February 20 – February 25 (2024)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

It’s been a year, and I still miss you dreadfully, my friend.

It’s rare, but occasionally I’ll have TWO songs that keep bouncing around my head throughout the week. As Angi were hanging out this past week there were a couple of tunes that came up on my digital device that I’ve been obsessing over. First, Rod Stewart’s “My Heart Can’t Tell You No” is a brilliant, brilliant song. As my old radio buddy always says,
“That song has more hooks than a tackle box.” I also have been humming Dishwalla’s “Counting Blue Cars,” which I’ve loved since it was originally released in the 90s. It’s too bad they never had another hit after that.

“My Heart Can’t Tell You No”

“Counting Blue Cars”

Tuesday the 20th – RAIN ON – RAIN OFF! – To enjoy the rainy morning (sometimes it came down quite hard) I put on another “High Chaparral” episode and enjoyed a salad. It was a delightful way to spend a morning. I slept a few hours, and then got up to start the day. First stop was the post office to mail off some things, and then I hit my box to get my packages. I went over to Alex In Wonderland to pick up the “fez mount” she made for me. This little piece is something I will set my original “Sons of the Desert” fez on for display. It’s brilliantly constructed, and is basically a smaller fez that my larger REAL fez can sit upon. I also picked up my Riddler jersey that she customized for me. While I was driving home it started to rain again. When I got back home I did some work around the house and waited for a pause in the rain so I could take my nightly WOG (walk/jog). While it wasn’t “full-on” raining, it was still sprinkling just lightly. It was actually kind of nice. When I got back inside I had a ton of accounting work to do, like reconcile receipts with my bank statements. Then I had a TON of auditions to do. It started to rain heavily again but it seems like this might be the last of it for a while. I long to see that sunshine again!

Wednesday the 21st – HERE COMES THE SUN! – There’s nothing better than seeing the sun shine on a clear day after it’s rained. I went to Paty’s for lunch to sit on the patio and sit directly in the sunlight. On the way home I treated myself to some Baskin-Robbins ice cream, and then went home to do some auditions. My gal Angi came over so we could head to dinner, and since it was late and she was craving pie, ice cream and French fries (how does she stay so thin eating food like this??!!) our only option was Bob’s Big Boy. We headed over and got our table and saw our favorite server Diego. He’s a huge Riddler fan, so I brought him a signed photo. After dinner I came back home to relax. Later I took my WOG, and it was good to be back outside under a clear, starry sky!

Thursday the 22nd – AUCTION AWESOMENESS! – After I did a few auditions and made some phone calls, my pal Rob Klein came over so we could drive to Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills for an auction preview. Later on in March, much of the Planet Hollywood collection will be auctioned off to the public. There were a few items that caught my eye in the catalog, so my pal Rob and I decided to drive over and check it out. It was a great little shindig and we saw a lot of friends and contacts we hadn’t seen in a long time. The collector world is very small, but we don’t really get to see each other that often. If it weren’t for periodic events like this, we may NEVER see each other! We chatted all the way back to my house, and since the conversation seemed far from over I invited Rob to come inside to hang out for a while. We ended up chatting until the wee hours, and it was too late for me to go on my WOG, so I just recorded my auditions, recorded some more bits as Wally the Elf for this year’s “Christmas Across the Lands” show, and then hit the hay. What a day!

Friday the 23th – FUN WITH PUPPETS AND PALS! – My buddy Chris Malmin and I chatted on the phone for quite a while in the afternoon, until my battery died. I’ve been having a lot of dead battery issues lately it seems! I did some auditions while my phone charged back up, and later my new friend Isaiah Ferguson stopped by to take a tour of Planet Wallywood. We chatted at the recent Pasadena Comic Con about doing some possible stop-motion videos for my Christoween stories. He’s a young animator, cartoonist and puppeteer and fabricator. He tried out my Kermit, Oscar and Roosevelt Franklin Muppet replicas, and it’s the first time he’s ever attempted “Henson-style” puppetry. He was pretty good at it! We went to Little Toni’s to grab a pizza and chat more about some ideas. Later I took my nightly WOG, and even spent some time outside in the anti-grav chair. It was pretty nice out, actually. With the clouds surrounding an almost-full moon, the conditions were right for an awesome “Moon Dog.” It looked amazing. I came back inside, made myself a salad and watched another delightful episode of “The High Chaparral.”

Saturday the 24th – CRASH WEEKEND! – As I headed into the weekend I knew it was going to be a tough one. A year ago on the 25th of February I had to say goodbye to my dog Roxy. This Sunday would be the first anniversary of her passing, and I wasn’t quite sure how I would be feeling. I just relaxed, tried not to think too much about it, and did some editing. I slept some more, and later I headed outside to enjoy a WOG, and even some relaxing time in the anti-grav chair outside. I had a TON of auditions I needed to do, so I figured this was as good a time as any. I also banged out a few more Wally the Elf bits for this year’s “Christmas Across the Lands” show. The host and producer, Randy Sherwyn, likes to work very far ahead. He’s already voicing and producing the first hours of this year’s show. Remember, only 10 more months until Christmas! I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint Salad, and watched the second-to-the-last episode of “The Saint” before heading to bed. As it was now turning into Sunday morning the 25th, my thoughts turned to Roxy again, and how much has changed in the year that she’s been gone. But again, I tried not to think about it too much. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a few bouts of tears and sadness. As I tried to take my mind off of things by dialing around on the TV, I happened upon the movie “Roxanne.” Sometimes life plays those cruel, little jokes on you.

Sunday the 25th – AN UN-GOOD DAY! – Since Sunday is usually my “crash day,” I took full advantage. I’m trying to stay focused on the positive, but I did enjoy going through Roxy’s photo folder and reliving some good memories. I especially loved the photos we took the first day I met her. Later I got a call from my pal Sam and we met for dinner at Paty’s. He’s moving to Las Vegas for three months for a project, so it might be the last time we can meet for a while. After dinner I came home to do some work, and later I took my WOG and sat outside to enjoy looking at the sky in my anti-grav chair. At first the sky was pretty clear, and I had a great view of the Big Dipper. But soon clouds moved in and completely swallowed the Dipper up. When I got back inside I updated some hard drives, and prepped my home studio for a session on Monday afternoon.
And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

My pal Isaiah gives Kermit a try.

Isaiah made this replica of James the steam engine, and he fabricated this “Weird Al” Yankovic puppet for a stop-motion piece he created. Even Oscar approves!