January 29 – February 4 (2018)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I took this shot of a Drive-In movie theatre back in 1981. Boy do I miss those things! But digital projection all but killed the genre. Sad.

This past week, my assistant Sara noticed that I had been continually singing Michael Nesmith’s “Joanne” since I had seen him in concert a few weeks ago. It’s always been one of my favorites of his songs, and someday I’d like to go do karaoke and sing it. Here it is so you can sing along too

Monday the 29th – TIRE-D! – After sleeping all night on the couch, I woke up around dawn, did a few things around the house, and then went to bed to sleep until 2. It just felt good! I got up and did a few auditions, and then headed over to Western Tire in Burbank to get 2 new back tires on my Gran Torino. When I had a hole in my left rear tire last week, the tire tech reminded me that the tires were 16 years old! I had no idea! So with a quick stop at Little Cesar’s to get some pizza and Crazy Bread, I headed to the tire store. The big fat tires I have on the back are hard to find, but the tire store found some in Las Vegas and had them shipped in. As the tires were being removed, the tire tech said that they started crumbling. Whew! I guess the gods of the Gran Torino were smiling down on me with favor! My next step is to get the front tires replaced. Because they’re more normal sized, they’re easier to find and readily in stock. ! I need to do that soon, because they’re 14 years old! One of the owners of Western Tire is a stuntman, and he was working a few days on the 2004 “Starsky & Hutch” movie. He was there when the drove the Torino into the ocean and said they had to do it twice. The first time they tried the stunt it went “ass-over-tea-kettle” and landed on its roof; completely crushing the interior! Luckily it was sent in robotically and no humans were inside! The second time they tried the stunt it landed perfectly on its belly! When I finished up at the tire store I went to CVS to get some supplies and get some photos printed. Then I put the Torino away for another week. I noticed as I drove back in the dark that the lights on my instrument cluster weren’t working, so I need to take it in to have the electrical looked at. Hopefully it’s as simple as a fuse. I got back home, did some work, recorded a few auditions, and then worked on stuff around the house. My assistant Sara came by to help do some organizing and filing, and then I grabbed a nap. All of the meetings and sessions I had schedule for this week got postponed until next week. Odd. But sometimes it works out that way. So it looks like this will be a very easy week! So when I got up I altered my calendar, did my nightly auditions, wrote Wally’s Week, fed and walked Roxy on our late night stroll through the neighborhood, and then went inside to make lasagna and watch a few more episodes of “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” from the third season Blu Ray set.

Tuesday the 30th – MY DAD IS 83! – The day started at 3:30 with a phone call to my dad for his birthday! He and Elvis Presley were born a few weeks apart! Then I checked on e-mails and messages. Not much was going on because everything got pushed until next week, so I drove to Jersey Mike’s and got a sandwich to go. I came home and watched the State of the Union speech, then took a nap. I got up later to do some auditions, some work around the house, I fed and walked Roxy, and then I sat outside and watched the Super Blue Blood Moon occur. I first went out at 3:51 and took shots of it just starting to be shadowed by the earth. Then I went out at 4:21 and got some shots of it half covered. By 4:51 it was in full “blood moon” mode. But it was difficult getting pictures of it because my auto focus wasn’t able to focus on it very well. But I had seen several blood moons in the past. It’s always a treat to see it! Then I hit the hay so I could be up early on Wednesday to meet some friends at the Hollywood Museum!

Wednesday the 31st – GOING BATTY! – The alarm rang at 11am and I sprang awake. I had intended to take the subway into Hollywood for my meeting at the Hollywood Museum, but something told me to drive. So I hopped in my car and headed over. The traffic was great! When I got there Burt Ward (Robin from the “Batman” TV series) was there doing a Facebook live event. It was great seeing him and the museum staff. By noon my friend Scott Sebring arrived, and shortly thereafter my pal Meridel Carson and her two sons arrived. Meridel is the younger sister of Yvonne Craig (Batgirl from the “Batman” TV series) and wanted to see the exhibit. We lost Yvonne a few years ago, and we wanted to show Meridel the nice tribute to Yvonne we designed. Greg Maraio’s Yvonne figure and costume is a stunning addition to the exhibit, and looks exactly like her! After checking out the exhibit, we all went next door for lunch at Mel’s Drive In. Then I drove over to get my mail at my mailbox, stopped at Baskin-Robbins for some ice cream, and then went home to do some work. I fed Spook and Roxy, and then grabbed a short nap on the couch. I got up later to do a ton of auditions, and then did some more work around the house. In keeping with the “postponed until next week” vibe my life had going on, I got an e-mail from one of my new agents telling me he was under the weather and couldn’t meet for lunch on Thursday. He said (you guessed it) “let’s meet next week.” I drove over to Denny’s to get some food to go, and got back home and settled in to watch more “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.”

Thursday the 1st – 67?!!! – When I woke up at 3 in the afternoon both Roxy and Spook were vying for cuddle time. It’s a great way to wake up! I woke up, gave them some treats, and did a little work around the house. I drove over to Panera to meet my assistant Sara for lunch, and then went to CVS to get a prescription. I picked up a few grocery items I’d need for Saturday night’s movie night, and then came home to put them away. I did an audition, and then grabbed a quick nap on the Most Comfortable Couch in the Universe. But in today’s mail I got about 67 residual checks that all needed to be scanned and logged into my system. It’s nice to get them, but they’re all for such small amounts. They look a lot beefier than they really are! But it had to be done. I readied my bank deposit, and then fed and walked Roxy. But as we were walking through the complex, I noticed that there was a small plastic tube coming out from underneath the garage door of one of the units. The hose was looped around the bottom of the downspout. It looked very odd. But then when I pressed my ear to the garage door, I heard what sounded like a car engine running. I didn’t know what to do. I considered calling our guard service, but they’re a bunch of numbskulls. So I called 911 and told them I thought maybe somebody was trying to commit suicide. It was just all too suspicious. They only took about 10 minutes to arrive, and they started checking it out. I stood at a distance to let them do their work, and after about 15 minutes I left. I’m not sure what came of it, but I didn’t hear of any suicide in the complex so I guess it all worked out. But it seemed very odd to me. I came back inside and paid some bills, reconciled my business receipts, made a Tombstone pizza and watched some more “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.”

Friday the 2nd – I’M A POST-NASAL DRIP! – It’s always great seeing my doctor; Dr. Alinsod in Burbank. I went to him with a recurring tickle in my throat that’s been hanging around since I had a mini-cold in January. He said it’s all caused by a post-nasal drip issue, and I need to increase my allergy medicines. I got a prescription for some cough medicine from him, because the more I cough, the more I strain my voice. And that leads to laryngitis, which I do NOT need! I went to the bank to make a deposit, and then headed home to meet with my pal Larry Strothe to talk about doing some eBay stuff. I have so much stuff in my house that I simply don’t need any more, but it’s stuff that’s too “unique and unusual” for Goodwill. So, I was considering partnering with him to put some stuff on eBay. I need my closet space back! But he’s so busy with his own eBay business that I doubt he’d have time to take on mine. So I think the thing I need to do, is to learn to do it myself…and just do it. My pal Brittney Powell came over to do some work around Planet Wallywood, and when she left I grabbed a short nap on the couch. I got up later to do some more work around the house, I fed and walked Roxy, came inside and made some spaghetti and watched a few more episodes of “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” from the third season Blu Ray set. What a clever show that was!

Saturday the 3rd – MAHNA MAHNA! – It’s always fun to meet my pal Joe Garner for lunch and catch up on stuff. There is a lot going on, and he and I are going to do some projects together in the new year. While we were dining I got a text from the USPS that my new Mahna Mahna puppet (created by Bill Diamond in New York) had been delivered to my house. So after lunch I sped home to get the box. I opened him up and fell in love! It looks amazing! I suspect he’s a bit bigger than the real Mahna Mahna, but since the original was created for television, and mine was created for in-person encounters, it all works. I took some pics and posted them on my social media. Then I fed the pets and took a short nap. Sara arrived around 7 to clean up for movie night, and then we had a fun evening watching dopey monster movies. It was a “drive-in double feature” with “Monster Club” (starring Vincent Price and John Carradine), and 1971’s debacle “Dracula VS. Frankenstein!” Somehow crappy movie are just better on Blu Ray! When the movie was over my friend Sam Frieberger put it best by saying, “Dracula VS. Frankenstein is the Batman VS. Superman of Dracula VS. Frankenstein.” We all cracked up! When everyone left I took a short nap on the couch, and then got up to spend all night working on putting Mahna Mahna in his plexiglass case. It’s the case I originally had made for my Kermit 1:1 replica. But since I had a groovy new case made for he and Animal, this one was vacant. I had to cut 6” off the support rod to get him to fit inside, but it all worked out. He looks great in his new home and I can’t wait to take him to conventions and just randomly walk up to people, interrupt their conversations and say, “Mahna Mahna!” And then leave. Not sure why I have the urge to do that, but an exercise like that just “speaks” to me. I fed and walked Roxy and then came inside to finish up some more work. I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad and watched a first season episode of “SNL” with Anthony Perkins as host. The show was absolutely dreadful. Not only did I not laugh once, I didn’t even crack a smile. You think “SNL” is bad now, you should have seen this one. The bits were bad, the host was bad, the musical guest was bad…the whole thing really stunk. Oh well, when you’re doing a show like that it’s probably hit or miss. It’s going to be hard to top the episode that was hosted by Desi Arnaz. That one was amazing! Around 10am I walked Roxy and headed inside to sleep for a bit.

Sunday the 4th – READY FOR INSANITY! – It really felt good sleeping until 4pm, considering that this was the wind-up of the “calm before the storm.” Next week was going to be super busy, so I was enjoying some relaxation. As I was getting ready for evening church I got a message from my “adopted grandma” Shirley saying that she wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be at church. Too bad. She hadn’t come to movie night the night before either because of some issues she was having with her legs. I walked Roxy over to church, had a great service (the music sound particularly awesome!) and then walked home. I had a ton of auditions to do, but I grabbed a short nap first. I got up later, handled the auditions, made some chili, and then fed and walked Roxy briefly. I hit the hay early so I could be up at 8am on Monday morning for a long day of sessions at Lime in Santa Monica!

And how was YOUR week?!?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Here’s a fun video shot and edited by my friend Mark Fullerton, with audio mixing by Scott Sebring. At movie night, we were having a lot of fun with my new friend Mahna Mahna. Enjoy!

Here is the mysterious hose I saw wrapped around the downspout. Hmmm…

A couple of great shots of this beautiful new puppet. Thanks Bill Diamond!

Remember a few weeks ago when I put a shot of my Jr. High teacher Mr. Weigel up on Wally’s Week? Unfortunately, I found out that he passed away last December from Alzheimer’s. He was one of my absolute favorites, and I’m glad I got to see him again the few times I was back in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He let us watch Laurel and Hardy movies in class!! We’ll miss the great Mr. Weigel!