Insider Column 5

An insider's look at Townsend...Chapter Five


June 8th 2001 Late last week I received a call from a television producer who’s preparing a pilot for MTV called "It’s Your Turn". It’s intended to be an MTV version of Star Search. We were recommended to him by a well know entertainment attorney. The producer asked me to send him our media packet and if at all possible, have it to him by this past Monday. We sent it overnight express. He called me on Monday and asked if we could be in L.A. by Wednesday (yesterday). He loved our songs and he wanted us to audition for the show. Well, as you would imagine, it was impossible for us to get to LA on such short notice, especially with three of our guys being out of town. I informed him of our situation. He said that, based on our media packet, our website and our CD, he felt that we have what he is looking for. He asked if I could send him a video of the guys. He didn’t care whether it was professionally done. He also said that if we could send him a video by the end of this week he might be able to hold a spot for us. Oh yea. No problem. Right? Wrong! We don’t have a video!!

Minor set back. Right? To add insult to injury, I received an email yesterday (Wednesday) from a company that makes promotional videos for corporations. Recently they decided to expand their business into the music video industry. He happened across our website, liked what he saw and heard, and decided to make us an offer. His company is willing to make a video of Townsend and all he wants is for us to cover their expenses. It will be too late for the MTV pilot!!!!

The same guy that tried to get us set up with MTV pilot also set us up with a promoter in the San Diego area. If we can work it into our schedule, there is a good chance the guys will be performing in San Diego at the Summer Teen Fest.

The guys met with the Planet Hollywood folks today (Thursday 6/7). We still do not have a date for the Planet Hollywood performance. We should have a date by the week of June 10th. Also next week we have a meeting scheduled to work out the details for a live web broadcast of Townsend’s Planet Hollywood performance. That would be great because some of Townsend’s out of State fans can watch them perform live. The guys have several performances scheduled for this summer. Check out Happenings for the dates and locations.

Three of the guys also met with Gene and Julie of the Z 95.7 morning show today. I wouldn’t be surprised if we heard Townsend on Z soon. Don’t tell anyone that I said this, but, it wouldn’t hurt if Gene and Julie received a few calls.

Ryan received an email from Howie Klein on Wednesday (6/6). Ryan knows Mr. Klein. A couple of weeks ago we sent Mr. Klein one of our media packets. Ryan sent him an email a few days ago to see if he had received it. He told Ryan that he received the new press kit with the music and liked it very much, that the kit itself looks very professional and "the music is great". He offered to pass it on to one of the "a&r guys".

I don’t know. What do you think? Should we let him send it to one of the a&r guys? I believe that this decision falls into the category of "that’s a no brainer dude". A&R stands for artists and repertoire. They’re the folks that review entertainment material to determine if it is worthy of production. A&R folks can make or break entertainers. A year ago I had no idea what an a&r was. Heck, a year ago I didn’t even listen to music. I stopped listening to music in 1972. I’ll be glad when I’m no longer involved with this guy posse (boy band) thing. When the guys get a real manager I can go back to listening to Ron Owens’ talk show on KGO radio. I bet my IQ has dropped by 10 points since I started listening to music (lol).

After all the good news I just spoke of, I have a little bad news. As you know, I was hoping to start interviewing the guys this week. Well, it didn’t happen. We’ve all been incredibly busy this week. Todd was even too busy. Besides, I haven’t received all the questions from the Townsend’s fan clubs yet.

I did receive a couple of questions that I really liked. One of the questions was, "what was Todd’s most embarrassing moment when he was younger?" I asked both Todd and Dom that question. Todd said that he doesn’t recall having any embarrassing moments as a child. This may seem a little strange, but I cannot recall any embarrassing moments for Todd either. That’s not to say that he didn’t cause me considerable embarrassment. Those times are far too numerous to mention. Maybe Todd will recall something by the time I interview him.

Dom’s response was a little weak. It was something along the lines of peeing over a railing at Great America when he was a real little boy. I got the impression that it was a railing adjacent to one of the water rides. Ya know, Townsend will be performing at Great America on June 30th. Maybe we can get Dom to show us where he did his dastardly deed. Someday, when Dom is really famous, we can have a little plaque mounted on the railing that commemorates his embarrassing moment. On the plaque we can inscribe the following words: Dominick Restani peed here.

Before I forget. I still have not been emailed the addresses for all the Townsend contest winners. I posted my email address in the last insider column. If you (or your parents, I could understand this) don’t want to send your address over email, then let us know and we’ll figure out an alternate plan. If you’re going to one of the Townsend events, we could bring it there for you to pick up, for example.

Live long and prosper. May the force be with you. Nannew nannew.

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