
In my lifetime I've been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to do several bucket list things. I've been on the radio, first with my own show in college, then with WDRV in Dundee, Illinois I did play by play for football and basketball and hosted a show featuring new talent from Sweden. I did a lot of MC/hosting/standup starting in high school where I was asked to be the MC for the National Student Council Convention that we hosted in 1972, then multiple business meetings where I was the host leading the meetings, and even a brief one night stand for a friends 40th birthday party where if I do say, I killed with my standup routine.
Through my business dealings I have been lucky enough to have been on TV several times mostly to sell product on a QVC type of show based in Minneapolis but I also had the opportunity to be on a local ABC Saturday night show featuring exciting new products for the home. Of course, as most of you know by now, I've written two books that have become huge sellers on Amazon where they've been read by tens of people across this great country and beyond.
So, when in 2018, I read about a call for extras for a movie being filmed here in the Coachella Valley I talked Linda into coming with me to sign up to see if we would get a call. Well we did and it was an exciting and fun experience for us to have been a participant in the filming of the newest version of "A Star is Born" featuring Lady Gaga and directed by and starring Bradley Cooper.
We were selected to be filmed in two scenes being shot at the convention center in Palm Springs that April day. We arrived as instructed at 7AM and stood in a long line as the costume director walked the line and gave his assistants instructions on what to change or fix on what we each were asked to wear for the day of our own.
When they got to me and Linda they had already seen hundreds of people and every single one of them was given massive changes or slight changes but changes none the less. He told the staff to change my tie and then he looked at Linda, stepped back as he appraised her up and down, and loudly exclaimed, "you're perfect", and moved on to the next in line. Everyone applauded her and she was given multiple high fives from the others, a pretty proud moment.
It was a long day. We ultimately were dismissed around 8PM and while it was tiring it was also exhilarating to be involved in something that we would have never otherwise had the chance to do. We were glad we applied and got picked and we couldn't wait for the movie to come out later that year. We hoped that we might make the cut as it seemed like we were filmed a couple of times in each of the two scenes we were in but you never know.
For our fortieth anniversary in October of 2018 we went for three days to San Diego and on one of the nights we were down there we went to the opening of the movie. We couldn't wait to see how the movie turned out and of course to see if we were going to be movie stars ourselves. Well the movie was sensational. Lady Gaga was superb, the music was emotional, and Bradley Cooper that jealous SOB cut us out of the movie.
We were disappointed but realistically we knew there was about a 0.002% chance of us being seen in the movie to begin with so its not like we were co-stars that got cut. We went on with our lives, told our story to friends and family and were happy to remember the fun it was to be part of filming a movie, a once in a lifetime opportunity for people like us.
So why am I boring you with this story that I've already shared?
Well, last night we decided to rent the movie and watch it again on the small screen. This was the first time we have seen it since watching it at the theater on opening night. Gaga went on to win an Academy Award for her music which may be one of the all time great soundtracks for a movie. Anyway, we settled back to watch it again and then, much to our surprise, at the 67 minute and 7 seconds portion of the movie as attendees for a convention were filing into the ballroom to hear Cooper sing, there were Linda and me in glorious color, splashed in bright white lights, as we led the audience into the ballroom.

Holy shit! We did make the cut after all. I need to call Bradley Cooper, or as we are now calling him BC, to thank him and apologize for all those horrible things we called him for the past five years. Linda and I are movie stars! There we are in the dead center of the shot with me in front and Linda behind my right shoulder. God its great being a movie star.
I'm not going to lie, I could hardly get to sleep last night I was so excited. I told anyone who asked me about filming the movie that if I made it in the movie, even for a nano-second, I was going to be impossible to be around for the rest of my life. Well guess what people? If you thought I was a miserable SOB before, wait until you see how celebrity I can get going forward.
The scene zips by so fast that watching it at the theater we couldn't see it. It was only because we could pause the entrance scene at home that we discovered we had made it into the movie all along. Five wasted years of us not being able to go "A" list on businesses here. Surely others have seen us walking around town and quietly pointed at us and said "weren't they in 'A Star is Born?'"
What a great way to start out the new year, being a movie star. Instead of laying around watching football all day today we will be busy shopping for a dozen or more new sunglasses to wear all day everywhere, even at night. We will, of course, need to get a new, borderline weird, wardrobe. And most importantly, find some people so that all you little people in our lives have someone to call if you need us.
I've always dreamed of saying, "Talk to my People"
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