Doug Turkel, one of the best marketing talents in the voice trade, has a piece of swag you’ll love -- a free e-book called “Voices of Experience.” It’s a collection of insights from 30 of today’s best talkers, including Dave Fennoy, Scott Rummell, Joe Cipriano, Scott Brick, Pat Fraley, and more. Subscribe to the newsletter and Doug will send you a link to download the book absolutely free-as-in-beer. Operators are standing. Bye!

If this blog is known for anything, it’s that we jump at the chance to post a nice picture of a pretty face on it. (It’s one of the perks of running the joint.) And this face belongs to a very cool chick we had the pleasure of workshoppin’ with at a Marice Tobias seminar in Atlanta. Peachtown-based promo specialist Rachel McGrath waxes motivational during a blog chat at benztownvoiceover.com. For “busy active lifestyle” types, here’s the Quick Look version:

When you’ve heard “No” for the 97th time, remember that you’re already ahead of most people, in that someone is even listening to give you any response at all. Congratulate yourself for being in this lofty position, then send out fifteen hundred more demos.

Yahtzee. Thanks, Rachel. Keep being awesome.

Actor Dick Beals has died at the age of 87. The Detroit native is best known for lending his unique sound to two classic characters: product pitchman Speedy Alka-Seltzer and claymation icon Gumby. A glandular condition left the diminutive Beals with the same voice he had as a child, which led to a string of kid-voice roles in a career that spanned seven decades. "Once directors found there was a college graduate who could do children's voices, they didn't have to call those nutty mothers anymore and ask them to get Junior to do the part," Beals told the Lansing, Mich., State Journal in 2007. "I could do any voice, boy or girl.”

Ron Simon, radio and TV curator at the Paley Center for Media, said "So many people experienced his great voice but, unfortunately, did not know his name.”

So long, Mr. Beals, Thanks for everything.

As David Letterman has proven over and over, we all love a good Top Ten. And over at Backstage.com, the lovely Taryn Southern’s got one. It’s a rundown of ten online tools every actor (and by extension voice actor) should have in their toolbox. We suspected it might be a laundry list of flavor-of-the-month gadgets, but it turned out to be a good solid collection of basic necessities for self-marketing -- which we all know is every VO’s real occupation. Plus it was an excuse to start off the week with a very nice headshot. Like.

She’s known by many names. Rocky. Natasha Fatale. Jokey Smurf. Cindy Lou Who. You can probably rattle ‘em off as well as we can. June Foray, the Grande Dame of Animation, is still brightening the world at age 95, just by being in it. The Queen will hold court with Dan Lenard and George Whittam on this week’s episode of East-West Audio Body Shop, Sunday night at 9 pm in the East, 6 pm in the West, live on USTREAM. (If perchance you’re reading this later, you can catch an on-demand replay on the EWABS page.) If hanging out with George & Dan isn’t part of your Sunday night routine, you’re wasting your time in this business. Tonight’s webisode will be what Barney Stinson would call “Legen…wait for it…dary.”

Lisa Biggs, the kid-voice queen we think of as our buddy, sister, or daughter depending on the moment, has apparently just launched a new personal blog called Biggie Dreams. We say “apparently” because we just learned about it from a Facebook post. Which means at this particular moment we’re thinking of her as “daughter that never fills us in on what she’s up to lately.” Anyway, Biggie Smalls’ new hangout has a great, funky, scrapbooky look. And she’s launching with a first post comparing herself to…Albert Einstein? Yep. It’s not nearly as self-impressed as it sounds, though. The money quote:

I don’t know about you, but when I have a lightbulb moment, I want my idea to materialize instantaneously. Our culture has created a microwave mentality that fosters a false sense of urgency. The feeling that dreams we dream today should have been realities yesterday, is the undercurrent that carries us through our creative and professional pursuits.

Like Einstein, I want to swim against the current. I want to invite time to work with me, not against me. How about you?

We’re down with that, sweetie. Now tear yourself away from that stupid computer and clean up this room!

If The Soup doled out voice-acting advice instead of Kardashian clips and Seacrest jokes, Joel McHale would definitely be throwing to this one as the Kick-Ass Clip of the Week.™ Ladies and gentlemen…Seth Godin:

Those are pretty much the only two choices.

Being judged is uncomfortable. Snap judgments, prejudices, misinformation... all of these, combined with not enough time (how could there be) to truly know you, means that you will inevitably be misjudged, underestimated (or overestimated) and unfairly rejected.

The alternative, of course, is much safer. To be ignored.

Up to you.

We all have our Walls. Yours may not be as scary-dramatic as the Pink Floyd rock opera, but we all smack our nose into one every so often. Sometimes they’re self-made. Sometimes they’re imposed from without. But everybody hits one from time to time. Dave Courvoisier runs down a quick list of five things you can do to get over, under, around or through whatever Wall is in your way, and move on into John Mellencamp territory. (Wall-wise, that is.. The Coug’s dance moves aren’t for everybody.)

Nancy Wolfson of Braintracks Audio shares another free mini-lesson -- and this one’s brimming with that hot girl-on-mic-on-floor action America craves. The topic is getting into “relax” mode for a laid-back read, and it’s hard to argue with the exercise’s impressive results. What we’ve got here is another demonstration of the direct, clear style that’s made The Wolf one of the most in-demand vocal mentors around. Come for the black leather -- stay for the on-target insight. Okay girls…y’all have at it…

Bobcat Goldthwait, who once joked in a radio interview we did with him that his career was “six months away from doing boat shows with David Hasselhoff,” shares a bold and unorthodox perspective on Show Bidness Success. Bob, who’s a much brighter guy than his IMDB rap sheet might suggest, says walking away from the spotlight was the best career decision he ever made. We’re not all in a position to pull a Bobcat, of course, but his perspective is well worth pondering. The money quote:

My point is this—if you want to be happy in showbiz (or any creative field), listen to that voice inside you. Even if it says “F*** it” sometimes. Work with your friends. Avoid chasing fame or money. Just do what you want to do, when and how you want to do it. And if it’s not making you happy, quit. Quit hard, and quit often. Eventually you’ll end up somewhere that you never want to leave.

True story.

Lisa Biggs, our sister from another mister, called the other night to ask us to be part of a video idea she’d just cooked up with her young Voxy Ladies padawan learner Bella. We, as always, were delighted to accept. With a tip of the hat to recent viral video sensation Jake Foushee, here’s what those two goofball kids came up with (Lisa sez YouTube wasn’t cooperating, so click the pic below for a direct link to the version on Vimeo.):



BTW, you can get more info on Bella here. Check in with Lisa here. And the voice of Lisa’s Inner Lafontaine is here.

In an age of tabloid tarts and Autotuned Idols, Ingrid Michaelson is a breath of fresh air. With a little help from Dylan Steinberg and Chris Kuffner, Ingrid demonstrates the power and impact of a well-modulated voice. We know the only thing this has to do with voiceover is the U87/pop filter combo. And as a rule, we don’t even like Rhianna. But we think this is pretty frictkin’ cool.

Good stats on Voice123 take time to rack up. But renewing members have often been surprised to find out their hard-earned positive track record gets reset every time they renew their annual membership. It’s like somebody pushes the Noob button as soon as the check clears. But them days are apparently over.

On the “Voice the Dream” blog, community manager Steven Lowell has shared about a small but significant change in the 123 system. Bottom Line: your stats no longer get reset when you renew. This strikes us as a good, common-sense tweak. 123’s Monkey in the Middle business model may not quite be a Golden Ticket to VO Stardom yet, but we see this as a definite step in the right direction. Like.

He’s been called the most bankable actor in Hollywood history. What’s his secret? Why, he’s got mad skillz of course. Y’all give it up for The Godfather of VO Soul, Mr. Frank Welker…

The new viral sensation of the week is a YouTube clip from Jake Foushee, a 14-year-old voiceover enthusiast from Mebane, North Carolina, who gives it the Full Lafontaine in this simulated movie trailer that’s been lighting up audiences from coast to coast:



No doubt about it -- Jake’s got some great pipes for 14 . It’s a performance that’s especially impressive since he’s delivering the read through a Snowball USB mic. Voice 123 blogger Steven Lowell takes a look at the fastest spreading VO phenom since Ted Williams leaned into that reporter’s car in Columbus, Ohio early last year. The rundown includes this thoughtful top ten on the trajectory of the typical voiceover career:

1. Find your inspiration
2. Impersonate others
3. Dump that and find your own voice
4. Pursue what you want
5. Ignore critics
6. Listen to critics
7. Ignore them again
8. Stick it out until the honeymoon is over
9. See if it is really what you want to do with your life, as a career.
10. Get a 2nd job, if you said yes to #9, which doesn't mean you are giving up.

We’d optimistically put ourselves somewhere around Number 6. But this weekend’s workshop in Atlanta with Marice Tobias should catapult us right to the verge of Number 7…or set us all the way back to Number 4. But we’re loading up plenty of Fraley and Wolfson onto the ol’ iPod for the drive down, so anything could happen.

Paul Strikwerda, who’s not only a top-notch voiceoverist, but one of the smartest guys in the biz, has pulled off a rare trick: a blog post about rates that has something new to say.

The received wisdom in the voice trade is that posting a rate card on your website is a bad idea that will brand you as a Noob, or worse, cause you to leave money on the table. Paul was once in that camp himself -- but has recently changed his mind. When the Dutch Master speaks, we listen. We’re still not fully convinced, but this is a post with some very worthwhile points to ponder. Highly recommended.

We’re still managing to avoid the siren song of the Audiobooks portion of the VO business, but we’re nonetheless looking forward to Part 2 of VO Buzz Weekly’s interview with long-form maestro Scott Brick. Scott gave good guest last week, and delivers the goods again in the second installment.

That’s VOBW co-host Stacy J in the pic, by the way. If you’ve forgotten what Scott looks like, there’s a headshot a couple of items down the page in our plug for last week. Not to get all Don Draper on ya, but we think Chuck D’s co-host sets the page off much more nicely, thank you very much.

This one’s actually a couple of weeks old, but we just saw it, and Easter weekend seems like a good time for a lesson in the virtue of kindness. Voxy Ladies co-founder Lisa Biggs shares a personal story about a recent Left Coast acquaintance who decided to buck the ruthless nut-cutter trend in El Lay and make The Golden Rule her byword in business as well as life.

Yipes. We can’t believe we just used the phrase “ruthless nut-cutter” in a post involving both Easter and Lisa Biggs. Kinda spoiled the moment there, didn’t we? Anyway, it’s a good story, even if we didn’t do such a hot job of setting it up. Happy Easter. Seacrest out.