Well today is a very sad day for Mike and me. We had to let go our dear beloved cairn terrier, Rascal. Rascal came into our lives in May of 2006 from the Cairn Rescue League. We already a beautiful cairn named Daisy, and she needed a friend! Rascal had two previous owners before us, and after we had him for a while, we saw why they had named him Rascal. Firstly, he was a dirty dog, would pee on himself, in the crate, and no matter what we tried, accidents were his constant companion right up to the end. We loved him anyway.
There was also the problem of taking him to the vet. No matter how much medication the vet gave us to calm him down, he would rise from his stupor and try take off the vet’s hand. The vets he saw never really believed us when we told them he was quite sweet at home. When he was at home, if you moved him while he was sleeping, he would definitely bite your hand. He once took a nice chuck out of the sole of my foot when he was on the bed sleeping and I got my foot too close to his head! We loved him anyway.
When my mother was alive, she used to joke and tell him to, “go play in traffic!”, but she loved him anyway.
He would go absolutely insane if he heard the sound of a blender, shaking his head and growling. I remember Daisy looking at him many times as if to say, “you are a crazy dog!” She loved him anyway.
In time, he became unbelievably attached to Mike, he would follow him anywhere, and if Mike left the house, would sit by the door waiting for his return. If he happened to be playing or sitting with me, I was quickly left for Mike’s company. Mike would say, “Hi kid!” I was a little jealous…I must admit, but I loved him anyway.
In his later years, he had become deaf, suffered from a collapsed trachea, which gave him a terrible cough that kept us up nights, had terrible breath because he needed a dental, and turned up his indoor peeing skills. The last several weeks, he started bleeding profusely from the mouth on several occasions and suffered a seizure last night. Today, we knew it was time to say goodbye to our lovable man.
Our hearts are deeply broken, and now we just love him.
Today is a sad day. Helen Reddy has passed away. She was an amazing entertainer that I was lucky to have crossed paths with on many occasions . It all started back in the late seventies. I first got her greatest hits album for a birthday one year and was an instant fan! At about that time I had become best friends with a kid I met in high school, named David Fitzgerald.
David was a bigger fan of Helen’s than I was, and had additional albums that he introduced me to. I soon had all of her released albums in my collection!
At some point, we found out that Ms. Reddy was going to appear at the Cape Cod Melody Tent. David and I snatched up some tickets and had my poor Dad take us to my first concert! Thus began the life of two groupies who went to every show she performed in a 200 mile radius!
My dad was florist, like his father, and his father before him. This allowed me to bring a dozen roses to every concert and we would give her a box at every performance! At one of her shows we asked to go back stage and see if we could meet Ms. Reddy. Since they new we were kids, and brought the roses, we were escorted backstage. First I noticed that our roses had been distributed to a variety of people backstage. I remember feeling a little sad as I I thought that she should have just cherished them. Hey, I was a naive 14 year old! Miss Reddy was nice when we met her, but I remember also feeling that she was a little stuck up…just my first impression. I also remember seeing that she smoked Merit cigarettes and that kind of disappointed me as well, as I was rabidly against smoking and couldn’t believe a singer would do such a thing! Again, I was a young teenager. She autographed our programs, and then wanted to know if we would like her warm-up comedian’s autograph as well. We didn’t, but not wanting to be rude, had him sign as well. I believe his name was Argus Hamilton. I still have her autograph from that night, but somehow misplaced his.
David and I collected clippings, watched and audio recorded every tv show she appeared on, and eventually video taped her performances when we had VCRs.
At about this time, I also began autograph collecting and was able to obtain her home address. David and I sent clippings and pictures for her to autograph, and to our surprise she usually sent them back signed in her distinctive handwriting. It would take many months, but we were very lucky to receive a response. In 1980, my 26 year old brother committed suicide. I was devastated, and David wrote Ms. Reddy and told her of my tragedy. She sent him a signed picture where she wrote for me to “feel better” and he presented that to me. While we somehow fell out of friendship, I always thought that was very kind of him to do.
At one point, Helen Reddy was appearing, I believe at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. David and I purchased tickets for both the 6PM and the 8PM performances. We also had a dozen roses to give her for each performance. Now at this time, I had seen many shows where someone would walk up on stage at the end of a show, and give the performer some flowers. Instead of giving them to the stage manager, or handing them to her from the footlights, for some reason I had decided that I would walk up on stage and hand them to her. I didn’t know that this was usually done by the theatre when I had seen it happen, and not some random person in the audience. The strains of the closing music were playing, where I walked on stage, handed her the roses, and… gave her a kiss on the cheek! The show ended and we went outside to wait for the next show at 8, where we would do the whole thing again. That is when the evening started to go down hill. David and I were standing outside a bar or restaurant, where someone knocked on the window from inside, and when I turned around to look they gave me the finger! Completely puzzling my teenage brain!
The time came for the 8PM show and David and I were seated in our seats. Then, the stage manager made an announcement over the PA system, “If you have any gifts for Ms. Reddy, please give them to the stage manager, because she was attacked at the last performance.” Attacked! I slumped in my seat, I was in shock. I noticed the stairs to the stage had been removed. Needless to say, I was kind of sick to my stomach for her entire set. We held onto the next box of roses till after the show.
For some reason, we decided that we would try to see her after the show, again, I think we just were in disbelief of all that had happened. We went to the front of the stage, and asked if we could see Ms. Reddy. The person kept trying to tell us that she was out front in the lobby and that we should go there. We said, we know she is backstage, and would like to meet her. We were totally clueless that they were trying to get these two attacking stalkers out of the theatre! They knew that we were the kids with the roses and wanted us out. I felt terrible. David and I would talk about our adventure for years to come, even wrote in our high school yearbooks, “Attack H.R.” We were still fans, but followed her career a little more from a distance.
Flash forward to the mid 1990’s when I was trying to make it as a stage actor in New York City. I was looking through the paper one day when I saw that Helen Reddy was appearing at a supper club in the city. For old time sake, I called and bought a ticket. I was sad when I sat down at my table. There were only about 12 people in the audience… including me! How could this be? The woman was a Grammy award winner, had 6 top ten hits, 18 studio albums (seven of which went Gold), performed at the London Palladium, and appeared in countless television and movie performances. People were eating their salad during “Angie Baby, ” cutting their steak during “You’re My World’, and settling their bill during “I Am Woman.” I of course, applauded recognition for every song intro, while the rest of the audience seemed to only occasionally acknowledge a somewhat familiar tune when they looked up from their soup! I learned a lot about fame that night.
After the show, I noticed that Ms. Reddy was sitting at the bar having a drink with her then husband/drummer, Milton Ruth. I decided to approach her. I had felt guilty for 17 years over the “attack incident.” I started by saying that I owed her an apology. I told her of the incident when I was a teenager and apologized for kissing her on the cheek. Ms. Reddy smiled, looked me in the eyes, and said,”I haven’t washed it since.”
Well, I finally got this site updated, the PHP version was old and I could not update WordPress, I eventually figured it out but there were two places that had to have settings for PHP. Definitely not intuitive! I did create a nice backup of everything, now that it is finally up to date and working!
Today, we had to let poor Daisy go. It is such a sad day when you lose a faithful friend and part of your family. Daisy was around when both my parents were alive, so it is even more meaningful to me that she is now gone too. It was actually my mother who first found her for sale, and met her, before I got to meet her. She was a puppy mill dog that ended up in the hands of a single mother and child that realized they could not take on a puppy. They had named her Stella Rose, but I didn’t feel I could yell out in the backyard, “Stella, Stella!”, so we renamed her Daisy, which suit her just fine! Daisy was a sweet dog, and always hungry! She was really smart and I swear could tell time, especially at meal time! Given her advanced age, I was worried that she wasn’t going to make the trip to Florida, but she adapted like a trooper. She was nearly blind by the time we moved, so she just had to learn the lay of the new house a bit, before she took to her new home like trooper! She gave Mike and I, so much love, and has taken a piece of our heart away with her.
I need to speak a little about suicide. With the recent deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade, and recent rumblings from friends on Facebook who seem to be considering a similar fate, I feel compelled to speak.
Douglas Fisher, Scott Fisher, Wayne Fisher
Firstly, let me give you a little about my brush with the issue. In 1980, my 26 year old brother, Wayne, committed suicide by poison. He had suffered with new seizures that had begun from a previous brain injury and told my parents, “that he was afraid his brain was going to deteriorate and didn’t want to be a burden.” To say that my parents, my other brother and I, were devastated, would be an understatement. My parents were nothing but supportive of all of us, but the guilt that my brother’s death caused them was terrible. My parents always put us first, yet they felt so guilty that they must have done something wrong. It was horrible to watch. I was 16 and it was my first real brush with tragedy. Wayne and I were very close, and we shared many interests and he was always so encouraging and supportive of me. I learned at an early age that people could leave your life forever and that you must cherish each moment with them. My older brother, Doug, felt really badly, as he was only 2 years older than Wayne, and they had really grown up together. Doug and I talked about how horrible and sad Wayne’s death had been to our family, and that we could never do such a thing to the people we would leave behind.
The saddest part was how great my brother was, and how he really made a difference in the world, and now that opportunity for him to shine and grow was forever taken away by suicide. I was angry for many years. ” How could he do this to my mom and dad? To me? ” My parents would have spent all of their savings, anything, to help him. “How could he do this to us?” Well, it took a few more years to wrap my head around this, not until I was studying psychology in college and learned about depression. Wayne was in pain, he wasn’t thinking about us, he wanted to end his pain and could not see the positives of the future, because he was in the tunnel vision world of depression. Depression is real, with real side effects. No different from a physical illness, such as pneumonia. The sad part for many suffering from it, is that it robs you from seeing the big picture of life..and that is the danger. I have learned that all of life is a roller coaster…it is peaks and valleys and you have to ride through the valley before it will peak again. The sad part of depression is that you only see the valley and and don’t see any peaks on the horizon. This is the horrible symptom of the illness itself. At least when, you have pneumonia, you can identify you may have a fever or cough.
Sadly in 2010, my older brother, Doug, would also suffer at the fate of suicidal depression at 58. Leaving me, my mother, his two sons, and grandchildren, a devastating hole in our family again.
Suicidal depression and its symptoms are not as obvious as pneumonia is to its victims. The depression creates these devastating blinders that block out hope and the acknowledgement that things can get better. When you make a decision to end your life under this cloud, you are missing out on the whole picture of your life and there is no turning back. This is why it is so important to get help. Call your therapist, the Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-8255), or you can even call or go to an emergency room. Thousands of people do get their blinders removed with therapies and medications. It can be you. Choose to get help. So many people are feeling what you feel, but get the help they need and enjoy the rest of their lives. You can too!
Richard Simmons is the most motivating person I ever met! He got me off the couch and started me on a lifelong, on and off again, love affair with exercise!
RIchard Simmons, Natick, MA
I first encountered Richard Simmons when I traveled out to Los Angeles in the summers of 1982 and 1983. I always struggled with my weight and when I found out that I could attend the Richard Simmons Show tapings at KTLA in Los Angeles, I jumped at the chance! I don’t remember that much about the episodes other than one taping had the then current Miss America, Debbie Maffett, as guest host. I remember how motivating Richard was both on and off camera.
Not long after I returned from California, I was cast as Simon Bliss in the Noel Coward play, Hay Fever.
Scott Fisher, Nancy Fox, Hay Fever
In the cast was an actress named Carol Van Lingen, who was close to my age and we became friends during the run of the play. Carol told me about auditions that were coming up for aerobic instructors for the Richard Simmon’s Anatomy Asylum in Natick, Massachusetts. She told me that she wanted to audition, but wanted some moral support and asked me to come along.
Now my idea of exercise was a large pizza and a Diet Coke, but remembering the fun that I had working out with Richard Simmons on his television show, and being a big fan, I decided to tag along to the audition. The audition required us to perform a routine and speak a little motivational speech. To both our surprise, Carol and I were accepted as new employees of the Richard Simmon’s Anatomy Asylum! We still had to go through a rigorous training program though first. When the first day of training finally arrived, Carol Van Lingen was nowhere in sight! Carol decided she didn’t want to become an aerobics instructor after all, while I decided that I really wanted to!
The training was rigorous, and I was very out of shape, but I really took to it. It was like performing and helping people at the same time! One of the nice things about Richard Simmon’s Anatomy Asylums was that they hired some instructors that were overweight. These overweight instructors were hired to teach the overweight classes, or OWA classes as they were known.
Scott Fisher, Leading a class at Richard Simmon’s Anatomy Asylum
This was a great concept for those that didn’t feel comfortable in the gym, and they could lose weight along with their instructor… a great idea! I really took to teaching aerobics, having struggled my whole life with my weight. It was great to be able to build a safe environment for myself and my students. I loved all my coworkers and we had a great time together. I even got to play Richard on one occasion at our club’s Halloween party.
Scott Fisher, Halloween Party at Richard Simmons Anatomy Asylum, Natick, MA
Richard Simmons Anatomy Asylum Saugus Opening
Richard would come out to teach at our club once in awhile, or to open another club in Massachusetts, and we would all have a great time. Some of our club members and I appeared once with him on a local television program, The Good Day Show. Fun times!
Richard Simmons, The Good Day Show
My ultimate goal at this time however, was to become a professional actor. I had been performing in local theatre in the evenings, and at the age of 21, decided to move to Los Angeles. I was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Art, a prestigious and rigorous actor training program, then located in Pasadena, California. Because of my association with Richard Simmons in Massachusetts, I was able to arrange to continue my job with the Asylum at the Glendale Richard Simmon’s Anatomy Asylum. I would also teach in the Woodland Hills Anatomy Asylum, as well as several other locations. At one point, I even won the company’s, Positive Attitude Award, and Richard presented me with the award at a ceremonial dinner. It was a great place to work! At the same time I would occasionally attend Richard’s class at the Beverly Hills Anatomy Asylum. His classes was always well attended and he became friends with many of the participants.
As much as I like to be like light-hearted, I should also mention that this was the first time in my life I have ever experienced sexual harassment on the job. The manager at the Woodland Hills Anatomy Asylum, for whatever reason, took a real liking to me. He would follow me into the men’s restroom while I changed into my workout clothes. From outside the stall he would talk about how we were going to be together, and that if I didn’t sleep with him, he was going to get me fired. I just made light of the whole thing, but he kept going on and on. I have to admit it was really uncomfortable having one your managers keep making passes at you, especially when they were not wanted. At this time in my life, I was struggling with my sexuality and this experience made it all the more difficult. But I digress, let’s get back to Richard Simmons!
At one point during my time at the Anatomy Asylum in California, I heard that Richard was casting for a new exercise video called, Get Started with Richard Simmons. While the auditions were open to the public, it was also mentioned that he would be casting some employees as well. Since I loved performing and I loved teaching, I thought that this would be a great experience. I remember very little about the audition, except that there were maybe over a hundred people at the casting call. Eventually, I think it got down to about 10 of us and we were asked to perform the learned routine just for Richard. To my great excitement, I was cast along with three others to appear with Richard in the video. This was my first big break, or so I thought, and I knew it was going to be a lot of fun!
Now attending the American Academy of Dramatic Art came with certain rules, and one of these rules was that you couldn’t miss a lot of classes. The second rule was that you could not act professionally while attending the program. Though I didn’t consider appearing in an aerobics video as acting, I still thought I should let the school know that I was going to participate in the video. When I told the director of the school that I was going to do the video, he informed me that I would have to drop out of school. I argued that since I worked for Richard Simmons already, that the video could be considered part of my job, and was not the same thing as performing in a play or a movie, I shouldn’t have to drop out of class. The director was adamant… if I wanted to do the video, I would have to leave class.
I was 21, starstruck, wanted to do the video, and so thus ended my association with the American Academy of Dramatic Art!
Rehearsals began at Richard’s studio, Slimmons, in Beverly Hills. The video was conceived to introduce the concept of low impact aerobics. Richard was very excited to implement this new program, as he thought it would help a lot of people who maybe could not do a lot of the high impact exercises that were out there at the time. I don’t remember a lot about the rehearsals other than Richard was more serious and professional than usual, as he really wanted to get this video out there to help people. His mom, Shirley, came to rehearsal one day and I remember she was just this really sweet person. I could see that they had a really close relationship. I remember one day we were practicing the abdominal routine on the floor. We were lying on our backs and reaching between our legs in a sit up position. I’ll never forget Richard said to, “pretend you are reaching for Treat Williams thighs!” As I said, I was not really out of the closet just yet, so I had to volunteer that thought did nothing for me. Little did I know!
Eventually the day of filming was upon us, and we were set to film at a soundstage in Culver City… I believe it was once part of the MGM lot. I was so excited, all of my favorite movies were made at MGM, and here I was heading to Culver City!
The filming was interesting because we did not perform our routine to music, but to what is known as a click track. Basically a metronome sound is played on the set and the music would be added later. Early on during the filming it became obvious that the director was getting frustrated because everyone was not on the same beat. The director took us aside and told us to count out loud along with Richard to keep everyone on the correct beat. Richard did not really seem that happy that we were doing this, but that is what the director wanted so we complied. I remember from the shoot that the lunch was catered by Sikhs and the food delicious! When we finally filmed our last shot, Richard broke down and started crying. He really hoped that this video would help people. He really cared that much!
In contrast, I remember once during rehearsal I was driving home from the exercise studio and Richard pulled up beside me at the traffic light in his convertible Mercedes with his novelty license plate, YRUFAT. I looked over at him and said, “Hi.” He replied, “ I don’t talk to anyone outside the studio.” I felt 2 inches tall.
I had heard that there was going to be a wrap party at Richard’s home to celebrate the completion of the video. I drove to his home in the Hollywood Hills and waited in my car for a bit. I did not see any other cars outside. I only saw one visitor come to the home with a bouquet of flowers and no one else arrived. I was afraid I had the date wrong, so I went home.
I only worked for the Anatomy Asylum a few more months after the video, before taking another job at Disneyland. It wasn’t till several years later in the late 80’s when I was shopping at at a local Los Angeles department store that I ran into him again, and we exchanged greetings.
In 2000, I had gained a lot of weight and was feeling sorry for myself. I wrote Richard and said he probably didn’t remember me, but that I was grateful for all the motivation he had given me and so many others. To my surprise he wrote me back and said that he wanted me “back on track” and was going to send me his “Move, Groove, and Lose” kit. Although I never actually received the kit, but I was so grateful that he took the time to actually write me back and was so kind and encouraging.
In more recent times, it has been reported that Richard hasn’t been seen in public for several years, and has cut off himself from friends and fans. Many theories for this disappearance are presented in the excellent podcast, Missing Richard Simmons. While I know that there has always been a public Richard, and a more serious private one, his total “radio silence’ has made this world a rather foggy and dull place without his bright beacon of light!
Richard Simmons is the most motivating person I ever met! He got me off the couch and started me on a lifelong, on and off again, love affair with exercise. There has never been an aerobic instructor/guru who could make exercise actually fun, the way Richard does! He has helped so many people, and I am honored to have worked for, and alongside… this wonderful man.
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