Monday the 11th – BLEACH AND LOAP! – In the previous week’s journal (READ IT HERE) I mentioned that I was involved in a voice-over panel on Saturday night. One of the students I met was Kara Edwards, a voice-over actress from North Carolina. She had done a lot of anime, so I asked her if she wanted to go with me to my Bleach session in the afternoon. She dropped by Planet Wallywood, and we headed over to the session. She had a great time meeting Wendee Lee, the Bleach director, and they had a lot of friends in common. Then we went over to Studiopolis Burbank to look at the final mix that sound engineer Ernie Sheesley did on the LOAP trailer and sizzle reel. They were fantastic, but a few final tweaks were needed. After that, Kara and I took off for dinner at Hometown Buffet. It offered each of us a little something, since Kara’s mostly a vegetarian. It was a good meal, and good conversation about the art of VO.
Tuesday the 12th – ZZZZAP! – I was awakened at 8 in the morning by silence! That’s right! Silence! Normally I sleep with a fan on…to keep the air circulated, and I enjoy the white noise. But the white noise stopped so I woke up. In fact, nothing was working. My clock, my fan…nothing. I ran downstairs and nothing was on. My computer was off, my VCRs were off, everything. We had lost power. I put on my robe and went outside to see if my neighbors had lost power as well. Sure enough. It looked like it was a block-wide thing. I went back inside to ponder what I would do if the power wasn’t restored soon, and the day grew hotter. Luckily, I didn’t have to ponder long. The power came back on in about 15 minutes. Later that afternoon I took a drive over to the Regenix offices near Cedars-Sinai hospital. The technician Gregg looked at my follicles under a microscope and saw that they were all clean. We’re continuing with the applications of the cleaning solutions and the vitamin solutions. He said as the old hair falls out and the new hairs grow in, they’ll grow in thicker and stronger. I spent the rest of the day relaxing around the house. That night I went to Bob’s Big Boy for the Tuesday night meeting, but Chuck McCann wasn’t there because he had an early call the next day to work on “Boston Legal” as Judge Fudd!
Wednesday the 13th – SPACE CHIMPS! – I took my friend Brittney Powell and her 10 year old son to see Space Chimps in Hollywood for an afternoon matinee. We arrived so early that I thought we’d be the only ones in the theater. As the music played Brittney’s crazy boy danced for us down on the stage in front of the screen. It was a hoot. What fun! But soon more people arrived and our little “private screening” was over. It’s a really neat movie and a lot of fun. The performances were really good, and it was a kick to hear myself providing the voices for three of the characters. Go out and see it as soon as you can! That night I continued relaxing around the house.
Thursday the 14th – MST3K! – I stopped by Studiopolis Burbank to grab the drives that “Livin’ On a Prayer” is on, including the trailer, sizzle reel, music video and the short film itself. I would be meeting up with our editor Dennis O’Connor later to lay everything back to tape off the drives. Then around noon, I met up with my pal and webmaster Scott Sebring in Culver City for lunch. Then we went over to the offices of Femme Fatale and Geek magazine to meet up with Frank Conniff and Joel Hodgson from one of my favorite shows “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” I had my “MST3K” book signed by most of the cast in July, but had missed out on having Joel sign it. So it was my pleasure to have Joel sign it and have a short visit with he and Frank. I even got to see the bots; Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo! Be watching for the MST3k box set coming out from Shout Factory in early October! Then Scott and I headed to Dennis’ to begin doing the layback. We fixed a few things and then stated laying everything back to tape. Scott’s wife Vickie soon joined us as we finished up. Scott took the tapes and headed back home to load everything up on our websites. Soon…VERY SOON…the entire short film “Livin’ On a Prayer” will be up on this website and the website www.loapthemovie.com. You’ll also find the music video, the trailer, and the sizzle reel…a thing that is used to get TV networks interested in the concept. Stay tuned…it’s all coming soon!
Friday the 15th – SICK? – Over the past few days, I had developed a sore throat. Normally when I get a cold, the sore throat starts in one side and gradually works its way over to the other. Then I get the sniffles, the sneezes, etc. etc. etc. But this sore throat wasn’t moving, it was staying put. Which made me think that it was not a standard cold. So I got up early to go to another “Gormiti” session at Studiopolis Burbank. My characters hadn’t been in the past few scripts, so it was good to be back at it with the gang. But when I finished I e-mailed my doctor…Dr. Stephen Patt; the rock and roll doc….and told him about my sore throat. He said it was most likely viral and I needed time and rest. So I went to bed that afternoon. I slept all afternoon and into the night. I got up at night and went to get groceries, then went back to bed. I slept through Saturday afternoon, almost a full 24 hours!
Saturday the 16th – BETTER! – When I got up Saturday afternoon I felt TONS better! The rest really was the thing. That evening my friends Joe and Zandra came over and we walked to a local restaurant with my dog Sassie and enjoyed a beautiful evening on the patio, having dinner and petting Sassie. Then we went back to Planet Wallywood to break in the new entertainment center and TV. We watched “Enchanted” and thoroughly enjoyed it on the new LCD TV. But it was time to hit the hay. Joe and Zandra would be staying the night (they live far out of town) so we could go to the LA Comic Book Convention the next day.
Sunday the 17th – SEMPLY AMAZING! – Scott and Vickie Sebring came over in the morning to join us in our journey to the LA Comic Convention. Screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. would be signing there, and we were all big fans. I love his work in several projects…in addition to writing the pilot of the 1966 Batman TV series, and many episodes, he also wrote the 1966 Batman feature film. This guy literally gave Batman it’s style and fun. He also wrote the 1976 “King Kong” for Dino DeLaurentis. He also wrote another one of my favorites…”Flash Gordon” in 1980. And he also wrote “Never Say Never Again”…which was Sean Connery’s comeback as James Bond. I had about 10 things for him to sign! He was a terrific guy and we hope to see him out more often. It was also great seeing our pal Ruben Procopio, his sister Vivian and Ruben’s fiance Jean. They were at his Masked Avenger table at the convention. The new Adam West bust he sculpted is getting rave reviews, and everyone’s waiting to get theirs in October. Then, our group went to lunch at Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City. As we were walking in, I heard somebody yell my name. It was my old pal Randy James…talent manager. I’ve known Randy since about 1980 and I see him around town every once in awhile. I just know that fate keeps putting us in each other’s paths for some reason. I’m betting we’ll be working together someday on something. But I was still feeling a little tired from that whole viral/sore throat thing. So I went back home and took a nap before evening church. They just got a new sound system at church and the band sounded awesome! After church I went to meet with my buddy Jim Pierson, who runs the “Dark Shadows” conventions. He had gotten my picture of Jonathan Frid and I signed by Jonathan before he left town. It’s great! Thanks Jim! After dinner, I stopped by Long’s Drugs, got some supplies and headed home to do about 12 auditions before going to bed. It’s going to be another BUSY week!
And how was YOUR week???!!!
