April 18 – April 24 (2016) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

While downloading some pictures from my phone recently I came across this one that I had forgotten about. It’s when we were working on some Marvel animated series a while back. All of the actor’s lines were in a binder, and I was elated that my lines were close to the great Stan Lee’s!!

A few weeks ago I was humming a song called “Seasons” by the group Future Islands. But now I’ve been humming another one of their gems called “Doves.”

Monday the 18th – I HATE MONDAYS! – Technology was NOT my friend on this day! At noon I was on my home phone doing a session for a new NBC pilot. But halfway through the session my phone died. So I went down to my garage to get my headset for my cellphone so I could call the producers back and finish the session. But when I set foot into my garage…SQUISH! The carpet in front of my washer and dryer was soaked. Did my washer leak? NOPE! My water heater did though! There was water covering the entire floor of my garage. Wet boxes and bags were all over the place! Well, not much I could do about it now. I had to finish my session. So I went back upstairs, finished the session, uploaded all the tracks to the server, and then called a plumber. I was hoping for a broken gasket or something. Since I had a session at 2 that I had to leave for, I called my assistant Sara to come over and wait for the plumber. I cleared a path to the water heater (no easy task!) so the plumber could easily get to it to diagnose the problem. Luckily, late last year, I put all my tax documents in plastic containers and set them on the floor. I think I remember thinking that if the water heater ever leaked, the docs would be protected. Unfortunately my 2015 tax docs hadn’t been put in a plastic bin yet, since they just came back from my accountant a few weeks ago. They got moistened a little bit, but not too bad. Some other boxes had taken the brunt of the water, and the things contained inside were mostly spared…thankfully! I threw out a bunch of wet boxes, moved a bunch of other stuff around, showered and then headed to Voice Trax West to do my session for PBS Kids. I had just finished and was on my way home when the plumber called to tell me they had arrived. Sara greeted them and let them in. By the time I got home they had completely diagnosed the issue. The metal inside the water heater (bought in 2004) had expanded and contracted so much with the heating process that the metal had become fatigued and wore out. Since it was so late they said they’d come back at 9am and start work Tuesday. It will take them most of the day to get the work done. I’m glad my schedule was totally clear for Tuesday. And thank God this happened now and not when I was on vacation in South Dakota or Palm Springs! I went back inside and did some work, and then grabbed a nap. I got up later in the evening and did auditions. I had something to eat and hit the hay to be up bright and early to greet the plumbers and my new (and very expensive) water heater!

Tuesday the 19th – PLUMBING MADNESS! – The plumbers came by just before 10 to start replacing my cracked water heater. I started off by trying to salvage a few “moist” items from my garage floor, but mostly everything on the floor that was affected was already in plastic tubs. Once the water heater is replaced then the damage assessment can begin. Plumbers Pan and Andrew worked all day in the garage removing the old water heater and installing the new one. While they worked I wrote Wally’s Week, sent out my movie night invites for “Dark Crystal” night (more on that later), and I did some work around the house. They finished up around 2:30 and everything was groovy. Shortly after 5 I went to Voicecasters in Burbank for an audition. When I got back home I left my car out of the garage for a bit while I continued to move some more things around to try and minimize the water damage. Now that the leaking had stopped it’s time to start the clean-up. The piece of carpet I have lying in front of the washer and dryer was totally soaked. I tried to pick it up and haul it to my front patio so it could dry in the sun for a few days, but being waterlogged it was really heavy! I drug it around and laid it out. Then I started mopping up around the water heater area. Though it wasn’t wet any longer, the moisture had made the floor very grimy. So I got on my hands and knees and washed every square inch of the garage floor in front of the water heater. I couldn’t believe how dirty that floor was! I had gone through a whole roll of paper towels and I was STILL picking up dirt. When I had my dog Sassie, I had my contractor Terry build a little doggie house for her in the garage right beneath the water heater. It’s gated and cozy, and it was a place I could put her when she was being neurotic and needed a “time out.” But Roxy is very different so I don’t really have use for the dog house any longer. The plumbers needed to cut a 2 X 4 beam out to access the water heater. That beam was where the facing of the doggie house attached. So no more doggie house. They threw away most of the wood that they had to tear out, but I kept the face of the dog house that has Sassie’s name on it. Terry had painted on a couple of bricks around the entrance to make it look homier. Now that Sassie and Terry are both gone, I decided to save that piece in remembrance of them both. Once that area was clean, I could start moving certain items back in so I could start cleaning other areas. It was a messy, dirty job…but it had to be done. But this process is going to continue for the next few weeks I’m guessing. I had been wanting to get into the garage for a major cleaning, and now I have the perfect excuse! My neighbor’s 2 year old granddaughter Zoe was visiting from Hawaii, so she brought her over for a tour of Planet Wallywood. She loved the Puppet Room and had fun meeting Kermit and Cookie Monster. I got a much-needed shower and then an even MORE much-needed nap. I got up later to do auditions, work on my computer, and get a little something to eat. I had to be up in 3 hours for an early session!

Wednesday the 20th – OOOOUUUUCH! – Right around 8am I sprang from bed to start what was promising to be a very long day. I walked Roxy to the groomer so she could get her bath while I was busy in Studiopolis doing a session for a cartoon. The timing always works out perfectly. When I’m done at the session, she’s just getting finished at the groomer’s. I walked her home and grabbed a quick cat nap on the couch. Then I got up and grabbed my new promotional postcards for “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys” episode 2 at Prints Charm’n in Studio City. Then I headed over to Out Loud Audio in Burbank to do some voices for a new Nickelodeon animated feature. It was great fun and the director and crew were terrific. I can’t say much about it, other than I’m voicematching some characters from one of Nick’s more popular shows of the 90’s. They’re doing a feature film based on the old series, but a couple of the voice actors were either deceased or no longer available. Everything went well in the studio, but my muscles started hurting because of all the intense physical work I did while cleaning up the garage. In a few days it’ll pass. I stopped by the store to get some groceries, and then I picked up my mail at my mailbox. I got home and unloaded the groceries, and got ready to do a long-distance interview with an upcoming special guest for “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys.” I did the interview over the phone, but my guest was shot on video in North Dakota where he lives. It seemed to go very well. They sent me the video files over the web and I downloaded them all. Then I stopped by my assistant Sara’s house to get her for dinner. I was craving a hot beef sandwich at Lancer’s. And boy was it good! I got home and was a bit tired, but I had no time to sleep. I had a ton of auditions to do. Then I made some spaghetti and watched another episode of “The Munsters” before bed. By the time I got to sleep, I had been up about 21 hours straight (except for the brief catnap in the afternoon). I was exhausted!

Thursday the 21st – RELAAAAAAX! – I got up around 1 but was still exhausted from the previous 3 days of intense activity. I drove to my seamstress Karyn’s to drop off some work, and then I went over to my mailbox to get some mail. I got home and grabbed a nap, and then got up later to do auditions. I worked a little bit around the house and went to Denny’s to get some food to go. I enjoyed it while watching “The Munsters” and relaxing.

Friday the 22nd – MONSTERPALOOZA! – My maids arrived in the early afternoon and started their cleaning of Planet Wallywood. While they worked, I got on my patio and checked on my piece of garage carpet that had been drying for the past few days. It was completely dry so I moved it back to the garage and reinstalled it. (It was a lot lighter now that it wasn’t wet anymore!) Once I got it positioned properly, I asked my maid to come down and vacuum it really well. It was looking very good! While I was in the garage I also cleaned the washer and dryer and it was looking good! My pal Jasmine was in the area so she stopped by for a little bit, and then I headed over to the car wash to get my Mustang cleaned. The rain from a week or so ago had left it very spotty and dirty. The line of cars was very long so after I dropped it off I walked a few blocks away to get a couple slices of pizza for lunch. My car got finished and then I headed home to shower up and get ready for Monsterpalooza! My friend Emma came over around 5 so we could drive over together. I met Rebecca there (the make-up artist for “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys”) and we all had fun looking around at the great stuff. But my first stop was to see my favorite Bond girl Britt Ekland, who was there signing. I told her about the upcoming James Bond episode of “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys” and asked her to be a guest. She said she was very interested and if we could work it out with her travel schedule it may be possible! That would be great!! We got on to the convention floor and after about 20 minutes, my friend Emma just disappeared. I thought it was odd, considering that we drove over together. I hadn’t been ditched since elementary school, and it was a rather odd feeling. But she must’ve gotten busy with something. Still…very weird. I’m just not used to my guests ditching me like that. Lesson learned. Rebecca bought a make-up book from an associate of my pal Kenny Myers; make-up artist extraordinaire! Kenny did the make-up on “Return of the Living Dead 2,” one of the first jobs I had when I moved to L.A. in 1987, and my very first job in a movie! Recently, Kenny had made a replica of the “Burt the Zombie” mask I wore in the movie (he still had the mold lying around!!) so it’s always good to see Kenny. I thanked him again profusely. I walked Rebecca over to her car and then I took off. I got back home and napped until 2:30am. I fed Roxy and did some work around the house to get ready for my big “Dark Crystal” night on Saturday night movie night!

Saturday the 23rd – “THE DAAARK CRYSTAAAL!” – Mid-afternoon I got busy and started the day by going to Jerry’s Famous Deli to put our dinner order in for later. I had not one but TWO special guests coming for a special screening of “The Dark Crystal;” one of my favorite movies. I used to enjoy seeing it with my ex-wife back in the 80’s, and we collected the bubble gum cards. I have the full set, but I also have a ton of doubles! I also saved about a dozen of the original wax wrappers. So as a special drawing for my movie night guests, I reassembled 12 packs of cards, with 8 cards each (pulled from my doubles) to give away later. I went to Staples to get some tickets for the drawing and a few other supplies. I also got a thin purple 3-ring binder so I could display the “Dark Crystal” card set. I went over to CVS to get a prescription and a few other things, including thank you cards for the special guests. But when I got home the BIG job was staring me in the face. When I have largely attended movie nights (with a larger crowd than usual) I need the extra seating space by clearing away my drafting/art table and file cabinet. The file cabinet can be stashed under my computer table and placed out of the way. But the drafting table has to be disassembled and moved to the garage. After boxing up all the contents on my desk, I have to get underneath and unscrew the bracket holding the pencil tray to the table. Then once that’s removed I need to unscrew the brackets holding the table on to the metal frame. I take the pencil tray, the box of contents, the table and the frame downstairs to the garage. I also take Spooky’s cat condo downstairs as well. I had about 21 RSVPs of guests, so I was going to definitely need the extra space. I brought chairs up and placed them around and everybody had a place to sit. My old pal Barry Dennen arrived. In addition to being Pilate in “Jesus Christ Superstar” and a very busy character actor, he’s a terrific Voice Actor. He did the voice of Chamberlain in the film. Then Dave Barclay came over. He was one of the puppeteers in the film and worked closely with Frank Oz on the Aughra puppet. They both had wonderful stories and everybody loved it! So many questions that I’ve had in my head since the early 80’s were answered at last! We had a nice dinner, lots of laughs, and then Dave and Barry signed photos for everyone. Barry’s friend Tom Steves came by and brought two Chamberlain sculptures that he had done. He gave me one for my collection, and he let me give another one away in our drawing when we finished giving the bubble gum cards away. Too cool! After everyone left I put the place back together, put the chairs away, cleaned up the kitchen, and reassembled my desk. It’s easy to take it apart by myself, but it’s not that easy to reassemble by myself. But I managed quite nicely. I was really tired from an active day so I passed on having my usual Super Duper Salad and watching the old BBC “Avengers” before bed. I just had a snack and hit the hay. I have to be up the next day for another day of “Monsterpalooza.”

Sunday the 24th – GRATEFUL LANCE! – I picked up Sara shortly after noon and we headed to Pasadena to Monsterpalooza. I had stopped going a while back because the show had outgrown the venue in Burbank. It was tight, claustrophobic and cramped. But the new venue is terrific with lots of room to breathe! It’s a little farther to travel, but I like it! My first stop was to see Nick Castle, who played The Shape aka Michael Myers in the original “Halloween.” I had him sign my recently digitally reproduced William Shatner mask that I had converted to a Michael Myers mask by my effects guy Jim Ojala. He signed the back of the neck. When it’s on the mannequin the collar of the coveralls will keep it covered, but I can always surprise guests by pulling down the collar and showing off the signature. Then I went over to see my pal Lance Henricksen. He and I had been in “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” a few years ago. I was Ant Man and he was Grim Reaper. Back when the movie “Aliens” was released, the radio station I was working for in Sioux Falls, South Dakota hosted a special screening for listeners. As a gift, they gave away one-sheet “Aliens” movie posters. But when the screening was over they had many left over. With horror, I saw them rolled up and lying in the radio station dumpster out behind the station. I’ve always been a collector, especially when I was that age, so I snagged about 25 of them. (I was really into acquiring movie posters back then) I had been keeping 22 “Aliens” posters since 1984 with the intent that I could sell them someday. But I figured they would have a much nicer home with one of the actors from the film who did the autograph circuit. Especially since Lance is a buddy. I told him I was giving him 20 “Aliens” posters to sell at his table and he was blown away. Then I had him sign one for me and one for Sara. I’m SO glad they have a great home now! I KNEW I was saving them for some reason! We went inside and looked around at the vendor tables, and also the museum of wonderful art and effects work. But Sara and I got separated at one point, so I was standing in the middle of the convention floor texting her to see where she was. A lady came up to me and said, “Are you the guy in that commercial?” I told her I was and she asked if I she could take a picture with me. I was blown away. Voice Actors never get recognized on a common basis in public. This was a new world to me because of the Dell commercial. (Apparently they’re running it all the time!) I happily took a few photos with her, met her nice family and off they went. SO THAT’S what it’s like to be an on-camera actor. It was kind of cool. Up to that point, everybody who had mentioned seeing it on TV already knew me. But this was the first total stranger who approached me. Fun! I bought a few things and then we headed back home. I was really tired. The previous four or five days were exhausting! I told myself if I could just get through church and dinner there was a nice nap waiting for me at the end of the rainbow. I got home and unpacked everything and got ready for evening church. Roxy and I walked over for the service, and then my “adopted grandma” Shirley came over after church so we could drive to DuPar’s for dinner. Sara joined us too. Once I got my tummy full with a hot turkey sandwich I started passing out in the booth. I drove Shirley home, got inside my house, showered up and napped for about four hours! I got up at 1:30am and did a few auditions, fed and walked Roxy, paid some bills, went through my bank statements, and (since I missed out in it Saturday night) I made one of my Super Duper Salads and watched “Avengers” before bed!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK