Clay Aiken interview
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Jay Leno
I interviewed Clay yesterday. It was an odd experience. His publicist had set up the time. A woman called me and said she had Clay on the line. The reception was bad. We lost connection several times. When we were finally on, she informed me we had ten minutes to talk.

I glanced over my 15 plus questions and knew I had to pick and choose. Moving quickly over the niceties, I plunged head first into my first question. I was a bit nervous really just because of the speed factor. What added to it was the fact that Clay was talking 100 miles an hour. I busily tried to jot down his every word.

My tape recorder doesn't work well over the cell phone. It makes awful static and beeping noises when you listen back to it. Note to self: find a better solution.

What added insult to injury was the fact that I appeared to have faulty research when it came to his book. I thought it had just been released. Turns out it was released last year. He seemed a bit brash about that and overall rushed and ready to get the interview overwith. I could imagine someone with a stopwatch standing over him and him spending all day for 15 hours making one phone call after another.

He came off a bit more jaded that I expected. I wanted to hear from his own words what the experience of being American Idol was like, what it was like to go from boy next door to instant celebrity. His response was that that was two years ago and he doesn't remember that far. Hmmmm.

His southern drawl and philosophy made me laugh, which I did expect. I know that he doesn't have goals for himself. I asked him if he had a mission statement. He said "Oh Gawd no" in heavy drawl and added that 'let go and let God' was his mantra. Hmmm.

Anyway, I wrote the article for New Times and found out that the Miami edition would also be printing it. Hoorah. I overwrote the piece as they did not give me a word count so they had to chop it heavily. I will be interested to see the result. It should come out next week, by the way!

Overall, a learning experience to be sure. I hope to attend the concert and meet him in person. I think phone interviews, especially with so many questions involved and so little time is extremely difficult. I know it is easy to get a bad impression.
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Anyway, taking it easy a bit today. Tomorrow I will be attending a party I will write about. Stay tuned. I was also invited to write about a Hard Rock event tonight but got the message too late.

Writing like crazy/ Lumonics Reopens
Today, I wrote three articles and conducted the interviews as well. One was about infertility. Another was about auto buying consultants. The third-- about a nail salon. I also edited and resubmitted another article about Dermatology.

In addition, I came up with questions for Clay Aiken. I will be interviewing him tomorrow! It looks like I will be getting tickets as well as being able to attend a meet and greet.

I am working on other upcoming concerts. INXS is already in the works, for example.

I am tired.

I have four other articles at least due this month plus the calendar and INXS. Plus whatever else may come up.

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Lumonics

By the way, Lumonics reopened. I went to their holiday party. I used to do poetry performances there and hope to again. This cool art gallery is a must see, hippie vibe crash pad perfect for the down beat rhythms of a dazed and confused generation or those who wished they had been born years past when lights and sound intermingled into a cosmic orgasmic mindf*** that somehow explained the ins and outs of the blackhole we call existence. Groovy. Check it. www.lumonics.net.

Photo Shoot
Yesterday I got a photo shoot done. Pics coming soon!

Filming "Lockbox"
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: SNL
Today was a long but fun day. I showed up on the set at Palm Beach Film School at 10 a.m. I had to wait a looong time before they got to my shots. That's par for the course, folks. There is inevitably waiting involved on most shoots. Unless you get really lucky, which I have on ocassion. For example, on the last shoot I did, I did my shots all in a row and I was outta there in 51/2 hours.

Then again, this was the lead role so they needed me for most shots so today was another lucky actor's turn to get out quickly. It's all good. Very good...especially when you can hang out with a great group of people, which they are.

For one part, they had me straddling just to be the right height. In another, I wore stilleto heels on top of a sandbag. Pain. No pain not gain. Art is pain, isn't it. Isn't that the truth. Once again...it's all good.

I'm exhausted, spent, but in a very good way. I can't think of a more fulfilling way to spend a day!

Pictures coming soon.

Sleep now. Night night!

Prepare for filming
Mood:  hug me
Tomorrow I will be rehearsing and Saturday I will be filming "Lockbox." I am now going to be playing a psychologist role.

Sunday, I will be doing a photo shoot.

Had a weird emotional day. Better now. :)

Cast Meeting
Mood:  caffeinated
Today we had our first meeting for "Beware the Eyes of Mars!" I will play three roles: Miss Pussywillow (an old New York Jewish woman), Galaxy Operator and Moonbeam (a hippie chick).

More mellow day
Today my big accomplishments were researching for upcoming Clay Aiken article (I spoke with his publicist today) and making a yummy gingerbread cake. I haven't made one for a loooong time. Yum. I also spoke with my friend Jose Jacho, who said he will be directing an upcoming film for a local contest. He is a fellow director and I believe actor and also runs a local film festival night.

I also have started working on my Feb/ Mar calendar for City Smart Magazine.

I ate too much gingerbread cake. Yummmmm.

:)

Here is picture of me from a poetry performance I gave over a year ago. I just felt like inserting it for absolutely no reason. Bad segue. hahah.

Another Amazing Day!
Today, I filmed "Frozen Styph." I started out as an extra with an improv part thrown in. I ended up getting a regular role and was offered a part in the corresponding play.

Many of the extras took off without a goodbye to the director. Because I stayed, I was offered opportunities they were not. I think just not only showing up but also staying the course is important. These actors felt that they needed to get out of there and would not be chosen to be something else. But the director told me afterward that he did have parts in mind for them. So you never know.

After five hours of that, which included not only my impromptu character but also my small role, I went to meet with the directors and choreographer of "Beware the Eyes of Mars." I went through reading various characters with different dialects. They loved it and said they would see me at the first cast meeting on Tuesday. They still aren't positive which character(s) I will play.

The choreographer said I was an actor first, then a singer, then a dancer, which surprised me because I don't think of myself as a singer but then again, I created it. I decided I was going to do a decent job at the singing and worked at it. That being said, I know I could have done better. I did my vocal warmups on the way there in the car but i had been acting all day so my throat was a little rough.

Anyway, I had a fabulous day. The first shoot was a little long and many of the actors did not know their lines, which made it a bit tedious. They even gave one guy a cue card on a dry-erase board. It was almost ridiculous. But I just told myself I had committed to this time to be there and I was going to have fun no matter what. And I did.

!

Amazing Day of Bookings and Filmings
Today was incredible.

I filmed "Wrong Turn." The shoot went so smoothly. All the actors knew their lines. The director, Jacmel Urena, was excellent. It has been awhile since I have seen somebody so organized. It was refreshing. He knew his shot sequence, he was focused.

They had it looked like the whole Palm Beach Film School there in one role or another. There was a lot of joking around but it wasn't distracting. The day flew by and I actually was able to leave early (there from 10:00 until 3:30 approximately) because my scenes were over.

I thought we were doing the last scene first and then another scene in the same location. It turned out that my fellow actor had something come up so there was a change of plans. I had to do my most dramatic (emotional) scene first. But it went really well.

The "craft service" on the set was little finger sandwiches that the director made himself. The filling was mayonaise and ketchup! I thought that was hillarious. Some actually ate it. Later we had yummy Domino's Pizza!!


I was cast in a part I really wanted for "Lockbox," which will film December 3rd. The director was on the set!

I rushed to an audition. I was late. I was lost. I didn't have my headshot and resume with me. I showed up anyway.

Security didn't want to let me in. I insisted. They let me.

I did a dance audition-- haven't done one of those for awhile. I did a singing audition cold and several cold readings. I got a role... I don't know which yet but they definitely want me. I will know tomorrow. They seem to want me for a role!

Liza Trainer is filming it. Liza rocks! Check out www.marsmusical.com.

Audition Tips
Focus.

That is the most important aspect to acting. I have to admit that sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't and when I don't-- that's bad. There are a lot of things that can easily throw off focus. And you can get it back mid-scene. That may recover the situation or it may not. And the problem is that often you only get one chance. I had an audition that I warmed into half way through. I wanted to do it again but they felt they "had enough." Nice. I hate the feeling that I could have done better.

Part of the reason for this lack of focus was the fact that we did it absolutely cold with no time to go over it. We read through it twice silently and then went for it. Directors-- insist that actors try it at least once out in the hall. When actors get in that room they are willing to do anything the director says. After all, the director is there to give direction.

My slate was even off. I forgot to give my phone number-- not a huge deal-- but I jumped out of frame to let the other actor slate. He had gone practically across the room to get out of the way. Then they made it seem natural that I should have done profiles. Profiles are not a given. In fact, 90% of the auditions I have been at did not need profiles. Usually a director will say "slate & profile." Then again, it was a high-energy day for me so I may have jumped away too quickly.

Another reason that I may have not had focus was because (and this is rare) I didn't warm up first! Usually in my car on the way to an audition I will say the alphabet clearly, annunciating clearly. I will chant to warm up my voice and I may try to say a couple lines in different accents.

They asked me about doing an accent but none of the ones I knew well were right for the part. Of course, I could have said more about the fact that I am very good with accents and it wouldn't take me long to learn one. But I didn't...again-- lack of focus. Bad.

There was also a scene in which I was supposed to beat up my counterpart. Beating up people or kissing scenes I think require first an ok from the other person and second a moment or two of connection between the actors. That is some serious interaction and just doing it cold is next to impossible if it is going to come off real.

If people are making out or beating each other up, it usually involves some sort of relationship. There is more than just personal intention going on. You need to sit for a moment and look into the other person's eyes and create relationship. Without that, it is going to look bad no matter what.

My choice in the moment was to totally ignore stage direction. After all, we didn't have the props needed anyway. Was that a good choice? Maybe not. My emotion came across but I felt like my acting partner and I were stepping on each other's lines rather than letting it flow naturally.

I jumped too soon into the scene and my energy was so high that I had a tendency to jump to the next line quicker. Meanwhile, he tended to over pause between his lines. The result-- no connection. And that makes for a bad scene.

Having said all that, I don't know if I got the part or not. It really comes down to if I have the look or not. That is something that is often more important than talent-- especially in a cold read situation. If they like your look, then they feel they can work with you.