Sometimes You Can Go Home Again

This past Thursday and Friday I had two wonderful events happen which, in two entirely different ways, brought me back to my roots, and both were extremely enjoyable.

On Thursday, I had the pleasure of visiting with my old college professor, Bill Thomson, and his wife. I had not seen Bill, literally in decades. When I last saw him, he wasn't Bill, but was called by all his students at our small West Texas College, by his proper title....Dr. Thomson. Bill is now retired, but not so you would notice. After leaving USC, as the Dean of the Music Department, he devoted himself full time to writing. He has produced fifteen books, with some of them being used as textbooks in university music departments, across the nation. Reliving old times with Bill and his wife was in a sense, like going home again. I enjoyed it immensely, and am looking forward greatly to seeing Bill and his wife again. Fortunately, their home is only 25 miles or so from where I live and in LA, that is considered a short distance. All in all it was a wonderful day.

The following day I had my first acting lesson, since arriving in Southern California, with my acting coach in Hollywood. that too, was like a breath of fresh air, as the last lesson I had with him was in Seattle, last August. Just as I was walking into the building where his studio is located, I looked down the street and there high in the hills was the famous Hollywood sign, which gave me a real sense of where I was. He had me run through some scenes, and frankly, particularly at first, I was a bit rusty and sloppy. But as the lesson progressed, things began to fall into place and I was pleased with some of the work I did in the later half of the lesson. It felt so good to be back with the acting coach who was so instrumental in (1) moving me along in my development, and (2) in convincing me to move to LA and give it a try. As I have stated before, he is not an easy acting coach by any means, nor does he fail to tell you what was bad, so so, OK, or good. While very personable, he is totally honest in his assessment of your work, and when needed, how to correct it. Again, I felt so much at home to be studying with him once again.

So, the end of the week was a mixture of an old music professor, mentor, and friend, and a current acting coach, mentor, and friend. What could possibly be better than that?

Until next time............