Backstory Sessions

Crickets, Ghosts, and Kristen

Welcome Backstory fans! In this episode we are chatting with actress Kristen Renton! Kristen has a long long list of film and TV credits on her resume. Some highlights include Sons of Anarchy, Days of Our Lives, The OC, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, along with many others. We chat about Kristen’s backstory into acting, and some of her earlier roles. Her new film, The Crickets Dance, is out now. This interview took place a few weeks ago, right as the film was being released. We chat with Kristen about the films origins, working on the film, and many topics related to this really interesting production. We also talk about Kristen’s fascination with the paranormal, her personal experiences with seeing ghosts, and her thoughts on living with one for a time. Kristen is also deeply involved in animal rescue and we talk about a few of her encounters performing rescues as well.This episode is wide ranging, and fun, and gives you a good glimpse into the life of this multi-talented actress. We thank Kristen for her time spent sharing her stories with us, and hope you enjoy the episode as much as we do.

”Deadlock”

Hello Backstory listeners! Our latest episode is with our guest, actor and writer Michael DeVorzon, who co-stars in the new movie "Deadlock", which arrives in theaters on Fri, Decemeber 3rd. Bruce Willis stars.  Michael talks with us about growing up in California, the son of well known parents, and recounts a funny story meeting Sylvester Stallone after seeing Rocky. He reveals what is was like to work on the hit show "Melrose Place" first behind the scenes, and later in front of the camera, and his choice between working on a movie, or a tv show. We also chat about a variety of topics including Michael's current run of 8 movie roles in the past 2 years, how he approaches a role, and prepares for it, given the time he has. All in all its an interesting and candid interview, and Michael the gracious guest for spending time with us. We thank him for this, and look forward updating you on future projects he is involved in. 
Michael's IMDB Bio:
Michael DeVorzon was born in Los Angeles. He's the son of Grammy winning and Academy Award nominated songwriter, composer Barry DeVorzon and Jelinda DeVorzon, a model and philanthropist. His paternal grandfather, Jules DeVorzon was a singer, violinist best known as a member of Rudy Vallée and the Connecticut Yankees. Michael's father is of Russian descent and his mother of English descent.Michael started acting on the stage as a youngster and later on got a job working in production on the television show "Melrose Place." After three years in production, he started working in front of the camera.Michael's experience covers a wide range of roles in Films, TV and Commercials.His film credits include "Fast and Fierce: Death Race", "Her Deadly Groom", "Producer Sam", "Any Day" and the NBC movie "Submerged" which was filmed at Cinecittà studios in Rome and on location on the island of Malta.TV credits include "Charmed", "Beverly Hills 90210", "Passions", "Son Of A Beach" and "Melrose Place"He's also well known as the actor in the long running national commercial for "ZipRecruiter" which on YouTube alone garnered 16 million views.DeVorzon is hard at work on the development of three feature films he co-wrote and will produce as well as a television series he co-wrote.

A Bit Mad

Welcome back! About a month ago, we recorded this episode to air sometime in the past 2 weeks or so. We sat down with therapist Aaron Stevens again, to talk about anger and anxiety before the holiday season began. Aaron was previously on the podcast to talk about depression in the episode titled, "A Bit Blue". As luck would have it, the podcast gods intervened and messed up our plans. About 3/4 through recording, the equipment took a vacation, and stopped working. This created anxiety and anger for us, but, such is life in the high pressure world of podcasting. We tried to work out a time with Aaron to rerecord what we lost, but were unable to set it up. We apologize to Aaron, and to you, our listeners. We did want to get this episode out in time for shopping the black Friday sales, if you decide to venture out. Hopefully, it will prove helpful in managing your stress levels. Happy Thanksgiving, and happy shopping to you all!

Breakfast with Mao

Welcome to another great episode..In this one we talk to actor Max Casella. Max has had a long and interesting career, and chats with us about his path to his current project in this entertaining albeit shorter episode. He talks about his somewhat, by some standards, unconventional upbringing, learning the ropes at an off Broadway theater, landing the role of Vinnie on Doogie Howser, and a long list of other topics. Max has an impressive list of acting and voice credits in his resume, including plays, TV, film, animation, and even computer games. He has worked with a virtual who’s who in the acting world during his career, has appeared in many easily recognizable films and tv shows. His current film, directed by Onur Tukel, is titled “Tes Yeux Mourants/That Cold Dead Look in Your Eyes”, which was recently released. In interviewing our guests, sometimes we get really different and interesting backstories that veer off the norm. As you will see in Max’s story, he grew up with parents who were somewhat unconventional. This isn’t an advantage or disadvantage, but it is certainly not how we imagined it to be when we started the interview. To his credit, Max is very, for lack of a better term, real, and we really enjoyed talking to him and getting his unique perspectives on things. There is some profanity in this interview, but he doesn’t sound different than the people Matt has known from his time living in and around NYC for whom using profanity is elevated to an art form.  It was a pleasure speaking with Max, and we truly hope to revisit our conversation with him at a later date. 

Drew‘s News

In this episode, we chat with actor Drew Clavin Farmer. Drew is 12 yrs old, and from BarbourvIlle, Ky. He has acted in the new reboot of The Wonder Years, and will be appearing in the new Walton Family Christmas, which is being released this coming week, as well as a second Christmas movie, also out this week, to name a few projects. He is an interesting young man with dreams of landing a role on the hit series Stranger Things. He has a knack for predicting school cancellations, and can be found on YouTube in his own Drew’s News periodically. His parents have supported his desire to act to the point of splitting the families time between southern Kentucky, and the Atlanta area so that Drew can attend auditions, and act when he lands a role. Drew is continually seeking larger roles, but remains grounded in reality about his acting aspirations. He tells us he wants to study architecture in the future, as well as continue to act. We enjoyed our chat with him and wish him much success in the future.

Human Telegraphs

Welcome Backstory fans! Join us tonight for a quick chat with Rachel Barclay, writer and one of the stars of "Human Telegraphs". This series recently won "Best Web Series" at the New York International Film Awards, and premieres on YouTube on November 15th. Rachel was getting ready for the first live audience screening of the pilot in New York immediately after the interview, so we kept it brief. In addition to talking about the inspiration for the series, she talks about the process of getting the series started, some of the issues of filming during the pandemic, and how life has changed for many of the people involved with the project since the pilot was filmed. Rachel is an engaging, and fun guest with a contagious excitement, who we really enjoyed talking to, and we congratulate her and the cast and crew for their "Best Web Series" award. We are happy to bring you this great episode with Rachel, right before the premiere of Human Telegraphs. 

3 Chord Truths - Exile‘s JP Pennington

We are back with another episode of our series "3 Chord Truths". In this episode, we talk with musician, songwriter, and producer, JP Pennington from the band Exile. JP shares stories from the band's almost 60 year journey from a local small club cover band to the top of the Billboard charts, as well as his personal stories of his roots in Kentucky. Exile currently has a new Christmas album with 8 new original songs coming out, as a follow up to last year's release of thier Christmas song "Kid at Heart"(also included) and are touring in support of it this holiday season. We thank JP for taking time to sit down with us and sharing his and the band's really interesting stories. We thoroughly enjoyed recording this episode, and hope you all will enjoy listening as well.
Exile Bio (from their website www.exile.biz ):
On September 30, 1978, the award-winning band who had initially set out to play small clubs in Richmond, Kentucky back in 1963, skyrocketed to world-wide fame with their multi-week chart-topper “Kiss You All Over.” In fact, it made Billboard’s Year End Hot 100 Singles of 1978 (Top 5) and later placed in Billboard’s The 50 Sexiest Songs of All Time (Top 10) category. The iconic song has been showcased in feature films such as “Happy Gilmore,” “Employee of the Month,” “Zookeeper, “Wildhogs,” and is played in it’s entirety at the end of the 7th episode of “Mindhunter” currently available as a Netflix original.
In the early 1980’s, Exile began to focus on country music. During their run on the country charts Exile had 10 number one singles including “I Don’t Want To Be A Memory,” “Give Me One More Chance” and “She’s A Miracle.” The band wrote their own songs, played on all their recordings and also proved to be prolific songwriters composing hits for other artists such as Alabama, Restless Heart, Engelbert Humperdinck, Huey Lewis, Diamond Rio, Janie Fricke and many more.  During this country phase of their career, Exile received 11 nominations including Vocal Group of The Year and Best Instrumental Performance for the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music awards.
The 5 original Exile members re-formed in 2008 with J.P. Pennington, Les Taylor, Sonny LeMaire, Marlon Hargis and Steve Goetzman. The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame members continue to perform  and have appeared over 100 times on the Grand Ole Opry.  The band has sold over 8 million records worldwide, with three Gold albums. Exile has lasted longer than most marriages.

Death, Rattle, and Roll

Happy Halloween everyone! Welcome to this new episode. We are sitting down with author, editor and artist John Patrick Robbins. John's new book, "Death, Rattle, and Roll" has just been released. We talk about the origins of the book, subject matter in the book, and a variety of other topics with him. Dark humor, and dark places he has been are discussed, and are seem at odds with John's quick wit, business sense, love of the ocean, and his own sense of humor. He is engaging and funny, and has great stories and advice for would be authors. Having written many books, serving as editor for many magazines, as well as being very involved in different aspects of publishing, John brings a unique perspective to these topics, and we really enjoyed talking with him. We congratulate John on publishing his latest work, and look forward to whats next from this very talented author. 

Miles On Producing

Hi everyone! In this episode we sit down with Actor, Writer, Director, Producer, (among many other titles) Miles Doleac, to talk about his latest movie: Demigod. Miles gives us an interesting perspective of what its like to wear the many hats required to get a film from concept to completion while dealing with the myriad of things that can go wrong and derail production. Coupled with navigating all of this during the height of the Covid pandemic,  you realize just how challenging film making can be at times. Miles relays many stories of things that happened during the making of Demigod, and how he and his cast, and crew persevered despite roadblocks they encountered. He details his deep love for Greco-Roman history, potential issues encountered in auditioning for various roles for actors, and many other details on his path in the acting business. Some great insight in this episode, and we hope you enjoy it.
Miles Bio:
Miles Christopher Doleac is an American film and television actor, director, writer and producer. Along with his film career, he is also a singer, songwriter, theater actor, author, and professor. He has had acting roles in several films and television shows since 2011 including Watchmen, Treme, Sleepy Hollow, American Horror Story, Salem, Complications, Roots, and several episodes of the CW's Containment. He also has acting roles in the films The Magnificent Seven and Don't Kill It.
Demigod:
Coming to theatres October 15th and on demand! 
Directed by: Miles Doleac
Starring: Rachel Nichols, Jeremy London, and Elena Sanchez
Upon the death of her grandfather, a woman and her husband return to her birthplace in Germany's Black Forest, only to find a terrifying secret awaits them.
 

A Bit Blue

We are back with a new episode! This one is a bit different, as it deals with a slightly more serious topic than the episodes of late. While not everyone suffers from depression, there are many who may not realize they are depressed to some degree. We wanted to address that sort of thing in this episode  We talk with our guest, therapist Aaron Stevens about the signs and symptoms of depression, as well as the things he uses in his counseling to help those diagnosed. As Aaron's bio below shows, he has a long career helping people cope with and overcoming the sometimes crippling effects of depression, as well as a wide array of other mental health issues. We hope you enjoy this interesting and informative talk with Aaron.
Aaron's Bio:
I offer professional counseling services for individuals, couples, and families to help them move beyond problems and find solutions for lasting change. I have over 14 years of hands on experience in the mental health field working with clients of all ages facing a vast array of life problems relating to: Substance abuse, Mental health, Couples and Families, Behavioral and Developmental, Career and Academic issues. If you or your family are experiencing problems and are seeking to be treated by a fully licensed and highly trained professional therapist contact me today for a free consultation.
I have spent a great deal of my career working specifically with children, teens and their families addressing various issues from school behavior problems, to grief, trauma and sexual abuse. I have also worked closely with special needs children, their schools and other professionals to meet their unique needs.
I offer IN-HOME and ON-SITE counseling services in order to best meet individuals, couples and families where they are most comfortable, or where they are experiencing difficulties. This includes working with schools, teachers, doctors, social workers, foster families, and other members of the community as needed