RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
I predicted this at the beginning of this mess. Apparently the sentiment is spreading.
Well, the song that I’ve REALLY been humming is “Helter Skelter” by the Beatles. But since I’ve already posted my parody called “Shelter Skelter” here, I’ll go with my second choice for the week. Lalo Schifrin has composed some of the most amazing TV themes of all time (“Mannix,” “Starsky & Hutch,” “Mission Impossible,” etc.) and I really have come to like his theme for “Bronk.” While I wasn’t a fan of it at first, it’s really grown on me!
Monday the 20th – GOT A MATCH?! – In the early part of the day I prepped for a long session in my home studio. I have been doing a session for a recurring client for about 5 years at the Bang Zoom! studios in Burbank. But since they’ve closed, and the client still needs more tracks recorded, they decided to have me record some tracks in my home studio and see if the folks in their lab can match the sound from all the previous recordings over the years. I surrounded my workstation with every spare piece of foam rubber I could find, and tried to make it as sound proof as possible. At 3 I signed on to Source Connect, and connected with Voice Trax West, who then connected with the client in San Francisco. I swapped out my usual microphone for a Neumann PT 103, which is the microphone I used at “The Tonight Show.” The mic we normally used at Bang Zoom was a microphone that was very similar, so this will help them a little more to achieve the match they’re looking for. We recorded for 3 hours and it went fairly well. I’m hoping their experts can work their magic and match the sound so we can keep working until this madness is over. After the session I fed the pets and made a pizza. I did some other work, did a few auditions, and then my effects guy Jim Ojala came over to get my trash can so he can distress it for the new home of my Oscar the Grouch replica Muppet. I took a short nap on the couch, and then when I got up later I did more auditions. I worked in the garage cleaning out some cabinets and listening to the radio. There was a lot of junk in those cabinets and they had gone neglected for years. I had paint in there from projects I did in the early 2000s! I cleaned everything out, rearranged everything and organized, and it was looking sweet! I came inside to wrote Wally’s Week and then hit the hay.
Tuesday the 21st – INFO: NOT PANIC! – Spook had been sticking to everything like Velcro so it was time to take him in for a manicure. I took him in, they trimmed his nails, and then I took him home. I know he hates going in, but honestly, I think he appreciates not sticking to stuff and he rather enjoys the mani/pedi. I drove to the hardware store to buy a mask. Yup, I finally broke down. I was sick of the bandanas with hair ties that didn’t stay affixed around my ears. I headed to my mailbox to make my weekly trek to get my mail, and then headed off to the grocery store to get some supplies. I came home and put the groceries away, fed the pets, and went back into the garage to continue with my cabinet project. Though my paint cabinet was populated with numerous cans of paint from my various projects, I went through them one by one to test them to see if they still worked. About one-fourth of them were either clogged or empty, so I disposed of them. Then I cut up some boxes so the paints that still worked would go in the cabinet in groups. I organized them by groupings of white, blacks, colors, primers, clear coats, and I even organized all my fabric dyes. Now they’re all easily findable when I need them! Before it was a confusing mishmosh of junk. Now I even have more room in the cabinets for other stuff. I have two more cabinets to go through and do the same thing with. As I was working in my garage, Roxy came out to hang out for a bit. A few of my masked neighbors walked by and when Roxy recognized their voices she went out to greet them. My one neighbor froze with fear like she was about to be attacked by a pit bull. I called Roxy off, and I told my neighbor there was no reason to be afraid. You can’t catch anything from petting a dog. She had been believing all of the hype and panic that you can get infected by animals. I thought the whole thing started when a guy ATE an animal (if you believe that story), but petting? I found that hard to believe. Sure enough she admitted that she didn’t have any solid information to support her panic, so I went inside and looked up info on the AVMA (American Veteranarian Medical Association) and found out that (and I’m paraphrasing) viruses can only live on hard surfaces like countertops and door handles. A dog’s coat is porous and the virus can’t live on porous things; as they don’t make good hosts for viruses. I’m telling you people are going nuts with all this panic…utterly crazy. I e-mailed her the link to inform her with real medical information so she would no longer by panicked by the next friendly dog that came up to her. NOTE: As of 4/28 the CDC has released info in an article that social distancing is now being recommended for pets out of an abundance of caution. NOTE: This is not backed up by any sort of evidence or fact, other than just an abundance of caution. Even in the article the final line states, “Even with the new recommendations, the agency said there is no evidence pets play a role in spreading the virus in the U.S.” Then why even MENTION it? I’m sick of all the baseless crap that gets disseminated via our media. That to me is worse than the actual virus! So on the rare chance that a pet DOES contact the virus, the pet would have to sneeze or cough on your in order for you to catch it. It’s highly unlikely (damn near impossible, I think) to catch it from petting a dog. This whole thing is going beyond the pale of ridiculousness I think. But then again, I like to learn solid info and facts, extrapolate it as such, and make my judgments from that. I don’t go into panic mode and lose my mind. Like the fact that you have a 99.9% chance of not catching this if you’re healthy. And even if you DO catch it, you have a 99.9% of surviving. But that news is seldom reported because it doesn’t get ratings. (Don’t get me started!) I did some of my auditions, and then took a nap. I’m still hoping someday that I’ll wake up from a nap and realize this was all a really bad dream. No luck yet. I did a little work around the house, edited some videos on my computer, walked Roxy, came inside to make some spaghetti and watch another episode of “Bronk.”
Wednesday the 22nd – THE HEAT IS ON! – What a glorious warm day, with the likelihood that it’s going to get warmer. I’m talking “early summer” warm! AWESOME! But unfortunately it was very windy. Weather like this makes me miss my beloved Palm Springs! It was such a warm, lazy day that I really didn’t do much of anything except lay around. Later in the night when it cooled down a bit I went back into the garage and kept working on my cabinet reorganization project. I came in and showered, and then napped on the couch for a bit. When I got up later I had an amazing e-mail from my attorney that all of the trademarks we applied for had been granted! At first it looked like they were going to contest them, but when we filed appeals they acquiesced and granted us the marks! These are all germane to my kid’s book series we’re launching. It was really windy out, and when that happens my allergies go nuts! I stayed inside and did some more video editing, and then walked Roxy for our late night stroll through the neighborhood. Even though it was nice and warm out, it was too windy to enjoy a cigar. I came back inside and worked on filing the original artwork for my kid’s book concept, made some soup, and watched “Bronk” again.
Thursday the 23rd – VITAMIN D-LIGHTFUL! – The day began with a stroll outside with Roxy. It was sunny, hot, and the wind had died down. Roxy loved lounging in the grass of the courtyard getting her vitamin D. To be honest, I enjoyed standing in the sun as well. While I normally try to avoid it as much as possible, today it felt Heavenly! I worked around the house doing odd jobs, napped in the evening, and then got up to do some more video editing. When the time came to take Roxy out for our late night stroll, I realized the evening was perfect to enjoy a cigar! It was a still, clear, gorgeous night! Plenty of stars, euphoric quiet, and pleasant weather. Roxy and I took a nice leisurely stroll as I finally got to enjoy my cigar. I came inside and did more editing and was feeling very mellow. I made a sloppy joe, some soup and watched another “Bronk” episode. I love this show and I’m very sad (and confused) as to why it went only one season.
Friday the 24th – SUMMER COMES! – With my A/C on all day, and me sleeping like a baby, I finally got up later in the day to walk Roxy and feed the kids. It was pretty hot out, and will continue to be hot until Sunday evening. This is the kind of weather I had been longing for all winter! I did a little work around the house, turned on a fan, and napped on the couch. Later I got up to enjoy another gorgeous summer night. It was only slightly breezy, which was fine, because it clears away all the clouds and it allows me to see what stars you’re able to see in a city the size of L.A. I felt very much at peace, and really started longing for another trip to Palm Springs. I thought carefully about it and laughed when I realized that my trips to Palm Springs are pretty much the epitome of “social distancing.” Roxy and I stay up all night and watch the stars from the balcony of my room, which is isolated high and away from the rest of the hotel’s activities, and we sleep all day. Really the only time we see anyone is when she has to go outside, or we go grab food. I like those periods of isolation in the glorious desert weather. I did a little more work on the cabinets in my garage and how I have so much extra room now, I need to carefully consider what I’m going to store in them. I fed the kids and then drove over to Denny’s to pick up some food to go. I came home and ate and watched “Bronk.”
Saturday the 25th – SENTIMENTAL SATURDAY! – Once again I slept all day in air conditioned comfort. I got up in the evening to feed the kids, and laid right back down on the couch and slept some more. Later in the evening I decided that Roxy and I needed to get out of the house, so I called Barone’s to order a pizza to go, put the top down in my Mustang, put Roxy in the back, and we drove through the warm night enjoying the evening. I got my pizza and then headed home listening to “Disco Saturday Night” on 1260 AM. As I’ve said before, there’s just something magical to listening to 70’s songs on the AM band. It reminds me of being a kid, I guess. So as Roxy and I are cruising through the night, “Love’s Theme” by Love Unlimited Orchestra came on. Amazing! Then “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John came. Now this song REALLY takes me back to when I was a radio DJ on KELO-AM and we played the song every 90 minutes. It was then the ambience of the evening overwhelmed me. Great music on AM, gorgeous night time weather, the smell of pizza – it all made me very sentimental and gave me a bit of a tear. As I was pulling in home, they played “Hollywood Swingin” by Kool and the Gang. That did it. Now I was REALLY lost in Sentimental City! When I was working on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” the Ricky Minor band used to play this song just before we got the countdown to start the taping, in order to fire up the audience. But instead of the lyric “City of stars, movies, women and cars,” the lead singer Dorian would sing, “City of stars, movies, Jay Leno’s cars.” Hearing that song on the radio takes me RIGHT back to those wonderful days on the show. I miss them. I went inside and ate some pizza, and then napped a bit. I got up to feed the pets, and then got an idea to write a new parody voicing my frustration with this lockdown lunacy. It’s a parody of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” called “Shelter Skelter.” I wrote a few verses, and then walked Roxy to think of some more. I came back in and finished the song. I bought a karaoke track on Amazon, but it had a vocal in it! Utterly worthless as a karaoke track. WHAT?! I started sanding some puppet eyes to take the shine off, since the plastic eyes I bought on a website were shiny. I like them to look like the real Muppet eyes; matte finish – so they don’t reflect light. I made an eye plate for my new puppet project; the “Beautiful Day” monster. But all the rigorous sanding had irritated my left elbow and it was getting painful. I’ve had a case of (what I believe to be) tennis elbow for the past few weeks. Not sure if I’m sleeping on it wrong or what. And to make matters worse an old chiropractic problem is returning, making the thumb and forefinger on my left hand numb. I know it’s from slouching too much, as the vertebrae pinches off the nerves that run through them. It’s the same nerves that feed the sensation to my left thumb and forefinger. It was a problem that developed back in the late 90s, after I had surgery. I couldn’t sleep on my side, so I had to sleep on my back. But inevitably my head would sink down into my chest as I fell asleep, thus pinching my nerves. Normally when the problem would recur I would “self-adjust” by stretching out my neck, leaning my head back and rolling my head around to unclench those vertebrae. But with all of the slothful, lockdown inactivity I’ve been involved with, the problem had returned. I wish I was bionic and I could take my entire left arm off and trade it in for a new one. The tennis elbow and the numb thumb is irritating me. Unfortunately the salad I had left had turned, so I wouldn’t be able to make my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad. Instead I heated up some slices of Barone’s pizza and watched “Space 1999.” My pal Scott sent me a better karaoke version of “Helter Skelter,” so I spent some time editing it together and doing a pass of the vocals. I sent it off to Scott for mixing.
Sunday the 26th – SHELTER SKELTER! – After snoozing all day I got up later to hear the first few mixes my pal sent me of “Shelter Skelter.” I started putting a video together of the lyrics so I could post it eventually on YouTube. My pal Sara came over later to watch a movie, but I wasn’t very hungry. Normally we get food delivered and watch some movie that would be totally inappropriate for my usual movie night, but I haven’t been very hungry of late. I graze during the day on Cheez-its and a veggie tray, but I’ve only been eating one meal a day. We watched the old 80’s horror movie “Motel Hell” with Rory Calhoun. It’s pretty funny, but oddly enough didn’t really have anything to do with a motel. It was almost like they came up with the witty title, and then put the motel aspect in as an afterthought. But I remember liking it as a kid. It was one of John Ratzenberger’s first projects, I believe. After Sara left I did some work on-line, and then started in on my “Beautiful Day” puppet again. I made the head and put the eye plate in and then took a shower to get ready for bed. But in the shower I was singing and realized that I was in pretty good voice, so I went back downstairs and did another vocal pass on “Shelter Skelter” to send to Scott. Then I headed to bed. When I get the mix back from Scott I’ll put it on the video and then post it on Monday. But you can see it here! https://www.wallyontheweb.com/home/wall-mccartney-with-new-lockdown-parody/
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
A gorgeous sight!
Making the eyes for “Beautiful Day”
Putting the eye plate in the foam head. Next, sculpting the snout and bottom lip out of a chunk of foam rubber!
Since this week marked Valerie Bertinelli’s 60’s birthday, I’ve often wondered if this autographed picture I received from CBS back in the 70’s is really her signature. I should have asked her when I worked a day on “Hot in Cleveland” but I never did. Hmmm…
