October 2 – October 8 (2017)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I just saw an article on-line this week that floored me. In 1979 Supertramp released “Breakfast in America.” But when you look at the album cover in a mirror, you see the numbers “9 11” over the World Trade Center. WEIRD!!

I never thought much about this song until recently. I heard it on my local AM oldies station and I heard it while driving the Gran Torino around. But for some reason, “This Guy’s In Love With You” by Herb Alpert just seemed to fit with the vibe of the evening!

Monday the 2nd – BACK TO LIFE! – Around 3 I got up and took my rental SUV to get gassed up. I returned it to Enterprise and walked home. On the way I picked up a sub at Subway, and then took it home to eat it while doing some work on-line. I grabbed a nap and then got up later to do my nightly auditions, type out Wally’s Week, and feed Roxy. We went out for our late-night stroll through the neighborhood, and then I hit the hay to be up for an early session the next day.

Tuesday the 3rd – ME LIKEY BIKEY! – Shortly after 11 I got up and prepped my bicycle for the ride over to Voice Trax West for a short session. The weather was actually kind of cool out. Fall is definitely here. I did a quick session for a Medicare commercial, and then biked home. I worked on my computer all day typing and printing out labels for my CD consolidation project I mentioned last week. In order to make more room in my CD rack I’m pulling out all of the “single-issue” CDs and consolidating them into one form or another. It’s a lot of reorganization, but it will definitely pay off in the long run. If they’re CDs from something I’ve done in my career, I’m consolidating them all into multi-count disc cases and putting them into my DVD video rack. If they’re a CD single that I picked up during my time as a radio DJ, I’m going to rip them all into my computer as .wav files, and then re-output them on to fewer CDs. Soon, 65 CD singles will be a mere 3 CDs. Magic! But it will free up 62 slots in my CD rack, which has a finite amount of space. Then came the fun of inputting all of the info from the consolidation into my database, so should I need it someday, I can locate the discs at a finger’s touch. It’s very time-consuming, but over the long haul it will be well worth it. I did a few auditions, took a short nap, and then got up later to do some more auditions. And…more consolidation work. I fed and walked Roxy, and then made some spaghetti and watched another episode of “Taxi” before bed. It was the two-part second season finale; which was amazing. It even featured Lassie!

Wednesday the 4th – BURGERS @ BOBS W/BUDS! – It sure felt good to sleep until 4 in the afternoon! I got up and did some work around the house, answered some e-mails and then did a few auditions. My assistant Sara came over to do some work, and then I took off to meet my friends Officer Mark and James-From-Warner at Bob’s Big Boy in Toluca Lake to discuss our upcoming screening party we’re hosting at the Warner Brothers studios. We had some last-minute strategizing to do before we sent out the invites. On the way home I dropped off a comforter at the cleaners, and then stopped by my mailbox to pick up a few items. When I got home I spent hours doing a TON of auditions in my home studio. I did some work on the computer, and just before bed I started in on the second season of “Pee-Wee’s Playhous” on Blu Ray. In children’s television, they used to do a full first season of episodes, and then the subsequent seasons were shorter. Besides doing it in an attempt to save money, they figured kids’ attention spans are so short they won’t mind if a few first season episodes get peppered in with the new second season episodes. But not only did the production team switch filming locations between the first and second seasons (moving from New York to L.A.), but they completely re-designed the set! The show looks amazing, and it gave me fond memories of when I saw the live Pee-Wee show a few years back at the Nokia Theatre.

Thursday the 5th – “TERRAFORMARS!” – When I got up at 2:30 I did a few auditions and then headed over to Studiopolis to do a 2 hour session for a new cartoon called “Terraformars.” It’s a big hit in Japan, and I’m sure it will be here too! Not sure I can tell you yet which character I’m playing, but I’m having a lot of fun doing it! On the way home I picked up a tuna sub at Subway, and then headed home to enjoy it (which is difficult to do when my cat is circling around begging for a piece!) I fed the pets when I got home and did some more work around the house. My pal Brittney Powell came over to help me send out the invites for the big movie screening. Last year when “Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders” came out, it played in movie theatres all over the world for one day. But this year when “Batman Vs. Two-Face” is released, no such event is planned. So my pals Officer Mark and James-From-Warner decided to rent one of the cool screening rooms at Warner for our very own “friends and family” screening. Even my folks are flying in for it! It should be an absolute blast! Then I did a bunch of auditions and dis some work around the house. I swapped the Mustang for the Gran Torino, and then drove to Denny’s to get some food to go. I brought it home and ate while watching a few more episodes of “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” from the second season Blu Ray set.

Friday the 6th – THE RETURN OF SUMMER! – Just when I thought we had gotten our crisp fall weather, summer returns with near-triple digit temps. But it was kind of nice, actually. And this time of year it never lasts very long. My contractor Electric Bob came over at noon to do a little work. While he worked upstairs I did some last-minute auditions. My maids arrived to clean up Planet Wallywood, and when they finished I drove Roxy over to the groomer’s to get a bath. It was much too hot out to walk her. I drove to McDonalds to get some food in the drive-thru, but the line was long and I was getting very warm. (The a/c in the Gran Torino doesn’t work so well). I sped over to the car wash, and while they polished up the ol’ “striped tomato” I ate my lunch. I stopped by my mailbox to get some packages, which included a cool new “water ripple light” in green, which I’m going to incorporate into a cool new display in Planet Wallywood; just in time for Halloween! I came home and fed Spooky, and then walked over to get Roxy. The evening had cooled down quite a bit, but still had a cushy, warm feel (much like a Palm Springs evening!). I spent about 2 hours just hanging out and talking to Terry, the owner of Rusty’s. He too has a collie, and it was fun watching Rusty and Roxy hang out together just being collies. There’s a sushi restaurant next door to Rusty’s, so it was great watching people come and go from the restaurant and stop to watch two gorgeous doggies posing, playing and lounging. I walked back home with a newly-cleaned Roxy and did a few auditions. I also started working on a few wardrobe options for the upcoming screening-party. I went down into my storage and sorted through all of my boxes of fabrics and scraps. When I was done I needed a nap. I slept until 2am, and then got up to feed the pets, and walk Roxy on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood. When I came back inside I made a Chef Boy Ardee pizza-in-a-box and watched more “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.” I don’t think Paul Reubens got enough credit for his diverse casting and hiring policies on that show!

Saturday the 7th – I WANT MY MUMMY! – Once again, it sure felt good to sleep until 4 in the afternoon. But then again I didn’t get to bed until close to noon. I worked around the house, got some grocery items for that evening’s movie night, and headed home to prep. In the Halloween spirit, we watched the new Blu Ray release of “Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy.” What fun! It sure brought back good memories of when I watched as many A&C movies as I could on TV as a kid. When everyone left I grabbed a nap, and then got up later to do some work around the house. I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad, and settled in to start on season one of “Saturday Night Live.” I remember the day it came on the air on October 11, 1975. For a year or so previous to that date, I had become obsessed with watching “Laurel and Hardy Theatre” on my local channel 13 every Saturday night after the late news. But on that night I was all set to enjoy some Laurel & Hardy cinematic madness. But it didn’t come on. Something called “NBC’s Saturday Night” came on instead. I was infuriated, incensed, and inconsolable. WHERE WERE STAN AND OLLIE!!!?? I immediately turned it off and went to bed. But now here I was, almost 42 years and 4 days TO THE DAY it first aired…I would watch the show and see what I missed. Based on the first episode, I’m really surprised it got a second episode, let alone going on to become the icon it did. The show was unfunny and rough. Even the audience didn’t seem to like it much as host George Carlin chided the sleepy audience at one point saying, “Have you heard these jokes before?” It was truly awful. But the most uncomfortable part was the Voice-Over introduction done by the late, great Don Pardo. He did the introduction and said, “It’s NBC’s Saturday Night. With the Not For Ready Prime-Time Players.” I felt his pain. He meant to say, “With the Not Ready For Prime-Time Players.” Boy did I feel his pain. But, we all know how the SNL story played out over time, so I couldn’t feel too badly. It will be interesting to watch the subsequent episodes to see how long it takes before “NBC’S Saturday Night” becomes “Saturday Night Live” and hits its comedy stride we all know and love.

Sunday the 8th – COLUMBUS COINCIDENCE! – Late in the afternoon I got up and walked to evening church with Roxy. Then afterwards, Shirley and I drove in the Torino over to Paty’s to join our friend Christine for dinner. When we finished I dropped Shirley at home and then headed home to nap for a bit. I got up later for auditions, and Sara came over to do some work for the screening party. I worked all night around the house. Just as day was breaking, I made some lasagna and watched a few more episodes of “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” from the second season Blu Ray. The next episode in line to be watched was one called “School.” I enjoyed it like any other Pee-Wee Herman episode, and in the episode Pee-Wee and his friends were playing school. But Pee-Wee said, “Now we’re going to learn about Christopher Columbus.” I thought to myself, “What are the chances?” It just so happened that “School” popped up as the next episode to watch (I always watch every TV show in broadcast order). And I was watching it on COLUMBUS DAY! It’s just another one of those weird coincidences that run rampant in my life all the time. Someday I need to write a book. But one would scarcely believe all the wild tales contained within, which are all true.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK