Monday the 22nd – THREE DAYS TO CHRISTMAS! – I got up bright and early to take my friend Kristy to the Burbank airport so she could visit her parents in the Midwest for the holidays. When I got home I promptly set about recording some auditions in my home studio and sending them to my agent for submission. Then I paid some bills. I wanted to get that out of the way before the holidays hit. But for all intents and purposes, the industry was already shut down, and not much else was going on.

Tuesday the 23rd – TWO DAYS TO CHRISTMAS! – I met with Paul, the head of my voice-over agency, at an Italian restaurant in West LA. After a delicious lunch I sped over to Laser Blazer and It’s A Wrap and picked up some items there. Then I headed over to Floyd’s Barber Shop to get a cut and color. After that I met up with my buddy Mark Ackerman of Awetronics to have him program my remote to accommodate my new Blu Ray player. As you may remember from last week (see last week’s Wally’s Week here) I was having trouble with the player I bought just before Thanksgiving. I figured, though I may exchange it for one that work, I was still getting the same brand. So in anticipation of my movie-watching experiences over the holidays, I wanted my master remote to be able to run the Blu Ray player as well. Mark came over and got to work, while my friend Chris Malmin (he played Len in “Livin’ On a Prayer’) came by. I was going to do some work on Bruce Kulick’s new CD that night, and since I know Chris is a fan I asked him along. We got to the studio and the first thing they did was some back-up vocals for one of Bruce’s songs about his experience getting shot outside a nightclub a few years back. So his producer Jeremy asked all of us to go in and sing the back-ups. I knew Chris was lovin’ in. Here he is, a Kiss fan from childhood, and now his voice will be on a former Kiss member’s solo CD. I could feel his excitement. So we did the vocals, then we ordered pizza. The next song we did back-up vocals to was a song that Gene Simmons sang for Bruce’s CD. It was a fun evening, and I think everyone was really happy with how the session turned out!

Wednesday the 24th – ONE DAY TO CHRISTMAS! – Today was errand day, since I most likely wouldn’t be getting out to run them over the next three days or so. I picked up some groceries, ran to the post office, and did a few other little things. When I got to the post office, it was closing early! I had packages to mail! But luckily Barbara at the Burbank station stayed a little longer to help me through the self-mailing station, and I managed to get my packages mailed. Thanks Barbara! Starting Christmas Eve (later that night) I would be opening my house for another Christmas-to-New-Year’s open house and hangout. But since New Year’s was on a Thursday this year, I knew that many people would be taking off that following Friday as well, so I extended it to the 3rd of January! Later that afternoon I met up with my pals Scott and Vickie Sebring at the home of sculptor Ruben Procopio. Ruben used to work with Disney, but now runs his own company Masked Avenger Studios.https://www.maskedavenger.com/ His first project under his new Really Retro line, is a bust of the classic Adam West! It’s amazing and we’ve all been working on it for awhile now. I provided some creative consulting and the connection to Adam, Scott did all the work on the box art, as well as some creative consulting, and Ruben did the amazing job of bring the bust to life! Well, on Christmas Eve appropriately enough, he gave Scott and I our busts. They had just arrived from the manufacturer and we were elated to get them! They looked amazing! Afterwards, Scott, Vickie and I met up with Bruce Kulick at Jerry’s Famous Deli for some dinner. Later that night, my buddy Jon Reep’s wife Genta and I went to the candlelight service at First Christian Church of North Hollywood. Jon won Last Comic Standing last year and is a very busy comic on tour. He went from his tour to his parents’ home for the holidays, but Genta was unable to join up with him due to the recuperation process their little dog was going through. So she stayed home during the holidays. But I think she had a great time at the candlelight service, and as always, it was STUNNING!

Thursday the 25th – HAPPY CHRISTMAS! – I slept very late, but got up in time to meet Scott and Vickie Sebring for dinner at DuPar’s. Then, we went to Planet Wallywood to watch “The Incredible Hulk” on DVD. I was nervous, since the one released several years back was so dreadful, but this one was fantastic. They presented the entire Hulk origin story during the course of the opening credits, so once they were done, we could get right into the story. Too bad “Batman Begins” didn’t do that. It wouldn’t have been so horribly boring.

Friday the 26th – BOXING DAY! – I’ve never understood why they call it ” boxing day!” I looked in the paper and didn’t see any boxing matches anywhere in town!? Were all the boxers out of town for Christmas? I’m joking of course. But I did manage to get out to try and buy a few things. BIG mistake! The parking lots were filled to the brim with people! Some recession we’re having, eh? So I got what I needed and headed home. That night my old friends J. and Cat Schwartz from the Entertainment Contractor brought their son Sam over. We sat and chatted for awhile, and then my buddy David DeLePaz came by. David plays guitar and is a wonderful musician, so I was glad he got a chance to meet J. and Cat. What an enjoyable evening!

Saturday the 27th – LAZY SATURDAY – My maids came in the afternoon to tidy up Planet Wallywood. Then I went to run the errands I couldn’t run the day before because of all those “recession” crowds at the local stores. That night nobody called to come by, so I met up with my buddy Chuck McCann at Dupar’s for dinner. It’s always nice to get together with Chuck when it’s just he and I. Usually there’s so many people around that we never get to chat just one-on-one. But it’s always fun when we get a chance to do that.

Sunday the 28th – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR! – It was my nephew Taylor’s birthday today, but I didn’t get a chance to call him. He’s 17 and on the go so much, I probably wouldn’t have been able to reach him anyway. That night I went to evening church and met up with my friend Tracy. She just made it back from visiting her family in Lancaster for Christmas, so I swung by my house and grabbed her gift. It was a CD containing the 60’s hit ‘Tracy’ by the Cuff Links (sung by my pal, and lead singer of The Archies Ron Dante!). She enjoyed it and, being 26, had never heard the song before! We grabbed some quick Italian food at the neighborhood Italian restaurant, and then we were on our way. Later that night I met up with Chuck McCann for pie at DuPar’s, our usual hangout.