New Orleans, LA. (Top40 Charts/ ILDK Media) - New Orleans' WWOZ radio personality Marc Stone has joined the production team of the TV show "Dixie Melodie" as music supervisor. "Dixie Melodie" is a half-hour comedy television project for cable produced by Los Angeles based
Sheer Audacity Productions.
Marc Stone is one of WWOZ well known show hosts. A volunteer donating several hours weekly on the mic, Stone is part and parcel of the music community of New Orleans. The station does not provide these aficionados with playlists; each show is unique and hand-picked just for the listeners. What?s more, hosts are not influenced by commercial considerations (i.e., record labels, music venues, etc. do not pay for play). Stone has produced numerous projects involving the cream of New Orleans' local talents. He created, produced and acted as musical director for the Louisiana Blues Throwdown series which has included dates at all of the major clubs in New Orleans. His efforts culminated in a nomination for Best Emerging Blues Artist at the 2005 Best of The Beat Awards in New Orleans.
Written by B.J. Grogan and Steve Meigs, the TV show will be entirely shot and produced in New Orleans, LA, using local actors and crew. "It is our goal to use as many of the local resources as we can. We want to do more than just use New Orleans as a setting or backdrop, but make it another part of the cast. This is why we want to shoot the entire show there.", says Grogan, "we want to show New Orleans in a new, exciting and positive light, through the eyes of our lead character, Melodie."
Veteran actor Lane Davies has already committed to playing the role of "Frederick Charleston" in the pilot of "Dixie Melodie". Davies joins a cast including local New Orleans actors Deanna Meske and Stephanie Casso. The original 'Mason Capwell' on NBC's 80s soap Santa Barbara (an international hit which has now played in over 53 countries worldwide) Davies is also known for his roles in four prime-time series. He has worked as a consultant, writer and producer for Walt Disney Attractions on projects for Tokyo Disney Sea and EuroDisney. As Artistic Director for the Santa Susana Repertory Company, Lane has produced and/or directed over 40 productions. He also founded the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival in Thousand Oaks, now in its 11th season.
"Dixie Melodie" takes us on a ride through the daily trials and tribulations of Melodie, a young woman from New Jersey, who moves to New Orleans in hopes to jump start her life. The main action enfolds in a boarding house into which Melodie finds residence and at the offices of a local magazine where she is employed as a feature writer. She is surrounded by a variety of colorful characters, likewise, all in a state of renewing themselves - all searching for the beauty in the mud, so to speak.
More than a sitcom, "Dixie Melodie" is a "peoplecom"; it is a character driven show rather than situational. This is the reason why New Orleans was a natural choice for the backdrop of the show as it is an integral part of the story and becomes as much of a live and evolving character as all our other protagonists. They all embrace the symbol of life, hope and renewal. After all, New Orleans has always been about the celebration of life; it is in the music, the food, and most importantly, in the people. That's also what Mardi Gras is all about - as we know, Carnival derives its roots from the Latin words carne vale, meaning "farewell to the flesh." - it celebrates the death of winter and the rebirth of nature, or Spring, ultimately recommitting the individual, to the spiritual and social codes of the culture.
"Dixie Melodie" is not only capturing the city's never-say-die pre and post Katrina spirit but also embracing the current "Cinderella story of Louisiana's film and TV industry" zeitgeist. Indeed, after a dip immediately following Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana film industry appears to be on a rebound. A number of high-profile projects have been helping Hollywood South bounce back from the storm including the Laurence Fishburne film "Black Water Transit," which just wrapped in New Orleans; Denzel Washington's second post-Katrina Louisiana film, "The Great Debaters," shot in Shreveport; "Deja Vu" in late 2005, which handed off to the pilot for the FX cable series "The Riches," followed by the Brad Pitt feature "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."and the Fox-TV series "K-Ville," being shot in New Orleans.
"Dixie Melodie" plans to go a step further by giving back to the community. In an effort to help support local artists in the performing arts, to develop writers, actors and producers in the area, Sheer Audacity Productions plans on donating an initial 5% of the proceeds from "Dixie Melodie" to the Art Council of New Orleans. Founded by writer, actor and producer, B.J. Grogan, Sheer Audacity Productions was officially formed in 1996 to showcase a half-hour comedy show which ran on public access television in Los Angeles for a solid five year period.
"Dixie Melodie" is set to shoot early 2008 in New Orleans. For more information and up to date news feel free to visit the official website at www. sheeraudacity.com/dixiemelodie
