And now for something different. Last month was this blog's 6th year anniversary. Over the course of those years I have written about a number of different topics and, for reasons that should become clear as you read this post, I'd been trying to set up an interview with actor Tim Dax for quite a while. Finally, on September 2nd, I was able to reach Tim at the Los Angeles home he shares with his fiancee Andrea Giacomi.
It's a wide-ranging interview. I hope you enjoy it. As we begin, I've already introduced myself and given Tim a run-down of the questions I'd like to ask. And then it's on...
Blabbeando: I know a few things about your work but my readers don’t. You are living in Los Angeles and involved in a few current projects. What are they.
It's a wide-ranging interview. I hope you enjoy it. As we begin, I've already introduced myself and given Tim a run-down of the questions I'd like to ask. And then it's on...
Blabbeando: I know a few things about your work but my readers don’t. You are living in Los Angeles and involved in a few current projects. What are they.
Tim Dax: Well, I’m Tim Dax and thank you Andrés for reaching
out. So, yeah, Tim Dax, Los Angeles, my one-year anniversary coming up pretty
soon after living in New York City for fifteen years. I’m pursuing my acting
career and I’m just beating the pavement, man, pounding the ground, doing what
I gotta do out here to make it happen - and step by step things are happening.
It’s all good.
What am I working on? I've been attending a few auditions, I’ve got a couple of movie scripts that are being written for
me as the lead, I completed my first feature in which I starred in called “Mr. Bricks”. It’s being released on Troma this fall. I’ve got my second feature
with the same creators of “Mr. Bricks” called “Slaughter Daughter”. That’s in
post-production now so that should be coming out. It’s rolling, man…
Blabbeando: And you are doing some video work as well, I
believe you appeared - briefly - in Steven Tyler’s video for “Feels So Good” which debuted
on American Idol this past season…
Blabbeando: As you know, I've actually have written about you before and it just happens to be
the most popular blog post I have ever written in the six years since I launched Blabbeando...
Tim Dax: Awesome!
Blabbeando: In that post I described how we met in June of 2005 and the particular commotion you caused on that day. It happened to be right in the middle of Manhattan's annual LGBT pride march...
Blabbeando: …and there you were as a straight guy and I don’t even know if you
had ever marched in a pride parade before…
Tim Dax: I had not. It was my first…
Blabbeando: …and so what were your thoughts earlier that morning and
did you actually plan what you were about to do?
Tim Dax: Well, first I want to address the issue of the word
‘straight’ or the word ‘gay’, those are labels and when anybody asks me if I’m
gay: “Hell yeah, I’m gay. Fucking shit, man, life is good! I love
being fucking gay. Shit! I’m queer. Look at me, man! I. Am. Queer. This is a
real queer look on my face right now.” So whatever. Gay, straight, whatever.
Blabbeando: And do you remember that morning?
Tim Dax: Yes! Yes I do! Gay pride 2005. I remember it was
hot! It was hot and humid. I was sweating my ass off. That morning I didn’t know I was going to walk in a parade
until the last minute. I had an idea that I would, I thought I might, and then
the morning came and a friend called and they said they were meeting and I
said: “OK, what the hell am I going to wear?" - I am an exhibitionist, to start, so it’s gotta be minimal - "OK, shorts? Aaaah, so expected, shorts, I
don’t have any cool ones anyway. What else, what else, what else.” Well I got this hat – a stocking cap kinda thing – and I
said “OK, I could put this on, and then I could keep it on with a cock-ring,
and there you go! That’s my costume! OK, that’s it!’”
And I thought that up maybe an hour before I walked out the
door. And I walked up to 52nd Street and I already had the sock on
and I was good to go! Just dropped my pants and…
Blabbeando: You were marching with a specific contingent or was that accidental…
Blabbeando: You were marching with a specific contingent or was that accidental…
Tim Dax: Well, I was hanging out with The Eagle truck
because I have some friends of that persuasion [laughs] and they invited me to
walk with the whole journey.
Blabbeando: So, yeah, for the rest
of the day you marched down 5th Avenue totally nude except for a sock…
Tim Dax: Yeah! A hat which doubled
as a sock that covered my cock [realizing what he just said rhymes, he chuckles].
Blabbeando: You also carried a
leather flag in a particular place of your body. Whose idea was that?
Tim Dax: The flag? The flag
started a few blocks down. I don’t remember exactly how it ended up there. I
actually might have been the one who put it there. It probably was me. But
what else do you do with a flag when you gotta march, like, two miles, dude? So I had to pose! I had to have my hands free! So what a better way to display
it! It was up the crack of my ass!
Blabbeando: I think that's hen I first spotted you. You
were walking down, taking your time and posing and people seemed shocked at first but then applauded. And then, right
in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, there were all these fundamentalist
religious folk bunched all up in a police pen. They held all these signs saying
the usual, “God hates fags”, “Fags cause AIDS"...
Tim Dax: Insanity! Confused
unhappy people.
Blabbeando: It was funny because
it was just about everybody. The fundamentalist Muslims, the Christians, the
Orthodox Jews…
Tim Dax: Yeah, there were a few
different haters in there [laughs] but it’s all good. We just went there, we
showed them that we have good times no matter what, haters. I mean, that was
2005, I mean 6 years ago? And my attitude probably would be a little bit
different now. I might not have thrown them the finger. I might just actually
have thrown them the peace sign. But I go with the flow and at the moment
that’s what it said and I think I did it with a smile, so that balanced it out…
and my ass! And my ass-cheeks.
Blabbeando: I remember the disgust
in their faces and you just standing there.
I have marched in many pride marches and that remains one of my favorite
pride march memories.
Tim Dax: Dude, it was
brilliant. That whole event for me was brilliant. That was my first gay pride march. I had been to the parade
in Washington a couple of times but never marched. And it’s been my last, unfortunately, not to say that it
will be my last. For sure, when the time is right, I want to be in New York
City and certainly take part in it again on a grander scale. Because at that
time maybe I’ll have a few movies out there and everybody’s gonna know Tim Dax
so I’m gonna have a special Tim Dax float where everybody can come on and chill
out and have a good time. Hell yeah!
Blabbeando: Now, I
don’t know if at that time you were working on “Rough Gods” or if it came a
little later…
Tim Dax: Later. I
worked for thirteen years in the interior design industry in New York City and
2008 was about the time that “Rough Gods” came into my life and that was after
I left that thirteen-year job to pursue an acting career. I had just finished
my facial tattoo which had taken about two years. It had been done for a few
months when I met Michael Alago. It was completely by chance and he asked if I
wanted to be photographed. As an actor, you do anything and everything to get
your face out so I said ‘Of course!’
Michael was one of the
first photographers to take a picture of me after I left that serious job I had
for so long and he was my influence and my inspiration to do a lot of things in
those beginning stages of experiencing a new challenge of a career; trying to
model and get acting gigs and all that stuff.
Blabbeando: Did you
feel you were diving head first into a brand new life experience in terms of
modeling and acting and all that stuff.
Tim Dax: Oh God,
completely! Scary! When you leave a 9 to 5 after thirteen years that gave you a
good salary and try to follow a dream? ‘HAHAHA!’ And to do what? You wanna be
an actor looking like that? ‘HAHAHA!’ You’re gonna be a model? ‘HAHAHA!
Nobody’s gonna ever hire you! You’ve painted yourself into a corner, man!
HAHAHA!’
And then, of course,
my heart tells me ‘No, they’re wrong, they’re wrong’ because what I’ve got is
unique and when I show everybody how I use it they will see and it will become
big and popular and in demand and I have a good message behind all so that will
all be heard. So, yes, going back to it, [I was] scared shitless.
Blabbeando: So how
much attention did it "Rough Gods" bring you? Did you experience…
Tim Dax: Tons! First
of all, on a daily level, it’s funny because I have people from time to time
who might say ‘Hey! Aren’t you one of those --- aren’t you a ‘Rough God’?”
“Yes, yes!” Out of the blue, crazy. Everybody remembers.
On a deeper level, on
a bigger level, all of my acting headshots, all my good ones are all Michael
Alago, they are all “Rough Gods” and those are the only ones I use because
Michael captures ‘a man’s man’ and he’s just got an eye for it and it’s
brilliant and he does it unlike anyone else I’ve worked with. He’s got it like
that.
Blabbeando: What about your tattoos? When I first saw you, you had a few. I think you had some
facial work, not as much as you do today…
Tim Dax: I might have
had my chin started at that time…
Blabbeando: Yeah. Have
you relied on one specific tattoo artist for your tattoos all this time or have
different people worked on them? And, at this point, are you done or are there
plans for more tattoo work.
Tim Dax: As far as my
tattoos, I’ve used about, maybe four people so far. Maybe five. But they are
never by chance. Tattoos are a very spiritual thing if your heart is in the
right place when you get them. And there are no chance meetings, for me,
anyway, with that stuff. And each artist that has done work on me has done very
unique and very special work and served a purpose for that period of time. I’ve
had good relationships with all of them.
One guy did my entire
head. I would never start something with someone with the intentions to maybe
not finishing with them. I follow through and I like relationships. I wish I
could have had one tattoo artist for all of my body but for whatever reason
each person is meant to be in our lives for a certain amount of time and
sometimes we part ways but I like consistency and I am loyal so therefore I
like having solid relationships that last forever. But this is reality and
that’s not always possible.
I am finished for the
moment but there are some plans for some snakes on my hands that’ll look
WICKED. And then some snakes on my feet, which will look WICKED. And then from
there I don’t know. They all come to me as visions and they stay with me and
when the time is right I’ll find the right person and I’ll have the money to
pay for it and everything will work out because that’s the way my life goes
[laughs].
Blabbeando: And it has
evolved into a sorta ‘Gladiator’ type of look. Was it intentional?
Tim Dax: It’s funny
that I say that it wasn’t intentional, it just came out that way, and that’s
kinda the truth. I didn’t start out to say “I want to be a WARRIOR” or “I wanna
look like a GLADIATOR”, no.
I started with my
forearms. That was supposed to be just like a two-inch band on my wrists and it
turned into my full forearms. And then from there, I just started popping
ideas, just coming to me. Visions of the other designs and they all just laid
out, ordained organically, one after the other. And this is what they look
like.
So it wasn’t
preconceived, it just came out that way. My head even. My head started as a
Mohawk, which I did not like the way it looked. So, what else do you do? I just
kept making it bigger. For a year and a half, I just kept making it bigger and
it slowly crept down my face one hour at a time.
Blabbeando: Because it
does make you a striking figure. It also might pigeonhole you into a specific
type of character-actor of or model. But from the stuff I’ve seen about you, I
know you have a range. You are pretty goofy sometimes. You can do comedy,
horror.
Tim Dax: hell yeah!
You know what? It’ll be ‘quote-unquote’ pigeonholing at first. All they see at first is a tattoo and
they say “Oh, my God! What are you gonna do with it!” And then all of a sudden
when they give themselves a minute to see what’s beyond the tattoo, what comes
from the person who is wearing the tattoo, which is dramatic, which is
intellectual, which is comedic at times, which is whatever it wants to be,
there’ll be great value in that.
And then thing will be
made for a guy like me. Why can’t there be a sitcom where there’s now gay
people, have a sitcom with a gay couple and the tattooed-head guy who is the
neighbor, who is a gardener, I don’t know!
It’s possible! We have
a black president right now. Hello! 20 years ago who was even thinking that was
possible, huh? Anything is possible. If he can be the president, then why can’t I be a leading man
in Hollywood. Of course I can.
Blabbeando: Finally,
any regrets leaving New York City? And what awaits you in the future.
Tim Dax: My future is
home-base L.A. because I believe the rest of my future has to do with making
movies, making entertainment, and it all starts in Hollywood. So here is home
base. No regrets. I absolutely adore it here, love it here, this is where I’m
meant to be right now. I own an apartment in
New York City, down in Chelsea, so that’s gonna be the retreat back eventually
so I can be ‘Bi’…’-coastal’.
Blabbeando: [Laughs] Alright,
Tim, so thank you so much for the interview and good luck in Hollywood.
Tim Dax: Thank you so
much, Andrés. God bless.
All things Tim Dax:
Related:
- Tim Dax: "There is no pinnacle, we keep rising up" (Couch Cutter, April 11, 2011)
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