Monday the 10th – I’M IN THE BAND! – I haven’t been on a sitcom set in a long time, and I realized today how much I missed it. The energy, the crew, the surroundings…all totally fit my style. A new live-action show called “I’m In the Band” will premiere this winter on Disney XD (formerly Toon Disney). It’s about a 14 year old boy who’s a guitar virtuoso, and gets hired by an old 80’s band named Iron Weasel. Pretty funny premise! Art imitates life, since 80’s bands are hiring young guys to reinvigorate their bands all the time (Journey, Foreigner, etc.) I got to the set in Hollywood at 9:15 and found Cathy the 2nd Assistant Director. I was introduced to the cast…Logan (who plays young Tripp Campbell) and the rest of the guys in Iron Weasel. I recognized Steve Valentine right off, even though he was wearing a long-haired wig. Steve and I worked together back in 2001 on “Just Shoot Me.” He played a Vegas illusionist (whose assistant was Pamela Anderson!) and I played his off-camera announcer. When I reminded him of the episode he said, in his proper British accent, “You have a great memory!” The cast and crew were marvelous! I stood slightly off-camera with my script and read the lines for my character Doc Rock the Shock Jock, one of the members of Iron Weasel’s favorite radio host. I had two scenes, and I was wrapped on my first scene by about 10:30 in the morning. It was going to be about 7 hours until they got to my other scene, so I just sat in my dressing room and waited. My agent said they were supposed to let me go and have me come back later, but they didn’t mention it, and I didn’t want to bring it up to seem ungrateful for the job. So, having been on TV shoots before, I came prepared. I brought some comic books to read, and my i-Pod. I actually ended up sleeping on the couch in my dressing room with my i-Pod blaring away. I heard a knock on the door (which was open) and Carol the casting person came in to introduce herself. Everybody was so nice! Steve Valentine had his dog Ziggy in his dressing room, so it was fun to play with Zig from time to time. When 2:00 rolled around, it was time for lunch. We went over to stage 12 where the catering company had barbecued chicken and marvelous sides all spread out. I grabbed a plate and headed back to my dressing room. Normally in situations like this, I like to sit down at the tables with the crew and eat with them. But because I napped all morning, I hadn’t had much of a chance to study my lines for the upcoming scene. So I headed back to eat my chicken and study my lines. Though for off-camera work like this you don’t really need to have your lines memorized, I always like to know them so well that I could get away with it if need be. Plus I can read it out loud a few times and try different things. When I lock into something I like, I make a note. Because of the hectic schedule of TV production, actors aren’t given much direction at all in regards to their performances. The director (the amazing and talented Rich Correll!) is mostly working with the camera guys to plot out the shots. Speaking of Rich, I knew I recognized him from somewhere. It took me awhile, but I realized that he’s a huge collector of TV and movie memorabilia like me! I approached him after lunch and we talked collectibles for awhile. He’s also the guy who works with Hefner at the Playboy mansion to set up the annual Halloween parties. Rich is a great guy, and we had a really great discussion about collecting! And Chuck McCann, since he’s also a good friend of Rich’s. I finished up my scene and was dismissed. I was hurriedly driving back home because Sassie hadn’t been walked in about 10 hours! I thought I was going to be dismissed around noon, and had intended to walk her then. But since they decided to keep me I hadn’t arranged for her to be walked. Luckily, when I got home, there were no surprises from Miss Sass. That evening I met up with my pal Bruce Kulick at Jerry’s Famous Deli. Sara soon joined us, as did Ginny and Chuck McCann. When our waitress came over and told us that the film crew from “The Kardashians” would be coming soon to film a scene, we decided it was time to go. I’m not a fan of reality TV and I’m definitely not a fan of that show. The idea of taking untalented people and putting cameras on them in hopes they do something shocking or amazing, really nauseates me. Please, leave the making of TV shows to the professionals!
Tuesday the 11th – TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS! – I got up early to do an audition at Voicecasters in Burbank. Then I headed home to rest. That night my contractor Terry came over to discuss a few new display ideas I had for Planet Wallywood. STAY TUNED!
Wednesday the 12th – AIN’T LIFE STRANGE?! – In the morning I e-mailed Chuck Garric, the bass player for Alice Cooper, and the former owner of Voice Trax West. I found out that Alice would be playing in my hometown of Sioux Falls and I wanted my son Zak to see him in concert. So Chuck, being the great guy he is, arranged for passes for Zak and a pal! THANKS CHUCK! Speaking of Voice Trax West, I was there in the late morning to do a new series of spots for the Avera hospitals. Then I went next door to Bank of America and deposited some checks. After that I hit the hardware store to buy a 75 foot garden hose. Some of us around the complex are volunteering to water the lawn during the evenings, since the city has placed serious restrictions on sprinklers due to the drought. The lawn started turning brown, and I guess the city figures that sprinklers waste water, while hand-watering is more precise and a better use of resources. So, I wanted to get a long enough hose to make sure I got the entire area. Later in the afternoon I went to do a character on the new “Naruto Shippuden” series at Studiopolis Burbank. When I finished I realized that I had about an hour before church, so I went to It’s a Wrap in Burbank and looked around. When I came down from the upstairs area I heard a familiar voice, in a British twang. “Fancy meeting you here!” I turned around and it was my pal Ben from the U.K., who was in town visiting during his tour of U.S. cities. I had last seen him at Comic Con in San Diego and at my house when he visited with Scott and Vickie Sebring! He introduced me to his girlfriend Kate and said they had no ride back to their hostel, and no plans for the evening. So, taking this as a sign, I figured God had other plans for me that night than to be in church. I took Ben and Kate for ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, then showed Kate Planet Wallywood. Plus, Scott Zillner brought over the finished hands that he had painted for the Andy Kaufman Val robot display. They turned out great, and didn’t need any further adjustments. THANKS SCOTT! I called Sara, and Chuck and Betty McCann and had them meet us all at Barone’s for some delicious Italian food! I took Ben and Kate back to their hostel in Hollywood and we agreed that we’d meet on Friday to do some more fun stuff. That night I stayed up all night working on my new display for my Phantom costume. I have one of Billy Zane’s Phantom tights and leotards from the 1996 film “The Phantom.” I used to have it on a mannequin, but Andy Kaufman’s robot Val from “Heartbeeps” now occupies that space. So, I decided to display the Phantom costume flat in the shadowbox that Andy’s “Heartbeeps” costume used to occupy. It was a lot of work tracing the costume on to acid-free matte board, cutting it out, stuffing the costume with the cardboard, and stitching it to the backing of the shadowbox. But it ended up looking quite snappy (even better than it did on the mannequin!) But I decided it needed something else. So I printed some shots from the movie, including the shot of Billy wearing the “knife wound” leotard in the movie. I cut them to size, but the photos needed some depth. I added foam core to my shopping list so I could float the photos around the costume. Whew!
Thursday the13th – A DAY OF REST! – What a week it had been! I really needed a day off. Luckily this was the day. I slept REALLY late. When I got up I saw that I had a spot waiting for me on my e-mail that I needed to record for Clear Channel. I recorded that in my home studio and e-mailed it off. I did a few other things, but then went BACK TO BED FOR A NAP! Yup, I was beat! I got up that night and did some auditions in my studio and e-mailed them to my agent. I also did a little more work on my Phantom costume display.
Friday the 14th – GOD BLESS AMERICA! – I arranged to pick up my U.K. friends Ben and Kate at It’s a Wrap, where they had been doing more shopping. I promised them that we’d go to the range and do something really American…SHOOT GUNS! But on the way we did something even MORE American. I asked them if they wanted to see a whole store full of guns, and they said OF COURSE! Kate had shot an AK-47 during one of her trips to Viet Nam, but had never shot a handgun before. We went to Gun World in Burbank, where I spied a really neat little Smith and Wesson .38 special snubnose. It looks a lot like the guns Maxwell Smart and Mannix used to carry. Typical detective stuff. It had a beautiful wood handle, was a 5 shot, and was exactly what I was looking for! To top it all off, once the guy brought the new one out in the box, it was marked at 100 dollars less than it was in the display case! I told him I’d take it. Ben and Kate were amazed that you can just walk in a store and buy a gun. Then we made our way to the range. I let them shoot my .45 automatic model 1911 first. Kate was remarkably adept with it, but Ben not so much. However, when I loaded up the Walther PPK, Ben found he was quite good with it, but Kate wasn’t. While Ben was firing the Walter, he started whistling the James Bond theme. It was so loud that I could even hear it with my ear protection on! I laughed at his enthusiasm. We then went to lunch at Olive Garden, I bought some foam core, and then we headed home. While they relaxed and watched DVDs, I started cutting the pieces of foam core to fit the photos in my Phantom display. They watched as I put the pieces together and hung the finished display. We also had fun playing dress-up…putting Kate in the Batgirl costume, the Catwoman costume (even though it was too short for the 5 foot 9 inch Kate), and the Star Trek costume. What a fun day!
Saturday the 15th – FRED’S, FOOD, FUN & FRIENDS! – I picked up Sara and met up with Ben, Kate, Scott and Vickie at Fred Westbrook’s house. We sat out by the pool and had a lot of fun goofing around and enjoying the mild weather. Chuck McCann and Randy Carver were also there. Randy’s girlfriend Shelley joined us later. That night we finished up our Blu Ray Trek nights, by watching the final three episodes on the “Star Trek: The Original Series” Blu Ray set, ‘The Enemy Within,’ ‘Return of the Archons,’ and ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before.’ I found it ironic that one of the very first “Trek” episodes was the very last one we watched! Life is funny that way!
Sunday the 16th – SUPER SUNDAY! – I slept really late, but got up in time to get to evening church. After church, my friend Bruce Kulick and I went to grab a bite to eat, and met up with my friends Joe and Zandra Pendleton, who were in town with their kids and grandkids and niece. It was a lot of fun, but it’s always funny to see the puzzled looks on the faces of Sassie and Spook when they try to figure out what little kids are. But they’re both very good with kids!
And how was YOUR week??!!
