Char-len

Char-len CHAR-LEN houses and nurtures new found creative processes through an eclectic mix of elemental and i

Bob Merrill, The Art of His Simplicity. Composer/Lyricist, Bob Merrill's  gift for poignancy is evident in the handful o...
07/27/2024

Bob Merrill, The Art of His Simplicity.
Composer/Lyricist, Bob Merrill's gift for poignancy is evident in the handful of these Broadway Musical scores produced between 1957 and 1961. Take a listen, and slow your pace for a humane moment or two.

I’d like to take the time to shed some light on a sadly neglected contributor to the world of the Broadway Musical. So many composer/lyricists seem to have b...

https://youtu.be/Hi3E4HTpHVc
07/16/2024

https://youtu.be/Hi3E4HTpHVc

Roger Anderson composed the score for my play, Of Lives and Leaves. The both of us spent many an intense evening discussing the nature of underscoring for a ...

As our editing continues, I'd like to introduce you to Jerusha; a significant new figure in the Seven Episode universe o...
04/09/2024

As our editing continues, I'd like to introduce you to Jerusha; a significant new figure in the Seven Episode universe of Char-Len's audio production of, The Unsymmetrical! Join me for a minute or three. Won't you?https://youtu.be/P2gyy4Et2WY

01/29/2024

https://youtu.be/-hlVbEBO_Tg

From the time I first heard my parents copy of the original Broadway cast recording of the 1961 musical, Kean, I was obsessed with questions prompted by its stunning finale. To this day…I still am. For this month, I offer up for your pleasure what is, in my opinion, one of the most moving final moments coming from any musical. It makes its articulate point in attempting to convey all of the self doubt, self discovery, elation and occasional despair that inevitably play their parts in the lives of those who dedicate themselves to artistry...
(song follows at the end of Vlog.)
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Have a snuggle under my Christmas Covers this holiday season…I’ve assembled five charming songs for your holiday enterta...
12/23/2023

Have a snuggle under my Christmas Covers this holiday season…I’ve assembled five charming songs for your holiday entertainment; all from major Broadway musicals both successful and not. Attached to each is a loving cover of that same song sung by another artist. Enjoy the spirit they evoke, and thanks for the spiritual fuel you provide all year round.

Enjoy these five holiday songs from MAME, GREENWILLOW, HERE'S LOVE, PROMISES, PROMISES and SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING. performed by their original Broadway cas...

Our stalwart technical crew has been tirelessly at it for several weeks now. Matt Straub, Phil Bevers and Kevin Mora wil...
05/01/2023

Our stalwart technical crew has been tirelessly at it for several weeks now. Matt Straub, Phil Bevers and Kevin Mora will join me in the studio this coming Sunday, May 7th for a pretty intense review of the scoring, F/X and foley'ing we've implemented for the first episode in our five part radio serial, The Unsymmetrical! Please stay tuned here for further manifestations. Or you can keep track our handiwork at www.johnalbancoughlan.com In the meantime, and as always...Be well. And remain engaged.

https://youtu.be/aUcBTlRmAAwWe’re so thrilled to share news of Char-Len’s completing the last of The Unsymmetrical!’s pr...
04/26/2023

https://youtu.be/aUcBTlRmAAw
We’re so thrilled to share news of Char-Len’s completing the last of The Unsymmetrical!’s principal recording sessions this month. Actor, Karen Jones arrived from L.A. completing the last of our six character track vocals. Karen was hired sight unseen via Voice 123, and knocked it out of the park during her five hour audio booth session. With the expert help of our sound team; Master Engineer, Matt Straub, Sound Designer/Composer, Phil Beavers and composer, Kevin Mora, the afternoon was an inspired one. Karen’s a powerful and enchanting performer; perfect for the estimable character she portrays in the five episode series.
The Unsymmetrical!’s pilot episode, Rex’s Purse, will be completed by May 7th with a public reveal scheduled for this October. The entire series completion date is set for July 1st, approximately two and a half years after its inception in 2021. We’ll be creating some fun backstory promos over the next few weeks. So, please stay tuned. Any questions about Char-Len? Any interest you’d have in joining our cottage family? Feel free to contact me at www.johnalbancoughlan.com. Until then and as always…Be well and remain engaged. Bye-bye for now.

Info regarding actor, Karen Fisher and the last of our six recording sessions for Char-Len's radio serial, The Unsymmetrical!

THE PASSING PRESENCEFor me anyway, Sudden passings (too quick absences) seem to bring about a dizzy rush backwards throu...
03/07/2023

THE PASSING PRESENCE
For me anyway, Sudden passings (too quick absences) seem to bring about a dizzy rush backwards through my most formative experiences. Am I regressing? No, I don’t think so. I believe it’s a positive means of my advancing forward. Those policing angels who blessedly direct the ebb and flow of my decades of wending this way and that continue to inspire and encourage my movement in mystical ways. It’s nice to dedicate time to wondering about it all? Nice. There’s a sweet and centered steadiness to the word that allows both good and bad to be represented simultaneously in a kind of peaceful almost sweet mix…like the flavors found in a marble cake. A lifetime of of light and dark being married together. Ah, the wondering and the wandering.

Speaking of which…

Shortly after my college graduation, my friend Jean made a gift to me of a very old edition of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ novel, The Sojourner. I just finished my four years of theatre training at Boston University feeing as though my feet or perhaps, being a Pisces, my fins weren’t quite touching the ground.

But, I digress…

I’d never read anything by Ms. Rawlings before even though I was familiar with two film treatments of other books she’d written; specifically The Yearling and Cross Creek. But, The Sojourner proved to be a timely gift that struck a mysterious and personal chord in its eloquent and simple attempt to define the nature of service, and the often inexplicable gifts it graces us with cumulatively during our lives spent.

Coming to New York City was like stepping into a blissfully chaotic and complex lifestyle without my having any of the necessary practical tools to ease-fully support it. Over time, as it pertains to me anyway, I came to understand that practicality can at times act as a creative barrier. There are those unfamiliar paths that risk exploration and reward us by accident. Or is it accidental at all?

So, after a rather long hiatus from my Vlog activity here, I hope that you’ll join me once again as I resume my part as a digressing pinball darting my bumpy, flipping way through sundry territories. Moves that may have been chartered by a spring mechanism pulled by some grand master’s hand. It’s all about what you put faith in, right?

All the roads I’ll share with you here offer attractions that either led me to or distracted me from what I at least thought were my best intentions. All of them stem, as you might guess, from attempts to root creative thought into grounded action. All of them run around my often critical self observation over these past forty some odd years of stirring the pot. And, as a friend told me recently, if you stir the pot-you gotta lick the spoon. Salient words, indeed.

So please stay tuned! There’s a lot to be mined from my personal attractions vault. Having a Virgo rising sign to use as my divining rod, I’ll continue my attempts to part those turbulent chapters in my sojourns here and balance the tidal flow of my more piscatorial tendencies. Sounds like a mouthful of fun!

Until next time.
Please be well…
And remain engaged.
Bye bye for now.

THE PASSING PRESENCEFor me anyway, Sudden passings (too quick absences) seem to bring about a dizzy rush backwards through my most formative experiences. Am ...

Hey Everybody! It’s been quite a while since I’ve had any presence here. These past few months have been rife with produ...
01/22/2023

Hey Everybody! It’s been quite a while since I’ve had any presence here. These past few months have been rife with production STUFF! But, I’m well. Hope all of you are, too!
And, here’s one of the things I’ve been up to; this fun episode of The Big FibPodcast! I had a grand time. It's all about cheetahs this round. Do yourselves a favor and catch the wave to catch the liar. Think of the classic TV game show, To Tell The Truth with a panel (or rather a panelist) who’s quite young and extraordinarily savvy. I’m sure you’ll have a blast! It's easy to locate and thoroughly binge worthy!
This episode... !
Till next time…
Stay well…
And remain engaged.

https://youtu.be/UjgigW6uY60
08/02/2022

https://youtu.be/UjgigW6uY60

So many memories of our growing up together. I'm sharing just a handful for now....Second childhoods spent in NYC during the 80's...Giddy, formative, fine t...

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