Here it is, believe it or not: an updated Newsletter!
It seems I'm on a two-year cycle with this. The last time I did a Newsletter, we were staring 2003 in the face.
Well, now we're eyeball to eyeball with 2005, and again it seems that the intervening weeks past like days (except for those days where the minutes pass like hours. and we all have those, now don't we?)
So, before my annual recap and philosophizing, allow me to wish all of you a New Year filled with happiness and prosperity, and ask that we all join together to wish and work for Peace, and pray that all those embroiled in our military actions be returned to their loved ones alive and well, in mind and body and soul.
Started the year in my favorite way: with my family. To celebrate the New Year we checked into a lovely Japanese-style spa called Ten-Thousand Waves, nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains outside Santa Fe. Since we're the proprietors of the Crystal Mesa Farm Bed and Breakfast less than 30 miles away, I guess this qualified as a real "busman's holiday".
Those who know me know that I am a creature of habit. So it's no surprise then, that in January I again started my comedy tour at McCurdy's Comedy Emporium in beautiful Sarasota, Florida. As usual the crowds were fabulous, and the love flowed to and from the stage. Love this place!
Having a few days off from my "day job" at All My Children, I spent some time luxuriating on the gorgeous white sand beaches, watching dolphins frolic. There were a few bikini-clad women frolicking as well, but I paid no attention to them. Did I mention that I love this place?
Celebrated my birthday in late-January (no need to go into which one) and enjoyed some time with my family when they came East so we could close on our new house in Jersey City, NJ. After twenty-plus years of apartment living in my adopted hometown, finally I moved into a real house, with backyard and everything! Well, not everything. No garage, and that means moving the car from one side of the street to the other about four times a week to allow for street cleaning. Ah, city living, huh?
The end of February brought yet another trip to sunny Sarasota to share a few laughs, lay in the sun and watch the, um, dolphins frolic, and try to catch the atmospheric phenomenon known as the "green flash". Quite a rarity, I've only seen it twice - once in Sarasota, and again from Sanibel Island. A brilliant green flash radiates from the sun, shooting along the water at the horizon line in the last milliseconds of sundown. If you ever get the chance to catch this wonder of nature, don't miss it.
March was most eventful. First came the beautiful wedding of Susan Lucci and Helmut Huber's daughter Liza. What a magnificent day; bright and sunny-perfect weather. Everyone looked beautiful, and I mean everyone. And the ceremony itself was truly a joy to witness, its splendor offset by Liza's giggling fit, which was so charming. The reception was fabulous- a fantastic combination of fun and celebration. Like I told Susan later-it was like a hootenanny in a castle!
The next day Marie, Chance, Merit and I headed off on vacation to Hawaii. We spent most of our time in Maui, starting in Kanapali and wending our way through this beautiful island, ending up in Hana. Gorgeous weather the whole time for swimming, whale watching, and hiking. Merit enjoyed as much fresh fruit as one could possibly eat, hula-ed her little heart out at the luau, and took her first steps toward being a beachwear fashionista. Chance kept a logbook for the trip as our official naturalist, filling page after page with observations and drawings. I'll be posting some in the photo section of this site soon, so check back!
We lost our weather luck, in fact, most all our luck, on the last day. A torrential downpour had left the winding road from Hana to the airport a mess. Which hardly mattered because our rental car wouldn't start. Soaked to the bone, we finally arrived at the airport only to find that our reservations were screwed up- that according to their records, I wasn't scheduled to leave until the next day! Somehow, we all got aboard in time, and headed back to the mainland. Aloha, Hawaii! We will return!
Back to work, I set off again for Florida, doing stand-up at Uncle Funny's in Davie, Sidesplitter's in Tampa, and the following weekend, back to McCurdy's in Sarasota. As always, you gracious folks came out in droves, and a good time was had by all!
In April, I did an appearance in Atlantic City for "The Donald" at one of his casinos. What a surprise I had when driving down; here was a huge billboard with yours truly plastered on it, much bigger than life. At least I didn't have to worry about him saying, "You're fired!" upon my arrival. Went over to the "Comedy Stop at the Trop" and caught my old opening act, Chris Steadman, doing her thing. She's a good friend and a really funny lady-catch her if you can.
I co-hosted SoapNet's Red Carpet coverage for the Daytime Emmys again in May, but never made it to the Emmys themselves. Instead, I watched at home like everyone else, which made my bawling like a baby at Eden's loss (what a horrible shame!) a little less embarrassing. At the end of the month, the family again came East. This time, to enjoy our new house on the barrier island off the coast of New Jersey called Long Beach Island, in a little town called Beach Haven. Try to imagine a "Mayberry-by-the-Sea", without "Barney" and "Otis", and you'll get the picture. The kids collected shells, played their version of beach baseball (I never did get a true understanding of the seemingly ever-changing rules), tore through the amusement park, and tried to catch sunrise on the ocean and sunset on the bay every day. Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a restful vacation! We abandoned the charming little town as the summer guests arrived. We really didn't have much choice-we had rented the house out for the rest of the summer!
Chicago is my favorite city in the country, and the hapless Chicago Cubs my favorite team. So when I was invited in mid-June to sit behind home plate and watch my "Cubbies" play the Oakland As, I jumped at the chance, and they didn't let me down. They came from behind to beat the As in the ninth inning. Great town, great team, great fans, great ballpark, great game!
Marie and I celebrated our tenth anniversary in July,
To me, August means Chicago; Oak Street Beach, The Magnificent Mile, the beautiful people, the blues over at Kingston Mines (love the blues! love the "Mines"!), and the crowds that flock to Zanie's Comedy Clubs to see my show. You guys! You spoil me! We had fun from Downtown to St. Charles to Vernon Hills! Illinois, you ROCK! I never feel more loved and alive than when I am entertaining you in my home state! And this year, I had the bonus of being in town the weekend of the Chicago Air and Water Show on (and over!) Lake Michigan. I love these things, and my friend Tracie Butler at the ABC affiliate, WLS-TV, invited me to view this spectacle from their hospitality booth on the beach. What a show! Not a great weekend to try to catch a mid-afternoon nap, however, as these fighter jets come scorching through downtown Chicago in formation, really low, rattling windows (and some nerves, I'll bet!) as they do their practice runs.
Way too much fun-until I had to catch a 6:45 am flight back to New York Sunday morning. Now, when I'm in Chicago, I do tend to party, so it was a somewhat groggy Walt who walked into the All My Children Fan Club Luncheon. I regained consciousness in a big way when the voting members awarded "Erica" and "Jack" the "Best Couple" Award, and was totally surprised and stunned when you voted me "Best Actor". I was speechless-literally. And, as you know, this does not occur frequently! What I meant to say (I only remember some vague muttering and tears on my part) was "Thank you so much for this honor and for your love and support for all these seventeen wonderful years!" I've said it before, and now, yet again: Daytime fans are the best, so they're gonna have to take me out of Pine Valley in a pine box. I ain't going anywhere! I then headed home to Santa Fe for Labor Day with the "fam".
About this time, "Erica" came to her senses and returned to Pine Valley from Vegas, and came back into "Jack's" life. And the cast got together for a surprise party for Susan in honor of her getting her star on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame". What a shindig! Regis dropped by and gave me a hard time (as only Regis can!), and I had the opportunity to hang with Susan's son Andreas, a really terrific young man.
In October, I was involved with a really fun event called "Daytime Encounter". Eden, Vince, Liz, Alicia and I ran a seminar on acting (daytime and otherwise) and taped scenes with the attendees. Looking forward to doing this again.
My mother, Lucille, is a great gal. While Mom doesn't readily disclose her age, I can tell you that she'll never see eighty-nine again! So it was time to head back to my hometown of Ottawa, Illinois to see Mom and my sister Lori and some old friends, like Kim "Howard" Johnson, the official biographer of "Monty Python". "Howard" and I did the old town up, returning to some of the spots where we so fervently misspent our youth, and I threw a dinner party for Mom and some of her dearest old friends. She had a great time, as did we all!
I started November off doing stand-up at "Joey's" in Dearborn, Michigan, and then braced myself for that annual festival of ABC Daytime known as "Super Soap Weekend". This was the ninth year (can you believe it?) and it just keeps getting better! Or, so I'm told. I turned my hosting duties for "Casting Call" over to that paragon of manliness, Cameron Matthisson (who, I understand, kept his shirt on the whole time!), so that I could host "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire-Play It!" six times a day. I had the time of my life! The guests were great (especially my favorite, the inimitable Michael E. Knight), the audiences were fabulous, and we got this close to the million-point mark! Can you imagine how much fun "SSW10" is going to be? Make your plans now!Saturday, after the Grand Motorcade, I joined some of the members of the greatest fan organizations in the world for dinner. Of course, I'm biased, being that I'm speaking of the "Jackson Posse". If you love "Jack", and especially "Erica" and "Jack", check out their website, jacksonposse.com. It is one of the most intense sites you will ever see, and you will meet some of the nicest people ever!And how could I possibly leave November without mentioning "Erica's" proposal to "Jack". I know a lot of you have been waiting for this for a long time (including me!), and I thought our skilled writers did a great job of giving this event a charming and romantic twist. I hope your Thanksgiving's were as much fun (?) as ours! Now, let's hope these two get up and back down the aisle this time. Here's to the Kane/Montgomery clan! Long may they wave-or whatever!In December, I flew out to Los Angeles to tape the "New Year's" episode of "Soap Talk" with Ty and Lisa. I went out a little early and rented a BMW Z4 so I could get out to Gladstone's in Malibu and race up and down the Pacific Coast Highway. The weather was gorgeous, the top was down, and, thankfully, the California Highway Patrol was nowhere to be seen.
I appeared at the Brokerage on Long Island for the first time, and what an experience. The VIP session before the show was so much fun! And the audience was great! Look for me back there on Emmy weekend in May of '05.
Christmas was spent in Santa Fe, where I now sit and compose this letter to you. It is December 31st, and 2004 is quickly drawing to a close. And now I would like to close with some thanks and some hopes.
First off, thanks to you, Kim. You know why, and you know how much.
Thanks to all of you who have corresponded with me regarding my son Chance, and his on-going battle with Sensory Integration Disorder (SID). Funny, how life imitates art, and vice-versa; it turns out that Chance, like my TV daughter "Lilly" (so masterfully played by Leven!), has Autism Spectrum Disorder. While Chance functions at an extremely high level, and is a prodigy in many areas (art, science), others are not so fortunate. So I have allied myself with Cure Autism Now (CAN) and NAAR, the National Association for Autism Research, as well as the KID Foundation, which deals with children's sensory issues. All are wonderful organizations, actively seeking cures and therapies, and I would encourage all of you who think that someone you know may be touched by these disorders to contact these folks.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have been so kind as to allow me to entertain you by inviting me into your homes as "Jackson Montgomery" on All My Children and by joining me for an evening of laughter in clubs all over the country. You have helped make so many of my dreams come true; truly, I can't thank you enough. But I can, and do, wish you all the best for 2005!
And now, a final hope-and prayer: whatever our individual political beliefs, let's all do what we can to end the war and strife in Iraq, and around the world, and bring our soldiers home.
Peace in 2005!
