NOAA’s Official Track of Hurricane Katrina ten years ago in that Fate-full Summer of 2005
OK, as blogs go, this one may be a bit more painful than most. And as I sit today, comfortably in the A/C, at the Airlift Productions Studios in NOLA, it’s hard to believe that as I write this, we’re a decade down the road.
Frankly, I do not have enough fingers and toes to count all the people that I know personally who lost everything – homes, cars, all the worldly possessions of a lifetime – through the aftermath of this one storm.
Folks who, like me, packed-up the car with enough clothes and necessities for a 3-day evacuation, convinced we’d be back home, snug in our own beds by Tuesday.
Mother Nature … and that Mother Katrina had other ideas.
As the ‘homes’ they returned to were buried to the rooftops in Katrina & Lake Pontchartrain’s floodwaters!
And as if ‘things’ weren’t enough to lose, I even had friends who – in fits of despair and hopelessness – chose to end their very lives.
Like I said. A blog more painful than most.
Yet, as the Ten Year Anniversary rolls around – Katrina roared into town August 29th, 2005 – it’s time for NOLA and the Nation to reflect. Reflect on where we’ve been. And where we are.
Micheal Ziants mic-side with Norman Robinson, working on ‘Storm Challenge’ for Versatile Productions & Versabar
Through the past couple weeks I’ve had the pleasure of working with Paul Atkinson, producer/videographer with Versatile Productions, who hired me to record my old pal Norman Robinson for a documentary he’s working on about the storm, the aftermath, and repairs made – to both our infrastructure … and New Orleans’ collective human spirit.
While it was good to work with Norman again, and meet Paul, at times the sheer weight of the project loomed rather heavily in the Airlift Productions Studios.
Give a LISTEN to just a bit of what went down at the Airlift Productions mics on this project, remembering Hurricane Katrina….
Norman Robinson in the Airlift Productions Studios August 2015
Through ten very painful – and yet encouraging – years of rebuilding, along with all it’s survivors, I’ve heard all the aphorisms and cliches, but the one that reverberates most true is the classic – “That which does not kill us only makes us stronger”.
If indeed that’s true, to readers of this blog from around America, come on down! Come bring your tourist dollars, appetites & senses … and feel the muscle of America’s most fascinating & resilient city ~ New Orleans, LA!
E.R.I.C. the talking skull records VoiceOver at Airlift Productions
“No recording studio I have worked with has given such personal attention toward perfecting the ‘science of sound’ than Airlift Productions in the hands of Micheal Ziants. I thank him for the many voice-overs and sound effects he produced for my syndicated television shows “MORGUS PRESENTS”! ~DR. MOMUS ALEXANDER MORGUS, aka Sidney Noel Rideau
The UK’s TOBY KEBBELL – Dr. Doom – Records V/O for Sony Corporation At Airlift Productions
When ‘Fantastic Four’ opens today down at the mall cineplex , Airlift Productions & I will be watching it quite a bit differently than most. Let me tell you why.
I almost didn’t take the call that morning because it in no way looked familiar on my caller ID. Turns out it was a ‘Louise’ calling from Tag/Europe in London. She’d found my website in a google search, and was wondering if I had the time to help her on ‘a project’.
As it turns out, Tag’s client is Sony Corporation in Japan, and they’d hand-picked TOBY KEBBELL as VoiceOver spokesperson for all their Xperia-Z tablet computer TV ad campaigns.
Fantastic-4’s TOBY KEBBELL records V/O with Airlift Mike at Airlift Productions NOLA
Now, the problem was that in the UK the letter ‘Z’ is pronounced ‘Zed’, and their entire TV campaign – now destined for the US – needed re-voiced with the Yank’s sound … Toby was in NOLA at the time, and the call came in for some HELP!
Perhaps you’ve seen Toby already in ‘War Horse’, ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’,’Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’, or ‘Prince of Persia : Sands of Time’. Today, he’s cast as Victor Von Doom in Marvel’s ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot. He’s a product of Nottingamshire, England, quite studly, easy on the eyes – and the ‘birds’ in the UK are just gaga over this dude.
In any event, Toby shows up at the Airlift Studios in a rent-a-car driven by his brother that morning… relaxed, unshaven, in shorts and flip-flops – hey, it IS a voice over session after all. And via the Airlift phone-patch, we joined forces with Louise in London … and her associate/client – in Japan!
Hey, all’s well that ends well (didn’t Shakespeare say that?), the session went splendidly – Toby laid down the tracks, they were approved by all the powers-that-be, and Airlift Productions & I delivered the big fat aif files into the mac computers at the edit bays within Tag/Europe in London within minutes.
LISTEN to just one track, destined for United States TV, and how well my new pal Toby says the letter ‘Z’ right here …
** Toby Kebbell speaks for Sony Corp at the Airlift microphones **
Not bad, huh? So when Toby – as Victor Von Doom – terrorizes and spreads mayhem versus those Fantastic Four dudes down at the theater during this smoking-hot summer of 2015, at least now you know what’s going on under the hood … of Doctor Doom!
Save some popcorn for me, stay safe out there, and I’ll see y’all at the movies!
“For Voice Actors, the demo serves as a calling card and is unquestionably the most important tool in the pursuit of voice over work. Micheal Ziants and Airlift Productions produced my first VO demo and within weeks I landed my first job in the industry! Airlift’s state-of-the-art recording studio combined with Mike’s wisdom and expertise provided me with an excellent demo as well as the confidence needed to achieve success.”
— JOHN DENNEY, Founder & Lead Singer for the notorious LA-based 80s Punk Rock band THE WEIRDOS, and aspiring Voice-Over Talent
Micheal Ziants – New Orleans Voice Over Talent & Airlift Productions Studio Owner ~ 2012 promo pic
It’s kind of hard for me to get my mind around sometimes, but I recorded my very first radio commercial in late 1971 just outside Columbus, Ohio in a little town called Delaware. At WDLR radio. For, of all things – a funeral home.
Today, in 2015, just a few years later, and literally thousands of commercials later, I find myself still perfecting the craft. And at the same time marveling over the fact that while many things in the industry have changed, at the heart of the art will always be the need for attention, engagement, entertainment and imagination!
From reel-to-reel tape to mp3s, from broadcasts to podcasts, from mixing consoles to digital audio workstations – the tool kits have changed but the heart of the art remains the same.
And one of the things that I’ve relished about my now-thirty years of running Airlift Productions here in New Orleans is that many of my clients have entrusted me through the years to not only serve as the voice and producer of the commercials – but to WRITE them as well.
So, let’s play and have some fun, while at the same time, lace-up the Adidas for a jog down memory lane.
Airlift Productions Client Legends Encore
This week I got my imagination racin’ and had quite the time writing copy, assembling bites, voicing and recording yet another radio thirty to help pack the night club known as Legends Encore here in the bosom of suburbia outsideNew Orleans.
Opening with all the intensity of a movie trailer, “Wine, Women & Song-2015 style” opens with battle axes on shields, horse whinnies, and sword play … and closes with Billy Crystal from “The Princess Bride” shouting “Have fun storming the castle!” The last thought? The night club’s name.
Attention + Engagement + Entertainment + Imagination = Memorable Radio.
See, while everyone else is trying to cram way too much information, and laundry lists of prices, items, phone numbers, addresses, yada, yada, yada …. Airlift Productions captures attention, has some fun, entertains, and delivers.
For client after client. Year after year.
Now, as to the ‘jog down memory lane’ part of the blog, just a couple quickie faves from the ’90s that I still get comments about….
I loved working with Archie Manning. Yes, Peyton & Eli’s pop was a client of mine for a couple years as he and his partner Steve Smith, a body builder from Mississippi, were co-owners of Archie Manning’s Gold’s Gym on Veterans Boulevard, and I wrote, voiced and produced all their radio ads for them.
I’ll never forget Archie rolling his eyes when I came up with this one: I’d be Santa Claus and he’d be the perennial kid sitting on my knee during December in the mall telling me what he wanted for Christmas! Really.
*** Airlift Mike with Archie Manning, “Gold’s Gym”, 1992 ***
Gee, and the Saints wouldn’t even smell a Super Bowl until a couple decades + later.
Although his boys sure have seen their fair share, huh?
Yes, radio spots, in order to be effective, must prove WORTHY of the imagination of the listener. And show RESPECT for the time that they’re investing to listen.
OK, just one more.
Cajun Comic & New Orleans Voice Talent LUNO BORDELON plies his trade at Airlift Productions ~ along with some help from his pal T-Claude
One of my favorite people on planet Earth is this wacky Cajun from Lafayette, LA named Luno Bordelon. In fact, just this past Tuesday night, while in NOLA on business, he spent the night with us here in Metairie.
Well, Luno and I were tasked with building the crowds at a local Mexican restaurant named “Jalapenos”, and I came up with the idea that this was “the Mexican restaurant that even a Cajun could love”.
So, I played intrepid man-on-the-scene reporter and Luno was, well, Luno! Check out the Lu-nacy here….
*** Airlift Mike & Luno Bordelon for “Jalapenos” ***
Wow! And after all these years, 1971-2015, this is still FUN!
As a guy who fell in love with theater and the human voice as a kid, then a mad love affair with the radio and tape recorders – it’s still today almost as if people are paying me to play with my train set.
Yes, when it comes to advertising, audio – and well-constructed radio ads – will always drive the emotional train. Allow me to be your engineer. All aboard! 🙂
“I have worked with Michael on a free lance basis for years. I continue to be amazed at his technical genius and amazing voice. His ability to make the average sound spectacular never ceases to amaze me! I have worked with Mike on a variety of projects, and he gets it done right the first time, every time! It is ‘one stop shopping’ for first rate results!”
*** Millie Stouse Fuselier, New Orleans Queen of VoiceOver ***
Walt Handelsman’s fun take on the whole Bill Cosby tragedy – courtesy the New Orleans Advocate
It’s long been said that the squeaky wheel will always get the grease. You also used to hear in those prehistoric days before the internet and digital, when the Sunday comics really hit home on an issue – “Hey, I’ll see ya in the funny papers!”
I’m reminded of these two thoughts every time I check out the New Orleans Advocate newspaper in print or online, because they’re fortunate enough to have corralled the outrageously and wickedly talented WALT HANDELSMAN.
The art of editorial cartooning has always fascinated me with it’s power, reach and stunning clarity. With it’s unique ability to cut through the bullshit and take us to the heart of a matter or issue – with humor.
Walt’s inspired take on the poker-hot issues of the legacy of Dixie, the flag, and N’awlins own Lee Circle on Saint Charles Avenue
Walt is simply the best-of-the-best in the editorial cartooning field! Accomplished, eerily insightful, and always entertaining, this two-time Pulitzer Prize winning genius plies his trade daily to the delight of New Orleans readers in need of a hearty laugh in hard times.
Walt Handelsman caricature of that Mike McCann (Ziants) guy on an old Airlift Productions note pad – 1994
He was launching an effort to promote his convention outreach program wherein he would stand in front of a convention crowd with an overhead projector and actually interact with the conventioneers and draw cartoons for them LIVE – along with their input.
Yours truly, Airlift Mike, was selected to help tell the tale.
Contracted by Lenny Delbert of Pan Am Communications, I worked with Walt across a remarkable afternoon to narrate his promotional video to help get this idea across to potential New Orleans convention meeting planners. The word “fun” hardly captured the whole experience.
In fact, enough with the introductions, MEET the inimitable genius of Walt Handelsman here ….
Squeaky wheels? Funny papers? Howzabout one more line?
It has been said that the pen is mightier than the sword. Yeah, I know, I get that. But this dude has raised it to an art form.
And, yes, even – and especially – Walt would appreciate the pun. 🙂
It occurs to me that my last several blogs have dealt with Life’s Rear View mirror (history), so let’s pump the brakes just a second and re-enter the 21st century – in fact, a poker-hot July at the Airlift Productions Studios in NOLA.
From the days of the Mad Men in the ’60s to today, let’s face it, SEX sells! Folks will part with their last dollar to find it, thrill to it, and hang on to it. The magic allure of sex is a well that the Madison Avenue crowd will always draw from. Always. And in all ways.
I was reminded of this just this past Wednesday as the phone rang from Madison Avenue in NYC looking for some help on a project for Yves Saint Laurent. The boys were curious if I could find some time to record an actor while he was filming for HBO in New Orleans.
Ah-h, sure, let me check my schedule.
So, in the middle of cranking out some new night club commercials (also involving sex and the search for same), I agreed to record Edoardo Ballerini on behalf of Yves Saint Laurent for Moritz & Company in Manhattan.
NYC-based Film/TV actor Edoardo Ballerini records VoiceOver for Yves Saint Laurent at Airlift Productions NOLA
Check this dude out. Perhaps you’ve already witnessed Edoardo’s talents on the Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire on HBO. It was further work with the Home Box Office crowd that brought him to NOLA. His new show, coming soon, is called “Quarry”.
What a stud. Edoardo blew through the Airlift Studio doors yesterday afternoon with all the swag of Johnny Depp … only with more talent! His zen-like, laser-focused mic techniques – honed through his recording of over one hundred audio books – were most impressive. Listen here to just a bit of this week’s magic captured by the Airlift Productions mics …
** Edoardo Ballerini talks for Yves Saint Laurent, 7-16-15 **
Ballerini on-camera playing shoot-em-up
This guy’s skill set is just off the charts. Not only is he bilingual, fluent in Italian as well, but he studied Latin while on a scholarship – in Rome. And his relaxed and self-assured looks allow him to fit into any era on film. And play good guy or bad – with style.
In fact, as we discussed his life yesterday after our session, while he banged on my guitar in the Airlift Studios Green Room, I felt somewhat envious. Edoardo jets between NYC and NOLA, playing out the lives of fascinating folks on sets and sound stages …. while yours truly makes a living from the solitude of a dimly-lit, tricked-out digital cave.
Airlift Productions, New Orleans
But it’s funny, ya know, the Great Spirit has kept things in such perfect balance that one cannot lose one thing without gaining another. One door may close, but a window will open.
And a fine digital cave it is. And I have my privacy. And flying is for the birds. And the inquisitive fingers of prying TSA agents.
Which brings us back to sex.
And it continues to sell – well at Airlift Productions.
** A couple recent radio thirties for the gang at Legends Encore from Airlift Mike & the Airlift Productions Studios **
“It has been my pleasure to collaborate with Mike at Airlift on a variety of projects from sound effects for museum films, to narration for corporate and commercial work, to high end deeply layered radio spots. In every case, he has maintained the highest standards of production that equal anything produced in New York or LA. He is dedicated, tireless, dependable and truly enjoys his work to the point of making the process actually fun. I would not hesitate to recommend his services to my colleagues or anyone seeking a totally professional sound track.” ~ DALE ANTHONY SMITH, Designer/Producer at Multi-Media Corporation, NOLA
Norman Robinson sat in the Anchor chair at WDSU-TV, New Orleans for over twenty years … and still today records his euphonium and VoiceOvers at Airlift Productions.
I first met Norman Robinson in 1991 at the Airlift Productions studios on Iberville Street. He was fresh off the White House beat for the CBS Network and was the newly ordained nightly news anchor at WDSU-TV here in New Orleans.
Along with John Lee, the founder of the I Can Learn educational programs, he showed up at the studios to record some promotional VoiceOver tracks to help attract some attention to this new and innovative method of teaching.
I was thinking about our first meeting and that first session together as Norman arrived at the Airlift studios this past Friday, February 6th, 2015 to record with me… yet again.
Let’s see, so simple math would indicate that our relationship and friendship now spans nearly a quarter of a century!
(L-R) Brian Landry, Norman Robinson, Rich Lenz & Airlift’s Micheal Ziants ~ in the Airlift Productions ‘Green Room’, along with a plaque commemorating four years of Children’s Miracle Network Telethon Theme Songs for our Children’s Hospital in New Orleans
In addition to his outstanding contributions every night for over two decades in the anchor chair at WDSU, Norman is quite the musician as well. While foreign to many, the euphonium (sort of a hybrid cross between a french horn and a tuba) is Norm’s instrument of choice.
He played it in the marine band while in the service, and still does today in various orchestras and ensembles around the Crescent City – and for the Children’s Hospital NOLA at Airlift Productions.
Norman Robinson at the euphonium, along with Brian Landry, the “Soul Men”, laying-down tracks for the 2014 Telethon at Airlift Productions
But it’s more than his chops at the euphonium or at the anchor desk that make Norman so special. It’s his spirit! Charm. Charisma. Magnetism. Gravitas. Norman didn’t just sit in the anchor chair. He inhabited it. He owned it.
In a day and time where even NBC Network News & Brian Williams’ authority and credibility have now come into question, the city of New Orleans always had its fingers on the pulse of what was going on … and believed in and trusted Norman Robinson.
It was that trust, that gravitas, that authoritative weight that brought Norman back into the Airlift Productions Studios this past week to record VoiceOver for a very special project. Just give a listen to a taste of what went down Friday here ….
*** Norman Robinson at the Airlift Productions microphones Friday, February 6th, 2015, talking unabashedly of the city he loves ***
If all Norman did was string words together in that marvelous booming baritone, to many, that would be more than enough, but it doesn’t stop there. His nightly news laughter and asides, and his boundless humanity and love of life on the yearly Children’s Telethons is what endeared him to so many.
Witness this clip provided by his successor Scott Walker, from a cell phone video at our last telethon in June of 2014, as Norman invokes the spirit of James Brown ….
*** Norman performs to make the telephones ring and the pledges come in at the 2014 Children’s Miracle Network Telethon ***
As Norman and I wrapped-up our session this past week, we reflected on our many years working together. And I guess the most interesting part of our conversation was about what lies ahead for us … because we’re just getting warmed-up.
Because, you see, on that great Highway of Life, the most fascinating years, the really interesting ones … are through the windshield – not the rear view mirror!
For more, as they used to say in the ad world, “Watch this Space”.
(L-R) Airlift’s Micheal Ziants, Norman Robinson, Heath Allen, Rich Lenz at the WDSU-TV Studios for the annual Children’s Miracle Network Telethon.
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.)
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.
Hizzoner & Council Prez Stacy Head on the job, working it out for NOLA
“Annie’s” Quvenzhane Wallis records VoiceOvers for Chrysler-Maserati at Airlift Productions … from Hushpuppy to Annie
So, what DOES a ten year old do in between starring in “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (for which she earns the Best Actress Academy Award nomination) and helping all of America re-boot the Little Orphan Annie franchise?
Well, she heads to Airlift Productions in New Orleans to pick up a part-time job recording national television & radio work for Chrysler & Maserati with Airlift Mike, that’s what!
Hired by a Los Angeles-based ad agency that found my website, I vacuumed-up the Airlift red carpet in February to welcome little Quvenzhane, her stage mom and brother to come play in my sandbox for a day. And what a day.
Although, I must confess that I was caught a bit off guard when the agency declined the phone patch offer … and told me that yours truly could coach and direct her through the reads. Really?
The youngest Academy Award Best Actress Nominee Ever records VoiceOver at Airlift Productions
OK, so let me see if I’ve got this straight …. I’ve been tasked to record – and direct – the Academy Award’s Youngest Best Actress Nominee in it’s history through an entire VoiceOver session?
Oh, it went fine. The ads were a follow-up to her Superbowl 2014 spot for Chrysler-Maserati, wherein they’ve got a ten year old girl “manning-up” to pitch their automobiles! I kid you not.
LISTEN to just some of our session together – out takes included, her ‘back-cracking’, watery eyed sneezes… and just plain being a sweet, and often overwhelmed, ten year old little girl in this never-before-heard exclusive audio clip —-
“Annie” & “Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Quvenzhane Wallis cozies up to the Airlift Studio mics for Chrysler-Maserati, Feb 2014
Honestly, this little Houma, Louisiana born cutie is the real deal.
In “Beasts of the Southern Wild” her grit, character, gumption, and tenacity were showcased, and all of America is about to be charmed by her grace & style when “Annie” hits theaters across the USA for Christmas next month.
In the meantime, should you catch any of her work in the advertising realm, now you know the rest of the story … sincerity & searing honesty from the mouths of babes, courtesy Airlift Productions.
And should I happen to catch you around the mall cineplex for “Annie” next month, the first tub of overpriced popcorn & a soda are on me. Cheers!
Quvenzhane & Micheal Ziants spending some time together at Airlift Productions, February 2014
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 ~
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’! :-)
The “Murder in Coweta County” made-for-CBS-TV movie starred Andy Griffith as the villainous John Wallace – and the iconic Johnny Cash as the heroic sheriff Lamar Potts
In Mary Shelley’s gothic “Frankenstein”, her monster was created from the exhumed body parts of the murderous and insane dead. In the controversial true crime drama “Murder in Coweta County”, Margaret Ann Barnes attempts no less a task.
In this case, venerable & beloved Andy Griffith, in the made-for-TV movie, is cast against type as the villainous & evil 1948 Georgia wealthy land baron John Wallace. And the iconic legend Johnny Cash portrays the noble sheriff on his tail – Lamar Potts.
Today, in 2014, Airlift Productions and I have assumed and shouldered the truly awesome responsibility of voicing, recording and editing the bound-for-Pelican Publishing concerns audio book title of the same name.
While previous blogs of mine have dealt with the arrogant, violent, racist, monstrous John Wallace character (spoiler alert!) who was put to death in the Georgia state electric chair in 1950 – today’s blog introduces you to the noble & righteous real-life hero Lamar Potts!
Even though many of the scores of characters in the Airlift version of this audio book are painted with broad strokes of southern caricature and color, I’ve chosen to paint this unique sheriff in neutral tones … relaxed, calm, reassuring, caring, and almost dialect-free.
Destined for a Halloween finish date – and the night before All Saints Day – meet the hero, the true star of “Murder in Coweta County”. Meet the sheriff of Coweta County. Meet Lamar Potts ….
~ Micheal Ziants creates the iconic Coweta County, Georgia sheriff Lamar Potts, excerpted from Chapter 3 of the audio book, courtesy Pelican Publishing ~
Micheal Ziants creates the audio book “Murder in Coweta County” for Pelican Publishing, New Orleans
I wanted the listener of this book anywhere in America, or the world for that matter, to be able to personally relate to the hero. To make him appear with a drawl, southern accent, or any caricature of any type would totally defeat that purpose. So, he kind of sounds pretty much like … me. But the best part of me.
You know, a quick look at today’s headlines, both national and international, would indicate that we today are still making many of these John Wallace type monsters… from the dark basements of Ohio to the bloody sands of terrorist-laden Syria.
But along with the release of this audio book, it is Airlift Productions and my sincere hope and prayer that we are also creating ethic-filled, righteous – and yes, almost saintly – triumphant and true heroes!
The real John Wallace (center) and Sheriff Lamar Potts (right) entering the Georgia courthouse for trial, circa 1948
Mother Nature … and that Mother Katrina had other ideas.
