Coming Up in the next few weeks

Yes, Hawaii's First Lady of Song,Yvonne Elliman will be here along with the Legendary Rona Barrett, Grammy winning singer Thelma Houston, the brilliant Taylor Negron, the Original 'El Mariachi' himself, Carlos Gallardo, and so much more.

RAD

photo: Alan Mercer Lighting: Eric Venturo

Robert A. Delgadillo, better known as RAD, is an artist who specializes in celebrity and fashion illustration. Since an early age, RAD was intrigued by the entertainment industry, and strived to capture the essence of each of the celebrities he drew. He was fascinated by the way the actors moved and gestured on the big screen, and studied them intensely.
In 2005, the artist had his first debut in Beverly Hills, and his exhibit consisted of Hollywood icons of the past and present. Since then, RAD’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, online publications, and billboards on an international level. His work has also been seen on television and on the exterior of buildings in Los Angeles .
RAD has illustrated fashion ads for Kitson L.A., which they used in their major advertising campaigns around the globe. His designs for the hip boutique celebrate the lifestyle of the young and beautiful people of Los Angeles .

I met RAD when he was putting together a show called 'The Pussy Collection' featuring his illustrations of Julie Newmar as the Cat Woman. Besides being talented, RAD is an outstanding human being. I am proud to call him my friend. Eric Venturo and I spent a recent afternoon with RAD and got these great shots. Check out how great his illustrations are. Yes he did one of me shooting my darling Mamie Van Doren. I love it!



AM: Why don't you tell me what it is you do and how you got started?

RAD: I specialize in Celebrity and Fashion illustration. Those are my two loves. I started as a kid obsessed with Hollywood, especially old classic Hollywood. I was the bizarre kid in a primarily Spanish speaking neighborhood where you either join a gang or watch the husbands beating up the wives.

AM: That just wasn't you was it?

RAD: I was the odd kid watching a Hitchcock classic or a Marilyn Monroe movie. Nobody understood this weird kid. Why wasn't I climbing around fences or spray painting something like other children?

AM: And why weren't you?

RAD: I have always been fixated on my art. It comes from within and it always has. I've always loved the energy of the actors and actresses of Hollywood. I dedicate my art to celebrating this energy. I want to express this energy through my art.

AM: Who were some of the first celebrities you were inspired to illustrate?

RAD: As far back as I can remember I was drawing everybody . Predominantly women. It was always women. As a kid it was Marilyn Monroe and the Hitchcock leading ladies. As I grew into a teenager it was Pop stars like Cyndi Lauper and Madonna. As an adult it has changed and it is constantly changing. I look to the past a lot. I'm no longer just interested in celebrities. I am just intrigued by people. I can be anywhere, like a supermarket, and see someone with a crooked smile or something about their eyes gives me the need to express it. It's kind of obsessive.

AM: If you are not obsessive you are not an artist.

RAD: Right. I will be somewhere having dinner with someone and again my eye catches someone and then it becomes hard for me to continue the conversation because I am so caught up in this moment I want to capture. This is what draws me to my art. It's the same thing with celebrities.



AM: I know you have a Latin background so you have been drawn to Latin celebrities.

RAD: Yes there is something about the Latin entertainers that is so different. I think that's what I respond to as well. They are nice to look at.

AM: They are more sexy! How did you get involved with Kitson?

RAD: I actually got approached by an editor from US Weekly magazine, who was the editor for the fashion section. She commissioned me to do a portrait of the owner, Frasier Ross.

AM: Had you been to Kitson?

RAD: I had never heard of Kitson and had no idea what it was. She wanted me to do this portrait because she said lots of celebrities go in there. People like Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, and Gwen Stefani. So I went down to the store to check it out and do a little research. The minute I walked in the store I thought WOW I was made for this place because it's all about Pop culture and what's hot at the moment. That is originally what the store was all about.

AM: Your art and the store seems to be a perfect fit!

RAD: To make a long story short I did the portrait and he really liked it so he ended up commissioning me to do some art for the dressing rooms. Paris Hilton had a dressing room she always used and Lindsay Lohan had one that she liked. I ended up doing Paris, Lindsay and Gwen Stefani art that ended up hanging in the dressing rooms for a long time. Eventually they decided to do their own line of shoes and they asked if I would be interested in illustrating them so I got a contract with them doing the shoes. Eventually it was jeans and everything else that they have done. It went on for years and years.

AM: I remember seeing your ads everywhere.

RAD: The ads became part of the branding for them for a long time.

AM: They were the only fashion illustrations anywhere at the time.

RAD: Fashion illustration was dead for the longest time. People were not doing it. I was even told when I went to school that it was done and dead. It will never happen again. This was my opportunity to do something I had always dreamed of. Now it's back in a huge way. Now there's people mimicking my style. I'll get phone calls asking if I did some illustration for Macy's and I have to say, no. It just looks like my work.

EV: Just the other day I saw some illustrations on the side of a bus and said to myself, 'That looks like Rad's work.'

RAD: It's flattering so I like it. I'm glad people are more open to it now.

AM: You must enjoy being a leader in this way.

RAD: I love it! I've never been good at following. Even with my artwork now I have made a niche for myself by what I like to do and how I like to do it. I'm trying to make my own style evolve so I don't stay stagnant all the time.

AM: How do you enjoy teaching?


RAD: Teaching is great! It has been a really great outlet for me as far as taking my art to another level. It's great to do work for celebrities and get paid, but there is a human connection that is so short lived and not frequent. When I am teaching there is a constant exchange of energy. I always remember, even art school, being this boring and monotonous experience. I remember having one professor who was so horrid and un-motivating that when I took his class I had this one epiphany where I thought I am going to teach one day and do the complete opposite. I am going to motivate and encourage people to follow their dreams. I want to be a coach in a way because my parents never understood the art thing so they weren't able to support me. It's so cool to be able to be a coach for somebody. That for me is what it's all about. That is the best part.

AM: You are putting together a book now right?

RAD: Yes it's going to be called 'RAD Illustrated.' It will be a coffee table style book that will be a collection of the celebrity pieces I have done over the years, along with other pieces. I am also working on some new pieces of people who inspire me. It's also going to be inspirational and motivational so anybody that is interested in learning something will be able to.

To learn more about RAD and see more art go to http://www.radboy.com/index.html

Lulu Roman Releases Her Past

photos: Alan Mercer Lighting & styling: Eric Venturo

Lulu Roman is an animated, joyful personality, who is naturally upbeat. Our photo session was easy and fun thanks to her warm and gracious manner. Eric Venturo and I enjoyed working with this good natured artist. She wasn't always this woman.

After enduring and surviving a rough childhood and a ten year drug addiction, she has proven herself to be a winner with a successful Gospel music career. Prior to this she was, among other things, a stripper for the infamous Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas, and a regular cast member of the long running TV show 'Hee Haw.' Lulu was inducted into the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999 along with Andy Griffith, Barbara Mandrell, and Loretta Lynn. Not bad for a former hippie kid.

AM: Hello Lulu. I think anyone who knows a little about you knows you have had a notorious life.

LR: Yes they do!

AM: Weren't you a go-go dancer?

LR: I worked in the strip joints for Jack Ruby.

AM: Tell me about that.

LR: He had already gone to jail by then but he had interest in a couple of clubs in downtown Dallas and I worked there first.

AM: How old were you then?

LR: I was nineteen and twenty.

AM: Did you have any moral issues about stripping?

LR: No. I was the flasher. I was a hippie kid so I didn't care.

AM: You were quite a bit heavier then weren't you?

LR: Oh yeah I was 320 lbs. back then. I got all the way up to 380 before I started losing weight.

AM: Can you tell me about your childhood?

LR: I was born in a home for unwed mothers. A couple of years later I was dropped off in an orphans home in Dallas. That's where I spent my childhood because they didn't adopt fat kids.

AM: How long did you stay there?

LR: I got to stay until I graduated. It was not the happiest times. At any given time there was 800 to 1000 kids in that place. All they wanted to do was herd us around and keep us in order. If you were not in order you got beaten pretty good.

EV: How did they punish you?

LR: To punish us they would take strips of linoleum and whack you on the hands with them. They did all sorts of strange things.

EV: That sounds like Catholic school.

LR: No kidding. It was Baptist. I've blocked out so many years of that because my little fat heart was so broken and so wounded. I just started to get mad. By the time I got out of that place I was really pissed off. They sent us to public school the last three years I was there. When I was 16 years old I learned how to do drugs. By the time I got out I was already a drug addict.

AM: What type of drugs were you doing?

LR: Speed mostly. I smoked a lot of dope. I got arrested twice for procession. I just got an expungement. I was pardoned a while back but I didn't know you had to have them expunged to get them off your record. I just got the paper work last week. It has all been obliterated off the records.

AM: That is great and so deserving. You say you were pissed off and I wonder how could you not be bitter?

LR: I was a broken, wounded soul. I was so mad.

AM: How long was this before Hee Haw?

LR: I had my experience with the Lord in 1973 so from 1964 to 1973 was a wild time. I was a hippie kid who was not into Country music. I was listening to Jimi Hendryx and Grand Funk Railroad. I ate acid and ran around in water fountains. My vocabulary was pretty bad. I did a lot of things that I made bad choices about, but I was so angry I didn't realize it. I was by myself. I didn't think anyone would ever take care of me.

EV: How did you react to people back then?

LR: If you got too close I wanted you out of my space. I had tire chains and I would wrap them around my wrists. I was a mean mama. I was a tough broad.

AM: How did you change so dramatically?

LR: I'll tell you what I discovered. If you have no concept of what love is on any degree you have no fear because there is nothing to lose... and that's where I lived. In 1973 my oldest son Damon was born addicted to drugs and they came and told me he was going to die. That was the first time I thought about a higher calling. I was in no place to fold my hands together and pray (in a meek child voice) 'Dear God Will you help me?' No I was more (in a gruff deep voice) 'Yo Dude if you are real I will make a deal with you.' I said if you give me my kid I won't do anything except what you want me to do. I've since discovered that God has a plan for us. I've been walking with the Lord for 36 years.

AM: But you did not believe in God when your first son was born?

LR: That never crossed my mind for one second back then. I thought if there is a God I don't care anything about him because he threw me away. I never had a Momma, or a Daddy, or a brother, or sister, or a room of my own, or a puppy. I don't remember even having a doll. I just remember being the fat kid . People were just insane to me because I was the outcast.

AM: Do you have more children?

LR: Yes I have two sons and my youngest got married on April 15. I said to him, 'You got married on Tax day.'

EV: At least he will always remember his anniversary.

LR: That's what he said. This way he wouldn't forget.

AM: When did you realize that you had humor?

LR: I think I knew that from a real early age because it became a security blanket for me. I used to get in trouble all the time at the orphanage and I realized I could make people laugh with me. I know that humor is an innate ability that God puts in some people and I think I got it because of my upbringing. It's always been a part of who I am.

AM: How did you get an audition for Hee Haw?

LR: I met Buck Owens working in those nightclubs honey. He fell in love with my girlfriend and I had a fling with one of his band members. Honey I set that boy free. He was in love with me.

AM: Didn't you get fired from Hee Haw?

LR: They never really said I was fired. The producer Sam, who is like my father, said the cast is worried the sponsors are going to take our show off the air because you have been busted twice.

EV: Did Buck Owens stand up for you?

LR: Buck Owens is the one who got me on the show but he was mad and said get her out of here. They decided to put me off to the side and not use me as much. Nobody ever said, 'You are fired.' I was off for a whole season and the whole time I was off Sam took care of me. He paid my bills and went to the courts with me. I was in his custody.

AM: Is that how you got back on Hee Haw?

LR: About a year later I came back to California and went to the Hee Haw office and I was drug free so they let me back on the show. The producers told me I could sing my Gospel music as long as I didn't sing about Jesus. They were Jewish and didn't want that. I got a truck load of songs honey that say Lord and Savior so it wasn't a problem.

AM: Have you noticed your audiences in Gospel music increasing over the last 36 years?

LR: Oh yes. It's been a good ride. It really has. I really believe that I was born to do what I am doing now. I am supposed to sing and tell people my story. People need to know that there is hope. They need to know that God is real and he WILL take care of you if you let him take care of you. You have to make the choice and say OK I believe in you, so do it. Take care of me. Do it. People often think to themselves that they have done way too much bad and that God will never accept them.

AM: Do you think you have released your past?

LR: Yes I do. Most of the time.

AM: How did you process all of this?

LR: When I moved to Nashville in 1991 I was being counseled by a few real good people. What I realized was that I was going to have to make a choice to forgive. It took me years to get this done. I had to go all the way back and forgive that family for giving me away. I had to forgive God for letting it happen. I had to forgive myself for all the stupid choices I made. But I found out something really remarkable.

AM: What was that?

LR: When you make a choice to forgive that person who so mortally wounded you, that person no longer defines who you are. There are so many people walking around out there that are so mortally wounded because they have been so abused. For years I woke up every morning and would say OK God I choose to forgive today, but I wouldn't feel it. I just kept saying over and over again I choose to forgive, I choose to forgive and then one day you wake up and it is gone.

AM: It sounds like you had to make a concentrated effort.

LR: Yes I did have stay concentrated on it.

AM: Forgiveness isn't about the other person is it?

LR: No it all has to do with you. If you don't learn to forgive it will eat you up. Anger and resentment make you sick. I tell people that I am now so good at it I can almost forgive people on the spot.

AM: So you minister to people now.

LR: Yes that's what I do. I sing and tell them my story. I let them ask me questions.

EV: It's been a pleasure to get to know you Miss Lulu. You are a true Phoenix rising out of the ashes.

LR: Thank you very much.

AM: What an important person you are to be such a healer. I always knew that I would love you.

LR: Thank you, I love you too. It's just in the last three or four years that I am allowing myself to really feel the love from other people. Society taught me to hate myself because I was fat. Since I've lost the weight and people are still around, I am learning to be loved.

To learn more about Lulu Roman visit her website http://www.luluroman.net/

Sally Kellerman

Sally Kellerman has a memorable role as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in the second filmed pilot episode of Star Trek (1965), entitled "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Kellerman also co-stars with Tony Curtis in The Boston Strangler (1968) as the only surviving victim. In 1969, she reportedly almost talked herself out of her most famous role.
She had an argument with M*A*S*H director Robert Altman after reading the script. She was incensed about the way her proposed character, Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, was to be humiliated. Altman said that her attitude and passion was exactly what he was looking for in that character. Kellerman was offered but refused the role of "Hot Lips" in M*A*S*H the television series.
In 1986, she played comedian Rodney Dangerfields love interest in Back to School and co-starred with Julie Andrews and Jack Lemmon in Blake Edwards' That's Life!.
She has also enjoyed a long and successful career as a voice actor for various television commercials over the years, most notably for Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing.
I met Sally five years ago at a Paul Williams concert. I liked her from the minute we said hello. We have remained friends over these past years and I have photographed her many times now. She has been on this blog twice before, when her new CD was released and when she was honored at a lunchean, but we have never sat and talked like this until now.


AM: I know you just returned from San Francisco where you finished a three week run at Teatro Zinzanni. How was that?

SK: I don't know if a San Francisco native has ever seen the show, but it is one of the greatest things I have ever been a part of. It's a happening like Paris in the thirties or Berlin in the twenties. It's a huge tent that is a beautiful environment. It has a center ring and a stage with a band. So many scary, wonderful things go on in there.

AM: You have been performing there the last couple of years right?

SK: I have been doing it for three years now. Melba Moore and Thelma Houston perform there as well. Thelma said to me, "Honey I don't tell anybody about this job because if I do they will all want the job." It is a real love affair for me, a love affair with the audience and with the cast. This is like a European circus, but it is intimate. You get to know the people. I sing five to six songs throughout the show.

AM: Since your critically acclaimed CD has been out for a while now do you notice people relating to you more as a singer now?

SK: I sure hope so because the record is selling. I've had incredible response from the DJ's. It's all been amazing. We feel like it's only been out a week. We are just beginning to really work it.

AM: It is a timeless recording.

SK: That is because Val Garay produced it so well with all these classic musicians playing. I think people are surprised because people have always thought of me more as an actress, but also for the choice of material on the CD. People expected 'I'm in the Mood For Love' with strings. I love all that, but this is a pop album with a blues, jazz base. This is a more contemporary album.

AM: How do you cope with the fact that you have considered yourself a singer long before you thought of yourself as an actress?

SK: I was singing first and had a contract with Verve records when I was eighteen. It's just always been my passion. I was neurotic and scared at the time, unlike today when I'm the most perfectly lovely human being (laughing). In the 70's at the height of my film career I turned down all these great films so I could concentrate on singing and go on the road because I wanted to be taken seriously. I wanted people to know that I was the real deal. I wanted soul, but it would take another thirty years to get it.

AM: You turned down the TV show version of M*A*S*H didn't you?

SK: Yes I did because I had been working in television and I was trying to get out. I always wanted to be in films. I got nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Hot Lips so I thought I want movies. I love creating characters.

AM: Are you working on anything as an actress at this time?

SK: At this moment I would love to create a character on television. I'm working on developing a series right now. I'm open for a great part in a movie. In the early days I turned things down, but now I am open to saying yes. It's an exciting time in my life. It really is. I have a passion at this moment in my life that feels as fresh as the day I was born. It feels like the beginning when Altman picked me out of the crowd for Hot Lips.

AM: The interesting thing to me is that even though a lot of people do not know you sing, you are still very famous for your voice.

SK: I know it. It's something that I always thought about. I have done SO many voice-overs and I've done them ever since the 60's. People stop me everyday and tell me they wish they had my voice or that they love my voice. I get that everyday.

AM: Do people recognize you from your voice more than seeing you?

SK: Yes, a woman who had her back to me the other day said, "Oh I knew it was you when I heard you talking."

AM: Is this happening more these days?

SK: There has been a lot more visibility for me since the CD. My fan mail has really grown recently. The internet has really helped. I have grown up and learned to appreciate the current reality of life which is the internet.

AM: I'm glad you are able to use the internet to get people to hear your music.

SK: Also the pictures you took of me really help. Everyone comments on them all the time. You make taking pictures fun.

AM: Thank you.

SK: I was never going to have another picture taken until you came into my life. I was just going to use vintage photos. I can't wait to get my picture taken now....but only by you.

photos: Alan Mercer

Learn more about Sally Kellerman at her web site http://www.sallykellerman.com/