Monday January 10th, 2011 - Kenosha, WI/Milwaukee, WI Time is going by so fast I can’t keep up. I finally started on my 2011 agenda, if only ten days too late. Granted, I was on a ship for six of them, but it still feels like I’m losing my ability to keep pace with life. The world is in fifth gear, but my clutch keeps burning out. Today I had a holiday party up in Milwaukee booked so I wanted to run errands all the way up and back if I could to make my trip worthwhile. Now that I’m driving that big old tuna boat Cadillac, gas mileage becomes an issue. I thought of that when I bought it, and that’s part of the reason why I bought it. I wanted to stay put a little more and get focused. Maybe that was a mistake. With the ‘Schlitz Happened!’ show in South Milwaukee just over two weeks out, I’ve got plenty to do to prepare. I’ll be fine onstage, but dealing with the off stage stuff I’m not good at is a challenge. I need to get good at it, or find someone who is who’s willing to work with me. This is all part of the fun of starting a new project. Russ Martin has been a help, as has Richard Halasz. I met with both of them in separate places to brain storm ideas. Dan Still was with Russ and me as we bounced ideas off each other. That’s a whole other project, as Dan and Don Reese and Dwight York are trying to get a tour organized and I might promote it. That’s down the road though, first stuff first. I stopped in Antioch, IL on the way to pick up my load of ‘Schlitz Happened!’ t-shirts. They look splendiferous if I say so myself, and I gave one to Dan, Russ, Richard and then I stopped off in Bay View before my gig and dropped some off for the WTMJ radio crew. They were broadcasting live from a sports bar right across the street from a comic book shop that my cousin Jef Parker used to own called Collector’s Edge. The on air guest was a friend of mine named Mike Clemens, and I haven’t seen Mike in years. He’s a great guy who I’ve known from radio days and now works for Sirius Radio analyzing the Packers. I dropped off a ‘Hard Luck Jollies’ comedy CD and ‘Schlitz Happened!’ shirt for Mike and the hosts Bill Michaels and Jeff Falconio too. I listen to those guys, and got a chance to shake hands and say hello in person. That never hurts. Maybe they’ll toss them out but maybe they won’t. I had to roll the dice, and even though it costs me money I need to try. Life really is about who a person knows. Steve DeClark has always been in my corner and he’s the one who recommended me for this holiday party. Steve and his wife Gail are fantastic people and have thought of me for many things over the years. I had to get Steve a shirt too, only out of gratitude for everything he’s done for me. It’s a two way street. The show went well, as did the meetings. But it takes a lot of effort to meet with people because it just does. We have to plan it and prepare for it and decide what if anything we might do after it’s over and before I knew it another day was down the drain pipe. I can’t go any faster, so I guess I’ll just have to do what I’m doing and see where it leads. I feel a positive vibe from the show though. Everyone I gave t-shirts too thought they were great. Now I have to SELL some. I know I’ll give a lot away too though. I have a lot of friends who have supported me over the years, and a t-shirt goes a long way in saying thanks. It’s a currency of it’s own, and without fail people’s eyes always light up when they get a free one for some reason. Everyone I gave one to today had the same wow look on their face. On the way up to Milwaukee I had lunch with Mark Gumbinger and Lou Rugani at the Chinese Buffet on Highway 50 in Kenosha. Mark is a film director and working on more projects and wants Lou and I to have parts in them. We had a fun lunch, and will meet up again tomorrow at Mark’s house for more brainstorming and then watch a classic movie. That’s another group I’m becoming part of, and I like it. Everyone in it is fun, and they are out slugging and chasing dreams just like me. Mark is a talented director, and knows what he’s doing. Lou is a multitalented actor, narrator and just a good person, as is Mark. I’d rather have that vibe in Kenosha than have to chase the slime traders in Hollywood. Granted, everyone in Hollywood isn’t bad, but that whole scene is very dysfunctional to say the least. There’s a lot of cocaine and falseness, and I just don’t want to be part of that game, especially this late in my own journey. Here, I can be part of the gang and get parts in everything Mark produces. It’s a fun atmosphere and creatively satisfying. I’ll take it. On the way home tonight I got a call from my old friend Brian Diamond. Brian and I go back over twenty years, and he was a road warrior just like me. He’s from Sacramento but moved to L.A. years ago to chase the dream. He’s more of an actor, but that’s fine. He’s a great guy and VERY smart. He gets the off stage big picture better than almost everyone. We get along great, and have kept in touch all these years even though it gets tougher to do with life getting in the way. He’s a year younger than me, but in the same category that we’re all becoming - OLD. Brian has always had a grip on where he was, and I got a great lesson from him as I sat back and let him talk for almost an hour straight. He was on fire. What he basically said was guys like us are running out of time as far as the ‘big dream’ goes. Brian has gotten off the road and now works for the state of California in his home town of Sacramento making presentations to government people. He has insurance and a pension plan, and still gets to do comedy and act from time to time as fun. He’s a success. He’s done one man shows and gave me some great insight on ‘Schlitz Happened’ as far as how to sell it correctly. Brian is like me in that he cuts right through any B.S. and isn’t one to sugar coat anything. He said we’re both never going to make the big time, so now we have to form some kind of happy ending with what we have. He’s right, and I know it. It doesn’t mean we’re losers in life, and it doesn’t mean that big time people are good or bad or happy or anything but that it’s SO rare to break through the walls of Hollywood or wherever one needs to be broken through. He had so many good points, I can’t remember them all. I told him I’m going to record it for my students, and for me too, and I will. He’s dead on, and realistic. Hollywood pressure off for now. I’m working hard in Milwaukee.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment