A Martinez Denies Guiding Light Future

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Thanks to Rosie in Australia!

    Despite persistent rumors, A Martinez (ex-Cruz, Santa Barbara) says he is not joining his former co-stars on Guiding Light -- for now, anyway.  "I read 'em too and I don't know where they come from," the actor says about the reports, "aside from the fact that (executive producer) Jill Phelps is my best friend.  I have so many friends working on that show, and I love that show and I think what she's done with it since she's been there just proved that what she did at Santa Barbara wasn't a fluke."

    For now, the recently-bearded Martinez is tackling the Los Angeles stage as legendary California bandit Tiburcio Vasquez in the play "Bandido!"  Playing Vasquez, the last man to be publicly hanged in the state, is a lifelong dream for the actor who was trained in the theater before careening off to superstardom on SB.  "It's a special kind of task to put yourself on stage in one role that's holding a lot of weight and hold up night after night," he reveals.  "It's a challenge both physically, emotionally and intellectually.  I'm just happy that I can get up there and deliver."  The production runs through July 24 at the Mark Taper Forum Music Center in Los Angeles.

    Once the final curtain falls on the play, Martinez says he's heading back into the recording studio to finish up an album that's been two-and-a-half years in the making.  "I'm going to jump back on that and my hope is that I can get it done before the end of the year,"  he says about his first solo effort, which is music from the "Los Angeles country rock school," like the Eagles.  "I'm a huge fan of Jackson Browne.  It's rock and roll with a lot of ringing electric guitars, high harmony and lyrics that try to stand up as decent poetry."  From age 15, the singer/actor began fronting for local surf bands before acting took all of his attention.

    Martinez expects to be working on the album through at least December, and says he has had no offers to join GL.  "I'm basically going to make a record and see what happens then."  While he has no plans to make a move to the East Coast soap, he has had dreams of joining his former on-air love once again.  "I actually dreamed I was on the show," he admits.  "Marcy (Walker, who plays GL's Tangie) was getting married to somebody and I was standing at a fence.  She saw me and gave me a beautiful smile.  They were shooting at some bizarre-looking white house with funky furniture and a floor made of dirt.  And there was this producer guy who said, 'Ah Martinez, so you're here to mess up the wedding.  These are your lines.'   And he would perform my lines for me in this inflammatory style because he didn't have a script."  Martinez told Phelps about his dream:  he wanted to know who the producer is who acts out other's lines.

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