Pop Culture Tonight with Patrick Phillips

MTV VMA nominated composer Tom Salta is one of the most versatile and prolific music artists/producers working in film, television, advertising and video games.

Renowned for crafting emotionally engaging soundtracks for multimedia, Salta has received widespread industry acclaim for his world-class produced scores featured in films and video games such as HALO: The Fall of Reach (The Animated Series), HALO: Spartan Strike, HALO 2 Anniversary, HALO: Spartan Assault (G.A.N.G. Best Original Soundtrack Award), HALO: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, From Dust, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Red Steel (IGN Award for Best Original Score), Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and H.A.W.X series, and original songs and adaptations for the world’s #1 dance game series, Just Dance.  In addition to these scoring assignments, Salta has created music for numerous national commercials and ad campaigns for companies like Coca-Cola and the U.S. Marines, as well as music for Hollywood film trailers.

Prior to his composing career, Salta toured with and worked on releases by a diverse array of popular artists such as Peter Gabriel, Everything But The Girl, Deep Forest, Junior Vasquez, Mary J. Blige and Sinead O’Connor. After several years of touring, Salta became increasingly immersed in studio work, producing, remixing and songwriting. Recording under the artist name “Atlas Plug,” Salta released the critically acclaimed electronic / orchestral music album “2 Days or Die” which quickly caught the attention of leading music supervisors. His album introduced a new hybrid sound to the visual entertainment industry at large, garnering high-profile placements on numerous television shows on ABC, CBS, MTV, NBC as well as national commercials and movie trailers (Spider-Man, Toy Story, Harry Potter) and simultaneously launched his music career in video games.

Following his collaborations with 343 Industries on the re-imagined soundtracks to HALO: Combat Evolved Anniversary and HALO 2: Anniversary as well as composing the original scores for HALO: Spartan Assault and HALO: Spartan Strike (the first HALO video game to be released on Apple mobile devices), Salta returns to the beloved sci-fi franchise to score the animated series, HALO: The Fall of Reach, adapted from the best-selling novel and produced by the award-winning animation studio Sequence.

His third solo outing in the iconic HALO universe, Salta’s score for The Fall of Reach supports the prequel narrative and expands the legacy sound of the series with new themes while complementing its musical blueprint with ethereal choral arrangements (including notable performances from Keystone State Boychoir and members of the New York Film Chorale), piano motifs, synth ambience and sweeping sci-fi orchestral compositions.

Furthermore, Salta composed, arranged and produced the first original pop song in the franchise’s history, “Take This Life”, featuring Jillian Aversa (HALO: Combat Evolved Anniversary) on vocals and with lyrics written by Frank O’Connor, Director of the HALO franchise, 343 Industries. The song will be available exclusively on HALO: The Fall of Reach soundtrack album.

We’re celebrating THE BRADY BUNCH with Actress Jennifer Elise Cox (“The Brady Bunch Movie”) & Executive Producer (“The Brady Bunch”) Lloyd Schwartz

A glowing personality with outlandish humor have been combined to invent her own comedic style. Jennifer Elise Cox is widely-known for her excellent, yet underrated, performance as middle child “Jan Brady” in “The Brady Bunch” movies.

Lloyd J. Schwartz  is known for his work on The Brady Bunch (1969), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) and A Very Brady Christmas (1988). Schwartz is the son of TV mogul Sherwood Schwartz and his wife Mildred. Lloyd worked alongside his father since the late 1960s. They teamed up on many Brady Bunch projects, often as writer or producer.

New York-based artist Todd Carey previously hit the top forty iTunes charts with his 2010 EP release After the Morning After. In support of his 2007 debut, Watching Waiting (Fontana), he played over 250 dates, with sellout shows in Chicago and Wisconsin, dazzling audiences with his pop song smarts, masterful guitar playing and exuberant stage presence.

Carey has toured nationally and performed on stage with such diverse artists as Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Marc Broussard, Brendan James, Jason Reeves, Keaton Simons and Matt Duke. Since 2010 he has been a fixture at the annual Hotel Carolina music festival. His music has been featured in MTV’s The Real World and movies such as Palo Alto and True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet.

Visit His Website! 

Piotr Michael is an actor and comedian based in Los Angeles. He is best known as an impressionist and gained worldwide attention from Youtube, showcasing his chameleon-like ability to mimic and create original characters.

Piotr works primarily as an actor and improvisational comedian with his most recent work as a supporting actor in the highly praised YouTube series, “The Impression Guys”. He can currently be heard as the voice of Casey Kasem and several other celebrities and characters on Howard Stern. Recently, he was the voice of Vice President Joe Biden on “Conan”, and can soon be heard as a villain in an upcoming episode from Disney XD’s “Wonder Over Yonder.”

He has provided his vocal talents to many studios and entertainment groups including Walt Disney Studios, Comedy Central, TBS, FOX, Cartoon Network, BBC Radio 1, Blizzard Entertainment, THQ, Square Enix, Defy Media, Machinima, Mondo Media and Maker Studios. When not performing on stage, television or in films, he can be found regularly producing comedic videos, podcasts and voice overs online.

Visit His Website!

Mark Clark is an author and film historian who writes about classic movies and TV shows. His most recent work is STAR WARS FAQ: EVERYTHING LEFT TO KNOW ABOUT THE TRILOGY THAT CHANGED THE MOVIES (Applause Books).

Star Wars FAQ tells a story as thrilling and action-packed as the movies themselves, with bold characters facing apparently insurmountable odds, full of frantic chases, narrow escapes, daring victories, and tragic setbacks, culminating in an unlikely triumph that changed the course of the galaxy or at least of Hollywood.

David W. Collins is known for his work at LucasArts as a voice actor and sound designer and joins me to chat about his work on Star Wars and his thoughts on composer John Williams, and the upcoming film!

“Count” Domenick Dicce is a writer, actor, and all-around creator of fun. He lives in California, and this is his first book. YOU’RE A VAMPIRE – THAT SUCKS!

Being bitten by and turned into a vampire isn’t the glitz and glamor that Hollywood makes it out to be. In fact, one out of five newly turned vampires will succumb to a slew of easily avoidable and common pitfalls within their first few months as a nightwalker—tempting garlic-laced Italian food, silver jewelry, and anything with an SPF below 1,000 will have to go.

As an answer to this tragic loss of undead life, “Count” Domenick Dicce has written the definitive how-to guide that just might save your pale, ice-cold skin. This helpful tome will cover everything from Vampire 101—such as hunting, feeding, and getting used to your new powers—to Vampire Graduate Studies—such as coffin selection, the ghoulish world of vampiric social hierarchy, and the universal Laws of the Vampire.This humorous and giftable guide will be perfect for you or the vampire nut in your life, complete with illustrations throughout.

Sean McCollum is an award-winning author who has written more than 30 nonfiction books and hundreds of articles for children and teens. Currently living in the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea, he has sailed on ships big and small, and always checks where the lifeboats are stowed.

Werewolves: The Truth Behind History’s Scariest Shape-Shifters

Stories about ferocious werewolves killing everything in their paths have been around for thousands of years. Take young readers on a trip through time to learn about ancient and medieval lore about werewolves.

Then explore how werewolf stories have changed over time until these monsters became the troubled and distant creatures often seen in today’s popular culture.

Just in time for Halloween, actor/stuntman Kane Hodder (“Jason”) joins Patrick to discuss the iconic role, his book and more!

Pop Culture expert & author Leonard Pierce stops by to chat about HBO’s ‘The Sopranos’ and its effect on today’s crime dramas like “Gotham” and “House of Cards”.

Kane Hodder.  To fans, this name is synonymous with horror, an icon on the level of Bela Legosi, Boris Karloff and Vincent Price. Kane has appeared as a stunt man and actor in more than two hundred television shows and movies in a career spanning over thirty years. His role as Jason Voorhees in four consecutive films of the Friday the 13th series came to define the character feared by millions of fans the world over. The man behind the hockey mask would seal his fate as horror royalty years later by starring as the monster Victor Crowley in the Hatchet series.

 

“If You Like The Sopranos…“ The best-loved crime family in America is just part of a grand tradition of mob movies, gangster flicks, great television dramas, and a sensibility that is part Sicily and part New Jersey. If You Like the Sopranos… is the first book that starts with Tony and the gang in their humble homes in the Garden State and explores the astonishing amount of great films, TV shows, and other pop-culture wonders that any fan of the Sopranos will love.

From The Godfather and Bonnie and Clyde to The Wire , to lesser-known noirs, Jimmy Cagney classics, contemporary HBO dramas, Martin Scorsese’s best work, and even the rock’n’roll that inspired the classic Sopranos soundtrack, this is the one book that every fan needs if he or she ever has to go on the lam. If you’re a newbie…

Check out Leonard’s list of five classic-era gangster movies:

1.  Underworld (1927, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring George Bancroft)

2.  Little Caesar (1931, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Edward G. Robinson)

3.  The Public Enemy (1931, directed by William Wellman, starring James Cagney)

4.  Scarface (1932, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Paul Muni)

5.  I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Paul Muni)

Interesting Fact: Raoul Walsh, directed one of the first gangster movies ever (Regeneration, in 1915), one of the last gangster movies of the classic era (The Roaring Twenties, in 1939), and one of the last old-school gangster pictures made during the noir era (White Heat, in 1949).

In addition to conducting his paranormal research, Dustin Pari is the COO of a surgical practice based in New England. He also does a lot of work as a motivational speaker and Christian lecturer and has penned a few paranormal and motivational books thus far, and more are in the works.

Abbi Scott is a dynamic, hardworking musician with her cowboy roots raised up  in Indiana and her sights set on Music City. With Abbi’s talent, drive, and magnetic personality, there is no stopping this country girl from living out her wildest dreams. Abbi has opened for several of country music’s hottest artists, including Luke Bryan, Lee Brice, Dierks Bentley, Jana Kramer, Cole Swindell, Josh Thompson, Trick Pony, DJ Miller, David Bradley, Dustin Lynch, Maggie Rose, and Confederate Railroad.

Joel Goodman creates music for narrative feature films, documentaries, television, album releases and other forms of collaborative media. As an Emmy Award-winning composer Joel has scored over 125 films and television programs that have received 4 Oscar nominations, 15 Emmy awards and over 25 Emmy nominations. He has scored over 40 films for HBO and composed the Main Theme for the long-running and critically acclaimed PBS series American Experience. His scores can regularly be heard in movie theaters and on television around the world.

Prepare for frightfully good conversation with some of your TV & Film stars! Patrick chats with Michael Dorn, Carel Struycken & Kevin Sizemore about their latest projects and more!

One would think that the man who bears one of the most unique accomplishments in Star Trek history—he has appeared as the same character in more hours of Star Trek than any other actor—would be instantly recognizable to the public.  But thanks to the wigs and prosthetics he was forced to don as Worf, Michael Dorn is more likely to pass through a crowd unnoticed than any of his cast mates from Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  That is, until he opens his mouth:  Dorn’s distinctive baritone voice is always a surefire giveaway, and has been heard not only on TNG and DS9, but also in dozens of animated series, computer games and television commercials.

Sans makeup, the Luling, Texas native who grew up in Pasadena, Calif., made his first onscreen appearance—uncredited—in Rocky, as Apollo Creed’s bodyguard.  Within a few years, however, he’d landed a co-starring role in CHIPs, and, subsequently, an ongoing one in Days of Our Lives.  Then came TNG, and laterDS9: over 11 seasons and four feature films, Dorn’s Worf holds the record for the most appearances for any Star Trek character ever.

Although he appeared on Heroes as the President of the United States, these days his fans are more likely to hear than see him, in animated shows like Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Superman, Justice League or the revival of Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century. An avid aviator, Dorn has owned numerous aircraft, flown with the Blue Angels and other precision teams, and still owns an old Air Force trainer jet that he takes to air shows around the country.

Soon he will be directing the pilot episode of Internity, an upcoming television medical comedy.

Kevin Sizemore has portrayed many memorable characters on television, such as Gary Humphrey on RESURRECTION, Paul Randolph on UNDER THE DOME and Greg Miner on STALKER. Others include 24, Rizzoli & Isles, NCIS, DROP DEAD DIVA & many more.

Kevin will be seen next in the feature film WOODLAWN, opening nationwide Oct. 16th alongside Jon Voight & Sean Astin as Coach Jerry Stearns, a no nonsense football coach. (The real Jerry Stearns unfortunately died 4 days before the production wrapped)

Recently Kevin completed the futuristic drama DOMAIN as a character locked away in a confined space for 5 years with his only means of communication coming from a video screen.

The Sci-Fi thriller SIGHTINGS, where he portrays a hard-nosed Detective, who visits a small town in TX to conduct a murder investigation and quickly finds out there’s more to the story.

In the comedy TREW CALLING, Sizemore portrays “I AM”….the almighty who visits a girl on earth and asks her to write down everything he says.  (Kevin was also a producer on this project)

Kevin is now in pre-production on a Christmas feature titled BELIEVE starring Miles Davis and Ryan O’Quinn.

Kevin is a native of Princeton, West Virginia & is married to fitness expert & author Gina Lombardi. They have one son Gunnar, who’s an actor and who portrays the character of “Micah” on the ABC series NASHVILLE.

Kevin can be seen in the new movie ‘Woodlawn’ portraying Jerry Stearns.

Carel Struycken is the actor known to Star Trek fans for playing Lwaxana Troi’s assistant and valet, Mr. Homn, in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also played The Spectre in the Star Trek: Voyager episode “The Thaw“.

Struycken is probably most well-known for his role as “Lurch” in the Addams Family movies (The Addams Family in 1991 and Addams Family Values ...

BRANNON BRAGA (Series Creator/Executive Producer/Writer)

Emmy-nominated Brannon Braga serves as co-creator, executive producer and writer on Salem, WGN America’s hit supernatural thriller and the network’s first original scripted series, which premiered April 20, 2014. Set in the volatile world of 17th-century Massachusetts, Salem explores what really fueled the infamous witch trials, uncovering the suspenseful, supernatural truth of this dark period in American history.

Braga is also an executive producer and director on FOX’s relaunch of Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, the iconic 1980 television miniseries from Carl Sagan. Most recently, Braga served as executive producer and writer on FOX’s Terra Nova along with Steven Spielberg.

Prior to that, Braga was an executive producer and writer on the award-winning drama series 24. Braga also created Flashforward and served as an executive producer on the series. Previously, he worked as writer and executive producer on the science fiction drama series Threshold.

Braga was a key creative force in one of the most enduring and well-known science fiction franchises as a creator, writer and executive producer of more than 300 episodes of the Star Trek television series. For more than 13 years collectively, he worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. His film credits include Mission: Impossible II, Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. In 1990, Braga received the prestigious Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Internship, which led to his involvement with Star Trek.

Jim Beaver is an American character actor, best known for his leading roles on the TV series Deadwood (2004) and Supernatural (2005).

Nominated along with other cast members of Deadwood for a 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award, he found his career in high gear following that series. From it he moved to the popular father-figure role of demon hunter Bobby Singer onSupernatural (2005), a part that brought him a worldwide fan base and a secondary career making personal appearances.

He has continued to write plays and, between acting jobs, to work on the George Reeves project, now planned as a book. He served as biographical consultant on Reeves for the semi-biopic Hollywoodland (2006).

Marina Sirtis joins Patrick to chat about her upcoming role as a newbie doctor in the medical comedy “Internity”.

The interstellar duo of Marina Sirtis, (Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, Crash) best known for her role as Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation and it’s film franchise, and former co-star, Lt. Worf actor Michael Dorn, (Castle, Heroes, Ted 2) have embarked on a new mission with the comedy Internity. The cosmic pair plans to make Internity  the first actor-created, fan-funded television series pilot bought by a major network.

Internity follows a misfit team of newbie doctors navigating “intern hell,” led by Dr. Nate, a pop culture fanboy who’s obsessed with TV reruns and prone to dream sequences featuring actual cast members from his favorite old shows in guest appearances.

Sirtis stars as Dr. Camila Chivari, whom at age 50, isn’t the typical first year intern. After a messy divorce, Chivari returned to medical school to pursue her long-held ambition of becoming a doctor. Sirtis says, “I find the idea of starting over at fifty very compelling. It takes guts to embark on a totally new journey at an age most people are thinking about retirement. It’s rare to be offered such an exciting and rewarding role, so I don’t care how we fund it. I’m in!“

Dorn will direct the pilot and make a special appearance reprising his and Sirtis’ iconic sci-fi roles in a special flashback scene. “I’m always looking to break new ground. With this show, we can,” Dorn said. Internity also stars sitcom staples Richard Ruccolo (Two Guys, a Girl & a Pizza Place, Rita Rocks, Legit) and Carla Jimenez,  (Last Man Standing, Raising Hope,Nacho Libre) with veteran actor Jim Beaver (Supernatural, Deadwood, the upcoming Crimson Peak) and Joey Adams (Bones, Body of Proof, Broadway).

Adams is writer-creator and will co-produce with Jerald Silverhardt (All The Right Moves, Marker, Fish Don’t Blink). Additional casting by Christine Sheaks, C.S.A. (Boogie Nights, Scary Movie, Fargo) will be announced shortly. Silverhardt says,“Joey wrote a beautifully layered, funny show. It’s got comedy, it’s got drama and it’s different.”

Beaver says, “I like to work on good things, even if there aren’t millions or billions of dollars involved.  A really well-thought-out and exciting crowdfunded project is in some ways a greater draw than playing my 481st country sheriff.  That’s why I wanted to be part of Internity. It’s a terrific script, and terrific character, and it’s the kind of stuff I don’t always get to play.”

“Actors have been producing their work since the days of Charlie Chaplin,” Adams says. “But, actors taking that work directly to their audience to finance it? This is the future.”

To make history, the team must first raise at least $100,000 via crowdfunding platform www.indiegogo.com to fund their pilot.  “Crowdfunding, simply put, is investing in dreams,” Adams said. “Once people get to know us and see how much we all believe in this show; I think they’ll want to help us play doctors on TV.”