply watching your three-year-old watch the play. I love to do that. Entertainment can mean a show that makes you laugh, cry or think. No matter what your age, I hope you find a little of that in every show we do.
CG: Finally Sandy, what’s the one piece of information or advice you’d like to pass onto young actors – kids in middle school and high school? Namely, what do you see too much of, or not enough of, at auditions or in rehearsals?
Sandy: Honesty, really and truly – if you can make me “believe you” for 30 seconds during a monologue or song, I believe I can make you believable for an hour-long performance. Show me you’re willing to try anything and that you prepared before you walked in the door. I had a boy come in and sell, really sell, the theme song from The Flintstone’s. No kidding, The Flintstone’s. I called him back.
Do material you enjoy, is appropriate for your age and shows off your vocals or acting skills. And please do not do material that makes me uncomfortable. I don’t want to hear a 10-year-old singing questionable lyrics to a contemporary song. And never, ever, tell me “I’m not a good singer” or “I have a cold.” I had a college professor who would always say “Don’t apologize, just do it”
Everyone watching you knows auditioning is hard. Make it look like it’s easy for you; that may be the hardest acting you’ll do that night and I promise I’ll smile back at you each and every time.
