October 29 – November 4 (2018)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

This past week, Henry Winkler Tweeted out a photo of himself with a little penguin. I took the opportunity to add a meme.

After seeing “Bohemian Rhapsody” I’ve been humming a plethora of Queen songs. I remembered liking a particular track on their album entitled “The Game” back in the day, so I revisited it and found the track! It’s called “Need Your Loving Tonight” and it sounds just as good today as it did back in 1980!

Monday the 29th – POOCH PERCHED ON PATY’S PATIO! – Roxy and I hopped in the Mustang and headed to the Post Office to mail off some packages, check my mail at my mailbox, and enjoy a delicious lunch on the patio at Paty’s in Toluca Lake. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! Then we drove home, I did some work on the computer, and I grabbed a short nap. I got up later to do my nightly auditions, type out Wally’s Week, and prepare for my nightly ritual of TV time with some food. I made a Tombstone pizza and watched the final episode of “Taxi” from the third season DVD set. It’s the one where Latka turns into a playboy. Absolutely hysterical! Then I started in on the “My Living Doll” DVD set. It’s a show from 1964 that was Julie Newmar’s debut on network prime-time TV! While I don’t find the show that funny, necessarily (and the lead actor REALLY annoying!) it’s fun to see a pre-Catwoman Julie cavorting about. Just as I was about the hit the hay around 7am, the tree trimmers came and started buzzing around my place. After 6 weeks of noisy, obnoxious roofing work, I’ve about had it with noise.

Tuesday the 30th – PATI-OH NO! – When I got up later in the afternoon I realized that my patio was full of tree debris. The tree trimmers had done their best trying to clean up, but there was a wealth of allergy-inducing junk left over. So I got the hose out and washed the entire patio down before my nose knew what was going on! I went inside to do an audition, do a little work around the house, fed the pets, did a few more auditions, and then I grabbed a nap. I got up later to make another Chairry Jr. for a friend who’s helping me make a Rowlf the Dog puppet. (About a year ago I found these aqua-green backrest pillows at Bed Bath and Beyond that I thought looked a little like Chairry from Pee-wee’s Playhouse. I bought several of them and converted them into mini-Chairrys…I called them Chairry Jr.s…but I haven’t been able to find those same backrest pillows in a long time. I found one at Walmart recently that looked very similar; though it was made from a different fabric.) I listed some more stuff on eBay, made some hot dogs on the grill and watched a few more episodes of “My Living Doll.” By the time I got to bed it was Halloween morning!

Wednesday the 31st – HALLOW-LAME! – My first errand of the day was to take a few eBay items to the post office for mailing. Since it was Halloween I put on my Spider-Man hoodie and walked over with the boxes to mail them off. I saw other people walking around wearing semi-costumes and it all seemed very festive. I stopped at the vitamin store to get some supplements, picked up a few cigars at the cigar store, and then headed home. My pal Brittney Powell came over later to do some work, and I was halfway expecting a few kids to come to my door for Trick Or Treating. I don’t know why I always hold out hope that kids will visit our complex, but none of them ever end up coming. Brittney and I even went out on the street to see if there were any kids out with their folks out trolling for candy in elaborate costumes, but it seemed very sedate. We saw a few people, but it’s nothing like it was when I was a kid. It almost seems like Halloween has been co-opted by the adults now; adults who loved Halloween as a kid and now see it as a reason to go out and party. I even heard there’s a movement underway to get the observance of Halloween placed on the Saturday BEFORE October 31st. This would be solely to benefit the adult Halloweeners. I remember as a kid comparing Trick Or Treating notes with friends the next day at school. What fun! We discussed who gave out the best candy, who was a grouch, what costumes we wore, etc. But today kids don’t even care enough to wear masks. They just don’t seem as “in” to it like when I was a kid. Brittney took off and I went inside to take a short nap. I got up later and did my auditions, worked around the house, and then hit the hay early for a session on Thursday morning.

Thursday the 1st – A PLAYER IN PLAYA! – The alarm rang at 8:30 and I was up and on the road by 9:15 to 72 and Sunny in Playa Vista. I did some voices for several TV commercials. One spot even dealt with Yacht Rock! Of course I was then able to get a plug in for my favorite Yacht Rock band ‘Yacht Rock Revue!’ I told the producers of the commercial that they just HAD to see them next time they came to town! After the session I drove home and walked Roxy. My pal Clay met me at the Burbank Auto Doctor so I could drop off my Mustang for some work. The plastic molding on the inside of my driver’s side door that holds all the switches for my power windows and locks had worn out over time. So one of the mechanics there said he could easily fix it with some epoxy. But I’d have to leave it overnight. After dropping off the Mustang, Clay drove me home in HIS Mustang. I got my Gran Torino out of my auxiliary garage and noticed that it was acting weird. Ever since I took it in for some service a few weeks ago it hadn’t been itself. When idling it seemed like it wanted to die, so at a stop sign I had to put it in neutral and keep gassing the engine. So I drove it back to the Burbank Auto Doctor to see what was wrong. It was funny, because in one bay a mechanic was working on my Mustang, and in another bay another mechanic was working on my Torino. Apparently they found the problem. A vacuum hose was misplaced. After a test drive the mechanic certified that it was A-OK! And just in time too! I was due at my oral surgeon’s for a follow up appointment at 4! The Dr. determined that I had healed perfectly and I was ready to get my implant on November 27th! He’ll screw the receptacle into my bone, and then it’ll have to heal for several months. By February I’ll be able to get the crown attached and I’ll have a tooth again! Chewing on my left side will be so much fun again! I picked up my mail on the way home, and then got back to the house to do some work. I took a short nap and then got up to see a late screening of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I had a blast. It was spectacular, and Rami Malek (who plays Freddie Mercury) is fantastic! The movie is so enjoyable it almost made up for the disappointing (and angering) experience of seeing “Halloween” a few weeks ago. I came home (humming Queen songs all the while) and did some work. I organized some things in the computer and went through some old cassette tapes I found while cleaning out my garage. I’m discovering some great old tunes I had long forgotten about! I made some spaghetti and hit the hay.

Friday the 2nd – STUBBORN SUMMER! – At noon I got up to wait for my maids to arrive. My agent called and said I may need to go back to Playa Vista to do a few pick-ups on the commercials I recorded on Thursday. I told her my car was in the shop, but I could walk to Voice Trax West and do an ISDN link-up. Luckily, the producers decided they didn’t need me after all. When the maids finished my pal Clay picked me up and we went to the Burbank Auto Doctor to get my Mustang. The piece on my driver’s side door fit perfectly! I took Clay to lunch at Paty’s and we enjoyed a gorgeous day on the patio! While it’s getting chilly back east, it was still very summer-like in L.A. – about 91 degrees! I went to Weinerschnitzel to get a banana split, and then headed home to work on stuff around the house. I took a nap, and then got up later to do more work at home.

Saturday the 3rd – SHAPING THE SHAPE – Since it was another 90 degree day, I decided to hop in the Gran Torino and run some errands. Cranking the 70’s music all the way, I had a blast driving around. I went to a thrift store called American Way in Burbank to get a black t-shirt for my Michael Myers bust I was working on. While I was there I also found a cool pair of kid’s Batman pajamas for a mannequin project I was working on. I have the old Ideal toy company Batman helmet and cape set on a mannequin. But the poor little guy needed something more to dress in. These pajamas would do the trick! I got some lunch at the KFC drive-thru, and then went to the grocery store to get some food. The parking lot guard at the grocery store is a good guy, and we’ve spoken before. I hadn’t seen him in a while. He has a ton of great stories about growing up in East L.A. and I told him he definitely needs to write a book! I got my groceries and headed home to put them away. Movie night began and we had a blast watching “Cats & Dogs” from 2001. The first Saturday of every month I run a dog-themed movie. After everyone left I took a quick nap, and then got up to change the clocks to revert back to standard time. (Don’t get me started on how ridiculous this whole “clock-changing” thing is! You probably know how I feel about it by now. But luckily, there seems to be a movement afoot to get it abolished once and for all!) I packed up some eBay stuff to mail on Monday, and then worked all night on my Michael Myers bust. I put the t-shirt on the bust, and then glued the rest of the fabric on the bottom to the inside of the fiberglass bust. Then I put the green coveralls on (it’s a Halloween 2 bust) and trimmed them to size. Then I took a big, curved leather needle and some monofilament and stitched the bottom of the coveralls to the inner bracket of the bust (the bracket is there to accommodate a support rod), and tied it off. I took Roxy out on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood and I enjoyed a cigar. I came inside and worked on Michael some more, made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad, and watched the first episode of the third season of “SNL.” But the time change had me all screwy, and I was in a creative fit, so I didn’t end up getting to bed until 2pm on Sunday!

Sunday the 4th – OW MY HEAD! – Around 6 I woke up to meet my friend Edi for dinner, but when I looked at my phone she had texted me to tell me she was exhausted from throwing her dad a surprise birthday party the night before. I was kind of glad she canceled, because I had a whopper of a headache! I lazed around for a bit, prepped for two sessions on Monday, and then napped a bit to try and get rid of my aching head. I got up later to do some work, and then hit the hay so I could be up nice and early on Monday for a very long day!

And how was YOUR week??!

PIX FROM THE WEEK