What's in a name?

I was at work during most of the Michael Jackson Memorial. Over lunch, we headed to a local Vietnamese restaurant for a bite, and they were showing the live broadcast on ABC.

For whatever reason, the hard of hearing telex subtitles were on as well. Now, as this was live, those folks must have been typing up a storm, and they got a bit flummoxed when a boy from Wales came on stage to sing.

Shaheen Jafargholi.

Now, the boy can SING – but, he does have a hard name to spell, especially if you’re not from Wales.

This is what was said: “My name is Kenny, my name is Kenny Ortega, thank you, and I was Michael’s partner in the creating and directing of many of his tours, including “This Is It”. And Shaheen was invited by Michael to join him in London, for the show, so I just wanted to introduce him to everyone and to say thank you for coming out all this way to join us today Shaheen.”


What we saw on the screen was this: “My name is Kenny, my name is Kenny Ortega, thank you, and I was Michael’s partner in the creating and directing of many of his tours, including “This Is It”. Invited by Michael to join him in London, for the show, so I just wanted to introduce him to everyone and to say thank you for coming out all this way to join us today.”

The poor folks had no idea how to spell Shaheen.

You're how old?

My agent calls me on Friday evening; he’s got me an audition spot at 10am on Monday for a print commercial. It’s a straight buy out, and they’re looking for a “Silverlake” type. In Hollywood speak this is basically edgy, fashionable, young, rocker, hip – the spot is for a mobile phone company.

Then comes the kicker, he got me a 10am spot, but realized that this is actually for the 18–21 year olds. But he says not to worry, as I can just go to the other slot that begins at 1pm, and explain that my agent booked me into the wrong slot. Making this a little bit worse is that this 1pm slot is for guys who are 24-25.

My agent commented that it wouldn’t be good to put me up against an 18 or 19 year old – all I can think of is that the casting director will need to have cataracts, cause the 25 set will need to have been doing a lot of hard living or we’ll just need to make sure there’s a good photoshop artist around if I land the job.

I can definitely pass for late 20’s – hell, I still get carded. But, even on my great days, passing for 24 would be a STRETCH.