May 22 – May 28 (2017) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

On my way to a barbecue on Memorial Day, I saw this really nice display in someone’s yard. I thought I’d share.

A few weeks ago I featured “American Pie” on this page, and it got me to thinking about other classic “story” songs. I love nothing more than hearing a song that is a mini-movie; a story in about 3 minutes. Over the next few weeks here I’ll be featuring some of my favorite “story” songs for you to enjoy.

The one I’ve been obsessing over recently is “Creeque Alley” by The Mamas and the Papas. Here’s the song as performed on TV, and a link that will tell you more about the backstory behind the song.
https://www.creequealley.com/

Monday the 22nd – MISERABLE MONDAY! – On the third day after my surgery my only responsibility was to sleep, take my meds on time, and do my sinus rinses. I’m glad I had my assistant Sara staying with me to take care of the pets and other things around the house. It really eased my mind and helped me heal. Even though she had to have some dental work done that morning, she handled everything wonderfully. I slept, got up, took meds, had a bite to eat, and then went back to bed…lather, rinse, repeat. I got up later in the evening to do some bookkeeping, and I left a message on my surgeon’s voicemail to give her an update on my condition. I took my antibiotic and worked on Wally’s Week. I fed and walked Roxy, but on the walk I was getting a bit nauseous. I guess I didn’t drink enough water when I took my antibiotic and it was making me a bit queasy. I came back inside and napped on the couch for a bit, but then I got up at 5am to make some hot dogs on the grill. Sara emerged from the Puppet Room and joined me. We ate and watched “Barnaby Jones.” Just before I turned in for the night, I checked the news on the computer and found out that Sir Roger Moore died. That’s awful news, as he was my first and favorite James Bond.

Tuesday the 23rd – COMING BACK! – It was really nice sleeping until 3 in the afternoon. When I got up I was feeling a bit more myself. My voice was coming back and I was gaining strength. I did a few things around the house, and then went back to bed with my cool mist humidifier on. By mid-evening I got up and I was ready to take a stab and a few auditions I had in my inbox. Sara and I went to Lancers for dinner, and on the way home I dropped off a comforter at the dry cleaners. I had Sara run into the grocery store quickly to get some lemons. There seemed to be a lot of gunk on my vocal cords, and squeezing lemon juice in my tea would take care of that problem nicely. I picked up my mail and headed home to turn in for an early session in Woodland Hills on Wednesday morning. YES! A session!

Wednesday the 24th – EASING ON IN! – Bright and early at 8am I got up and got ready to drive over to Woodland Hills to do a quick videogame session. It’s for a HUGE videogame franchise for which I’ve never worked before. I didn’t want to miss this for the world. It’ll be great to have on my list of credits. And luckily there wasn’t any yelling or screaming involved. Instead I voiced a nerdy scientist who gave chemical compounds to help the player defeat the monsters. The traffic was so good I actually got there early. So I had time to swing by Burger King to get some fast breakfast. I went to the studio at 10 and introduced myself. The facility wasn’t just a standard Voice-Over booth, but rather a huge stage where they do motion capture work as well. It was an impressive stage! On the script in the character description it read; “Excited, nerdy scientist – slightly nasally.” Well, five days after my sinus surgery they were going to get “nasally” whether they wanted it or not! It was the perfect “post-surgery” gig! Before we started the session they wanted to know what all was involved in the surgery, so I started in with the stories. I told them the story about singing “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” just before I went under, and one of the producers said she LOVED that song! So I called Elliot on the cell phone and asked if he would say hi to her. It really made her week! The session was a breeze; an hour and a half with liberal breaks. It was a great crew to work with! It was indeed good to be back at work again! I drove home and put Roxy in the car to take her to the groomer. The last bath she had was a month ago when we went to Palm Springs, and she wasn’t smelling very good. While they bathed and pampered her, I napped on the couch. While I was better, I still wasn’t quite 100% yet. I picked Roxy up at 4:30 and then came home and showered. It was time to take some medication and go to bed to rest. I was doing better, but I don’t want to push it. I’m not a teenager anymore, after all. After napping through the evening I got up to do some paperwork, did a few auditions, and then went to the store to get a few grocery items. My head is still stuffy and inflamed, but unlike the inflammation I suffered with over the past five months, they tell me that THIS will recede. I pray for the day.

Thursday the 25th – LIGHT AT THE END OF THE SINUS! – The day involved a quick session at Paramount and a follow-up visit with my ENT surgeon. On the way to the studio I stopped by Arby’s in Hollywood to get lunch. I couldn’t believe my eyes. On their menu they were now offering something called a “pizza slider.” WOW! They had me at “pizza.” But “slider” too?! I just had to have one, and I wasn’t disappointed! In fact, I wish I had ordered several more. But I’m going back for sure! Then I got on to the Paramount lot to do a quick two-line session for a talking robot in a Netflix series. There will be three more episodes to do, but they’ll pick up those lines in a few weeks. When I walked in I saw my old pals Jeff Nimoy and Katie Leigh who were there to work on the show as well. The producers and director were terrific and we had a lot of fun. They commented on my Jeff Lynne’s ELO hat, and they had seen the concert last year as well! We ended the session by singing all sorts of ELO classic hits, but most importantly “Tightrope” as we all disbanded. It was great! I sure do love hanging out with creative people! I pulled off the Paramount lot and drove up to Burbank to see my ENT Dr. for the one-week-post-op-follow-up. What I didn’t know was, this was the “clean out” process. I think your imagination can fill in the blanks of what occurred during the appointment. But suffice to say it did NOT hurt. In fact, it was kind of excruciatingly ticklish. But I did feel a little better afterwards. I drove by Nickelodeon to drop off some more custom-made “Hey Arnold” pillows I had the Palm Springs Pillow Lady make for some of the crew on the new movie. I picked up the mail at my box and then headed home to relax. What a day! I napped all evening, and then got up later to get a few groceries and gas up the Mustang. I put the Mustang away and got the Torino out. If anything was going to make me feel better, it’s driving the Torino around! I went home to do auditions and then got ready for bed. For the first time my sinus rinses actually felt good! (Thanks to the “clean out” process I had earlier, no doubt!) Perhaps there IS light at the end of the sinus after all! I made some of my infamous buffalo mac and watched “Barnaby Jones.” I’m really looking forward to the three day weekend coming up!

Friday the 26th – FURIOUS FRIDAY! – Because most everything was closing early for the holiday I had to get several things done quickly. When I got up at noon I answered a few e-mails, and then I sped off to an audition at Voicecasters in Burbank. It was a cool, cloudy day; the perfect weather for driving around in the Gran Torino and showing it off! I stopped by the bank to drop off a few deposits, got a burger and fries at Del Taco (yup, the best fast food hamburger in L.A. is at a taco place…weird I know!), I stopped by my doctor’s office to pick up a prescription I had forgotten to get the day before, got my mail at my box, and then stopped over to Prints Charm’n to pick up some photo prints I had made. Then I went over to CVS to fill my prescription and get a few photos printed. While I waited for my prescription I got on their photo printer to print a few 4 X 6 prints of the old Funny Face drink mix packets. I needed them for my Funny Face bobblehead display in my main showcase. I would mount the prints on to foam core placards and place them behind the bobbleheads. They turned out great. I got everything I needed and then headed home to shower. I took a few Advil PM and napped until late in the evening. When I woke up around 11:30pm I laid there staring at my Muppet display cases in my room, which contain my gorgeous 1:1 Muppet replica puppets. I started wondering if the sunlight that came in through my bedroom window during the day would fade the fabrics of the puppets. So I started mentally hatching a scheme to get a curtain made to drape over the cases when the window was open. I also started measuring for an idea I had to embellish the Kermit case a bit. Then I went downstairs into my storage to look for the perfect fabric for the Muppet sunshade. I fed and walked Roxy, and then went over to Denny’s to get some food to go. I got home and prepared for bed, ate my delicious Denny’s dinner and watched “Barnaby Jones.” And it was doubly cool because Saturday was Lee Meriwether’s birthday!

Saturday the 27th – TO SIR ROGER! – When I got up at 2 to walk Roxy my sinuses were killing me. I grabbed some ice packs from the freezer and went back to bed. I felt much better when I got up around 5:30 to feed the pets and get Planet Wallywood cleaned up for movie night. Sara was doing a show out of town, so I was on my own with the clean-up responsibilities. But it actually felt good motivating around the house and doing some work. It made me feel somewhat alive again. We did a tribute to Sir Roger Moore with some great bonus materials off the “Live and Let Die” Blu Ray, and then we finished the evening by watching his first official outing as James Bond; 007 in “Live and Let Die.” He sure was a treasure! It was a great evening, and after everyone left I grabbed a nap on the couch. I got up later to put the chairs away, clean up, and feed and walk Roxy. Just before I hit the hay for the evening, I decided I wanted to make a short video tour of my “Tranquility Zone.” A few people had asked about it in the past, so I wanted to share my ideas for the things that bring me peace and tranquility in my surroundings. I hope the video will inspire people to find their own source of relaxation and meditation. I made my traditional Saturday night Super Salad and watched another “Hee Haw” episode. My friend Edi has become as obsessed with “The Stringbean Murders” as I have (long story, but Stringbean was a performer on “Hee Haw” who was murdered at his home in 1973 – Google the rest) and she sent me a long article about the whole story which was fascinating. Oddly enough, the trigger man has recently been released on parole! I find that hard to believe after gunning down two innocent people at point blank range in a robbery gone wrong. So my “writer’s mind” started thinking what I would do if this story was a movie script. After news of the killer’s parole was publicized, I’d have one of Stringbean’s fellow “Hee Haw” castmembers (of which there are very few left alive) contact an “investigator/hitman” to obtain the revenge that had been denied them all these years. As the hitman is standing over the dying killer he coldly says, “This one’s for String.” And then BLAM! One final shot! Pretty dramatic, right? But the punctuation on the whole scene is when the hitman opens a satchel and pulls out dozens of bags of frozen stringbeans, opens them up and covers the killer’s corpse with the cold veggies. Why, you ask? Obviously so when the authorities find the body they know for a fact it wasn’t just a simple accidental killing, but instead was a revenge killing on behalf of all of Stringbean’s friends. The End. Pretty wacky I know, but the thought amused me in sort of a dark “Cohen Brothers” kind of way.

Sunday the 28th – WHAT’S THAT RINGING?! – I kept waking up all day Sunday with loud ringing in my ears. Ringing in the ears can occur when the inflamed sinus cavity presses on the inner and middle ear. The pressure causes the ear drum to react with ringing and pain. Great! Something else to deal with. It’s bad enough the steroids I was taking was causing me to get zits again, but this ear ringing is driving me nuts. I really can’t wait for this to all be over! I got up around 4:45 and got ready for evening church. After the service my “adopted grandma” Shirley and I walked to my house and we hopped in the Torino to meet Sara at Paty’s for dinner. But at that point I just wasn’t feeling very good. I was really out of it. It wasn’t so much a pain and pressure thing, even though there was some present, the spotty sleep I had gotten made me feel out of sorts. So I wasn’t very good company. So after I drove Shirley home I came back to my house and napped on the couch. When I got up around 3 I was feeling somewhat better. I put away the laundry, fed and walked Roxy, worked around the house, made some spaghetti and watched “Barnaby Jones.” As is my tradition on Memorial Day, I watched live TV coverage of the President lying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns before bed.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Occasionally I’m asked by people what I mean when I mention my “Tranquility Zone.” As opposed to trying to describe it, I shot a video so you can experience it.

re dried marshmallows the cereal equivalent of bacon; it just makes everything better? Here I try some cinnamon Frosted Flakes with cereal marshmallows. Yummy!