Crazy day...

So these are some of the people I interviewed yesterday...

On the left, and from the movie that made me get into show-business in the first place, Mr. Corey Feldman (THE GOONIES, STAND BY ME).

Academy Award nominated actress and director, the fabulous Ms. Dyan Cannon, who at 71 years of age defies time...

Known to most of us from her work with the NFL on FOX, Ms. Jillian Reynolds, a native of Burlington (where my family and I currently reside) and veteran of more entertainment and talk oriented television than you can imagine...

And a woman who, literally, took my breath away she's so beautiful in-person, Fran--'The Nanny'--Drescher...

I interviewed twelve others (including Wolfgang Puck, Adam Gregory [the new 90210] talk-radio legend Michael Jackson, Extreme Makeover's Michael Thurmond, singer/songwriter Steve Tyrell ['The way you look tonight...' from 'The Father of the Bride'] U.S Marine and war hero Nick Popaditch, Actor Ted McGinley [Dancing with the Stars, Hope and Faith, The Note] Super-Lawyer and activist Gloria Allred, Rabbi Mark Borovitz and his wife Harriet Rosetto, The Rev. Dr. Robert Schuller [The Hour of Power] and fashion designer Rachel-Zoe famous for dressing Jennifer Garner for her breakout 2004 red carpet appearance at the Oscars and lately of the 'Rachel-Zoe Project' on Bravo!) in the course of a crazy day that was my first introduction to working in L.A.

Crazy.

I was so nervous to start the day that it took all my willpower to keep putting one foot in front of the other, forcing myself to show up.

Here...

Yes, we shot at the Beverly Willshire Hotel.

And after shooting we had dinner, here...

Yup, that would be 'CUT' Wolfgang Puck's newest L.A hotspot where you have to wait three months for a table--unless (as he told me in the interview) you have a Canadian passport. Two things about 'CUT'.  1) I've never eaten such a fabulous meal in all my life.  2) I'm still blown away by the cost of eating in such a way.

And that leads me to two things that have really struck me the past couple days.

1) The luxuries and star-perks of L.A seem to be things that have been manufactured to create and 'atmosphere' of entitlement.  The thing is, the actual people working in this actual business often 'need' some of those perks, like assistants and food brought to them and a driver to get them to their meetings on time simply because the pace is so fast and the stakes are so high. However, many of the perks aren't 'necessary' but they're still nice and I can see how one could get used to living in that way.  But the most striking thing about it is that, it seems to me, that most of the 'real world' in L.A and outside of it has bought into these perks and luxuries as symbols of success and class or rank and it is their hard-earned dollars (the cash of the ordinary) that are spent on acquiring for themselves those things that we've all agreed symbolize the celebrity lifestyle.  The whole thing comes off as a snake eating it's tail. 

So the SFS point for me (and maybe for you) is that I/we must have a clear view of the life we know we're meant to lead so that we can maintain clarity and humility and contentment so that we don't get sucked into expecting to live a certain way just because the noise of opulence is raging all around us.

2) The people I interviewed yesterday are just people.  They're stars sure, but at the root they're people who respond to people in the same way as you and I.  Warmth, honestly, a genuine interest in their journey and their view of life begets from them much the same response you'd get from your friend at the bar or at Church or in the park with your kids. They're just people.  But the thing I found to be almost universally on display in each of them was a raw intelligence, a stubborn work-ethic, and a will to make it.  In that way, I can see a common denominator for how to 'make it' in life.  And I'm not saying make it to their level or make it so that you can eat where they eat or drive what they drive.  I mean 'make it' in the sense that I believe that you have a life you're supposed to lead.  A thing you're supposed to do. And I feel that if you apply whatever raw intelligence, work-ethic and will that you happen to have living inside of you to that thing you're supposed to do that you might end up being outstanding in a way that's uniquely you.

That way, no profusion of bright lights or expensive meals nor the lack of them will have any essential impact on the essence of who you are.

You will be you, in all your glory and humility.  Just the way you were made to be.

And that's something that's truly worth while.

T