RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
It’s a short trip. Make it count!
I forget how good some of the music from The Monkees actually is, until one comes up on my device. “You Just May Be The One” is one of those songs. I’ve been humming it all week!
Tuesday the 18th – BLURRY IN A HURRY! – As you may recall from last week’s Wally’s Week, my iPod stopped working during my trip home from South Dakota. Great timing. Luckily, I always carry a back-up plan, so I put my phone on airplane mode and listened to toonz that way. I contacted a reliable tech that I’ve used many times in the past to replace old, worn-out batteries in my iPods. He said that, based on the error message that I was getting on my unit, it looked like the 30gb hard drive had given up the ghost. He quoted me a great price to replace it and I got it packed up to send off to him. I also signed a Tallest Red picture (from “Invader Zim”) to send to my new friend Victoria, a young lady I met while I was in Sioux Falls for the Voices Against Cancer event. She was running around in a Gir onesie at the show. I signed it for her at the convention, but when I went to look for her again she had taken off already. I bought postage on-line, packed up the iPod and Tallest Red photo and headed to the post office to drop them off. I also stopped by my box to get my packages, and then headed off to the eye surgeon for a consultation. I had Lasik surgery back in 1997 to correct my distance vision and it was amazing, miraculous and terrific. But over the past few years I’ve noticed that my distance vision wasn’t quite as sharp as it used to be. My optometrist suggested I speak with a surgeon to see about getting a Lasik “enhancement,” to bring my distance vision back to perfection. The assistants and technicians mapped my eyes about 30 different ways in order to give the doctor the best overall view of my situation. He said that since I already had Lasik surgery once, my situation wasn’t a candidate for a touch-up of another round of Lasik surgery. But instead he told me about a new vision correction procedure that is normally used for cataract patients. In fact, once he started explaining it, it sounded exactly like what my parents had! When you have Lasik surgery the clear covering of your cornea has to have a “flap” created in it so the laser can get direct access to the cornea to reshape it. Apparently, since I already had a flap cut once, the clear covering of my eyes wasn’t going to endure another procedure of that kind. But he told me about lens replacement surgery. There’s a lens in your eye that hardens up with age. This means that your vision isn’t quite as clear as it could be, because it’s lost its flexibility. Also, as you advance in age even further, there’s a likelihood that it will become cloudy and affect your vision even more adversely. That’s a cataract. Since my folks had cataracts they had this surgery done to put new implant lenses in, and their vision was restored very nicely. But in this case, I would be doing it purely for vision correction. What I need is a little more advanced than what my parents had. They had their lenses replaced to get rid of cataracts, but mine would be to correct an issue with distance vision. He said that this surgery is better than Lasik anyway, because not only would I never have any problems with distance vision for the rest of my life, but I would never, EVER get a cataract! WILD! There was a lot of info to absorb, so I wanted to go home and think it over. I needed to consider possible dates for the surgery given my upcoming schedule. He’s booked all the way through October, so November would be the earliest I could get in. Not only did he numb my eyes so he could do a pressure test, but they dilated my eyes to get a good look inside. This meant for the next four hours my eyes would be blurry and very sensitive to light. Luckily I brought my sunglasses along! So I had my reading glasses to look over the printed material they gave me to sign, I had my distance glasses so they could look at my prescription and ascertain exactly how much my vision needed to be corrected, and I had my sunglasses to use while driving home. I was juggling them around like some sort of circus clown. The only parking spaces available at the complex were on the sundrenched roof. I took the stairs to get some exercise and made my way up through the stairwell as best I could given my blurry eyes. I heard some plastic clicking down by my waist, and I looked down to see that my car key (which was clipped to my shoulder bag) was clicking against my cell phone as I walked up the stairs. But when I got on the roof (it was VERY bright, even with the sunglasses) I heard more plastic clicking. I figured it was just my key on my phone again. I made my way to my car and got in. I called my folks and talked to them about the consultation while I drove to have lunch at Paty’s. But when I got into the Paty’s parking lot, I realized that my distance glasses were missing! I called the lady I had spoken with at the doctor’s office about setting up my surgery. She said my glasses weren’t there, and that she knows I had them on my when I left her office. Great. Somewhere in that dark stairwell was (hopefully!) a pair of groovy glasses! So, I drove back to the medical complex and once again traversed the stairwell. With my vision blurry it wasn’t easy. I made my way all the way up to the top floor and so far nothing. But once I got on the sundrenched roof, there they were! Sitting upright on the concrete in the middle of the driveway as if somebody had placed them there on purpose. The lenses weren’t on the concrete, so there wouldn’t be any scratches to the lenses luckily! I thought back…I bet the second “clicking” sound I heard were my glasses hitting the concrete. I’m just glad somebody didn’t drive over them and crush them! With my vision severely impaired, I just decided to forego lunch and head back home until my vision cleared up. Later I met my pal Sara at Paty’s for dinner and my eyes got better and better. What a day! But the whole experience had left me feeling pretty exhausted. I got home and did all my auditions and did a session for a regular client. At this point they let me record the stuff by myself and just send it in to them. Later I continued to get my life back in order, put some stuff away from my trip to South Dakota, and typed out Wally’s Week with clear (thankfully!) eyes!
Wednesday the 19th – CHARLI THE ANGEL! – It was back to Paty’s for lunch, but this time to meet with my friends Sara and Edi. It was my first meeting with Edi’s new Maltese Charli, and boy is she cute! Edi had gone to Florida to pick her up a week ago and she’s just the sweetest little doggie. She was a bit shy at first, but as she got comfortable with her surroundings (the smell of food helped too!) she got more active. I came home to meet with my seamstress Maggie who had done great work putting together my Grovercap. It’s a cap shaped like the head of Grover from “Sesame Street,” and she did a great job. Unfortunately the eye pieces I ordered on Amazon were going to be too small. So I went downstairs to the storage in my garage, pulled out the spare set of eyepieces for my Grover puppet, and decided to use those instead. Again, it’s always good to have a back-up plan! My friend Brittney now lives in Texas, but she’ll be coming to L.A. soon to have my buddy Scott Sebring take some new headshots of her. I got on the phone with her and helped book her airplane ticket. Later I worked around the house, did some auditions, trimmed the hair on the Grovercap, and put the eye pieces on. Once those were on I punched out appropriately-sized pupils in black velvet, and stuck them on. He looked perfect! I wanted to make sure he was done in time for this weekend’s “Puppet Up!” show at the Henson studios! I recorded a ton more auditions, drove to Denny’s to get some food, and watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk” from the season 3 Blu-ray set, and I watched a few episodes of “Have Gun – Will Travel” before bed.
Thursday the 20th – STILL A LITTLE TIRED AROUND THE EDGES! – As my old friend Stan used to say (may he rest in peace) I was still “a little tired around the edges” after my whirlwind trip to South Dakota the previous weekend. Between the time difference and all of the activity, I needed to relax a bit. It was a gorgeous, hot summer day (I LOVE IT!) and I finally finished unpacking all of the stuff I took with me to South Dakota. After the sun set in the evening I walked over to the store to get some salad items, and then came home to do auditions.
Friday the 21st – COOL IT, MAN! – Around 1 I got up to meet my maids, but they didn’t arrive until after 3. I noticed that my AC was blowing cool, but not cold. Uh oh. My neighbor Bob had just replaced his AC last week and he told me how much it cost and what a hassle it was. I guess it’s going to be my turn soon. I called my ol’ reliable AC guy Pete and told him what was happening. He said he’d be over in a few hours to have a look. The maids worked away inside, and Pete worked away on the unit on my roof. He put some more refrigerant in, but he wasn’t sure that was the problem. He said I’m definitely going to have to get a new unit very soon, but we’re going to try to wait until the fall when it cools down a bit, and the demand for AC units subsides a bit. But it was blowing nice and cold now! Later I paid some bills, and did an audition for Monday. I decided I needed to hit the grocery store to get some supplies, so since it was 11 at night, I needed to drive into Burbank to hit the 24 hour market. I figured I’d stop at the McDonald’s drive-thru, get some food and then go shopping. But the line at the drive-thru that time of night extended out into the street. But I wasn’t in a time crunch so I just figured I’d listen to some toonz, relax and wait my turn. But it was taking forever! After 20 minutes (I timed it based on the lengths of the songs I was listening to) I was only halfway there! Ugh. Luckily I was in the Gray Ghost (higher profile than the Torino or the Mustang) so jumping the curb to make a hasty escape from the drive-thru was easy. I cut my losses and split. I could have gone to the market, bought hamburger meat, taken it home and grilled it, and it would have eaten a lot sooner than if I would have stayed in that line! WOW! Luckily Wienerschnitzel was still open, so I got some food there and ate it in the parking lot of the grocery store while listening to toonz. I bought items at the store that I couldn’t have gotten had I been on foot. It included things like a case of water, a case of Pure Leaf iced tea, etc. I got home to unpack the groceries and unwind. For the past few months I’ve had a recurring pain in my left shoulder, near my rotator cuff. But I found out that stretching it, and working through the pain, was helping it considerably. Now I flex it on a regular basis and it’s feeling much better! When I see her this weekend, Angi said she’ll teach me some stretching exercises that she uses when she dances or works out in the gym. Since it was such a gorgeous night, I decided to take a long walk and enjoy a nice cigar. I also took out my new anti-gravity chair to stare into the sky for a while. Really gorgeous and peaceful! I came back inside, cleaned up and watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk” before bed.
Saturday the 22nd – “GOD IS MY D.J. – PART 2!” – Though I’ve been to the “Puppet Up!” show at the Henson studios many times before, it never gets old. Especially since it’s never the same show twice. Being an improv show with puppets, the scenarios are always different depending on the cast and the situations. Later in the afternoon Angi drove over so we could head into Hollywood for dinner. The previous night I had bought her a dozen red roses for her birthday, which had occurred a few days earlier. We were trying to figure out a good place to eat before the show, and I remembered that an Italian restaurant named Rafallo’s was a few blocks away from the Henson studios on LaBrea. Back when I was working at 94.7 The Wave in Hollywood, I used to get delivery from Rafallo’s quite frequently. But I literally hadn’t eaten a Rafallo’s pizza for over 20 years! This was going to be a treat! As we sat at our table I heard music come on intermittently. Our server said there was a jukebox at the front of the restaurant. One of the songs that played randomly was “Sing” by the Carpenters. Then it occurred to me that God was playing D.J. again; underscoring my life like some sort of movie. I told Angi that the song “Sing” had two serendipitous qualities about it. First, since the Carpenters were on the A&M label, that song was recorded literally three blocks from where we were sitting right now! (What used to be the A&M studios is now Henson studios!) Secondly, “Sing” was originally written by Joe Raposo for “Sesame Street!” Again, the 6 degrees of Jim Henson! WILD! Our dinner at Rafallo’s was terrific and I think I’ve started a new “pre-Puppet Up!” dinner tradition! We got parked on the lot and headed in to get our tickets. But when we walked deeper into the lot I heard somebody say, “Wally! Hey Wally!” I looked over to see it was the guy manning the Dopl booth. Just like last time, the amazing company Dopl was there with their scanning booth. They take a 3D scan of you with literally 500+ cameras and then print out a 3D statue of YOU! Angi and I had one done at the last “Puppet Up!” show, and in May (as a birthday gift to myself) I went to Dopl’s Century City location and had one done of myself in Muppet gear, holding two puppets! I remember joking with them at the time that if they wanted to print a second one and put it on display, it was OK by me! But they actually did it! There I was! On display on the Henson lot! Life is rich! We joked around with the Dopl people for a while, and then got our tickets and checked in for the VIP tour. I’ve been on the VIP tour several times, and it never gets old. That studio is magical. In fact, I consider it ‘hallowed ground’ as it was originally built by Charlie Chaplin, then bought by Red Skelton, then A&M Records (the greatest record label ever!) and then by Henson in 1999. Lots of creativity has happened on that lot! But this time I could tell that our tour guide was hurrying us along; the tour felt very rushed. She rushed us from the reception area, to the conference room, past the Charlie Chaplin schoolhouse, past the exterior of the recording studio, and then to the final part of the tour – a visitation with Brian Henson in his office. But with all that rushing, we still had to wait outside Brian’s office for about 10 minutes. I couldn’t understand why the tour was so rushed, only to have to wait for 10 minutes for the final segment. It seems like it could have been more evenly paced. But oh well. It’s just always great to be on that lot! My Grover hat and Kermit shoes and sweater were a big hit, and even one of the puppeteers from the show commented on it before the show! The event always begins with Brian Henson taking the stage and explaining how the show was created. Normally he’s onstage for about 10 minutes and the show starts. But tonight, he spent about 17 minutes on stage, and he told stories about his dad. I could have sat there and listened to those stories all night! He said his dad was enamored with the world of television and knew at a young age he wanted to work in that field. Puppeteering came second, when Jim Henson took a puppet class at college. Henson figured that puppeteering was a way into the business of television when he auditioned for a late-night show in the Washington D.C. area. It was through this class (and subsequent television show) that he met his future wife (and Brian’s mom) Jane. And history was made! Of all the “Puppet Up!” shows I had been to, I had never heard Brian elucidate about his dad this much. It. Was FABULOUS! The show was fun and hilarious as usual. We drove back to Planet Wallywood and relaxed. Later I did some work around the house, made my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watched an episode of “The Saint.” This show was so incredibly well written!
Sunday the 23rd – BIG, BLACK BOND BASE! – As is usual with my Sundays, I was comatose most of the day. In the early evening my pals Joe and Zandra Pendleton came by with their daughter Katie and her son Jamison. I’ve known them all for a long time, and I’ve known Jamison since he was a baby. Now he’s going to be a junior in high school!! Time really flies! He’s turned into a terrific young man, and his mom is getting ready for her wedding in November! Joe is quite the accomplished woodworker and carpenter, so when I went to him with the idea of a multi-level base for my James Bond 12 inch figures, he got to work. He brought it over and it looked perfect! We headed out to Bob’s Big Boy for dinner, but their women’s bathroom was broken. So we headed to Paty’s instead. I’m glad we did. The weather outside was stunning and perfect, and we sat on the patio enjoying our dinner. What a great evening; perfect weather, good food and great friends! We stopped for ice cream on the way home, and by the time we got back to Planet Wallywood the Pendletons needed to hit the road for home. Later I got to work on the Bond Base. I needed to section it out based on the number of figures I had. I figured I could put six figures on each of the three levels. In order to space them out evenly I measured and made little marks on the base where I would drill the holes. In those holes I would sink T nuts, and then screw in a length of threaded rod to the height I needed. Then the figure would be secured to that rod by either clamping some armature wire around their waist under their clothes, or up through their pant leg. When all the drilling was complete I cleaned up the sawdust from the area and painted the T nuts black to blend in with the base. I set the base in the lower compartment of my display case and it looked terrific. I wanted to go to bed and finish it the next day, but I couldn’t. I just HAD to finish it! It was no easy task, but I got all of the figures mounted, posed and positioned accordingly. I will also display some of the James Bond paperback novels too, and a few of the paperbacks I have are autographed! I finally hit the hay totally, utterly and completely exhausted!
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
Beautiful roses for a beautiful lady! Angi’s birthday week!
After everything is carefully measured out, to ensure that each figure has their own equidistant space, I made marks on the base where the holes would go.
Then I would drill the holes, hammer in the T nuts, and screw in the threaded support rods. I set up a few figures to see how it would look.
I put the base in the lower right compartment of my display case to have a look at the fit. Perfect!
Then I brought it back upstairs to start mounting and positioning the figures. I had a certain formula for how I wanted them to be displayed. I tried to not have a Bond actor repeat on the same level, but I have so many Connery and Moore figures it wasn’t quite possible.
This set-up looked perfect to me! I also included two autographed figure bases (signed by George Lazenby and Richard Kiel) and two autographed paperbacks (signed by Roger Moore and Britt Ekland). I’m going to add a shelf up high on the back wall to display some paperbacks.
Nadine checks and maps one of my eyeballs. Amazing technology!
My Grovercap came out looking totally amazing!
Edi’s new doggie Charlie is going to fit in with our group very well!
I was BLOWN AWAY to see my Dopl on the Henson lot! WOW!
Hallowed ground, indeed!
I always love hearing my hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota mentioned in movies and TV shows. Most recently I noticed that Sioux Falls got a mention in the old TV show “Have Gun – Will Travel.”
