RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
During the past week I was researching the artwork of R. Crumb for a project, and I came across this great sketch. R. Crumb was the guy who created the famous “Keep On Truckin” artwork back in the 70’s. But I love the detail of this piece.
After watching the Glen Campbell documentary “I’ll Be Me” all the old songs I used to listen to as a kid came flooding back into my memory. The one that stuck with the most is “Wichita Lineman,” a beautiful piece of work written by the legendary Jimmy Webb, and sung by the amazing Glen Campbell.
Monday the 26th – MOM AND DAD’S MANIC MONDAY! – I got my parents up and around at 10am (my folks have been in town visiting since last Tuesday) so we could be at a session at Voice Trax West at 11am. When we got there, the ISDN box (ISDN is a high quality phone line over which long distance Voice Over sessions are recorded) froze. So it needed to be rebooted. But the producer on the other end went on with other things. It only took a couple of minutes to reboot, but he got impatient and couldn’t wait. So we waited around for 40 minutes until they finished what they were doing on the other end. It was getting frustrating because I had a “hard out” (a definitive release time) at noon for another session in Hollywood. They finally came on the line and I got in the booth to record my three lines. Each line was about one or two words. But we literally did them over and over again. Finally I asked the engineer what time it was. It was 12:10! I had to let the guys on the other end of the ISDN know that I had to bolt. I had already given them tons of ad-libs that they could insert at any point in the commercial, so they were more than covered with options. But they were talking about having me come back in for another session to do more. I’m not sure what they didn’t get in the 6 words I already recorded, (over and over again) but sometimes that’s how it goes. My folks and I made it to Hollywood at 12:30 and went to get some drive-thru lunch at Arby’s. But just my luck…they were closed down that day for filming. Oh well. So I went over to Patches to get ready for the Wells Fargo session. They were able to take me in early, so instead of waiting for 1:00 to roll around, we started at 12:45. The session was done by 1:15 and we were on our way. I told my folks, “Now THAT’S how a session is supposed to go.” We made our way into Toluca Lake and had lunch on the patio at Paty’s. I picked up the mail at my box and headed home to check e-mail. Then it was back in the car and off to Voice Trax West once again for a quick US Airways/American Airlines session. My folks got to see 3 different sessions in a single day. God bless ‘em for hanging in there. I know not all of them were that interesting to be at. I dropped them off at home after the session and I loaded up my lifesize Spider-Man figure into the back of the SUV I had rented to take to Palm Springs. Before I returned the SUV I had one last thing to do that required a good amount of storage space in the back. I needed some extra room in Planet Wallywood for something new, so I decided that my lifesize Spider-Man was no longer tweaking me. Instead of selling it or giving it away, it’s now on permanent loan at a collectible shop in Burbank called Blast From the Past. We got him all set up and he looks totally natural in his new setting, surrounded by all kinds of other neat “nerd” collectibles and toys. I got some gas in the SUV and turned it back into Enterprise. Because of the scheduling snafu last week (read the previous Wally’s Week) they credited me a full day’s rental. I figured that based on the amount of hassle we had gone through, that was fair. I told my folks I wouldn’t be leaving any bad reviews for them on the internet because of that kind gesture. I walked back home and climbed in the Jacuzzi. My folks were pretty tired from the whirlwind week-long trip, so their final night in town we got some food delivered in from Chin Chin and we watched the fabulous Glen Campbell documentary “I’ll Be Me.” My mom was a huge Glen fan when I was growing up and had all his records. My dad had endured a horrible number of years with his dad (my Grandpa Joe) when Gramps was fading away because of the awful disease called Alzheimer’s. So watching the documentary was poignant for them both. We all hit the hay early for an early morning trip to the airport for their trip home.
Tuesday the 27th – FAREWELL FOLKS! – After a short 3 hours of sleep I got up to get the folks’ luggage packed into my Mustang and we headed to the airport. The got on their way and I hit McDonald’s on the way home for some breakfast. I went back to bed and snoozed until noon. When I got up I did some voice tracks for Go 96.3 in Minneapolis, recorded some auditions and sent them to my agent, and answered a few various e-mails. I recorded a bit for the “Ellen” show, and organized my photo files. What a mess they were! It took me the better part of the afternoon and into the evening! I typed out Wally’s Week and then took a break in the Jacuzzi. I did some more work on the computer and then met my assistant Sara for dinner at Little Toni’s. On the way home I picked up some groceries and then went home to do my nightly auditions. I had been working non-stop all day! In order to make up for the Saturday night I lost while in Palm Springs, I made my usual Saturday salad and watched an episode of “The Persuaders.” By the time I got to bed it was 10:30 Wednesday morning. I had been going strong for about 22.5 hours straight!
Wednesday the 28th – HOLY HOTLINE! – Shortly after noon I woke up find the hotline in my bedroom flashing. I had the ringer off but it’s one of those Incredibles phones that lights up when it rings. I answered it and talked to my agent. She had a booking at 5 for me at Warner Brothers studios. It was for more ADR (additional dialogue recording) on a big Disney film. I had done several sessions for it before and they’re calling me back for more. I sprang from bed, checked my e-mails and recorded some more stuff for Go 96.3. I hopped in the car and drove by my effects guy Jim Ojala’s studio to c check on the Michael Myers masks I was having made. (For the full Michael Myers Mask adventure, consult previous entries of Wally’s Week) The paint jobs he did turned out great. My hair guy Sergio Lopez will be coming over on Thursday to style the hair. I headed to my mailbox to get my mail, and then went to Warner to check in. I did about an hour of creature voices and various other ADR on this film, and then stopped by my buddy James’ office to say hello. James works in Post Production Services so it’s always fun to hang out in his office and chat. Particularly if it’s after hours and he’s not being pulled in all different directions with job responsibilities. I got some gas in the Mustang and then drove home to meet up with Sara and watch the debate. When it was all over I napped for about 3 hours. I got up later and fed and walked Roxy, did my auditions, and hit the hay to watch another episode of “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.” on DVD. I got to bed around 8:30am. My hours were all screwed up before, but this past week they’ve REALLY been messed up!
Thursday the 29th – THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG HAIR! – After a short 2.5 hours of sleep, I got up to meet with Sergio so he could start styling the hair on the Michael Myers masks. But after several hours of work things weren’t working out as planned. As Sergio started to style it, the hair was coming off the masks in clumps. I called Jim to ask what type of glue he used to attach the hair. Come to find out the glue he used wasn’t set up to take the rigorous pulling and styling that Sergio had to do in order to obtain the look we were going for. As the hair started coming off, it started taking some of the paint along with it. So I called Jim to come by so we could put our heads together on how to solve this crisis. We decided that we would stop what we’re doing, Jim would remove all the hair, do paint touch-ups, and we’d start all over again. This also gave us the opportunity to use the correct hair for the masks. The original vintage Don Post masks were haired with “crepe hair” or “crepe wool.” It was a very coarse, thick hair that was inexpensive for doing a lot of masks. But the hair Jim put on was a higher quality hair that we’d have to style to make it look like crepe hair. So I decided we’d stop overthinking it and just go back to the original crepe hair like that which was used on the original 70’s era masks. Jim, his wife Beth, Sara and I headed over to Burbank to see a screening of the original “Halloween” on the big screen. They had a great opening interview with John Carpenter, which alone was worth the price of admission, and then the film. But it looked like the film they were running wasn’t film at all. It had no artifacts of film but instead looked like they were running a DVD copy. And it was a bad DVD copy at that; not even the Blu Ray/hi def version. The print was very dark and it was hard to see details. It was overall a very disappointing exercise for hardcore “Halloween” fans like us. But still it was cool seeing it with an audience, which I hadn’t experienced before. After seeing the mask on the big screen, I realized that going back to the original “wispy” crepe hair on the mask was a good idea. When I got home I grabbed a nap and got up later to do my auditions. It’ll be nice to sleep in on Friday.
Friday the 30th – FRIGHTFUL FRIDAY! – The day started with a trip to my seamstress Karyn’s studio to pick up some stuff she had been working on for me. I hit the post office to mail some stuff, and then hit my mailbox to pick up my mail. I stopped by Jim Ojala’s to check on how the hair removal process was going, and then I came home to relax. My pal Jasmine was in the area so she stopped by to say hi. After she left I started in on painting a watercolor concept piece for a meeting I’d be having next week with my pals Bruce Kulick and Elliot Lurie. Bruce has played with KISS and many other bands (currently he’s with Grand Funk), and of course Elliot is the man and voice behind the group Looking Glass. It was fun getting the pens and paper out, coloring it with watercolors and finessing the piece for viewing. I hit the hay to watch “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.” and enjoy a little dinner.
Saturday the 31st – COMIKAZE! – My pal James from Warner had tickets to go to Comikaze with Sara and I, but at the last minute he had something happen at the apartment building he manages, so he wasn’t able to go. He was going to drive, so in his absence Sara and I decided to take Lyft to the convention and forget about the madness of finding parking and walking all the way to the convention. It was perfect! The line of cars to park was huge! We were getting dropped off outside the convention center while the cars waited an hour just to find a parking space! Time is money! It was well worth the cost of Lyft to get us there. We met up with my pal Officer Mark. Our first stop was finding actor David Hedison so he could sign my “Live and Let Die” poster. I’ve had Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto and Gloria Hendry sign it. David’s signature made four. (Now if I could just get Jane Seymour!) We shopped for a while and then headed to Hooters for lunch. Sara and I were beat so we called the Lyft and headed home. I actually napped in the car on the way home! I grabbed a short nap before movie night. We watched two Christopher Lee Dracula movies that had just been released on Blu Ray. The things I had never seen before were amazing! Including Christopher Lee’s wig lace! I never knew his hair was a wig, but apparently he’s totally bald! When everyone left I grabbed a short nap on the couch, and then got up to change all the clocks; setting them back an hour for Dumblight Saving Time. There oughtta be a law against this craziness. It serves absolutely no purpose. It’s been PROVEN to serve no purpose, but yet somebody hasn’t stepped up to abolish it. I worked on the computer for a bit, and I developed a horrible toothache. My teeth had just been checked a few weeks ago and they’re great. But it’s due to an inflamed sinus that’s leaning on the nerve of one of my back teeth. The pain was excruciating. I made my usual Saturday night salad and watched “Persuaders,” but I couldn’t eat on my left side. I watched some news, took some Advil and hit the hay around 11am Sunday morning.
Sunday the 1st – VINTAGE FREBERG! – That Advil PM really knocked me out! I slept until 4, but when I woke up I felt better. The toothache was gone. But the residual effect of the sleep aid was still with me. I walked to evening church with Roxy, and then came home and did a little work. I laid down for a short snooze, but ended up sleeping about five hours! That sore tooth ordeal from the night before really socked it to me! I got up and did my auditions, and then watched another episode of “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.” before bed. It’s getting to the end of the one season series, and I can tell that they aren’t caring much anymore about quality. Lots of mistakes, but a few funny lines. The best thing about it was that my old pal, the late great Stan Freberg was a character named Herbie in the episode! It was great seeing a young Stan Freberg, but it also made me a little sad. The rest of the episode was really pretty bad, and I’m thinking that these last few episodes prior to the end of the series are going to be virtually unwatchable.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
Sara poses with a dog in a Vader costume that I christened “Bark Vader!”
On the street we run into Bat Bum, a character my pal Dave Baumeister and I created together back in 1998. It’s nice to see others taking the concept and embellishing upon it.
Signature number FOUR on my “Live and Let Die” movie poster! David Hedison aka Felix Leiter!
If I could have had a Batman costume like that back in 1966 I would have been the cat’s meow! Great craftsmanship!
Jesus Jedi was the hit of the day! But there’s something not right about Sara flashing “devil horns” in the presence of the king of the Jedi!
I get to chat with my pal Bruce Kulick at his booth.
One of the things I’m seeing more of, are female Riddlers. I LOVE it! This costume was stellar, and the prop cane was amazing!
And this Riddlerette is nice too!
Of course it’s always nice to see an old school Riddler as well!
My Michael Myers mask is back from the painter and is ready to have his hair applied! So far it looks amazing!
I popped the mask on my mannequin just to see how it looks. I’m getting VERY excited to see this completed!
This is my niece Sara dressed up as Wonder Woman for Halloween. What’s weird is, is that her mom (my sister Peggy) dressed up as Wonder Woman back in 1988 when I did a super hero-themed promotion in South Dakota. I guess it’s a generational thing!
