RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
It’s been three months since I’ve been to my beloved Palm Springs and this coming week I’m heading there for three days of R & R! One of the things I’m looking forward to is seeing the familiar sight of “Mount Abe” from my balcony in my hotel room!
As I walked Roxy on our late night stroll through the neighborhood I put on a second jacket and a pair of gloves. It’s getting chilly at night! And I started humming this song from one of Tom Jones’ recent albums. It’s called “Seasons,” and while I think the reference to the change from summer to autumn to winter is a metaphor for life in this song, the fact still remains that…summer’s gone.
Monday the 3rd – SEASONS CHANGE! – It was nice to sleep until 2 in the afternoon. It’s starting to wind down in L.A. for the Thanksgiving holiday, so auditions and sessions are becoming a bit scarcer. I scanned some checks and readied a deposit for the bank. I picked up my assistant Sara at 5 and we headed to the bank. She had just gotten out of the hospital so she was aching to get out and about. We headed over to Coral Café to grab some dinner. When we finished I headed home to grab a nap on the couch. It gets darker earlier now and the weather’s been cool out. So it’s nice to come home and light a fire in the fireplace and relax. I got up later in the evening to do a few auditions in my home studio and peck out another edition of Wally’s Week. I fed Roxy her dinner and we took a late night stroll through the neighborhood around 3am. I had to bundle up with an extra jacket and gloves. I could see my breath! Yup, summer’s gone. I came back inside and made some of my summer sausage spaghetti and watched another episode of “Magnum, p.i.” before bed.
Tuesday the 4th – HEY SCHMUCK-O! – When I got up at 11 I found a last-minute audition waiting for me in my inbox. I recorded that and turned it around to my agent. Then I drove into Hollywood to audition for a talking bird for a TV commercial. I ran into old friends Jim Cummings and Roger Rose at the audition. I felt it went pretty well. I hopped in my car and was headed to Wendy’s on Sunset to get some lunch when I got a text from Kathylynne asking if I wanted to meet in Toluca Lake at Paty’s for lunch. It sounded like a plan, so I cranked the wheel and headed to Paty’s. I picked up my mail at my box and then headed home to do some more last-minute auditions for my agent. I grabbed a very short nap on the couch and was awakened to a knock on my door. It was my pal Mark Anthony who was bringing over my “Fats” figure! (Back in 1978 I fell in love with a movie called “Magic” starring Anthony Hopkins, which featured Hopkins as a nutty ventriloquist and his dummy “Fats.” Creepy as heck!) I met Mark at Monsterpalooza and made arrangements to get my very own Fats figure for Planet Wallywood. It turned out great and Mr. Anthony did a fantastic job on him! Fats’ head is cast off a “pull” from the actual head used in the film. I’m going to pad his body up a bit with some cleverly sculpted foam rubber, and my hair guy Sergio Lopez will be adding hair to the figure exactly to the film’s specifications. But for now Fats is not fat at all. He’s quite skinny. And bald. Poor Fats. I couldn’t wait for my friends to come see him and get creeped out. I’m just that kind of guy, I guess. I continued my nap on the couch for a few more hours, then got up and watched the election results all night. I had a TON of auditions to do, and when those were finished, I made hot dogs on the grill to enjoy while watching “Magnum, p.i.”
Wednesday the 5th – WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY! – Shortly after noon I took Roxy out to do her potty and sunbathing thing. (She LOVES lying in the sun getting some vitamin D!) Overhead I saw large wings fly by. It was our neighborhood hawk…the one who’s been eating all of the mourning doves. I love mourning doves. A lot more than I like hawks. So when he came to rest on the pool gate I charged toward him waving my arms to frighten him. He flew up into the large tree outside my patio. I got my high pressure hose, turned on the water and blasted the tree where he was perched. I don’t think I actually hit him, but it frightened him away from our complex. The mourning doves still aren’t as plentiful as they used to be, as I’m sure they found other living accommodations when they found out a hawk was lurking. None of our neighbors care very much for the hawk either, as many of them own small dogs and live in fear that the hawk will swoop down and grab them when they’re not looking. Sara came over to pick up Spooky to take him to the groomer’s for a manicure. I worked on my updated bio for a bit, and then I decided to get the Gran Torino out for a spin. I drove to Burbank to get lunch at Wendy’s, and then I went to the Firing Line gun range to shoot a few guns. I shot my Sig Sauer .40 caliber model 226 (called the “Equinox”), as well as my new Walther P380. I took possession of the P380 just before I got pneumonia back in August and I haven’t been out to fire it yet. It’s a pretty good gun, but a little too light to be very accurate. The bulk of the 226 is much better for accuracy. It’s heavy, but spot-on accurate! When I got home my computer guy Brian called up to pop in via remote and see what was wrong with my computer. It’s been slow and hanging up quite a bit, but after Brian did his magic it’s been working like a charm. I headed outside to take a dip in the Jacuzzi for a while. When I came back inside I did a little more work around the house, recorded my auditions, fed and walked Roxy, and then drove to Denny’s to get some food. I watched a 2-part “Magnum, p.i.” episode called “All For One.” It was fabulous…but very dark!
Thursday the 6th – FRUSTRATION! – Never, EVER work on your answering machine (remember those?) when you’ve just woken up. I got up shortly after 1 and was futzing with my answering machine to try and get the answer button turned back on. Spook had made a leap for his house (which is by my desk) and missed. Since his nails had been trimmed he’s no longer “velcro” cat. But when he fell on my desk he hit my answering machine and changed some of the settings. I hit the wrong button accidentally erasing the first message on my system. A message from the late, great Neil Hefti! RATS! Of all the boneheaded things! Luckily I had a second message from him right after. I phone up my pals at Voice Trax West immediately to have them call my phone, retrieve my messages and commit them to digital recording for posterity. I have them do that with my cell phone’s voicemail from time to time too. But I couldn’t remember how to retrieve my message remotely from my answering machine. So I sifted through a file full of old equipment manuals. Voila! I found it! I told the engineer at Voice Trax West what the code was, and he grabbed them. But I still felt like a class A idiot! I checked my e-mail and did a quick last-minute audition. I worked around the house all afternoon until it was time to shower up and head into Hollywood to grab Kathylynne for a screening of “Big Hero 6” at the El Capitan Theatre. My friend Tony Mei and his girlfriend Crystal had bought 2 extra tickets for Kathylynne and I, which was a very nice thing to do. The theatre was packed as this was the first time the film would be seen by an audience anywhere! My old pal, and fellow Aberdeen Central Hall-Of-Fame inductee, Rob Richards is the head organist at the theatre. He came out to chat with us before we went in to find our seats. We got our popcorn, snacks and soda and found our seats. Rob was up on stage playing his tail off on the huge, beautiful pipe organ. But I got a little miffed when I saw a lot of people on their devices not paying much attention. I mean, here’s a guy who I know for a fact has been studying the theatre organ since the age of 8. With 50 years of experience under his belt! His hands are moving all over the keyboard…both feet are on the pedals. He’s making the huge organ create a multitude of sounds. And what are people doing? Playing stupid games on their tiny hand-held devices. PEOPLE WAKE UP! You’re missing the real show by a truly talented individual! That irked me to no end. People are such slaves to their devices today it kind of makes me sick. My old dinosaur of a cell phone wasn’t even on my person. I left it in the car. NOTHING’S that important. I wanted to enjoy the evening’s festivities at the theatre, not surf the web or play some lame videogame. It makes me wish that theatres were allowed to implement signal-blocking devices in their perimeter to FORCE people to enjoy the experience they’ve paid good money to enjoy. When Rob finished the laser show started and it was terrific. I was secretly wishing that a laser would shoot out and destroy all of the hand-held devices people had in their hands. But no such luck. After all…it’s Disney. My friend Fong Sam was also there with his friend Michelle, and after the movie we went to DuPar’s to get some food. I got home and got in a quickie nap on the couch, then got up to do auditions, walk Roxy and make dinner. I also set about sussing through the all-in-Japanese directions for the new Wild Tiger 12” figure that Tony Mei gave me earlier in the evening. The figure fully lights up, and I had to try and determine who to properly remove all of the little plastic tabs that prevented it from lighting up in the box accidentally. But just by studying the pictures I was able to figure it out and it’s an amazing piece of work!
Friday the 7th – JAY RETURNS TO “THE TONIGHT SHOW?!” – When we got up around 2 Roxy just barely squeaked out some good sunbathing time. After all, now that the sun sets at 5:15, the 2pm sun isn’t directly overhead any longer. I chatted with neighbors while my spoiled dog enjoyed her infusion of vitamin D. I headed back inside to do some work, a few auditions, and clean up to go grab an early dinner with my assistant Sara. When we got back to my house my friends Scott and Vickie Sebring (who were in the neighborhood) dropped by for a visit. I grabbed nap on the couch when the left and got up just in time to catch Jay Leno’s return to “The Tonight Show,” albeit as a guest. He was hilarious and it reminded me how much I missed working for that guy. As it turned out, it was the most highly rated Friday night “Tonight Show” since Jay left back in February! Rested and ready, I spent the entire night dusting my living room and setting up some new displays. I got out the tall ladder and replaced 3 burned out bulbs in my lighting array. I put up the new Ant Man bust, set up the new display of Joe Esposito’s Elvis crew jacket, and dusted, dusted, dusted! Wow! It was a lot of work (and I still have more to do in the living room) but it was worth it. I hit the hay and watched another “Magnum, p.i.” episode.
Saturday the 8th – FREIBERGER? GRILL-BURGER? – My night’s sleep was short-lived. I got to bed around 8am Saturday morning after having worked in my living room all night. I got up at noon to meet up with my friend Amanda who came to town for movie night. I had her come a few hours early so we could hit a barbecue at Bill Freiberger’s house. Bill is the head writer and co-producer of the new “Sonic Boom” animated show on Cartoon Network. Since the show debuted this day to rave reviews, Bill wanted to have the cast and crew to his home for delicious eats! His barbecuing skills are so good I’m going to call him “Grill-burger” from now on. Freiberger no longer sounds appropriate given his wonderful culinary skills! When we finished he played some episodes of the show for us to watch. The show came out REALLY well! It’s going to be a huge hit, I feel. Bill’s son Sam is also a talented writer, but he’s also into vintage movie poster, guns and ventriloquist dummies! I think I may ask Bill if I can adopt him as my son too! I told him about my new Fats figure and urged him to watch “Magic” with Anthony Hopkins. I headed home to grab a quick nap before movie night. We had a full house for “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” on Blu Ray. When everyone left I walked and fed Roxy and started in on making my huge salad for my traditional Saturday Night Saint and Salad Night. This will probably be the last night for watching “The Saint” for a while. Due to come in this week is the Season 5 Blu Ray of “The Avengers,” another great British TV show from the 60’s. I’ll delve into that next Saturday night!
Sunday the 9th – SALT AND LIGHT! – Mid-afternoon I awoke and started working at my desk to try and organize the absolute mess it had become. I also worked on my computer organizing photo files. The time came to clean up and walk to evening church with Roxy in tow. Kathylynne met us there too. The message was how we are the salt and light of the world. It was a great message and it really got me thinking. I found out that in Biblical times, salt was so valuable that sometimes people would be paid their wages in salt! WOW! When we sat at Ernie’s Taco House for dinner later, I took the salt shaker and shook some salt on the table, and then got out my penlight to provide the light. After all, I needed it to sign the check, as Mexican restaurants are traditionally pretty dark inside. Yup, at a Mexican restaurant there’s always PLENTY of salt, but not so much light. But luckily I had my little penlight to even the score. I came home napped on the couch by the fire for a little while, and then got up to continue organizing my desk. I had managed to separate the piles of paper into bills, receipts and “other stuff.” I fed Roxy and we hit the hay. What a fantastic week!
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
A close-up of my new replica “Fats” ventriloquist figure (from the 1978 movie “Magic” with Anthony Hopkins) made by Mark Anthony. (Hair will be applied by my go-to hair guy Sergio Lopez later in November).
Fats makes himself at home in my chair…
…and my cat Spooky makes HIMSELF at home…right on Fats’ lap! Instant friends!
Here’s the new Wild Tiger 12″ figure I just acquired. It lights up!
The finished classic Ant Man bust finds its permanent place on a high shelf in Planet Wallywood.
The Elvis in Concert tour jacket belonged to Elvis’ longtime tour manager Joe Esposito, who had signed the inside of the jacket.
Joe’s jacket is in perfect condition!
I guess it really IS a wrap! I saw this sign in the store It’s a Wrap in Burbank advertising wardrobe for sale from the former “Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” It gave me a sense of finality.
