September 25 – October 01 (2023)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I ran across this photo recently of me with two other zombies in “The Return of the Living Dead II” back in 1987. I’m the one in the center. As it was still light outside, we were waiting for darkness to arrive so we could start shooting. Good times!

This is a bit of an obscure song, but “Just a Ride” from Jem is a…well…gem!

Monday the 25th – MARVELOUS, MUSICAL MONDAY! – A little work needed to be done on my Count replica Muppet, and then I got ready and headed to the Smoke House to have dinner with my friends Edi and Elliot Lurie, and our soon-to-be-Rhode-Island-resident friend Dr. Patt. I’ve known Dr. Patt for 26 years and he’s not only one of the best doctors I’ve ever had, but he’s an amazing musician who can play (and very well) virtually any instrument! When we get the Rock ‘n’ Roll Doc along with Elliot Lurie (writer and singer of the hit song “Brandy”) it’s always a fun time. In fact, the Doc and Elliot have played shows together before! We had a great “goodbye” dinner, and on our way out I spied my Voice Actor pal Keith Szarabajka in the bar with a pal. I went in to say hi and he introduced his buddy to me. It was legendary music producer Shel Talmy, producer of the songs “My Generation” for the Who, “You Really Got Me” for the Kinks, and many David Bowie tunes! WOW! I introduced Elliot and the Doc to Shel and Elliot said, “I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!” Elliot was very familiar with his work. Legends! When I got home my friend Amanda stopped over to say hi, as she was in the area and I hadn’t seen her in a while. Later I did my nightly auditions, worked on the Count’s head some more, and finished up making the back of his head. This unique head shape of his is no easy task, and it’s starting to become one of the most difficult puppets I’ve ever made. But I knew it would be challenging when I started on it. I took a WOG (walk/jog) through the complex in the deep of the night, and then spent some (brief) time in the anti-grav chair relaxing and cooling down. I wrote Wally’s Week and then made a salad and watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk” on Blu-ray.

Tuesday the 26th – “WE ARE THE SONS OF THE DESERT!” – Late in the afternoon my buddy Rob Richards came over. I first met Rob back in 1973 or 1974 when he was a youth leader at my church in Aberdeen, South Dakota. We instantly bonded over our love of silent films (particularly Laurel and Hardy) and how he could accompany the silent films on organ or piano. I urged him to move to L.A. back in the mid-90s and he’s been here ever since. Now he plays regular gigs at the Magic Castle, and is the main featured organist (and has been for years) at Disney’s El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Rob has always talked about attending a Sons of the Desert meeting (the Laurel and Hardy fan club) but the meetings are few and far between, and he’s been very, very busy. But he was able to make this one. We drove to Barone’s to have dinner before the meeting and we met up with my pal Dr. Alan Cowen, who has been a SOTD member for a long time. We had amazing pizza and then headed to the meeting. Rob always has his doggie along whose name is Baby, but for the purpose of the Laurel and Hardy meeting we renamed her Laughing Gravy. (See the movie “Laughing Gravy” and you’ll see why) It was a blast! We only stayed for the first part of the meeting because I wanted to hit Target across the street before they closed. So did Rob, as they’re the only place that carried some of the dog treats he likes for Baby. I mean…uh…Laughing Gravy. Target is now the only place I’ve been able to find Tombstone pizzas, as they are no longer available in the usual grocery stores. Red Baron pizza seems to be taking over and I don’t really have a taste for those. I also got some cool Halloween cereal; Apple Jacks with marshmallows, and a cabinet bin that seemed (at least according to its dimensions marked on the side) like it was going to be a perfect fit for my shelving units in the Chaney Room. The cabinet bins I bought a month or so ago at Ikea fit inside each compartment very well, but there was still about 3 inches of space above them. These little bins I found at Target are exactly the same width and length as the Ikea bins, but they’re lower profile. So I’m hoping they’ll fit on top of the Ikea bins to utilize all of my storage space. When I got back home I tried them out and it was a PERFECT fit! It was like they were made for those Ikea bins! They stacked on top of them perfectly! Now I need to get 9 more of them! I showed Rob some of the stuff in my collection I had acquired since he was last over (which was quite a while ago!) and he loved seeing Planet Wallywood. Later I took a WOG, sat in the anti-grav chair and watched the moon set behind the horizon, and went inside to get some stuff ready to mail. I had a VERY busy Wednesday ahead!

Wednesday the 27th – COUNTING CANINES! – First stop was the post office so I could mail off a bunch of things. First, I had four broken Mego action figure bodies that I’m sending to a specialist for repair. There is a certain configuration of rubber bands you need to make them like new again, and Dr. Mego is the one to make that happen. I also sent off two signed Sonic posters from the event the Sonic the Hedgehog Voice Actors did a few weeks ago in Burbank. I sent the posters, along with a list of which signatures were on the posters, to my parents so they could deliver them to my pal Dr. Doom in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the next Voices Against Cancer auction. And I also sent a signed Riddler photo to a fan in Australia. Normally I avoid sending stuff out of the country because of the hassle, but it was his birthday so I made the extra effort. Particularly since I found out that a signed Riddler picture was what he specifically requested for his birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHANIEL! On my way out of the post office I saw my pal Grant Bacciocco, one of the Henson puppeteers I usually see doing Puppet Up! at the Henson studios. I’ve known Grant for a long time so it was fun to catch up. He has a great podcast called Under the Puppet if you ever want to have some fun listening to a great podcast. I had a nice lunch on the patio at Paty’s, and then picked up a package at my box. It was a cool Adam West-themed t-shirt done by an artist. It’s the usual Batman TV logo, but instead of saying Batman in the center, it says Adam West! I saw the artist wearing it on Instagram and just had to have one! I drove to Foam Mart to get a 2” thick piece of Styrofoam to act as a base for my Ikea LED lighted sphere in the Tranquility Zone, and I got a big sheet of 1/8” thick L200 to use for finger loops for puppets. Not sure if I’ll ever use that much for finger loops, but you never know where it will come in handy. I stopped by Krispy Kreme to get a half dozen donuts to go, and then I hit Target to buy 9 more of those nifty little cabinet bins. I stopped over to the studios of Alex In Wonderland to pick up the Count body. The tux she made for him turned out great. I need the body for a few days to make sure the head is in proportion with the rest of the body. It’s a “full picture” kinda thing. As I drove around I had fun counting doggies that I saw, and doing it in the Count’s voice (getting geared up for the Son of Monsterpalooza convention in a few weeks!). “One! One doggie! Two! Two doggies!” Then I stopped by my seamstress Shelley’s house to pick up 3 new bowling shirts she made! I can’t wait to wear them in a few weeks at the convention! “Three, four, five! Five doggies!” Then I headed home and counted some more doggies. By the time I got home I had seen 13! “13 BEAUTIFUL DOGGIES! HAHAHAHAHA!” Stuff like this really makes me laugh for some reason. Later I did my nightly auditions, took a WOG, spent some anti-grav time outside, and worked the rest of the night on the Count’s head. It wasn’t looking right at first. As I always say, “In puppet making 1/32” can make all the difference.” So I sliced slivers here and there out of the foam head and re-glued them. The contours of the head were slowly but surely looking better. It’s a very tough head shape to copy. Maggie is coming over on Thursday to start work on making the head covering, so I had to work all night to complete it. I built the lower jaw and put the two mouth plates together; top and bottom. I also made the pattern for his pointed ears. I tweaked the nose pattern a bit, as it was looking much too big. I know the Count has a big schnozz, but my initial pattern was TOO big! I made a salad and watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk” before bed.

Thursday the 28th – THE COUNT-DOWN IS ON! – Luckily I didn’t have to be awake until late afternoon for a chiropractor appointment. The monocle I ordered for The Count had arrived at my box and it’ll work perfectly! I may need Alex in Wonderland’s help to figure out how to attach it to the head properly. When I got back home Maggie arrived and we started working. First I had her sew a few patches on a jacket I’ve had since the 80s. It’s a jacket full of pinback buttons and patches I’ve been collecting up over the years. It’s actually quite heavy with all the metal pins on it. Some of the pins are vintage 80s! We talked about the head covering for The Count and I gave her a rough pattern I had made out of muslin, but she wasn’t familiar with the typical “Muppet” pattern for head coverings. When the Muppets first adopted their signature look (originally created by Don Sahlin) there was something unique about their design that made them look like they’re always smiling. The way the fabric is laid on to the head creates a “smile fold” in the corners of their mouths, which makes them look like they’re always smiling. Kermit, Ernie, the Count, etc. all have this feature. It’s a tricky pattern, but it looks great. And it’s VERY signature Muppets. So I gave Maggie some junk fleece and my rough muslin pattern and suggested she work on it at home. She’s never done a head pattern like this one before, so it’ll be good for her to learn how it’s done through trial and error. Later I did my nightly auditions, and took a WOG. As I rounded the final loop to head back home, I saw something ahead of me that didn’t look like a cat, or a possum, or a raccoon (much of the typical wildlife I usually see that time of night). As I got closer I saw the black body, and the white stripe. Yup. It was a skunk! Luckily it didn’t see me, and luckily I didn’t SMELL him! I spent some brief time in the anti-grav chair outside, but I came back inside to make The Count’s ears out of foam rubber. I straightened up for the maids, who would be coming Friday, and I set up for a quick Christoween photo shoot. Yup, it’s that time of year again! Hard to believe!

Friday the 29th – PEEK-A-MOON AND THE STUDIO ‘COON! – While I waited for the maids to arrive I did a little work on the computer. After they finished I drove over to Alex In Wonderland to return The Count’s body to her for final tweaks. Her husband Mike had molded some perfect eye shapes for me. On the way home I stopped by Del Taco and got a burger and fries. Yup, the best fast food burger in L.A. is at a taco place! Hard to believe! When I got back home I relaxed and did an audition. I started experimenting with The Count’s considerable nose. The first one I cut out of L200 worked pretty well. I made some tweaks and made three more. The winners were the first one and the fourth one I made! But I’ll probably end up using the fourth one on the final puppet. I took my nightly WOG (my blood pressure has been GREAT lately!) and even though it was cloudy out I spent some time in the anti-grav chair. I watched the moon play peek-a-boo with me as the cloud cover occasionally thinned out enough so I could see earth’s natural satellite. As I looked across the way at the movie studio by my house, I saw something walking along the wall. Since it was only a silhouette I could only surmise that it was a raccoon. The shape and the way it walked definitely looked like a raccoon. So obviously the studio has a resident raccoon that comes out at night and digs through the studio garbage and eats the leftovers from A-list celebrities. I don’t know if he knows how good he has it! It was breezy and cool out, but still very pleasant. I came back inside to work on The Count’s nose. Now I have to figure out how the eyebrow wires are embedded into the back of the nose. If that doesn’t work, I have to figure out a way to attach the wires for his eyebrows to the face of the puppet. As I look at several methods, I honestly think it’s just easier to attach them to the inside of the nose, even though my buddy Drew says his contacts at “Sesame Street” say they’re embedded on the head itself. Choices choices choices. I made some spaghetti and watched an episode of “The Incredible Hulk.” I only have a few episodes left in the third season, and then I think I’ll move to Boris Karloff’s “Thriller” DVD set.

Saturday the 30th – TOUCH-UP AND TRIM! – It was that time again, so I walked over to my stylist’s salon for a touch up on my color and a trim. I walked back home and my pal Edi came over to shoot some small videos for my Christoween page. Then I relaxed, did a little work around the house, and later made my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and enjoyed an episode of “The Saint” before bed.

Sunday the 1st – TWO! TWO ROUND EYES! – The majority of the day I relaxed and rested, as I usually do on Sundays, but later I got busy on making the eyes for The Count. I made his eyelid and pupil pattern, and got busy sanding and perfecting the resin eye pieces that my buddy Mike made for me. I sanded one down to where I needed it to be, and then used my calipers to make sure the second eye piece was sanded down to match. I’ll prime and paint them on Monday when it’s warmer outside. Though I had several options for mounting The Count’s eyebrow wires on his head, I settled on one option that seemed pretty workable. But I’m still thinking that it would probably be better just to mount them on the inside of the nose piece. Even though the real Muppets don’t make them that way, for my purposes it would probably work better. I looked at the fabric I’m going to use for the eyelids and put it up against the fabric I’m going to use for the head. The eyelid fabric is slightly more magenta than the head fabric, which will give it that more “retro” look I’m going for. In the early renditions of The Count, I liked how the texture and color of the eyelid fabric was different than his head fabric, to set his eyes out from the rest of his face. Nowadays they use the same fabric for his eyes and his face, and his eyes just kind of “disappear” into his head. But I like that retro look better. I think the colors I have will be amazing. And oddly enough, the more magenta colored fabric was a total mistake. When Alex dyed that particular kind of fleece to get the lavender for the count, it ended up coming out more magenta-toned. I told her I’d keep it and use it on his eyes. It’ll be perfect! As it’s now much colder in L.A., I bundled up and took my WOG. I did spend a little time in the anti-grav chair, but it was a bit chilly. I had been toying around with the idea of “sliders and dogs” for dinner. I had some of those buffalo chicken nuggets from Denny’s, and I thought I might put them on the little King’s Hawaiian dinner rolls with some melted cheese and ranch dressing and make buffalo sliders. I also made some hot dogs on the grill and had an amazing “sliders and dogs” dinner while watching another episode of “The Incredible Hulk!” I’ll DEFINITELY be having these again!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK