Monday the 17th – MANIC MONDAY! – Early afternoon I went to Voice Trax West to do another session for HH Gregg, an electronics/appliance chain in the Florida area. I do the voice of their little animated character in their TV spots named HH. https://www.hhgregg.com When I was finished, I went over to my accountant’s office to settle up on a tax issue. In this industry, when you’re getting tons of checks from a wide variety of accounts, it’s hard to keep track of all the W-2’s and 1099’s that you get at the end of the year. Occasionally, some production companies will have an old address, and the W-2 will never reach me. Even though it reaches the IRS no problem. So apparently there were two W-2’s I was missing from my 2007 tax season, so I got a note from the friendly folks at the IRS that I owed them some more money. I called the production companies involved and gave them my new address to make sure this didn’t happen again. So after cutting those checks, I limped over to my next gig. It was three hours doing Renji for “Bleach.” That evening I relaxed around the house.
Tuesday the 18th – STAR STUDDED! – We started the second season of “The Garfield Show” today at Buzzy’s in Hollywood! And it was a star-studded event! First, as I pulled up I saw David Lander getting out of his van. Always great seeing him! David plays Doc Boy, the brother of my character Jon Arbuckle. When we walked in, Frank Welker, Gregg Berger, Audrey Wasilewski, Laura Summer and Jason Marsden were all there! And of course our fearless leader Mark Evanier was there as well. He announced that “TGS” would be on Cartoon Network sometime in 2009. And as soon as more specific information is passed along to me, I’ll pass it along to you. We started off doing a special Christmas episode. Then, we bid farewell to David Lander, but welcomed the great Jack Riley for our next episode! We broke for lunch, and after lunch we had in the legendary Stan Freberg! But it didn’t stop there. Our next guest was the amazing Laraine Newman! Having been an SNL fan since the first episode in 1975 (where Andy Kaufman performed Mighty Mouse in the very costume I have in my collection!) I was a little hesitant to be too geeky! I told her a friend of mine and I really loved an early film she did called “Tunnelvision.” She thanked me for that, and told me she was only 19 when that film was made. She said Neil Israel (the writer/director) wanted to make a movie that offended everybody. I told her that’s what we liked about it. Plus, it featured some greats in the infancy of their career. Folks like Chevy Chase, John Candy, Laraine (of course), David Lander, Phil Proctor, Howard Hesseman, and others all appeared before they were stars! I can still quote that movie to this day! It was a real thrill to be able to do scenes with her in “TGS” as she played Jon’s evil aunt! When Stan Freberg left the building, Mark Evanier said “Do you know who that was?! That was Stan f***ing Freberg!” I pointed at Laraine and said, “And that’s Laraine f***ing Newman!” We all laughed, and even though Stan’s as great as he is, it was Laraine who I enjoyed meeting the most that day! WOW! If I would have seen back in 1975 that someday I’d be doing dialogue with Laraine Newman, I would’ve had a heart attack! Life is grand! We finished up the rest of the episodes and I headed back to see my wonderful pets! Wow! What a day!
Wednesday the 19th – ANOTHER DOUBLE DOSE! – Early in the morning I was at Voice Trax West to do more spots for HH Gregg. Then I hurried home and got Sassie over to the groomer’s for a bath. If I get her in first thing in the morning before other dogs show up, she’s first in line and I can get her back right away. When I went to pick her up I took Spooky with me to get his nails trimmed. Then we all headed back home to take a nap together. I got up later in the afternoon to do more “Bleach” episodes. I was scheduled for three hours, but due to a scheduling error, I only had about an hour’s worth of work to do. Which was fine because it gave me lots of time to get home and get ready for evening church. I hadn’t been to the meditational service at church for a few weeks because of conflicts, but it was good to get back. After that I slept until about midnight. Then I got up and did about 20 auditions in my home studio. It was a LOT of work but I made it through. Videogame auditions usually give you about 6-10 characters to do for each game, and tonight there were two videogames I auditioned for. Plus I had some auditions for commercials as well. When I finished, I headed over to Denny’s and got a salad and chicken strips. Then I got back home and had dinner in bed while watching “Charlie Angels” on DVD. What a great evening relaxing with the pets!
Thursday the 20th – THE VET’S VEXED! – Obviously I slept really late in the day. But I got up in time to take Sassie to the vet. Her hips have been giving her trouble the past year or so, and none of the joint supplements I had been giving her were working. So I wanted to have her X-rayed to see what the trouble really was. Was it arthritis? Would she need a full hip-replacement? Sometimes her legs are so weak they’ll just give out underneath her and she’ll just sit down. Well, Dr. Steve looked at her X-rays and said the good news was, that her hips and lower back are in PERFECT condition! I hesitantly asked for the bad news. He said the possible bad news was that it could be a blood issue, or a neurological issue. Which would explain why those hip supplements weren’t working. If her hind legs aren’t getting the signals from her brain to move, then that would explain her problems. He took some blood and was going to do bloodwork and call me the next day with the results. But if it’s all clear, then I need to get her to an animal neurologist to see what we can do. But Dr. Steve seemed to think that there was medication available that would fix her right up. So hold a good thought for Sass! Later that night, Sara and I went to Office Depot to get a binder for the scripts for “TGS” season 2. Then we went to Sunshine Studios in Studio City to record another episode of “The Dead of Night” for my old pal Dick Grunert. When we finished we went over to The Counter, a new hamburger place in Studio City that serves custom burgers, just the way you like them. Then she headed home and I did some auditions. Then I reviewed the script for the next day’s episode of “Gormiti” that we’d be recording early the next morning, and I hit the bed.
Friday the 21st – STUDIOPOLIS-ATHON! – First thing in the morning I headed over to the Studiopolis Annex location to do the third to the last “Gormiti” episode in the second season. We’re all hoping for a third season pick-up, as I hear the series is very popular in the countries where it runs. Still no pick-up here in the U.S., but we keep hoping. You can see them on-line, but mostly in other languages. I hope they’ll start posting the English versions soon. Or better yet, I hope the episodes will get on an American network. It’s a great show! After the session was over I got a sandwich at Subway and went home to wait for my maids to show up. I actually caught a couple of Z’s while waiting, but once they came I was up and at ’em. You know I actually have to clean up for the maids. I know that sounds weird, but I have to clear away certain areas for the maids to be able to get at to clean. So, I clean up for the maids. When I finished I gathered up some stuff I was going to mail off and headed for the post office. I met my friend Ginny at Studiopolis Burbank so she could watch me dub “Naruto.” She’s been shadowing me to learn how to dub anime, since nobody really teaches a class on the subject. I’m going to get her in a studio some weekend and give her an intensive course in ADR (additional dialogue recording), so I figured it was best for her to watch others do it before she gets a chance to get in front of the microphone herself. Then we went to Wendy’s for a quick dinner after visiting Best Buy to pick up some new DVDs. I got “Beetlejuice” and “Slingblade” on Blu Ray, and I also picked up Super Friends; The Lost Episodes on DVD. Then I went home and watered the lawn.
Saturday the 22nd – LEGEND! – My friend Ginny and I met up in the morning and went to a talent agency that wants to sign her for voice-over work. Ginny’s been shadowing me on several jobs and is learning the ropes quite nicely and quickly. We went to the agency’s open house and met the group, and I explained to her how important it is in this industry to “press the flesh”, as it were. After we hung out there for awhile, we got in the car and sped off to a store called Mystery and Imagination. The reason? American literary great Ray Bradbury was celebrating his 89th birthday there with the release of a new graphic novel based on his hit book “Fahrenheit 451.” When we got there the party had already started, and I got in line to buy three books. The system they had at the store was a number system. When you bought a book, you would get a number. Then they would call groups by number to get their books signed. They started with 1-10 so I knew my number 86 was a LOOOOOONG ways off. Luckily, I ran into my old pals Larry and Kerry Strothe. Larry’s number was 25, so he was about to get his booked signed. I knew it would be a long time before we would be called (if at all, considering Ray’s age), so I took Ginny to lunch down the street at a Mexican place called Don Cuco’s. On our way out the door, we noticed the lovely and talented Bo Derek sitting next to Ray. WOW! Not to mention the fact that we met writer Earl Hamner Jr. (creator of “The Waltons”) in the store as well. When we got to the restaurant, we sat outside on the patio, ordered lunch, and watched the clock to see when we needed to be back to have our books signed. Larry and Kerry came down to join us for lunch, so we knew that the store was beyond the 25 mark. I figured another hour and a half we’d be good. But a half hour later, we saw Ray Bradbury and about 12 people coming up to the patio of the restaurant. I couldn’t get an answer from anyone whether or not Ray was going to continue signing later. Knowing that just minutes before he was only at about number 40, I knew my number 86 was a long ways off. Maybe he was just taking a lunch break and would continue later? From the body language of the people around him, it looked like that was it. So I took advantage of the situation. First, I made sure they weren’t ordering lunch, as bothering somebody for an autograph during their meal isn’t something I do. But no menus were in sight, and he kept signing for the twelve or so around him. Even posing for pictures! So Ginny and I jumped in line! Kerry took several photos of Ray and I, as he signed my books and we talked. I even got a great shot of Ray and Ginny. Years ago, Ginny had purchased a copy of “Fahrenheit 451” at Comic Con to have him sign, but she never got the chance to have it inscribed. But now was her chance. We got our graphic novels signed, he signed her book, and we got photos with him. We laughed when we realized that…we had just gone down the street to kill some time before going back to meet Ray Bradbury, and HERE HE WAS! He came to us! Life is grand! So Ginny, Larry, Kerry and I were still at our tables on the patio within a stone’s throw of the great author! It was almost like we were having lunch with the great master himself! We were so tickled and proud of ourselves! A guy came up to have Ray sign some stuff. One of his items was a really nice, retro laserdisc boxed set of “The Martian Chronicles.” Ray marveled at it when he saw it, said he had never seen it before, and asked the guy if there were any more around just like that. (He clearly was taken with it, and obviously wanted one) The guy was a true gentleman and said, ‘That’s for you Mr. Bradbury. Happy Birthday!” I thought that was a really cool gesture. He didn’t get his laserdisc signed, but to hand it over as a gift to the man himself would prove to be a MUCH better story for his friends than a simple signed boxed set could offer. But it was time to leave…as the hour was growing longer, it certainly wasn’t growing any cooler. We made our way back to the parking lot, but I stopped back into the book store. I asked the manager if they got everybody’s books signed. He shook his head and said, “No, he got up to about 35 and had to quit. Apparently having Bo Derek there drained his energy.” (She’s welcome to come drain MY energy ANYTIME!) Ginny and I laughed realizing how lucky we were to get what we got, when we got it! LIFE REALLY IS GRAND! It was nice to get back in the air conditioned car as we left Glendale. I dropped Ginny off to her car and I ran some errands. When I got back I readied Planet Wallywood for Blu Saturday. Since my gang and I have finished all “Star Trek” episodes on Blu Ray, a project we’ve been undertaking for a few months now on Saturday nights, I decided to play movies on Blu Ray until the second season of “Star Trek: the Original Series” comes out on Blu Ray. Tonight, we watched the Kirk Douglas film “The Final Countdown.” It’s a GREAT movie and looks even better on Blu Ray. I won’t spoil it for you by telling you the premise, but it’s wonderful. We were joined by my friend Dorothy Fontana (D.C. Fontana – great sci-fi writer) and her husband Dennis. Dorothy is great at running commentary because of her immense knowledge of sci-fi, and Denny’s immense knowledge of effects and cinematography gives us a unique angle as to the making of the film. We also watched the terrific bonus materials on the disc as well. After that, we met Chuck McCann for pie at DuPar’s. I brought my dog Sassie home a grilled chicken breast and we watched “Charlie’s Angels” on DVD in bed. What a WONDERFUL day!
Sunday the 23rd – SLEEP-IN SUNDAY! – Like the title suggests, I slept in until 4pm! I got it all together and headed to evening church, where I was attending elder again. After dinner I met up with my friend Emily for dinner. My friend Sara came along, and we were met by my pal Bruce Kulick and two of his friends from Texas…Marina and Laura. We had a lot of fun at a burger place called the Counter. Then we came over to Planet Wallywood to give the Texas girls the tour, and put on some scenes from Blu Ray movies so Bruce and his friends could see what it’s all about. We watched the first half of “Viva Las Vegas.” But it was getting late so everyone took off. Then I set about doing my auditions and e-mailing them to my agent.
And how was YOUR week??!!
