Two Interviews You Won't Want to Miss!

Welcome back! Today we have two interviews for your reading enjoyment. First, I do the Q&A routine (Marvin’s answers are anything but your routine answers!) with Marvin Wilson. Afterwards, Louis Seiffer (the puffed-up, Satan-wannabe character from Owen Fiddler) is interviewed by Thames Lipton on "Inside the Actor's Head Studio” (You’ll see Marvin’s mind at work here.). Now on to my interview with Marvin:

To begin, Marvin, please tell the readers a bit more about yourself, starting with:
Where were you born, where did you grow up, and where did you get your education?

I was born in Marion, Indiana, grew up in northern Michigan, and attended Central Michigan University. But the majority of my "higher learning" came through many and varied life experiences, and continues to this day. I hope it never stops.


What career(s) did you have throughout your life? What is your background?

Wow - HUGE question - at least for someone like me. Okay, let's see. I have been, in reasonably chronological order: a preacher's kid that sang in church at the age of two; a thespian and music major in high school and college; a college dropout; a Hippie Rock and Roll guitar playing, traveling, pot smoking/acid dropping, Vietnam War-protesting, womanizing party animal; a Zen Buddhist student eventually ordained as a Buddhist minister; a carpenter; a small business owner in the construction industry; a network marketing massive organization builder; a public speaker, sales expert and sales trainer, and public speaking trainer; a skilled trades teacher in an adult continuing education school; a complete failure in my mid-life crisis who got addicted to crack cocaine (yes, you read that right - read my memoirs (“I Romanced the Stone"); a believer in the Way of Christ after having a powerful spiritual experience - which I still am today, and ... (taking a pause to catch my breath) - now a writer and blogger, an author who has the audacity to pen novels.


What are some of the highlights of your life?

1. The wild freedom of the 60's and 70's as a Hippie Rock and Roll musician - it'll kill ya, the drugs, sex, and fast pace, and I'm glad I got out of that lifestyle before it did, but man, oh, man - was that fun. I'd do it again, given the chance and bunches of decades taken off my age. But like I said, sex drugs and rock and roll is not a recipe for longevity.

2. Meeting and marrying my wife. She saved my life - twice. The first time was when she made me throw away my "little black book," settle down and be a one-woman-man with her. She and I married; I got into a slower, steadier, more sustainable and accountable lifestyle, and it surely extended my life. The second time was when she stood by me, never gave up on me, and loved me back to life during my addiction. Read my memoir, "I Romanced the Stone."

3. Meeting with the Christ after I had lost everything. My marriage was on the rocks (my fault), business failed, income and home lost, toys all taken away, cars repossessed, respect of others gone, and I had a $100-a-day crack cocaine addiction on top of a serious alcohol problem. God saved me and made me whole again. Since that day I've never had so much as one single craving. I don't go to AA meetings; I don't have to get up everyday and fight off the demons; no ... I disagree with 12-step philosophy that says there is "no cure." There sure as hell is, because I am a living example. Lay it down at the cross and ask God to take it from you. Do that with all your heart, mind and soul, I guarantee you can find freedom. I did.


When and how did you start writing?

That was right after my spiritual experience. Well I had been a journal keeper, amateur writer and poet all my life, but it was only then that I decided to write and publish a book - as a way to give back. And then I just kept going. I fell in love with writing and sharing spiritual/inspirational insights through the written word.


Please tell us more details about your writing career. What all have you written (genres, short stories, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, articles, etc) ? When did you become a novelist and why?

I've written lots of poems, although never published any yet; I've published three books, my memoir "I Romanced the Stone," the novel "Owen Fiddler", and "Between the Storm and the Rainbow", which is an anthology of some of the 'best of the best' blog posts I've written and posted. I currently have three manuscripts in the works, all novels that I plan on having published in 2010.


What goals do you have as a writer?

Besides making a ton of money? lol - Seriously, I want to reach people with spiritual and inspirational messages that help folks realize that the world is at their command if they will take responsibility for their lives, get unified with the ALL, learn the basic, fundamental and universal principle of the Law of Attraction, and follow The Golden Rule.


What else would you like your readers to know about you or your writing?

I write from the heart, I am a 'tell it like it is' writer, and I write what I know - which is a lot, having been around the block of life several times and having survived in good enough health and spirits to talk about it. And I say that not because I am so great, no - but because He that is in me is great and I submit to that higher power.


What is something fascinating about you as a person or as a writer?

Well if what I've divulged about myself already isn't enough to make our readers fall off their chairs (smile), how about this ... I've been frustrated all my adult life because I always wanted to be an NBA star. But, at nearly 60 years of age, a short, overweight, white guy who can't jump, has a poor shot, and couldn't guard my own shadow anymore on the court, I may have to reconsider my goals in life. Also, as you can see, I have no sense of humor.


What is your philosophy of life?

We are all interconnected, all one. You cannot take from another or harm another without doing the same to yourself. Conversely, giving to and helping others equals benefiting yourself.

Great interview, Marvin! I think the readers will feel that they learned a lot more about who Marvin Wilson is.

Next, Thames Lipton’s of "Inside the Actor's Head Studio” interview with Louis Seiffer. Host Thames Lipton gets up close and personal with the new smash sensation, Hollywood movie star, Louis Seiffer:

Lipton: Welcome to Inside the Actor’s Studio, Louis. I know our audience is thrilled that you would honor us with your appearance today. Thank you for being here.

Seiffer: Thanks. You’re welcome. And please, call me Lou.

Lipton: Very well, Lou. (pause) Lou, if you don’t mind me stating the obvious, you are an enormous man! Even bigger than you seem in your fantastically successful movie, Fiddler’s Follies. We even had to search the studio for a chair large enough to accommodate you. Just how tall are you? What is your weight?

Seiffer: (broad, proud smile, a shift of weight from side to side, producing sounds of seating boards in pain) Seven foot six, three fifty, give or take, it depends.

Lipton: Depends? Depends on what?

Seiffer: It all depends on how much attention I am getting. I swell in stature the more people believe in me.

Lipton: (Looking surprised, eyes widened) Really? Such a curious quality! I’d like to get back to that in a moment, but I know everyone is just dying to know how you came from obscurity to movie superstar stature in such a short while. How did you get your big break?

Seiffer: Well, I’ve been flying under the radar for, hell, seems like thousands of years, you know, doing bit parts in any kind of nightmarish foul scripts I can get into. I’ve actually been written up in the Bible, but nobody reads that anymore. Just as well, the reviews weren’t that great. Anyway, my break into the big time came when Marvin Wilson sold the movie rights to his best-selling book, Owen Fiddler. Owen Fiddler bought the rights, you know, and produced the movie. He and I go back, he owed me one, so I got the part.

Lipton: I see, and of course we were all astonished to learn that Owen Fiddler was a real person.

Seiffer: Oh, he’s real, all right, the (bleep)ing (bleep)hole. (Lou bares his funky yellow fang-like teeth)

Lipton: What? So you don’t much care for the man who helped launch your Hollywood career?

Seiffer: Like I said, he owed me. Now he figures he has no need of me anymore. That hurts my ego. I’m barely three foot tall around him these days. (bleep)ing little (bleep)head.

Lipton: And again with the size and stature changes thing! How odd! Can you demonstrate that for us?

Seiffer: I have little control over it. It just happens. Takes a strong personality to make me change. I brought a clip from Fiddler’s Follies with me, though. It’s the scene where Owen Fiddler, myself and Frenda Fiddler meet in the never-world. Frenda is, as we all know, an outstanding phenomenon, a powerful force onstage or off. This scene was done in one take, and it demonstrates that quality in me that you and everyone else seem so (bleep)ing interested in.

Lipton: Very well, let’s let our audience view the clip. (motions to the stage hand)

(The screen lights up with the scene a dull gray ethereal room. Louis Seiffer is lying in a bed, appearing weak. Owen Fiddler stands next to the bed. A glow in the partially opened doorway begins to intensify. It simmers, then boils and pops. It bursts like a bomb going off into the room, slamming the door off its hinges. A display of blinding white lights revolve and spin around a sparkling core that dances about. Lou Seiffer looks impressed. Owen stares in awe. The light show begins shrinking and coalescing, settling into a human-like form. Frenda Fiddler now stands in the middle of the room in an alabaster translucence of divine spirit. She takes a firm stance, assumes a countenance of authority and begins to speak.)

“I need the both of you to remain quiet and listen intently to what I have to say. I do not have time to repeat myself. My words will be chosen carefully in order to convey accuracy and truth.”

(Lou Seiffer gets incensed and bursts out of the bed. He takes form as a horned indigo pig-devil wielding a five-pronged spear and levitates into a hover above her head. His breath is a visible puke yellow wind that stinks like the decomposing dead. He roars at her)

“YOU INSIGNIFICANT LITTLE SHE-SWINE, DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?”

(Frenda looks firm into his eyes) “Sure, I know who you are. You are the representation of fear that resides in the hearts of humanity. You are really nothing at all, although you think yourself to be the greatest of the gods.”

(Lou starts to lose color, size and elevation as she continues)

“You’ve made an eternal career choice as the one who tempts mankind into mortal deception and fleshly pleasure. You lull the materially fortunate into a spiritual slumber as they recline in their luxurious castles built upon sand. You tantalize the “have-nots” with temporal elixirs of profane pleasures and deadly desire-fulfillments. You feel all puffed up with a false sense of power that is just an illusion. Humankind grants you that power through its ignorance and fear. You must just love it when someone commits a foolish deed and then says, ‘Oh, that wasn’t me, the Devil made me do it.’”

(Camera cuts to a close-up of Lou - he’s back in the bed now, appearing shaken. Frenda stands over him)

“Humanity has built you up in their minds as the most powerful of evil spirits, some terrible demonized deity with the power to kill and damn the soul. For thousands of years the churches have falsely glorified your status as the mighty punisher of sins, holding spiritual freedom and enlightenment at bay out of fear. As if your power to rule over people’s will and destiny were in fact a reality. You and I both know that’s not the truth, don’t we now?”

(Lou is the size of a toddler now and lies still as Frenda concludes)

“We each hold the power of choice. We each decide with our thoughts, deeds and actions whether to create Hell for ourselves or to move toward Heaven. I choose to not listen anymore to your insipid prattle and lame threats. Frankly, I’m getting tired of all of this and quite bored with your presence. Oh, and by the way, did I tell you your breath stinks?”

(Frenda swells her aura into a bright red sphere and shouts)

“BE GONE!”

(Louis Seiffer vanishes)

(The screen goes blank and lights come up to the sound of thunderous applause)

Lipton: Outstanding! Lou, thank you so much for … Lou? (looks around, incredulous) Where did Lou disappear to? (motions to the director to cut to a commercial)

***