Turning, spinning wildly, drugs, madness, his life was a time bomb ready to explode. He knew the “right” people, looked and dressed better than ever, almost, when he returned to work, back to normal. But even as his “friends” acknowledged, timing was never one of Ottis O’Toole’s strong suits. Never about playing politics, before Tuesday was gone, it was about the peace pipe and spinning records.
For much of O’Toole’s career leading up to the Daniel Blowden role, life hadn’t seemed especially fair. The radio broadcaster, voice actor, poet, singer, deejay and artist had rarely complained about it, but everyone except him seemed to reap the rewards of a life in radio. In the rural Burlington scene, O’Toole had shared many a romantic evening with his lover, Christine Kofan, watching their mentor, Johnny Egnatius, electrify a company, all while King Pencil Dick played Lionheart’s permanent presidential figurehead.
Roski Energy was a wealthy Russian company leaking as a paramount underground sponsor, plastering Lionheart on YouTube. At first, it worked and Russian aristocrats pumped out hundreds of millions of dollars into media. But they were fooling serious actors. Soap opera drama hurt some actors. Performers were insulted and disgraced when they didn’t make it big as the next Howard Stern, Larry King, or Bob Hope.
Mostly out of frustration, Ottis thought he could belong in the community. He thought he was starting a new chapter in his life. Thought Elton John would embrace him as his Daniel. He got comfortable. Others did, too, bought into the hoax. Fools rushed in. Employees didn’t last too long. Ottis O’Toole was one of them. Russian partners silenced voices of broadcasters with million-dollar dreams to get rich quick in the business of pirate radio.
Technossance Magazine 