“Restless” by Sweet came up on my i-Pod this past week and I kept on humming it the remainder of the week. I remember loving this song as a kid, but I also remember that this wasn’t a hit. In fact, it was the flipside* of their hit “Ballroom Blitz.”
*Back in the old days songs came pressed on a flat, round piece of acetate or vinyl called a “record.” A 7″ round record was called a “single,” and a 12″ round record was an album. These “singles” would have an “A” side (usually the hit song that the record company wanted to promote) but on the “flipside” (or the “B” side) was another selection from the same album that wasn’t quite as good as the hit. But occasionally you’d get a good song on the “B” side too! Such is the case with “Restless.”
Monday the 10th – MARVELOUS MONDAY! – I got a call from my agent that I needed to record something from home for ‘The Tonight Show.” It was a spoof of a Chevy commercial, so they sent me the actual commercial in my e-mail, and I studied the voice and replicated as best as I could. I sent them the files and then headed out to go to Voicetrax West for another session for HH Gregg. But I got a call from “TTS” again during my session asking for an additional line for the Chevy parody. So I rushed home, recorded the line and sent it right in. That’s the way television comedy works…very immediate. It’s a challenge and a lot of fun! But by then it was time to get ready and go into the taping of “TTS,” so I headed on in. When I got there writer John Melendez met me with yet another line that I recorded before I rehearsed the show’s opening. Those guys work really fast, because whataya know!? The Chevy parody made it into the monologue without a problem. Amazing! After the taping, I went to It’s a Wrap in Burbank to see about buying more of those $5 tux jackets. I had found a bunch of black, satin shawl collar tuxedo jackets at their Beverly Hills store about a week ago for about $5, and I grabbed them all. You never know when you may need to have a tie and jacket ready for dinner! That evening my contractor Terry came by with a record cabinet that he built for The Chaney Room. I’m changing things quite a bit in the Chaney Room soon. It had started to become a place where I would stash all my junk…a storage room. But I didn’t like how that was shaping up. So I’m moving all sorts of things around, adding some cool displays and restoring it to the showpiece that it once was. And one of the things I needed to do was move some old record albums into a different corner of the room. Later that night as I was doing auditions in my home studio, I watched my cat Spooky playing with his fuzzy catnip ball. He was chewing it and rolling it around to get the maximum amount of catnip out of it. But he forgot (and so did I) that it’s a squeaker ball! So he bit into it a little too hard and it squeaked at him. The look on his face was absolutely hysterical. He stopped what he was doing dead in his tracks, and just sat there and stared at that ball for about a minute, trying to figure out what had just happened. I laughed myself silly! Crazy cat!
Tuesday the 11th – TOO COOL TUESDAY! – I slept relatively late (like I LOVE to do) and when I got up some checks had arrived in the mail. So I got busy scanning them into my computer and getting a deposit ready for the bank. I also took care of some other business at home, phone calls, etc. – and then headed out to the taping of “TTS.” After the show wrapped, I drove over to the bank and put the deposit in. Then I went home to wait for a phone call from my friends Joe and Zandra who were in town. They were attending a taping of “S*&! My Father Says” starring William Shatner. After the taping we met at Li’l Toni’s for some Italian food, and were joined by Chuck McCann!
Wednesday the 12th – OOOOOUUUCH! – My pal Jim Ojala came by with some work he had done for The Chaney Room. I’m putting together a mannequin of The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (along with a few others) and I was disappointed in how the mannequin’s eyes looked behind the mask. So I bought some lifelike acrylic eyes on the web and had Jim install them in the mannequin’s face. NOW it looked really creepy! He brought the mannequin over and we put it together. Awesome! That afternoon at “TTS” they had two of the new Black Beauty cars from the new “Green Hornet” movie. It was really cool seeing them up close! I tried to get a shot with my cell phone but they didn’t turn out very well. My friend Edi and her pal Carin from New Zealand were coming to Planet Wallywood that night to take a tour, and then we were going to have dinner. When they got to my house I noticed that a light bulb had burned out. So I grabbed a new bulb, and did what I always did. Took the chair at my computer table and prepared to stand on it and change the bulb. Since the chair has wheels on it, I always put one foot on the chair, balance myself on my computer desk with my other foot, stand up and grab ahold of the crossbeam to maintain balance, and put the light bulb in. However today just HAD to be different! When I stood up to grab the crossbeam my hand slipped off, the chair went wheeling away and I CAME CRASHING DOWN! Right by my computer desk is a railing that separates the second floor from the first floor. My left rib cage met the railing at full force! Plus, my left hand came slamming down on the top of my action figure case. Had the case not been there I most likely would have fallen to the first floor. I don’t get it. I do this all the time when I change a bulb and I never have a problem. I guess because I’ve had this sinus infection my equilibrium isn’t what it used to be, and I lost balance. I was in serious pain, but all I could do was laugh. It was the absolute stupidest thing I’ve done in awhile. I laughed and said, ‘That was very Stan Laurel of me!” The ladies wanted to know if I was alright and should they call a doctor. I told them no worries, it would probably bruise quite badly and then heal in a week or so. I felt like I had been in a prize fight with Rocky Balboa! We went out to eat at DuPar’s and all was well. But the pain had only begun!
Thursday the 13th – PENGUINS AND MORE PENGUINS! – In the morning I went over to the Nickelodeon studios to do an episode of “The Penguins of Madagascar!” When the session was finished I had some time to kill before my next audition, so I went to Best Buy and bought a portable Blu Ray player. I had been wanting one for some time, and today was the day. I also grabbed lunch at Wendy’s and sat in the Best Buy parking lot eating my food and listening to the radio. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! But unfortunately my driver’s side window wouldn’t roll down. It would do that occasionally, but normally would be OK after awhile. It wasn’t getting any better. So I made a note to visit the Ford dealer later that night to see what could be done. I finished my lunch and found the location of my next audition…for a new animated film called “Swan Princess Christmas.” I went in, did the audition, and then headed out to my house. I needed to change clothes before I went to “TTS.” When I got to NBC I found my pal Bodie Stroud, the guy who had been working on my 1974 Gran Torino. He was in the audience that day with his pal and coworker Mitchell. I had been trying to get him to a taping for awhile, but it took Cameron Diaz to get him there! After the show I took Bodie and Mitchell backstage to show them my little “sarcophagus of sound” and meet Patrick the audio mixer. We stood in the hallway for awhile and Jay came by and recognized Bodie. Bodie had done some beautiful work on a railing for Jay using old car parts. They talked cars for a little while and then Jay went about his busy day. Speaking of cars, Bodie’s still waiting for an ignition switch for my Torino. He bought one on eBay that was brand new. It was a great find considering they no longer make those switches! After the taping I went over to Ford to see why my driver’s side window wouldn’t roll down. Come to find out the motor had burned out and needed to be replace. Luckily they had one in stock and replaced it in the car while I waited! Incidentally, Bodie texted me and told me that the Torino ignition switch had arrived while he was at the taping of “TTS” and he’d install in first thing Friday. YAY! That night after a nap I was in a great deal of pain and misery. My rib cage was starting to bruise up pretty good, and my sinus infection was still not done yet. It seemed to be draining slowly, but not fast enough. In addition to the pain in my ribs, I couldn’t breathe that well through my nose. I called Studiopolis in the middle of the night and told them I probably wouldn’t be able to make the session for “Kekkaishi” on Friday at noon. I was in bad shape! So I took some meds and went back to bed.
Friday the 14th – MIRACLE OF MIRACLES! – When I woke up I actually felt pretty good! I called Studiopolis and told them that if the time was still open I could still make the session for “Kekkaishi.” They encouraged me to do so, since the episode I would be working on needed to be delivered in a few days. I was breathing pretty well, and my ribs weren’t hurting that much. I got to Studiopolis, did the session and went to get some groceries. I was really nervous about using my Sinex nasal spray too much during this sinus infection. Back when I was a teen my allergies in the fall made it necessary to use nasal spray all the time. My body became dependent upon it and it took awhile to wean myself off it. I didn’t want that to happen again, so I was trying to cease using the Sinex as much as possible. But when my sinuses would totally clog, obviously I would have to use it. But not before that. Eventually I was getting to the point where I would only have to use it about every 12 hours, then every 24 hours. After I got groceries I went home to unload them, then I hightailed it over to “TTS” for the taping. Michael Douglas was the guest and he looked fantastic, given what he had just been through. He was definitely the answer to a lot of people’s prayers! They also had amazing animals on with Julie Scardina. Normally I don’t leave my booth during the show because I don’t want to be perceived as bugging the celebrity guests. Besides that’s not really my thing. But when they have animals on the show I turn into a 5 year old again! I just had to go into the hallways and see the little monkey and the little lemur close up. They were BEAUTIFUL little creatures! And so curious! Though a large brown bear was on the show, I didn’t see him anywhere in the hallway. After the taping I went to the grocery store to order up a birthday cake for Saturday. It was Edi and Sara’s birthdays, so I had a half and half cake made up for them. Half was chocolate and the other half vanilla. I arranged to pick it up Saturday afternoon. That night I rested, then got up to go get take-out food at Denny’s. MMM!!!
Saturday the 15th – HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA AND EDI! – I took Sara to lunch for her birthday at The Counter, an awesome hamburger place. Then I bid her farewell so I could sneak into the grocery store and pick up her cake. I got the cake home just in time to meet up with Sassie’s groomers. Sassie needed a bath and I had called the groomer out for that afternoon. I put the cake in the kitchen and put the appropriate number of candles in for each lady. Jim Ojala came by to do some more work in the Chaney Room. I hadn’t realized up to that point that one of the mannequins in the Chaney Room was standing naked with his back to the window. And the window was WIDE open! But the lady groomer pointed up to the window and said, ‘When I pulled in, I looked up and said (GASP!) I thought that was YOU!” I assured her it was just a mannequin that was apparently mooning the world. So I got his costume out and put it on him right away. But I got a good laugh out of it. Everyone took off and I had a few hours to clean up Planet Wallywood to prepare for movie night. We’d be watching the original “True Grit” on Blu Ray with John Wayne. I haven’t seen the new one, but it’s hard to imagine that it could be much improved upon. That movie is amazing! Plus we celebrated Sara’s birthday before she took off to celebrate with friends at dinner. Edi couldn’t make it that night, but I’d be seeing her the next day so she could blow out the candles on her half of the cake!
Famous sculptor and friend, Ruben Procopio stands next to Wally’s latest addition to the Chaney Room: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh!
Sunday the 16th – BELATED BIRTHDAY! – My pal Jason Marsden was going to come by with his son Clark, who isn’t quite a year old. I had heard a lot about him but hadn’t met him yet. Sara also came by to bring me a few jackets she had found at a vintage store, and Edi dropped over with her friend Brooke to get some birthday cake.
Edi blows out her candles
Clark had fun crawling around Planet Wallywood. Sassie enjoyed meeting him, but Spook didn’t seem to care much.
Jason’s a very doting dad and he and Clark are a good team. We all sang happy birthday to Edi and we had some cake. Then I got ready for evening church and headed over. When I was done though, my ribs were hurting again. So I came home and relaxed on the couch for awhile. I was very happy that my sinuses were finally clearing (I hadn’t taken nasal spray in over two days!) but dealing with these ribs were going to be another issue for the near future. Since Monday was the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, I only had to be at “TTS”, but there wasn’t anything else going on. No auditions to do or anything. So it was a very relaxing Sunday evening with the animals and my sore ribs! OUCH!
And how was YOUR week!!???
