RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

May I introduce to you Captain James T. Kirkmit the Frog! This is not my Kermit, but I found this pic on-line and loved the mash-up! Phasers on FUN!

 

While my pal Sara was making sloppy joes the other night, “Old Man” by Neil Young came on my iPod. We both agreed that this is one terrific song!

 

Monday the 21st – MAGILLA VANILLA! – The day (and week) began with a quick session in my home studio with an ad agency in my hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I’m the voice of a healthcare provider there, and they needed me to record a voice track for a new TV spot. It’s always great to talk to the South Dakota folks and catch up on what’s been going on there. I drove over to my mailbox and got my packages, and then had lunch at Paty’s. When I got back home I fired up the home studio again and did a callback audition for an animated film on Zoom. LOTSA FUN! I took Roxy out to the courtyard so she could relax and get some of her much-loved sun time. There’s a wacky puppy in the neighborhood named Vanilla (a Boston Terrier that’s only about 10 months old. But she’s non-stop energy. Roxy saw me playing with her, got jealous and came over to attend. But when Vanilla saw Roxy, all she wanted to do was play with her. But Roxy doesn’t have the energy of a 10 month old puppy any longer, and was finding Vanilla’s enthusiastic advances quite annoying. So I distracted Vanilla’s attention by chasing her around the courtyard and playing “peek” around the building that houses the equipment for the pool. It was hilarious! Finally, Vanilla just plopped down in the grass panting. She was exhausted. But it was short-lived. She popped right back up again and started running around the equipment building. I feel that puppies are like children – they’re fun to play with when they’re somebody else’s. But I don’t think I have the temerity or fortitude at this point in my life to ever have one. Puppies AND kids! I went back inside to do some work, and later started scripting a new idea for a YouTube thing I want to do with my girlfriend Michelle and some of the Muppet replicas. Stay tuned for that! I wrote Wally’s Week, and then delved into the final season of “Mod Squad” and made some hot dogs on the grill!

Tuesday the 22nd – PHONE PHUN! – It’s rare that any of my agents actually call me on the phone any more. All the bookings are either made over e-mail or text nowadays. But I got a nice call from my video game agent who said that a specific Casting Director had inquired about my services for a project. We discussed the parameters of what they were looking for and I told her I’d have the audition turned around first thing Wednesday morning. I also chatted with my doctor to get a prescription refilled, I talked with my “Adopted Grandma” Shirley for a bit, my parents, and then I made a bunch of other miscellaneous calls. I walked over to Roxy’s vet’s office to pick up a few more months’ worth of flea meds for her. After the nightmare I had last year with fleas on these kids, I’m not going through that again! I stopped at Subway on the way home to get a sandwich, and then headed home to eat and relax. While I dined I listened to a podcast I guested on back in September of 2019 called “The Art of Bombing.” It had been linked again recently on Twitter so I figured I’d give it a listen. It was recorded during the time I was back in Sioux Falls for Siouxpercon. I could hear that my voice was very rough from all the talking I did that weekend, but it was a pretty funny podcast. The thing that struck me overall was the pre-Covid innocence we all had in that recording. At that point in time we had no idea that the world would be melting down in a mere 6 months. I really miss that innocence. Kind of like I miss the pre-911 innocence we had. Later, it was a trip around the world, as all my nightly auditions seemed to be with different accents; Nordic, Dutch, and Italian! Later Michelle came over after she got off work and we went to Denny’s to have a late dinner.

Wednesday the 23rd – GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS! – I was well aware that a VERY busy weekend was ahead, so I just relaxed and took it easy and enjoyed some downtime. Michelle and I went to Paty’s to have lunch with Edi and her dog Buns. It was a gorgeous day and I hadn’t seen Buns in a long time, so it was good to relax and enjoy some great food and great conversation! I picked up my packages at my mailbox, and then headed home to relax for the evening.

Thursday the 24th – FRIGHTENING FAST FOOD! – Michelle and I headed to CVS so I could pick up a prescription and print some more hang tags for my Christoween merchandise. In order to comply with the trademark office’s requirements, each piece of merchandise sold has to have a ‘hang tag’ on it, stating all of the protected marks. Then we went to Staples to get some pens for an in-store signing I’d be doing in La Habra on Saturday. We went over to Carl’s Jr. to get some food at the drive-thru. We didn’t order a lot of stuff, but the bill came to $30! Thirty bucks for fast food? When did Carl’s Jr. get so freakin’ expensive? At first I thought some kind of mistake was made. But that’s what it was! Absurd! Frightening?! For 20 bucks more per person I could have gone to the Smokehouse and had steak! We drove to the neighborhood car wash and got in line to get the Mustang washed, but we didn’t move at all. The cars on either side of us were moving, and I got a very bad feeling. So before I got trapped in with a car pulling in behind me, I pulled out, made a fast U turn, and went to another car wash in Burbank. I picked up some more packages at my mailbox, and I got in a sample of some different fur I had ordered in hopes that it would be perfect for the Cookie Monster replica that I’m going to start working on. I have two different furs, and they’re both a great color and texture, but I need them just a little more deep bluish. Hopefully my pal Alex at Alex in Wonderland studios can help me achieve a more rich tone with some dying, or airbrushing. Michelle and I went over to the store to pick up some groceries, and then headed home to put everything away. I attached the ‘hang tags’ I had printed earlier to the Christoween sticker sets. I did some other random work, did my nightly auditions, and sat down at the computer and designed the second set of Christoween stickers. I loved how the first set came out so much, I wanted to make a second one with more characters!

Friday the 25th – APPEARANCE PREP! – My maids arrived around 3 and cleaned up Planet Wallywood. I did some more work on-line and ordered up the second set of Christoween stickers. I got a Domino’s pizza and prepped a bit for an appearance I’d be making at a comics and collectibles shop in La Habra on Saturday. It would be the first appearance in about a year and a half, and I was really looking forward to it!

Saturday the 26th – STUPENDOUS SATURDAY SIGNING! – It was up bright and early so Michelle and I could hit the road towards La Habra and be there in time for the signing at noon. She has an app on her GPS that routed us on the best possible path to avoid all the traditional traffic snafus characteristic of L.A. traffic. She was playing her Spotify and “Listen to the Music” by the Doobie Brothers came on. I flashed back and had, what I’ve always called, “A Moment.” I harkened back to 1972 when that song first came out. I was 11 years old. Had anyone told me back then that some 49 years later, I’d be cruising down an L.A. freeway on a beautiful Southern California summer day, with a gorgeous young lady by my side, heading to a place where people would line up to meet me and have me sign stuff for them – I never would have believed them! But here we were! Life is rich indeed! On the way to the store we spotted a KFC, so we darted into the drive-thru to get some lunch. I loved the Chicken Littles, and Michelle loves the pot pies. We found the store and pulled into the parking lot. A line had already formed of about 50 people. We finished our food and then got our stuff together to head inside. But first I went up and down the line of the waiting customers to say hi to everyone and thank them for coming. The staff at Phat Collectibles was fantastic, and I could tell it was going to be a very fun day! We got all set up and my cohort Johnny Yong Bosch arrived and set up his stuff alongside me. What transpired over the next four and a half hours was fun and hilarity that I had very badly missed over the past year and a half! The customers were all great and it was an absolute blast. The time FLEW by! In the four and a half hours I only got up once to visit the bathroom. Other than that we sat at the table chatting with fans the entire time! In case you’re unaware, Johnny and I were adversaries on the anime show “Bleach.” And even though we weren’t on the show at the same time, we both played roles on “Power Rangers.” He was on-camera in the tight spandex suit, while I was in a comfy recording studio doing voices for some of the villain characters; most notably the Blue Psycho Ranger. My pal Joey Torino, who lives in the area, was there to help out and snap some photos. And Michelle’s help was also invaluable as she dealt with the customers’ needs marvelously. Joey had a bunch of Christoween stuff printed up for me at a shop he uses a lot, and it all turned out so well! We have 7 different Christoween prints in our t-shirt line, and he also had the Christoween logo embroidered on to knit beanies! Fantastic! But Michelle had to be at work by 8 so we jetted back up the freeway, hit Taco Bell for some quick dinner, and headed home. After she left for work, I realized that I was a bit exhausted. To be “on” for 4.5 hours and interact with the customers takes a lot of energy (albeit GOOD, FUN energy) so I took a short nap. Later I did some work with the new Christoween merchandise I had received from Joey.

Sunday the 27th – SATURDAY ON SUNDAY! – Since I was busy on Saturday, and my stylist Andie was busy attending her grandson’s 3rd birthday party, we moved our usual once-a-month Saturday appointment to Sunday. It was a marvelous, warm summer day and I walked over to the shop to get a touch-up on my color – jet black! It was the first time we could sit and relate to each other without having to wear a stupid mask and continually saying, “What? WHAT?!” to each other. In the evening my pal Sara came by with the ingredients for Midwest-style sloppy joes. We enjoyed a terrific sloppy joe dinner with barbecue chips! Later, I did my auditions, and cut out the ‘hang tags’ for the Christoween merch. I had tried gluing them together before with Barge glue (the glue I used to make puppets) but it discolored the printing on the photo paper. So this time I tried a glue called Super 77. The only problem is, it’s a SPRAY on glue, and not a brush on glue. So I had to be very careful not to spray any glue where I didn’t want it. But once I got the technique down it worked very well! And it did NOT discolor the print on the paper! Since I didn’t get around to it on Saturday night, I pretended Sunday night was Saturday night, and made my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watched an episode of “The Saint” that was terrific! I actually remembered it from when I was a kid. I specifically remember Roger Moore, in a very bad Texas accent, saying, “And lotsa ice!” I remember thinking how funny it was to hear Roger Moore attempt a Texas accent. Coming up this week, the Torino gets a new place to stay, and I’ll be recording a new comedy song I wrote!

And how was YOUR week?!?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

“I’m getting closer. My salamander.” But I got a bit TOO close, and my scaly little friend scampered off. Beautiful creature!

I finally found the 50th anniversary Fruity Pebbles box in the store. Since I was the voice of Barney Rubble in the launch TV spot, this box is going into the collection. (AFTER I’ve eaten all the cereal, that is!)

Our new t-shirt and beanie designs are in!

FUR A LITTLE WHILE! Two different furs are laid out so I can inspect their color under different lighting. I hope to have a Cookie Monster replica finished in about a month or so.

My two favorite girls – Roxy and Michelle!

Roxy sure loves her sun time. Vitamin D is very important even for dogs!

Christoween sticker set #1 is bagged and tagged!

At the in-store appearance at Phat Collectibles in La Habra, Michelle stands ready for all the nice people to arrive!

A Riddler tattoo! How ingenious!

Occasionally I’d put on my custom mask for some comedy relief in a photo op.

Super-fan Diego is dressed like this for a reason. As he explained, this is how he feels my Power Rangers character Psycho Blue would have looked in human form – had he lived long enough in the series to obtain human form! Now THAT’S a fan!

Michelle meets my arch nemesis Johnny Yong Bosch!

After an afternoon of doodling, I finished my ‘artwork’ by copying Johnny’s signature in hopes that someone would blame him for the mess. But he added his REAL signature beneath my forgery an additional, clever punchline!

Ummm…not exactly sure what was going on here. But hey. It’s funny!

This pose was my idea.

A successful day! Hopefully the first of many more to come!