RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
I’ve always loved this shot of a beautiful Golden Retriever and his feathered siblings. LOVE those dogs!
I remember a few years ago when guitarist Joe Satriani sued the group Coldplay stating that they stole the main riff from his song “If I Could Fly” for their song “Viva La Vida.” I can’t remember how the lawsuit came out, but the suit definitely made me aware of Satriani’s great song. Here it is, with a little custom “Wingert” editing.
Monday the 11th – I’M STRONG, BUT… – A busy day was assured, as I started by dropping my Mustang off at the Burbank Auto Doctor to have the shocks and struts replaced. It was all still original equipment, and had never been replaced, but after 20 years it was time. I got a ride to my auxiliary parking lot to pick up the Gray Ghost, and I headed over to Paty’s to have lunch with my pal Drew Massey to talk about plans to make my new Count replica Muppet. I had lots of questions about making the head, and he’s going to call some of his contacts to get some more information. Drew has worked for the Henson company for a long time, so he knows a LOT of people in the industry who might be able to elucidate on how the Count’s head is actually constructed. Lotsa questions! I got my packages at my box, which included a second copy of the now-sold-out Laurel & Hardy Blu-ray called “Year One.” It’s a great compilation of restored silent films from the first year they appeared together in movies. I also got a brand new box of banana Twinkies that I can enjoy during future installments of “Laurel and Hardy Theater” at my house. Then I drove over to the office of an Orthopedic Surgeon to get an exam to find out why my left shoulder and elbow are constantly giving me issues. We took a bunch of x-rays and the doctor gave me a strength test. He said that I was very strong, but I needed to get my backside as strong as my front side. He said my x-rays looked perfect and that I had a lot of cartilage left between my bones, I just needed some physical therapy to learn a few techniques for strengthening my core and back. I’ll start next week with the physical therapy sessions. Should be fun! I’m looking forward to good results. One thing he told me to do in the short term, is that when I go on my WOGS (walk/jogs) to keep my posture as if I was holding a volleyball between my shoulder blades. That will keep my posture where it should be as I exercise. On the way home I stopped at Wienerschnitzel and got a banana split, and then did an audition once I got back to Planet Wallywood. I spoke with my pal Mark Evanier (he wrote and directed “The Garfield Show” for many years) and we talked about his new housemate Mahna Mahna. The first replica Mahna Mahna that I had built back in 2014 was no longer needed after I built my new one last year. So since I debuted my first Mahna at WonderCon on one of Mark’s Voice Actor panels, I decided to gift Mark with the puppet for his collection. I typed out Wally’s Week, took my nightly WOG, spent some quality time in the anti-grav chair outside, but soon had to come in because of all the annoying mosquitoes. When I got inside I finished up working on the Chaney Room drawers for my shelving units, and they look neat and orderly (FINALLY!). I moved a few things into my main display case and did miscellaneous work around the house. I made a delicious salad and watched an episode of “The Incredible Hulk” before bed.
Tuesday the 12th – CHANEY IS CHERRY! – Since I slept most of the day I was rarin’ to go in the early evening for work on the Chaney Room. But first I did a few auditions, and received the call that the Mustang was fixed and ready to roll with new shocks and struts! I’ll pick it up tomorrow. I also got the word that my Antron fleece for my Count replica Muppet was dyed and ready to be picked up. I have a very busy Wednesday ahead of me. It was a cooler night than previous nights, but I enjoyed my WOG and time outside in the anti-chair nonetheless. At least the cooler weather was keeping those pesky mosquitoes at bay! I came inside and got busy completing the overhaul of the Chaney Room. I cleaned through all of the drawers in my other cabinets, organized the items, threw a bunch of stuff out, vacuumed and mopped the floor, and lint-rolled some of the costumes on the figures. Some of the stuff that I had been storing in the Chaney Room was moved out into other locations. Now, it’s back to its original form – absolute perfection! It was a lot of work but worth it. The drawers in the shelving units look slick, all of the figures are clean, and everything looks orderly and presentable. I’ll be giving some tours soon, so I wanted to make sure it was all in perfect condition.
Wednesday the 13th – WILD, WILD WEDNESDAY! – When I awoke and turned on the computer I saw that I received an email from ME-TV in Chicago stating that they’d like to shoot an episode about the Planet Wallywood Collection for their show “Collector’s Call.” They’ll be shooting at my house the week of December 4th! Amazing! Not sure which aspect of the collection they’ll be focusing on, but we’ll work that out as we go along. I hit Paty’s for lunch with my Pal Edi, and then I picked up some packages at my box, which included a THIRD copy of “Laurel & Hardy: Year One” on Blu-ray that I found for a friend. The disc sold out quickly, so they were very hard to find – but I was able to find a few around! I drove the Gray Ghost to the Burbank Auto Doctor to pay for the Mustang, drove the Mustang to my auxiliary parking space, put her to bed, and was picked up by Ben, the owner of the Auto Doctor for a ride back to the shop to get my Gray Ghost. I stopped at Foam Mart because Drew suggested using ¾” thick foam rubber for the Count’s head instead of my usual 1” foam rubber. I had no idea they even made ¾” foam rubber, but they do. And as luck would have it, in a total freak accident, there were two sheets of ¾” foam sitting on top of a pile when I walked into the store! The clerk said they only sell ¾” foam by the yard off of big rolls that are in the back. But I grabbed the two sheets that were there and asked if those were for sale. He assured me that they were 1” pieces, but with my handy-dandy measuring tape, I informed him that they had two pieces of ¾” foam stacked on top of their supply of 1” foam. There are no accidents in life! I grabbed those and took off! It was meant to be. I hit Alex in Wonderland’s shop to pick up the Antron fleece she had custom dyed for the Count’s head, and it looked perfect! I’m going to enjoy making this puppet! I hit the store on the way home to pick up a few items I needed, and then got back to Planet Wallywood. My pal Sara came over to do some work and pick up a Star Trek dress that I had in my closet. I’m downsizing so I want to place a lot of the items I no longer need, and I believe the dress was originally made for her anyway. We started talking about doing a photo shoot of her in the dress, dressed as a Vulcan. Sara naturally has the high cheekbones and eyebrows that would lend itself very well to a total make-over for a photo shoot. I ordered some nice pointed foam latex ears on-line, as was suggested by my make-up/producer friend David Woodruff. These should be great! And who knows, when things get rolling in Hollywood again maybe Sara can use these photos to submit for some new “Star Trek” project. Later I did my nightly auditions, edited some music, took my WOG, and spent some meditational time in the anti-grav chair outside. I came inside and made a salad and watched an episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”
Thursday the 14th – FROM SONIC TO SUPER! – Hard to believe that the “Sonic Boom” TV series was over 10 years ago. One of the writers of the show recently reached out to me to let me know he was back in town after a long sabbatical out of the country. We arranged to meet at Bob’s Big Boy for lunch and catch up. Sam Freiberger has a lot of the same interests I do, so we had lots to talk about. But the most amazing thing he told me is that he’s now writing the “Superman” comic! Amazing! He said his late grandpa was a HUGE Superman fan, and he even got one of the artists to draw his grandpa in a few of the panels. Like I said, there are no accidents in life – all meant to be. Amazing! After our lunch I stopped at the post office to mail off one of the Laurel & Hardy Blu-rays I had recently acquired to my friend Mark, who had been unable to find one. Then we hit Planet Wallywood so I could give Sam a tour and show him all the stuff I had acquired since he had been over last. Since there’s a strike going on, and it felt kinda like “old home week,” I gave a call to my old pal Pete Tassler, who was Supervising Producer on the new “Hawaii Five-O” and “MacGyver” shows. Pete has been busily producing other stuff; that is until the strikes shut everything down. But now that nothing is going on, it’s a great time to catch up with folks who otherwise would be too busy to get together. Pete and I are getting together for lunch next week to catch up. I also talked to a guy named Derek who I met at last June’s Monsterpalooza. He is a storyboard artist and a puppet builder, and my seamstress Maggie told me that he had built a Count replica. I wanted to tap his brain about how he did his, so we chatted on the phone for about an hour. Hopefully next week Derek will be able to show me his Count replica so I can continue plotting to make mine. In the evening I drove over to Michael’s crafts to get an 8” by 8” shadowbox frame for a new art piece I had been thinking about. I had a good friend in Aberdeen, South Dakota back in the early 70’s named Jon. He was into just about everything I was into at the time – monsters, James Bond, comics, and Laurel and Hardy. Sadly, Jon passed away in 2005 from an undiagnosed heart issue. But his younger brother Tony and I have been keeping in touch on a fairly regular basis over the past years. Tony blessed me with a few items from Jon’s collection, including a monster magazine, a few of Jon’s beloved comics, and an 8mm copy of Laurel & Hardy’s short film “Tit For Tat.” I decided to frame the box cover of that film as an art piece, and the 8” by 8” frame would fit it perfectly! Not only is it Laurel & Hardy, but it’s got the original Blackhawk Films logo on it, and of course, it was Jon’s. Lotsa good things about that art piece that make me happy. I went over to the Home Goods store and found a few small cabinet bins that would fit nicely over the drawers that I had purchased for the shelving units in the Chaney Room. This would give me more storage options as I continue to populate the Chaney Room with certain items I need to have organized. I could have used another 8 of these bins, but I was only able to find 4. I’ll hit the store again next week to see if they’ve restocked. I got home and tried them in the shelving units and they fit perfectly. Now I just need to decide what I’m going to keep in them! I put all of my sewing things in one of the drawers, which included needles, pins, thread, elastic, etc. Like I said before, it’s now VERY organized and tidy! Later I recorded my auditions and took a nice WOG. The time in the anti-grav chair outside was amazingly peaceful, calm, cool and serene – and was under a gorgeous overcast sky. Perfection! I went back inside to do some work and then made a salad and watched an episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”
Friday the 15th – LEWIS WINGERT: ABERDEEN LIFE IN THE 70’S! – After I had posted a few of my dad’s old slides on the Facebook page that celebrates the city of Aberdeen, South Dakota, an official from Northern State University in Aberdeen reached out to me to see if they could construct a repository on their research website which would feature all of my dad’s photography work. I talked to my dad about it and he said he’d be glad to help out. I think it really helped that Northern is also his alma mater! So over the next few months my sister and I will be helping to populate the repository with my dad’s photos of life in Aberdeen during the 1970’s. The NSU official said that a lot of the photos featured in their archives are from decades earlier than the 70’s, and these photos of Aberdeen and its people from the 70’s would actually be some of the more “modern” photos they have! We’re happy to help, and my dad’s slides are gorgeous. My sister and parents are also going to go through their photo albums of hard copy photos to see if the university would like any of those scanned as well. I made some other phone calls and did some other work while waiting for the maids to arrive. My pal Mark emailed to let me know he received the Laurel & Hardy Blu-ray and suggested that I come to his house on Saturday to watch them with him. I knew I was busy on Sunday with a signing at a game store in Burbank, but my Saturday was totally open. So I told him I would. I was rather tired so I just relaxed while they worked. It’s been a VERY busy week! When the maids left I drove over to CVS to get some supplies, and the grocery store to get some food items that I’ve been needing. I walked over to Panera to get some late dinner, but since it was just a half hour before closing they were out of a lot of stuff. So I decided to drive to Jack In The Box to get some food in the drive-thru. But as I headed in that direction, I figured, “Ahhh, what the heck.” So I called Barone’s and ordered a pizza to go. It was a nice drive over to the restaurant and I chatted on the phone with my dad all the way there. I got back home to eat and relax. I organized a few things for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog signing event on Sunday. My pal Mark called me to tell me that his Blu-ray player wasn’t working, and that his A/V guy was coming out Saturday morning to try and fix it. He said he’d call me early Saturday afternoon to let me know if it worked, or if I needed to bring one of my spare players to hook into his system. I took a WOG and spent some more time outside in my anti-grav chair. Though I can’t see the stars because it’s been very overcast, the cloud cover DOES keep things very quiet and serene! I went inside to do some work and then hit the hay!
Saturday the 16th – AND JUST LIKE THAT, IT WAS FALL! – The weather had turned to fall almost overnight! Earlier this week it was nice and hot and I loved driving around with the top down. But now it’s very chilly and cloudy. My pal Mark called to let me know his A/V guy had found a loose connection on his player and everything was working well. But I decided to bring my players over “just in case.” After all, I was a Boy Scout – so I always want to ‘be prepared,’ as was their motto. His wife was nice enough to make a kind donation earlier in the year to our Voices Against Cancer charity in Sioux Falls, so I stopped at the store and got her a nice little flower arrangement to thank her. I stopped at Jack In The Box to get some egg rolls to munch on while I drove to Mark’s house. One of the roads to his house is curvy and wind-y, and while it was fine negotiating it during the day, I made special note to be careful later that night when driving back home in the dark. When I got to Mark’s house I met his friend Phil, who was another hardcore Laurel and Hardy fan. But bad news – the Blu-ray player wasn’t working again. We got Mark’s A/V guy on the phone and he told me that the cabling behind the equipment was tied down too tightly, and even the slightest movement of the player would disconnect the HDMI cable. Mark said he’s not very technical, so he put me on the phone with his A/V guy to try and rectify the situation with the players I brought, and thusly…save the day. Phil was helping me too, and we started laughing at the fact that our current scenario could be turned into a nice Laurel & Hardy comedy bit in its own right. I plugged my player into the outlet, plugged the HDMI cable into the front auxiliary input on his receiver, and I dialed it around to where the A/V guy told me to. But it still wasn’t working. After much trial and error, I discovered that the A/V guy had told me the wrong setting on the receiver. I found the correct setting to bring the Blu-ray player up, and we were golden! Whew! We ordered some food to be delivered and started the films. We loved watching the old movies (some almost 100 years old!) and chatting about the history of them. After a few of the shorts, the food arrived. Mark had wanted to get through all the movies on both of the discs, but with full tummies we were feeling a little “snoozy” after the first disc ended. We all agreed to meet at Mark’s again in the future to watch the second disc. It sure is fun to watch these films with other people who enjoy them as much as I do. I told them about the upcoming Sons of the Desert meeting, which I think they would both enjoy, so hopefully they’ll attend. I packed up my stuff and headed out, and got some gas on the way home. But driving on that dark, wind-y road at night took a lot of alertness and attentiveness. But I made it home safely! When I got home I found out through text message and email that my business credit card had been hacked (again!). It seems to happen once every year, and then I have to alert all of the companies who use that card for purchases that I have a new card. Why are people so evil?! But at least the bank caught it. When these hackers get a new credit card number they give it a try by making an initial purchase for a very small amount. If it goes through undetected, then they start making bigger purchases. The charge was for a little over $21 through something called Seat Geek; a ticketing website. When I talked to the guy at the bank I said, “What the heck kind of ticket can you get for $21? A puppet show?” He laughed, as a $21 purchase for a ticket is definitely NOT going to get you good seats at a Springsteen concert! But I’m glad my bank was alert and caught it. They’re sending me a new card earlier in the week, and then I have the arduous task of updating the info on all the places I use to regularly purchase stuff.
Sunday the 17th – SONIC CELEBRATION! – My pals Officer Mark and his wife Connie picked me up at noon for the Sonic autograph signing in Burbank at Game Realms. We got there at 12:30 and Connie dropped us off. Mark was there to take photos, but Connie wanted to find a location to watch a football game somewhere. The folks from Celebworx were there and they set us all up so we were ready for the opening at 1. It was a great show with lotsa great fans and friends, and it sure was good to see a lot of my fellow Voice Actor pals again from “Sonic Boom!” After the event we went to Pinocchio’s restaurant in Burbank, and we were soon joined by my friend Angi. Angi gave me a ride back home and we had a very nice evening hanging out. But I was pretty exhausted from the weekend’s wild activities. I took a WOG and spent a little time outside in the anti-grav chair. And even though it’s actually Sunday night, I decided to do my usual Saturday night routine tonight, since I wasn’t able to do it the night before. So I made a SUNDAY night Super Saint Salad and watched an episode of “The Saint” before bed. So I guess that Monday will actually be my Sunday this week. I prepared to have a nice relaxing Monday sitting around doing nothing.
And how was YOUR week?!!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
One of the things I really enjoy about doing appearances is getting a chance to speak with young, upcoming Voice Actors about their experiences and questions.
This fan brought his game covers to have signed, and it was REALLY a great blast-from-the-past to see the old Maximo game again! I hadn’t seen that in several decades!
THWIP! THWIP! Spider and I shoot some webs!
It’s always a blast (and a challenge) to sign those Funko Pops!
It was fun hearing about this fan’s sojourn to various malls to find all of the Sonic plushies! I just LOVE dedication!
And it’s always a blast to talk to Power Ranger fans, especially fans of the Blue Psycho Ranger!
It’s always a blast to do a character voice in person for a fan and see the look on their face. Here I do a little “Tallest Red” for Avel and his “Zim fan” sister Susana.
Nothing better than happy happy faces! Yeah, I’m a joy addict!
Our showrunner Maggie had a megaphone she’d use to make announcements. I dubbed it the Official Maggie-Phone! (Trademark pending – all rights reserved)
This nice signed Sonic piece is being sent to Sioux Falls for the auction at next year’s Voices Against Cancer event!
It’s always a great time hanging out with my pal Alex from Celebworx!
Jell-o’s nice, but there’s ALWAYS room for pizza!
Another great set of commemorative photos shot by my pal Officer Mark!
When you get a bunch of nutty Voice Actors together, fun is sure to blossom!
The Sonic Voice Actors had a great day! Thanks to Game Realms in Burbank!
The Antron fleece is dyed and ready to become Count Von Count!
Here’s the art piece I created with my late buddy Jon’s 8mm film from his collection.
It’s alway a pleasure to be blessed by the company of the Amazing Angi. Even my grape soda has a “crush” on her!
A positively amazing sunrise I captured this week. WOW doesn’t even cover it!
This sunrise was one of the best I’ve seen in a very long time. Stunning!
I guess I’m watching too many Laurel and Hardy movies. After performing a pratfall over the curb for the waiting audience, I did my old gag of getting knocked in the teeth by the car’s tailgate. I love how they bought it!
Here’s my initial invite sent out on my social media.
One fan had an amazing case in which he kept all of his collectibles that had Egyptian hieroglyphs all over it. My inner King Tut came out, and I didn’t even need a bump on the head!
