Jay Leno is coming to Alaska! I guess Sarah needs to make another batch of that moose chili of hers.

I recently heard a rumor, from a very good source, that Jay Leno would be coming to Wasilla this week.

I made a phone call to Leno's publicist Dick Guttman's office and they confirmed that Leno and the Tonight Show are DEFINITELY coming up to Alaska, but did not know, or were unwilling to say, exactly when he was planning to be here.

For a production to come all the way up to Alaska you know they are spending some serious money, so of course the first question would be is this another Sarah Palin publicity stunt?  Or is Leno coming up to interview Drew Barrymore on the set of her new movie?  Or perhaps to spend a day with Levi Johnston as he reads up on politics?  Or perhaps a combination of all three?

Hmm and hasn't at least ONE politician announced their candidacy for President on the Tonight Show?

If I hear more I will let you all know, and in the meantime if any of you hear anything I would appreciate the help.

Update: For those who still doubt that Sarah has every intention of announcing her candidacy at some point I invite you to head on over to Mudflats and become enlightened.

Update2: I just received the following e-mail from a source in Wasilla:

I don’t know what ALL he is coming for, but I DO know that he will be here in Wasilla on Saturday, October 9, arriving around 11:45 for the grand opening ceremony for the new Air Force Reserve Command Recruiting Service, located at 1590 Financial Drive. Jay Leno is a special guest and part of the ribbon cutting ceremony.

That’s all I know, but I am sure there are more reasons than this. I enjoy your articles!

Well now we are getting somewhere.  So Leno is going to be in Wasilla on October the 9th?  That is interesting because according to the calendar of his tour dates he is flying in from Sacramento. (Update: I am going to back off my earlier assertion that the Tonight Show staff is coming up here as well, though I am almost certain that is what the young lady I spoke to in the publicist's office said. However with this new information that I was just provided it could just be Jay himself with a skeleton crew to film some segments for his show next week.)

I wonder what else is on Leno's itinerary for this visit?

This is the film my daughter is currently working on.

From ADN:

As "Everybody Loves Whales" ended a second week filming in Anchorage, a consensus began to emerge among the onlookers, extras and hired hands orbiting the $30 million movie production.

Drew Barrymore is smaller than you'd think.

But the flock of workers that follows the production as it moves from location to location across the city? The entourage of trailers and equipment carts? Bigger than expected.

"It's almost like an anthill," said Amy Anderson of Anchorage, who is working as a medic on the set. Only when the cameras roll does the commotion stop, she said. "The entire ant farm just freezes in time."

My daughter is one of the ants.  She is working as a production assistant and is helping to build sets and move props from one location to another. 

I wish I could tell you really cool stories about drama happening behind the scenes, and which actors were really cool and which ones were prima donnas, but my daughter signed a non-disclosure form so I am being kept in the dark just like everybody else.  Well mostly.

However I can share the fact that my little girl is working her ass off and really raking in the dough, which is GREAT news because she stills owes me a rather large chunk of change for paying to have a new transmission installed in that RV of hers.

And I am going to need that money pretty soon for........oh yeah, we have to wait for that announcement.

By the way here is some footage  from 1988 of the three trapped whales that inspired this film.