Alicia Leigh Willis Nashville, Tennesee June 10, 2006

We had a small, intimate gathering of fans for Alicia’s event.  She started out on stage then decided to just join us at the tables for a more intimate discussion.

We asked her what she had been doing since she left GH.  She’s been taking acting classes and auditioning.  She mentioned one of the classes that she’s taking is a comedy class and talked a little bit about working on the timing involved for comedy.  She’s also writing a movie with Tamara Braun.  Alicia said that she wasn’t planning to be in their movie but that she would probably have a role as a producer.  She tried to get Tams on the phone for us but she text messaged Alicia back to say that she was in a meeting and couldn’t talk.  Tams is currently working on a movie in San Fransciso, and Alicia’s father is also in the movie.

She talked a little bit about her birthday.  She and Tams went skydiving.  Alicia is afraid of flying and she hoped that jumping out of a plane might help but she said that it hasn’t, that she clawed the arms of the two guys she was between on the flight to Nashville.

She’s planning a trip to France soon and is very excited about it.  She also said that after she left the show, she took a trip to Kuai by herself.  She felt a sense of closure with the trip since she found out that she had landed the role on GH when she was in Hawaii.  She loves to travel.

She talked a little bit about working at the original bar that the movie Coyote Ugly was based on (where the girls dance on the bar).  She said that her dad had to come down and see what it was all about when he heard she was dancing on the bar, but once he got down there and saw it, he had a grand time.

One of the shows that she auditioned for is the new show “Psych” that Corbin Bernsen will be on.  She said that she went all the way to the end with her audition on that show but didn’t make it (and also hadn’t mentioned to Corbin that she was auditioning for the show until after the fact).  She talked a little bit about how tough it is out there, about her past in commercials but now even those are hard to come by unless you’re a name because the companies are now getting so many name actors as spokepersons when before name actors wouldn’t touch commercials.

One of Alicia's fans, Eddie, brought her a gift of earrings.  He also had flowers delivered to her while we were there.

Alicia is a shopaholic and since leaving the show has discovered Target is a great place to bargain shop.  LOL.  Her mother jumped in with a comment about her shopping and that she shouldn’t be doing it every day now that she doesn’t have the stable job.  Alicia later told us that her plans for the afternoon were to go shopping!

We asked her whatever happened with Rosie and she mentioned that the dog that played Rosie had died of cancer.  Awwww!  Her mother passed around pictures of Alicia’s black lab Sydney.

Alicia & her mom.   She was asked what her ideal role would be, and Alicia said that it would be something the polar opposite of Courtney.  She’d like to play a dark, drug addict type with an attitude, and that she’d die her hair for it.  She said that she went in and auditioned for that type of role, and that the casting director told her that she did a wonderful job but she just didn’t look the part.  She said that with most casting directors ‘what you see is what you get’, that they don’t have much of an imagination, that they perceive her to be the typical blonde, California surfer girl and it’s hard to get those type of roles when you're pidgeon-holed.

It was so nice to be able to sit down with her in such a small group and just chat with her informally.

Ted King Nashville, Tennesee June 10, 2006

So I hear Ted King's in the building...Greg Vaughan made a mad dash through the event before taking off with his wife to enjoy the CMA festival activities.

First order of business, Debby announced that she'd received so many complaints about how much she enjoyed introducing Ted that she decided to hold a raffle drawing and let one of the fans announce Ted's arrival.  Robin won the privilege and did a wonderful job (and I'm jealous of that kiss she got for her efforts!).

Ted came in looking very refreshed and seemed very happy with what has been discussed as coming up for his character.  He said that he had just picked up 2 new scripts, and things are looking great, that Lorenzo is headed back to the mafia and there is the possibility of a new woman for him.

We touched on the loss of his beard and there were both cheers and sighs over the loss of it.  (Yes, I am still in mourning but Debby had some great new photos of Ted with the beard!).

He mentioned that a lot of his down time had been due to the return of the veterans to the canvas, and while the crowd was upset with his down time, Ted mentioned that he liked the return of the veterans and that he liked the direction that the show was going now.

Q:  Are you going to shape up Diego?  The writers like the conflict, and I like the relationship.  Diego's been acting so bad that it makes Lorenzo look good.  He also later mentioned that he would like to see a little more depth in their relationship rather than just all action.

Q:  If you were going to assemble a crib would you use the directions?  Ted mentioned that he’d never done anything like that but that he understood from his friends that it was rather difficult.

Q:  Do you create a backstory for your character?  Ted said that he had sat down and written pages of backstory for Lorenzo but that he didn’t impose his thoughts on the writers but adapted them to the character based on the material that he was given to play and if the backstory has to change that he makes the adjustments mentally.

Q:  Do you find it difficult to find the motivation to play the same character day in and day out?  No, not at all.  I love what I do, so it’s a challenge everyday.

Q:  What are your hobbies?  I’m a music fanatic, a total audiophile.  He mentioned that he plays an acoustic guitar.  Someone asked him if he would play for us but he said that was just for him to enjoy, like singing in the shower.  He also said that Greg’s been exposing him to country music.

Q:  When they cut scenes from the show, do they let you know?  No, they don’t tell us.   Q:  How far in advance do you get your scripts and do you find it difficult to memorize so much material?  Right now it’s about a week in advance but that varies.  I love what I do so it’s not hard for me to learn my lines.

Q:  Do you adlib?  Sure.  He gave an example of the scene in the MetroCourt a week or so back with Rick and Steve.  Rick apparently asked to add the line about Ric kidnapping Carly but Lorenzo did it and looked like a hero, then Ted adlibbed his response.  LOL.  There were postcards passed out with that particular gesture.

Q:  Someone asked if he would be working more with Rick & Steve?  You’ll see a lot of conflict with Jason coming up due to the business but not so much with Rick.  He did mention that he had a scene with Nancy recently.

Q:  Who have you seen here (the CMA music festival is going on this weekend and it’s a real madhouse downtown with all the events)?  We went to the coliseum last night to see a show.  We got last minute tickets so we were way up in the awful seats, but it makes you appreciate having the good seats when you can get them.

Q:  Who would you like to see Lorenzo be friends with (hang out with the guys type thing, the girls’ night out scene was mentioned)?  I loved the girls’ night out scene.  If Sonny wasn’t in the business and they weren’t  mortal enemies, I could see them being friends.

Q:  There was a mention of the blooper that was shown on one of the local channels for Skye & Lorenzo when he walked into a door.  Do those type of things happen on the set a lot?  Technical difficulties usually only happen on the new sets, most of the time everything is done very smoothly.  He talked about how when they’re done for the day the set crew comes in and takes down the sets that won’t be needed for the next day and puts up the new ones overnight.  Sometimes, they’re done before midnite.

Q:  Have you seen Ignacio’s new movie, States of Grace yet?  No, I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but I’m planning to very soon.   Q:  Will you be going to SSW?  I don’t know yet.

(Ted ended the event by reading us poetry).   Q:  Which female actress is your favorite to work with?  Ted said that each actress brings a different slice of the pie to the experience.   Q:  Have you been to Miami?  Of course, the best nightlife in the country!

Q:  Why don’t you have a fan club weekend event?  Every year Debby (O) tries to get me to do one, but fan club weekend is just completely bananas, there’s so many people.  I get so exhausted after 3 hours of autographs and pictures.  I prefer the smaller PAs like this.   Q:  Would you like to return to the New York stage?  I would kill for it.

Alicia popped in to say hello to the fans.

She took a few pictures with the fans then continued on her shopping spree!

(Rest of the Q&A) Q:  How did you feel about being killed off of Charmed?  I was OK with that.  I asked to leave, it was fun in the beginning.  We later talked about Charmed at the table and someone asked if he had met Greg then but he said that no they didn’t cross paths since Greg’s character sort of filled the same hole after he left.   Q:  Are you still in touch with Tamara?  We’re playing phone tag right now.

Q:  How do you feel about Lorenzo’s impending fatherhood?  You’ll see a very protective side come out of Lorenzo.  It shows the conflict within himself.  He mentioned that he liked the conflict of kissing his child good morning then going off to work as a mob boss for the rest of the day.