Hi Ya Kids,

A few months ago “Cucina Urbana” opened at the corner of 5th and Laurel. Pam and I go there all the time, because it’s so cool. Excellent food, remarkable wine list, very moderate prices and it’s really fun in there. When you go – 2 things: (1) make reservations and (2) ask to sit at Kevin’s station. He’s one of our favorite people in the world. Order the ricotta gnocchi and the Gorgonzola/Pear pizza. Whoa! Laura and went there last night. (I’m batching it while Pam’s out of town.) Here’s some pix of me and Kevin and me and Laura. Not pristine quality. Laura’s camera was made in the mid-80’s, I think.
Here’s the link the Cucina Urbana site:http://www.sdurbankitchen.com/cucina-urbana.html

My great friend Mike Berg, also a catdad, sent me this HILARIOUS video. I was sure a fight was gonna break out at the end, but surprisingly, no! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqD2aBrqcmQ&NR=1

Love, Jerry

Hi Ya Kids,

I’ve promised to keep you posted on our getting-a-job progress and here is the latest: After the yearly “nothing happens between the holidays” doldrums, things are cooking again. The recent changes in the San Diego radio landscape have presented some new possibilities. At this time, we are seriously talking to 3 stations. So we have some good possibilities – no let me re-phrase that – we have some good “likelihoods”. Stand by for details.

Just in case we don’t get a job though, there’s a least one company in town that’s obviously anxious to hire us:

I also saw a taxi the other day with “Jerry’s Cab” printed on the side. I wasn’t fast enough with my camera to get a pix, but it was really funny. If you see anything similar, be sure to send it to us.

I was on KUSI a couple weeks ago. They are such great friends. They asked me to go on their morning show to talk about the changes in SD radio. So – there I am sitting in their lunch room, waiting to go on with the luscious Sandra Moss, and I see a box hanging on the wall by the vending machines. At first, I thought it was a first aid kit. But no. I took a pix:

EEEE-yew! What would a person ever need that thing for? If you have an idea, email me.

Speaking of TV, our great friends (we’re fortunate to have a few) at Fox 5 have asked us to go on their morning show this Wednesday to chat about “American Idol”. Me, Jeff, Tommy and Laura. We’re on sometime in the 8 o’clock hour, I think.

I am nearly 14 years behind in answering your emails. My apologies. I’ve been busier than Kirstie Alley in a day-old donut shop these days. But I’ll write back. Promise I will.

Gotta run. Pam and I are going to 2 flicks today: “Avatar” and “An Education”. I plan to eat enough popcorn to fill a pair of Ruben Studdard’s pants.

Love, Jerry

It was another tension-frought election on Sunday. And just like last year, this year’s winner was somewhat of a surprise to many. But before we get to the big announcement, there may be a couple of you guys who don’t know about this annual and very eccentric event. Each year we elect one of our cats “House Cat of The Year”. The voting committee is comprised of 3 distinguished and world-renowned cat experts: Pam, her mom Nancy and me. Voting for H.C.O.T.Y. is based upon several criteria, including but not limited to: friendliness to other cats (meaning no fighting, hissing or throwing of eye-darts), scratching -or not- the furniture, behavior in the bedroom, specifically being a decent, calm sleeping companion versus racing around the bedroom, stepping on our heads, yeowling at the moon or any other idiotic middle-of-the-night antics that keep us from sleeping. Puking doesn’t count since we all get hair balls every now and again. Here is a picture of the gang (a group of cats is called a “clowder”, by the by…). The nominees were…

That’s Isabella, Alice, Margaret, Charlotte, Aja, Sally and Oliver.

Sally has won this thing the last SEVEN years in a row! I didn’t vote for her last year. I wanted Charlotte, but Pam and her mom had some back-room caldestine dealings going on and ram-rodded Sally in there again. I hate politics, don’t you?

This year, here’s how the voting stacked up: Round 1: Sally: 2 votes, Oliver: 3 votes, Charlotte: 3 votes and Isabella got 1.
The top two vote-getters moved onto Round 2, meaning it was Oliver and Charlotte at the finish line. (At this point in the festivities, Sally got disgusted and left the room to go chase a dust bunnie.) The final results: I voted for Oliver this year. Pam and her Mom voted for Charlotte, so OUR NEW HOUSE CAT OF THE YEAR FOLKS, IS CHARLOTTE!!!! I was quite pleased with the outcome. Charlotte really deserves it. Here’s a picture of her taken after the election, totally enjoying the wild party that followed:

Charlotte was very busy the next day, granting interviews to cat magazines, newspapers and television. She is considering endorsement offers from Whiskas, Feline Greenies Cat Treats and Cosmic Cat Catnip.

I just re-read this. If you don’t live with an animal, it must seem like I’ve been puffing on the devil’s lettuce. Promise I’ve haven’t.

In other news – 2 movies you gotta see. The first one is playing now. Make SURE to see it in a good theatre with a nice big screen and sound system. It’s Rob Marshall’s remarkable “Nine”

It’s now in my top ten of all time! It is so visually stunning, I swear, I missed half of it. I couldn’t absorb it all at once. I MUST go again, because in watching the film, I missed the movie. Daniel Day Lewis is typically brilliant, as is everybody else. The music is fabulous. Director Rob Marshall (Chicago) is astoundingly talented. The last shot of the film is flattening.I cried. It doesn’t get the Jer-an-tee because if you like, say, Nicholas Cage or Will Ferrell movies, you’d ask me for your money back. But I will tell you, it is an absolute wonder. Just looking at it is a gift. Whoa.

Next, for any of you Broadway Rats like me, rent this:

It’s a documentary about the revival of “A Chorus Line” – intercut with footage of the original casting and rehearsing back in 1975. Including audio tape of Michael Bennett in a 22 hour meeting as he created the show. This is a remarkable film. I cried through the last half of it. (We all know I am a half chromosome away from gay.) Warning to mom and dad: It has the famous “T&A” number in it, just so you know. This film I am buying, I loved it so much. A brilliant film about one of the longest-running and most successful shows in musical theatre history. I’ve thought about every day since I watched it.

I just re-read this again. This blog is the least manly thing I have ever written. A cat contest and 2 musicals. I’ll never be allowed in Home Depot again. I better go grab a beer and change the oil on somebody’s car quick.

Love, Jerry

So sorry I haven’t written in maybe 17 years, The holidays were crazy for all of us, yes?

What’s happening to radio in San Diego?

A lot of us have been banished to The Land Of Misfit Toys. Recently our good friends at (formerly) KGB, Dave, Shelly and Chainsaw couldn’t reach an agreement with Clear Channel so they’re off the air. Same as us back in September. Why? I thought we did a pretty good show. And DSC do a mighty fine program as well. They’ve been here almost as long as we have, and have enjoyed great and well-deserved success.(Plus they are friends are are sincerely nice and truly talented folks.) Well, here’s the story: It’s nothing personal. It’s just bad business. The 2 largest radio station owners in the U.S. are Clear Channel (800+ stations) and Citadel (200+ stations). These companies are in big financial trouble. Citadel declared bankruptcy in December. Clear Channel is 20 Billion (yes, with a “B”) in debt. How did this happen? These companies went on buying sprees in the late 1990’s – paying exorbitant prices for hundreds of radio stations. Remember Alan Greenspan’s warning about “irrational exuberance”? Radio people couldn’t believe it. How could they pay that much for stations and hope to make a profit? Well – they couldn’t. After going through various ownership mechanisms, Clear Channel is now owned by private equity firms who are not broadcasters. The huge debt they incurred combined with declining revenues (from sales of radio commercials) has them with their backs to the wall. So they are cutting costs wherever they can. Pretty much turning lights off to keep the bills down. And not just in San Diego. Big radio personalities all over America are losing their jobs. Radio isn’t show business anymore. It’s just business.

This doesn’t seem to make much sense, does it? Shows like ours and DSC make far more money than they cost .Personally, I think they are cutting everything they can because they will have to declare bankruptcy soon. In fact, a story in the New York Post a few months ago said, ” Clear Channel, faced with a staggering debt load, is considering among other options, a prepackaged bankruptcy to address its insurmountable leverage“.

What will happen in the future? My guess is this: There will be a lot of radio stations for sale in America in 2010. It will be a buyer’s market. And this will allow local broadcasters to get back in the game. When the Jeff & Jer Showgram started in San Diego in 1988 most stations were owned locally or by small, well managed companies who were broadcasters. People who understood the art of radio. I think we’ll see a return to that kind of ownership. Radio will be Show Business again. Thank God.

Meantime, you gotta see this. It is just HILARIOUS!!!! It’s Steve Martin on The Tonight Show many years ago. I just passed out laughing at this. He’s such a genius. By the way, he’s really excellent in the new flick “It’s Complicated”. Pam dragged me to it…uh. – I mean, I was privileged to accompany my wife to that movie last week. Chicky? Yes. But it’s really, really good. Score some points with your woman and go with her. Meanwhile, watch this: “The Great Flydini”
Love, Jerry

So sorry I haven’t written in maybe 17 years, The holidays were crazy for all of us, yes? I promise I’ll write again in the next 2 days. Honest. Meantime, you gotta see this. It is just HILARIOUS!!!! It’s Steve Martin on The Tonight Show many years ago. I just passed out laughing at this. He’s such a genius. By the way, he’s really excellent in the new flick “It’s Complicated”. Pam dragged me to it…uh. – I mean, I was privileged to accompany my wife to that movie last week. Chicky? Yes. But it’s really, really good. Score some points with your woman and go with her. Meanwhile, watch this: “The Great Flydini”
Love, Jerry

Hi Ya Kids,

I know all of us on the Showgram this year were thinking of you guys on Thanksgiving and are so grateful we’re in touch via our website. Thanks for hanging in with us.

Pam and I spent the holiday with her Mom and Dad in Florida. If you read my blog about the Tofurkey making it through airport security – no problem! I put it (frozen) in my suitcase. I did get stopped by the TSA though and had my carry-on searched. Why? There were 2 zip-lock bags of Pam’s homemade (also frozen) Perogis in there. The guy running the X-Ray couldn’t figure out what he was seeing. The lady searching my bag held them up and said, “What on earth are these?” “Potato Dumplings”, I said. (“Perogi” sounded like something that could explode if I pushed a button in my shoe).

We were in Ft. Myers, Florida, aka “Vegas South”. On Saturday Pam and her mom decided to go to an enormous outlet mall close to their house. “Close”, to retired 70 year olds means 57 miles. Her dad and I went along for reasons we still don’t understand. Check out this picture of a map of the place:

Slightly smaller than Coronado Island. The women flitted from store to store, leaving Pam’s dad and me to sit on a bench and count the hours until we could have lunch.

Here’s a sad picture:
The ladies in the pink and hot pink are Pam and her mom. The gentleman in the foreground is Pam’s dad. Notice the lively spring in his step as we all joyously bounce around the mall enjoying holiday shopping in 89 degree weather.

Here’s a shot of the fountain where, after three hours and no food, I tried to drown myself.

Turns out that’s not easy in 6 inches of water.

Sometime when we were very close to death by boredom, a guy pushing a cart comes close to the bench to which our butt skin had become grafted, and set up this hot dog cart, which provided a fascinating diversion. In half an hour, this dude sold 28 hot dogs at 3 bucks a pop. I’m not saying we were bored, but of the 28, we counted 13 with just ketchup, 7 with ketchup and mustard, 3 with nothing on them and 5 with ketchup, mustard and something that smelled like rotting cabbage. We think it was in some past life, sauerkraut.

Sometime near midnight, the girls were finished. We loaded their purchases into the Ryder truck we’d rented and went home. Pam’s dad bought nothing all day. I bought a Starbucks and 3 pairs of white socks.

Love, Jerry

Hi Ya Kids,

Our latest “LFJG” show is now available! You can watch it anytime you want.

This right here is a picture of my iPhone. My new one. My FIFTH one!

My fifth iPhone in 13 months. How could this possibly happen? Here’s the rundown: iPhone #1 – got it a year ago last month. It meets its demise in January when I lose it somewhere in Washington DC. iPhone #2 – something went wrong with the Bluetooth function (not my fault) and it meets it demise in March. The Apple Store in Fashion Valley replaces it. iPhone #3: Meets its demise in July. One night I walk into the family room with the phone in one hand and a glass of beer in the other. I bend over to pick a up a cat toy, thinking I can easily hold the phone and the beer in one hand. Ummm. . .kinda not. It falls into the beer. I am horrified. It’s in there maybe 2 seconds. Googled “dropped iPhone into beer”. Following the instructions, I grab Pam’s hair dryer and blow the snot out of it for maybe 5 minutes. But snot isn’t the problem. The problem is beer. I’m not real encouraged when I see droplets of Karl Strauss ooze out of the headphone jack. When I go to the Apple Store the guy tells me about a dozen people go in there every day who’ve bent over with their phone in their shirt pocket, and it’s fallen into the sink, the tub, the pool, etc. He seems very impressed I’m not that stupid – the beer story is a first for him. iPhone #4 meets its demise last night. I’m in the men’s room of a restaurant. Very small place that just has a toilet. A tiny voice in my head tells not to check email while taking a whizz. Plus I remember the Apple Store guy telling me about the morons who drop their phones into water, so I squeeze really hard. (I also grab my phone extra tight.) Everything is whizzing along nicely. Until I sneeze. The holiday decorations at Fashion Valley are really nice this year.

Hey! Who’s seen this movie? It’s the new Coen Brothers flick. Whoa!!!! About 5 minutes into it, I said to Pam, “I don’t know why I’m mesmerized, but I am”. It’s one of the most unusual and fascinating flicks I’ve seen in a long time. Maybe among my top 15 ever. Did you see “Barton Fink”? (It’s in my top 10). This flick is Barton Fink-ish. Very little violence, and absolutely brilliant. But it’s The Coen Brothers, so what would you expect? It’s a quiet, quirky movie that I keep thinking about. And one of the great, great, great endings of all time. Just stunning. Here’s how good it was: The guy in front of us was eating M&Ms (peanut) and we both got a huge jones for some. But neither of us wanted to miss a second of the movie. Fortunately, he fell asleep with almost half a bag left. I would NOT recommend this for everybody, though. No “Jer-an-tee”. If you liked “Fast & Furious”, don’t go see this.

Pam’s Mom tells us the only Starbucks near them in Ft. Myers Beach is gone. So she and Pam’s dad go to Dunkin’ Donuts every morning. I’d rather put my nads in a vice and spin the handle than drink that sock wash. But all is saved! You ever had this new stuff from Starbucks? It’s REALLY good. Just add water. They taste-tested it at my Starbucks a month ago and I couldn’t tell which was fresh brewed and which was the new stuff. So I’ve put a bunch in my suitcase for the Thanksgiving trip.

One more little tip. “Hotel Babylon”. It’s really cool. A series about a high-class hotel in London. Mindless fun. Perfect for an airplane ride or now that “Dancing With The Stars” is almost over. (Sob.) Visually, it’s fascinating – a little like “Ugly Betty”. Also visually, the manager of the hotel is smokin’ en fuego! Yikes! Netflix it beginning with season 1.

My new iPhone and I are going to the kitchen for a beer now.

Love,
Jerry

Hi Ya Kids,

We’ve decided to spend Thanksgiving in Florida with Pam’s mom and dad. This seems like a simple enough plan, but it’s not. Here’s why: Pam’s parents spend the winter down there in this giant RV, which has everything possible in it except a conventional oven. And you cannot microwave one of these:

This is a “fake” turkey. Pam does 98% of the cooking at our house, but once I year spend most of my day lovingly preparing and roasting one of these bad boys. But since there’s no oven in Florida, I gotta make it here the day before and wrap it up and put it in my carry-on. The big question is: Will this thing make it through security? I have serious doubts. It looks like something that could explode if you touch it, doesn’t it? I really don’t wanna spend the day before Thanksgiving in the holding tank of a Lindberg Field TSA office, stripped to my socks and underwear, while a robot from the FBI bomb squad manhandles my Tofurkey. And before you ask – Ft. Myers Beach Florida is not the vegetarian nirvana you might think. Down there, beef gravy is served in a glass with a straw. Maybe we’ll just eat smashed taters and celery. You can buy those at the grocery store there.

Going back to my last blog – most smart folks told me I was right about water re-cycling back into the world’s environment. The problem though, was well stated by a guy named Rob who emailed me: “Hello Jer, here are my thoughts on the water conundrum. I look at it as a refillable bucket. This refill process is a cycle that takes x amount of time to refill(water return) naturally. For years this cycle has worked. Then along comes man, who starts to use this bucket. Well as population increases and more and more people use this bucket the refill process can not keep up. While water goes back to the ocean and evaporates into clouds and returns as rain, we are using it at a faster rate than this process takes. Add in climate change and shifts and some areas are impacted more.”

Just for fun, a recommendation you’ll thank me for later: If you haven’t been watching Mad Men, you need to! The season finale was last Sunday. It’s one of the best things I’ve even seen on television. Gotten hundreds of Emmys. Go to Netflix or wherever you rent movies and start with season 1. This is truly a brilliant show. Maybe after the holidays when you want to get lost in something excellent.

A follow-up to our discussion of Proposition 2 last time. Forgot to tell you some stunningly good news: The state of Michigan was about to put a Proposition 2 on their ballot – just like we did. But before that happened, big “Agribusiness” went to the Humane Society of the U.S. and offered to provide farm animals with Prop 2 “comforts” on their own without a vote. This is HUGE! See what we started here in California?

Next Garage Show is next week. I guess I might wanna clean it up a little.

Love,
Jerry

Hi Ya Kids

Honestly, some of what follows- not all- but a few things – I thought, “Should I put this on the website?” And then I realized that if we were on the radio I’d tell you this stuff so, why wouldn’t I tell you here? So here we go. You decide what I was conflicted about. (including ending a sentence with a preposition).

First, I want to thank you so very much for all your emails coming to me through this site. I have been HORRIBLE lately about responding to you. But I have reasons: (1) I have been negotiating with stations to get us back on the radio and (2) I have been traveling a bit on behalf of animals, speaking for their protection. But those are reasons, not excuses, and I am working on getting back to all of you 11 chuckleheads. So please keep writing to me. I love it. I promise I’Il will write back.

Speaking of animals, as I write this on November 4th, it was one year ago today that we passed Proposition 2, the most significant animal protection issue of our lifetime. There aren’t very many things of which I am proud to have accomplished in my life, but the passage of Prop 2 is one of them. Understand this, though: WE did it. I only had one vote. What I may have done was persuade you to vote “yes” by pulling the curtain back on something horrific you didn’t know about. Pam and I celebrated the 1 year anniversary with a bottle of Champagne tonight. I wish we could have all shared it. Next time we meet, drinks are on me.

And speaking of anniversaries, Pam and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on Monday. We’ve been married for 18 happy years. Actually, we’ve been married for 20 years – but only 18 have been happy. JOKE! (How many times has Pam heard
that?) Seriously, 18 years. To celebrate, we wanted to be home with our 436 cats. Pam made a great dinner and we watched “Dancing With The Stars”. It was perfect. We’re gonna go out someplace this weekend.

I know this isn’t very cheery, but wow – I have been missing my mom so much lately. Don’t know why. It’s just kinda been there. Those of you who’ve lost someone will understand. Those of you who haven’t – I hope you never do.

I realized the past couple weeks that if you’re typing an email or a text, the word “as”, when misspelled as “ass”, doesn’t get caught by the spellchecker. So I have been sending out emails that say things like, “We should do this ass we’ve always done it”. So be careful.

Now here’s something that will make me look like a moron, and I will get emails telling me why I’m an idiot. Someone will have an answer to this. But here goes. I’m taking a shower today (picture below)

And I was thinking about water being our most precious resource. Only 1% of the earth’s water is fit for drinking. (And of that 1%, 17% is used in the production and slaughter of livestock. Which is another story any time you want to talk about it). And I’m thinking, “I should take a short shower to save water.” And then I thought, “What happens to water when we use it? It goes down the drain to the treatment plant and back into the sea or the environment someplace. But it doesn’t disappear.” My Dad told me, “Matter cannot be created nor destroyed. Only changed in form”. So wherever the water we use goes, it ends up back on earth somewhere. Now, don’t be mad at me. There is no one greener than me. And I realize there is flawed logic in this – and I’m not understanding something fundamental. I know I’m ignorant. So what’s the answer? Maybe the water we use ends up in the ocean and can’t evaporate into fresh water and come back as rain. I dunno. So email me, and don’t hate me for asking. I’ll let you know what the smart people said next time I write. (Nonetheless I only took a 12 second shower. I will wash the top half of me tomorrow.)

Next “Live From Jerry’s Garage” is Wednesday November 11 at 9am. You can join us live or anytime on demand afterwards.

Sorry for the long blog. It makes up for the short ones. (That’s what she said.)

Love,
Jerry

Hi Ya Kids,

Pam and I spent Halloween at Barbarella’s Restaurant.
As you can see, the customer to the right was really shocked.