RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

As my assistant Sara was scanning all the old photos in my photo albums, I came across this one of me doing Beeltejuice at the “Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue” in 1995. I LOVED working with those shrunken head puppets!

As I continue to obsess over the new oldies radio station 1260 AM K-Surf, these great old songs get stuck inside of my brain and they won’t leave.  Like this from Paul Revere and the Raiders. Why aren’t bands FUN like this any more?

You can listen to K-Surf at laoldies.com

Monday the 3rd – THERMOSTAT YOU? – Purely coincidentally, I woke up at 11:11 and headed over to Eleven Sound in Santa Monica to do a session for Direct Energy.  They’re a Texas electricity company, and it’s always a lot of fun working with those folks; a great team.  But I recorded 13 commercials as a Talking Thermostat, so that kind of broke my 11 streak.  When the session was done I drove to Regenix in Beverly Hills and picked up some more hair supplies.  Then I hit a local lighting place that not only has every light bulb known to man, they also have a wide variety of neat lighting effects. I picked up 2 battery powered LED miniature desk lights that I’m going to put gels on and light my Muppet 1:1 Replicas in the Tranquility Zone.  I dropped over to International Silks and Woolens, but I didn’t find anything I liked other than a few buttons I bought for future bowling shirt designs.  I got some gas and headed home.  I fed the pets and then grabbed a nap.  My pal Brittney Powell came over later to do some work, and then I did my nightly auditions.  I worked on fixing the lighting for my Muppet 1:1 Replicas with my new lights, and they were looking really great! I typed out Wally’s Week, and then hit the hay to be up early for a session for a Warner animated feature.

Tuesday the 4th –   I’M “ROOT-IN” FOR YA! – At 11 I was at Salami Studios in North Hollywood to do some ADR on a Warner animated feature that I did the initial voice tracks for several months ago. Much of the animation had been completed, and it was now time for me to do a lot of efforts, exertions and impact sounds.  While I was there I ran into “The Most Beautiful Lady in Puppet Land; Miss Yvonne” from “Pee Wee’s Playhouse,” Lynne Marie Stewart.  We had a great chat and talked about some of her past work.  I was in the studio for 2 hours and then went home to rest up.  After a short nap, I went to Weinerschnitzel to get a few chili cheese dogs with kraut.  Then I went over to see my Endodontist Dr. Okata for a root canal on my #15 tooth.  (See last week’s Wally’s Week for the reason)  It went very smoothly, and he’s an absolute master of his craft.  I have to go back on Thursday to get a root canal on #14, which I had a root canal on about 10 years ago.  It needs, what they call, a “retreatment.”  I went to my local pharmacy and got the antibiotics that he prescribed me. I’m hoping this infection goes away soon so my left sinus can un-inflame and recede naturally so I can breathe normally and naturally without the aid of pills or sprays.  At least that’s my hope.  I got home to do some auditions and other work.  I got a Domino’s pizza and started my antibiotics.  I want to make sure to take them with food so they don’t irritate my stomach and “stay down.”  I have to take one pill 3 times a day; every 8 hours on the nose (no pun intended.)  I grabbed a nap after my long day and didn’t get up until 2am!  I fed Roxy, worked on-line,  I walked Roxy on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood, and then went inside to make some spaghetti and watch “Love American  Style” before bed.  This episode starred Adam West playing himself. It was hysterical!

Wednesday the 5th – IMMOR-TORINO-ALIZED! – Shortly after 1 I drove over to my seamstress Karyn’s studio to pick up some new bowling shirts and a few other projects she had been working on for me.  I hit Burger King for lunch and then dropped by my box to get my packages.  Once I got home I got a text from Officer Mark telling me that his mom and brother were in town and he asked if it would be OK to bring them by for a tour of Planet Wallywood.  I told them it would be absolutely lovely to have them over, so I quickly straightened up a few things.  My assistant Sara was over scanning photos from my vintage photo albums, and I gave the tour.  Or actually Officer Mark gave the tour because he’s heard all the stories and knew the patter.  After they left I walked over to Floyd’s Barbershop to get a touch-up on my color, and then came home to nap on the couch. I had been enduring a sinus headache all day and it felt good to lie down.  When I got up later in the evening I recorded a TON of auditions in my home studio.  I made some stew and watched another “Love American Style” and got prepped for my second root canal on Thursday.  But before I hit the hay I checked my e-mail and I had a note from my friend Joey, who also owns a “Starsky-ized” Gran Torino.  He had found an art piece on eBay done by an artist in Australia who used a photo of my Gran Torino from the Starsky & Hutch event I attended a few years ago as his model.  It looked really cool!  He showed me the original picture that the artist used to create the piece.  Sure enough, it’s MY Torino, immortalized for eternity in art!

Thursday the 6th – A TOUGH NUMBER 2! – I woke up at 2 and headed to get root canal #2 later in the afternoon on tooth #14. I started with some quick lunch at the McDonald’s drive thru, and then headed to Dr. Okata’s office.  This root canal was a lot tougher than the other one, because it has already been treated about 10 years ago. So it already had a crown on it that the doctor had to drill through.  It also had a post in it that the doctor had to “vibrate” loose to remove it. Ugh.  When an Endodontist has to do another root canal on a tooth that’s already had one, they call that a “retreatment.”  (If you sent a Tweet on Twitter that you’ve already sent, is that a “reTweetment?) Oddly enough, there was a tiny canal in the tooth that the dentist who treated it 10 years ago missed.  Could that have been the cause of this infection problem I’ve been having?  I’m not sure, but I left with a monster headache.  I got home and Sara was busy scanning again.  I worked on the computer until it was time to take the next dose of my antibiotic.  After my pill, I took a nap.  I got up later to do auditions, I fed and walked Roxy, and then took off to Denny’s to get some food to go.  Then I settled in with my dinner and another episode of “Love American Style.”

Friday the 7th – A JAWFUL OF AWFUL PAIN! – My jaw and my #14 tooth were hurting something fierce. And this is all in addition to my usual sinus headache.  I’m really hoping these antibiotics take hold soon and clear all this up once and for all.  My maids came over around 1 to clean Planet Wallywood.  I did some work on the computer while they cleaned, and then made lunch after they left.  I’m just trying to take it easy, since I’m not really feeling up to doing much anyway.  But having two root canals in one week was probably extreme, but I wanted it all over with as soon as possible so I could heal sooner.  Oddly enough, with all of these problems I’ve been having, my voice has been virtually unaffected.  I napped all evening and got up around midnight. I did some random work around the house and organized some computer files.  I made a Chef Boyardee pizza-in-a-box and watched another “Love American Style.”  I sure will be glad to be off all this medication.

Saturday the 8th – DON’T HATE?! – About mid-afternoon I met Sara for lunch at Paty’s, and we had a delightful lunch on the patio on a gorgeous day!  Then I picked up some packages at my mailbox.  I got some material in for a brand new bowling shirt, but it was much too heavy for my purposes.  Back to the drawing board!  I got some groceries for movie night and was in line checking out when I noticed a young lady with a jacket on that said DON’T HATE on the back.  She was in front of me in line with her hair up and her lip ring in place, and as usual I started joking around with the checkout lady.  I also joked around with the DON’T HATE girl, but every time I said something to her she looked at me like I just passed gas.  She acted as if to say, “Why are you talking to me?”  I thought it was ironic that this snippy little b…ahem…gal had a jacket on that said DON’T HATE, but she certainly didn’t go out of her way to spread any love.  Hypocrisy really bugs me.  I got home and unloaded the groceries and fed the pets.  Then I went to pick up Shirley for movie night.  Since Don Rickles had just passed away, we revisited the 2007 documentary “Mr. Warmth” for movie night.  As I watched him perform I thought to myself, “This type of comedy died with Don.”  It’s all over.  The over-sensitivity of today’s audiences makes what Rickles did absolutely impossible.  It’s people like the DON’T HATE girl who have ruined it for everybody.  People like her would consider Rickles’ comedy to be hate speech.  Her type can’t separate comedy from actual hate speech.  But oddly enough her personal behavior doesn’t do much to support her printed-on-the-back-of-a-jacket mindset and philosophy.  This generation is very confusing, and I think they need to do a lot of soul searching before they hope to succeed in life.  As I was watching the film I thought fondly about the time I saw Rickles at “The Tonight Show.”  I ran into the stage during the commercial break just before he was introduced, just to get a glimpse of the master himself.  He was surrounded by people, but when he saw me staring at him he poked his head up over his hangers-on, looked directly at me, pointed and said, “YOU!  BARBER!”  I laughed and gave him the thumbs up, and he smiled broadly.  At that point in his life I think he figured that people needed to be insulted by him to feel validated. I know I sure did.  I’ll miss him.  After the movie I took Shirley back home and came home for a short nap.  Then I got up and did some work around the house, walked Roxy on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood, and came back inside to make my traditional Saturday night Super Salad and watch another episode of “Hee Haw.”

Sunday the 9th – “THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON!” –  Though I originally canceled it thinking it would be just days after my sinus surgery, I called my pastor and asked him to reinstate my speech to his Pastor’s Class after I found out I wouldn’t be needing sinus surgery.  Around 1:30 I spoke to a class of about a dozen kids and their mentors who had been attending a class about the church and its history for about 6 weeks.  It all culminates on Easter when they’re all baptized at 6am that morning.  Each class they have a guest speaker come in to talk about their careers, personal experiences and beliefs.  It was my job to talk for about 45 minutes about my Voice-Over career.  Even though I went a little bit over my time limit, the kids were with me all the way.  They loved requesting that I do voices from some of their favorites shows…Jon Arbuckle, Renji, Cubot, the Riddler, and more.  One kid’s dad came to pick him up from class to take him to a baseball game.  But the kid resisted and was heard telling his dad, “I can’t leave.  This is the most important lesson I’ve ever heard!”  Everybody laughed. It was a great time.  I went home to get a short nap on the couch before evening church.  Then when the time came I got up and walked Roxy over to the church, enjoyed the service, and then walked back home.  I was pretty tired.  I hadn’t slept well the night before because I kept waking up every hour looking at the clock in fear that I was going to oversleep and miss my speech.  That night I went to Barones with my adopted grandma Shirley, Sara, and Gina, a friend from church. We had delicious food and great conversation. Then I promptly came home and fell asleep for a while.  I got up later to do an audition, feed Roxy, and then take her out for our late-night walk.  It was really cold outside, but I took the opportunity to enjoy a nice cigar that I had been keeping for a little bit.  I had bought it about a month ago, and I don’t have a humidor, so if I didn’t enjoy it soon it would be spoiled.  I only have one about every six months, but I enjoy them when I do.  In addition to being quite cold, it was very still and clear.  There was a gorgeous full moon overhead.  It sure was peaceful and relaxing to stroll leisurely through the neighborhood enjoying a cigar with a huge moon overhead illuminating the way.  I went inside to clean up and heat up some leftover Barones pizza and watch another “Love American Style” episode.

And how was YOUR week??!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

The Most Beautiful Lady in Puppet Land! It’s Lynne Marie Stewart, aka Miss Yvonne!

I bought a Jace figure and the pants were too high on his legs. The factory shorted the costume by quite a bit. It looked silly. I returned the figure to the company, but they sent it back saying they were all that way…wrong. So I took matters into my own hands and got out my handy needle and thread. I sewed in some elastic stirrups and attached them to the bottom of his feet. Then I put the boots back on and VOILA! All fixed!

The whole family of Space Ghost figures, Jan, Space Ghost, Jace and Blip. Nice!

Here’s the shot that the press took of my Gran Torino at the Starsky & Hutch event in 2013, and the art piece I bought on ebay that was based on my car. Gorgeous! I ordered one for Planet Wallywood!