Tag Archives: Airlift Mike

New Orleans VoiceOvers

The New Cuba, Walt & Airlift Mike

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New Orleans Advocate’s WALT HANDELSMAN does His take on the USA normalizing relationships with Cuba – December 19th, 2014 ~ Too Funny!

You know, when you’re in the company of greatness, you just know it, you know what I mean?

The Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Walt Handelsman (today with the New Orleans Advocate, lucky dudes they are) visited the Airlift Productions Studios years ago at the now-the-stuff-of-legend Iberville Street haunts mid-city and what a recording session we had.

This guy had it! Magic! Inventive Genius! Walt possesses a rare gift – the ability, through pen and ink, to ‘speak Truth to Power’ … to throw a few sacred cows on the barbie’ – without even opening his mouth! 

That’s why, though, he came to Airlift to record with me.

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Walt Handelsman Testimonial Autograph To MichealZiants “Airlift Mike” during our recording sessions on Iberville back in the day

Contracted by Lenny Delbert at Pan Am Communications to help Walt out that day, I was tasked to record VoiceOver for a video to help promote his convention services – Walt would stand, pen in hand, at a drawing pad projected to a big screen, and lay-out a cartoon panel LIVE to amazed conventioneers!

I was merely the guy extolling Walt’s virtues and dazzling talents, and telling the tale.  But, what a party it all turned out to be.

At this time, 1994, Walt was cranking them out for the Times-Picayune, had yet to win one – let alone two – Pulitzer Prizes for excellence in the field of editorial cartooning, leave New Orleans to work for NewsDay – and then return to N’awlins (thank God) to resume amazing us all daily from the New Orleans Advocate.

Who knew this dude had all this greatness in him? I sure did.  That day. And as to this day? Well, the cartoon at the top of this blog (from today’s 12-19-14 Advocate) is a testament to Walt’s relevance, timeliness, timelessness … and runaway Genius!

Oh, and Walt, if you just so happen to be reading this … the Rolling Rocks are cold in the fridge, and we’ve got some catching-up to do, my brother.

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Walt Handelsman’s impromptu caricature of Airlift Productions proprietor Micheal Ziants, beer can on head and all! Thanks for the laughs, Walt, see ya’ in the funny papers!

 

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Airlift Productions VoiceOver & Recording Studio ~ Audio Alchemy from New Orleans …. since 1984!

Airlift Productions RADIO work, New Orleans VoiceOvers

Sex Sells Via Airlift Productions

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Perhaps it’s because SEX is the act that brought us all here, I mean you would not even be alive to be reading this blog post if mom & dad had not done the horizontal hokey-pokey, that it drives so much attention, and as a result – most advertising.

From all makeup products to clothing styles, colognes to beer – SEX and the drive to find it, hang on to it, make yourself more attractive to the other and/or same SEX, it’s allure & mystical powers have driven us all to part with more dollars than any other ad gimmick you can name.

Not to be left out, enter Airlift Mike and local N’awlins radio work for Chad, Nick and the krewe at Legends Encore, radio ads for “Jeff Parish’s Party Palace”.

In putting together the latest spot for the club, I threw ‘lost love’, the quest for ‘new love’, Steve Carell’s voice from ’40 year old virgin’ and the ’50 Shades of Grey’ phenomenon into the audio cuisinart and came up with this, beginning tomorrow on N’awlins radio …..

** LEGENDS ENCORE Radio :30 from Airlift Productions **

Since time immemorial men have dueled under oaks over a lady, fought to the death in arenas over a lady, waged great wars over the loss of a lady. Thankfully, and hopefully, there’ll be less bloodshed on North Hullen generated by this radio ad.

On a tamer note, after years of staid educational software audio work that gave me cause to walk away from the local media scene, it sure is fun and rewarding for yours truly to be back on the radio & TV in my own home base of New Orleans.

And in many cases, as is the case with this Legends Encore piece, writing the spots too! It gives me the opportunity to put my own words in my own mouth.

From TV campaigns for Sue’s Jewelry & Laser Tag of Metairie to some recent political ads … and, of course, this on-going work to help pack the club at Legends Encore, it sure is a riot to be flexing my commercial muscle again for the hometown crowd.

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Airlift Productions Audio Spin Doctor Micheal, it’s 50 Shades of  Ziants

Yes, SEX sells – 24-7-365… even at Christmastime.

And what if, just what if, at the end of the game (the end of life) … the hokey-pokey really IS what it’s all about?

Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy from NOLA since 1984

Airlift Productions RADIO work, New Orleans VoiceOvers

NOLA Mayor Mitch Landrieu Records At Airlift Productions

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New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu brings fire to the Airlift Productions microphones in an effort to resolve School Millage issues

Run-offs, taxes & exemptions, oh my. With senate & congressional seats, as well as a variety of propositions & millages up in the air and scheduled for a vote tomorrow, Dec. 6th – the fur is flying in NOLA!

And last week, Airlift Productions and yours truly gave two of New Orleans most prominent voices a soapbox … and a microphone.

Contracted & hired by the LeBlanc & Schuster team, I vacuumed-up the red carpet and warmed-up the mics to record & produce radio ads with both Mayor Mitch Landrieu and NOLA City Council Chief Stacy Head.

Long-time political lightning rods for change – and controversy – I found both the Mayor & Ms. Head in-person to be engaging, warm and sincere folks. Even fun. (Stacy even brought daughter Charlotte to the recording session.)

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NOLA City Council Head Stacy Head Records ahead of the Dec. 6th vote at Airlift Productions

Give a LISTEN to the radio spots now airing on WWL & WNOE radio (and yes, yours truly was tagged to perform the tag at the tail)  being heard today all over New Orleans airwaves …

** Mayor Landrieu addresses NOLA School Millage issues **

** NOLA Council President Stacy Head adds her ‘two cents’ **

Post-Katrina New Orleans is without question still rife with it’s own share of thorny, prickly issues. Our job on this day was to tackle the upcoming vote on school maintenance and it’s attendant school millage proposals.

As a long-time political atheist, I personally do not have a dog in any donkey-elephant hunt and remain more neutral than the Swiss …  and yet watch the fur fly from the sidelines with rapt attention and curiosity.

But as the fur and the dust settle the day after tomorrow and the votes are tallied and issues decided – and whether you vote or not – remember the time honored definition of the word ‘experience’: Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.

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Hizzoner & Council Prez Stacy Head on the job, working it out for NOLA

 

  Airlift Productions Recording Studio ~ Audio Alchemy from NOLA since 1984

Airlift Productions RADIO work, New Orleans VoiceOvers

Sex In The Suburbs ~ Courtesy Airlift Productions

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Ideally situated - just off Veterans and Causeway Boulevards, and near the suburbs main mall - Legends Encore is set to take-off... again
Ideally situated – just off Veterans and Causeway Boulevards, and near the suburbs main mall – Legends Encore is set to take-off… again

Imagine being tasked with re-branding and imaging one of metro New Orleans oldest and most established night spots! I mean, there have been more marriages created … and broken in this one little spot on the map than you can shake a wedding band at!

Legends Encore is now the name.  Under new owners and management – Dean St. Pierre, Nick St. Pierre & Chad Prestenbach, respectively – the NEW LEGENDS ENCORE is set to take off.

Long a favorite hangout for those single and ready to mingle, the divorced, separated, disenfranchised, fresh-off-the-backboards in the game of love … Legends has become, well, sort of a … legend.

Now, newly renovated, with so many suspended flat screens that it comes off like a Best Buy with alcohol and burgers, Legends Encore is poised to move to the top of the nightclub heap in Jefferson Parish.

And the improvements to the stage and sound system are epic!

Looking to image the club and make the most of what it has to offer, my first shot across the ‘radio bow’ came out like this.  Blow some dust off your digital device’s speakers with this one ….

 ~ Initial Legends Encore radio :30 written, voiced & produced by Micheal Ziants @ Airlift Productions for B-97 & Bayou 95.7 …. “Legends Never Die” ~

Fun, creative, with swag & attitude, “Legends Never Die” sure accomplishes a good deal in 29.5 seconds.  A call-back to the legacy of decades of parties,  teasing promises of love & sex ( ‘get the downlow on the hook-up’), even a cameo from Mike Myers as Austin Powers!

To say nothing of setting the stage – that’s Legends Encore’s stage – for this club to be perceived as ‘Metairie’s Premier LIVE Music Venue.’  And this is in an area (metro New Orleans, come on) that really knows music.

~ yet another party crowd on yet another Saturday night at Legends Encore, 2708 North Hullen, Metairie ~
~ yet another party crowd on yet another Saturday night at Legends Encore, 2708 North Hullen, Metairie ~

No, you won’t find this spot on Carrie Bradshaw’s ‘Sex in the City’ HBO reruns … but if she ever did time in Louisiana, you sure would.

Just think of me as the digital media matchmaker and toll taker on that ever elusive and always just out of reach ‘Highway of Love’! :-)

Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy from New Orleans since 1984

 

Audio Book Recording & Production, New Orleans VoiceOvers

Variety Is The Spice Of … Airlift Productions!

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Truth be known, across America today there might very well be busier VoiceOver dudes and recording studios than Airlift & me, but I seriously doubt that any are doing a wider variety of work!

In the past week alone … I’ve recorded incendiary tracks for the controversial audio book “Murder In Coweta County” (coming soon to a Pelican Publishing download/CD near you),  in-your-face TV audio for Baton Rouge, banging the drum for a Laser Tag outlet …. and canned stage announcements for a N’awlins-based Bollywood dance team!  I mean, really.

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~ Audio Excerpt of Micheal Ziants, interpreting the pain of dealing with a dead body, in Chapter 7 of ‘Murder in Coweta County” – courtesy Pelican Publishing ~

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~ Airlift Productions’ Micheal Ziants invades the flat screens of Baton Rouge – along with ad ace Nathan Ales – with this :30 TV spot (written, voiced & produced in the Airlift engine room by Micheal) to promote ‘Laser Tag of Baton Rouge’ ~

Meanwhile, as the Laser Tag dudes are going at it in the dark of the arena ….  on a brightly lit, spot-lighted stage in an auditorium somewhere around Louisiana and the Gulf South tonight –  jubilant and righteously proud moms & dads are cheering on their daughters to these stage announcements ….

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~ Airlift Mike – at it again – with pre-recorded (canned) stage announcements for Indian export Ruby Pal and her New Orleans-based Ruby Creative Dance team ~

Whew! Honestly, in my thirty years owning and operating Airlift Productions here in America’s most fascinating city, I’ve had busier, more versatile and challenging weeks … but I’d be hard-pressed to name one.

And, yes, the beat goes on …

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~ Airlift’s Micheal Ziants – bustin’ out all over! ~

Do the math ….

Versatility + Quality + Dependability = Airlift Productions.

Airlift Productions – coming soon to a radio speaker, flat screen … or auditorium near you.

New Orleans VoiceOvers

Kitty Cats & Games & Lasers, Oh My! ~ Courtesy Airlift Productions

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Artist’s rendering of Airlift Mike at the Mic ~ Airlift Productions, New Orleans

Boy, is it just me, or is it HOT in here?  Things around the Airlift Studios have really heated-up as of late!  While thick in the audio book recording sessions –  New Orleans TV & Radio have been calling.

Working alongside that rascal Nathan Ales, we’ve teamed-up to put together a radio/TV campaign for Davor & his krewe at the Laser Tag of Metairie Family Entertainment Center on Veterans Boulevard, just outside New Orleans towards the airport.

And perhaps we had just a little too much fun with this one.  Guilty as charged.

The TV thirty – with the masterful touch of digital artist and video ace extraordinaire Todd Schmidt – has the cutest little digital cartoon kitty cat playing all the games at Laser Tag.  You see him shooting basketballs, riding bumper cars, firing lasers… even sliding down the bowling alley to make a strike!

The spot is called “While the Cat’s Away –  the whole Family plays at Laser Tag Family Entertainment Center”.

Laser Tag of Metaire, which also includes a rockin' Bumper Car ride
Laser Tag of Metaire, which also includes a rockin’ Bumper Car ride

The radio campaign – which airs on N’awlins B-97 Radio starting this week plays-off the excitement of the whole experience – including pop dance music with stereo laser wash sound effects … and a ‘kitty cat’ call-back to the TV spot at the tail end.

Crank-UP your computer speakers, blow some dust off ’em,  and check-out these Airlift-produced radio :30s here ….

~ Laser Tag of Metairie “PARTIES” ** :30 Radio for B-97 Air ~

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~ Laser Tag of Metairie “JEDI KNIGHTS” ** :30 Radio for the B ~

In your face, pulse-pounding, ratcheted-up, yet fun & exciting!  If you live in or around the metro New Orleans area, you’ll have to keep an ear and eye out for them.

In the meantime, I’ll see you around the Laser Tag arena on Veterans Boulevard.  My arena name tag says ‘SkyWalker Mike’!

Oh yeah, Sorry! But the Shadow demanded equal time — Arf! Arf!

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Airlift Mike and the Shadow, a doggie with powers & abilities far beyond those of mortal dogs

 

Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy from New Orleans since 1984

Audio Book Recording & Production

Murder In Coweta County ~ Airlift Productions Style

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The “Murder In Coweta County” made-for-CBS-TV-movie created quite the stir in 1983…starring Andy Griffith & Johnny Cash

If a radio or television :30 spot is the sprint – then the recording of an audio book would have to be the marathon.  And yours truly is off to the races!

I’m not sure how you spent this past weekend (aside from joining fellow Saints fans crying in their beers), but I was ankles & elbows-deep behind the microphone bringing the true southern crime drama “Murder in Coweta County” to LIFE for the krewe at Pelican Publishing.

Raw.  Gritty. Visceral. Shocking. Controversial.   And I feel quite safe in saying that the folks who live in and around Atlanta, Georgia today in 2014 …. would scarcely recognize Coweta County and life as it was … in 1948.

When greed, money, arrogance, power, bootlegging, racism … and southern justice collide, you have to know that it’s not going to end well.  And the picture that you’re left with?  Well, who’s going to want to paint that?

Enter Airlift Mike at the mic – with one big paintbrush!

~ Excerpt from Chapter One of “Murder In Coweta County”, as voiced by Airlift’s Micheal Ziants … courtesy Pelican Publishing ~

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New Orleans VoiceOver Talent Micheal Ziants gives Voice to “Murder in Coweta County”

Honestly, I’ve recorded quite a few audio books – and yet never one quite like this.  It’s almost as if I’m helping to perform an autopsy on the very ‘Soul’ of America.  Too heavy a statement?  Well, you haven’t read this book.

While we, as a country, continue to wrestle with racism & violence – from Ferguson, Missouri to the locker rooms of the NFL –  now, let’s throw the legalization of marijuana issue into the pot (if you’ll pardon the pun), for this book deals with big $$ made off bootlegging during Prohibition … and the fallout that ensues.

Oh my.

Believe me, as a lifelong Champion of the Human Spirit, and the polar opposite, 180 degree antithesis of a racist – much of what’s in this book is awfully painful for me to articulate.

And to breathe Life into some of these characters is a seriously daunting task. Truth be known, I would never have read this book – I lean more towards spirituality, mysticism & inspiration – and now, I’m sleeping with this book.  Literally.

So, hey, light another candle for me, Lord.  And pray that I can effectively run this marathon … and come out the other side with even more compassion, understanding, and peace than I went in with.

Trust me.  This audio book is going to make a lot of noise!

The REAL John Wallace, as he made his way into the county courthouse fro trial, Coweta County, Georgia, circa 1949
The REAL John Wallace, as he made his way into the county courthouse for trial, Coweta County, Georgia, circa 1948

 

Airlift PROductions – Audio Alchemy from New Orleans since 1984

New Orleans VoiceOvers

Airlift Mike Advising Women?! Really?

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Airlift Productions’ Micheal Ziants putting in another day at the office

 

You know, the life of a VoiceOver actor is never boring.  

While I’ve never been to medical school, or even dreamed of being a doctor, as the joke goes – “I’ve played one on TV!”  From narrations inside museums – I’ve been the voice of a talking king cake – to toys that talk, I have helped bring some of the strangest things to life.

But the call came in this week to come to the rescue of a financial adviser (who here will remain nameless)  who wanted to cast a big net for women concerned about (gasp!) – growing older!  Outliving their men, as well as their $$ money in their golden years.

Airlift Mike to the rescue!

Now, if you know me or anything at all about my personal life, you’d know that I’d be the last guy in the world to ever try to offer advice of any kind to a woman.  I mean, my track record with the opposite sex has been anything but stellar.

So-o, l took a couple rather deep breaths, swallowed hard, and plumbed the depths ~ as well as my acting chops ~  for some thoughtful, pensive and compassionate tones, cozied-up to the microphone and delivered this ….

Micheal Ziants ~  Investment/Retirement Advice for Women ~ V/O

Airlift PROductions Recording Studio … to the rescue from New Orleans since 1984

New Orleans VoiceOvers, VoiceOver Marketing

Pooyie! It’s a Cajun Airlift – To Houston!

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Cajun Comic & New Orleans Voice Talent LUNO BORDELON plies his trade at Airlift Productions ~ along with some help from his pal Tee-Claude

 

Well, I don’t know exactly how you spent your weekend, but the S.O.S. had come in from Brooks & Company at BB’s Cafe in Houston for some HELP on their phone system – STAT!

Apparently, BB’s business is so booming that management thought keeping their Cajun-dish-craving patrons entertained while on-hold needed some attention, Airlift style –  so the call went out to Cajun Comic Voice Talent Stud-like-dude LUNO BORDELON!

The main problem I had was tracking Luno down – I mean, this Cajun gets around … Italy, Canada, Bar Harbor, Maine … even deep sea fishing in Hawaii!

 While some faux-Cajuns talk the talk – Luno ‘chalks it’, walks it, talks it, hunts it, shoots it, fishes it, and then cooks it up over an open fire!  True-Dat.

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Cajun VoiceOver Artist LUNO BORDELON deep sea fishing – in Hawaii, no less. Pity ‘da poor fish, huh?

 

So, as soon as I could get Luno back on New Orleans terra firma, cher, we got to work.  Make it fun! Make it sing!  Let the BB’s Cajun Cafe crowd know that they’re in for some authentic, off-the-chain damn good Cajun food ~ with a Texas touch! 

After all, so many business on-hold phone messages are so dry … so boring … so (yawn) ho-hum.  Enter Airlift Mike at the controls, punching the buttons ~ as Luno pushes YOURS!

Listen to Luno charming the masses in Houston.  The boy gives good phone.

Pooyie! NOW Houston understands what it’s IN for when they hit the door at BB’s Cafe!  The Real Deal. Authentic. Genuine. No off-the-rack dishes here.  Load-up the wagon, bring the kids.

(In soft disclaimer voice…) ‘No animals were harmed in the making of this phone message.’  🙂

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Long-time runnin’ partners Luno & Airlift Mike – hiding out in a Breaux Bridge, LA cabin (as part of the Cajun-Confidential witness protection program back in the day)

 

Why not tune-up YOUR business phone system today at Airlift Productions Recording Studio, New Orleans ? 

Audio Book Recording & Production

Murder, Race & The South – Airlift Mike Tells The Tale

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“Murder in Coweta County” Face Book Page Screenshot

I guess it’s not just any true crime drama story that has it’s own Facebook page – with a legion of fans nationwide.  But, then again, this is not any ordinary story.

Written by Margaret Anne Barnes, “Murder in Coweta County” tells the rather incredible true story, ripped from the headlines, of a brutal murder, it’s investigation, and the fallout in Coweta County, Georgia.

In 1948, John Wallace was a powerful and feared man, whose family holdings were known as ‘the Kingdom’.  But when he killed a poor tenant farmer, the ensuing investigation led to a trial – the very first in Georgia to condemn a man to the electric chair:  a white man convicted & sentenced to die … on the testimony of two black men.

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While the 1983 made-for-CBS-TV film starred Andy Griffith (against type) as the villainous John Wallace, and Johnny Cash as lawman Lamar Potts ~ yours truly has been invited to audition for the audio book version!

A-hem!  Now, audio books are a whole different animal.  And a story such as this deserves a rich, straight-ahead narrative … while s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g the ‘actor’s chops’ to embrace the colorful sounds of the south, yet at the same time tread that oh-so-thin line between authenticity and stereotype. 

How’d I do?

~  Micheal Ziants Audition for “Murder in Coweta County” ~

You know, the life of the VoiceOver actor and talent is always interesting and never a boring one, that’s for sure.

And if selected to commit the pages of this gripping, dripping-with-blood, salacious page-turner into it’s audio bedtime story counterpart, I will certainly have my work cut out for me. 

How does that old line from radio/TV days around the newsroom go?  “If it bleeds – it leads!”  And now “reads”…”Chapter one, page one …”

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Airlift PROductions Recording Studio & Airlift Mike …. telling                                 America’s story from New Orleans since 1984!