February 13 – February 20 (2023)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I’m STILL laughing over this meme!

While I enjoyed a nice lunch at Panera on a gorgeous day, my music player offered this rockin’ morsel! It’s a group called LSD (Life, Sex and Death) and the song is “School’s For Fools.” They first got exposure on “Beavis & Butt-Head,” but I heard about them from a good friend at the time. Back in 1992 they had an album out and were playing gigs all around. But there was a catch. While the band was comprised mostly of three hair-band looking guys who looked like 80’s holdovers, the lead singer looked like a homeless person who had wandered up on stage to join in. There were rumors abound that lead singer “Stanley” was an actual homeless person whose voice was so amazing, the band decided to make him their singer. Years later the truth has been revealed that “Stanley” was actually somebody named Chris Stann, who had created this character in a very “Tony Clifton meets metal” kind of way. Chris stayed in the Stanley character for days, and it’s even rumored that he actually DID live on the street for a while. Legend has it that when Stanley was on stage you could smell him all the way out into the first two rows! This song, along with “Telephone Call” from their album, standout as some of my favorite rockin’ tunes of all time. It’s unbelievable to me that this band didn’t go farther. In fact, when I got hired as Beetlejuice in the “Rockin’ Graveyard Revue” at Universal Studios in 1994, I had never heard Beetlejuice sing before. Unsure of what that would sound like, I figured that Stanley’s voice was about as close to what Beetlejuice singing would sound like. So I copped a lot of Stanley’s vocal mannerisms for the character! Because simply hearing the song doesn’t give you the full picture of what this band was about, I’m posting a link to the video. Many people now are saying the Life, Sex and Death was the perfect mix of hairband metal and grunge. But back in 1992, grunge wasn’t really a thing yet. So perhaps LSD was simply just ahead of their time.

Monday the 13th – THE “VEST” IS YET TO COME! – The entire day was “catch up on sleep” day, which felt really good. Later I worked on Wally’s Week, and recorded my nightly auditions. I decided to drive the Mustang over to my auxiliary garage to swap it out with the Gray Ghost. I had gotten the Mustang washed and smog checked and it was a fun week driving it around. When I got back home I made the beard for my Mahna Mahna replica Muppet, and created the pattern for his vest. Then I cut the vest out of the green fur, tried it on the puppet, and it fit perfectly! I did some stitching around the collar so it had a more “finished” look. Once the puppet is complete I’ll stitch him into it permanently. I made a salad and watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”

Tuesday the 14th – MAGGIE MEETS MAHNA! – Though my alarm was set for later, I just happened to get up early for some reason. Good thing too, because my seamstress Maggie ended up being about an hour earlier than our established meeting time. But that too was a good thing, because we had LOTS of work to do on the Mahna Mahna replica. But when I got up I realized that Roxy had a poo-poo accident in her sleep. So there was some clean-up required for that before we could start puppeting. In fact, Roxy was having a rather tough day the entire afternoon. Maggie, however, did a fantastic job getting a ton of work done on the puppet. It’s my goal to have him finished by the coming Saturday so I could take him to the Henson Studios lot when I go see “Puppet Up!” But the clock is ticking, and there’s still tons left to do on him! She stitched on the beard, stitched the body to the head, and removed the nose from my old Mahna Mahna (which I really liked) and transplanted it on to the new one. Then I drove her back home, as the person who gave her a ride to my house had to split early. On the way home I noticed there was an Arby’s down the street from her house, and I took full advantage of that! But unlike my trips to Arby’s in the past, I kept it light with just one roast beef sandwich and some fries, which I barely ate. I’m trying to stay mindful of the salt content in the interest of my recent high blood pressure diagnosis. I got home and grabbed a short nap, and then got up to record all of my auditions. I also spent a great deal of time updating my bio for my appearance manager. He wanted a short version, and a long version. I realized that the long version that had been on my website for a long time was woefully outdated. So I spent some time going over it and making some important changes.

Wednesday the 15th – “CONE” YOU DIG IT?! – Later in the day I took a brisk walk over to the grocery store to get some salad fixins and some supplies. It was a great walk at dusk; very enjoyable! As I walked by the back of the grocery store on the way home I noticed that one of the units that dispenses the hand-sanitizing wipes, which used to be at the front of the store, was sitting out by the trash. I guess the pandemic’s really over. When I got home I found out that I had gotten a job on a TV show as an announcer, and didn’t need to even do a session for it as they were just going to use the audition track I sent. That’s ALWAYS good news. That’s why I always tell aspiring Voice Actors to make sure their auditions are “session quality;” as things like that happen from time to time. I got home, turned on some tunes, and started in on Mahna’s eye rig system. Though my pal Drew Massey (an actual puppet guy, not an amateur like me) had rigged up the system last Sunday, I found it necessary to deconstruct what he had done because of the way I was going to have to rig the eye cone contraption. I had to move the puncture holes in the head because it didn’t look like they were going to line up with the way the eye cones would sit. As my old friend Terry my contractor used to say, “Measure twice, cut once.” In fact, I measured SEVERAL times! With stick pins I marked the dead center of the head, and pinned the eye cones into the position where I figured they would look best. Nope, too low. I re-pinned them again. Nope, too high. Then I re-pinned them again. JUST RIGHT! I checked the reference photos again and again, and the spacing looked exactly right! Once I got them locked into position, I glued down the ends of the eye cones onto the head. This would hold them in place while I measured where the puncture holes for the articulation strings would go. I marked the place on the head where the holes would go, measured again, and then made the puncture holes. It took a while to work the vinyl tubing up through the head, but I did it. The monofilament strings that will pull the eyelids down will live in a conduit of vinyl tubing, which runs down the length of the puppet. This will protect the strings from rubbing around on the inside of the puppet when it’s being manipulated, and the vinyl makes for a nice path for the strings to glide back and forth. Drew suggested we do it that way, and of course it made a lot of sense! Once the vinyl tubing conduit was punched through the head I taped off the ends so they wouldn’t slip back through again. Then I determined which was the tube for the right eye, and which was the tube for the left eye and marked them accordingly. I’ll need to know this when it comes time to run the monofilament down the tubes and attach them to the controller stick. I dropped some glue into the puncture holes and set the vinyl tubing into place. I let it set for a while before I worked with it again. I wanted it to be nice and solidly planted before I started tugging on it again while working with the strings. As I was working I heard a loud crash down in Roxy’s area. Her food bowls are two tin bowls that are suspended about a foot and a half off the ground by a metal frame. She had woken up from her nap, and when she raised her head she put it right through the metal hoop that holds her water dish. The water dish spilled all over, and her head was caught in the metal hoop and she couldn’t get out. I ran down to free her and lay her down in her bed. Then I cleaned up the spilled water. As I mentioned before, she’s been having a couple of rough days. I’m starting to wonder if keeping her around isn’t actually a cruelty to her. She can’t possibly be enjoying the quality of life she’s currently experiencing. She’s having trouble walking (her back legs, mostly) and I think she might be having trouble seeing now. I got a chance to talk to the daughter of my “adopted grandma” Shirley. We spoke about Shirley’s memorial service which will be on the 28th, which would have been Shirley’s 96th birthday. Since it’ll be on a weekday morning a lot of my friends who knew her won’t be able to make it. I think we’ll probably do our own Shirley memorial some Sunday night in the future at the Smoke House. Shirley’s daughter said that her mom and dad’s first date was at the Smoke House, so it’ll be amazingly appropriate! We spoke about organizing the food, the music, the speakers, the program, etc. I went through my bank statements and reconciled everything, grabbed a quick nap, and then later I made some buffalo mac and watched an episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”

Thursday the 16th – ON DECK: LOOK! UP IN THE SKY!! – Once again I happened to wake up a lot earlier than I had anticipated. It’s a good thing too, because my pal Drew called to see how Mahna was going. He was in the area, so he wanted to stop over and have a quick look at the progress. He was pleased, and we set a time for him to come over on Friday and finish him up by adding the feathers to his head! I headed to Paty’s to meet my friend Angi for lunch, and once again we easily killed about 3 hours just chatting. I headed over to my box to get my packages, and was shocked to see that some fur I ordered on eBay had some in about 2 weeks earlier than expected! It’s very hard to find vibrant, blue fur in the shade I was looking for. It’s either too royal blue, or too light, or too “dusty” looking in color, or not quite the right shade. I found a fur on eBay listed as “sapphire blue,” and it looked interesting. Not quite as dark as I had hoped, but I figured I’d give it a shot, and I ordered a few yards. But it looked beautiful, and it seemed like it would suit my purpose well for building a 70’s-era Super Grover! Though I have no more room left to display another puppet on a display stand, I figured it would be neat to build a little frame contraption to hang him from as if he’s flying, and suspend him from the high ceiling in my living room. I could suspend the contraption through a series of little metal eyelets, and run the suspension cord down the side of my wall and tie it off with a clamp. Then, anytime I wanted to get the puppet down to use him for something, I could always untie the suspension cable, lower him down, remove him from the frame, and he’s good to go! That’s the plan, anyway. But we have a long way to go until we get there. But now that I have an available seamstress who can help do the stitching, and knowing that my pal has a 3D printer for the helmet, I think this’ll be a fun project! I drove over to Michael’s crafts to pick up my finished Johnny Carson “Tonight Show” framed piece. It featured an actual cue card used by Johnny in the final two months of his tenure on the show, as well as a box and bottle of “Here’s Johnny” cologne, and a “Tonight Show” souvenir promo pencil with erasers at both ends! It turned out GREAT! When I got back Roxy was having another bad day. It’s very sad, and when I took her out she was having difficulty walking, and she kept spinning around in circles. It is so hard to watch our best friends physically and mentally diminish like this. Somedays she’s good, and other days she’s not so good. Heartbreaking. I came back inside and did my nightly auditions, and then grabbed a much-needed nap. When I got up I decided to hang the Carson piece in the area I had reserved for it, which required me to remove the pieces that were already there and find other places around the house for them. Good luck with that! But somehow, everything fit nicely once I did some rearranging. As I was working I heard a loud crash coming from downstairs. It didn’t sound like a Roxy accident, and at first I thought that the new Carson piece had fallen off the wall. But oddly enough, the beauty piece which hangs over the top of my vertical blinds in my living room had come crashing down! I had some display pieces hanging from it, but nothing that was very heavy at all. I only had a few box tops from various board games, and a few posters. But there wasn’t anything on it that seemed heavy enough to warrant it to come crashing down. I said, “Shirley? Are you messing with me?” I’ll have to get the big ladder out soon, move some stuff around, and rehang it at some point. Since my Mahna replica was almost completed, I organized all of the utilities in the kitchen that we’d need for the gluing on of the head feathers. I wanted to be prepped and ready for when Drew arrived for the finishing touches. I rummaged through my storage bins in the garage and found the original 1970’s plastic eye pieces that I bought back in the day for the Grover I built back then. I had used a set of them about a year ago for my “Green Grover” build, but now that I’m planning on building a Super Grover, I needed to dig them out again and get them ready for sanding, priming and painting. The new license plates for my Rav4 “The Gray Ghost” had finally arrived, so I put them on the car. I wanted to print some photos of Mahna to use as reference photos on Friday, but when I turned on my laser printer my battery back-up started squealing again. It seemed that no matter how many other utilities I unplugged, the battery back-up wasn’t having it. I figured that the amount of power the laser printer draws must be considerable, so I unplugged it from the back-up entirely, and replugged it elsewhere. When I went down to pick up Roxy to take her outside for another potty break I noticed that her back hips were very warm. Not hot, just very warm. Because of the way my house was designed, the heating system in the living room isn’t great. So in the winter months I have a little radiator system that I plug in to keep things warm; especially Roxy. I’ve placed the radiator about a foot behind a fence that I’ve erected to keep Roxy within the confines of her living perimeter. This perimeter has rubber padding on the floor for “accidents.” On the other side of the fence is her bed. Her hips were close enough to the heater to get warmed up pretty good (without the heat injuring her in any way) as she slept. When I took her outside for her walk I noticed that her stride had greatly improved. AN EPIPHANY! The heat helps! She was very alert and active. Not at all like she was the previous few days! Thank God for that piece of wisdom. From now on, I’m going to make sure her skinny little butt is parked next to the warmth! It’s proven very therapeutic!

Friday the 17th – FUN, FEATHERS, AND…FINISHED! – Luckily the maids came over around noon, so I had them start in the kitchen this time. I wanted them to be finished and out of the way for when Drew came by later to work on Mahna Mahna. The timing was perfect, and everything in our work area was completed before he got here. Roxy was still doing amazing, and I think the heat therapy is the answer to helping her back leg issues! When Drew arrived I had the glue, brushes and thinner all ready to go for the “hairing” of the puppet. But he decided to stitch the feathers to the head by hand instead! Change of plan, but very cool! I realized that he would have been a very different puppet without his assistance. He made the fleece head covering, the body, attached the arms to the body, he mixed the special flexible paint for the edges of the eye cones, and he stitched on the feathers. He finished up and Mahna looked amazing! I can’t wait to take him to the Henson Studios on Saturday night! Drew took off, and I fed the kids and grabbed a nap in the Puppet Room. When I got up later I had a few last-minute things to attend to with Mahna. I stitched the vest onto the puppet permanently, and did some touch-ups on his “hair.” A little trimming here and there, and some coiffing, and he was perfect! I redid the stick controller (which is actually a tongue depressor) and made the strings a bit shorter. I also measured (and re-measured) the strings to make sure that they were totally level…not an easy task! Satisfied with his completion, I headed to Denny’s to get my usual order of food. But when I came back I realized that the salad I got wasn’t the usual fried chicken salad, but had GRILLED chicken on it! A total mistake by the cook at Denny’s, but a welcome one at that! Fate wants me to stay on my eating regiment I guess! And I think for future orders, I’ll stay with the grilled chicken! I dug out a wood dowel and wood plate from the garage to make the display stand for Mahna. I also found some fabric to cover the stand, and set about to the task at hand. The stand got completed and looked terrific! Everything is officially done with my Mahna Mahna replica Muppet!

Saturday the 18th – PUPPET UP! – Since it was sunny and warm I walked over to Panera to get some lunch and enjoy some music while I dined on the patio. I got a few grocery supplies at the store (fruits and veggies), and then walked home and got ready for the Puppet Up! show at the Henson Studios. It would be the fifth time I’ve seen the show, and the fourth time I took the VIP tour of the lot. My friend Angi would be meeting me just before the show to join me. I wore my A&M Records t-shirt as a small tribute to the lot where I’d be enjoying myself for the evening. Before it was the Henson Studios, the lot belonged to A&M Records; a record label that I consider to possibly be the greatest record label that ever existed. The amount of amazing artists in their stable was unmatched! I found a great parking spot just across the street from the lot and pulled in to save it for Angi. She pulled up and took the spot, she hopped in the Gray Ghost and we pulled onto the Henson grounds to park there, as I had paid for parking on the lot. Angi had just come from a photo shoot, so her make-up was impeccable. After Puppet Up! was over she had another modeling gig for a red carpet party, so she came dressed in a fantastic outfit! When we walked in to get our wristbands I noticed a tent set-up just to the side of the check-in table. I started poking around and realized that it was a company called Dopl that made 3D printed statues of you in color! Since I had my A&M Records shirt on, and since Angi was looking so fantastic, I decided to have a 3D rendering done of us. But then they mentioned that we could also have a character from “The Dark Crystal” standing with us! They have the digital data for all of the characters in their system, and they can easily be integrated into our finished “sculpture.” It’s one of my favorite movies of all-time, so I chose to have the character of Chamberlain included in our piece. That character was voiced by my pal, the late great Barry Dennen. It all came together nicely, and it should be a fantastic 3-figure display when it’s finished. They said they have a permanent facility in Century City, which got me thinking about having another one done of me holding two puppets! Hmmm…food for thought! We started the VIP tour and when we came out of the Reception building we met up with my pals Officer Mark and James. We finished the tour in Brian Henson’s office, and Angi wanted to get a close-up shot of the actual prop staff that one of the Mystics used in “The Dark Crystal.” I asked if Brian would hold it up again for a shot, and he asked if Angi wanted to hold it for the picture. We had been told all night by the tour guide not to touch anything, but here was her chance to hold an actual prop from the film! For the photo she took off her coat, but since my hands were full with the camera and my water bottle, Brian offered to hold it for her. She was elated to be able to get a picture with the staff, and was blown away that Brian Henson was her “coat holder!” As we walked out she just couldn’t believe her luck. I leaned in and said, “It helps to be hot!” We went into the show and found our seats and had a great time watching the first act. At intermission I went to the Gray Ghost to grab Mahna Mahna and get some photos. One particular photo I wanted was a kissing shot with Angi, with Mahna over our heads winking. But an onlooker suggested that we get a follow-up shot where Angi’s kissing Mahna and I’m furious. I thought that was a funny idea so Officer Mark grabbed the shot! Hilarious! I also ran into my fellow “Garfield Show”alum Audrey Wasilewski, who was also at the show. We got a couple of fun shots and then headed back in to enjoy the rest of the show. My buddy Drew and his girlfriend Nicolette were both in the show, as was my buddy Grant. It was definitely the A Team for that performance! In fact, Drew had even thrown my name out during a bit. He talked about “Wally the master of disguise.” REALLY funny! After the show we said hi to Drew and Nicolette, and got a photo with Patrick Bristow and Mahna. Patrick and I had done voice work together for “Family Guy” back in about 1999. I also got a nice pic with Brian Henson and Mahna. I walked Angi to her car and she sped off to her red carpet gig, I said goodnight to Mark and James, and sped off for home with a quick stop at the Burger King drive-thru. I ate the entire sandwich, but I only allowed myself a few onion rings in an attempt to keep my diet in check. I got home and walked Roxy and I took a nap. Still “high” from the amazing night, I did some work around the house, got on-line and made my appointment for the DMV to get my driver license renewed, and started in on planning my next puppet project. I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint salad and watched an episode of “The Saint” before bed. By the time I got to bed for good it was around noon on Sunday!

Sunday the 19th – SNOOZY SUNDAY – By the time I got up it was early evening. I fed the pets, did a little work around the house and relaxed. I started patterning the mouth for Super Grover. Not only had I made a Grover when I was 20, but I had recently made a “Green Grover” which was very similar. “Green Grover’s” head is a bit higher than the blue Grover, so I made some adjustments in the pattern. I cut the mouth out of styrene plastic and put on the finger loops. I also put together the faux opening advertisement for next month’s “Laurel and Hardy Theatre,” and it was for a local Aberdeen, South Dakota movie theatre that has been out of existence since the late 70’s. But back in the day it was a great theatre. For the graphic I was searching the internet for vintage hot dog artwork. I found some, but it made me hungry for hot dogs. I haven’t had a hot dog since I got my hypertension diagnosis in late December, so I figured I’d grill a few up. But unlike the past, I only made 2 hot dogs instead of the 3 I usually had. And I went easy on the chili and sauerkraut. I grilled them up and watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”

Monday the 20th – PRESIDENT’S DAY! – Though I had fully intended to enjoy the gorgeous day and take a brisk walk, I got on an extended phone call with Shirley’s daughter about the upcoming memorial service. Then I placed a call to the widow of our former pastor at the church, who is going to do most of the planning for the service. When that call ended I got a call in from my pal Mark Evanier. He was the one who first introduced me to the “Puppet Up!” experience several years ago. He had seen the show on Sunday and he wanted to compare notes. By the time all my calls had ended, the sun was down and I was running up against the clock to be at a dinner appointment with my friend Sara. It’s going to rain toward the end of the week, so I only have two more nice, sunny days to do my walks before the onslaught of moisture. Sara and I had a great dinner at Ernie’s Taco House and we got all caught up. I came home to nap, and when I got up I fixed the mouth plate for Super Grover, and organized a photo folder for Shirley’s memorial service. I made a Tombstone pizza (but only ate half of it), and typed out Wally’s Week. I need to get to bed at a decent hour, because I have lots to do on Tuesday!

And how was YOUR week?!?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

A delectable lump of puppety goodness!

The finished Johnny Carson “Tonight Show” piece.

The eye cones are going on!

Drew Massey give Mahna the once over before completion.

Here’s the new Mahna next to my old Mahna from a few years back, that was built by another builder.

Mahna is totally at home on his new stand!

I guess the pandemic’s really over.

When we used to have movie nights at Planet Wallywood, every guest had their own pillow with their name on it. This was Shirley’s pillow, which Roxy is getting a lot of good use out of now.