Feel Sorry for Me



I slept 21 hours today. I have a fever and a pretty bad cough. On a positive note, Debbie and the boys are back...

LA and Back Today



I'm not sure what exactly I went to today. It was an audition for a reality show about the making of a TV Pilot. I would say that it went very well. It was very much American Idol for actors...not quite what I was expecting. I'll know more in a few weeks. It's called Pilotproject.



Oh...she did say that I would have to grow my hair longer for the part, which is funny considering the last entry.

Going to Bed Now



Tonight I completed my sixth night of TNT in a row and now I have three days off. I just got back from seeing Etta James in concert. She was great, but I fell asleep. Her music makes me sleepy. Tomorrow I'm going to LA with Tommy for a 5:00 audition.



Thanks Greg C for adding "comments" to my blog...

Hair



So...it was really just one audition for 3 spots by the same production company. It went very well. At the end of the audition they asked if I would cut my hair. The gig pays $500...I had to decide if my hair was worth $500 in a split second. My initial thought was "sure, what do I care." But then I remembered that I have to care these days. I just paid $175 for headshots and I would have to get new ones with short hair. I technically have to get permission from TNT to get my hair cut. I was the only guy with long hair at the auditioin, which would have been a really good thing had they wanted that.



"I can get a short trim...a few inches all around." That was my answer.



"OK, we'll call you." They haven't. It shoots tomorrow.

Friends



I have been able to spend a lot of time with people that I usually don't get to hang out with much...mainly because they are the kind of people who hang out until 2am. The last few nights were spent with my castmates after the show. I finally feel completely included in the community there. There are lots of new people coming in so I'm no longer introduced as the new guy.



Tonight I am going to see Etta James with my friend Vel and her dad. Tomorrow I will be going to LA with Tommy unless I get a call that I have work here. (I auditioned for a commercial that shoots tomorrow and they liked me but wanted me to cut my hair...so they may have passed on me.)



Either way...I'm just saying that I am blessed to have so many new and old friends. (Today I slept through breakfast with my oldest friends for the second week in a row...which sucks. 7am is getting earlier and earlier for me these days.)



I miss my three best friends though...they will be back Sunday.

Just Found Out



I have auditions for three different commercials today! Having an agent is cool.

Barry Wheeler



Somehow I ended up playing Barry in TNT three days in a row. I really enjoyed the part. Now I go back to Michael for the next three days. That means 6 days in a row for me...a record. The cool thing is that my family has been out of town anyway, so its not like I'm missing time with them.



I will be going to LA Saturday to audition for a TV pilot. It's a long shot, but I'm sure I'll learn something by doing it. My friend Tommy may be coming with me, so if nothing else we can hang out.

Back in Town



I'm back, but Debbie and the boys are staying in Indiana for the rest of the week. I'm working pretty much every night this week and I have an audition in LA Saturday for a TV pilot...so I'm keeping busy. Whenever the family leaves I tend to keep myself really busy. I don't know if that I means I am really a workaholic or if I just miss them and try not to think about them not being here...probably a little of both.



Now I'm off to have lunch at the new Paymon's Med. Cafe in Summerlin with Greg and Jeremy. It will be my second time there...I like the old one better so far, but this one is a little closer. (See "My Happy Place" on my links for more info on my favorite restaurant.)



Peace to you...

How many blogs does it take to...



A few days ago I started another blog to chronicle my journey into acting. I've been trying to figure out why I felt urged to do such a thing. I think that I wanted a "pure" record of that journey so that I could look back on it someday. It also feels odd to blog so much about my career in this particular journal. We'll see what comes of it all.



All of that to say I will still update a few major events here. I signed with an agent today...Cody at McCarty Talent. I'm excited about the partneship. It feels right to me.

Jerry Mc-f'n-Guire?



Cody Garden is my agent. Today I signed with McCarty Talent. It was my #1 choice. So...yeah, that's good.

You take one shower and...



I was in the shower yesterday afternoon and received two voicemail messages. One from an agent that I am hoping will sign me. We are meeting in the morning. The other from an acting coach, Gerald Gordon, that I am hoping will let me study with him. (I'll have to go through an interview process and audition to be his student.)



So far I have been struck with how much of this industry is waiting to have a phone call returned. Until now in my life I have normally been the guy that people waited for a phone call from...now its the other way around. It is humbling and makes me feel a little bad about my tendancy to wait a few days to return calls. (I have always had a slight fear of speaking on the phone...I know its strange, but with the exception of about 10 people I have to force myself to pick up a phone and dial. I guess its some form of shyness. Phone calls are very intimate compared to other forms of communication...enough about my oddities...)



I also received another call today from yet another agency. I will wait and see how tomorrow goes before calling them back.



On another note, TnT is directed by one of the original writers, a man named Larry who lives in NYC and visits us every few months. He will be here this week and they have finally scheduled my to play my other part (Barry) while he is here. It could help my chances to go five nights per week there.

Leavin on a Jet Plane



We are preparing to go back to Indiana this week. It will be good to be with Deb's family. It will also be very cold. Take the good with the cold. Debbie and I have a strange gig at her homechurch. I'm playing an Italian entertainer named Vinnie at a Valentine's banquet. Should be interesting. Pray for me.

Because I have nothing better to do...



I have started a second blog to exclusively record my journey as an actor. The only thing more disturbing than me doing two blogs, is the fact that some of you will read them both. Either way: www.actingbiz.blogspot.com

The Biz



Life is so much more than business. Business, however, is a part of life. I have started this second blog to keep a record of my journey as a professional actor. So...let's get caught up:



My name is Joe. I'm 30 years old, married with two kids. I live in Las Vegas. And I have no idea how I became a professional actor.



I graduated from seminary in 1995 and moved to Las Vegas to be a clergyman for the rest of my life. Somewhere along the way I grew disinterested in religion and church as business. If you are more interested in my faith journey and spritual quest, you'll wanna read my primary blog.



Early last year I began exploring acting in my free time. I took some improv classes with The Second City and The Groundlings. I landed a few interesting gigs including playing the role of Michael in Tony n' TIna's Wedding at The Rio.



As of this week, I have reduced my church work to 10 hours per week in an effort to make my living in acting and storytelling. I have no idea what is to come, but I am ready for the journey.



Today I met with an agent who "really liked me" and thought I was "unique and talented." She was however, "not ready to sign me" because "I don't know enough yet to be excited about being signed." Interesting. Truth is, I wouldn't have signed today anyway because I'm meeting with another agent next week. That agency is my first choice. So I am hopeful. The lady today did say she might call me if something comes up. She mentioned a show called Scare Tactics in which I would scare unsuspecting people...I'm thinking no. Improv is more fun when people know you are acting...



On the way back from that meeting I got a call from a dinner theater in town that might hire me to act on my off nights at Tony n Tina's. I'm currently working at TnT 3 nights per week and on a waiting list to go fulltime. This could fill in the gap until then.



I think you are up to speed now. Here's to professional pretending.

Random Thoughts



Nothing is really worth blogging about, so...



1. American Idol is a great format. It is basically three different reality shows in three phases. I like it, even though it's not very manly to admit it.

2. I'd like to have a beer with John Edwards. He has a Clinton-ish way about him...he projects a caring attitude. I'd love to see if it is real. Doesn't matter. It's gonna be Kerry v Bush and I only like politics for the theatrical value anyway. (Presidential elections have just become another, less interesting, reality show option.)

3. Got a little gig shooting a video thing for Pulte Homes this Satuday. Pays 50 bones.

4. Mom and Dad are in town and coming to TnT tomorrow.

5. TnT is featured in this week's "What's On", a Vegas magazine. Lots of pic's from the show. (I was off the night the photograher came, so you won't see me.)

6. Cheryl is still stubbornly pregnant, but Jack will be joining the household this week...we think.

7. Basketball used to be my favorite TV sport, but I can't watch it anymore.

8. Golf was my least favorite TV sport as a kid, now I like it almost as much as football.

9. Dave Letterman is looking old.

10. For the third year in a row we will be getting a tax return without paying any taxes....maybe I should care more about politics...

Just for fun...get a job



This is my last week as a full-time employee of Apex. I have until May 1 to figure out exactly how to compensate for the loss of income. Tony n Tina's helps, but right now its only part-time. I requested to go full-time there, and they said, "Yes...as soon as a position opens up." That could be next week or next year...



It looks like I should be getting an agent, which may help some. But there is still a missing link. I have felt all along that God has been promising to let me make my living via storytelling in one way or another. It's that strange balance of trying to figure out when to be patient and when to go "make something happen." If TnT opens up before May, that will be enough for us to survive (barely). If it doesn't, I need to find a third way to generate some scoots.



Some days the whole puzzle is fun to put together. Other days it is scary. Mostly, I hate thinking about it all...I had no idea how much security was generated from a weekly paycheck. I feel like everyone either sees what we are doing as too risky or not risky enough. I don't care, so long as we are faithful. If you pray, we could use a little help in discerning the details of our life...

Dude, Where's My Inter-planetary Rover?



There's a freakin' remote control robot on Mars taking color pictures and zapping them back to earth. When my great-grandfather was my age we couldn't fly an airplane, take color pictures or even fathom remote controls...weird.

Why we hate "it"



Life is just people dancing around and with various institutions. People give some institutions more power than others. Some people give some institutions power that some other people do not. (The institution of Tony n Tina' s Wedding means nothing to most of you...but I have given it power because it gives me money, enjoyment and some measure of meaning.) At the end of the day, its just a bunch of people dancing around a label. Your work is that too. Your church probably is too. Your nation, your political party, your band, your playgroup, your softball team, your school, your neighborhood, your volunteer organization, your heritage, your bar, your ministry....just a bunch of people dancing around and with labels...that's all. But you and I have given them power. We give the power a name and make it divine. We worship it, serve it, love it and hate it. But "it" is only as real as we make it. Most of the time what we are calling "it" is really Paul, Molly, Nikki, Tim, Enoch, Ryan, Will and Sue...but we call them "it" so that we can make "it" better or worse than "us."



Remember, our battle is not against flesh and blood (people), but against the powers...

...and all the ships at sea



I have been listening to the BBC on NPR on my way home from the RIO....that was an attempt to see how many three letter abbreviations I could get in one sentence...but RIO is lame...its not an abbreviation at all.



The point is this: In the UK the liberals are pro-war and the conservatives are anti-war. In the US the liberals are anti-war and the conservatives are pro-war.



I just found it interesting...it made me realize that those labels are very subjective based upon the perception of history in a certain culture.



I'm tired.

Hypothetically



If someone loses 25 pounds, that someone's ability to hold their liquor deminishes. I celebrated my friend JP's 24th birthday last night and now I have a headache.



Love you Mom...glad you read my blog now...