June 14 – June 20 (2021) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

Just one more quick reminder for those in the Southern California area that Johnny and I will be appearing this Saturday the 26th in LaHabra! It’s my first signing appearance in almost two years!

I woke up from a nap where I was singing this song on stage with Alice Cooper for some reason. Odd, since it’s not an Alice Cooper song, but rather a song by Gene Simmons. It’s called “I’ll See You Tonight” and I love it. It’s from the “Kiss Unplugged” CD, and that’s my buddy Bruce Kulick on lead guitar!

Monday the 14th – FLAG DAY! – I can tell that things are getting back to normal, (even though California doesn’t officially open back up to normalcy until Tuesday the 15th) because on the freeway to Marina Del Rey it was packed with traffic! Yup, all the cars are back on the road. I barely got to the Marina in time to get my lunch at Chick Fil-A and get to my video game session at Side LA by 2. It was another fun session for a video game that I’ve been working on for a while, and I think we got a lot of ground covered. I got back home to feed the pets and ordered up a delicious Domino’s pizza. Since there was still some sunshine out, and the temp had dropped to ideal conditions, I sprayed the base coat on all of the Christoween Frankie ornaments I had in my possession. I hung them up to let them dry before they got a second coat, but I’m running out of that color of paint so I need to make a trip to Kit Kraft to get another can. I got on the computer and designed the hang tag for the Christoween stickers we’re having made up, and I submitted the artwork to my attorney for approval before printing. What a busy, exhausting day!

Tuesday the 15th – OPENING DAY! – It’s been a long, hard sixteen months, but California is FINALLY completely open again! Masks are now optional. I celebrated by going to lunch at Ernie’s Mexican Restaurant with my pal Edi. It sure was nice to feel normal again. Even though there are still some people wearing masks, it’s now strictly optional. I most likely will never wear a mask again. I’ll keep them handy in my bag, but I’m going to resist ever wearing one again as much as I can. Personal preference. I drove over to the hardware store to get some bolts, cap nuts and washers for my new “10% Rowlf’s” nose and eye pieces. I’ll make them later tonight. When I got home one of my agents said that I had covered so much of the material in the video game script, that the producers only needed me for one more hour to complete all of my voice tracks. And instead of driving all the way down to Marina Del Rey again for just an hour’s worth of work, they are going to let me record it in my home studio! AWESOME NEWS! The fact is, I probably would have been on the freeway getting there longer than I would have actually been in the studio working! So this is great news! I drove over to the Smokehouse to have dinner with my old pal Dr. Patt. He used to be my doctor when I lived on the westside of L.A., (because his office is in the Santa Monica area), but after I moved out of the area it became too far of a drive to make, especially if I’m feeling sick. So I found a doctor in my area. But I feel Dr. Patt is still the best in the biz. Plus, he’s a wonderful musician who can play about 16 different instruments. I’ve known him for about 23 years. We had a lot of catching up to do. He had never been to the Smokehouse so it was quite a treat! I got back home and started to work on seating the bolts into the inside of “10% Rowlf’s” nose with an epoxy sculpting putty called Magic Sculpt. I measured, and then measured again, and put them in as level and meticulously as possible. Then I took a few spoons out, coated them with Vaseline as a mold release, and pressed some Magic Sculpt into them to make his eye pieces. I let them all set for a while as I turned my attentions to other work. Later I checked on the eye pieces and figured they had cured long enough. But I DIDN’T wait long enough and as I was removing them from the spoons the bolts broke off! Rats! As I was inspecting them I realized I wasn’t that happy with their shape anyway. But as time went on, and they continued to harden further, I realized that I could sand out the portions I didn’t like. Magic Sculpt is an amazingly versatile medium. I started carving and sanding, and VOILA! They turned out perfect! On my next trip to Kit Kraft I’m going to ask about a glue that can attach the bolt to the back of the eye pieces.

Wednesday the 16th – THE FANS ARE GONNA LOVE THIS! – Even though the weather had been pretty toasty over the past few days, a cooling trend had set in. Just before my one hour video game session in my home studio, my girlfriend Michelle came by to start her weekend. With her current work schedule she gets Wednesdays and Thursdays off. I was glad she was here during my session, because as a new actress in town, she could overhear how a Voice Over session like this is conducted. We got all the tracks finished in one hour’s time right on the nose! The producers had it pegged almost to the minute! Amazing! We were hungry but we didn’t really want to go out yet, so I made some spaghetti. I did some work the rest of the afternoon around the house, got caught up with Michelle on all the happenings in her life, and decided later that we’d go over to Bob’s Big Boy for dinner. When we got back to Planet Wallywood we started plotting out a fun project I had planned. Without saying too much that would violate my contract, I’ve been contacted by a company to sign a large quantity of toys bearing the likeness of a character that I’ve voiced for many years. In situations such as these, the companies always ask for a “proof of authenticity” photo to be included with the signed items. Normally it’s a picture of the actor posing next to the signed items to prove to the buyer that they really did sign them. But I wanted to go a step further. I figured the fans would love it if I got into character and replicated the character with some ‘special make-up’ effects, so I could more closely resemble the animated character. When Michelle was done with my make-up I looked in the mirror, laughed and said, “The fans are gonna love this!” I can’t wait for these photos to be publicized, as I think it might be the first time any such thing like this has been done!

Thursday the 17th – ZOOM IN THE ROOM! – Michelle and I drove over to Kit Kraft quickly to pick up some supplies, including the proper glue I’d need to attach the support bolts to the back of “10% Rowlf’s” eye pieces. We would have walked, since it was such a nice day, but this had to be a very quick trip. And since Kit Kraft hasn’t yet gone back to their old hours, and still are closing early, a trip to the store wouldn’t have been possible after my scheduled Zoom meeting. I got back home and got settled, and met with two agents who deal with on-camera commercial casting. I haven’t had an on-camera agent in quite a while, as Voice Over has always been my main focus, but this opportunity just seemed right. I realize with my specific look I won’t be auditioning all the time (which I’m totally fine with) but on the occasion where I’m suited for something (like the old Dell commercials from 2016) I figured it would be a fun opportunity. The meeting went very well and I look forward to everything that might come down the pike in this field. Then Michelle and I took off to Joann’s to get some stuffing and other things we’d need for some upcoming projects. I’m getting in some custom-printed fabric from Spoonflower that features my Christoween protagonist Donnie Druthers in both a front and rear view. The idea is that I’d make them into plush figures for the Christoween merch page. So we needed to pick up some stuffing and some thread that matched the fabric. We were starving, so we stopped at El Pollo Loco for dinner. BOY did that hit the spot! I got back home to do a little work, and later I did my nightly auditions. I glued the bolts into the back of the eye pieces and left them alone to cure. I also used the same glue and attached some magnets on to the back of some Christoween Frankie refrigerator magnets. They’re like the ornaments, but instead of being his entire head (front and back) they’re just the front. My effects guy made a few of them up to see if I wanted to make them into refrigerator magnets. Michelle took off for her house and I did some work around the house. Later I made a pot pie and watched a few more episodes of “The Lone Ranger.”

Friday the 18th – FUR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD! – Later in the afternoon I went to my mailbox to pick up my packages. It was like Christmas! I got my Donnie Druthers fabric, and it’s GORGEOUS! I also got one of two pairs of new Vans shoes I ordered. I have several pairs that I regularly wear, but I’ve worn them so much they’re literally coming apart! Time to upgrade to new ones. These are a great teal and white checker combo. The new black and white checkered ones I ordered are expected soon. I also got a few fur samples for a Cookie Monster replica Muppet I’m going to work on. It’s very difficult to find the right shade of fur, particularly since Cookie’s shade of blue has changed over the 50 years he’s been around. But I locked into a specific look for Cookie that I really love, and it’s the more square-mouthed, blue-gray from the early to mid-70’s that I’m shooting for. One of the samples I got in really intrigued me, but I’m going to consult with my puppet lady at Alex in Wonderland to see if it can be overdyed slightly bluer. I got some food at the KFC drive-thru and headed to Alex in Wonderland’s studio. I took her my 10% Rowlf head and the fabric needed to cover the head. But since I just got in the potential fur for Cookie Monster minutes earlier, I showed her that too. She took a strip of it to experiment with to see if we can tweak the color a bit. She’s also going to make a new nose for my Mahna Mahna replica Muppet, as the one that’s on there now doesn’t look quite right. Then I came home and started in on a few projects. I had LOTS to do. The Christoween Frankie ornaments are pretty cool, but they’re VERY labor-intensive. They are all hand assembled and hand painted by ME! Each one takes several hours to complete; from the prep work, pre-drilling all of the holes, painting, hairing, and making the hats – it turns into a lot of time spent. But I love it. And now I have four of them to do, so I can “assembly line” them. I painted all the details on them; eyes, teeth, etc. Later I had a sandwich and watched a few more episodes of “The Lone Ranger.”

Saturday the 19th – ALL HAIL THE KING! – It was a gorgeous day so I walked over to the neighborhood hardware store to pick up some more bolts for my Frankie ornaments and some more washers for the bolts in the nose piece for “10% Rowlf.” I got back home and got cleaned up in time for my pals Officer Mark and James to drop by. My favorite Italian restaurant just opened up for dining-in a day ago, so we decided to go enjoy some pizza! It had been a whole year and a half since we’ve enjoyed the ambience of Barone’s! It was good to be back and quite yummy! While I enjoyed getting pizzas to go and eating them at home, there’s nothing quite like diving into a piping hot pizza at the restaurant! We got back to Planet Wallywood and decided to watch a movie. The Blu Ray of the 1976 “King Kong” had just been released so we watched that. That movie brings back a lot of good memories! Later I sat down with a needle and threat and made some tiny Santa hats for the Frankie ornaments. I fed and walked Roxy and then sat down to do the dreaded work of bookkeeping. I went through all of my receipts, bank statements, bills, et al, and reconciled everything for the month. It’s arduous work, but it has to be done. And it all worked out very neatly and nicely! At the age of 13, Roxy isn’t that interested in standing and eating out of her bowls any longer. She can do it for a while, and to make it easier for her I put down the foam panels on the floor to help with traction. But I found out that she likes to eat while lying on her side. I bring her little handfuls of food while she’s lying down and she eats voraciously! It’s great to see her eating, but all of the food particles and her saliva is tough on the carpet. Oh well. I’m just glad she’s eating! I think standing up for a long time to eat is too hard on her. So I’m going to bring her “breakfast in bed” (as I call it) as much as I can to keep her eating. Speaking of eating, I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watched an episode of “The Saint” before bed. It was a beautiful “blue morning” in L.A.! The sun rose behind a thick overcast of bluish marine layer and it’s gorgeous!

Sunday the 20th – SLEEPY SUNDAY! – With nothing much going on, and another busy week ahead, I took the opportunity to enjoy a ‘sleepy Sunday.’ I rested all day, but later I did a few auditions that were due Monday morning. I did some more work on Frankie hats and completed all the work on the four new ornaments I had in my possession. Next I’ll turn my attentions to the Donnie Druthers plush figures. I’m hoping to have the entire Christoween merchandise line finished and ready to go on-line by mid-July! I’m only waiting on our Christoween stickers to arrive, and the embroidered beanies that my buddy Joey is having made up. VERY exciting! Fingers crossed that these will be popular!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Officer Mark, James and I get ready to devour our Barone’s feast! And it was SO good to see Barone’s owner Tommy again after so long!

The test run of the Christoween beanies look great! Even Penelope approves!

This fur is starting to look right to me, somehow. The lighter blue is more indicative of the mid-70’s Cookie Monster that I’m trying to replicate, as opposed to the deeper blue color that he is today.