RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
In my little memorial garden I’ve dedicated to the memory of my dog Sassie, a beautiful red flower bloomed today! Stunning!
It seems I’m5 always complaining about modern music. It all sounds the same, it’s too over-produced and electronified, and worst of all…songs don’t have a good hook any more! I think most modern music you hear on the radio just “ambles” around with no particular direction or purpose, other than to sell an endless amount of disposable digital downloads that we’ll easily forget by next week. So when a new song comes along that is the antithesis to all that I’ve just said, I have to celebrate it. At first I resisted it, because I thought it was too kitschy. But once I listened to it I realized that…a) it had a really good hook! b) the lyrics are positive and uplifting! c) the beat makes you literally smile and move your feet. So, I’m hooked on Pharrell Williams’ “Happy.” If this video doesn’t make you smile something’s really wrong!
Monday the 19th – FASTTALKINGWITHLOTSATOUGHWORDS! – I was up at 10 and after taking Roxy for a quick walk, I headed into Hollywood to Elaine Craig Casting for an 11:15 audition for a Disney World radio commercial. It was great fun! I hit the Arby’s drive-thru for some quick lunch and made my way to the westside of LA for a Hyundai session at 1:30 at Lime Studios. The body of the commercials I worked on was recorded by Jeff Bridges, and then I do all the fast-talking legal at the end of the spot. I can talk pretty fast but sometimes there is just the right combination of consonants that trip me up. Today was one of those days. It was a tough one, but I just kept plowing through until we got usable takes. The producers were well aware of what a tough job it was to try and make all those words sound clear while still being expedient. But we finally got what we needed and I was on my way home. I grabbed a quick nap and then got up to feed Spook. After I served him dinner I went back to bed for some more sleep. I was really bushed for some reason. I got up later that night, wrote Wally’s Week, did my auditions and finished up some work around the house. I treated myself and made a Chef Boy-Ar-Dee pizza-in-a-box and watched another episode of “Magnum P.I.” just before heading off to sleep around 7:30am.
Tuesday the 20th – JAY FOR DAVE?! – Boy did it feel good to sleep late! I didn’t get up until 2pm, but I awoke from a very strange dream. (Remember, if this really happens, you heard it here first!) In my dream I was at work doing a “Tonight Show” kind of gig. Some of the staff was the same, but most of the staff were people I didn’t know. I was trying to find the voice booth to do my announcement, not really sure where it was in this new studio set-up. I saw our ex “Tonight Show” director Liz sitting in the hallway. It was then I realized that we were on the set for “The Late Show with David Letterman,” and it became apparent to me that Letterman was unable to complete the run of his show due to health reasons. So he had Jay come in and host the show to finish the end of the run. That’s why Liz was there, and that’s why I was there. Jay must’ve requested a few of his people to go with him. I asked Liz, “How’s Jay feeling?” With a smile she said, “Good!” I said, “How’s Dave feeling?” With an even bigger smile she said, “Bad.” I finally found the announce booth and went inside to find my script, and it was at that point I woke up. What a strange dream! I cleared my head by walking Roxy and answering some e-mails, texts and phone calls. I picked up my assistant Sara and we headed off to get the mail at my box, and buy a new printer at Office Depot. I bought a laser printer last week, but it doesn’t do photos very well. So I’m also buying a new all-in-one printer/fax/scanner unit to fill the void. I can still use the laser printer for contracts and crisp documents. I also went to buy some cargo shorts at The Gap, but they don’t carry black. I never knew it would be so hard to find black cargo shorts! I’ve ordered some on-line but they fit strangely and the sizing is weird. I went over to CVS to print some enlargements, but like me, their printer was screwed up too. What the heck is going on? We got some grocery items and I headed home to unload the goods and relax. When I finished a dip in the Jacuzzi I came back inside to finish editing my promo demo. It was my goal after “The Tonight Show” ended to re-do all my voice-over demos and do a huge mailout. I wanted to “reintroduce” myself to all of the casting directors, writers and producers whom I’ve been unable to audition for over the past four years while I was tied up with “TTS.” But I have 9 demos total that I needed to create. Slowly but surely I’m getting them all done. When I get a rough version of a demo done, I need to run it by my agent who handles that aspect of the voice-over world. Then we’ll go back and forth with notes, changes, re-edits, etc. – until it’s finished. Then I send the material to my pal Scott Sebring for tightening, sweetening and mixing. I only have a few more to go before they’re all done, and the mailouts can begin! I grabbed a quick nap on the couch, and got up to record several auditions. I fed and walked Roxy and watched another “Magnum P.I.” episode. I got to bed around 8am.
Wednesday the 21st – WATER WORLD! – When I awoke at 2 I went to the sink to wash my hands and all that came out was air. Figuring something was wrong I headed downstairs to find a message on my phone from our complex’s management company saying that a garbage truck hit a water main and cracked it, which caused a huge leak. They said the water would be off until 2:30. Some garbage truck driver is going to be in BIIIIIIG trouble! Luckily, I slept through the majority of the problem. So I just waited around for a half hour for the water to come back on. I walked Roxy to Rusty’s Discount Pets to get a bath, and by the time I got back home the water was back on! Thank God! I showered and hopped into the Gran Torino and headed over to JoAnn’s fabrics to pick up some supplies. I found some great fuschia fabric for a project I’ve been meaning to do. While I love the new 8” figures based on the 1966 Batman TV show, the color of the Joker’s costume is way off. They used a “Nicholson” purple, instead of a pinkish-red fuschia that Cesar Romero wore. The fabric I found had the right color, and the weight was almost perfect for an action figure of that size. The only thing is, I have to figure out a way to draw pinstripes on part of the material for the pants. I also got some foam rubber and tan canvas for my Cowardly Lion of Oz bust. My hair guy Sergio Lopez is going to stitch wig pieces to the bust to approximate the Lion’s mane. But first we need to glue pieces of foam rubber on to the fiberglass bust to sculpt his body contours, and then cover the foam with pieces of tan canvas. This will give Sergio something to stitch the hair pieces into. When his mane is finished, then Sergio will set about creating the hair on the Lion’s head and face. I went next door to Rite Aid and got the enlargements done that I needed. As I walked back to the Torino I heard a mom say to her young daughter,” It was from a TV show when daddy and I were kids. Their thing was their hot rod.” I knew right away what she was talking about. She had seen my Torino in the parking lot and was explaining to her daughter what “Starsky & Hutch” was! Too great! When I finished up I headed over to Rusty’s to pick up my newly washed doggie. We got back home and got settled. Spook got his dinner and Roxy got some treats. Though I was dreading it, I buckled down and sat at my desk to work with my checkbooks and financial books. I prepared some checks for deposit and balanced everything out. I treated myself with a dip in the Jacuzzi and a short nap. I got up and did a bunch of auditions, and worked the rest of the night doing stuff around the house. I made some soup and a sandwich and watched another “Magnum P.I.” episode before bed.
Thursday the 22nd – A FABULOUS DAY…UNTIL… – My neighbors have a beautiful greyhound named Abby. My assistant Sara will walk her for them when they’re busy. But Sara had other commitments today so I got to walk Abby. She’s VERY strong but very timid. So when she wants to leave to go back inside she lets you know. It took most all of my strength to keep her reigned in. I wanted to force her to spend a little time outside to show her that there wasn’t anything to be afraid of. Sassie was a very timid dog like Abby, so I was used to their behavior. We sat out in the courtyard together just hanging out. Luckily there weren’t any other dogs or people around. Just us chilling. I scratched her neck for a bit and then quit. Then she would move in a little closer for more. I scratched her for a while longer then quit again. And again she moved in for more. This worked pretty well. I took her back inside and gave her a treat and got her settled. I went home to make some phone calls and work around the house. By late afternoon I was back in the Torino heading to my ear, nose and throat doctor. This is the first time I had been there at the office since Dr. Grosh passed away in February. So now his partner Dr. Line is handling all of his patients. After a quick look in my nose Dr. Line determined that I still needed the Flo-Nase nasal spray and gave me a year’s worth of prescriptions. He said the only other option is allergy treatments or surgery. “Surgery?” I asked. “What kind of surgery?” He said he would have to go in my nose and cut away some of the inflamed membranes to open my airways. But he also said that kind of surgery would change the tonality of my voice. So, I guess I stay on the nose spray for a while longer. I drove the Torino over to my mailbox and got lots of great comments about the car on the street. It’s always fun to see people’s smiling faces when they see that car. I picked up my packages then made my way to the bank to make some deposits. I stopped by It’s a Wrap and bought some new jeans. All day long, Sirius XM’s 70’s on 7 had been playing awesome tunes. Such good stuff in fact that it made it seem like I was programming the playlist for the day! Sometimes they don’t play such good stuff, but today they had broken out all my favorites! Nothing’s better than driving the Gran Torino around while listening to the best music the 70’s has to offer! Once I got home I set about finishing up my singing demo. Sara and I went over to a place called Pizza Rev for dinner. It’s basically Subway but for pizza. You go through a line and pick out all the ingredients you want on your pizza. We also drove by Michael’s Crafts to pick up some supplies so I could work on drawing lines on my Joker pants. When I got home I took a dip in the Jacuzzi and I got a great idea. Instead of drawing little lines on the fabric for the Joker pants with a pen, maybe I could print a pattern on to some iron transfers on my computer and just iron them on. After all, the little lines on the Joker pants had to be precisely 1/8” apart. I dug out the iron paper I had in my shelves, but it would only work on an inkjet printer. I had my laser printer ready to go, but I hadn’t hooked up my new inkjet all-in-one printer yet. So I was driven! I went downstairs to get my new Epson printer and hook it up. I was going to do what it took to get this project rolling! But as I was looking at one of the back ports to see where to hook up the USB, it slid off the edge of my shelf and CRASHED to the ground! The lid came off and plastic pieces went flying everywhere! OH CRAP! What a klutz I am! Good thing I bought the service plan! So I’ll take it back tomorrow with my tail between my legs, apologize and get a new one. And NOT hook it up myself! I’m hiring a professional this time! Sooooo…back to the drawing board. I sat down and stretched the fuschia fabric across a small section of foam board and pinned it in place. I marked out 1/8” spots on the top and on the bottom, then took a straight edge and drew lines as crisply as possible. It was darn tedious, but it turned out looking alright! It’s very tough to draw on fabric with an ink pen! I did a few auditions, then fed and walked Roxy. I worked the rest of the night on my demo package. I composed a letter which will be on the flash drive containing my demos. In the letter it contains active links to my IMDB page, as well as my Wikipedia page and my own website. I made dinner and watched a “Magnum P.I.” episode, and then went back downstairs to do some more writing on the letter. I didn’t get to bed until around 8:30am, but at 5:30am I got to watch a beautiful, gray, overcast morning dawn! Absolutely beautiful. The cloud cover started out a deep blue/gray, and as the sun came up overhead (even though you couldn’t see it) it illuminated the layer of clouds to a lighter gray. The singing of the birds was about the only sound I heard. The morning was quiet and peaceful!
Friday the 23rd – LONGING FOR THE OLD DAYS! – When the clock struck 3pm I awoke. It was great sleeping in. But a very windy day greeted me and for somebody with allergies like me, it’s not going to be a good day. But I hopped in the Torino and headed over to Office Depot to return the printer. Luckily the store said they get credit for it from the manufacturer, and Epson will attempt to repair it and sell it at one of their outlet stores. I was relieved to hear that it wasn’t going to end up in a junk pile somewhere. After all, it had never even been used! I stopped by my vet’s office and picked up a new bag of catfood for Spook. They reminded me that he was due for his annual exam. Oh boy! That’s going to be a load of fun bringing him in for that. Maybe I’ll have Sara do that…hmmmm…. Anyway, I shot a call over to my computer guy Sean to see if he was able to come by later and install my printer. I wasn’t touching it until it was safely installed on my shelf! He said he’d meet me at 8, so that gave Sara and I a chance to head to Paty’s in the Torino to grab some quick dinner on the patio. By evening time the wind had died down considerably. Sean set up the printer but was having trouble getting the all-in-one unit to communicate with the computer via USB. A HA! That was the problem I had been having with my other printer! Digital artifacts and smears were showing up all over when I tried to print something. And not just through one program…ALL of the programs! So this made a world of sense. The printers that I returned weren’t bad! There’s something in my computer that’s screwing up the communications via USB! And now that I have a scanner/fax/printer unit, all features through the USB were hanging up. Eureka! Luckily, this new system has a wireless feature. And things would scan and print wirelessly without a problem. So now I have the tedious task of trying to find out why my computer doesn’t care for USB communications. That could be an arduous, time consuming task! It’s strange that the more technology “improves,” the more difficult it gets! I remember the old days where you bought a printer, hooked it up and you started printing right away! Now there are some drivers that don’t like certain programs, and this interface has a problem with that program…ugh. Some days I just want to go back to typewriters and changing ribbon! Now it’s network this, and wi-fi that, and blah blah blah blah blah! I printed out the pinstripe pattern on some iron on paper and pressed it to the fuschia material. But what I hadn’t realized is, there’s a film that presses off along with it. And it diminishes the brightness and sheen of the fabric. So, back to Plan A and drawing on pinstripes with a pen. I also started work on my ninth and final voice-over demo…Animation! This was the one I was dreading because there’s such a wealth of material to have to sort through. My process involved finding the spot on a DVD that I wanted to grab, putting the DVD in my system downstairs, cueing up the spot, and dubbing the audio on to a CD-R. When the CD-R was full, I finalized it and brought it upstairs to my computer where I ripped the tracks as MP3 files. Then I realized that one source wasn’t on DVD, but on VHS still. So I ran upstairs to my bedroom, popped the VHS into the VCR (yes, I still have one…always will) and made a DVD-R of it. Then when the DVD-R was finalized, I brought it downstairs and made a CD-R of the audio I needed. Sheesh! I remember when I put a cassette tape in my recorder and recorded audio from a video source that was instantly available! Not any longer. Like I said, the more advanced technology gets, the longer it seems to take in the process of getting what I need. How does that work?! Needless to say it was a VERY long night. But after enjoying another peaceful, gray morning dawn, I headed to bed around 8:30am.
Saturday the 24th – CATCH 21! – Thought I got up at 2 with the intention of walking Roxy over to the park for a fun day, things changed last minute. My effects guy Jim Ojala called and said he could come pick up my Tin Man and Lion busts for painting. The Tin Man needed his silver paint job, and the Lion just needed some touch-ups and highlights. So Jim came by and marveled at the amazing job my pal Terry Crisp did on the Tin Man bust. All hand-made out of copper sheeting! Terrific work! I can’t wait to see it all painted and finished! Jim is still working on the Dorothy bust and the Scarecrow is still at my seamstress’ studio getting his tunic finished. But it’s all coming together nicely and I will go out on a limb and say that this set of busts will end up being one of the most valuable items in my collection! When Jim left I worked around the house all afternoon, picking up stuff, hauling stuff and boxes to the garage, and cleaning up for movie night. Sara came over and we went to pick up some grocery items. We got back, unloaded the groceries, and Sara continued cleaning up for the soon-to-be-arriving guests. We had a blast watching the old cheesy flick “King Kong VS. Godzilla” on Blu Ray. When everyone left I did some more work around the house and listened to the new mix of my singing demo. I made a few notes for some changes and forwarded them over to my pal Scott for tweaking. I fed and walked Roxy and continued working around the house. I got off on a tangent of scanning old photos from my photo albums for the upcoming “Hall of Fame” ceremony at my old high school. Not sure if I mentioned this or not, but in October I’m being inducted into the Aberdeen Central High School Alumni Hall of Fame! Along with the honor, a banquet and a trophy, they give you the ability of having a memorabilia table to display stuff. Though I can design and create a memorabilia display to commemorate the work of those whose work I enjoy, I’m not so good at setting up a memorabilia table about me. It seems…weird. So my sisters have agreed to take up the task of putting it together. My sister Bonnie gave me a list of photographs she wants me to send her for some sort of poster or collage. So there I was at 3am, rifling through my old photo albums pulling out any photos that looked like they fit my sister’s criteria. I continued scanning, and then I fed and walked Roxy on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood. When I came back inside I made a salad for my usual “Saturday Night Saint and Salad” night, and settled in to watch another episode of Roger Moore in the old “Saint” TV series. I LOVE that show! After it finished I walked Roxy one more time and headed to bed. I made the fatal error of checking my e-mail before bed though. Laura, one of the producers of the upcoming “Starsky & Hutch” convention in New Jersey that I’ll be emceeing at the end of June, had sent me an e-mail about my choice of flights. Since my trip to Jersey isn’t going to be as simple as an over-and-back, I figured I’d better e-mail her. Well, she was on the other end all raring to go at 7am, so she booked the flights for me right then and there. All the while I stayed on the e-mail answering questions back and forth. I’m going to try and kill two birds with one stone with this upcoming trip, so booking the tickets were a little more difficult than usual. I’ll be leaving to New Jersey late June on a non-stop from LA to Newark. I’ll stay for a few days and enjoy the convention, but then I’ll be heading from Newark to Sioux Falls via Chicago. That will give me about 6 days with my family and friends over the 4th of July holiday. I got into the habit of going back to South Dakota several years ago so I could celebrate my grandma’s birthday, which was on July 2nd. But even though she’s now passed on I’ve found that I love to be in South Dakota during that time…blowing off fireworks with my nieces and nephews, enjoying soft serve ice cream at the local ice cream stands, and enjoying the outdoors with old friends. And after the 4th of July is over I’ll fly back to LA. By the time we finished up with the flights, and I finally got to bed…it was 11am! I had been up almost a full 21 hours straight! Whew!
Sunday the 25th – DOGS AND DEDICATIONS! – Needless to say I slept until 3:45 in the afternoon. I walked Roxy, had a bowl of cereal, and was still exhausted. I admitted to myself that I probably wasn’t going to make evening church, so I went back to bed to sleep until 7:15. At 7:30 I was hosting a grilled hot dog feed for friends at my house, along with movies. We ate and watched the sequel the film we saw the previous night called “King Kong Escapes.” What a gut buster! The main villain in the movie was named…Dr. Who! Really? After movie night I grabbed a quick nap on the couch, and then got up to feed and walk Roxy. It was a nice, quiet night. Have you ever heard the term “the silence was deafening?” Well, it was this night for sure! It made me consider trying to squeeze in another Palm Springs weekend before it got too prohibitively hot for the summer season. I checked the extended weather forecast and it looked perfect! So it’ll most likely be my last chance to go before it starts blazing away unceasingly. I worked on my computer, continuing to assemble my animation demo, until 5am hit. I ran upstairs and took a seat in front of my picture window and watched another cool, blue-gray dawn emerge. But being Memorial Day, the peaceful solace put me in a very reflective place. While the birds sang and cavorted overhead in the overcast sky, I started thinking about the brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters who made the ultimate sacrifice in this country’s service. I spent about a half hour staring out across the horizon, watching the sun fight to punch holes in the marine layer overhead, and thinking about our servicemen and women who are no longer with us. I just didn’t want to do anything to break the peacefulness…the serenity…the tranquility…the quiet. But as the sky became brighter and brighter, I decided to head off to bed with some soup and a sandwich to watch an episode of “Magnum P.I.” with a very thankful heart. Just before I turned in for good, I watched the President lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. While I watched I had a strange déjà vu wash over me. I remember being in this very same place, watching this very same thing! Could it be that I did this very same thing last year too? Boy! Time sure flies!
Monday the 26th – REMEMBER – My hours are now officially all screwed up. I revert back to my old overnight DJ hours every once in a while if I’m not careful. And three day weekends usually do it. I didn’t get up until 2. I walked Roxy and hit the hay to sleep until 6pm. I fed Spooky my cat and did some work on the computer. I called Sara to see if she wanted to walk over to our neighborhood Panera to get some food. It’s about a mile walk roundtrip, so I thought it might feel good to stretch the ol’ legs! And it did! I got back and dunked myself in the Jacuzzi, and then set about the long task of labeling some audio files I had just transferred to my computer from my small digital voice recorder. These are the small recorders upon which I record thoughts, feelings, stories, anecdotes, predictions, etc. – for future descendants and interested parties. Knowing that these won’t be listened to until I’ve long since departed this earth, I can be candid and honest. But there are about 225 audio files I just transferred over, and they all need to be re-labeled with the date of entry. I got about an eighth of the way in, and then I decided to do something else. I checked the weather forecast for Palm Springs again, and even though they’re in a hot spell now, next weekend was showing a cooling trend. That was my chance! Though it was still too hot to take Roxy, I’m going to dash over for four nights of star watching before waiting out the hot summer season. If my predictions hold true, I probably won’t get a chance to go back until sometime in October when it cools off again. I made my reservation, called my friend Ester at the front desk and secured my favorite room for my stay, and prepared for a new (but short) week. I watched another “Magnum P.I.” episode and made a salad.
And how was YOUR week??!!
