Thinking about you...

This is another repost. Oringinally it was posted on my My Space blog on May 15, 2007.

I reposted it on my personal space the next year.

I may even have posted it here on this blog, but I don't feel like looking through the previous 139 posts to find out!

So, since we are approaching the big day in less than two weeks I wanted to post it anyway.

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The complete history of 3^rd Try Productions.

From time to time I am asked where the name "3^rd Try Productions" came from, and as I do love to tell a story (usually a long, convoluted, boring story) I have decided to finally sit down and put it all in writing, because obviously this is the single most important thing anyone could care about…right?

Around 1981 or 1982 I heard my first Weird Al Yankovic song on the radio. We were sitting in the car waiting for my mother to come out from getting her hair done and KDKA, Pittsburgh, played "Another One Rides the Bus". Instantly the crazy spark in me was ignited! Not long after I heard a little ditty called "Shaddup a you face" by Joe Dolce and I knew what I wanted to do with my life! LOL! I bought Al's first LP (ahhh…vinyl) and my love of all things weird took off from there.

By the next year I was staying up until midnight on Sundays to not only listen to, but to record on 90 minute cassette tapes, The Dr. Demento Show! Two hours of the strangest, greatest music I had ever heard!

When I started high school I was a bit shy and the way I was trying to come out of my shell was writing these silly song parodies like Weird Al did. Of course you had to have a band name to do that so I, along with another freshman (who will remain nameless for two reasons: 1) He probably doesn't remember it at all and 2) He works for the government now!) started The Fools, complete with a backward "S" to make us even sillier. (Give me a break we were 13 years old!) Unfortunately, that year there was a one-hit wonder group that called themselves"The Fools" that had a moderate hit with a remake of Do-Wa-Diddy" so that name had to go. (btw: Thank goodness for the internet! I can't believe they have their own website!)

The next clever little name we came up with was "The Flip-Sides" (this time with 2 backward "S"'s!) Unfortunately a female friend, who had seen the horrible stuff we were writing, told me there was a Saturday morning show running where the stars would go through a magic mirror to "the flip side" and I decided that was close enough to call for another name change…and this time I had a brain storm! Rather than trying to come up with clever names every year I would call the band "3^rd Try", then if someone took that name I'd go with "4^th Try", "5^th Try" and so on! Brilliant! Of course no one ever took that name so it stuck!

Gradually I realized I was NOT going to make a career out of being weird, but the weird songs kept creeping into my head! I've tried to explain to my wife and friends that I just hear things differently then other people. When I heard Gretchen Wilson's "Here for the Party" for the first time, in my head I heard "Here for the Buffet"…it's just the way it goes! So I kept writing my little songs and gradually got into writing little comedy bits in the styling of the people I had been stealing material from for the previous four years: Benny Hill, Dave Allen, Kenney Everett,Monty Python, etc. See, I must have been the only guy watching WQED or WPGH late at night hoping to see these old English comedians! So I would copy their jokes, Americanize them, and take them to school with me the next day!

All of this led up to my starting college. Any progress I had made with my personality was immediately lost during this time! Years of getting by on memory alone did me no good in a situation where you actually had to work…and study! Freshman year was a nightmare of struggling with classes and trying to find any kind of niche where I could fit in.

Originally I was going to school to be an accountant.

Two things were working against me:

1) I found the workSO INCREDIBLY BORING that I couldn't concentrate enough to learn anything. I mean my accounting class (at 8:30am every Tuesday and Thursday) was led by a guy who was a whiz at law…but couldn't add! He would be at the board and add 2+2 and get 5!

2) That weird part of brain refused to go away. So by the middle of my second semester I had decided to change majors. By this time I somehow found people who were snowed enough to my "friends" and one invited me to a pizza party that was being held by the Communication Program on campus. Now this program was so small it was not even its own department on campus. The department head was actually at our sister college. The man who ran the program, Fr. Andrew Campbell, was so great I knew I had to try it.

I had always had an inclination that radio would be fun, so I chose to follow the mass media path though the program. Sophomore year I started a show with one of my friends called "The Midnight Special" and from10:00pm-12:00am every Wednesday we spun records and tried to be entertaining…emphasis on "tried". We sucked! LOL! But it was the beginning of a love affair with radio that lives in me today. Given the opportunity I would be on the air right now…which is why I love posting all the old stuff I still have, but I'll get to that later.

The songs kept coming to me and gradually "3^rd Try" the group evolved into "3^rd Try Productions" covering all the media I was producing including the radio show. Other items fell under the 3^rd Try banner also including the heavy metal group: Dead Silence. Dead Silence had seven albums, a greatest hits and a Christmas album. Hits included: "That Woman's a Nun", "Too Short for Sex" and "Get off my Crutch". The hook? Dead Silence was exactly that. Not a note was played, not a word was sung. The only thing we came up with was titles.

Also by senior year we were making our own television show! Fr. Andrew had hired me to be his assistant during the school year and that gave me a key and access to the television studio (such as it was) whenever I wanted. There was a lip-sync contest on campus twice a year. I videotaped one and was deluged with request for copies. Rather than make 100 copies I announced that we would replay the tape on WSVC Channel 30, the closed circuit channel on campus. We even broke the videos up and "hosted" the replay! When I say "we" it was me as the host and my good friend Greg as he producer. And when I say "producer" I mean we set up one camera in the studio and did everything live! A copy of that first show exists, but I refuse to let anyone see it!

Also this is where the name "The Glenn" comes from. Fr. Andrew said I did such a wonderful job that from that point forward anyone who filled that position would be called "The Glenn". I assume he had other favorites after that as I have seen other graduates from SVC's communication program with similar nicknames!

We called the show "You Did It" and it was one of two regular broadcasts on channel 30. The other, "The Flying Zambruno Show", I unfortunately do not have any copies of as I was not part of that show. Somehow I got convinced that "You Did It" could be done on a regular basis. So along with taking 15 credits, working 30 hours a week on campus, and starting my internship, I was going to create and produce a television show once a week? Sure! Why not! With the help of several friends we developed a simple game plan: Each week there would be a different host, chosen from the students on campus. The hosts picked their own theme music. We did all the stuff that would be on the show and ran the cameras, etc. Each week there were different segments…some were pretty funny, some just plain sucked…but we had a blast most of the time anyway.

By the fourth show I was completely burned out from all the editing and pressure of getting this on the air every week, so we blew off a show but came back a few more episodes…most of which I started to make available on line just to entertain myself and the few people who worked on it!

So since we were now doing records, radio and television I decided that "3^rd Try Productions" would be the umbrella to cover all of these various enterprises. Hell(rais)er Video did all the television stuff for example and everything was a © of 3^rd Try Productions.

After college I got a job full-time in radio and all the bits and lists and funny stuff in my head had the opportunity to come flowing out. Four years after that I was out of radio and had no outlet for that creativity…but marriage, two kids and a few jobs later I can use all this wonderful new technology to be creative again to a wider audience than my loving and patient wife who I cannot thank enough for being my audience of one for all these years!

In 1996 my wife and I got our first computer and I got online for the first time also. When we set up our first email account I used 3^rd Try Productions as the name because I figured that if by that time no one had taken it that I needed something to prove it was mine! And since then from YouTube to wedding video production I have continued to expand the usage.

So there you have it.

The ramblings of a mad man…er, I mean the history of 3^rd Try Productions up until this point in time, May 15^th, 2007. Hopefully I can create more stuff in the future…heck, maybe even make money off it! Either way I feel better now, don't you?

~ Glenn

I want your sex...

So David Letterman has announced that he was being blackmailed by a fellow employee who knew he had sex with some of the people he worked with.

Naturally the 24 hour news-heads have focused on the heart of this story: sex.

Or at least that would be all they want to talk about.

There is SO much more they could be talking about:

1) A guy decided to write a SCRIPT about the affairs! What happened to good old fashioned blackmail?

2) Couldn't he have written a book and made the money legitimately?

3) Why did his ex keep a diary of her sexual exploits? Was she like Drew Barrymore's character in "50 first Dates"?

4) Why hasn't Glenn Beck cried about it yet.

Sorry...back to point.

It amazes me that people in this country are still so fascinated with sex.

Its so taboo that when someone famous comes out and says he was having sex...THAT is the story?

I'll let you in on a little secret: LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE SEX EVERY DAY!

Someone them aren't even married!

Horror of horrors!

Whether I think it was right or not, apparently the sexual relations that Letterman had were consensual and with other adults. So that is not an issue for me.

He has deal with his wife and whatever pain this has brought to his marriage and family.

Beyond that I'm more interested in the lowlife who tried to make money off of it.

I'm glad Letterman came out and said this is what happened...its over. He got the word out before the tabloids could and good for him!

Now its time for the rest of America to grow up and stop giggling every time someone says a dirty word.

~ Glenn

I-95

So why are most managers assholes?

Are their bosses assholes so they feel like they have to "pay it forward"?

Or do they think if they are big enough jerks they'll get promoted and be able to be jerks to more people?

So what brought this thought on was I stopped at Sheetz last night for a soda.

Now I don't think most of the people working at a Sheetz on the night shift are looking to move up the corporate ladder there. I'm not saying they aren't hard working, honest people. But I bet if they could find a good paying job elsewhere they'd jump at it.

Anyway, there are two people working at 7pm. One guy making the food and one girl working the counter. They were probably both in their late teens or early 20's.

There were about four or five people in the line checking out and I was at the end of the line.

From behind me I heard the unmistakable voice of a woman who has made poor career choices her entire life.

She was yelling at the girl working the cash register and asking why there was only one decaf coffee made.

There must be two at all times!

While still checking out the line of customer, making change, bagging items...the girl responded that she wasn't sure why since she did not remove the other pot.

Not satisfied our decaf dictator continues to inform the younger girl of the appropriate supply of pseudo-fresh decaf that must be available according to the Sheetz handbook of all things super important.

Our check out person was visibly nervous and I wondered if she was even giving out the right change anymore at this point.

Luckily for her our chief or coffee turned her attention to the young man cooking. Demanding he drop everything and get her a decaf pot...STAT!

At that point I checked out and left...shaking my head.

I've worked for quite a few good and bad bosses in my day.

I've learned that you have to be tough sometimes, but situations dictate your response and how you handle your employees.

Hopefully these two kids learn fro the psycho and someday get the chance to treat employees better.

Of course they'll probably turn out to be assholes and take out their bad memories on a whole new bunch of kids.

~ Glenn

(PS: I have a history of using song title for my posts...if you don't know what I-95 stand for you probably don't want to Google it and listen.)

Time is on my side...

Where the heck has a year gone?!?!

When I started this little blog with the intention of writing something every day for one year I did understand the immensity of that task!

So now, with less than a month left until the year is up I need to make an effort to at least post more regularly!

As part of that I'm going to start the Friday night music scene. A selection of videos that may have nothing in common other than I got a kick out of them!

I do something similar every day on facebook with my mid-day musical interlude...a song (or two) every day that can break up the monotony!

Tonight we'll go LIVE and start of with something a little more mellow:

And now some more sweet harmonies:


And while we're telling stories about bands how about a little life on the road:



And one more about life on the road:

So there ya have it!

If you want to see a set of particular songs let me know!

~ Glenn

Where were you?

This is a copy of a blog I posted on MySpace September 11th, 2007

Since I'm sure everyone else in the world has done this…

September 11^th, 2001 started off as normal for me as did for everyone else in the country save the hijackers. I got up, dropped the kids off at their respective places and went to work.

At that time I was working out of a smaller office than I have now and the way it was situated in our building I got very poor radio reception. I had a small boom box on the floor of my office just to have some sound in the room and every day the first thing I turned on in the morning was that radio. It really only got a couple stations. I like to listen to AM radio in general and talk radio in particular. Too many years in radio has turned me off from listening to music and the all-sound-alike DJ's that permeate the airwaves. Since I could not get AM in my office I usually had the local (and closest) FM station on just for background noise. The day before, however, I had switched to the oldies station in Pittsburgh (94.5 WWSW).

On 9/11/2001 I didn't turn the radio on.

I have no idea why. I wasn't any busier than normal. I didn't do anything to change my normal routine (thank you OCD!) or have anything interrupt my morning.

I just didn't turn the radio on.

I remember quite clearly that we had a flatbed truck to load that day with product being shipped out. I was in and out of the building checking on the tires we were shipping and it was a simply beautiful day. Clear blue skies, cool temperatures, no humidity. You could not have asked for a better day.

At one point our secretary told me as I walked into the front office that her sister had told her a plane hit of the world trade center buildings and I shrugged it off. I knew planes had hit the Empire State building before so it always possible.

Then she said her sister (who was at home watching television) called and said another plane had hit the tower and the news was saying we were under attack!

Surprised, I flipped on my radio and heard ABC news pouring out. I've been into radio for a long time…major music stations don't play the national news feed after 9am if they do it at all anymore.

This was big.

I jumped on the computer and found that all of the major news sites were jammed. I was able to get on the Japanese CNN site and see some images and print some pictures to show the guys at work.

Our boss, the owner, was outside with the truck being loaded. When I went out next I told him what was going on and he seemed more interested in getting the truck loaded! LOL! I knew he cared, but business had to go on no matter what.

All I wanted to do was to go home and watch the news, but that wasn't an option. I listened to the radio all day and all the rumors that were out there too.

At one point it was reported that one of the hijacked planes was in Fayette County airspace. We had a rouge county commissioner who loved to hear his own voice on television and radio who announced that to the world. People were calling our office because we are near the county airport. Not surprisingly we were not a target, but the plane (Flight 93) did apparently pass through the airspace as it was heading to turn around before it crashed.

Heading home that evening I was struck by the fact that there were no planes in the sky.

Obviously I had heard that all flights were grounded, but where I live we have a great view of the southern sky and to see ZERO planes all night was a bit disconcerting.

My wife was two months pregnant with our son at that time, and after consuming as much television as humanly possible I went to bed that night with my wife and wondered out loud what kind of world we were bringing another baby into.

In the aftermath I fully supported our attacking the Taliban in Afghanistan…but argued strongly against invading Iraq. I still hold those two views to this day.

Six years later I still wonder what kind of world we brought our son into, but I hope that the majority of us are trying to make it a better place.

~ The Glenn

Here We Go!

I put it off long enough.

Every year I dread this, but I HAVE to do it.

Please forgive me..



Here is my Pittsburgh Steelers Preview for the season!

Offense:
Of course the question is whether Ben can recover from the horrible season he had last year...wait, no. The question is whether he'll LIVE through the season because of the offensive line.

The short answer is Yes.

You don't need the long answer, but to sum up the line will be better. They will have had the advantage of playing to together for another year and they will feed off the success they had in the playoffs.

Ben is Ben (to quote Coach Tomlin) and will do what he does. No worries.

Parker is in a contract season and has something to prove. Mendenhall wants to show that he's no bust.

Ward and Holmes are stars and watch for Sweed and Wallace will stretch the field like we have seen in this town in a long time.

Defense:

Is this really a question? Injuries aside they should dominate much the same way they did last year.

If I have to pick on one thing its that the defensive line is still getting older, but Big Snack Hampton is also in a contract year and should continue to dominate and Ziggy is gonna get some looks too.

Special Teams:

Another player in a contract year and one of the most consistent players in the Steelers organization is Jeff Reed. He'll be fine and he'll be here next year too.

Sepulveda is healthy so fans don't have to hold their breath and cross their fingers every time the Steelers have to punt.

And you may have heard that they signed Stefan Logan:

So while anything can happen look for another great year. The schedule is easier than the famous "toughest schedule in the history of the NFL" from last year too.

But remember no matter what happens week to week the goal is to make the playoffs and then to get to the Super Bowl and then to win it all.

That never changes and I don't expect the Steelers chances to change either!

By the time we got to woodstock

So this past week on Jeff and Glenn @ 10...what? You don't listen?

Cripes...here. Listen:

So anyway, being the 40th anniversary of Woodstock just passed us by we got to talking about One Hit Wonders and if we could get them all together for a kind of "Crapstock".

And since I'm kind of obsessive about these things I put together a play list with EVERY SONG we mention.

All of them.

playlist!"> Ringtones">

Have a listen! And remember...there are plenty more we could have added so feel free to comment with your favorites and maybe I'll put together another list!

Thanks!

~ Glenn