November 1 – November 7 (2010)

As I was looking over the rocky, desert hill behind my hotel in Palm Springs this past weekend, watching shooting stars dance across the night sky, this song came on my i-Pod. It sounded oddly appropriate to the moment I has having, and perfectly underscored the beautiful experience I was enjoying at that moment. It sure is peaceful out there!

Monday the 1st – TOURIST HEAVEN! – I biked into “The Tonight Show” today, and it was great considering that I hadn’t biked in awhile. Either it was too hot, or it was rainy, or I was too busy. But today (and the rest of this week) it was very relaxed. So I pumped up the tires, and hopped back on. It was amazing! When I got to the show I made sure to connect with a few guests I had in the audience. My pal Edi brought her son Josh to the show, as he had just turned 16. 16 is the minimum age requirement to obtain admittance to the taping, and Josh is such a fan of the show he couldn’t wait to turn 16 so he could go to a show. Janet Jackson was the guest, so he picked a great show to attend. I also had a friend in the audience who used to live in South Dakota, and who knows my sister quite well. Susan brought her friend Carlene along who was visiting from Iowa. They had a great time at the show, and afterwards I took the whole gang back to the audio bay to see my little “sarcophagus of sound”…the little booth where I stand to announce the show. As we were walking into the audio room I heard a voice from the hallway say, “Hey! No taking girls into the audio room!” I figured it was one of the crew guys cracking wise, but when the door flung open it was JAY HIMSELF WITH A HUGE SMILE! Needless to say my little group of “tourists” were QUITE impressed! I introduced the group to him and he said hi to each of them. When I told him Josh had just turned 16 and his first request was to attend “TTS,” Jay shook his hand and wished him a happy birthday. WOW! Then when we went back into the hallway, “TTS” Music Director Rickey Minor was there. He saw my group and came up to say hi as well. What a great group of folks I get to work with! And THAT’S why I love my job! I hit the trail and biked over to Paty’s in Toluca Lake to meet Susan and Carlene for dinner. We were also joined by my friend Sara, and a friend of Susan’s as well. It was a pleasant dinner on Paty’s patio. Then I turned on my bike’s lights and headed back home. What a great day!

Tuesday the 2nd – MY OLD PAL BUNNY BRIDGET! – Since it was election day, “TTS” was going to be pre-empted so NBC could air election results. I had the entire day free! I drove down to La Bruschetta in Westwood to meet the head of my agency for lunch. And I had wanted Paul Doherty to meet Bridget Marquardt formerly of “Girls Next Door” for a long time. Bridget contacted me a few weeks ago and said she would love to meet Paul to discuss some projects. Bridget looked lovely and we had a chance to catch up for a bit before Paul got there. Then Paul arrived and we got to catch up for a bit. Since I’m so busy in the valley area of L.A. I don’t often get down to the agency to visit with the agents. Most of my auditions are done from my house or at a studio in the valley area. So it was good to catch up. Bridget had some great ideas and I think Paul was very receptive. When I got back into the car I got a call from one of my agents asking me to cut a quick audition when I got home. It took awhile to get home, but I managed to fire up the equipment and (as Larry the Cable Guy would say…) “get ‘er done.” I had dinner with my friend Sara that evening at Denny’s and we listened to the election results on the radio. Suffice to say, it’s not likely that any one person was completely satisfied with the election results. The results were so scattered and inconsistent. It was a very weird election.

Wednesday the 3rd – WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY! – It was another great day! Sunny, warm…nice! I was supposed to go to an early morning audition, but I just wasn’t feeling up to it. So I sent my agent a note and apologized for not being to make it. I got up later in the afternoon and got a call from the guys at “TTS.” They asked me to record a bit from my house and e-mail it in. They liked the quality of my home recordings, so in order to keep me from having to drive in, home and back to NBC again later for the taping, they are starting to have me record stuff from my house. Neat! I biked into NBC later in the day and did the taping of “TTS.” When the taping was over, I drove by Johnny Carson Park on my bike. I smelled freshly cut grass, all sorts of plants and trees, and it reminded me a lot of growing up in South Dakota! I just had to take some time out of my bike commute home and drive through the park. It was beautiful! There is a little gravel path that takes you over a couple bridges and all around the park. It was 15 minutes out of my commute, but WELL worth it! I drove over to Ernie’s Taco House and met my friend Edi for dinner. DEE-licious!

Thursday the 4th – ANOTHER LAID-BACK DAY! – This week has been going very well! Lotsa time to relax and get some things done. I had an afternoon conference call with some guys I’m working on a project with, and then I took off for “TTS.” When I got done I swung by the local Ford dealer to check on my Gran Torino. It had been in the shop over a week and I was itching to find out what the issues were. Unfortunately the mechanic who works on the old cars had left for the day, but I got a chance to talk with the head of the department. He said to come back Friday at noon and talk to the mechanic directly. That evening I went through my bank statements, finished everything up, and went to bed.

Friday the 5th – FORD FRIDAY! – I got called into “TTS” for a comedy bit. Actually they called and wanted me to record it at home, but I was already on my way over there! So I recorded it when I got into the studio, and then picked up my friend James to go over to Ford. James is one of the camera guys for “TTS” and he’s a former mechanic. He wanted to check out my Torino, so we drove over to Ford and took a look. The mechanic there explained a few things he was concerned with, and James and I got a good look under the hood. Hopefully it will be fixed up and back in my possession soon so I can take it drivin’! I went back home, grabbed a quick nap, and then went to my chiropractor’s for an adjustment. Then it was back to “TTS” for the taping. Afterwards I sped home and started packing up for my weekend trip to Palm Springs. I had such an enjoyable time when I went to speak at Adam West’s Walk of Stars ceremony in April, that I promised myself I would go back there when the weather cooled off. Now that it’s November, the weather in Palm Springs is beautiful and cool again. My friend Brittney hadn’t ever been to Palm Springs before so she was excited to go along. I’d be staying at the same place I stayed before…the Hyatt Regency Suites. I got my bags packed, Sara came by to house sit, and Brittney came by and we loaded her suitcase into the car. It was a little after 9 at that point, and it takes just under 2 hours to get to Palm Springs from L.A. Though I had mapped out the trip on Google maps, I also wanted to break in my new GPS system. So I programmed in the info and off we went. It was a beautiful night and we sped down the freeway through the desert. We got there in decent time, and I pulled into the Denny’s restaurant just a few miles into Palm Springs. After dinner, I checked into the room and quickly set about going to the balcony. The room was on the 5th floor, so the view was incredible. There was an enormous hill directly across from the hotel, and I saw little flashlights moving around on the hill. Obviously somebody was doing some late-night mountain climbing. I tried my best to recreate the magic night that I had experienced in P.S. back in April. I turned on my i-Pod and put it in the dock. I put it on my Quiet Times playlist, and I stood on the balcony just staring out at the stars and feeling the cool, desert night. The noise from a local nightclub was still present, but around 2:00 in the morning it stopped because they closed up. There were a few voices on the street of loud partiers heading to their cars (or cabs, hopefully) but as it got later it quieted down. The entire area was dark and cool, and I just sat on the balcony staring at the stars for hours listening to awesome tunes. I saw three shooting stars during the course of my time out there. Finally I felt myself start to drift off and then I decided to turn in. I made a vow that I would try to visit P.S. about every month, until it got into the hot season again.

Saturday the 6th – CHANEY MANIA! – Boy did I sleep late! I woke up at noon and had two messages from my pal Ron Chaney. Ron and his family live in P.S. and he invited me over to see some of the Chaney family photo albums. As a Lon Chaney fan this was like seeing the inside of Fort Knox! Ron said he was doing a little cleaning up, so Brittney and I walked down Palm Canyon Drive, had lunch at a delightful Mexican place called Maracas, and then continued back to the hotel. Lots of people had their dogs out for walks, and sometimes we’d stop and pet the dog and say hi. What a great area, and everybody’s so friendly! I got to the car and programmed in Ron’s address. The GPS took me right to his door and I went into see all the great stuff. I saw amazing things. Personal Lon Chaney Sr. photos from his hunting and fishing trips. Photos of Lon in character that I had NEVER seen before (and I thought I had seen everything!) and best of all…a COLOR shot of Lon Jr. in character as the Wolfman! That I had DEFINITELY never seen before! It was a blast hanging out with Ron and the time really flew! One of the greatest things in his collection, was an old resume for Lon Chaney Jr. Normally an acting resume lists all the actor’s credits, but this simply said something to the effect of…”To list all of Mr. Chaney’s credits would take a considerable amount of paper and a goodly amount of time.” It was possibly the greatest resume I’ve ever seen! Clever and fun at the same time. Really…at that point in his career if they didn’t have an idea of Chaney Jr.’s credits, they shouldn’t be in the business. It was time to head back to the hotel as Ron was expecting a visit from relatives. We got back to the hotel and started thinking about dinner plans. We had spied a Chop House down the street from the hotel earlier in the day and we started walking back to find it. On the way, I saw a GRAN TORINO painted like the Starsky car! Unbelievable! It was almost exactly like mine! Same bucket seats, same paint job, everything! The only difference was this one had a cool sound system with speakers in the back, and mine was going to have that soon. I took some photos and waited around for the owner to come back but it looked like he wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. We continued on to the restaurant and had a delightful meal. I was really tired (food coma) so I forced myself to get up and walk back to the hotel. On the walk back we got stopped twice by people asking if we were famous. Really? One guy who said, “You guys look like you’re famous.” I told him if we really WERE famous he wouldn’t need to ask if we were famous. Because we’d be so famous he would know who we were right away. We had a good laugh. I got the idea to go to Rite Aid (a pharmacy in the Southern California area) and get ice cream. Their ice cream is famous, and I was craving! I got my car out of valet and we drove down Palm Canyon Drive. Again I saw the Torino parked there but still no owner. We got to Rite Aid and as we were going in, a young couple were leaving. The young lady looked at me and said, “Wally?” I said, “Yes!” Come to find out it was Adam West’s son Perrin and his gal pal Marina. We had a good laugh and I told Perrin I was going to meet with his dad this weekend, but it happened to be his wedding anniversary so we postponed. Perrin said that’s why he was in town. I asked him to pass along my Happy Anniversary wishes and Brittney and I continued into the store. Of all the weird things. But…I guess we’re where we’re supposed to be. Merle was behind the ice cream counter and Brittney got one scoop on a cone, and I got a two scooper on a sugar cone. Merle gave me a cup and said, “Here, you’ll need this.” I said, ‘Merle, I’ve been puttin’ away double scoop ice cream cones since before you were even born. Cups are for amateurs.” He laughed and took my money. I walked around the store and did some shopping and as I walked out (with my ice cream cone almost completely devoured) I saw Merle. “Merle!” I said, “I toldja I could do it!” He laughed again. Everybody in P.S. is so nice! We got back to the hotel and we decided to go back out on Palm Canyon Drive. Brittney wanted to get a few drinks, and I was craving popcorn in the worst way. A gal named Kathy who works at the Hyatt saw me wandering around the lobby. “Can I help you?” she said. I replied, “Where could an average guy like me, at this hour, find popcorn?” She said, “I’ll make you some!” She disappeared for awhile and then came back with two “to-go” styrofoam containers filled with popcorn. Bless her little heart! We went across the street to Hair of the Dog and Brittney got a couple of Scotches. A guy sat down next to her named James who said he was from Sydney, Australia. He looked like he already had been doing some major drinking, and he was now having a beer. He was starting to come on to Brittney, and she just laughed and played along. First he said he worked for the U.S. Government, then he said he was a heart surgeon, and then asked if we wanted to go to his room and smoke weed. Brittney said she doesn’t do that sort of thing, and I said I hadn’t smoked pot since 1980. “1980!?” he exclaimed. He figured by the looks of me I did it all the time. He was even more blown away when I told him I had never had alcohol. After a few more Scotches, we went back to the hotel with our popcorn and sat on these enormous circular beds out by the pool and just looked up at the stars. We saw two shooting stars while we were there. I really love Palm Springs and it’s friendly, and laid-back atmosphere! But we were getting tired. We watched a fun dog show on Animal Planet, but then I was aching to get back on the patio and watch the sky. But when I shut off the TV and went to the patio, there was a huge fight breaking out on the street below. I guess there are drunken knuckleheads everywhere…even in peaceful Palm Springs. Finally they all went home and it was quiet again. Since the weather had gotten considerably chillier than the night before, I closed the patio door and went to sleep.

Sunday the 7th – SUNNY SUNDAY! – We got up early to have breakfast with Ron Chaney and his daughter Jacklynn, but getting out of the hotel was proving to be interesting. There was a huge gay pride parade going down Palm Canyon Drive, so we had to drive out the back of the hotel to take the back route. We finally found our way to the Sunshine Cafe in Cathedral City and had a great breakfast with Ron and his daughter. After seeing all of the great materials Ron had in his collection, I was trying to talk him into using some of those photos as art prints. I would also like him to license the Chaney name to a comic book line, which he’s very interested in. Ron had to take off to meet up with his sister before she left to go back home, so Brittney and I enjoyed the remainder of our breakfast with the lovely Jacklynn. When we finished Brittney and I headed down Date Palm Drive to find our way to the freeway. We passed by a park FILLED with American flags. There must’ve been a couple thousand of them…EVERYWHERE! I just HAD to pull over and investigate. Brittney’s dad has been Army all his life, so she had a keen interest in it too. Come to find out a local Rotary Club had sponsored this event to memorialize all of those killed in the two recent wars. Each flag had a little manila card on it with the name of a serviceperson killed in the line of duty. It was sobering, but stunning at the same time. We walked amongst the flags, taking photos and listening to people reading the names of the fallen on a loudspeaker. After we got some photos we got back in the car and headed down the road. A few miles down we saw the dinosaur park where they filmed that famous scene in ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.’ I had to see it. The last time I was there was at least 12 years ago, so I wanted to see what had changed. WOW! They had a full robot dinosaur museum. There was a little area out back with paths and all sorts of neat stuff. I loved it! I walked into one of the gift shops (which was also a cafe) and saw my friend Lindsey, who used to work at Studiopolis Burbank! She had been in Palm Springs for a film festival, and her film was showing there. Of all the weird things! When we were finished we drove further down the 10 freeway and found an A & W! We drove through and I got a burger and a root beer, and I also bought an A & W mug for root beer at home! As we got a little ways down the freeway I started to feel very tired. I HAD to wake up! Brittney and I talked and that helped quite a bit. Then the traffic slowed to a crawl because of an accident. But once we were past that the traffic FLEW! By the time I made it home I was pretty beat so I missed evening church in favor of some rest. I put Sassie on the bed and we had a great little nap. Eventually Spook got up on the bed as well and I had both animals on the bed with me. I slept very well, then got up to finish some things I needed to do…unpack, answer e-mails, etc. What a great weekend!

And how was YOUR week??!!!

Some pics from Palm Springs

The beautiful view outside the hotel room!

I just had to go back and visit Adam’s star.

The inside of the Chaney Entertainment office!

Ron refiles a photo album that dates from the 20’s!

I loved seeing the star for James MacArthur…Dann-O from the original “Hawaii Five-O” who just died last month.
Of all the weird things! A Starsky Torino on Palm Canyon Drive. RIGHT in front of the hotel!