RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
I’ve been on the hunt to find the exact model of vintage clock radio that my grandparents gifted me in the early 70’s. That radio and I were good friends…and virtually inseparable! Many nights I laid awake in my bed with the volume turned really low, trying to get in WLS in Chicago, KAAY in Little Rock, or KFYR in Bismarck. This radio has the same design as the one I had, but I recall mine as having a darker cabinet and a black clock face with glowing hands. I’ll keep looking, but so far this is the closest one I’ve found.
Obviously, with the news of the passing of the “modern day Mozart” Brian Wilson, I (as well as countless others) have had “God Only Knows” on their mind all week. This is roundly considered to be Brian Wilson’s greatest song.
Monday the 9th – BRAND NEW WEEK! – Of the five Gen 5 iPods I own, only one of them wouldn’t update for me recently. You see, anytime you change the hard drive on your computer, the iPod doesn’t recognize the new system and you have to reset the entire thing. Also, when your hard drive dies, you lose all of the songs and playlists you had your iTunes populated with. It’s easy to repopulate it with the music, because you just point it to your music folder. But you have to rebuild each and every playlist you created. Over the past few months I’ve been busy doing that, now that I have a new hard drive. When I had my two instances of hard drive mishaps last year I just left my iPods alone and didn’t update them. But I needed to consult my iPod as a master so I could repopulate all of the playlists on my iTunes. It was tedious, arduous work…but it had to be done. So over the past many months of working on the computer I finally had everything rebuilt. I’ve been working with a guy named Ali who lives back east, and specializes in working on iPods (as well as other Apple products). When I sent one of my players to him for repair, he upgraded the battery and the hard drive. So now instead of just a 30gb drive, I have a 60gb drive (more than I’ll ever need, but useful to have just in case), and the battery should last twice as long as my old one. But the one he sent me wasn’t updating as easily as the old ones. When I plugged the other four into my computer a message came up that said something to the effect of, “This player is synced to another iTunes list and can’t be updated. Do you want to erase it and start over?” I always click YES and it resets the player with my recent upgrades. But this one wouldn’t budge. Ali helped me get it back on track and it synced up beautifully. The 60gb player is what I like to travel with, and since I’ve got a long trip coming up soon, I wanted to have this baby set and ready to go! I walked to the bank to deposit some checks, and then walked across the street to enjoy some lunch on the patio at Art’s Deli. Art’s is a local institution (and one of the few delis left in my area), but frankly I’ve never been in love with the food. It’s “adequate” at best, but hey – any port in a storm. I had some things to mail, and had planned to stop by the post office on the way home, but lo and behold here comes the mailman, walking down the sidewalk. Since I was eating on the patio I said, “Care to be bothered taking some revenue?” He smiled and happily took my letters. That saved me a stop later. I went across the street to Voice Trax West to record some more stuff for American Airlines. After having that gig for about 15 years, it’s always fun to record updates for them. And of course it’s ALWAYS a kick to hear myself on the planes! After the session I walked back home, made some phone calls, and relaxed. Later I did my daily auditions, typed out Wally’s Week, took my nightly WOG (walk/jog) and finished up Wally’s Week.
Tuesday the 10th – TOO DARN BIG! – For a while now I’ve been pondering ways to extricate the life-size Mike and Sulley figures (from “Monsters, Inc.) from my living room to make some room for new figures. I’ve had them for about 25 years and they’re great, but I’m not really into “Monsters, Inc.” that much anymore and I’d like to clear the way for other projects. My first plan was to consign them through my buddy’s Burbank store called “Blast From The Past.” He and his friend came to see them last week, but unfortunately he called today and told me they’re just too darn big for his floorplan. He has room for them on the main floor, but they’re so amazing looking he thought they might get tugged on and ruined if people were able to just walk up and touch them. I agreed. He doesn’t have an area that’s blocked off from public interaction that’s big enough to accommodate them. So now I may try and have a buddy sell them on Facebook marketplace, or even eBay. If that doesn’t work I’ll do some calling around to see if a local children’s hospital wants to take them as a donation. That way I can just take the tax deduction for the year and be done with it. Later I set up my home studio for a session early Wednesday, and then took my nightly WOG.
Wednesday the 11th – A TWO-FER TODAY! – When I finished setting up my home studio I got on-line and did some voice tracks for a promo that will help promote a video game that I’ve been working on for a couple years as a specific character. The SAG-AFTRA video game strike was suspended at noon, so hopefully the business will get back to where it used to be. As we recorded we learned about the passing of Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson. Very sad. When I finished the session I did some work around the house, and then drove the Gran Torino back to my auxiliary garage to swap it out for the Gray Ghost. But it needed gas pretty badly, so I stopped to put in about a half a tank. When I know the car is going to sit for a while I don’t like to leave it with a full tank of gas. I’ve been told that’s bad for it, for some reason. As I was gassing up a young lady asked if it was OK to take a photo. I told her of course it would be OK, and then I started quizzing her about the origins of the car’s design. She said, “Is it Starsky & Hutch?” I was amazed that someone of her age actually knew the show (which was 50 years ago, by the way). I asked her how she knew and she smiled sheepishly and said, “TV Land as a kid.” As I drove it back to the garage another guy (who was slightly older than the young lady) recognized it as the Starsky & Hutch car as well. That always makes me feel great when people get the reference. I put the Gran Torino away until another day, and pulled out of the auxiliary garage with my Rav 4. I got lunch at Burger King, and then headed over to Skylark Studios, the location for my late-afternoon session. As I sat in their parking lot eating my lunch and listening to songs on my tablet a song from Rooney came on. I fell in love with that band last year when I saw them open for Jeff Lynne’s ELO on the tour. Their catchy songs and energy made me an instant fan, and I’m really glad I got to see them four times over the course of 2024. And as luck would have it, the next song was “Evil Woman” by Electric Light Orchestra! So I guess in a way, Rooney was opening for ELO again! The session at Skylark was a short one, only about 29 lines, and Bill the director always lets me do a run of lines, which saves a lot of time. Usually he gets what he needs on the first take, so there’s no reason for a second or third take. In fact, we probably spent more time gabbing on the line than we did actually recording the game! I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some supplies, and then drove home. I was pretty exhausted from the day! I relaxed for a bit, and then later I had a ton of auditions to do. I took my WOG and then spent some time in the anti-gravity chair outside enjoying the night, reflecting and meditating. It seems that my mom is doing much better and is enjoying being home from the hospital. I pray her health holds now.
Thursday the 12th – SMOKES ‘N’ COKES: A GREAT DAY! – Back in May my pal Chris Malmin bought me a nice cigar for my birthday. But things have been so busy that we haven’t had time to enjoy them yet. Today was the day. First we met at Paty’s for some lunch and sunshine on the patio. It was fun catching up. Then he met me at my house, we grabbed a couple of Cokes in glass bottles, and we walked to the center courtyard of the complex to enjoy our day. It was the latter part of the afternoon, and the area was populated with people playing tennis in the tennis court, and people walking their dogs. As fun as it was to watch the tennis match, it was REALLY fun greeting the area doggies who were on their afternoon walks! We saw Oscar, Oshi, and a gorgeous, white (possibly a German Shepherd/Husky mix) named Dog. Dog was quite the lover, and her human said she never barks. However she did whine a little bit to get over to Chris and get some more pets from him. What a great afternoon, and the weather was perfect! I walked back home and cleaned up and relaxed. Later I did my daily auditions and took my nightly WOG. I worked on the computer for a bit, and organized my photo file that I’ll be taking to New York. Because my trip to White Plains and the Undiscovered Realm con will be the first leg of a 10 day trip, I’m having to pack a ton more stuff than I usually do. I fly to New York, and then to Sioux Falls for my children’s cancer charity Voices Against Cancer’s 605 Pop Culture Con, and then I fly home. So I’m having to downsize the number of photos I’m packing and I won’t be able to fly with my usual file box of goodies. I’ll take a quantity of the photos that are the best sellers, but for the more obscure ones I’ll bring them on a flash drive and have them printed-to-order at the convention at the Photo Op booth. There’s usually a company there that has on-site printing (with about 5 printers constantly chugging out photos) so I’ll rely on them to print photos I may need that I didn’t bring a large quantity of.
Friday the 13th – NO DOGS ?! – Friday the 13th started out unlucky, as I found out my mom was admitted back into the hospital, but it got luckier as the day went on. My gal Angi came over and we went over to Chin Chin to grab some dinner. We came back to Planet Wallywood and I was raving about all of the great dogs Chris and I saw the previous day. We walked down to the center courtyard, but it was very quiet. Nobody was playing tennis, and we only saw one doggie being walked. Bummer. Angi’s leaving town for about a week, and just as she’s getting back I’m leaving for 10 days. So I literally won’t be seeing her again until early July. Double bummer. I relaxed for a bit, and later I did my nightly WOG, and spent some time outside in the anti-grav chair. It was nice, quiet, pleasant and relaxing. I have a lot on my mind and it’s good to have some quiet time.
Saturday the 14th – BAD TIMING! – Before my long trip I wanted to see my stylist Andie and get a touch-up on my color. I walked home and relaxed. But later that night I was doing my stretches and felt the familiar pangs of body aches that are consistent with an oncoming flu. UH-OH! Right away I started on extra C, D3, Zinc, Tamiflu and Ivermectin. I can’t be less than a week away from a mega-long trip and be getting sick! I’m gonna beat this thing, if it really is an oncoming flu. I also took some Advil for the aches. Oddly enough it was really mild, and I actually still felt pretty good. The body aches were VERY minor, but those things can exacerbate rather quickly. I worked on the computer organizing my packing lists for the upcoming trip, and then took my nightly WOG. I also got to spend some relaxing, quiet time outside in the anti-grav chair. A few days ago I picked up a hard-sized 3-ring binder case that zips up, and I think it will hold all of the photos I need to take to New York safely. It also has room for all my pens. I have two large suit bags that I’ll take, and the photo case will fit nicely in the bottom of one of them. I think I’m getting this thing figured out. I made my usual Saturday Night Super Salad and watched an episode of “Boris Karloff’s Thriller” that was actually quite decent!
Sunday the 15th – SLEEP IT AWAY! – Since I’m under the premise that a flu is trying to take hold, I took the opportunity to sleep all day. But aside from the slight body aches I feel pretty good. I’m wondering if it even IS the flu. Or maybe it’s something else!? I don’t really have any other symptoms of a flu; coughing, sneezing, stuffy nose, etc. So we’ll see. I’d like to nip it in the bud while it’s still fresh, and all the medication I’m taking should do the trick nicely. Unfortunately I found out that my mom is not doing that well in the hospital, so I may need to alter my upcoming travel arrangements somewhat. But my sisters are keeping me informed very well about the ongoing situation. We’ll know more when some test results come in. Later I took my nightly WOG, and then I tried to spend some nice, quiet time in the anti-grav chair. But it was proving to be impossible as there were a lot of sirens going on around town, as well as big trucks going back and forth at the studio near my house. So it was too noisy to enjoy any quiet, meditative time. I came back inside and wrote out the basic schedule for my upcoming mega-trip.
And how was YOUR week??!!
