RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
When Tom Jones was on “The Tonight Show” a few weeks back, my pals Edi and Sara were in the audience in the very first row. Here’s a great screenshot of them walking back to their seats after high-fiving Jay. Edi’s in white, and Sara’s in the “Badgirl” shirt.
And speaking of “The Tonight Show,” this past week a really cool group performed that took me right back to the sounds of the 80’s. Their song “Walking In Your Footsteps” has a great hook and I bought the song immediately on i-Tunes. It’s done by Shout Out Louds!
Monday the 20th – MARVELOUS (BUT MANIC) MONDAY! – Two affectionate animals on the bed woke me up earlier than I had wanted. Roxy and Spook both decided they needed their pal Wally’s pets. Kind of a nice way to wake up in the morning. I had to be up anyway because I needed to head to Santa Monica and a studio called Play to record a TV commercial voice-over for Samsung. I play a sportscaster calling a basketball game. The folks I worked with Angelo, Andrew and Esther were awesome people. We had a fun time. It didn’t take very long to complete the session, so I was in and out in a matter of a half hour. I went over to the local Wendy’s drive-thru to get lunch and then hit the road for home. When I got back there was a bit for “The Tonight Show” waiting for me in my inbox. So I recorded it and sent it in to them. I had some time to kill before I had to actually be in to NBC to do the show opening, so I took care of some other auditions while I waited. Then it was off to the studio to tape the show. When we wrapped I got my mail at my mailbox, and went back home to meet up with my pal Edi and her daughter Ems. My contractor Terry and his fiancé Michelle came over too, and we all went to Studio Cafe (with Roxy in tow, of course) for dinner. After a delicious dinner I went back home to take a swim and a dip in the jacuzzi. I worked with Terry for awhile on creating an extension for my Batman display. I was planning on adding Robin to the mix, but needed to redesign the prop wall and the platform. Terry and I also went over the floorplan for my bathroom remodeling project. After everybody left I took a quick nap and then got up to do my auditions, and some other work around the house. Just before bed I watched another episode of “The Bionic Woman” from the third season boxed set. So far, the majority of the episodes have been really awful…almost unwatchable. But, because I’m a completionist, I want to watch every one of them, for better or worse.
Tuesday the 21st – BIKE DAY 1! – My hotline rang in the morning to wake me up. It was my agent telling me that I had a bit for “TTS” in my inbox that needed to be recorded right away. So I got up, recorded it and sent it over. I walked Roxy and noticed it was a gorgeous day. I decided to ride my bike into work. I had been itchin’ to get on my bike again, but my schedule hadn’t allowed it so far. But this looked like a winner of a day! On my way to work, I pulled my bike over to Paty’s to meet with Edi and Ems for a quick lunch. Since their service is kind of legendarily bad and slow, I had to tell the server from the start that I needed to be on the road at 3:15 so could she stay mindful of that. It actually worked. If the food wasn’t so good there, and if it wasn’t such a convenient location, I would probably stop going there. But aside from the service, everything else is good about Paty’s. I made it to “TTS” on time, opened the show, and then spent the rest of the time working on Wally’s Week. I biked home but found myself humming the old Bob Seger song “Against the Wind” again. The brisk breeze I was fighting to get home was considerable, but it made me work all that much harder, and kind of felt good to get the muscles pumping. Just a few blocks from my house I decided I needed something cold, so I stopped at my neighborhood fro yo shop. I called Edi to have her meet me over there. Her little teacup Maltese dog “Bunny” had just gotten a “lion” haircut at the groomer and she was in the area. But as I was relaxing enjoying my green apple fro yo, I got a call on my cell phone from my pal Bill Richards, the voice of Disneyland. He said he was at my door waiting for me so we could go to dinner. WHAT?! Apparently in the e-mail when we arranged a time to meet for dinner, I accidentally hit the 6 instead of the 7! It was 6:15! Crap! So I hustled home and apologized profusely to Bill and his wife Camille (the voice of Disney’s California Adventure). They had fun looking around Planet Wallywood while I showered and got ready. We all walked down to Studio Cafe (again with Roxy) and were joined by Edi, Ems and my assistant Sara. While we were there, my friend Rae from Enterprise Rent-A-Car was there with some co-workers. I met Rae when I rented the Terrain to go to Palm Springs with Roxy a month ago, and she indicated an interest in voice work. So I had her sit in on a session with me a few weeks ago. I had a blast talking to Bill about the old radio days in Aberdeen and Sioux Falls. He had worked the same territories I had back in “the day,” but his tenure was a bit before mine. So we never crossed paths back then. But we know a lot of the same people. Someday, Bill and I are going to do a podcast about our memories. Maybe somebody will actually listen to it! But even if they don’t, we’re going to have a blast doing it. I got back home and hit the jacuzzi to relax my legs from a hard bike ride. But it was difficult to do because the temp was only 95 degrees! It’s much like a warm bath, but not very therapeutic I’m afraid. I got inside and again, called the office of the complex to complain. I’m not sure what the problem is, but it’s been getting continually colder by the day! I did some auditions and completed some work around the house. Then I watched another “Bionic Woman” episode. I’m trying to time it so I complete the third season set before I leave for Palm Springs. The next show I’ll watch when I get back from vacation is “The Bible” 10 part mini-series on Blu Ray. (Did I mention that most of the third season “BW” episodes are terrible?)
Wednesday the 22nd – BIKE DAY 2! – Another hotline call woke me up so I could get up and do a bit for “TTS.” When I finished that and sent it in, I did some work at my desk that needed to be done. While I was doing that though, another bit for “TTS” came in and I recorded that and sent it in. Then I got my bike gear together and headed to the studio. I made great time! I made it in almost the same amount of time that it takes me to drive my car there! I opened the show and then sat down to check my e-mail. Kathryn Leigh Scott, from “Dark Shadows,” had accepted my invitation to come to my Saturday night movie night and watch “House of Dark Shadows” with us on Blu Ray! She’s awesome! I got busy and e-mailed out the invites to my movie crew. I biked home and stopped at Subway to get a sandwich. It felt great, and was a terrific ride! When I got home I had a last-minute audition for one of my agents, so I buckled down and got that finished and delivered. I grabbed a quick shower and walked over to the church to meet up with a friend of mine who was curious about the Wednesday night meditation service. I hadn’t had the opportunity to go to that service in quite awhile because of my nutty schedule. But it was great being there again. It’s nice to meditate on your own, but in a group setting it seems even more…powerful and deep. My friend agreed. I walked home and took Roxy for a little stroll. Then I got into the jacuzzi. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, apparently. My complaining worked. The temp was back up to 105 where it belongs. Perfect! I went inside and grabbed a nap. That meditation must’ve really relaxed me, because I slept almost a full four hours! That’s rare for me and my napping habits! I got up and did a few auditions, and then fed and walked Roxy. I sat on my computer editing and cataloguing audio files from my personal recorder. Awhile back I started making recordings of my thoughts, feelings, opinions, stories, recollections, and the like…for future generations of Wingerts who may be curious about what was going on in the life of their nutty ancestor. I would give a ton of money to have recordings like this of my grandparents back in their day. Then I hit the hay so I could be up early the next morning for a meeting with my accountant.
Thursday the 23rd – OMG! IT STILL WORKS! – I didn’t get to bed until around 5:30am, and Roxy wanted to sleep on the bed with me. Normally she stays downstairs in the living room. But she was very restless and woke me up at 7:30! I put her downstairs, and I came back upstairs to get more sleep. I slept for another 3 hours then got up for my meeting with my accountant. While I was in his office, I got a text from my pal and webmaster Scott Sebring who was nearby at Universal Studios doing a photo shoot. He was finished and wanted to meet for lunch. I was right down the street and the meeting was just ending so I had him drive down the street to meet me. We agreed to meet at Paty’s for a quick lunch. I hadn’t seen him for awhile and I wanted to catch up on all that’s been happening. During lunch I got a call to record a bit for “TTS,” but to go back home and record it would have taken me longer than just going over to NBC to record it. So I finished up lunch and drove to the studio and recorded it there. When I finished I had some time to kill, so I went over to the bank to make a deposit. Then I hit It’s A Wrap and found a great pair of combat boot for my forthcoming lifesize Beetlejuice figure! I stopped by a store called Rocket Fizz, which specializes in all sorts of vintage soda and candy. Needless to say it’s one of my favorite stores! I got back to NBC, opened the show and watched the taping. I got back home, did some work, got settled, fed Spook, and then hit the jacuzzi. I chatted with one of my neighbors for a long time. It always flabbergasts me when people say they barely know their neighbors. If, God forbid, any tragedy occurred in the city or neighborhood, it’s good to know your neighbors and their habits so you can be of assistance to them if necessary. I went inside and took a brief nap on the couch, then got up to do some work. I got curious about the old laserdisc player that was still patched into my upstairs entertainment system. So I fired it up. After spinning and churning for awhile, I got the tray door open. I put in a laserdisc in and closed the tray. It churned some more. It gurgled, roared, chewed and grinded. But then I hit play and VOILA! It started! It worked beautifully! I made a copy of it on DVD-R. It dubbed perfectly! I fed and walked Roxy, then made a pizza and hit the hay. I had to be up early the next day for another session.
Friday the 24th – TRIFECTA FRIDAY! – It was up early in the morning and off to the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank for me! I was doing another session for a videogame we’ve been working on for awhile. I was in and out in an hour and a half. Then I sped off to L.A. Studios to do another session for the Samsung commercial. Angelo and Andrew were there directing the session, and it was a blast. Andrew is originally from Memphis, so I showed him some of the pictures I had taken at Graceland a few years back. I invited them both to lunch at the NBC Commissary but their schedules were tight that day. But they said they definitely want to come do it soon! Since it was the Friday before Memorial Day, L.A. Studios was doing an outdoor barbecue for their staff and clients. Carlos the engineer asked if I would like to have some food. I said, “I won’t say no!” But first he helped me record a quick bit for “TTS” and e-mail it in. Then we went outside and had delicious grilled burgers, hot dogs and all the fixins’! YUM! The perfect way to get summer rollin’! It was great chewing the fat with the staff and having some goodies. I finished up and headed over to NBC. It’s the day before another week-long hiatus, so everyone was happy and raring to go on vacation. We wrapped up the show and I headed home to relax. AAAAHHHHH…vacation! I fed Spooky and walked Roxy. Edi and Bunny stopped by so we could all walk together. After three sessions, and a very long day, it felt good to know I had nothing pressing to do. Edi and I took a dip in the jacuzzi, and when we came back inside my pal Kristy had come by to drop some stuff off. She’s moving back to Montana next week and had some stuff of mine that she wanted to get back to me. My effects pal Jim Ojala came by to get the replacement switch I had bought for my Shakespeare Bust. This is a replica of the bust from the Batman TV series. You know, the one where the head flips back revealing a hidden switch that takes you to the Batcave! Well, my switch turned on the lights to my main showcase. But the switch was old and fatigued, so it had to be replaced. Unfortunately that particular switch was no longer being made, so my pal Jason at NBC found me two suitable replacements. So Jim took he switch home to work with it, since the footprint of this switch was a tad bigger than the last one. Jim is completely repainting and refurbishing my Shakespeare bust to get it ready for its return to Planet Wallywood. Terry stopped by to do some more work on the Batman display, but we were starving. So Edi, Terry and I went out to Denny’s to grab dinner. When we returned Terry set about working on the Batman display. It was imperative that I had it finished by Saturday night. A) I wanted my friends at movie night to see it, and B) the Robin figure was in the Chaney Room standing next to Barnabas Collins. And I needed some space next to Barnabas to get a photo of Kathryn Leigh Scott with him. It’s all choreography, ya know? Terry did a great job of extending the platform. While he worked on that, I took the cowl off of my Adam mannequin and got my sculpting compound out. It’s called Magic Sculpt, and it really IS magic! A long time ago, when I first had the Adam West headcast done in fiberglass with glass eyes, the effects guy cut his eyeholes open a bit too wide. It made Adam look like he was constantly surprised. Adam used to do that occasionally as Batman. He called it “acting through the mask.” So I figured it was OK to have that expression on his face. But once we started disassembling the Batman display for enhancements, I figured it was my chance to change his eye expression once and for all. I leaned the figure up against a chair, and straddled it. The I started sculpting on his new upper eyelids. It’s a two part compound, a putty and a hardener. Once you put the two together the chemical reaction begins and you have about a half hour’s worth of sculpting time. I got them applied and I was pretty pleased with the outcome. The putty is light gray, but once it’s set it can be painted and sanded. Like I said…magic! In the past I’ve used Magic Sculpt to create Tony Clifton’s Tiki medallions, a miniature Batarang for my 12″ Batman figure, eyelids for a Michael Myers display, the Tony Clifton prosthetics on my lifesize Clifton figure, Tony Clifton prosthetics on a Ken doll, the hands on my Andy Kaufman “Heartbeeps” robot figure, and much more! It’s great stuff. I cleaned parts of the Batman costume, redid the Velcro attachment on the back of his utility belt buckle, and rehung the Bat props that are hanging on the wall behind Batman and Robin. I was buzzing around the house like a madman! I was getting a LOT done! It felt great! I looked at the clock and realized I had been on the go for almost a full 24 hours! I decided to call it quits and hit the hay before I collapsed totally. I watched the second to the last “Bionic Woman” episode in the third season, and the second to last episode ever. It was absolutely horrible. Almost unwatchable. I’m not sure at what point the producers decided that they needed to go comedic with the format. But it ended up being corny and embarrassing. Sad.
Saturday the 25th – SLIDE PRIDE! – At 11am I was up and walking Roxy over to the neighborhood Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I needed to rent an SUV to go to Palm Springs. With all my luggage and Roxy, and all her stuff, it was necessary. My Mustang can’t possibly accommodate all that. I rented a Land Rover and came back home to let the maids in to clean. While they were busy the mail came. I got a DVD disc of some recently scanned and digitized family slides. My dad called a while back and said he had found 2750 slides that had been in our family since the 70’s. I told him to take them to his local photo store and have them all scanned for posterity, and I would pay for it. My dad has a copy of the disc, and I had the store send me a copy as well. I immediately put it in the computer and transferred them all over to my hard drive. It was a blast looking at all those old slides. Several of our relatives pictured in the slides are no longer with us, so it was a bit of a sentimental journey. When the maids finished up Terry came over to finish up the Batman display. It’s all complete, except for a few small details. I need to polish Batman’s belt buckle, I needed to tether him to the wall (living in earthquake country demands it!), and I needed to iron Robin’s vest and tether him to the wall as well. I also needed to hang the sign with all of the credits, but I’ll wait until we’re completely finished with everything to do that. That way the sign won’t get damaged in case we still need to move some things around. When he left I was going to go get groceries, but I figured I should take a nap so I wouldn’t get tired at movie night later. After all, I had been running around like mad and not sleeping that much. I got up just before movie night started and the guests began to arrive. Kathryn arrived and we all enjoyed watching “House of Dark Shadows” together, hearing her stories and recollections about filming it back in 1970. When she left we put on another episode of the anime show “Tiger and Bunny.” Though I’m against ever showing my own stuff at movie night (with a few rare exceptions) I determined that the style of “T&B” would appeal to my movie night gang. So we’re up to episode 6 of 26. It’s a pretty good show, and not hard to follow like a lot of anime shows. When everyone left I stayed up all night editing, categorizing and cataloguing the family slides. I also did a little more work on the Batman display. Painting and staining areas of the Batcave wall that had to be patched, since we moved so much stuff around. I enjoyed an episode of “The Saint” just before bed, and ate a buffet of frozen Italian treats…pizza Bagel Bites and Pizza Rolls. Every Saturday night I deviate from my usual TV/DVD watching habits and put on an episode of the old “Saint” TV series. But this was the second to the last episode. Unlike “Bionic Woman,” I’ll be sad to see “The Saint” end. I got to bed around 7am Sunday morning.
Sunday the 26th – GUNDAY SUNDAY! – I got up around 2:30, did some more work with the family slides, walked Roxy, talked to my neighbors, and then went to the garage to hop in my Mustang and go to Gun World to pick up my new Walther PP. (In California, you have a 10 day waiting period, and my 10 days are up today!) But my Mustang’s starter groaned, clicked and died. It had been sounding odd the past few days when I started it up. Maybe it was the starter? Or battery or alternator. So I called Sara and had her pick me up. We stopped at Taco Bell and got lunch, then got to Gun World around 3:30. When we finished picking up my new chrome-plated Walther PP, it was only 4. I had a little time before evening church, so I had her run me over to Staples to pick up a few small filing cabinets I’ve had my eye on. I wanted to get rid of the white wooden cabinets I’ve had in my office for quite some time. And when the facing popped off one of the drawers last week, I knew it was time. The cabinets are handleless, are about half the size of regular file cabinets, and have two shallow drawers at the top, and a standard sized file drawer on the bottom. But Staples in my area only had two in stock, so I asked if they would call the Staples in Burbank and see if they had any. If so, would they save them for me. Luckily, the store had 2 in stock, and agreed to save them for me. But I had to get to church, so I told them I’d come in on Monday to grab them. Only one of the two I bought would fit into Sara’s car, so she took me home and dropped off the cabinet, and while I was at church, she would go back and get the other one and bring it over. Roxy and I headed off to evening church. When we were finished, we got home and unloaded the other one from Sara’s car. It’s going to look awesome! My effects guy Jim Ojala came by to touch up the color on Adam West’s new eyelids. The Magic Sculpt had dried and was ready to be painted. While Jim was doing that, I asked if he’d like the old white drawers for his effects shop, to keep supplies and instruments in. He said he’d love to have them, so I emptied them out and hauled them down to Jim’s truck. Easy squeezy! I set up the two new cabinets I had, and made room for the other two I’d be getting on Monday. Busy busy! I also redid the electrical cords since the configuration of the cabinets was a little different than what it was before. But now it actually looks a lot better! And certainly more efficient! I’ll load the cabinets with supplies after I get back from vacation. After Jim left, I called AAA and had them come by to see what could be done about getting the Mustang to the local Ford dealer for repair. I was hoping it wouldn’t require a tow. But when the guy arrived he tested the battery and saw it was totally dead. He replaced it on the spot with a new one, and also tested the alternator. The diagnostic showed that the alternator wasn’t very good either (which was probably the cause of the problem in the first place). So he got it started and I drove it over to Ford and dropped it off for service first thing Tuesday morning. (They would be closed for the Monday holiday). But since I was leaving Monday night, this was the only alternative to getting it in for service. I won’t be in town to pick it up until next Friday, so they can take their time with it. Sara picked me up at Ford and drove us to Coral Cafe for dinner. My pal Brittney Powell came by for a bit to say hi and help with moving some stuff around. Then I washed some clothes, recorded some auditions for agents when they come back into the office on Tuesday morning, and got ready for bed. I watched the final episode of “The Bionic Woman,” and it wasn’t bad. At least they left the show on a high note, but WHEW! Some of those third season episodes were BAAAAAD!
Monday the 27th – MEMORIAL DAY. REMEMBERING THE FALLEN! – When I woke up I called my electrician Electric Bob to have him stop by to check out the new Shakespeare switch. Jim had determined that, since the new switch was a bit bigger than the old switch (which is no longer being made), the Shakespeare bust would have to be modified to accommodate the switch. That meant cutting into the back of the bust, building up some more room for the switch, and patching and painting. Yikes! Before he did all that work, I wanted Electric Bob to make doubly sure that the switch would even work correctly. But he said that the switch was so complex, it was above his level of expertise. It went way beyond standard home electrics, and went into the industrial realm. So I’ll ask my pal at NBC to take a look at it next week when we’re back from hiatus. Then I picked up Sara and we went to Staples in Burbank to get the two cabinets that were being held for me. You know, it’s too bad that on such a somber, important day…the idiots were out in full force. People were just weaving into other lanes of traffic without a care, texting, talking on the phone, and I almost got sideswiped a few times. Luckily the horn on my rented Land Rover is beefy! People driving slow, sitting still at green lights, not using their blinker…yup. The idiots were out in full force today! Doesn’t anybody care? To make matters worse, when we got all the way over to Staples in Burbank, the manager looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights. He had no idea what I was talking about. He said there were no cabinets in the back being held for me. I was standing there when the gal from the Studio City Staples was on the phone with somebody from the Burbank store, and I heard them confirm that they would be holding them. Then I asked if there was another Burbank Staples, since I may be in the wrong store. Sure enough, there was another one a few miles away. Back in the Land Rover we went, fighting more idiots on the streets all the way. But the other Burbank Staples was too small to carry file cabinets. They just don’t have the available real estate. Furious, I went back to the Studio City Staples to find out who exactly they spoke with on the phone Sunday afternoon. Luckily the manager at the Studio City store is on the ball. Amil called over to Burbank, talked to the manager I had just seen, and after 20 minutes of being on hold, the “genius” at the Burbank store said, “Oh yeah, they’re here.” GREAT! So back in the Land Rover we went, back to Burbank. I just gotta ask…IS EVERYONE ON DRUGS?”! Sara had had enough of all the idots, and she wanted to go home. So I dropped her off and I went all the way back to the Burbank Staples. The manager there lamely explained, “They were stuck under some paper and stuff…hiding.” Great. I got them, put them in my car and headed home. I just wasted two good hours of my day because of some idiot manager at Staples in Burbank. But thanks to Amil at the Studio City Staples, I got what I needed. When I set up the two cabinets in my office, I realized I could use one more. I had stacked two on top of each other, because I had the room, so that allowed me space for a fifth cabinet. This is going to be awesome when completed! I walked Roxy and then started packing. Unfortunately, as the days grew closer to my Palm Springs getaway, the weather forecast was looking worse and worse. A few weeks ago they were expecting highs in the low 90’s, but now they were forecasting the temps to be in the upper 90’s, and lower 100s. So I guess Roxy would be staying home for the week. Rats! But aside from her being hot, the burning sidewalks would hurt her little doggie paws. I really wanted to take her, but it was for the best that she stay home with Spooky and Sara. I packed for a few hours then headed out around 10pm. I cruised down the road without a care! Thank God the idiots from earlier in the day had all gone home and were no longer on the roads. The trip went very fast. I talked to my pal Fred on the phone for awhile, listened to the AM country station from Arizona that I like to hear, and enjoyed looking at an ENORMOUS orange moon straight ahead of me that was 3/4 full. It was very dark orange and low on the horizon. And I was driving straight towards it! Something amazing about driving through the desert at night, staring at a huge orange moon and listening to native American music on the radio. It really sets a mood. I stopped at Denny’s to get my dinner (as I always do when I go to Palm Springs) and headed over to the Hyatt to check in. My favorite room was ready to go and I started unpacking. I ate my Denny’s, then got ready for a night full of star watching. A gentle, warm breeze caressed me as I sat on the patio watching the skies, eating popcorn and drinking Coke from a small glass bottle. I saw an amazingly brilliant shooting star which shot right across my field of vision perfectly! I listened to my i-Pad on my i-Pad dock as I kept my eye focused on one particular star that was close to the mountainous horizon. Soon, the earth would turn so the star would no longer be visible. I love to watch them disappear one by one behind the mountain and essentially “see the earth move.” A song from Paul Weller came on my i-Pad called “Wishin’ On A Star.” It’s a recent remake of the old 70’s tune by Rose Royce. The intro started as I continued to watch the star ahead of me. Paul began to sing, “I’m wishin’ on a star…” then BLOOP! My star was gone. Behind the mountain. Almost right on cue! Just another one of those amazing experiences I enjoy relaxing in Palm Springs. I stayed up until 4:30 am watching the skies. The bright 3/4 full moon, combined with streaky clouds in the sky, created some interesting lighting effects overhead. The clouds seemed to drink in the moon’s light and amplify them across the night sky. Normally I prefer a crystal clear sky for star watching, but these streaky clouds provided for a very interesting light show!
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
A couple of good-looking dudes! As I was searching through 2750 family slides that I recently had transferred to digital, I ran across this great shot of my two late grandfathers…
Grandpa Ted on the left, and Grandpa Joe on the right. I miss ’em!
With the help of a compound called Magic Sculpt, I fix the eyelids on my Adam West figure to make him look more natural. Before he looked like he was getting a prostate examination! BUG EYED!
Jim Ojala painted the eyelids to look more natural (he’s adding eyelashes later) and the cowl is placed back on his head. He looks MUCH more relaxed now!
Robin is added permanently to the Planet Wallywood 1966 Batman display!
Still as beautiful as ever! Kathryn Leigh Scott visits Planet Wallywood for movie night, since we showed the Blu Ray version of “House of Dark Shadows” from 1970. Here she says hello to an old friend.
