January 2 – January 7 (2018)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

Here’s a reminder to keep your doggies warm this cold, cold winter!

Even though Christmas is over, I still have this one remaining holiday tune roaming through my skull. It’s from Wilson Phillips and it’s called “Hey Santa.” Nice song. Sorry it’s a little late.

Tuesday the 2nd – BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED GUMS!? – My pal Scott Sebring and I met for lunch at Lancers in Burbank to chat about the upcoming Batman 1966 museum exhibit we’re working on. We went next door to Hobby Lobby to see if they had more removable double-stick tape for my photo album project, but they were out. I drove over to a local Dentist/Oral Surgeon to see about what can be done about this annoying cyst above the roots of my two back teeth on the upper left. He reviewed the CD of the CT scan I had done back in April and he thinks that the second tooth from the back (upper left) will have to be removed. He said it was due to a botched root canal that was done a while back. I remember the dentist and the day back in around 2005. It took him 3 hours to do it, and I knew that didn’t seem right. But if the tooth is that bad, why did my Endodontist do a retreatment on it last April, instead of just suggesting that it be removed. Seems weird he’d go to all that work for a tooth that wasn’t viable. But if it gets rid of the recurring pain I’m feeling in the left side of my face, perhaps it’ll be worth it. The oral surgeon talked very fast and had a bit of an accent, so it was hard for me to absorb everything he was saying. Plus I was starting to lose my voice because a minor cold I had been dealing with the week before. So I was getting very frustrated. I called my dad who has had a lot of bridgework done and asked him how that worked. I don’t think I’m going the implant route, as the technology doesn’t seem sound yet. But the funny thing is, when I had the root canals done last April on the two back teeth on my upper left, the second to the last tooth is already a crown (from the 2005 root canal) but the last tooth is still a regular tooth. It was going to need a crown (for stability) someday, but I told my dentist I’d wait until the new year. When they do bridgework they put crowns on the teeth surrounding the missing tooth, and then the tooth in the middle is fake. Since my end tooth on the upper left needs a crown anyway, I think I’ll opt for a bridge. Still feeling very puzzled by everything (I made an appointment for a future visit when we could get more details CT imaging done). I drove to my mailbox and got my mail. My really cool 3-D moon light came in! It’s a 3-D scan of the actual moon, but 7 inches in diameter. I’ve got to figure out how to hang it from fish line in The Tranquility Zone! I came home and fed Spook and Roxy, and my pal Ruben Procopio came over with a gift! He had sketched a concept of the Batcave section of the exhibit. It’s amazing! I napped on the couch for a bit, and then woke up later to write Wally’s Week. When I got up my voice was almost totally gone. I made some stew and watched another episode of “Twin Peaks,” and didn’t speak.

Wednesday the 3rd – SILENT WEDNESDAY! – Though I was able to sleep until 3 in the afternoon (the entertainment industry doesn’t really come alive until mid-January) my voice was still very rough. I read some e-mails and did some work around the house. I’m trying to stay as quiet as I can so my inflamed vocal cords can repair. It seems like everything I had with this mini-cold has lasted for 24 hours; the sore throat, the sniffles, the congestion…so hopefully this will be gone soon too! After doing some work I dug out my steamer and turned it on. I slipped back in bed to rest. Around 2am I woke up so I could feed and walk Roxy. I also spent a little time working on my photo albums. I’ve just GOTTA get my voice back! Monday I’m meeting with a new agent, Tuesday I have a call-back audition for a cool Cartoon Network show (which includes singing!) and the big press party for the Batman exhibit is next Wednesday! I stayed quiet all night working on my photo albums, and it seemed like my voice was starting to come back; even my singing voice! Perhaps this will only last 24 hours after all! I got some food from Denny’s and brought it home to watch more “Twin Peaks.” I’m still going to rest over the next few days though!

Thursday the 4th – BUT WAIT—!!! – When I woke up my voice was gone again. What the heck?! All I did was rest and relax and not talk! I made some chili and watched “Twin Peaks” in the evening, and then went to bed again. When I got up later I worked on my photo albums and drank lots of fluids. I fed and walked Roxy and then hit the hay again. As dawn broke on Friday morning my voice had improved again! (?!) So I hurried and did a few auditions in my home studio and e-mailed them in! Then I went to bed!

Friday the 5th – FEEL GOOD FRIDAY! – This weird cold, or whatever, I had is really perplexing me. I got up feeling terrific. I took Roxy over to the groomers, stopped at Studiopolis to pick up a check, and then came home to prep a deposit. I drove to my mailbox to get my mail, and my eBay purchase arrived just in time. I bought a 1966 Batman Cape and Helmet set from Ideal (still in the box!) for the museum exhibit. But it needed a repaint, so I stopped by the craft store to get some paints and thinner. I stopped by the bank to make a deposit, went to CVS to get some supplies, and then headed home to start painting the Batman helmet. I cleaned the whole thing off with alcohol first, which took the paint right off! Bonus! Now I will have a super clean surface to paint on once I get it masked off! I sprayed the face portion of the helmet semi-gloss black, and it went very well. I let it dry for a while, and then brought it inside to hand paint the insignia. The cape is made from a sheet of vinyl, and had become very wrinkled while it was in storage. So I laid it on the kitchen table and hit it with the blow dryer. As the vinyl heated up, it was easy to smooth it out with my hand. I think this had been stored for several decades, so I got what wrinkles out I could. I put phone books on it to further flatten it. My assistant Sara came over to help with some final museum preparations. I grabbed a nap. But when I got up, the next phase of my mini-cold had begun…the cough. Great.

Saturday the 6th – INSTALLATION DAY 1! – If there’s anything that kills my voice faster than coughing I don’t know what it is! So I was struggling with it all day. I got up at 10 to head to the museum to finish dressing the few mannequins we had left. I was looking forward to finishing those and heading back home to bed. I got to the Hollywood Museum at 11 and met with my pal Pat Evans who was helping out. As we were finishing up with the mannequins, they told us that the installation was going to start today. TODAY! That meant that all the toys, collectibles and mannequins would be loaded into the exhibit areas. I figured it would be Monday or Tuesday night, but they said we could start immediately. I was half ecstatic and half disappointed. Disappointed because I was looking forward to being at the museum during the overnight hours working away; having my own “night at the museum.” I was also disappointed since I wanted to get back to bed as soon as I could! But pure adrenaline hit me and we were off and running. We were loading the mannequins from the staging area on the fourth floor into the elevator, and taking them to the third floor. We started tearing open boxes of items that had been shipping in from all corners of the country. Toys, collectibles, costumes – it was all overwhelming. But I was in adrenaline mode so it all went very well. The Batmobile had been loaded in earlier in the week, the Batcycle had just been loaded in, and the Bat Computer was loading in as we arrived. So Pat and I started filling up the Large Toy and Collectible section with goodies. It was already taking shape. It’s a good thing I had supplied the museum with conceptual sketches early on, because they were able to approximate the staging in my drawings in the exhibit areas! Then we started loading in the small Toys and Collectibles into the free-standing jewelry case. Museum workers Steve and Doug worked on staging the area for the villain mannequins, and when they were set and ready we started loading in the first wave of villains. False Face, Egghead, Mr. Freeze and Mad Hatter were the first to be loaded in. We were like a couple of kids with the greatest action figure collection in the world…except the action figures were LIFE SIZE! As we kept talking back and forth over the din of activity, my voice was continually getting worse. The surprise of doing the installation that day made me glad I had already canceled movie night for the week. I figured I’d be totally without a voice, so I told everyone to take a week off. But fate had other plans. I was needed at the museum on Saturday night. Scott and his wife Vickie arrived from a job they were doing in Hollywood and they started helping out. I was also getting that annoying tickle in my throat; the one right in the center of my collarbone. Donelle, the museum director arrived and checked everything out. She had us move some stuff around, and then bought us all dinner at Mel’s Diner next door. But I wasn’t in the mood to do anything but guzzle hot tea and honey and go home. I left around 8 and headed home. I got a hot shower (all that heavy lifting made me feel like I spent the day working out!), took some medicine and went to bed. I was considering calling a local Urgent Care center on Sunday if I wasn’t better. I needed to be back at the museum at noon on Sunday, so I HAD to get better! The funny thing was, physically I felt FINE! I was just hoarse and had that annoying tickle in my throat! If I hadn’t felt physically fine, I wouldn’t have been able to do all of the heavy lifting we did on Saturday afternoon! I got up later to feed and walk Roxy and suck some steam. Then I went back to bed.

Sunday the 7th – WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES! – When I woke up at 11 I felt MUCH better. My voice was back with gusto! I hit the Carl’s Jr. drive-thru for some lunch, and then sped to the museum. Scott was already there working away, and we hit the ground running! We got a ton of stuff done and the exhibit was really taking shape! Pat and Kelly Delcambre arrived later to help out as well. Between the four of us we made amazing progress! We got the Large and Small Toy and Collectible cases completely finished, and we even started filling an “overflow” case, since we had so many great items! The final touch was to finish the Wayne Manor section (the guys did a GREAT job replicating that!) and of course, the Batcave. We still needed to install a few last-minute pieces on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, so they’d be in place in time for the big press event on Wednesday evening! But we got the two Batmen and Robin figures set up (one has original series-used costumes on them, and the other two have new replica costumes) next to the Batmobile and Batcycle. We finished up around 6 and I headed home to relax. I’m taking Monday off just to be sure my health is totally up to snuff. I was feeling satisfied; feeling good! We had accomplished a TON in just two days. I stopped at Barones to get a pizza to go, and headed home to enjoy dinner with my assistant Sara, who was over sitting with the pets while I was gone. I showered up and hit the hay. I slept all night, and then got up later to watch some “Twin Peaks” episodes.

And how was YOUR (cough, cough) week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK