Backstory Sessions

3 Chord Truths - Brett Wells

We return to see the crew at Kentucky Creative LLC in Corbin, KY, and sit down with talented local singer and guitar player Brett Wells who was performing an acoustic set at the space. We talk with Brett about his influences, how he got started performing, what his aspirations are, what song he refuses to play, and a long list of other questions in this short, but intriguing episode. This is the first in a series of podcast interviews we will be presenting with different musicians with varied and compelling backstories.  It is interesting to see the similarities and differences in Brett's comments, and those of our guest next week, Pamela Hopkins, who is also a musician. A third guest will be announced later. We hope you enjoy this episode, and we thank Brett for taking time to talk with us. As always, Jeremy, Billy, and the rest of the great people at Kentucky Creative LLC were gracious and accommodating hosts for us. 

Following Passions

Welcome to another awesome episode! We sit down with the ever fascinating Mika Boorem.  Mika has a long list of acting credits in film and tv, has directed, written, and produced, and has worn many other hats in the film industry during her career. She has traveled the world, started a charity (MadaKilonga), and is driven to do interesting things by her passion for her work, in a male dominated industry. We appreciate her coming by to share her amazing stories with us.
Mika's bio:
Mika Boorem is an American actress who has also ventured into directing. She made her debut with a voice role in 2005’s Whisper of the Heart. She next had her first TV role in an episode of Touched by an Angel. She later had roles in the films The Education of Little Tree, Jack Frost and Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her.
At the same time, she also starred as Alissa Amross on the short-lived series The Tom Show. In the 2000s, she had notable roles in the films The Patriot, Along Came a Spider, Hearts in Atlantis, Riding in Cars with Boys, Blue Crush, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. She also played the recurring role of Harley Hetson on Dawson’s Creek. She recently made her feature film directorial debut in 2018’s Hollywood.Con.
Some trivia: She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, is an experienced gymnast, and can speak French. 
 

Gaining Perspective

Hello BackStory Fans! In this episode, we chat with the entertaining actor Coutney Gains, who has appeared in many classic films, such as Children of the Corn, Back to the future, Memphis Belle, and Cant Buy Me Love, to name a few. To date, he has appeared in over 100 movies and tv shows in his 30+ year career. During our chat, Courtney relays stories about how he got started in acting, and some of his experiences on set. He is engaging, funny, and shares some great stories with us. This episode also looks at what it takes to get into the business, which sometimes requires unconventional ways to get noticed , although Courtney advises against some of his approaches, and the importance of being in the right place at the right time, as Courtney was at the beginning of his long and varied career. He is also an accomplished musician and talks about his music projects (Ripple Street, and new solo material), as well as movies coming out soon. We hope you enjoy this fun and really interesting episode, and we thank Courtney for coming by to chat with us.

""F.E.A.R."some Return

We are back! Season 4 kicks off with the very talented actor/writer/director Jason Tobias, who talks about baseball, changing plans, his varied acting career, and the new movie "F.E.A.R" out June 15th. We want to thank Jason for stopping by and talking with us, and hope you enjoy this interesting episode. (I apologize for some minor sound issues.)
From Jason's bio:
Jason Tobias is an Actor that has been building credits on popular shows such as: "BETTER THINGS" (FX), "JUSTIFIED" (FX), "FRANKLIN & BASH" (SONY), "THE FOSTERS" (ABC Freeform), "NOTORIOUS" (ABC), "RUSH HOUR" (CBS), "NASHVILLE" (CMT). Additionally, some of his Feature Films include: "DOWNRANGE" (Ryuhei Kitamura), "TERRORDACTYL" (Don Bitters and Geoff Reisner), "The UNRAVELING" (Thomas Jakobsen), "Can't Have You" (Mark A. Altman) and "F.E.A.R." (Geoff Reisner and Jason Tobias).
In 2016, he wrote, produced and starred in: "Star Wars: GENERATIONS" (Don Bitters III) and won for Disney / Lucasfilm at Star Wars Celebration in London. Following up, he wrote, produced and starred in "REBELLION: A Star Wars Story" (Geoff Reisner), for the "Rogue One" (Gareth Edwards) world premiere in Hollywood.
In 2018, he co-founded; 'Action Figure Entertainment', with friend and collaborator; Lucas Solomon. A production company capable of developing, producing and delivering, high concept Film and Television. Together with 'Fort Night Pictures', the two production companies produced the survival/thriller feature film: "F.E.A.R.". Tobias Co-Directed with long time friend and collaborator; Geoff Reisner.

Season 3 Closer

We are back with our "Season 3 Ending" Episode. We talk to Jeremy Bryant from the Kentucky Creative about the origins of this art center in Corbin, KY, where we had our first in person book signing!. It was a fun and interesting day, and we thank everyone at the Kentucky Creative for welcoming us, and hosting our event. We also talk to TK Hash, one of our first book signing customers who dropped by to see us. Later in the day we stopped by to talk with Kiki, owner of the Boardwalk Cafe, also in Corbin, which is housed in a former bank building. They have a diverse art center, book store, and offer coffee and home baked muffins and the like from the cafe, along with hosting open mic nights, and other events.
We look forward to returning to both of these interesting places in the near future and update you on what's happening at both in the future.
We also review the podcasts we had this season, which for us was especially interesting. We are happy with the results of our efforts in bringing you the topics we covered and were honored to talk to all of the great guests and present their stories for you. We give a short glimpse of the future of the podcast, and writing projects to come. 
We want to thank you, our awesome listeners for your continued support, and we truly appreciate all your comments, and feedback. We are happy with the growth of the podcast which wouldn't be possible without you. 
We will be back in a few weeks to continue with season 4 and have a few new things we will be adding to each episode. We hope you will join us again for another amazing Season to come.

A Long Road

Join us tonight for another great episode with actor Rick Cosnett. He has recently been in  the movie "Tu Me Manques" ( French for "you are being missed by me") The film is based on a true story. Rodrigo Bellottâs is the writer and director. 
has done television shows and has credits including the Vampire Diaries, and played Eddy on the Flash. He chats with us tonight about all of these roles and much more, such as what role he would love to play, how he got to Hollywood from Zimbabwe, and what its like to meet your favorite actors face to face. This is an interesting episode filled with funny moments and insights into Rick's career. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did recording it.

Farm to LA

 
Tonight we have with us Preston J. Taylor, an American comedian, actor, producer and writer from Gatesville, Texas. Preston started his illustrious career in Los Angeles with a brief appearance as himself on RuPaul’s Drag Race, as part of the pit crew. He also appeared as an outlaw and stuntman in the award-winning short film Valley of the Scorned, as well as, his unbelievable one line, one scene as Keith in Parallels. Preston started his comedy career in 2010 with his first ever live performance at the Palm in West Hollywood. He was fortunate as his second show would be downtown in front of acting and comedic heavyweight Garrett Morris. Preston has since enjoyed the life of traveling as a comic and performing shows mostly in the shadows until now. Before his coming out party with Farm to TV, he performed for years at Hollywood staples such as The Ice House, The World Famous Comedy Store, & Jon Lovitz Comedy Club.
Find out what actually happened the first time we talked to Preston. We hope you enjoy this fun episode.

Not Your Average Barbie

Our guest this week is Lauren Lusby Fernandez. Listen to the episode to find out how she went from “Talkback Barbie” to working for the Secret Service. She also reads a chapter from her book. It is an interesting episode and offers some great advice for those wanting to succeed against long odds.
 
Lauren's Bio: "I graduated from Virginia Tech with my Political Science: Pre-Law degree. I then went to work for the Secret Service Uniformed Division in Washington, D.C. I trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) and the James J. Rowley Training Center (JJRTC). After leaving the White House, I utilized my Top Secret: SCI/Full Scope Polygraph and accepted a job with a consulting firm in McLean, Virginia working with the Department of State, CIA, National Counterterrorism Center, and other Intelligence communities. I just self-published my first book, "Talk Back Barbie: The Secret Service Edition." It is a comedy about my experience working with the Secret Service as a girly-girl and my diverse resume. My life motto is: "If you trip and fall, laugh first, then get up and keep going! Because the only way you fail is to never get up."
Note: Some minor technical issues during recording that could not be overcome easily. We apologize in advance.

A Different Time

In this episode we talk to author Vito Altavilla about his new book "It Began in Brooklyn". He writes about growing up in New York during a simpler time, and shares some very funny stories from his youth. There are many things in his tales that we can all relate to in some way. Having grown up in the New York area some of the people and situations Vito talks about were instantly familiar. You cant be from NY and not be well versed in the art of using profanity, so be forewarned, there is some in this episode. Vito is currently turning the book into a screenplay, and we look forward to seeing the movie of this funny and interesting book in the future. 

Teaching Change

Another followup episode with 2 guests from last years "Teaching Perspectives" episode. This week, Cat and I chat with Corri Taylor and Johnathan Stephens about weathering the ever-changing  storm that teachers have faced this year amid Covid lock downs and restrictions. Find out how both have fared during this trying time, as well as how they both have kept busy during lock downs. It is an interesting episode with 2 of our favorite guests. There is talk of bread, baking, chickens, snails, and more in this wide ranging chat, along with what its like to teach now, and what the future might look like for teaching. We thank Corri and Johnathan for their candor, and openness in sharing their thoughts and experiences.