Hazardous Material

The unedited Joe Gaiter interview! HE contacted me for an interview knowing my work in "Sister Act 2". What is your view on life right now? If you want to create the dream that you see for yourself you need to block out all other distracting or disempowering influences. You will not make it unless you are vigilantly self-confident and keep one leg in the real world and the other leg in your dreams. Even constructive criticism can chip away at your belief in yourself and lessen your ability to affect the change you see possible in the world. Where did you grow up? Tell me about your childhood. I was born in Bar Harbor, Maine, but I grew up in Santa Clara, California. I was the only comedian in the microchip generation out of the Silicon Valley. All of my friends and family were computer programmers and I.T people and I was the class clown. I started entertaining at the age of six performing for family and friends of the family. I would dress up in a suit with glasses and a can...

I want to thank everyone in Cirque du Soleil's "Totem" for having me as a guest today to teach my "Clown and Movement" class in the Artistic tent. I was surprised how many people came in to work early to take part in the class. Thank you so much! We had a lot of fun and crammed a lot of material into an hour and a half. Everyone was so attentive and committed to doing the exercises and I really appreciated that. What a fantastic group of people! Thank you so much, Melanie for having me. And thank you cast members who gave me your energy and personalities so freely today. I really had a great time and I hope you gained a lot as well. All the best! Christian

After writing the previous blog I contacted Nacho to tell him how much I enjoyed his work on this piece he calls, "I Miss You!" portraying a real life version of "Bert" from Sesame Street. He got back to me with this friendly e-mail. (He communicates in English well. He is from Spain.) "Hi christian, Thank you very very much for your kind of words and compliments, that is too much for me. It means a lot for me coming from such a great artist like you; i t is really a pleasure to read your words because you´ve understood what I want to show in my piece. It is always confortable to see such a good reactions of people about the piece, that´s because we are working on it, is it?. It has been a great surprise you are an artist of Cirque d Soleil, and a really great artist ( I heve been seeing your youtube videos) Please when you are in Spain , let me know..(redacted) Thanks again for your words and continue making the people happy with your art. Nacho" Thanks...

I was asked to write a piece to encourage the high school students at Santa Clara High which I graduated from in 1992. Here's what I wrote. School is more than just a place you are required by law to be. Sure the main purpose of going to school is to get an education that will make you a more capable human being and lead to a career that will feed you and possibly those you attach yourself to or create later in life. But high school is also a place where a lot of your likes and dislikes are cemented in your personality and you learn social lessons that educate you, culturally, for the rest of your life. I was asked to write something for you because I am one of many graduates from Santa Clara High School who went on to experience success after graduating. The truth is that every inch of success I achieved in life began at Santa Clara High. I have toured North America with Cirque du Soleil performing for millions of people. I have entertained audiences throughout the entire Caribbea...

I never thought I’d be wearing leg warmers when I met gangster rapper/actor Ice Cube. I was headed to a rehearsal for an independent film I was shooting. In the movie I was portraying a bounty hunter alien who is zapped by a laser and transformed into a member of a boy band. I had a rehearsal to go to in Hollywood where I was going to be instructed by an ex-“Solid Gold” dancer, I was told. To truly center myself in the part of boy band member I put on orange leg warmers, yellow shorts, white t-shirt, sneakers, and big orange sunglasses with a yellow headband on my bald white head. I looked horrible, but felt funny so it should work out. I drove to a dance studio in Hollywood located next to Gold’s Gym. I parked my car a few blocks away and was walking to the studio behind four black guys when I realized the shortest one was “Ice Cube” from the gangsta rap group “N.W.A”. I grew up listening to N.W.A’s “Fuck the Police!”, but I would omit the curse word and end up only saying,”…the polic...

1-1-11 huh? Too binary for me, but maybe there's a surprise ending. I'll stick around. "Buy the ticket, take the ride"-HST So 2010 is in the pooper and we have a clean trestle board to make our new plans upon. I have a lot of homework to catch up on with this blog from the winter of 2010. It will come in small bursts. My time in Paris was incredibly artistically inspiring while at the same time being relentless in everyday challenges. Even my escape from Charles de Gaulle was a learning experience, to say the least. I am in the middle of producing some collaboration tracks with various artists. It's always fun to combine talents and styles in a semi-freeform art form. I was interviewed on "The Bob Show" last night. More on that in the next day or so. Much to look forward to in 2011 and I couldn't have made it this far without my kick ass soul warrior, Pristine. I love you , my girl. Now let's make this year regret its birth only hours after its a...

As coerced by the writing magazine, I researched and purchased a writing device called the “Neo” by Alpha Smart. It is basically the writing version of the Kindle. Rather what the Kindle is to reading the Neo is to writing. A simple dedicated device to output writing and not be distracted by the internet or social networking sites. Just simple typing and either uploading into word processor of choice or directly plugging into printer and printing as a stand alone. This device runs on three AA batteries per year on average and weighs very little so I can take this solid little helper anywhere. The Neo has really multiplied my output. This is the first blog to be written on the device so we’ll see how easily it goes, but as far as writing lyrics and chapters the Neo is superb. On a writing related note I have completed four chapters of my upcoming book about ME. My favorite subject! Publishers are already interested. Finally people can access the nitty gritty bizarre development of my ...