RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
As I was doing research on-line about the Ideal Toy Company’s vintage Kermit and Rowlf puppets, I found this great shot of the toys and the REAL Rowlf with Jim Henson!
One of my favorite songs from B.J. Thomas was “Rock and Roll Lullaby.” I’m lucky that I got to see him sing it live several years ago at the Grammy Museum. I was sad to hear that he passed away this past week. Another great voice silenced.
Monday the 24th – ANOTHER FRIEND GONE! – A four hour video game session was scheduled for 2pm in Marina Del Rey at Side LA studios. I drove down to the westside of L.A. and arrived in plenty of time to get some lunch at the Chick Fil-A drive-thru. I sat in the Side LA parking lot and finished my lunch, and then went in to do the session. It was a fun session, and the first of many sessions I’ll be doing for this game. It was a relatively easy session on the voice, so I was very happy about that. Not any yelling or screaming, or violent injuries or deaths. I drove back home and Michelle and I worked on her replica of the “Sesame Street” Muppet Prairie Dawn. Mine was virtually finished, but Michelle needed to glue the fleece to the foam head on hers.’ I helped her glue the mouth overlaps down, and we let the glue dry for a while. She and I went to Bob’s Big Boy for dinner, and then we came back to Planet Wallywood to finish up her puppet. It’s working out really well! Toward the end of the day I got a text from my effects pal Jim Ojala who told me that special effects wizard and director Robert Hall passed away. Robert and I were best pals back in the late 90s, but then his work responsibilities took him out of L.A. and we lost touch. Jim used to work for Robert back then. It’s very sad, and given the fact that my pals Dustin Diamond and Pastor Bob also passed away, I’m afraid 2021 isn’t going to be a very good year.
Tuesday the 25th – “DO THAT VOICE FROM THE GARFIELD SHOW!” – Michelle and I left the house at 10 to be at The Burbank Auto Doctor at 10:30 to drop off my Mustang. I have a small clicking sound in the left side of my front control arm and it needs to be fixed. Burbank Auto Doctor was packed with cars, and it’s good to see them busy now that the Wu Flu is over. I left my Mustang and Michelle and I headed to Paty’s for breakfast. I got my mail at my mailbox and then went home. Michelle dropped me off and she sped off to work to take a class. I did a few auditions in my home studio. But as I was getting ready for my afternoon session at Voice Trax West I realized with horror…that I had TAKEN MY MUSTANG KEY WITH ME! I called the Burbank Auto Doctor and they said, “Oh! THAT’S why we couldn’t move it!” I had to get the key to them immediately, but I was due to be at my session in 45 minutes! Luckily I phoned Sara, and she was able to drop by and pick up the key to drop off to the Auto Doctor. Whew! I walked over to Voice Trax West for my two hour session from 3 to 5. We have two 2-hour sessions left in this year’s contract for that super-secret account I’ve had for several years. I walked back home after the session and got my Gran Torino out of my auxiliary garage. I’m losing my parking space after July 1 because the guy I rent it from is moving. I’m on the lookout for a new spot, but I’m thinking this might be a good time to sell it. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. As I was driving through the complex, my pal Tony was outside with his two pre-teen boys. He told them that I did voices on “The Garfield Show.” One of the boys walked up to my driver’s side window and said, “Do that voice from ‘The Garfield Show.” So I did a few lines as Jon and I got that look from him that I always love getting. A total look of awe! And as I bid them farewell and drove off, I saw the kid still standing in the driveway watching me drive off, still with that look of awe on his face. It’s one of the reasons I love this business! I got back home and made a pizza and did some work. I did a ton of auditions, and then was too tired to write Wally’s Week. I was contacted by a few people I used to work with a long time ago about a new opportunity. A BIG opportunity for the summer! I was cautiously optimistic, and I told them I would lay down a few demo tracks and send them over. My fingers were crossed, but I know very well how this business works. I chatted with a few friends about the passing of Robert Hall. I fed and walked Roxy.
Wednesday the 26th – END OF THE CONTRACT! – After I woke up at 10 I did a little work around the house, and then went back to bed. I didn’t have to be up for the final session of my contract until much later in the afternoon. When I got up a second time I chatted with a few people, including my attorney, about possibly creating a stuffed Donnie Druthers Christoween figural pillow. That’s a GREAT idea! Stuffed toys is one of the classes we applied for with our trademarks, so I had to create something that would comply. It meant I had to create a backside to the Donnie Druthers character model we had drawn up a few years ago. I’ll work on it in my graphics program and see what happens. I fielded some phone calls, and a few last-minute auditions. Then I walked over to Voice Trax West to do the final session for the contract this year. The session went from 5 to 7 because that’s the only time Voice Trax West had available. But the client had to get these tracks finished, so they took what they could get. ON the way home I stopped at the grocery store to get a few supplies, and then I walked to Subway to get a sandwich. I got home and relaxed and ate my dinner. The weekend is here! Nothing going on for the next two days, and then it’s Saturday and the Memorial Day weekend. I read some e-mails, made some calls and texts, and did a little work on the computer. I recorded a bunch of auditions, and recorded a last-minute bit for my buddy Troy who’s a writer on the “Ellen” show. I typed out Wally’s Week and then hit the hay. But Troy told me to keep my cell phone on because he may be calling me at 11 on Thursday morning to request some script changes for the “Ellen” comedy bit.
Thursday the 27th – THE WEEKEND IS HERE…OR IS IT?! – My alarm went off at 11am and I checked my phone. Sure enough, Troy let me know an updated script was in my inbox. I got up, recorded it, sent it off to Troy, and hit the hay again. I slept for a few hours but got another text from Troy that yet ANOTHER change had been made to the script. I got up and recorded it and got it to him just under the wire! All the while sleeping a few hours in between updates. Later in the afternoon I headed to Alex in Wonderland to have her do some finishing work on my Prairie Dawn replica Muppet. Her husband Mike, Alex and I had a blast chatting while Alex finished the puppet. When I left, she was all finished! Alex had also done some amazing restoration work on my vintage 1966 Rowlf puppet toy from the Ideal Toy Company. Alex is going to do some work on Michelle’s Prairie Dawn and have it ready for us next week. I picked up KFC on the way home and then got back to Planet Wallywood to relax. I did some work around the house, put Prairie in the display case where she’ll live permanently with two early “Sesame Street” monsters (Gleep aka Green Grover and the Beautiful Day Monster), and did some auditions. Later I took my restored Rowlf puppet toy and made a little stand for him out of armature wire. When I was happy with how he looked, I added him to the Plexiglas display case in the Puppet Room so he and the vintage 1966 Kermit puppet toy could hang out together. It’s a great display!
Friday the 28th – DESIGN DAY! – There were a few more ideas I had for Christoween merchandise, so I started making some designs while waiting for my maids. They arrived and cleaned up, and then I put Roxy in the Gran Torino and headed to the vet’s office. She’s getting twice-weekly shots of Adequan for mobility. She gets two shots a week for the first month, and then she gets weekly shots after that. The first month I’m going to have the vet’s office do it, then after that I’m going to have them train me how to give her the shots. After her shot I took her to Paty’s so we could have some lunch. But the only table available was outside and it was getting chilly and windy. I wasn’t dressed for it. Unfortunately the service was slow, but once the food arrived Roxy and I threw it down and went home. I sat down and worked on some more Christoween merchandise designs, including a t-shirt and the stuffed Donnie Druthers figure. I also tweaked the vintage Kermit and Rowlf display, designed some signage for it, and worked around the house. I did my auditions, and then went over to Denny’s to get some food to go. I ate my dinner while I watched “The Lone Ranger” and turned in.
Saturday the 29th – LUCKY TO DYE! – With an important Zoom meeting coming up this coming week, I needed to have my stylist do a cut and color. But my appointment (which I made a month ago) wasn’t until NEXT Saturday! Luckily, my stylist Andie had a cancellation and could get me in just after noon. On the way home I stopped at the local mini-market and picked up a case of little Coke bottles. I walked home and found out that B.J. Thomas had died. I was lucky enough to see him talk about his career and sing some songs several years ago at the Grammy Museum. I ordered my usual Domino’s pizza, but when it arrived the guy brought two boxes. He realized that the second box wasn’t part of my order and he explained that they had put in a box of cinnamon twists by mistake, and if I wanted them for free I could have them. Free is good! Free dessert is even BETTER! I worked all afternoon writing the text for the hang tags for some of my other Christoween merchandise. I also spent most of the night working on them. I sent the images to my attorney to have her sign off on them before printing. I made my usual Saturday Night Super Salad and watched another episode of “The Saint.” Just before bed, I got an e-mail from my attorney with changes to the verbiage on the hang tags. I finished them up per her notes and went to bed!
Sunday the 30th – LAZY DAY (AND OH YEAH…HOT DOGS!) – My pal Brittney was supposed to come over at 4 so we could take a long walk and get some exercise. But when I got up late afternoon had a text from her that she was going to hang at home and work with her boyfriend on a project. So I went back to bed. I was exhausted! I had endured a pretty intense week! It was no surprise that I was beat! I got up later for a bit, worked on the computer, and made my traditional Memorial Day hot dogs on the grill, enjoyed some dinner, and then slept for a bit on the couch (something I hadn’t done in a long time!). Michelle came over later after work and we did a little prep work on the Kermit the Frog shoot we were going to do the next day.
Monday the 31st – MEMORIAL DAY! – About a month ago my pal Chris came over to help Michelle and I shoot a video with Kermit the Frog. That’s the day that Chris had his medical emergency. But all was good and we went through the complex looking for picturesque areas where Kermit would look good singing “Bein’ Green.” Chris had the song on his phone and was broadcasting it to a BlueTooth speaker in my pocket so I could hear it well as I puppeteered. Michelle did a great job with the camera work! We got about five good takes in various areas, and then we came back to drop off Kermit and the camera and go to lunch. We had a nice relaxing lunch at Panera, then Michelle and I went to CVS to get some prints made, and then it was off to the grocery store to get some supplies. We headed home and unloaded the groceries and did some work around the house. We went through all of the Kermit video files and sent the ones we liked over to my pal Scott Sebring for final editing. Later we went to Denny’s to get some food, but they were just closing for sanitation. So it was the Taco Bell drive-thru to the rescue! We went back to Planet Wallywood to eat, and I typed out Wally’s Week. Whew!
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
Prairie Dawn keeps an eye on the mischievous monsters, and keeps them in line!
My very rare vintage Kermit and Rowlf puppets from 1966. These were the first ever licensed Muppet puppet toys. I’m happy to have them in my collection.
