Well, my 1974 Gran Torino is paid for and all I have to do is find a shipping company to truck it down to me. In light of this, I can’t get the “Starsky and Hutch” theme song out of my mind! But instead of just playing you the song, I’ll link to the classic “S&H” opening titles from first season, so you can marvel at an amazing car as you hum the theme! I’m still wondering if I’ll ever get to meet Paul Michael Glaser!!
Monday the 4th – RAINY DAYS & MONDAYS (AND DEAD SQUIRRELS) ALWAYS GET ME DOWN! – The day started with a trip to Patches recording in Hollywood. I was doing a quick disclaimer for a State Farm radio commercial. And quick it was. In fact, it took me longer to fill out the paperwork than it did to do the session. I also saw my pal Gregg Berger there who had done a role in the same spot. I hadn’t seen Gregg since the most recent “Garfield” session which was a few months back. I drove all the way over to It’s a Wrap in Beverly Hills because I wanted to check out their Halloween inventory. It was a good 8 mile drive in L.A. traffic (which could take an hour!) plus it started to rain. But I REALLY wanted to see what was new at IAW. But when I got there they had the entire Halloween section roped off with yellow tape. They were redoing their inventory and wouldn’t let anyone in the Halloween area! I thought they were kidding, but nope! I told the gal I just drove all the way in from the valley but she said she was very sorry. Don’t they do this stuff at night after closing? Why during business hours? It seemed highly unprofessional to me, so my days at It’s a Wrap may be waning! How unethical. And strange. So I got in my car and drove home. I checked my box and picked up some mail, and when I was in my neighborhood, the oddest thing happened. I wasn’t going very fast down a residential street, and off to the right on a lawn I saw a cute squirrel. He saw me and started charging right into the street toward my car. I wasn’t sure what the heck he was doing. I said, “Squirrel…!” and slowed my car down on the wet street. I felt my right front tire go over something in the road. CRAP! I hope I didn’t hit him. My back window was wet with rain, so I stopped the car and got out. Sure enough, the poor little guy was dead upside down in the street. I felt like crap! Why did he dart out like that? This just wasn’t my day! I went into the house and got prepared to do a phone audition for an IVR job…Interactive Voice Recording. It all went well, and it sounds like they’re going to put me in a studio later in the week to try me out on a few scripts. Cool! I went to NBC to do “The Tonight Show” and then came home. I was still bummed about the squirrel. Stupid stupid squirrel.
Tuesday the 5th – TIRED ON TUESDAY! – My cat Spooky decided to climb up on the bed and walk all over me around 4:30 in the morning. I had to get up at 8. Do you think I could get back to sleep after giving him a few obligatory pets and scratches? HECK NO! I finally did get back to sleep after awhile, and when I got up I felt pretty good. But I was still fighting a little nasal stuffiness so I took some Mucinex. The first stop of the day was Warner Brothers for a new videogame. Unfortunately “Desperate Housewives” was filming on my street and I couldn’t get to where I needed to go. So I backed up and went through the complex and escaped through the back way. I got to Warner and couldn’t find the new studio they built for all the videogame stuff they do. Eventually a nice guy walked me over there and I found Director Maria Estrada and the crew. We had a great time working on a new game, which I’m not sure I can talk about. Even though technically I didn’t sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) I think I’ll wait until next spring when the game comes out to announce the title. As I was walking out I saw my old pal Fred Tatasciore who was just walking in. He told me the unfortunate news about losing his mother recently. So if you know Fred or his work, please hold a kind thought or say a prayer for Fred and his family. I headed over to my box to pick up some packages, then went home to do some work at home before my next session. I hit the road again, and stopped by Taco Bell to get some drive-through. Then I headed over to Studiopolis Burbank to do some ADR (additional dialogue recording) for Ant Man in “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.” Josh from Marvel told me that the series’ micro-episodes on the internet are getting rave reviews. He said reviews like “There’s a lot of WIN in this series,” and “the best Marvel series of all time.” Wow! That’s high praise. I had to do a lot of shouting in the session though, and my pipes were really feeling it afterwards. I stopped by It’s a Wrap briefly to see what was new in the Halloween department, but there wasn’t much new. I got to “TTS” and we did the taping. My friend Ray and his sister who was visiting from out of town were at the taping. They had a blast. It started to rain a bit, so I drove them back to their car. By the end of the day I was feeling yucky. I think that virus I was fighting was fighting back. So I went home with a bad headache, took a dip in the jacuzzi and took a nap on the couch. I got up with my nose was stuffed up. I remembered my doctor had left a prescription at the pharmacy, but by the time I got there they were closed. Not my day I guess. I got some other nasal spray, came home, struggled through a few auditions, made some food and went to bed to rest up for a busy Wednesday. Hope I make it through! I just hope my voice holds out, and I’m doing everything I can to make sure I don’t get laryngitis. Sometimes that’s an unfortunate side effect of a cold virus. Last year I lost my voice for weeks. It was no fun!
Wednesday the 6th – TECHNICAL GLITCH!? – I got up early and was feeling pretty good. Voice was in good shape but I was still a little stuffed. So I took my Zicam nasal spray and was good to go. I got a call from my pharmacist saying that my prescription couldn’t be filled because my AFTRA insurance expired. EXPIRED? No possible way. I always pay those bills in a timely manner and after checking my checkbook, the check was cut on August 1st (two months ago!) and I saw in my register that it was cashed by AFTRA. But I went into my Old Navy session at Voice Trax West and tried to concentrate on the job at hand. It went very well though, despite that thought in the back of my mind about the insurance thing. What was wrong? Did the check fall into the wrong hands? Anyway, I made the call to AFTRA immediately afterwards and talked to their representative. She said, “When did you send your premium?” (She’s thinking I’m going to say “last week” or something). I said August 1st, check number 6795 and my records show it’s been paid. She said, “Please hold.” She disappeared for awhile and then somebody else came back and said, “Our apologies it was a technical glitch. Your insurance should be good now.” WHAT? A technical glitch? That whole organization is a technical glitch! But don’t get me started. Anyway, I went next door to the bank and wired some money to my friend Steve in Spokane to pay for my 1974 Gran Torino that’s been “Starsky-ized.” He’s putting the bucket seats in this weekend and by next week it’ll be on a truck to L.A. ! I’ve wanted one of these since I was 14! Then I zoomed over to Disney Character Voices to do the voice of Great Prince from “Bambi” for an upcoming project I’ll tell you more about later. It was great doing my third character voice for Disney…first Cubby from “Peter Pan,” then the stunt voice for Flik from “A Bug’s Life,” and now Great Prince! This is a dream come true! It started to rain a bit, so I took the opportunity to get some chicken soup from the deli downstairs from Disney Character Voices and drove off. I loved eating chicken noodle soup in my car on a rainy day. It was magical! As I was heading over the hill it was POURING! COMING DOWN IN SHEETS! I love rainy days (and nights!) I headed over to Regenix to have the follow-up visit for my hair, but the technician was held up at a lunch meeting and couldn’t make it in to see me. So I picked up some new supplies and made an appointment to see him in a few weeks. I drove back home and stopped at my box to pick up some new books from My Publisher.com that just arrived. I got a call from my agent telling me that “TTS” needed me at 2 for a quick vo, then I could go home and come back to NBC for the taping at 3:30. I jetted in, did the vo, and headed home to walk the dog. I changed clothes and headed back to NBC. Busy day, but I was loving it! After the taping I went over to my pal Dan Roebuck’s house. He has an amazing collection of vintage toys, masks and monster memorabilia. He’s decided to downsize his collection and is offering some of his pieces to friends who are interested. So I went over to put the payment down on a life-size Lon Chaney Sr. mannequin. It’s in a sitting position and it will look great in my Chaney Room. Then I headed over to meet my pal Sara for dinner at DuPar’s. My friend Chuck McCann and his pal Ottis met us there too for a little bit. When I got to my house I needed Sara to help me make my printer work. Come to find out a small plastic fastener from one of my file folders had fallen into the printer, and once that was extricated…everything worked perfectly again. I took a dip in the jacuzzi and it was pretty relaxing. For about 2 minutes. The timer is set to go off at 10pm, when the jacuzzi closes. But it was not calibrated properly and went off at 9:45! So it was nice while it lasted. I did some auditions and then watched another episode of “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” just before going to bed. What a day!
Thursday the 7th – IVR? OMG! WTF? – I did an audition in the morning at Voice Trax West for an IVR job. It’s interactive voice recording. There’s a specific way these need to be read and it was nice to be able to get some coaching from the experts as to how it’s done exactly. It was something I had never done before, but I picked up on it pretty quickly. All went well. When I finished I was hungry, and I passed the restaurant Aldente, which is on the first floor of the building Voice Trax West is in. It ended up being one of the most fun lunches I’ve had in awhile. Though I was sitting alone at first on their patio, enjoying my spaghetti and meat sauce, the waitress and I started talking about Voice-Over. She’s a singer so I explained how the two really go hand-in-hand. Then a guy named Jim sat down with a beautiful brownish-red pitbull mix. I couldn’t take my eyes off that beautiful dog, and she was VERY friendly. Only 7 months old, Annabelle licked my hand and was looking for crumbs on the patio. My pal Chuck McCann came by to hang out for awhile, and realized he had a lot of friends in common with Jim. We must’ve talked for about 2 hours about all sorts of stuff. It really was amazing. But the time approached for me to leave and get ready for “TTS.” I went home, grabbed a jacket and headed over to NBC. Though it had stopped raining and was sunny, it was still a bit chilly. That evening my friend Brittney came by for a quick visit, and then I relaxed.
Friday the 8th – FRIDAY AT LAST! – It’s been a long, weird week. And I was glad to see it ending. I slept in and got some much deserved rest. I went to get Sassie’s prescription at the vet’s, then went home and gave her a pill. We had an early taping of “TTS” today, so I got in my car and headed over to NBC. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and though I had considered for a second riding my bike, I decided to pop the top on my car and drive over. I had gotten on the phone with my accountant doing some business and time slipped away from me. Otherwise I would have ridden my bike. After the taping I went to get some groceries. That night I relaxed on the couch and took a nap with the fireplace running. NICE! I got up later and organized my items for the next day’s autograph show.
Saturday the 9th – LAND OF GIANTS, NERDS & TWIN PEAKS! – I love going to the Hollywood Show in Burbank every couple of months, and I was especially looking forward to this one. It had casts from many of my favorite shows. I had been wanting to meet the remaining “Land of the Giants” cast for some time, and the entire surviving main cast was at the show. I got a great group shot with them, and got the final signature I needed on my “Land of the Giants” DVD box.
The surviving main cast of “Land of the Giants” and me! From left to right are…Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, Gary Conway, me, Heather Young, Don Marshall & Stefan Arngrim.
I also got much of the main cast of “Revenge of the Nerds” to sign a movie poster. It was great seeing my pal Curtis Armstrong again. A long time ago he was telling me how his daughter was nuts about black and white movies…particularly monster movies. So I had Ben Chapman (the original Creature From The Black Lagoon…now deceased) and Julie Adams sign a “Creature” photo for her. But I hadn’t seen Curtis in awhile, and when I did I didn’t have the photo with me. So I took it along and after 5 years delivered it to him. He was beside himself and said that his daughter did an essay in school about the person she would most like to have lunch with. That person? LON CHANEY SR! Amazing! So I’m definitely going to get her one of my “Lon Chaney For Dummies” books, though she’s obviously no dummy. It was also great to see my pal Brian Tochi as well. We took a great group shot together, and when we did Curtis yelled, “It’s Wally…in the flesh!” And Brian said (in full character from the “Nerds” film) “you mean in the fresh!” We all laughed and that’s when they snapped the pic you see here.
Much of the main cast of “Revenge of the Nerds” in their first get together in over 20 years! From left to right are…Larry B. Scott, Brian Tochi, Julia Montgomery, me, Robert Carradine, Curtis Armstrong & Timothy Busfield. NERDS NERDS NERDS NERDS!
What a great group of people. Brian said that was the first time they had all gotten together in about 20 years! When I went to the “Twin Peaks” area I got a photo with the beautiful Sherilyn Fenn as well as an autographed pic.
The lovely Sherilyn Fenn…”Twin Peaks” own Audrey Horne!
Next I moved to Ray Wise who played Leland Palmer, Laura Palmer’s father. What a great guy he is! Lotsa fun. Then I moved on to the stunning Sheryl Lee who played Laura Palmer. I got a signed pic (the famous Laura Palmer prom photo) and took a pic with her. But when Ray Wise saw us taking a photo he said, “Hey Wally! Why no picture with me?” I told him I only wanted the hotties of “Twin Peaks.” Ray said, “I’m not a hottie?” My pal Sara said, ‘Yes you are.” And he nudged in between Sheryl and I and we all laughed ourselves silly as Sara snapped the pic.
It’s a Palmer family photo! Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer), Ray Wise (Leland Palmer) and me!
A great time indeed! After the show a bunch of us went over to Dan Roebuck’s house again for his House of Horrors open house.
My pal Dan Roebuck and the guys outside of Dan’s amazing House of Horrors museum.
But time slipped away from us so we had to go. I got home just in time to clean up the house a little bit and get ready for the movie night guests. We watched episodes 1 & 2 of “Twin Peaks,” then watched “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” Then we watched videotapes of vintage commercials for cereal, food and toys. But when we finished it was very late, and time to hit the hay!
Sunday the 10th – 10-10-10! –I had fully intended to go back to the autograph show, but I just didn’t get up in time. It felt too good to sleep in. I got up around 2 and took Sassie out, but it was pretty warm out. So I came back inside, turned on the AC and went back to bed until it was time to get up for evening church. I rode my bike over to church and made good time. After church I went home, got my car and picked up a few friends for dinner. We went to Panera again for sandwiches and enjoyed sitting out on the patio. When I got home I took a dip in the hot tub, but it still wasn’t hot enough. And to confirm that it wasn’t just me, my neighbors who were in the hot tub also confirmed that it wasn’t hot enough. I asked them to call the office and tell them, because I’m sure the folks in the office just think I’m trying to make trouble. Now get this…my friend Brittney Powell came over at 10pm to do a quick voice-over audition in my home studio. I told her how lucky I was that it was 10pm on 10/10/10 and I was hanging out with a 10! WILD! After she left I did my own auditions and then got ready for bed and a whole new week. Just think, in a little over a week I’ll be heading to Memphis to tour Graceland! Something I’ve always wanted to do!
And how was YOUR week??!!!!
