mr. RAY (Ray Andersen) To Be On
AMC Reality TV Show
As...Himself!
Check out a clip of the final
scene in the La Bamba episode
here.
mr. RAY is fronting the band
and sings back-up with Todd n the last chorus.
That's NOT him on lead guitar!
I was asked to be on a
reality TV show called Into Character to be aired on the AMC channel (American
Movie Classics).
A good friend of mine, Jim
Wilcox from Starpolish.com, emailed me regarding this opportunity.
He thought I'd be perfect for
this.
The particular episode I was
involved in, centers around a really nice guy named Todd,
who has asked his girlfriend
to marry him. This is all true.
He's from NYC, she's
Mexican-American - he's just proposed to her - and he wants to
be able to sing and perform
the song, "La Bamba" in front of her, her family and his family.
They needed someone to teach
him how to play guitar, as the ad stated,
and perform in the
spirit of Rock and Roll.
They felt, as they put it,
with my experience and passion for Rock and Roll,
I could help this
'not-known-for-rocking-out' guy achieve this.
Talk about a crash course in
Rock Guitar Playing 101!
They only gave us 4 sessions
to help realize this fantasy!
The producers were looking to
re-create the vibe of the movie La Bamba
for the culmination scene,
with
Todd ultimately singing and playing the famous tune
with a real NYC Rockabilly
band backing him...we filmed it at
Seward Park High School,
a Lower East Side school.
The 200 plus extras, were all
decked out in 50's garb.
With my Rock God pupil, Todd -
No stickered mr. RAY guitar for
this gig!
Just my ultra-cool '69
Telecaster...
Originally I was asked to
teach him the song one-on-one at the studio,
and on the final
shoot/performance, I was to be the doting, proud Guitar Instructor Dude
on the side of the stage
giving my man a thumbs up as he sang his rockin' heart out.
They eventually asked me to
be a part of the band, too, so that
really made my day. They said
Todd just felt more comfortable with me
right next to him. He's was
a great guy - very teachable...he really
wanted to learn, and we only
had 4 days to accomplish this.
And oh yeah, he's only picked
up the guitar a few times in his life!
It was a whirlwind for the
guy, whom they flew to Mexico for just one day during shoot week
to get the flavor and the
origins of La Bamba. How 'bout that?
We shot in NYC
beginning on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, 10/29, 10/30 & 10/31,
respectively,
and the following week, on
Thursday 11/6 being the last day of lessons for Todd from myself...
and finally, the last day of
the shoot on Friday 11/7 at
Seward Park High School in the
Lower East Side NYC.
Let's go to the hop, baby!
Some folks may rather
confusingly, sarcastically proclaimed to me, "You did a reality TV show?"
But to me, it's just another
color in my personal musical palette -
part of this wild ride of
music I'm
on...I couldn't turn it down.
I didn't eat bugs, I didn't
read a script, I didn't fake being a bachelor (Patti would KILL me),
and I didn't wear something I
wasn't comfortable with -
Before I stop to think of
what's in store for me on this musical adventure I've been on since age 5,
something interesting
presents itself....
and isn't the journey always
the best part?
