My first radio gig!

First of all, I have to apologize for letting my blog decay. I've just been so busy doing things that I've neglected to keep this updated!!

My last big of excitement was taking the VO class. A couple of months ago, I got a call from my Casting Director telling me she had a radio ad that needed VO artists and asked if I was interested! YES!! I was so excited!!

I had to finagle my schedule...or so I thought. It turned out OK because I recorded the commercial during my lunch hour.

I went to the radio station (KZST for those of you in Sonoma County) and recorded the commercial with 5 other actors. The company hiring us to do the commercial had another set of actors record it and the owner wasn't thrilled with the results so he hired us! I got great feedback from the ad agency and was sooooooo happy that it went well.

But celebrity is fickle and so are radio clients. The owner of the company who hired us for the commercial must have thought we were too 'lively' and he kept the original commercial. So much for my first 15 minutes of fame!

I did get paid so I've had my first paying 'gig' as a Voice Over Artist. Chalk up one for my resume.

Ice SKATING not Ice falling...

Oh how I'm feeling my age right now. JT & I went shopping in Union Square on Thursday and we had tickets to ice skate at 4:00. The idea was to skate while the sun set and watch the lights come on. It's beautiful...we did it last year. I took TWO steps on the ice and biffed it. Face first on the ice. Since my face is my 'money maker' (HA!) I hit my left knee first.....right in front of a class of 1st graders who delighted in my spill. I got back up and re-skated after a little ice on the knee. Two days later and I'm still paying for it! Getting old is hell.

Tiana's Jubilee!

I knew when we left home that Disneyland had a new 'parade' for guests to participate in. Well, anyone who knows me KNOWS I would just LOVE to do that!!!

So, we played our cards right and....got asked to participate!! The show is on the Mark Twain and they stop the boat in front of Pirates of the Caribbean where there was a HUGE crowd. It was so much fun! We performed in 3 parts: First we had scarves we waved at the crowd, then we had wooden music notes we danced and played with, and lastly, we put on the choir robes and shook our tambourines to the music that played. We had a blast!! At the end of our performance, we were given special necklaces and took the pics you see here....

Disneyland at Christmas - filming

Something is always happening when I go to Disneyland! When we arrived, they were filming commercials for Tiana's Jubilee

Disneyland at Christmas - arrival

I love all of the colors Disney has on their Christmas Decorations. One of the first rides we went on was It's a Small World. Isn't it beautiful?

Disneyland at Christmas - Candlelight Processional

I LOVE Disneyland at Christmas time. We flew from Santa Rosa to LAX on Thursday night. It's so nice to fly direct from Santa Rosa. The Disneyland Express bus is right outside baggage claim and it's a fairly quick 45 min bus ride to the hotel. $32 round trip pp. Not too bad considering we fly home to Santa Rosa and don't have to fight the traffic or pay gas/parking in Oakland.

One of the reasons I go the first weekend in December is for the Candlelight Processional. It was tonight! We had a great place to stand (right in front of the fire station) with my friend Robert (cast member) that I met on the CHOC walk. Jeff and I could see the whole thing from this area. Jon Voight was the narrator of the Christmas Story and there were over 500 choir members from all over Orange County singing traditional Christmas stories. It's really a lovely concert!

Character building

Part of what I need to do before I voice a demo is create characters. I don't necessarily mean 'cartoon' characters, but different people I can do with my voice. I'd never really thought about it until I took the VO class. I've had some fun creating a few....but I have many more I need. To be a 'bookable' voice over artist I need 12 - 15 characters. People I can slip into and out of with ease. Sounds crazy....right? So here's what I have so far.....

• Miss Kitty from Atlanta (I created her after attending an HDI meeting where they didn't have a name tag for me...only Kitty's was left and she couldn't attend)
• Tsunami Susan (my Superhero! - created her at the VO workshop)
• Nasaly Nelly (self explanatory - created just to keep up with speaking nasaly)
• Biker Brenda - tough talker and such a far stretch from me!

That's it. I have a long way to go....any ideas will help!!! :) Thanks for reading....