RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
While Roxy was in getting a bath recently, she was joined by the mascot of Rusty’s Discount Pets…Rusty the Collie! He absolutely ADORES Roxy and while she seems disinterested in him, I think she enjoyed having a nice warm bath with him.
This song is called “Kathleen” by Catfish and the Bottlemen. I heard it originally on Go 96.3 in Minneapolis, the station I’m doing voice work for. Then I heard it again on the overhead music system at Floyd’s while I was getting my hair trimmed last Friday. What a great song! I like that this song has a lot of the qualities of a 70’s/80’s/90’s song that I would have enjoyed back in “the day.”
Monday the 2nd – RAINY DAY FOOD! – When I got up I opened the blinds and saw that it was raining. A warm, cozy feeling washed over me. So I called my assistant Sara to see if she wanted to meet for lunch at DuPar’s to get some rainy day “comfort” food. I always get the same thing on a rainy day…a grilled cheese sandwich, chicken noodle soup, fries and a side of ham. YUM! We sat by the window and ate as we observed the slick streets of Ventura Boulevard. Then I stopped by my vet’s office to get some more cat fud. (I’ve spelled it like that ever since the Gary Larson “Far Side” cartoon made it famous!) I stopped by Rusty’s Discount Pets to get some new cat litter. The other stuff I had was ground up corn cobs. It worked well, but when the temp hit a certain level I started having problems with little black weevils. Apparently the weevil larvae are inside the corn cobs, and it hatches in warm conditions. I tried a different kind of litter that was recycled pine trees, but it comes in pellet form. And the pellets don’t fall through the holds in the littler scoop. Now I’m going with a clay based litter. I’ll give that a try. With my full belly of rainy day food, I came home and grabbed a nap on the couch. It had rained for three days solid, but it was beginning to taper off. I got up later and worked on Wally’s Week. Then I recorded my auditions and sent them to my agents via e-mail. I also prepped my invites for this week’s Saturday Night Movie Night. We’re doing a Leonard Nimoy retrospective which will be thoughtful and comprehensive. I made myself some beef stew and retired to bed to start in on the “Batman” 1966 TV series on Blu Ray. I’ve been waiting to get to this for some time, so this is going to be a real treat!
Tuesday the 3rd – TUESDAY TOUR! – Right around 1 I awoke to several last-minute auditions in my inbox. I recorded them and sent them to my agents. I made some phone calls, and then headed to a local store to get my friend Brittney Powell something for her birthday, which was the next day. I stopped by the bank to make a deposit and saw a delightful little brown Pomeranian named Frodo. He was all black, except it looked like somebody had taken brown make up and put it around his eyes. He was the cutest little thing. And his owner…well she wasn’t bad either! I like when beautiful women have cute doggies. It makes it easier to start up a conversation with them. I got back home and got my own beautiful girl, Roxy, and walked over to the Studio Café to meet my friend, fellow VO artist Secunda Wood for lunch. We dined on the patio with Roxy and had a blast. Then she met me at my house for a tour of Planet Wallywood. She had never been to my place before and wanted to see the collection. My friend Emily joined us as well. While Emily continued the tour for me, I got a call from my pal Troy at the “Ellen” show asking if I could record a bit. While they were upstairs I recorded the bit downstairs in my studio. I grabbed a dip in the Jacuzzi and then got a short nap on the couch. I got up to do a bunch of auditions, did some work around the house, and then made some pizza rolls and watched the next episode of “Batman” on Blu Ray. As a kid I memorized the soundtrack album that came out. Not only did it have music from the show, but it had sound bites from the first four or five episodes. It’s always great watching those episodes and seeing the actors deliver the lines that became burned into my young gray matter.
Wednesday the 4th – OLD HOME DAY! – Again I got up around 1, and then walked Roxy. I met my pal Brittney at Jerry’s Famous Deli for lunch and gave her the birthday gift I had gotten her. I surprised her and had Sara join us too for her birthday lunch. While we were there I ran into a couple of old friends from the “Beetlejuice” show at Universal. Daran and Ray were Beetlejuice and Dracula respectively and just happened to be having lunch at the same time we were! It was great seeing them again! We were working the show from 1994-1998, so it’s certainly been a looooong time! After lunch I drove by the vitamin shop to get some more supplements, and then got my Mustang washed. It was about time and it really needed it. The lines were super long because the rain had stopped and everybody’s cars were spotty, dirty messes. I got home and fed Spook and Roxy, checked some e-mails, opened my mail and then enjoyed a hot dip in the Jacuzzi under a full moon! I came inside to rest. So far it’s been a slow week work-wise (that happens sometime in this cyclical business) so I’m taking full advantage of the down time. Because I know that soon it’ll be non-stop insanity. I got some food to go at Denny’s later at night, and watched the next Batman-On-Blu episode! It’s been an amazing experience to watch these again in such high definition!
Thursday the 5th – BLU RAY BONKERS! – Around 11:30 I stopped into Elaine Craig Casting in Hollywood to do an audition for Nintendo. A young VO artist approached me and shook my hand and introduced himself. He said he’s always enjoyed my work. It flabbergasts me when that happens. To think that a new up-and-coming VO artist enjoyed the work I first did all those years ago, and is now in the business because of his love of the industry. I guess I still don’t see myself as one of the “classics” quite yet, but my assistant Sara keeps reminding me that based on my body of work…and the years I’ve been in this business…I am. Wow. It’s always heady when that stuff happens. It seems like just yesterday I was doing the same thing to people like Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, Jim Cummings and June Foray! Since I was in Hollywood I took the opportunity to swing by Arby’s for lunch. I tried their King’s Hawaiian BBQ Brisket. YUM!!! I’m hooked! Thank GOD there’s not an Arby’s by my house, or I’d be there every day! I stopped by my mailbox to pick up some packages, and then went home to await my friend Mark Ackerman to swap out my Blu Ray players. The one upstairs in my room is a newer model, and plays video files off of a flash drive. The one in my theatre downstairs is an older model (but it still works well) but does not play video files. The newer one is also a region free player. In addition to wanting to play some region free Blu Rays during movie night downstairs, I also had several Leonard Nimoy clips I pulled off the internet to show at my Nimoy Retrospective this Saturday night. So the newer model goes downstairs, and the older model goes upstairs. While Mark worked away I did some auditions, a few bits for Go 96.3 in Minneapolis and other random work on-line. But there was a BIG problem. Mark installed the older machine upstairs with no problem, but the newer machine wouldn’t play on my TV downstairs. He thought the since the TV was several years old, it wasn’t able to talk to the newer model Blu Ray player. My logical mind told me that was ridiculous, but Mark said he had seen it before. So NOW what? I had a presentation I wanted to do in two days, and I didn’t know if I should buy a newer TV and install that, swap the TVs from upstairs to downstairs, buy a new Blu Ray machine, or what?! My friend Emily brought her Blu Ray player over and the same thing happened. No picture! We called the LG people on their help line and got a very nice person from India on the line. Refusing to be defeated I explained the problem. While he gave us several options for fixing the problem, Mark continued to try other things. The tech on the phone said that the fact that the TV is older would NOT matter with a newer Blu Ray machine. We thought we might need to upgrade the TV with new firmware, but the tech said no such firmware existed. While he chattered away, Mar had a random idea. He unplugged the TV, let it sit for a minute, then plugged it back in again. IT WORKED! It just needed to power cycle! I thanked our tech from India and hung up. Two hours of goofing around, and it was as simple as unplugging it and plugging it back in again! I guess we get so tied up with the highly advanced technical nature of these pieces of equipment that we forget to do something so simple! I was glad it worked. We played the video files off the flash drive, and we played the DVD. Mark still needed to do some tweaking on the audio output of the machine, but it worked GREAT! Remember the old days when you bought a VCR, hooked it up to the two little screw thingies on the back of the TV, set it to channel 3 and you could watch videos? OH how I long for those simple days again! After the five hour ordeal, I was starving and exhausted. Sara, Emily and I went to Little Toni’s to grab a bite. I got back home and passed out on the couch for a few hours. I had done all my auditions earlier in the evening so I had nothing to do when I got up. I took Roxy for a walk under the full moonlight and we had a great time kicking a tennis ball down the driveway behind our units in my complex. She would chase it and then bring it back to me. Roxy is truly a blessing in my life and I totally love that dog! But it was the kind of night for a hot bowl of tomato soup, so I went inside and heated some up and made a killer sandwich! Then it was on to the next Batman-On-Blu episode!
Friday the 6th – WEEKEND WARM-UP! – On our way to an 80 degree day, I pulled my Gran Torino out of my auxiliary garage and drove over to Jerry’s Famous Deli to have lunch with my pals Dan Roebuck and Secunda Wood. She had never seen the Torino before and was beside herself when I pulled into the parking lot. I had to give her a ride around the block; otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to concentrate during lunch. I got back home to wait for my maids. I did a few auditions while I waited. They arrived, cleaned up Planet Wallywood, and I went outside to see a few neighbors who had their dogs outside enjoying the gorgeous day. I came back inside and got on the computer while the maids finished up. I booked my flight for my upcoming trip to Sioux Falls, when I’m being inducted into the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April. I also booked my hotel room and my rental car. Later that evening I walked over to Floyd’s to have my stylist Andi give me a cut and color. I came home to take a dip in the Jacuzzi and nap on the couch. Earlier in the day I had noticed that the weather in Palm Springs was getting warmer too. I was getting the bug. In a little over two weeks I’d be back there again enjoying myself in, what I call, Heaven on Earth! I ended the day by working around the house and made some chili cheese dogs on the grill outside around 6am, and then I went inside to enjoy them while watching some more Batman-On-Blu!
Saturday the 7th – THERE OUGHTTA BE A LAW! – Since I didn’t actually get o bed until around 9am, I woke up at 2. The day was gorgeous and I did a little work on the computer before my drive to my friend Jeanine’s birthday party in Chatsworth. Around 4 I drove down the 170 and 118 freeways to get to the party. I had arrived a little early (the traffic was better than I thought) so I got the chance to talk to my friends Stu and Jeanine before their crowd of company arrived. I’m glad I came early because once everyone showed up it was tough to chat with them. They were SO busy! One couple brought their dog named “Bodie” who was a Burgomasco…an Italian breed. I had never seen one before! She had dreadlocks and was a super sweet doggie! I had to excuse myself early to make the drive back home to prep for movie night and our Leonard Nimoy Retrospective. We were joined by Dorothy Fontana and her husband Denny. Dorothy (known as D.C. Fontana to Trek fans) had known and worked with Mr. Nimoy since 1960! It was an emotional evening, made even more impactful by Dorothy’s stories and presence. When everyone left, it was time for the arduous task of setting the clocks ahead. I am NO fan of Daylight Saving Time, and think it’s a futile, outdated, outmoded, archaic, antiquated and stupid thing to do. It serves no purpose! There ought to be a law to abolish it immediately. Stupid stupid stupid. I’ve never heard ONE logical argument for keeping it. After I got the clocks set I made my traditional Saturday night salad an watched the second-to-the-last episode of the old British “Avengers” TV series on Blu Ray. I’m going to miss this. I started watching it on DVD back in September when I was incapacitated with pneumonia in my bed. Steed and Peel feel like old friends with whom I’ve been through a lot. But, my Saturday night viewing must move on to something new in a few weeks. I’m thinking “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” might be fun, seeing as how Saturdays were when the shows originally aired. And seeing the Playhouse in Blu Ray will be magnificent!
Sunday the 8th – DID I MENTION THERE OUGHTTA BE A LAW??!! – In the late afternoon my friend Emily came by to pick up a bunch of stuff for eBay. As I tear through my house, weeding out a lot of stuff I no longer need, I stack the stuff up for eBay sales. When she finished loading stuff to her car I got ready for evening church. Roxy and I enjoyed the nice weather and walked over to the service. When the service was over we walked home, but it still didn’t feel right. Stupid Daylight Saving Time! I found an article which explains the stupidity of DST, and why it should go away for good. Read it here… https://news.yahoo.com/time-kill-daylight-savings-134359736.html It explains it better than I ever could, but clearly the author is no more a fan of DST than I am. I got home and grabbed a nap on the couch, and then got up for a TON of auditions. I worked on my computer labeling and dating the recordings I made in my personal log. I was still going through files recorded in 2013! But if I’m going to leave behind an archive of personal thoughts, memories and stories for my descendants, I need to make sure they’re clearly organized. It was a lot of work, and occasionally I would so some re-editing on the files…just to cut out things that are unnecessary. But for the most part I leave them as is. I made a big batch of chicken noodle soup and hit the hay to watch another Batman-On-Blu episode!
And how was YOUR week??!!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
Here’s me with Bodie Stroud my car guy. This was taken on the last night of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on February 6, 2014. But Bodie just sent me the pic this past week. Thanks for the “lightning fast” delivery of this pic, Bodie! Why the rush??? 😉
Here’s a different Bodie. This is Bodie the Burgamasco, whom I met at a birthday party last Saturday. Beautiful!!
In case you just needed to see it again (this always makes me laugh) this is the original Gary Larson cartoon which has permanently altered my spelling of “cat food.”
