There is probably only one thing that could draw me into New York City during the insane Christmas holiday season – the 2011 New York City Voice Over Mixer presented by my agents at Voice Talent Productions.

The flight is booked.

The room is reserved.

And the agenda is being crafted as we speak…oh yes, there’s work to be done.

I hope to see you Saturday, December 3rd or sometime in between Friday and Sunday.

You know how to reach me….you just, ya know, never call (sniff).

Dan Lenard and George Whittam have invited me as their guest tonight on East West Audio Body Shop which airs via USTREAM at 9:00 pm ET and then is available on their EWABS web site.

I hope you can join us.

My agent may or may not want to be your agent (most days he’s not sure why I’m on his roster…the reason involves a chicken and a hidden camera which is more than you wanted to know) but that doesn’t mean he can’t tell you the SMART ways to land an agent (none of which involves chickens OR cameras).

So Lindsay Sheppard’s husband (that’s how you get to be known after you get hitched) has a FREE seminar going on Saturday for those who missed last week’s seminar. It was sold out. Need I say more?

The dets are here.

Here’s the thing…if you’re going to craft a new commercial voiceover demo, you should create a new commercial voiceover demo video to go with it.

It’s like salt and pepper.

Cake and ice cream

Coffee and donuts.

I’m not sure what my point was but I have the sudden urge to go to the kitchen. Bye!

Rudy Gaskins pinged me the other day to remind me that “That’s Voiceover” (to which I guess I still have a free ticket since I paid for the first “That’s Voiceover” but never got there cause my plane couldn’t land in NYC) is going to LA on October 6th.

It looks to be a much more involved event than in previous years, with seminars on audiobooks and microphones preceding the main event and later the drink fest, -er, networking event.

It really does look like a fun and informative event that Rudy and Joan Baker have put on for, I think, three years. And a portion of the proceeds from “That’s Voiceover” will go to support the Alzheimer’s Association.

I hope you’ll enjoy this fun event.

I got an email from Stacey Stahl updating me about Marice Tobias’ big October weekend in Vegas featuring training for established guys in VO. No broads aloud, er, allowed. Except for Marice.

If you’d like to get information or reserve your space, contact Stacey at stacey@creativeentertainmentmanagement.com .

Minneapolis-based voice talent Terry Daniel has started a new blog which I have added to the blogroll here.

You should check it out.

Doug Turkel is really tall.

He gets tons of big time voice over gigs.

Chicks dig him.

Now he has a cool new blog where he says cool things that are….cool.

Chicks dig him even more now.

In high school, I hated guys like Doug Turkel.

That’s what I feel like saying to every new person that calls me about the Voice Over Workshop and wants to get started in voice over. But I don’t say it; I try to be honest with people but I try not to be brutal.

Everyone….everyone is entitled to their dream and I am not the final arbitrator of talent or career choice. It’s just a dumb vocational decision fraught with lots of challenges, which can prove insurmountable to many. I think a VO newbie might enjoy a career in bomb disposal more.

But today, a Sunday of all days, I got two calls from folks wanting to get started with voice over training. Sunday being a day of reflection for many, these two folks may have reflected on voice over. Or maybe it was a rainy Sunday and they had nothing else to do except search the web, I dunno.

But because they seemed a little unsure of my training process (in spite of my wordy web exposition on the site), let me – again – briefly explain how this works.

1. I’m going to initially send you to www.voiceoverentranceexam.com and tell you to read my free book. I do this not as an exercise in ego but to give you a sense of how honest I will be as a voice over consiliere.

2. Then if you want to go forward, we will pick a Saturday and work for 2 hours on whatever voiceover topic you choose. Yes, YOU pick the agenda (I’m a voice over talent…planning to is too much like work…kidding!).

3. There are no minimum classes – you can do one class or one hundred…there are no discounts for multiple classes. My knowledge bank does not decrease the more frequently I work with you – hopefully you see even more value with more visits…that’s the feedback from my learners, anyway.

4. Yes, the guarantee is still in place…if we go through the lesson and I think you do not have what it takes to be in voice over, I’ll stop the first session, tell you why you suck as a voice talent in my opinion and you don’t pay me anything.

5. No, I really don’t just want to talk with you about voiceover for a few minutes. I know you are a nice person, so am I but I am also a very busy person and I have to draw the line somewhere. Family and finance come before sitting in a coffee shop giving free career advice to someone I’ve never met before. I know, I’m such a jerk even though I say I’m a nice person.

So there, that’s how the Voice Over Workshop operates. Wherever this information ends up on the web, hopefully that gives you a sense of how we would work together…and I hope we do get that opportunity.

…and you are a voice actor, I have a professional suggestion I would like to make: do D.B.

By that I mean do D.B. Cooper’s Exertion Sounds for Video Games and ADR Seminar from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 13th.

My friend D.B. is very good at everything she does and I know I would enjoy this class if I could get there.

So you go for me, OK?