-Two productions I’m in from DIRTY SWEATER PRODUCTIONS – “Messy Boys” & “Rustlers Promenade” – made it into the 2023 Albany Film Festival. I’m the voice of Mother Nubbins in “Messy Boys” (directed by Kyle Kleege) and Rico in “Rustlers Promenade” (directed by Charity Buckbee-Kleege). 
-Here’s a review (Audio) of the comedy / horror film NIGHT OF SOMETHING STRANGE from THE HORROR SQUAD PODCAST. Some questions that people sent were addressed around the 11 minute mark, while the actual review of the film starts around the 55 minute mark. I play the role of Cornelius in this film 🙂
-The official trailer for the horror / sci-fi / martial arts / zombie film JOHNNY Z ( BLACK MANDALA) has been released. Starring Felix Cortes, Michael Merchant, Jason DElgado, Ellie Church, David E. McMahon, Ronk Bonk, Trey Harrison, Billy Garberina and more. Directed by Jonathan Straiton.I play the role of Monster Boy in this (and I made it into the trailer – Go Me!) 🙂
-On Tuesday, January, I was leaving work and was on my phone while waiting for the car to warm up when I saw news that Guitar Legend JEFF BECK had passed away. At first, the posts were being reacted to as a hoax, but then it was posted on his official Facebook page, followed soon after by major news outlets. I was stunned.
-The first time I’d heard anything from Jeff was from the song “Heart Full of Soul” from THE YARDBIRDS. It was during the 80s and I was headlong into guitarists like Randy Rhodes, George Lynch, Eddie Van Halen as well as the guitarists of KISS (Specifically Ace Frehley, Bruce Kulick and even Paul Stanley) and I loved how this song had an “Ace-like” feel to it, not realizing, at the time, that it was more the other way around. I would eventually learned that Jeff paved the way for a lot of musicians through out the years. I initially thought he was more of an Ace / Eric Clapton type player until I saw the music video for the song “Ambitious” and heard that Jeff could easily hold his own with those 80’s cats. Funny video too, with that iconic line from that guy watching Jeff ripping it up “…Great…Great Sandwich…” 🙂
-Then I get into my college years and get access to the records in the library as well as headphones (!). Yes, I’d never really listened to music with headphones before, so you can imagine how warped my fragile little mind became when one of the first albums I listened to, with headphones, was Bold as Love by The JIMI HENDRIX Experience – specifically the first song “EXP” :O (“Little Wing” being my favorite from this LP).
-After listening to the first two Hendrix albums for awhile, I went on to an album from a guitarist I also wanted to hear more about – Jeff Beck’s Blow by Blow – which hit me just as hard, but in a different way -especially the song “Cause We Ended as Lovers” – there was just so much feeling in his playing.How the hell did he do that?
-To me, it’s like you can just hear the anguish coming from those beginning lines. I was very surprised to hear that, not only was this a cover song (STEVIE WONDER), but it was originally a song that had lyrics and vocals, as well as a haunting quality…
LYRICS
Sneaking kisses in the hall
Parting love notes are on the wall
Been each other’s all and all each day
Lovers walking in the rain
So close we felt each other’s pain
But now you say that love has died away
‘Cause we’ve ended now as lovers
Doesn’t mean that we each other can’t be friends
‘Cause we’ve ended now as lovers
Does our love for one another have to end
I remember teaching you
On piano ‘Tea for Two’
And how playing it wrong I kissed your hand
But when our love has gone and passed
Why does the good exceed the bad
Well that’s one thing I’ll never understand
‘Cause I remember us at class
You were always the one to pass
And gave me answers right to see me through
But that was more than years ago
And who will love me I don’t know
It’s sad for sure but true it won’t be you
-Which leads us to the video clip at the start. It’s from a show from 2007. Just a three piece; Tai Wilkenfeld on bass, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Jeff on bass. A great performance. I never got to see Jeff perform live and I wish I had.
R.I.P. Jeff…
-My apologies for the delay in posting this. 2022 has been a very trying year for me and was basically kicking and screaming all the way till the end – and it’s still trying to get thru the door per se… I can’t recall ever having a worse year, yet having said that – some good things did happen for me. One of the main differences with 2022 is that things happened more with me in regards to music than acting. That hasn’t happened in many a year. Let’s get on with this shall we?
– Of course, the first major event of 2022 happened right away – and it was a real bad one; the passing of my Mom, Bobbie L. Johnson from Covid-Pneumonia (which almost caused my death as well). She passed on January 8, 2022. Strange, in a way, that I happen to be writing / posting this year in review on the one year anniversary of her death. I had planned to do this review earlier, but like so many things in 2022, I had to move and adapt to so many things changing on short / no notice – more than usual. I guess part of that could be attributed to aging and Sarco (Sarcoidosis), but I would also add depression, stress, fatigue and major overwhelm (probably more) to that mix. I’m only one person after all…Still, others have been in the same situation as me and have made it thru so I believe I can as well; at least most of the time…
-I wasn’t even close to being done going thru Dad’s stuff when this happened. Now I have Mom’s stuff added to it as well. One year later and it still looks like a bomb went off at our home. I’ll eventually get things all set; it’s all part of my new mantra – “One Step at a Time, One Day at a Time.” I don’t really have much choice; the alternative probably being a nervous breakdown and / or giving in to hazardous thoughts so…
-About the only thing that would even be taken as a positive with this is that Mom is no longer suffering and, if one believes, is re-united with Dad, who she loved so much. As with Dad, there were some “mix ups” with the hospital (although not as “weird” – for lack of a better term at the moment) that make me feel sad. I no longer have to be a caregiver, which did offer me some relief from stress and being overwhelmed, but I would switch back to it in a heartbeat if that meant Mom coming back alive and well. Like Dad, she was supposed to go to the hospital to be healed, and then come home. Unfortunately, they never came home alive… I have both their urns at home where they are together and safe. I wrote a tribute to MOM like I did with DAD – which you can read via the links if you’d like. I could spend hours just on this part alone, but perhaps I will save all that for “WAYNE – THE BOOK.” I’ll just say that I miss and love you both deeply and a day doesn’t go by where you’re not in my thoughts. Perhaps one day I will be reunited with you both…
-Since I kind of brought up writing…I had planned to dip my toe into that pool in 2022, but numerous things prevented that from happening. I’m not sure if I can jump-start things with this in 2023, but I plan to at some point. Then again, maybe I just needed an excuse to post a pic of me wearing a WANDAVISION shirt. I love that show 🙂
-You can’t see it in the above pic, but Covid-Pneumonia had left me a parting gift – Accelerated Hair Loss. Thankfully, it only lasted around four months, but during that time…I would say I lost about 50% of my hair at this time. It used to be very full and thick (that’s what she said – HA!) 🙂 but now it was thin and coarse, with a lot of the loss being on the sides of my head. I couldn’t get in to see a dermatologist so I was trying up to five different things trying to at least stop further loss. I mean, at one point my hair was coming out in clumps and the top of my head was starting to look like I was in the genesis of having a skullet a la HULK HOGAN. I was told by doctors that this could happen to people who have gone thru major traumatic events and that I was under an extreme amount of stress / feeling overwhelmed. You think? Fortunately, my hair stopped falling out and even started growing back, albeit at a much slower rate (it used to grow an inch a month). On top of that, for whatever reason, some of the front hair that was coming back came out wavy (my hair is normally very straight). In addition, there seemed to be some areas growing faster than others for awhile. A good haircut took care of that but, for awhile, my hair was starting to look like present day Gene Simmons.:) It didn’t help that my weight was fluctuating all over the place in 2022 as well. If you see the left pic on the main shot, that’s me after leaving the hospital the last week of December 2022 ( me and Mom were admitted into the hospital on Christmas Eve – what a way to spend Christmas right?). I had lost 30 lbs in five / six days – not exactly the healthiest thing to happen. Then it came back, but then started going in the other direction so I had to fight to reign it in cause no one wants to see a chubby WWJ on stage or screen- least of all me 🙂 I had various degrees of success with this, but towards the end of the year I seem to have things stabilized for the moment. Maybe by the end of 2023 my hair will be back to where it was. Maybe…
-In relation to my health, 2022 saw the return of my CLUSTER HEADACHES and this was, by far, the worst year I’ve ever had them. It started when the temperature shot up more than 40 degrees early morning, which triggered FIVE (!) cluster attacks in the remaining afternoon. For over a month I would be hit by one in the day time, but the worst ones were at night – 2:30 AM to be precise. Obviously, this caused a major sleep issue, which just served to wear my body down even more than it was from other things. The pain usually lasts for 45 minutes or more and can be quite brutal. There’s a reason they’re nicknamed “Suicide Headaches” after all…Thankful they eventually left and I hope they never return. Time will tell…
-On the acting front, things started out with me taking the role of Trower in the feature film “Earworm” by DIRTY SWEATER PRODUCTIONS. It was a one day filming event for me, but good to be back in front of the camera speaking dialogue. Two other DSP projects were released this year, the first being “Messy Boys” where I did the voice-over for a creepy old woman (you read that right) and the short film “Rustler’s Promenade,” which can be seen below in full. I played the role of the lead rustler Rico in this. I believe “Earworm” is planned to be released some time in 2023.
-The film “Reel Monsters” (Formerly “In Search Of”) was also released and can be seen on Amazon Prime and other outlets. I played the role of Clyde in this and had some nice speaking parts in it – one that I might put in my reel (if I ever get around to making one – sheese! :D) Directed by Mark Polonia. Keep an eye out for more acting projects I’m involved with on the WWJ ACTING PAGE on FACEBOOK.
-I also entered an acting contest in 2022 – something that I rarely do. It was for the 2022 FACES OF TERROR contest and, in my group, I started in 96th place and ended up in third place, which knocked me out of the running. I have to say, I want to give a HUGE thanks to all the people who voted for me everyday as well paid for votes (partial proceeds went to the B+ FOUNDATION – helping to raise funds to help kids who get cancer and other things). Below is a video with more information about this organization.
-Unfortunately, someone who was once extremely close to me passed away mid –2022 due to cancer – my ex-wife Jessica McGuire. A little over six months has past, and it still hard to believe that she’s still not alive. I wrote a tribute to her as well, which can be viewed HERE. I know that losing people you’ve known on this journey called life is part of the ride, but next to my parents and little Tibet, this loss hit me the hardest. She was a driving force for me, even if we weren’t always on the best of terms after our divorce (or even during our marriage). As I mentioned in the tribute, I wish we had more time to broaden the “peace” we had, but that will now never be. The pic above was taken with me and Jess with my Mom and Dad on our wedding day – a simple event, to which we then drove to a KISS concert right afterwards. What a surprise right? 🙂
-As has been happening the last couple of years, more and more people in the public eye (aka celebrities) are passing away; people who were grew up with on TV, movies and / or on the radio. While all tragic and deserving recognition (and not just with celebs on that by the way…), I’ll usually make a post about the ones that effect me personally – and, in 2022, the height of that was with the passing of Dame OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN. I made a post of my thoughts on this previously (HERE for those who want to see), but every time I hear her song “Magic” (which Yacht Rock loves to play), it just brings back all sorts of memory. Such an soft, angelic voice. Both her and Jess died due to breast cancer (in which both had fought and beaten it multiple times in the past), so that played a part in my overall sadness as well…
-I didn’t do a lot of interviews in 2022, but did manage a few… One being with Pete Recchie Jr. for his podcast THE CHAT TRAP. I talked about acting, music (me and Pete were in my very first band called X-Rated), covid, my Mom as well as talking to a caller who was a mutual friend of me & Jess – and who didn’t know she had passed. My apologies for volume issues at the start of the interview. After all this time, you’d think I’d know to be closer to the mic when speaking *facepalm* 🙂
-The second interview I did was with Rick Smith for CHILLIN WITH RICK. It’s interesting that, in this interview, I was discussing how the current line-up for CAROLINE BLUE had formed and was preparing for our show on 9/24/22, while with The Chat Trap, the show was over and the line-up was in the process of falling apart… Both interviews went great and thanks to both Rick and Pete for letting me ramble on for as long as I did. I’ve been invited back to both shows in the future so keep an eye out for them, as well as some other great interviews with CNY musicians.
-2022 saw me coming back (from the dead? 😀 ) to film with “TALES OF DRACULA: Dracula Meets The Wolfman” once again. We did this in July, where temperatures were in the mid 90’s. Anyone who knows me knows how easy it is for me to start sweating. In this case, there were times where I was sweating the makeup off as fast as it was being put on :O Below are two videos I took to document the whole process of “melting on set.” I would still rather do this everyday than a regular 9 to 5 job. Another big challenge was my hair loss – Makeup Expert Ron Chamberlain noticed right away and I was concerned as well. Dracula is one of my bigger roles, but even if it wasn’t, I still want to look consistent – and with my hair, I definitely wasn’t. I know I did all I could, but I still want to punch myself for this. Director Joe DeMuro said we could work with it, so we did the best we could. We had to re-shoot the last fight scene and,. from what I saw, it came out much better than the previous version. I guess there was one more scene for me to do, but then it was announced that the film was done filming so that’s that. Last I heard, Tales 2 might be released in April 2023, but when it comes to almost anything involving Tales, things can and have changed so…At least this time I got to keep the costume 🙂
-All of which led to this magical moment 🙂 I’ll have some more behind the scenes video from Tales 2 to release once the film is out.
-With all that from above, you would think that, contrary to what I said earlier, more happened for me with acting than music. However, most of the acting stuff took place within a day where with music, especially CAROLINE BLUE, it happened over a span of months. By April of 2022, a new line-up for playing live for CAROLINE BLUE had formed, the first to include a keyboard player. All three of the players came from different backgrounds than previous members and, as I found out, all had less band experience than what I originally anticipated – not that this was a bad thing per se. While I don’t want to speak for any of those guys ( that’s for a future book-HA!:) ) , I believe I can safely say that the expectations they had when they joined the band didn’t pan out as they would have liked and, as such, was part of the reasons they left. It is what it is. As I mentioned in the interview I did for The Chat Trap, when it came to band line-ups, one of the biggest challenges for any band is the band itself. Everyone has to be on the same page and, if not, the foundation eventually cracks and falls apart. I was looking to do an opening show to start out, all originals, but instead got a headlining show where we had to mix our originals with covers, which caused a major challenge for this line-up. I’ll just say that, for various reasons, we weren’t as prepared for the show as we should’ve been, but we did it and got thru it. Some the songs went over well, while some…not so much, but overall it was more good than bad. Speaking for myself, if I was able to delay the show, 20/20 hindsight, I would’ve. I was not in the right mindset, or even health, entering this show but I gave the best I could at that time. Below is a few clips from the show (with more forthcoming on the CAROLINE BLUE YOUTUBE PAGE )…
-There were a number of good things that happened within the band. We had a photo shoot in June that basically went well. Here’s a quick video from that shoot.
-Online, the band got listed on the Bandcamp network, which you can check out on the CAROLINE BLUE BANDCAMP PAGE. In addition, both CAROLINEBLUE.NET and CAROLINEBLUE.COM finally came back online (albeit, for .com, it’s currently just one page with a link directing traffic to the .net site). The .net set has sections missing and the .com site is mostly missing – both of which will be worked on as time permits.
-After multiple delays for two years, the new CAROLINE BLUE Music Video for the song “My Fingers” (from a future album) was filmed and is currently in Post Production. Filming took three days and 27+ hours – all for a song that’s four and a half minutes long :O It’s actually more like a short horror film than a traditional band video. This was the first time I did a production where I wrote, directed and was the lead actor – as well as being in the band. Wearing so many hats was kind of keeping on the “theme” of my life in 2022 – only this time things held together and we got some great footage. Cinematography by Michael J. Rudolph, make up / FX by Jill Slusarski, behind the scenes by Sarah Randall and Linda Osborne plus acting by Linda, Jennifer Lefsyk, Meigg Marie, Darrell R. White, Lizzie Automatica and myself. Band members – well, you’ll have to see the video for that one 🙂 Plans are in place for a release sometime in 2023 in conjunction with a new CAROLINE BLUE album.
The music video is being made by WWJ ENTERTAINMENT LLC (which I did a soft launch of earlier this year ) in association with MJR VISUAL ARTS. In addition, I’ve been (slowly) adding content onto my WAYNE W. JOHNSON MUSICIAN PAGE on FACEBOOK. Please check out and like / follow all these pages – some good stuff will be arriving on them all in 2023.
-As you can see, I’ve been doing more in 2022 than trying to make it so my place doesn’t look like a bomb went off in it (HA!…maybe… 🙂 ). On top of that, I’m starting to add more content to all my You Tube pages as time permits. I have a HUGE amount of audio / video that needs to be converted to digital and them uploaded – again, as time permits of course… Here’s a few fun ones from 2022 as well as in 2021…
I’ve also been keeping busy with my two boys – Scruffy & Five-Paw. They’ve been good bois, for the most part. Scruffy poos on the carpet at times and Five-Paw, from time to time, throws up the dry food he chomps down on cause he only has one tooth (he does get wet food, but wants to get what Scruffy gets and I do my best to give them everything equally so…). They’ve helped me in so many ways, from helping me to be more responsible to being more stable and focused on what’s important in life and more. I’m so glad they let me in their lives. Life can’t be all that bad with two such handsome chunks like these two in my life 🙂
-One nice thing that happened in 2022 was that I decided to work on my “adulting skills” – specifically cooking. With that I enrolled in the HELLO FRESH service and, by the end of 2022, had made up to 24 meals – not bad for a self-proclaimed “microwave man” 😀 I would’ve made a lot more but, besides the cost, I would get the boxes, but then not eat everything right away; causing a build up. At its worse, I had over nine meals in my freezer (!). I’m down to, I think six now? 😀 In addition, sometimes I’m just too beat to do any cooking – which usually takes at least 20 to 30 minutes – maybe more. All have been quite tasty and, at the very least, I now know what a “drizzle” of oil is (HA!). I’m nowhere near where I can just cook stuff up from scratch, but I’m closer than where I was at the start of 2022. I post pics of my cooking on my Facebook and Instagram pages – and right now I’m still concentrating on them being more edible than pretty. I don’t see myself as a chief, but I should be able to eventually cook a decent, healthy meal for myself instead of gorging on junk food all the time – what a concept! 🙂
-So we come to the end of this wrap-up of 2022 for me. I’ve posted a lot of the good stuff, but there’s no need for me to go in depth to things like Holiday Grief (first time both parents are gone during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years) or the bouts of frustration, grief, loss and more – that’s all for “WAYNE – THE BOOK”…perhaps…:) ). On a serious note, 2022 has just been a rough year for me – and it’s kind of funny cause I’ve run into multiple people this year who’ve told me something along the lines of “Man, you’ve had a rough / bad year haven’t you?” I guess more than five people read these what I post huh? 🙂 There’s no use dwelling on the pain, although sometimes I have no control over that. Depression can be like alcoholism, at times, in that you never fully recover from it. You can relapse at any time… I have (A LOT) so you have to be on guard, but even then…- but there’s still so much I want to do before I get off this ride ( hopefully waaay later than sooner – The Fates / Gods willing) and no one is going to do it for me so less talk, more work Wayno (I can already hear the feedback on that one – HA!). And with that, goodbye 2022 – and good riddance. I think this picture below sums it up nicely 🙂
-As those who have a Facebook account know, they have a feature called “Memories” which shows what you posted on the current day years ago. For someone like me who started on Facebook in 2009, that’s a lot of memories each day. I do check them daily (mainly for stuff to post on my Instagram page at this time), but today, I saw this post from one year ago (2021)…
…Last night I had a Sarcoidosis (Sarco) flare-up. Bad. It’s even worse when combined with brain fog… turned in real early last night but had to call in today. Not bad earlier but coming back tonight 
No insurance till January so I can’t see a doctor yet and, even if I could, the last time I had a flare-up this bad, it took me 4 months to get an appointment (they won’t give you a steroid refill without testing), did that, had to wait a few more months only to be told on day of results that their computers were down 
plus it’s been too long between test and results and I’d have to do it all over again …Right now it’s a mixture of bed rest, Liquid Advil, Dayquil / Nyquil and chicken soup 
Any suggestions, at least to handle the inflammation / lethargy? Thanks in advance…
-Seeing this shook me up – and this happened before I had to go into work 😦 It made for a long day. I tend to dwell on things, and with this – and knowing now (with 20/20 hindsight) how things ended…lets just say I had a lot on my mind… It really hit me hard not only due to what happened, but that a year has already gone by. It’s strange cause I would normally write something like this in my personal journals, but they are currently backed up by at least a month; I guess this will have to do (for now) cause keeping things all inside isn’t healthy so..
-November thru January have always be hard months for me emotionally – and I knew it would be worse this year as 2022 was starting to wind down. The last five years have been a…character building experience (to be polite and to say the least), but the last three were mentally and emotionally agonizing for me. The first week on November 2019, Dad died – and all the things that happened leading up to that…then becoming a caretaker for two years after that…to December 2022, where not only did me and Mom catch Covid, but Pneumonia on top of that. Things got worse till both of us were rushed to the hospital on Christmas Eve. She got a room that night; I had to endure a lot of physical pain till I got my room at noon (!) the next day (what a way to spend Christmas)…to January, where I had been released the week before but,unfortunately, Mom wasn’t as lucky and died the first week…Just a horrible, horrible chain of events. I won’t go into too much here – that’s what my year end wrap up posts are for right? Having said that, it’s possible that I might just share some more “thoughts” via this medium. Maybe…
-I believe part of this is also due to this being the first Thanksgiving / Christmas / New Years with neither parent being alive. I love / miss them very much and think about them daily. It’s also strange cause there are times where the realization just hits me – I could’ve died last year. There’s still so much that I want to do and have to prepare for – and if that’s not enough to get my ass in gear, I’m not sure what is…
-It also doesn’t help that my mind and body are basically exhausted right now. The combo of aging and Sarco is quite the “one-two punch” that I seem to go thru almost every day. Admittedly, I am doing better than I was when 2022 started so there’s that. Having said that, I’m still very deep in the hole I’ve made for myself. I just have to do the best I can to get out of it – one step at a time, one day at a time…
WAYNE W. JOHNSON 