aric with an a

this is a photo of the first time I got on the mic after a 4-year hiatus. it was in a big, big building, complete with armed guards and walls that kept both things said in, in. and things said out, out. sitting across from me is a guy named Ken. he had somehow found out I had radio experience and came to me with an idea - teaching English and Chinese via something called a ‘podcast’. so we met and we wrote and we recorded and then we produced this idea. the rest, as you know, went well. ChinesePod became a worldwide phenomenon. thru that whole time - even before, in the conceptual stages, Ken mentored me. he also looked out for me. he gave me money sometimes when I didn’t have any. and to this day, he never let me pay for a drink. [and let me tell ya, when you're spending hours-upon-hours in a small homemade studio, there's a lot of drinking.] he took care of me. and he took care of others. he was the creative pulse behind what was once a promising product. he would sit and listen to my ideas and push me to try them. he came to everything I put on. he came for Scott’s 4-hour funk session. he even funked on-stage for us once. he’s a goodfella. and he is someone I consider a friend. I say all of this as recently, as things do in Shanghai - a company he started with another made the press for closing up overnight, with everyone involved fleeing the country. money is owed both to students and teachers. rumors of ‘thugs’ visiting the schools are flying around and no one’s really sure what to believe. I don’t know what happened, but have spoken to a few who do. their story is out there if you’re really interested. but I’m writing this to say that Ken ain’t the type of person who would be behind this. the others, Steve and Brian? you betcha - I know from experience. but not Ken. is he caught up in it all? sure. but again, he ain’t that type. I don’t know what’s going to happen, nor do I really care. but with all the shit flying around, here’s one guy who owes his career in Shanghai - one that led to many more opportunities - to Ken Carroll. which means I knew him pretty well. and he ain’t the type of guy who does this.

while I’m usually self-deprecating, there are occasional moments then I think - ‘you know what Queen? you’re a cool guy!’.

I’m also convinced God hears things like this and takes great pride in reminding me that I’m not.

in my inbox today was a link from a friend I had never met…to a video game I had forgotten I had been a part of.

oh, youth.

[for the die-hard stalker[s] of mine - here’s the game. looks good on X-Box 360, I hear…]

I can’t tell you how long I’d ignored this footage in my hard drive.

but with Sarah’s birthday just around the corner, I forced myself to go thru it.

it was a good weekend - his birthday weekend, actually.

and these are just the scenes we can show you.

it ends sad, both the story and the rough little vid.

but that doesn’t mean it ends badly.

just sad.

so, sure - a crap birthday gift if you look at it that way.

but maybe it’ll bring back a load of good things.

and the people you shared ‘em with.

I think that’s what a good birthday would be.

[if you can see this, click here]

I can never actually describe the place I first lived in when I randomly moved to China.

but here’s a look.

as stated - nothing was done to the color or contrast, it’s actually like that.

and you wondered why I drank a lot that year.

[if you can't play this, click here]

a collection of old clips I thought long gone.

so here’s to gaby. to scott. ben and nicky. ruru. anna. sarah and alonso.

sitting on my terrace.

[and once more to scott.]

the family.

ever have something mean the world to you and break your heart at the same time?

I did.

this note from my best friend, Scott.

-

and btw, probably not even possible but you know I gotta ask you

anyway.  I’d be ever so honored if you’d be my best man September

13th.  Also no pressure as you’re on the other side of the world and

have some pretty special circumstances with travel to china.  I just

needed to ask you anyway, bro.

S

 I came in tonight and had an email that someone had linked to a show I did called ‘pilot’. Now, if you know anything about me, I’ve produced more ‘pilots’ than I care to admit. Mainly because only about 5 of them ever ended up going farther than their initial offering. That being said, this was one I was proud of. Not for the video production, or the hosting - but for the simple fact that this was the first thing I had ever produced outside of the old ChinesePod shows. Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking - I feel bad about calling them out a week ago. No. I don’t. I would hate to think my speaking my mind would compromise the Jedi/Padawan relationship I have with Ken, but that’s all. It’s just had me thinking about the past few years…

Anyway, yes. This was a scary thing to put out there. I had walked from CPod and was on my own - with the small few who followed me. I liked this for that reason and for the fact that this was before I had really soured on Shanghai. Kind of like looking at photos of you and your ex a year or so after the breakup.**

So here it was, the pilot to The Shanghai Show. Watch if you want, I just liked writing about it.

 —

* ‘Jai you’ (ji yo) meaning ‘come on!’ in Mandarin.

** which is why you should take photos the next time you and your sig. other fight. This makes said picture experience easier.

Shanghaiist picks this story up.

I recently gave an interview to Louis Yu on Victoria’s CFVU 101.9 on my travels, trouble with the Chinese gov’t, state of the music scene there and my move back to the U.S. It was then picked up by the widely-respected 56 minus 1.

Louis is a guy I’ve gotten to know over the past few months and has turned me onto a lot of the ‘younger’ stuff these kids are listening to today and Adam Schokora is someone who makes me glad I’m not living in China anymore as he is what a true producer of new media should be and I would have ended up slagging him off behind his back out of pure envy.

Not to mention I was compared to the most loyal of all subjects on another blog - which actually made me smile.

Worse things than waking up to these 3 after the fucking bickering that’s begun over the previous ‘larceny!’ post…

Happy Boxing Day, indeed!

Not a week goes by that I’m asked about the old show. Correction - my old show. Show’s still going as well it should. It’s brilliant and revolutionized how languages are attained and absorbed. And I’ve put off penning my thoughts. Had put it off. Until a few things came to light these past few weeks.

For-the-record, I’ve never gone on-the-record about what happened, but shall. ‘Cause people ask. And they did someone wrong. Blatantly. So here goes.

My Exit

…was eminent. Gone were the good ole days of free beer in the fridge and everyone having no idea who did what. Not to say we didn’t get it done - we did. And had fun. Hell, more concept was conceived in the pub than in the boardroom and it was everything you read about in cool start-ups. The converted warehouse. The excitement. Late nights and early mornings. The risk. The mayhem. All of it. But with success came structure and that really killed what was had. It happens, I suppose - the need for someone to start counting the money going out. But what a drag. No more free beer. A timeclock. Someone who reviewed the timeclock and wore a tie. Squares - you know the type. They needed to make money, fair enough. But when I went from producing a show I was a part in starting to being also told to produce the corporate programs said suit brought in to help pay the bills, I walked. Walked under the announcement that it was becoming a ‘production house’. It did - but more on that later. I was asked back to continue doing The Saturday Show (and at half-a-million downloads a month, you can see why) I agreed. Purely for the money. A few months later I started making a whole lotta money (that sounds weird to even write), so I left. On good terms. Still am. Ken’s a big brother to me and Hank is one of the smartest men I’ve ever worked with. So that was it - ‘thanks very much’ and ’see ya at the pub’. All things good and all things fine.

Spanish/Italian/French/etc

…this is what I meant. Now - as stated, no one paved the road towards online learning more than we did. No one. I can show you obvious knock-offs and apologetic ones. There’s a reason we made Time Magazine’s Top 10 List. ChinesePod ‘coming from our studios in Shanghai’ along with the Chinese staff on board to help in a Chinese neighborhood with Chinese culture in China is what made it that. But ‘ItalianPod coming from our studios in Shanghai’ doesn’t seem to carry the same…oh, what word am I looking for here - ‘credibility’? No, that’s not it, because they had true speakers and the same approach, but it seemed…greedy, I suppose. But they have to make money and I understand that. ChinesePod, despite being flown into teach the CIA Mandarin wasn’t making anyone rich. So dowhatyagottado, I guess…it just seemed to cheapen it.

The Man

Said suit is the band promoter who tries to grope groupies by promising them backstage access (no pun intended). He began to stifle the creative flow there. With everyone. Trust me on this, I’ve heard it from them. The program director called me once to produce some much-needed openers/closers for them which I did. My policy being ‘you-give-me-that-pile-of-money-and-I’ll-give-you-this-cd’ meant he had to pay me out of pocket, as suit was somewhere out of town touring a bean farm or whatever. When suit came back, he allowed for the promos to be played, but told director that because he didn’t okay it, he wouldn’t get paid. He’s one of these guys. So PD left. Suit implements a ‘no free coffee’ rule for the staff of 40+. Now their last hope of bringing an edge to the show, [Dear] Amber has left. Gone. Sorry to break it to ya’ll but she has. So - It ain’t looking good. And here’s the kicker - as good as this is to learn a language, the economy is shit and people are starting to cut back on things. Now - you have a educational program with pop culture benefits and an amazing cast, it becomes a personal attachment and perhaps will make the cut. But without these, it could be deemed a ‘lose-able luxury’.

Now…the kicker.

They. Fucking. Stole.

This is what is comes to? God - I hope not. But they did. Here’s what happened. A friend of ours, of yours and mine, came to Shanghai with an idea. An idea for a new show for ChinesePod. He played it to them and they loved it. Told him to keep his phone on over the next few days. No reason why they shouldn’t have - it was a good show.

Then nothing. Silence. Then the ‘would love to but we don’t have the budget’. Fine. And fair play. They don’t have the money. That’s how a pitch goes. No hard feelings.

Then this (if you can’t see the link, it’s restricted to premium access so I ripped it and uploaded it again):

Didn’t see the dates? I’ll help you.

• ‘Radical Approach’ (remember the pitch? ‘no money’?) - uploaded on April 15, 2008.

• ‘The Radical Show’ (even stole the name? are you kidding me with this?!) - released on December 16, 2008!!!

To be honest - I’m fucking floored. It - despite its choices in suffocating surrogates - is a classy operation. It has huge potential and not just in this capacity. I remember Ken talking once about how he wanted to put basic Arabic onto mp3 players and send them off to our troops! It was this kind of thought and intellect that  started this entire thing, but to stoop so low as to not only steal from a man who helped them along the way, but to not even change the title, it’s pathetic. As is the show, but that’s neither here nor there.

So that’s it - up until I saw that video, I was fine. If it weren’t for Ken and Hank, I’d still be teaching English. I have nothing but respect for them. That being said, whoever had even a finger in the release of this is a cowardly hack.

Shame on you.