Member: halsparks

halsparks Most people are so afraid of getting fucked that they never get laid.

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JANUARY 13, 2007 @ 01:44 AM | 23 COMMENTS


Crazy Schedule Update!

I will be in Denver Next wednesday the 17th for a Nick at Nite show I'm taping at Comedyworks
The next day I fly to MIAMI for the comedy festival and do a show at the 18th at 10:45 at the Performer Colony Theatre!

Then I go To Raleigh for Nick again at Charlie Goodnights on Sunday the 21st then NYC on the 23rd. We'll be at the Laugh Factory that night.

The Lovely James will be joining me at my Stand-up dates at The Mohegan Sun Casino in Conneticut on the 25th and 26th then we return to LA for a charity event to stop the clubbing of Harp Seals in Canada on the night of the 27th. I mean the Charity event is that night...that's not the night they club the seals... It's at the Key Club... again the event.. not the clubbing.. I mean people club at the Key..eh...nevermind

Then I get to be home for THREE WHOLE DAYS! Seriously, I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself! Wheeeee!

Then I fly to My adopted Home town of Chicago to Perform at Zanies on the 31st through the 4th of February.

Then we finish up the Nick show on the 14th and I'm off to China for a week and change... which Im more excited about than a speed freak who's just discovered coffee enemas!

Then I'm at the Hilbert Theatre in Indianapolis on Feb 24th

I'm gonna need a fast horse and a good saddle to get through all that runnin' around


If you live near any of those places come on down.... even if you can't make the show, come up after and say hi..

Be well

Hal


NOVEMBER 12, 2006 @ 11:50 PM | 34 COMMENTS


Sorry I havent been posting..

It's hard to dance and type at the same time.

I am so excited about the election results I could just..take Cheney hunting!

The best thing is that they obviously tried their ridiculous vote rigging, tampering and obstructing tricks and the number of votes for the other side just smoked them! Awesome.


I have voted in every election since I turned 18 and some felt great and some hurt. You do what you believe in and sometimes it works and sometimes a goose farts on your lunch.. that's life. But I feel a tremendous sense of relief and invigoration these days. I have to say there is always this ridiculous back and forth around the elections, especially from the thinking side of the public, that there's no point and it's the lesser of two evils so who cares... well... first of all, Lesser of two evils is a bullshit non-qualified lazy cliche...between a serial murderer and a shoplifter...the shoplifter is the "lesser of two evils"... it means nothing and it has lead us to the place where the greater of two evils was able to steal 3 elections. Secondly, when thinking people lose interest in the process OF COURSE it will be taken over by sheeple.

Thank Thor that things were able to shift enough to make a difference. But before everybody goes back to sleep I hope the lesson that every vote counts and that we as individuals only matter in the national discourse to the extent that we are Involved in it...is able sink in...

Now... enough stern concern!! We DANCE!



biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin ooo aaa

Remember..as you believe...so it is
OCTOBER 14, 2006 @ 04:22 PM | 45 COMMENTS


On the road again....

I'm in Lexington Ky doing stand-up this weekend and Denver next week. I had to move a bunch of dates to do Duets and now I'm making up for it. smile

I had a great time on Duets and made some great new friends. The final week was the same as my birthday and The lovely James arranged a party and invited, among others, Weird Al Yankovic. He and I have been friendly since talk soup and it was great to have him and his terrific wife as guests at Hotel Halifornia.

If you haven't checked out his record.. you're missing out! You gotta hear "White and Nerdy"!

If you live in the Denver area come on down to the show. I trust people on here to tell me what's fun and good more than anybody.

See ya on the road
SEPTEMBER 17, 2006 @ 11:55 AM | 65 COMMENTS


Close Shave kids!

Wow!

BUT! I had a great friggin' time. I got to sing Come Sail Away AND Mr. Roboto with Dennis DeYoung from STYX.


I had what I thought were some great shows and ended up scraping by by the skin of my teeth. Yeesh!

Truth be told I have had such a great time and this coming week is our last voting show before the finale.
I really have to come out guns a blazin' if I wanna be in the top three going into the last show...
shocked whatever whatever puke

I'm heading out monday night to go see my friends in Metal Skool to have some fun and get my mojo back. If you are in LA come on down... The show is at midnight at the keyclub .The beautiful and talented James will be there ready to rock ad with a little luck so will the lovely Amina.

Thanks to everybody for voting for me. I'll definately need your help again this week... remember the number they give out is free and you can call it as many times as you want!

Big Love

Hal


p.s. the number to vote for me changes every week! I'll do a post as soon as I know the number for those of you that are in a funny time zone or don't get the show. XO
AUGUST 31, 2006 @ 09:28 PM | 38 COMMENTS


Phew!

Well!...

I made it through week one.

Amazing experience with Smokey and Gladys. They where both so incredibly gracious.
I could not have been more outside my element with that style of music but they
made it such an enlightening experience. Gladys went above and beyond the call...

during rehearsals I got reprimanded for trying to be too "Rock and Roll" on Grapevine.
instead of constantly hitting a falsetto I decided to growl out the notes to give them more heat and not hide behind the safe choice. After all I am not a Broadway/Torch singer like Jai or Alfonso and pretending to be that...I think.. is disrespectful to those who really are strong R&B artists. So after my first runthrough on stage the musical directors who are coaching us took me aside and told me to .. in the immortal words of Will Ferrell's Neil Diamond "COOL OUT!". So out of respect for them and their space I did. And after the next run through I didn't reach, I didn't drop to my knees, none of that.... They where happy, And GLADYS WAS PISSED! God Bless That Lovely woman. She took me aside and Said "You do it your way. Don't let anybody tell you how to be. You Wanna Bring the Rock to this, you do it. No one is telling this story but you." She was so supportive and such a champion for both myself and Jai. She's beyond great.

It was a bit of a challenge starting with a low-key Smokey tune, even without the fact that he was Actually There. I kept thinking that the audience is gonna see me singing this little falsetto song and think "Oh, they gave him this light song because he can't sing and Smokey is so amazing that he'll make sure the performance is good." I think that's what happened to Chris. He has this great powerful voice and they threw him under the bus by giving him "Mendocino County Line". So there was a ton of pressure leading up that first line...those first words....

So... quite frankly I'm glad the first episode is behind us. I'm glad I got to meet Chris. He's a true metalhead and he and a group of us are going to see Iron Maiden in Oct. It's great to run into real Bros. in this business. It's pretty rare.

The reviews came in on the show and this was what EW had to say about yours truly...

"While Hal Sparks couldn't have hit Smokey Robinson's high notes if Smokey himself had given him several kicks to the no-no spot, that doesn't necessarily mean that Hal is a bad singer. ''The Tracks of My Tears'' was a tough first song, and ''Heard It Through the Grapevine'' (sung with Gladys Knight) was a tough second song. Sparks wasn't afraid to take vocal risks and make himself look silly, and it worked to his benefit. The audience loved him even when he was off-key. It seems he's the show's breakout personality, even if he's not the breakout voice. (And even if Sparks didn't get the high praise Little Richard bestowed on Smokey's second partner, Lucy Lawless, who made the judge's big toe shoot up in his boot.)"

Which, if you know Entertainment weekly, is the nicest review they could possibly give me.
This is their version of blowing smoke up my ass. So Thanks EW. As a full time comedian, I'll take "Break-out personality" any day. smile

OH! And thanks so much to everybody for your support and kind words. If you noticed I didn't take too much stock in how I was judged. I really only care about the audience. The audience is my boss. Not Producers. Not Judges. Not coaches. And my only responsibilty is to them.. and to you... I try to put on the best show I can. To make the time you spend with me worth while. I know your time is valuable so I try to give you more value in return. I mean that with all my heart. And thanks to you.. the show is, was, will be awesome!

Till the next one...

Big Love,

Hal
AUGUST 25, 2006 @ 11:00 PM | 33 COMMENTS


Hi!

Ask anyone and they'll tell ya.. I love to work! If it ain't stand-up it's acting or it's writing or it's music... I love this business I am in. Sometimes it gets a little overwheliming... like today when it felt like someone put my life in a blender and hit Frappe... but overall I love it...

Here's a short list of the "whatsa goin' on.." in my life right now

Duets - today was my second rehearsal day.. I got to actually sing with my first artist... can't say who it is but it's a legend... the kind you don't keep waiting... which wouldn't have been an issue if I had been told that was supposed to be today. I found out about this rehearsal while I was at an event with the lovely and amazing James... I get a call...

"Hey Hal? What's your twenty?
"Uh... I am at an... I'm in Hollywood near... uh why?"
"Oh. You are scheduled to rehearse with [artist name] today at 3:30"
"I was? Wait what? what time is it?"
"um..3:22"
"*expletive* oh no! when did I? who? I never heard about this! I was told I was working Saturday!"
"No. you're working today."
"Um..er..uh... Well. I'll be right there."

This conversation was followed by shuffling my beautiful and wonderfully patient girlfriend into my car and breaking several traffic laws to get my to Burbank ( Burbank = far) in less than 14 minutes.

where... I preceded to wait for over an hour for the rehearsal space to become available.

Man! what a party. I have to say that once ot all got rolling [artist's name] could not have been cooler. Really personable and focused. SO much fun. And for all the confusion the Duets production folks are a lot of fun too.

Stand-up - I had to drop 2 big weekends out of town doing stand-up to do duets and now we are in the peocess of rescheduling them and filling the month of Oct. with dates. My stand-up schedule for Oct. looks like I'm trying to set a Guiness book world record to start with so... should be a party...

Tak - I'm voicing a cartoon for Nickelodeon right now called TAK and the power of Juju!



That's me... TAK..

It's a blast. I am working with people from tons of my favorite cartoons... Last week I worked with Pinky..AND the Brain! and there are three or four voice actors on the show who worked on Harvey Birdman which is criminally funny... love it.

The tough part of doing Tak is that playing a 10 year old really does a number on my throat...which I kinda need right now for that whole "Duets" thingy....

Music - we are doing the final mix on my album and everything is sounding so F-in' good. every night I get to watch a song go from Good to great and it's such a gratifying process. It requires a lot of long hours and concentration... both of which I'm a little short of these days...

The best part of all this is how supportive my girl is....

I'm not easy to undertand sometimes but she gives it the old college try. I love you baby.

As for stuff like sleep and movies and dinner with friends... that shit is on hold right now...

But it's all gonna pay off

It's nice when even exhaustion and frustration still qualify as fun smile

Be Well

Hal


p.s. here's a couple of good Hal quotes of the week....

"Fun? I own Fun! Fun is my bitch!"

"No one loses their Virginity. They gain sex!"

"If one more person tells me that Bush is actually smart I'm gonna set a fire no one can put out"

"Sick!

"Wow! Really? Him? Shit!"


AUGUST 5, 2006 @ 11:16 PM | 24 COMMENTS


New blog coming.. I promise.. no seriously...

like with pictures and stuff....

and..um... if I could.. I'd put like um.. video and like

um.. smells... that would be cool and...

anyway.. I'll update soon

meanwhile

My band's Youtube Channel

and Something Silly from my Talk Soup days

Peace out

H-dawg
MAY 16, 2006 @ 12:00 PM | 88 COMMENTS


So... Miracles come in strange packages.

In the middle of recording my album I had to go to St. Louis to do a Stand-up show and while I was there.. I... broke my ring finger on my left hand. Asin fretting hand... and not just broke.. like... Broke



It took 3 screws and a wire to put it back together and straighten it.



It's been a month and it is healing extraordinarilly well.

But since I don't believe in coincidence I have been haunted by the Why and why now...

I had a dream where I was sitting in a chair. with an attourney like person standing next to me and a row of floating heads ala Superman 2 in front of me in a big semi-circle.

And the being next to me asked "why did he have to break such an important finger on his hand now? Why, when he is needing to play guitar, does that finger break?"

and the voices said "He wants to be a great guitar player and not just a good one. So we had to break his finger to re-align it."

within 2 weeks of getting my stitches out I am playing guitar again and, while it will take a little while to get full motor skill, my fingers line up on the fret board in a way that is clearer and more precise than ever.

I'm so glad that I have a great Accupuncturist who pushes me...


If any of you have ever thought of using Accupuncture I highly recommend it.

My finger is healling so well and I am clear it will be even better than it was.
Stronger, better dexterity. Not because of something magical but because I have injured it. I will have to practice more than I ever have... I will have to warm up... and I will never take it for granted.

Sometimes the miracle is the worst turning into the best.


APRIL 4, 2006 @ 11:28 AM | 40 COMMENTS


Hey all...

New update will be coming soon.

I'm in Studio with my band... we finished all the rhythm tracks and now we are moving into the final stages... Vocals...Solos.... Kazoo....

It's been an amazing process aided in no small part by our Producer

dUg Pinnick of King's X and Poundhound fame... He gets more amazing by the second...

and our Engineer Michael Parnin.. who is.... "Sick!"...and "Ridiculous!"... and "wicked!" and the greatest guy to work with.

and of course... The Lovely and talented and beautiful and *insert infinite number of positive descriptions here*.. James

She is just right...

Hope you are all amazing.... which..of course... you are

Love,

Hal
MARCH 7, 2006 @ 03:56 PM | 57 COMMENTS


To quote Sandra Bernhardt in the amazingly underrated film... Hudson Hawk

"why is the world Jam Packed with such Idiots??!!"

So to match their heroes in Alabama to state reps in Tennessee are trying to pass a law to outlaw sex toys...

first question... if they outlaw Dildoes... Sen. Charlotte Burks and Rep. Eric Swafford are gonna get arrested the next time they appear in public...

and secondly...

Tenessee has some really pressing health care and employment problems... could their time be better spent in..the... trying to..couldn't they...brrbrb Morons!

Anyway...

My first reaction was that these guys were on some sort of misguided hypo-christian purity parade but then I realized they are probably just in the pocket of Tennessee's produce growers...

I do thank them for one thing....

It takes a lot to make Kentucky look smarter ...



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