Well, dear readers, shall we just talk about The Adventures of BK? I think we shall because adventures there were and they should be talked about because, well, why not? The adventures concerned my whirlwind trip to the Vegas of Las to speak at a David Cassidy event – this week he was given a star, much like the stars on Hollywood Boulevard. A bevy of his ardent fans showed up on Sunday, had a meet and greet that I couldn’t attend, saw the star, then had this event yesterday, which is what I flew in for and boy were my arms tired. Speaking of tired, once again I got only four or five hours of sleep and I was kind of a wreck. I finally got out of bed at nine, shaved and showered, answered a few e-mails, and then our very own Donald Feltham arrived at ten-twenty and then we moseyed on over to the hangar where JSX Airlines resides. We allowed plenty of time to get there, as I’m a very nervous traveler. But we got there in less than fifteen minutes. Even though you can check in twenty minutes prior to your flight, I got that out of the way as soon as I got there. I’d printed out the bar code for the trip, but it turned out that you don’t even have to do that – you hand them your driver’s license and they scan that, and your reservation shows up and that’s IT. No TSA or security to go through – I mean you go through a little thing, but there’s no security there and you don’t have to remove your shoes, keys, phone – nothing. The entire check in took under forty seconds. Then I sat and waited until they boarded us at about eleven-fifteen. There were less than twelve passengers, so boarding took five minutes, they shut the door and we were on our way. No backlog of planes waiting to take off – we were in the sky within six minutes. I was in the first row on the left, a single seat. There wasn’t anyone behind me and just one person to the right of me. We were in the air for about forty-eight minutes, and the entire thing took a little over an hour by the time we were off the plane.
I ordered an Uber and that guy was there within two minutes. I thought it would probably take fifteen minutes to get to the hotel and was expecting the Uber to cost around twenty-five bucks, but I’d forgotten how close the strip is to the airport and the Uber drive took about seven minutes and the cost was eleven bucks. Once I arrived at Bally’s, it took a few minutes to find out where I was going. It had been quite some time since I’d been in a casino – dear Lord, it’s so shiny and loud these days especially the slot machines. The fact is, the casino wasn’t exactly jumping – no craps tables in action at all – but it sure did reek of smoke because, I don’t know, someone still thinks that allowing people in a casino to smoke is a brilliant idea – it’s not – it’s a dangerous idea, as it’s always been. I finally found the ballroom and went in. Not sure how many fans were there, but it was a very nice crowd of mostly all women. I finally met in person the fellow who wrote a book about Partridge Family music, so that was fun. I met the organizers, and also the people I knew from the small online stuff. There were about ten speakers scheduled – only Ron Dante was a no-show, which I actually predicted would be the case. My old pal Gary Stockdale was there – I’ve known him for fifty years, from his days at LACC. Anyway, I was sixth or seventh to speak and everyone spoke for less than fifteen minutes.
The Cowsills were there and fun – the show as really based on their family – none of them had actually met David Cassidy, but they are fun folks. Then it was finally my turn and I must tell you, I had an absolute blast – I had no notes, everything was off-the-cuff and unplanned, which I really enjoy. I began by saying I was a huge Cowsills fan back in the day. I think talked about Gary Stockdale and how long I’ve known him and the fact that he neglected to mention that it was I who got him into music and what a career he’s had in that field. He musical directed for David a bit in the nineties. I said we’d met at LACC, where he was an acting student, and that after I’d seen him do that, I knew that music was a better bet. That got a big laugh. And then, I just told one anecdote after another – how I’d auditioned and got the first episode I did, how I hit it off with David right away, how they’d called me two months later to do a second episode and how that turned into two more episodes the following season and how I felt completely schizophrenic because I was always a different character. When I’m getting laughs, there’s really no holding me back. I spent most of the time talking about the boat episode, my final episode, and then about our friendship, him coming to dinner, me going to his place, and then after a twenty-year lapse, seeing him in Blood Brothers and almost making a cast album of that. I never ever have a negative word to say about him, and they love that. Yes, he had his demons, but I never saw that person – I only ever saw the warm, generous, funny, and sweet guy. I know I spoke for close to fifteen minutes and I covered a lot of ground.
After all the speakers, there was a long line of folks wanting me to sign their programs and to take photos. These lovely folks are David fans and Partridge fans, and I was the only one there with a real connection to the show itself. A couple of people had my book and had me sign that, several others told me they’d be buying the book, and I met so many lovely people who were so kind in their comments. I had a great time, and then hung out with a small group of people until six.
I then walked around a bit, booked the Uber back to the airport – same cost – and I got to the airport early, at around six-thirty, checked in, and then just waited until quarter to eight to board. The return flight had many more people, including several Middle Eastern people who talked really loud and who apparently thought it was okay to not be masked for most of the flight. I pointed it out to the stewardess finally, and she made them put the masks on (I had mine on the entire time), but they apparently didn’t understand that the masks have to cover mouth AND nose. The stewardess repeatedly told them that, but, you know, I guess it’s difficult because it’s only been over two YEARS that masking has been going on. I couldn’t wait to get away from them. I exited the plane and Robert Yacko was pulling up and we went directly to the Coral Café, as I hadn’t eaten all day. I got the patty melt and fries and it was really good and really hit the spot. Then Robert drove me home, and I sat at the computer like so much fish and caught up on e-mails and stuff.
Yesterday – well, you already know about yesterday, save for the fact that once again I only got four or five hours of sleep. I really need two days of really good sleep or I’ll get sick. Oh, and I forgot that part where, during my talk, three tables of folks help up placards with one of my 1970s headshots – it was really funny.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll write, I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll see if the car wash isn’t too busy so I can give the new car a proper bath, and then I’ll just watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be more of that and so will the rest of the week and the weekend. At this point, I’m not planning to see the show at all, but we’ll see how that ultimately shakes out.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, write, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, see if I can get into the car wash without too much of a wait, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, having had a very good time in Las Vegas with The Adventures of BK.