Monday the 20th – COMIC CON COUNTDOWN! – I woke up around noon and called my Ford dealer to see if my car had been finished. I had it in for an oil change and overall check to make sure it was all good to go for my upcoming trip to the San Diego Comic Con. Once my friend Alex drove me to get my car, I wanted to make sure Sassie and Spook had lots of food for the upcoming week so I stopped at the vet’s and stocked up. I also stopped by the drug store to get some last minute supplies. Mid afternoon I went over to Voicecasters to audition for a radio commercial, and then went to Voice Trax West to get busy mixing my special “reunion spots.” I bought a series of radio commercials on a local station in Aberdeen, South Dakota, the place of my high school reunion, to welcome the class of ’79 back to town. I found one of my fellow radio DJs in Sacramento. Dale Schornack is now a TV anchor there, but back in “the day” we were DJ pals on KABR. He cut a voice-over for me to use in the spots. I did a few myself, and I also had my buddy Brian Cummings do a few. He’s originally from Aberdeen (his brother runs the radio station on which I ran the spots) and he’s also one of the top VO guys in the industry. They were basically 60 second spots which were montages of some of the old, great songs we used to play on the radio. The rate for the spots were great, so I ran the spots close to 60 times!
Tuesday the 21st – IT’S A CRUEL, CRUEL SUMMER! – The AC in my house was not working very well. In addition to the 100+ degree days we’ve been having in LA, I had people staying with me adding to the interior temperature. This has happened in years’ past, and I was sick of it. So I called out some AC guys who would be showing up later to take a look at it. But I had a FULL day of stuff to get ready for Comic Con. It was turning into a day from hell! First, when my friend Andrea arrived via Skywest Airlines, we found out her baggage didn’t arrive. We stayed at the airport for a full hour and a half after her flight arrived to try and find it, but no luck. Then I stopped to get a car wash. I took the Super 8 projector I had been renting back to the camera shop. I stopped by the drugstore to get last-minute items, and then dropped Andrea off at home to rest. I called Fed Ex to have them pick up a box of supplies I was sending on ahead to Aberdeen, South Dakota. I wanted to make sure that I had some clothes there in the event that MY luggage didn’t make it. And my connection time in Minneapolis was under 45 minutes, so I was a bit apprehensive. Better safe than sorry. I called Fed Ex for a pick-up, and as soon as I hung up the phone the doorbell rang. The guy said it was Fed Ex! Andrea started laughing because it was like some sort of weird TV commercial. I was happy to hand it to him and send him on his way so my clothes would arrive in a timely manner. Then I went to UPS to send off something else to my friend Cameron, the cool kid I met through Make-A-Wish a few weeks back at Studiopolis during a “Naruto” session. When I got back, the first set of AC guys inspected my air conditioning and said it was time for a new unit. Apparently the unit that came with my house wasn’t sufficient enough to cover the amount of square footage I have. But it was time to get to Floyd’s Barbershop to get some time with my hair stylist so I could look halfway human for my reunion and for Comic Con. While I was there, Andrea called and said the SECOND set of AC guys were there. They said they couldn’t make any repair determinations until the coils had unfrozen, which would require me to shut the AC off for 12-15 HOURS!!! I knew my housesitter Sara would NOT like that, but I had no choice. However, when I returned from Floyd’s Barbershop, I took Andrea, my friend Alex and his wife Monica to Home Depot to buy one of those room air conditioners. So at least the upstairs bedroom areas would be cool while Sara was here. I’m really glad Alex was along because 1) he was driving a truck so we could haul the thing, and 2) Alex was pretty good at hooking this thing up. So we hauled it into the house and started setting it up. It was HOT in my house so we were all sweating. Plus, Jim Ojala brought over the Andy Kaufman “Heartbeeps” mannequin so I started setting that up too. They got the AC running and we all collapsed on the floor in front of it. WHEW! I bid Alex and Monica farewell, as they were heading to San Diego that night, and I started packing. Remember, I had to pack TWO suitcases…one for San Diego and the other for Aberdeen. It was pointless to fly with a suitcase full of stuff I only needed for San Diego, so it was better to pack two identical suitcases, each with their own unique qualites suited for the individual trips. It took me well into the wee hours to finish that, but at least it was finally COOL in the house!
Wednesday the 22nd – COMIC CON HERE WE COME! – We got up early and packed the car up. I dropped the keys off to Sara, and then went to the bank to put some checks in, and take some money out. Then I hit Voicecasters for a quick audition. Andrea’s luggage still hadn’t arrived, so I dropped her off at a local drugstore to try and get a replacement prescription. No luck. Just when she went to call her doctor’s in South Dakota to transfer the prescription to the local pharmacy, all the nurses went into a mandatory meeting and couldn’t be disturbed! This trip was seeming like it was cursed! But, we marshalled on! We left around 11am, the usual time I like to go to avoid traffic. But we were cursed there too. The traffic was AWFUL! Apparently lots of people discovered my secret! My tradition on the road to Comic Con every year is to stop at the Dairy Queen on Oso Parkway. It’s about halfway to San Diego. I always get a chili dog, root beer and a banana split. Then I stop next door and get some Krispy Kreme donuts for the road. We got to DQ, and a guy named Bob came up to me and said, ‘We see you here EVERY year!’ Apparently, I’m not the only one who has a DQ tradition pre-Comic Con. Bob and his two kids do as well. We had a good laugh about it and we promised to see each other next year, same place, same time. However, I resisted the temptation to get the donuts. I knew I’d be eating a LOT in Aberdeen, so I was hedging my bets. Another tradition I broke was having the top down all the way to San Diego. It was just too freakin’ hot. Between the heat, and staying up all night packing and assembling the AC unit, I was starting to get tired. THANK GOD Andrea was there in the car with me to keep me talking. It was tough! But we made it. We arrived at the Manchester Grand Hyatt at 2:30 and checked in. The room was ready! She stayed in the room to rest, and I went to get our badges. But the line was about three blocks long, so instead I called my friend Scott, who was there as an exhibitor, and got a spare Exhibitor pass so I could enter right away. It was neat! I got a preview of the Preview Night! I even bought a few items right away. It’s nice walking the floor without so many people around. I also stopped by the Adam West booth. His company is selling a new DVD called “Adam West Naked.” On it, he recalls stories about filming all 120 Batman episodes in the late 60’s. Adam was still in LA recording new episodes of “Family Guy,” but his lovely wife Marcelle was there. It was great seeing her again. In fact, I was there so early that I bought the VERY FIRST COPY! When I pulled the DVD out of the case, I noticed that the artwork on the disc showed a man’s figure from the chest down, but the “private” area was blocked out by the hole in the middle of the DVD. I realized right away what the designer was thinking. From the back of the disc, I poked my pinkie through the hole. Well, I think you can imagine what it looks like when you do that. Marcelle was horrified. I was surprised at her reaction, since I thought that was the original design intent. Apparently not! OOPS! Once Andrea called I met her out front. The line had gone down considerably so we got in line and got our badges. We soon met up with Bob and Terri, Scott and Vickie and Big Ben from London. Comic Con was on! We left around 8:30 and I grabbed a quickie nap. We were all meeting at Buca Di Beppo for dinner, so Andrea and I took a “pedi-cab” to the restaurant. It’s a bicyclist pulling a cart with seats on it. It’s a great way to get rides in the Gaslamp district of San Diego, but beware. You can get burned! It cost $7 per person one way. So I gave the guy $20 for the two of us and told him to keep the change. We went in and had a great dinner. But when it was time to leave we caught another pedi-cab back to the Hyatt. When we got there he said it was $50! WHAT?!! He said it was $25 per person! Since when!? I told him what the other guy charged and he showed me the sign on his cart that said it was $15-$30 per person! GEEZ! Needless to say that guy didn’t get a tip! Well, live and learn. I went into check my e-mail at the Hyatt business office, only to find out that their business office closes at 7:30pm! WHAT?!! This trip really WAS cursed! So I remember from the previous year that the Marriott (next door to the Hyatt) had 24 internet kiosks. So I went there and checked my e-mail. I did buy some pretty cool stuff at Preview Night though. But it was PACKED!!
Thursday the 23rd – COMIC CON DAY 2! – I was exhausted from the previous week’s activities! So I slept easily till noon. I went over to the Marriott to get on-line so I could get but an exit row seat for my flight to Aberdeen the next day. Since the connection time was under 40 minutes, I wanted to buy a seat that was as close to the front as possible. BINGO! I found a seat in the 8th row and bought it. But the computer didn’t confirm that it had accepted my credit card, (it gave me one of those WE CAN NOT HELP YOU RIGHT NOW) so I called Northwest Airlines and talked to a real human. She said she saw that I had indeed purchased the 8th row seat and all was good. Great. We were also suppose to meet up with Scott Sebring and company for their group “Star Trek” photo op in the Marriott lagoon. But we never found them. So we picked up some lunch and went back to the Hyatt to pick up a few items before I hit the con. I saw Butch Hartman, creator of “The Fairly Oddparents”, in the lobby. He’s a VERY nice guy! After lunch we hit the floor. We ran into my friend Christine and her mom and aunt, who had waited on-line for TWO HOURS for the “Twilight” panel discussion, and they didn’t even get in! Later, I went to the Mattel booth to try and buy one of the Wonder Twins action figure sets, which featured actual voices of the Twins doing their Wonder Twin chant. I had been hired by Mattel about 6 months ago to do the voice of Zan for this toy, so I knew it was coming. But it was definitely something I wanted to get while I was there. Now the night before, there was such a line at Mattel that the convention center had them institute a policy of ticket-holding in order to get one of their Comic Con exclusives. When I went to get into line, I found out that all the tickets for that day’s allotment were gone. But I could get one for Saturday. I explained that I wouldn’t be there Saturday, I’d be out of town. I also talked to one of the lead guys who and told him I only wanted to get one because I did the voice of Zan. So they gave me a ticket to get in line and pick one up. Whew! But the line was going very slowly. There was another guy at the Mattel booth that said I didn’t need a ticket to be in line. But other people said they did. Apparently when the convention center made Mattel institute this ticket policy, not everyone was clear on the concept. Come to find out, the ticket I was holding was good for a FREE Wonder Twins set. Who knew? I picked up another couple of sets while I was there. But it was very chaotic and confusing. One of my line-mates called it “Mattel Hell.” I finally got the goods and needed some nachos fast! I got them, but the nacho cheese dripped all over my shirt and shopping bags. UGH! We got to meet up with Larry and James, old buddies of mine. I had had enough, so we went back to the hotel. Again, I ran in to Butch Hartman for a second time, this time at the Concierge desk. I told the gal at the desk who he was. I said, “Do your kids watch Fairly Oddparents?” She said yes, and when I told her who he was she gushed. I embarrassed Butch a bit, but he handled it very well. It was very funny. Even Butch’s pal George got a good laugh out of it. I went to print my boarding pass, but when I got on-line the website said I was still back in the 22nd row! WHAT?! I had bought the 8th row that morning. I even talked to the gal on the phone who confirmed it. This trip WAS cursed!! So luckily I got right on the site and bought an exit row seat in the 10th row. Still pretty good. Plus Andrea’s seat was in the exact same row. But when I called Northwest Airlines, the gal there said I had cancelled the 8th row seat I had purchased. WHAT??!! I don’t even know HOW to cancel something like that. That would require getting on the site and finding the cancel procedure. Strange! Luckily the day was saved when I got the 10th row. It was time for dinner so we met up with Chuck McCann and his wife Betty for dinner at the Seaport Village. We also met up with Scott & Vickie, Alex, Big Ben, Bob and Terri, and Justin and Simon. They had just endured quite a day doing their “Star Trek” cosplay. In fact, their photo ended up on websites everywhere, including a London newspaper and the L.A. Times website! As is tradition, I bought some popcorn after dinner and fed the ducks in the little pond. But this year, there were little ducklings! They sure were cute. But we had a VERY early morning the next day to catch our flight to South Dakota, so we headed back to the room to pack up. Once we hit the hotel, I ran into…you guessed it…BUTCH HARTMAN again! He was delighted to meet the great Chuck McCann! What fun!
Friday the 24th – REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD! – Up and at ’em at 4am, we got ready and caught a 4:45 am cab to the San Diego airport. We got checked in and got on the plane. Luckily, there was an empty seat next to me on the plane, so Andrea moved over and sat next to me. I slept virtually ALL THE WAY to Minneapolis. We deplaned and hauled ass across the airport to our gate for the flight to Aberdeen. We had less than a half hour! We made it in time, and even had time to grab a bottle of water. Once we were on the plane to Aberdeen, the hardest part of the entire trip was over. Making that connection! And we did it! On the small, propeller-powered plane, my old pal Bill Gayton came up to me and said hi. He had just flown in from Boston. This was going to be a great reunion. When we landed we were getting our rental car, and a guy looked very familiar to me. Turns out it was Lorne Schlect, another classmate. I said with a cocked eye, “Lorne?” He looked at me similarly and said, “Wally….Wingate?” I laughed and said, “Wingert.” I also ran into Bonne and her husband, and I knew that this weekend was going to be awesome. I had DEFINITELY made the right decision to leave Comic Con for the reunion. My first stop was the Twist Cone, one of my favorite haunts when I lived in Aberdeen 30 years ago. I had even talked the manager into having one of my favorite flavors as Flavor of the Week that week…STRAWBERRY BUTTER! MMMM! So I went by to say hi, had a few of their delicous sloppy Joe’s, and a twist cone. Andrea and I sat in the car eating, and I was devouring the sloppy joes so quickly I started to choke. I had actually INHALED some of the ground beef in my enthusiasm! We thought it was funny that I waited 30 years to have one of these, and it could have ended up killing me! About a block away was the that housed the radio station I used to work at. Now, it’s a chiropractor’s office. I went in and the receptionist was very nice and let me look around. I even got to view the room where the on-air studio used to be. Boy did THAT bring back some memories! On the way out to our car after the mini “tour,” we ran into a gal in a van who started talking to us. She got to telling us about how she had been abducted by the reptilians, an alien race who like to interfere with the human race from time to time. She also was telling us about her carnie boyfriend, with whom she has a psychic connection., Fascinating! I never expected to find somebody THAT colorful in Aberdeen, South Dakota! We went to the Ramada hotel to check in. In the hallway on the way to our room it was hot and humid! It was right by the pool. UGH. The room was small and the AC didn’t work very well. So we went to the local mall to get some clothes for Andrea to wear as her luggage STILL hadn’t showed up! Skywest was utterly clueless as to where her bag was. DOUBLE UGH! In the car before we went into the mall, I heard one of my radio spots on the radio. It sure was good to hear those old great tunes on Aberdeen radio again! After a shower and a change of clothes, we went to Melgaard Park to meet up with the class of ’79 in an impromptu get together. WHAT FUN! Seeing people I hadn’t seen in about 30 years was fantastic! We had such a great time talking and chatting, but apparently I’ve changed quite a bit from high school. Many people were having trouble figuring out who I was. WHO ARE YOU? Luckily we had name tags to keep everybody straight. Some were easy to recognize, but others weren’t. It was almost kind of like a game. But soon the mosquitoes started biting and it turned ugly. One thing I DIDN’T like about South Dakota was all the damn mosquitoes. So we went to get another twist cone at Twist Cone. By then, the word had travelled amongst the employees that the crazy long-haired guy buying so many twist cones worked on “Family Guy.” So it was fun talking to the young ladies behind the window and doing voices for them. We drove around Aberdeen a little more looking at the sites. On the way back to the hotel I reflected on the evening’s reunion and the hotel we were staying at and had a funny thought. Within one day I went from a 5 star hotel in California and “Can I have your autograph Mr. Wingert?” to the Ramada Inn and “who the hell are you?” That made me laugh at how amazing and wonderful life is.
Saturday the 25th – THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN! – They were doing a tour of the old high school at 1pm, so Andrea and I had just enough time to grab lunch and get over there. I wanted to go to Scotty’s, an old hamburger hangout I used to frequent. I remember them being much faster on the draw, but it took us about 20 minutes to get our food. We were running late for the tour, but did get our food to go. Incidentally, lest you doubt, blue-eyed blondes are alive and well in South Dakota. I saw a ton of them, even though I don’t see much of them here in L.A. It was nice to see again. I popped a 70’s CD into the CD player and headed to the high school. Though we were late to the tour, we caught up with the group and saw the majority of the stuff. I donated a couple of old Central High School shirts to the alumni room, and for awhile a lot of us breezed through the scrapbooks containing all of the newspaper articles pertaining to our school from back in the day. In another part of the school, there’s a youth center where kids can go and hang out, play pool, videogames, get on-line, chat or dance. It was great talking to the two young ladies and young lad about life and their young perspective on things. The girls were 13 and the guy was 17 and heading to the Marines next summer. I left with a renewed view of the future. Afterwards, on the way to Twist Cone again, I heard some more of the radio spots. NEAT! We drove by the house where I used to live. There have been LOTS of changes in Aberdeen, but occasionally you’ll still see one of the old signs that look familiar. But it was time to get ready for the big party. We got back to the room to shower and dress up in our fancy party clothes. Many people were easy to recognize, and it was great seeing some of the girls I used to have crushes on. My old pal and partner in crime Steve Hatt was there, and we sat together at the table. In high school, he had blonde hair and I had dark curly hair. So we were known as Starsky and Hutch! Just like old times, Hutch and I were cutting each other up and having a great time. He even agreed to drive Andrea back to Sioux Falls the next day. The slideshow that Lori prepared was awesome…featuring photos from the old days. The song “I Wanna Go Back” by Eddie Money played during the slideshow and was pretty sentimental. But the room really hushed at the end of the slideshow when the “In Memoriam” portion ran. I hadn’t realized that so many of our classmates were no longer around. Too sad. The room quiet for awhile afterwards, but then we started applauding because it was a GREAT slideshow. Then, Lori played the old Super 8mm film I shot at the junior high back in 1975. Though it was shot at the junior high, and not the senior high, it was still great to see since many of the people in that film had gone on to Central High. The dinner was terrific, and it was time to kick up the music. About 8 girls (including one of the ones I used to have a crush on!) pulled me onto the dance floor and we shook our booties to “Stayin’ Alive” and “YMCA.” They asked me to sing an Elvis song for old time’s sake (I used to impersonate Elvis in school all the time) and Andrea was great at getting people up and dancing. My ticket was drawn to win one of the door prizes, and I also won a prize for having the most electronics in my house. I bid everyone goodbye and headed to my room. In the hallway, there were about 6 teenage guys outside the banquet room who asked me if I was the dude from “Family Guy.” I said I was and did some voices for them. Then I asked how they knew and one guy said, “The whole hotel knows about it!” Apparently news travels fast in Aberdeen. I thought that was funny. But it was getting late and I needed to get some sleep. But we were starving after the party so we ordered a pizza. By the time I got packed up and ready to return to San Diego the next morning, it was 2:30am! Yikes! I had to get up at 5! And my mind was BUZZING!
Sunday the 26th – WHERE AM I?! – And 5am it was! I woke up, showered, bid Andrea goodbye and took my rental car to the airport to turn it back in. It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL South Dakota morning. Still, sunny, cool…in fact the weather all weekend was VERY pleasant. I could smell the alfalfa and fields of corn in the air. It was magical as the sun rose. I really missed those South Dakota mornings! I got on the plane and all was well. But a panel at the Comic Con I was supposed to be on started at 1pm Pacific time. Would I make it? Everything landed on time. I even had time to grab a Godfather’s pizza and A&W root beer in the airport and take it on board. The flight to San Diego was wonderful, and I even got a few winks of sleep. But not much. As we left Minnesota, the pilot said that Sioux Falls, South Dakota was on the right of the plane, and Yankton, South Dakota was on the left. So I waved to the right to my folks and family in Sioux Falls, and waved to the left to my buddy Dave in Yankton. The flight landed on time and I got a cab back to the hotel. When I got there I printed some audition copy for a phone audition I needed to do later that afternoon. I grabbed a shower, changed into my con clothes and walked over. Also on the panel, moderated by Earl Kress and Mark Evanier, were voice actors Chuck McCann (my pal!), Billy West, Susan Silo and Casting Director Collette Sunderman. It was a great panel and I didn’t say much. I was too busy learning! Unlike the panels in the past that I had done, which were mostly about performing and entertainment, this panel was about the BUSINESS of voice-over specifically, and how you can get into the business. When the panel was over we all signed autographs and posed for photos. A guy named Sam even came by in his Ant Man costume to get a picture. This was awesome! I got a lot of great shots of us together for my collection, and he even asked me to sign his helmet. I said it was too cool of a helmet, so I signed the inside instead. That made my day. Also making my day, was seeing my old pal Brittney Powell who was at the panel taking notes. She was also at the convention to sign autographs at a table in Autograph Alley. She was going to be driving back to LA with me later that night. Chuck and I went down to the exhibitor’s floor to see Adam West. I was afraid I’d miss him entirely, but we just caught him in his booth. He was about to leave in a few minutes, but I’m glad we caught up with him. He’s a really great guy who just happens to be a worldwide pop icon! I also ran into my friend Panda who was dressed in her custom-made GIR hoodie. I bought a book on Captain Action (an action figure that was big when I was a kid) which was cool since I was wearing my Captain Action captain’s hat! Chuck and I went down to see the legendary Stan Freberg. We got a great pic together, and I bought his two CD comedy album “Stan Freberg’s United States of America.” I also ran into my friends Emily Danyel, who was there managing the voice actors from “Futurama,” and Pat Jankiewicz, who had a copy of his new book about “Jaws.” I got back to the hotel and did the phone audition. Then I showered and took a very brief nap while I waited for my friend Brittney to come get me for dinner. Then we met up with Chuck and Betty McCann and walked down to the Seaport Village again. We also caught up with Scott and Vickie who showed us their photos from the weekend on their computer. Chuck met up with some Comic Con guys who sat at his table talking to him about his wonderful wealth of work. Chuck was having a great time performing for them and making them laugh. The guys left that evening saying that their “Dinner with Chuck” was the highlight of Comic Con. We got some popcorn and fed the ducks again, and then said our goodbyes. After a little debate on the subject, I decided that I would NOT take a nap and instead drive straight back to L.A. with Brittney there to keep me awake. Lucky I had her. We left at 11pm figuring the traffic would be really good. Well, it was…for awhile. No problems except for the, not one, but TWO detours! We got back on the freeway and made our way back to L.A. I got home about 1:15, which means we were only on the road for a little over two hours. Not too bad. I did four auditions that needed to be sent right way, I unpacked some stuff, took a shower and finally went to bed around 5am. I took an account of the amount of sleep I had gotten over the past twenty four hours. After getting up at 5am Central Daylight Time (that’s 3am Pacific Daylight Time) I slept a little bit on the plane to San Diego, and slept about 3 minutes before Brittney showed up for dinner. Which means that as of 5am, I had been up for about 26 hours, with the exception of the brief naps I mentioned. WOW! I knew it was going to be a wild week, but I had no idea. But that’s what I get for wanting to be in two places at the same time. It all worked out very well! By the way, Andrea still doesn’t have her luggage back from Skywest. ARRRRGH!
And how was YOUR week??!!
