♥ Ongoing Days 2001 ♥ Note on soap magazine publication dates and content of articles/interviews regarding multiple soap stars: Many of the monthly or every other month (and sometimes quarterly) magazines back in the 1980's would be on the newsstands a long time before the date on the actual magazine. We've noticed, for instance, that DAYTIME TV magazine did an interview with Drake in late 1986 about his upcoming wedding, which was scheduled for December 1986, yet the interview didn't appear until the July 1987 issue several months later. Therefore, it might be a bit confusing to read about his "upcoming" wedding in an interview dated July 1987 when you happen to know he was married in December 1986. We've tried to date the articles to match the date on the magazine, regardless of when the events talked about took place. Hopefully it will make sense as you go along! We've also edited some of the articles/interviews to just include John's storyline, since this is a Drake/John website. We've left out comments and sections about other actors or storylines unless they're involved with John's storyline. This too should be very apparent and clear when we've done that so it makes sense and you don't have to skim through a long article to find the "John parts." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ NBC Gossip DAYS OF OUR LIVES... Clothes Call: "Our days in Salem are rather interesting," chuckles Drake Hogestyn (John). "When John was trying to find Brady, and then he had him in the hotel and (Brady) escaped and got shot, I was in the same sweater. Brady went into the hospital, had the bullets removed, recovered from the bullet wounds, went though physical therapy, returned to the house, and I was in the same sweater! At the end of 1999, wardrobe came to me and said, 'You have had eighteen wardrobe changes the whole year.' We were ahead of schedule (in 2000). So when they come with a new outfit and say, 'Would you like to wear this?' I say, 'How long am I going to be in it?' It's like, 'A week and a half.'" SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 1/30/01 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ The Gossip East Coast, West Coast Juicy Tales From All Around The Towns Special Delivery: Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) received a precious package in the mail: a box filled with family heirlooms. "My dad has been going through his things and sending them to me and my brother," Drake reports. "I got his old Navy ID tag, neat stuff like that. These things mean everything to me, because the past is very important." One trinket bequeathed by his dad has become one of Drake's favorite accessories: "The pocket watch he had as a child growing up, when he used to work in the fields at his summer job," Drake reveals. "It's a Saint Regis. It's probably about a 1933 watch, and it still works." Drake's been using it on- and off-camera, "because it looks so neat with its chain. Especially with a tuxedo." He wore it during Greta's coronation, and planned to incorporate it into Mercenary John's scenes. "It's going to center me, somehow. They don't give me any devices. What turns me on? What turns me off? I have to come up with that myself. (The ticking of) this watch may work." Janet Di Lauro, SOAP OPERA WEEKLY, 2/27/01 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ The Best Of SOAP OPERA UPDATE The Stars Wish SOAP OPERA UPDATE Happy Thirteenth Anniversary: Wishes From The Stars! DAYS' Drake Hogestyn (John): Drake Hogestyn: I have great memories over the years with SOAP OPERA UPDATE. I won the Best Actor Award with them for five or six years in a row. The magazine has been very good to my career and has always been very, very fair. It's a very good publication. The awards were always fun. I have such fond memories of Richard Spencer, Bill Lieberman and (former editor) Angela Shapiro. SOAP OPERA UPDATE, 3/13/01 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ RoundUp SOAP OPERA DIGEST: What is your favorite activity to do with your kid(s) and why? Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS) Drake Hogestyn: Anything that involves one-on-one. I'll take them bowling sometimes. I took (youngest daughters) Whitney and Alexandra to the gym for an hour on Mother's Day to get them out of (wife) Victoria's hair, and that was a blast! Just having the family together is priceless. SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 6/19/01 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Pop Chart Life as a daytime dad can be endlessly complicated, what with all of the faked paternity tests and various and sundry illegitimate children floating around. But that doesn't mean some pops aren't tops (especially the ones who know exactly how many kids they actually have). Find out how these fathers figure into their kids' lives via interviews with the actors who bring them to life, as well as through comments from their on-screen offspring. Go, Daddy-O! DAYS OF OUR LIVES - The Name Of The Father: John Black Pop's Progeny: Brady and Belle Black, and J.T. Brady, AKA Isaac Carver Family History: Brady came into the world in 1992 during the wedding ceremony of his parents, John and Isabella. The very-pregnant bride went into labor before the "I do's," but sealed the deal with John after Brady's birth in a room in the church. Sadly, Isabella died soon after, so Brady was raised by John's wife, Marlena. Now nineteen, Brady can't stand his stepmommy, but he is fond of his half-sister, Belle, who was born in 1993. Thanks to a blood-test switcheroo by Belle's half-sister, Sami, Roman was believed to have fathered Belle. The truth that John was her father came out at her christening, courtesy of (who else?) Stefano. John also sired Hope's son, aptly named John Thomas, while under Stefano's control, but the baby's true parentage is one of Salem's best-kept secrets. (So is the fact that J.T. and Isaac were switched at birth, but that's another story.) Rating The 'Rent: John Black got a rating of three daddy heads out of four. Parent/Child Conference: Drake Hogestyn (John) and Kyle Brandon Lowder (Brady) SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Does your father/son relationship carry off-screen? Drake Hogestyn: I think indirectly. I have a nineteen-year-old son and what I do as a father is try to set examples and show the right way to do things to go through life as easily as possible. When Kyle came to work here, he was put into a very professional atmosphere with myself and with Deidre (Hall, Marlena). He saw that we came here prepared, with our sleeves rolled up, and setting that example has been very positive. Kyle Brandon Lowder: Most definitely. When I first got here, there were scenes with Drake to establish the relationship between John and Brady. Because of the amount of time Drake and I spent working together and the fact that I was brand-new on the soap and to soaps in general, I have been going to him for advice. I look up to him as a father off- as well as on-screen. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Is John too easy on Brady? Drake Hogestyn: Well, I am a stepparent (in real life), so I can say if either (of my stepchildren,) Ben or Rachael were ever to talk to me the way Brady talks to Marlena, (wife) Victoria would probably put the hammer down on them, which John really hasn't done. As far as the things he's said to Marlena, Brady would have seen the back of Drake's hand if he were my son. SOAP OPERA DIGEST: Is Brady a good son? Kyle Brandon Lowder: Some people could say he isn't because he's mean and out of line. In my opinion, he's not perfect, but he's a little misunderstood. He loves his father to death, and the root of Brady's evil is that he's trying to be a good son. He's trying to get Marlena out of the picture to create a better situation for him, Belle and John. SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 6/19/01 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ Click! Peter Reckell (Bo, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) and wife Kelly Moneymaker organized Acoustic Americans: Unplugged Tribute And Benefit, an event to raise money for the American Red Cross 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund. Actors, musicians and fans joined together at the Renberg Theater in Los Angeles to perform, spend some money and see old friends. One Nation, Indivisible "In the United States, in particular, people have their differences of opinion about whatever their agenda is, but we have one thing in common, that we are Americans," said DAYS' Drake Hogestyn (John, second from left, with fellow cast members John Aniston, Victor, left; Arianne Zucker, Nicole; and Kyle Lowder, Brady). "We're all in it together. We finally realized that. It's too bad it took something (like September 11) to make that happen." SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 11/6/01 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥ RoundUp SOAP OPERA DIGEST: What were the best and worst things that happened to you this year? Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS) Drake Hogestyn: The worst was obviously September 11. The best was September 29, which was my birthday. (My wife) Victoria and the kids were great. They always are, but that day was special. I had planned on staying home, but we ended up at a restaurant with a lot of friends, and it turned out to be great. SOAP OPERA DIGEST, 12/18/01