After watching the amazing documentary “Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?” I became obsessed with the song that first made him money as a songwriter. It was covered by the Monkees beautifully, and here it is! Enjoy! You cuddly toy, you!
Monday the 3rd – PARTY PLANNING! – I got to sleep in a bit. I really needed it after my Chicago trip! Shortly after noon I met with my old pal J. Schwartz from Entertainment Contractor at my church. I’m going to be throwing a huge Halloween costume bash at the church’s social hall and I wanted J. to look over the venue. We were talking over the old days when I used to work for J.’s company as Freddy Krueger, Beetlejuice and other characters. Those were the days! I headed into NBC early to record a bit for “The Tonight Show” and then I hit Taco Bell for lunch. I made it back to the studio and did the taping, and then headed back home for a nap. My pal Brittney Powell came over later to hang out for a bit, since I hadn’t seen her in awhile.
Tuesday the 4th – COMPUTERS! BAH! – I got to sleep in again, but then I was up to meet with Adam from Make It Work. My motherboard on my computer was fritzing out and he helped me order a brand new computer. But when it arrived a few weeks ago it was leaking some coolant, so we sent it back for repair. Now it’s back and good as new. But the operating system I have been using for a long time was Windows XP, and now XP is becoming extinct. I really hate having to adjust to a whole new system every 4 years or so. I get things just how I like them, and then something changes. Drives me nuts! I got Adam working on the computer and left my assistant Sara there with him while I went to Fed Ex in Sun Valley to pick up my Walter PPK-S, which had been repaired by Smith & Wesson. Then I headed to NBC to tape “TTS.” While I was there I got a call from Adam saying there was trouble with my system. Uh oh! My computer system is important because it’s how I do a lot of recording for auditions and “TTS” bits. Wouldn’t you know it, the new operating system is totally incompatible with my recording interface device. So, while I was at “TTS,” I instructed Adam how to order a new compatible device on-line with my credit card. I trusted him to get it there quickly since it is, after all, my bread and butter. There wasn’t much more he could do, so he hooked up my old computer again until the device arrived. I had him instruct the company to overnight it so we could get it up and running asap. Will this ever end? Anyway, after the taping I headed to Voice Trax West to look in on my pal Paul Michael Glaser’s progress on his audio book. He had recorded the narrative and now they were into the editing process. He worked with John the engineer on editing and spotting points where music and sound effects would be layered in. When we finished we went to Jerry’s Famous Deli with my pals Alex Capriola and my assistant Sara. Then I took Alex over to Chill to get some frozen yogurt for dessert. Since Alex’s birthday was coming up soon, I decided to give her the birthday present I had gotten her in Chicago. Since she’s a huge fan of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman (if you remember, Alex dressed up as Catwoman for this year’s San Diego Comic Con) I found her a great autographed picture of Michelle as Catwoman. She loved it!
Wednesday the 5th – WET, WET WEDNESDAY! I got up shortly after noon to record a bit for “TTS” and then went back to bed for a bit to enjoy the rainy day. I jumped in the Torino and drove into NBC for the taping of “TTS.” My pal Bodie from BS Industries, who does all the work on my Torino, was mentioned by Tim Allen and Jay on the show! I called Bodie right away and told him he had to record the show that night! He said that Tim had mentioned to him that he may be mentioning him on the show. Bodie had just finished working on a car for Tim. When the taping was over I stopped by my mailbox to get my mail, and then I met my pal Kristy at Paty’s for dinner. I felt my throat feeling scratchy and I was thinking that I had picked something up during my trip to Chicago. So I got home and dug out my nasal sprays, my Zicam, some Mucinex, all the usual stuff. I’m going to do my best to keep it at bay! Later that night I did some auditions and e-mailed them to my agent.
Thursday the 6th- BEAUTIFUL DAY! – I got two hotline calls from my agent about a possible Old Navy job that afternoon but they were false alarms. I was beginning to wonder if my scratchy throat and stuffy nose was because of the wet weather the day before. My allergies hate it when it rains, makes stuff bloom, then all that pollen gets in my nose. I’m still hoping it’s not a cold I caught from somebody on the plane from Chicago. I got another hotline call from my other agent telling me that there was a script waiting for me in my inbox to record for “TTS.” I drove the Torino again and it was an absolutely beautiful day. It always usually is after a rain. Clear and cool. Perfect! The legendary Steve Martin was on “TTS” and I had to step out into the hallway to watch him walk by. He’s amazing. He was on with Owen Wilson and Jack Black. After the show I went to Bodie’s to get a new antenna wire on my Torino’s stereo. We chatted for a bit and then I stopped by KFC to get some dinner to go. But I was still stuffy so I headed home to nap. I got up later to record more auditions.
Friday the 7th – BAD CABLE! BAAAAAD CABLE! – I got another hotline call for a “TS” bit at NBC. So I drove in, did the bit and then stopped by my mailbox to pick up my mail. I dropped the mail off at home and then headed back to NBC to tape the show, with a quick stop at Weinerschnitzel for a quick lunch. During the opening a cable that feeds my monitor went on the fritz. So I was losing picture while I was doing my opening announce. It was hard to get my cues when the monitor kept flashing off. But we made it through. One of the technicians at NBC pulled the cable out and replaced it with a new one. He was going to throw the bad cable away, but I asked to keep it as a souvenir…a memento. So I tagged it with a label and it will go in my collection. Someday I’ll look back at it and laugh. But I wasn’t laughing at the moment. It was terrifying! Oh well, sometimes technology fails. As if my computer problems from this week wasn’t enough to remind me of that! Speaking of which, after the taping I came home to sit with Adam from Make It Work to learn my new computer. The recording interface device had arrived and Adam installed it. Now to work out the bugs. Learning Windows 7 will be quite an adjustment from Windows XP. But, it’ll just take time. The week we’re on hiatus from “TTS” October 17-21 I’ll be able to spend some time with it. I grabbed a nap, and then got up to meet up with my pal Alex Zsolt, who had come to town for the big autograph show in Burbank over the weekend. My pals Amanda and Sara joined us for dinner at Denny’s. But I could feel a cough starting to set in. Ugh!
Saturday the 8th – BATMAAAAN! – The 45th anniversary of the Batman TV series was being celebrated at the Hollywood Show in Burbank. Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, Yvonne Craig, and many cast members from the show were there. Van Williams, the Green Hornet, was supposed to be there but he postponed his appearance until February. When I walked in I saw Mark Evanier coming into the show. So we headed over to the reunion of some of the Grease actors. It was a great day with lots of fun! Then I went over to The Daily Grill to have lunch with Chuck McCann, Sara, Edi and her son Josh, Scott Sebring, Alex, Kristy and my pal James. But I was starting to cough a little more, so I stopped at CVS on the way home and got some more Mucinex and some lozenges. When I got home I grabbed a quick nap before movie night. Later that evening we began our foray into watching all 6 Star Wars movies. Tonight it was episode 1 and 2, then next Saturday will be 3 & 4, and then 5 & 6. But at the end of the evening I took a bunch of cough medicine, more Mucinex, and then I slept. It felt like I had a lump of junk in my lungs that wouldn’t go away.
Sunday the 9th – HORROR OF HORRORS! – I woke up in the morning and HAD NO VOICE! Apparently all the coughing had done my voice in. I was panicking! I was supposed to go to a birthday party in the afternoon for my pal Larry, but I figured I’d better stay home and steam steam steam! I drank tea and honey, sucked steam, rested, sucked some more steam, and rested. I didn’t think it was wise to go to a party in case I was still contagious. Worse still would be if I spent the afternoon talking and stressed out my pipes even further. By later in the afternoon all the steam and tea was helping and I had most of my voice back. I went to evening church with my pal Alex Zsolt. I still had a tickle in my lungs and it would just take time for all the junk in my lungs to eventually subside. After church Alex and I went to Bruce Kulick’s house to work with he and his girlfriend Lisa on a song we’re putting together. When Alex returns to Nashville he’s going to arrange the song, record some tracks and then send them out here so we can finish the demo. VERY exciting! Alex and I had dinner at DuPar’s afterwards and then Alex headed back to San Diego so he could catch his flight back to Nashville the next day. As for me, I sucked some more steam, got out all my humidifiers and set them up in my room. I wasn’t taking any chances since I had to get back on “TTS” Monday. I grabbed a nap, then got up to do some auditions. Luckily, my voice was almost completely back, but still a bit scratchy. I did some chores around the house and then started watching Season 8 of the old Hawaii Five-O! I think I’m in good shape and ready for the new week. But it was scary there for awhile.
And how was YOUR week??!!
