The Inside

Had to record a promo for Legion yesterday that will air this Saturday. I took a few pics.

On the Lot

The fake set of buildings you see here are one the first things you notice when you pull onto the Lot.





Another fake dwelling. A quaint family home.


Parking lot - Bout to head inside for my session

It was a gloomy day. The freeze that hit Cali was killer. Me no like grey skies and chilly temperatures.


The building where I recorded







Its probably hard to tell but this 'building' is nothing more than a big trailer or a bungalow



POV - The sound engineer at the sound board


This is my view from inside of the booth. The engineer is busy editing and mixing something I had recorded.


Tools of the Trade - The monitor, mic, stand and headphones


I record while watching the promo play on the monitor to sync my line readings to picture (aka video.)

Losing My Edge

Have I lost my edge? You know, the perpetual chip the rests comfortably on the shoulders of most black men. I was born with the pissed off black man's bad attitude that gives me a somewhat prickly exterior. I've relish it through the years. It makes people keep their distance. And as crazy as folks are its nice to have an additional wall of defense that pads you from the BS that people send your way. However, it seems I've become a big softie and my prickles are falling off. What 'is' i'm gon' do? This just can't be. Hmmph!

Last week, I watched Gridiron Gang (with The Rock) on DVD and guess what? The movie brought me to tears. No. It wasn't The Rock's performance that did it. All of a sudden I've become a sucker for those coming-of-age, mentor themed movies. Especially, if the central character is black. So I am watching the film, wiping tears from the corners of my eyes and I am thinking "what the hell are you doing? This film isn't THAT moving. What are you doing?" Of course, I had no answer for myself. I chalked it up as a fluke. I told myself not to worry I wasn't getting soft.

Later in the week I found myself dwelling on death and the afterlife. Then it hit me that I have been spending a lot time thinking about that subject this past year. I'm always wondering which one of the relatives will be the next to go. Last week, I started having this strong feeling that my time was nearing. I started wondering if intuition was telling me something. So now, I am feeling like I need to always tell loved ones "I love you" before parting. Sigh! See! More signs of becoming a softie.


Today, strangers wanted to engage me in small talk like never before. "Morning!" "Have you tried this bread before? It's good isn't it?" "Hi!! How are you?" "Have a great day!" Everytime I turned around someone spoke, as if I were exuding friendly vibes. Gasp! Maybe I was! Hence, the fallen off prickles.

Oh god! The horror! I'm the friendly, non-threatening black guy. I'm a softie. My edge is completely gone.

Me Likes

I stumbled across Zie'l - a gospel singing group - while surfing around myspace last week. I took an immediately liking to their sound. The vocal production is was really grabbed my attention. Very nice! Anyway, I haven't found too many people that have heard of them so I thought I'd share. Take a listen to this song and visit their myspace page if you feel inclined.

Hard Being Mature

I don't know if many of you remember me mentioning (many moons ago) that 2 former friends of mine dicked me on the business deals I was working on with each them individually. FF #2 had major attitude following the incident and treated me like I was the one with questionable integrity. There was something especially grimy in the way the fallout went down with FF#2 that made me lose all respecet for them. FF#2 was well aware of my fallout with FF#1 and used specific details from that incident to 1) slap me in the face and 2) rationalize the need for me to accept a far less substantial deal than FF#2 on the project in question.

For the sake of business, I tried to keep the door of communication open with FF#2. We had a deal on the table and to avoid anymore confusion and squabbles over deal points I chose to play it cool. I made it a point to keep conversations brief; and to express myself in a non-emotional, non-confrontational manner. Ok! So a few months after the intial "dicking" I called FF#2 to get an update on the project and share some information. What I encountered puzzled me. FF#2 answered my call and proceeded to act like they didn't know who I was for a minute. Yes, I mean a literal minute. I knew immediately that FF#2 had erased my numbers from their cell. I thought to myself "how childish?" I got the information I needed - the deal with FF#2's contacts had fallen through - and kept it moving. That was our last conversation for 2 years...maybe a bit longer.

Last week, I received a call from a friend (who used to fuck FF#2) telling me that FF#2 was eager to speak to me and had asked for my number. This call followed FF#2 popping up as a friend request on myspace a week prior. And the myspace friend request followed FF#2 bumping into another friend of mine in the streets 3 weeks before that and telling them to have me give them a call. At this juncture, my interest was piqued. I thought "this is gonna be entertaining. FF#2 has no legitimate reason in the world for wanting to reach me. what could this possible be about? I'm game."

Later in the day, FF#2 called and immediately launched into conversation about life and old times like there's not a drop bad blood between us. I half expected the subject of our fall out to be discussed. But nope. Not a word about it was mentioned. Instead, what I received, but didn't expect, was an invitation to lunch to discuss future business dealings. People I sat in stunned silence on the phone.

I agreed to lunch but haven't called back to set up a day. I'm wondering, if we do meet, will I ever get an apology? Or, an adult conversation about what went wrong?

Not To Be Outdone

I had one of the best laughs of my life on the phone with my buddy OJ last night. He was filling me in on the drama that's been going on between his mama and daddy. There's trouble in paradise.

Apparently, mama OJ found viagra in daddy OJ's belongings along with some 'stay hard' cream. She confronted daddy OJ about his goods and accused him of cheating because she and daddy OJ haven't had sex in years. Mind you, OJ's parents are in their 60s. He denied any wrongdoing so she asked him for an explanation for having the viagra pills. He in turn, flipped out and lectured her on his moral fortitude. He tells mama OJ that he's a god fearing, christian man that would never cheat. He tells her the only reason he has the pills is because he's selling them. *snicker break. LOL! that line right there cracks me up everytime I think about it. selling viagra? Ha!!!! who is he fooling? no-damn-body. he's a retired postman. Ha!*

Mama OJ is livid. She is beyond convinced that daddy OJ is cheating. After finding the sex aids, listening in on one of his hush-hush phone conversations in which she overheard him saying "I can't wait that long. You know I can't wait. Why you making me wait for it?," watching him leave the house M-F at 3am to go the gym that doesn't open until 6am and is only 10 minutes from their house and witnessing some other unusual behavior last year on their annual vacation she knows something's going on. She just doesn't have concrete proof.

OK. So, you'll never guess what she's decided to do to retaliate. Mama OJ went to the local Adult Bookstore and bought herself a silk panty and bra set. She also purchased some "special rubbing cream" as she calls it. She told OJ she plans to head back to the ABS to buy a vibrator. Then she's gonna put her wares on display on the dresser for daddy OJ to see to let him know two can play that game. ROFLMAO!

OJ has advised his mom not to carry out her plan. He doesn't think she'll live out the night if daddy OJ sees all that stuff. Hahaha!!!!

Did I already mention they're in their mid 60s? LOL! Oh this is bananas.