RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

As I’m making my way through the second season boxed set of “Wonder Woman,” I’m struck by just how beautiful Lynda Carter is. (Yup, she’s STILL gorgeous!) I didn’t really pay it much mind back in the 70’s, since my tastes leaned more toward Farrah, Cheryl, Cheryl, Lindsay & Loni. But I’m having a blast “rediscovering” the magic I missed out on in the 70’s. Too bad we’ll never see a “dream team” Justice League with Adam West, Christopher Reeve, and Lynda Carter! Now THAT would be a blockbuster!

A few months ago on “The Tonight Show” Romeo Santos performed this song called “All Aboard.” I came home and bought the song immediately on i-Tunes. Very nice song, and VERY hummable!

Monday the 9th – MONDAY IS FUNDAY! – In the morning I headed over to Buzzy’s Recording in Hollywood to do a few pick-up lines for a “Garfield” episode. Since it was only two lines it was a quickie session. Then I headed home to do some work around the house and rest up. After a week of hiatus, we’d be back at “The Tonight Show” today. I love taking hiatus breaks, and my trip to South Dakota was awesome (read all about it here), but it’s ALWAYS nice to get back to “TTS” and see the gang. After we wrapped, I met my friend Edi for dinner at Paty’s. She brought along her cousin Kylie who is an actress in Austin, TX. She’s considering moving here and wanted to chat about it. After dinner I headed home to finish up some work, walk my dog Roxy, feed my cat Spook, and grab a quick nap. I’m still trying to get out of my vacation mode (and recover from a two hour time difference) so it’s always difficult to adjust. I stayed up all night doing work, getting prepared for the new week, and then watched an episode of “Wonder Woman” from the second season DVD set.

Tuesday the 10th – BABES BATH AND BEYOND! –I got a hotline call in the morning to record a bit for “TTS” in my home studio. While I was up I walked Roxy, showered, and then headed to my US Airways session at Voice Trax West. The large brunt of recording is over (for now) so we’re back to our one-hour maintenance sessions. I got some delicious spaghetti (with extra meat sauce) at Cafe Aldente downstairs from the studio, and headed over to Bed Bath and Beyond to do some shopping. I needed a new set of sheets and a new comforter. WHO KNEW that Bed Bath and Beyond had so many good looking women shopping there!? I just may shop there everyday! WOW! And the fact that it’s been hot and summery only makes it better! I headed home to get ready for “TTS,” went into NBC, and taped the show. The musical guest of the day had several really attractive female dancers, and one had an…ahem…wardrobe malfunction that was spotted by one of the keen-eyed “TTS” staff members. Once it was determined that yes indeed, it WAS a wardrobe malfunction, they asked the musical guest to re-do the number. Sometimes that stuff happens in live television (or at least live-to-tape) but luckily it all went well the second time. I think thanks to some double-stick tape! We finished the show and I headed back home to feed Spook, walk Roxy and settle some stuff around the house. Later I took a quick nap, then got up for auditions. I recorded them in my home studio and e-mailed them to my agents. I watched another “Wonder Woman” episode just before bed.

Wednesday the 11th – WARM WEDNESDAY! – When I got up to walk Roxy it was super hot! I gladly went back into air conditioned comfort and recorded a bit for “TTS.” I got cleaned up and headed to NBC to tape the show. The winner of “Britain’s Got Talent” was on as a guest…Pudsey the Dog! Pudsey was amazing, and “painfully” cute. He’s so cute it’s actually painful to look at him! I was so inspired by Pudsey’s act, that I immediately came home to work with Roxy on a new trick…HIGH FIVE! After several wiener coins (I slice up hot dogs into little coins) she started to get it. She was a bit apprehensive at first, but she’ll get her confidence up. She doesn’t know if she wants to high five with her left paw or her right paw, but I sense she’s a “righty.” Wiener coins have been used by showbiz animal trainers for years. So it must really work! Roxy and I went out for a walk, and then my assistant Sara came by to do some work. Then I grabbed a nap, and got up for more auditions. Sara went to get Denny’s take-out and we watched a “Wonder Woman” episode.

Thursday the 12th – HOT, HUMID, HELLISH! – I got a hotline call from my agent asking me to do an audition for a trailer over the phone. The director would talk to me and direct me over the telephone, while I recorded myself in my home studio and e-mail it to him later. When I finished I took Roxy out for a walk. It was gross! Overcast, hot and humid. VERY uncharacteristic of L.A. weather! When I got back inside there was a “TTS” bit waiting for me in my inbox, so I recorded it and e-mailed it in. I went back to bed for a bit, enjoying the air conditioned comfort, then got up to head to NBC for an early taping of “TTS.” After the show I went to Burbank Antiques to look at some vintage lunch boxes. I came home with four of them! I actually only had one lunch box as a kid (The Harlem Globetrotters) but I’ve always liked them. I stopped by the bank to make a deposit, then I went to Fry’s Electronics to meet up with my computer guy Sean. As we were shopping I noticed former Styx member Tommy Shaw in the computer department. When I met Styx back in 1980 in Sioux Falls, Tommy was the only one I didn’t get to sign my Styx photo. Apparently he was off wandering around Sioux Falls looking over the city. Too bad I didn’t have my Styx photo with me at the time! RATS! I bought a tablet as a back-up to my i-Pad, which has been acting very strangely. The thing I like about an Android tablet is that you can put in an SD card with your information, music and photos, and pull it out whenever you don’t need it. So if the tablet gets lost or stolen, all they’ll get is the tablet. Not my personal photos and music. You can’t do that with the i-Pad. And since I downloaded the new i-Tunes, the order of all my photos changed. Apparently, in their idiotic wisdom at Apple, they decided that the name of the photo no longer matters. Now they’ve programmed the photos to be in order of DATE TAKEN. WHAT? Date taken? Who cares? I now hate my i-Pad because I had my photos all arranged in the order I wanted them, now APPLE has decided that THEY’RE going to decide how my photos are arranged. Bizarre! If anyone knows how to defeat that wonderful little feature, please let me know. I think I may need to “jailbreak” my i-Pad to get it to finally do what I want it to do. Later I met up with my contractor Terry and my friend Michelle. After I finished on the computer with Sean, we all enjoyed dinner at DuPar’s with my assistant Sara. Then I came home to continue working on my i-Pad. Now it’s mixing up photos in different folders, putting some photos from one folder into other folders. TOTALLY BIZARRE! Maybe I got a bad i-Pad?! So I dumped ALL the photos off of my i-Pad and I’ll just wait until Sean comes back and helps me sort it all out. I did some auditions later on in the evening and sent them to my agents.

Friday the 13th – STRANGE FRIDAY THE 13th! – I got a hotline call in the morning to be into NBC for a “TTS” bit. Then a half hour later they called back and cancelled. I guess the bit must’ve been killed. So I went back to bed, but soon got another hotline call to be in early at 3 for a bit. So I got up and at ’em, walked Roxy, got cleaned up and headed on in. I did a bit for John Melendez and then waited around until we taped the show. Dana Carvey was on, and he’s all KINDS of funny! I always love when he’s on. Plus, it give me a thrill to say DANA CARVEEEY on NBC, like one of my idols Dan Pardo used to do on “Saturday Night Live.” After the show I picked up my mail at my box and then headed home to continue working on my new tablet. I was populating my micro SD card with all of the photos and music I wanted on it. Then I pop out the card and VOILA! It’s no longer on the tablet. I don’t plan on using the tablet for everything it’ll do, but it’s a great way to store pics, videos and music. I met up with my friends Edi and Brittney for dinner. When I got home I took Roxy out for a late-night walk. And the weirdest things happened. When we walked out (it was about 4am!) I heard a bird I had never heard before. It was close too. Kind of a “scroitchy” sound. Then I heard an explosion, or backfire, or gunshot (or maybe a leftover 4th of July firework). It came from my right, but echoed over me left shoulder. I was wondering if I should take Roxy out on the street or not, in case there was some sort of gunfight going on. I waited on my front step for awhile, and didn’t hear anything else. So I ventured out to the street. I saw a beautiful shooting star overhead. All of these odd events punctuated the exit of Friday the 13th perfectly. I took Roxy back inside, and then I sat outside in a chaise lounge looking at the stars for about a half hour. After our overcast, muggy and rainy conditions, it was nice to have a clear, cool night again. I was feeling super mellow!

Saturday the 14th – SOLEMN SATURDAY SOLACE! – Since most of my friends were away at the San Diego Comic Con, I decided not to have a movie night at my house. Instead I decided to enjoy some quiet, calm and peace. I was glad I wasn’t in San Diego fighting 200,000 people in a 4 block radius. I’m getting to the point that I can only handle Comic Con about every other year. So I met my assistant Sara for lunch on the patio at Paty’s, picked up some mail at my box, and headed home to continue my respite. That evening I took Roxy for a long walk, did work around the house in utter peace and quiet. In fact, I only spoke to my dog and cat in whispered tones. It was very peaceful! I did a lot of stuff that needed to be done and I had fully intended to do a top to bottom cleaning/dusting of my living room. But I have a construction crew coming Tuesday to replace the areas around my front door (termite damage) so I didn’t see the point of cleaning the entire area, only to have to clean it again after they left. So I’ll wait until later in the week to do the heavy cleaning. I made a batch of my world (in)famous Buffalo Mac (Kraft Mac and Cheese with bits of Buffalo chicken and celery thrown in) and retired to eat in peace with an episode of “Wonder Woman.”

Sunday the 15th – SUNDAY AND SUMMER! – Since I was up virtually all night (I went to bed around 6:30am!) I slept until well after noon. I got up to walk Roxy, then went back to bed to sleep away the rest of the afternoon. That’s what Sundays are for, right? Resting? I got up in time for evening church and walked Roxy over. On the way back we met a guy named Dale with his husky named Bo. He’s a big fella, and Roxy wasn’t too sure of him. Since he was only 1, he wanted to jump around, wrestle and play all the time. Roxy was not having it. (Now she knows how Spook feels when Roxy is in his face all the time!) She bared her teeth at Bo a few times, and even had to bark him off at one point to show him who was boss! Bo backed off and slunk off to investigate some vegetation. When I left Roxy in the care of my friend Amanda so I could walk over and pet Bo, Roxy kept a careful eye on me with her ears perked up high! She’s VERY protective! Amanda, Sara and I went over to the Smokehouse to have steaks. Then I came home and started in on my auditions. I laid on the couch for a bit, and then got up to do more work…checkbook statements, putting DVDs and CDs in my database, and other miscellaneous work. Then it was another “Wonder Woman” episode and off to bed!

And how was YOUR week??!!