RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
Here’s a mock-up I found very interesting. It’s how they think Elvis would look had he made it to the age of 80! Fascinating!
Since I was studying the Herman’s Hermits song “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” for my new parody about the California drought, I started thinking about some of their other songs. As I walk Roxy through the complex at night I’ve been humming their hit “I’m Into Something Good.” I remember the song being used in the movie “Naked Gun.” Hilarious! Here’s a great video…
Monday the 15th – THAT’S A BUNCH OF GARBAGE! – Right around 3 in the afternoon I got up and saw that my garbage still hadn’t been picked up. Wednesday is garbage pick-up day, and I’m not sure why the driver missed my house and several others in the complex. So I called and asked when I could expect them. I also asked for a credit for the missed week, because this is a service I pay for. The guy on the phone said that the bill I pay wasn’t precisely for garbage pick-up, but was for something else. Even though the payment coupon says SANITATION. I told him it must be nice to not do your job but still get paid for it. I asked him how I could sign up to get a job like that. I know it wasn’t the guy on the phone’s fault, but it’s still very frustrating. I made some other calls, did some work around the house, and then napped on the couch until 8pm. The previous active week had left me a bit exhausted, so it was nice to catch up on some sleep. When I got up a few hours later I hopped in the Gran Torino and picked up my assistant Sara so we could go to the Coral Café for a late dinner. I got home and got started on Wally’s Week and did my auditions. I have to be up early the next day for a Honda session, but I did manage to squeeze in a snack and a few more episodes of the old “Batman” TV series on Blu Ray before bed.
Tuesday the 16th – LAST-MINUTE LARNYX! – Since I don’t sleep very well at night (I’m a night person by nature) I only manage to get a few hours of sleep when I have to be up in the morning for a job. Such was the case with this night. After only a few hours of sleep I got up at 9, got cleaned up and headed to Santa Monica at 10 for a voice-over for a Honda radio commercial. I got to Lime Studios at 11 and the session went very quickly. I think they ended up using the third take we did! That’s pretty rare, but the producers had a keen idea of what they were looking for. I played an opera-singing Honda sales associate. It was a pretty funny commercial. Just before I went into the session, I got a call from my animation agent Pat telling me to high tail it over to North Hollywood Sound at 2 for some work on a videogame. When I finished the Honda session, I made a quick stop by Campos Tacos (my favorite Mexican restaurant) and got some lunch. Then I headed home to walk Roxy. I finished up and headed to Burbank for the session. I did the 2 voices for characters I had done for this videogame before, but I did a new characters which was a nervous, creepy rat-like creature. It was fun! I got home by 3:30 and it was nice to be back in air conditioned comfort. It had been a fairly hot day and I had been on the move since 9am! I did a little work around the house and then grabbed a long nap on the couch. I got up later for auditions, worked on-line, sent the invites for my Saturday night movie night, made some hot dogs on the grill, and enjoyed a few more episodes of “Batman” before bed.
Wednesday the 17th – BUSINESS AS USUAL! – At noon when I woke up I did some work around the house and walked Roxy. I made some phone calls and lounged around on the couch. My pal Brittney Powell came over to do some work, and I checked out the new mix of the parody song I wrote a few weeks ago. It’s a parody of the old Hermans Hermits song “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” called “Jerry Brown You’ve Got To Locate Water” about our state’s water shortage. I had my producer make some tweaks on the mix, and now it’s ready to be sent to the media. Since Wally has retired from doing parody songs, I decided to record this one under the moniker Stained Freebird. Obviously a tip of the hat to my late, great pal Stan Freeberg (comedy writer and musician), I thought that was a great name to use in the vein of Gnarls Barkley. I felt this song needed to be written, and it virtually wrote itself. Our Governor has been a do-nothing politician when it comes to creating new ways to get water to a desert state. So I had to say my piece. I recorded some new voice tracks for Go 96.3, the radio station in Minneapolis that I do image voicing for. I also recorded some tracks for a station in my old hometown of Aberdeen, South Dakota. I may become the image voice for that station as well! I did my auditions, made a Tombstone pizza and watched some more “Batman.”
Thursday the 18th – COYOTE CONFRONTED! – Roxy woke me up at 2 for a walk, and when we went outside I realized it was HOT! But even with all her hair she loves nothing more than to sunbathe on the hottest patch of grass on the lawn. She’ll turn her belly up to the blazing hot sunshine and go to sleep. It never ceases to amuse me. I came back inside to relax in the cool house, and I got a panicked call from my neighbor Caroline. She was at a different spot of the complex walking her small dog Ridley, and she saw a hungry coyote hanging around the area. I grabbed my phone and my camera and headed to the area she told me about. Sure enough there he was. He was a lone, scroungy coyote that didn’t look very healthy at all. I followed him through the complex to see where he’d go. He didn’t like me following him and picked up his pace. As I ran after him I stomped my feet (knowing they don’t like loud noises) and whistled loudly. When I was a kid my mom taught me how to do a loud whistle (something that would come in handy if I never needed to hail a cab!) but it’s VERY loud. He didn’t like that either. I chased him until I didn’t see him any longer. My neighbors said they saw him running out of the complex. I told my neighbors to go to the local sporting goods store and buy a referee whistle and keep it with them when they walked their dogs. Knowing that a coyote’s hearing is keen, this will hurt his ears and he’ll run off. I also know they have a keen sense of smell, and I advised them to get a Super Soaker and fill it with water and vinegar and blast him. I’m sure the coyote wouldn’t want to stink either. When I got home and looked up what to do when you encounter a coyote, it said to do exactly that. Whistle, soak them with vinegar, and also rattle a soda can full of coins. The loud, shrill noise will chase them away. I printed up a sheet of guidelines that I’ll post throughout the complex. I also did some last-minute work on the scripts for my new web series called “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys.” Then I headed to Jerry’s Famous Deli to meet with my producer Kevin to discuss the ideas. On the way home I stopped at Kinko’s to make some copies of the coyote guidelines. I got home and put some photos on a flash drive for Kevin to use when he edits together the web series. I did my auditions, and continued to tweak the web series scripts. I walked Roxy around the complex and posted the coyote flyers. Then I came back inside and made some buffalo mac and watched some more “Batman” episodes from the second season Blu Ray set.
Friday the 19th – A ‘TAXING’ JOB! – The first order of the day was to call a locksmith to fix the lock in my mailbox. It became very loose and to make matters worse, my key stuck in the lock! He came by and loosened everything up so he could get my key out, and then he tightened up the lock which had become loosened with age. I happened to see a couple Board members from our complex’s Board of Directors. So we got into a discussion about the things that are wrong with this complex. I was on the board about 10 years ago, but things are getting out of control here again so I may need to run for office again to get things back in line. I just don’t understand how so many of our Board members don’t use common sense or logic when making decisions that affect the complex. It’s nuts! But I digress. I hopped in the car and went to Fast Signs to pick up the new signage I was getting for Planet Wallywood. The first batch of signs they made for me had something called “banding.” They’re thin lines in the print that make it look uneven. So they agreed to run the signs again on a new machine. I stopped by my mailbox to get my packages, and then hit McDonald’s for some dinner. And then I ran by Jersey Mike’s to get a sandwich for later when I watch “Batman” before bed. But when I got home I was feeling very energetic, so I decided to clean off my filthy patio. It was full of leaves and dirt. With my allergies being as bad as they are, I have to keep it as clean as possible so my sinuses won’t become inflamed. And with apologies to Governor “Very” Brown (so named because his no-action policies have led to California turning brown!) I did have to hose down my patio for about 1 minute. All the sweeping of the leaves had kicked up so much dust I started to sneeze and have an allergic reaction. The water helped to wash the dirt away. Then I went inside to relax for a bit with a nap on the couch. When I got up I was feeling energetic again. First it was off to the grocery store to get some groceries. Then I decided to tackle a huge job in my garage that had been hanging over my head for a long time. I’m working on reorganizing all of my stuff in storage, but most importantly was isolating and organizing all of my tax documents. I had tax documents and receipts dating back to 1993! Of course I no longer need all those receipts, so I ended up dumping everything pre 2000. I kept the tax returns and documents, but threw away all of the receipts. I labeled all of tax documents and receipts and put them in waterproof plastic boxes. Whew! What a job! But I’m glad I took the time and did it. The next phase is to continue putting random stuff away in boxes and filing the boxes away. The garage is looking better, but it’s not perfect yet! I fed and walked Roxy and then settled down with my Jersey Mike’s sandwich and watched a “Batman” 3 part episode!
Saturday the 20th – MOVIE MAGIC! – During the afternoon I worked around the house getting ready for my weekly Saturday night movie night. I spent some more time working on the scripts for my web series. Occasionally during movie night we enjoy special celebrity guests. My pal Dorothy Fontana (D.C. Fontana to you “Star Trek” fans) is married to a guy named Dennis Skotak, a genius special effects artist who has worked on tons of films. One of those films is John Carpenter’s “Escape From New York.” I love that film, so I got it on Blu Ray and he and Dorothy were kind enough to come by and provide live commentary to my movie night guests. It was fun having him tell us shot by shot how the effects were done. Then he wowed us with a series of personal, behind-the-scenes photographs that he took on the set. WOW! What a night! Though most of the guests left around midnight, several of us stayed up until 2am chatting. I did some work around the house when they left, cleaned up a bit, made a huge salad, and settled down to watch another episode of the old British series “The Persuaders” with Tony Curtis and Roger Moore.
Sunday the 21st – SORE SINUS SUNDAY AND A SUPER SUMMER SOLSTICE! – Well, as expected, all of the work in the dusty garage and on my dirty patio had inflamed my sinuses. I slept late in the day, but got up for evening church. My sinuses were hurting so I came home and slept on the couch all evening. But I DID call my dad first to say Happy Father’s Day! I got up to do work around the house, did my auditions, made some soup and a sandwich, and watched more “Batman.” It was the longest day of the year, and summer’s here. But I love knowing that from here on out, the days will eventually get shorter and we’re on our way to fall!
And how was YOUR week??!!
VIDEO FROM THE WEEK
Here’s the Youtube version of the new parody song “Jerry Brown You’ve Got to Locate Water” by Stained Freebird. Complete with lyrics. Enjoy!
