By Anne Howard

Quick – name that movie: it’s an animated film from 2003, recounting the misadventures of a kidnapped Tour de France cyclist, his would-be rescuer grandmother, and a trio of divas. IYKYK.

Did you know it?

It’s… The Triplets of Belleville!

And Tacoma Arts Live is presenting two showings of “The Triplets of Belleville Cine-Concert, Benoît Charest, Composer-Conductor” on Saturday, November 4 at 3:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. at Tacoma Armory. The cine-concert features a screening of the film with Le Terrible Orchestre de Belleville performing the original score live with composer Benoît Charest conducting.

Benoît Charest is a Canadian guitarist and film score composer from Quebec. He is best known for “The Triplets of Belleville” soundtrack for which he won a César Award for Best Music Written for a Film as well as a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Music. The song “Belleville Rendez-vous” earned both Academy Award and Grammy Award nominations.

In between shows, Tacoma Arts Live will host a community Bike Carnival from around 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The Bike Carnival is free to the public and includes bicycle games, an exposition of unusual bikes, safety information, vendors, food, drink, and more.

You don’t need tickets or reservations for the Bike Carnival. The Bike Carnival is co-presented with 2nd Cycle, a nonprofit bicycle shop in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood. Guests attending “The Triplets of Belleville Cine-Concert,” the Bike Carnival, or both, are invited to bike to Tacoma Armory.

Whether you’re a big fan, or you’ve never seen the film before, this is the perfect way to view it. The Triplets of Belleville Cine-Concert, Benoît Charest, Composer-Conductor is Saturday, November 4 at 3:00 & 7:30 p.m. at Tacoma Armory. The film is rated PG-13. Tickets start at $39 and are on sale now. To reserve tickets, call Tacoma Arts Live Box Office at 253.346.1721, visit Tacoma Armory in person at 1001 S Yakima Ave., or go to TacomaArtsLive.org.

Weekly Volcano loves nothing more than the opportunity to tell the world about our talented locals so it was our pleasure to sit down with local author Kris M. Smith to take a look behind the keyboard for a glimpse at the life of a successful author and learn how a Star Trek celebrity helped to launch his career and what he did to launch part of him into space!

Weekly Volcano: Tell us about your prolific writing career. Have many books have you written and what inspired you to become a writer?

Kris M. Smith: I have written sixteen books under my own name and ghostwritten several others for clients. I was ( inadvertently, perhaps) inspired to become a writer by my mother.

I was a huge Roy Rogers fan as a child and was forever hounding Mom to buy me another Roy Rogers comic book every time she went to the store, so she finally said, “Kris, they don’t make as many Roy Rogers comic books as you’re always wanting. If you want more Roy Rogers stories, you’re going to have to write them yourself.’

It was a REVELATION! I could make Roy Rogers do whatever I wanted him (and Dale Evans and the whole cast) to do! That’s all it took.

After Roy Rogers, it was Stoney Burke, Jerry Lewis, Dr. McCoy, and Mr. Spock. A world of whee opened up for li’l ol me, starting at age nine, and it has never ended, although these days I write mostly nonfiction.

The teachers loved what I came up with and shared my stories in class. In junior high my English teacher, Alpha Rossetti in Cle Elum WA, reiterated that I was a gifted writer. When I asked her to help me write even better, she said sadly, “I can’t. I’m not a writer, but I am a reader, and I know good writing when I read it!”

Then she did something extraordinary: she subscribed to two years of THE WRITER Magazine for me. It became my career bible. I practically memorized every issue.

Then, shortly before I graduated from high school, I met actor DeForest Kelley and wrote an essay about meeting him called THE REAL McCOY, which my English teacher suggested that I send to him to read. I balked, but he insisted, so I sent it.

Mr. Kelley liked it so much that he sent it to a New York publisher, who wanted to publish it, so Mr. Kelley wrote back to get my permission. Can you imagine?! My favorite actor launched my writing career! My parents had to peel me off the ceiling.

WV: Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

KMS: Yes!!! “Believe the yay-sayers in your life.” (I wrote an entire book about yay-sayers.) There will be plenty of naysayers, people who love you to death who fear you’re likely to starve to death if you go on such an “unlikely” quest. They are wrong. If your heart and spirit are fully invested in a goal (just about any goal, not just becoming an author), it will happen!

Listen to your teachers, to people in the entertainment industry, to creators who know a whole world exists beyond the one most people ever get to experience, simply because they believe it’s highly unlikely.

(After all, how much effort would someone put toward something they deemed “highly unlikely”? Not enough, that’s for sure!)

VW: How did you come to know DeForest Kelley?

KMS: I answered that question briefly in the first question. De (his friends called him De) just never forgot about me, and when we reconnected years later, he and his wife Carolyn encouraged me to move to Hollywood and get into the entertainment industry. He kicked open some doors for me, and I went.

And from that moment on, they became like a second set of parents to me, involving me in their lives. I ended up being De’s personal assistant and caregiver during the last months of his life. That’s the three-second version. You can get the whole 30-plus year story by reading my book DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal: A Harvest of Memories from the Fan Who Knew Him Best at Amazon. I recommend getting the Kindle version to see the images in full color. The book documents how I went from being a fan, on the outermost reaches of fandom, to being at his bedside when he passed away.

WV: Kelley’s DNA is about to be launched into space. Tell us about how that came about and when it’s happening.

KMS: Celestis, the space flights memorial company, will be sending De’s DNA into space along with other Star Trek notables (cast, crew, etc.) and even a few presidents of the U.S. on Christmas Eve this year. The mission is a combined one comprising The Enterprise Flight (beyond our galaxy) and the Tranquility Flight (destination, the Moon). You can find out more about these flights and all of the participants (including De) by visiting Celestis.com.

The company will be live-streaming the memorial service (at which I will speak about my friend De for two minutes on video) on December 23rd and the launch on December 24th. But space flights, as you know, are subject to delays down to the last few seconds of a launch, so if it doesn’t happen then, it will happen at a later date. Celestis will keep us all informed from their website.

I’m the person who provided the lock of De’s hair so he could make the flight. An Enterprise flight without Dr. McCoy on it just didn’t seem right. Celestus was delighted to discover that someone had his DNA because he was cremated and his ashes delivered to the Pacific Ocean in 1999, and they didn’t think getting his DNA would ever be possible.

WV: Will the Star Trek PR team be covering it?

KMS: I have every expectation that they will. A great many interested parties (NASA, space enthusiasts, etc.) will be at Cape Canaveral covering it.

WV: How did you happen to have a lock of his hair and what will they do with it in space?

KMS: Upon his passing, his wife Carolyn (who I continued to serve for another seven months following his passing) asked me to collect a lock of his hair. I asked her if I could collect two (one for me), and she said, “Certainly!”

I never intended to part with it, until this Enterprise Flight opportunity came along. I still have half of it. They didn’t need the whole lock, so I held some back just in case (heaven forbid!) the launch should go badly; there is a backup, if that happens.

The Canadian lab that Celestis uses turned the lock into a liquid DNA sample. It will be flying across the universe for the foreseeable future on what will become the farthest “outpost” for humankind. I also got a little vial of the DNA as a thank you for donating the hair. Again, Celestis.com has all the details.

WV: What is your next book going to be about?

KMS: Right now, I’m working on a book tentatively titled TRAILBLAZER: A Guide for Magnificent Misfits. As to whether it will ever be released, we’ll see. It has to pass muster with me before I turn it loose, and I’m my own worst critic.

WV: How can people learn more about you?

KMS: You can learn more about me from two different websites. The one that’s about me as an author is YellowBalloonPublications.com. My copy/content/editing business website (where I get my writing gigs) is Wordwhisperer.net.

Angela, thank you for this opportunity to reach out to our mutual community! I’m a mini-celebrity in the Star Trek world, but very few local people know this about me. (One of my favorite sayings is “Writing is show business for shy people.”)

WV: We live for opportunities like this. Thank you for sharing your story!

The TSC International Indigenous Film Festival is next week at Grand Cinema! Students are admitted free with their student ID. Please share among your networks! Get your tickets here:

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Tacoma is for Lovers Saturday November 18 from 11-4 at King’s Books!

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Of the seven foreclosed properties at Point Ruston, four have retail developments and three are vacant.

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Help us recognize someone who has been making strides in bettering our city. Nominate for the Lifetime Service Award and the Emerging Leader Award for the Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration on Monday, January 15, 2024.  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

In this barhopping round of Neighborhood Eats, Seattle Times food writer tries a classic Tacoma tiki bar and a dive with a food menu co-signed by a popular Seattle chef.

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Podcast: Move to Tacoma interviews Kirsten Sparenborg about her architectural map drawings.

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The Weekly Volcano Events Calendar is fully customizable and free for all to enjoy. Search by event type or date! Works online or on mobile!

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