I’m afraid Elvis fever still hasn’t left me after my Graceland/Memphis trip last month. In the shower the other night I just ripped into Elvis’ version of “Make the World Go Away,” one of the finest vocal performances he ever did. Listen and see if you agree. Such passion, such grit, such commitment, such amazing vocal prowess!
Monday the 15th – MARATHON DAY 1! – This week was promising to be one of the busiest weeks on record for me. Every day this week there was something big happening. Today I was up bright and early and headed to Mai Tai studios in Burbank to do an update on a Baskin-Robbins TV commercial. It was good to work with those guys again, since I was the voice on the summertime TV campaign. They’re good folks. Afterwards, I was supposed to host a commentary for the 70’s Roger Corman film “Caged Heat,” but it was postponed at the last minute due to a conflict in director Jonathan Demme’s schedule. So I went home for a bit, then headed to Voice Trax West to do a new HH Gregg commercial. I then stopped by my mailbox and grabbed my mail, and then headed to NBC to do a quick comedy bit. I stopped home quickly to walk Sassie, then turned back around and went to NBC for the taping of “The Tonight Show.” That night I got to enjoy a nice dinner with my friend Brittney Powell and get caught up.
Tuesday the 16th – MARATHON DAY 2! – I was supposed to do a gig at Mattel this morning, but they called to postpone as well. So it’ll be next week instead. I took the opportunity to take Sassie to the vet for an exam. In the recent past her back legs had been pretty good for an 11 year old dog, but she had been struggling with non-working legs again. So I thought it might be time for steroids. The doc said that instead (steroids are always a last resort) he’s going to put her on bi-weekly shots of Adequin, to help produce more lubricant for her joints. He said that her issue is neurological, but the shots will at least help some. So she got her first shot. She’ll get two a week for two weeks, then one a week for three weeks. When we got home the groomer was waiting for us to give Sass her bath. The carpet guys were also there to spot clean a few areas. One was spilled orange soda, and the other was dog barf. The spots had come up pretty well when they did a full area cleaning a week ago, but when it dried the stains had come back a little. Later I went to “TTS’ to do the show, and then off to get some groceries. It was a nice relaxing night, but the next 3 days would be super busy.
Wednesday the 17th – MARATHON DAY 3! – Off I go, down the 405 to P.O.P. studios in Santa Monica to do more commercials for Old Navy. I love working with these guys! Tim and the gang are super cool. I did a campaign for them recently when the mannequins (or modelquins) were in a mock sitcom, but now I’m doing the holiday campaign as well. Pretty sweet! I walked down the street to the Bank of America and sent a wire transfer to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to buy a ’97 Saturn. The car will stay in Sioux Falls, my son Zak will take care of it, and I’ll have a car to drive when I’m in Sioux Falls seeing family and doing business. I stopped by my house and met with a guy who borrowed one of my vintage tuxedos recently for a party. I picked my tux up, dropped it off at home, and then headed to McCoy Studios in North Hollywood to audition for a Cheetos commercial. When that was done, I headed over to NBC for the taping. When I got home I was pretty tired and went to bed fairly early.
Thursday the 18th – MARATHON DAY 4! – I was at the Warner Brothers studio in Burbank early in the morning to do some voice tracks for the new Batman videogame. While I was there they had me sign about 60 posters. As a life-long autograph collector, it was kind of wild to sit there signing autographs for OTHER people. Too cool! I saw my pal James, who works on the lot. We went to the WB store and I bought a couple of cool t-shirts. I stopped home for a bit, and then got into “TTS” early for the taping. Former President George W. Bush was a guest on the show today, and I was jazzed to be able to introduce a United States President on the show. President Bush did a great job on the show, he was candid, relaxed and funny. But the best thing happened DURING the commercial break! This is what the audience at home DIDN’T see! Many of the audience members had brought their copies of President Bush’s new book “Decision Points” to the taping. The President told Jay to have them send their books down to the stage and he would sign them all! Is that cool or what!? So during the commercial break the President sat in the chair signing books. Amazing! Not everybody would do that. Later I enjoyed dinner with my friends Brittney and Sara at Jerry’s Famous Deli.
Friday the 19th – MARATHON DAY 5…EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER! – Though I didn’t need to get up until 9:30, I heard my dog Sassie moving around the bedroom clumsily. It sounded like she needed help. So I got out of bed to find that she had poo’d on the floor and was dragging herself around the bedroom. Her back legs wouldn’t work. She was panicking. ANGRY – At first I was mad, but felt so badly for her I just picked her up and carried her to the bathtub. I ran her a warm bath and reassured her that it was alright. But the floor was a mess. I immediately phone my assistant Sara to come over and help, as I needed to get to P.O.P again for another Old Navy session. I cleaned the carpet as well as I could, and Sara came by, got some money and went to the pet store to buy Sassie a new bed and some more potty pads. I also called the carpet cleaners and arranged for them to come back that day and clean the bedroom carpet. While Sass chilled in the bath tub, I filled plastic sacks with dirty paper towels. Time was ticking away. WORRY – I was worried that I would be late to my session. Sara returned with the new bed and the potty pads. Meanwhile, I had to get Sassie’s house in the garage fixed up so she could stay there for the rest of the day in case she had to potty again when I wasn’t home. The other day when she pottied on the floor she got scared and took off running out of the house, across the courtyard of the complex and down some stairs. Running! But how? Well, the Dr. said her problem was neurological, and obviously when she’s experiencing fear, it must fire a completely different set of neurons than when she’s just walking around casually. Her “fight or flight” sense must tap into different nerves, which allows her to run like she was 4 years old. It was very weird to me. But today they weren’t working at all. I laid some new carpet in her house, put her new bed down there with some potty pads and a bowl of water. I got her out of the bathtub, dried her off and tried to take Sassie out to potty outside, but her back legs simply would not work. I carried her, used an old hoodie as a sling around her back legs to walk her around, but her legs were still very weak. I took her downstairs, took a shower and headed to Santa Monica for my session. SAD – On the way there I kept hearing a voice in my head from a friend who said, “When the dog is too weak to go potty on their own, and they sit there in their own pooh, it’s time to let them go.” The wave of sadness I felt hit me like a brickwall. Was this it? Was it time to put Sassie down? I would pray about it a lot and try and decide. But it was a sad trip to Santa Monica. I spoke with the vet’s assistant and told her what was up, and that we probably wouldn’t be in for her shot that day. HAPPY – Once I got to the session I got to see the Old Navy crew, and even met Tim’s new wife Lindsey. PROUD – After the session I drove to North Hollywood to participate in a radio drama for our troops. It was based on the TV show “Ice Road Truckers” and at the end the director let me say a special message to the troops. That was awesome. SAD – After the session I went to my chiropractor’s office to get adjusted. I told him about the day I had just experienced with my dog. He said that chiropractic has helped animals in the past, and one of the other doctors in the offices treats horses. HOPEFUL – I felt a little better thinking that maybe adjusting Sassie’s spine may help some of those nerves that are blocking her impulses to walk correctly. It was at least worth a shot! HAPPY – While I was at NBC taping “TTS,” I went on eBay and searched STARSKY TORINO. I always like to do that to see what’s out there. I found a beautiful 1974 Torino (same year as mine) in perfect shape. It didn’t need anything at all in the way of mechanical work. The one I bought was having problems and had been in the shop at the Ford dealer for almost a month now. I hated not being able to drive it regularly. I had so many plans for it! But this one looked like the worry-free…”turnkey” car I had always wanted. Plus, it had a siren, a PA, DVD/CD player and more! I made a note to try and call the seller later that night! If I could buy this one (at a great price) I could sell the other one to someone who likes to tinker and fix it up. But I simply did not have the time, energy or knowledge to do it justice. SAD – As happy as I was to find that on eBay, the sadness over Sassie hit me again on the way home from “TTS’. What was I going to do? I pulled in the garage, saw Sass sitting there pretty in her house on her new bed, and I just broke down. In fact, I sat in the garage for about 20 minutes crying. But she seemed to be doing alright, so we went back upstairs and sat around together. EXCITED – I called David in Connecticut, the guy selling the 1974 Torino, and I’m convinced it’s the one I need! We talked for about an hour and I asked him all sorts of questions. Questions that I wouldn’t have known to ask had I not already bought a Torino. But live and learn. The nice thing about those Starsky Torinos is that they’re easy to sell. Even the ones who need some upgrading. I typed up a sales agreement that I wanted David to sign before I bought the car, just so everything was clearly understood between us. But this car looks like it’ll be ready to drive the minute it comes off the truck! CALM – That night I treated myself to a take-out dinner from Denny’s and I watched anther episode of The Six Million Dollar Man on DVD. Sass and I sat on the bed watching TV and I fed her little chunks of grilled chicken, our favorite thing to do at the end of each day. Plus, it started to rain. What a nice evening, safe and warm inside with my dog and cat, listening to it rain outside. NICE!
Saturday the 20th – ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! – With the week that I had, I gave myself permission to sleep really late. When I got up I met my friend Sara for a late lunch at Panera, and then picked up supplies at CVS pharmacy. I was running low on Alkalol and needed to get some more. That night the gang came over for movie night, and we watched the “Twin Peaks” Season 2 premiere, as well as “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Just before the movie, I called my pal Leonard Stone (who played Sam B. in the film) and we all sang him happy birthday! Leonard just turned 87 years old. And though he had a cold he still did one of his famous lines from the movie…”Violet, you’re turning violet, Violet!” He’s a great guy! But later that night I looked at the Torino on eBay and saw that there was a bidder who bid the car up dangerously close to the Buy It Now price! OH NO! Luckily he was still a few thousand short, so I didn’t want to waste any more time. I hit the Buy It Now button, and BOUGHT THE CAR! I wasn’t really that tired, so I did all of my auditions in my home studio for Monday.
Sunday the 21st – NO SUN ON SUNDAY! – It rained most of the day, but the sun DID eventually come out. I talked to David the Torino guy and he said when he got up in the morning he saw that the auction was over. He panicked, thinking somebody else had beat me to it! But I assured him that it was getting too close for comfort, and I closed the auction myself with the Buy It Now feature. We arranged a way to get the money to his account, and I went to evening church. When I finished I met my friend Bob and we went over to Barone’s to have some Italian food with my friends Chris and Colleen. When I returned I had to throw some clothes in a bag quick and get to El Segundo. I had one more audition to do for Monday, then loaded them up to the server for my agents and headed out the door. The Mattel job that was postponed earlier in the week, was now on for Monday. Mattel is quite a ways away from my house, and driving there during morning drive traffic can take as long as an hour and a half. So I decided to treat myself and get a room for the night at a hotel across the street from Mattel. I checked in around midnight, got to my room, grabbed a shower and got some sleep. No getting up at 6:45 in the morning! I slept until 9:30, took a quick shower, and WALKED ACROSS THE STREET TO MATTTEL to do my job. AAAAHHHHH! This was well worth it. No traffic congestion, no worries. I arrived at the gig on time, refreshed and with wet hair!
And how was YOUR week??!!
