STV: LA ALERT: See Kitty and Armin in Irish classic "Juno and the Paycock"

Talk about timeless: According to Armin "Quark" Shimerman, Irish national playwright hero Sean O'Casey's 1920s classic "Juno and the Paycock" is a comedy set against the Irish civil war—or as he says, "The Honeymooners during the U.S. Civil War"—and has something to reflect on about all the conflicts today at their root affecting local folks. What's more, Kitty has the title lead as matriarch Juno; Armin plays the "paycock's" best friend and enabler.

The show runs through June 5 at the Odyssey Theatre in South LA along Sepulveda— but here, let Arin and Kitty tell you about it ...and the other Treklanders involved!:



Did you catch Armin and Kitty's convention appearance list for 2011 in there, too?

The Odyssey Theatre also has an excellent preview trailer up on YouTube:

Hittin' Southwest Louisiana for BayouCon this weekend: Come say "Comment ca va!"

Hey, Treklanders of the West Gulf—we're hittin' the road Friday for a fun weekend back in Lake Charles, La., at BayouCon III—a blast of a weekend, formerly called Con du Lac, and smack midway between Houston and New Orleans.

It'll be doubly fun with Vaughn "Admiral Forrest" Armstrong and Max "Rom" Grodenchik on the Trek side, plus SoulGeek founder and voice actor Dino Andrade and regional sci-fi and comics notables.

Yep, Justin Toney and his gang have planned a wild one—and how do I know?
BayouCon was moved so as to be a part of Lake Charles' vaunted Contraband Days, the big annual 12-day festival which celebrates the region's Contraband Bayou and former local HQ of pirate stashes of ol' Jean Lafitte himself—and annually restages his capture of the city and making the mayor walk the plank!

It wasn't quite plank-walking, but last year I walked the maze and got introduced as a halftime guest at the Swashbucklers' indoor football game*—which goes down as one my Top Five Unique Con Guesting Moments ever. Now while I ponder what a good blog that topic will be some day, I can only wonder how Contraband Days will top that in the "unforgettable" departmenr.

We'll help out the charity, share a lot of Trekland stuff as always, take soundings of what Trek fans are thinking—and finally, finally talk by Saturday about my big news this year. It's in their backyard, after all.

That's why I hope to see as many Cajuns, Creoles, Texasses—and even Okies and Arkies who can afford the gas—as possible. We'll have a blast! Now pardon me while I go brush up on my old Justin Wilson records, er, videos...


*Along with BSG's Luciana Carro, DS9's Chase Masterson and "Trekkies" filmmaker Roger Nygard—and suited Swashbucklers owner Thom Hager.

Happy Easter: The secular humanist has come a long way

I'm talking here about Gene Roddenberry himself, of course... and the various iterations of formal religion, informal spirituality, and all the various spectrum-stops in between that reject either. They've been debated and discussed regarding their true meaning in Star Trek for years.

One of the engines powering all that now, of course, is the Internet—and the easy laptop access to posting video that now lets us peek into every little nook and cranny of the world that used to go by unseen to anyone but locals.

But I don't quite think I've ever seen anything like this: Somebody's obviously a big Trek fan at this Clay Center, Kansas, Christian school, and it's great that Trek is knocking down walls and opening minds—whether because  JJTrek's pure blockbuster power has crashed the mainstream party, or just that the TNG generation has now taken over everywhere. But this is still a stretch:

An Easter Trek

... As Captain Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy and Lt. Scott, Asa Peterson, Samuel Graham, David Stuenkel and Brett Wallace came to an M-Class planet where they observed a world enlightened by Jesus ... "and may have even surpassed us."

... By the end of the program the Star Trek crew vowed to spread this knowledge throughout the universe.

I wonder what Kahless or the Vedek Assembly would have to say about that?

I said it, I claim it!

Before we get any further down the road, I almost forgot to stake claim to a little gem that just tumbled out of my mouth without warning, before an audience at Seattle's Emerald City Comic-Con last month.

In contrast to the appeal and fans of JJ's new alternate-universe Star Trek '09 blockbuster, I was groping for something better than "Prime Universe" for all the episodes and films from the 40 years of prior, Star Trek. Add it up: It's been famously 731 hours, all told, not counting the 2 of JJTrek.

And thus: "The 700 Club."

That's what I called them, on the run, when needing a contrast term for both the film stock and the fans.  And I rather liked it—being such an obvious opposite in vibe and context to Pat Robinson's notorious Christian TV-based televangelist news series and organization.

Yep, I'll claim it. Use it in casual inside-baseball conversation. Help pass it on!

LA ALERT: Hurry!—See Robert Beltran in "Devil's Advocate"

Apologies for being slow with the note... but if you SoCal fans want to see Robert Beltran in a whoie new light from his Chakotay persona of Voyager fame—run don't walk downtown this weekend to LATC for Devil's Advocate, a mix of bravura performances and a take on recent secret politics I fear is all too real.

In its U.S. premiere here by the Latino Theater Company, the play captures the astounding true events of late December 1989, when Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega finally went too far and triggered an American invasion to capture and return him to trial on lowly drug charges in Miami. Between the invasion and the capture, however, Noriega first sought refuge in the Vatican embassy in Panama City—and there, under the ostensible "protection" of papal ambassador Archbishop Jose Sebastian Laboa, is the two-day time frame of the play. Laboa was also still carrying the medieval Vatican title of "devil's advocate"—and hence the all-too-ironic title of the play, and his own agenda—one theory as to how Noriega was finally broken. Playwright Donald Freed is known for the sharp political point and dialog of his plays; director Jose Luis Valenzuela is known simply for his recent honored hits at LATC.

Oh, did I mention the two actors? The only two? Yes, Robert and Tom Fitzpatrick (above) share the stage the entire 90 minutes of the two-act play. Add to that a casting hiccup that brought Fitzpatrick to the show only two weeks shy of the delayed opening, and the intensity is all the more amazing. It's really a tour de force for Robert... or as SoCal.com says: "If, however, you are up for being entertained by some great acting and expert directing, both of which are enhanced by a beautifully designed set, then be assured that this show embodies that theatrical trinity."  

But hurry—the 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday shows and 2 p.m. Sunday matinee was extended but will close April 24 at the Los Angeles Theater Center, 514 S. Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles.  General admission is $35,  students and seniors $20 at 866-811-4111 or http://www.thelatc.org —or try half-price general tickets via Goldstar.

Best of all—we just saw where Valenzuela's wonderfully organic 2009 production of Solitude last year, which included Robert in the cast, is back with the original cast for a June 14-26 revival run back at LATC this year, prior to a hoped-for national tour. Stay tuned, but do NOT miss it if you can!

Servin' up secrets and Star Trek sass at SciFiDiner: pod's up now!

The summer con season is bearing down, the noise of Star Trek rumors and rigamarole is in the air ... so it just seemed the right time to stop in for a heapin' helpin' of fun at the SciFiDiner this week.  The podcast is now up!

Actually, Scott and Miles invited me in, of course, so many thanks to them for letting us rant on and on about everything... and spill a few secrets I probably should not have.

So, stop in at their site and take a listen to Ep. 96. Or download it, subscribe, RSS, whatever...

And let those crazy proprietors Scott and Miles at the Diner know how you like the menu this week. (It never hurts to "like" their Facebook page, either!)

TV WATCH: Two Frakes TONIGHT on Current TV's "Bar Karma"

I hadn't even heard of this intriguing little series—which is why I bet its eighth episode tonight is getting some of the show's bets PR ever.

That's because Jonathan "Riker" Frakes let it be known earlier this week via old-school Twitter—i.e., an email—that his lovely wife Genie Francis was guest-starring in the Bar Karma episode "Three Times a Lady" tonight at 10 pm ET/PT on CurrentTV. What you quickly learn about Bar Karma, if this is all new to you, is that viewers and fans can drive the show directly by submitting story premises.

What Jonathan didn't mention—the shy boy—was that he also DIRECTED IT...the latest in his busy slate of directing gigs. Current.com posted a Q&A with the director, too—with the public revelation that he'd been involved in pitching a new Star Trek TV series to CBS, as had some other names like Bryan Singer and The Shat himself, to no avail.

The rest of the Q&A is here—the show Bar Kama can be found here, but let us know what you think about its vague metaphysical underpinnings, willya?

L.A. ALERT: Westmores and more this weekend at "Monsterpalooza"!

If you're a special fan of makeup folk and the creatures both alien and horrific they create for film, then you already know about the third Monsterpalooza show THIS weekend in beautiful airport-adjacent Burbank. Or ought to!

If not, here's the Trekland scoop: "modern era" Trek make-up supervisor Mike Westmore—a good friend to me and this blog—has a noon Saturday panel called "Behind the Mask," the actor's perspective on wearing such a prosthetic load. He'll be joined by Curtis Webster, his co-host for the "Spirit of Star Trek" series., now on hiatus awaiting a new home, and his daughter McKenzie—she of soap-opera Passions fame and now Face Off host  (and, yes a TNG "Angel One" youngster and Voyager's Ens. Jenkins of "Warhead.") PLUS Richard "Admiral Paris" Herd, who also went under the latex to play the Klingon L'Kor on TNG's two-part "Birthright."

It's a great chance to see them all in this context and gleam some great make-up/character stories. You might even get sucked up into the rest of the show!

RIP: Paul "Ensign Freeman-plus!" Baxley, 1923-2011

Unfortunately, neither the news nor its newsmakers always travel at the warp speed we desire—or in the luxury they deserve.

So it is we just received word of the passing March 4 of Trekland native Paul Baxley, he of the wig-losing village "patrol leader" on Neural, the stunt double for Kirk... and most famously, Ensign "I didn't throw the first punch" Freeman of "Tribbles" fame.

Sadly, his hometown obituary from Palmdale, Calif., was only prompted by a trigger from the Social Security Death Index, and did not include near enough biography as even his Memory-Alpha entry contains. Perhaps that will change with time.

Fortunately, his later work on all seven years of The Dukes of Hazard as stunt coordinator and director is being remembered by that crew, where John "Bo Duke" Schneider broke the news by email April 16.

Meanwhile, I'd suggest any TOS fan take a second and go to his online memory site and recall Paul, another one of the unsung faces of the classic series—and perhaps being one who did not know we all were out here. I, for one, regret never having gotten to meet the man and record his memories for others to share.

Check the Western movies' Boot Hill blog here for more of the story and the memorial in Los Angeles—mounted by the Dukes crew, but open to all fans and friends of Paul's.

The brick heard round the world: who's really to thank?

We say it tongue in cheek on this anniversary date...

You can watch the clip below, but don't thank William Shatner—thank Gene, and Matt Jefferies, and Wah Chang—as you thank Dr. Martin Cooper (right) for making (and building) that first cell phone call happen 38 years ago today.

(And note, per the best in fictional "continuity checking," that Cooper made his call to a land line—of course. What other cell phone was there?)

Back on-line... and see what's in store

Sorry to have been in cloak mode.... but there's plenty on line in TREKLAND: Fun faces coming soon, and some sad news too.

Plus, stay tuned in just a few minutes:  just couldn't let this anniversary go by without context ...  er, comment ...