December 2006 – Capo Update
Bottoms up, Penguins and #1 Video
Monthly Motivational Quote
“Do what you love and the money will follow.”
Hi Guys,
Well, I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season and getting ready for the New Year.
As usual I will be doing my Midnight Run in Central Park…joined by a group of friends. I want to thank all of you who visited the Jib Jab site to hear my fast talking “‘Twas Night Before” Christmas rendition (for those of you who didn’t, the link is below). Okay, so what has Capo girl been up too…tons as usual and loving every minute of it…Here’s the quick recap.
Quick Summary of Update:
1- Fast talking my way to #1 in twenty four hours
2- Adventure girl on new reality show
3- A very unusual outing in more ways than one
4- Hot Penguins – and no I didn’t steal them off an ice cream truck
5- Live or Memorex on Radio
6- Getting heckled at a dry stone
7- I’m not a soap opera star, but I am a fast talker.
8- The Science of Getting Rich – available on CD January 2007
9- The Gift of laughter link
10- How to be motivational at 6 AM! – the motivational hour link
11- Zolar from Howard Stern
12- Voiceover agent – Access Talent
13- Check out my blogs on www.mysweetconnection.com posted every Friday.
14 – Become a friend on myspace.com/francapo – I’d love to have you.
1- Fast talking my way to #1 in twenty-four hours
For the past four years I have been doing my fast talking rendition of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” on both radio and TV shows during the holiday season.
This year, with my ever increasing desire to keep working my way up the Internet ladder … from doing basic email newsletters, to blogs, to audio podcasts to webcasts…I decided it was time to upload some comedic audio and video files to a comedy site. The site I chose was Jib Jab. Now of course I have a Myspace site and website (who doesn’t)…but I wanted my work to be out there amongst other funny videos.
Now, why Jib Jab? Well, quite honestly I had just recently heard about Jib Jab (yeah, what can I tell ya). Anyway, I hadn’t realized they were the same guys who did that Kerry/Bush singing cartoon that was seen by 80 million people (you know their big dancing heads on those tiny animated bodies) or that they were the same guys who had hired John Landis of Animal House fame to direct the comedy jail videos that Leno just promoted.
So when I was introduced to the site via a friend of mine, Laurie Caso, I figured it had to be good. You see Laurie used to be the head of comedy development at CBS putting shows on like WKRP in Cincinnati and Alice. He was also the executive producer for the long running award winning soap “As the World Turns” for many years. Now he is working as Vice President of Program Development at Redpost Production Studio, a division of National Audio Video’s studio.
When we met with the good folks at Jib Jab, we tossed around a few ideas and came up with me putting my fast talking rendition of “Twas Night Before Christmas” on the site to see how people would react. I also had the Mastercard spoof that my son, Spencer and I had done, which was on my website already, but thought what the heck, can’t hurt to stick it up so more people could view it.
So the next day (why waste time) I went to Laurie’s studio, and recorded the “Night Before Christmas”. It took all of one minute. Since I was there and it took longer to drive in than to do the recording, I figured why not also record my first audio book. Yup, I now have a motivational audio book, a timeless classic called, “The Science of Getting Rich” on tape. (It will be available the end of January). The book of course took a little longer to tape. Hey, I’m a fast talker, not a miracle worker.
With the fast talking tale recorded and formatted for the web, the Jib Jab people said they wanted to wait till December 12th to release it, the day after the Jib Jab brothers were mentioned on Leno. I thought that was a wonderful time…can’t hurt having a plug from the Late Night king himself.
What transpired next was totally unexpected. On December 12th, Laurie and I received an email from their webmaster telling us the two pieces were now live. He sent us the link. It was sent at exactly 10:30 pm. Anxiously, I looked at the link and saw there were already 212 hits. Wow that was quick. How the heck did people find it so quickly, what — were operators standing by?
At midnight I decided to send an email out to my mailing list. I also told my son, Spencer to send it to his friends as well. Laurie sent it to his list, and his son sent it to his friends as well. I figured in the morning they’d all see it, and then they’d start checking it out.
By 1 a.m. when I went to bed there were 619 hits. Four hundred people looked at it in one hour. I pictured some Asian person looking at it saying, “Oh this lady talk too fast.”
The next morning I got up and before even working out, I turned on my computer and checked. There were 1,500 hits and it was only 9 a.m. Apparently a lot of people don’t sleep….
(to read the rest of the story go to www.francapo.com and hit blogs)
To hear the link directly go to:
http://www.jibjab.com/jokebox/jokebox/jibjab/id/331829/jokeid/88573
2- Adventure girl on new reality Show:
Well we’ve been talking about it for years and now it finally happened. I’m now a reoccurring character on a reality show. Yup, I’m adventure girl on John Basedow’s new reality show airing in January of 2007.
You see John (the Adonis looking guy with 6 pack abs – turned pop cult figure from his fitnessmadesimple.com infomercials has been asked to launch a new reality show (the same way Roseanne Barr is doing) on Myspace. And since John and I are good friends anyway, I have become a part of his show. (It’s a great deal all around. I hang out with a friend, we motivate each other and I consciously watch my cookie intake – who the hells going to eat cookies when the 6 pack man is standing next to you!)
Anyway, we’re having a great time shooting (and yes I will write about it on my blogs)…but in the meantime, its fun to see the fans attacking him everywhere and us in the middle trying to exercise with a seal or penguin, or whatever adventure I think up for us. I’ll keep you posted when our first episode launches…but in the meantime if you want to see a sneak preview go to
www.Myspace.com/JohnBasedowTV!
3- A very unusual outing in more ways than one
It all started when Woman’s World sent photographer, Paul Schiraldi to my house to do a four hour photo shoot for an upcoming article that will appear in the January 07′ issue.
While we were shooting we were talking…(What a surprise, me talking during a photo shoot!)…and Paul mentioned that he just lost 25 pounds on this Miracle Cleanse diet. I had no clue what that was, but losing 25 pounds (and then not finding them again) sounded good to me.
I asked him for the details. In a nutshell, it was a cleansing diet (hence the name) that consisted of drinking nothing more than six to 12 glasses of hot water with lemon juice, cayenne pepper and grade B maple syrup for ten consecutive days!
The guy was so enthusiastic that I wanted to try it.
I mentioned it to my artist friend Ali, who is an adventurer like me and she was game to join me in the ten-day challenge. Of course trying to coordinate what ten days prior to a holiday NOT to eat and that would fit into both our schedules was an adventure in itself.
As we looked on the calendar I commented, “Too bad this cleansing thing can’t be done in an hour or two…you know get all the crap out of us in one fell swoop.”
Ali smiled, “Well they do have something like that Fran, it’s called a high colonic.”
“High colonic? Sounds more like a drink that socialites would indulge in by the poolside.”
She laughed, “Yeah, but those spas can have us out in an hour and we’d be done.”
“Wait.” I said. “This is one of those places where they stick a tube up your butt.”
“Yup, that would be it.” She smirked.
“So we would be paying someone to do the honors?”
“Yup. But it would be over in a hour.”
We both looked at the pumpkin pie sitting on the kitchen counter, then at each other.
“Let’s call.”
We searched the Internet and found a place called Optimal Wellness of Long Island (New York). We searched the site and saw that not only could you get a high colonic that cleanses you out bottoms up, but you can also get a coffee or wheat grass enema to boot….
(To read the rest of this story go to my blog www.mysweetconnection.com and hit blog on the left.)
4- Hot Penguins – and no I didn’t steal them off an ice cream truck.
Okay you know I get antsy if I’m not doing a new adventure at least once a month. Well, this case was no different. When I heard my friend was going to try to break a world record in the whale tank of an aquarium, I wanted to go as well-nothing like up close and personal encounters with creatures of the deep. Unfortunately, the whale in the tank season was over…but the hot penguins from Africa were in full swing. (Of course the idea of Penguins who like the heat instead of a nice igloo fascinated me)….so I inquired, decided to take my family on this sojourn to pet the penguins…and get a chance to see just how adorable these creatures are. (John and I will later be shooting this again for the reality show)
(To read the whole adventure — yeah, yeah…you know … go to www.mysweetconnection.com and hit blog.)
5- Live or Memorex on Radio
So I thought having my Night Before Christmas on the jib jab site would have lessened my appearances on radio. Actually it worked just the opposite and people wanted me to do the live rendition for their audiences. I got to joke with radio jocks, talk to listeners – who at time do ask some unusual questions like (Can you understand yourself when you talk? and they mean it…) anyway I also got a chance to plug my new book, (It Happened in New York – Second edition)…okay it’s a new version of my old book…but hey new pictures, updated facts etc…and I got to rattle off my new years resolutions fast.
6- Getting heckled at a dry stone
SO the same day I’m watching the Jib Jab counter rocket to 10,000 hits, I have to leave to go to a Casino gig in upstate New York, Verona to be exact which is between Utica and Syracuse. A good 3 hour ride.
While talking on the phone monitoring the jib jab count I miss my exit and drive to the Pennsylvania border. Seeing as the gig is in New York, I realize I miss my exit by an hour and turn around. Hey so I’m not Rand McNally.
So I get to the gig finally and check out the room. It’s in a Casino called Turning Stone. Turns out it’s a dry casino. As the show starts we notice a group come in with a huge red cooler, I’m talking the type you would take on a picnic if you’re entire clan was showing up. This guy starts popping out beers, handing out bottles of wine, I’m surprised he didn’t set up a stand and start selling the stuff. Needless to say he was causing a commotion. ON top of that he had two girls with him who were soused, and he was no looker. He looked like uncle Fester on crack. He started to heckle the comics. He wanted to beat up the male comics and he kept insisting I sit on his lap. Since lap dances are not a part of my act, I declined, and suggested his two woman friends could accommodate him much better. They were ready to go at it right there. Luckily, he felt the need to leave halfway during the headliners act…he was surely missed. Afterwards the comics all had a good laugh over the fact that only in a comedy club can you get heckled by a drunk in a dry casino. Life is really ironic at times.
7- Woman’s Shelter – No I’m not a soap opera star, but I am a fast talker.
The next morning after the Casino I had to get an early start cause I had two gigs that night. The first was at a woman’s shelter. You see John Basedow and I (you see we really do hang out a lot together) were asked by soap opera star, Catherine Hickland if we would sign autographs at a woman’s shelter in New York City on December 14th to bring a little holiday cheer to the woman. We jumped on the idea. The residence is a place where battered women and their very young children and infants go to escape the terrible life of fear, despair and helplessness. They get to live there for one year while they go back to school to get their GED. They are safe there, they have a home. It is not government funded. This is their 14th year of Christmas dinner’s and she wanted it to be special.
That night I met John there. He was already surrounded by woman feeling his muscles, snapping pictures and signing autographs. Slowly other soap opera stars showed up. The thing is these guys are all tall. I felt like a midget. Plus these people are highly recognizable…”Oh theres’ Brian…Oh there’s Tom.”
Finally one woman asked me, “What soap opera are you on?”
I felt like making something up, “As the stomach turns.” But just stuck with who I was. “Me, I’m the worlds fastest talker.”
“Really, wow would you sign this?”
Once they me signing other woman came up and I wound up doing my trade mark, “Three Little Pigs” fast talking rendition for all of them. It was awesome. I couldn’t stay long however cause I had to high tail it out to the Crest Hollow Country club to entertain a bunch of plumbers – okay no wise cracks…actually I was surprised, no cracks at all. 🙂
8- The Science of Getting Rich- CD Available January 2007
So you know that I became friends with this guy Nik Halik from the Titanic. Nik is a fellow adventurer and self made millionaire many times over. Nik introduced me to this book, called The Science of Getting Rich. It’s a timeless classic on the mental state you need to put yourself into to become wealthy. It also the same principles of mind that our millionaires of today, like Trump, Tony Robbins, John Basedow live their lives on. I read the book, liked it and Nik suggested that I put the book on tape since I do voiceovers. I did research, found out what I had to do, spent a few hours in a studio and now have my first book on tape. I of course added my own Capo style introduction. I will now sell them at my lectures. The tape will be available January 2007.
9- The Gift of laughter link
So most of the radio shows I did were about my fast talking “Twas night before Christmas” and plugging my book. But in between all that, I did do two different shows. The first one was on ‘The GIft of Laughter” with Jo Condrill. She was introduced to me by Bea Davis, the PR lady for Manny (The worlds largest athletic – a 710 pound sumo wrestler – Yeah I know what a group of friends I have.)
anyway, the show went great. If you want to listen to it go to
http://audiopostcard-004.com/Y.sap?8391734X116
10-How to be motivational at 6 AM! –
You know the one thing I don’t miss about working at WBLS-FM radio was getting up at 2AM to be at work at 4. But to catch the early morning commuter you need to. So when I was asked to do a 6 AM morning drive motivational radio show I said sure.
Let me tell you. I got up at 5:45 am. did some jumping jacks and did the interview under my cozy covers. It was a great time….
I have an MP# I can send to anyone who is interested.
11- Zolar from Howard Stern – Friday nights on Sirius (check out my myspace)
So I’m at home working on my blog and an IM pops up from Ismokedsomenuts. It says, “Hey Fran can you call into my radio station now?”
I’m like, “who is this?”
“Zolar?”
“Zolar from the Howard Stern show?”
Now I had done Howard Sterns radio show years ago and he reaired my interview on the Best of Howard Stern for several years. So I figured what the heck- even though last time he talked about the size of my breasts, I figured I was safe since I wasn’t’ in studio with him.
So I call into the station, Zolar is shocked, but we have a nice conversation. Turns out it was a fan’s of Zolar who IM’d me and not Zolar himself. Later Zolar calls back and says hey can you come on next week when I am prepared for you and we can really plug some stuff.
So I do, and now I will be calling in quite often.
12- Voiceover agent – Access Talent
So I decided that even though I do a bunch of voiceovers for different companies, that it might be nice to get an agent and have her submit me to things that I don’t have access to, you know that voiceovers for animated cartoons. I think I’d make a good fast talking cartoon character in a movie…kind of like Hammy in Over the Hedge.
So a manager friend of mine, Jackie Tellalian, contacted her friend, Linda at access talent, and now I’m freelancing with them. They are great people and I look forward to working with them in 2006.
(You can see me doing voiceovers for cartoons at my website, www.francapo.com under video links.)
13-Don’t forget to check out my blogs on www.mysweetconnection.com posted every Friday.
14- Become one of my friends on MYSPACE.COM/FRANCAPO
HAPPY NEW YEAR. MAY SUCCESS, HAPPINESS, HEALTH, WEALTH, LOVE AND LAUGHTER COME TO YOU AS QUICKLY AS I TALK.
LOVE FRAN