July 1 – July 7 (2019) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I LOVED Pink Panther flakes when I was a kid. They turned your milk strawberry!

After seeing the fantastic Micky Dolenz show at the Canyon Club last Sunday, I’ve been humming the Mike Nesmith-penned tune “The Girl I Knew Somewhere.” As he sang the song live, they played video on the monitors from the Monkees episode that made the song famous. And the girl from somewhere?? Played by Julie Newmar!!

Monday the 1st – MARVELOUS MONDAY! – Just shortly after 1, I woke up, recorded an audition, and then walked over to Studiopolis to do some voice tracks for a videogame session. My old pal Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was directing, and we had a blast talking about the old days (I’ve known her since 1994!) and things that are currently happening. If you look up the clip from the old “Vicki!” show on Youtube from their 1966 Batman tribute and you see the group of costumed heroes and villains doing a fight scene in the Batcave, she’s playing Catwoman, and I’m playing Batman. That day was a blast! We still talk about that every once in a while. I got a tuna on white from Subway on the walk back home, and I also stopped off to get my dog Roxy some more CBD oil. When I got back home I had a long phone conversation with my trademark attorney Stephanie about the direction of my children’s book project. Then my effects guy Jim Ojala came over with his buddy Marty. I gave him a tour of Planet Wallywood and showed him all the great figures Jim made for the collection. Later that night I made some spaghetti and did some writing for my children’s project. I grabbed a short nap, and then got up to record my nightly auditions and type out Wally’s Week. I hit the hay so I could be up early for a trip to Marina Del Rey the next morning for an audition.

Tuesday the 2nd – TWO-FER TUESDAY! – Bright and early at 10am (?!) I got up and prepped for a very busy day. I hit the freeway at 11am for the trip to Marina Del Rey. Luckily, I made it to Side studios in 50 minutes (some sort of record!) and I did my noon audition for a videogame. I was out by 12:30, so I figured I had time to grab lunch on the westside before my 2pm session for an animated film. Chik Fil A was close, so I sped through the drive-thru and ate my lunch while I drove back to my house to walk Roxy. Once she was taken care of, I got back in the car and went over to L.A. Studios. Last year I did several sessions for a new animated film project, but they took an extended hiatus for the past few months to do some tweaking on the script. This is quite common for animated films. They write and record, tweak, and then write and record, tweak, rinse, lather, repeat, etc. Now the title had been changed, and about 50% of the script had changed from what we previously recorded. There were a few cast changes (thankfully not me!) and character changes. It was a very busy session from 2pm to 6pm and when I left I was feeling pretty exhausted. VERY busy day! I got home to feed the pets, did a little work and then napped for a bit. I got up later to do some work around the house, and because of the upcoming 4th of July holiday there weren’t any auditions. I walked and fed Roxy, and prepped for a quick interview session I’d be doing with my pal Elliot Lurie from the band Looking Glass on Wednesday. I wanted a small interview segment to use on my upcoming Labor Day weekend radio show in my hometown of Aberdeen, South Dakota!

Wednesday the 3rd – WALKIN’ WEDNESDAY! – I strapped on my walking shoes and hit the pavement to be at Voice Trax West at noon for my brief interview with my pal Elliot Lurie. For my upcoming class reunion in Aberdeen, South Dakota over Labor Day weekend, a local radio station there for whom I do imaging voice-over work, asked me to do a 6 hour “rock and remembrance” radio show. I figured I couldn’t do a show about life in the 70’s without playing “Brandy,” and if I’m going to play “Brandy” I had to interview my pal Elliot who wrote and sang the song! After we finished I went next door to Chin Chin to have lunch with my friend Sara. After lunch I walked to CVS to put in a prescription, and then over to the hardware store to get some light bulbs for my kitchen. I got home and spent the rest of the afternoon writing my Labor Day radio show called “The Class of ’79 Reunion Rewind.” What fun! I organized all of the elements I’d be using into separate folders, depending on which hour of the show they’d be used in. My pal Officer Mark got me some great celebrity “drop-ins” to use on the show at the most recent autograph show. After I got everything organized I decided to grab a short nap. I got up later and did more work on the radio show, cleaned some of the CDs in my CD rack, put a stack of CDs away in the radio that had been lying around for quite a while (they’re all alphabetized in my system so I takes a while to integrate them all back in to the rack in an orderly fashion). The new LED lights that Handy Don put in over the rack made it so much easier to work. The old halogen lights would have been brutally hot to work under. I also had a ton of DVDs and CD that needed to be input into my database. It was about time! The stack was getting to be overwhelming! I walked Roxy and then made some early-morning-4th-of-July hot dogs on the grill and watched a few more episodes of “Taxi” from the final season DVD set. I decided to check my e-mail before going to bed and around 10:30am Planet Wallywood started shaking and rolling. Earthquake!

Thursday the 4th – HAPPY 4th OF JULY! – After sleeping about five hours I woke up to see what was happening. I monitored stories on-line about the earthquake which was centered many miles north of me. But it was felt in parts of L.A. all the way to Las Vegas! Since there wasn’t anything going on because of the holiday I napped on the couch for a bit. Since I’ve lived in my house in 2000, one of the local TV and movie studios hosted a huge fireworks display on the 4th. It was great because I’d usually have a hot dog feed for friends, and then we’d open up my garage and have a front row seat to the best fireworks display in town. But last year and this year the studio decided not to do it. And it’s very depressing. Last year at this time I was in South Dakota for my niece’s wedding, but this year – no fireworks. Sad. I didn’t know what to do with myself. When I got up from my nap I could HEAR fireworks, so I went outside. But I couldn’t SEE any. I showered and went to bed…totally depressed. I got up and did laundry, did some other work around the house (lotsa changes coming to Planet Wallywood soon) When I got up later to do some more work around the house in the overnight hours, I called Denny’s to get some food to go. But the phone just kept ringing and ringing. Nobody answered. So I made a Chef Boy Ardee pizza and watched the final episodes of “Taxi” from the fifth season DVD set. It seemed like they knew they were ending, as all of the characters had happy endings to their stories. Elaine fell in love with Wallace Shawn (completely the opposite of the type of guys she usually dated, but her kids LOVED him!), Louie’s blind girlfriend had an operation so she could see again, and even though she saw what he looked like she still loved him, Jim used part of his inheritance to buy Mario’s, the restaurant next door and turned it into a happening piano bar, Tony got his girlfriend pregnant so they’re going to get married and start a family, and Latka and Simka have come to grips with the fact that she suffers from regular PMS and is going to get treatment for it. And Alex, just kept on being Alex.

Friday the 5th – POST 4th BLUES – With full intentions to get out and do some stuff, I decided at the last minute that it would just be better to hang around the house all day and lie around. I did start writing on a great new story idea for one of my kid’s books. My pal Brittney came over later to do some work, and then I settled on the couch to get a nap. But no sooner did I get to sleep, than I was awakened by the house rattling again. This time it was a 7.1 earthquake, again centered in Ridgecrest. While they received the full impact of the quake, it was considerably less in my neighborhood. They were saying that the quake on the 4th was actually a PRE-shock for the quake we received today. So I got up for a bit, did a little more writing, and then went back down on the couch to finish my nap. Later I got up to feed the pets and walk Roxy. Not feeling like doing much, I turned in for the night. I had a pretty busy weekend ahead anyway, so it was advisable to get some rest to prep for all the activity.

Saturday the 6th – DR. D DAY! – At noon I picked up my friend Sara and we headed to the Smokehouse for Dr. Demento’s (late) 78th birthday party. Dr. D played some of my parody songs on his syndicated radio show back in the 80’s when I was still living in Sioux Falls, and when I was planning my move to L.A. he was very kind and helpful in my ambitions. His producer Robert Young and I became good friends, and between Dr. D and Robert, they used their influence to get me a job at the Westwood One Radio Network in March of 1987. I hadn’t seen Doc in a long time, so I wanted to be there to help him celebrate and thank him for his early support and kindness. Everybody went around the room and introduced themselves and told stories about their involvement with the Dr. Demento show. I was sitting there thinking how great it was that Doc got to hear all the love and adulation in person, as opposed to saving all of these stories for a distant-future memorial service. When I said my piece I kept it short, but thanked him profusely for his support, and I stopped before I got too emotional. But he really was a huge part of my early life here and he helped immensely in getting me established. After the party I got some groceries, and then headed home to put everything away. I cleaned up for movie night, and then we watched a new documentary called “Master of Dark Shadows,” about Dan Curtis and the creation of the great soap opera of all time. When the guests left I grabbed a short nap on the couch, and then got up to feed Roxy and Spook. But I was still tired so I laid back down on the couch for a bit. I got up to take Roxy out just before 5am, and then came back in and collapsed on the Most Comfortable Couch in the Universe until 8:30am. That couch just eats me alive! I got up and did a few things, and then went to bed. I sure was getting my rest THIS week!

Sunday the 7th – MICKY’S MONKEE MADNESS! – My pal Dr. Alan Cowen had invited me to the Micky Dolenz concert at the Canyon Club in Agoura. I got ready and stopped by evening church for a bit, and then headed out to meet Dr. Cowen and my pal Officer Mark for dinner at Wood Ranch. After some DELICOUS barbecue tri-tip we went next door to the Canyon Club and got checked in. We got a great table close to the stage and enjoyed the show. The couple at our table owned one of the original “Herbie” cars used in publicity for the Love Bug! We talked about vintage cars, and I found out they were affiliated with my pal Nate Truman and his Star Cars organization. They wanted to meet Micky after the show and have him sign something, so I encouraged them to purchase the Meet ‘n’ Greet package after the show. That way they could meet him, get a picture, and get some stuff signed. They did, and they loved it! I met a gal named Roxxi who was a hair and make-up specialist, and I met an Iowa girl named Tiffany who, despite her young age, knew all the words to the songs Micky was singing! It was amazing watching her sing along, as she knew more lyrics that I did!! Later we chatted and she said she was from Iowa. I told her I was born in Des Moines! I also met a gal named Jen who was wearing an original 1987 Davy Jones shirt and pants set that she bought at the Davy Jones auction several years ago. Amazing stuff! All of us hung out for quite a while after the show and chatted, but I had to get going to walk Roxy (my DOG, Roxy – not the hair/make-up lady). I got home and downloaded all the pictures and video from a fantastic night! I made my traditional Saturday night Super Salad (one night late) and watched an episode of “SNL” from the season 4 DVD set. What fun!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Last week I gathered a few friends together after movie night and made a Happy Birthday video with my Rowlf puppet for my pal Dr. Doom’s daughter. It was Baby Doom’s 4th birthday, and Dr. Doom said she loved it so much that she watched it about 500 times in a row! I love this shot!

My old pal Dr. Demento (Barry Hansen) and I. What a great guy!

Dr. D yuks it up with Chris Hardwick

Another comedy contributor, John Mammoser and I with Dr. Demento!

This is why they never give Dr. D sharp objects!

As far as I know, Andy Kaufman died with his Intergender Wrestling championship intact. But it took one 7.1 California earthquake to determine that Jeannie herself, Barbara Eden, has pinned Andy and has taken away his crown!