On the 27th my friend Bruce Kulick and I have been asked to perform a song at my church’s Sunday evening contemporary service. Bruce suggested this song by Eric Clapton called “Presence of the Lord.” So since I’m learning the song for our upcoming service, of course I’ve been humming it non-stop.
Monday the 7th – HAIR FUN & ETHYL! – I was due to be back at Regenix in Beverly Hills shortly after noon for another follow-up visit. I was running a bit late, so as I parked my car and got out, I noticed this very old, thin lady walking behind me with a cane. I asked her if she was OK and she asked if she could hold on to me. I said sure, and she took my arm as we walked slowly toward the main towers of Cedars-Sinai. I figured I was already late, why not be a few minutes later, right? She told me her name was Ethyl, and I told her I was Wally. Ethyl wanted to be sure not to forget where she parked, so I kept reminding her that she was in 3-D, just like the movies. She said she hoped I didn’t mind helping her, and I told her, “That’s why we’re on this planet. To help each other.” She said, “Really?’ I thought that was an odd response. I asked how old she was and she said 96. I told her my grandma was 98. I asked her when her birthday is and she said in March she’ll be 97. FANTASTIC! We strolled along to the elevator and the thought occurred to me that Ethyl DROVE here! While somebody should have dropped her off and escorted her in, she apparently drove her own car at the age of 96! She said the place she was going was on the ground floor, but couldn’t remember the name. I figured she would know it by sight when she got there. We took the elevator to the ground floor and got out. I escorted her to the ground floor courtyard, and she said…”There it is!” She broke away, thanked me and went along her way. I promised myself to look in on her when my appointment was over to make sure she was OK, but didn’t really know where she was going. I got upstairs to Regenix and looked out the window to the courtyard below, only to find Ethyl walking back and forth asking people directions. I KNEW that I should have stayed with her until she reached the place she was going! But when I got downstairs no sign of Ethyl. I hope she found the right office, and I hope she remembered 3-D! I drove home, got ready for “The Tonight Show” and headed to NBC. After the taping I went to my buddy Bruce Kulick’s place to sort through some clothes he was getting rid of. Bruce is a legendary guitar player (formerly of KISS and now of Grand Funk) so his taste in clothes suits mine. I got several great shirts and headed home. But I was exhausted so I took a little snooze.
Tuesday the 8th – LONG WAY FROM HOME! – I picked up some items at the local store, but mostly relaxed the first part of the day. I went to “TTS” and had another one of those “Hollywood” moments. In the intro to the show I got to announce country music legend Merle Haggard! It occurred to me that I used to intro Merle’s records all the time when I worked as a country DJ on a small AM country station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the late 70’s. The station probably only had about 10 listeners, but now here I was 30+ years later announcing Merle to millions! Dreams can come true! Javier Bardem was on the show and he seems like such a nice, nice guy! Everytime I see him he always has a smile on his face, and was enjoying talking to “the Darth Vader kid” on a bench outside of NBC after the show. What a good guy! That night my friend Emily came over to borrow some of my “Invader Zim” DVDs, then we met my pal Sara for dinner at DuPar’s. While we were eating I got a call from my pal Dan Roebuck who was in the area. So he stopped by and joined us for dinner as well. It was one of those great impromptu situations and it was a blast!
Wednesday the 9th – WACKY WEDNESDAY! – I went to Voice Trax West in the afternoon to record some local spots for a Cox cable franchise out east. When I finished I got a call that I needed to be at NBC early for a VO. So I quickly walked my dog Sassie and then drove over to the studio. Since I was there so early I was able to meet up with my friend Brittney Powell who was attending the taping that day with her parents, who were visiting from Texas. I got them all squared away in their seats and then went backstage to my little voice booth to start the show. Afterwards I gave them the tour and walked them back to their car. It was getting late and cooling off considerably (the weather in L.A. had been really warm in the afternoons!) and I saw a gal waiting around the lot for a cab. But the way she was dressed I knew she had to be cold. We talked for a bit and she said her name was Christie and she was from Australia. We chatted for a bit about the Aussie accent, but she was getting visibly colder as she waited for the cab. So I got my car and pulled it around and had her sit in my car while she waited…with the heater on full blast. After awhile her cab arrived and she went on her way. Now hopefully she’ll go back to Australia and tell all her friends how nice people in L.A. are! That night my assistant Sara and I met up with Chuck McCann at Miceli’s for some Italian food! YUM!
Thursday the 10th – TORINO THURSDAY! – I was back at Voice Trax West before noon doing a session for US Airways. Soon, I’ll start the voice sessions for their interactive phone system. That’s right, I’ll soon be the voice of the new interactive voice-recognition system on the US Airways phone lines. It will take several months and several sessions to complete, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. Soon, when you call US Airways to make a reservation, you’ll be talking to ME! After the session I went downstairs to meet up with a pal for lunch at Aldente. He wants to get into voice-over so I had some advice for how to start off. Luckily he’s already in L.A., and that’s a big first step! I headed home after lunch and got the new Torino out. I had a list of about 35 vanity plate ideas, and I wanted to go to AAA to see which ones were available. But first I drove to my accountant’s office and dropped off some paperwork, and showed him the new Torino. he LOVED it! Then I sped off to AAA and picked out some really cool new vanity plates! Too bad it takes so long for them to get here…almost 90 days! Then I went to “TTS” for the taping, and then headed home to grab a short nap. It was a VERY busy day!
Friday the 11th – AND THAT’S WHY WE LIVE IN L.A.! – While the rest of the country is freezing and snowing and blowing, it’s been BEAUTIFUL here. Almost 80 every day! So I decided that I would dig the bike out and bike into NBC. With my recent rib injury I was cautious about bike riding. But my ribs had been feeling better recently so I thought it might be worth a try. First I went to my hair stylist to get a trim and color. Then pumped up the tires and headed off to NBC. The ride over was beautiful and it was just the thing I needed! My endorphins were working overtime! After the show I bid everyone a great weekend and headed out for home. Now that it’s February, the sun is staying up just a little longer. And at this particular time I was riding home RIGHT INTO THE SUNSET! It was one of those L.A. moments where you forget about the bad stuff that comes with living here, and you just feel right at home! It was amazing! That evening I got my stuff ready for the upcoming autograph show on Saturday!
Saturday the 12th – KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE…??? – Since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to meet Baretta…Robert Blake. And with his legal situation in the past decade he’s been keeping a low profile. But now he’s committed to signing autographs at the Hollywood Collector’s Show in Burbank. I go to these every three months or so, and the fact that Robert Blake would be there, along with Loni Anderson, really tweaked me! I had about 10 things for Robert to sign. But knowing what I know about his personality, I decided to get to the show EARLY, in case he decided to walk out. When Sara and I got there one of the guys who runs the show said, “Just in time! He almost walked out!” Apparently he wanted to sign in a private room, which the producers were happy to accommodate. But none of the fans could find him because he was squirreled away off to a room on the side of the complex. So he figured nobody wanted to see him so he was getting ready to leave, and the show had just started! The producers calmed him down and made an announcement telling the fans where they could find him, and by the time we got there (shortly after 11) there was a line of about 35 people waiting to see him. The line moved pretty fast as he wasn’t much in the mood for small talk. I only saw him smile a little bit once, when he eyed somebody in the line who looked odd to him. When I got up I extended my hand and told him I had been waiting to meet him since I was 14. He said, “Too bad you’re not a woman.” As he signed my items I showed him a letter and photo he sent me when I was a kid, and he assured me that it was his actual signature and not a copy. I told him how much I loved watching him on the old Tonight Show and how he would always bust up Johnny Carson. Then I did something I should NOT have done! I told him that I was now announcing “The Tonight Show.” He said, “Looking like that?” I said that the announcer job was now strictly voice-over so I spent my time in a booth. Then he turned to me and looked me square in the eye. He said, “I want you to tell Jay Leno something…” He then went into a very “colorful” tirade about how he felt Jay’s jokes about him were unfair, and that he didn’t have the chance to offer rebuttal or defend himself. I just stood there smiling because it was the greatest thing ever! Here was Robert Blake talking at me like I was some criminal from “Baretta.” He was fiery, passionate, enraged, driven! It was beautiful! Sara got a little nervous but I was loving it! I didn’t take my eyes off him long enough to look around to see what the other people in the line were thinking, but I imagine they must’ve been flabbergasted! I was watching this brilliant actor tear off a stream of profanity laden rants that was truly something I will never forget. All I could say was, “I’ll tell him.” Robert said, “You do that.” I shook his hand again and thanked him for appearing and walked out the room with my 10 signed things. WILD! I’ll be able to tell that story to my grandkids someday. How Baretta went off on me! TOO COOL! The next stop was Loni Anderson. I had her poster as a kid, but lost it when I left at an agency to have her sign it back in 1997 and I never got it back. I bought another one on eBay and took it to her table. I told her she looked fantastic and that it must be the Minnesota in her. She asked if I was from Minnesota and I said no, South Dakota. I asked her if she had been back recently and she said a few years ago she visited in the winter. She said she took a breath and the air just froze her lungs. Now remember, this is LONI ANDERSON we’re talking about. So I said that must be against the law somewhere…her lungs…freezing. She started laughing and the people with her at her table stated laughing. Her lungs are MUCH too nice to be frozen! We took a shot together after she signed my poster and I went on my way. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized the shot we took was blurry. RATS! Oh well. Maybe she’ll be at another show soon. Sara and I then went to Lita Ford’s table. I was excited to meet her as well. But Sara was even more excited. She’s a big Runaways fan, and even had a small role in the Runaways movie. Lita was awesome and she signed some stuff for us. We got a group shot, but Sara asked if she could have one by herself. I told Sara that it would cost another 20 bucks, and before I could pay it Lita said, “Oh just take the &##%ing picture!” We all got a great laugh out of it and took the shot. She’s really terrific. Around 1pm we walked by the room where Robert Blake had been and the door was closed and the sign with his name on it was down. He had split. And my prediction was correct! I knew he would get fed up and leave early, which made me thankful I had woken up early and gotten there when I did! WHEW! I doubt seriously that he’ll ever do one of those shows again, so I’m glad I got it when I got it. I got home and separated all my treasures, then saw that my ducks were back! The same couple come back every year, but this year that had an extra male along. This male was vying for the attention of the hen, but her regular mate wasn’t having it. They were all fine together until the second male started to make moves, then the main mallard would chase him off. I tested them to see if they were the same couple by doing my little “quack quack” duck noise. Like clockwork the hen came swimming over to the edge of the pool, got out and walked up to my steps. IT WAS HER! I got out some old hot dog buns and some peanuts and she had a feast. The two males were right behind her and they enjoyed some food as well. I love the time of year when “my” ducks return to our pool. And since the pool in front of my house is only heated during the summer months, nobody’s swimming in it anyway. Plus the pool guy comes twice a week and cleans it up nicely so there’s no health issues. That night our movie crew watched “Toy Story 3” and the 1979 Blake Edwards classic “10” with Dudley Moore and Bo Derek. I had forgotten how funny that movie is! LOVED IT!
Sunday the 13th – NOT QUITE AS PLANNED! – I had planned to get up around noon and go back to the autograph show to get a better shot of Loni Anderson and me. But when I got up around noon I walked Sassie, checked e-mail and just got lazy. So I went back to bed. “My” ducks were back at play in the pool. I did a phone interview with a gal who writes for a Transformers magazine and then got ready for evening church, though I was running late. I took Sassie out but she was enjoying standing in the grass, smelling the air. Normally she does her business and heads right back inside. But she loved being outside so much I didn’t have the heart to bring her back in. She ate a little grass, which told me that her stomach may be a little upset. So I just sat there with her for awhile and we eventually went inside. But it was too late to get to church at this point. So I called my pal Bodie Stroud. I would be driving my new Torino over to his shop that night to have some stuff installed on it, so we arranged a time to meet. It was cool getting the Torino out, firing it up and heading out into the night. Unlike the first one I bought, this was one is so reliable I can take it anywhere without fear that I’ll be stranded or pushing it down the middle of the 405 freeway. I made the decision to sell off the first one to a mechanically-minded person who would love a fixer-upper Starsky Torino. I’ve had so much work done on it already, that not much more needs to be done. It just needs a little more TLC. And since I have this new one, I don’t really need to spend any more time or money on the first one. But BOY did I sure learn a lot about cars in the process. The whole experience was worth it for that alone! Bodie dropped me back home and I started getting my list ready for grocery shopping. I went to the grocery store and was horrified that there weren’t any little Cokes in the glass bottles! The liquor store by my house was sold out, and now it looks like the grocery store was sold out too! EGAD! I’m all out at my house, and I like to have an ice cold Coke in a glass bottle before bed every night while I’m watching my hour of old TV! What was I going to do??!! I got my groceries and headed to my car, and noticed that Dan Haggerty (TV’s “Grizzly Adams”) was at one of the checkout counters buying Valentine’s Day stuff. He still looks exactly the same as he did on TV. Living in the hills must be the secret to youth! But I was determined to find my Cokes! So I went to ANOTHER grocery store in the area and WOW! I found 3 six packs! WHEW! That was close. So I put an order in with the store for two cases. I don’t want to be caught like that again in the future! When I got home I put my groceries away, did some auditions, and got ready for what’s promising to be a VERY VERY busy week! Glad I rested up this week to prepare!
And how was YOUR week??!!
Pics from the Week
I loved him as Dracula in “Love at First Bite,” Sara loved him as Zorro! It’s the always-tan George Hamilton! (Or is it George HamilTAN!?)
Lita Ford rocks!
Here I am trying to keep Loni Anderson’s lungs from freezing in that cold Minnesota winter! BRRRR! It’s so cold the photographer couldn’t hold the camera still, obviously!
Me and Robert Blake. He seems very unhappy.
