A Brief Introduction to W.A.S.T.E. (Weird and Surprising TV ENG)

Welcome to the condensed version of the last 9 months. Dug has a rare day off and I'm handcuffing him to the computer until we catch up on the blog. Here's a compilation of Weird and Surprising TV ENG or (W.A.S.T.E.) to waste some time browsing through. I've also included work that involved travel. Enjoy.

W.A.S.T.E.--January 2007 (History Detectives/Super Bowl ads with Rex Grossman & Fred Claus with Rachel Weisz)

January 15th, Dug did the "Lucy Parsons" episode of the PBS show, History Detectives, about the Chicago Haymarket Riots.

January 24 & 25th, Dug worked with Rex Grossman on Superbowl ads for Snickers and "Body by Milk" spots. Dug also worked on Superbowl milk ads which featured Marvin Harrison and were shot in Indy. Hope Rex cashed the checks before we lost the game. I hope his Snickers and milk diet didn't influence his less than stellar performance.

January 29th, Dug worked on the EPK for "Fred Claus" with Vince Vaughn. He interviewed Rachel Weisz for the electronic press kit. The film will be out for the 2007 holiday season. Ho ho ho.

W.A.S.T.E.--February 2007 (Atlanta vineyard)

February 8-10th, Dug stayed at a vineyard resort in Atlanta, GA and shot interviews with Doctors. Must be nice to see how the other half lives. Ah, drug money from Sepricor and Lunesta.

It was a brutally cold, typical Chicago February week, and both kids were sick. Dug cheerfully called from sunny Atlanta and was complaining that he forgot a swimsuit and couldn't go in the amazing hot tub. Oh that's rough. I came really close to hanging up on him. He didn't even bring home bottles of wine for us because he didn't want them to break on his thousands of dollars worth of gear. Do they have FedEx in the south, darlin'?

February 17 & 18th, Dug was back in the warm south on a Model Search NYC in Dallas, TX. Next time he heads south in February, I swear I'm stowing away in one of his flight cases.

W.A.S.T.E.--March 2007

March 1st, Dug interviewed the band, "Gomez" at The Vic.

Multiple times throughout March, Dug shot "Louder than a Bomb", the annual high school poetry slam competition. The Chicago semi-finals were held at Hothouse, with the finals at IIT. Much of the writing was brilliant.

March 12th, Dug worked on "Nancy Grace" Live for CNN.

W.A.S.T.E.--April/May 2007 (Kevin's Room III & Orlando Model Search)

April 26-30th, Dug made a movie, "Kevin's Room III" for The Chicago Department of Health. It was an ambitious project, shot in the casual style of "The Anniversary Party". When the first rough cut was done, they held a screening in the brand new LBG community health center on Halstead in boys town. We had drinks and international appetisers and enjoyed meeting the cast, crew and their families.


May 11-15th, Dug traveled to Orlando, FL for a Model Search competition. Fun times with model wannabes in the land where the mouse is king.

W.A.S.T.E.--June 2007 ("The Return" with Tim Robbins)

Most of June & July were filled with shoot days for "Home Made Simple". Right before the season started, however, Dug worked on "The Return" with Tim Robbins. Between scenes, the actor had his ipod on constantly. It was a challenge to boom, because the location was an actual house with a ceiling and not a set. That's what they pay the big bucks for. Chicago crews can handle low ceilings and hand held cameras, unlike the LA crews, who are used to their cut away roofs.

W.A.S.T.E.--August 2007 (Dave Matthews Band--Most Ferocious Drummers & Lion's Club)

August 26th, Dug shot at Alpine Valley Music Theatre for the "Most Ferocious Drummers" documentary. He interviewed Carter Beauford, drummer for Dave Matthews Band.

During sound check he discovered that Ian, a co-worker from Metro from way back in the day, is Monitor Mixer for DMB. He's been exclusively doing their tours for years.

The interview went so long that the opening band "The Roots" began their set. It was a challenge to shoot under the stage and get usable audio with a band rocking out overhead.

August 16th and 17th, Dug drove to central Wisconsin for a Lion's Club shoot. They flew a little, blind girl in from Iraq for a cornea transplant. The film crew was at the airport and ready to film the arrival, with an entourage of about 20 Lions and a local host family.

Everyone disembarked, and...............................no little blind girl. It seems that the elderly, non English speaking Grandmother, who was the child's escort, and her granddaughter, missed the flight. Too bad the 20 Lions (who are actually based in Chicago) and the host family weren't at O'hare to welcome and assist, instead of in the smallish "Central Wisconsin Airport" with it's couple of terminals.

The film crew stayed at the airport till 11pm and were never told exactly what went wrong. We had these visions of the Grandma and blind child wandering around lost in mega behemoth O'hare, unable to negotiate the maze of terminals or read the signs. Or, even worse, we thought they might have been detained and searched so long that they missed the plane. So much for American hospitality and charity. Fortunately, they showed up on the first flight in the morning.

W.A.S.T.E.--September 2007 (CNBC & metal thiefs)

September 7th, Dug worked for CNBC on "Power Lunch". Making Money Across America Road Show is airing live in different cities once a week. They had hopes of broadcasting from the scenic roof of the Navy Pier complex, but rain and 50 mile an hour winds, put a quick end to that plan. Instead they shot downstairs under an awning and out of the rain. Lovely unpredictable Chicago. At least they missed the 80 mile an hour mini-tornado. Maybe the Windy City monaker doesn't just apply to the politicians.

Multiple days throughout September, Dug shot segments on metal theft for the city. He recorded interviews at ComEd, People's Gas, AT & T and CTA. If it was a Monopoly game, he'd be golden. Basically, scrap metal guys are stealing cables, gas meters, ground straps from substations, and phone wire that usually amounts to under a hundred bucks payout, but costs thousands to replace. I guess, for the scrap collectors, it's more like the game of Life, but the car's a rusty truck, they missed the college degree space, and the twins need to be fed.

W.A.S.T.E.--September 2007 (Indy Car)

September 9th, Dug came home from the Indy Car races at Chicago Motor Speedway, covered in rubber fragments. He was sitting on a golf cart, facing away from the track working. As the cars rounded turn 4, he heard a car hit the wall and the cameraman yell "Duck!" There's nothing like the sound of metal scraping concrete, down the length of the turn, through headphones, while debris rains down through a chain link fence.

The shoot was Sept 8th & 9th following driver, Scott Sharp, #8. Luckily he was NOT the one who hit the wall. He drives for Rahal Letterman Racing, sponsored by Patron spirits. Dug came home with a hat and a couple bright green hotwheels Indy Cars for the kids. I wanna know where my bottle of Patron Tequila is! Maybe next year. http://patronspirits.com/indy/indy.html

In past years, working the Indy Car Races, he's followed Danica Patrick, Dale Ernhart, Jr. and Ed Carpenter.

Home Made Simple--Allison Fishman

50's housewife or fabulous cooking maven, Allison Fishman (who swears the glass is water, the cig's just a prop and she has naturally curly hair).


The latest season of Home Made Simple is now on the air--Saturdays at noon on TLC.