11:29 pm - Weds 6/02/04
Kevin Hits L.A.

As I begin this entry, Kevin is sleeping on an air mattress in my "dining area".

He got in shortly before 2:00 this afternoon, thankfully without major incident (I never used to worry about "major incidents" in this sort of situation, but the "friendly skies" aren't as friendly as they used to be!).

I got to the airport without a problem (The signs are pretty clear on the way there), but just like when Mark and Jane came to visit, I got turned-around on the way out, and for a while, I had no idea how to get back home.

That's a situation that would have left me alternately cursing and crying when I first got here. But now my "drive around till I see something familiar" technique is actually pretty effective, since "something familiar" encompasses a whole lot more of the Greater Los Angeles area than it did three years ago.

Eventually, we got back to my place, then once he got settled in, we got Subway for lunch, then watched the DVD of Trunk, the show he wrote that was recently produced in Lansing for Icarus Falling (Jane was part of the four-person cast).

The show was a lot of fun. I thought it played just as well as it read, if not better (And it's the kind of thing I really like to see Jane do).

Seeing this show, and Edward Albee's Seascape only a week or so before (Mark was in that show, which was done at Riverwalk), it really hit me--Jimmy needs to act.

(After all, I didn't come to L.A. to be jealous of my friends back in Lansing who are actually acting!)

Unfortunately, I won't be acting in either of the "Nick At Nite" spots; JS called me today, an hour or so before I had to leave to pick up Kevin, to tell me I didn't get it.

It was kind of weird--he doesn't typically call to tell me I didn't get something--but maybe now that he knows me (From karaoke, and probably more meaningfully, from booking a couple gigs), he feels it's warranted.

Who knows?

Afterwards, I debated whether I'd want him to call me everytime I didn't get something.

On the one hand, it would be nice to know, and not just live in perpetual uncertainy.

On the other hand, there's a hell of a lot more rejection than anything else in this biz-ness, so I don't know if I'd want him to become the harbinger of (mostly) bad news.

(Getting tired...)

But back to my VIP guest...We haven't done anything very L.A.-ish so far, but he's here for awhile, so there's no big crazy hurry.

Tonite we went to Hollywood Video, and rented four dvds--Bubba Ho-Tep, Stevie, Lair of the White Worm, and Willard (The remake with Crispin Glover. Perfect casting if there ever was perfect casting).

We watched Bubba Ho-Tep tonite, the story of Elvis (Bruce Campbell) and John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) banding together in a Texas old-folks home to fight a soul-stealing mummy.

Doesn't sound like the kind of thing you'd describe as "sweet", does it? But that's the reaction I had at the end. As goofy as this movie was, it gave "Elvis" a definite dignity at the end , a dignity, sadly, not afforded the real Elvis at the end of his days.

Anyway...looking like Me and Kevin will be going to Vegas, commercial auditions permitting, on Friday, and staying over Friday and Saturday.

(Falling asleep here...)

Tomorrow, I don't have a real big plan. I was thinking maybe Chinatown in the earlier part of the day, and maybe the Los Feliz area later (Los Feliz is the area I like, where my cheap theatres are located, along with the wonderful House of Pies.

In any case, I think we're going to be okay...

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