People

Last night my lovely wife Cinda and I dressed in our finest and headed off to the New York Academy of Music for the 2014 Audies Gala. It was going to be a fun evening no matter what happened, because we don’t often have an excuse to do this sort of event.

We hopped into the cab called for us by the doorman at our New York hotel and rode the several blocks to the site of the gala. All went smoothly on our trip. Actually a little too smoothly. We arrived 20 minutes before we were supposed to. Ah, the trials of trying to out guess rush hour traffic in Manhattan!

The folks at the New York Academy of Music were nice enough to provide Cinda and me with a place to relax while we waited for the registration desk to be set up. 15 minutes or so later they were ready and we checked in at the desk. Yes, our names were on the guest list!

We then joined the crowd going to the pre-Gala reception on the third floor. Lovely and delicious foods of various ethnic origins were provided along with a wide selection of beverages for every taste.

Here’s a photo of Cinda and me with our friend Roxanne Hernandez Coyne from the reception.

After a very pleasant time of chatting with old friends and making a few new ones, we all went back down to the main floor and the auditorium for the main event.

The president of the Audio Publishers Association, Michele Cobb, introduced the host for the evening, the very talented Libba Bray; who provided plenty of laughs as well as kept things moving from one award announcement to the next.

About 30 minutes into the awards announcements we came to the category where I was nominated, Business/Educational. After reading through the nominees, the winner was announced. I believe I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. My book, Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army, was the title read as the winner. Here is a list of all of the 2014 Audies winners. You’ll find my entry part way down the page on the left side.

I don’t have a copy of the official award winner photo taken at the close of the Gala yet, but here is a photo of me holding the award with actress and voice talent Pam Tierney.

Pam was kind enough to take time from her schedule to work as my director for this book. Also providing invaluable help were my son Eric Souer as my audio editor and my daughter Karen Souer as proofer.

By the way, you can find detailed coverage of the 2014 Audies Gala on the APA website (link is PDF) and on John Florian’s excellent VoiceOverXtra.

My friend Andi Arndt has written a wonderful post called The Sound of Life about wrestling with whether or not to add an isolation booth to her toolkit as a narrator. I think you’ll find it well worth a few minutes of your time.

With my thanks to Dan Hurst for posting the link to this video on Facebook, here is a fabulous short documentary about the great Hal Douglous.

I’m hoping to see the new movie In A World in a few days. If you’re involved in voiceover or interested in voiceover, you’re likely hoping to see it as well. Meanwhile, you might want to check out the excellent review of the film posted in VoiceOverXtra by Heather Costa.

My very good friend Leslie Wadsworth is the narrator of an inspiring new audiobook called Gods of Noonday. Leslie’s is one of those luscious voices I can listen to all day, reading anything; so when she’s telling a gripping story, it’s very much worth checking out. Here’s her narration of the book’s prologue so you can see and hear for yourself what I’m writing about.

[audio: https://bobsouer.com/pix/Leslie_0_Prologue_V2.mp3]

With one son about to launch out in a new direction, our middle son David is not only celebrating his entry into legal adulthood today, but in the last few months he’s started working with me as well. It is a great joy working with David. He has done a superb job with each project I have assigned him and at least one massive project from earlier this year would not have been completed on time without his truly excellent and dilligent work.

I’m very proud of the man you have become, son. Happy Birthday, David!

In fact, a couple of special days in a row; but more about the second part of that tomorrow. Today is a day to celebrate the birthday of our second child and oldest son, Eric.

Since he graduated from high school 5 years ago this past Spring, Eric has been my partner and helper and audio editor. We’ve traveled to lots of events of one kind or another, all having something to do with learning all that we could about growing and strenghtening our business of delivering excellent voiceovers … of telling stories in the most powerfully effective way possible.

We’re standing today on this day we celebrate the anniversary of his birth at the start of a new phase in Eric’s life as he makes a significant transition back to school, launching out in a new direction.

It’s a day filled with all kinds of emotions for me, but all of them are good. Going forward I know there are things I’m going to miss, but I know without a shadow of doubt that the direction Eric is taking is exactly the right one for his life. I support these changes wholeheartedly.

And I remain profoundly grateful for all that we have been able to do and experience together. God bless you, son. Happy Birthday!