Happy Opening Day!

Well the first round of auditions for my new show went well last night. Pretty much everything was recorded so I’ll be able to turn them into my first show or two provided that the equipment worked properly and I can hear what was actually recorded.

It looks like I have a couple more people to bring over to meet and audition. Two were supposed to come last night but both mysteriously had their mother’s in the emergency room.

I’m not buying it either.

So we have a close encounter with a Ghost last night. Taibhse (Ghost) Foundling is now a new member of my on-air team. This is her…

What an amazing character this 22-year old is. First she is an artist with great talent. She will be involved with creating graphics for us (if she doesn’t disappear after her Earthly tasks are completed.)
Ghost says that she is not human. She is a Faerie. To elaborate - euphemistically wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk, etc.) a type of mythical being or legendary creature.

After about an hour or so with her, I don’t doubt this whatsoever.

I'm taking bets to see how long she remains in human form...I mean, sticks around the show.

Ghost is also a Medium and a Massage Therapist (which may come in handy) and runs in a crowd of the same.

The cast will grow quickly.

Also on board now is my personal friend Alex Storm. Alex is a lowlife gutter snipe who makes me laugh and makes young women cringe which makes me laugh more.

And then there is Foul Mouth Al who promptly lived up to his name not even two minutes into recording with a gratuitous spewing of bad words. He is a Realtor, a former musician, and a videographer in real life who also does children’s parties.

When our shows become available they will be found at http://www.marshcast.com/. The construction shell for the site is not there. No need to rush over there right now; you’ve all seen the picture before anyway. There is no telling how long it will take me to get something pieced together and posted, but it’s next on my list. I would hope a couple of days and not as long as a week, but it depends on how well everything recorded.

There are still opportunities to join with me to create some magic along with our team. Now that the first few people are on board it might make some people more comfortable giving me a call.

Happy Opening Day everyone!

I’m picking the Mets to win it all. HAHAHAHA. That’s my team and I don’t care what you think! I pick them to win every year. It’s day one; everyone has the same chance right now.

They will play the Red Sox in the World Series. They are the team to beat in the AL. Not the Yankees, not the Rangers…the Red Sox. This is the most solid lineup in baseball and their pitching rotation is better than the Phillies since they are six deep and not four with a Joe Blanton tossed in like the Phillies have. They also have two closers on the squad with Jon Papelbon and Bobby Jenks, if Papelbon goes down with injury.

In reality I like the Braves to win the NL East with the Phillies taking the Wild Card in the end. It’s just a hunch more than anything, particularly with the retirement of Bobby Cox, but without Chase Utley in that lineup, Ben Francisco starting in RF, Raul Ibanez now over the hill, and Ryan Howard aging and still whiffing 180 times a year, more weight falls on the shoulders of “Chico” Ruiz behind the plate and he just can’t bear that load!
The Phillies will still probably win 95 games with just their starting pitching alone. Success breeds success and with those quality starters in their rotation (excepting Joe Blanton) the competition amongst them will create a fearsome foursome. I look for Cole Hamels to truly have a breakout year.

I hate the Phillies but since I live near them, I know much more about them and have to suffer watching them the most on TV which makes me want to chum.

In the NL Central I like the Cincinnati Reds. They have the reigning MVP with Joey Votto and he is well supported in the lineup by Brandon Phillips, Drew Stubbs, Jay Bruce and Scott Rolen. Edinson Volquez is slated to be the #1 pitcher, and that’s not real good news for Red’s fans, but this rotation will be interesting to watch when Johny Cueto returns to it from the DL.

In the NL West I have to stick with the Giants. The Dodgers may experience some rough patches with their new manager Don Mattingly at first. Once everyone gets in a groove in LA they’ll make their run.
I also like the Rockies and they will be fun to watch. Their issues have always been in that home park a mile in the sky where anything can happen once a ball leaves the bat.
Ubaldo Jimenez strikes out enough hitters to keep that anything from happening which is why he won so many games last year. But the rest of the staff is suspect, to say the least.

In the AL East, the Red Sox as mentioned. How can anyone bet against this team right now? The additions of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford were blockbuster. These are two amazingly talented players who are also real decent guys and jam that lineup with speed and power to supplement the healthy Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Big Papi himself. I can’t wait to watch Yankee-Red Sox games this year.

In the AL Central I’m sticking with the Tigers as long as Miguel Cabrera lays off the sauce. Their pitching staff is the most solid in the Central with Justin Verlander the ace of the group. Former Dodger Brad Penny is slated as the 4^th starter with former Yankee Phil Coke the 5^th. So they’ll get enough offense with Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Victor Martinez to support that staff win over 90 games.

In the 4-team AL West I like the Angels. They currently don’t have a 5^th pitcher slated on their depth chart. (I’d like to see teams go back to 4-man rotations though.) But the rotation features Scott Kazmir as the #4 guy. Although he has been injury plagued he is apparently on the mend and ready to anchor this staff. Rookie Mark Trumbo, who I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, did make the trip west and will start at firstbase. This kids supplies some real power to this lineup that already features newly acquired Vernon Wells and Torii Hunter. Bobby Abreu will split time in RF and DH and sophomore Peter Bourjos replaced Hunter in CF. He hit .364 this spring with 6 steals in 6 attempts so there is a lot of speed in the lineup also.

That’s the quick pitch folks.
Mets win it all, but if not then…

Braves, Phillies (WC), Reds, Giants
Red Sox, Yankees (WC), Tigers, Angels.

No real shockers there unless the Mets actually do make my fanatically based prediction come true.

Done.

A Taibhse Sighting

Yesterday was spent setting up Marshcast Studio 1 in the house.

Marshcast Studio 1

Tonight is the first round of auditions/interviews. I initially thought there might be many more interested people calling me about this project, but this is Delaware, land of the apathetic, unmotivated, and insipid.

What is most troubling about Delawareans is their general lack of common courtesy. I directly sent information and offers to four specific people who have never even had the decency to return or acknowledge the note. It’s one of my pet peeves. Tell me “no” but have enough respect for me to tell me something.

Anyway, screw them.

One of my first shows cast members will be a friend of mine who I have known for 18 years. I’ll refrain from saying his name right now because I think he is coming up with a stage name. Why? I couldn’t tell you. I guess he just wants to say things and not jeopardize his current job of collecting unemployment. We’ll figure that out later.

Of the others stopping by this evening I am most interested to meet a 22-year old girl whose name is Taibhse.
That is not a spelling error. Apparently its Gaelic and means Ghost…and Ghost is the name she uses.

Huh?

It’s further defined as a dead person returning to ask the living for a favor. I am curious to see if the person who shows up is in the flesh or “living” up to her defined name.

I’m laying 2-1 odds that she doesn’t even appear later. I had this interesting conversation over the phone which sort of leads me to believe that this evening she’ll end up located wherever the winds blow her.

Let’s talk about names for a minute. Now I am someone with an unusual name, Marshal Manlove. It’s certainly unique and that was my parent’s intention when naming me. The original spelling of my last name was Manluff and it bastardized into a spelling that meant that I had to fight off idiots and bullies all throughout my school years.

Which of my ancestors made that curse inducing decision is unclear. But it is clear that if there are ever times in my life when I do something stupid, I blame it on that particular branch of the family tree.
Even these days someone will snicker when they hear my name the first time. They do it in a very muffled way though now. Because of all of the grief I got in my younger years I hit the gym hard, learned how to fight and am now 6-1 and 250 pounds of an ex-bullied, angry man with not too much left to lose these days.

To make matters a little more difficult, Marshal is usually spelled with a double “L.” So not only do I have some asswipe on the other end of a phone snicker at my name (whose ass I cannot kick for doing so because he is cowardly laughing across the country) I have to spell Marshal for him also.

I do also have to spell Manlove to people sometimes. That is because whoever is asking is dealing with the poor genes that they inherited.

So why would a parent give someone a name that absolutely no one could spell? For the rest of our lives we have to go through that same ordeal over and over again until the attitude we develop over it as a result turns off the people to whom we are talking.

A couple of years ago I heard the best one ever though. At least, perhaps, until Ghost who clearly has thrown in the towel over the name spelling thing.
If you had heard someone say their name that sounded like "Ladasha," isn’t that pretty much how you would spell it? Sounds rather simple, don’t you think?

Not so fast, Skippy. This poor girl’s mother spelled her name like this…

La-A

That’s right. She put a freaking “dash” in the middle to separate the La and the A.

I kid you not, and I now I am seeing many more names with apostrophes in there these days. It’s only a matter of time before parents start using any old symbol on the keyboard to create a “unique” name. We’ll see * in place of star; “@” inserted into a name like K@erina, or “&” placed in a name like M&y.

And we will all have to stand in front of these people with a straight face so that we don’t offend them and create a monster like me when we hear their names and try to spell them.

However, I will not hold back my laughter if anyone uses a “:” in a name.

So it’s day one of yet another new chapter as the aforementioned auditions take place. They will go on as American Idol is airing so I will most likely not have any commentary about that show this week. It’s probably just as well though since any more opinions would get a little repetitive. Baseball season starts tomorrow with the two best matchups on the calendar featuring the Yankees-Tigers and the Giants-Dodgers.

I’m taking off for Opening Day to celebrate what should be a national holiday anyway.

Who am I kidding? I have no place else to go!

Done.

To Roid or Not to Roid

All is not as well as Phillie fans would hope for their team. Sure they have an awesome 4-man rotation but there are chinks in the armor as Placido Polanco, Chase Utley, and now close Brad Lidge are all suffering injuries.

Utley and Lidge might have serious problems. Lidge might have structural damage in his shoulder and Utley’s knee is apparently rubbing bone on bone. These are guys in their 30’s now and key players for this team’s success.

Oh, but wait. I almost forgot! They signed Luis Castillo who the Mets released (and spawned an incredible work of art here on this blog) so they’ll be ok.

The Philthies should still win the Eastern Division though. Had Bobby Cox not retired as manager of the Braves, I would pick them to win that division with the Phils grabbing the wildcard spot. Currently it’s the other way around, and not much of a stretch of a prediction.

Barry Bonds in the second week of his perjury trial for allegedly lying to some people about steroid use. I say if he lied, throw the book at him but I never had any problem with athletes using steroids for baseball.

The reason is fairly simple to me. There is no steroid out there that can help someone hit a 95 mph fastball or the subsequent 82 mpg curveball or changeup.
Can the steroid help someone hit a ball further? Sure. How much further though?

I have read estimates that the best case scenario was that a steroid user might get an extra ten feet of distance.

I saw a lot of those Bond’s homeruns, and Sosa and McGwire taters too. I just don’t buy that they made that much of a difference for those guys.

Brady Anderson, who hit 50 homeruns one year, was never questioned about that mysterious power surge that year. A whole bunch of other players had seasons that were aberrations and didn’t get that type of scrutiny.

Why Bonds? Was it because he wasn’t media savvy or friendly? Was it because he is black and was breaking two incredible homerun records of players that were well liked (Aaron and McGwire?) Was it because he wasn’t doing it for someone’s own team and not the San Francisco Giants? The Giants fans love him there. I can never recall much complaining from that city about Bonds.

Here is what I think happened with Bonds. I think his trainer gave him these gels and creams that Bonds is accused of using and he didn’t, at first, realize that these were potentially banned substances. I think he might have learned the truth about them later and then figured that he needed to cover his ass and then lied.

That is still a mistake in judgment in the scenario I just created. If that was the case, he is complicating matters by not saying that.

My issue is really more about the use of steroids. They do help spur the muscle growth and healing process. But so what?

The main argument is that not every player would like to inject these materials to keep pace with the others who would like to use them. That makes the playing field uneven and unnatural.

I always lean towards my assumption that we, as individuals, should be able to do what we want with our bodies. If I want to use steroids, then I should be able to, and I if I didn’t want to that should be fine also. I really have an issue with someone else telling me what I can or cannot do with my body. If I want to be a fat slob, I should be able to be one. If I want to have the body of a horse and take horsey growth pills, then let me do it.

However, MLB does have a right to make rules that they wish to have players follow also. They have a multi-billion dollar business and image to project and protect. So there needs to be some balance between the owners and players with these things. It’s what I have babbled about before with labor and management on here.

Always tricky stuff and it makes for good debate.

Soon I will start a discussion about the pros and cons of giant boobs.

I lean towards “pro” on that one.

Done.

The Donger Need Food!

While I’m not going to reveal what my first podcast will feature as far as segments are concerned right now, I was doing some research for it this morning and decided to jot some things related to my findings here.

I was searching to see if I could find a specific sound bite online of a quote from one of my favorite movies of all time, The Warriors. It was a 1979 gang movie that I have probably watched 40 times. Suffice it to say that I just love it and can’t really tell you why.

Well I guess I can say one reason why is because I have this thing for quoting odd movie quotes at strange times.

For example, one of my favorites is from Sixteen Candles with Molly Ringwald where Gedde Wantanabe, Asian comedy master, says, “No more yanky my wanky, the Donger need food!”

If you are ever standing in a food line with me where there is some sort of long wait, you will hear me say that.

Here are some great quotes from The Warriors, some of which you will also hear me quote in certain appropriate circumstances. I'll leave it up to you to figure out which of these I might use, and when I would use them.

One of these characters, Ajax, is James Remar who plays Dexter’s father in Dexter and was also banging Samantha in Sex and the City (or Sex in the City, whatever that was with Kim Cattrall or however you spell ther name...she was the old whore of the group.)
Luther is David Patrick Kelly who has been in all sorts of movies and TV shows as a bad guy. He might be one of the best villains of all time.

Pick up the movie someday though. It has some great fight scenes and some real cheesy lines, some of which follow.

Cyrus: Can you dig it?

Ajax: [to Swan] Since when are you a fuckin' diplomat?

Cowboy: [winded, running from the Baseball Furies] I can't make it.
Ajax: Are you sure?
Cowboy: Yes, I'm sure...
Ajax: Well, good! I'm sick of runnin' from these wimps!

Swan: Did you see him get busted?
Cochise: I seen him, then he wasn't there no more... I was haulin ass!

Ajax: Maybe you're all just goin' faggot.

Luther: Warriors, come out to play-i-ay.

Ajax: I'll shove that bat up your ass and turn you into a popsicle.

Swan: Why'd you do it? Why'd you waste Cyrus?
Luther: No reason. I just... like doing things like that!

[the Warriors finally return to Coney Island at daybreak]
Swan: This is what we fought all night to get back to?

Swan: You recognize them?
Fox: Orphans. So far down they're not even on the map. Real low class.
Swan: Numbers?
Fox: Full strength: maybe 30?
Vermin: Thirty. A lot more than eight.
Ajax: Not if they're wimps!... and I'm sick of this running crap.

Cochise: When you're president of the biggest gang in the city, you don't have to take any shit.
Ajax: Ah, fuck him!

[as they all observe the subway station]
Ajax: Come on, what kind of chickenshit crap is this.
Cochise: Yeah, come on? We're here, what are we waiting for?
Fox: The train would help! Unless you wanna go up there and get jacked on an open platform.
Cochese: Bullshit man, there ain't nobody in the street.
Ajax: He's right! We're acting like faggots!

Snow: It's the Turnbull A.C.'s.
Cowboy: Think they forgot about the truce?
Vermin: No shit!
Ajax: Those lousy skinhead fucks!

Cyrus: Can you count, suckahs?

Rembrandt: Shit! The chicks are packed! The chicks are packed!

Fox: We're not going to change who we are just because some whore shakes her ass.

Ajax: Well, right about now, Cleon's most likely got a nightstick shoved halfway up his ass!

Great lines, aren’t they? No need to give me any credit when you decide to bust out one of these classics later on today.

Wow, this blog is really mutating now isn’t it?


I forgot to mention something about American Idol the other day. Paul McDonald, on the surface a fan favorite, iand someone who I don’t believe should have made the finals on this show.
Well, he is a fan favorite at www.votefortheworst.com as I also mentioned.
But what I wanted to say the other day was that even his performance was decent that evening. He played his guitar when he sang his song (whichever song that was) and sounded decent. What is awful about Paul is the way that he “dances” around the stage.
With the guitar in his hands he couldn’t really get those mitts swingin around like he was churning butter but his feet so wanted to come out from underneath him and do that spastic swagger that I thought he might break a leg out there.

Which would have made for one of the most classic cases of irony in show business history since entertainers wish for each other to “break a leg” as a superstitious good-luck wish prior to heading out on stage.

Ok, I have to get some baseball in here since Opening Day is slowly approaching. I guess it’s quickly approaching if you’re someone who believes that time flies, but for baseball fans these days move like molasses.
We can tell that the season is close because there was a spring training bench-clearer in a Dodgers-Padres game yesterday. A couple of bean balls had been tossed back and forth but what set off the Dodgers was Padre’s catcher Nick Hundley taunting the Dodgers after throwing out Rafael Furcal trying to steal second base off him.
Ex-Met Rod Barajas took exception to the taunting and quoted himself as saying, “Get back in the dugout. There's no reason to gesture to us.”

This quote sounds a little fishy to me. I’m just going to take a leap here and suggest that Rod may have left something out of what he said to the Padre. He went on to say that he didn’t hold a grudge against Hundley when asked if this would carry out into the season. That was disappointing. I would rather have heard that he said, “Next time he steps up to hit, we are going to hit him in his balls.”

One of my baseball heroes, LA manager Don Mattingly, did have a great quote after the rumble which didn’t lead to any significant injury or punch and was therefore boring. Mattingly said of the brew-ha-ha, "I don't mind our boys stepping up. I don't mind the spirit."

And I certainly don’t mind that attitude either, my hero. I’d love to see baseball be a little more like hockey sometimes. Full-contact baseball for me!

The Padres and Dodgers meet in the regular season early in an April 8-10 series in San Diego.

Done.

It's Hard Marky Mark

I want to go back to the Oscars for a minute and mention something that someone said that fired me up that night.

DJ Marky Mark, who stars in “The Fighter,” apparently also produced the movie. He was interviewed about making the movie and I heard him say a couple of times about how “hard” it was to get the movie made.

Huh? You thought that was hard, Marky Mark? Ya know what would have been hard? If it had been ME to try to get that movie made, or any other shlub like me.

I’ve written five TV show pilots so I have a bit of an idea about what “hard” really is when it comes to this stuff. Marky Mark at least has name recognition and can get a meeting with someone to make his pitch.

Even as a G-list celebrity and all the way that far up the food chain, I have a hard time even getting an agent, who one really needs to make those types of pitches, to RETURN MY PHONE CALL!

As an entertainer, G-list though I may be, I do work with some agents. I don’t have an exclusive agreement with any one agency. I use more than one to get more work; I don’t have the luxury of needing one agent to filter out dozens and dozens of potential offers, like DJ Marky Mark.

I do normally negotiate my own deals with clients so I have less of a daily need for them. These agencies that I mention are booking agencies which potential clients contact to try to find an entertainer to suit their needs. The agencies have a roster of entertainers, many with more than one per category. They will then negotiate the deal and get a fee of usually 5% to book the gig for me.

These arrangements happen to work out rather well. One of them with which I work in Texas booked the Las Vegas show for me. I wouldn’t have booked that one without being on their roster.

So I recently sent out a bunch of press kits to some larger firms since I have more material to show, a larger list of former clients, and a better overall show.

Even with that, I still find it hard to get a phone call in return, which is just rude as far as I am concerned, but I did get one this week from a Los Angeles agency of note.

This one, which will remain nameless, is proving to be a bit of a challenge. The guy has been going through my videos and he obviously likes what he has seen, which is why he would call me to add me to his entertainer roster.
I have a whole boat load of videos out there and on my site. One thing to know is that when someone posts a video on YouTube and it gets a certain amount of traffic, it becomes eligible for revenue sharing. Ideally, I would just post a video or two which showcases my work and perhaps switch it out now and then. But when I found that I could generate a little extra cash my leaving them posted, that is what I did.

I then started to get requests for more video so I obliged and posted more. Then there were more views, more placed into the revenue sharing program and a little more money.

I also produce video professionally, although what I shoot for these shoots is not done in a way that I do one to sell copies of it. They really are shot more for my analysis later and perhaps even to pull out some highlights and post. The videos then posted are simply to fill that need.

Now this agent is going through what is now hours of video, decides he likes what I do, and calls me. What does he do? He pretty much tells me that my videos suck and that he would like to work with me but needs better video.

The reason he says that I need better video is because the video I have posted won’t get me any work.

Huh?

So after letting him know that he has just insulted me I reminded him that he just called me to give me work based on what he just saw.

He is not incorrect that the presentations could be better produced. I know that for the reasons that I wrote above in this piece. It’s more that his crappy approach with me was pissing me off. There was a less offensive way to do it.

The dude is from LA though so I bit my tongue a bit and told him that I would do whatever I could to produce something more to his liking, but I don’t really think he even understands what he is watching with a hypnosis show. So it will be a bit of a greater challenge.  

But not as great a challenge as it is to try to get my TV shows even read by a TV producer; that is for sure.

My in-home podcast studio will be up and running by the middle of next week. Most likely I will just do the first couple of shows by myself, keep them short, and just lay the ground work for what I want to do with them. Sort of like writing the rules, I guess you can say.

Here are three working titles for this show. I’d like more feedback or even some suggestions for new names so drop me a line at dehypno@verizon.net.

Sleepin with Marshal
The Dungeon of Manlove

From the Bowels of Hellaware

I am growing more partial to the last one with segments included that are titled with the other two. But then again, I think I need one of my names in there and I can always include a segment titled with the third.

Feel free to let me know.

Done.

Moonshine and Motown with Paula Abdul

I had to take a couple of days off to hit the road while the girl friend packs stuff up for her departure on the 5th. It’s just better to stay out of the way so there are no overly emotional moments. I'd much rather have it end as harmoniously as possible.

I could have written on the road since I had my laptop but the keyboard is too awkward so I just passed on it.

I took a drive down into the Appalachians Mountains in Virginia and W. Virginia. I thought perhaps spring had sprung a little bit more than it had, but it was still nice. I love the mountains and feel at home in them.

I spent much of yesterday on W. Virginia roads. It was the second time that I did this type of trip through the eastern portion of the state. Man, its poor there.

Sort of made me feel better. I know that’s sad to say, but it was true.

It must really suck to live in those portions of W. Virginia. Because since that mountainous area is so nice one would think that more people with money would move there.

For probably 100 miles of road I couldn’t get any phone reception or any real radio reception. The two FM stations that I found had some real authentic hillbilly play lists.

Between that music and the poverty and the stereotypes of the people that I conjured up in my mind, I came around one particular corner on a road to see a sheep farm and I felt really bad for the sheep.

So I see that the Phillies picked up Luis Castillo, who was cast away by the Mets last week.
With Chase Utley an uncertainty because of his knee, I guess the Phillies wanted to…well I can’t figure out what the hell they want to do with that move.

Luis Castillo

Now come on, you have to love my art work there. I only even mentioned this because I had this vision in my mind the last couple of days. In fact, I couldn’t wait to get home in front of the computer to create the above masterpiece.

Let’s see…American Idol.
Well, a giant mistake was avoided last night when the judges saved Casey Abrams. How he was in the bottom three of the voting was a pure mystery.
Casey started to sing “for his life” at the end of the show and judge Randy Jackson stopped him in the middle of it and announced, properly so, that they were going to use their “one save” of the season to save Casey.
The bottom three were Casey, Thia Megia, and Stefano whateverhisnameis. It was Stefano who should have gone home based on his performance on Wednesday night, but the teeny bopper population kept him alive.

How Naima is still in this, I’m just not sure. Her song performance was actually decent on Wed but then she busted out some bizarre “African” dance at the end of it which was really a turnoff.

I have mixed feelings about these displays of “cultural diversity.”
First of all, the word diversity has a prefix of di- which means divide, or split.
How can we be one UNITED country if we continually focus on our differences?
The reason I am split, however, is because we are a melting pot; at least that is what was always preached to me when I was a kid.
And, after all, things like pizza and tacos and bratwurst obviously aren’t American creations; they are brought from other countries.

Moonshine is an American creation I think. I tried to find some in W. Virginia but frankly I didn't want to drive down some of the roads where I was pretty sure that I would find some. So I guess I didn't realy think it was as important as I originally thought.

But I didn’t see Jacob Lusk, who (just going on skin color here so don’t crucify me) seems to be clearly of African descent, break into some cultural dance at the end of his song.
Nor did I see Stefano or Pia or Thia do anything of the same.
It’s not like they aren’t entitled to do so, I just found it a huge turnoff for Naima to do this, just I did with Karen Rodriguez (and her constant reminder that she was Latina) since Naima is from Milwaukee.

The performances were great overall, though. It’s interesting to watch the singers develop as they work with professional producers and voice coaches. I really thought there was only one below par performance and that was from Stefano. His coaches focused on his stage presentation and that he should remember to keep his eyes open when he sings.
He did a version of Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello” and promptly kept his eyes closed.
That was exactly what Paula Abdul mentioned at the end of his song.

So I thought he was a goner.

I wondered what the hell the country kid, Scotty, was going to do with a Motown theme.

First of all, I was never a real fan of Motown. Of course there are some songs that I like. But I was never really a Stevie Wonder fan, or Diana Ross or any of the older artists. I was raised on 70’s rock and that’s just the way it is. Had I been raised in the Appalachians I would have loved the banjo and had a strange affinity for wool and we are all just products of our environments that way.

Where was I? Oh yeah…so what was Scotty going to sing from that era? He chose a Stevie Wonder song and countried it up. Did a great job with it too. This kid is a rising star. Even the rocker did a Stevie Wonder song and rocked it up. Durbin, that kid…great job.
It’s been a good season so far on Idol, even with the return of Paula Abdul.

I am also, by the way, a huge fan of the show Survivor. I have been since the very first season and the reason is simple...it is the best "reality" show out there. It was the first and it's been the best ever since. The show is wonderfully produced by CBS. The videography is amazing and the game concept of voting people off of the show has been copied by dozens since then.

Even one of the next best reality shows, The Biggest Loser, features a voting-off process. Even Trumps show does the same thing.

So one has to give Survivor credit where it is due.

I'll jot mroe about Survivor at another time. This is just the warning that it is coming soon.

I’ll do more baseball when the season hits and I start watching more games. I may do my own predictions here as well, but we’ll see.

My next show is April 6th in Collegeville, PA. Its a fund-raiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation put on by kids at Ursinus College. Start time is 8pm and tickets are available at the door. I don't know how much the tickets are right now, but just bring lots of money with you and that should cover it.

The studio for my podcast network will get built in the house next week. I think I may have found the first addition to my gang and I am still looking for more.

Hit me up if you’d like to audition to join me. 302-547-4645.

Done

If It's Broke, Fix It

My favorite team, the Mets, have finally completed addressing two of the teams problems. The other day they released secondbaseman Luis Castillo and today pitcher Oliver Perez.
Castillo got a bad rap from Mets fans. He really didn’t do a bad job for the team. He just wasn’t able to hit for power (but how many secondbasemen are?) and his range was suspect since he had bad knees.
Castillo is most infamously known for dropping a game-ending pop up against Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees a couple of years ago during one of the subway series games.

Luis drops it

That particular flub recently made a top-ten worst plays of all-time highlight reel on the MLB network right along side the time Jose Canseco had a ball bounce off his head for a homerun while he was with the Texas Rangers.

Sidenote…one thing I thought that was funny about the Castillo dropped ball was that the TV team covering the game that day interviewed A-Rod immediately thereafter as if he was the star of the game.
That wasn’t who I would have interviewed that day. I would have run into the dugout with my cameraman and microphone and asked one real simple question that every baseball fan had on their mind at that moment – “How the hell did you miss that ball?”

Ollie Perez just sucked…bottom line. He had one real nice year with the Pirates a few years ago and since he is still young there was always a thought that he could work through some problems, whether they were physical or mental, and get him back on track.
But he sucked and somehow even managed to parlay that suckiness into a multi-million dollar contract.
In Ollie’s last stellar performance, the fans at the minor league park in Port St. Lucie were even booing him. That’s not a good sign. When have you ever heard a hometeam’s minor league fans booing their own player? This might be a first and the potential answer to a baseball trivia question someday.
After serving up two long homeruns to minor league players in a game in which he came in to “relieve” the starter for the Mets, he managed to throw two consecutive strikes to the next batter. The fans started chanting MVP, MVP, MVP, which was classic.
Perez couldn’t live up to the pressure of being on top for that long though and on the next pitch another hit sent him to the showers and ended his tenure with the Metropolitans.

Ollie after another "million dollar" performance

But Castillo and Perez will be just fine. Don’t worry about them. The Mets are eating the 6 million dollars due to Luis this year and either 12 or 15 million for Ollie. They join Bobby Bonilla (and I’m not sure who else) who are no longer on the roster but are still collecting millions of dollars from the team.

At least the Mets are trying to fix what is broken. Their last GM, Omar Minaya, didn’t do that to the fans satisfaction and he is out too. Although I imagine he is still on the payroll department’s mailing list still also.

I’ve been getting good feedback about the “Tell ‘em Steve Dave” appearance. The guys linked this blog from their Twitter account and a bunch of their fans stopped by to read my take on Ming Chen being hypnotized during the show. (see http://www.smodcast.com/)

One comment someone wrote made me think of something that happened.
When I got there that day Bryan, Q, and Walt and I went across the street in Red Bank to get something to eat and discuss what we were going to do that afternoon.
I was in line with the guys and was listening to them order and at the time I was pretty hungry. They weren’t really ordering a whole lot so I decided to just get something small to hold me for a while. I didn’t want to look like a hog and we were there to talk more than eat anyway. I ordered a muffin of some sort and Walt offered to pay for it.
While in the line I thought that one of them might offer to pay since I did go up there and do the show that day for free.
I never expect anyone to pay for anything for me though; most of the time I would just pick up the whole check myself.
The reason I would do that is because I like to eat. I’m not a small guy. I’m 6-1 250 and I’m not fat. I workout and need the calories.
But I didn’t know anything about these guys. I was brought there by Maryelizabeth Carter who has been producing for them. I had tried to find out who they were before I went there but for some reason I didn’t find their main site so I thought they were just a bunch of regular guys just putting on a free show of some sort.
All of us were dressed like slobs too. This was clearly not a meeting of Wall Street tycoons. It was an audio performance so I was in sweats. Bryan commented that I wasn’t even color coordinated, but that was purposely done.
So with all of that in mind I didn’t want to order what I normally would because I figured they probably didn’t have much money between them and I really didn’t want to impose.
I think my share was about 3 bucks or something. Walt was good enough to pick up the tab and I was grateful for it.
The other guys busted his balls about that on the show. Guess he’s tight.

Good thing I didn’t order the two sandwiches I normally would have ordered. Then my color uncoordination would have taken a back seat to my gluttony and big lunch bill.

I had a real good show in Altoona, PA yesterday. It was a Purim celebration. I had never heard of that particular Jewish holiday before but I wish a happy one for anyone celebrating it nonetheless.
This was a mentalism show and I really enjoy them. The main difference between the mentalism shows and the hypnosis shows are that I have to practice my routine a lot more for the mentalism shows. Not only are the demonstrations difficult but there is whole different style of presentation. I have to put on more of a show where in the hypnosis shows I have to bring out the show in the people who volunteer.

All fun stuff though. I love the mind-reading demonstrations the best. It’s great to see the looks on people’s faces, when things go right, as they try to figure out how the hell I just did what they saw. Then they try to figure out if I really read someone’s mind or not.

I did.

It figures that the few responses that I have received so far from my posting looking for collaborators on some new projects all came from people too far away to help, with one exception. One Delaware person did get in touch with me yesterday. But he was drunk.

Therein lays one of the problems around here. There are lots of drunks in Delaware. I should know, I was one myself for a while. But I fixed that and worked on fixing myself so that I could move on and do bigger and better things.

Life is tough enough without complicating it with all the friggin booze that people drink and drugs that people do. Even without it lives can still get broken and become in need of repair.

I should know that also!

I’m kicking around a couple of names for my first podcast show.
Here are two for now. Let me know what you think or feel free to suggest others.

Sleepin with Marshal.
Dungeon of Manlove.

Either way the show is going to be R-X rated; the latter in the sense that this is where I am going to unleash holy hell. I have a lot of shit to say and get off my chest.

Remember, I am actively recruiting for that show and recruiting others to launch other shows. Come be a part of my gang.

I even have my podcast gang philosophy created. It’s going to be a combination of Crips and Bloods styles. I’ve also created the name of this new gang.

The Cruds.

Done.

Step Up, Sign Up

For many years I worked 3-4 or even 5 different jobs at the same time. Currently, I have three but one of them is really only busy for a couple of weeks in June, one (sports video production) is very slow and my main line of work, my hypnosis/mentalism career has its peaks and valleys. Peak time is approaching there, thankfully.

This means that I have a lot of time to fill so I am always trying to come up with new ways to make extra money.

Generally it doesn’t matter what is it that I do as long as I am happy doing it, it puts enough money in my pocket, or satisfies some creative urge of mine.

This is why, if you take any note of anything that I might post on Facebook or anywhere else, you have found this that you’ll see all sorts of things that I throw out there to see what might catch on.

For example, I recently gave some thought to doing some internet marketing with a friend of mine. But one of the things that I can’t stand to do is sell stuff. No matter how that potential venture was spun, it was still a sales job. I take “no” for an answer. Why waste any more of my time after someone telling you no? I hate when I get sales calls so I’d be a hypocrite (almost typed hypnotist there) to try to be someone who tries to “overcome objections.”

For years I was an independent contractor for a couple of courier services in Wilmington. I loved doing that. Since I like to drive and travel, it was great. I could talk on the phone to do business, I could set my own hours and the people for whom I worked were great.

It was a very strange life though, especially when I was producing my TV show. Many times I would deliver a package or serve a subpoena on someone who had seen me on TV. More than one comment was made about how I could have done that while I was on TV. Interestingly enough, the driving job always made more money for me.

At the last place where I drove though, I had a bit of an altercation with someone there and sort of needed to retire on the spot.

The altercation was over a baseball argument, incidentally. It had been a very rough few weeks and that particular day was very stressful. Work had been real slow since the place lost a huge account and cost me about 75% of my income there. Then my live-in girl friend had her kid, who is a paraplegic, move in with us that particular week.

Then this nut job got in my face and was screaming at me about the Phillies and Mets series that was taking place and I had to punch him a few times.

During any other “normal” baseball debate like this with this guy it would have been fine but it was just a real bad week.

Let’s see…so after there I went to go try to get that big account that they lost for myself.
For three months I was pretty sure it was going to happen. A million-dollar account no less. The contracts were signed; I spent thousands of dollars for insurance and was even ready to retire from the entertainment career.

Then some asshole above the person with whom I made the agreement killed the deal saying that they weren’t taking any new services. That was even though I had been doing the same work for them for 7 years or so.
So I lost 3 months of work waiting for that to happen and thousands of dollars.

From there I tried personal training for a little while to fill in my time. I could make my own schedule so I could work that around my show schedule.

I made ten bucks in three months there so that was out.

Last year I decided to run a hot dog stand at a local park. We thought it would be a great way to get the kid involved and working since no one wants to hire him in a wheel chair and I could make some extra money also.  

Then it was so hot last summer that we couldn’t even open for half of the summer so I lost money there and sold that off over the winter.

Many other ideas have come and gone as well. I applied for Major League Baseball’s Dream Job. Guess that’s out also. (Now that might mean I get to talk about how their website screws up computer every time I try to use it.)

More than anything I just have this urge to create. It’s a hunger and a need of mine so consequences be damned, I’m moving forward along those lines.

I recently posted a couple of ads looking for people to join me creating new shows for podcast. The network that Kevin Smith has created, and on which I appeared a couple of weeks ago, really has me obsessed recently.

Lots of people are doing these types of shows. They are all over YouTube, ITunes, and other places too, I suppose. There are some good ones and lots of bad ones.

I can do some bad shows just as easily as anyone else can! So that is up next for me and for whoever wishes to try their hand at it.

One of the troubles is that I live in Delaware. If you are not a native of Delaware and live in Delaware, you already know what I mean.

Trying to find anyone creatively motivated around here makes this a Herculean task. I think I might be the only one here. If there is anyone that fits that category they move.

It might be time to move. Hell, I hardly do any of my stage shows here anyway. If my video business is down that should encourage me to scram. I just might need to move to a place where there are some people with vision.

I’ll give it a shot though. No one has even given me a call yet so that is about what I would expect. But I’ll be as optimistic as I can even though I think I would like to reboot the year of 2011 right now.

I’ll have even more time on my hands soon to work on a new project. The live-in girl friend is moving out April 5^th. She can’t take me anymore I guess. The exact phrasing was “I can’t do this anymore.”

Ironically she got motivated to move out!

So I’m taking applications for those who wish to discuss creating some new shows or new projects with me. Also, I’m taking applications for a new girl friend in a couple of months.

If I don’t get any of the above that just might be the sign I need to move west.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. There have already been plenty of signs; I just posted a whole bunch of them.

Done.

Help Wanted with Idol Gratitude

Atlanta Braves coach Luis Salazar lost his eye this week. Doctors tried to save it after he was blasted by a foul ball off the bat of Brian McCann. He had been airlifted out of the ballpark immediately after suffering the fractures to his face.

That story was very sad to me. I’m not sure why. I guess it’s because he was just standing around and minding his own business and in just an absolute fluke he gets hit.
I couldn’t imagine how McCann felt. Even though it was indeed a fluke he still has the knowledge that it was his foul ball that found Salazar’s face.

Really, I don’t why that one hits me like that particularly in light of what happened in Japan. Millions of innocent people there, thousands of died, thousands are missing and they were just standing around and minding their own business also.

I guess it helps me to remember to be grateful for what I do have as far as my health and anything else is concerned. Especially when I think things aren’t going so well. In comparison to those stories and so many others left unmentioned, I am blessed beyond all I could ask.

I am a fan of American Idol so its time for my updated opinions.
Karen Rodriguez was voted out last night. While I didn’t think she was top-ten worthy she didn’t deserve to go last night. Naima Adedapo needed to go.
I had a suspicion that VoteForTheWorst.com might have been up to keeping Adedapo around the show. The site has been notorious for promoting who they think are the worst singers on the show and encouraging their fans to vote for that person each week.
They were probably singularly responsible for keeping that kid named Sanjaya around a couple of years ago.
But to my surprise they have chose Paul McDonald. Now, Paul doesn’t belong in the top ten either and, along with Rodriguez, were the two that I didn’t predict finishing in the original top ten voting. But they also have Jacob Lusk and Casey Abrams in their top 4 worst picks. They do have Naima in there, but they are wrong about Jacob and Casey.

The bottom three were all girls again with Haley reaching the bottom 3^rd for the second straight week. This means that the majority of voters are girls. There is no way Haley should be at the bottom of this group.

Speaking of Haley, she has a major lipstick malfunction on the live show on Wednesday night. She wore this bright red lipstick and had way too much on her lips. When she was done singing her song it was all over her teeth and her face also.
Host Ryan Seacrest, the absolute luckiest man on the planet for landing that job, played makeup boy and helped Haley wipe off her face at the end of her song.

Jennifer Lopez doesn’t bring a thing to this show. She is just Paula Abdul recycled. At least with Abdul it was fun to speculate if she was wasted from week to week.

Now we do have Steven Tyler to watch and to hear. While it would seem like he might be wasted each week, he is actually clean and sober and just showing the effects of all those years being wasted. He has been bleeped on pretty much every show so far this season.

Performance of the week again went to Pia Toscano, who is now in the lead in my book. Scotty McCreery did a great job and I thought he might have jumped into second place. Stefano Lagone sang a song that Lopez thought could have propelled him into the lead. Considering that he might have the look that the teeny boppers like, she could have a point. But he is still a distant 5^th out of 6 of the guys.

It is clear that I have adult ADD. I am all over the place with this blog.

Show coming up Sunday in Altoona, PA. It’s a private party where I will perform my mentalism routine. I do like having two completely different routines to perform. It helps break things up for me nicely. Particularly since I have the ADD problem.

I know that only about 4 people read this. But I’ll post this here anyway.

I’ve decided to try to develop a couple of new projects. After the podcast experience with the Tell Em Steve Dave guys I can’t seem to stop thinking about doing something similar myself.
I do already have a YouTube following with hypnosis highlight videos, but its not quite enough for me.
With those, however, I did recently post an ad looking for people who are interested in doing some demonstrations that are a little more risqué in nature. There is a whole sub-community out there that enjoys watching attractive women do racy things and even stupid things. I’m looking for some volunteers. There could be money in it depending on the revenue sharing options available with YouTube.

Also I’m now looking for people in Delaware, or willing to travel to my house in Delaware, to begin programming new shows, both audio and video for podcasting.
I think I’m really more motivated to do this now since it seems like everyone else is doing it. Skimming through a bunch of YouTube channels this morning made me even more determined since most of them are doing it poorly.

I won’t even begin to claim that I’ll be able to outshine anyone out there. But I do have what I think is an eye for talent and now I’m looking for some people who think they have some talent to work with me.

I posted here or on my Facebook page that I need a creative outlet. This is where I am leaning. Interested people can email me at dehypno@verizon.net. I am looking to meet and talk to some people who have time, talent, and motivation to do some interesting, creative, and fun things. Compensation will be strictly determined upon the creation of revenue sharing or sponsorship. Neither will happen if the shows we produce suck though, so keep that in mind.

Everyone knows someone who is looking to do something. Please refer those people to me.

Just do it quick before my attention focuses elsewhere!

Done.

Enslaved?

So the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson believes that he is enslaved by the NFL and his 10-million dollar contract I hear.

**%&$%^# him.
I say let freedom ring! Cut loose his bonds and set him free!
I have two days of work this month. Enslave my ass like that for 1/10^th of the money and I’ll even let them beat me.

He also apparently said something like “if there weren’t football players there wouldn’t be any football.”

Oh yeah? If every single football player quit today, tomorrow the rosters would be filled with people who are dying to play a game and be a millionaire. The stands would still be filled with people also.
What this $%& clown said is insulting to his entire race let alone every other single person in the world.

I’ll tell you what. In my particular world, things are so tough that I am more enslaved than he could ever be. I am enslaved to a bunch of $&*@#*# in our government who have $*%$*$ up this economy so badly that I cannot see light at the end of the tunnel.

What this $*((#*bag said combined with what else is happening out there is making me lean towards turning this into a political blog…and the consequences be damned.
*%$*#***$&$ing &$*#&88  of a *$*#*@()(*##

Just to expand on that for a second. I usually have to be very cautious about what I say not only here but everyplace else because topics like religion and politics are taboo when one is trying to do business with people. I don’t have the luxury of that asshole (no hiding that word now) Charlie Sheen who has financial security so he doesn’t have to worry about losing a gig because someone doesn’t like his political view.

Do you think there is real freedom of speech in my world? I guarantee you that if I spoke my mind I would lose half of the work that I do have booked right now.

But the funny thing is that it might actually gather me more attention if I did.

I am currently teetering back and forth on this issue. I almost have nothing to lose at this point. Yes, yes, yes, I have reached some goals recently and I do have bookings upcoming. But I have only done 5 shows this year so far. I’m going broke.

And I can tell you for certain that someone with whom I did business before has not contracted me for any more business PRECISELY because he has opposite political views than I do.

So, I am pissed off today. And now…I am

Done.

The Squeeze is on

One of the issues with big baseball contracts is that they force teams to make roster moves that they might not otherwise make.

This is always apparent at this time of the year as rosters are paring down towards opening day.

Take the Washington Nationals here for a moment. Here is a team that has been awful for years and really needs to do things to put butts in seats.

There was so much over Steven Strasburg last year, the rookie pitcher and phenom, that when he was called up, butts sat down. His unfortunate injury is sad for the franchise and hopefully he makes a successful return from his injury; that would make his story even better.

So what could the Nats do this year to help put those butts in seats? They signed Jayson Werth, formerly of the Phillies, to an 18 million dollar a year contract.

That isn't going to do it folks. If anything, this, to me, seems like a disaster of Bobby Bonilla proportion.
Since these contracts are guaranteed the investment is so great that there is basically no way to move Werth from that outfield spot no matter what the situation, unless he were to get injured.

So in to camp steps another rookie phenom, 18-year old outfielder Bryce Harper.

Harper hit .389 so far in Spring training, only to get sent down to Class A ball the other day.

Now if Harper were on a team like the Yankees or Red Sox or the Angels or the Phillies it's a clear-cut decision to send this kid down for "seasoning." These teams draw 3 million people a year and are currently winning franchises. (God it pains me to say that about the Phillies.)

But we are talking about the Nationals, a team with NOTHING to lose here.

Now, to be fair to Jayson Werth, he isn't the only outfielder. There are two other spots also, plus bench positions. (I just have this thing about Werth and he isn't worth 18 million a year.) But why not leave this kid here as long as possible? He is getting squeezed out, I believe, because of these types of players and contracts.

The Nats argument is that at the big league level Harper, at best, gets 1 or 2 at bats now and then when he could get 4-5 per day at Class A.

But its Class A. Those aren't big league pitchers. This kid is apparently skilled beyond his years already; we're not talking about a 27th round draft pick who is 18 years old here. I say that you can't learn to hit big league pitching batting against Class A pitchers who haven't developed yet.

There is always the chance that getting outclassed by big league pitchers can damage ones confidence. But I say that those types of failures can only make one stronger and more aware of the extra work that needs to be done. If its then at the minor league level, then so be it. If they can't overcome the tough early days that could possibly happen, then perhaps they don't have what it takes anyway.

Take the Mets Lucas Duda last year. Here is a big strong outfielder who was getting embarrassed for the majority of his early appearance with the big league club last year. Sure, the season was over for the Mets by that point and teams then generally take that time to get these kids work. But he pushed through it, worked hard, learned along the way and then suddenly it seemed to click for him and he became a contender for a spot this year. (Although he is blocked from a starting spot by Jason Bay in leftfield who also has a huge contract.)

But has anyone ever picked the Nationals to win a division? Most of the time the season is already over before it starts for them so, I submit, let the Harper kid get his feet wet, learn from the guys who are there, and take lumps if he has to take them. If he takes too many and is clearly overmatched, send him down to get the work. At least for the fans they can get behind the kid and that story line and buy a few extra hot dogs during the season.

I would just play this one differently if I were the GM of the Nats.

Well I would have played the Werth situation differently, too.

The Angels, by the way, might have a potential star of a player who is in danger of getting blocked by an established contract.

Mark Trumbo is a 25-year old first baseman for the Angels. I was watching the Angels play the Royals (I think) and saw this monster hit a gargantuan homerun off of Kyle Davies (ok, so it’s Kyle Davies, but still it was about 425-450 feet.) Trumbo has 4 spring training bombs and is hitting over .300, but he has Kendry Morales in front of him on the depth chart at firstbase.

Morales was injured most of last year, but he is only 27 himself. In 2009 he hit over .300 and over 30 homeruns, so he isn't a slouch either. Since he is young he is more likely to rebound from that injury, but he is also guaranteed over 2 million dollars for his contract this year.

These roster decisions are difficult to make because of these types of situations but for the Nationals, I think the easiest decision, and probably the smartest business-wise, was to give Harper a better chance to make the 25-man roster and give those fans something about which to get excited. Because I don't think there is much else for them at this point, despite any of the other moves that they have made.

SmIdol Chatter

Last week I made an appearance on a Podcast with a few funny guys who do one called "Tell 'em Steve Dave."
Bryan, Brian and Walt are the three main characters on the show who record their efforts in the back of a comic book store in Red Bank, NJ owned by Kevin Smith (and I think Jason Mewes as well) who is Silent Bob of movie fame.

I sort of dread these things because there is always a chance that there isn't a good hypnosis candidate in the small groups of people that are in an audience.
But any chance to promote what I do, especially during a slow period, is welcome so I went up for the day.
Don't you know that there was some sort of sound issue? I guess it was corrected in the middle of it, but the first part of the show had audio issues that pretty much ruined it.
So it didn't air when it was originally supposed to air but part one of two aired yesterday.
To cut the long story short, one of the guys sidekicks (Ming Chen) was hypnotized during the show. Walt, who is a hypnosis skeptic, is then talking to Ming during part one. Ming is now claiming that he was "going along with it" the whole time and of course now Walt is even more skeptical, I think.
Apparently they thought it was their best show in the year that they had been doing this show, so that was good.
But the problem for me is Ming's claim. And it's one I hear every now and then...that the subject was just playing along.
When a person is hypnotized they are fully conscious at all times. In fact, their senses are hightened during the process.
What can make a skeptic skeptical is the reaction that the subject has when he or she wakes. On this day Ming didn't remember what had happened during the time he was hypnotized. He experienced spontaneous amnesia, which certainly happens frequently enough.
But because he was conscious and because he was being told what happened, he began to remember what had taken place. Also because he was conscious he believed that he was going along with what was happening. And that is because he WAS going along with what was happening but not because he was "faking it."
What many people will say after having that experience is that they thought what I was saying was sort of silly or odd but it sounded like a good idea, or something similar.
In the end hypnosis is really just about having someone follow a suggestion that is given to them. If a person is following the suggestion after reaching a nice level or relaxation, they are hypnotized. If they don't they either aren't hypnotized, didn't understand the suggestion, or simply refused to do it because the suggestion crossed some sort of boundary that the individual has.

What was odd about hearing Part One of the "Smodcast" as they are called on http://www.smodcast.com/, is hearing these guys talk about me later. They made general comments about my appearance and demeanor but also were speculating about all my actions and how they did, or did not, relate to what I was going to do in the studio that day.

I'll never tell what anything that I did or said or wore had any relation to hypnosis that day except to say, "yes."


Now for my next point.
I don't really know why I bother writing this blog. My own girl friend doesn't even read it. In two months now there are about 80 views. That is a blow to the ego. But, so be it. It is a creative release for me and I need one.

I need a bigger release though. I have a lot to say about a lot of things. The podcast that these guys do has me thinking about doing one of my own. The trouble with all of these creative things whether they are blogs, online videos, podcasts, songs, books, art or anything else that one might create along those lines is that there normally is not a lot of money in doing it.
Take Walt from the podcast mentioned. Walt Flanigan is his full name. He is an unbelievable artist. He worked with Kevin Smith on the drawings in a series of Batman comic books. Unreal stuff. Perhaps he is a multi-million dollar guy, but I didn't get that impression when I met him. He should be one though. His work is absolutely amazing.
I've even been told that my work (with my hypnosis shows) is amazing. I seem to think that it isn't because I am not one of those multi-million dollar guys either. It makes me wonder why things work out for some people and why it doesn't for others.

Take the winner of America Idol two years ago, Kris Allen. Oh yeah, it was Kris Allen and not Adam Lambert. Here is an example of something that really makes no sense to me. Allen was VOTED as the winner over Lambert which meant that he was more popular, yet now it's Lambert who gets more attention and was just on American Idol this past week.

Adam Lambert and Kris Allen

I sometimes think that popularity is more important than talent if you look at who earns more. Now, for me, I knew in my mind that Lambert was going to be the one from whom we heard or more because he was clearly better. But I figured that with that voting Allen was going to do well also. Here is a case where I was wrong and it makes me even more confused because it seemed to work out the way that it should!

Yes, I watch American Idol. I am watching it even without Simon Cowell even though I swore that I wouldn't watch it at all, even during the funny auditions.
I suppose that if my career was booming, I wouldn't watch it, or have the time to do so, but its not so I do.
I'll tell you, though, there are a few amazing kids on this year's show.
I originally thought that it was a lock that the winner was going to be one of the guys. Now, I am not totally sure.
Everyone has their own fans and anyone can debate me as they seem fit, but I happen to be pretty good at picking these things.
On the girls side the best is Pia Toscano and the one who jumped into my contention for winner. She busted out a Celine Dion version of "All by Myself" a week ago that blew me away. No one usually takes on Celine Dion and comes away un-redfaced.

Pia Toscano

Here is the link to that performance.

http://www.americanidol.com/videos/season_10/performances/pia_toscano_all_by_myself/?ref=ai10_contestants_profile_judge_comments

And clearly, she is hot.

The other three girls of note are Haley Reinhardt (who actually was bottom three in votes last week though), 15-year old Thia Megia (the name I keep saying over and over again) and 16-year old Lauren Alaina. The latter two are just adorable and are clearly popular. Reinhardt has necessary sex appeal and is quite talented also.

Karen Rodriguez and Naima Adedapo are the other two. Adedapo was a wild-card choice who shouldn't have gotten one. Rodriguez makes a huge mistake on this show though by continually mentioning her ethnicity. I'll refrain from diving into that deeper but suffice it to say that I find it offensive.

Over to the guys.
There are four unbelievable talents here with four different styles and this is a real tough call.
Alphabetically...
Casey Abrams might be the one with the most overall talent since he plays a couple of instruments also. He did a Joe Cocker song last week that killed and that style fits him well.

Casey Abrams

James Durbin. He is the rocker. Style-wise, think Adam Lambert. He sort of has that high-pitched scream that Lambert used to blow away Idol crowds in Season 8. But this week he did a Paul McCartney version of "Maybe I'm Amazed" that blew me away.

James Durbin.

When these contestants reach this far it is clear that they have a likeability factor as well as a certain level of talent. Jacob Lusk is one of those real likeable guys to me. The judges compare him to Luther Vandross. I never really listened much to Luther, but if you did and don't watch Idol, I guess you'll have a good idea about his style. I thought he pooped the bed last week and I believe he thought so too, but he has given a couple of performances that sent chills up my spine they were so good. I see him as a final-four guy.

Jacob Lusk

And the other contender is Scott McCreery, who is 17. He is the country singer in the group and he is so country that it almost redefines it. He is also humble and very likeable. He also looks like Alfred E. Neumann's long lost son. (Look it up if you have no clue who that is.) While I don't think he is the best of the five contenders for the winner (that I think are the five) his voice is so cut out for his genre that he will gather significant support from country fans. And his voice will still get better since he is young.

Scotty McCreery

The five pictured, I believe, will all be recording stars. I do also think that Alaina and Megia will record in the future and Reinhardt will have a shot also, provided that she steps up big in the next couple of weeks.
In all of the seasons that I have watched Idol, I have not come close to saying that many of the contenders will get that type of success.

Done