January 12, 2015 10:03am

This is the first blog of the year. Like most of my self appointed writing assignments, it is met with great resistance…but you’re reading it now, so…I won! F U resistance!

Today is one of those special days to be an actor because I am ‘On Avail’ for a commercial. ‘On Avail’ means they love me…and another guy. Now it’s just down to a ‘Rose Ceremony’ which is usually accompanied by a phone call from my agent saying : “You booked it!”.  I love that my agent makes phone calls! So, it’s a, sit by the phone, day. It’s a, make sure you have a full cell battery, day. It’s a ‘it’s 2pm and I haven’t heard shit yet’, day. It can be frustrating to wait. Getting the gig means getting paid usually a large chunk of money all at once. A few hundred here, a couple thousand there.  Just like a winning lottery ticket.
Being a poor-ass, hand-to-mouth, “artist”, I am already spending that money in my head. Alas, if I hear nothing, then I move onto the next audition. It sounds like a big build up to be disappointed. It is. The weed helps….amiright?

Comedy shows keep on’a coming’ too! Since October, I have been performing Monday nights in Hollywood at L’Scorpion as part of Krysta Florsczyk’s CrockPot Comedy! I get asked back every week and I graciously accept! Krysta, along with hosts (friends) Jim Coughlin and Michelle March put together a FREE comedy show. Stripper pole included! And YES, every week at least for the past month, Krysta whips up a new dish in her slow cooker and we just nosh. What a blessing to have a show that’s walking distance, with food!

Also, after a long, and puzzling hiatus, on January 27th, 2015 at 7:30 pm, I will be making my triumphant return to the Yoo Hoo Room at Flapper’s in very clean, Burbank California!

February 2nd, 2015 at 8pm I will be at the Universal Bar and Grill for another installment of the Crispy Show! Thank you Chris Putro!

On Wednesdays, at The Hollywood Hotel, I am co-hosting the Odin’s Day Open mic with fellow comedian, and critic of my musical taste, Phil S. Gould! Stop by, won’t you?

 

The turbulence and tension of 2014 brought with it a sound track. A little ditty, looped ad nauseam in the backdrop of: Ferguson MO, missing airliners, economic sanctions on Russia, more school shootings, an election year, more Kardashian ass pics, Confirming that the Bush Administration is a bunch of criminals and much more. Of course I’m referring to the ‘Let It Go’ song from “Frozen”.  Not just the theme song about persuading a snow-princess to free her town from it’s wintery curse, but an anthem pounding away at our subconscious. Reinforcing that, no matter how big our problems, we just have to (key change) “Let it go…Let it goooahooh! It deserved further examination. I dissected the phrase. Let – Allow to pass in a particular direction. It – description of a noun. Go – leave, depart. So, Allow (to permit, grant) to pass in a particular direction any person, place or thing to leave and depart from you.

Exactly!

We hold on to a lot of things; grudges, old negative thoughts about ourselves/others, stuck relationships, old clothes, paperwork, e-paperwork; emails, bookmarks, texts, inaccurate memories, and the list goes on. We each have this desire to rid ourselves of an ‘It’ or ‘Its’. In my experience, ‘It’ wants to ‘Go’…like, now. But ‘It’ won’t ‘Go’ anywhere, until I ‘Let’ ‘It’. And I’m here to tell you that it involves one action that is easy, yet simultaneously difficult as hell, and that is the action of deciding to Let..Allow..Permit. Decisions are when the ‘Ifs’ and the ‘Buts’ flank you, wrestle you to the ground, noogie you into keeping those crap friends, or that pile of ratty clothes. How are new people supposed to come in, when old people are taking up valuable space? Where’s the new duds when you’re still rocking the college sweatshirt that not only contains holes, but also, memories?

Letting go sucks and ROCKS! May you have the compassion for yourself, and the strength to allow to pass those decided people, places and things so that they may leave, depart.

Speaking of the departed, I dedicate this blog to three people in our comedy community who recently passed; Jason Chin of ImprovOlympic Chicago, LA stand-up Comedian, Robert Murray and Comedian/Actor Taylor Negron.  Thanks for many wonderful memories, on stage, on screen and in life.

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