STV: Live from Vegas—It's Dehner time!

Before I FINALLY get the full batch of pics and video  up from Vegas Trek '11...let me just say:

I am proud to have been Mary "@Televixen" Czerwinski's first video endorser in her clever and hearltfelt drive to get the character of Dr. Dehner into the next JJ movie—she of the ill-fated and very reluctant godhood alongside Gary Mitchell in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." All of this, of course, to get a chance to be able to PLAY her!

If you've seen Mary at cons or heard her on DVDGeeks, or caught her in one of her acting or modeling gigs, you'll know this blonde ain't no bimbette. Thus it's no surprise that Mary has a great blog with some thoughftul posts and musings about Dehner at her campaign site, aptly named makemedehner.com.

But why go one and on about it here? When we can have Dr. Dehner tell you herself...fresh from Vegas (with Ariel "@trexmatetrix" Roy as the Intendent, too!):

Vegas in my aft viewer: A year like none before

Artwork courtesy CharityWood.com

Something happened this year ... still not exactly sure of all the reasons ... but the big annual Creation Trek bash in Vegas—Vegas Khhaaan! to the Facebookers and simply #STLV to the Twitterati—went to a whole new plane. A whole new critter.

And I should know—I've seen them all.

In a time when the Trek anniversaries are piling up right and left—the 45th for the franchise debut this year, the 30th for Star Trek II and the 25th for TNG both in '82—this was also the 10th year for a grand "Vegas Khhaaan" since they started in 2001... and Creation's had them all after that first one by Dave Scott's now-defunct Slanted Fedora shows. So, maybe it was about time for what happened.

Especially in a year when the overall U.S. economy remains poor-to-middling, these numbers and demographics are Just Amazing.

Now, you've read all the basic reporting elsewhere already; I'm going to save my stills and video for a separate post, and some more sentimental bits with it. So THIS missive will be  some general observations with big-picture touches. And brother I've got more than a few, but the overall bottom line?

Vegas Trek simply EXPLODED this year, pure and simple.

And on so many levels!

—Pure numbers? Reports say about 20,000 total sold seat-days—about 13,000 unique fans in all —and only the bigger space afforded by the Rio absorbed the uptick. Many complained of the longer walk in these post-Hilton digs, but at least there was no Sardine Factor at work anywhere. And Creation thankfully saw it coming: we got an email note a week earlier that doors and dealers would be open an hour earlier on the weekend—starting at 7 AM!

—Costumes? Oh my god—at one point I Tweeted that the overwhelm onrush felt like the "Comicconification of Vegas"... meaning, in reference to the huge cosplay rep of Comic-Con San Diego, that we had not the just the number but the ingenuity and obscurity—ie, the coolness factor—of so many outfits and concepts had just shot through the stratosphere. (See more later, soon!).

—The secondary room, after one or two years as I've been keeping tabs, is now clearly a monster to be reckoned with. Time was when the "side stage" was home to great but woefully under-attended scientists who'd attract maybe a dozen or so hard-core fans, the ones not aware they were supposed to be in a line somewhere. But, beginning with the new influx from JJ's movie we saw in '09, that room has reeked with newbies the first year, and then just simply big numbers—usually 150 or more. My events were there (trivia line, at right), as were Anthony "trekmovie.com" Pasquale's, and many more.

—Those two groups famously thought to be absent from Trek fandom by hand-wringing marketers only three years ago—a) anyone under 20, much less anyone under 30 ... and b) those of the female gender—were instead, in a word, EVERYWHERE. The Orion slave-girl explosion of 2010 has just evolved into so many guest-star homages—or totally creative getups with skin—that it was simply breathtaking. Of course, Uhura/Rand red miniskirts remain a staple, but there were so many more—in both Nichols and Saldana versions. And so many more adult incarnations were busting out, too, if you know what I mean. Congrats to Mary Czerwinski & Co. who hosted both a first-ever geekgirls panel for Vegas—again, heavily attended—as well as a crafting panels for anyone, especially the kids and parents. It was just the tip of the iceberg.

—A twenty-something crowd also translated into a party crowd, both at the Creation planned events as well as the Rio's nightclubs in general. For the "overflow" fans shut out of Creation's sellout events, we co-sponsored a Thursday night game night with DVD Geeks and treknews.net  at McFadden's, an early but noisy fan favorite—but the open-area'd iBar and Masquerade Bar also came in for a lot of biz. As they, and a special indie Trek party at Crown discovered, Trekfen like their volume low for talking... but, again, that's a growing pain.

Setting the record: LV Weekly/Sam Morris photo

—And all of it combined for smashing the ever-climbing Guinness World Record for The Most Real Star Trek Costumes In One Place—a total that in just the past couple years has become a big annual triangular rivalry between Vegas, Dragon*Con in Atlanta, and FedCon in Germany. Each one constantly raises the bar in turn, but this go-round all those factors above helped Vegas smash the record of 691 with an incredible 1,040—and it stopped there only because of the clock, and that the Guinness folk ran through all their "official counter cards." Reports of at least 60-100 more waiting in line would have boomed it bigger,  of course.

But why?

Maybe it was simply the new digs at the Rio, after the two-year farewell to an Experience-less Hilton finally gave out for Creation owners Adam Malin and Gary Berman and crew. Certainly in part it was the hubbub about being Leonard Nimoy's last Vegas appearance before his retirement from the con circuit this year (and what a farewell it was.) Maybe it's the ongoing earthquake caused by the JJ movie of 2009, where "new" fans continue to tumble into "old fandom," assimilating not just TOS but TNG and all the rest.

It's all of that, and perhaps one more factor: one I stumbled into just a few short weeks earlier.

In the words of social science, Trek big-con fans are finally "self-empowered" as never before—mostly thanks to social media, which finally hit con fandom in ways far beyond mere one-to-one contact. Groups like the "Unofficial Star Trek Las Vegas Convention 2011" on Facebook, whose 250+ members fast evolved into a fertile ground for hatching meetups, party ideas, newbie help, costume details—and simply introductions. In short, Creation provided the main program, but fans had a way to organize themselves, and early on, when they had the time and inclination.

Not to get too Vulcan about this, but what we did was just see a huge shift in the culture of fandom, yet again—the impact of online media. It was hardly an Arab Spring, but the effect is the same: self-powered organizing. And it's got nowhere to go but up. Already, plans are in the works: you can see the wheels spinning, plans evolving, and shields adapting...

All of this shows a few things, coupled with the "show of hands" polls I took in my audiences, or in just talking with peeps at my table or happenstance in the halls:

—Fans old and new, whether first-gen Trekkies or converts from the 2009 flick, have NOT forgotten any of the "700 Club" TOS or TNG, etc.,  series. If there was to be a mass migration to "modern" Star Trek alone, and a virtual "Forget" mind-meld of All That Went Before... well, it's not with this bunch. Even though a lot of them do owe their fandom entry to JJ-Trek.

—In fact, the image of young, partying, good lookin' and nay even imbibing Starfleeters was everywhere in media—not that that's not 180-degrees misleading in its own way, too. A lot of those folks ARE workin' it this weekend, in any of a zillion niche jobs. But the fact that media admitted to the possiblity the image EXISTS, 25 years after Shatner's "Get a Life" SNL skit forever sent stereotypes askew, is shocking enough. And long overdue. Creation's Vegas con logo (right), the play on the historic Vegas tourism logo, actually finally begins to make sense!

—Which in turn, finally, points to a trend I've noticed in the days since—this one in national media: maybe generational, maybe part of this post-2009 "mainstreaming" perception. And it may be the most shocking one of all: the Era of the Respectiful National Journalist Who Gets It. Maybe, finally, someone realized that the guys who paint their bellies topless in subzero endzone cheap seats for football are no more/no less crazy that the Trekfans who get their Orion green or Andorian blue on—with a lot more philosophy and a lot less alcohol involved in the latter. Somewhat less, anyway.

Yessir, we may finally have gone where no Vegas Khhaaan—and the ever-powerful national media meme—have ever gone before.

Beyond the new hotel thing, even.




On the fun side: More pics and video to come. Stay tuned ...

Happy Birthday, Gene: You look much younger than 90!

Gene would have been 90 today.

I call him Gene, sure. Although, unlike so many other Trekland friends and colleagues I've met and worked with since moving to L.A. in 1994, I only met him once. On my first visit to Paramount, ever...and when, so naively, I still took the "no cameras" studio signs seriously. I can recite the memory, and his graciousness in thanking me for my concordances for the writers, like it was yesterday. But I will never have the cool "Gene and me" pic to post here. Today, this one will have to do (from a pre-TNG film start party.)

But through all of my Trek buds who were there every day, before he passed ... and their stories ... and through Majel, and now Rod ... I can call him Gene.

Not in a name-dropperly way, but in a purely familiar way: Ironic, given my earlier statement. But he has shared so much, and inspired so many, that I think I can claim it. As can you. We all "know" Gene—from both his words and his actions. And yes, some of them proved he had only too-human failings, as well.

And, yes, so much of Star Trek has been written and developed by others ... from Dorothy Fontana and Gene Coon to Matt Jefferies and Bob Justman, Bill Theiss and Wah Chang, Fred Phillips and Jerry Finnerman, Vince McEveety and Marc Daniels ... and Herb Solow's salesmanship, yep .... and oh yeah, all those actor guys and gals, too.  And all their descendants. But none of it would be here, in this way ... inspiring still-record passion from cosplaying con-goers and armchair fans alike ... without Gene.

Remember too that he was a decorated Army Air Force B-17 bomber vet, a PanAm pilot who saved his passengers after crashlanding in the Syrian desert, and an LAPD cop—field, motorcycle, and desk. Much less a guy who tried to "grow up" television—where of course I'm talkin' 'bout a controversial little show called .....

The Lieutenant.

(Gotcha! Look it up.
And only later came Pike, a Martian named Spock, and the notes from Harvey Lynn at JPL ...)

So for all that, we all say: "Happy 90th birthday, Gene! You look young as ever!"

(I could repeat McCoy's penultimate line from The Wrath of Khan, but I'll let you silently recall it and smile to yourself. Or look it up—as you should, if reading this!—and then smile to yourself.)

Happy birthday, Harve—and you can (please) tell him so!

He was the first guy of at least 3 or 4 post-TOS to get the byline "The Man Who Saved Star Trek"—i.e., producing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as a budget-minded megahit comeback to The Motion Picture, finding and inviting writer-director Nick Meyer to the fold, and heading the "middle four" TOS movies overall in the '80s.

Now, just two months after he talked on camera for our documentary The Con of Wrath, comes word via wife Jani that Harve Bennett has been admitted to an assisted living center in the week of his birthday, Aug. 17.

BIRTHDAY cards would be the best medicine right now, Jani says, and invites fans from all over to send Harve birthday wishes—even if a few days late. If you saw me on stage at Vegas we passed along the address, but here it is again; Jani did not mind sharing the mail address with everyone:

Harve Bennett
444 Granite Street
Ashland, OR 97520

We'll have a promo clip for The Con of Wrath up soon from the summer cons that includes Harve—so for now, get those cards and cards into the mail. As I say here often, we have 45 years of incredible history to preserve, and pass on to our own "next generation." Here's a chance to say thanks in yet another way.

STV: Ira Steven Behr, Part 2: On his new ALPHAS of SyFy—and DS9, of course

It's been some weeks for Ira Steven Behr since we posted Part I of our pre-ALPHAS vidchat.... In that time, the new 10 p.m. Monday series has come in for great critical and audience approval alike and become SyFy's newest hit.  


Meanwhile, here's our next piece with the DS9 showrunner, also of the late great The 4400 and many more—in which Ira addresses more of his new show and can't help but shout out to his old Trek days. Especially since I lead him there...with even more to come in Part 3: we're just getting warmed up.

Trekland in Vegas—and a blast from the past

As if this wasn't enough to get you in the mood for Vegas Khhaaan—and don't forget: this year you can pay-stream the big acts if you can't make it—I thought I'd toss out another goodie... and let you know where to track me down and bend an ear, if you are so inclined.

First the goodie: here's Keep on Trekkin' .... one of the dozen cloth patches officially licensed by Paramount to the old Star Trek Welcommittee as a fundraiser for the non-profit info service. Pretty groovy in all its mid-70s glory, eh? The Welcommittee was how hungry new Trekfans got info in the pre-Internet days... by mail...!  (more below the fold*).

Meanwhile, truck on into Vegas this weekend and catch what just might be the biggest annual Star Trek blowout Creation Vegas ever—and in new digs, at the Rio. Here's one clue to our curiosity: To meet huge demand, dealers and signers were advised that their area would open up an HOUR EARLIER both Saturday and Sunday—to 7:20 a.m.!

TREKLAND THURSDAY:
—2:50 pm: "1986: The Lost Anniversary"—World premiere topic—and I actually do a real "show" for Creation at Vegas.
—7-11 pm, McFadden's Bar: "Spockstar Party" meetup, co-sponsored by Trekland with Treknews.com and DVDGeeks—we'll have prizes, games, trivia and you get your own tab—ordering old-time Quark's specials at prices cheaper than the Hilton's!

TREKLAND FRIDAY:
—2:45 pm: "Rapid-Fire Trivia," for the third year, my tribute to our old startrek.com event
—5:15 pm: "Captains Smack-down" panelist on startrek.com's panel

TREKLAND SATURDAY & SUNDAY:
— Table times and party/events TBA: I will UPDATE here and Facebook/Twitter with daily tentative table times, since as usual I will not be there 24/7... just out and about. Unless I'm on a mission with a bullet at the moment, stop and say hi when you see me. But I do look forward to meeting all the new fans, seeing you oldsters, offering my works and telling you all about The Con of Wrath this year and our fan-donor opportunity for a credit and gift package. 

It's gonna be a whole new feel this year—fans, staff, actors, handlers, dealers, EVERYBODY will be busy "learning" all the ins and outs of the Rio... much less looking to see what the numbers, and the makeup of vets/rookies, will turn out to be... how the economy affects sales ... how many fans at home try the live streaming ... and if the recent TOS era in costuming  trends still pushes on, or if ST09 makes any inroads. Plus— just what kind of Trekkers will Shatner latch onto for his new film Fan Addicts with Creation about Trek fandom? And just what will author Dayton Ward think of his FIRST Trek trip to Vegas—with co-writer Kevin Dilmore in tow. Among the many fine special events, DON'T MISS Jeff Combs' free performance of his Edgar Allan Poe one-man show, either—catch our original Trekland preview here.

As usual... I just hope we all survive it again. Vegas KHHAAAAN, indeed!

*BTW, back to this mid-70s phrase and groovy font are not just a creation of Trekfen: it plays off the iconic 1968 R. Crumb comic book illo and catchphrase "Keep on Truckin' "—pirated famously for years on posters and T-shirts—that, crazily, in turn inspired two totally different hit same-named singles: soul-funk from Eddie Kendricks, and trucker-country from Dave Dudley. (And to think its roots are as a jazz-underground phrase from the '20s!).

Star Trek [The Experience] LIVES!—or at least a little bit

As co-creator (and ST:TE actor/staffer-now-archivist) Vernon Wilmer himself says, here's a little gift to all those flocking to Vegas this long weekend for the big cahuna Creation blow-out—otherwise (now) known as Vegas Khhaaaan!

That's Vernon and writer-director April "Commander Tahryn" Hebert  at right in this brilliant flick—and it's for all you bittersweet fans missing Quark's, the museums, the rides and the "time station" at Star Trek: The Experience. Or, even more so, for all you young'uns since '08 with no memories of your own—just photos and tall tales to cling to.

But if you go looking in official sources about The Experience for any of Tahryn's topics heard here in this brilliant little flick, you will come up short. Nothing these guys talk about was ever planned—it simply grew: first as actors' therapy and the need for context and backstory in a random assignment as aliens at a Las Vegas tourist mecca ... and, later on, because the STTE family simply became its own monster and universe unto itself. Because Star Trek is hardly just your garden-variety tourist theme ride, you know; the Canon Continuity Monster devours all, of course.

I had a front-row seat on the building and opening and updating and closing for The Experience, 1997-2008, but Vernon's ongoing blip.tv series Star Trek: My Experience begins to catalog all the between-the-lines "other" that we at the old Communicator, startrek.com and the like never really got a chance to catalog until it was too late—and what many fans remember today as the BEST PART.  Thank Kahless for him!

And, in turn, both of them for this...



(Oh, and if any of you first-gen fans get a bit of a kick out of that headline... my pleasure.)

DVR ALERT: First he stars, now Anthony Montgomery SINGS on VH1's 'Single Ladies'—catch it all TONIGHT!

UPDATE REMINDER: Anthony's Darryl returns for the Single Ladies season finale Monday at 9 or 11 ET/PT on VH1!
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He's come a long way since Travis!

Anthony Montgomery, that is, who's on a real career warp-spike right now. Regular viewers of VH1's first-ever scripted series Single Ladies know what I'm talking about—Anthony plays scorned-good-husband Darryl Jenkins in the pilot and five episodes to one of the title women, sort of an urban/black Sex and the City/Desperate Housewives vibe. It's #1 in its 4-hour slot on cable for women 18-24, with 2.8 million total viewers a week.

As you can see by the clip above, Anthony's no smilin' silent ensign here—and is one of the most controversial parts of the show. He recently sat still long enough for a phone chat,  sharing a Q&A with me (below the fold) about the triple whammy of all things Anthony right now—including a new hot song tied into tonight's show ...

See, he's away for a few eps til the season finale NEXT week, Aug. 8, but Monday—tonight, Aug. 1, 9 or 11 ET/PT—Anthony's still a presence on the series with "Stimulation," his all-new single he wrote and performs that was picked for the music-heavy show's mood soundtrack for Episode 9. His single, which also features rapper J.Naught-T!, also has its world broadcast premiere during the show breaks but is up now on iTunes. And here's the video:

Get More: Single Ladies, Christina Carter, Keisha Greene, Valerie Stokes

Anthony also shared a behind-the-scenes pic from the video shoot (right), with leading lady Skye P. Marshal...and if you've ever seen him perform at a con, you know there's no energy crisis when he has the stage and a mic.

But wait, what's this? A graphic novel with his own sci-fi/superhero coming out after that? Looks like it's time we caught up.

Anthony now commutes to work in L.A. from his home and family in Fort Worth, so distance deprived us of a "Switching to Visual" vidchat. But here's the skinny:

LN:  Congratulations on landing the role on Single Ladies! What’s the scope of the show, how did you get involved, and how does your recurring role fit in?

AM: Yes, this is not a reality show!  People assume if it's VH1 this a reality show, but this is VH1's first regular scripted program. The critics consider to be a black version of Sex and the City—a Sex and the City for the Atlanta market.

We did the two-hour pilot last May, shopped that around and did a lot of test markets—got an overwhelming response, they ordered 10 total after the pilot and began airing May 30 with the pilot movie. And we just got renewed for Year 2!

This sounds like a great gig. It just started out as just another audition?

It was just another audition for me, yes, because as everybody knows the industry has been in a crazy state of flux for several years now. So this opportunity came up—and my hesitancy came at first from wondering how VH1 would be able to do a scripted program like this, because I don’t really watch VH1 or all the reality shows; I didn’t even know they had done all this.

Was Single Ladies just another audition for you, or what?

Well, for me, yes! Actually, I auditioned for a different role, for Malcolm, who is played by D.B. Woodside, and he’s the only series male regular. D.B. was a better choice for that role, because of the dynamic of the character, but they remembered me from that and wanted me for Daryl. So once this one came in. they wanted to see me on tape, but it was virtually an offer for me since they had seen my work. It’s been a wonderful experience and I’ve had a lot of fun, and I’m just curious to see where all of this goes!

As you said, it's in flux—they have run off so much scripted off the networks for reality shows that the cable nets are picking it up.

Bravo, Lifetime, you name it—everyone has done some kind of a reality show. But that just got further and further away from regular television—and I know at some point you have to get back to that. That's what the core of television is—and to me, the core of television is not reality TV. But I’m biased!

So tell us about your role—which began in the pilot.

Yes, I play Darryl Jenkins, a successful Atlanta businessman who loves his wife dearly, works to make his marriage work—and the audience discovers in the pilot that for as nice a guy as Darryl is, his wife is cheating on him with the mayor of Atlanta!  Who is played by Common, the hip-hop artist. Then in the first one-hour episode, Darryl discovers it, and the scandal comes out a la Tiger Woods—it‘s on the news, a really big to-do. And they have me go down a completely different path—people get to see a darker side of me, of Anthony, because I’ve never played characters like that.  I’m always the best friend, the boyfriend/nice guy—and in this one I start like that... but when I make that turn I REALLY make that turn.

A little less smiling this time…

And it’s a lot of fun! It’s fun to play a bad guy, if you will, even if you didn’t start out to be the bad guy. The entire thing really works.They have us go through therapy and it was hard for Darryl—and, well, they had me serve her with divorce papers and include her trust fund. That actually divided the viewers!  I've gotten guys from all over the US either writing me or sending me tweets or Facebooking me— “Ohmygod , that was so rad!” or “Good! She deserves that!” And then there are women, the majority of women who say “I can’t believe you gave her divorce papers like that! That’s horrible! That’s so mean of you!" And I just keep going, "Do you forget she was sleeping with the mayor?” But its been fun listening to all that. 

I mean, I’m the subject of watercooler talk! I was at Kinko’s and heard the people at Kinko's talking about it: “Hey man I checked out my show Single Ladies last night...” And this was funny because they didn’t know I was on the show; it was interesting being that fly on the wall, listening to the fan response to it. Everybody has someone on this show that they can identify with and connect to. And It’s a lot of fun. It’s a very sexy show: the three women, Stacey Dash,  LisaRaye McCoy, and Charity Shea, who plays my wife April—they’re gorgeous, all of them. And VH1 does not let that fact go unpromoted! (laughs) It’s nice. It’s interesting to be one of the men of Single Ladies.

Like the men on Desperate Housewives, or the boyfriends on Sex and the City, yeah!

Exactly! I’ve never been on a show like that. I guess the closest I’ve been is being one of the men on Star Trek: Enterprise, but that’s still hardly the same.

Yeah, I don’t think you had too many watercooler moments when you were being Travis.

Not at all! Now, granted, I guess there were some circles where they would see an episode and they would be talking about it, but I was never privy to those conversations!

Well, and probably not out at a Kinko’s.

No, maybe not. (He laughs) But this has been a lot of fun. l just started working with a publicist, Siri Garber at Platform PR, because of the notoriety this show is getting—as VH1’s first scripted program, and Queen Latifah's executive producing; she is beloved by all. I had the pleasure of meeting her a couple of times while we were down in Atlanta filming the series. She’s a really sweet woman. It’s just been really interesting being a part of the process—I’m having a lot of fun, in truth! We were in Atlanta for the whole shoot.

For me it was nice, because people saw me in the pilot and the first five episodes, and then I go away and they focus on some other storylines…  and then they have me come back in the finale. And if the fans love me such that they write in to VH1, go online about it, then VH1 will either bring me back as a series regular on Single Ladies, or they could give me my own series. I know this is their first scripted program, and they want to do more.

So we need to "keep those cards and letters coming in," as they used to say?!

Yes! Yes! Definitely do that!  (He laughs) Tell all your friends to write in to them, let them know that you want to see more of Anthony Montgomery, or that it’s Darryl you like on the show! Regardless of who it is, just get the word out you want to see more of me on screen, and that’s how the networks build around the people. But whatever happens with this, I’ve already buckled my seatbelt and I’m ready for the ride!

But that's not all...

Music is a big underlying part of Single Ladies, and you hear these amazing tracks on the show—a lot of fun music. Well, the music supervisor for the show, Kenny “Tic” Salcido, is a fan of mine from Enterprise…

See, they’re everywhere!

Our Trek fans ARE everywhere, yes—I love it! But Tic sits in with all the editors as they’re doing the show, because he has to find the music to match up with the  moments. So he saw a lot of what we had shot before even we had seen it, and he was just really excited about me being a part of the show. And he didn’t realize that I actually do music; he didn’t know that I had released an album years ago. And when he and I talked about it, he said, "Well, I'd like to hear something." 

And I had a song I had just started working on, and when I played it for him he told me he loved it and wanted to use it on the show! Now, that’s GREAT, but a song may be the best thing since slice bread and if you can’t find a place where it organically fits, then it really doesn’t help all that much—which is why it’s so difficult to get a song placed in any given project.  

SO... I have a new single called “Stimulation”—it’s a sexy song! Not overt—but it’s a hot song. And it is in the show!  And we shot my very first video—I didn’t do any videos for the first album. And VH1 will help push this thing it since I’m part of Single Ladies.

Everybody that’s heard "Stimulation" says, “No way, that’s not you!” and I say “Good!” (He has a big laugh) That means they like it, and they don’t WANT it to be me! So when I hear them say that, I say "Oh good—that means I ‘got’ another one. Good!”

I’m really excited, because what I was trying to do was not just focus on music but rather focus on getting myself back in the front of the camera, and letting everything else organically fall into place. "Tic" giving me that break is really big; there’s a lot of rappers that that’s all they do, promote 24/7, and they can’t get anybody to place their music. And the fact that he gave me this opportunity, I just can’t say thank you to him enough.

What I’ve learned about Hollywood is that you have build on your momentum, and you have to do it right then.

And what a great way to involved in the show when you’re not onscreen! It’s even more buzz tied in...

AND I should say my video for "Stimulation" features J.Naugh-T! He’s a rapper, and fans know him—he has his own booth, he does custom framing and has things he sells at the conventions, so a lot of the fans will know who he is.

Speaking of which —any conventions this summer?

I think the only one I have on the books is in El Paso the weekend of Sept. 10-11.

I also have "Miles Away," the animated series; I turned it into a graphic novel, and once we get the 24 pages back we’ll go out to the publishers to get a deal and a tour. I didn't know how many actors in the Star Trek franchise have literally created and written a graphic novel, so I’m excited about that! I know several people have done a few regular novels, but no one has delved into the actual graphic novel world.

It’s sci-fi themed—I’ve created a 16-year-old teen superhero, a whole other universe, and I have some fantastical characters within in. So there’s Single Ladies and the fans supporting me as an actor there, but I’m thinking a majority of our Trek fans may not really get into a show like that or Sex and the City, because it's really not their genre or their niche. But my graphic novel is specifically for my core fans that are out there. I want to talk about it in a couple months, when the fans will able to go out and do the pre-orders. 

And we'll be there to let you know, sportsfans!

Meanwhile, who's seen Single Ladies and that "monster" he plays?