A New Year & A New Hair Color

Happy New Year to you; as I write this it is a few minutes before midnight, Dec. 31, 2009, here in the Northwest…my daughter in Boston has been living in 2010 for about three hours already. Our trip to Los Angeles is just around the corner, what will this new year bring to us??

Most of the money for our trip has been raised, thanks to so many people; we have a few loans from dear relatives that we are working to pay back and we earned a great deal of cash. Now the adventure seems like a reality and we are working on the details, but they are fun details.

A few weeks ago the three of us went to get our hair styled according to the LA stylist’s evaluation. We decided to stay local and went to a highly recommended salon in our own town. The appointments were made at the same time a press release on us came out in the paper, luckily…the stylists were so very excited for us that they gave us deep discounts.

Maria’s hair grows fast, however it grows at different rates depending on the hair section. As I mentioned in a previous post her hair had been left rather “chunky” when she had me cut it for a “Locks of Love” donation this past summer. Now it was looking more uneven as it grew. The woman at the salon did a marvelous job of trimming the ends so that they blended in together. Now Maria’s long hair looks nicely layered.

James, after I told him the stylist wanted him to grow out his hair, cut his hair. His hair was “bugging” him so he decided to just buzz it all off. He figured it would grow back before January. I just smiled, I figured he was right, well, HOPED, he was right.

He actually looks great with short hair; he was blessed with a nice-shaped head and great cheek bones. His hair did eventually grow a bit, though not as quickly as Maria’s. At our hair appointment the stylist just trimmed around the edges for him. His hair is about 3/4” on top now….and it is starting to “bother” him again. I showed him photos of what the stylists were hoping to do with his hair—Google images for David Archuleta, Rob Pattinson, Taylor Lautner—longish hair.

James sighed a little, and agreed to wait until after January for more self-haircuts.

I am the one that had the major stuff done. I showed my stylist photos of my “assigned” hair style and color. She did a great job blending two colors together to make a deep warm brown color, then cut my hair so it brushes my shoulder and has long sweeping side bangs. I was so happy; shiny hair, it is so easy to style. We really had a great time, so remember “Shop Local”..at least it worked for us.

The Brady Bunch & Acting

We’re reaping the benefits of our fundraising already—we have our own acting coach, her fee is part of the cost of the iPOP convention. What do you think of when you hear the title, “acting coach”?

That first day we sat in our classroom waiting for the coach. Anticipation. I really hoped that it would be an experienced actor/teacher.

A small, exuberant woman with a bleached blonde, asymmetrical hair cut blew into the room talking non-stop. Her energy was astounding, and her animated facial expressions seemed almost, well…cartoon-like.

She immediately thrust out a colorful soft-cover book, “Look my book has just been published!” She flipped through pages, “See, this is a photo of me, and in this group photo I am here…” She rapidly described her experience decades ago as a singer and dancer on a weekly, TV variety show featuring cast members from the Brady Bunch show.

I looked at Maria and James, the three of us wide-eyed and speechless. Clearly, she had an interesting and varied show-business past. I wondered how this learning experience was going to play out for us as acting students.

Now, it has been many weeks since that day. It turns out that our teacher is a veteran in acting instruction, she also did years of study at the University of Southern California in the field of acting, and has extensive work in commercial acting. Her enthusiasm seems to never wane, her powerful laugh can blast out unexpectedly, as startling as an explosive sneeze. Happily, her acting and directing skills are creative, precise and insightful.

Our class is small, made up of the “out-of-town” students. (All the other participants live much closer and meet on a different day.) We three live two hours away, three others students travel about 6 hours one-way from the eastern part of the state to participate. The six of us are getting great personal coaching in such a small classroom setting.

We each have two assigned commercials to memorize. We deliver it to a video camera and watch the playback for practice. We each also have a monologue to act-out. It is like a dialogue between two people, but the other person is “imaginary” so the actor speaks and reacts in a way that is, hopefully, entertaining and that reveals to the audience the events of the scene.

It has been so much fun to be in this group with my son, James, and daughter, Maria. Things are going great, I am remembering how to memorize scripts once again—it’s been awhile; and having fun bringing out nuances in my acting.

The monologues are funny, and Maria and James do them well. They laugh when I perform mine, thankfully mine is also a comedic script and they are not just laughing in embarrassment at their mother. Okay, pretty sure they’re not…

Soon to come, we will be assigned acting partners for a “scene”, oh, and James and I went to a recording studio. I’ll share that with you soon.

I’ve added this blog to Digg.com, you can search under “Densley” or use the link in this sentence. If you “recommend” this blog on Digg.com it will help us pass this on to more people. Thanks for all of you who have donated to our trip; we are still using Paypal for that. Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!

I Made a Movie!!

Wow, I figured out how to make a movie on my computer!!! Okay, so it's only 29 seconds, and it has a cluttered background, and simple sound...but it gets the message across. This is a video of me after returning home from a performance with my swing band, wearing a vintage fur coat. It was actually pretty cold tonight.

Our band played at the annual "Fantasy Forest" gala that is a fundraiser for our local hospital. Since my reinnervation surgery in May my voice has been getting much better. I had such a good time singing tonight and actually using my voice creatively. Hurray!! Hurray!!!

Ask your friends to help us get to LA. All the funds are due in just a few weeks. They can send us cash or checks or use a credit card at PayPal, send to MyPromDesign@gmail.com Even $5 helps!

As Long As Im Singing AndreaNov2009.wmv

Click on the link to see the video

August 21, 2009 LA Stylist Guy!!

So---Maria and I went up to Seattle for our appointment with the stylist from Los Angeles which is one of the “perks” that our trip fee is going towards. James couldn’t be with us, he is the drumline captain of the high school marching band and he was at a required performance.

On the drive up I was thinking that this would be another way to judge the quality of the program; will the presentation be “flaky” or real? And what would a "stylist" from Los Angeles be like anyway?? I've only seen them as characters in chick flicks, or briefly on TV's "Project Runway" in the show's hair salon....It was a long drive; I had quite a bit of thinking time.

I was also feeling a bit nervous, a little insecure. It is not a comfortable thought knowing that you are going to stand in front of a “professional” and have them critique how you look. I don’t know how those reality show people can do it. I wore a dress; I wanted to look “nice”. Traffic was bad; we were almost ten minutes late. We parked, hurried through "beautiful downtown Macys"; waited for the elevator to arrive, took it to the 7th floor, rushed past the larger-than-life photos of Jackie K and Princess Grace and friends (all former JRP students), and strolled into the JRP offices trying to breath slowly and look calm.

Maria and I walked through the open door to the meeting room; all eyes turned towards us, and I was relieved to see that the guy standing there holding a clipboard was smiling at us. So far so good.

The room had mirrored walls like a dance studio and a nice wooden floor. There were two rows of metal chairs and parents with kids of all ages. Pretty sure my child (at age 26) is the oldest…. Okay, the corollary to that is, yes, pretty sure I am the oldest parent.

We arrived in the midst of introductory remarks. It turns out that the “guy with the clipboard” is a local Seattle stylist assisting the “L.A.” stylist who was delivering his energetic intro for this procedure.

I tried to remain clinical and neutral about his presentation, however, he was an interesting speaker and I felt a bit excited to be in this unusual situation. I was impressed by his obvious passion for what he does and his business-like manner. He was humorous, not arrogant, not “outrageous” in his mannerisms or dress--but he was direct. Referring to the preparation for the up-coming convention and auditions he told the youngsters: “You are not just a kid in the Mall anymore; you have to be serious about this. It’s going to be fun, but you will have to be disciplined.”

I liked that he told the kids that they were going to have to give up some “treats” or “extras” like the latest Wii game, in order to help budget for the cost of professional hair cuts/colors and styling. It implies this is a shared financial responsibility with the kids & their parent.

He will be the head of a team of stylists at the convention in Los Angeles. Our JRP group will have our hair styled and makeup done by these pros each day we are there and prior to each audition and performance. Okay, yeah, that brings out the 16-year-old in me—all my hair and make-up dilemmas turned over to pros. Nice.

He began calling names from his list. I panicked a little, not wanting to go first. When called up, the procedure was to stand in front of him, and “stand still”. Do not comment, or give explanations.

He directed, "Input is not required or solicited. I really don’t care what you think.”

His smile took the sting of his words away, but it was obvious to everyone that he was a professional. It was interesting to watch as each person stood before him. He walked in a slow circle around each student, feeling the texture and length of the hair, concentrating like an artist examining his easel. Then quickly he gave rapid-fire instructions to the assistant regarding inches to cut off, or color streaks to add, flipping through hair color samples, judging which would be best when the stage lights hit the hair. The "guy with the clipboard” took copious notes.

Maria and I were called up last. I “encouraged” Maria to go first. What could he say about her hair anyway? It is a gorgeous, natural copper/gold/orange. I’ll admit that the hair cut could use some help--I’m the one that cut her hair last.

Her hair is fairly thick, and used to be waist length. It grows fast, so periodically she cuts and sends the hair lengths to “Locks of Love” as a donation to wigs for cancer patients. A few months prior to this she had donated her hair, asking me to cut it off in measured 12” chunks. Now, her hair barely brushed her shoulders, and at that moment looked pretty uneven to my eye.

The stylist loved the hair color. He suggested a few “color slices” be added to the under layers to “give it some depth”. He held up a dark copper color swatch that was the identical color of the shadowed layers of her hair. I was relieved that he didn’t choose some drastic color. Maria would never have gone for the change anyway, but it was nice to avoid the tension.

Next, he flipped through a book and showed Maria the hair cut he chose for her. It was sleek, curved and just below the ears. She and I looked at each other; I was trying to read her eyes. I could see that her feelings weren’t neutral… and they also weren’t excited. It was a pretty cute hair cut, and yet, it wasn’t “Maria” at that point in her life. But, then again, maybe it would be a great change.

The other good thing about this stylist is he was not forceful. He told everyone that he was going to give his professional opinion and then it was up to each person to follow through or not, reminding us all to reflect on how serious we were about taking career advice from someone experienced in the entertainment industry.

So, lastly, my turn. I took a breath and stepped into the “decision spot”.

I was relieved that no critiquing of makeup techniques or “face structure” was going to be done. I know I look okay; it’s just intimidating to be scrutinized. My hair is pretty thin. It is a dark ash blonde with some lighter gold hair streaks added, and they are growing out. I have always been conscious of my high, broad forehead, so I generally have a few bangs as camouflage.

He showed me a color swatch proposed for my hair that was a deeper shade dark blonde, nearly brunette. I liked it. Then he showed me a photo of “my” proposed hair style, told me to grow my bangs out until December, and then have my hair cut.

I commented. “But my forehead…its so---"

“Don’t cut your bangs!” He glowered.

I closed my lips and stared back with insecurity.

Clipboard guy smiled, “Really, its going to look fine.”

The style in the photo was classy. It was shoulder length, a precise cut with long chin-length bangs curving around the face. The clipboard guy was happily writing down color numbers and hair length measurements.

A young woman sat in the corner scheduling hair appointments for everyone. We didn’t book an appointment, offering various plausible reasons, but I knew that the real reason was I needed some time to just think about the plan for a bit. And the cost. My color and cut will be about $200. Probably a typical price, but out of my “comfort level”.

It was not as awkward a session as I envisioned, even so, I felt very relieved to be heading back out to the parking garage. **We still need your help to get to the convention...and get the haircut :) Please click on our Donate link above, we need to turn in the funds by Nov. 25th**

July 30, 2009 Gumball Snakes and other Ideas

Brainstorming has always been more like brain-flooding for me. James and Maria and I got together and listed every idea we could think of to raise money for the iPOP convention expenses. My first thought—crazy as it sounds, was gumball snakes; past experience showed me they could be popular. (Another story…)

We bought a prepackaged row of big colorful gumballs, put a cotton ball on for a head, encased it all in plastic wrap, tied on a ribbon and it became “Sammy the Snake of Success”. We each took permanent markers and drew cartoony faces on them. So, the idea is to offer them in trade for small donations. When I figure out how to add photos to this blog I’ll let you see them.

Soon after we had made a bunch of them, my college son, Aaron came home for a visit. He saw the happy little snake collection and really, really wanted one….Yes, I ended up giving him one. This is my downfall with the fundraising thing; I just want to give people things. It is so hard for me to hold a garage sale, if I see the longing in a tired mommy’s face and her big-eyed children I just want to lower my prices, or give the item away. This money-raising will be a challenge.

I also made very cool bracelets of chocolate brown hemp with three small brass beads entwined. They represent the three of us committed to our trip to LA. These are for people who donate more than just minimal “snake” money. And then we have a wonderful 11 track CD of recordings from most of our kids, some original songs, some covers of songs. We are a family of musicians—jazz, Broadway, Inspirational, Pop, Standards, and “Veggie Tales” songs are among the genre we all enjoy. Beethoven is just as welcome in our home as Bing Crosby.

Here is “The List” of expenses for our trip. Happily, we get the “pay for two and one goes free” arrangement. Each performer’s package cost includes travel (airline, hotel and ground transportation)--$1,000; registration for the convention itself (classes, rehearsal techs, banquet ticket)--$1,500; the weeks of training with our acting coach at the JRP school prior to the convention and school admin fees--$1,100; Hair and makeup consult and services prior to and daily at the event--$250 (wait till you hear what our consult with a “real” LA stylist was like….); Guest speakers and weekend workshops in Seattle prior to the event--$250; Gala Awards Dinner and Showcase performance--$300; Convention dance party and dinner--$300, Miscellaneous--$300 includes trip staffing, merchant fees, taxes, staff hotel and travel.

The total price for each performer is $5,000. Perspective is everything, I suppose. My initial reaction of that amount was “GASP!!”; however, when I described it to both our Chamber of Commerce Director and another friend in the financial planning field, they each said, “Oh, that’s do-able”. They have more experience in fundraising than I. However, I do understand that this is a business for everyone involved, the school isn’t just acting out of charity, neither is the airline that will fly us there nor the hotel that is giving us shelter. I have seen that the JRP school does have a commitment to excellence and professionalism, and offers many opportunities for the performers to get all the extra assistance they need to give them an “edge” at the competition.

So, yeah, that’s a lot of “Sammy, the gumball snake” donation trades. Though, I would easily trade one for a $1,000 donation if you wanted to speed up the process for us. That fortunate snake would have a lovely hand-drawn face with long eyelashes, ruby lips and a golden, curly ribbon. Hmmm, I could probably even give it a cute little faux pearl necklace. Any takers??

Donations can be sent to PayPal, send to MyPromDesign@gmail.com , you can use a credit card. Let us know if you’d like a snake, bracelet or CD. With a $100 donation you will also get your name, or your company’s name, in the convention booklet.

More info to follow…..thanks for reading!!

July 29, 2009 The Success Report

I was curious to learn what the experience of others had been at the iPOP Convention. I went to the iPOP and JRP websites to read what was available and decided to “cut and paste” a few comments onto a document to make an informational flyer.

Due to many unfortunate “scam-type” scenarios floating around the entertainment industry, I felt I needed to have some documentation to show people why I was not foolish or crazy in promoting this particular project.

My research snowballed; I was surprised that my little single page report was turning into a lengthy document. There were piles of comments from agents, parents and participants. Just in the recent past, Seattle performers from iPOP have gone on to perform on TV shows, and commercials, print ads, European fashion shows and had featured parts in movies such as Jim Carey’s “Yes Man” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

So, after studying the research, here is my perspective: This is, obviously, a “for-profit” venture just like taking your child to piano lessons to prepare for a final recital or paying an accountant & lawyer to set up a small business. The Seattle-based JRP acting school and their team of coaches will be making money, as will the LA hotel that sponsors the convention, the staff that produces the convention, the airline that flies the participants to LA….

No promises have been made regarding future contracts or even future interest by the agents observing the performances. What is “promised” is a concentrated introduction to many targeted entertainment professionals at once, the learning that comes from attending workshops taught by qualified presenters, the un-quantified experience of meeting and performing with hundreds of others who love the arts, and the absolute joy of performing in a professional setting and connecting with a large audience.

On a personal note, this will be a rare opportunity to have a unified experience with my youngest daughter and youngest son, to watch them learn and grow, to just “play” with them. For myself, I just want to sing on a stage under colorful lights for a large audience and feel the joy of music again. For four years I have been trying to sing again. Finally I can speak clearly and I am learning to sing in a new way; I’m looking forward to finally allowing myself to have fun.

Summary: This is a good thing, a way to learn, a chance to honor our little hometown, a chance to share with others. If you are reading this, think of who you could pass this link to. We need so much support. Here is our donation address at PayPal: MyPromDesign@gmail.com

July 28, 2009 Negativity is Relative

We had a family brainstorming session on Monday. I asked Maria and James to write down all the ideas that they thought of to raise the funds for this trip. (see July 25, 2009 for our backstory). We came up with some great ideas for fundraising. Later, I divided the ideas into categories. Some were small things we could try and then, there were larger events that would take planning.

I also know the importance of the media. We needed to spread the information many different ways to be effective. First, I planned out this blog, next we set up a MySpace page http://MySpace.com/SupportDensleys, and then I thought of our local media. Our town has a newspaper that comes out weekly, the staff has always been supportive of events and people from our county; I made a mental note to draft a press release.

I thought of our local radio station. They do a great job broadcasting the high school football games live; they interview local newsmakers, and have great musical programming.

I was getting more hopeful thinking of the possibilities. I put aside my list-making and chose to move forward and take some action. I dialed the radio station’s phone number.

A man answered with a very “radio broadcaster-like” voice. He was friendly enough as I stumbled over my words. I tried to think of a brief, yet succinct way to tell him of our project. I told him that we recently auditioned in Seattle and out of the 170 people who auditioned only 45 were chosen, and three of those lived here in our town. I told him we were starting our fundraising campaign; I began to describe the Los Angeles convention and its opportunities for performing and attending workshops.

He interrupted my explanation with a story of his own, describing a mother that he knew “years ago who took her daughter to something like that and was very disappointed in all the money they wasted on the experience.”

His voice became patronizing as he barreled on, warning me about the “dangers out there” and “be very, very careful”…..I tried to share with him why this was different, and my own background in the entertainment field. I know first-hand that there are flaky situations lurking in the entertainment industry.

Each time I spoke, he cut me off. I knew that he was trying to be kind, that he had obviously been very moved by this acquaintance’s plight; and yet, I was frustrated that I wasn’t allowed to share in the conversation. So I became silent until he wound down.

I asked if I could write a press release.

He replied that he would only run a press release if it said nothing about raising funds. Since the radio station was a “for profit” business, they deserved some monetary compensation for assisting us in raising funds.

Hmmm, odd that the compassionate warmth was now missing from his voice.

I thanked him and hung up the phone. I consciously was taking deep, slow breaths, calming myself down, giving him the benefit of, well…faulty information, when the phone rang.

On the line was a relative. I started to share with them this new project and how we needed moral support, and what a great opportunity it was for learning.

As with the radio exec, I must have touched a trigger spot with my dear one; I heard lengthy cautions about our project, and a reminder that you should never, EVER, give agents money to promote you,etc. Actually, everything this person said I already knew and whole-heartedly agreed with. Unfortunately,I wasn’t able to interject my perspective on why this program was different.

Internal sigh. I listened, knew they loved me and wanted to protect me, and I changed the subject.

Wow, Day 1 of gathering a support team and getting the word out had left me deflated. Oddly, I wasn’t worried, nor second-guessed my decision to participate; however, I was curious. I searched the Better Business Bureau site for any information regarding the sponsoring acting school.

I found that they have been in business in Seattle for many years. Currently they have an “A+” rating from the BBB. That is the highest score. I perused the websites of both the school and the iPOP convention. I decided to make a Word document by extracting from each site, comments from agents, parents and students, along with a list of the Seattle performers who actually received work due to the convention. I thought it would be a neat little two-page report. What I found was very interesting. It will be in my next posting.