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As 2014 comes to a close I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the year and all the craziness that has happened to myself and my friends here at The IntelleXual.
The year started off with a bang as Carla Van Wagoner took on my challenge to help me produce bigger and better shows with far more enthusiasm and effectiveness than I had imagined. The IntelleXual Podcast was twelve weeks old when Carla booked us our first celebrity interviews. Jessica Jerrain and I suddenly found ourselves backstage at the Belly Up in Solana Beach interviewing legendary musician Martha Davis (and the Motels) and American Idol favorite Allison Iraheta. It was a surreal moment for me to be interviewing these incredibly talented musicians and I was worried throughout the interviews that someone would jump out and yell “you’re a fraud!” That didn’t happen of course. In fact, we were invited out to cover Martha’s red carpet at The Whiskey-a-Go-Go the following weekend.
And like that a new aspect of The IntelleXual Network was born. We were doing red carpets. First Martha’s (which was amazing) and then Trevor Guthrie’s Grammy bash. And before we knew what was really happening we were covering the red carpet at the Night of 100 Stars Oscars event in March. It was an insane rise and one that we all enjoyed immensely once we were able to take a breath and wrap our heads around it.
The carpets were going off and our guest list was growing. In the couple of months following the Martha and Allison interviews we took the show to twice a week for several months. We had amazing guests on like Mel Novak, Christopher Lennertz, Alex Merkin, Aaron Smolinski, Jaylen Moore and Michael Grant. In March and April we had Cynthia Kirchner and Megan Hayes join the show. These interviews were so great they both expanded into two-episode specials. I’ve noticed over the course of the year that I really enjoy interviewing talented, intelligent women. Having helped raise my two younger sisters has made me particularly interested in women who are making a successful run at their dreams. Megan continues to be a regular guest on our show having joined us for our Robin Williams tribute in August and again as a guest on The IntelleXual in September when she appeared on FOX’s Sleepy Hollow. Rumor has it a certain podcast host may also be responsible for Ms. Hayes’ new website.
The summer saw things slow down a bit as the red carpet events took the season off. We also had to face the reality that some of us needed to make some money. Believe it or not, this podcast doesn’t pay for itself. It’s truly a labor of love and a relatively expensive one at that when you factor in all our travel to LA and hosting the shows.
In the early summer we expanded the network when Alan Wayne joined us, bringing his Random Radio Podcast to The IntelleXual Network. Alan’s enthusiasm for radio is apparent and I have enjoyed listening to his shows as he has continued to grow and hone his craft. We are expecting great things from Random Radio Podcast in 2015. Alan is also joined by his co-host Solomon Bates, a great kid with a good show presence. The two of them have me in stitches every episode.
Did I mention that some of our highest rated episodes don’t even have celebrity guests? It’s true. Episodes featuring Steve Schwartz and Eric Dawson with me (our IntelleXual Threesomes as I like to call it) are a real fan favorite. The humor of these shows can’t be beat and I always look forward to any chance I have to sit and chat with these guys.
Steve and I went to the Philippines with my Mom in February. We chronicled a lot of the journey on the podcast and in some video pieces that can be seen on our YouTube channel. It was a great trip. My first time back to the Philippines since I was 8 and Steve’s first ever trip outside of the US of A! It was all quite the experience. Which reminds me, I need to get some more of the videos edited and online.
In May we all celebrated the union of two of our co-hosts on Sci-Fi Sundae when Jessica and William become Mr. and Mrs. Henson. It was a beautiful ceremony filled with Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Star Wars and Doctor Who references. We had such a good time. The happy couple are currently awaiting their first child who is due to join our family in January.
Sci-Fi Sundae also enjoyed a great run of on-camera interviews for Sci-Fi Blastoff! when we visited David Dean Bottrell, Patricia Tallman, Angeline Rose Troy and all the other amazing actors at Sci-Fest the Los Angeles Science Fiction One-Act Play Festival. We even interviewed Star Trek Voyager’s Tim Russ!
David, Bryan and Theresa also produced the first two IntelleXual Entertainment short films this year with PAST IMPULSE and UNLUCKY CHARMS. Both films have seen great audience reception and have been doing well in the festival circuits. PAST IMPULSE is a gritty drama starring Jon Briddell and written and directed by Michael Matteo Rossi with music by Joey Delgado (all guests of our podcast!) and the film can next be seen at the Borrego Springs Film Festival in January. UNLUCKY CHARMS stars our red carpet hosts Jessica Jerrain and Laura Marie Davis and will be coming to our YouTube channel in January.
We celebrated the one year anniversary of The IntelleXual Podcast in November. Carla brought in a special guest for our first episode of our second year as Jim Cummings joined the show. If you missed it make sure you go back and catch it. Jim is the voice of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Darkwing Duck and many many other characters in TV and Film. It was a tremendously fun episode and we were so honored to have Jim on the show. He even gave us a plug as Darkwing Duck that I’m probably going to play on every show for the rest of my life!
And we’ve even had The Highlander on the show! Adrian Paul of the Highlander TV Series joined us last week for a great chat about his acting and all of the amazing work he’s done with his charity The Peace Fund.
I’ve been so blessed this year to work on this network with my friends and family. It’s been a dream come true and continues to grow and evolve in ways that I only dreamed about a year ago. I thank you all for listening and watching. Without an audience I wouldn’t be able to do this.
Big things are already cooking up for 2015. I can’t wait to show you what we do next![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
