Saturday, June 19, 2010

True Blood Cast Participates in iOWest Festival


Interview by Lynn Powell Dougherty featured at trueblood-online.com

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Last Saturday night, I attended one of the iOWest Festival performances at the iOWest Improv Theater in downtown Hollywood, The performance I attended was the E.J. Scott Improv session where he was awarded the Chris Farley award. Also at this event were three True Blood cast members, EJ’s girlfriend, Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica), Jim Parrack, (Hoyt) and Michael McMillian (Rev. Newlin). Before the show I spent some time with Deborah, E.J., Jim and Michael.
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Lynnpd with Deborah Ann Woll
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Michael McMilian, Deborah Ann Woll, Ciera Parrack and Jim Parrack
You can read my interview with EJ and Deb which is in a separate posting about EJ receiving the Chris Farley award by clicking here.
I separately interviewed Michael and Jim in the upstairs section of the main lobby of the theater and it was a quite casual and friendly time where friends where mingling together before the show.
I first interviewed Michael and in his interview, he hints that Rev. Newlin might be in Season 3 and also tells me about his new comic book, “Lucid“, which can be purchased at your local comic book store. He instructed to ask for “Lucid #1″ when you go to your local store. You can read more about Michael’s comic book here. He also talked about his upcoming independent film of “Half Dragon Sanchez” which is currently making the rounds of independent film festivals.
Then, I met with Jim who shared information about his own independent film that he is currently working on and directing, “Post“. His wife Ciera Parrack plays the lead role and they will continue shooting this summer in Los Angeles. He then spoke about his upcoming film Battle Of Los Angeles. When asked about True Blood, he mentioned what all of the cast seem to feel, that there is a real appreciation for each other, Deborah shared the same impression with me. It seems that True Blood is a great ensemble group that cares about each other and works well together. I think it shows in the performances.
Below is the video of these interviews with Michael McMillian and Jim Parrack.


Then, once the show began I got to see EJ and the Improv troup along with the three True Blood cast.
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Michael, Jim and Deborah on stage
Here’s a sample of what we saw that night in the videos below:’




It was a great evening and I enjoyed meeting and hangin’ out with all four, EJ, Deborah, Jim and Michael.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Article: Jace Everett at Philly's World Cafe Live

Article by Lynn Powell Dougherty featured at trueblood-online.com




Jace performs on stage at the World Cafe with his guitarist, fellow
songwriter and produer, Dan Cohen
On June 1, the town of Philadelphia, my home town, hosted the talents of Jace Everett at the World Cafe on University of Pennsylvania's campus. As I'm sure you all know, Jace is the composer of True Blood's title song, "Bad Things".My sister and I decided to take advantage of his being in our town to go see Jace's performance and arrived early to the intimate cafe room that I estimate holds about 50 people. As we were seated at our table and began to order dinner, we noticed Jace sitting at the bar with his guitar player Dan Cohen. He turned and happened to look our way. I waived, and he came over since we had agreed to meet prior to the show, and was expecting me.He took us to a room where we talked for a few minutes while I videotaped. During the brief interview, Jace discussed his just completed and extremely successful European tour where they sold out almost every show. He also told us about the current tour of the US, Philly being only the second date, as well as the recording of "Evil Is Going On" which he did in February with CC Adcock. Evil Is Going On is a Chicago blues standard written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf, and will be the title of Season 3's last episode (Episode 12).
Jace gives a shoutout to The Vault.
After we spoke, and my sister and I went back to our seats, the show began. It was a very intimate and relaxed performance featuring tunes mostly from his latest Red Revelations album, that to date has been available only the internet, but will now also be released in stores. He performed, of course, the title song to True Blood, "Bad Things", but also the song on the Red Revelations album that he had just learned would be featured in Season 3, "Damned If I Do".Jace is an extremely talented musician who writes with a heart and sings and speaks with an incredibly sexy voice. I strongly suggest a visit to his web site where he, in his bio is compared to performers of the likes of Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Jim Morrison and Marvin Gaye, among others. I was very impressed by him and his guitar player Dan Cohen who accompanied his songs.After the show, Jace signed a CD for me of his acoustic album, which I have to say I love listening to. I was very impressed by this gracious man who deserves to be recognized for his original and very inspiring musical skills. I wish him the best. To see where else Jace will be performing this summer in the US, go here.Below are videos that I recorded at this event which include, the short interview we did together and his performances of both "Bad Things" and "Damned If I Do".