RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
I found this pic on-line recently of me and my pal, animation Casting Director Donna Grillo in Planet Wallywood. The shot was taken by Donna’s husband Vince Gonzales. Great pic!
While watching an episode of “Midnight Special” at movie night last Saturday, The Stories came on with “Brother Louie.” I had forgotten how much I absolutely love this song! Definitely a product of its day and all of the societal and political implications of the time.
Monday the 16th – RIDE CAPTAIN RIDE! – At 11:11 sharp I woke up, did some work around the house, checked out my Schwinn bike, pumped up the tires, gave her a wash, and hopped on and rode to Subway. It was the President’s Day holiday so traffic was very light. I grabbed a sandwich and headed to Studiopolis in Burbank to do a few hours of voice-work on the “Sailor Moon” cartoon. It was a great ride on a beautiful day. I realized I hadn’t ridden my bike a long distance like for over a year, when I used to ride it to “The Tonight Show.” It felt good to be back in the saddle. I rode back home and enjoyed the day. I hopped in the Jacuzzi to take a dip for a bit, and then went inside to get cleaned up for a dinner meeting I had at the Cheesecake Factory. My friend Jennifer and I had a long, fun conversation on the patio while we dined. In fact, we shut the place down. We were there right up until closing! I came home and did auditions, fed Roxy and hit the hay for what was sure to be a…
Tuesday the 17th – LOOOOOOONG TUESDAY! – The alarm went off at 7:30am (super early for me!) and I got in the car and stopped by McDonald’s for breakfast before my 9am session. I got to Salami Studios in North Hollywood just before 9 and said hello to everyone who was working on this audio drama about the Civil War that we’d be recording all week. I was booked for two sessions: 9am to 1pm, and then again 2pm to 6pm. It was great sitting around talking to everyone, but I was literally sitting around from 9am to 12:45. I hadn’t worked once. It was an ensemble recording session, so they had other actors going in and out of the booth. But just before they broke for lunch they called me in to record a few lines. Then during the lunch break I headed home to walk Roxy. When I got back at 2 I worked almost steadily all afternoon. It was a pretty exhausting day. I met my assistant Sara at Paty’s for dinner on the patio. Since Roxy had been cooped up all day I took her along too. I got back home and took a dip in the Jacuzzi, did a TON of auditions, and got to bed early again for another long, early day on Wednesday. Whew!
Wednesday the 18th – JUNGLE BOOK MAGIC! – Again I was up at 7:30am and out the door. I was heading to Disney in Burbank to do some ADR (additional dialogue recording) on a new film. We recorded in the legendary ADR B studio, which is most famous (to me anyway) as being the location where they recorded the voice tracks for “Jungle Book,” my favorite animated movie of all time. Just think, I was standing on hallowed ground…where Sebastian Cabot and Phil Harris stood 50 years ago recording the voice tracks for the legendary film! The session was a lot of fun, and even included some improvisation! My pals Robin Atkin Downes and Michael Gough were there too. After the session I saw them in the Disney store on the lot, buying stuff. Great minds think alike, I guess. I picked up a cool Marvel t-shirt and was on my way back to my car. I went to my seamstress Karyn’s studio to pick up my 12” Robin figure with his new, longer cape. I also dropped off some material to have her sew a new cape for my lifesize Robin figure in Planet Wallywood. The bright yellow color of the cape that was on him didn’t look right to me anymore, so I’m having her replicate it with this new, champagne-gold satin. I drove back home and walked Roxy, did a quick audition, then headed back to Salami Studios to finish up recording on the Civil War audio drama. But again I waited around virtually all day to work…some 3.5 hours, and was called in to read one line just before they wrapped at 6pm. Sometimes that’s how it goes, I guess. I drove home and fed the animals, changed clothes and headed off to Barone’s to have dinner with my friend Edi and her daughter Ems. Edi got a job in Arizona and will be moving there Saturday. So it would be my last chance to see her before she leaves. My friend Secunda Wood, whom I worked with earlier in the day on the audio drama, came along too and we all had a blast! But I was beat, so I went home and did some auditions, prepped for my Thursday sessions, and hit the hay!
Thursday the 19th – TIGER + BUNNY! – Though it wasn’t 7:30am, the alarm ringing at 9:30 seemed just as early. I did a quick bit for the “Ellen” show before I left for my 11am session in Hollywood. At Patches Recording in Hollywood, I met up with Kirk Thornton (he plays Orbot to my Cubot in “Sonic Boom,”) and Yuri Lowenthal (he plays Bunny to my Tiger in “Tiger and Bunny”) and it was like old home week! I do get to record with Kirk when we do “Sonic Boom,” but all of the scenes Yuri and I had in “Tiger and Bunny” were recorded separately, because of the anime dubbing format. So it was fun to actually work with Yuri in the studio face to face! It was for a spot for Gamestop and it’ll be an awesome piece. I’ll post it when it gets finished. They had Yuri and I just do some improvised banter back and forth which had us both in stitches! Finally we got so far off base, the producer hit the talkback button and said, “Alright, alright! That’s enough!” It was a blast! I hit Arby’s for some food on the way to Santa Monica for my 1:30pm session for Samsung. Again, when the Samsung spot gets finished, I’ll post it on my website. It’s going to be VERY funny, but I can’t tell you anything more about it than that. When we finished the session I took the loooong drive back home. I checked my e-mail, took a dip in the Jacuzzi, fed the pets and grabbed a quick nap on the couch. I got up later in the evening to do a ton of auditions, send out my movie night invites, and make some dinner to take to bed to watch another episode of “Mannix.”
Friday the 20th – BACK ‘HOME’ AGAIN! – The Disney movie that I recorded ADR for on Wednesday asked me to come back in and do some more. But instead of going to the Disney studios, and the legendary ADR B studio, they had me go to another facility. The old NBC lot (now called The Burbank Studios) where I worked for 4 and a half years on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno!” It was eerie making that drive again, pulling on the lot and going to the guard gate. I said hi to the guard, but he didn’t recognize me right away. When he saw my ID he said, “Wally! I didn’t recognize you!” I told him it was because I wasn’t driving the red and white Gran Torino. I drove to the bungalow to find the recording suite. It was really quiet there. There wasn’t the same energy or action that there was when “TTS” was in full swing. Strange to be back over a year later. I did a myriad of different creature voices and other characters. Lots of it was improvised. It was a great time. But this time, instead of standing in front of a microphone on a stand, I was totally free to move around and be completely “in character!” The audio guy had a small hand-held digital recording device with a large microphone on one end. As I followed the action on the screen and did voices and sounds to the action, the audio guy followed me around with the microphone to get every sound. I was sweating and it was hard work, but it was amazingly fun and rewarding! I hadn’t ever done a session like that before, where I could move around and be freely in character while the audio man tracked me. Hopefully they’ll have me back again for more! On the way home I checked my mail at my box, and headed home to meet my maids. While they cleaned I walked Roxy over to the groomer’s for a bath. Her pal Rusty (also a collie) was there and they’re quite the team. He is constantly trying to get her attention, and she’s very aloof. It’s hilarious! I got back home and finished up with the maids, and the carpet guys came over to do some spot cleaning. I walked to get Roxy from the groomer’s later in the day, and stopped off to meet my friend Leslie for dinner at the Studio Café. My masseuse Emily came over to give me a massage. It was really needed since I had just had a very physical week. When she finished up I went to get some groceries and some food to go at Denny’s. It felt good to relax in front of the TV with another “Mannix” episode and some great food.
Saturday the 21st – A REAL PAIN IN THE NECK! – I was so exhausted when I finally went to sleep (I had been going for a solid 20 hours straight on Friday) that I must’ve just passed out in a weird position. I woke up around 3pm with a horrible pain in the right side of my neck. OUCH! I took a pain pill and went back to sleep in hopes it would go away. But when I got up at 6pm it was only slightly better. I got ready for movie night and we watched “Best In Show.” Because the Westminster Dog Show had been going on the previous week, I figured it was only natural. What a great movie! When everyone left I did some work around the house, did a few auditions, made my traditional Saturday night salad and watched an episode of the old “Avengers” TV series from the U.K. before bed.
Sunday the 22nd – PASTOR’S CLASS! – On Friday night Pastor Bob from my church called and asked if I would speak at their Pastor’s Class on Sunday afternoon. The kids are mostly between the ages of 10-12 and they’re there with their mentors. I still had a pain in my neck, but I took some Advil and drove Roxy over to the church. Roxy and I gave an hour-long speech talking about all sorts of things. It was a good group of kids! I did some voices for them and talked about Voice-Over. When I mentioned that I did Jon from “The Garfield Show” several of the kids gasped and cheered. When I did the voice for them they cheered. It’s one of the great rewards of doing what I do. When I do a familiar voice for someone, and I see that look on their face…it means everything to me. At the end many of the girls surrounded Roxy and were petting her furiously. Roxy could not have been happier! But the big surprise was seeing my old pal Peter Lupus. Peter played Willy Armitage on the old “Mission: Impossible” TV series in the 60’s (one of my favorite shows) and is a member of our church. He’s lived in Arizona for the past several years and I hadn’t seen him in a long time. He looked fabulous! When I went home I still had the pain in my neck. Plus it had started to rain pretty heavily. I made the executive decision to go back to bed for the rest of the day and relax with a heating pad on my neck. Though we missed evening church, it was wise that I stay home and try to get rid of this pain. When I got up later in the evening it HAD improved some. I did some auditions and got ready for bed. I found out that my favorite facial soap called Pernox has recently been discontinued. It figures. Everything I like usually gets discontinued. I had been using Pernox facial scrub since the 70’s. I’m not sure why it was discontinued, but now I’m on the search for a suitable alternative. My friend Scott in Sioux Falls also told me that the Walther company was discontinuing the Walther PPK pistol. It’s the famous James Bond gun! Why would they do such a thing? Has the world gone mad??!! I made some spaghetti and retired with an episode of “Mannix.” Whew! What a week!
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
Roxy’s getting some serious attention at the Pastor’s Class!
