-Below is a link to a detailed review of the feature film JOHNNY Z by Bryan Kristopowitz for The Gratuitous B-Movie Column (411mania.com). I played the role of Monster Boy in this film. Bryan goes in depth with not only the film but a chunk of the cast characters as well. Check it out 🙂
-Well, here we are again – another Year in Review from yours truly. Unfortunately, this one took me, to date, the longest time to do – although it already seems to be a throwback to the shorter ones (since 2013 when I started these – if memory serves). My apologies to all three of you who actually read these things… 🙂
-I guess 2024, for me, could be described as a Year of Loss. While I could, technically, say that about every year since 2017, this year just hit me hard in so many areas of my life that, more often than not, the process was even more overwhelming and relentless than before. Due to this, I definitely had my share of wounds and scars both internally and externally. Some might say it was to lay the groundwork for a “new you” and that may be…More often than not, one’s current status can be traced to the groundwork, both in thought and action, that was done in the past. 20/20 hindsight as they say right? It is what it is…
-I have to start things off with not only my biggest loss in 2024, but one of the biggest losses in my life – period – and that’s the passing of my cat Five-Paw in the early morning of December 11, 2024. I wrote a tribute to him which can be read HERE. I’m still not over this – and I never will be. It’s the same with my parents. They are all gone, but not forgotten. It’s so strange, even eerie to a degree, that with all three, they all kind of passed in a similar way. They were all sent to places where I expected them to be healed and brought back to continue on, but they all ended up dying. In addition, they all passed shortly after it was determined that the end was near and that there was no going back. At least Five-Paw passed away at home, but there’s a “double edge” to that. Maybe I’ll go into that in “WAYNE-THE BOOK.” You know I’m only half-joking whenever I mention that now right? I do have writing aspirations so time will tell…
-I have Five-Paw’s ashes at home in a small box-like urn. Eventually, I plan to get an urn much like what my parents have to add to theirs. It will be the same when Scruffy, my other cat, passes and, hopefully, with me. I’ve already started to make plans about all that and I have to tell you – it’s kind of freaky. Planning on what happens to you after you die is not an every day, or even pleasant, experience – not for me anyways. There’s a few other things I want to do in regards to Five-Paw as well. I miss him so much. He was such a good, gentle boy. Never bit me. Only scratched me once, and that was by accident. Coming home is never the same with him gone – and this applies to some other things as well. I still have Scruffy but, unfortunately, this whole loss will replay at some point – only it will be a lot worse; not because I didn’t love them both equally, but Scruffy has (currently) been with me for 12 years – he was just a wee little one when I rescued him from under my parents home. By contrast, Five-Paw was already at least ten years old when we took him in from the outside and he was here for only five years. That may seem like a long time, but for me right now, it doesn’t feel that way.
-Many people reached out during this for condolences and support and it’s all so greatly appreciated. Many have suggested getting another cat to help heal, possibly rescuing another cat from the outside. At this time I won’t be doing that. One – if it’s from the outside, I’d risk exposing Scruffy to possible diseases – and I currently don’t have the funds to bring cats to the vet for full exams right now. This was one of the things that, in my opinion, contributed to Five-Paw’s decline, which repeatedly hits me quite hard in hindsight. Two – bringing in a younger cat would require more attention for the young one than to Scruffy. I was always very careful to make sure that both Scruffy and Five-Paw were treated and loved as equals. But perhaps the most important factor is that I don’t know if I can take that type of loss again. Scruffy ‘s passing will absolutely devastate me – it was bad enough with Five-Paw. I will say that time may change my mind on this, but for right now, the answer is no.
-Five-Paw was my Mom’s cat, so I can only hope that they are reunited. On that line of thinking, Dad will finally be able to meet him and see what a good boy he is. Till then, as I said with my tribute, it’s just me and Scruffy now…
-To continue with loss, several people passed away who were close to me and / or I worked with and / or had some impact in my life including Nick Bongiorno (director of the docu-drama “Juggernaut” – which is what the scene above is from), Mickey Ray (actor I worked with on both Tales of Dracula” films), Miguel (Douglas Kondziolka) from Don Juan & Miguel and My Cousin Julie (Julie Johnson Stewart). I’ve written about them all on this site. As time continues on its relentless march, more and more people you know will pass on – and that number increase as time goes on. It’s just the way it is. It’s the rare day when, on Facebook, I’m not offering condolences to someone for the loss of a family member, a friend, a lover and / or a beloved pet. One of the prices of social media fame, per se. This, and the internal dialogue it brings, can be overwhelming at times in itself.
-One of the biggest losses for me in 2024 was, well, basically my way of living – at least as I knew it to that point. As you may or may not know, I’m not just an actor and musician. While I have been paid for those roles at times, it’s not how I normally paid the bills at this point in my life. To do that, I also work a regular job – two actually; one full-time and one-part time.That started in 2023 and continues currently. It can be quite the juggling act when I have to do those two and then work to add acting and / or music into the mix. Currently, the 9 to 5 type jobs are taking priority over the creative ones – hence why you haven’t seen me doing as much acting and / or music as I used to. You do what you have to do to survive right? Plus I had my boys to take care of. They are the priority. I don’t have any children (that I know of at least – HA!), but my cats (my bois) basically take on that role and I want to make sure that they are taken care of to the best of my abilities. If that means currently grinding it out 9 to 5 ( or more) and delaying my creative pursuits for the time being, then so be it.
-While I’ll save the details for “WAYNE – THE BOOK” (one day to be available where better products are sold – HA!) 🙂 , long story short, I lost my full-time job in mid January of 2024. Great way to start a year right? Then I was denied unemployment. I didn’t agree to the reasoning and contested it, but had to wait till mid-year to talk to a judge to get that reinstated. During that time, a lot of damage was done before I had that hearing. Get another job you say? I tried – many times. In fact, it took me almost a full year before I landed my current full-time job. The main reasons for not being able to get one are internal applications (basically someone inside the company put a bid on the job and internals always get priority) or just being outright ghosted – which is annoying as fuck. And while this was all playing out, I still had bills to pay – plus a number of financial hardships that came to fruition from past actions / decisions – so 2024 saw me liquidating numerous items – including my Star Wars trading card collection, almost all of my comic book collection, RPG stuff, Magic The Gathering cards, miniatures and more. I know, first world problems right? One thing that really sucked was having to sell a number of guitar and bass FX pedals and what sucked extra hard was not only having to sell some of my basses, but one of my good guitars. You do what you have to do.
-As you may or may not know, I’ve taken some hits in regards to my health in recent years; the biggest one being Sarcoidosis (Sarco)- which started in my lungs and, within the last year or so, hit my kidneys – which (last I knew) has them performing at only 50%. There are also some other issues that may or may not be related to Sarco – perhaps to just normal aging? Despite my looks (which I thank my parents and clean living for), I’m not a “spring chicken” anymore and as much as I don’t want to admit it, I am starting to wear down. In 2024, due to not having insurance, I had to cancel ALL of my medical appointments, not schedule any new ones and let any medications I was taking run out (with no refill) – including medication I had to help with any cluster headache attacks that might happen. I can only imagine what damage has been / will be done (which I call adding to my “Goodie Bag”) without these exams, treatments and medications that I was having previously, but time will tell right? Hopefully things haven’t deteriorated too badly…
-On the acting front, not much happened for me in terms of being in front of the camera. Due to what I mentioned earlier, the only acting gig I was able to capitalize on was with a new feature film by DIRTY SWEATER PRODUCTIONS called (tentatively) “Dead Man’s Party.” It’s a sci-fi retro action / comedy. I play the role of the rebel leader Calibraxis in this one. It’s just for one scene, but the role played to my strengths, which is always a plus. One of the initial reasons I took it was that I was told I’d have green skin, which would’ve been a first, but that didn’t come to pass. Still, it was fun to do and good to be working with some familiar faces again, as well as with some new ones. I remember it being very cold that day. It’s currently still in post-production, but DSP usually releases stuff out at a decent pace so maybe before year’s end?
-Unfortunately, it looks like the video game “THE DEVIL’S APOSTLES” has been put on hold. For how long – who knows? Last year I’d mentioned I had landed the lead voice-over role for this and they even did an Indiegogo campaign, but they weren’t able to raise the funds needed. Shortly after that, there was some re-organizations and when I reached out for updates, I was told it was on hold and that some other projects needed to be released first. No other info since. Hopefully, this will come back to life one day…
-In October, I was contacted by Simon Lustenberger, who was in charge of organizing a screening of the Horror Anthology “CRYPTIDS” in Switzerland. He was wondering if I would like to submit a greeting video that, along with others who were part of the project, would be played before the film started. I agreed, made a clip and sent it off. On October 12, the clips were played and Simon was able to send me a copy of a clip of my greeting as it was shown in at the screening – which is the video clip above. “Cryptids” can be seen on Amazon Prime via the following link
Also in October, I was informed that “TALES OF DRACULA: Dracula Meets The Werewolf” was nominated for several awards at THE MONSTER CHANNEL Film Festival. There was also a free screening of the film via their website during this time. The winners were announced and I’d won the award for “Best Actor” – which was a great honor. I’d previously won a few awards as “Best Villain” in the past, but this was my first winning “Best Actor.” To me, this was one of the few bright spots in a very dismal year for me. It is deeply appreciated. Please note – the film was originally called “Tales of Dracula: Dracula Meets The Wolfman,” but apparently there was some kind of copyright issue happening (at least that’s what I was told) hence the name change. The film is projected to be coming out on DVD via Alpha Home Entertainment some time in 2025.
-In the realm of music, there were two major things that happened. The first was finally being able to not only release a new song for CAROLINE BLUE, but also a Music Video / Short Horror Film along with it. The song is called “My Fingers” and was released on June 1st by WWJ ENTERTAINMENT LLC). The song is about 4.5 minutes long, but the music video is almost twice as long; this includes an intro, the video, credits and a post credit scene. It was a huge undertaking for me – not only was I playing the roles of singer, guitarist and lead actor, but also director, producer, and basically the mastermind for the whole thing as well. Having said that, I couldn’t have gotten this over the finish line without the help of all those involved – all to whom I’m deeply thankful for. I hope y’all check it out and enjoy this. A second music video is already 2/3 of the way shot, but there have been delays in getting that one done (for the song “Won’t Be Home Tonight”). Hopefully filming will finish on this and be released some time in 2025. The ideal would be to film, edit and release at least one CAROLINE BLUE Music Video per year bare minimum. I have a lot more ideas for music videos for both past and future songs and I’m looking forward to getting them accomplished and released for your viewing pleasure (I hope). And then, maybe some short films or more? You never know.
-The other big thing that happened to me was that I’ve joined another original band (still doing CAROLINE BLUE btw…). Originally under a different name, the band is called MK ULTRA SONICS and I was initially contacted about it on my Birthday (February 13th). After our first meeting, I was asked to join the band. After months of writing and rehearsal, plus a few delays, we entered MORE SOUND RECORDING STUDIOS (Syracuse, NY) in September and spent four days ( three in September, one in October) recording our upcoming debut album. Ten songs. This was special for me because I wrote / co-wrote the lyrics / melodies on a little more than half the songs (four songs I didn’t write on, but sang them as directed by the writer). I also sing on nine of the ten songs. I haven’t sang in a pro studio in awhile and it was quite the thrill – one that I want to engage in more.
-On top of that, we also played out first show at THE JUGG ON TEALL in Syracuse, NY on December 7th. This is the first band where I’m just singing – no guitar or bass playing in support – and that show on December 7th was my first time performing a full show as just a singer – quite a trip. 🙂 We have another show at The JUGG coming up on Friday March 14th. Check out the MK Ultra Sonics page on Facebook for the latest news and updates. We’re also working on getting that debut album released in 2025 and plans are already being discussed for the recording of album number 2.
-One other thing to mention in regards to music. I had some opportunities to join some other bands in 2024. In the early months of 2024, a member of a (mostly) cover band I used to be in contacted me asking if I’d like to do some reunion shows with them with their classic line-up. Note – I wasn’t a member of the line-up that is most well known in their circles, but was one of the original guitar players when it started. The thing is, the bassist of that popular line-up didn’t want to play out any more, so they asked if I would like to play bass for those shows. In addition, their plan was to continue doing shows after the reunion shows. This was not too long after I got fired, but still under the impression that the unemployment situation was about to happen and all would be good till I landed a new job (which I also thought was forthcoming). Fast forward to a few months later when both of these things still weren’t happening and things were starting to rapidly fall apart for me in almost all areas. I was still willing to do the reunion shows, but I was now doing all that I could to not have me and my boys fall into real dire straits, so I wasn’t sure if I could do anything after that. I mean, time spent relearning cover tunes could be time spent job hunting / interviews plus selling stuff right? I was willing to try, but I had to put my situation first – which led to some missed rehearsals. By the way, that happened with MK Ultra Sonics as well and they were all sympathetic / understanding. In addition, outside of prepping for the music video release, I had to put anything with CAROLINE BLUE on the back burner for the time being as well, which sucked cause there are so many “holes” I need to patch up in “the good ship CAROLINE BLUE you know? Regardless, I had to take care of my boys and deal with my financial issues above all else. Most of the guys in this cover band understood this, but one didn’t seem to (and it was ironic that it was this guy, in particular, who was questioning my “dedication”) – which led to a bad argument after one rehearsal. Admittedly, the blow up was partially my fault – I’m normally not into shouting matches, but he started into me, I was totally beat and, after answering the same questions multiple times and still being asked, basically, those same questions…I mean, my patience was already thin as is. As I said at that time, “I can play the role of the asshole too” – which stupidly just escalated things. There’s a lot more to this – maybe more fodder for “WAYNE – THE BOOK?” – but I’ve said enough here. Long story short, I basically told the others that if this argument was “one and done,” fine – I could deal with it and move on. However, if this was going to be an ongoing thing, then I’m out. I was already heavily worn down and stressed out as is; I don’t need to deal with this for something that, priority-wise, was not as high as what was above it – which was mostly everything at that time. Not long after I said this, I was told they were going to look for another bassist. I guess that one guy just wanted to keep going at me and the others just complying to that (maybe I’m wrong, but without more clarification, that’s how I see it), so I said fine and moved on. I sent some well-wishes when those reunion shows started and I heard they did well for themselves so that’s good…
Then, another one happened towards late 2024. It was with a Godsmack tribute band where I would be playing guitar. It looked very promising. Many were willing to fill in for gigs here and there, but I was the only one who told them I’d join. It didn’t hurt that the pay per gig was decent too. Admittedly, my personal situation did delay some earlier meetings, but I was on track to jam with them and was told that I was in the lead (so to speak). However, they kind of broke up before we even had our initial get together. I think a month went by and then they got back together with some different members, including another guitarist, and a new agent (the old one being the one who recommended me initially) so that was that. It was disappointing, but it happens…
-As you can see, the roadblocks that hit me at the start, and thru out, 2024 really set me back in almost all areas of my life. There was a lot of damage done on so many fronts this past year that the overwhelm and frustration can really reach some intense levels at times. Having said that, towards the end of 2024, I’ve started to get things moving back in an upward motion, but it’s going to take time to recover all that lost ground. How much? Well, I guess only time will tell right? I will say that, due to all the trials I’ve had to endure this year, I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person and am looking forward to making the following quote come true for me (and putting it out here is part of that process) – “The Comeback is Greater Than the Setback.” Wish me good luck! 🙂
-Here’s a gnarly review of the horror / comedy film NIGHT OF SOMETHING STRANGE (Hurricane Bridge Entertainment) by CANNIBAL VIDEO. However, it’s not just a review. After that, they go into an in depth discussion about the film and they hit on all the main characters, including me (I play Cornelius in this one). Check it out and, if you’d like, them them I sent ya 😉
-This is actually quite hard for me to put into print because, in part, I’m still having a hard time dealing with the reality of the situation. As you may or may not know, I have two older cats – Scruffy and Five-Paw. I should say “had” because, in the early morning of Wednesday December 11, 2024, one of my baby boys – Five-Paw – passed away. I still can’t believe it… 2024 has been a brutal year for me in so many ways for the most part, but I’ve endured and finally, in December, when things ( in part) were starting to look like they were moving towards an upswing, this happens…
-I first encountered Five-Paw when he was a stray. He was actually with two other cats that kind of hung around my parent’s home for a few years. My cat Scruffy was already staying with them cause it was better for him to do so. It got to the point where food was being left out for those strays daily and I even invested in a large igloo-like outdoor cat house for them to stay in when it got cold / bad outside. I called him “Five-Paw” because he has five toes on each paw. I couldn’t think of another name and it eventually stuck. The other two cats eventually disappeared (I don’t know what happened to the one and I suspect a little girl took away the other). That left Five-Paw, who was always on that porch. Very loyal. I wanted to take him in, but Dad didn’t want another cat in the household. I had no say at this time, so he had to stay outside. That didn’t deter Five-Paw though. One day, the front door was slightly open and he darted right inside! It took awhile for Dad to get him and bring him back outside. Regardless, he was still fed daily and the igloo kept dry as best we could.
-Forward to November 2019. Dad had passed away. Me & Mom now owned the home. After about a week or two, I just made the decision that Five-Paw was coming inside for good and that was that. His “gotcha” day being November 17, 2019. His actual age isn’t know, but the estimate was ten years at the time I adopted him so… When I first met him, he had two large fang-like teeth in front, but when we “got him,” he had only one left. He’d eventually lose that one a few years later (I have it) -which had me change his diet to more wet food; even though he’d still want to nibble on the dry food like his brother Scruffy. This would cause him to throw it up from time to time, but that’s part of having a cat right? They have their roles: Five-Paw was Da Vomitter and Scruffy was Da Pooper 🙂
-One of the best things about bringing in Five-Paw was that he was such a gentle soul. Outside of one time (on accident), he’s never clawed me – or bitten me for that matter. I can’t even recall him ever being aggressive. Just a very chill cat who was a cuddle-bug. Being that, he latched onto my Mom early on to where you could say he was “her cat” (as Scruffy was “Dad’s cat”). I truly believed he helped her in dealing with Dad’s passing. He was always wanting to be around her and, most of the time, that was the case. I wish Dad had let Five-Paw in at the time. I know he would’ve loved him just as much as me and Mom did.
-Fast forward to January 2022. Mom had passed away. Although living in the same household, Scruffy and Five-Paw never really bonded. They just basically tolerated each other. Once in a great while it might get tense, but for the most part they knew their boundaries and stayed within them. Five-Paw started hanging around me more, with both cats helping me deal with the loss of my parents and moving on. Life was going well for my boys and I did the best I could to make sure they were both comfortable and happy as much as possible. At one point, Five-Paw even got kind of close to being as big as Scruffy. Two chonky bro cats 🙂 This all lasted for a few years.
-Then 2024 starts – and in the first month, an event hit me that, along with several other things that shortly followed, threw me into some very bad all around hardship. In many ways, 2024 has been my worse year to date. However, regardless of what was happening to me, I made sure to do all I could so that my boys were not affected and living the life they were accustomed to – kind of like with Mom actually – and I believe that, for the most part, I succeeded. All seemed well with them as the year progressed – until October… That’s when I started to notice that Five-Paw was starting to lose weight. It might have started a month or two earlier, but October was when I started to really notice it. His last exam, late 2023, showed he’d lost a pound, but this was more than that. In addition, he started to avoid his wet food. He just wanted his water and treats (Squeeze-Ups by Delectables). Due to the hardships I was facing, I was unable to take either cat to the vet for checkup and their shots. It took me a lot of effort (plus a blessing of good luck – for a change…), but I managed to raise the funds to finally take him to the vet, where they did a urine test and blood test. Both would turn out bad. The urine test showed that he had kidney disease, stage 3 of 4. This was a progressive disease, not regressive. There’s no cure, and it would eventually take his life This was bad enough, but then came the blood test. Five-Paw had anemia – and apparently some kind of auto-immune disease that was preventing him from regrowing red blood cells. He was already at a low level as is – and this would end his life sooner than the kidney disease. However, at this stage, outside of the weight loss, it was like nothing was wrong. He was still cuddly and purring and I didn’t see him in pain. Yes, I know cats can be very stoic and are good at hiding their pain, but I just didn’t see it. Of course, the vet already brought up “quality of life,” but also suggested two medications that could help slow and perhaps cure the anemia (another possible cure, a blood transfusion, was way out of my reach financially- which sucks cause it sounded like that would’ve gotten rid of it).
-So I initially had the one medication to give to him, which led me to have my first “towel-wrapping burrito cat” experience. He wasn’t a fan of it, (and I admit I wasn’t a fan of doing that to him either), but I had to do it. This is when he accidentally scratched me by the way… The second medication didn’t arrive till almost 2 weeks later – due to a miscommunication and such. On top of that, my hardships have me pushing myself to my limits (sometimes past them) more often than not – which I’ve been doing for a good chunk of 2024 ( which has currently just shifted up to a higher gear) – so I missed a day or two with the medication. I kept at it though and did the best I could.
-I started dropping things to spend more time with him and, for awhile, he seemed to be stable. He wasn’t getting better, but he wasn’t getting worse – and it stayed that way till that second medication came in. Initially it was OK, but then things started to go downhill. Even then, I didn’t see any signs of pain. What I did see was that he was hiding more and it was taking me longer to find where his new hiding spots were or worse, to get him out of them. He was still drinking a lot of water, but eating less and less.
-Eventually, he was hardly eating or drinking at all, as well as not moving around much. After the last vet visit, I lost faith that Five-Paw would recover. History was repeating itself in that this was, in some ways, a replay of what happened with both of my parents. Reluctantly, I started looking into avenues to have Five-Paw put to sleep. To even see that in print is horrifying to me. Nevertheless, I was still hoping for a miracle – that he would somehow pull thru. Sadly, that miracle never arrived. Deja Vu. A day or two after I started that research, Five-Paw passed away at home in the early morning of Wednesday December 11, 2024.
-To say I am devastated by this is an understatement. This is hitting me as hard as the loss of my parents; in many ways even harder… Five-Paw was one of my “boys.” I don’t have any children (that I know of- ha) so my cats are probably the closest I’ll ever come to that. I always wanted to outlive them so they don’t end up separated and / or put in a shelter, but now with one of them actually gone… While I said my goodbyes on the morning he died, I was able to visit Five-Paw one last time on the 17th at the funeral home. I can’t remember crying as much or as hard before. His ashes are now home as of the 20th. It’s so hard to come to grips with it all. He was basically fine a few months ago and now…
-As I said before, I still haven’t fully processed all this. Part of it is due to me currently replacing depression with exhaustion – and yes, I know that’s not sustainable, but I don’t really have a say about it at this time. Maybe I’ll get into it more with my Year in Review in a few weeks or so. Maybe… I miss him so much. There’s so many things – like he was always the first to greet me when I came home… I have to remind myself over and over that if I didn’t bring him in when I did, he wouldn’t have survived for as long as he did. I wish I was able to spend more time with him, but I feel all pet owners feel that way, in various degrees, about their fur babies. There’s just never enough time…
-I’ve never been very religious, but it’s times like this where I do wish there was proof of an afterlife; and in this case, that the whole rainbow bridge thing was certain. I guess I won’t know till I join “the club” that none of us can escape from right? It also makes me hopeful that Five-Paw is with my parents until the day when me and Scruffy can join them. Till then, I will always carry you in my heart Five-Paw. I love and miss you so deeply and will never forget you. My world has become darker now that that your light has been extinguished. It’s just me and Scruffy now…
-The set list was Junkie / State of Mind / The Change / Untouchable / Bang, Bang / Filthy Job / Look Eye – Damaj / Used To Love Her / Tell Me / No Saving You Now.
-Check out the MK Ultra Sonics page on Facebook for pics of the show
– I’m told that due to a copyright (trademark?) issue, Tales 2 had to change it’s name from “TALES OF DRACULA: Dracula Meets The Wolfman” to “Tales of Dracula: Dracula Meets The Werewolf.”
WAYNE W. JOHNSON 