Pacoima, Machete, Donuts and Levi…

April 12, 2016

I had business in Pacoima. Well, when given lemons you make lemonade so the saying goes… I took my Volvo to a mechanic Jen thought needed the work more than someone in our own neighborhood; I had wanted to see and take a pic of the mural “Mona Lisa” anyway and knew it was close to said mechanic; and I wanted to see if I could get info on the artist. There was no parking in front of the mural and it was raining so we turned the corner and there I saw a gigantic mural of young Danny Trejo looking as menacing as ever and once of Pacoima’s favorite sons. Took a pic of that mural first and posted it to my Instagram account @MrPeterSantana and the artist was Levi Ponce. Went to “Mona Lisa” and took that pic and realized it was by the same artist. Later I found out he had painted many of the murals on MuralMile.org . He was a very impressive artist; and the fact that I can’t really draw and this person was drawing a huge version of a drawing to cover a wall was mind blowing.Please check out LeviPonce.com

Like when in Dodge once your business ends in Pacoima it’s the time to get outta ( with a quick stop at Me Gusta Gourmet Tamales (13754 Van Nuys Blvd.)…Went home and engulfed my Chile Cheese and Pork Tamales and worked late into the afternoon when a listing from Chadrian McKnight at House Casting listed a commercial seeking a real muralist. My instinct was to submit Jennifer Korsen ( http://humansmakeart.com/home.html ) and they loved her work like so many Angelenos do but the client ( Dunkin Donuts ) wanted a male. Bummed, but then I remembered Levi Ponce, and although I didn’t know him personally I submitted him and the response was “Can he come in at noon, Monday?” I said sure and hoped I could get in touch with him since I never spoke to this talented man before! I left him a message at his web site and tracked him down on various Social Media sites. He called back and of all things at the time he lived in Valley Village! He is a young handsome and talented Latino and the client loved him.

Levi Ponce goes in for the audition we hear nothing. Three weeks later I am driving on the 405 by The Getty where I got cut off by an 18 wheeler. I hit the brakes so hard I do a 360 degree turn ( should have have been t-boned the minute I swerved right) headed toward another 18 wheeler but taller (thought the top of the Volvo was going under the truck taking my head off) and did another 180 where I ended up in my original lane facing a red Mercedes and somehow stopped without incident. I feel very lucky to be alive.The more I repeat and describe the actions that happened in what seemed like an hour but was probably seven seconds tops is very terrifying! I had just turned fifty less than a month before and I saw Jenny’s face pass before my eyes and that is all I had time to see! To get back in the right direction I had to make another 180 turn through the carpool lane and get in the original lane again. People were magnificent; they were in shock too! I saw people giving me the thumbs up and communicating to me if I was all right and I go where I was originally headed; The Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles to see the Bachelor’s and FMA acting classes of USC and arrived to the theatre completely in shock. I sat at one of the little tables in the theatre’s lobby like I had done so many times when my beloved son Nicholas performed in a play for three months called “Way to Heaven” and just kind of shook violently thinking how did I get through that unscathed? I called Jenny in tears describing what had just happened but no matter how I describe it the situation becomes even more surreal each time I play it over in my head. I turned my phone off and focused on the showcase and needed the laughs I got and had a couple of clients with me (Joseph Cannon and Austen Jaye) who helped me get over the scare by laughing along with me. The showcase was good; SC’s acting program is very good and I always enjoy it but I just wanted to go home and kiss the boys and Jenny-totally knowing how lucky and grateful I was! I turned my phone back on and my first call was from Levi Ponce! He booked the commercial!

I have been in this business long enough to know that a myriad of things could happen: They could scrap the commercial, scrap his role, get edited out, the commercial could go on a shelf and he could be replaced by Jennifer Korse (See above!)

What happened was he filmed his commercial and got paid for two days. He took an illustration they wanted and made it a mural. Perspective, accuracy and artistry made a pretty colorful and exciting mural; just like the client wanted.

The “set” was a wall near Jefferson and La Brea and they let him have his way with this wall for two days and he worked on and off a scissor lift and had lots of supplies provided from his wish list. I got to the set just in time for his shot. The cinematographer got on the scissor lift with him and his first shot was to drink an iced coffee and take a bite of a breakfast sandwich. He choked; not figuratively but literally! The iced coffee went down the wrong pipe. It was an “uh-oh!” moment but the kid was nervous and he probably sipped way too much. It was not a we’ll laugh about this later moment; we all laughed after we found out he was ok. The next shot was perfect and so were the other angles and they got the footage they needed and they moved to the next location-which was the interior of the building of his mural. It was a glass blowing shop that also taught people of all ages.

The goal line stance on this project involved this last set of worries: Would the commercial appease the client?, would Levi make the cut? , would it be a limited play or would it be a “hit” and he is a reason for it?

He not only made the cut; but is the first image you see on iSpot.com for the play button and he is one of only two actors who gets two cuts in the commercial and there are tons of actors in this shot.

Overall, my take away from this whole experience is it was supposed to be. Pacoima was a trigger, Trejo was my guardian angel and getting to know Levi has been a god send for business and for friendship.

We met one morning before the shooting of the commercial and he and I looked over some paper work and he said he had to head off to work. I didn’t know if that meant another lovely commissioned mural or what but I had to ask what his day job was. He is a Disney Imagineer! He has been working back and forth coasts preparing Disney World in Orlando for their new “Frozen” ride and attraction.

Levi Ponce has a variety of ways to become a household name and the world is his oyster! I am extremely proud of him and I can’t wait to see how his life plays out in full!

So, it is with great pleasure to present to you “Keep On” the Dunkin’ Donuts commercial for your enjoyment and approval!

 

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AGLe/dunkin-donuts-keep-on

 

 

Tom Jones on Parrot Records…

What was the last album your parents bought? More importantly how old were they when music lost it’s priority?

I know there are several ways to enjoy music in this technological age and that the “record store” has gone the way of the Do-Do Bird…But, that just made it easier for certain groups of people to stop buying or listening to music because they feigned not knowing how.

My mother and father bought albums and had several record players or those humongous record player cabinets that were like a piece of furniture you could never put anything on in order to lift the top up and down.

I remember my mom taking me to Wallich’s Music City ( catty-corner from where the Amoeba Records is now today) and it was as overwhelming in it’s contents as was the first time I went to Amoeba (I walked in saw all the treasures, was so knocked out I left!) Wallich’s had an escalator and several sections like sheet music, LP’s, TVs and musical instruments. They were the wacky pioneers who put cellophane on the albums and it was an event every time you visited.

But, it eventually closed like many Hollywood landmarks (Schwabb’s Pharmacy, Beverly Hills Park, The Brown Derby’s…don’t get me started!) and it had to have something to do with over saturation of places where you could buy albums. I bought records at The May Co., K-Mart, Zodys to name a few) and of course the Mecca and every trip was an event, Tower Sunset. So, my parents stopped buying records when they became more and more accessible. Oh, and they had every Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass album and the Christmas record was a family favorite. So, I wonder why they stopped buying records.

I remember my career Postal clerk mom met some co-worker who sold records out of his trunk; so she stopped buying records for “her” and started buying records for me! She bought Elton John’s “Rock of the Westies,” “Saturday Night Fever (Before the movie was even released!) ” and Stevie Wonder records. How did music lose her importance to her and then became part of what she wanted to impart on my soul and my mind?

Never made sense and then the fever hit and I bought my own records vowing if I had kids never to stop buying and enjoying music; it had become my life and I swore to never, ever forget that!

I once met a lovely lady who worked at Warner Bros. Records and she invited me to meet her for lunch and then said, “Follow me!” She took me down some stairs and opened this little door and then I realized I was in the music library! She said look around and pick out whatever you like! I was in hog heaven and I saw the albums on Asylum, Sire, Reprise, WB, Elektra and like those first trips to Wallich’s and Amoeba I nearly fainted!

I picked some bands and artists that were just coming out; some broke others did not. I was listening to a LOT of KROQ in those days so I picked up some albums from folks that never even earned “One Hit Wonder” status.

But, the albums became cassettes ( they have made a comeback with teens somehow! ) and then CD’s. I remember when I got my first and humongous DVD/CD player going to the Music Plus in Studio City ( it’s the Trader Joe’s now…) and I wanted to buy the new Phil Collins on a Tuesday ( that was the preferred day of the week for new releases of any kind back in the glory days) and the album was there but I was told I had to wait two extra weeks for the CD to come out! I understand instant gratification is another reason why record stores died. I downloaded the app Tidal after swearing I wouldn’t solely to hear the Kanye West album exclusive to Tidal. Tidal was the most downloaded app that week it came out and the exclusiveness of the scheme was brilliant ( Even though that same week Kanye claimed he was over 50 million in debt…)

Another reason I have kept Tidal and sadly ironic is that it is the exclusive music site for Prince! Also, Neil Young’s catalogue and just recently one of the exclusive places you could hear Radiohead’s ” A Moon Shaped Pool” ( I liked it better the second time on headphones…still fidgeting with it …) and they sprung it on the fans; no warning or hype or Billboards or press like an album used to get and it’s stirred up the fans and now everyone is a junior Robert Hilburn or Leonard Feather. But, the silver lining is an artist can still set an expectation in the digital age and Kanye and Radiohead got clicks in record pace and benefitted from this web for once!

So, having recently turned 50 I can honestly say I am still one of music’s biggest fans and that I am current with what is where. Christmas came twice last year when The Beatles finally released their catalogue on all platforms and it was a Christmas miracle for the world! But, that too was a greatly kept secret just like Radiohead’s new album just came from nowhere, and it was the equivalent of lining up on a Monday night and being the first to buy and listen to a new record at midnight Tuesday! I had the pleasure of working at Tower Sunset in the 90’s and I worked midnight releases for Metallica and Guns n’ Roses and they were crazy crowded and the fans were excited like the “Belieber’s” are today.

Anyway, you don’t have to leave the house or even get dressed to listen to a new release drop.

Poor U2; they went from heroes to goats when Apple ( U2 and Apple had partnered together several times before so this was weird to me…) paid them the money upfront to record, release and give to all Apple Music listeners the album ” Songs of Innocence ” and it incensed people who resented the fact that there was an album they did not want on their device(s) and they weren’t quiet about it; they took to social media and it worked against U2 as if Apple had forced their customers to own a Slim Whitman or Andreas Vollenweir record instead of an album from one of the most prolific bands of our times.

So, you can hear, buy if you feel like it or pay to have exclusive content at a bevy of music platforms and there is no way you can feign ignorance of how and where to listen unless you’re so behind the times you still bank inside the bank, read the newspaper or rely on the mail to send and receive money-I know that Tidal or Spotify aren’t on your radar.

My sons aren’t even interested in keeping any of my CDs; they love going to vintage record shops and hearing and exploring and seeking certain records on lists they make up and they love kitsch as much as classic albums from days gone by.

Music is in their blood, it’s in their parents blood ( Jen still eerily and inexplicably likes the old hair bands a little too much for my liking… ) but I never want to get to that place where baby boomers and older just switch from laces to Velcro and bingo instead of musical exploration.

I will be writing a variety of essays on when the music died in the lives of people. Woodstock and disco and punk and the lack of challenges to the greatness of The Rolling Stones and select others and of course the sad reality of some world treasures leaving this earth too soon or inevitably but not on a day we were prepared for.

I am listening to the Dodgers game on my iPad as I write this and before that I listened to Wes Montgomery and Oscar Peterson and will probably fall asleep to either a Brian Eno or Roxy Music album tonight so I am enjoying my iPad and it’s music apps similar to my days of discovery at Tower, Licorice Pizza, Moby Disc or Wallich’s Music or Amoeba all the while wondering what is the next new way to listen to music. I’m ready for it; are you?

50 Fun Facts!

I am still very interested in learning and experiencing life; I’m not going to put a sock in it or fade away but like everyone who knows really what the future has in store for us.

I have been receiving birthday love and I really appreciate it; every year I get older there is seemingly a new format or platform to be wished a Happy Birthday on and I can’t wait to see what technology brings us next B-Day.

I would be a different person without these fifty impacts on my life:

1. Frank Sinatra
2. Elvis Presely
3. Buddy Holly
4. Miles Davis
5. John Coltrane
6. Stevie Wonder
7. The Talking Heads
8. Willie Nelson
9. David Bowie
10. Elvis Costello

1. John Irving
2. Tennessee Williams
3. John Steinbeck
4. J.D. Salinger
5. Frank Conroy
6. Ernest Hemingway
7. F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. George Orwell
9. Mark Twain
10. Kurt Vonnegut

1. Pablo Picasso
2. Wassily Kandinsky
3. Hieronymus Bosch
4. Norman Rockwell
5. Jean-Michel Basquiat
6. Keith Haring
7. Diego Rivera
8. Piet Mondrian
9. Paul Klee
10. Roy Lichtenstein

1. Martin Scorsese
2. P.T. Anderson
3. Francis Ford Coppola
4. Woody Allen
5. Pedro Almodovar
6. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
7. Stanley Kubrick
8. Clint Eastwood
9. Steven Spielberg
10. Quentin Tarantino

1. Irene Santana
2. Pedro Santana
3. Anthony Francis Santana
4. Rafael Hernandez
5. Herminia Hernandez
6. Jennifer Ann Santana
7. Nicholas Francis Santana
8. Alexander Pierce Santana
9. Aidan Irene Santana
10. YOU

I am willing to see the next gen; except for the family one there is no particular order but my mainstream of  life would be entirely lifeless.

Thanks for being my friend; lets do another 50 years and compare lists!
Have I told you lately that I love you?

God is Love,

PRS

Good-bye my 40’s…

I have my usual alarm set for tomorrow; 5:45 am and I go make coffee for the high school boys and we stagger to the car to drop them off at the Universal Metro Station. This will be the first time the boys will have a volunteer Uber driver who just turned fifty…It will be more of a trip for me then them.

Speaking of the trip:

I was born to Pedro & Irene and my parents were in their 30’s so there was a lot of excitement from my extended family because 30 was usually a good age for being a grandparent. So, there was a curiosity to see such “old” folks having kid. What could go wrong?

Well, almost everything. Dads weren’t allowed in the delivery room then and the final instructions from Irene to Pedro were no matter what happens his name is Erich Santana! Well, they wheeled her away and gave her what was called a saddle block; instead of going down it went up and two weeks later she woke up from a coma. The family naturally all followed her while I waited patiently in the nursery. Not a lot of taps on the glass to say hi.

When (gratefully) Irene came out of the coma; she learned that the Chinese looking kid in the picture was named Pedro Rafael (Irene’s Dad) Santana, Jr. (Technically impossible…) and boy were Pedro and Pedro in hot water. No Erich,a near death experience and Pedro couldn’t follow one simple request. We were in the doghouse for awhile.

Child actor by seven and member of SAG and AFTRA since 1973; avoided having to go to St. Charles Borremeo by going to school on the set. So, not a typical child hood and because I was “working” I was unable to do things or activities most kids did as part of their routines.

Not bitter but I feel like I missed a few things; but, the one thing I missed out completely was the ability to use the excuse of having a bad childhood. Pedro and Irene loved me and the guy who broke my only child status Anthony Francis Santana (They got his name right…) and although seven years is a big age difference I really liked having a baby brother even though he couldn’t play catch or go to the movies with me without crying through the whole thing.

Nearly (A day at a time pal…) fifty years later Mom is gone; technically dying twice with a long and horrific experience with Alzheimer’s and Pedro is still working and probably never retiring. I married Jen and had the sons any parent would wish for (Nicholas Francis Santana and Alexander Pierce Santana) and now nearly a month ago young Anthony and his lovely wife Elena adopted a newborn (who came early! Atta girl!) from Joplin, MO. She has been in California with us for about three weeks and this lovely gal is named Aidan Irene Santana. Tony and Elena saved this little girl’s life! She was never going to have the amount of love she has received in a month in her whole childhood. It’s not easy having kids at any age; but these two took this new challenge and I am so very proud of them. I have seen my niece quite a few times. My extended family is huge! I see a baby and then I don’t see them again for years. I have seen this baby girl and every time I see her again she’s still baby size! I love seeing my boys in complete amazement of their cousin and this little girl is well protected and loved and we’re having a “sprinkle” for her in a couple of weeks.

Am I exactly where I want to be at fifty? No, but another Francis once said, “The Best is Yet to Come…” and you know what? I believe him. He recorded “Live at the Sands” in 1966 and he had just turned 50 then! So, I feel ready for any and everything. I have met a lot of people in fifty years and many have left a mark on me that I’ll think of them until my last day and there are some I have no idea where they are but I hope they’re happy. The people who were my biggest adversaries  in my 40’s were typically in their 50’s so we’ll be moving into different age categories together and I hope your impending 60’s softens you but the good news is it’s not my problem or my decision.

I am creating (Have been working on it a little longer than I hoped…) on a podcast called “Change Your Spots” and it will be mostly about music not from the Woodstock era, books not written by James Redfield or Scott Peck and movies not on everyone’s radar. I am doing this for myself to stay and maintain an informed and CURRENT opinion. It was suggested to me I let go of old ideas a long time ago and since then I had to let go of several more and probably creating some as we speak. So, I am excited and I am very , very sure with the exception of a handful of folks my audience is going to be mostly of people I don’t know; have never met and may never see in person.

Have I told you lately that I love you?

My forties were pretty good; bring it on my fifties-bring it on!

 

PRS