RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

While moving things around and reorganizing in Planet Wallywood’s “Chaney Room,” I happened to move ‘Little Mike’ in front of my Lon Chaney figure. When I walked back into the room it looked like they were engaged in some sort of conversation. It made me laugh!

During my recent trip to Palm Springs I picked up a new album from my favorite Native American musical artist Waykey. This is a song called “Love Mountain” and I’ve been humming it all week!

Monday the 26th – NICE NOSTRILS! – Upon awaking I had a voicemail message from my ENT’s office saying I could come in to see my doctor at 4:15. Upon checking my e-mail, I had a note from my doctor telling me that the problems I was describing to her sounded more like TMJ problems than a sinus infection. I figured since it had been a while that I had been in to see her, I had better take the opportunity and go. Even though I had been to a local urgent care clinic last Friday for what I thought was another sinus infection, I wanted her to give the final word. I headed to the post office to drop off some eBay packages, went to my mailbox to get a few packages, went to the bank to make some deposits, then went to the Burbank Auto Doctor to have them look into why my Torino took so long to start. Mike told me to bring it back the next day and be prepared to leave it for a few days so they could replicate the problem with cold starts. I got a few supplies at the drug store, then got a few items as at the grocery store, and then headed to Weinerschnitzel to get some lunch. I got to my doctor appointment and Dr. Jill scoped my sinuses. She said they looked perfect and there was no sign of infection. I asked if I should stop the antibiotics they prescribed me last Friday and she said I should stop them immediately. So we turned our focus on what was causing the ear ringing and headaches I’ve been having. She was pretty certain it was due to TMJ issues. I’d be seeing my dentist in a few days, so I’d ask his opinion as well. She also prescribed me another CT scan so she could see what was going on inside my head post-op. Since my sinus surgery was about a year and a half ago, she wanted to have a look to see how everything was doing in the areas where she couldn’t see with just a scope. I got home and fed the pets, grabbed a short nap, got up and did some editing, recorded my auditions, typed out Wally’s Week, made some lasagna, and watched a few more episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie” from the third season.

Tuesday the 27th – THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR SPOCKIN! – My first stop of the day in the Gran Torino was to the post office to drop off some more packages. I drove over to a store called Junk for Joy and found some vinyl boots called “Captain” which will work nicely for my new Captain Kirk figure I’m making. Even though they’re brown, I can give them a nice overspray and they should work nicely. I dropped off the Torino to the Burbank Auto Doctor and then Mike gave me a ride to my Voice Over session just down the street at Bang Zoom. It was another 3 hour session working on the on-going digital assistant gig I’ve been doing for the past several years. When we wrapped Kevin the director was kind enough to drive me home. I grabbed my Mustang from my auxiliary parking spot and went home. My pal Brittney Powell came over to do some work, and then we went to Jerry’s Famous Deli for dinner. I drove home and grabbed a nap, got up later to do my nightly auditions, made a pot pie, and hit the hay.

Wednesday the 28th – DENTAL EPIPHANY! – Even though I was supposed to see my new dentist last April (my old dentist retired) I figured it was best to postpone the check-up and cleaning until I got all of the extraction stuff out of the way. When I arrived at 1 he was just opening the office, and since nobody was around I had time to sit with him and give him the whole history of my sinus and tooth issues from the past few years. He concurred with my ENT that my new problems sounded a lot like TMJ issues, and he wholeheartedly encouraged me to set an appointment with a TMJ specialist whom he knew. He said there are a few small cracks in my front teeth which would indicate that I grind my teeth in my sleep. In fact, I made the appointment while sitting in the dental chair while he checked over my X-rays. He said even though I’m brushing well, I have 3 small cavities on the right side. He said the cavities are in the areas that can’t be reached by a brush, and since I’m not a flosser…WHAMMO! Cavities! Guess I’m going to need to start flossing. I’m going to wait until after the first of the year to get everything done so my new insurance can kick in. And in January I’ll get my implant receptacle installed, and I’ll get these three cavities filled. Around March I’ll see my dentist and he’ll create a crown to screw into the implant receptacle, and I’ll have a tooth back in my upper left side again! I’ll be glad when all this is over! Dr. Tavitian in Burbank is a master! I sped off to Jerry’s Famous Deli again, but this time to have lunch with Edi and Elliot Lurie. Sitting across the table from us were two men; a guy and his 94 year old dad. His wife had just passed away a week ago. We started talking with them and got on the subject of World War 2. This guy said he was in the war and proceeded to tell us the most amazing stories of his experience. Elliot was glued to what the guy was saying, and I started thinking that some of his adventures might go well in a new song! (Elliot is the writer and singer of the hit “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”!) I went home and did some work, recorded a few auditions, and then went to see my stylist Andie for a touch up on my color. When we were done I was having some pain (maybe from the teeth cleaning earlier?) so I went home to nap. As an experiment, I’m going to avoid napping on the Most Comfortable Couch in the Universe for a while to see if that affects my headaches and suspected TMJ issues at all. It could be that napping on the couch is throwing my jaw out of whack and I’m not realizing it. Even though I love napping on the couch, it’s conceivable that it could be exacerbating my problems and putting something out of alignment in my head. I got up later and did more auditions and did some work around the house. I worked all night on various projects and was craving a Denny’s salad. But when I called they said they’re not offering salads right now because of the Romaine recall. I wasn’t aware that there was any Romaine in the salads I always get, but perhaps there is. So I made some spaghetti and watched Jeannie as it began to rain hard outside. I wasn’t really tired when the show was over, so I got up and started doing some more things around the house; all the while listening to the pounding rain outside. It was VERY nice. I didn’t get to bed until close to noon!

Thursday the 29th – SLEEPY RAIN DAY! – The pets wanted my attention around 4, so I walked Roxy and fed her and Spooky their dinner. My head doesn’t seem to hurt so badly, and my ears don’t seem to ring as much when I’m sleeping. So I went back to bed and enjoyed the remnants of a rainy day. I finally got up around 10 to do a quick session for an on-going client of mine. I sent the tracks to my agent, checked other e-mails, did other work around the house, had some cereal and turned in.

Friday the 30th – IT’S OFFICIAL! – When I got up I was feeling pretty good. Perhaps there IS something to not sleeping on the couch after all! Even though I had awakened at 1 to greet my maids, I had a call from the Burbank Auto Doctor that my Gran Torino was ready to roll. It was an issue with the choke, as Mike said sometimes it gets gummed up with boogers. My pal Edi said she could give me a ride, and I didn’t want the car sitting at their garage all weekend (after it was stolen from a mechanic’s garage back in 2016 I’m nervous about that sort of thing now) so I postponed the maids until Saturday and had Edi come get me. On the way we stopped at Junk for Joy again. The boots I had bought for my Captain Kirk figure were pretty big (they were the “medium” size) so I wanted to look at the pair of smalls they had there to see if they would fit better. I brought my measuring tape and measured them and VOILA! It looked like they’d be a perfect fit! AND…they were already black! I don’t think I’ll bring the brown ones back for a refund. I’ll probably just list them on eBay. While Edi and I were kibitzing with the owner of the store, the overhead music system played Andy Williams’ “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!” That’s my annual cue that the Christmas season is officially underway. Whenever I hear that in passing, I know Christmas is here. I got the Torino and it started right up. He said just to pump the gas pedal once, start it up, let it run for about 30 seconds, and I’m good to go! Edi and I went to Lancers for lunch and had baked macaroni and cheese and chicken strips! Wonderful comfort food! Then I stopped off to get some groceries, got some packages at my box, headed home and did a few auditions. I wanted to get them out of the way so I didn’t have to do them on Sunday night. I tried the boots on the mannequin and they fit PERFECTLY as expected! I napped until about 1am, fed the pets and did some more work around the house. With the expected arrival of the new Captain Kirk figure soon I need to move a few things around in Planet Wallywood to accommodate the extra space required. I called Denny’s, but still no salad. Odd, since I had a salad earlier in the day at Lancers. But that’s not a chain store like Denny’s and they probably have their approved franchise “salad blend” that they’re waiting to receive. I made a Tombstone pizza and watched more “Jeannie” episodes. Normally season 3 shows are rather lame. But I’m really enjoying the season 3 episodes of “Jeannie” so far! Larry Hagman, Bill Daily and Barbara Eden were very underrated comedic actors. They’re each very masterful!

Saturday the 1st – ALPHA’S ON! ANDY’S IN! – Mid-afternoon I got up to let the maids in to clean. I got organized for movie night, and welcomed my guests. The first Saturday of every month (until I run out of movies) is a dog-themed movie. Tonight we watched the new movie “Alpha” on Blu Ray. It was very, very interesting! It’s a fictional story about the first domestication of a canine (a wolf, in this case) for companion purposes. It was a very sweet film. (My friend Brittney highly recommended it!) After everyone left I took a short nap on the couch, but not in the usual position in which I normally slept. I stayed on my back with good support underneath me. But I only napped for about an hour before it was time to feed the pets. I decided to work all night and swap out displays in Planet Wallywood. I like to keep things fresh and moving around. I brought the Kirk mannequin upstairs to see how he would fit next to the Mr. Spock I already have. The figure fit in the space perfectly! I had to move my Lon Chaney figure across the room, which made more sense. The place he now sits is right next to a glass cabinet filled with Lon Chaney figures, photos, and memorabilia. I took the Andy Kaufman as Elvis figure into the kitchen to place him beside Tony Clifton. I think I’ll call that Kaufman Korner now. One of Jim Carrey’s Tony Clifton tuxedo jackets from “Man on the Moon” had been next to my Tony Clifton mannequin for quite a while, but I decided to take that down and stash it in storage. I didn’t really like Jim as Andy in the first place, and the reproduction tuxedo they made for “Man on the Moon” doesn’t look very striking sitting next to an actual tuxedo jacket from that product line. It had faded quite a bit and wasn’t very colorful any more. Even though my Tony Clifton mannequin isn’t wearing Andy’s REAL tuxedo jacket, it’s an exact duplicate of the one he used. It’s a Prince Edward orange paisley brocade jacket made by Lord West. They must’ve made thousands of them back in the day, but sadly very few exist today. Recently I helped Andy’s writing partner Bob Zmuda take a lot of ephemera over to Profiles in History for an upcoming auction. And one of the items in the auction is Andy’s original Tony Clifton tuxedo jacket. It’s my hope that I can win that jacket at the auction and dress my mannequin in the original jacket; even if I have to put a second mortgage on my house to do it! Since I have three of Andy’s other costumes, it just makes sense for me to have this. My fingers are crossed! Now that Andy as Elvis (in his first original Elvis costume) looked totally at home with Tony Clifton, I decided I needed to update the audio clip that accompanies the display. But that would have to come later. Satisfied that I had done enough for the night, I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad (sans Romaine) and watched another episode of “SNL” from the season 3 DVD set.

Sunday the 2nd – SUNDAY, SHIRLEY, SMOKEHOUSE AND STUFF! – At movie night my pal Officer Mark mentioned that he had stopped at The Smokehouse for dinner. That implanted the idea into my head that I needed a steak! So after evening church my adopted grandma Shirley and I went to Smokehouse for dinner. Since Officer Mark and his girlfriend Connie were downtown at the Auto Show they joined us. It was a blast, and the food is spectacular! I got home and napped peacefully with a full tummy, and then got up to work some more on my displays around Planet Wallywood. I pulled a ton of unused costumes out of my Chaney Room closet and hauled them down to my ersatz eBay studio in my garage. I really should have had these up for sale before Halloween, but I just didn’t get around to it. Everything’s looking quite amazing! Totally exhausted, I ate a little something and turned in around 6am!

And how was YOUR week??!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

The Smokehouse is nicely decorated for Christmas time!

Shirley poses in front of the giant Smokehouse Christmas tree!

After dinner, we all stopped by the Christmas House in Burbank; my annual tradition.

Oh yeah…and WOMEN! Good will to men and women! Thank you. That is all.

All of the lighting on this house are programmed to be synchronized with Christmas music that plays over your car radio. The owner of the house has a low band FM station that plays the music. It’s always fun to sit in your car and watch the lights dance to the music. an amazing feat! The owner once told me that it takes the better part of a week to program the lighting for just ONE SONG!

The second pair of boots are a PERFECT fit!

My new Star Trek corner in the Chaney Room is coming along nicely. We’re waiting for Captain Kirk’s face to be completed, and we’ll be making a platform for him to stand on which will make him a little taller, and more in scale with Spock’s height. He’ll also be holding a communicator in his right hand. (The communicator was always my favorite prop from the show!)

Lon Chaney Sr. looks very at home in his new set-up.

Kaufman Korner, as it’s now known, is looking very slick! I just need to get the photo of Andy wearing that Elvis costume framed and mounted next to the figure. That will happen this week. Then I need to turn my attention to recording the new audio clip that accompanies the display. Up until now it was just Tony Clifton singing. But he’s going to have to share the spotlight now with Elvis.