Casting Workshop at ACT Now!

This weekend I finished up my two week Casting Workshop with Melanie Crescenz from CFB Casting and they work on a bunch of shows while her main focus is "New Girl", a couple shows on Adult Swim, and she's finishing up a movie with Cameron Diaz that's filming in Boston.

Fun & Quirky Lyndsey

The first week we brought in our own scenes and after a Q&A we each got a few minutes with her while we performed our scene with a Reader.  I performed a scene from "Sex & The City" as Carrie called 'The Good Fight' which Carrie and Aidan argue about his stuff being all over the apartment after Pete (Aidan's Dog) chews up one of Carrie's fancy shoes.  It's a fun scene that has comedic undertones but is honest and real.  Melanie laughed throughout the scene and said it was a very real fight that most couples have at some point and if I hadn't talked about Carrie and Aidan she wouldn't have known it was from "Sex & The City" which I think is good because I don't want it to be recognizable or be compared to Sarah Jessica Parker, because she is the perfect Carrie.

This past week was Cold Reading so after chatting about the shows and answering a couple questions from people in the room we were given our scenes with 15 minutes to prepare and then read in front of the other actors.  My scene was from "Newsreaders," in fact, the entire episode, so I picked a few different scenes that I felt flowed together well and although the script was a little daunting, I felt like I was making good and honest choices.  Joseph Pearlman gave me some great advice when I had taken an Intensive with him; make choices that excite and motivate you, find the danger, and then let the words come off the page, but really listen to your Reader.  I made sure to put all those techniques into my Read and was pleasantly surprised when Melanie said that I was more prepared in my Cold Reading than some of the actors who had 2-3 days to prepare this when they auditioned with it.  She said I chose the meatiest parts of the script and that brought out my best side.  YAY!

Each Workshop I take is a learning experience and an opportunity for me to perfect and hone my craft.  It's another time to perform a Cold Read in front of a Casting Director as well as a room full of actors (whom are all talented, Act Now does a great job with that) and also see what you would be cast as.  My character was carrying the show, a beautiful but annoyingly quirky girl, a Host type, that was fun and just a tad bit strange.  I like that Melanie challenged me with something interesting!  Now if "New Girl" would give me a chance to meet with them, you'd see an even happier girl ;)

Keith Urban at The Hollywood Bowl!

Two weekends ago Neil and I were gearing up for the Keith Urban Concert at The Hollywood Bowl.  I don't know why I was dreaming about Keith Urban last night (it was a phenomenal dream) but perhaps it was just the push I needed to write about seeing his awesome Concert in my blog today!

We found parking about a mile away and were happy to enjoy the walk and then find our seats.  We had terrace seats and Little Big Town which was the 2nd Opener before Keith Urban was still playing, and songs I actually knew!  I really miss having good country stations here in LA like I did back in Wisconsin.  We thought it might be fun to have some wine while we enjoyed the show knowing it was going to be around 2 hours long as he had lots of songs to play so through the line we went and $45 later, one bottle of wine and one bag of sour patch kids, we were ready to enjoy the show.

Neil & I at The Hollywood Bowl for Keith Urban

Keith Urban is not a 'Stupid Boy'

The show started with some singles off past albums and a more recent song 'Long Hot Summer' as it was The Light The Fuse Tour all Summer long!  He slowed it down with 'Cop Car' off his new album and then 'Stupid Boy' a song he originally wrote for a female singer but ended up recording himself giving me a little idea to do a recording or cover of it!  One thing I really loved about this concert was the lighting and production of it because each song really evoked emotions from you through the colors and shadows they created on-stage.  Using blues, reds, purples, and yellows to fit the mood of the song, I thought that was awesome!  Next up was 'Even The Stars Fall 4 You' with lyrics up behind Keith on the stage so everyone could sing along.  One of my favorite songs 'Without You' was played next and it was neat to see Keith working the whole stage, singing to the seats all the way in the back, and also changing up guitars for each song.  I never knew what a talented guitar player he was not to mention how fantastic he sounded live; just like he does on his albums!  The crowd went wild when he did 'Kiss A Girl' and in between his first few songs he actually brought a girl from the crowd up on-stage and she asked for advice on her upcoming wedding with her fiance who was also in the crowd and he said he had more advice to give to him than her.  Funny, talented and handsome...Keith Urban has it all!

Keith went into a cover of The Who as he moved towards the sound and lighting board where he played a bunch of songs on the lawn area!  How cool that he moved to the middle of the Hollywood Bowl to play a set to the people in the back.  Once again he got the whole crowd involved by singing 'Days Go By' and this was the Cover set with 'Rumor Has It' sang by his Bass player, Jerry Flowers and then 'Hollywood Nights' a Bob Seger cover.

Keith Urban singing 'Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me'

Awesome concert!

After a couple more songs he made his way back to the stage through the crowd of people and then went into one of the first Keith Urban songs I ever heard, 'You'll Think Of Me' then picking it back up with 'Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me.'  'Somebody Like You' had the whole crowd standing up and singing again as that was the song he closed out the show with.  We knew he wasn't finished and had an encore coming so when he came back to the stage and told everyone to pull out their lighters or flashlights on their phone and light it up, as 'fireflies' were now everywhere at The Bowl.  He took a seat at the piano and started singing 'Tonight I Wanna Cry' which was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes...clearly I wanted to cry!  Of course, he couldn't end on a sad note, so there was a snippet of 'Locked Out Of Heaven' a Bruno Mars cover which was sang by his guitarist, Brian Nutter, and then his final song of the night was 'You Look Good In My Shirt' and as he sang the song, he walked down into the pit and actually took his guitar, signed it, and gave it away to someone.  WHAT?!  Yes he did!

This was definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been to, not only because I knew a lot of his music and this tour was about playing his Hits in addition to promoting his new album 'Fuse' but because he was such a performer.  His singing and guitar skills were so impressive and he made it such a fun concert!  It was his first time playing The Hollywood Bowl and I'm certain he'll definitely be back :)  

Karaoke & New Headshots :)

As Halloween gets closer the Theme for our Halloween Eve Karaoke at Gabe's is being finalized.  There are songs, artists, costumes, and ideas running through my head and even though last year going as Axl Rose is going to be difficult to top, I've got something really fun up my sleeve!

My Approachable Country Gal
Commercial Shot

Karaoke last week had a Country Theme and I wanted to sing songs I hadn't sang in a while so I started with Carrie Underwood's 'Cowboy Casanova' and then 'Bless The Broken Road' by Rascall Flatts which I haven't sang since I first moved to LA years ago!  Everyone got into the Country Theme and we had lots of Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash.  It was certainly a good theme for the night and it encouraged people to try some new songs which I love!  My new song of the night was 'Man!  I Feel Like A Woman' by Shania Twain and next up was Martina McBride's 'Valentine' which I sang in High School at my Sophomore Cabaret performance.  I've sang it since then but it always brings back great memories of my High School Choir.  Tim McGraw and Faith Hill made an appearance as Neil and I sang 'Like We Never Loved At All' and it was one of our best performances!  I closed out the night with 'Redneck Woman' and it was certainly a full-on Country night!

My Tempting & Wicked Theatrical Headshot

This week at Karaoke we were celebrating Mike 'Doodle's' & Rian's Birthday at Gabe's so Rian and I did mini super-sets of songs starting with Amy Winehouse so I sang 'You Know I'm No Good.'  No Doubt was up next so I sang 'Sunday Morning' which I haven't done in a while.  Rian decided on Carrie Underwood next and I thought I might try 'Last Name' since it would be a new song for me and I kind of knew it.  I quickly listened to the first verse on Rian's phone and then lowered the song a full note since I thought it might be too high for me but that made it more confusing so after a verse and chorus I raised it back to the normal key and was able to finish up well.  That song can use some work so I'll have to learn that one before I sing it again.  Since that one wasn't my best I tried another new song with Marty in the background, doing 'Wicked Game' by Chris Isaak.  I love my low songs but this was really low so I sang it an octave higher but then when it came to the chorus I had to stay in the same key because there was no way I was hitting another octave.  The song was good but I'll need to find a better and more comfortable key to make the song awesome!  I closed out with Adele's version of 'To Make You Feel My Love' as I sang to Bulos and Marty, some of my S&S Favorites :)

I'm really excited to be sending out my new headshots that I took with Hillary from Irish Times!  She was awesome to work with and we had a blast shooting a bunch of different looks on a beautiful and sunny day in LA at her studio in Silverlake!  Check out Hillary's Headshot Photography and Photo's on her Website here: Campbell Darkroom LA Photographer

Fantasy Football Week 5 Recap and Projections for Week 6

I won my Fantasy Football Match-Up for the 3rd week in a row this past week and I'm looking for another win this week against the Westside Dukes.  I brought back Aaron Rodgers into my QB starting position after a Week 4 bye and benching my big Week 4 pick-up, Phillip Rivers.  Even though Rivers out-scored in Fantasy points my heart lies with Rodgers.  I also benched my Packers Defense for the Cincinnati Bengal Defense getting 20 points from them vs 17 points from The Pack.  Even with the low-scoring players on my team, Cruz and Thompkins, I still won my Match-Up by almost 40 points!

My Week 5 Match-Up

You may want to pick up Nick Foles this week since Philadelphia is dealing with an injured Michael Vick, and Foles usually puts up some TD's.  Greg Jennings had a huge game two weeks ago and coming off his bye may have another big week since Ponder is still out and Matt Cassel and Jennings seem to have good chemistry.  The Bronco's Ronnie Hillman had a great game with 70 yards and a TD last week and he may be seeing more touches than Knowshon Moreno.  Charles Clay, the TE for the Dolphins has had a couple good weeks and if he keeps it up would be a great pick-up since he's averaging higher point totals than Owen Daniels, Jermichael Finley, and Greg Olsen.

This week I'm looking at playing Dwayne Bowe over Thompkins and it's honestly a toss-up between my Defenses since the Falcons are 1-4 and the Bills are 2-3.  It seems as though my #1 Draft Pick, Arian Foster, has gotten his mojo back and after coming off a huge week 2 weeks ago and a solid week this week; I'm hoping he'll continue to shine!

Feel free to comment or let me know about your Fantasy Football team; who you picked up that had a monster game or who you played that was a bust (like Thompkins for me this week).  Good luck and keep an eye out for the Bye Week Players on your starting line-up and find some good replacement players on your bench or the Waiver Wire :)

Fantasy Football Teaser

I decided to add a new concept to my blog about Fantasy Football!  A lot of my friends play, or should I say, their boyfriend's play Fantasy Football, and this year I was asked to be in a couple different leagues.  Honestly, concentrating on one is plenty enough for me, because I do look into to my team and watch most if not all the games each week.  Thankfully, I work at a couple different sports bars so that makes it a little bit easier!

I've been playing Fantasy Football for the past couple years and each year it becomes a little bit easier to understand and I learn more and more about Football as well.  I started watching Football as a little girl with my Mom, and got involved in Cheerleading Camps until I became a Cheerleader for Football and Basketball in High School and then College at Winona State University.  After moving to LA I've become an even bigger fan of watching my Packers play (even though I'm still waiting for Season Tickets as I've been on the Waiting List for over 20 years) and then got involved in Fantasy Football.

Each week I'm going to talk about how my Fantasy Football Team is doing, who I've picked up or dropped, who I'm playing, who I'm benching, perhaps a tip or fun fact of information but the point is to make Fantasy Football easy and fun to understand for everyone.  You may find a piece of information here and impress your friends and might actually enjoy getting involved in a league next year or help out someone this year!  It's not all stats and facts, it's opinions, an educated guess, or just liking someone based on the fact that they're smiling in their picture ;)

My first blog about Fantasy Football will be posted this week so get ready!

Santa Barbara :)

I've been living in LA for 8 years (wow) and had never been to Santa Barbara until just a couple weeks ago.  Neil and I were heading to SB to see Sara Bareilles play at The Bowl and decided to make a day of it and do some Wine Tasting, walk around the city, and just enjoy a fun day!

Kalyra Winery

As we made the 70 minute drive from North Hollywood, bagels in hand, we passed through Carpinteria (both curious, we found out that the Chumash Tribe had a carpentry shop, which is where the name came from...I knew it) and when we got to Santa Barbara it was a perfect 72 degrees.  We could see the ocean from our hotel room at the Santa Barbara Inn and decided to hit up the pool before exploring downtown.

I had made a list of a few Wineries to check out using the Urban Wine Trail I found on-line (some were right on the water, others had games to play while you were tasting wines, and others were listed as generous pours) and after researching some of the Wineries settled on Kalyra since they had a dessert wine that was supposed to be amazing.  Some of the wines had a tin/metal flavor but it was because they were fermented in steel (just not our favorites) but we ended up loving the Semillon which had hints of jalepeno and vanilla.  We each bought a bottle and Neil also picked up a bottle of the Orange Muscat because it was perfectly sweet and light.  I'm sure we'll be checking out some of the wineries on our next visit!  Then we walked to downtown since we were in the more industrial area known as 'The Funk Zone' and looked at some of the shops before stopping for a late lunch at Verde.

During our afternoon walk, Neil had scouted an Italian restaurant, Palazzio, where we had a wonderful Dinner.  We sat on the patio and Neil ordered a trio of items that were all delicious, especially his ravioli!  When we finished up, our friendly server packed up some Tiramisu to go since we had to get to the Sara Bareilles concert; she made our visit so special :)

Dinner at Palazzio in Santa Barbara

Unfortunately, we got to the concert at 8:15 pm (our tickets said Sara Bareilles Concert 7 pm) and she was playing with One Republic but since it was listed as her show, and we figured there would be an opener, we thought we would have plenty of time and probably catch the middle of One Republic's set.  Instead, the doors opened at 5:30 pm, she had an opener at 6 pm and she started promptly at 7 pm.  It was so disappointing because after seeing concerts for years, I've never missed a show, or been too late, because the time listed is when the doors open.  We decided not to stay for One Republic out of pure disappointment and walked the whole way back from the Bowl to downtown and tried to make the best of the rest of our evening.  It had really been a beautiful day so it was so frustrating to miss one of our favorite artists perform considering she was playing in LA the next day, but we wanted to force ourselves to get out of town and do something different, and both Neil and I were scheduled to work the next night so we couldn't have even gone to the show, even if we had tickets.

The next day we grabbed breakfast overlooking the ocean in our hotel and then walked around the Pier area and some of the shops.  It was clearly a town for walking as we probably clocked in over 6 miles in 24 hours but even with the clouds it was a gorgeous day and we had a really fun time in Santa Barbara.  

I can't wait to go back and I love that we went during the week so it wasn't as busy or touristy as it could have been.  School was in session so there were still people around but we got to do things at our own pace without feeling rushed or crowded.  Knowing we're only just a little over an hour away makes it so convenient and belonging to a wine club may not be such a bad idea after all :)

Abbot Kinney Festival

I've been enjoying the last few weeks of Summer here in LA, from the Labor Day party with co-workers and friends, to concerts and travel; Summer is almost over, but it's been one busy and fun season!

 

This past weekend was the annual Abbot Kinney Festival in Venice, complete with street food and drinks, beer gardens, shopping, musical acts and DJ's.  It reminded me slightly of the Sheboygan County Fair back in Wisconsin, but only for the Funnel Cakes, large crowds of people walking slowly, music playing in the background, and everyone having a good time.  The Sheboygan County Fair is the best Summer Festival I can ever remember going to, with Steamboat Days being up there, but still not even close.  There was always such good food (and I had to eat one of everything: Teenie Weenie Donuts, Grilled Cheese, Deep Fried Cheese, Corn-on-the-cob, Milkshakes, Hawaiian Ice, Apple Pops, Cotton Candy, Popcorn, Pizza, Funnel Cakes, and Grilled Chicken Sandwiches), plenty of beer tents, inlcuding my favorite, Leinenkugel's, lots of street vendors, games and rides, performances throughout the fairgrounds, and the 4H Building that would house all the art projects that students submitted throughout Sheboygan County.  It's been over 15 years since I had anything in the 4H Building but I can't help walking through it and checking out the artwork, Lego Houses, photo displays, and clothing people took the time to work on and perfect before their submission.

 

It was a hot September day and I remembered how difficult it had been to park last year, as I had driven around for a half hour and finally parked a mile away, to which I waited another 45 minutes in line for a wristband just to get into the beer garden.  Luck was on my side this year, as I found a friendly driver, wave me over that he was leaving, and he was only a half block from the festivities, and I somehow finagled my way into the line (only having to wait 10 minutes for the wristband) while chatting with Dan, whom had a kelly green wallet, that matched my kelly green purse.  Dan, I looked for you inside the beer garden to buy you a beer, but alas, I never saw you.  You've got some good karma coming your way!  We had friends pouring the beers so we never waited long for a drink, but a group of 12 was bound to get bored so we moved onto greener pastures, a different beer tent, which we never made it to, because everyone was too hungry.  We stopped at a pizza place, picked up a slice, saw our good friend, Spencer, who was selling his clothing line, and had a booth set up (his t-shirts looked so comfy and I loved the style).  You can find out more information on his line right here: Herald Hill on Facebook

The Crew at Cabo!

Everyone parted ways after that and we all headed over to the Whaler (haven't been there in years, wrote my first ever Yelp review about that bar) and we didn't stay long, then made our way to Cabo to celebrate Jack's Birthday with some tequila shots, and lastly, dropped all the guys off at The Brig on Abbot Kinney.  That was about all the fun I could handle in one day with a busy work week ahead, but it ended up being a pretty awesome day :)

 

In Wisconsin, during the Summer, every week is a different town festival, with cover bands, cheap beer, yummy food, and lots of people, dancing and having a good time.  I definitely miss that about being at home during that time of year and wish LA had something like that, but for now, I'll just have to settle for the Abbot Kinney Festival and Brunette Bungalow fiesta's!