May 11 – May 17 (2015) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

This quote is going in my permanent memory. It’s SO true!

Every once in a while an old Buddy Holly song will pop into my head. My folks used to listen to his albums when I was a kid so it’s pretty much engrained in my brain. This is a real rocker, and the accompanying video is stellar! Clearly there was NO obesity problem in THOSE days! Look at those kids dance! I wonder if they are still around today and still dancing? Here’s the legendary Buddy Holly with “Rock Around With Ollie Vee!”

Monday the 11th – COBS ON THE WEB! – The day started with a bunch of auditions in my inbox. I recorded them in my home studio and headed over to Fast Signs to drop off my photo files for printing all the new signage for Planet Wallywood. I met my assistant Sara for lunch, got my mail at my mailbox, stopped by Studiopolis to pick up a check, and then went to Enterprise Car Rental to reserve my SUV for next week’s Memorial Day weekend trip to Palm Springs! One of the things I received in my mail was as set of two miniature corn cob pipes. Why you ask? For my Popeye puppet, of course! If you remember from past weeks, I had bought a vintage 1964 talking Popeye puppet on eBay and I’m restoring him to the best of my ability. Originally, his right hand had a cardboard cutout of a can of spinach stuck to it. Of course those would always get lost and very few of them exist. So I went on-line and found an original sketch by Segar (the creator of Popeye) and isolated that spinach can. I spruced it up in my photo program and printed it to size and stuck it in Popeye’s hand. When the puppet was released in the 60’s, his pipe was removable from his mouth and doubled as a bubble pipe. Kids would remove it, blow bubbles with it, and then forget to place it back in Popeye’s mouth. Needless to say the pipes are missing in the majority of these restored Popeye puppets. But I got the idea of making pipes that fit out of a ¼” of wood dowel and a size 14 cork. I would hollow out the cork to resemble the bowl of a corn cob pipe, and the size was perfect for the Popeye puppet’s scale. I would paint on the corn cob texturing, and I was pretty happy with the result. Until these miniature corn cob pipes arrived. They were PERFECTLY in scale! So I took out the stem that came with the pipes, glued in a short piece of ¼” wood dowel, and VOILA! Miniature corn cob pipe that fit in the hole in the Popeye puppet’s mouth! If you happen to have one of these pipeless vintage puppets and need a suitable pipe for display…CALL ME! When I finished up I did an interview with a gal named Mara for her podcast. Then I grabbed a nap on the couch, and got up to scan some checks for a deposit. I got some mail ready, got my bank deposits ready, went through my bank statements, wrote Wally’s Week, and did my auditions. WOW! Fruitful night! I made some Sloppy Joes and watched “Twilight Zone” just before bed.

Tuesday the 12th – TORINO TROUBLES! – Shortly after I awoke at 11:30am I headed to Voice Trax West to do a super-secret audition. But the project is SO cool I really REALLY hope it goes through. Unfortunately, if it did I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about it for years. Kind of weird, but that’s the way it is. I headed to the bank and deposited my checks and then hit the post office to mail some stuff off. Sara met me at DuPar’s for lunch. I got a call from my contractor Terry. I sold him the first Starsky-ized Gran Torino I ever bought because it needed more repair and TLC than I was prepared to give. Then I bought my second one (which is TERRIFIC!) and I sold him the first one so he could work on it as a project car. But the years went by and he didn’t get around to doing much on it, and now he’s needing to downsize and move to a smaller place. So the Torino needs a new home. While it’s beautiful on the outside, it’s currently not running and I don’t know what to do with it. I suppose I could store it somewhere and use it as a supply source for parts for my Torino, but it seems a shame to let it go to waste like that. I could have my car guy Bodie Stroud flatbed it to his shop and then I could spend countless dollars trying to get it running, but it may be a waste of his time and my money. I only have a few more weeks to try and figure out what to do as he has to move out of his rental house soon. I came home and did some work around the house and made some calls. I took a dip in the Jacuzzi and came inside for a quick nap on the couch. I got up and did some auditions, recorded some stuff for Go 96.3 in Minneapolis, and then settled in for the night and watched a few more episodes of “Twilight Zone” on Blu Ray!

Wednesday the 13th – WHAT’S ‘AP’PENNING!? – At Voice Trax West I did a session in the early afternoon for a new ap which is really cool. I can’t tell you much about it, but it was a fun session to do. I did literally hundreds of voices…both speaking and singing! It should be a very fun ap when released! While I was at Voice Trax, I had them record me for a part in an upcoming episode of “Doc McStuffins.” It’s a great show and I’ve always wanted to be on it. The dialogue portion of the character’s part I did at home, but there was some singing to a track required, and for that I needed the professional touch. I met Sara for lunch at Chipotle and then I went home to organize some things on my computer. I did some auditions, took a dip in the Jacuzzi, and napped on the couch for a bit. (I LOVE that couch!) I woke up to do my auditions, send out my movie night invites, reconciled my bank accounts and statements, and then watched more “Twilight Zone” episodes from the fifth (and final) season on Blu Ray!

Thursday the 14th – MY PAL PYM! – The first order of the day was to head to Studiopolis Burbank and do some voice tracks for a Marvel project as Hank Pym and Giant Man. Depending on the project Pym goes through various stages of jerkiness. In this one he was a REAL jerk and he was oh so fun to play! What fun! And my ol’ pal Jamie Simone was there to direct the session personally! ALWAYS a fun time! After we wrapped I stopped by my cleaners to get some laundry, picked up my mail, and then went home to relax. I decided to make some chicken noodle soup, get in bed and watch a few more “Twilight Zone” episodes. Thought it wasn’t night, it sure was dark out. We were expecting a huge rainstorm and I was settling in to enjoy it. Sure enough, the lightning and thunder started rolling. Fabulous! What a show! I cranked up the electric blanket a few more notches and settled in for a nap while I listened to it rain. I woke up and did my auditions, went through some paperwork to order several cases of Wonderful Wally Water (some custom-labeled bottled water I’m having made up for a promotional thing), and then made some hot dogs on the grill. Chili cheese dogs with kraut, to be precise. JUST the thing to eat before going to sleep! HA! I settled in to watch some more “Twilight Zone” before bed.

Friday the 15th – VOICE TRAX WEST TRIFECTA! – It’s so great having a studio like Voice Trax West so close to my house. It was the third session this week at Voice Trax, and this one was for Dunkin Donuts. I had done a series of commercials for them several years ago, but this was a completely different type of voice and character. It was great fun! When the spot gets uploaded I’ll post a link. I got home to check on some e-mails, and the maids showed up to give Planet Wallywood a good cleaning. I did some more work around the house while they finished up, and then I got ready to go out with some friends to the Smokehouse for a late birthday dinner. My neighbor Caroline’s dad produced the original “Halloween” movie (of which I’m a huge fan) and her niece is a huge fan of voice-over. (See how things work?) So Caroline, her niece and nephew and brother and sister-in-law took me out for steaks. YUM! It was great fun and her niece Emma and I had a great conversation about the world of Voice-Over. Emma’s dad Mickey was in the original “Halloween” as one of the kids tormenting little Tommy in the schoolyard. In fact, when the kids run off one of them is grabbed by Michael Myers. THAT’S Mickey! What fun! I came home to enjoy some time in the Jacuzzi and get a quick nap. I got up to do some work around the house and watch a few more episodes of “Twilight Zone.” Hard to believe I’m this close to having watched the entire series!

Saturday the 16th – DOUBLE-BARRELED BURT ON BLU RAY! – Roxy wanted to go outside and get some sun so I took her out to spend some time in the courtyard. I came back in and answered some e-mails and texts, and then went to Jerry’s Famous Deli to meet with Kevin Michaels. He’s producing a fun Andy Kaufman-themed function on May 29th that I’m going to emcee. We went over how the show will run and discussed a few ideas. I stopped to get some groceries on the way home, and then grabbed a quick nap before movie night. I was showing the amazing Burt Reynolds in “White Lightning” and “Gator” on Blu Ray. I had seen them as a kid and was taken with all the action and the machismo! Car chases, gun fights, fist fights, sexy ladies…what’s not to like? We had a blast watching them. After everyone left cleaned up the place, worked around the house and made a huge salad and went to bed to watch “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” on Blu Ray. (On Saturday nights my DVD viewing deviates from the weekday norm) Just before I hit the hay at about 7am Sunday morning, my brother-in-law Roger had sent me about 10 e-mails full of photos from the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame festivities. He had pulled the pics off my mom and my aunt’s cameras and e-mailed them over. Thanks Roger!

Sunday the 17th – STARSKY & HUTCH SHOOTIN’ MATCH! – As is my usual M.O. on Sundays, I slept the better part of the day away. I got up for evening church and enjoyed hearing my old pal, the Dr. Reverend Marilyn Fiddmont speak. She’s always enriching! The band did a great little tribute to B.B. King which sent chills up my spine and made me a bit misty-eyed. Fabulous! LOVE that church! I came home and met up with my pal Brittney Powell and her son and his friend. We were headed out for dinner. But I went to switch cars so I could take the Gran Torino. Not only did I need the extra room for all the people, but we were going shooting after dinner at the range. As a special treat we shot guns similar to the ones used in “Starsky & Hutch!” My 9mm Smith & Wesson Model 459 (Starsky shot a Model 59 in the show, and they’re virtually identical), and my Taurus .357, which resembles Hutch’s .357 Colt Python. The first shot I took with the 459 was dead center in the target. I smiled at Brittney and said, “Now I know why Paul chose this one for the show!” I think David probably chose the .357 because of his experience on the Clint Eastwood film “Magnum Force.” We had a great time! I dropped them off and then headed inside to do my auditions, get ready for the new week, and plan my upcoming Palm Springs trip over the Memorial Day holiday…which includes seeing the amazing Lynda Carter in concert, and hopefully getting to meet her! Stay tuned! Then it was a sandwich and “Twilight Zone” and then bed.
And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Here’s Popeye with his official, authentic corn cob pipe! Perfect!

This is the label I designed for my new bottled water promotion…Wonderful Wally Water! Insanely refreshing! Ultimately satisfying!

My Godson Sean just graduated, and here he is with his dad and my pal Dave!

Some photos from the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame event trickled in this past week, and thanks to Aunt Sheryl, Mom and Roger, I’m posting a few here for you.