HANGIN' WITH THE CONEHEADS: On the heels of their reworking of the "Jake with State Farm" commercial, the Coneheads (starring Saturday Night Live alums Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman) have a new one.
Aboard their spaceship when the microwave breaks, the alien family sings the State Farm jingle to summon their agent. Who pops in? Searcy native Brent Allen. The Harding Academy (Class of 1994) and Harding University (Class of 1998) alum really is a State Farm agent, living and working in Austin, Texas, for the past 11 years.
How did he land the gig? Allen was recommended for it from among the approximately 18,000 other agents around the nation and was one of about 10 chosen by producers to audition via a Skype-type connection.
"This was the seventh commercial I'd tried out for," he tells Paper Trails. "But I didn't think I'd gotten it because I didn't think I did too well."
He spent a day shooting the commercial a couple of months ago on Universal Studio's back lot in Los Angeles.
"We were on the set for about nine hours for the 30-second spot," Allen says.
Friends who've seen the commercial have been sending messages and calling.
"I think this was the first one where they used both the first and last name of the agent who was in it," he says.
Another perk of the job? When Aykroyd and Jim Belushi recently visited Austin to perform their Blues Brothers show, Aykroyd invited Allen and his family to attend and visit backstage.
See the commercial at tinyurl.com/pbeum8g.
STARGAZING: The cast for God's Not Dead 2, which began filming in Little Rock late last week, so far features celebs including David Arquette, Melissa Joan Hart, Fred Dalton Thompson, Pat Boone, Jesse Metcalfe and Robin Givens, according to social media posts from those involved in the film. Arquette's Little Rock connection? In early April, he wed former Entertainment Tonight reporter Christina McLarty, a Hope native who earlier worked at KATV, Channel 7.
IN TUNE WITH HISTORY: A barbecue at 5 p.m. today at the Little Rock Visitor Information Center at Curran Hall welcomes back a former occupant of the circa-1842 Greek Revival home at 615 E. Capitol Ave. -- the 1859 piano made by William B. Bradbury of New York. The 1,200-pound square grand piano is believed to have first arrived in 1884 when Arkansas Gazette founder William Woodruff, then 88, bought the home for daughter Mary Eliza Bell.
The piano was sold after Averell Tate, Woodruff's great-great-granddaughter and the home's last occupant, moved in 1993. Its buyer, Cynthia Carter of Mountain Home, recently donated it to the center. The unplayable piano sits in the same front parlor corner it once occupied for about 110 years.
Woodruff family memorabilia on loan from the Historic Arkansas Museum will be on display during the 5 p.m. barbecue. Tickets are $20 each -- free for children -- and available at the door.
Contact Linda S. Haymes at (501) 399-3636 or lhaymes@arkansasonline.com
SundayMonday on 06/14/2015