November 1 – November 6 (2016)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

As I was scanning items from my old 70’s and 80’s photo albums, I found my old Van Halen tickets from a Wednesday evening in 1980. Can you believe I saw Van Halen WITH David Lee Roth for less than 9 bucks!!??

After watching the legendary Eddie Money perform last Saturday night, I’ve been singing “Two Tickets To Paradise” non-stop. I first came to love this song when I was about 18. A good friend of mine named Greg had moved away to Fort Dodge, IA and we started corresponding by cassette tape. It was better than writing a letter since we could hear each other’s voices and share music. When he was trying to convince me to come visit him he played “Two Tickets To Paradise” on one of the tapes. But when Eddie got to the chorus, Greg would dip the audio and sing “Two tickets to Fort Dodge.” I thought that was hilarious and I’ve never forgotten it.

Tuesday the 1st – AS YOU MAY RECALL… – The previous weekend was full of events, which sadly had to be canceled because I had come down with some sort of tickle in my bronchial tube right in the center of my collarbone. I had lost my voice halfway through the Voice Actor panel at L.A. Comic Con (see previous week’s Wally’s Week). After a wasted weekend, all I could do was rest up, take some meds, eat some chicken soup, and rest my voice. My inflamed vocal cords needed rest to recuperate. While I was convinced that I wasn’t contagious, I decided to hedge my bets and take the Z Pack my doctor had prescribed me…just in case. I slept as much as I could. Luckily I was able to muddle through a few auditions, and luckily they were for characters that had low, raspy voices. Perfect! For my pre-bedtime viewing I’ve started the Monkees Blu Ray set, and it’s delightful! It brought back lots of memories of our Monkees club we had in elementary school (I was Micky). It’s great to see this show again! And in crystal clear Blu Ray!

Wednesday the 2nd – KEEP YOUR MOUSE SHUT! – I got pretty sick of sleeping so much, so I got up at 2 and tried to go enjoy the day. My voice was mostly back, but I was still taking great care. I went to Plastic Depot to have Kyle trim the little base that my Kermit replica Muppet sits on. The sizing of the base wasn’t working out so I had to have Kyle adjust the height of the base. Otherwise the cover wouldn’t fit over Kermit. Then I stopped by my mailbox to get my mail, and hit McDonald’s for lunch. I went home to work on the Kermit case, and then nap on the couch for a bit. I’m still not quite up to speed. Later I got up to do a few more auditions. Some I decided to wait a few days on, and others I just didn’t have the voice to do. I took Roxy on our late night stroll through the neighborhood. There are some thick hedges on the other side of the fence that divides our property with the city’s. I’ve seen rats walking around on the branches before so I knew it was inhabited by all sorts of rodent life. As we walked by the shrubbery, I turned to look at something behind us. I turned back around when I heard some sort of disturbance, and I could see that Roxy had a small mouse trapped under her paw. I told her to let it go, and when she did I could see that she had partially crushed the poor little mouse. It was still alive and lying on its side, but unable to move. Its legs were moving like crazy and I could tell that it was suffering. I didn’t exactly know what to do or how to relieve it of its misery. I weighed my options and decided to kick the mouse a few feet to put it out of its misery. I didn’t have anything to crush it with, and I didn’t want to just step on it. It was a sad position to be in. I felt really, really bad about it. I don’t like to see anything suffer or die. I think I’d be a really good Buddhist. Roxy got chastised properly and we went back home. I spent the evening scanning old photos from my decaying photo albums. Thinking about the mouse, I decided to go back outside with a small shovel, pick it up and bury it properly. I know it’s only a mouse, but I wanted him to have some kind of dignity, as opposed to just lying in the middle of the driveway. I was surprised that my old pal Stan Freberg was on an episode of “The Monkees!” While it was great seeing him in his younger years, it did make me miss him quite a bit. Between the mouse incident and seeing Stan, I admit I went to bed feeling a bit blue.

Thursday the 3rd – AAAAAND…IT’S GONE AGAIN! – By 1 I had to be up to meet with my AV guy Mark Ackerman. He was tasked with installing my newly acquired 3-D TV and 3-D Blu Ray player in the Puppet Room. And then he tied it all together with a Universal Remote to make sense of it all. The entertainment center in the Puppet Room has always been confusing to my guests, as there were several different remotes to contend with. Unlike the TVs in my room and the home theatre, which are both equipped with DirecTV, the TV in the Puppet Room is equipped with cable. Standard cable comes free in our complex, so I wanted to have at least one TV in the house with access to cable. My friend Edi also arrived around 1 to drop off her dog Bunny so she could go to a 2:30 hair appointment. As Mark and his partner worked on the TV, I laid on the couch to relax and rest. I started into a coughing spell, which I stupidly ignored. It caused me to lose my voice again! So after Mark left I slept again for a while. When I got up my friend Edi had returned, so we decided to go to dinner at Jerry’s Famous Deli and meet up with my pal Natalie Duran and my assistant Sara. But I didn’t have much to say, because I had very little voice. I kept it lubricated with plenty of liquids, and it did start to come back a bit. But I wasn’t going to chance it. Apparently, until my voice is completely back, I need to mitigate any coughing spells, and drink LOTS of fluids. I think the coolness of the iced tea I was drinking was helping to bring down the inflammation in the vocal cords. I went home and went to bed to rest. When I got up later to do auditions, my voice was pretty much back completely. I also took regular small doses of Advil, which also helped bring down the inflammation. But I spent the rest of the night working on the computer silently. Then I made some dinner and watched 2 more “Monkees” episodes. One of the episodes was a particularly poignant one. It involved Davy having to leave the group and go back to England with his grandfather guardian. It was weird seeing the now-surviving members of the group crying about missing Davy.

Friday the 4th – FRIDAY FRED-DAY…A “STRANGE” DAY! – Usually when my day starts with my home phone ringing (nobody ever calls my home phone) it’s never good news. It was my pal and webmaster Scott Sebring calling me with bad news. He informed me that my old pal Fred Westrbrook, agent to Adam West and other classic performers and actors, had passed away after an 18 month battle with lung cancer. He had kept it a secret for the most part, though I had heard rumblings about his battle several months ago. It wasn’t until 3 weeks ago that I heard it was a little more serious than I had originally thought. Strangely enough, I had just been commenting to a friend that 2016 was going along really well, since nobody has died. I spent the afternoon calling friends and letting them know. My maids came over at 2 to start cleaning Planet Wallywood, and I walked Roxy over to the groomer’s for a bath. I grabbed a sandwich at Subway on the way home and headed back to enjoy lunch while the ladies finished up. I posted some social media notifications about Fred, and answered some e-mails. I napped on the couch until it was time to go get Roxy. I worked on the computer for a bit and then headed to the Sherman Oaks Galleria to meet up with my pal Scott Sebring and his wife Vickie so we could see “Dr. Strange.” When I pulled into Valet Parking I noticed there was a lot of water on the garage floor. Then I smelled a horrible odor. Apparently a sewer line had broken in the mall and had leaked all over! YIKES! It wasn’t until the movie was over and I was on my way home, that an irony dawned on me. The day my best friend Terry Crisp passed away in July of 2015 I went to see an afternoon matinee of “Ant Man.” It wasn’t on purpose; I had just planned on seeing the movie that day. And now I’m seeing another Marvel movie on the day a good friend has passed on. Very strange. I just spent all night doing mindless work on the computer and reflecting. Then I made some dinner and watched more “Monkees” episodes.

Saturday the 5th – THE MONEY MAN! – My pal Officer Mark and his girlfriend Connie picked up my pal Brittney Powell and I at 2:30 so we could head down to Santa Ana for an Eddie Money concert. After our chance meeting last May, I’ve been curious to see him perform. He was singing at a Boys and Girls Club fundraiser and it was promising to be a nice, intimate event…that was also for a very good cause. First we stopped off at Connie’s parents’ house, and the neighborhood in which they live is like a typical Midwestern neighborhood. It really brought back a lot of memories of living in South Dakota. Having just seen “Dr. Strange,” it honestly felt like some sorcerer supreme had opened up a portal in the middle of L.A. and transported us all to somewhere in South Dakota! This whole neighborhood didn’t even seem like it was in L.A., let alone California! We went over to a little eatery called Polly’s Pies to have a quick bite, which again seemed like it was transplanted from a small town in South Dakota. Then we headed to the event and had a great time watching the auction of items for the fundraiser. We met a lot of great people and had a wonderful time. The dinner they served was “gourmet,” so it wasn’t really my style. But it was great to be there nonetheless. When Eddie Money took the stage it was clear that his heart was completely into what he was doing. Then when he mentioned that the Boys Club helped him out as a kid by giving him a place to go to keep out of trouble, I realized that he was there to rock! Mark and I moved to the front of the stage to enjoy the majority of the show. Eddie mentioned he had been through four rehabs, and I hope there’s no need for a fifth. His kids are in his band and I really think they help keep him on the straight and narrow. After the show Eddie signed and sold t-shirts to benefit a charity called “Pets for Vets,” an organization that supplies shelter pets to Veterans. I wanted to be first in line so I could get back home soon and walk Roxy. When Eddie came to the table the first thing he said was, “I love your commercial!” I reminded him that we had met back in May in Thousand Oaks, and we had a fun time chatting a bit before more people started to crowded around the table. The traffic was awful on the way home, but I made it back around 11. I walked Roxy and then had time to grab a short nap. When I realized that we were going off of Daylight Saving Time tonight, and I had an additional hour to play with, I could enjoy a slightly longer nap. I spent all night doing work around the house, and then I made my traditional Super Salad and watched another episode of the old BBC series “The New Avengers.” What a day!

Sunday the 6th – LET’S HOPE IT’S OVER! – As is usual on a Sunday, I lazed around all day, just getting used to the time change. I walked to evening church with Roxy in the dark. My adopted grandma Shirley wasn’t at church because she had gone to the hospital the night before. She said her head wasn’t feeling right so she called 911. She had some tests done and then was released. She said she’d be staying with her daughter for a few days. I’m glad she’s alright. After church I went to Little Toni’s to meet with Sara to unwind. We talked about Fred, who first introduced me to Little Toni’s, and other odd things that have gone on the past few weeks. Feeling a bit down, I went home to take a short nap. Luckily, my voice had returned. I got up later to do my nightly auditions, and then I spent all night working on a t-shirt design for my friend Elliot Lurie, who used to front the 70’s group Looking Glass. He’s been playing out a lot and has had a lot of requests for merchandise. So I’m helping him with a few ideas for t-shirt designs. I heated up my left over pizza and watched a few more “Monkees” episodes. As I sat there I reflected on what an odd couple of weeks it’s been; getting bitten by a dog, my cough and sore throat, missing out on Halloween, Fred passing away, and now this crazy election. BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Our friend Fred…my pal Fred Westbrook and I at my Ha-Wally Five-O birthday party.

(Eddie Money photos courtesy of Mark Fullerton)

Did I step into a Dr. Strange time portal and end up in the Midwest somehow? Miss Tustin Court selling raffle tickets for the Boys and Girls Club fundraiser could be a typical scene from any given Saturday night in South Dakota. LOVE IT!