12.01.2006

The Faux Press :: Radio Man Hotline / Teamster Jokes / Crew Parking / Film Set Legends / Definition of Judaism
















NYC Film Hotline: 212-714-8045

"Call my hotline, you miserable movie whores!" New York legend, eccentric, and real life movie star Radio Man giggles. This bicycle-powered guy inexplicably shows up at darned near every NY/NJ film set. Bronx, Staten Island, Newark. He's there.

Crew members shake their heads and wonder how in God's name he knows where and when to show up for a meal and news. It's a mystery. And so is he. But his hotline is right on the money. Check it out.

One of the things I love about Radio Man is that he's a default member of the Faux Press, which is why a few years back I took out an advertisement on his hotline. This is the kind of back door marketing I find charming. Marketing, folks.

When eight years ago we met, he was wrapped head-to-toe in garbage bags and duct tape. He's cleaned up his act in the last decade, so you might not these days mistake him for homeless as I at first did.

In his celebrity, he's become an entrepreneur, collecting autographs along side the professional autograph hounds. Professionals are distinguished by the stacks of pre-addressed FedEx envelopes they hold as they wait outside the star campers.

I personally witnessed Radio Man (a/k/a Craig A. Castaldo / Craig-Radioman / Radio Man / Radioman / Craig Radioman Schwartz / Craig Schwartz) emerge from a stretch limo for the Season Five premiere of "The Sopranos" at Radio City Music Hall.

An inveterate sports fan, it's the radio always strapped to his torso that spawned the moniker.

TEAMSTER JOKES

Included in this podcast are the first in a series of Teamster jokes I'm collecting.

I love Teamsters and what they so thanklessly and mysteriously do, not least of which is work at least - at least - 18 hours a day. It's long been a personal mission to help people understand the importance and difficulty of what they do.

Folks laugh because Teamsters sleep as the film crew works. They laugh because they haven't done the math.

They and the trucks arrive on set an hour or more before we do, and can't leave until we're finished. Only after the shooting crew wraps can the trucks be driven an hour to secure storage. It's then Teamsters return home.

FILM SET LEGENDS

John gives us a tease of the John Wayne story he promises to tell as part of The Faux Press' continuing collection of Film Set Legends that began with the nameless production assistant who once lost a day's work to rise from the disaster a producer.




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2 comments:

  1. This quality is so good...How are you doing this?

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://fauxpress.blogspot.com/2006/06/ipod-audio-griffins-italk.html

    That's the rig and some info.

    More photos: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=ipod&w=51035640951%40N01

    The key is to learn the relationship between how loud the subject is
    and the distance to keep the mic from the mouth. Radio Man
    overmodulated some - he's quite loud. Knowledge comes with practice
    and that means screwing up.

    From a technical standpoint, it's actually very low quality - low
    sample and bit rate.

    Keep in mind that you can take excellent pictures with a pinhole camera. Dig?

    Jan

    ReplyDelete

Whoa. Hey. Hi. Talk to me.