Monday the 23rd – HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADRIANNA! – It was my niece’s 10th birthday today. She was born just three days after my dog Sassie was, so now they’re both 10. The industry is slowing down somewhat, so not much was going on this week. I had a few auditions to record in the afternoon and send over to my agent. Later that evening I took the opportunity to drive out to Chatsworth to see my orthodontist. I hadn’t seen him in a long time. I had originally gotten my removable braces back in 1998, but occasionally I still slip them in my mouth before bed. But when I got my new crown on my back upper right tooth, the appliance wasn’t fitting that well any more. So I had to have him adjust it. Then I drove back to LA and met up with my friends Chuck McCann, Fred Westbrook and Ginny You at Sitton’s in North Hollywood. I was still full from dinner so I didn’t have much to eat. I got home, and got ready to do my auditions around midnight. But right smack dab in the middle of my first audition BAM! Out go the lights! ALL electricity in my house was out. Luckily I have a battery operated reading light on my music stand that I use for my auditions, so that remained on. I unclipped it from the music stand and went to find other flashlights and candles. Though it was after midnight, I called my contractor Terry and had him come right over. About an hour later he came by. He wasn’t sure what the problem was, but I called the DWP (Department of Water and Power) and went through their prompt system to file a trouble ticket. The recorded voice said somebody would be over immediately. Meanwhile, Terry brought a 100 foot power cord and plugged it in to the outlets outside my building. Luckily it was hot. I also noticed that none of my neighbors in the complex seemed to have problems. So I knew it was my house only. Terry brought the power cord in, and hooked up my computer, monitor, mixer, and light up to it so I could do my auditions while we waited for the DWP to arrive. In the middle of my final audition BAM! The lights returned! Terry went outside to find the DWP guys working on the utility cabinet outside our units. They had to cut the lock to get in, but they found the breaker and turned it back on. I thanked them profusely and went back inside. But the power went off again! CRAP! What’s going on!? Terry still remained outside with the DWP guys and apparently, when Terry hooked up a light last week in my garage, he wired it in incorrectly to my system causing a short. They corrected the situation and all was groovy. By the time I was done with it all, I was really ready for bed! WHEW!
Tuesday the 24th – DISNEY, DIAGNOSIS & DVDs! – I went over to Disney Character Voices shortly after noon to do some more lines for the upcoming “Celebration of You” parade in the park. I had recorded the initial tracks about a month ago, but there were some changes made, so they had me come back in. It’s always a blast seeing those guys. Then I drove down to Regenix to see how my hair was coming. I’ve been on the program over a year but haven’t really noticed much of an improvement. They sat me down and looked at my scalp under the high powered microscope and showed me the results on the monitor. I could see lots of new little hairs sprouting up! Amazing! The consultant there said that the program can take up to two years to show improvement because of the length of time it takes hair to fall out, and recycle to new hair. He showed me how my scalp was flexible and healthy, with no debris or follicle plugs anywhere! It sure was great seeing all those new little hairs sprouting up. Hopefully they’ll come in thicker and stronger than before! Afterwards, I went downstairs and saw Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) walking out of Cedars. I didn’t get a chance to say hi as the elevator doors were just opening and he was just heading outside. I didn’t want to make a scene and yell at him. He sure is a good guy. I’ve met him several times before and he’s always super cool. I drove over to It’s a Wrap and found a few clothing items, then I drove to Laser Blazer and picked up a few DVDs…”Goldfinger” on Blu Ray, “Never Say Never Again” on Blu Ray, and a new Dana Gould comedy special on DVD. I had worked for Dana back in the late 90’s on a show called “Super Adventure Team” and it was some of the fondest memories of my career. Dana and Rob Cohen were both writers on “The Simpsons” and darn funny guys! Too bad the show only lasted 6 episodes. I got home and fed Spooky and then took a nap. Later that night I got up and did my 3 mile jog as part of my “3 for 3” program…3 miles a night, 3 nights a week. I’m going to stick to it because my class reunion is coming up this summer!!
Wednesday the 25th – TAX TIME! – I went to my accountant’s in the afternoon and talked taxes. Luckily I’m getting money back this year because of all my expenses and deductions. Then I went over to Prints Charm’n to review some test prints of my new promo postcards. When people write to me and ask for autographed photos, I send them out a postcard of some of my characters that I sign. It’s only the cost of printing and a postcard stamp for US fans, but for overseas requests it can cost around a dollar just for the postage! So I ask all overseas people to send a self-addressed stamped envelope over, and I’d be happy to send them one. I get so many requests, that postage alone for overseas postcards would be hundreds of dollars a year! I needed to make a few changes on the prints, but I would return in a few days to review the new test prints. That evening I went to Wednesday night church.
Thursday the 26th – AVENGERS ASSEMBLE…AGAIN! – I worked again today on “the job I hope will never end”…the new animated “Avengers” series. I play Ant Man and Giant Man, and it’s one of the best jobs I’ve ever had! The crew and cast on this show is amazing, and so freakin’ funny! We’re constantly cracking each other up it’s amazing that we can ever get any work done! The talent on this show is superb and I can’t wait to see the finished episodes, even though they probably won’t air until 2011 to coincide with the release of “The Avengers” live-action feature film. After the session, I went to It’s a Wrap in Burbank and found the most amazing leather coat. It was patchwork with different types of black leather. I tried it on but DAMN! it was too small for me. It was marked at $150, so it was too expensive for a coat that didn’t fit me. But I looked inside the jacket for a label. maybe if I could find the manufacturer, I could find one on eBay that fit me. Fat chance! No label! In fact, the only label I could find was inside the inner pocket. It was a Western Costume label! This was a custom-made jacket for a movie! The name on the label read RALPH FIENNES! Oh my gosh! The label was also marked with #2 meaning that this was the #2 jacket of his out of who knows how many they made for him. But I was running all of his films through my mind that I knew of, and I couldn’t figure out which movie this jacket was used in. I noticed that there was FOX written on the inside collar. So I made a note to hit IMDB and see which Fox movie Ralph Fiennes starred in which he would wear a jacket of this kind. I left the jacket on the rack, but planned to return the next day to buy it if my investigation proved fruitful. That night I enjoyed watching an episode of “Land of the Giants” on DVD just before bed. I finished up “Mannix” season two, and I had to start another show. “Mission Impossible” season 6 comes out in May, so I have just enough “Giants” episodes to hold me over until then.
Friday the 27th – FRIDAY FUN-DAY! – I slept pretty late but got up to do some errands. First stop was getting Sassie some more food. Then I went to Prints Charm’n to review the new test prints and they were beautiful! I signed off on the order and should have them by next Tuesday. I headed over to do some more voice work on “Bleach” at Studiopolis Burbank. After that I went over to It’s a Wrap to buy the Ralph Fiennes jacket. I had begun to wonder if they had looked inside the pocket to find the tag. I couldn’t believe that they would KNOWINGLY sell a Ralph Fiennes jacket for only $150! My research turned up useful results. In 1995 Ralph starred in a film called “Strange Days” and sure enough, the trailer on You Tube shows him wearing the jacket! In fact,click on this link to check it out, and go to :50 seconds into the trailer. When he says “Fan mail from some flounder?” that’s the jacket I bought! Here are the photos I took when I got it home…
After It’s a Wrap I went to the nearby Wendy’s to get a bite, and then went to Best Buy to see if I could find “Strange Days” on DVD. But no luck Out of print. I hope to get another mannequin to put the coat on to display in Planet Wallywood, along with a screenshot of Ralph Fiennes wearing the jacket in the film. I took a nap that evening and then got up to do another 3 mile jog.
Saturday the 28th – SPRING’S HERE! – I got up late and went to pick up my pal Sara. After a stop at KFC for some food, we went over to Fred Westbrook’s house to hang out by the pool. Scott and Vickie Sebring were already there, and Chuck McCann soon joined us. Chuck had recorded an interview with WABC radio in New York, and they were going to run it that evening. Fred’s brother in New York called and held the phone up to the radio so we could all listen to it with Chuck. But Fred’s cordless phone’s battery had started to die!! Right in the middle of the interview! Luckily Scott was able to lock into a Wi-Fi signal and get it on streaming audio on the WABC website on his laptop! Saved by technology! Then I headed home to get the house ready for guests. That night we watched “Goldfinger” on Blu Ray. What a great film. One of my favorite Bond films. After that we watched the Dana Gould comedy DVD.
Sunday the 29th – CHURCH AND MORE CHURCH – I attended a meeting in the afternoon which dealt with some of the creative issues going on with the evening church service, which I love to attend. We assigned a “producer’ role to one of the participants. It was important to do that because a lot of the people involved in the service were missing information and were sometimes left out of the loop. Now we have a point man to handle it all and disseminate the information. Hopefully this will cure our ills. I jaunted off to get some Taco Bell then made it back in time for evening church. I headed home, played with the pets for awhile, and then took a nap. That night I got up and did about 7 auditions, uploaded them to the server for my agents, and then did another 3 mile jog. When I got home I made some spaghetti and watched more “Land of the Giants” on DVD.
And how was YOUR week??!!
