January 7 – January 13 (2013)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

Funny Foto Dog! I saw this shot in an e-mail I received and it’s the funniest dog photobomb I’ve ever seen! It almost doesn’t look real!

Coldplay is one of the few current bands I really like. Their songs are catchy, almost theatrical, and creative. I heard“Paradise” several times this week and couldn’t stop singing it.

Monday the 7th – BAT BLAST FROM THE PAST! – I woke up on my own just after noon, and two scripts for “Tonight Show” bits showed up in my e-mail. I watched the video files they sent for a voice reference, then recorded the bits and e-mailed them in. I walked Roxy and then came back inside to get the all-clear message from the “TS” office. They always confirm that they received the audio files to put my mind at ease. Because, NEWS FLASH, technology doesn’t always work! I got ready and headed into NBC to tape the show. When we wrapped I wanted to go get some groceries and some office supplies, but all I wanted to do was go home and relax. I got home and petted Roxy and Spook, then did some work around the house. My assistant Sara had picked up the CD copies of some old reel to reel tapes I had in my collection. Back in the early 80’s I had interviewed Adam West on the radio station I worked at. I had always wanted to get those old tapes digitized, but filmmaker James Tooley (who’s doing a documentary on Adam) wanted to get copies for his film. It was great listening to them again after all these years. I got them converted to MP3 and then e-mailed them to James to hand over to his editor. Then I took a nap with Roxy the collie. When I got up I did some auditions, organized some things around the house and got ready to fix Roxy’s dinner. She and I took our late-night walk around the neighborhood and then came back inside. I made dinner and we watched the final episode of “Mannix” from the season 6 DVD set.

Tuesday the 8th – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELVIS! – I got a hotline call in the morning to redo a bit for “TTS.” So I recorded it an e-mailed it in. My pal Electric Bob came by with another fixture for the track lighting system in The Chaney Room. I have so many life-size figures in there now and I was one light short. But an even 10 is just perfect for all the displays. Sara took Roxy to the groomer to get a bath, and take some mail to the post office. I got a call to be in early to NBC to record another comedy bit for “TTS.” It was a beautiful day outside, so I decided to take the Gran Torino out for a spin. But it wouldn’t start again! Not sure why it’s not getting gas, but the starter just kept turning over and over. It actually started to drain the battery a little bit, so I stopped. I called my pal Bodie’s crew and they arranged to come get it the next day. They have to install the new satellite radio in it anyway. So I hopped in the trusty Mustang and headed over. I did two bits then headed off to Wendy’s to get lunch, and then hit Staples to pick up some legal sized hanging file folders for my new 2013 tax receipts. Then I went back to NBC for the taping. After that I headed home to grab a quick nap. When I went to sleep on my bed Roxy was by my side. But when I woke up, Spook was laying there. A miracle! I go to sleep next to a dog, and wake up next to a cat! I did some auditions, then met my pal Edi for dinner at Little Toni’s for some Italian food. When I got home I worked on my new file case. Then I started futzing with my fixtures in The Chaney Room. I focused the lights on the displays the way I wanted them. And had he lived, Elvis would have been 78 today.

Wednesday the 9th – DEATH ROW DOGGIES! – When Roxy and I took our morning walk we ran into my neighbor and her dog Miles. He’s an awesome black poodle mix, and his owner Janet said she rescued him from death row at the shelter. WHAT? He’s a fabulous dog! Who wouldn’t want Miles?! I met up with Bodie’s folks and wouldn’t you know it…the Torino started right up? I don’t get it. It wouldn’t start the day before! When it’s in the shop to get the new sat radio installed, I think they need to look at the choke. One day it’s not getting gas, the next day it’s fine. Strange! On the way out of the garage I saw this amazing Husky walking with her owner. Her name was Anuk, and her owner said she was a rescue too. Rescued from Doggie Death Row! All these great dogs rescued from the brink of death?! Sometimes I just don’t get this world. I scanned some checks to get them ready for deposit, then headed to Studiopolis to do some more voice work on an episode of “Bleach.” It was a fairly funny “dream” episode, so it was really enjoyable. On my way to NBC to tape “TTS” I stopped at the bank to make a deposit quick. I drove past the house I really liked and almost considered buying (except it was too close to an elementary school and tons of power lines behind the backyard) and saw that it had been sold. The new owners were out in the garage busily working on upgrades. At the show there were some awesome animals. I even met Mark Hamill’s cousin Gina, who supervises animal treatment on sets. They had some beautiful cats, including a Serval (?) that was gorgeous! One of the bigger cats didn’t want to leave the set. He sat on the sofa and cuddled and chewed on one of the cushions. I got home and walked Roxy and fed Spook, then grabbed a nap. When I woke up I did some work around the house, and started in on the DVD set of “VanDyke and Company.” There are only 12 episodes on the set because it was a summer replacement series in 1977. But it was the first primetime exposure I (and the rest of the world) had to Andy Kaufman. And I remember taping his appearances on audio cassette so I could learn his act. It was because of this show that I wrote Andy a letter care of NBC and got a letter back from him!

Thursday the 10th – OUT OF SORTS! – I wasn’t feeling really “with it” today. Kind of out of sorts. Not sure why. I got up to walk Roxy and then head into work, but I just felt blah. Not like I was getting sick or anything, just like I was not 100%. Luckily work went fast and I headed home to nap all evening. Somebody mentioned that you can overdose on vitamins. I take about 20 supplements a day for all sorts of stuff, but maybe it’s too much for my body to process. I think I’ll go cold turkey on the vitamins for awhile and see what happens. When I woke up later I felt pretty good. I had something to eat and then got my collectibles assembled for this weekend’s autograph show. One of the highlights was a James Bond reunion, with many of the Bond girls in person! I had purchased a photo op with all 14 Bond girls, and James Bond himself (George Lazenby from “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”) on Saturday afternoon at 4:50. I was also going to get a photo op with Maud Adams and Britt Ekland (my favorite Bond girl) from “The Man With The Golden Gun.” I even picked out one of my black shawl collar tuxedos to wear for the occasion!

Friday the 11th – FINALLY FRIDAY! – My pal Sergio Lopez came over to finish up the hair on my Sean Connery James Bond mannequin. I wanted him to be finished so I could snap a photo and show some of the Bond girls at the show. Sara came by to take Spook to the groomer to get his nails clipped. I sped off to NBC to tape the final “TS” of the week. In the audience was my old pal John Tesh. We used to play a lot of John’s music on The Wave, and he and I even shared the air for a few hours back in the early 90’s doing an AIDS Wave Radiothon. He’s a great guy. When I heard he was in the audience I ran out to say hi. It was great seeing him again. I got back home to check on Sergio’s progress, then I went to Floyd’s Barbershop to have my hair color tweaked. If I was going to have a photo taken with 14 Bond girls I wanted to look my best! I got home, and started packing for my trip. Since the Hollywood Show has moved from Burbank to the Los Angeles International Airport area, it was necessary for me to get a room at the hotel the night before. That way I wouldn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn and fight traffic all the way over there. I got to the hotel around 10:30 and checked in. I set out my tux and took the lint roller to it so it would look its best. But that night I didn’t sleep very well. Not sure if it was the excitement, or the bed, or what. But I slept a few hours then woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. I maybe got one more hour of sleep before I had to get up for breakfast and the autograph show.

Saturday the 12th – BOND BABES A BUST! The new venue for the Hollywood Show is not good. One of the stated advantages of moving the show to this hotel was ample parking. But when Sara arrived at 10:30 to assist me in my autograph hunting, the parking lot was full. FULL? So much for all that ample parking. The only other parking was down the street aways. That meant walking several blocks in the cold, windy weather. I just had her valet park and come in. The hotel was busy with all sorts of other seminars, lectures and functions, so it was much too busy for my tastes. The restaurant had a 45 minute wait to get in for lunch! It wasn’t a half hour into the show that I was wishing it was back at the old place in Burbank. Time was limited, and it was going to be a very busy day. So I got right to it. I wanted to get the Bond girls, George Lazenby and the 3 Bond villains to sign my Bond 50 Blu Ray booklet. But just as I hit the tables, all of the Bond people were taken out to do a publicity photo. Really? Couldn’t they have done this BEFORE the show opened? Now I was wasting 15 minutes of my time waiting around at the tables for them to return. Poor planning. There was going to be a Robert Conrad Q&A at 2, but then I heard it was switched to 1, then I heard it was switched back to 2. I was very confused (as apparently were the promoters of this show). I got all my Bond autographs I needed and chatted a bit with Bruce Glover (Mr. Wint from “Diamonds Are Forever”) who asked if I was an actor. I told him I was a voice actor and announcer for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” He said I had a great look and should look into on-camera. I told him I had done some in the past but it wasn’t really my first love. I also chatted with Robert Davi from “License To Kill.” He’s a great actor. You know why? Because he’s the nicest guy in person, but one bad-ass villain in the film. And he’s a very talented singer. He has a CD out called “Davi Sings Sinatra.” I spoke with Eunice Gayson who played Sylvia Trench in “Dr. No” and “From Russia With Love.” She, in essence, was Bond’s first on-screen love! I showed her the photo on my i-Pad of my Connery mannequin. She said, “This is in your house?” I told her I collect lots of stuff like that. She focused in on the photo and said, “He really was handsome, wasn’t he?” I told her she should know since she sat across from the casino table from him in his first big scene. But my all-time favorite Bond girl is Britt Ekland. She is still just as lovely today! We chatted at her table for awhile as I had her sign about 6 things. I also had Maud Adams sign some things too. Caroline Munro (who helped me enter puberty with her performance in “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad”) was very pleasant, and confessed to being a huge Jay Leno fan. I told her to contact me next time she was in town and I’d set her up with tickets to a taping. When I finished with all the Bond autographs, it was time to eat. Though the wait was long at the restaurant, we lucked out and found seats by the bar. We had just ordered our food, and I decided to save some time and go get some of the other autographs I needed while my food was being prepared. But as I went back into the show, the producer said that the Robert Conrad Q&A was moved back up to 1! He was running through the show looking for anyone who had Conrad laminates to let them know. So we had to cancel our lunch order and get up to the theatre. Good grief! This was a total mess! An organizational nightmare! I still had about 8 autographs to get, plus my two photo ops with Bond girls later that afternoon! No time to eat I guess! We connected up with our Planet Wallywood movie night friends Mark, James and Cynthia, Bob and Teri and Nancy. We went into the theater and took our seats. We waited about 20 minutes and then the Conrad retrospective started. Then Robert came in and sat down and took questions and told stories about his life and career. It was an absolutely hilarious panel and well worth the money. The ticket to the Q&A also included a photo and meet & greet with Mr. Conrad after the show. But when the panel ended there was a lot of confusion about where the photo ops would take place. We were told to stay in our seats and we’d be notified where to go. Well, after about 20 minutes of this I got restless and went back downstairs. The word had spread that the photo ops would be downstairs where all the other photo ops were being done. Luckily I had split from the theater when I did, because I was one of the first in line. But soon the line was 150 people long. I quickly did the math in my head, and looked at the time. With this many people in line, and with all the delays, it was very late in the afternoon. I started to think that there was no way the Bond Girl photo op was going to happen. If I did the math and figured it out, why didn’t the promoters? Also, why weren’t they ready with the Conrad photo op the second the Q & A was finished? The logistics of this show were a nightmare! They tried to do TOO much, and it was starting to make people angry. Then the word was issued that the Bond Girl photo op had been postponed until Sunday morning at 11am. Which meant that I would have to get out of bed at 9:30, clean up and put on my tuxedo, fight the traffic on the 405 to the LAX area, valet park again, and go inside to the show only to find out that it may have been rescheduled again. Was I willing to take the chance? I pondered it all night, but since it was starting to turn into a real hassle, it started to diminish the magic of the experience. Each time I looked at the photo it would have brought back bad memories. Plus, Sunday is church day and my day to rest. Hmmmm…what to do? If this is the future of these shows, I may have to stop going altogether. But I still had about 6 autographs on my list to get. But when I got back inside the show Max “Jethro” Baer Jr. wasn’t at his table. It seemed he was more interested in walking around talking to the other actors and hitting on girls. It took about 20 minutes until he finally got to singing my “Beverly Hillbillies” lunch box. Then it was time to have Donna “Elly May” Douglas sign my lunchbox. But she was VERY slow. She was easily distracted by people coming up talking to her. She would start signing an autograph, and in the middle of it just stop to talk to somebody for 5 minutes. A half hour later, I finally got my lunchbox signed. Ugh. Somebody needs to coach these people on how this whole thing works. Since I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, by 6pm I was starving! My stomach was grumbling as loud as I was. I really hope the Hollywood Show learns from this and organizes a lot better for their next show. It was a VERY frustrating and unrewarding experience. I stopped at Taco Bell to get drive-thru to eat on the 45 minute trek in traffic to get home. Luckily I sent Sara on ahead to walk Roxy and feed Spook. She set up for movie night, so when I got home I could crash for about a half hour. But we had a fun movie night with another Laurel and Hardy feature, and the James Bond film “License To Kill.” It’s always fun seeing an actor play somebody so evil, when you just met them a few hours earlier. I had to keep reminding myself that he’s a really nice guy. In fact, he showed me a website that had him ranked as the number 2 Bond villain of all-time, right behind Goldfinger! When my guests left I cleaned up and did some work and then hit the hay. I was EXHAUSTED!

Sunday the 13th – REEELAAAAXXX! – I got up at 10 to have a bowl of cereal. I had thought about heading to the Hollywood Show to get my Bond Girl photo op, but I just wasn’t feeling it. So I headed back to bed with a slight tummy ache. I think the hectic nature of the week (and very little sleep on Friday night) had gotten to me! I put the heating pad on my tummy and slept the rest of the afternoon. All total I slept about 12 hours! I got up in time for evening church and walked Roxy over to see everybody. She loves going to church! When I came home I took a dip in the jacuzzi, made some chicken soup and went back to bed. When I got up at midnight I felt really great. I did some auditions, and then worked on my personal family history recordings. I buy little digital recording devices and try to make an entry every day. I tell stories, recollections, anecdotes, and offer opinions and thoughts about all sorts of things. That way, in case my grandkids someday want to know more about their grandpa, they have these recordings as a lasting piece of family history. I have filled up six recording devices full of stuff. When they’re full I dump the files on to my computer, organize and label them, and then back them up on an external hard-drive. That way I have 3 copies of each file. I don’t record over the files on the device and use it again, I just retire it and buy a new device. When I was finished with that I made some dinner and enjoyed another episode of “VanDyke and Company” in bed with the pets.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PICS FROM WALLY’S WEEK

Sara with “Diamonds Are Forever’s” Bruce Glover!