RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

As a Gene Wilder fan, I just couldn’t resist reposting this meme I found!

One of the songs I like to hum while I’m taking my nightly WOG is “Heart of the Night” by Poco. This is a beautiful song!

 

Monday the 10th – BLINDS BLAHS! – When I got up I called the local place that sells blinds and asked them about my broken cord. They called it a “continuous cord,” because it runs as a loop through a little gear mechanism that lowers and raises the blinds. Since the continuous cord broke, I need to see if they can repair it and replace it into the gear mechanism. They said I’d have to take the blinds down (they’re 93” long!) and bring them into the shop. Good thing I have the Gray Ghost this week, as the rolled up blinds will fit nicely. I looked up how to remove “honeycomb blinds” from their suspension clip on YouTube. I went upstairs to the Tranquility Zone and removed the head unit from the suspension clips, bound the blinds to the head unit with the broken cord, and loaded it into the Gray Ghost. I called my A/V guy Brandon to see about getting my downstairs system equipped with Disney + so I could see the new Jim Henson documentary called “Idea Man,” and then headed over to the blinds place. Unfortunately, as soon as I removed them from my Rav, the owner of the company could see the problem. The blinds are so old that the company no longer sells or services them, so they’re basically junk. Even though the blinds themselves are in good shape, and it’s just the continuous cord that needs repaired and restrung, it’s hopeless. So, $1,000 later, I’m the owner of a new set of blinds that they’ll come to install in about three weeks. I wasn’t too depressed about it though, as this was about the fourth time the cable had broken, and the new blinds I purchased are cordless. They have a little motor inside the head unit that allows me to raise or lower the blinds with a little handle. Sweet! I was notified that my new glasses had FINALLY come in, so I high-tailed it over to my eye doctor’s office. It’s taken quite a long time for them to come in, because the first set of prescription sunglasses I ordered were made incorrectly. Instead of the gradient lenses I ordered, they made them regular sunglass lenses. Nope. The other pair of glasses I ordered are “progressive;” which allows me to better see things in the distance through the top of the lenses, and it allows me to read close-up stuff through the bottom of the lenses. My up-close vision is OK, but not quite clear enough to read effectively. My distance vision was aided through Lasik surgery over 25 years ago, but over time the clarity diminishes somewhat. I don’t need glasses to see most stuff in the distance, but I do like to use them while driving just to tweak the clarity up a half notch. I picked up the glasses and sped off to my box to pick up some packages. I found some great Kermit the Frog fabric on eBay so I bought 4 yards of it to have my seamstress Shelley make a new bowling shirt for me. About a week or so ago a memory was unlocked inside my brain about the sugar dispenser we had when I was a kid. It was aqua blue plastic, made by Tupperware, that has an opening on one end for a teaspoon, and a spot on the other end to pour the sugar out. I loved that thing. As a random search I put the words TUPPERWARE SUGAR VINTAGE in the eBay search engine and the exact piece came up! Several of them, in fact. I bought two of them right away, and the first one arrived today. It looks just like I remember it! I’m gonna clean this baby up and use it! There was plenty of sunshine outside, and so it wouldn’t be wasted, I headed to Paty’s to enjoy a salad on the patio and drink up some sunshine. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. I spoke with my pal Tyler on the phone (he’s the Laurel & Hardy expert who recently sold me the original fez from “Sons Of The Desert,”) and we had a good, long conversation. I changed shirts and headed over to the Universal Studios Citywalk to meet with my friend Valerie Perez for dinner and dessert. We finished our meal at Buca Di Beppo, and then we ran over to some of the stores on Citywalk that we wanted to hit. First stop was the pop-up Universal monster store called Production Central. Then we ran over to the boutique where I got Val a day-glo Universal hoodie, and I bought a button-down shirt for my pal Dan Roebuck. The shirt is made of material that features a lot of the old vintage Universal Studios logos – perfect for guys like Dan and me. I bought myself one several weeks ago and made a vow to get one for Danny if I was on the Citywalk again soon. Then we got over to Menchie’s to get a couple of Dole Whips just before they closed. Whew! It was a blast sitting on the Citywalk eating our Dole Whips and watching the people walk by. Then, as usual, I had a craving for movie theater popcorn. We went into the AMC and I bought some buttery popcorn to munch on while I walked Val back to her car. When I got back home I did some auditions, and then went on my nightly WOG. Valerie suggested that I increase my distance gradually and I thought that was a good idea. So I expanded my route so it’s now a mile and a quarter. Eventually I’ll try to get it up to a mile and a half, and eventually two miles. I spent some time outside in the anti-gravity chair thinking and meditating, and then I came back inside. But as I walked up to close my front door (the screen door was shut to let the night air into my house) I saw something outside my door. It was a pesky neighborhood cat who had come to challenge Spook. Luckily, Spook was asleep and was none the wiser. I talked to the cat nicely and told him to go away, and he seemed pretty nice. But then he hissed and I yelled at him. Hopefully he’s gone for good. My cat Spook always hates when cats come up to the screen door in the summertime when the heavy door is open. I sprayed the entire front porch area with Stay Away, a cat repellant. But I put some soapy water in a spray bottle for future use in case the pest comes back. He’ll get some soapy water sprayed on his fur. I sat down and typed Wally’s Week and called it a day.

Tuesday the 11th – A CREATIVE CONSORTIUM! – It was one of those days when I got up really late. I picked up a package at my box, and it was the other Tupperware sugar dispenser. This one was a little bit nicer than the first one I got, as a lot of the original shine was still on it. Apparently the former owner hand-washed it and didn’t put it in the dishwasher much. I told my mom about it and she said she always loved that sugar bowl. I told her I’d send it to her and she was elated! I’ll send her the nicer one. Early in the evening I met my pal Dan Roebuck for dinner at Bob’s Big Boy to give him his new Universal Studios shirt. We had talked about trying a different place, as opposed to the places we usually go to eat, but we eventually settled on Bob’s Big Boy as it never disappoints. While we were eating in a big booth by the window, I saw a guy wandering around outside in an orange cap. There’s only one guy I know who wears orange caps…and that’s my pal Drew Massey. Drew’s involved in a lot of things, and works on the Henson project “Puppet Up!” from time to time. He’s helped me out on a bunch of puppet projects of my own. I excused myself from the table and headed outside to hail Drew. I told him to come in and meet Danny. Oddly enough, Drew was there to meet a mutual pal of ours named Sam Freiberger, who was a writer on the “Sonic Boom” series. Sam’s a young go-getter with a lot of irons in the fire, and he and Drew were meeting on a project they were developing. Pretty soon, in walks Sam! I love when odd things like this happen. As we were sitting at the table chatting, an old pal named Frankie came over to say hi. He ran the Silent Movie Theatre back in the old days when I was renting the theatre for a lot of private movie parties. It was so great being surrounded by all these wonderful, creative people that I was getting over-exuberant and loud. I apologized for my joyful boisterousness to the tables next to us. Soon the guy that Drew and Sam were there to meet arrived, and Dan and I took our leave. What fun. There are no accidents in life. Dan and I were meant to be there for some reason. It would be great to work on a project someday with all these talented blokes! Since JoAnn was still open for another hour or so, I went to the store to buy some contrast fabric for my new Kermit the Frog bowling shirt. I also had time to get over to CVS to make some photo prints for my photo album project. But it was just my luck – the ribbon on the printer gave out as I had 5 photos left to print. They got the ribbon changed and I got my photos and took off. Later I took my nightly, extended WOG, and spent some time in the anti-grav chair outside. I’m pondering making a “Travel Cookie,” a Cookie Monster that I can travel with, but I checked my supply of fur in the garage and I don’t have enough for a second puppet. I’m not crazy about the idea of traveling with the one I made back in 2020, so I’m going to make a second one as a back-up. I’ll have to do some looking around on-line to see if the fur I used even still exists. Honestly I’m not that hopeful, as sometimes manufacturers stop making a run of their product after a certain time. But I’ll do some detective work. Of all the Muppet replicas, Cookie is the easiest one to make, as he’s basically just a bag with eyes.

Wednesday the 12th – GOING THE DISTANCE! – My seamstress Shelley told me to bring the fabrics over to her place so she could get started on the new bowling shirt, so I drove by her place, and then went to the local UPS store so I could send off the Tupperware sugar dispenser to my mom, along with some signed photos from Dan Roebuck for the upcoming silent auction at this July’s Voices Against Cancer event in Sioux Falls. My folks will hand deliver the signed photos to Dr. George’s office so he can file them with the other auction items. I’m sure proud of how our little children’s cancer charity has grown! I can’t wait to get back there for the event with my “travel” Muppets. I hit Paty’s for a salad on the patio again, and then headed home to record my nightly auditions. Later I worked around the house and did some photo album work. I’m starting to run out of supplies (temporary double-stick tape and page protectors) so I’ll need to restock soon. I’ve got the first two photo albums fully populated, and I’m starting in on my third. I just need to go back through the first two albums to do some tweaking of the narrative. I took my nightly WOG. The extra distance is working out well, and soon I’ll be expanding my route even further. I spent some time enjoying a cold iced tea in the anti-grav chair, and then I came back inside to work on the photo albums some more. My Sioux Falls buddy Dave Baumeister is coming to stay with me for a few days in early July, so I’m hoping to have 2, maybe 3, photo albums completed for him to look through. He was with me many times during those early L.A. days, so I’m thinking he would enjoy the memories as well. I’m very happy with the progress I’m making so far!

Thursday the 13th – SUMMER EXERCISE! – When I say that 11:30am came early, I’m not joking. I stayed up all night working on the photo albums, but I needed to be up early to meet my pal Drew Massey for lunch at a neighborhood eatery. The restaurant was too far to walk without showing up as a sweaty mess, so I pumped up the tires on my bicycle and biked over. It was great having a fun lunch outside on a gorgeous day. I had intended to bike over to some stores to do some more errands, but the seat was annoying me for some reason. I decided to park the bike and walk to my errands. First I hit CVS to have some more photos printed, and then I headed to GNC to get some supplements. Since GNC is right next door to my favorite cigar store, I decided to stop in and pick up a few nice cigars to enjoy during the forthcoming, warm summer nights. It was such a fantastic day, I decided to enjoy one on the walk home. There are certain wonderfully-time events that happen in my life from time to time that I call “having a moment.” It’s when everything going on converges into one special time that I’ll always remember. This one seemed like it came right out of a movie, complete with a musical underscore. On my route home there’s a bridge that crosses the “L.A. River.” It’s not really a river inasmuch as it’s an overflow canal that keeps the area from flooding during heavy rains. About halfway down the bridge there’s a little divot that allows you to go off the walking path and overlook the wash. It’s a pretty fantastic view when the wash is filled with rushing water. But I stood there with my arms resting on the rails, enjoying the last of my nice cigar, while the soon-to-be setting sun shone on my face (yes, I was wearing my new shades!). My music device started randomly playing a song that provided the perfect soundtrack for the moment I was having. The song “The Sun Will Shine On You” by Jeff Lynne’s ELO started up, and I just chuckled to myself. It was all so perfect. The cigar, the gorgeous day, the song, and the sun shining on me. Beautiful! It was truly an anointed moment! When I got home I felt very tired, but good. In addition to biking about 2 miles, I walked 2 miles afterwards. So I really got my exercise in! I hit the hay for a while to rest, and was awakened by my doorbell ringing at 11:30pm. I thought that was odd, so I just ignored it. However, if somebody I knew was in trouble, maybe I should get up and answer it. I first checked my phone to see if somebody had texted me, and it was my pal Amanda, who was in town passing through. I thought she’d be passing through on Friday, so when I got her text stating that she was here, I was flummoxed. Of course I called her back and let her in right away. It was totally my fault! I didn’t read her initial email well enough, and mistakenly thought she’d be in my area on Friday night. So we drove over to Denny’s to grab some late-night food so she could enjoy the rest of her drive back down south with a full tummy. She also put a load of laundry in my washer while we were out eating. After she left I spent the rest of the night doing photo album work, and rearranging some aspects of the narrative which didn’t fit the proper chronology of the experience. Getting the details just right on all this is very tough and tedious, but necessary. And it’s really fulfilling when it all comes together nicely. But it seems that just when I think I have one book finished, something else pops out at me that needs changing. Will these EVER be finished?

Friday the 14th – OH YEAH! THOSE MUSCLES! – After all the physical activity I enjoyed on Thursday, my body reminded me that some of those muscles I used haven’t been used in a while. And my body wasn’t very polite in its reminder either. So I rested most of the day. I spent most of the night working on the photo albums again, and little by little they’re developing into something I’m really proud of. During my nightly WOG (and subsequent time in the anti-grav chair) I remembered some photos I had taken back in 1973 when I was working on a James Bond Super 8 film. At the time I was obsessed with the paperback book “Roger Moore’s James Bond Diary,” which detailed the shooting days of his first 007 film “Live And Let Die.” It was really my first foray into learning how films were made, and I was shocked to learn that (unlike a play) the film doesn’t need to be shot in chronological order. So I decided to write my own “James Bond diary” as we were working on our little Super 8 home movie. As I remembered what was in the book, I recalled that there must be about 24 photos in there that I haven’t scanned and immortalized in the digital realm. But the book is in a box full of other memories, stashed far away in a corner of my garage. I would make it a point to pull all of the junk in that corner of the garage out of the way and delve into the box of memories to see what’s in there, and to retrieve my James Bond diary. That…would be a HUGE undertaking!

Saturday the 15th – MY NEW BEST FRIEND…MMMORGAN FAIRCHILD! YEAH! THAT’S THE TICKET! – As I continue to dig into my collection of negatives that I’ve amassed over the years, I will occasionally find a set of negatives for which I have no companion prints. So that means I have to take them over to Harry’s Camera to have the negatives scanned to digital, and have each image printed for my photo albums. I had several batches of negatives that I needed to have scanned and printed, so I headed over to Harry’s to drop them off. Then I stopped by my box to get some packages. Some sample fur I ordered for my new “Travel Cookie” arrived, but the texture wasn’t right, and the color was too dark. But I also got my Fizzgig puppet that I bought on eBay. A while back, Think Geek released a working puppet of the adorable Fizzgig character from “The Dark Crystal.” I didn’t get on that train initially (I don’t remember ever hearing about its initial release for some reason) but through the magic of eBay all that stuff is now accessible. The prices on all the listings seemed rather high, but one seller made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, so I bought it. I’m glad it did. This puppet is fantastic! I went over to Paty’s to meet my pal Edi for lunch and enjoy the hot day! Just as we were about ready to leave, a familiar face walked by our table and sat down at a table behind us. I started up a conversation with her about the cool rock t-shirt she was wearing, and we began conversing about other stuff. Edi and I recognized her as actress Morgan Fairchild right away, and as it turns out, she’s REALLY nice! She had all sorts of great stories about working in the rock and roll world when her husband owned a sound and lighting company that provided equipment for all the greats; Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, McCartney, etc. Honestly, I was starting to think she should write a book about all these experiences, as people who know her for her acting work may not know about her terrific stories in the rock world! Her food arrived and Edi and I took our leave so she could eat in peace. But before we left she asked my name and asked if I was a musician. I told her I was a Voice Actor and singer, but wasn’t a celebrity like she was. I’m sure I’ll be seeing her there again someday, and hopefully she’ll have more great stories! On the way home I stopped to get some groceries, and then dropped them off at home. I drove over to CVS to get some more photos printed, and then I went to Staples to buy a new office chair and more printer paper. Since JoAnn now has their Halloween stuff out, I dropped by to purchase a few more glass skulls they had for sale. I bought one the other day and loved it so much I bought more. These glass skulls have swirling LED lights inside them that project a light pattern on the ceiling above them. I wanted to get three more before they all sold out. I also picked up a few small black light skeletons. I phoned in a pizza-to-go from Barone’s, and went over to pick it up. I got back home and cleaned up, and enjoyed dinner in bed while watching Svengoolie’s presentation of “Pit and The Pendulum.” I hadn’t ever seen that movie in its entirety, and it was GREAT! I snoozed for a bit, and then got up later to enjoy my nightly WOG and subsequent anti-grav time. When I came back inside I mounted the black light skeletons in my Tranquility Zone, and started working with the Fizzgig display. I stuffed him with a plastic to-go container I had lying around (it fit perfectly!) and took him into my bathtub and turned him upside down. This way all of his hair would fuzz out, and I could spray it and freeze it into place. The puppet’s hair was looking a little too smooth. I did it in the bathtub so I could just wash down the overspray very easily. Now it’s all wild and kinky like in the “Dark Crystal” film. I built a little stand for him out of armature wire, and built a little support for his front legs out of foam rubber. I put him in a little compartment of one of the shelving units in the Tranquility Zone and he looks fantastic! I made a salad and watched the documentary on Jim Henson called “Idea Man.” It was truly amazing, and moved really fast! The one hour and 47 minute runtime seemed more like a half hour! But then again, I’m really into the subject matter.

Sunday the 16th – SUMMER’S COMIN’! – Sunday is my usual “crash day,” but it was difficult because it was so hot. I got up mid-afternoon to check emails and do a little work. I would have turned on the A/C, but by the time the house cooled off it would be evening. I went back to bed for a while, and then got up later to do more work on the photo albums. I’ve really started organizing the different categories quite well, and it’s really helped me when I’m trying to determine the narrative of the books. I got stuff in my house ready for the carpet cleaners, who were coming on Monday at noon. I combed through my monthly bank statement for my personal accounts, and reconciled all of the receipts for the month. I did an audition, and then took my nightly WOG. The new, longer distance is working quite well. I think I may stick with this route for another couple of weeks, and then go a bit farther. I enjoyed relaxing under an overcast sky in my anti-grav chair. I came back inside, did a few last-minute things, and hit the hay. Busy week ahead!

And how was YOUR week?!?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

My buddy Dan loves his new Universal Studios 60th anniversary shirt!

Fizzgig looks right at home in his little compartment!

Spook loves the misting device!

Pay no attention to me. I’m just in the Halloween section of JoAnn’s.

I tried to get sunglasses that look like the ones Jeff Lynne wears in ELO.

Core memory unlocked! Using this thing to pour sugar on my Post Fortified Oat Flakes when I was a kid is very fresh in my mind!

Sing it with me…Pour some sugar on meeee!