Avert Your Eyes

This episode's guest is actor Selase Botchway. He is a first-generation Ghanaian.

Growing up in the Arlington area, as a young boy in an African enriched family, Selase became heavily influenced in the Arts, Music, Sports. He performed in several plays, sang in the choir, and participated in the championship comedy team in high school.

After going to college in Iowa, he returned to North Texas fulfilling his dreams as an actor and signed with Linda McAlister Talent and Gill talent in Chicago.

Selase has been in several print campaigns including Lifetime Fitness, Dicks Sporting Goods, Nike Dry Fit, Bose Speakers, Sony, FedEx, and Lays. He's also been a spokesman for Payless Power, Sudden Link Cable, Lennox Air, The Salvation Army, the Texas Lottery.

He's performed on shows including Queen of the South and in movies such as Sense Of Urgency (on Amazon Prime Video), A Man Called John, Hello Henry, TX Zombie War, Zulu 6, and much more.

Selase recently won Best Actor at Rack Focus Final Round 7 in 2018, with his performance in short Film Patient Zero which was directed and written by Issa Currie. Together, their most recent collaboration is a new short called Silent Partner where Selase gets to play a detective named Joel. The film premieres during Rack Focus 9.

During our conversation we discuss his recent trip back home to Ghana, acting, upcoming projects and so much more on episode number 50 of the Avert Your Eyes Podcast! Consider yourself warned...

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This episode's guest is Maria Tuadi. She is an Indonesian-American musician and filmmaker raised in SoCal that I met while attending the 2019 Asian Film Festival of Dallas. Her film Always screened during the Women's Block.

Her "Love, Sweat and Fears" EP that she wrote, performed, and produced, is an exploration of contemporary RnB and Soul singing. The EP features the single, "Still", a Session I 2016 Grand Prize Winner and Lennon Award Winner in the R&B Category of The John Lennon Songwriting Contest! Tuadi's latest single, "Always" is the title track of her Asian on Film Festival Best Original Score Award-winning short film of the same name.

During our conversation we discuss her film, music and more on episode number 49, of the Avert Your Eyes Podcast! Consider yourself warned...

Visit Maria's website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud.

If you enjoyed the episode, head over to Apple Podcasts and kindly leave us a rating, a review, and subscribe!

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This episode's guest is Richie Lunsford. Richie lives in Fort Worth and is a main stage cast member of Four Day Weekend, the longest running show in the southwest. He is also a Writer, Director and Performer in the YouTube Web Series called For King and Country. Currently, Richie sits on the board of directors for the Fort Worth, non-profit called Girls Rock Fort Worth, which is a program that helps empower girls through music education and performance.

During our conversation we discuss comedy, redemption and so much more on episode number 48, of the Avert Your Eyes Podcast! Consider yourself warned...

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This episode's guest is Fort Worth rapper, The.Naaman. He is currently nominated for a 2019 Fort Worth Weekly Music Award in the R&B/Hip Hop Category. Check out his current single here.

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This episode's guest is Kate Morgan. She is a critic, writer, and poet currently residing in Dallas, Texas.

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This episode's guest is Dave Lieber who is "The Watchdog" columnist at The Dallas Morning News. He is also on a mission to bring back to life a forgotten historical figure of North Texas – Amon G. Carter – who owned the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, WBAP-AM and what's now NBC 5. Carter is credited with bringing a trillion dollars worth of businesses to North Texas. Dave's eighth book is called "AMON! The Ultimate Texan." He's also written a play of the same name that was performed before more than a dozen sellout audiences at Artisan Center Theater in Hurst in May 2019.

I got the chance to see the play following our sit down interview and this trip through history was amazing! Seeing actor Kelvin Dilks portray such a larger than life person in the flesh was a roller coaster of highs filled with big bravado and laughs and the touching, sad lows that made you feel his personal tragedies. If you have lived, worked, dreamed, or played in Fort Worth, I highly recommend you see the play! Catch it if you can at the Artisan Center Theater! For tickets, visit www.artisanct.com.

During our conversation, I got to sit behind the desk on the set as in between performances as we discuss his new play, the death of journalism, and so much more on episode number 45, of the Avert Your Eyes Podcast! Consider yourself warned...

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This episode's guest Katy Blakey, weekend morning anchor and a reporter during the week at NBC 5 News. Born and raised in McKinney, Katy is a proud graduate of McKinney High School and Southern Methodist University. She graduated president of her class with a BA in journalism and political science. Katy is an Emmy Award-winning reporter, and her work has also been honored with Lone Star Emmy nominations, including Best News Anchor, and was recognized by the Oklahoma Associated Press.

Katy began her career as a reporter and anchor for KTEN-TV in Denison, Texas, where her investigative reports into private jail funding led to resignations and changes in local law enforcement.

Later, Katy co-anchored the weekday morning news and reported for KOCO in Oklahoma City, OK. The first reporter on the scene of a deadly medical helicopter crash, her reporting also included a hostage situation ending with the rescue of a six-year-old girl, devastating wildfires and severe storms. She tracked rare twin tornadoes, covered multiple tornado outbreaks, reported on the wide-scale destruction and heroic rescue operations left by a massive EF5 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma and President Obama's tour of damaged communities.

No stranger to breaking news or severe weather, Katy solo-anchored live coverage of the early morning attack on Dallas Police Headquarters and hours-long stand-off. She covered the national outpouring of support for five DPD officers killed while protecting a peaceful protest in downtown Dallas and traveled to Houston for President George H. W. Bush's memorial services.

On the coast as Hurricane Harvey made landfall, she provided extensive coverage of rescue and relief operations as the storm caused catastrophic flooding in the Houston area. From endearing "Texas Connects Us" stories to following a young cancer patient bringing smiles, hope and congressional attention to much needed funding for childhood cancer research to reporting from the mass shooting tragedies in Orlando and Las Vegas, Katy understands the privilege of reporting local and national news to her hometown community.

During my conversation with Katy, we discuss what it takes to be a journalist, some of the impactful stories in her career, chasing tornadoes, and so much more on episode number 44, of the Avert Your Eyes Podcast! Consider yourself warned...

If you enjoyed the episode, head over to Apple Podcasts and kindly leave us a rating, a review, and subscribe!

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This episode's guest is Deborah Jung, the Founder and Executive Director of Kids Who Care. Deborah is a 2007 Great Women of Texas honoree, 2008 Legacy of Women Award recipient for the Arts, and most recently the Heart of Gold award recipient from the Fort Worth Arts Council.

Deborah Jung has produced and directed tours of original musicals since 1990 with Kids Who Care, previewing Off Broadway at the Lamb's Theatre, and appearing at the Kennedy Center, Bass Hall, and Disneyland. Additional tours include venues in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Italy, Albania, Germany, Washington D.C., Orlando, Nashville, across Texas and at 30,000 feet in the air on the American Airlines Wish Flight.

Deborah has produced and directed family musicals for Kids Who Care including West Side Story, Peter Pan, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Annie, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Godspell, Narnia, Wizard of Oz, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, A Christmas Carol and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Under Deborah's direction, Kids Who Care has produced Family Concerts with Peter Yarrow, Trout Fishing in America, Sara Hickman, Inca Son, Eddie Coker, Danny Wright, and Joseph Vincelli.

Prior to founding Kids Who Care, Deborah Jung was a member of Actor's Equity and a member of the Resident Company at Casa Mañana (1975-1989). While at Casa, she directed and/or appeared in over 75 productions and is the original founder of Casa Kids. Celebrating thirty years this year, Kids Who Care is still following the original vision and desire of Founder and Executive Director Deborah Jung….. which is "To Create a place where the Child is Cherished. To Write and Produce Original Works designed to Change the World. To Find Stellar Arts and Business Professionals, who adore Kids, and work with them. To Gather the Brightest Business and Community leaders, who love Kids, and ask them to volunteer alongside us. So that, When the Lights Go Up … We Find Delight!"

Kids are transformed when their confidences are built, and when the combination of artistic development is infused with entrepreneurial leadership, Kids are more than ready for the bright futures that await them! At Kids Who Care, they do this by leading with an entrepreneurial mindset, valuing the artistic integrity of kids, promoting excellence in artistic development, seeking financial and cultural diversity, teaching ensemble driven mindset, mutually respecting all ages, and producing original works that are designed to change the world!

By offering a year round artistic education to kids of all ages and backgrounds, children have opportunities to be part of summer musical and leadership camps, weekly classes, or even the opportunity to tour an original work which is designed to change the world.

During my conversation with Deborah Jung, we discuss how she accidentally got into theater, her time at CASA Mañana, the creation of Kids Who Care, and so much more on episode number 43, of the Avert Your Eyes Podcast! Consider yourself warned...

If you enjoyed the episode, head over to Apple Podcasts and kindly leave us a rating, a review, and subscribe!

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This episode's guest is Amanda Sweet. She is a Culture Creator - connecting with people through multimedia experiences. She focuses her energy on photography, curating and hosting events, and producing. Her true specialty is pinpointing people's talents and making opportunities to set their talents free.

We discuss and being from Detroit, the art scene, fear of success, and so much more on the answer to everything, episode number 42, of the Avert Your Eyes Podcast! Consider yourself warned...

If you enjoyed the episode, head over to Apple Podcasts and kindly leave us a rating, a review, and subscribe!

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Episode 41 is a very special edition of the podcast! I recently attended the 2019 Best of Fests Film Festival a few weeks ago. 22 different film festivals came together to present films that either were popular with their audiences or represented their programming esthetic. I attended the red carpet and spoke with several filmmakers and festival representatives including:

Harry and Linda Eaddy with the Denton Black Film Festival. www.dentonbff.com

Rob Smat, Director of "The Last Whistle." www.lastwhistlemovie.com

Aaron N. Martin, Becky Nitschke, Celena Rae, and Ray Hosack from the film "The Last Whistle." www.lastwhistlemovie.com

Mark Birnbaum, The Director of the documentary "The Big Buy," and Bart Weiss of Dallas VideoFest. www.videofest.org

Lizette Barrera, Director of the film "Mosca." www.videofest.org

David Blue Garcia, Director of "Tejano." www.tejanomovie.com His film represented the Dallas International Film Festival. www.dallasfilm.org.

Thomas Shubert and David Gibson of The Asian Film Festival of Dallas. www.asianfilmdallas.com

Liz Cardenas, Director of the film "Imago." The film represented the Dallas International Film Festival. www.dallasfilm.org.

Susan Carol Davis and with The Thin Line Film Festival. www.thinline.us.

Alexa May, Director of "Phonies" with the Pegasus Film Festival.

Alex Garcia Topete with Festival de Cine Latino Americano. www.fdcla.org.

Rachelle Weiss Crane with the Dallas Jewish Film Festival.

Jeffrey Brown with Czech That Film. www.czechthatfilm.org

Curtis Smith, President of the Board of Directors of Q Cinema. www.qcinema.org.

Jitin Hingorani, Executive Director of the DFW South Asian Film Festival. www.dfwsaff.com.

Samuel Thomas, one of the Festival Directors of the Deep in the Heart Film Festival. www.deepintheheartff.com

To learn more about Best of Fests, visit www.bestoffests.org.

If you enjoyed the episode, head over to Apple Podcasts and kindly leave us a rating, a review, and subscribe!

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