Life might be easier for Michael Damian if he had just one career instead of two.
Not only does he star as Danny Romalotti in "The Young and the Restless," but because of his burgeoning musical career, he's spending a lot of time on the road. How does he do it?"I get lots of sleep and take lots of Flintstone vitamins," Damian said in a telephone interview from his Hollywood dressing room.
"No, really, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of scheduling. I fly out as soon as I'm done taping the (TV) show, then fly back as soon as the last concert ends."
This week, that means flying out of Salt Lake City. Damian is capping off the Salt Lake Music Festival, appearing Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at the Salt Palace Plaza with Lori Russo.
Damian never planned to be balancing duel careers.
"My whole focus and plan was to be in the music business ever since I was about 11, 12 years old," he said. "I never expected to end up on TV."
The youngest of nine children, Michael Damian Weir grew up in a musical family. Along with his six brothers and two sisters, he formed the Weirz - a progressive rock/jazz band. The group played in Southern California clubs and did some touring - including an appearance in Salt Lake City a dozen years ago.
"Yeah, here we were making 40 bucks a night for a band of nine," Damian said.
He eventually went solo, and at age 19 recorded a minor hit ("She Did It") in 1981. An appearance on "American Bandstand" caught the eye of the "Y&R" producers, who cast Damian as Danny, even though he had no acting experience.
"That was interesting," Damian said. "I really didn't know what I was doing at first. Luckily, Danny is a lot like me. We're both pretty much nice guys trying to make a career for ourselves in the music business."
Damian got a big break last year when his cover of David Essex's "Rock On" hit No. 1 on the charts.
"That was great, but it didn't change my life or anything," Damian said. "I've gone to a few more events; gotten congratulations from people like Rod Stewart. But my dry cleaning doesn't get done any sooner and my newspaper still ends up chewed up on my neighbors' lawn."
Alleged backstage conflict at "Y&R" has been making headlines lately - conflict centering on Lauralee Bell (Cricket). Some viewers and insiders have complained that Bell's character is given all the best story lines and dominates the show, and attribute this to the fact that William J. Bell, Lauralee's father, is senior executive producer.
Damian, whose character plays Cricket's love interest, says "Those people are really off base," and adds that there's no conflict on the set.
"I think Lauralee is a wonderfully talented girl," Damian said. "She's in a very tough situation being that her dad is the creator of the show. I think she works twice as hard because of that."
While playing a rock singer on the soap has had its advantages - it's easy to write Danny out for a while by just sending him on tour - this summer promises to be a particularly grueling one for Damian.
"They tell me this will be the main storyline of Danny's existence the next five months," he said. "Not only is there the whole thing with Danny and Cricket, but there's the conflict with David marrying Nina and they're planning a big concert on the show in August."
Damian said concertgoers should expect a "high-energy show" on Sunday. "It should be a party. If you don't want to have a good time, don't go."
As for Danny's future on "Y&R," "Look for a lot of romance and danger. Does that sound good? I made that up."