Some of you know that my obsession is watching old TV shows on DVD just before I go to sleep at night. Sometimes my schedule allows for it, sometimes not. But the list of TV shows I’ve seen since I started doing this four or five years ago would boggle the mind. Wild Wild West, Mission Impossible, Charlie’s Angels, Starsky & Hutch…I’ve seen them all. One hour of classic TV at night before bed gives me such peace, and makes for really great dreams. I just picked up a 70’s TV detective show called Barnaby Jones. It’s one of those shows where the voice-over guy at the beginning says in an earth-shattering tone…”Barnaby Jones. Tonight’s episode…Die Surfer, Die”…or something like that. It’s this very same voice-over guy that we parody when we do “Cop N Kitty” on the Leno show. So my purchase of this DVD set is now officially a write-off on my taxes. One great thing about all those old shows, are the theme songs. Very catchy, memorable, and in most cases…a hit on radio. I don’t think this one was ever a hit, but it sure is catchy. And if you don’t know who Jerry Goldsmith is (the guy who wrote it) check his IMDB page. He was amazing. Anyway…so I won’t be the only one humming this theme song all day…here’s your chance to listen to it too. I DARE you not to hum it later!
Monday the 15th – CATCH UP DAY! – I got to sleep in fairly late, but when I got up I met up with my accountant and settled up on my taxes. After that it was off to my Chiropractor, who hopefully would take away the pain of just paying my taxes. When I was finished with Dr. C., it was off to NBC for “The Tonight Show” taping. Then I went to Office Depot to exchange a fax machine I bought. I needed a MUCH simpler one to operate. My fax machine had been giving me problems, but since I bought this new one…it’s been working fine. Hmmm…I wonder if it knew it was going to be replaced??? I had a great experience when I got home. The weather this week had been really nice…in the 80’s in some areas. And as the evening set upon the Los Angeles area, it got really still but stayed warm. Mr. and Mrs. O’Malley (the ducks I told you about last week who come to visit our pool every year) were there waiting for me to get home. If I quack out of the side of my mouth, they actually swim up to me to get food. But at this particular time the neighborhood squirrels realized I was out there passing out food, so they came to get in on the action as well. It was great! Sassie was with me on the sidewalk, I was tossing bread to the ducks and putting peanuts down for the squirrels. It was such a cool moment, I shot this video for you…
Tuesday THE 16TH – WAKE UP QUAKE! – They say that if the weather in Southern California is unseasonably warm, then it’s considered “earthquake weather.” To my knowledge, it’s never been proven scientifically that the two are related. But I’ll be switched…at 4am there was a mild earthquake that shook me awake. I laid there waiting to see if it was going to get worse or pass, and thankfully it was the latter. I had to be up in a few hours to go get a tooth prepped for a crown, so I wasn’t very happy about being woken up. But I managed to get back to sleep with no problem. I got to Dr. Acosta’s office in Toluca Lake around 7:45, and he numbed me up good to start working on my back tooth in my lower right. THANK GOD we caught it before it got into the nerve! I escaped having to have a root canal! He took the impressions he needed to send to the maker of the crown and I was on my way. I got home and tried to do some last minute auditions, but my mouth was still rather numb on the right side, so it sounded sometimes like I was Daffy Duck or Sylvester. Unfortunately, I wasn’t auditioning for those roles. But I did my best. The Dr. called me and said there was a problem with the impression he took and he needed another one. He said I could come back the next day and he would numb me up again. I told him I would prefer to have him do it right away while I was still numb. Not having full articulation of my lips and tongue is something I don’t want to experience too often. So I sped right back over to the office, he took another impression (I could tell the Novocain was starting to wear off!) and I was out the door to my audition at Carroll Casting. On my way back home I got a call from my pal Dan Roebuck who wanted to meet me for lunch, but by the time he came to my house and saw all the new stuff in Planet Wallywood, we never did get to go eat. I headed over to “Tonight” and when I got home I laid down for a nap. After, of course, feeding the ducks and squirrels. The work the dentist did on my lower right jaw still smarted a bit so I figured a Tylenol and a nap would help me. That night I got up and did some auditions to e-mail to my agent.
Wednesday the 17th – HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY! – I hit the vet’s office to get Sassie some more dog food, then I tried to call a hotel in Palm Springs to book a room. Adam West is getting a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Fame and I’ve been asked to speak at the event on April 10th. But the hotel right next to where the star would be laid was sold out! They said to try back in a few days to see if there had been any cancellations. I got to “Tonight” and did the taping at the usual time, and when it was wrapped I headed over to my bank. As I was standing at the window, in walks Jerry Maren, one of the few surviving Munchkins from ‘The Wizard of Oz!’ I had seen Jerry and his wife at several autograph shows, and we spoke for a bit. Jerry was the Munchkin who handed Judy Garland the oversized lollipop in the film! His wife said Jerry just turned 90, and not only did he look amazing for a guy of his age, the man has a full head of hair! I reached into a dish of candy sitting there by the teller’s window, pulled out a small sucker and gave it to him. I told everyone around me how thrilling it was to give The Lollipop Kid…a LOLLIPOP! Boy, that kind of stuff can only happen to you in Los Angeles! When I got home I noticed that “my” ducks were getting braver, and actually coming up to my doorstep to get bread crumbs. That was just too cool! I guess they saw the squirrels coming to my porch for nuts, so they figured what could go wrong??
Thursday the 18th – DUCKLESS!? – I did a session for HH Gregg at Voice Trax West. In fact, the guys at the ad agency sent me one of the commercials which I happen to think is stellar! Check it out!
When I was finished with the session I grabbed some lunch, and then got ready to go to “Tonight.” Afterwards I met up with two guys at Paty’s in Toluca Lake. Jeremy is the assistant for Bob Zmuda, Andy Kaufman’s former writing partner and current producer of The Tony Clifton Show…which could be coming to your town soon. Jeremy wanted to check out my Andy collection, so I told him to contact me when he was in town. Max came from South Dakota on referral from my old childhood buddy Bob. Max is the son of one of Bob’s pals in Sioux Falls, and he wants to move out here eventually. So, like I did when I came out here in 1986….he was making contacts. We had a great dinner and came over to check out Planet Wallywood. But that night the swimming pool was unusually quiet. NO DUCK! Where could they have gone? Were they alright? Had they moved on to their next destination already? I was actually a little sad that they weren’t there. But I figured they must’ve built a nest, or flown on to a different location, or something. But just as I was going to bed I heard a splash in the pool, and there they were!
Friday the 19th – END OF A GREAT WEEK! – I went to Voicecasters for an audition shortly afternoon, and ran into my old pal Brian Cummings. He’s one of the top guys in the VO field, and he also is from South Dakota. We always have a great time talking about the “old country.” I called the hotel in Palm Springs back and sure enough, a room opened up! So I did a few errands then headed over to “Tonight” to finish out the week. That night I hung out around the house, did some things that needed to be done, and put on an episode of “Barnaby Jones” before bed.
Saturday the 20th – SPRING IS HERE! – Boy, it feels more like summer, but I’m not complaining. It’s been terrific all week, and I haven’t put the top up on my car hardly at all. It’s been fun driving around with the top down with this perfect weather! My maids came around noon and cleaned up the place. I got the place ready for Blu Ray Trek that night with my friends and then napped for a bit. When I got up we started our “Star Trek” screening and then finished up with some scenes from Midnight Special. What fun!
Sunday the 21st – HAPPY BIRTHDAY LACEY & JULIA! – Can you believe it? My daughter Lacey turns 27 today, and my niece Julia turns 5! I got up around 2 in the afternoon and took Sassie outside. She loved the weather so much she just decided to lay down in the grass and chill for awhile. So I grabbed a chair and sat there with her for awhile. The ducks were there looking for bread again. We went back inside eventually and I grabbed a few more hours of sleep. I got up in time for evening church, and afterwards met up with my friend Edi and her son Josh for dinner. Sara joined us as well. Edi’s daughter Emily was in “Livin’ On a Prayer” as Young Kimba. When everyone headed for home I hit the grocery store to pick up some supplies. What a great week it was! Now we’re counting down to Easter week!
And how was YOUR week??!!
A different kind of Peking Duck…a PEEKING duck! She’s peeking up over the wall to see if there might be any good stuff for her like the squirrel’s getting!
