Mark Time Radio
The Last Mark Time Radio Show
Oct/25/14 20:35 Filed in: Great Northern productions | Mark Time Radio Show
Cyber Bob and the Digital Nymph
Yes, we’re sad to say this was the last dangerous Mark Time Radio Show. We’ve been doing them for 17 years, and it’s time to move on. ● This time David Ossman of the Firesign Theatre returns one last time to the live raucous stage to play Cyber Bob, who leaves his position as cart-wrangler at the Mart to lead a digital expedition into the digital glade in search of the beautiful yet elusive Digital Nymph. There's a history between the two, and they are not playing...well, they are playing games...and when the Nymph asks, "Do you want to take the leap?" There's only one answer for an old campaigner like Cyber Bob. (See more...)
Also on the playlist is A DAY AT THE LIBRARY where they answer that electric question, "What would be the first thing you'd make with a 3D printer?" A 1958 Ford Edsel, of course. We also find there are other things we can make to enhance our 3D lives.
Both pieces recorded live before a very appreciative geeky audience at Convergence 2014, Bloomington, MN. We give heartfelt thanks to the convention for their support all these years. Especially we thank the Main Stage crew and the ASL interpreters for helping to make the shows possible. We’ve had a terrific ensemble cast, and some great guest stars over the years. We hope you’ve had as much fun listening to them.
Available for download at ZBS. To be broadcast on Sound Affects on December 7, 2014.
Mark Time Award Winners 2013
Mark Time Award
GOLD
The Truth: Biological Clock
The Truth
Written by Ira Gamerman
Produced by Jonathan Mitchell
New York, NY
www.thetruthpodcast.com
SILVER
Alone in the Night
Electric Vicuna Productions
Written & Produced by Jack Ward
Michael L. Stokes, Production Engineer
Halifax, Nova Scotia
www.evicuna.com
Ogle Award
GOLD
The Legend of Springheel’d Jack
Wireless Theatre Company
Written by Gareth Parker, Robert Valentine
Producers, Robert Valentine, Gareth Parker, Mariele Runacre-Temple
London, England
www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk
SILVER
The Perhapanauts: Monsters Among Us
AudioComics Company
Written by Todd DeZago, w/Elaine Lee
Produced by William Dufris, Lance Roger Axt, Elaine Lee
Bellingham, WA
audiocomicscompany.com
There’s a lot of audio theater out there on the web. I tell people there’s probably more audio theater being made now than there was during the heyday, the Golden Age of Radio. Maybe that’s true. Maybe it isn’t. It’s certainly true that there’s a bigger variety of works available now. Science fiction and Fantasy are a very large percentage of what’s new in audio drama, partly because it lends itself so well to the medium.
We would like to thank the Geek Partnership Society (GPS) for their generous sponsorship for a dozen years or so, and thank CONvergence for their support in giving us a stage to present the awards and a chance to spread the word that there’s a lot of good audio stories out there. Please give it a listen.
The Mark Time Radio Show
Great Northern Audio has presented the Mark Time Radio Show each year of the Mark Time Awards - though they are related by name, they are really separate events. We have another coming for CONvergence this year, as well. Keep an ear out for Cyber Bob and the Digital Nymph, coming this summer.
Also this summer, Decoder Ring Theatre has taken six of our Mark Time Shows and reproduced them in their own grand manner for the Summer Showcase series of Mark Time Show Time. Check those out, too. They are really fun, if I do say so myself.
However, after this year we will be giving up our place on the schedule of CONvergence. This will be our last dangerous Mark Time Radio Show. It is time for us to move into new ventures and other efforts dear to our hearts. We thank all of you for listening to these shows. We will have new and more ambitious works to come, so keep checking back here for those.
We are also hanging up our stewardship of the beloved Mark Time Awards. It has been a great honor to keep them running since their inception. We have given the reins back to the owners of the character of Mark Time. We don’t know what will happen to them, but we certainly hope they continue - I would love to keep being a judge. I have loved listening to the hundreds of entries all these years. I’ve learned a lot. And if we have encouraged some of you to try to make your audio theater better, then we have succeeded in what we set out to do. We encourage you to keep making great SF audio, and to keep sending it to us here at Great Northern. Jerry still has a radio show to broadcast them on (Sound Affects: A Radio Playground on KFAI), and he’s always looking for new material. We’d love to hear what you think about all this. Comments can be sent through Facebook and Twitter.
Mark Time Radio Show Sales Event at ZBS
Jan/07/14 14:42 Filed in: Mark Time Radio Show | Great Northern productions
Our digital warehouse space is limited and all Mark Time Bundles downloads have been slashed and must go:
Did we say? MARK TIME FIRESIGN THEATRE GUEST BUNDLE - was $39.42, that´s crazy, now $34.95.
The MARK TIME GUEST STAR BUNDLE - was $19.42 now a ridiculously low $14.95.
and The COMPLETE MARK TIME RADIO SHOW COMPLETE BUNDLE - (was $59.42) -- 15 years of science fiction satire and lunacy performed on a live stage in front of a live audience for just $52.95. That includes 14 shows plus a number of audio shorts.
Here´s what some of Mark Time´s favorite professional guest performers have had to say:
"The collection of CDs you guys have done over the years at the Con embody some of my favorite live performances (and the few opportunities to play in other writers´ work!)"
-- David Ossman (Firesign Theatre)
"The most fun I´ve had in 20 years."
-- Michael Sheard (Dr. Who, The Empire Strikes Back)
"I´m not putting that bucket on my head."
-- Wally Wingert (The Tonight Show)
"That´s it. I don´t want to play the dwarf anymore."
-- Cyber Bob (Cyber Bob and Silicon Kid)
"You can´t have two Scotsmen in the same play. It´s just not done."
-- Phil Proctor (Firesign Theatre, Rugrats)
"It´s ok, Philip. I´m sure they´ll do better the next time."
-- Melinda Peterson (Cagney and Lacey, MacGiver, JAG)
"Look, really, the dinosaurs aren´t mine."
-- George Leroy Tirebiter (High School Madness)
Yeah, we do make them available for sale, but all of these have been on many peoples’ podcasts for years, so it’s not like they aren’t out there to find. This is just the high-quality audio files with a CD cover PDF file included.
While we’re on the subject of ZBS, we’re broadcasting their latest Jack Flanders story, Dreams of Tiffany Blue, on Sound Affects: A Radio Playground on KFAI community radio. It’s January 5 and 12, 2014. If you missed one, they’re kept in the archive on the KFAI website for two weeks.
AND, a wonderful ZBS series called Saratoga Springs is being made available for listening by the online news-site, Saratoga Wire, along with a nice writeup about Tom Lopez, the talent behind everything ZBS.
And finally, all the Mark Time Radio Show CDs are available at Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore, in Minneapolis, including the latest ones - Jokes in Space with VIllains on Parade, and Thwack That Dirigible with SpaceGirl, which aren’t available on CD anywhere else. CDs specially made for Uncle’s.
Mark Time Radio Shows
Dec/11/12 20:44 Filed in: Mark Time Radio Show | Great Northern productions
Mark Time Radio Bundles from ZBS
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the coveted Mark Time Awards—the only awards given annually to honor the best in science fiction and fantasy audio theater. (Meatball Fulton has a lifetime achievement award from Mark).
Each year Jerry Stearns and Brian Price of Great Northern Audio Theatre have celebrated the celebration by writing and producing their own ridiculous sci-fi satires performed before a live audience just preceding the awards ceremonies. These silly shows have always been well received and under distributed.
But right now you can download them ALL from the fine folks at ZBS. All highest quality audio at 320 kbps, with PDF covers and liner notes.
Mark Time Radio Shows Complete bundle
- $ 59.42 ($91 originally)For the first time ever—the compete package of Mark Time shows in one place for one low price. Space travel, time travel, kids, monsters and inflatable dreams—no subject was left unscathed—though we promise few Tribbles were harmed during the recording of these shows.
Includes:
Velveteen Submission
Peter Galaxy / Tell Them NAPA Sent You
Martian Trombone / High Moon / Wizard Jack
Super Pal / Jewels of the 11th Generation
Cyber Bob / The Learning Curve
Jokes In Space
Villains on Parade
Thwack That Dirigible
Space Girl
Mark Time’s Firesign Theatre guest bundle
- $ 39.42 ($65 originally)David Ossman of the legendary Firesign Theatre and in reality, Mark Time himself, was often on hand to celebrate the celebration. His talented friends and compatriots, Phil Proctor and Melinda Peterson, made wonderful appearances as well. Besides, if Santa Claus lived in outer space he probably would look and sound a little bit like Mark Time.
Space Girl
Cyber Bob / The Learning Curve
Jewels of the 11th Generation / Super Pal
Martian Trombone / High Moon / Wizard Jack
Peter Galaxy / Tell Them NAPA Sent You
Velveteen Submission
Mark Time Guest Star Bundle
- $ 19.42 ($30 originally)
Over the years Mark Time has played host to some wonderful guest stars: Michael Sheard (Admiral Ozzel of Stars Wars), the grand dame of fantasy—Jane Yolen, the Voice of the Tonight Show—Wally Wingert, and the amazing voice talent Chuck McCann (CooCoo for Coco Puffs).
Peter Galaxy / NAPA (David Ossman & Michael Sheard)
Martian Trombone / Wizard Jack (David Ossman, Phil Proctor, Jane Yolen, Melinda Peterson)
Villains on Parade (Chuck McCann & Wally Wingert)
SpaceGirl - The Mark Time Radio Show 2012
SpaceGirl: Downloading the Legacy
The Mark Time Radio Show at Convergence 2012 was a huge bit of fun. We had a terrific cast, lots of sound effects, and an enthusiastic audience. We marked the convention theme of “Wonder Women: women in science fiction” with a female heroine played by the fabulous Melinda Peterson. And we celebrated the 15th Anniversary of the Mark Time Awards with two members of the Firesign Theatre in the cast; David Ossman and Philip Proctor always add performance excellence to a production.
SpaceGirl
Linda Kim Shelmerdine discovered her powers as a teenager, when she was a turmoil of solar and hormonal flares. Now she occasionally feels her age, and she’s tired of the way everyone seems to perceive of superheroes saving the world, always in it for themselves. Meet Dr. Creep, the Super Villain, and Senator Mulder Hack, chair of the joint joint sub-sub-committee, and the magnificent Hungarian Dwarf Parade, who are watching over SuperGirl’s personal affairs.
Available now as a download from ZBS.
The Cast: (above, left to right)
Wndy Bowlsby
Tim Liebe
Megan Petersen
David Ossman
Gordon Smuder (Transylvania TV)
Melinda Peterson
Phil Proctor
Rich Fish
Tim Wick
Tony Brewer (sound effects with Brian Wesley)
___________
Music by Eleanor Price.
Sound by Jerry Stearns and Kris Markman.
Produced by Jerry Stearns and Brian Price.
David Ossman - Mark Time himself
FST at CONvergence
With some of the Firesign Theatre at Convergence
Jerry Stearns, Phil Proctor, Melinda Peterson, David Ossman, Brian PriceOver the 4th of July weekend David Ossman and Philip Proctor, of the fabulous Firesign Theatre, attended Convergence, the science fiction convention, at our invitation. They came to help celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Mark Time Awards, along with several of the Award winners. David’s wife, Judith Walcutt, founder of Otherworld Media, was a Guest of Honor of the convention, as well.
We could not pass up the opportunity to invite them both, along with Phil’s wife, Melinda Peterson, to take parts in the Mark Time Radio Show. With a cast like that, and the regulars we always ask because they are so damn good, we couldn’t lose. Well, we could, but believe me, we didn’t. And neither did the audience. SpaceGirl: Downloading the Legacy was terrific fun, and you’ll get a chance to hear it shortly in this space.
But, wait, there’s more. There were several panels that included David, or Phil, or Melinda, or Judith, or some combination of them. On one, titled All Things Firesign, the subject of how the 4 or 5 Crazy Guys worked together came up. It was mentioned that there is an audio piece floating around that demonstrates their process in a rehearsal of the Hellos and Goodbyes section at the end of the 1998 album, Give Me Immortality Or Give Me Death. They have given us permission to post that piece here. It’s 17 minutes long, and 20 MB.
If you’d like to hear more of Ossman at the Twin Cities conventions, check the left-hand column for a link to Coming Soon To A Galaxy Near You, part of a program on the film history of George Tirebiter, performed at Minicon 1996. And give us a couple of weeks and we’ll post the SpaceGirl show, starring Melinda Peterson as SpaceGirl, and Phil Proctor as Dr. Creep.
Mark Time Radio Show 2011
Jan/02/12 11:46 Filed in: New Release
Thwack That Dirigible
orDo You Want Fries With That?
Great Northern is proud to release the latest Mark Time Radio Show, live from Convergence 2011. It’s available as a download from the ZBS Catalog.
A stolen dream-driven dirigible, an evil steam-powered spider and a styrofoam grail, all have the fair dream mistress Princess Doyle a la Carte and the decidedly bubbly Count Pierre d'Orc on the run beyond the overtaxed capacity of their Heisenberg Hyper Extended Reversal Dream Drive.
Steampunk and other steam-like stuff take a bath in this latest Brian Price and Jerry Stearns satire. Featuring special appearances by The Tonight Show's Wally Wingert, Transylvania Television's Gordon Smuder and the Hungarian Dwarf Parade.