April 05 – April 11 (2021) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I love following Bob’s Big Boy’s Instagram, and this past week they posted an amazing photo of a young Marilyn Monroe enjoying a burger! Great shot!

Some of the best music of my life came out of the 70s and 80s. And it seems that stores know that music from those decades keeps people happy in their stores. While I was in CVS the other day I heard Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ big hit “Come On Eileen!” What a great, hummable song!

Monday the 5th – JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY! – The first part of the day involved doing a quick Voice Over session in my home studio as a sick rat. It was only one line, so we did it several times, in many different voices and accents. It was quick and fun. Then Michelle and I got in the Mustang and headed to Burger King for lunch at the drive-thru, and then we went to my buddy Jim Ojala’s effects studio to pick up a new Rowlf nose. As I start work on creating a 10% smaller head for my Rowlf replica Muppet, I needed a new nose for the redone head. Jim has the mold so he can easily pop one out for me upon request. Since I finished the sculpt for my Frankie Christoween ornament, I took that over to him to create a mold. Then we drove over to my mailbox to get my mail. I got a vintage sheet for a children’s bed that was released back in the 70’s that had a great print of a cartoon Laurel and Hardy. I bought a different one a while back that I’m turning into a bowling shirt, but this was an entirely different print, which I’ll also have turned into a bowling shirt. I got back home and did some work around the house. I recorded some auditions to send to my agents, went through my bank statements, scanned and organized some deposits for my bank accounts, paid bills, and typed out Wally’s Week. Being a fan of vinyl records, Michelle had been wanting to go through all of my albums and 45s for quite a while. So we had a good time looking through my collection and pulling a few out that I would be willing to sell.

Tuesday the 6th – SHOES-DAY AFTERNOON! – It was a gorgeous day, so Michelle and I strapped on our walking shoes and walked over to the bank so I could deposit some money in my accounts. We went to CVS so I could print out some photos to use as hang tags for my Frankie Christoween Stalkings. They turned out pretty good! We stopped at Kit Kraft to pick up some spray gloss for Rowlf’s nose. Since our local Big 5 is in the area, I figured it was time to buy some new walking shoes. The pair I was using had been purchased a while back, and there had been hundreds of miles put on them. Not only are the new crop of running shoes more plentiful, (lots of new brands I’ve never heard of) but they’re about a THIRD of the price they used to be! When I got home I packed Roxy up in the Mustang, and Michelle and I went to Paty’s for lunch. I got my mail at my mailbox and included in the shipment were my new Adidas Kermit shoes! So it was turning into a great “Shoes-day!” I also received the second proof printing of my “Frankie-fied!” Christoween book from Shutterfly. As Michelle and I were sitting there, two people walked by our table. The guy was wearing a cool Creature from the Black Lagoon mask. Since I was eating and didn’t have my mask on, the lady said, “Wally?” I said, “Yes!” Come to find out, it was my very first Voice Over agent Kristene Wallis! It was fun catching up, and her friend Blake is a HUGE monster fan. I took the opportunity to show him my Christoween book and he wanted to buy it ON THE SPOT! I told him it wasn’t ready for sale quite yet, but I would let him know when the book and Stalking sets would be ready for purchase. After lunch I came back home to do some work, and a friend of Michelle’s came over to look through my albums to possibly purchase a few for a new record store he’s opening. He ended up buying about 10 albums, but we had so much in common that we chatted for hours! After he left I prepped for an early session the next morning. As I reflected upon the amazing day, I realized that we’re where we’re supposed to be!

Wednesday the 7th – SHORT BUT SWEET! – A Voice Over session was scheduled for early in the day at a studio called Salami. I’ve recorded tons of sessions there in the past, and it’s good that they’re open again for in-person recording! It was for an upcoming feature film, and when I went in to do the session the director said, “OK, Wally. Give us a little bit of what you did for the audition.” I was confused, because the character I was there to perform wasn’t anything I auditioned for. It was essentially a (as it’s known in the industry) a “gimme.” A “gimme” is a session that was just given to a Voice Actor because the producers are already familiar with the actor’s work. So I said, “I actually never auditioned for this character.” Then they realized what was going on, so they described the character to me (I guess they figured it was well within my wheelhouse, based on my past work) and off we went. I did three takes of each line (what’s known as in the industry as an A,B,C,) and that was it! Off I went! Short and sweet! I was hungry so I headed to Taco Bell to get some food in the drive-thru. I made it back home and did some auditions. Since I had been up late the night before prepping, and I got up for an early session, I was a little tired around the edges. I grabbed a short nap, and then got up later to watch a splendid interview that my buddy Elliot Lurie did about a year ago, which was just recently released. Elliot was the lead singer of the 70’s rock group Looking Glass, and wrote and sang the monster hit “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).” I did some work around the house, and then perused the second proof of my Christoween book. I did a few more edits and made the corrections on my account on Shutterfly. Then I ordered a third draft, and took Roxy on a late-night stroll through the complex while I enjoyed a nice cigar. I came back inside and made a pot pie and watched another episode of “The Lone Ranger.”

Thursday the 8th – LONG, LAZY DAY! – In the afternoon I did a bunch of auditions and e-mailed them to my agents. I did some work around the house, edited and color corrected some photos in my archives, did a few more auditions, and just laid about the house and enjoyed a quiet day!

Friday the 9th – DERN IT ALL, ANYWAY! – My pal Edi and I met for lunch at Paty’s, and had a great meal on the patio next to the sidewalk. I like to sit there and observe people and dogs that walk by, but I was shocked when I recognized one of the patrons leaving. I spoke up and said, “Hi, Mr. Dern!” It was legendary actor Bruce Dern, who in addition to being a legend, also happens to be my dad’s favorite actor of all time! He loves Bruce’s many portrayals as villains, and when my dad sees Bruce pop up on shows like “Gunsmoke,” “Wagon Train,” “Bonanza” and others, he’ll snap a picture of Bruce on his TV and text it to me. I told Mr. Dern that my dad regularly sends me shots of his appearances on TV shows. A while back, at one of those L.A. autograph shows where you meet celebrities at tables and pay them for autographed items, I had Bruce sign a photo for my dad. Back then I explained that my dad was a huge fan and, like Bruce, was also a jogger. Bruce asked where my dad was and when I mentioned South Dakota, he lit up. He said his wife was from North Dakota! I asked if he would say hi to my dad on the phone and he was more than happy to comply. (Bruce Dern is a STELLAR guy – and nothing like the many villains he portrays so effectively in films and TV shows!) But a simple “hello-how-are-you” turned into a 15 minutes conversation with my dad! They talked all about jogging, South Dakota, North Dakota, Bruce’s long career, etc. it was fantastic. So meanwhile, back at Paty’s, I told Mr. Dern that my day was going to be blown away when I told him I had run into him. His assistant said, “Wanna get a picture?” I jumped at the chance, and had a lot of fun texting it to my dad. When my dad received the text he called back and said, “Hey! It’s Brucie Baby!” Too funny. I got my mail and then met Edi at The Perfect Parrot – a store that sells food and supplies for bird lovers. I saw a lot of beautiful birds in the store and enjoyed talking (or whistling) to many of them! I drove over to JoAnn’s fabric to pick out some suitable contrast fabric for my new bowling shirt I’m having made from that Laurel and Hardy kid’s sheet I bought. But while I was there I also found some fantastic Pinocchio fabric, so there’s yet ANOTHER bowling shirt I’ll have constructed! For my Pinocchio shirt, I found some great wood buttons! (Get it…wooden puppet? Wood buttons?) I got a call from a buddy of mine who was inquiring about the possibility getting me to appear at a couple of in-store signings in the area soon. It sounds like life is coming back to normal a little bit! I got back home and attached the hang tags to the three Frankie Stalkings that I have in my possession. I stitched them into the Stalkings with some monofilament, and they look pretty sweet! I did some other work around the house, made some lasagna and watched another episode of “The Lone Ranger.”

Saturday the 10th – GOTCHA! – Sleeping late is always fun, and when I got up I decided on a delicious plan! I needed groceries, so I plotted a trip to a grocery store which was on the way to my favorite Italian restaurant called Barone’s. Even though the grocery store was not one I usually patronize, I would shop there, phone in my pizza order, pick it up at the restaurant, and head home to dine. A while back I had a mask printed up that utilizes my headshot. So when I go into stores it gets double-takes, as it looks very realistic, but creepy. It has a creepy unceasing smile that gets giggles, laughs, comments and the occasional looks of horror. But most of the workers at the stores I usually visit are used to it by now. But since this was a store I haven’t visited since before the whole virus thing, nobody there had seen this before. Sure enough, as I was waiting in the checkout line for my turn, on the phone ordering my pizza at Barone’s, one of the store employees started talking to me and pointing to her face mask. Since I was on the phone with the person at Barone’s ordering my pizza, I wasn’t able to hear what the store employee was saying. But I could see other employees laughing and telling her that it WAS a mask. GOTCHA! Then I came up with a great idea! (Which I should have done a year ago!) I should have little cards made up that have a picture of me wearing my realistic looking mask with the words, “GOTCHA! Wearing this mask with my face imprinted upon it is a game to me. And since my illusion fooled you into thinking I was maskless, your penalty for being fooled is to pay $20 to your favorite charity. That’s my game. Thank you.” I wonder if it’s too late to have those cards printed up. Might be fun! I picked up my pizza at Barone’s, headed home, unpacked my groceries and enjoyed my pizza. Sunday I needed to shoot a short video in my garage (that’s where my groovy silver lame curtain is hanging, which I wanted to use for the shoot) but some cleaning and organizing was in order. So later I went to my garage, pulled a bunch of stuff out, filed away my 2020 tax documents in my waterproof, plastic bins (I had water damage from a leaking hot water heater in the past), and started breaking down and throwing away some boxes I no longer needed. In that same corner of my garage, I had a huge box filled with items that I had pulled from my collection with the intent of selling them on eBay. The box that held the items was the box that contained one of my big screen TVs when I bought it. So it was about 3 feet high, four feet wide and about a foot and a half deep. But sadly, this was one of the boxes that got soaked when my hot water heater leaked several years ago. I hadn’t been in that box since before the leak. So I wasn’t sure what I’d find. Unfortunately, a few of the t-shirts I had in there had gotten water stained and moldy. And the water stains weren’t just plain water stains, they were RUSTY water stains! So I put them through the washer and whatever ones came out OK would go on eBay, and the unsalvageable ones would go to Goodwill. I had a few nice collector shirts in there, too! But a lot of the other toys (action figures, etc.) were alright, so I took everything out and put them in several plastic bins. I broke down the original box and disposed of it in my recycle bin. It was a lot of work, but it felt good to do it, and that area of the garage looks much better now! Back when VHS tapes were all the rage, I bought a nice cabinet that held about 50 videocassettes. It has magnetic doors and nice shelves on the inside of the doors as well. I’ve always liked it, but had no use for it after I got rid of a lot of my VHS tapes. I found the perfect use for it in my garage. I store a lot of cans of soda in my garage, which helps to keep them temperature controlled. Sometimes, in jest, I refer to my garage as my ‘wine cellar.’ I cleaned up the VHS cabinet and placed it on top of a small shelving unit. I found out that the VHS cabinet held the cans of soda perfectly! The size parameters of two cans of soda are about the same depth as a VHS tape! So it’s my new ‘wine cabinet’ where I keep my cans of soda squirreled away. Perfect! In anticipation of the video I’d be shooting on Sunday for a friend, I painted my fingernails black. He asked for a video of my Glam Rocker character that appeared in a Dell computer TV commercial back in 2016. I made my Saturday Night Super Saint Salad, and watched an episode of “The Saint” before bed.

Sunday the 11th – YEAAAAAAAAAHHHH! – A good friend of mine played guitar with Kiss back in the 80s and 90s, and is one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. Before the whole virus thing, he had been playing with Grand Funk for many years. He asked me for a short video for a project he’s working on, but instead of appearing as Wally, he had the brilliant idea to have me appear as the Glam Rocker from the Dell commercial I did a few years ago. So that meant I had to dig out a bunch of hair products, style my hair like the Glam Rocker, and dig out a costume I had made that was similar to the one I wore in the commercial. My pal Officer Mark and his girlfriend Miss Connie came over to help shoot it. I’m glad they were there to help, because Officer Mark has all the great gear to make it look completely professionally. The lighting was set up and the shot was determined. (Luckily, because it was a close-up, I didn’t have to wear the tight green lame pants!) I had written the short bit a few days ago, and had rehearsed it quite a bit. So once when we started shooting we got it in the second take! I came upstairs, downloaded all the audio and video to my computer, edited it together, and sent it over to Bruce. Then we headed to Bob’s Big Boy for dinner. I came back home, showered off and did an audition. After she got off work, Michelle came over to spend her days off at Planet Wallywood. What a wild week!

And how was YOUR week??!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Once I attached the ‘hang tags’ to my Frankie Christoween Stalkings, it gave me a chill to be able to visualize how these things would look on the rack in stores!

The great, the legendary Bruce Dern! A nicer man you will NOT meet!

Here are a few fun shots from the Bruce Kulick video we did. It’s final, intended use cannot be disclosed at this time. But I’ll let you know when it’s safe to release the info!