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Boxtop presents

Author Dennis Hensley
"Misadventures in the 213"

August 27, 1998

When Dennis Hensley auditioned to be a dancer for Madonna's "Blonde Ambition Tour" in 1990, he had no idea that it would lead to a career in journalism and eventually his own book. Find out what else has happened along the way and what it takes to get on the inside in Hollywood.

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CCCMyst: Our Guest is here! Talk City Presents, in association with iXL Live, welcomes you to tonight's feature presentation of the author of "Misadventures in the 213." Please welcome Dennis Hensley! Dennis, welcome to Talk City!

Dennis Hensley: Thank You, it's great to be here!

Mysterygirl: Dennis, welcome to Talk City! Tell us about your new projects, and the book

Dennis Hensley: The book is a comic novel, about a group of friends in Los Angeles, trying to make their dreams come true and the often desperate lengths they will go to. Although nothing is official, there is a possibility that the book will be turned into a television series, so keep your fingers crossed!

Nightmyst: How did you get your start?

Dennis Hensley: I was working as a dancer in the late 80s and in 1990 I auditioned for Madonna's Blonde Ambition tour and of course I didn't get picked. The experience was so rich and funny, that I wrote a story about it, sort of my fantasies and the reality of what actually happened. I sent it to every magazine and newspaper I could think of, and Movieline bought it and has been using me ever since! That's for articles. Once I got clips from Movieline, I started to get other magazines as well. I later interviewed Madonna for a magazine in Singapore and told her I had a career because she rejected me. She was amused and said "Well see, you took a negative and turned it into a positive."

Terris: What made you decide to write this book?

Dennis Hensley: I had been writing about these characters and some of these situations in a column for "Detour" magazine once a month and when I had about 13 of them, I sent them to a publisher that I had read about in OUT magazine named Rob Weisbachand. He responded right away and after I completed an outline, he gave me a book deal.

Stardust: How did you come up with the idea for your book?

Dennis Hensley: It's basically a sort of twisted version of my life and the lives of my friends. Things happen every day that can fit into this world. It was sort of me chronicling this world that's on the fringe of show business.

Scuba Girl: Do you think the studios still try to protect the image of their stars today, like they did in the past?

Dennis Hensley: I think they still want to, but they aren't as successful at doing it. The media, especially the tabloids, aren't going to play the games anymore. The games like they did in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Enigma: Who would you say are some of the more colorful stars in Tinseltown?

Dennis Hensley: I get a kick out of stars who want to be stars. Who obviously enjoy the spotlight and don't apologize for it. Some of the people that I think are like that are Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Tilley, you know. You know if they're coming down the red carpet, you're going to get a good sound bite and some nice cleavage. For some reason I can't think of any men to fit into this category.

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