Television Actors Who Sing

Every time I write about music here at The Ugly Bug Ball, I feel insecure.  I’ll confess to anyone who will listen that music is practically a foreign language to me.  You’ve been warned before, but here we go again!

I collect music performed by television actors.  I don’t do it on purpose.  It just sort of happens, but there’s no disputing the evidence.  It’s sitting right there on my shelf, a testament to either blind faith or questionable taste.   I have been happily surprised by some of albums I’ve purchased, disappointed by others.  Here’s a sample.

I’ve shared my affection for The Partridge Family in an earlier post.  This was the first album in my collection.  I usually start with a greatest hits compilation, and if I like it, I will then seek out other albums. I got this CD in 1990, and now it’s on my mp3 player.  I have most of The Partridge Family LP records, and I like to play them when I’m doing housework.  There’s nothing like a little bubblegum pop to make the work more fun.

I got this CD a few years back when Leif Garrett was in the news for his various problems with drugs.  I didn’t listen to his music in the 70s, unless he was performing a song as a guest star on a television series I happened to be watching.  My interest as a fan came earlier in his career, when he starred in a very short-lived 1975 series called Three For The Road.  It also starred Vincent Van Patten and Alex Rocco.  I was devastated when it was cancelled.  Some of the songs on this album aren’t awful, but there’s too much disco for me to listen regularly.

When Daniel Boone was finally released on DVD, Ed Ames quickly emerged as my favorite actor on the series.  I was curious about his recording career, so I bought this collection.  It’s now one of my favorites.  What a voice!

I’ve watched every episode of Starsky & Hutch on DVD, and I still tune in on RetroTV when there is only reality TV on the other channels.  David Soul’s Don’t Give Up On Us (Baby) was impossible to avoid in the 70s.  I hadn’t heard most of the other songs on this collection.  Some of them I like, some of them I don’t.  With mp3s, you can pick and choose when you add them to your computer and mp3 player.  That’s what I’ve done with this album.

I’ve been a fan of Sal Mineo since I was in junior high.  He is better known for his movie roles, but he did make many television appearances.  I didn’t know until recently that he had some recordings as a singer.  I have to confess, this is the least played album in my collection.  I don’t know if it’s me or the recordings, but I can’t recommend Sal the Singer.

We’re finally into the 21st century!  Last year, I started watching General Hospital to see Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer.  I also started listening to his indie band, Enation.  World in Flight is still my favorite album by these guys.  It seems that every album they release is very different from the one before, making it hard to describe them with any accuracy.  I can recommend this one, and my favorite songs are still Everything is Possible and Permission to Dream.

And now we’re back to the early sixties.  There’s no hiding my current obsession!  Since getting into The Rifleman, I’ve been exploring the recordings of Johnny Crawford.  It took me a couple of listens to get used to the style from this era.  Now I’m hooked.  My favorite song is probably The Girl Next Door.

To stay current with Johnny Crawford, I have to go back to an even earlier era.  These days, the Johnny Crawford Dance Orchestra is based in Los Angeles, playing mostly at private functions and Hollywood events.  The music is vintage arrangements from the 20s and 30s.  This album (the only orchestra one so far) is available through Amazon, CD Baby, and iTunes.  I wasn’t sure I would like this as much as his teen recordings from the sixties, but I’m really enjoying these tunes, especially the title track.

So, that’s a little glimpse at my music collection.  Tell me about yours!  Got any television actors that I missed?

General Hospital Fan Club Weekend 2011

I invited my friend “Katydid” to tell us about her weekend with the General Hospital cast and the band Enation, since I wasn’t able to go myself.  I felt like I was there, actually, because Katydid called me and sent photos every day.  She even held up her phone during Enation’s concert so I could hear a song.   Here’s her report:

Last week I attended my second General Hospital Fan Club Weekend Event, held this year at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City, California.  Each year, the actors and fans of this long-running ABC soap come together for four days to celebrate the show.  Several actors put on their own events throughout the weekend, allowing fans a more intimate way to get to know their favorites.  There is a kick-off cocktail party on Thursday night that begins the weekend and a main cast event on Saturday where fans can see all their favorite GH stars in one room.

 I started my weekend with actor Jonathan Jackson (Lucky Spencer) at his event.  When Jackson entered the small conference room, he quickly took his seat on the raised platform, grabbed the microphone, and told fans to start firing away with their questions.   This event is a great way for fans to discuss not only what’s happening with Lucky on GH, but to also ask questions about Jackson’s other acting jobs, and even to gain some insight into his personal life.  It was a family event, because his wife Lisa (who played Hannah on GH from 1999-2001), and his three kids, Caleb, Adora, and baby Titus (who just joined the cast as Lucky’s son) were all in attendance.  Most of the questions and discussion centered around General Hospital.  Jackson explained how much he loves being back with the show after a ten year absence.  He enjoys working with co-stars Anthony Geary, Tyler Christopher, Becky Herbst, Erin Chambers, and Steve Burton.  He was also very hopeful that new head writer Garin Wolf can make some powerful changes, including honoring history and improving the writing for women.  I found it amusing when Jackson admitted he is still clueless about a lot of GH history, including how his character Lucky is related to cousin Carly, and that Maxie is the daughter of GH super-couple Frisco and Felicia Jones.  Other topics included how amazing it was to win his fourth Daytime Emmy this summer.  Jackson got word of the nomination on his birthday, and he won the Emmy on Father’s Day.  His son Caleb was asked how it felt to go onstage with his dad to accept the award, and his only response was, “It was really good.”  Jackson also said he really enjoyed working on past projects such as his first movie Camp Nowhere (1994) and the more recent Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which was cancelled right before he became a series regular.  The event closed out with Caleb and Adora leading the crowd in a game of High/Low to give away some prizes.  Then each fan was given the opportunity get an autograph and a photo with Jackson.  

Jonathan Jackson answering questions at his fan event

Saturday was the Main Cast Event, which was an all-day event that included lunch.  Fans started to arrive around 9 in the morning, where they were first assigned their table and then were free to roam the room.  Tables were set up to sell memorabilia and raffle tickets for all kinds of prizes ranging from cast photos to a studio tour of the General Hospital set.  There were 39 tables and approximately 400 fans in attendance.

 We were served lunch around 11am, and once lunch was over, the cast made their first appearance.  Each cast member was introduced by long-time GH veteran John Ingle (Edward) as they took their seat on stage.  Actors in attendance included: Adrienne Barbeau (Suzanne), Carolyn Hennessy (Diane), Blake Gibbons (Coleman), Erin Chambers (Siobhan), Haley Pullos (Molly), Aaron Sanders (Morgan), Sean Blakemore (Shawn), Andrea Bogart (Abby), Brianna Brown (Lisa), Bruce Weitz (Anthony), Ronnie Marmo (Ronnie), Derk Cheetwood (Max), Kirsten Storms (Maxie), Kelly Monaco (Sam), Becky Herbst (Elizabeth), Jonathan Jackson (Lucky), Lisa LoCicero (Olivia), Julie Berman (Lulu), Dominic Zamprogna (Dante), Jason Thompson (Patrick), Kimberly McCoullough (Robin), Maurice Benard (Sonny), Steve Burton (Jason), Scott Reeves (Steve), Brandon Barash (Johnny), Bradford Anderson (Spinelli), Laura Wright (Carly), Lexi Ainsworth (Kristina), and Chad Duell (Michael).  Then actor John J. York (Mac) asked each of the other cast members one question.  Most of the questions were predictable and ranged from “What other actor would you like to work with more?” to “Who would you say is the biggest prankster on set?”  The actors are all very funny and even joked with each other when giving their answers. 

General Hospital cast at Fan Club Weekend

Once the Q & A was over it was time for the actors to take their place at their respective autograph tables.  The tables were set up around the perimeter of the room, and fans were then able to line up for the opportunity get an autograph and a photo with as many actors as they could, although some fan favorites had longer lines than most.  I met twelve of the actors and can honestly say that most of them seemed thrilled to be there, and believe it or not, they are much more attractive in person than on television.   The entire cast was very appreciative of the fans that came out to show their support.

Dominic Zamprogna, Julie Berman and Jonathan Jackson

 A few of the actors left early, including Maurice Benard, Steve Burton, Jonathan Jackson, Laura Wright, and Bradford Anderson, although to be fair it was announced that Wright and Bradford couldn’t stay long, and the rest had other fan club events happening that evening.  Kelly Monaco and Kirsten Storms had one of the longest lines, partly because they were frequently distracted by some friends who kept summoning them away from their autograph table.  They also had a camera crew filming the event, since they are part of E!’s upcoming reality show Dirty Soap. The actors who stayed the longest and seemed to be the most excited to be there, at least in my opinion, were Brandon Barash, Erin Chambers, Becky Herbst, Julie Berman, Dominic Zamprogna, John J. York, and Brianna Brown.

Jonathan Jackson

 I closed out the weekend with Jonathan Jackson’s band Enation at a small acoustic concert.  They performed several songs from their popular 2008 album World In Flight, and they introduced some new songs off their upcoming album My Ancient Rebellion (due out in October).  Jackson even performed an unrecorded song called “To Say Goodbye,” which heartbreakingly expresses the feelings of his GH character Lucky’s struggle with his son’s death.  The guys also received some vocal assistance when Lisa Jackson came up on stage to sing with her husband for “Let the Beauty Out.” Enation sounded absolutely amazing, especially considering the concert took place in a small conference room.  Jackson’s voice live was even more powerful and more full of emotion than it is in their recordings.  You could tell the entire band was happy to be there, and their passion for music shines through in every song.  Fans were treated to a brief appearance by Julie Berman and Dominic Zamprogna when they stopped by to catch the end of the show and give their co-star a quick hug.  Then the band stayed for a while after the performance to pose for photos and sign autographs.  I had a chance to quickly talk with the guys before taking a photo with them.  Drummer Richard Lee Jackson was thrilled to have a chance to interact with fans, making sure to ask everyone their name and shake their hand.  He even asked if I had seen Enation perform before, and I was happy to tell him  that I attended their concert at last year’s fan club weekend.

Enation: (L to R) Michael Galeotti, Richard Jackson, Jonathan Jackson, Luke Galeotti, and Daniel Sweatt

Overall the GH Fan Club Weekend is a very fun event, and it’s a great opportunity for fans.  The actors seem to appreciate the support, and with the future of soaps like General Hospital on such shaky ground, they need all the support we can give them!

Thanks, Katydid!  This was your second FCW.  How did it compare to last year?

This year was different because it was the first year I attended the main cast event.  It was quite a unique experience being surrounded by so many of the actors at once, and to get to spend the entire day at the event as opposed to just a few hours like the individual events.  It was also a great opportunity to meet a variety of fans, all of whom watch the show for so many different reasons.

Did anyone surprise you meeting them in person?

No one in particular surprised me, but it was interesting to see how different the actors are from their characters.  Like with Brianna Brown—her character Lisa was a psychopath, but she couldn’t have been more sweet in real life.  Also, John J. York’s character Mac is usually a pretty serious guy, but York himself is much more upbeat and very, very funny.
 
Does the camera really add ten pounds?

Oh yes, the camera definitely adds ten pounds.  Not that any of the actors look bad on television, but I was amazed at how much tinier all the actresses were in person, and it was shocking to find out I am taller than most of them!

That’s a long list of actors who came.  Was anyone missing? Anyone you particularly wanted to meet? 

There were a few GH faces that I didn’t get to see during my weekend.  Vanessa Marcil-Giovinazzo (Brenda) and Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) each held their own event during the weekend but were absent from the main cast event on Saturday.  Constance Towers (Helena) had a name tag up at the autograph tables before the event, but she must have been a no-show.  It would have been nice to meet actors Jason Cook (Matt) and Nathan Parsons (Ethan), but both were missing from the entire weekend.

Thank you for sharing your weekend with me!

[All photographs ©2011 Katydid.  Please don't post elsewhere without permission.]

Enation’s “Video for a Cause” Contest

I’m a fan of Enation, the indie band fronted by actor Jonathan Jackson.  This week, the band is having a “Video for a Cause” contest.  Their new song The Salvation of One will be on their upcoming album My Ancient Rebellion, due to be released in late October.   Fans have been invited to create a video using the song for a cause of their choice.  The winner of the contest will receive concert tickets and an iChat with either Jonathan Jackson or Bethany Joy Galeotti of Everly and One Tree Hill.   (She’s married to Enation’s Michael Galeotti.)

I love making short videos using Animoto, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to make longer videos with an upgrade to Animoto Plus.  It’s only $5 a month, less if you pre-pay for a year.  If you want to upgrade your video for better resolution, ideal for YouTube, it’s an extra $3 per video.  I decided to make one for the contest.  With less than a week to make the video, I wasn’t able to go anywhere to take photos.  Instead, I used photos from news sources of recent natural disasters, including the Christchurch earthquake, Japan tsunami, and Joplin tornado.  My cause is the Red Cross and other organizations around the world that provide relief.  Here is my video.

I learned so much making this.  As a photographer, I strongly believe that all photographs should be properly credited.   I realize I’ve posted many photographs here on my blog where I haven’t done that.  It’s not easy, though.  So many times, photographs have been copied from other sites, and the credits have been left off.  Sometimes when you use google image search, the pages where the photos appeared have expired, so you can’t even find the source.  I’m going to make a better effort in the future with the photos used here, in spite of the difficulties.

A few months ago, I was using google image search.  I found one of my best photographs on somebody else’s website, and the woman was claiming it as her own work.  Once something like that happens, you know how important it is to protect your work and to have it respected.

You can tell I’m passionate about this!  Perhaps I should have made this my “cause.”  Anyway, there are some great videos being submitted by Enation fans.  It’s made for a very interesting week.  I don’t actually want to win the contest, since the real prize is making a video and having others watch it, especially people whose creative efforts you admire.

If you watch my video, be sure to leave a comment on YouTube, and support disaster relief!

One Year Old

Reflections on my first year of blogging

Today is the one year anniversary of The Ugly Bug Ball.  I wasn’t sure I could keep it going, but here we are on post number 95.  100 would have been a nicer number, but I’m not complaining.  Honestly, my only goal a year ago was to find a way to stop driving my boss crazy.  She was tired of all my entertainment chitchat, so I took it online. 

A year ago, I was obsessing over Matthew Goode and Michael Sheen, and I was mourning the cancellation of EastEnders on my local PBS station.  I think I can be forgiven for neglecting Matthew Goode, since he hasn’t released any new movies.  Michael Sheen has been very busy, but I have to confess, I didn’t finish watching A Special Relationship.  All the politics went right over my head.  I still miss Albert Square.

A year ago, I’d never heard of Jonathan Jackson or his band Enation.  I didn’t know I’d be spending every weekday afternoon watching General Hospital to see Jackson as Lucky Spencer.   I was so excited when Enation tweeted links to my blog and even commented on one of my posts.  Now my current obsession is the Les Misérables 25th anniversary concert and some of the West End actors who performed in it.   Who knows what will entertain me next.  I try to “spread the love” by having lots of favorites, so there is always something new just around the corner.

I wish I didn’t feel compelled to check my blog stats so often.  I’m fascinated by how many visitors I get, and what brings them here.  It took me a long time to figure out that a portion of my “visitors” weren’t real, but spam referrers and creepy link posters.  Once I got over that disappointment, I soldiered on.  A dramatic change came a few months after I started, when the UK dating site with the same name was launched.   Suddenly, I had a dramatic increase in visits, but it wasn’t my Bug Ball they wanted.  Google soon sorted them out, although I still get a few strays.  My other wish?  That more people would leave comments.   Even after a year, it’s a thrill to know that people from all over the world are looking at my pages.

 I never really planned to be “Ugly Bug,”  but that’s become my username in various forums and sites that I visit, and when I leave comments on other blogs.  My gravatar photo is a damselfly, and I quite like that for a name, but I never got around to trying it.  It amuses me how some folks are uncomfortable with the word ugly.  I’m usually addressed as UB or Bug, which is fine, too.  I’m fond 0f that old saying, call me anything except late for dinner!

My most popular post this first year is  A Silent Scream, which talks about silent film.  Lots of folks out there are googling “Louise Brooks.”  A surprisingly popular one is All Thumbs, simply because of the photo of Hrithik Roshan’s double thumb.   Another entry that gets a lot of visits is In Remembrance: Armistice Day due to the WWI art.   My Les Mis posts have brought in a lot of new people, too.  I’m not sure how many more screencaps I will add, but at least my photoshop skills keep improving. 

New technology has brought big changes to my blog and what entertains me.  Last summer I got my first mp3 player.  Then my brother gave me my first digital camera, so I was able to start adding fresh photos.  I got a new Epson scanner, so old photos and slides were resurrected and added to these pages.  I learned how to make screencaps using Paint and Photoshop, and I learned that YouTube videos could be converted into mp3s.   Speaking of YouTube, I had no idea until last summer what treasures could be found there.  

Another big blogging milestone was when I started writing about personal subjects.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there.   Writing about my favorite uncle, Dennis Severs, was a wonderful way to share a few memories, and I found it deeply satisfying.   I’ve been neglecting my Stage Door Encounter series, but it’s been a fun way to combine personal experiences with my interest in actors.  

So here’s to one year and counting, and hopefully the best is yet to come!

Playing With Photoshop

Enation performing Eyes of Grace (click to see larger)

Enation just posted a new video on YouTube, performing Eyes of Grace in concert.  My friend recently taught me how to make screencaps, so I had some fun putting this together in photoshop.

My Year End Wrap-Up 2010

As the year comes to a close, it’s time to look back and reflect on the best and worst of 2010.  I’m not going to be the least bit objective here.  This is my blog, so I get to ignore popular trends and public opinion.  You won’t find Lady Gaga or Dancing With The Stars or Harry Potter The First Part of the Last Book (Finally).  This is what entertained ME this year.

Best Books: This year, the recently published books that I most enjoyed were The Gates by John Connolly, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson, Operation Mincemeat by Ben McIntyre, and The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart.  The biggest disappoint was One Day by David Nicholls.

Best Television: All year long, the television show that has been the most consistently funny and worth watching is The Big Bang Theory.  Jim Parsons gets a lot of the credit, but I’m also a big fan of Kunal Nayyar as Raj.   Another excellent series is Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.  My favorite new show from the fall is Hawaii Five-O.  The worst show this year  was the incredibly dull American Idol season.  I can’t even remember the finalists anymore, probably because I was watching NCIS instead.   (People who know me will wonder about General Hospital.  Just keep reading.)

Best Twitter:  Matthew Gray Gubler from Criminal Minds tweets with charm and whimsy, and his photos, while not always in focus, are always worth clicking open.

Best Movie:  This category is very tricky.  I only saw five films this year in a movie theater, and two of them were silent.   Of the talkies, Easy A was the funniest and most endearing.  Emma Stone, Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson are so appealing, you easily forget the shortcomings of the story.  Fortunately, none of the films I paid good money to see actually sucked.  Considering the clunkers released this year, that’s pretty good luck.   All the good films released this month will have to go into next year’s list, because I haven’t seen them yet!

Best DVDs:  Here is where I make up for all the movies I missed in the theater.   The best films I watched on DVD weren’t even released this year, but they’re worth mentioning.  I loved Mrs. Palfrey at The Claremont, Patrik Age 1.5, In the Loop, The Band’s Visit, and Heartlands.  Note that three of these films are British, one is Swedish, and one is Israeli.  Not one American film made my list this year.  Unfortunately, the worst thing I watched on DVD this year was also British.  It was a short-lived TV series called Bonekickers.  Avoid it.

Best Streaming:  A special thank you to my downstairs neighbors Nathan and Eric, because I share their wireless DSL.  They upgraded the speed a couple of months ago.  Now I can watch programs on my computer without all the stops for buffering.  The best thing I watched streaming was the British comedy series The IT Crowd.  A special mention goes to the hours of entertaining clips I watched on YouTube.

Best Music:  The music that gets the most space on my mp3 player, and the most plays, is by Enation.  I’ve also enjoyed the new albums by Hanson (Shout it Out) and Jason Castro.

Best Music Video:   I love dogs, so my favorite is White Knuckles by OK Go.

Best Entertainment News:  This is a weird category, but I have been fascinated by all the news about the making of The Hobbit.  The director changes, the New Zealand union controversy, the casting news—it could all prove to be more entertaining than the movie itself.  If it ever gets made.  The worst news was when Entertainment Weekly magazine refused to honor my great subscription rate from past years, so I didn’t renew.

Entertainer of the Year:  This one is a no-brainer.  Back in July, I started watching General Hospital to check out James Franco’s guest appearance.  I became interested in Jonathan Jackson, who plays Lucky Spencer.  I thought my interest would last about a week.   Six months later, I’m still watching him on GH, listening to his band Enation, and checking his facebook page every day.  I’ve watched his movies, his YouTube videos, and his live streaming events on Ustream.   He even answered a question from me on his Twitter Q & A last month.  Jonathan Jackson gets this “award” not just because he has entertained me, but because he has done it in so many different ways.  Thumbs up!

Jonathan Jackson and Enation (click to see larger)

The Enation Tutorial

A beginner’s guide and 12 step program for becoming a fan of the indie band Enation.

1.  Watch General Hospital and become intrigued by Lucky Spencer and Jonathan Jackson.  (This first step can be swapped with many others, such as watch One Tree Hill, watch Saved By The Bell: The New Class, eat at Galeotti’s Restaurant, hear about this band from a friend, etc.)

2.  Visit the official Enation website.  Follow the link to CD Baby to check out the music.  Listen to the music samples.  Order three of the CDs because you can’t resist a good sale, but don’t tell anyone because it’s embarrassing to buy three CDs before you’ve heard a full song.

3.  Receive your three CDs in the mail and start playing them constantly.  Find a small problem with one of the CDs and feel delighted, because it means you get to send the band an email.  Get a response to your email and feel stupidly excited.

4.  Go to Ustream and watch the archived live concert, live rehearsal and live interview.  Find the answer to the question, what does the name Enation mean?  Then go to YouTube and watch the videos on EnationMusic’s channel, Daniel Sweatt’s channel (which are the funniest!), Jonathan Jackson’s channel, and then check out the fan videos.

5.  Go to facebook and “like” Enation’s fan page, and while you’re at it, “like” Jonathan Jackson’s page and Richard Lee Jackson’s page.  

6.  Go to twitter and “follow” Enation, Jonathan Jackson, Richard Lee Jackson, and Daniel Sweatt.  Add their twitter feeds to your Google Reader.

7.  Go back to the Enation official website and join Enation Army.  Don’t hold your breath waiting for your first “monthly” newsletter. 

8.  Go to the band’s Myspace page, if you can remember how, just because it’s there and you’re obsessed now.   Find some other fans online to chat with about the band, because you’re starting to annoy your friends and co-workers.

9.  Go to Amazon.com and order your first mp3 player so you can buy the Enation albums at CD Baby that are only available as downloads. 

10.  Go back to the official Enation website, order an autographed Enation photo from the band’s store.  Feel a little bit of disappointment when the photo arrives because it doesn’t have Luke Galeotti’s autograph on it.  Then see it as an opportunity to get it autographed when you finally see the band perform live.  Print out a small photo of Luke, because you’ve downloaded hundreds of photos off the internet, then stick it on the band photo and pretend he’s in the picture.

11.  Start buying lottery tickets, and hold off planning your vacation until the band announces another set of tour dates.

12.  Wait patiently (or impatiently) for the next concert, the next CD, the next tee shirt, the next tweet, the next DVD, the next book of poetry, the next video, the next monthly(?) newsletter…because now you’re hooked.

Enation (click to see big and even bigger)

 

Sight and Sound

Don’t laugh.  I’m going to attempt a music review.  It’s probably an exercise in humiliation, since nobody in their right mind would take music advice from me.  I can’t sing at all, and I had to drop out of flute lessons in fifth grade when I couldn’t grasp the concept of “notes.”  It only got worse.  In college I was on sound crew for a production of Iphigenia, where I played pre-recorded tapes of bass lines while the composer played keyboards live.  I never once knew what was live and what was memorex.  So, music remains a foreign language to me, but I know what I like.  I just don’t know if it’s good.

Two weeks ago I got three CDs by Enation, an indie band fronted by actor Jonathan Jackson.  It’s probably a mistake to base your music selections on whether the musician is a good actor, but sometimes you get lucky.  (Okay, bad joke.  Jackson plays Lucky on General Hospital.)  I’ve listened to my CDs many times, and I love a couple of the songs, I like most of the rest, and I dislike none of them.  Well, there is this one thing…but I’m getting to that.  First things first.

These are the albums, in the order of their original release:

Enation: Soul & Story

Soul & Story:  This album is very mellow, mostly acoustic folk, and deeply personal.  Jonathan Jackson wrote all ten songs, and one of them is about his daughter (She’s My Little Girl), and one is for his son (A Letter to My Son). 

Enation: World in Flight

World in Flight:  This is my favorite of the three, and it’s much more of a rock album than the other two.  All ten tracks are again written by Jackson, with his brother Richard Lee credited with co-writing lyrics on two songs.  Two tracks here are favorites: Permission to Dream and Everything is Possible.

Enation: The Future Is A Memory

The Future is Memory: Live from the Northwest is a live album, but the songs that repeat from World in Flight are different enough from the studio versions to make it worth having.  It’s fun to hear Jackson sing a cover of Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne.  I love the last song, The Coming Dawn.

I don’t know about all the other band members in Enation, but the Jackson brothers have deeply held Christian beliefs, and their faith is reflected in their song lyrics.  I don’t have a problem with that.  I listen to quite a few contemporary Christian groups and singer/songwriters.  I just have a problem with one line in one song, and it’s not a religious reference.  It’s from A Letter to My Son, and it goes “A home without a father is a home without a gun.”  Now, I hate guns.  I equate guns with violence, and unfortunately, some people have grown up with violent fathers.  To me, a home without a gun is a very good thing.  In the context of the lyrics, which are words of advice from a father to his young son, I assume a gun is being used as a metaphor for a protector.  I still find it disturbing, but I’m not going to stop listening to the music just because I don’t agree with this one reference. 

It seems to me that Enation has a bit of an identity crisis about the kind of music they play.  Somebody who’s only heard a couple of their albums might be confused at one of their concerts.  Their albums are much mellower and less electric than the live performances that they’ve posted online at Ustream and on their YouTube channel.  Still, I haven’t been to an actual concert yet, so I should probably reserve judgement.  It’s too bad I can’t get down to Los Angeles this weekend for Enation’s acoustic concert, since I have trouble at rock concerts these days. Really loud music causes me actual physical pain, and earplugs don’t help. 

It’s been amusing trying to follow Enation on all the online social networks available these days.  Lines get crossed, misunderstandings happen, and certain information is either out-of-date or just wrong.  Now, this isn’t criticism.  I find it a form of entertainment.  For example, a couple of days ago, a flier was posted on Jonathan Jackson’s facebook fan page that seems to say that this weekend’s LA concert is going to be broadcast live on Ustream.  But wait, could this actually be a reference to the live concert from two weeks ago?  There’s nothing on the Enation facebook fan page or website to clarify the information, and the tweets from the band don’t mention it either way.  Yet.  I’m watching and waiting.

Update: Enation tweeted that the LA concert is not going to be broadcast online.  I hate twitter, but it can be useful at times.

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This is a completely different subject, but it’s too exciting not to write about.  I got new eyeglasses today.  I can see!  My old glasses were so scratched that it was like viewing the world through a fog bank.  Now colors pop and everything is sharp again.  The scariest thing is looking at my hands.  When did they get so old?  Naturally, I’ve avoided looking in the mirror. 

 I ordered these new glasses from an online store for the first time.  It was terrifying, but it was so cheap that I couldn’t resist.  I used Zenni Optical because they are located in the Bay Area.  The total cost—with high index lenses, non-reflective coating, frames, clip-on polarized sunglasses, case, an extra fee for the strong prescription, tax, and shipping—came to $53.80.  I think that’s terrific.  The order took exactly two weeks.  The glasses are fine, but the frames do need some adjusting, so I will have to take them to a walk-in optician and hope it won’t cost too much to get them fitted to my face.

Hello, world!

Experiencing Technical Difficulties

Yesterday was one of those days when nothing worked for me.  We’ve all had them, I suppose.  It started the first thing in the morning when I was surfing my morning lineup of sites.  I was on zap2it.com checking out the Emmy nominations that were just announced.  I was delighted by some, like Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory and Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton for Friday Night Lights.  Naturally, I was disappointed that certain names were missing from the list, like Zach Gilford for Friday Night Lights and FNL for best drama series.  I’m happy about Alan Cumming’s nomination, but his name was spelled “Cummin” in the list.  Being the annoying person that I am, I typed the correction into the comments section.  The site’s obscenity filter changed my correction to “C******” and then blocked me from further comments.  Poor Alan C******!  Imagine having an innocent name that can’t bypass site filters.  Not that Mr C himself is innocent; nobody could mistake that. Anyway, I wonder how long I’ll be blocked…

The afternoon came, and I sat down to watch General Hospital.  It was a pretty good episode, with some humor added to the mix after a tense week.  Lucky Spencer was looking good in blue.  Then the last ten minutes of the show were preempted for breaking news about the Oakland BART police shooting trial.  Well, it’s been a big story and the news was important, since a verdict had been reached and it was about to be announced, but still.  Couldn’t it have waited ten minutes? 

I spent part of the evening attempting to watch Enation’s online concert on Ustream.  You guessed it.  Technical problems.  Not with the band—they were fine.  I guess my DSL isn’t fast enough, because the image was mostly frozen, and the sound came and went.  To the right of the screen was a live chat scrolling along, and it moved more than the band on my computer.  It took me most of the concert before I managed to login to the chat, and then my computer froze.  I was sitting there feeling critical of the chatterers for their spelling errors, then discovered that I couldn’t even manage to spell ”hello” correctly in the chat window.  I gave up.  I’m going to try to go back to Ustream later and watch the archived video, but I don’t have much confidence that it will be any better on my setup.

While I was writing this post just now, my computer glitched and I almost lost this whole entry.  Fitting, isn’t it?

One Thing Leads to Another

The San Francisco Frameline Film Festival was held this year June 17-27th, showing LGBT films from around the world.  It’s the oldest LGBT film festival, and this year they had an Andy Warhol retrospective and many films from South America.  This was my second year as a volunteer.   I like to staff the hospitality table, where volunteers and staff greet the filmmakers.  It’s great fun, and as a volunteer you get a movie voucher for every shift you work.  Unfortunately, I’m still recovering from this malingering virus that’s been going around, so I had to cut back on my shifts and missed seeing most of the films on my personal list.  I did get to see the opening night film, a BBC production called The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, about a Yorkshire woman from the early 1800s who left coded diaries about her various romances with other women.  It was based on a true story, and it was sure different from Pride & Prejudice! 

I didn’t get to see the closing night feature, a film called Howl about Allen Ginsberg, starring James Franco.  Franco came to the screening, so I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to check him out.  I’m not obsessed with Franco like I am with a few dozen other actors, but he’s certainly on a roll right now.  The Film Festival showing came just before Franco’s return as a guest star on General Hospital.  Now, I can follow a couple of other soaps (I grew up with a mother obsessed with Days of Our Lives), but I’ve never watched General Hospital regularly enough to follow the storylines.  In spite of that, I started tuning into GH this last week to see Franco.  A few trips over to soapnet and wikipedia helped me to understand key plot points.  A friend who used to watch filled me in on more background character info.  This same friend loved Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer (back in the 90s), so I started paying particular attention to him.  Next thing you know, we’re watching Jonathan Jackson in Tuck Everlasting and On The Edge, and I’m spending hours on YouTube watching GH clips of Lucky from 1993.  And this is how one of my obsessions begins. 

And it won’t end until I’ve watched every video, rented every DVD, checked out every website and fansite, linked up on twitter and facebook…it’s exhausting, but at least with the internet everything is faster.  Before the internet, DVDs, and even VCRs, it used to take me ages to work through one of my actor obsessions.  I would search through the TV guide looking for movies that were airing (yes, kids, there actually used to be movies shown on regular, non-cable TV!) and take endless trips to the library searching through periodical indexes and microfiche machines looking for information.  As a teenager I kept a card file of my favorite actors and all their roles—my very own low tech imdb.  Now with everything at my fingertips on the internet, I can zip through an actor’s entire body of work  in days and weeks instead of months, so then I have to move on to somebody else.

So at the moment it’s Jonathan Jackson.  He’s a musician as well as an actor, so a couple of his CDs should arrive in the mail this week.  His band is called Enation, and I like the brief clips I’ve listened to online.  I have no idea if I’ll actually like a whole song.  My taste in music is obscure, eclectic and weird.  Most people wouldn’t even call it taste.  It was a risk ordering the Enation CDs, but I love ordering music from CD Baby, and their summer sale is awesome (selected CDs, three or more, five dollars each).  The best part about ordering from CD Baby is the email you get when they ship your order.  I would describe it, but I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun.  Just order from them and see, if you haven’t already. 

Enation is doing a free online concert this Thursday, and here’s the poster:

Enation internet concert

I’ll be checking it out.  Hopefully my CDs will have arrived by then so I’ll already be familiar with some of the songs. 

Well, I’ve got to go back to YouTube now.  I’m up to early 1994, and little Lucky Spencer is in the hospital trying to avoid a mob hit.  Tomorrow I will tune into the current episode of GH to see who survived the car bomb.  It’s such a full life.