Member Of The Month
CONGRATULATIONS to our Great Voice Inner Circle
“Member of The Month” April 2010 – David Dorris
David Dorris
How did you get started in Voice-Over?
Last Spring I was researching VO and found the Great Voice Company and Susan and was impressed so I joined the Silver Inner Circle.
Who has inspired you in Voice Over?
Susan and Moneen most definitely! I was a little leery before the bootcamp and asking myself what I had gotten into because up until that point I was still kind of “kicking the tires’ so to speak. As I’ve learned in the Army as a Leader, you the leader have to work hard to earn the respect of your subordinates. Susan and Moneen EARNED MY RESPECT! They are both people of character, down-to-earth, REAL and passionate about what they do. They both love meeting new aspiring voice actors and TEACHING THEM!
What is your favorite part of the Silver Inner Circle Program so far?
THE CDS with the interviews with VO experts and the ezines Susan sends to members monthly!!!
I also love the SERVICE Susan and her staff at the GVC provide. I love the professional, friendly, tender- loving- care packaging. The whole company is infused with CUSTOMER SERVICE. That is so important!
Can you share some of those things with readers that might just be starting out in Voice-Over?
The interviews with the experts are rich with great information, fun and interesting. I especially loved the interviews with David Rapkin, Pat Fraley and Marjorie Ocho Kouns.
Who are some of your biggest inspirations in the Business?
I say Gregory Peck because he narrated the BEST version of Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” that I’ve heard. You see, I’ve been a narrator in Army Bands the last 15 or so years and had the priviledge and honor of narrating “Lincoln Portrait” twice last Memorial Day Weekend with our Concert Band.
It’s funny but I did not like the way James Earl Jones did it. Of course, I always loved Gregory Peck in “Twelve O’Clock High”. That is a great movie. Watch it. A lot of great leadership lessons in there. I also loved to listen to Chuck Heston’s voice. I especially loved him in the classic “Ben Hur”.
Do you have any interesting “on the job” stories?
Boy do I! My favorite story I love telling is when I ran into the Secretary of Defense.
(By the way, I am a good storyteller because I am of Celtic descent. I am Scots-Irish Mix and we historically are good at it.)
My Secretary of Defense Story:
From ‘95 to ‘99 I was in the S.H.A.P.E. International Band. (SHAPE is an acronym that stands for “SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED POWERS EUROPE”)
The base is located in the beautiful country of Belgium about 10 miles from France outside the village of Casteau and about 5 miles from the old city of MONS.
We had 16 in the band:
8 US Army
3 US Air Force
2 Italians – 1 Navy and 1 Army
2 Germans 1 Navy and 1 Army
& 1 Norwegian
At least once a month we would play a standing honor guard ceremony in front of SHAPE Headquarters for a visiting dignitary, usually a SECRETARY OF DEFENSE from one of the NATO countries. That night, I would show up at the SACEUR’S Residence, Chateau Gendebien, a beautiful 19 Century mansion that the Belgium government provided for the SACEUR (another acronym that stands for SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER EUROPE.
I would be in my dress blue uniform and would play in the piano room from about 7:30 until the SACEUR – then it was General Wesley Clark – would tap me on the shoulder and tell the guests that they were going into the dining room.
THIS PART IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER. The huge dining room was to my RIGHT as I sat at the Bechstein Grand playing. After the General stopped me and the guests would mosey into the dining room TO MY RIGHT and eat.
Well….on this one occasion, when the guest of honor was Dr. William Perry, an interim U.S. Secretary of Defense during the Clinton years – about 1997? – SHAPE Protocol told me that night when I got to the chateau that dinner that night would be at the other end of the mansion in THE LIBRARY. That would NOT have been to the right of the Piano as I sat but at the other end of the house as I FACED THE PIANO.
Well, when the SHAPE Protocol lady, an obnoxious Brit named SHEILA who by the way always tried to treat me like a PEON – but that’s another story – I thought to myself, “Shoot, when the General taps my shoulder to quit playing and announces to the guests that they will go down to the library, I’ll just grab my music, HANG A RIGHT, cut through the darkened dining room, go out the back door, get in my car and head home to my hip, MACHOPAD located out in the beautiful farmland of Braine-le-Comte, Belgique!
So, about 7:30 PM I started playing. The General tapped me on the shoulder about 8:15 PM. I stopped. He announces that the guests will head down that night to THE LIBRARY. They head down slowly. I cooly, grab my music, TURN RIGHT, walk about 10 feet to the DOUBLE DOORS OF THE HUGE DARKENED DINING ROOM. I do a HALF LEFT TO ANGLE TOWARD THE BACK DOOR…..
AND I BUMP CHEST TO FACE INTO THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE OF THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD – DR. WILLIAM PERRY!!!!
I say “CHEST TO FACE” because the guy was only about 5′3″ and about 110 lbs….. WET!!! He is a little man. I am 5′10″ but stocky and muscular like a football player.
He says to me “Where did everybody go?” and I realized at this point the guy was WASTED. He was drunk…… AND LOST!
(What are the chances, Dave , your average piano player could run into the SECDEF.)
Anyway, I said to him, “Mr. Secretary, they went down to the library!” I walked him back into the Piano Room and pointed the way.
But I got to thinking about it. He had flown from the US on a 7 or 8 hour flight and arrived that morning. The SACEUR had traipsed his butt all over the NATO forces AO (Area of Operations) visiting NATO troops. They MAY have had lunch but at 7:30- SUPPERTIME – IN THE PIANO ROOM AT COCKTAIL HOUR, he was HUNGRY again and out of proper protocol he wasn’t going to turn down a couple of drinks….EVEN IF HE HAD AN EMPTY STOMACH!!! No wonder he was blitzed. The dude only weighed about 110 lbs I’m thinkin’.
What have you been up to lately?
After the Bootcamp, I joined the Fast Track Demo Production Program with Moneen Daley Harte. She is a great teacher. That is the next step before I get hot and heavy into the marketing. I am real excited. I use my VO Notebook as a “VO Journal” every day and I log what I do. I go to the gym about 5:00 PM. Do some Pushups, Pullups, crunches, have a Recovery Shake and from that 1 hour until I eat supper, I go home and do “TAPE AND APE”. I love the documentaries especially – history channel, NatGEO etc. I also listen and try to copy the commercials I like. The Journaling is helpful for me.
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