Last Saturday I went to Morgantown, WV to perform at the Military Ball in a club called Vice Versa. What a cute name for a bar! This was my second visit to the venue. The first time was four years back when I was a wee porn pup. I was pleasantly surprised with the atmosphere. The crowd was so young that I was a little alarmed at first, but I found that the crowd was completely unaffected by the gay bar scene and were just there to have fun and have fun they did!! I loved their energy and their disinterest in posing, having an attitude or wearing their sunglasses indoors. It was a most agreeable change of pace for me.

Two of the resident drag queens went on before me. Jezebel and Seduca, two of the Midwest’s finest, and let me tell you those girls could move. Jezzie did a cover of Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” and from that I could see why she was in demand. Fiery Seduca tore it up with “Toy Soldier” moving those feet in an effortless swing that made me smile and cheer. I always seem to like the girls that can really dance as well as lip sync a tune and those two did not disappoint.

These two cuties gave me my first real lemon drop shot.

and this “shy” young lady wanted me to sign her tits.

Next destination….Las Vegas - with a surprise guest!

“I’m afraid to touch him too much, what if he has a disease or something?”

So ended filming for me on The Lair last Friday night. On the whole… I really enjoyed the experience. It was a far cry from what I expected. I envisioned three cameras on rollers that captured enough footage at a time to allow a lot of free movement around the set. Much to my chagrin there was one camera and most of the time we were strongly encouraged to stay on our mark.

The most impressive thing to me was the amount of people running around. There were grips, electrical people, assistants of every variety, wardrobe, make-up, art dept and the ever lovely craft services which was run by a cool hippie chick named Yvette. Yvette would show up at the perfect time with trays of cantaloupe, pineapple, Tofurkey roll ups with cream cheese and scallions or a tray of coffee and green tea from Trader Joe’s. Love that!

The night she showed up passing coffee and tea we spent the majority of the shoot outdoors out in Little Tujunga Canyon. There was a rainstorm that seemed to come at us from every side and did not let up for the entire shoot. I left at 1:30 AM and later learned that the crew didn’t leave until 5:30! The amount of hours the crew put in was beyond impressive, that’s what the day rate is all about!

It was surprising to find that the guy who played Ian, the Werewolf, never made into a wolf suit or for that matter had one hair glued to him. Instead they had a special guy come in and play the wolf. The costume was very large, hairy and heavy. I can’t imagine what it felt like in there for him. I also could not imagine why he was here wearing the wolf suit and not Ian. Later that night I asked the director why they hired an extra guy and he said that there are guys who study animal movement and do this sort of thing as a job and that was why he was here. At least I felt a little better about not playing Ian.

Earlier I mentioned that I was bummed about losing out on the part, but after looking at the guy playing Ian it was clear that he was a better choice and I am much happier and better at playing Tim. I feel that the level of acting was more intense and I was much more clothed. Ian was naked a lot during the filming and after everything was said and done I was really glad it wasn’t me. I think that being who I am everybody will expect me to be the naked guy, but the porn star gets a chance to keep his clothes on this time and a chance to showcase another side.

Memorizing my lines was a new and intimidating experience for me. It’s not that I’d never done it before, there was just SO MUCH. At times I felt overwhelmed flipping through pages looking at what was ahead. I learned all my lines the day before between scenes. Being a smaller production every scene had to be taken down, moved, set back up and re-lit so there was plenty of time to learn lines. I quickly learned that it was a very good idea to learn the other parts, too. Knowing the last word he said before my line started was initially how I did it, but it soon became clear that knowing the entire scene allowed me to really immerse myself in the moment and maybe provide that extra something something. The other benefit was that I was less likely to overlap or cut someone off. My ability to memorize so quickly was fairly impressive considering that my twenties were spent less than sober.

The highlight of my experience was working with Colton Ford who plays Sheriff Trout. We had a very casual and flirty relationship on and off screen through out the shoot.

Would I do it again? Hell yeah.

Living in Palm Springs has been wonderful, but for some time now I have felt that my time here is done. The courses have been dropped and all the flatware has been cleared; your time here is done, goodbye and come again. I need to be somewhere alive and stimulating; Palm Springs is where people go to get away from all of that.

So in comes the blog worthy news bite. I have been cast to play a role in the HereTV! original series “The Lair” and this is really about my first day of work.

They asked to do this over a year ago, after my win for “Best Actor” in the 2006 GAYVNS, but I had to turn it down because I was in Ohio for a month long Christmas visit followed by my fourth cross-country trip. This time I was available and more than willing to try something completely new.

Originally I was cast to play the role of Ian, a new character in name and in form, more specifically, a werewolf. I was thrilled at the opportunity and even more jazzed at the idea of getting all made up in hair and teeth.

My final audition before the CEO was on a windy, wet Thursday afternoon on Wilshire near UCLA. I had already been approved by the majority of the powers that be and this was one final “OK” needed before I could try on the fangs. I thought I did really well and they seemed to agree. I left feeling quite confident.

A little later I was sitting at the Abbey when my phone indicated a voicemail. I listened to the message and from the tone of his voice I could tell that I lost the part.

It was a sinking feeling, but fleeting because in the same breath I was told that I had been given another “more dramatic” role. Even though I was relieved I was already missing the wardrobe aspect. I wanted to be the werewolf. There were a few awkward moments seasoned with a light flavor of failure until I remembered what I learned from watching “America’s Next Top Model”: Sometimes you don’t have the look that they want. It is as simple as that and has nothing to do with ability (at least that’s what they tell you, which is nearly as good).

So now I am Tim, an assistant to the botanist, Jake Waldman with no make up, no fangs and no X-Men-esque wig.

To be honest I was a little over confident on my first day. It wasn’t the first time. Just because I have sex with strangers in front of even more strangers, contorting myself into Twister like positions all the while sharing a recipe with the make-up guy I sometimes feel like I can handle anything. I was quickly humbled to say the least. I had practiced my lines and was very good at recalling them at any time, in the truck, on the plane and even in the bathroom. I even had a couple of practice sessions with my scene partner, but when I got on set in front of those people I encountered a new kind of pressure and it landed me on my ass. I forgot a line and then everything just seemed to snowball until it got so bad that a guy from the crew had to recite my lines for me just so we could get through the scene. It was a fucking nightmare for everyone involved. Thankfully Eve Harrington was nowhere to be found.

I had a break between scenes so I reflected heavily on what I thought my problem could have been. I am pretty sure it was just because this was a new situation, one that I had never been in before and it was scary. I had not slept the night before waking up each hour with a dull nervousness that sat at the tip of my toes. It was the same brand of sleep I’d experienced before my first sex scene, my first dance gig in Philadelphia and my first runway show. I was just plain scared and all I needed to do was breathe, relax and make sure they didn’t try and find Eve Harrington after my next scene.

On my second scene of the day I nailed it and was 1000 times better. The breathing and letting myself relax into the moment was the key to my success. I am not a trained actor and I am going to make mistakes; the directors and producers knew who they hired so the mistakes on my first day were probably expected.

Here is the first photo of me on set: