As I was talking to a friend about not having my dog around any more, I said that death is part of life and life goes on. Then I started singing Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da all night long. I couldn’t get it out of my head, but who would want to? it’s a great song! Enjoy!
Monday the 1st – PRAISE FROM A COMEDY GODDESS! – It was time to do another “Garfield” session at Buzzy’s Recording in Hollywood. I always enjoy these because I’m surrounded by highly talented people. People who I’ve admired for a long time. Sometimes, the sessions are almost like dreams. Working with comedy legend Stan Freberg whose work I’ve heard for years on The Dr. Demento Show, June Foray whose work I’ve heard as Rock the Squirrel and on record albums I’ve had as a kid, working with Laraine Newman who I used to have a crush on when she debuted on SNL in 1975 (who didn’t have a crush on Gilda, Jane and Laraine??), and of course the incredible Frank Welker who has done something every single session to wow me. Today he did fight sounds of Garfield versus a horse, and played BOTH parts! I almost think he overlapped himself at one point! Utterly amazing to watch! Laraine Newman said she saw the panel I did at Comic Con and said I was very funny. I thanked her not realizing what had just happened. In fact, it wasn’t until later in the day that I stopped and thought…”LARAINE NEWMAN THOUGHT I WAS FUNNY?!!” Wow! High praise from the high priestess of comedy! That really humbled me! After the session I came home to grab a quick nap, then it was off to NBC to start a new week of “The Tonight Show!” After the show I stopped by Guns Direct and picked up my new Smith and Wesson .357 revolver. I grabbed some Taco Bell, headed home and ate quickly. Then I went to Voice Trax West to sit in on Paul Michael Glaser’s first night of recording his audio book for “Chrystallia and the Source of Light.” It went very well, and he’s a natural! Of course storytelling is his forte, considering he’s a terrific actor, director and writer. We went and grabbed a bite at Jerry’s Famous Deli afterwards and we discussed more projects and possibilities for his book. All the while I was getting texts on my cell phone from my friend Kristy. She’s been in her home state of Montana for a month or so now, and her cats here in L.A. are being looked after by her friend. But one of her cats took ill suddenly and died at the vet. She felt very helpless being so far away. I felt bad for her, of course, but even more so because 5 weeks ago to the day I had to let my dog Sassie go. It was very fresh in my mind. Luckily I met up with my friend Brittney Powell after my meeting with Paul, so it took my mind off things a bit.
Tuesday the 2nd – ANT MAN VS. THE ANTS! – I was awakened at 5am by a chirping cricket. I was out of bug spray so I just sprayed Windex behind my headboard. It didn’t do much good, so I pulled the pillow over my head and tried to sleep until I had to be up for Garfield. When I went downstairs in the kitchen to find a spray bottle, I noticed that there were a huge line of ants heading from the bottom of the wall to my garbage can. Somebody had left something out that attracted them. There were hundreds of them. So I sprayed them with Windex and mopped them up. But there would be more. I got up later and sped off to Garfield hoping that the episode wasn’t about Jon Arbuckle battling ants or crickets. When we finished the session I headed to Marc Graue recording in North Hollywood to do a new session for Old Navy. Apparently another campaign has started and my friends there enlisted me to be the voice of the Old Navy commercials again. I couldn’t be happier because those people are awesome! I grabbed some McDonald’s on the way home, and went to my house to change clothes. Then I headed back to NBC for “TTS.” When I got home, I met with Sara who had driven to El Segundo to Premiere Props to pick up the auction items I had won in last weekend’s Hollywood auction. It was Jack Lord’s “Hawaii Five-O” badge and gun! WOW! This will be a welcome addition to the collection! That evening my contractor Terry stopped by to do some work, but I was so tired because of that damn cricket that I napped. When I got up I took a swim, and took Terry over to DuPar’s for a late dinner.
Wednesday the 3rd- WATERLESS WEDNESDAY?! – My homeowner’s association said they were going to shut the water off to our units from 10am until 5pm to replace some water pressure regulators. Really? All day? So I woke up early and grabbed a shower at 9:45, then went back to bed. But not for long. My hotline rang telling me to be at “TTS” at 11:45 to record a comedy bit. Good thing I showered! I made it to “TTS,” recorded the bit and then I went home to meet up with the Make It Work computer guy. I had been having some issues with my computer arbitrarily shutting down and I wanted him to look it over. While I waited, I noticed that my water had just been shut off. It was about 1pm. The water was off for about 5 minutes and then was back on all day. I wonder why the association said it would be shut off from 10 till 5? Geez. The computer guy said my motherboard was acting up, and it was likely that I’d need a new computer. Mine is about 4 years old, so I guess I’m due. I’m going to get a great one with a 2 TB hard drive and super fast stuff on it. When my pal and webmaster Scott Sebring returns from his out of state trip I’m going to have him help me order up a new one with all the latest bells and whistles. When the Make It Work guy finished, I headed over to NBC, finished “TTS,” and went back home. I grabbed a nap, then I met my pal Edi for dinner. When I came home I watched another episode of “Mannix” on DVD. It was great. It was filmed in 1971, and Joe Mannix was hired by the head of an electronics firm who wanted some plans an employee of his stole. He said the employee was a genius and was going to revolutionize the industry with, get this, A COMPUTER THE SIZE OF A BRIEFCASE! I laughed long and hard. I supposed in 1971 that was a big thing. But today it sounds so silly. How about a computer the size of a wallet?
Thursday the 4th – SASS DREAMS MAY COME! – I had always thought it was odd that, even though my dog Sassie had been gone for 5 weeks, I hadn’t had any real vivid dreams about her. I had a few dreams where she was off in the distance, and in one I even spied her nose to nose with a lion, and they were both eating or drinking something on the ground. Wow! Wherever Sassie ended up, she’s making some powerful friends! Heck, I had even had more dreams of my childhood dog Ralph than of Sassie. But today all that changed. The dream started out with me standing outside of a car in a farmyard at dusk. It was dark, but not night. The car I was standing by was big, but it looked like it was made completely from beige stone. No windows, no doors, and only one little thing that kind of resembled a handle. I knew there was a lady standing behind me, but I didn’t see her. I just was aware of her presence. I said I had to get into the car so I could lock it, because I had a gun and some money in there and I didn’t want anyone getting ahold of it. I said I didn’t really like that car. And the lady said, “Well Sassie seems to like it.” I looked down to my right AND THERE SHE WAS! Her back legs were still a little wobbly, but she was definitely glad to see me! To say I was glad to see her was an understatement! This was the dream I had been waiting for! Like in the dreams I have had about Ralph, I’m confused by their presence. I remember telling Ralph in a dream, “What are you doing here? We buried you! How did you get out?” When I saw Sassie in the dream I wondered what that little box of ashes in my house was. “Well if you’re here then…” I reached down and put my hands on her shoulders and petted her hard. I COULD FEEL HER SOFT COAT AND BODY IN MY HANDS! It was so real and vivid! I took her fuzzy face into my hands and held them up to mine. I bent down and kissed her head repeatedly, and again I COULD FEEL HER FURRY HEAD AGAINST MY LIPS! It was amazing! I was glad to see her. She was glad to see me. I didn’t understand why she was on this bizarre farm and running free. Just then, in the middle of hugging her, I realized it was a dream and I was starting to wake up. I didn’t want to go and I started to weep. Even writing this now it’s hard to see the computer screen through the tears. But it was one great dream. One that I wished had lasted a little while longer. I woke up and looked at the clock, and it was a full HOUR before I had to be up for work. But I didn’t want to go back to sleep for fear of losing the memory of the most vivid dream I had experienced in a long time. I thought that if I went back to sleep, I would dream something else and the Sassie dream would be wiped away for good. Ain’t dreams weird? But it wasn’t until later when I was in the shower, thinking of the dream, that it dawned upon me. The lady in the dream whom I never saw but just heard…was most likely Sassie’s Grandma Marie. Perhaps I got to glimpse into the reality that Marie and Sassie were sharing now. Pastor Louise at church would call that a “thin place.” A place where the veil between this existence and the existences beyond thins out, and you can experience them just for a moment. It was a moment all too brief. Actually, this dream made me feel a LOT better. I felt in my heart that Sassie was truly in a better place, surrounded by love and lots of roaming space. I’m glad I had that dream, as painful as it was to wake up from it. I headed over to “TTS” to record an early comedy bit, then I hit Wendy’s for lunch. I dropped my Smith and Wesson Model 459 9mm automatic off to Guns Direct in Burbank for a cleaning. We finished the taping of “TTS” then I went back to pick up my gun. I got home, checked my e-mail, then I headed off to Voice Trax West again for another recording session for Paul’s book. After the session Paul was very fired up about doing the audio book. He should be. He was doing a great job and it was going to turn out great. We drove over to Jerry’s again for dinner to meet with a friend of mine who wanted to talk to him about some great promotional ideas for Paul’s book. My pal Bob has done amazing work with another 70’s TV icon, Henry Winkler, and his books. So I felt Paul could benefit from a meeting with Bobby. But when we first walked in the weirdest thing happened. Now remember, Paul played Starsky on the 70’s TV show “Starsky & Hutch,” one of my favorite shows in my teen years. I have a replica of the Gran Torino Starsky drove on the show, and I have sometimes driven it to Jerry’s for dinner. Though I didn’t drive it tonight. As Bob, Paul and I were standing there in the lobby waiting to be seated, I heard someone yell, “Hey Starsky!” I thought somebody had spotted Paul. But when I turned around I noticed that it was one of the waiters and HE WAS TALKING TO ME! He said, “Where’s your Torino?” I ran over to him laughing and whispered,”Shhhh…that’s the REAL Starsky over there!” We had a good laugh about it.
Friday the 5th – FRIDAY AT LAST! – I got up in the morning and headed to P.O.P studios in Santa Monica to do another Old Navy session. This time I would actually get to see the production staff in person. It was great catching up with the gang. We did a few spots and then I drove back to my neighborhood in horrible traffic. I did make it home just in time to change, clean up, and head to NBC. After the taping of “TTS,” one of the guests came through the control room to say hi to everybody. It was wild to be sitting in the audio booth minding my own business, and then looking up to see Dennis Rodman waving. Wild! What fun! I got home and my assistant Sara brought over my new photos and business cards. I had just changed my business address and I had to get new cards made up. I grabbed a nap, and when I got up I met my pals Amanda and Edi for some late pizza at Little Toni’s. Then I drove by the grocery store and got some supplies for the upcoming Saturday night movie night, which was going to be VERY special this week!
Saturday the 6th – BIONIC BONANZA! – It was going to be a VERY busy day! I got up just before noon to let my maids in. I was furiously running about the house organizing things for that night’s movie party. When the maids left I continued. I had to clean the entire living room and dust EVERYTHING! Terry came over to help with some construction things and I continued to putter around the house. I wanted to be meticulous! That night our special guest for movie night would be Lindsay Wagner, the Bionic Woman herself! She had agreed through a mutual friend to stop by and watch the pilot episode of “The Bionic Woman” with us and provide commentary for our curious little minds. I had a full house of nearly 20 guests waiting for Lindsay. She arrived and oozed class and warmth. She’s very mellow and pleasant. No doubt because she’s been teaching workshops about yoga, meditation and peace of mind and spirit! https://www.lindsaywagner.com/bio.htm She was awesome. At first she didn’t know what to expect, or what she was getting into, but as soon as she saw that we were all just harmless, curious industry folks, she relaxed and had a great time. She told some amazing stories about the long days of filming, the insane schedules and some of the people she worked with. It was classic TV gold! And as a fan of classic TV, I drank up every minute of it! I had her sign my wall of fame in my Chaney Room, and her and her handlers were on their way. We watched Heart Live on Blu Ray and I was amazed at Ann and Nancy Wilson’s incredible musical abilities. It was an amazing concert. What a night! It will be one folks will be talking about for a long time to come!
Sunday the 7th – SUNDAY SHOOTOUT! – I slept pretty late in the afternoon, but then picked up Sara and Amanda and we went to Bed Bath and Beyond so I could pick up some items. The checkout lines were really long, and I was thinking that they should be doing some more hiring. It was busy at Little Toni’s the other night and they didn’t have adequate wait staff. Hopefully this is a sign that we’re on the mend in this country and some more folks will get hired soon. I stopped home to drop off the sack of stuff, feed Spook, and then we went to evening church. My pal Edi met us there. It was a great service, and when it was over I got my Gran Torino fired up, and drove over to the Coral Cafe to meet up with Sara, Edi and my pals Joe and Zandra who drove down from Lompoc. We had a great meal, then we went shooting at Firing Line in Burbank. I wanted to shoot my new .357, Joe brought his .357 along, and I also brought along my Model 459. Since I had tightened down the sliding rear sight, I was shooting way more accurately than I had before. It was a whole new gun! But I fell in love with the .357! It didn’t have as bad of a kick as I was anticipating, and I was shooting pretty well with it. This is one well made gun! We finished up at the range, and then stopped for frozen yogurt. It’s fun driving the Torino around and watching people’s expressions when they see it. After dessert Joe and Zandra came by, I gave them a souvenir bobblehead of my Titan Insurance superhero character, and they loaded up their car and headed home. I finished up the night with a few auditions, did some things around the house, wrote Wally’s Week, and prepared for another week. No Garfield sessions this week, and we only have one more week of tapings for “TTS” before we take a two week hiatus (vacation). I’m looking forward to some time off!
And how was YOUR week??!!!
