The Alchemist

As you may have already seen, I’ve completely redesigned my website. I’ve moved away from the “Scott Ganyo’s blog” approach and I’m moving toward a more professional “Scott Ganyo, Actor - Singer” online presence. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while and the end of the year seems to be a good time to start making some changes!

I believe that this new design will be much better for any number of reasons - not the least of which is to help me book gigs! And especially once I’m finished with the redesign and have all my content up, I hope it will be an impressive site.

But… I’d like to hear what you think! Please check out the new website and let me know what you think and what it says to you!

Well, I thought that eTapestry’s president had unfortunately disavowed all knowledge of me (after all, I was completely scrubbed from their website), but today I read a nice article about eTapestry in the Indianapolis Star that still recalls that I am a founder!

“Sure, it’s Christmas, but accomplishing this peace on the Earth, good will to men stuff isn’t easy.”

It sure isn’t. So I’m happy for any bit good will I can get! Doesn’t it just warm the heart?

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! May your hearts be warm and your spirits bright!

That’s right, boys and girls, it’s time for Pimp The Vote! Tonight, on a very special Pimp The Vote: “Foxxy Madonna Vs. The Black Death.”

Remember that 48-hour film competition I helped Jake Bilinski and company enter a couple months ago? Well, it was chosen as one of the top 15 entries out of 186 films - which means now you have the power to make it number #1 for the audience award!

So, here’s how I would really appreciate your help:

1) Go register at the site. (I know, but just play along OK? It’s really not that bad.)

2) Go vote for Foxxy Madonna Vs. The Black Death! Just remember to vote a 10 because of how much you love the film! (Aw, come on - you know I’d do it for you!)

3) If you really want to and have the time, you can also view the other films. (I’m not gonna tell you how to vote or anything, but I’d suggest something in the range of 1 to… well, maybe 2 - if you really like it.)

Thanks! And remember: You’ve always been my favorite reader.

Some interesting events have occurred since I last posted. First of all, some good news: My wallet was found with only the cash missing. The bad news is that I had already canceled my bank card and credit cards… so I’m without them anyway. (I had also immediately canceled my cell phone service - which becomes more relevant in a minute.) Anyway, I have an interesting story relating to this nonsense:

The night of the theft, Amy received a call on her phone from a guy telling me that the thief (well, let’s just assume it was the thief) tried to sell him my phone and my watch. Apparently the thief wanted $20 for the phone. Well, my good Samaritan told me that he saw photos of kids on the phone and felt sympathy for the owner (me), so he took down and later called a number from the phone with the same last name as the listed owner. Thus explaining the call to Amy’s phone and telling me that he would offer to buy the phone for me the next night when the thief returned to sell it to him.

Ok, yes, his story was a bit bizarre and perhaps not believable to some… but I kept going. I told him it was a good thing he didn’t buy the phone anyway since it was already listed as stolen and would show up if someone tried to activate it. I also asked him if he would mind if I gave a call to the and had them potentially meet him at the place where the purchase was to take place. At this point he offered to have me come down there and help him take down the thief ourselves when he showed - and then call the cops. Um… right. I thought was a really bad idea and told him that wasn’t going to happen! So, he agreed to let me call the cops – and gave me his name, but asked that I didn’t give them his cell phone number (which, of course, I had since he had called me). Sure, whatever. Frankly, I was surprised he would do it at all. After all, he was already taking a risk, I figured, for no real personal gain.

So, next day I call the cops. If you know much about law enforcement, you may have already guessed what happened here… I get some lady that informed me that there was no case file – and there wouldn’t be one assigned to a detective for 48 - 96 hours. I tried to tell her about my plan, but she just acted incredulous about the whole thing and kept asking me questions like, “Well, doesn’t that sound strange to you?” Sigh. Finally, she said that she’d forward my call to someone else - who was out for the day - to leave a message with him. Fantastic. That does me absolutely no good whatsoever. So I hung up.

Well, I get a call at work later that day from Amy telling me that a Verizon Wireless store called and has my phone. Apparently it was thrown into a trash can outside of a nearby Wal-Mart. (Note that this was no where even near where the phone had been stolen!) Shazam! I’ll get my phone back and it won’t even cost me $20 in blood money! Off to Verizon I go!

I get to Verizon and ask for my phone and the lady there says “I recognize you, you’re a singer!” Well, it turns out that she had seen my show! (I’d like to say that it was the same show that the phone was stolen at - just for the synchronicity of it – but alas, it wasn’t.) And oh yeah… she said it was a great show. (Hint, hint.)

Anyway, let’s wrap this story up: That night I get a call from Mr. Samaritan telling me that the thief didn’t come by earlier that evening to sell him the phone. Big surprise! So I told him I got the phone back and that the cops didn’t bloody well care anyway. So I thanked him for his offer to help and told him merry christmas.

Now the interesting thing is: When he had called me this time, it was to my cell phone - the one that had been stolen – not Amy’s number like he had called the night before. Uh huh…

Most of the time I completely enjoy performing on stage. I leave the outside world behind and let the performance take me to the place that I need to be. Sure, sometimes I feel nervous or out of sorts a bit, but everything is immediate… “in the moment” and the rest of my life waits until I leave the stage.

Today’s show was different: Today I had to put on a happy face and “act” happy although I was most definitely not. You see, while I was on stage earlier today, I had my wallet, watch, and cell phone stolen from my dressing room.

I feel like I should reserve judgement on the person that stole my things. For all I know, it might be the only way he’ll keep himself alive tomorrow. But in truth, I’m feeling very angry. I even briefly fantasized about catching him in the act…

The cast was very supportive, love them all. They offered use of their phones, cash… I think I could have asked for almost anything and it would have been given willingly.

As we all know, loosing the cash in our wallets is the least of the issues. The after effects are the most profound. I find myself trying to put put into place the little pieces of my life, like my cell phone (my only phone as I gave up my home phone long ago), my credit cards, my bank card, etc, etc.

Sigh.

The Indianapolis Star just posted their review of Big Band Holidaze, and their reviewer agrees that the show is a good one. Here’s the review.

I can only say that I’m thrilled to be working with such a talented bunch of folks on stage and back stage. You all are fantastic and I’m honored to be working with you!

Hey friends, I’ve got a couple of updates from last week that I’d not had a chance to blog yet:

1) Big Band Holidaze opened last Friday and is by all accounts a great success!

We’ve had large audiences and some fantastic positive feedback on the show. People are really loving it! There’s only 4 more weekends to go, so get your tickets and come see us kick up the holiday cheer!

2) Foxxy Madonna vs the Black Death was selected as one of the TOP 15 finalists in the National Film Challenge 2006!

These top films are going to be included on the official DVD release and will be screened at a festival in New Mexico March 8-11 along with the 48 hour film competition best of each city films.

And more - as of December 22 the top 15 films will be on the National Film Challenge website and you will be able to log on and vote for the audience award! Trust me, I’ll let you know when that happens!

That’s all for now, I’ll write more soon!