May 14 – May 20 (2018) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

This sexy fat boy was far too delicious NOT to post! My cat Spook knows he’s sexy too!

Anytime I’m exposed to Jeff Lynne’s ELO (like last Saturday night at my movie night) I’m humming those catchy tunes the rest of the week. This week “Showdown” is stuck in my brain! IT’S RAINING! ALL OVER THE WORLD! Great song!

Monday the 14th – MOUTHY MONDAY! – Honestly, I think one of those pills they prescribed me after my oral surgery has been making me sleepy. I slept all night on the couch, and then got up at 11am to take more meds. Then I slept until 3. My body must’ve needed it! I took Roxy with me to go get the Mustang washed, and as always, she attracted attention everywhere we went. We met my assistant Sara for lunch at Paty’s, and then I headed back home to do some work, and take another nap. I’m still having quite a bit of pain in the extraction area, and Sara said it would continue for about a week after the surgery. I did some auditions, typed up Wally’s Week, but got tired again. I made some lasagna and started season 2 of “F Troop” starring my buddy Larry Storch. It’s silly, but pretty funny. Maybe the painkillers I was on helped make it funnier; I dunno. Then, totally inspired, I went downstairs to get on the computer and type out a poem to be used in conjunction with a project that my pal Joe Garner and I are pitching for a children’s project. It was great, and the verses just flowed out of me!

Tuesday the 15th – DEMO DIALOGUE! – The first stop of the day was L.A. Studios to see my old pal Jeff Howell. My agent suggested him when the question arose about who would produce one of my new Voice-Over demos. I have known Jeff for a very long time and we’ve always had a great time chatting. We talked quite a bit about the new demo and I’m VERY excited to get going on it! Then I hit Arby’s for a few Pizza Sliders, and then went to my seamstress Shelley’s to drop off a few shirts for repair. I got back home and finished up the poem, and then recorded it. I napped on the couch for a bit, and then got up later to record the tracks for KABD 107.7 FM in my hometown of Aberdeen, South Dakota. For the past few years I’ve been the voice of the station, and it’s really cool knowing I’m back on the radio in Aberdeen; at least a recorded version of my anyway. I finished Wally’s Week, fed the pets, walked Roxy on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood, and then hit the hay so I could be up for a meeting at the Hollywood Museum on Wednesday. All that followed by a 3 hour Voice-Over session!

Wednesday the 16th – EXPAND AND EXTEND! – Right at 10:30 I sprang from bed, cleaned up and hit the road for Hollywood. I would be meeting with the staff of the Hollywood Museum to discuss ideas for expanding the 1966 Batman exhibit. It’s already been announced that the exhibit has been extended through September 30, but the big news is – we’re also expanding it. This will give the guests who have already visited a reason to visit again! We have lots of neat things planned, and my effects guy Jim Ojala joined us to discuss possibilities. We finished our lunch at Mel’s Diner and went upstairs to the museum to check out a few things per our discussion. Museum Curator Steve Nycklemoe unlocked the Planet of the Apes case so we could get a close-up look at the Victor Buono lifemask and mutant prosthetic. Thinking it was foam latex, Jim was very careful to remove the prosthetic from the lifemask. But once he started working with it, he realized that they must’ve cast it in some sort of durable urethane instead, and it came right off! There was Victor Buono’s likeness right in front of us! This gave me much food for thought. I headed back home to walk Roxy, and then headed to Bang Zoom studios for the second-to-the-last session for this fiscal year for our “digital assistant” project we’ve been working on for the past three years. Apparently they’ve tried the program out in a few test areas and the reaction is very favorable. After a 3 hour session I headed home. I did a little work, took another antibiotic and napped. I got up later to do a ton of auditions, installed a brand new reading light by my bed (the one I had bought at Ikea years ago was starting to have a short in the switch), fed and walked Roxy, and hit the hay. Whew! What a day!

Thursday the 17th – IT’S A WRAP – FOR NOW! – The Mustang got traded for my Gran Torino, and off I went to Del Taco to get a burger and fries. (Yup, the best fast food burger and fries in L.A. is at a taco joint!) I went to Bang Zoom for the final “digital assistant” session for this year. It may continue into another year, depending on if they need more material for the app, but as for now – this is it. I spent some time talking to my old pal Roger Rose, who was in another studio doing a different session. Then I hopped in the Torino and headed home to feed Spook and Roxy. I walked down to the local grocery store to get some hot dog buns for late-night dinner later. When I got back home I got a call from my promo agent about a session for a videogame trailer on Friday. I grabbed a short nap, and then got up later to make hot dogs on the grill and watch “F Troop.” Sometimes this show is just too silly to be believed, but hey – that was what sitcoms in the 60’s were like. Very goofy and slapstick.

Friday the 18th – FURIOUS FRIDAY! – At noon I woke up and got ready to meet with my maids so they could clean Planet Wallywood. They arrived at 1 and finished up around 2:09, which was perfect timing, since it gave me a little time to prepare for a videogame trailer session I’d be doing in my home studio at 2:30. Like clockwork, the producers called at 2:30 and we spent the next half hour recording tracks for the trailer. By the time I finished I was pretty hungry, so I picked up my assistant Sara and we headed over to an old favorite restaurant; Lancers! But first I stopped off at my mailbox to get a package, then we hit Toys ‘R’ Us to see where their discounts were. But so far they’re only at 40% off. When they hit 50% off I’m going to buy their remaining stock of talking Batman figures that I voiced, so I can give them away as gifts. We walked over to Hobby Lobby and I picked up a few things. Though I was feeling a bit better (my oral surgery was over a week ago) it was still difficult chewing only on the right side. As a rule, I’m normally a “left-side chewer,” but it’s been impossible after the surgery. But in about a year, when the new implants go in, I’ll be back to chewing on the right side with new “bionic” teeth! On the way home we got ice cream at Weinerschnitzel (yup, they have a Foster’s Freeze!) and it sure did feel good on the gums. While were waiting for our order, a mom and little girl asked if they could take a picture of the Torino. I said “Of course!” I went outside with them and asked the cute little kid if she wanted to sit in the driver’s seat and blow the siren. She said no, because she thought my Hutch mannequin was a zombie. I told her there’s no such thing as zombies. Hutch is a dummy; more like a puppet. But still she chose to only admire the car from a distance. I’m not a fan of little kids as a rule, but this little gal was polite, well-spoken, and well-behaved. Nice! I dropped Sara off at home and then went home to do some work on a painting I was working on for a friend. It involved projecting a certain image from my camcorder’s projector on to the board, tracing some of the image, and then filling it in with grey and black paint under a magnifying glass. It turned out very well, and I was real pleased. It’s the first time I had done anything like that before. I napped a little bit on the couch, and then got up to feed and walk Roxy. I did some more work on the painting, and then I decided that I was in the mood for recording my auditions. Though they weren’t due until Monday afternoon, I was just in the mood to record them now. Plus, when Sunday night rolled around, I’d have the evening free. I made a Tombstone pizza and watched a few more episodes of “F Troop.” Just before I turned in (as the Saturday sun was coming up) I spent a little more time on the painting and checked some e-mails.

Saturday the 19th – ‘ELLO ELO! – After sleeping about four hours, I got up and headed to the grocery store to get some supplies for that evening’s movie night. I haven’t had movie night for the past two weeks (2 weeks ago I was in Palm Springs, and last weekend I needed rest after my oral surgery) so I was looking forward to seeing everyone again. We watched the Blu Ray of a concert at Wembley featuring Jeff Lynne’s ELO. I had seen it before and knew everyone would like it. Even my “adopted grandma” Shirley liked it, and she only knew one of the songs! (Xanadu!) Around midnight everyone left and I laid down on the couch until 3am. I got up to feed the pets, and then did some work around the house. For the first time in several weeks I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad. It was deee-licious! I watched an episode of “SNL” from season 2 and it was really great. The guest host was Eric Idle, and it was the second episode without Chevy Chase. He got injured doing a fall and had to be out for a while. I actually found the shows without him much funnier, as I feel they relied too heavily on his presence during the course of normal shows. But watching John Belushi and Joe Cocker try to “out-Cocker” each other was brilliant! Soon, I believe Bill Murray will join the cast to replace Chevy, and THEN the fun begins!

Sunday the 20th – SLUMBER SUNDAY! – At noon I woke up from the couch, showered, and then went to bed. Like I said before, I really do think those antibiotics they prescribed me put me out! I slept until about 4:30 in the afternoon, and then got up to prepare for evening church. Roxy and I walked over for the evening service, and when it was over my “adopted grandma” Shirley and I walked Roxy back to the house. Then we hopped in the Torino and headed to Tallyrand in Burbank to get dinner. Every time I take the Torino to a restaurant I like to sit by a window so I can keep an eye on her. I noticed a young gal taking a pic of it, and then she walked in and was seated in the booth right next to us. When she caught my eye I said, “You like the car?” We started talking about it and I found her to be very pleasant and intelligent. Come to find out she’s from Canada, and had come out her for a short time to take a position as a Nanny and investigate the acting biz. Shirley and I ended up talking with her for a few hours. I gave her my contact information and invited her to movie night. She said she’s been here a few months and has found making friends in L.A. to be a little difficult. I told her I had a houseful of great people at my house every Saturday at movie night, and that she should come by. On the way home Shirley and I stopped by Weinerschnitzel for ice cream. I dropped her back and home and then I went home to relax. Since my auditions were already taken care of, I napped on the couch from midnight to 2am. I fed the pets, and then plopped right back down on the couch and slept until Monday afternoon! WOW “The Most Comfortable Couch in the Universe” can really trap me! Since my body is healing from the surgery, it must REALLY need the rest! That’s all I can figure.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK