February 06 – February 12 (2023)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I ran across this old pic of me from elementary school. Back in the 70’s having a gap in your teeth was very chic (ala Lauren Hutton and David Letterman). I’m not sure why I decided to wear a shirt the same color as the background, but maybe I was hoping to look like a disembodied floating head in my school pictures.

When I was a DJ on 94.7 KTWV “The Wave” in the 80’s and 90’s, we regularly played the music of an artist named Basia. She had formerly been with a group called Matt Bianco, with whom I had been familiar with while working in South Dakota. They had amazing harmonies and fun songs. One of them was “More Than I Can Bear,” but another song of theirs I liked was “Whose Side Are You On?” It was a catchy little tune about spies and counter-spies. I would love to see an animated video to this song using the old Spy Vs. Spy characters from “Mad” magazine!

Monday the 6th – THE “SADS” FINALLY HIT! – When I took Roxy outside for her potty break I realized how windy it was. Even though it was very sunny and a bit warm, if I did my walk it would horribly inflame my allergies. So I stayed in and relaxed. I got a note from my pal Drew, who’s helping me construct my new Mahna Mahna replica Muppet, and he voted for the 2 ¼” eye cones I made, as opposed to the slightly bigger ones. So those are what I’ll be using. I’ll cut and construct them over the next few days. After the wind died down a bit toward evening, I walked over to the hardware store to buy some extension plugs for the battery back-up on my computer. The oblong configuration of the plugs for my modem and router take up a lot of space on the back-up unit when plugged in. Because of their length they end up covering a few of the other fixtures on the unit. But I found some nice plugs that would elevate their connectors just enough so that I could plug in other utilities next to them. Since I was out, and the wind was calm, I decided to continue walking and get my half hour of brisk walking in for the day. When I got home I hooked everything up to the battery back-up and labeled where everything should be plugged. It’s my OCD working overtime again. I did a little work and then drove over to McDonald’s to get some food. Since I heard the news of my 95 year old “adopted grandma” Shirley passing away a few days ago, I wasn’t necessarily sad. I was joyous that she was out of pain and in a much better place. But as I drove to McDonald’s a case of the “sads” hit me. This was “me and Shirley’s” McDonald’s. After evening church we would go out to eat at a restaurant, but usually always hit the McDonald’s on the way home for ice cream. When the decision was made a few years ago to move Shirley out of the highly restrictive assisted living facility in Sherman Oaks (where she had literally been held prisoner for a year or so because of the lockdown) I drove her and some of her belongings to her new home in Palm Desert. After I “broke her out” and we hit the streets, she said she wanted to get McDonald’s fries before the trip to Palm Desert. She had been locked up for so long she hadn’t had good fries in a long time and was craving them. Soon, my case of the “sads” gave over to chuckles and laughter thinking about all the fun times. I drove over to my auxiliary parking to swap the Gray Ghost for my Mustang. I wanted to give G.G. a rest, plus I had business to conduct with the Mustang. The weather was going to turn warm for a few days and I needed to pop the top and get some sunshine. Also, I need to have it smog-checked to qualify for my registration this year, and it really needed a wash badly! It was still water-spotted from the intense rains we had a month or so ago! I did the swap, and then stopped to get some groceries on the way home. When I got back I wrote Wally’s Week and recorded a Cameo message for a guy who wanted to know more about how I manipulate my voice to do a multitude of characters. Fun stuff!

Tuesday the 7th – MOVIN’ WITH THE MUSTANG! – The wind had died down, leaving a simply gorgeous warm, sunny day. I walked to the bank to deposit some checks. But on the way is the smog-check facility I always use when I need to smog check my Mustang. I dropped in quickly and asked the guy what his hours were. I told him I’d be back tomorrow morning, as I didn’t anticipate being able to get the car back in time today before he closed at 4. But the bank had hardly any line at all and I made my deposits in record time! I noticed the time. It was only 3:05. Could I high-tail it back home quickly, hop into the Mustang and get back to the smog-check place before “last call” at 3:30? I was sure gonna try. So I turned on the juice and walked quickly back home. BINGO! I made it home by 3:20, hopped into the Black Beauty, and made it to the smog-check place by 3:25! All was good and I got my certification for another two years. I drove it to the local car wash, dropped it off, and continued walking several blocks to the local Italian restaurant. I got a small pizza and sat outside listening to tunes. When I walked back to the car wash they were just finishing up on the Mustang! GORGEOUS! That car really cleans up nicely! When I got back I started in on making the Mahna Mahna eye cones. I cut them out of the ¼” foam rubber I had dyed orange, and glued them together gently. The test one I did worked out great, but I have to find a better yellow paint for the edges. I recorded my nightly auditions, napped a bit, and then got up later to work around the house. I kept looking at the head of my Mahna Mahna puppet and started obsessing about the fact that it seemed too “high.” My pal Drew agreed with me that it could be cut down a bit so the eye cones fit onto it better. I started in with the X-acto knife and started slicing away wedges from the foam head. I glued it back together and VOILA! Perfection! It was much lower profile now and the cones DID fit onto the head much better! One of the things that amazes me about puppet building is that sometimes 1/16” or 1/8” of an inch can make a WORLD of difference!

Wednesday the 8th – MAKING MERRY WITH THE M*A*S*H MAN! – We were blessed with another amazing day, and I took off on foot for a lunch meeting with my friend Edi at Art’s Deli. While I was hoofing it down the boulevard I walked past a little café where two elderly gentlemen were having lunch on the patio. I looked twice at one of them and realized it was the actor Mike Farrell, most famous for his work on M*A*S*H! I kept walking, not wanting to bother him. But then I remembered something I had seen the day before on the ME-TV Twitter account. They sent out a cheery greeting to Mike Farrell for his birthday. I stopped in my tracks and said to myself, “I’m doing it.” I walked back and said to him, “Happy birthday, by the way!” He smiled that huge, famous smile and said “OH! Thank you!” I asked, “It was yesterday, right?” He said, “Yes it was!” I told him that ME-TV had Tweeted out news of his birthday yesterday and I laughed, completely tickled that somebody cared enough to publicize his birthday. FUN! I got to Art’s Deli and ordered some chicken noodle soup and a salad. Edi’s doing well, but we’re both dealing with the drama of caring for elderly pets. It’s nice to have someone to commiserate with in our shared burden. As I walked home I remembered that the temp was going to hit 80 on Thursday! I got home, showered up and grabbed a short nap. Later I did my nightly auditions, and made some more test eye cones. The monofilament rig to make the eyes wink and blink were working perfectly on the tests! I can’t wait to put it into practice on the real puppet! Since I’ll be appearing at Anime Las Vegas in April, the producers asked me if I would record a shout-out video that they could post. Most of the actors post a nice greeting talking about how excited they are to be appearing at the show and getting to meet the fans. But since it’s Vegas, I wanted to do something different. I bought a karaoke track to “Viva Las Vegas” and started writing new lyrics. I edited the track down to about a minute, and rehearsed the script I had written. The timing was working out perfectly, so I decided to record it. But first I went to my closet and pulled out a sparkly, spangly jacket that once belonged to Jay Osmond. I rented this very outfit from a rental agency in West L.A. back in 1999 when I appeared in the “E! True Hollywood Story” as Andy Kaufman. This is the costume I wore as Andy performing as Elvis in the show. I had also rented it a few other times over the years, and when I found out that the rental company was selling off a lot of their stock I hustled down there to buy some of my favorite pieces; including this outfit! The jacket still fit me and I popped that on, along with the Kotetsu Kaburagi flat cap, similar to the one he wears in the “Tiger and Bunny” cartoon. I turned on my lighting, put a color-changing bulb in a lamp, started my video camera, started my audio recording program, and popped my ear buds into the computer so I could hear the music track. I got it in ONE TAKE! Amazing. I downloaded the video and audio files and started editing it. When it was completed I sent it to my appearance agent to send on to the producers of the Anime Las Vegas show. (The video is now up on my website in the Latest News section for you to check out) I made some lasagna and watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk” from the season two Blu-ray set. Now that I’ve started looking at the labels on the back of foods, because of the recent hypertension diagnosis I received, I’m horrified at what I’m seeing. Especially under the “sodium” section. This lasagna stated that if I ate half of it I would meet about 33% of my daily value of sodium. That’s bad enough. But if I ate the entire thing, it accounted for 78% of my daily value! YIKES! And to think I used to eat this stuff like crazy and never paid it any mind! I made certain to only eat half of it while watching “Hulk.” As I often say, “In all things; moderation.”

Thursday the 9th – “KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING!” – The day started with some urgent, last-minute auditions that needed to be recorded and sent to my agents. I drove the Mustang (with the top down to enjoy the 80 degree weather!) to my doctor’s for a follow-up visit. Initially I didn’t think my blood pressure numbers were very good. But when the doctor came in he said he was definitely seeing improvement and progress. He said I just have to be patient, but to keep doing what I was doing, as it was working. I was expecting vastly improved results in a mere month, but it’s not the case. I also told him about my exercising and about how I’ve moderated my diet. Since I was last in to see him my weight had gone down a bit, so I’m heading in the right direction. I’d still like to lose another 10 pounds and the doc said the more weight I can lose, the lower my blood pressure will go naturally. He renewed my prescription for the medication and said in several months we can reassess whether or not I still need to be on it or not. I asked him about the dental procedure which still has not been completed because of this issue. Not only did he write me a note to give to the dentist, assuring him that my blood pressure has been put under control, clearing me for the procedure, but he also gave me a prescription for a Xanax to take before the appointment. He asked if I had ever had one and I said I hadn’t. He said it was similar to taking a few drinks. I said, “Doc! I’ve never had a few drinks either!” Basically he said it will relax me and remove any anxiety before going to the dentist. I find that ironic, because I’ve never had anxiety going to the dentist. No reason to. It doesn’t hurt, and I want the procedure to be completed. I’m never anxious when going to the dentist. Weird. But regardless, this should do the trick so I can get the work finished on my teeth. I drove to my box to get my packages and then went to Paty’s to have a salad on the patio. I got home to do a little work before my seamstress Maggie arrived to do some sewing work on Mahna Mahna. She’s very talented and I’m loving the work she’s doing on him. Roxy wasn’t eating her dinner, which is particularly frustrating because some of the medicine she needs is placed in her food. I took note of the fact that a long 45 years ago I first hit the stage as Elvis in our high school talent show. February 9, 1978 was when my band and I did “Remembering Elvis” in Aberdeen, South Dakota. That was a very good day. Maggie had finished up the majority of the work on Mahna’s head and neck, so we took a break for dinner. I called out for pizza at Domino’s since it was National Pizza Day! Since I didn’t want to hold Maggie and her driver Evan up any longer I said she could take Mahna’s arms home to work on at her house. They took off and I grabbed a nap. When I got up later I pinned strips of tracing paper over the chin of the puppet to create the bear pattern.

Friday the 10th – A SECRET ARMS DEAL! – Since it was another gorgeous day I walked over to CVS to get my prescription. As I was at the counter getting my medication all of the people in the area heard a commotion toward the front of the store. A woman was screaming like crazy, shouting all sorts of profanities and threats to somebody. We thought it was probably somebody caught shoplifting and she was being ejected from the store. As we stood there listening I said to the pharmacist, “Could you please give my Xanax to her? She needs it more than I do.” I walked to the store to get some more veggies for my salad and then finished walking back home. I worked on the computer for a bit, but noticed that Roxy was pretty smelly. I’m not sure if she’s pee-peeing a little in her sleep or not, but she needed to be cleaned for certain! I didn’t want to hose her off outside, as the water would be cold. So I brought her upstairs to the Chaney Bathroom, parked her backside in the little shower, turned on the warm water and washed her off as best as I could. On my way to Maggie’s house to pick up the finished arms for Mahna Mahna, I stopped off at my favorite Italian restaurant (Barone’s!) and got a small pizza and some bottles of their amazing salad dressing. I spoke with my pal Tommy who owns the place, and he assured me that all of their dressings are made in house with no preservatives of any kind. I munched the pizza on the way to Maggie’s house, and once I located her place I decided to make a fun video. You can see it below. I met her fiancé Jeff, a special effects artist, and we discussed working on some projects together in the future. The arms turned out great and I headed back home. The feathers I ordered for Mahna’s hair should be in on Saturday, so I made plans to go get those before my hair appointment later in the afternoon. Sunday I’ll meet with my pal Drew again to finalize a few things on the Mahna Mahna puppet. There’s still lots left to do! Later I enjoyed some leftover Barone’s pizza and an episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”

Saturday the 11th – FEATHER FUN! – My overly ambitious plan was to ride my bicycle to my box to pick up the feathers that had just come in, have a salad at Paty’s, and then bike home in time for my hair appointment. But when I took Roxy out for her potty break it was another cold, cloudy day. Not good bike riding weather. Plus, I got on the phone with the daughter of my “adopted grandma” Shirley and talked about her upcoming memorial service. Unfortunately, the date they chose for the service was a weekday at 11 in the morning. Though it would have been Shirley’s 96th birthday, and I could appreciate the sentiment, the fact was that many people who loved her wouldn’t probably be able to make the service on a weekday. By the time we finished speaking it was getting late, so I drove to my box to pick up the feathers, which had just arrived. They were perfect! Nice and dense, and bright orange! I got back home to collect up some items and then I walked over to see my stylist Andie for a touch up on my color. Afterwards I hit the store next door for some food supplies and then walked home. I spoke with the widow of my former pastor at the church and we continued to plan Shirley’s memorial service. I grabbed a short nap and then got up later to pay some bills, reconcile my receipts in my accounts, and do some bookwork. Just for laughs I decided to take my blood pressure reading after doing all of that math. I figured it would be sky high! But oddly enough, it was really pretty amazing. It’s directly in the pocket of where the doctor said he would like me! I shot a picture of it and emailed it over to him. The plugs that I had bought earlier in the week for my battery back-up worked great, but when I turned on my printer the back-up started beeping. Apparently I was overtaxing the system. Since I had just gotten a new battery for my old back-up system a few days ago, and had installed it successfully, I decided I would need TWO battery back-up systems for my computer and audio recording system. So I’ll be using the new system I bought a few weeks ago, and the old system (with the fresh battery) in tandem. I shut everything down and spent a few hours configuring the two systems, labeling everything meticulously, and making sure the utilities I would need in a power outage were all plugged into the appropriate outlets. I did my auditions, and then made my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watched an episode of “The Saint” before bed.

Sunday the 12th – THISCLOSE TO BEING FINISHED! – Hectically I ran around the house making sure I had everything I would need for the day’s puppet work with my pal Drew. I was sure I had everything, and I hit the road. This would be the last day we’d be working at his workshop on Mahna Mahna. Next Saturday is the “Puppet Up!” show at the Henson studios, and it was my intention to get some great shots of my new, improved Mahna puppet at various locations around the lot. We still have some stuff left, and it WILL get completed in time, but it’ll be tight. I hit Burger King for some lunch and then pulled into the workshop lot. Drew and I got lots done, and he showed me a few things that had never occurred to me to do. THAT is why you call in the professionals for this sort of thing. He mixed a compound of yellow acrylic paint and flocking glue so that we could paint the edges of the eye cones. That way they would be vibrant and yellow, but still be flexible. I could have never done that on my own. He also rigged the monofilament structure so that the eyes will be able to wink and blink. The structure is in the puppet and ready to go, but the final step will be to mount the eye cones and rig the articulation system. Fascinating. I’m learning SO much! Though we got a lot done, I was running short on time and had to go. But my seamstress Maggie will be coming over this week to finish up all the sewing (the beard, the sleeve on the neck, the vest, etc.) and then hopefully Drew can come by for a bit to help me apply the feathers to the head, and rig up the final eye blink mechanism. He should be good to go for next Saturday! I realized at the workshop that, even though I was meticulous about grabbing everything we needed for the puppet, I had totally forgotten my phone at home! I raced back home to make it there in time to meet my friend Kathylynne for dinner. Had I brought my phone along, I possibly could have called her to meet me later, so Drew and I could have finished up some work on the puppet. But unlike those “kids today,” I’m not constantly glued to my phone. I arrived just in time to meet up with Kathylynne and we went to dinner. Our hope was to go to the Smoke House to completely avoid any exposure to the Stupid Bowl, but the Smoke House was closed. They said they don’t get enough business on Stupid Bowl Sunday. So we went to Ernie’s Taco House instead. Try as we might, we were unable to avoid exposure to the Stupid Bowl, as they had it on the TVs there. Oh well. The dinner was great and the company was fun! I got back home to do some work, grab a quick nap, and I got up later to work on the pattern for Mahna’s vest and do some other work.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK