Beyer's Byways is a blog for travelers and curiosity seekers desiring to see and know about the world. John R. Beyer, award-winning columnist with the USA Today Gannett Network, shares insights from his travel column with a broad audience.
From our own backyard to destinations far and wide, we seek to research, explore, and share the discoveries we make. Whether it's about people or places, near or remote, we hope you find something of interest to you here.
Eighty degrees with some mild to gusty winds from the south made it a perfect day to catch nine innings at the home of our local minor league, the Mavericks. A twenty minute drive north on Highway 395 had us arriving at the Stater Brothers Heritage Field parking lot in the small town of Adelanto.
We were excited!
John could not wait to clamber onto the pitcher's mound and throw a fast ball at the opposing batter from the Inland Empire 66ers but then again J has a vivid imagination. It was true that J was going to throw out the first ball at the Sunday game but there would be no batter ready to drill it back toward the pitcher's mound. Only J and a brave Maverick's player who would have the honor or terror of receiving a pitch from a guy who has only pitched bad lines when talking lately. His name has been purposely left out of the text to safeguard him from ridicule (but we did include his photo).
The man who stopped J's pitch with ease.
Our good friend, Terry Kurtz had invited us to the ball field Sunday the 18th of May so J could have a book signing for his latest novel, Soft Target, and to actually throw out the first ball of the game. The smile across J's face was priceless - just like a child in a gun store or would that be a candy store? You can see what brought smiles to a younger J during childhood.
We had the privilege of utilizing the Greiner Pontiac Skybox 1 for the signing and comfortable it was on that warm afternoon with a canvas awning to keep the sun off our heads, cushioned chairs and plenty of space to set out novels to be signed.
Our videographer, Paul Bakas, came along to film the event and got some amazing shots and film of J throwing the ball out, stills of players, J signing books, and more film showing the Sante Fe Drifters (cowboy/gunslinger re-enacters) as they entertained the baseball crowd with western antics during the 3rd and 6th inning. Watching good guys and bad guys shooting at each other is good old fashioned fun like watching a baseball game on a nice Sunday afternoon. It really is.
Bully and J having a good time hanging out.
Speaking of throwing the ball out. J had been nervous all morning hoping, praying, offering gifts to the gods that he wouldn't throw the pitch and have it roll up to the catcher like a pill bug. Nervous he should not have been as the pitch from the mound, all 60 feet and 6 inches reached home plate with no arch but a tad bit to the right which would have been called a ball. He knew, if given the chance, the next three would have been strikes.
"That was just my warm-up throw," J said while shaking hands with the catcher and smiling at the crowd.
Author busy signing away
Then it was onto game time and book signing. A well spent afternoon talking with new friends, explaining the writing process, and just doing a lot of hand shaking and laughing.
We didn't smile when the Maverick's lost 5 to 7 to the 66ers but that is how the game goes. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't but it's how you play the game that counts and the local boys did a pretty good job at that.
A special thanks to the following who were more than gracious hosts, really fun to be around and they all work for the Maverick's team. Matt Melchoir, Megan Patterson and Zach Osadche. You folks are awesome. And of course a great big thank you to the Maverick's team, owners and franchise, the Seattle Mariner's.
With the release of John's latest novel, 'Soft Target', just around the corner (May 17th) the idea of a trailer seemed appropriate. After all, the filming of 'Hunted' was not only fun but sent a quick message to viewers of what the book was all about. So on Saturday the 19th of April, a trailer for 'Soft Target' was shot on location at a nearby middle school in the Victor Valley of Southern California.
The photographer and the mayhem
Director at work
A group of Islamic Terrorists endeavor to repeat the school takeover their counterparts conducted in the small Russian village of Beslan in 2004 where hundreds of innocent youngsters and adults were murdered. This time their target is an American middle school to spread terror and mayhem from misguided beliefs and point out to the citizens of the United States that no one, is safe from the perverted homicidal thoughts they harbor in their black hearts. But they did not count on Yuri Sharikov, an ex-special purposes commander who was there in Beslan and saw the slaughter first hand. It's the one man they wanted to taunt but not face.
Sounds exciting - well, back to the trailer.
A simple task this filming business?
Not so much.
This is how you hold the hostage
Twenty middle school students and numerous adults as extras, two video photographers, a 'behind the scenes' photography professional (Justin Barr), and the students parents. Not at all intimidating for John's first role as 'Director'.
Make-up, director, and more
Acting lessons from a pro
Wrong - very stressful for the author to direct an advertisement for his new novel. Thankfully he had on hand two extremely accomplished and experienced people to guide him through the process. Old friend Terry Kurtz (who had shot the trailer for 'Hunted' back in 2013) and James Fuentez who can read a script and pinpoint where the camera needs to be at every shot with the precision of a drone strike. The novelist breathed easier with these two guys by his side.
Three opinions -- one great shoot!
Fun was had by all with the director yelling directions (that's what they do) and children running in fear for their lives from would-be terrorists.
Running, screaming, more running, more screaming, terrorists barking orders while waving guns (not loaded and triple checked) more terrorists barking orders and more yelling by the director.
It was a blast!
Parents smiling, students believing they are now worthy of a star in Hollywood (not mentioning some of the adults who took part), and finally those wonderful words; "It's a wrap - let's go home."
The trailer's a wrap!
Will the trailer be successful? That's a question only the sales of the novel will answer but from an inside point of view it was certainly a success for all those who participated on that warm and sunny day.
A few years ago, John R. Beyer, of J and L, wrote and published a novel called Pursued. It received excellent reviews and limited success, and recently gained the attention of Black Opal Books. They were interested enough in the characters and story to encourage John to revisit Pursued and create Hunted. Those of you who are familiar with Pursued will find much to appreciate in Hunted. Those who are not at all familiar with any of his earlier work, can enjoy this new suspense thriller anew.
A Little Sip of Hunted
The Longer Version with a Scene from the Novel
Snyopsis:
A killer without remorse, burning with pride, and having the time of his life, Zachary Marshall is unstoppable - until Detective Jonas Peters unexpectedly arrives in the midst of one of Marshall's heinous crimes. After a bank robbbery goes from bad to worse and leaves three dead - including a little girl- Marshall finds himself the target of the most intensive manhunt Riverside, California, has ever witnessed.
Detective Peters becomes frustrated and half-crazed as the case falters due to lack of clues and evidence. Ordered to take a vacation from the department before he drives all the other detectives crazy with his constant tirades, he reluctantly agrees. But an innocent remark to the media changes the entire scenario - now the hunter becomes the hunted.
Detective Peters takes this homicide case especially hard, having seen his own young daughter murdered during a bungled convenience-store robbery years earlier. The pain of the darkness is too deep, and the spirits are waiting to remind him; they will not forgive him, and he cannot forgive himself. There will be no rest until Marshall is caught.
Hunted - Release date May 18th 2013 in bookstores everywhere.
On the first of July of this year J & L were thrilled to be invited behind the scenes for the making of 'Tales of the Frontier' by TwoGunProductions in the picturesque town of Crestline. It was here on the set we learned how truly difficult filming an action packed western series can be considering the number of people needed to film, the exercise involved in climbing up and down the natural surroundings near Lake Gregory in the forest of the San Bernardino Mountains, to get the perfect film angle, and the many, many 'takes' for a seemingly simple ten second shot.
Tino Luciano, director/producer, and his business partner Garry Lee Brooks, writer/producer, allowed a behind the scene glimpse giving us the rare chance to see a television series being created. The day of the shoot was the final scene when the hero, played by actor Chris Hlovek, saved the heroine, played by actress Candice Bolek, from a group of ruthless and rather nasty looking hooligans. These 'bad guys' were played by the Pioneer Gunfighters. Little did we realize as we drove our more than competent steed, played by our Toyota FJ Cruiser, down some pretty narrow, steep, and twisting forest roads to the location that we would spend the next four hours enthralled in watching scenes being filmed which, and we're not experts in this field, probably would only end up as minutes on the screen.
We have to give a lot of kudos to the film crew who used patience, humor, and genuine concern for the actors, horse handlers, horses, and everyone else who was on set. Even we visitors were treated with kindness and not stares of 'why are you here watching our filming magic.. Magic it was as we witnessed the chemistry of the TwoGunProductions crew in action filming, directing, applying make-up, making sure everyone was safe during the live gun fire (blanks of course), moving cameras/lights/etc., and the rest which make up a fine tuned company. These people sincerely enjoy each others company and seemed more like a family than those with strictly a working relationship. Of course, http://www.two-gunproductions.com/ is a small company and perhaps as it becomes known for great story telling, as discussed in the previous article, they will grow to the size of a major Hollywood studio but doubtful they would ever forget about being genuinely nice to each other. Though, we at J & L truly doubt that would happen - these people are just nice, period.
Tom Girt and his spouse Paula are responsible for the Pioneer Gunfighters action group who have been playing gunfighters in Southern California and beyond for over 30 years. This group, made up of at least seven gunfighters, brings the realistic attitude and behavior of what life must have been like in the late nineteenth century when honor was all important and a gun generally solved the issue when that honor was disrespected. I spoke to Mark Elsey, one of the gunfighters who advised me he loved the group and enjoyed every time they went out into public to display their 'gunfighter antics' be that at Calico, Colton Frontier Town, or any of the other numerous venues where they entertain visitors and guests. Looking at the outfits he and his fellow gunfighters wore shows that they take their job very seriously and mean business. This happened to be one of the first ventures for the group into a filming career.
But it was not all dress up and play acting for the gunfighters and the main characters for this day's shoot. The temperature was hovering in the low eighties, dirt was flying everywhere with the horses tramping about, flies and mosquitoes buzzing about our heads, and the sun peeking in and out of the tall tree branches making the director and cinematographer Jake Borowski scratch their heads looking for the best lighting. Watching the Best Boy, Andrew Piovet, and the Key Grip, Vincent Luciano, bounding from tree to tree with gear in their hands to make the director and cinematographer happy was enough to exhaust anyone.
Filming a television series, which can be seen on AskMilton.tv, is no easy matter and those with poor tempers need not apply. It is an avenue which leads to wait, move, wait, get it right, wait, try again, and finally 'cut'. How many times we heard James Fuentez, Asst. Director, yell 'quiet on the set' is unknown but when he warned us he meant it.
To name everyone involved with this wonderfully wholesome and entertaining series would be a tough job but one only needs to visit Terry Kurtz's website terrykurtz.com , a dear friend and the one who initially invited J & L to the filming, and who is in charge in filming the series 'behind the scenes' action to get the full flavor of what goes on behind the camera.
It was a fascinating experience and one which will not be forgotten. A special thanks to all those on that July 1st who allowed a couple of explorers to watch what few get a chance to see. We only hope they will keep up the good work and perhaps the message that there are true heroes will resonate across this great land of ours. We can only pray and hope.
