MOCtalk celebrates year of showcasing independence

by Mathew Hadley | Written for Niagara This Week! | Original Link

Niagara’s only independent talk show, MOCtalk, has been consistently growing over the last year.

From the rocky start of their first episode to the recent airing of their 11th, founder and host Joe Stracuzzi admits that each episode is as unpredictable as the last.

“I can say that we’ll never, ever, ever get it down to a science,” he said. “We got a little more comfortable on the later episodes and it became less … stressful for us.”

MOCtalk (MOC is an acronym for Musician’s Online Community) began as Stracuzzi’s vision – an opportunity to showcase Niagara’s art scene to the rest of the world.

But when it all began 12 months ago, things were shaky for the production. Stracuzzi’s original plan was to have the show broadcast live on the Internet, but after experiencing some difficulties with this process, a different approach was created.

“It’s funny because the show has been consistently inconsistent from day one,” said Stracuzzi. “We got lucky that one of our cameras happened to be an HD camera that [first] time around, and it happened to capture more behind-the-scenes than anything. We ended up taking that camera, as well as the live feed, into post-production and working that into an episode. So from day one, we were off the track that we were supposed to be.”

After taping the first five episodes at Stracuzzi’s house, the production moved to 4triple5 café in Niagara Falls, to incorporate a larger live audience. Having been promoted through online social networking sites like Facebook, and mostly through word of mouth, MOCtalk has gained a considerably larger audience and monthly following.

Twelve months and 11 episodes after that first episode, things are rolling smoothly, and MOCtalk will celebrate its anniversary with a special evening, dubbed “Rock the Block”.

The event will take place on Dec. 5 at three Queen St. venues in Niagara Falls – Mide Bistro, Niagara Gallery and The Queens. The evening will begin with a live taping at 7 p.m., featuring Green Dynamo and

The Amazing Flyin’ Hammer Brothers, then the after-party will extend to separate venues where previous MOCtalk guests will perform.

“It should be quite the event,” said Stracuzzi. “I’m excited that most of the performers from previous episodes have dedicated their time to come out. A big thing about the whole MOCtalk show is that none of the performers have ever been paid. It’s been strictly on the terms that, we help promote them and they come out and play for us.”

After a successful inaugural year, Stracuzzi admits said he’s not certain of what’s in store for the future, but that the original intent of showcasing independent acts will remain.

“That’s the main idea behind the entire show. When the idea came to me, I saw it as a way to take my friends and people that I was interested in what they were doing, and try and showcase it to the world,” said Stracuzzi.

“Every time around we try to do two different types of music, like hip-hop with a rock’n’roll band or country with a heavier rock’n’roll band. I find that bleeds everything from a young crowd – we’ve had children in the audience – to an elderly crowd who says, ‘hey, there’s some free entertainment happening on a Friday night, why not go check it out.’”