Billy News Archive

April 2005

Billy Guest Performer at ERA / MDA Event - Saturday, April 23, 2005 ORLANDO -- Real estate agents from ERA Castelo Real Estate, Inc. with offices in New Bedford, Fall River and Dartmouth recently attended the annual ERA International Business Conference at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. The attendees met for the three-day conference to network, attend training classes and learn about ERA services and products. Anthony Robbins, the international author and speaker, was this year's keynote speaker. Topics included leadership, negotiations, organizational and office performance. Educational sessions by industry experts were also held throughout the three-day ERA event. Brenda Casserly, ERA president and COO, acknowledged the best companies and individuals with awards. Billy Gilman, Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) National Youth Chairman attended the conference. A talented country singer, Gilman supports MDA through appearances and media interviews. ERA serves as the sole corporate real estate sponsor of MDA. Attendees from ERA Castelo Real Estate, Inc. were Martin Correia, sales manager; Victor Delgado, president's assistant; Luis Amado, Joseph Castelo, Sonia Connolly and George Oliveira.

Billy's Big Video Adventure - Sunday, April 17, 2005 The making of a music video doesn't usually look like this. There are no visible schedules, cell phones or sets. Everyone is hanging out in the bright kitchen of a summer home in Weekapaug, R.I., surrounded by pizza, pretzels, and Pop Tarts. Nobody looks like they're more than family or friends, and as each new visitor arrives on location they are greeted with a bouquet of hellos. Standing at the center of the group, Billy Gilman is more entertainer than celebrity. “I love food,” Gilman exclaims to the room in a loud clear voice. “Oh, and I love the cooking show. I can make a mean shrimp scampi. But an egg, to boil an egg I wouldn't know where to begin.” Everyone laughs at Gilman's unabashed admission. He turns to his manager Angela Bacari for approval, and she answers him with a look of love and chiding mixed together, her hand reaching to straighten his collar. Later, that collar will be popped back up, as the teen again gets in front of the cameras for the filming of what's being called his comeback video. At just 16 years old, Gilman is preparing to re-enter popular country music for the second time. The Hope Valley, R.I., native's voice was first showcased for crowds when he was 7, and by the time he was 11, the vocal prodigy had a country Top 20-hit single and debut record by the same name (“One Voice”) that would go gold in sales. A Christmas record (“Classic Christmas”) and a follow-up to “One Voice,” (“Dare to Dream”) further solidified Gilman's presence. But when puberty hit in 2002, Gilman had to step out, wait for nature to take its course, and hope for the best. Now his voice and his body have begun to settle into young adulthood, and Gilman is attempting to get back in the game with a new record and radio-friendly single, both titled “Everything and More.” “I've been away for a while,” says Gilman, “and there were times when I thought, ‘This is it, it's over,' but I'm back now. I love what I do, and I don't want to stop.” ••• In the cold sunlight of this early April Sunday afternoon, there isn't very much talk of the hard road ahead. The crew is positive and professional, the entourage is having fun, and everyone in the house is trying to make friendly conversation with people they have just met. Billy has finished his first performance shot in the front living room, singing a long snatch of his new single in front of a mantle that has been decorated with props reflecting the real life of the country star as well as the life created for him by Sonalysts Studios' music video team. “All right folks, this shot is wrapped so let's pack up and get ready for the bedroom,” says Jonas Sanchez, the team's creative director and people herder. The diverse group of Sonalysts employees involved in this project are mostly working for free, or as they call it, “out of hide.” Gilman's record company, Image Entertainment, paid for a simple music video concept, mainly Billy singing while sitting in a chair. But Eric Toriello, the video's producer, along with director Alec Asten and Sanchez, had bigger ideas. At Toriello's request, many went pro bono in the name of quality and exposure. “We talked to Billy a lot about this video,” says Toriello as he gives a tour of the next location: a large upstairs bedroom. “He likes music a lot, so the guitar's there, and he really likes modern design, so we brought these chairs in.” Later it turns out that the red leather chairs Toriello points to are from his own office. The general concept, or storyline, of the music video conjured up by the Sonalysts team and Gilman follows Billy as he's getting a second chance in a relationship. No romantic cliché will be spared: There will be plenty of flashbacks, longing looks at photographs, a chance meeting in a café, and quiet walks in the park. Over the previous week and a half, Gilman, Toriello, and others sorted through more than 500 local girls (and many who called in from as far as California) who answered the call to play opposite Billy in the video. Christine Perkins, a 17-year-old senior at East Lyme High School, got the part. While Perkins had appropriate experience (as 2004's Miss Connecticut Teen USA and an aspiring film actress who's had a few commercial gigs), chemistry was the clincher. “She was my first pick. Once she came in, all the others went away,” Billy jokes, faking a swoon while the crew moves behind him to set up the camera equipment and lighting in the bedroom. Perkins, who wears fitted jeans, a small T-shirt and pink flannel, laughs at Gilman's flirt while they share one of the modern red chairs. She's a fan, but admits she has burned rather than bought most of the Billy Gilman music she owns. “He'll do well.” She smiles. “He's a cute kid.” ••• Perkins represents only a small part of the demographic that Gilman hopes to target. As the official spokesman for muscular dystrophy and an artist whose manager is certainly image-conscious, Gilman's material shoots for that all-ages rating. It's described by his manager, Bacari, as “inspirational music,” but it is also pure pop country music. “I love the old country sound,” Gilman says, “but it's the new country that's selling.” Bacari is mother, manager, and handler all at once when he's in celebrity mode. She's the one who needs to know who everyone is who enters the house. When Billy was invited into Michael Jackson's dressing room alone a few years ago, he wouldn't go without Bacari. Billy's real mother, Fran Gilman, is happy to be simply his mother. “We trust Angela completely,” she says. “No one gets past that woman.” Before the bedroom shooting can begin, Billy must change outfits and wait while makeup artist Joell Jacob touches up his face and tugs at his frosted hair. He then hops into the bed and prepares to stare at an empty frame that will eventually hold a picture (added in post-production) from his happy relationship with Perkins. Art director Carol Hoyem bustles about, and the crew starts to sound like a team of underfunded surgeons as last minute requests echo out. “Gaffers tape.” “Gaffers tape.” “Gaffers tape.” Gaffer Gerry Polinsky, who has worked on dozens of music videos on the West Coast (including Nirvana's famously foggy “Smells Like Teen Spirit”) returns with several different kinds of tape, and a power cord hanging from the bottom of the bedside table is taped out of sight. “Oh man, I am hungry,” groans Gilman about halfway through the first bedroom shot. “Can I have a Pop Tart? I just want a Pop Tart.” Gilman's Rhode Islandness shows up in the way he says “Pop Taaht.” Soon a blueberry Pop Tart appears, and Gilman tears into it, until his publicist Kathi Atwood points out that the snack has turned his tongue blue. Billy rubs the inside of his T-shirt collar across the top of his tongue to try and get rid of the color, and everyone in the room chuckles. After more shooting and some mild disagreements regarding camera angles among Bacari, Atwood, and director Asten, the day is wrapped, and everyone goes home in the twilight for some rest before Monday's 8 a.m. call. ••• The second day of shooting, which moves to downtown Westerly, is also successful despite time constraints and some equipment issues. Everyone is more comfortable with each other, including Billy and Christine. They shoot in front of the Westerly Public Library, in the coffee and wine bar Perks and Corks, and on one of the stone staircases in Wilcox Park. The filming in the park is the last of the day, and it doesn't take long for a group of about 15 local kids who are hanging out after school to gather. The girls can barely contain their excitement at seeing Gilman under the lights and in front of the camera, some of them clamoring for an autograph. The boys watch the scene skeptically, some of them leering out impressions of crazed fans from behind a bush, screaming “We love you Billy!” Gilman is visibly distracted by the attention but still completes his duties with panache, drawing tears from Perkins, Bacari, and a few others with his performance. Everyone trades hugs and promises to work together again, someday.

DECA group to award $25,000 to MDA telethon - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 Rolla's DECA Club has achieved a first. The high school organization became the first Missouri chapter to net over $25,000 in fundraising for the Muscular Dystrophy Association This is the 19th year that DECA has helped raise money for MDA. Because of that DECA advisor Rob Eckhoff and the club's MDA Co-Chairs Sarah Henne and Tiffany Davis earned an all expenses paid trip to the MDA National Telethon. "Right now we aren't sure if the telethon will be held in Los Angeles or in Las Vegas," Eckhoff said. "While we are there we will work the phone banks and present our check on live television to either Jerry Lewis or the National Youth Chairman for MDA, Billy Gilman." The organization works hard, putting on multiple events throughout the year raising money for MDA. This year's events included Jail & Bail, Kid's Carnival for MDA, Super Bowl-a-Thon and a Hop-a-Thon in conjunction with Wyman Elementary. In addition, the DECA Club has a 7-Up machine at RTI that sees all proceeds going to MDA. Next year the group hopes to add a car bash and a lock in.

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