January 25 is Mary Tyler Moore's 1st Deathaversary

The lovely Mary Tyler Moore died a year ago today. I'm not hugely fond of a world without Mary. Here is her death certificate.

We have some news about what’s been going on in the DDT orbit. Last week I was invited to the Upright Citizens Brigade, which hosted a live talk show-type of event called Hollyweird 101. I was asked about what we do at the shop, the tours and museum. More importantly, I got this picture with Hollywood legend Angelyne. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her, Angelyne used to blanket the greater Hollywood area with billboards bearing her likeness. They were … stunning. BUT! They were a legit part of the Hollywood landscape for years. Just ask anyone who was around in the 1980s and ‘90s. Her billboard took a flying leap and dive in the film Volcano. One killed a reporter in The Day After Tomorrow. These days she sells her art and T-shirts out of the trunk of her pink Corvette. If you see her driving around town, you can hit her up. Or throw a fiver in the street and she'll find you.

stand back, that spandex is about to blow.

This week I attended another meeting for the up and coming (heh) tour guides association in Los Angeles. There were colleagues from all over the tour spectrum, including hop-on/hop-off buses, art tours, food tours, international tours, architecture tours … and us. We usually have a "deathy" table at the meetings, which we call the party table. Just to catch you up, LA is one of the only major cities that doesn’t have a tour guide group looking out for the industry and the guests. I know it's difficult to believe, but lot of tour companies are only in the business for the money and don't care about the product, or you. But there are some of us, actually a lot of us, who really do care about the city, guest experience and presenting a truthful tour. So, we’re happy to be part of bringing the quality of tours in LA up to a higher standard. Just because we have bad taste doesn’t mean we do a bad job!

Oh! Celebrity Sighting a the shop! Donita Sparks from L7 and Hillary Blaze and Gyda Gash from Judas Priestess stopped in today! Lovely ladies.

While driving past our sign out front caught their eye and they wanted it back. They loved what they saw and promised they would return. We've been fans since Serial Mom. Oh, and the tampon incident.

The Doors, Marilyn Monroe and the Rock ‘n Roll Circus are all making a return in coming weeks/months. We’re doing these with Elisa Jordan's LA Woman Tours and we’re happy to announce that we’ll also be giving away enamel pins with the tours. The Doors and Rock ‘n Roll Circus guests get the LA Woman pin and the Marilyn guests get the … well … the Marilyn pin. Crazy, right?

Stay tuned for an announcement of a June tour based solely on The Platinum Bombshell Jean Harlow.

Also, don’t forget that we added another Karen Carpen-tour in February so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already. Karen doesn’t always get the credit she deserves for her singing because the Carpenters were so easy listening, but her voice is among the best ever. We give her a great tribute and go to the family home, the apartments she and her brother Richard invested in, her favorite restaurant and, because we’re Dearly Departed, the hospital where she died and then buy flowers to leave at her final resting place. It's a great middle of the road kind of day.

I’d like to give a shout out to Death Hag Patricia who wore her FUTURE CORPSE shirt to the gym. It’s the perfect T-shirt to wear around people concerned with health and fitness. Thanks for representing! If you would like to order a shirt and wear it to the gym, please click here.

Since there already seems to be some name-dropping in this email... Wednesday was the 98th birthday of Jerry Maren, the last of the little people who were in The Wizard of Oz. Jerry is one of the most notable munchkins in the film, as a Lollipop Guild member he presented Dorothy a lollipop. Jerry is a Hollywood Legend and it was pretty cool to have him stop by.

This week also marks Sharon Tate’s 75^th birthday so we’d like to wish her a happy birthday wherever she is. With all this news in recent months about those associated with her death, it's important that she be remembered for her life. We at DDT owe her a lot and I hope we do her memory and story justice.