Acting your Age: A plan almost came together

I had this great plan last week for me to get to Hollywood. The Los Angeles Lakers were in town to play the Oklahoma City Thunder for the third and fourth games in the NBA playoffs for their division. The Lakers had already won two games in LA and were now in Oklahoma City. It just so happened that these two games coincided with the OKC Arts Festival.

The Arts Festival is one of the largest in the country and lasts for six days. Over 700,000 people normally attend this event. My wife, Joy, is a very talented abstract artist who uses a lot of color in her work and she was showing this year. Check out her website at http://joyrichardsonart.com. This was her second year to be invited. This is a juried show and it is very difficult to get a spot in this event. Over 1000 artists apply in various categories and only 144 are allowed to enter. She has attempted three times to make it and last year she made it to the alternate list and then made into show when someone dropped out. She did quite well so she was invited to return this year without having to be juried again.

So here was my plan. With the Lakers in town for games Thursday and Saturday evening, they had to do something on Friday besides practice. Kobe Bryant, the top player in the game, and Phil Jackson the Lakers coach, would come by the Festival and stop at Joy’s booth. They would both like her paintings and would each purchase a piece and take it to back to Hollywood. Jack Nicholson, a staunch Lakers supporter, would see her art at one of their houses. He would like her art, contact Joy and then buy one himself. That would then get Joy into the Hollywood crowd. She in turn would meet some directors who would certainly want one of her abstracts. That would in turn get me to meet these directors, and therefore that would get me to Hollywood. As Lance McDaniel said, “Jerry, there are easier ways”.

But, neither of them showed up. And, I know the reason. Not the fact that they would be instantly recognizable and be mobbed, or would be twice the height of anyone else at the Festival. No! The reason they did not show was because Oklahoma City Thunder gave them such a whooping on Thursday evening those guys must have sat in their hotel room (only two blocks away) sulking. They just did not feel like crawling out of bed. I am an Oklahoma City Thunder fan, but I bet they did not give Joy’s art or my Hollywood aspirations a second thought. No, they were more interested in winning the game. I’m really glad the Thunder won the fourth game on Saturday and the Lakers went back home.

So even though it was a marvelous plan, it did not come together.

I did get to make another commercial for a casino last week. This time it was for Remington Park in Oklahoma City. You have to look really hard and do not blink or you may miss me even though I had the male lead. But, I did have some extemely talented supporting actors: Tony Williams, Lacey Lett, Tara Hood, and Shawana Shafer. You will have to copy and paste the below link onto your browser. If the commercial does not load immediately, the ad is the fourth button from the left. But, just in case you do miss me, I have placed two pictures of me from the ad for you to see.

http://www.am.com/#/home/VideoModule/1570