- "...A very
merry Christmas, and a happy new year, let's hope it's a good one,
without any fear." sang John
Lennon...
- Well, it feels to
me like Christmas is arriving early this year! The entire 12 months of
2000 has just zipped by at a Mercurial pace! Seems like I was just
gathered in the den with my family and a bottle of champagne watching
the global turn of the century new year's celebrations
-
.
- This has been a
very creative and productive year for me. Writing the fantasy novel with
Angela Cartwright, working on the Overload feature film, writing two
other pilot scripts, finishing and releasing my third solo CD,
"Pandora's Box", writing and recording with Robert Haimer for the "Yeah:
The Essential Barnes and Barnes" CD, and writing another 6 or 7 songs
already for the next musical project... there's a lot of new
Mumy-created stuff out there. The year also saw some additional voice
over work, and a few television appearances, like "VH1's "The List"....
but there were some creative setbacks, independent film budget woes
plagued the completion of "Overload", Renaissance records has recently
experienced similar problems, the six month SAG strike crippled all
commercial voice over work for a too long, and I haven't been seen in
any new on-camera acting roles for a year now.
-
- Still, the year
brought many bursts of creative energy, and I traveled quite a bit. Had
a great time making some live music, had some work done on the house,
and got to spend a good amount of time with my family and pets. For the
five years I worked on Babylon 5, I was always complaining about not
having enough time with the kids just to goof off, so... I'm getting
what I wished for now. And it's good. It's all real good. I have more
than several projects that could all "take off" at any moment, so we'll
just wait a bit and see which happens first!
-
- I wish you
all healthy, happy, peaceful holidays and a wonderful new
year.
Seeya in 2001! -
Peace,
- Bill
- December 2, 2000
Laurel Canyon,
California, Earth
-
- JULY UPDATE
2000
-
- Howdy
Folks,
Hope you're having a great summer. I just got back from 6 days in
Atlanta where I was attending Dragoncon. It was a very enjoyable time
for me.
-
-
I performed a solo acoustic 15 song concert at the con
that was attended by a couple thousand people who seemed to genuinely
enjoy the Mumy music.
-
-
I was there
with Angela Cartwright, Peter David, and several Babylon 5 alumni,
Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Jason Carter, Bob Krimmer, Tracey
Scoggins, and Stephen Austin. I did Lost in Space panels with Ange, and
B5 panels with the others.
-
-
Angela and
I were guests on the Atlanta talk show, "Peach Tree Morning", I
performed a song live on that show, and we also did some internet and
press interviews. We promoted "Overload" which continues to move forward
in pre-production, and we talked up our novel which we've just completed
a polish on. Also, met thousands of fans and signed lots of
autographs.
-
- We even made
time to see some of Atlanta. I accompanied Ange on a "photo safari", and
we found a most excellent pizza! Certainly worth the
trip.
-
- Ange and I
also recently taped a sketch for our old pal Bob May who is producing a
video project called "Robot Memories Continued". It's always fun when
the old Lost in Spacer's get together.
- Other than that, I
just guested on an episode of VH1's "The List". It was hosted by my pal
Weird Al Yankovic, and I believe it's going to air in the first week of
August.
-
-
I'll be
attending Fantasticon in the next few weeks, and possibly the San Diego
Comic Con.
- "Pandora's
Box" was supposed to be ready last week, but there was a snafu, so now
it's set for an August release date.
- The
Jenerators will be performing live in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 29th
at Rusty's Surf Ranch on the Santa Monica Pier. I'm looking forward to
that, we had a blast the last time we played there. Several other
projects are in the works... but for now, that's the
update!
Peace, Bill
- "And I
feel like I've been here before. And you know, it makes me wonder what's
goin' on..." David Crosby
-
- UPDATE MAY
2000
-
The May 2000 report from Mumy Manor...
-
As of May 1st,
Screen Actors Guild is on strike against commercial producer's, so the
last few weeks of April were really busy working weeks for me. I did a
ton of voice over commercials for Farmers Insurance, Wal Mart, and
Honda. Hope the strike gets settled fairly soon. -
Angela
and I appeared at the Chiller Convention in New Jersey, and that was a
well attended, fun show. I did press and radio to promote it and we were
pleased to see so many fans line up to get our autographs. My wife and
kids came along, and we spent the week in New York celebrating my
daughter Liliana's sixth birthday, visiting friends, and working. Yup,
ALL of us, my wife Eileen, son Seth, Liliana, and me performed on the
long running syndicated radio series "Willow Crossing". It's been
running for 25 years, and it's created and written by a friend of ours
named Jon Guyot Smith. We've always enjoyed listening to these wonderful
little moral plays that harken back to a simpler time, and since we knew
we were all coming out East, Jon wrote 6 new episodes and we had a great
time playing radio characters on the series. Eileen was "Aunt Mary",
Seth was "Buddy Park", Liliana was "Alicia Blaine" and I was "Steve
Park". I only had time to record one episode but the rest of the Mumy's
appear in all six of the new ones. It's a very positive and fun series
program, and maybe you can find it on the radio somewhere near you.
Check it out if you can.-
New York was great. We ate wonderful
food, saw "The Lion King", did the tourist stuff, and Angela and I met
with some publishers and agents regarding our novel.-
We're still
editing and doing some re-writes on that ambitious project, and I'm sure
it will be coming your way soon. (or sorta soon)-
As soon as I
got back from New York, I headed to the mastering lab and finally
finished "Pandora's Box", my third solo CD. It will be released in the
summer on Renaissance Records. I was tweaking and re-recording and
shifting songs around until the last minute! I ended up recording one
"cover" song on this album, Graham Nash's "Simple Man", and there are 14
songs on the CD. Angela took all the pictures, and she's done a great
job. All the photographs are in full color included in the 8 page
booklet.
Also of note, May 9th saw the release of "Yeah:
The Essential Barnes and Barnes" on Oglio records. 24 demented tracks
including the four brand new ones mentioned here last update. I'll be
doing some press and radio promotion for that project soon.
Autographed copies are available here from the Mumy mall. -
The
Jenerators gigged late March, and we had a great time! The club, Rusty's
on the Santa Monica Pier, was absolutely packed, and the band hadn't
played in close to two years! Our pal Shaun Cassidy got up and sang two
songs with us, "Baby, It's You" and "Slow Down" and the crowd went nuts!
Women screamed and danced and it was like 1978 all over again with
grownups! We really had fun, and hopefully will gig a lot this summer.
There will be some photos from that night to check out in the Mumy Music
section of this website soon.-
My very first original comic
book character, "The Comet Man" (created in 1986 by Miguel Ferrer and
I... remember? we sold half a million of 'em!) is returning to the pages
of Marvel this month in "Captain Marvel" courtesy of my partner Peter
David. Check it out. -
Work continues on "Overload"...
we've gotten our paperwork done, (FINALLY) and should get back to
filming late summer. It's been frustrating, but it's going to be SO
worth it... More on that as we make progress.
Tony Dow, who is
directing Overload, directed an A&E special on the history of child
actors, and I was interviewed recently on camera for that show. It's
scheduled for a summer airing.-
Lots of other things "in the
fire"... but I don't want to jinx 'em by talking about them too
soon.
Well, gotta dash now, I'm off to Bruce Boxleitner's 50th
birthday party... I'm looking forward to seeing Bruce and lots of
Babylon 5 friends.
Til next time... take care of each other and good
old Mother Earth.
Peace, Bill-
"Oooh baby baby it's a
wild world. It's hard to get by just upon a smile. Oooh, baby baby it's
a wild world. And I'll always remember you as a child,
girl."
- cat stevens
-
- MARCH
2000 UPDATE
REDWOOD 2000
-
- "The more
things change... the more they stay the same."
-
Hi there, Mumy here
reporting in on what's been goin' on lately. -
The most
important news is that filming on "Overload", the feature film I've
co-written with Peter David has begun, ended, and will begin again
soon. "HUH?!" You say... well, welcome to professional showbizland on
an Independent reality. We've filmed the promo to the film which runs
a little over 8 minutes, and we're going back to finish filming the
entire movie in June. Go to www.galaxyonline.com for cast photos and
interviews and all sorts of info regarding the details of this Mumy
project. Needless to say, as co-writer, executive producer, and actor,
that's where a lot of my creative energy is going these days, and I'm
very happy and excited about what we're doing! It's honestly a thrill
to be working alongside Billy Gray, Johnny Crawford, Don Grady, Tony
Dow, Claudia Christian, George Takei, Melissa Gilbert, and my very
good pal and partner in many projects, Angela Cartwright. "Overload"
is a non-compromising psychological drama in a sci-fi arena, and I'm
quite proud of it. Stay tuned. More to
come on that
soon.
-
In late January, I had a very interesting and
emotional reunion with Redwood, the acoustic trio that I was in with
Paul Gordon and Gary David from 1969 through 1974. Redwood was a very
busy working band, we performed over 100 gigs a year, and we recorded
several albums worth of all original material. We were pretty popular
in Southern California, played all the clubs and college campuses here
for 5 years and then finally broke up on Christmas of 1974. Anyway, we
got together as a special surprise treat for our friend, artist Tanya
Wolf Ragir's, 45th birthday, and we performed a short set of the old
tunes in her studio for about 30 people. It was really a weird and
surprisingly warm feeling for all of us. There's a photo from that
event you can check out. For awhile that night, the past and the
future melded into harmony and time was nowhere to be found. (except
in the groove!)-
Mark your calendars, folks... MAY 9th...
that's the release date of "Yeah: The Essential Barnes and Barnes" CD
from Oglio records! If you're into the twisted, quirky, reality of our
music you'll have to have this one! 24 tracks, from all our albums,
including many unreleased songs and 4 brand new recordings from the
one of a kind minds that brought you "Fish Heads". Definitely not for
the kiddies...Those bad boys are back! Nuff
said...yeah... -
Mark your calendars, folks... MARCH
25th... The Jenerators (Miguel Ferrer, Tom Hebenstreit, Bill Mumy,
& Gary Stockdale) reunite to play an hour of live original rock
music on the Santa Monica Pier (in California) at a club called
"Rusty's"... If you're in the neighborhood, come on down, we'll be
playing from 9:45 til 11:00 pm.-
Mark your calendars,
folks... APRIL 14-16th... Your pal Bill Mumy will be appearing with
Angela Cartwright and other Lost in Space alumni at the CHILLER
convention in New Jersey! Ooooohh....-
I've been doin' plenty
of voice over work lately...several new commercials for "Farmers
Insurance" and "Wal Mart"...
Angela and I are making
some last minute changes to our dark fantasy novel... Ooooh, it's
good! -
"Pandora's Box", my upcoming third solo CD has
been tweaked a bit, and is still coming out this year!
A new "Lost in Space" movie of the week-pilot with Kevin Burns
producing is currently in development...With the ORIGINAL cast! You
never know... could just happen! Danger! Danger!-
Mark Hamill
and I are getting ready to relaunch our "Outpost Omega" project!
Oooohh...
The Lakers are really doing great! -
So... enjoy yourselves, take care of the planet Earth, VOTE, don't
hurt anyone, and have a good time!
Peace, 'til next
time, I remain...
- Bill Mumy
-
"I'm a leaf on a windy day.
Pretty soon I'll be blown away. How long will the wind blow? How long
will the wind blow? Until I die..."
Brian
Wilson
- JANUARY 2000
UPDATE
-
- "Don't you know I'm a two thousand man, and my kids
they just don't understand me at all..." Mick Jagger & Keith
Richards
-
Well, well, well... Here we are in the 21st
Century. Isn't it wonderful how it all turned over so peacefully?
Thank yourselves and everyone else for not blowing it. Looks like
we're on the right track towards some peace and harmony on old
Mother Earth, and that's the most important thing I can think
of. Keep it goin'...-
Lots of stuff to
report since the last update way back in September of the 20th
Century. (sounds like Ancient Rome, now.) As usual, I've been doing'
voice over work, narrating some specials for E! Channel. (listen for
the voice of Mumy telling the tales of "Cheech and Chong" and "The
Mod Squad" on E! True Hollywood Story) I've also recently worked on
several more Farmer's Insurance spots for TV and radio, 5 for Wal
Mart, and I just did two commercials for Citibank. As usual, the
work was pleasant.
-
The biggest news is that
sets have been built and we're about to start filming "Overload".
Our start date is mid-February, and everything is moving along as it
should right now. The cast includes Angela Cartwright, Don Grady,
(who is also composing the score), Billy Gray, Tony Dow, (who is
co-executive producer and director), and me (co-executive producer,
and co-writer with Peter David). There will be some other very cool
folks appearing in it also. I'll keep you posted as we progress.
Overload is a co-production between Stargate studios and Galaxy
Entertainment. The special effects should be amazing. Tony and I
have been working very hard on assembling the team and setting the
tone for this feature film, a controversial, psychological
drama in a sci fi setting. I can't wait to start
filming!
-
Also of major news, Angela Cartwright
and I have finished our first draft of the fantasy novel we've been
writing together for the past seven months. I can't tell you exactly
when it will be published, but we have very high hopes for it, and
again, I'll keep you posted on what's happening there. The title of
the novel is "To What Purpose". Me? I think it's
great.
And, I've wrapped up writing, recording, mixing, and
sequencing my next solo album. "Pandora's Box" is a fifteen song,
sixty seven minute CD coming your way in April or May from
Renaissance Records. All that remains now is to master the album and
assemble the package. Like "In The Current", the multi-talented
Angela Cartwright will be shooting the photographs for it. Also like
"In the Current", I played every instrument heard on the project,
and used some really wonderful guitars on it. Nothing I like
more than being struck with the unexpected inspiration to write a
song, and seeing it through to its eventual completion. I hope
you'll check "Pandora's Box" out when it is released, because I
truly feel it's the best album I've ever made. (but what do I
know?)-
I want to thank Glennda Kountz for
taking over the official Bill Mumy fan club and reorganizing what
had become disorganized. Glennda's really gotten the club and the
newsletter together, and for those interested in such things, you
can now trust the fact that it's all running
smoothly.-
I've had the pleasure of socializing
with some of my "TV family and friends" over the recent holidays,
(Angela, Marta Kristen, Jonathan Harris, Mark Goddard, Mira Furlan,
Peter Jurasik, Andreas Katsulas, Claudia Christian, Stephen Furst,
Bruce Boxleitner, and others...) and I'm happy to report that the
folks from Lost in Space and Babylon 5 are all doing' great, as is
the Mumy family. My children Seth and Liliana are growing up fast
and having a great time, and driving me and Eileen crazy!
(which I suppose is how it should be.) -
At the time being, I
have only two convention appearance locked into place, and that's
"Chiller" in New Jersey, April 14-16, and the Dragoncon in Atlanta
in July. I'll be performing a one hour solo acoustic set at
Dragoncon, and will be playing songs from all three of my solo
albums, as well as some Jenerators tunes, and possibly even Barnes
and Barnes' "Fish Heads"...
Speaking of Barnes
and Barnes, "Yeah: The Essential Barnes and Barnes", which has been
scheduled to come out several times already keeps moving from one
record label to another. It IS complete. There are 3 brand new
B&B recordings on it, and it WILL be released this year,
hopefully before summer time. We're also getting closer to starting
work on an all new studio album, and I hope to tell you more on that
soon. -
Well, for now... I'm thrilled to be alive in the year
2000. I'm looking forward to some fantastic changes and new artistic
projects, and I wish you all a healthy, peaceful, and productive
year. -
I DO check the guest book all the
time, and thank you again for all your positive
emails. -
Thoughts form blueprints for reality, so
think good thoughts... or I'll send you to the
cornfield!-
"Someday everything is going to be smooth like a
rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece." Bob
Dylan
Peace,
-
Bill Mumy,
-
Laurel Canyon, California
January
17, 2000
-
- BACK