Guest Blogger- Part III (Conclusion)

Recap from Guest Blogger- Part II...

"So I start doing background, getting quite a few gigs right away, and then I got the audition that changed it all again."

The Beard That Got My Seattle Back (Conclusion)

by CJ Brady

Something Wicked Dwells

The film Something Wicked Dwells, a short by Waide Riddle, was to be entered in a slew of upcoming film festivals.  Originally, I auditioned for a naked dead guy- again, it was the beard got me in the door. The project sounded fun and I am a firm believer that in movies now a days, you don’t see enough T and A.  Remember back in the day, you’d get a love seen, with actual breasts, and a naked shower scene? Today, for whatever reason, there are bras in the love scene. Really, a bra? Not very authentic... So anyway keeping in that fashion, I figured if girls should, I should do the same.  The audition process was by far the scariest and funnest things I think I have ever done. Guys know, and most girls do, or anyone who has ever watched the “I was in the pool” episode of Seinfeld, guy parts change. It will disappear when you don’t want it to, and be its most amazing when you’re all alone.

But I did it, and I was proud. I got a call back, and I was cast, just as a dead guy but still, it was a movie, an IMDB credit, and money. The movie grew as more people invested, and the poem it was based off got recognized all over: NYC, Austin, California. And right around Christmas time, about a year in on the beard, I got an email: the script has grown and you now have a part with lines. 

Well let’s be honest, I freaked.  I’m not an actor, I just do random background work.  But after doing the hardest prep work I had ever done in my entire life, I had something, and I loved it.  Now I’ve worked a lot of jobs: construction, roofing, sales, media, gyms, management, so on and so forth, and I can say that without a doubt, acting for me was the hardest job of all, but also the most fulfilling thing I had ever done. The days come and go, and we shoot Something Wicked Dwells. 

It was an amazing experience, and as I am still awaiting the final cut, I am very proud nonetheless.  What happens next is that I have changed my mind yet again. I don’t want to just do random background, although I will, to bring in money, but I really want to again do what I really enjoyed, which was actual acting with lines and parts.  The beard helped, and I continued to get more work from it.

Then one day on the set of John Benjamin has a Van, I’m talking with another beard background actor.  He is telling me when he first came to LA, there were about 8 bearded actors, and only about 3 of them could actually act. Now he says, we got about 30. It was like some kind of secret union. I give them my story and hear theirs. One guy is the go- to Homeless Guy whom I had actually met on another show a while back. Another was a Hasidic Jew, so on and so on. They urged me to grow that beard longer, to keep it going, promising me that I would work 5 or 6 days a week, and mostly principle(more money). 

But while hearing this, and keeping with my Seattle-tude I thought to myself, I can be more then just a beard guy, or at least, I have to try.  So the next week, voila. I shaved off 7 inches of hair and the beard was no more. I took new head shots, started studying for the acting class I want to join and here I sit today. 

That brings us up to now. I had once lost myself, and by something as simple as growing a beard, my life changed courses drastically and for the better.  I stopped caring what other people thought, and realized the only opinion I cared belonged to the love of my life.  I stopped working crazy hours on a stagnant reality show that had served its purpose and was no longer benefitting me.  I found my Seattle self again, started creating music once more, and believe me, when you create something from nothing, no matter what it is, it’s satisfying.  

"We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams."


xo




For more on CJ Brady, check out Twitter @thecjbrady

Guest Blogger- Part II

Recapping from Guest Blogger- Part 1:

'“F*** it, I’m growing a beard!”  I didn’t shave for 18 months.  

And I loved it. Oh, the crew hated it, and this thrived for Seattle Ceej. I wanted it longer, bigger, grosser, and for whatever reason Adria didn’t mind it. And so I kept it.'

"We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams."

The Beard That Got My Seattle Back

by CJ Brady

Now all of a sudden I no longer wanted or needed anyone else’s validation.  Just as the days when I was growing up, getting beat up for wearing grungy flannels and holey jeans to school. I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned it was awesome, because I made it awesome.  Now during this period it dawned on me, “You don’t want to be production slumming for the rest of your life do you?”

No, I wanted to entertain people and perform, that I was sure of, so as of the next few months, I gradually weaned myself off the reality TV weekly paycheck, working fewer episodes and started playing music again.

Now feeling more like Seattle again, I was starting to really enjoy life in an entirely new way. Or old way… however you want to look at it.  I still wasn’t performing for people like I wanted to be, but I felt good, had a rocking beard that got looks, good and bad.

I wasn’t working as much, but still had to eat and pay some bills so I rejoined Central Casting Networks, a background actor service for film and television. The day after I joined up, I got a call- True Blood needed someone with a beard. There I was, “Viking Guard” for True Blood, in a trailer, with fake blood, a super sweet costume, getting killed, happy as a Pig in Shit as they say.  That day I realized two very important things.

1. The crew on this set, camera guys, grips, Pa’s Etc…were not only very professional (something that was missing from the other show) but also just very happy and supportive of everyone and everything. It was very refreshing to see that every set wasn’t like what I had experienced.

2. More importantly, I loved being in front of the camera rather than behind it. It was invigorating and exciting, watching the headliners of the show exercise their acting chops, prepare for scenes, etc. It was just amazing.

Clockwise from lower left: True Blood (2), 1000 Ways to Die,  Suite Life on Deck

I came home afterwards, so excited, and told Adria: I want this. Rather than work on crappy reality shows, I would prefer to try and get background gigs using my beard as my in, being that beards are kind of hard to come by.

 So I start doing background, getting quite a few gigs right away, and then I got the audition that changed it all again. 


"Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads."


xo




For more info on CJ Brady, check out twitter @thecjbrady

Guest Blogger- Part I

The argument of whether or not destiny is part of our reality is a common one, usually brought about when things either fall into place or things fall apart, only to be glued back together in a way that is more suitable than before. 

Such a conversation was lingering in the mind of one person in particular, who upon pondering over the occurrences of this past year, decided to share his thoughts on the topic during a long, dark walk on a balmy evening in central Los Angeles.


The Beard That Got My Seattle Back
by CJ Brady

It all started with a beard.  Well, that’s not entirely true. It started long before I grew a beard…

Being a Seattle native, I, like many others who grew up under the grunge rock era of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden always had an F-U attitude.  We did what we liked, dressed how we wanted to dress (in flannels and ripped jeans with long johns underneath, mostly because it was cold and we were poor) long before it became a fashion trend, and never gave a shit about what anyone else thought.   

Now, somewhere between my move to LA, a broken relationship, being alone in a huge city with no friends or family, no band, and no career, I had lost my Seattle-tude.  I became the shell of the man I only saw glimpses of when I would travel home for holiday visits. I worked random mundane jobs in hotels, malls, temping, and office jobs.  Sure I joined a band, played numerous live gigs, but was never really as satisfied as the rest of the band , who always seemed more concerned about partying at the “Bow” (short for The Rainbow on Sunset, once made famous by 80’s rock legends such like GnR.) And trust me, the Bow is not what it once was.

Anyway, I was never fulfilled, and occasionally I would like I said catch a glimpse of my Seattle self, but soon he would be gone and my low self esteem, lost soul would return. 

So lost I was, working a crappy office job, feeling miserable and wanting to literally jump off the roof everyday, and one day, after not getting a much deserved raise I was finally fed up enough to leave. A very good friend found me a place on a reality TV set working as a production assistant. I was excited to work in the industry and at worst I was thinking, if I never make any money playing music, this would be the next best thing. 

Now for a while being a PA was great, but pretty soon I was jaded from the negative atmosphere on set. No matter how upbeat I was or how grateful I was to be there, there was always someone else, who for whatever reason was not. Worst of all, I was enjoying my job, but I still wasn’t my Seattle self.  I was in somewhat of a relationship with my now girlfriend and owner of this wonderful blog, but things were more complicated: I was chasing her, she was running, work drama, and I was so insecure that for whatever reason, I really cared about what these other people on set thought of me, said about me, and I really needed to be liked by them.  Very much NOT the Seattle F-U attitude I once had.  


A year in and I was not focusing on music or anything creatively. I was traveling around with the show, making money and paying bills, (which by the way is no way to live… enjoy life, it’s short, too short) and putting on a front of happiness, when one day I looked into the mirror on the production truck and said the words that really changed everything.

“F*** it, I’m growing a beard!”  I didn’t shave for 18 months.  
And I loved it. Oh, the crew hated it, and this thrived for Seattle Ceej. I wanted it longer, bigger, grosser, and for whatever reason Adria didn’t mind it. And so I kept it. 

To be cont'd...




The door to happiness opens outwards.


xo