The Bitterest Pill

This is a repodcast of a premium episode from July 23rd, 2008.  

Today, I talk about friends. First, my neighbor’s friend the other neighbor, and the complicated e-mail…situation. And, my friend Frank the Guitar Player and his day job.

Check out Frank Browne and the greatest Neil Diamond tribute band in the land, Fantastic Diamond.

Check out my “Masterpiece” story contribution to J.C. Hutchins’ “7th Son: Obsidian.”

To Jeff Newland.  I talk about double dating with Jenny and CC, being pushed into an intersection, getting my first and only nickname and the power of stopping to think where you are.

Places mentioned include Turk Hill Road, Irondequoit Hots, House of Guitars, Eastview Mall, Perinton Square Mall, Sibley’s, McCurdy’s, Friendly’s and who knows what else.

Flashback episode.  Originally podcast July 13th, 2008

Today I talk about the shocking events at the dojo and how I need to get even more exercise (and that’s an order). Also, we tented the house this past week, which was supposed to force me to take a few days off of working and running around and worrying and all that. Instead, it turned into tenting-and-traveling-to-work. Nice.

I did get the chance to interview several members of the US Olympic Swim Team for Speedo. Turns out I was being more open with them than I ever imagined…

No new show this week.  We’re flying our flags at half mast this week, after hearing of the untimely death of a long time friend and friend of the show.  I can’t say more now, except that my heart is broken for his family, and I think the city of Rochester lost a beloved son.

Coincidently, the next PILLBOX episode is a nostalgic one, about my time in Rochester just after high school.  The original post is here.

Talk to you next week…

A couple of tales from my days in Rochester, NY, in my post-high school years. First, the story of building a raft with several of the smartest guys I know for the annual raft race. Then, my one act of spontaneity, on the 4th of July.

As a side note, at one point I say that I did something after my freshman year of high school, but I actually meant college. I didn’t have a roommate in high school…

Also, names have been removed to protect the…innocent. Sorry for the annoying reverse-thing. Maybe next time I’ll use dog barks or something.

Thanks to Henry Herman for the great outro/plug/etc.

So, I have recently been thinking a lot about starting my own cult (a.k.a. acting school).  I would build a little theater in a store front nearby, and you could visit me when you’re at LAX on a layover.  That makes sense, right?

I play the Director of the Nuclear Resource Commission on the upcoming CBS series, Intelligence.  The show looks like a lot of fun in that Six-Million-Dollar-Man-for-the-Internet-Generation sort of way.  The show stars a guy from Lost (Sawyer?) and Little Red Riding Hood and Marg Helenberger.  Mine is a tiny part but I’m honored to be on such a fun-looking show and hope like hell they have me back.  The shoot went really well, but, of course, it’s me, so it was not without internal drama…

So, wow, what a week or two.  Some guy ran into the path of my car with his, the neighbors painted their house a familiar color, Hudson and I got our fill of geriatric testicals and I got to play a creepy guy on my birthday.

Thanks for Susan Rutan, Jenica Bergere and Jim “Cush” Cushinery and Jim’s crew for a great day of shooting.  I’ll keep everyone posted on the progress of the short.

It took me ten minutes to figure out what “VA” stands for, and then I spent another ten minutes trying to figure out how to afford one.  Most of the initials I hear are GTA and B&E, stuff like that.  There’s been a lot of crime in the neighborhoods around here, so much so that our neighbors are very on edge.  So on edge, I can’t even leave the house for a Guiness and a little stand-up without the SWAT team surrounding my house.

My daughter got an acting job that shot in Fontana, about three blocks from where I lived when I was a baby.  Turns out, you can never go back, even if you drive right up to it…

I grew a beard this summer.  Of course, all I had to do is say I grew a beard and now I have an audition to play an accountant in a commercial, and I really don’t think I should have a beard.  Ugg.  The photo above is of me as Johnny Siren in Hudson’s production of Max Quick: The Pocket and the Pendant.  Those scars on my face (not the age wrinkles, but the scars) are painted on using ridgid collodion.  Awesome stuff.

I don’t remember what I talk about in this edition of the podcast, other than my beard.  I know I didn’t talk about facial hair for a half hour, so there must be more to it than that.

What have I been doing for the last month, month and a half?  Putting together estimates, driving around the airport crying, “watching” Breaking Bad, scrubbing the gates and not stabbing a gopher.

I promise not to talk about dead animals anymore.

Special thanks to crime fiction writer and friend of the show Seth Harwood for keeping me entertained over the past several weeks.

We just had a holiday weekend, so the same thing happened that happens every holiday weekend: a major appliance went belly up.  Turns out, if you put 20 lbs of dry ice in your warm refridgerator it’ll get cold.  Maybe forever.

Hugo’s arch nemisis has taunted him from above for the last time.  Apparently, the Squirrel Who Shall Not Be Named (because I refuse to give him a name) has chattered his laster chatter at us.  And, for the record, dear animal kingdom, I did not kill the squirrel.

I saw my agents, in person and on screen, past and present.  Ugg.

(I”ve reposted the MP3 for this episode.  The original upload had echo in it that was not supposed to be there.  Sorry for the inconvenience and for sounding like I was talking into a coffee can)