Birthdays, Woolaroc, Los Angeles and Ben Affleck?

I’ve had a lot of time away from writing this last month since my last full blog. I’ve been really busy! Let’s start from August. I’ve alot to write, but it’s juicy at the end so stay with me!!!

Peter Pan ran to it’s satisfying end in Branson on August 15th. When folks ask when it’s coming back to Branson I’m confident that it’s over for good in the Ozarks. It was a good run and I am blessed to have been in such a brilliant show with amazing, talented actors and dancers and backstage folk I made great friendships with. I really liked Branson, but I’m happy to be moving on.

Is that the end of all Peter Pan for me? I think not. There’s something big coming up, but that’s in nearly a year. I’ll let you know once things get rolling.

After August 15th, we began the fun of moving into Tulsa to save up and stop spending so much money for a change. Samantha’s Dad let us stay at his house for a few weeks while we went on the grand adventure of looking for jobs and housing. As soon as we hit T-Town I started canvassing the streets for a Job. I sent out dozens of applications and filled out all kinds of resumes. I got a few leads and currently have a job near 21st and Harvard. It’s not exactly what I was looking for, but I’m happy to have positive income and I’m free after 5 which works well for me right now as I spread my roots around town in all my artistic ways. That said, if you know of a production or photography group that could use my services on a full-time or independent basis please let me know. Feel free to give them my phone number if you have it!

So I got to Celebrate my 31st Birthday in Tulsa. 31 is a little hard to handle, but I feel great and life’s pretty awesome. On my real birthday I had dinner with my mom and brother and got some sweet gifts like glow sticks and good times. I got to spent my big day celebrating in Skiatook, swimming and playing the day away in and near water. I even went down to Muskogee to party down with my sister for her birthday, though i won’t say how old she turned :) I love all of the good times I’ve had on my recent birthdays and I feel so very lucky.

Living in Los Angeles where rent is over a thousand dollars a month, it was hopeful that we could find a place in Tulsa that was less than half of that price. We checked up on tons of available properties in various locations near my favorite part of Tulsa (midtown) and I’m pleased to say we found a lovely Duplex in White City, near a cool park (Braden) where the film The Outsiders was shot. We’re near 11th and Yale back in a neighborhood I never thought to check out until we found it online. It’s great!

Just before we found the place, I got wind of news of trouble where I had my car at in Los Angeles during Peter Pan. Her landlord apparently wasn’t in agreement about my car she had agreed to take and nobody had started my car like I hoped, so after 8 weeks my car was dead and needed to be moved. I was in the midst of juggling job and house when I got tickets for Samantha and myself to go back to the land of acting and Disney.

Sam’s dad was gracious enough to front us some money for a moving truck and tow dolly for the car, so that was our plan. A couple of days after I secured a start date at my new job and signed the lease for the new place we flew down to California.

I only had four days before I started work so we had to work quick.  As soon as we landed we got one last tasty bite at In-N-Out, then drove over to Fullerton where my car was. As soon as we got to the extremely dusty car I popped the hood, got a battery cable connected and tried to start the car. It wouldn’t turn over. I wasn’t dissuaded when nothing happened. Something told my to check the oil in the car. When I saw just a smidge of oil in the reservoir we went and got some oil, poured it in and tried again. After a few attempts the car roared to life. WooHOO! One problem: Solved.

We spent one night in LA at a great friend’s place. Samantha Barrios, her mom Graciella and Jason were gracious hosts. The next day, the only thing left to do was pack everything we owned and drive 1400 miles across the USA. Simple!

Or not. Everything that could have slowed us down did. We got the truck from Penske, which was a five mile or so trip away from the storage facility in Norwalk. It took me a bit to get the car on the tow trailer. The big problem with all this driving stuff is that my car is a stick shift. Sam can’t drive one and she’s a tiny lady who’s intimidated by our 16-foot moving truck so I was driving everything. Once I got that loaded we made the trip to the Norwalk storage, where I made the discovery that instead of the combo lock I though I put on, was a key lock I used that I didn’t have the key to, or rather I had the key in Tulsa. It took me another hour to get a bolt cutter  before we could even unload the unit.

By the time we got all of our stored goodies we were driving out of Los Angeles at 6pm. Rush Hour. We drove slow and steady as late as I could handle, being jetlagged and all. We found ourselves at a Super Wal-Mart on the edge of Arizona at 2 in the morning. I managed to get in about 4 hours of sleep before we were back on the road.

The driving days were fun. We’d stop and take some pictures, had some good conversations for the 1400 mile trip. I was basically taking a moving truck across Route 66 in many places. I was made for the mother road, travelling and adventuring.

In the weeks since, Tulsa has been good to me. I painted with my friend Chelsea Coleman and her band at Cherry St. Coffee and made a fantastic little painting. I met another great musician that’s been playing with Jes Lenee’ in a band called Brother Rabbit and I’m painting with them on October 8th at a venue right next to Cain’s Ballroom. I’ve had painting parties, nighttime swimming excursions, photo shoots and good times with friends I’ve not been near for nearly two years. I’m having such fun and hope for more.

On the photography front I have submitted five photos for the Tulsa State Fair in various categories. Look for your friends, including the following beautiful people: James Fields, Samantha Woodruff, Jes Lenee, and the Cassie Self. I know the usual winners involve a child in front of an American flag, but I’m just doing my part in bringing a little artistic flair to Tulsa. Look for five of Samantha’s photos too!

We’re still lining up photos for folks who want headshots and photo sessions and portraits. If you are interested in amazing photos with a totally inexpensive price, get in tough with us. Google SnowWood Photography to find our facebook page and become a fan!

On the acting front, I’m getting back into the Drunkard (The longest running play in the USA) as Willie Hammond (The Hero) on October 2nd, with Sam playing the part of Little Mary, but that’s not the big news. We’re also ramping up to play Sample Switchel and Mehitabel in a few weeks. If you’ve seen the show, you’ll know what a youthful infusion that will be! I’ll be the youngest Sample in ages, with Sam playing my love interest as the southern belle Mehitabel Cartwright!

I’ve also been off on auditions for various films and commercials. I managed to get a private audition for a movie Ben Affleck’s starring in here in Oklahoma. Apparently there have also been massive-thousand-people cattle calls for this thing, so I’m happy to be getting in without all that hubub. I’ve got a few gigs/auditions in the next few weeks for some technical films and local commercials I’m pretty jazzed about, and there’s more to come I’ll tell you about next time I write.

Also, if you love Murder Mysteries, I’ve already been in one for Tulsa University since I’ve been back (as a Russian exchange student looking for a good time), with more to come. I’m doing the big Halloween Murder Mystery here on October 30th as everyone’s favorite immortal Wampire. Wolfie makes a return to his children of the night! for more details, go to www.ultimatemurdermystery.com right now and reserve your seat before the sell out!

Today I launched off to Woolaroc for Samantha’s birthday adventure with Jes, Ty, Leah and of course Samantha. We had a fun time on all the trails, a picnic and especially the petting zoo, where we saw goats, an amorous donkey, fluffy bunnies and two cows licking the heck out of each other’s mouths. The day couldn’t have ended better…until what happened next.

We decided to drive to Bartlesville for a coffee.  It’s only 12 miles away so we drove on, looking for a post-hike snack with all friends involved. We looked up a few cafes in Ty’s GPS but kept coming up with places that were closed downtown, but Ty was feeling frisky. Along the way Ty saw some kid on a bike and called out to him, “BRIAN! Hey Brian!” The kid we didn’t know waved back over and over again through the day we were in Bartlesville.  At this point we were getting hungry, so we saw a random guy about to get into his car and drive away and Ty stopped him to ask if he knew of a place to eat. He lead us to a place, but once we got to where he was parking, he said there was a festival with FREE food just down the way. Can’t get better than free food, right? WRONG.

Not only was there free food, there was also free music, wine, beer and desserts for this particular festival.

What was this festival about? Apparently a production company for a film starring Ben Affleck was about to start up in for a few months and it was a time for celebration. Yes, that film I was writing about earlier.

So I met Ben Affleck. He’s much taller than I expected and it was funny to watch everyone flock to him once he was recognized. I too got recognized at the festival for being in a film that I got punched in the face, which was extremely bizarre, though throngs of females didn’t surround me. I’m ok with that ;) But that Brian kid waved at us again before we left the town.

Competely unplanned. That’s life, eh?