11/07/2005
Hey everybody, and thanks at the outset to Catherine, who very graciously reminded me that I owed everybody a letter - Catherine, you would make a very good mother, your children would write their thank-you cards within hours after opening their Christmas presents and would probably not get bronchial ailments because you would have them well bundled up during the cold and flu season . . .. . . actually, I haven't written in a while because I haven't been doing anything worth reporting . . . I've been going out on a fair number of  auditions, many of which  result in my being told that "YOU'RE IN THE MIX!", a phrase I've come to despise because no jobs come forth and nobody ever bothers to call and say "YOU'RE OUT OF THE MIX!" . . . for all I know, I'm in several mixes right now, even as we speak . . . but no jobs, no jobs . . . . it might be time for me to sit right down and write the great American novel, which I will certainly do right after strenuous attention to my pecs and abs, a stint in the Peace Corps, and a rigorous cleaning out of the gutters . . .
 
Dream on, in other words.
 
  I continue to work with the AIDS SERVICE CENTER - unfortunately, due to rather stringent budget cuts at the Federal and State level, monies available for programs dwindle daily - if anybody is interested in supporting their terrific work, donations are always appreciated - we're not in danger of closing our doors, but we are, sadly, in danger of having to lay off personnel and shut down important component parts of our variegated operation.  Our mission has always been to provide a complete array of services to people whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS, and we may, unfortunately, no longer be able to help people in some very important ways (providing access to local food banks, for instance, via transportation vouchers: many of our clients cannot drive and don't have the resources to hire a car - obviously - to take them to food banks to stock up their pantries.  Needless to say, asking a sick person to transport bags full of groceries home on the bus isn't gonna cut it . . . but in our modern world, that's the essential message being communicated to our agency by the powers that be . . . sigh . . . ).
 
On a cheerier note, Bonnie's been working a lot, nothing - she tells me - that she is prepared to trumpet, or even toot-toot in a small way on, say, a flugelhorn -  and I am only allowed to spill beans on my wife when she gives the go ahead, so for now . . . she's bringing home the bacon for the family and I'll leave it at that . . .
 
Reading a lot, of course.  Let's see -  Letting Go, by Philip Roth - his first novel, and one that I quite enjoyed, although it's slow going and doesn't quite add up, ultimately, to a tremendously satisfying whole:  still, what a writer, and one section in particular, about a young couple who arrange a back alley abortion, is timely, chilling, hilarious . . . Letting Go was written during the Eisenhower administration and is largely about the way we struggle under the yoke of  'the call to righteousness' (and I don't mean in a narrow, theological sense) - it's both a period piece and a reminder that the virtue-crats among us sometimes artfully choose to misrepresent the intellectual and spiritual stultification of our not so rosy-hued yesteryears . . .
 
O Jerusalem by Dominique La Pierre and Larry Collins, is about the years 947-1948, when Israel was declared a state and  the Middle East suffered it's first Arab-Israeli War . . . a pretty even handed portrayal, very informative and a reminder, not incidentally, that terrorism is and always has been oft-practiced, by all parties, and that nobody gets to sit astride the moral high horse in this screwed up world - a great companion novel would be Robert Stone's Damascus Gate, about contemporary Middle Eastern politics lurching ever more dramatically toward the apocalyptic . . .
 
Light In August, can't say enough about Faulkner, what a mind, what a heart - even if the 'Christian Redemption' stuff is irritating, to this crusty old atheist - it's hard, for me, for instance, to love Flannery O'Connor, brilliant as she is, cuz ultimately her work is in service of a theological point of view that I don't share - both she and Faulkner could write the bark off a tree, though;  Chasing The Dime, by Michael Connelly, one of my favorite suspense writers, stepping outside of his Harry Bosch series in this book to tell a stand-alone story about a scientist who gets mixed up with a call girl ring - great, fast, taut thriller, maybe a smidgen preposterous but you forgive Connelly a lot cuz he really writes the best page turners;  Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, what a BRILLIANT book: about a hermaphrodite growing up in Detroit during the Sixties, with ruminations aplenty about nature vs nurture, the sub urbanization of America and the consequent loss of America's multi-faceted cultural and ethnic authenticity . .. just a wonderful read, one that doesn't really achieve a gangbusters climax, but one that you feel, once you get fifty pages in, that you could just go on reading forever - and a terrific book, I think, for teenagers who are good readers, cuz so much of it is about 'gulp, what's happening to my body?'; Mohawk, by Richard Russo, his first novel, and not up to his subsequent standard, I think, but if you like his voice - Empire Falls is a template for whether you dig his stuff or not - pick it up, he's got, I think, such a lovely and gentle sympathy for life's 'loser's' - I find his stuff incredibly touching, and very warm, although this one suffers from a  plot twist that I think is less than credible; Stanley Park, by a Canadian writer named Tim Taylor, not worth going out of your way for, I'd say, unless you are either a foodie - it's largely about a hot young chef trying to establish his bona fides in the Vancouver restaurant world - or particularly interested in Vancouver, in which case you may appreciate some aspects of his portrayal of the city's increasing yuppification - I thought it's over-riding theme, the difficulty we have protecting the authentic because we are now so rootless and unmoored in the way we live that we have ceased to place value in the concept of 'home turf', was interesting, but not very compellingly dramatized - but it won a lot of awards in Canada a few years back and may be worth reading if you have any interest at all in contemporary Canadian writers; Naked by David Sedaris, which isn't quite as gut-bustingly funny as the reviewers suggest (I think Thurber is the go-to guy when it comes to making you do spit takes while reading) but is nonetheless a lovely book, so honest and so courageous in its' willingness to reveal a man as 'nakedly' as Sedaris reveals himself, with a sense of humor that you know isn't superior or smug . . .this is a memoir about his family, to an extent, and the nature of self-absorption, told in l5 or so chapters, and the cumulative weight is somehow oddly compelling - it's got the peculiar density of a novel without ever tilting towards ponderousness . . .
 
Anyway, those are the books I've enjoyed enough, recently, to note here -
 
And what else can I say?  Not a lot going on.  But I'll keep everybody apprised, and thanks as always for your interest -
 
And for those people who are participating in the 2005 Holiday Projects, I can only say thank you again for your generosity and affection - !!

09/03/2005
John wanted me to share with everyone that he will be in an episode of Nip/Tuck: "Yes,the episode is titled: "Ben White", I play Ben White,a successful architect who has BIID, Body Integrity Identity Disorder - Ben wants to have his leg amputated so he 'can finally feel whole'.  Don't know when it airs yet, will let you know.
Bonnie's going to be appearing in an upcoming episode of Over There, the Stephen Bochco show about Iraq - I believe it's either this week's or next week's episode; she also just completed working on RODNEY, an ABC sitcom, playing a caustic nurse (is there any other kind on sitcoms??) xox jb"

08/10/2005 - John (Part I)
Hi everybody! Two things: first, Bonnie is no longer in The Book of Liz. She has moved onto other projects (working on a film written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwaite called Stay). So, if you were planning on attending Liz: ABORT ABORT!!
Also: If anybody's around and about the LA area on 9/25, the Aids Service Center is throwing a great party to help raise money for their organization. As many of you know, I am on the ASC's board: we provide services, education, and advocacy for men, women and children affected by and at risk for HIV/AIDS in the San Gabriel Valley and LA County.
The event is called "Urban Distinction: The Anti-Tea Party", and is essentially a tip of the cap to the classic afternoon tea party, but with a distinctively urban and stylishly subversive sensibility. (One of the components of the party will be an auction of artwork, so if anybody is interested in donating a piece of art . . . hurrah!, and let me know ASAP). Tickets are $l00, there's food and booze and performance art and it's being held at the Art Center College of Design, South Campus (Wind Tunnel), from 4:00PM - 9:00PM (again, September 25th of this year). Wear something fun! Come and say hi - Bonnie and I will both be there. There's a chance I might be doing something bizarre, but that's still being negotiated. And spread the word! Feel free to send this posting on to friends and charitably inclined souls who also like to PARTAY DOWN!
The phone number of the Aids Service Center is 626-441-8495 - ask for Patrick Brown and tell 'em John B. sent 'ya, and he'll line up tickets. AND HEY - IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GET INTO HEAVEN, YOU CAN SIGN ON AS A PATRON!!! You'd be agreeing to either sell ten tickets or purchase ten tickets and you'd be getting goody bags, special high-falutin' backstage access, plus - ah, I dunno - phone calls from the ASC for the rest of your life, I guess (hey, that's how I got on the board!!!! But I couldn't be happier!!) Anyway, feel free to drop me an email c/o Catherine our Web mistress if you'd like more info or just call Patrick at the ASC directly!!! xox jb

08/10/2005 - John (Part II)
To Booksters
Mea culpa, mea culpa - I've been SOOOOO BAD ABOUT STAYING IN TOUCH, LATELY - NOT JUST WITH THE BOOK GROUP, BUT WITH EVERYBODY I KNOW. OY! Anyway, I spent this morning catching up on months worth of wonderful, informative posts - shout outs to everybody I know, shout outs, as well, to the few people I don't know (and hearty welcomes to the latter, as well) and glad to hear that the recent changes in format I suggested are (perhaps) encouraging a greater level of participation. And now: yay and thanks for the great recommendations!! I've been meaning to read M. Kneale's English Passengers, and Bernard Sharpe (generally); never heard of Dead Witch Walking and sequels by Kim Harrison , Peter and the Star Catchers, MacAvoy's Tea With Black Dragon, and several others listed. I took notes! Read the Philbrick book a while back and dug it; ditto a lot of McCullough's bios (Mornings on Horseback, Adams book, Truman bio). Bonnie, my wife, for those who don't know (she gets mentioned a lot) has enjoyed Laurie King, although I haven't gotten to her yet. And recently was given Barbary Coast by Herbert Asbury, which I'd read a bit of when I was preparing to play Ambrose Bierce a year ago (who spent the better part of his life in l9th century SF). Jacqui: you wrote an entry specifically addressed to me, and my apologies for not responding earlier. Ironically, I was in Scotland on/around the day you posted that entry, my first trip - Edingb., Inverness, Isle of Skye - and I can't wait to return. Glorious. Met a guy on the train who talked my ear off about William Wallace, full of piss and vinegar re: historical inaccuracies in Mel G's movie of a few years back. Hadn't seen the movie, didn't know squat about W. Wallace, but he had a lovely burr and bought me beers (Bonnie pretended to nap), so what the hell. Marsha, I think you mentioned that Empire Falls was being shown (HBO) on tv and I don't know what you thought, but I was extremely disappointed. I love Ed Harris, but I thought he was woefully miscast, and the whole thing seemed flat to me, like soda left out in the sun. Very disappointing. Let's see - what else: I think I liked Little Children a lot more than most, which won't come as a surprise to veteran book-clubbers: not just grudging admiration, actual flat out enjoyment - and I thought the ending was quite lovely, these four disparate personalities sharing a smoke on the playground, smoking in the rubble, really, of their shattered lives, but finding some measure of relief in the unexpected contact - something oddly moving and elegiac and hopeful about that image . . . thought the book had great humor, suspense, and a lovely ability to make (me, at least) give a damn about some pretty objectionable folk through sheer dint of authorial empathy . . . the only clank moment, for me, was when Mary Ann attended the book group and opined about Emma Bovary. Didn't believe she would get within a mile of a book club OR Flaubert. But that was a small stumble in what I thought was otherwise a virtuoso performance - (small scale, granted).
I'm currently reading Life of Pi, which I believe the club read in my absence a year or so ago, and am enjoying it very much, although I do a bit of an eye roll (so far) at his tub thumping religiosity; recently finished Rock Springs, a collection of short stories by Richard Ford, who also wrote The Sportswriter and Independence Day. He's in the Raymond Carver mold - minimalism, more minimalism, and then just a leeetttttlle more minimalism, topped off with a dollop of anomie. An acquired taste, frankly, although I do find some of his stories stick in my mind. Lots of blue collar Montana types (whose relationships don't function too well) who wander the prairies in an inarticulate funk . . . also enjoyed T. Frank's "What's The Matter With Kansas" (FOR LIBERALS ONLY) and Richard Price's "Freedomland".
I know we're not supposed to talk about anything except books . . . so a few other things that I'd like to SHARE will be put in a message for everyone's consumption and post it on my web site. HOWEVER: cuz some folks were talking about going to see Bonita's play - she is no longer in it, she's moved onto another project (low budget film directed by Bobcat Goldthwaite).
I still sit on my ***.
I won't be going away for a while - it's been a busy spring and summer heretofore - so I should be a better chatter from now on in. xox jb

07/17/2005
Hey - if anybody's planning on being in the New Orlean's area on the weekend of Aug 5-7, Bonnie and I will be attending CRESCENT CITY CON, a small, fan-run con (600 or so folks) - stop by and say hi. It sounds like it'll be very casual and low key - for info, try googling Crescent City Con - I don't have a contact number to give out right now, but if you can't find info, let me know via webmaster@johnbillingsley.net  and I'll dig up some phone #'s/e-mail addresses . . .
Bonnie, by the way, for anybody in the LA area who may be interested, is playing the eponymous heroine in THE BOOK OF LIZ, an affectionate spoof of the Amish ('the Squeamish') by David and Amy Sedaris, at the Blank Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd.,
(323-661-9287 for info re dates, times, tickets, etc.) She's great (and she wears funny teeth).
She's also appearing on an upcoming episode of the new Stephen Bochco show OVER THERE as the beleagured mom of an AWOL soldier.
I'm just sitting around on my fat ***. xox jb

06/05/2005
Hi everybody: please forgive me for issuing an all-encompassing THANK-YOU  to those sweethearts who sent me birthday greetings. I'd love to respond to everybody individually, but I've been out of town for three or so weeks and am still wading through bills, messages, etc, etc, and so a collective shout out will have to suffice. Forty Five years old.  Holy Cow.  Next year I start counting backwards.  I hope to live to 0.  Hope everybody is having a terrific June, and I'll announce the next book in a week or so (and, again, apologies for not getting a chance to discuss Little Children with everybody).  xox jb

April 27, 2005
Hamburger Mary's, West Hollywood
Forget your misconceptions of Bingo... Legendary Bingo at Hamburger Mary's is a fun-filled evening of food, fun, and great prizes!
On April 27th, Legendary Bingo will be working towards helping my fundraising efforts. John Billingsley (Doctor Phlox on Star Trek: Enterprise) has offered to assist as celebrity ball caller.
In addition to gift certificates to local gyms, trainers, salons, and restaurants, I've got a slew of other neat prizes: Memorabilia from Star Trek: Enterprise, Family Guy, Law & Order: SVU, even Desperate Housewives! Four tickets to the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton will be given away as part of the grand prize package ($120 value). Each prize package will include two signed Enterprise scripts. And one cast-signed script will be auctioned off.
A suggested donation of $20 gives you all 10 regular Bingo games and one grand prize game! ALL the proceeds from the event will go towards meeting my fundraising goals.
Bingo starts at 8pm... but the restaurant fills up quickly, so get there early.
This event is to support Juan Carlos Fernandez's bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Juan was Enterprise's pre-production coordinator during it's run. Juan is a very dear and fun person and I hope that you all will take a moment to support him in this cause! For more information about Juan and this project, please visit: http://www.aidslifecycle.org/3724
To make a donation for Juan's efforts, visit this link: https://www.aidslifecycle.org/donate/3724

02/04/2005
A couple of quick thoughts for folks who may be visiting the website for a response to our recent cancellation: THANK-YOU for your loyalty, support, affection, enthusiasm, and many kindnesses shown to Bonnie and myself over the past four years. Although the show won't be around any more I certainly hope to extend and embellish my relationships with the fans for years to come. I know we wouldn't have had a fourth season, in all likelihood, if it hadn't been for your tireless support last year: it was, and is, much appreciated.
On a specific note, and at the request of Bill Geradts, who hosts a New Zealand/Australia convention (Armageddon) that I had been planning to attend this April, I wanted to say that (sadly) while I won't be able to appear this spring, I will be looking forward to attending their next convention in October.
Finally, this Monday, February 7, 2005 (rescheduled due to filming!), I will be conducting a live 'web-chat' at thefandom.com with Chase Masterson!!

Please visit http://www.johnbillingsley.net/ to read it.

Thank you