March 20 – March 26 (2023) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

The other day I was thinking about the time I walked across the street near Abbey Road studios in London. This was 2004. It’s a fairly difficult shot to get with all of the traffic. The locals are none too happy about all of the tourists obstructing traffic (like I did).

While I was on one of my walks, Shawn Mullins’ song “Everywhere I Go” came up on my phone. I had forgotten how great this song sounds, especially on the headphones. His voice, the instruments, the mix, it’s all amazing. Check it out with your headphones on!

Monday the 20th – HERE COMES THE RAIN AGAIN! – The day started with a phone call to my old pal Reed Kaplan about a documentary idea I had. He and I used to work on stuff together, particularly bonus features for DVD releases. It was great catching up, as we’ve been out of touch for a long time. I walked over to CVS to get a prescription and to the grocery store to get some supplies. It was a very enjoyable walk back home, as it would be my last chance to enjoy a good walk outside for a few days. The rain is on the way…AGAIN! I did a little work around the house, recorded my nightly auditions, and spent the rest of the evening labeling different cables. I have so many lying around for different purposes that they get confusing if they’re not clearly marked. I got a nice nap in, and woke up to it raining outside. I typed out Wally’s Week, and then I broke out the hairspray I just bought at CVS a few hours earlier. My Mahna Mahna replica Muppet and my new original puppet Nate Atez (long A, long E) needed their hair coiffed. My Mahna puppet’s feather hair was a little TOO neat. I needed to muss it up considerably to match the look of the original. My Nate puppet has a great spikey mullet that I love, but I wanted it to stay in place. So I sprayed the heck out of it…kinda like what we really did back in the 80’s! I made a nice salad and watched an episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”

Tuesday the 21st – ENHANCEMENT TIME! – As a follow up to last week’s audition at Carroll Casting, I went in for a callback audition. Then I went back home and fed Spook his lunch, and I sped off to meet my pal Drew Massey for lunch in Sherman Oaks. It’s always fun talking to my puppet/Voice Over pal Drew, as I always learn so much! We’re going to get busy on my new Super Grover replica Muppet as soon as his buddy gets back into town who specializes in dying synthetic fur. I love the fur I bought for Grover, but I’d like it to be a shade darker; like the early 70’s Grover. By the time our lunch was over it was pouring rain. I drove less than a mile to my eye doctor’s office for my examination. He said he liked what he saw during my exam, and my eyes are in pretty great shape! When I had my last eye exam back in 2019 he said my eyes were both very similar in the correction they needed for reading glasses, so he suggested I just buy some off the rack. But now he said they’ve diverged a little and I needed to get a “paired” prescription. I also told him my distance vision hasn’t been great lately, as my Lasik surgery was now 25 years old. He said I could probably use an “enhancement,” and gave me a great referral to a local surgeon. Though it was raining quite hard, I was nice and comfy inside my warm Rav4, and the music playing was terrific. So I decided to go to my box to pick up my packages. I got the piano wire in that I’ll be using for Super Grover’s arm rods, I got some Laurel & Hardy import Blu Ray discs, and I got a new Blu Ray player for my computer. The one I have in my computer now no longer functions, so I need it replaced. I also got in two of the new McFarlane Arkham Riddler figures, and they’re fantastic! Later I picked up my friend Bianca and we went to dinner. Then I came home and did some work on the computer. After the long, fruitful day, I was pretty exhausted.

Wednesday the 22nd – RAINY DAY PEOPLE! – The rain came down very hard all day long. So it was a good day to stay inside and do some interior work. I did some auditions, rested, worked around the house, and input my new DVD movies into my database. Today was a great day to take care of random stuff. Later I made another salad and watched an episode of “The Incredible Hulk.” Then on the Heroes & Icons channel, I watched a few episodes of “Have Gun – Will Travel.” I’m starting to really dig this show! Paladin’s like Bruce Wayne and The Saint all rolled into a black cowboy outfit.

Thursday the 23rd – A VERY DUSTY, DUSTY DRAMA! – Though I had intended to get a good walk in, it was still raining off and on so I didn’t risk it. Late in the afternoon I drove to Rocket Sound to do a pick-up for a video game. The majority of the work was done a year or so ago, and the producers needed me to change one line. It was a very short session. But on my way out another Voice Actor commented on my Andy Kaufman “Man on the Moon” cap I was wearing. So we started talking about Andy in the lobby of the studio, and come to find out, he knew a LOT about Andy as well! We talked about Andy for about an hour! Then I sped over to my box to get some more packages, and then I went to Paty’s in Toluca Lake to have dinner with my pal David Woodruff. We had a lot of fun talking about potential projects! It ended up being a 3 hour dinner, and we spoke about some ideas for films, working with our pal Ron Chaney, and other stuff. Since the rain was tapering off, and the next few days were going to be very nice, I decided to drive to my auxiliary parking to swap the Gray Ghost for my Gran Torino. The parking structure where I keep my Mustang and the Torino is about five stories high. The parking spaces I rent are on the fourth floor, and it’s very “airy” up there. Sometimes it can get pretty breezy up there. Though my Torino was snug and safe in its car cover, the cover for my Mustang had blown COMPLETELY off! It was only hanging on by the locked cable around its midsection! To make matters worse, the Mustang was COMPLETELY covered with a thick, yellow dust (most likely pollen from nearby trees). This was not acceptable! I obviously need to secure the cover better so it won’t catch a stiff breeze and blow off. I’ll figure out a scheme and come back. In the meantime, the Torino fired right up! Amazing! It was good to be back in the Gran Torino again. My pal Sheriff John visited from Florida one time, and he said it best. He said, “This car is like a time machine!” With the constant 70’s music playing on my MP3 player, the smell of the old car, and the roominess, it basically IS a time machine that takes me right back to happier days in the 1970’s! I stopped at Foster’s Freeze and got a banana split, and then drove home to put stuff away. After putting the Torino on the trickle charger so the battery will fill up overnight, I recorded my nightly auditions, did some editing, and hit the hay!

Friday the 24th – GIGGLES AND GROCERIES! – I got up early with the express intent of meeting up with my computer guy so he could come by and install the new Blu Ray player into my computer tower. But a few minutes after the appointed time, he hadn’t yet arrived. I texted him to see what was up, and he said there was a family emergency and he wouldn’t be able to make it, and he forgot to text me. Great. I understand that emergencies happen, but a text would be nice. Sheesh. I had cleared the morning specifically to work with him, so now I have the whole morning free. I went back to bed for a little bit, and then got up later for a walk. I went to the hardware store to get some bungies, as my friend Edi suggested that I tie down the front and back of the Mustang’s car cover with bungies. I thought it was a great idea. I also got a chamois and a microfiber drying cloth. I walked to CVS to buy some of the eye drops my doctor suggested, and had lunch on the patio of Panera. It felt good to have the sun on my face again! I walked over to the grocery store to pick up some supplies, and the song “Come To Butt-Head” came up on my phone. I had my earphones in and people may have been wondering why I was walking through the grocery store trying my best to stifle laughter. I love that song! I enjoyed a brisk, warm walk home, and then put my groceries away. I pumped up the front tires of the Gran Torino, and pulled it out of the garage. I needed to use some spray glue for a project, and since it was breezy, I didn’t want any of that stuff getting anywhere near the Torino. I bought a really great “Dark Crystal” black light poster on eBay, and I wanted to mount it onto a piece of foam core. I masked off the foam core board to the proper dimensions, gave it a good coat of Super 77 spray adhesive, and attached the poster to the board. Then I came inside and got ready for dinner with my friends Joe Garner and Dr. Patt at the Smoke House. I pulled the Torino into the Smoke House parking lot and went in to find the guys. We had a great 3 hour dinner with lots of great chatting and laughs. I think we’re probably going to make this a monthly thing! Dr. Patt loved my Gran Torino and I’ll take him for a ride next time. Before I left the house I put a huge jug of water in the trunk, and tossed in the stuff I bought at the hardware store earlier in the day. I drove to my auxiliary parking structure and once again, the Mustang’s car cover had completely blown off. Even though I had put binder clips on the front and rear license plate frames! STRONG WIND UP THERE! In fact, while I was there working, the wind came up again and was quite fierce. A guard named Adrian was there and he helped me with my project. I removed the Mustang’s car cover, put some water on the car to try and get the yellow pollen off, used the chamois to wipe it off, and then dried it as well as I could. Once it was relatively “clean,” I recovered it and started to cut holes in the front and back of the cover so I could loop the bungies through the spokes in the wheels. After adding six bungies, I’m CERTAIN the cover won’t be coming off again! After chatting with Adrian for a while, it was discovered that he was a big fan of some of the shows I’ve worked on. He asked if he could take a selfie with me and I said, “No.” But we could take SEVERAL selfies together! We had fun goofing around and taking selfies. I told him I would leave a signed Riddler photo for him at the front desk the next time I was at the auxiliary parking structure. I drove back home and grabbed a nap in the Puppet Room. Later I made a salad and watched the final episode of “The Incredible Hulk” from the second season. Next, it’s on to season five (the final season) of “The Muppet Show!” YAAAAAAAAAAA! (said like Kermit!)

Saturday the 25th – SATURDAY SEE-GAR AND SVEN! – After a brisk walk to the post office to mail off some bills, I stopped at the local cigar store to pick something up. While I was there I ran into my old Voice Actor pal Dave Mitchell. I sat down and we chatted for about an hour. On my walk home I enjoyed a nice cigar, but the sun was starting to set so it was getting a bit chilly. When I got inside I did some auditions that were due on Monday, and then headed to the new Roundtable Pizza location that just opened up in our area. It was a bit chaotic, as is understandable with a newly opened store, so I placed my order and walked across the street to Little Toni’s to buy some of their Italian salad dressing. They make it fresh in-store so it has less salt and preservatives than store-bought dressing. I got my pizza and drove home in the Torino. I showered up and ate my pizza while watching Svengoolie on ME-TV. After a short nap I got up to work around the house, do some work on the computer, and I purchased a plane ticket for my friend Amanda who will be assisting me at my appearance at Anime Las Vegas in late April. I got a lot done, and at the end of it all, I made a super salad and watched another episode of “The Saint.”

Sunday the 26th – ALLERGIES SAID NO! – The plan was to get a nice walk in, but the wind was quite fierce, and my allergies were not having it! Plus I had walked fairly hard the previous few days and my body was feeling it. Until I can get out there several days in a row (with no weather interruptions) and get back into shape, I’m going to have to deal with a few aches and pains from time to time. Later my old pal Sara and I drove in the Torino to Lancers so we could grab dinner. It was very nice! Later I grabbed a nap in the Puppet Room, and Spook came upstairs to join me. At one point he got up from lying on the comforter, pawed at the top of the covers to be let in, and once I lifted the covers, he went under them to get warm. He spent about an hour curled up next to my tummy. Cute! I got up later to do some work and then called it a day.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK