August 18 – August 25 (2025)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

We were just talking about the box office receipts for various James Bond films the other day, and lo and behold, THIS popped up in my social media feed! I swear these computers are listening to us! WEIRD!

The music they played in the hotel lobby at the Hilton in Houston was fantastic, and “Killer Queen” by Queen was stuck in my head when I went up to my room to pack. It’s a great song to sing while you’re packing to head back home, oddly enough.

Monday the 18th – WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?! – My pal Sara Raftery joined me for lunch at Paty’s, and I was making note of the fact that just one week earlier, I was there with my new friends Robert Luna, his daughter Genevieve and his father-in-law Pepe. We had lunch before they came to my house to help me move my Monsters, Inc. figures to his van for their new home in Las Vegas. Just after I mentioned that to her, I saw a familiar van pull through an alley behind Paty’s. It was Robert and Genevieve! I flagged them down and asked them to come join us! Of all the weird coincidences! But then again, I’ve never really believed in coincidences. I went to my box to pick up some packages, which included a bunch of vintage bow ties I bought on eBay for my Stan Laurel mannequin, and a new mannequin for the life-size Darth Vader exhibit I’m making. When I got back home I couldn’t wait. I set up the mannequin to see how it would look. I put the cloak, cape and helmet on the mannequin to size it up. Fantastic! The only thing is, the cape has been tailored to my height, and the mannequin is slightly taller than I am. So it wasn’t quite long enough. Vader’s cape sweeps the floor. Once the figure is finished I’m going to have a new cape made to size. But it’s going to look amazing! My pal Kelly Delcambre is going to come over someday and help me “buff” up the mannequin so it fills out the body suit nicely. I recorded my daily auditions, relaxed a little bit, typed out Wally’s Week, and then took my nightly WOG (walk/jog). I spent some time outside afterwards in the anti-gravity chair just chilling and enjoying the night. I sorted through my photo case to get my inventory ready for this weekend’s Nostalgia Con in Houston. I came back inside and typed out more Wally’s Week, and then did a little packing for my trip. I made a salad and settled in to watch the third episode in the second season of “Ersan Kuneri” on Netflix. This is the Turkish comedy that I dubbed in English last year. But unlike the last time I tried to stream something, and got a ton of audio dropouts, I turned off my computer downstairs so nothing would compete with the Wi-Fi signal. My pal Sara has since told me that shutting off the Wi-Fi access on my cell phone would help too. The episode streamed pretty well with only one small audio dropout. I guess it must be a bandwidth issue.

Tuesday the 19th – HOUSTON HERE I COME! – Most of the day I spent relaxing and marshalling my energy for the weekend. Later I recorded my auditions and packed a little more. But I was craving Little Toni’s pizza, so I phoned up Sara and picked her up so we could go get some dinner. I came back home, did some more auditions, relaxed a bit, packed my carry-on for the flight, did my nightly WOG, and enjoyed a nice, clear night under the stars in my anti-gravity chair.

Wednesday the 20th – READY FOR LIFT-OFF! – After packing all day to get ready for Nostalgia Con Houston, my house-sitter Emily came by. We hit Paty’s late in the evening for dinner and closed them down. We got back to the house, Emily got settled in the Puppet Room, and I finished up packing. Since I’ve now become a fan of early morning flights (they seem to be on-time more often than later afternoon flights) I needed to be up at 4:30am for my exit to the airport. But I didn’t sleep very well. In fact, I hardly ever do the night before a flight. Not only did I wake up every hour, but I had a tickle in my throat and kept coughing. Ugh.

Thursday the 21st – THE FLIP PHONE SAVES THE DAY! – Frustrated, I got up at 4am, fed Spook, and packed up the car to head to the airport. I made it to the airport by 5:30am for my 7am flight, but when I pulled up to the valet I realized that I was bleeding just above my left knee! It looked like some sort of insect bite, but I was bleeding pretty good! Blood had gotten on the bottom cuff of my cargo shorts and was unsightly! I went to the desk to check in, and the nice lady at the American Airlines desk gave me a couple of Band-Aids. Once I got through security I found a shop that sold travel items and bought a few more Band-Aids just in case. What the hell?! I bought a $30 breakfast sandwich, but I really wasn’t hungry. So I stashed it for future use. Early flights are really the way to go. It sucks having to get up so early, but they’re usually always on-time and aren’t affected by the back-ups and delays that normally occur during the latter part of the day. Rodger Bumpass and Efren Ramirez were also on the flight and we all had a nice chat. As Voice Actors, Rodger and I never get recognized because nobody has any idea what the faces behind the voices look like. But Efren was getting recognized as Pedro from “Napoleon Dynamite.” He’s a darn nice guy and we had a nice chat. On the flight they served us a nice, light breakfast – so I didn’t really need my $30 breakfast sandwich after all. Maybe later. We were delayed a bit on the tarmac before we took off, but we made it to Dallas on time. I had a considerable layover before the flight to Houston took off, so I took the opportunity to do some people-watching and enjoy some barbecue at a great restaurant in the airport. The signs were telling us that the flight to Houston would be leaving out of gate C16, but there was another plane already at the gate heading to San Antonio. They had some sort of issue with the plane’s battery and they didn’t feel comfortable taking off until the issue was resolved. But where was our plane to Houston going to dock? The signs were still saying our plane would be at gate C16, so there was a considerable amount of confusion among the waiting Houston passengers as well as the gate staff. Just then I heard a DING on my phone. It was a text informing me of the gate change to C12. I ran up to the gate and said, “It’s now at gate C12!” Nobody who had smartphones had gotten the notification yet, nor had the gate staff. “The flip phone saves the day,” I shouted. Everyone laughed and headed for gate C12. The plane to Houston had just been taken out of the garage before it pulled up to the gate. Nobody was on board, so there were no passengers coming off. They said there would be a slight delay because the plane was being cooled down inside. It had been sitting idle all day in the oppressive Dallas heat. So considering the delays we had already endured, plus the new ones, we got to Houston 2.5 hours later than expected. What was that I was saying about later-afternoon flights? Houston is gorgeous, but the weather was really, really humid. We got to the Hilton hotel and checked in. While in the lobby I saw my old pal Ray Garcia, who used to play Dracula in the “Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue” cast at Universal Studios Hollywood back in the 90s. It was great seeing him again. I walked over to a local steakhouse and had a nice dinner, and I made it back to my room just as a few drops of water were falling from the sky. When I got to my room and opened the curtains, I witnessed a gorgeous thunderstorm flashing across the downtown Houston skyline. Amazing! I unpacked and got comfortable.

Friday the 22nd – NOSTALGIA CON; HOUSTON – DAY 1! – A loud BOOM woke me up, and I realized it was another thunderstorm. Somebody I spoke with later said she was also awakened by the storm, and she said it sounded like sheet metal was falling off the hotel. It was just that loud! But it was time to get up and start the day anyway, so I cleaned up and headed out. I tried to eat yesterday’s $30 breakfast sandwich, but it was too gross to eat by that point. I got over to the con but there was a lot of confusion. Nobody knew where the handlers were, and which handler was going to be with which actor. After sitting at my table alone for about a half hour, telling potential customers that I wasn’t quite set up yet, Stephanie came long to save the day and help out. Once we got up and running it was all good. Business was pretty steady for most of the day, and during the few breaks I had I took the opportunity to walk around and check out the vendors. There was a great zoo set up there, and I got to meet Bobaye the marmoset, Kanga the baby kangaroo and a rather grouchy sloth, who didn’t seem to like being bothered. They were gorgeous! We finished up the day and I headed back to my room to dump my stuff. I figured I’d just hit the Mexican restaurant down in the hotel lobby, have a quiet dinner by myself, and then go up to my room to enjoy the evening and plan for the next day. But there were two guys at a table next to mine and we started talking. Buddy and Peter were there for the convention, and they had a booth for their business “Buddy’s Toys,” out of San Antonio. We chatted a lot about Texas, and what some of the larger cities were in the state. When I asked my server Tania for my check, she said that Buddy had already taken care of it. WOW! Too cool! Tania asked what I did and I told her I was a Voice Actor. When I did the voice of Jon Arbuckle for her she beamed. She loved the show and I took a picture with her and G.G., another server at the restaurant. As I got up to leave, a young lady from a neighboring table came up to me. She nervously asked, “Are you the voice of the Riddler.” I stopped and smiled, and in the Riddler’s voice I said, “Well, well, well!” She freaked out, and it was delightful! She said she overheard me talking to Tania, Buddy and Peter and she thought I sounded familiar. She said her name was Riley, and her dad had brought up the guest list at Nostalgia Con and saw my picture. So we got a few pictures together and I said hi to her dad Brad, and her mom Merielle. I sat at their table and asked all about their adventure, and found out that Brad is a retired parole officer and a huge “Star Wars” fan, and Merielle works at a major cardiovascular research center in Dallas. I just love learning people’s stories. They were there to go to the convention on Saturday. I told Riley I’d work up a really cool riddle for her overnight, and to make sure and come by my table on Saturday. We all chatted for many, many hours, and we even closed down the restaurant! It’s funny to think that I was just going to have a quiet dinner by myself, but God had other plans. That really made my night! At a neighboring table there was a group of German people who were in town for an oil and gas convention (also going on at the convention center). Though they’re originally from Germany, they are geologists who live in Saudi Arabia. Fascinating stories! I would see them throughout the weekend in the hotel and we’d always smile and wave at each other. Delightful folks. In fact, a few of them even came to the convention on Saturday! I got back to my room and tried to watch some TV, but the remote they had in the room was confusing. It only had a few buttons on it, and if you wanted to watch TV you had to click on an app on the TV and it would take you to all the channels. But since there were no numbers on the remote you couldn’t just punch in the channel number to have it come up. It was really bizarre and frustrating. I just turned it off and gave up. One of the hotel engineers on duty came up to try and help me, but it was clear that even HE didn’t understand it, and even he gave up. Strange.

Saturday the 23rd – NOSTALGIA CON: HOUSTON – DAY 2! – The VIP access to the convention started at 10:30, so I wanted to be there in time for that. It was a very fun day, and my new assistant Dee would be helping me out for Saturday and Sunday. But because of all the activity the little terminal we use to access credit cards for purchases lost its Wi-Fi signal. So that delayed us for a while. Riley and her family stopped by for a photo, and I told her I came up with a great riddle. “To Riddlin’ Riley! Why is an auto parts store like the reaction you get when you’ve done something bad? Answer: OH! RILEY!” I was really hoping that the O’Reilly auto parts store wasn’t just a California thing, but they totally got the joke. They said O’Reilly auto parts is nationwide. Whew! I did some shopping around a bit and found a booth that specialized in making character plaques that respond to black light. There were a few amazing choices that piqued my interest, but I decided that the Astro Boy plaque would soon be adorning the walls of the Tranquility Zone. But because of its size I wouldn’t be able to get it on the plane, so they said they’d ship it to me. My buddy Voice Actor Daran Norris was at the show signing as well, and he arranged to have a “Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue” reunion photo taken at the photo op booth. We were joined by fellow Voice Actor Dee Bradley Baker, Power Ranger Walter Jones, and Daran’s husband Ray Garcia. Daran, Dee and I were all Beetlejuices, Ray was a Dracula, and Walter was a Wolfman (before he had to quit to go do Power Rangers back in the 90’s!) It’s a great photo, and it was great reliving those old “BGR” memories with the guys. It was a long day, but fun. I left the con and stumbled into the hotel lobby. I had a few Garfield photos for Tania and G.G. at the Mexican restaurant, but they had already left for the day. But while passing the hotel bar I saw Brad and Merielle having some food. They said Riley was exhausted from her amazing day, and was up in the room relaxing. They invited me to sit and chat for a while. But we decided that Riley should probably join us, so Brad called her on the phone and gave the phone to me. She said, “Hello?” I said, “Well, well, well…” She laughed and we asked her to come join us. She came down and we all spent a few hours talking some more. One of the actors she really wanted to meet was Dee Bradley Baker from the “Star Wars” cartoons. I told her he was an old pal of mine, and she said that she met him earlier in the day, but was so nervous. Just then I turned around to see Dee standing in the lobby with some friends. I told Riley to follow me, and I dragged her over to see Dee again. What fun! Dee had totally remembered her from earlier in the day, which made her day. We went back to the table and I excused myself for a bit. I wanted to hit the gift shop in the lobby to pick up a few things before they closed. While I was there stocking up on supplies, I spotted a rack of puppets. They had bears, whales, dogs, cats…and a really cool shark puppet. He would be a great gift for my puppet-loving grandkids. He even had a slot in his mouth so he could eat things…or action figures! WOW! I went back to the table in the hotel bar and ordered a pizza to go. Brad insisted on paying for it, which was very kind. I took it to my room, ate it, and passed out. What a day!

Sunday the 24th – PRETTY PEPPER! – Since these 3 day conventions usually suffer from “Sunday slow,” I took my time getting to the show. I ordered breakfast to my room, which took a considerable amount of time, cleaned up, and headed over. I felt bad upon arriving at my table when I learned that the gal waiting for me to arrive had been there for about an hour! NO WAY! I felt like an absolute jackwad! I apologized profusely. Guess I learned my lesson! It was indeed “Sunday slow,” but still fun. We had a panel of some of the actors from “Bleach,” but my voice was pretty creaky. I had literally been talking for three days straight! The old pipes were getting pretty worn out. When I got back to my table I was introduced to a gorgeous service dog named Pepper. She was adorable! I had a plate of lunch behind my table. The lunch they had catered for the actors that day included grilled chicken piccata. I knew instantly that Pepper could smell it. So with her owner’s permission I broke off a piece and gave it to her. She LOVED it! I went back into the green room and surreptitiously snuck out a whole chicken breast and took it back to my table. Pepper was my best friend after that! I said my goodbyes and left the show around 5, as it was very clearly winding down. I found the hotel’s business office and printed off my boarding passes, went to my room and changed shirts, and went to the hotel bar to see if anyone I knew was there. Rodger was there, as was my old pal Debi Mae West. In addition to voicing a lot of cartoons, Debi Mae is my female counterpart as the voice of American Airlines. When you’re on a flight and you hear a female voice, it’s Debi Mae. But the male voice is me. We chatted for quite a while, and she enjoyed meeting Rodger. I got a cheeseburger to go and took it to my room to eat. I packed up to be ready to leave at 4am for my 6am flight. What a fantastic show, and a fantastic weekend! I tried to be in bed by 10:30pm so I could be up at 3:30am, but as usual (the night before a flight) I only slept in 1 hour increments. However, since I had to be up so early, I left the curtains in my room open so I could fall asleep to the beautiful lights of downtown Houston!

Monday the 25th – A DEAR, DEER FRIEND! – Frustrated that I couldn’t sleep any longer, I woke up at 3 and decided to get in gear and get going. I packed up some final things, checked out of the hotel, and went to the front to meet the car that would take me to the airport. I saw two elderly couples standing there with their luggage, and it looked like they were ready to go as well. I recognized the men as Donnie Dunagan (the voice of Bambi) and Peter Behn (the voice of Thumper). I had met Peter the night before through Debi Mae, and I introduced myself to Donnie and his wife. When the car showed up there was some confusion as to who exactly he was taking to the airport. There were 5 of us, but he was only there to pick 3 of us. He had Donnie Dunagan’s name on his phone, but the driver’s English was so bad we couldn’t really understand what he was saying. He didn’t have the names of the other two people he was supposed to transport, so we figured it was Donnie and his wife Dana, and one other. Since I was the only other solo rider I assumed it was me. But then what about Peter and his wife? There were 5 available seats on the SUV, and I told the driver if he took all 5 of us I‘d give him 50 bucks. But even if he would have agreed, there wasn’t enough room for all of our luggage. And at 4am nobody from our management staff was answering their phones. So Peter and his wife decided to call their own Uber for the airport. We climbed aboard and headed to the airport. I could tell Donnie was nervous about making it in time, but I assured him we’d be fine. As I chatted with Mr. and Mrs. D I fell in love with them! They are fantastic. After abandoning acting at a young age, after doing the voice of “Bambi” in 1942, Donnie became a Marine and was in the military for about 25 years. But his list of accomplishments after that is mind-boggling! At the age of 91 he reminded me a lot of my 90 year old Army veteran dad, so I immediately went into “protective mode.” I made sure to stay with them through the check-in process at the airport, and to make sure the wheelchairs for Mr. and Mrs. D were there and could get them through TSA security to the gate. They only had one lady to push the wheelchairs, so I got the honor of pushing Mrs. D’s chair. We made it through TSA quickly, and we were on our way to the gate for take-off. We were all on the same flight to Dallas, but then we parted ways – as they live in a different area of Texas. We said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch. They’re fabulous! I want to hear more of his stories! What a life. If you’re curious, just Google Donnie Dunagan. You’ll be amazed! I found my gate for the Burbank flight, and I had a few hours to kill. So I got some food and just chilled out. But I was beat, and I ended up sleeping almost the entire way to Burbank – almost 3 hours! I missed the in-flight meal and everything! Oh well. When I got my luggage in Burbank I realized with horror that the airline had almost completely destroyed my photo box. It has sustained a little bit of damage between Burbank and Houston, but from Houston to Burbank it was literally falling apart. I had to put straps around it to keep everything together. I guess I need to figure something else out for future travels. In the past it had traveled quite well, but I guess its final time had come. I got my car out of valet and headed to Paty’s to have lunch with Emily. Then I got back home and settled in. I put some stuff away and napped. I crashed out hard. The weather in L.A. had gotten quite warm, so the A/C was running almost non-stop. Later I unpacked some more stuff, did some work, wrote Wally’s Week, did a few auditions, took my WOG (it felt good to be back at it!), and spent some time in the anti-gravity chair enjoying a clear night!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

We have a lot of work to do, but I can see it taking shape!

I think the order will change over time, but these three look like the “Odd Trio.”

It took a while, but I just got this picture in of my daughter Lacey with John Boyega at the Voices Against Cancer “castle soiree” the night before the con!

Threatening skies over downtown Houston!

Tranquility pods in downtown Houston…quite a sight!

This guy came up to my table with the coolest Batman shirt I’ve ever seen. (PS – I bought one on eBay the minute I got back home!)

This is the grouchiest sloth I’ve ever seen. Oh wait, it’s the ONLY sloth I’ve ever seen!

But we did share a few nice scratchies together.

Cuddling Kanga was fun…

…but she seemed more interested in chewing my hair!

Bobaye the marmoset was so fast it was difficult to get a good shot of her!

The view of downtown from my room was magnificent!

This guy made Orbot and Cubot from felt and hot glue. Amazing!

Here’s a great Wild Tiger cosplay! LOVE “Tiger and Bunny” fans! When he came up to the table, his hat didn’t have the black stripe down the middle. I grabbed some black duct tape and VOILA! Perfect Wild Tiger cosplay cap!

An outstanding job of building a Boober Fraggle by this young puppet builder!

As the con winds down for the day, you find yourself doing silly things like action figure fights between your characters.

My favorite interaction was with Pepper the pooch!

She stalks it…

…she GRABS it!

Got anymore?

How do you resist that face?!

Here’s the “Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue” reunion that took place at Nostalgia Con Houston. From left to right…Dee Bradley Baker (Beetlejuice), me (Beetlejuice), Ray Garcia (Dracula), Daran Norris (Beetlejuice), Walter Jones (Wolfman). What fun!