November 24 – November 30 (2014)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

This pic is sweet..but…really! YUCK!

I was telling a friend about this unique track from Carlos Santana called “Aqua Marine.” It’s lovely, mysterious, haunting, hypnotic. This track on his “Marathon” album is the only one like it, however.

Monday the 24th – HAIR WE GO AGAIN! – It was a bright, early Monday for me as I had to be up at 8am for a 9am session at Voice Trax West for Gamestop. I play an aerobicizing Santa Claus getting his reindeer in shape for Christmas. It took about a half hour, and when we finished I headed to Mr. Stitch to get them going on a new project. I hit the hardware store to pick up some supplies, and then stopped by my printer’s to pick up some prints for a new Planet Wallywood project. My hair guy Sergio Lopez arrived at 11am to start working on the final touches for my “Wizard of Oz” busts. But first we hopped in the car and went to Wilshire Wigs to pick up a wig for my “Fats” replica ventriloquist figure from the 1978 film “Magic.” He was complete except for his hair. Sergio has been working on a film the past month so his time has been monopolized by that project. But his talent is worth the wait. While Sergio worked away in the Chaney Room hand-tying eyebrows for the Cowardly Lion on wig lace, I worked on the computer. Then after a while I had to get back to Voice Trax West to do more work with the US Airways phone system voice prompts. My assistant Sara came over to sit with Sergio while he worked on Dorothy’s hair. When I got back home I ordered Sergio and I some dinner and we continued to work to wait for its arrival. He did a fantastic job on the Lion’s eyebrows, and the hairstyle on Dorothy looked fabulous! Now on to “Fats.” I had plenty of reference photos from the movie, and Sergio did a perfect job replicating the movie prop’s hairstyle. He worked all throughout the day and finally retired to the Puppet Room for a few hours’ sleep. I did my auditions late in the evening and then hit the hay.

Tuesday the 25th – CROWN TOWN! – The alarm rang early in the morning yet again as I had to be at the dentist’s office by 10 to have my permanent crown fitted on my tooth. Though the temp crown worked fine, it’ll be nice to have the real thing on. Within a half hour Dr. Acosta was all finished. I hit the dry cleaners to get my laundry, stopped by my mailbox to get the mail, and then headed home to work on the computer until the Lidocaine wore off. (They don’t use Novocaine any longer). I didn’t end up being numb for very long thankfully, because I had two sessions that afternoon. I went to Voice Trax West for a session for a Smoke Free Oregon PSA. Then I went downstairs to get some spaghetti at the Italian restaurant so I could grab a quick lunch while the engineer at Voice Trax West switched over to the US Airways session. When I finished my lunch we put a few hours in on doing voice Trax for US Airways. I was pretty beat, so I went back home when we finished to take a dip in the Jacuzzi. I grabbed a nap on the couch and then got up later in the evening to do a ton of auditions. I paid some bills and then turned in for the night.

Wednesday the 26th – PUPPET LAND! – At 10am I packed my new 3’ tall Pinocchio puppet in a box and Sara and I drove to downtown L.A. to visit the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre. Not knowing the downtown area very well, we initially passed it and had to backtrack. But we eventually found it. We went in and talked about the vintage Pinocchio I had purchased recently on eBay. Bob Baker’s studio originally made them for Disney back in the early 90’s. It’s funny that Pinocchio probably was sold to somebody out east, then was sold to somebody else out east, then was sold to me in L.A., and now he’s right back where he started from. What a journey! Almost like the REAL Pinocchio! They said they could fix the paint chips, but Ursula their head costumer, strongly advised against replacing any of the costume parts that had become faded. She said that since they are the original vintage pieces, they should be preserved intact. It was Ursula’s 79th birthday and we sang “Happy Birthday” to her before we left. Many of the staff had just come back from visiting Bob Baker at his home. One of the staff members confided in me that Bob was 90 years old and not doing very well. In fact the intimated that he was in his final hours. Sad to be sure. We left Pinocchio with the promise that we could get him back next week, and we headed to Paty’s for lunch. We finished lunch, I got my mail at my box and we headed back home. No sooner did I get home than I had to speed off to Voice Trax West again for another US Airways session. Since it’s Thanksgiving Eve this will be the last session we’ll do until next week. I hit the grocery store on the way home to get a few items I needed. There were tons of people there who were also picking up last-minute items. I got home and started cleaning up Planet Wallywood for my annual “Planet Wallywood Happy Th-HANG-sgiving Hang Out and Open House.” It runs all weekend at my house and it’s always fun to have a ton of guests over to enjoy food and movies. I downloaded the famous Life magazine cover featuring Adam West as Batman. The Hallmark company has come out with a new Christmas ornament of Adam in the same “leaping” pose as what’s on the cover. My friend Pete came up with the idea of mounting the ornament over a background of the Life magazine cover. But Adam had to be removed from the cover to make it work. So I sat on the computer delicately removing Adam from the famous cover so it would work as a background for my ornament. Time ran away from me and when I looked up, I realized I was running late for my hair appointment at Floyd’s! I got a cut and color touch-up and then headed back home to continue working. I cleaned out the Puppet Room and the Chaney Room so they would be neat and orderly for visitors. With wire I mounted the “Fats” figure on top of the armoire that’s directly facing the bed in the Puppet Room. Given the angle he’s at, it looks like he’s staring directly at the occupant of the Puppet Room bed. Creepy but cool! I also placed the Oz busts in their proper place on their shelf. I cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, restocked the bathrooms, and did some other prep work. Since I took the vintage Ben Cooper Barnabas Collins Halloween costume from 1967 out of its large plexiglass frame to put it on a mannequin in the Chaney Room, the large frame has been empty. But I dug out an old Secret Squirrel Halloween costume to put in its place, and it looked fabulous once I got it all finished. I was exhausted, so I took a quick nap on the couch. I got up and did some final work and then made some Buffalo Mac and retired to my room to watch the third and final Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman TV reunion movie. It wasn’t as bad as the first, but not quite as good as the second one. Now it’s on to “Twilight Zone” season four on Blu Ray!

Thursday the 27th – HAPPY THANKSGIVING! – I got out of bed at 3pm, showered up and headed over to The Sportsmen’s Lodge for our traditional Thanksgiving buffet feed. We had a group of about 13 people all total. And it was absolutely delicious as usual. After dinner a few of us came back to Planet Wallywood to watch “Jersey Boys” on Blu Ray, and several episodes of the “Batman” TV series on Blu Ray. My old pal Chris Malmin stayed around for a while afterwards to chat. It was good catching up. Chris is one of my old pals from South Dakota and it’s always fun hanging out. When everyone left I started in on dusting the action figure cabinet in the living room. It’s quite a job, and the dust was piling up thick. I decided instead of dusting around them, I would just take them all down, clean them, dust the platforms, and redress the entire thing. It took four hours but it was well worth it. And it gave me the chance to take out some of the figures I no longer enjoyed, and replace them with new figures. By the time I got to bed it was 7am! And the maids were due at noon!

Friday the 28th – SLEEPWALK! – The maids were very prompt with their noon arrival. I turned them loose on the house while I laid down on the couch to get some more sleep. I must’ve slept through their working, because the next thing I remember is hearing them say goodbye. Wow was I tired! I locked up behind them and laid down for some more sleep. Blowing through the living room and doing all that dusting really wore me out! When I got up I did some work on the computer to finish designing the Batman Christmas ornament art piece. It was looking darn good! Then it was time for night #2 in the annual Planet Wallywood Happy Th-HANG-sgiving Hang Out and Open House. We watched “Grand Budapest Hotel” and it was very funny and beautiful to watch. Then I gave a quick tour of Planet Wallywood for a few guests. When everyone left I grabbed a quick nap, and then got up for more work around the house. I organized some of my cabinets, did some miscellaneous stuff, and fed and walked Roxy. I made a Tombstone pizza and started in on “Twilight Zone” season 4, the first season where they expanded the episodes to a full hour!

Saturday the 29th – YOU CRAFTY DEVIL! – In the afternoon I headed to Michael’s craft store to get some framing done. I had comic book legend Neal Adams draw a Batman for me at the San Diego Comic Con. I also had artist Steven E Gordon draw an Ant Man for me in watercolor. Along with those two pieces, I took the Batman Christmas ornament layout to Juan the framing expert at Michael’s and we laid out all the pieces and selected mattes and frames. I’ll pick everything up on the 12th, and they’re going to look fantastic! He could show me on the computer exactly how everything was going to look. Don’t you just love technology!? I got some more grocery items for the final night of the Hang out, and I headed home to get ready for movie night. When my guests arrived they mentioned hearing about the death of Bob Baker. Since I was just at his theatre on Wednesday and had heard he wasn’t doing well, I wasn’t totally shocked. But he sure did leave behind a wonderful legacy of making millions happy with his artistry. After giving a tour of Planet Wallywood we settled in to watch “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” on Blu Ray. When my guests left I set up a mini studio in my kitchen with a background and lighting to make videos of my new “Wizard of Oz” busts. I put them on a turntable so the viewer could see all angles. I finished them up, downloaded them to my computer, and then made my usual Saturday night salad and settled in to watch another episode of “The Avengers” from the fifth season Blu Ray set.

Sunday the 30th- A NO SUN SUNDAY! – When I woke up at 4 and drew back the curtains everything was wet. It had rained pretty well all day. It was so nice I just wanted to sink back in my bed and enjoy the smell and the sounds of a rare Los Angeles rainy day. But I got up to take Roxy out for a potty break. Just then it started to pour and I realized that walking her to evening church wasn’t going to be likely. So I drove to church to meet my friend Kathylynne for the service. When we finished we went to DuPar’s to enjoy my favorite food for a rainy day…a grilled cheese with fries, a side of ham, and chicken noodle soup. It was fun dining and watching the rain pelt Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. I got home and rested on the couch for a few hours, and then got up to do a bit for my pal Troy at the “Ellen” show. I spent some time prepping and organizing for a new week. I realized that I have to be in Marina Del Rey Tuesday morning for a session for American Airlines, but it’s supposed to rain very heavily. I started to think that I would get a hotel room in the Marina on Monday night, so I wouldn’t have to brave the crazy rainy day traffic on Tuesday morning. It was a thought worth consideration.

And how was YOUR Thanksgiving week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Wherever Fats is, my cat Spooky is usually there too. For some reason he LOVES to lay in Fats’ lap! (That’s Fats wearing a temporary wig until he gets his REAL hair!)