A few years back, I was at a Virgin Records in West Hollywood and I heard a great song that the in-store D.J. was playing on their in-store radio station. He said it was by a gal named Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The music had spirit, energy and most of all…a HOOK! I was instantly humming along with her catchy tunes, and I just had to get that CD! However, none of the people who actually WORKED at the store knew anything about it. We looked all over the store to try and find it, but to no avail. (Which might be why Virgin record stores are mostly out of business). Well, it was off to the internet. I found her CD on-line and purchased it. It showed up in a few days and I’m so glad I got it! So now everytime a “brick and mortar” store complains that they’re being killed by the internet, I no longer weep for them. After the Virgin experience, as well as many others (including most recently my nightmares at Best Buy!) I’m an internet guy. If it’s not on eBay or Amazon, I don’t need it! Anyway, enjoy Sophie’s song “Catch You.” Like me, you’ll be humming along too in short order!
Monday the 8th – MANIC MONDAY! –I made a point of going to the vet’s to get some more dog food and cat fud. In fact, I had that very thing written down on my “Book of Life” (my Day Planner, to the rest of the world) and a friend of mine questioned my spelling of cat fud. I couldn’t believe she had never seen the old “Far Side” cartoon by Gary Larson. Ever since that, I’ve spelled cat food…cat fud. Here’s the cartoon in case you’re not familiar.
Anyway, I got my pet supplies and then headed over to the Leno show for an early start time. Usually they started taping at 4, but today we were going early at 3:45. My normal Monday call-time was 3:15, so today it was 3. I was there on the nose and ready to rock. Only two more prime time shows to tape. Very sad. It’s been a fun 5 months working on this show. I would love to stay on with Jay and company for “The Tonight Show” move, but I hadn’t been notified either way about their plans as of yet. So, I kept my fingers crossed. Afterwards I got home and was getting some stuff done around the house. I got a call from my agent who had some VERY good news for me. But since I’m not going to officially publicize the news until March 1st (just to be on the safe side) I can’t say anything about it now. However, I think if you read between the lines you’ll probably figure it out. But suffice to say it is VERY good news! My pal Bruce Kulick came over to record some promos for some radio stations to promote his new album BK3. Here’s a link to his site to learn more… https://www.kulick.net. After that, I did some auditions and sent them off to my agent.
Tuesday the 9th – THE LAST DAY! – It was the final taping day of the prime-time Leno show! And I certainly had a busy day lined up! First, I was waiting for a call from a garage door repair company. When I was cleaning my garage recently, I think I did something to the electric eye of my garage door opener. It no longer would close without me having to manhandle it. I think when I was sweeping around it I pulled something out. Sure enough, when the tech showed up, some wire had come unplugged from one of the sensors. It was good to have the opener working again. I headed over to Kalmenson and Kalmenson in the morning to read for a commercial, then I went back home to walk Sassie. I had an appointment with my ear, nose and throat doctor just before the Leno show. He wanted to follow-up about a cyst that was on my vocal cords. Late last year I had such a bad cold, that I coughed myself into a nice vocal cyst. It was the doctor’s hope that it would go away on its own, but apparently it’s going to stay around for awhile. The good news was, it hadn’t gotten any bigger, and it wasn’t on a “reactive edge” of the vocal cord…meaning it didn’t affect my voice at all. Also, it wasn’t going to need surgery to be removed. They just want to keep an eye on it to see how it behaves. So I have to go back in about 3 months. I always hate these exams. They snake a small scope down my nose and into my throat. I have a VERY sensitive gag reflex, so it makes me almost sick to have them do it. Particularly when the doctor is taking his time looking. Then he has me do a bunch of vowel sounds….EEEEEE…but trying to talk with that thing in my throat is like trying to sing while you’re swallowing a potato chip. UGH! But, it has to be done. I headed over to the Leno show for the final taping, and afterwards we took a big group photo on the stage with Jay. They also taped a bit with Jay where they ran credits that included every staff member. At the very end I got my own card! It said Announcer Wally Wingert! Too cool. Keep an eye on https://www.thejaylenoshow.com to see the video of the credits as well as the group photos. Hopefully they’ll be posted soon. The producer were kind enough to have some catered food and we all stood around talking about what we were going to do on the break. Now, normally when I got into work the set would only be partially lit. And when I left, the lights had been turned off as well. I realized that I had never seen the stage fully lit, like it is during a taping. When I walked on the stage and saw the whole thing lit up, it was like being 5 years old again! And I’ll tell you why. When I was 5, I was on a show called Captain 11 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My tribute to the late Captain can be found on my latest news page, as he just passed away a few weeks ago. But I remember walking into that studio and seeing how bright the lights were, how colorful the set was, and just getting that magical feeling all over my body. I got the same feeling walking onto the Leno set. The lights, the colors, the detail of the set design…all utterly amazing! I couldn’t take my eyes off the thing! Of course, for the camera guys and production people, this was old hat. I must’ve seemed like a total beginner! But it sure was a wonderful set! That night I went home, relaxed and reflected on what a terrific 5 months it had been working on that show! Would there be more to come? Stay tuned! Different Jay time! Same Jay channel!
Wednesday the 10th – WHEW! –Now that I had some time off I took full advantage and got a lot of stuff done. First, I did a session for HH Gregg at Voice Trax West. It involved my character “HH” singing and dancing. It was a fun session to do because I got to really cut loose and do some crazy stuff. After all the voice issues I had incurred late last year, it was finally great to have my full voice back! THANK GOD! After the session I swung by Caroll Casting and did a quick audition. I saw my pal Danny Mann there and told him to give his parents my best. His dad Larry D. Mann is one of the great old-time character actors whom you’ve seen in countless TV shows. He was also the voice of Yukon Cornelius in the old “Rudolph” TV special, and Larry came to one of my movie parties to talk to my friends about making “Rudolph.” He’s a nice guy, and one of the great actors in the biz. When I finished there, I went to McCoy to read for a 7-11 spot. Then it was back home to walk Sassie, and then head to West L.A. to see my dentist. He had put a crown on my #14 tooth last year after a root canal. But the crown wasn’t wide enough and it was causing pain when I would eat. Food would get between my teeth and hurt my gums. So I had to go back and have him pull it off. He sent the crown back to the lab to be “fattened.” So, another temp crown went on. When the crown came back it fit alright, but after only a few weeks, the inside of the crown chipped off. All the way down to the metal interior. This time, the crown had to be cut off, because it was on pretty good. Back to the temp crown again for a third time. Hopefully this will be the last time I will need this tooth dealt with. I’m getting really tired of this and I told my dentist he needed to start using a better lab for crowns. I wasn’t having very good luck with them. After that I went by Dr. Patt’s office to have him remove a mole that had been bugging me. It’s one of those little white skin tag things that was on my hip right where my underwear line was. I wouldn’t have bothered with it, except that the elastic band of my underwear would rub on it and aggravate it. So it was better just to get rid of it. After that I stopped by It’s a Wrap and picked up some great new clothes, and then headed home. But by the time I got home (thanks L.A. traffic!) it was too late to go to evening church, so I just relaxed.
Thursday the 11th – TO SLEEP OR NOT TO SLEEP! – I stayed up WAAAAY too late the night before, considering I had to be up at 9:30 for a quick “Gormiti” session. I decided that I would drop my cat Spooky off to the groomer before the session so he could get his nails trimmed, and then I’d pick him up after. He never likes going for a car ride, always fearing the worst. But I dropped him off, did the quick session, and then went back to get him. He seemed none the worse for wear, and I would certainly enjoy playing with him more knowing that I wasn’t going to pull back a bloody hand after rough-housing with him. I was going to go back to bed once I got home, but I got an e-mail from Bruce Kulick’s German contact asking if I could edit the promos I sent her. Instead of taking the promos all as one file and having a studio engineer in Germany cut them up, she wanted me to do it. Luckily there were only about 10 I had to cut up into separate files, so I spent some time doing that. But it went pretty quickly. Then I hit the hay. Just as I was starting to drift off (around 1pm) I heard Spooky downstairs meowing like crazy! I thought he was in trouble. So I got out of bed, ran downstairs and saw that he was perfectly fine. He made a few circles around my feet and then flopped down on his back to show me his tummy. I gave him some tummy rubs and then went back to bed. Sure enough, he started that crazy meowing again! I got back up…and it was the same thing. A couple of circles around my feet and then FLOP! Down on his back to show me his tummy. I gave him some tummy rubs and went back to bed. I fell asleep right after that so I’m not sure if he got what he wanted from me or not. Crazy cat! That night I had dinner at Chin Chin with Bruce, my friend Sara, and Chuck McCann. What fun! I stayed up all night doing stuff around the house and watching “Hawaii Five-O” on DVD!
Friday the 12th – AAAAAHHHHH! – Finally I got to sleep in! I didn’t need to be up until mid-afternoon for an appointment at my chiropractor’s. As I looked back, I named this week “Doctor Week,” as I had seen my ENT, my dentist, my M.D., and now my chiropractor. After the adjustment I felt better, and laying on that mechanical massage table was great! I headed home to get ready for dinner with my old pal Nancy Wolfson. She’s the best V.O. coach in town, and her company Brain Tracks Audio is the best place to go for educational resources if you’re considering V.O. training. She was one of my first agents, and the one person I really credit for giving my early V.O. career the kick in the ass it needed. I owe her a lot. We talked for a long time at the Daily Grill in Studio City and caught up. It’s always fun to hang with Nancy!
Saturday the 13th – AUTOGRAPHS! – It was another Hollywood Collector Show at the Marriott Hotel in Burbank. Sara, Georgette and I went over around noon and started in on collecting. I needed to have Lee Meriwether and Lesley Ann Warren sign my “Mission Impossible” book, as they were both series regulars at one point in the show. I also enjoyed meeting Meg Foster and having her sign my “Carny” DVD. She was the actress who, in the 70’s and 80’s, was primarily known for her intensely blue eyes. She’s still just as lovely, and really nice! My pal Bruce and his girlfriend Lisa showed up to look around and see some people. Bruce got to see Verne Troyer, and I took great delight in meeting the beautiful Morgan Fairchild! Who’s STILL stunning. In fact, I had no intention of getting a signed photo initially, but when I saw how stunning she was I just had to get one. I asked her if anyone ever did the Jon Lovitz “LIAR” character for her (remember that one? “My wife…Morgan Fairchild! Yeah, that’s the ticket!) and she said I had been the only one who did it that day.
Bruce meets up with Verne Troyer
With my wife, Morgan Fairchild
But the highlight of the day by far was watching my pal and webmaster Scott Sebring meet the Osmonds. Scott had always loved the Osmonds as a kid, and three of the brothers were appearing at the show…Merrill, Jay and Wayne. I had remembered that a costume rental shop in Mar Vista called Robinson Beautilities had a fair amount of old Osmond costumes in their store. These even still had the tags inside that read “TAILORED ESPECIALLY FOR JAY OSMOND”, etc. So Scott rented one of the ones worn by Wayne, and put it on for a photo. He changed into it in the bathroom (including an Osmond “hair helmet” wig!) and it was fun watching the sea of people part as he walked through the aisles. But the greatest moment, was watching Wayne’s face as he realized that Scott was wearing his old costume! Can you imagine seeing a young guy strutting up to you wearing clothes you wore 30 years ago? It must’ve been unbelievable! They all had a great chat, posed for photos, and I was so happy for Scott that he got to spend some quality time talking music with his musical heroes!
Wayne Osmond sees Scott for the first time
Scott with Merrill, Wayne and Jay Osmond
What a day! Chuck McCann showed up and we all met next door for lunch. It was a really great time! Sara was elated to meet Christopher Atkins from “Blue Lagoon,” and Georgette enjoyed meeting Corey Feldman.
Sara with Christopher Atkins
Georgette and Sara both pose with Corey Feldman
My friends Joe and Zandra also came to the show to see a few celebs. After the show we all went to my house to get ready for Blu Ray Trek night. Tonight we’d be delving into Season 3 of the original series on Blu Ray. The episode we selected were “Plato’s Stepchildren” about the Greek wanna-be’s mind control abilities, and “The Way To Eden,” also known as the “space hippie” episode. Fun fun fun!!
Sunday the 11th – SUNNY SUNDAY! – The rain was definitely gone, and it almost felt like spring! The weather in the past few days had been wonderful and warm. Today was no exception. When I got up there were people hanging by the pool getting sun. I went to evening church, and then went to dinner with Sara. My pal Pat and his girlfriend Jamie. Pat brought me a display of replicas he had made, based on the set of spray cans on the Batcopter in the 1966 Batman movie. The shark repellent, whale repellent, etc. were all faithfully recreated by Pat in this wonderful display. It looked awesome! After making it, he decided it would look better in my Adam West display than in his house, so I have it on semi-permanent loan. When we got back to my house after dinner, Chuck McCann called and wanted to meet for dessert. So we all met at DuPar’s and had a good chat. Since it was the eve of a holiday, I had nothing to prepare for, so I decided to get busy on completing my Adam West display. I still needed to fill some gaps in the cave paneling that I had installed on my ceiling just above the Adam West mannequin. So I did that all night. When it sets, I’ll stain it the same color as the cave wall, hang some of the other props in their proper places, and install the spray can display next to Adam’s feet. It’ll look awesome. The final step will be to have Adam come by Planet Wallywood and sign a little gold metal plaque that I’ll display with it. Then, it will be complete! Later that night Sara came over to watch “Hawaii Five-O” on DVD. I think I’ve gotten her hooked on the show!
Monday the15th – HAPPY PRESIDENT’S DAY! – I slept in, considering I was up until about 6am goofing around the house, and when I got up I took Sassie out for a little stroll. Then I set about doing some more things around the house. I have some auditions that are due tomorrow, and I still want to get to my staining project…getting the gap filling putty between the cave panels to match the color of the panels themselves. That was how I spent my President’s Day! What a great week all in all!
And how was YOUR week??!!
