RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
When I checked the weather forecast on-line, it looks like we’re in for some “bat” weather!
I wore the grooves out of the 45 of this song when I was a kid, so when it came up on my digital device this week it brought back some very good memories. Roberta Flack’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love” has always been one of my favorites! Such a mood!
Monday the 18th – RIDDLE ME THIS! WHEN IS MONDAY NOT A MONDAY?! WHEN IT’S A SUNDAY! – Since my usually restful Sunday was spent having a blast at Game Realms in Burbank, signing autographs with many of my “Sonic” castmates, I decided to make Monday my Sunday. So I slept very late; virtually all day. I really needed the sleep. I worked on Wally’s Week, and then took a WOG (walk jog) in the middle of the night. I found a very nice pocket of dark sky in a darkened part of the complex. I spent some time looking up and admiring the Orion constellation. I came back home and got the anti-grav chair out and spent some relaxing time sipping an iced tea and watching the sky. Little by little the clouds moved in, and before long it was a total cloud cover. I came back inside and did some organizing in the drawers in my office area. I did some labeling, rearranging, etc. Then I scanned checks for a deposit.
Tuesday the 19th – P.T.! – After I finished making a deposit at the bank, I drove to Panera for lunch. It’s always a gamble at Panera, but sometimes they just may get your order correct. Today wasn’t one of those days. Always an adventure. I drove to a local physical therapy office to begin my 6 week regimen of physical therapy, as prescribed by my orthopedic surgeon. I met the main therapist’s husband Greg in the waiting room and he was a great guy! We had lots in common! As I was pulling out of the parking lot preparing to pay, I noticed a lot of cars behind me waiting to get out. So I put 20 bucks in the machine expecting to get change; but no change! Then I saw the sign that said “NO CHANGE GIVEN.” Rats. When I go back in a few days I’ll go to the office to let them know my dilemma. I went home and did some work and relaxed. The massage I got at p.t. was pretty great. Later I did a ton of auditions, and then took my nightly WOG. It was misting outside and it was really great walking in the light drizzle. I pulled out the anti-grav chair after and enjoyed a nice period of relaxation in the mist. I came back inside to do some prep work for a very fun Wednesday.
Wednesday the 20th – SPAGHETTI SPAGHETTI SPAGHETTI! – When I first moved into my house I was contacted by a guy named Pete Tassler who said his nephew was a huge “Invader Zim” fan, and would I allow them to come over and tour Planet Wallywood. I told them to come by and we’d have some fun. In 2010 I got a call from Pete who told me he was producing the new “Hawaii Five-O” and they were looking for a faux show announcer for a specific episode – similar to the guy on “The Tonight Show.” Wild! Pete asked me if I was available to work on the show and I gratefully accepted. We’ve been friends for years, but during the plandemic we lost touch. Until recently. It took a strike for Pete’s schedule to lighten up enough where we could spend some time together. I told him I had a lot of new items since he’s been over last. Pete and his buddy Larry came over and I drove us to Icons of Darkness in Hollywood. My good friend Pat Evans gave us the tour, and then we went to grab lunch upstairs at Johnny Rockets. Then we got back to my house and took a quick tour before they had to leave. Later I recorded a bunch of auditions, and started the arduous task of sorting out a drawer of electronics I have in my bedroom. It was a mess of cords, cables and wires, and it all needed to be sorted out, separated out, and labeled accordingly! What a huge job, but it’s all good now.
Thursday the 21st – NO AGUA! – Running late as usual, I dashed into the shower to get ready for my next round of p.t., but NO WATER! I knew the city would be shutting off our water for some water line work on Friday, but this was THURSDAY! As I was about to call my p.t’s office and cancel the appointment, the water came back on. I dashed into the shower and made it to the p.t.’s office 5 minutes early! But the office didn’t have me in their books for an appointment. That’s odd, considering I made the appointment only two days ago. But they saw me anyway and ran me through a few stretching exercises. Then I drove to JoAnn’s fabrics to get some felt for the tongue of my new Count Von Count replica Muppet, and some thread for his covering fleece. Then I sped off to Paty’s to have lunch with my old pal Jim Hulihan. I’ve been working for Jim for over 20 years narrating his uplifting and positive school assembly videos. I gave him a CD of some lines he wanted me to record for a new project he’s working on. We got caught up on everything he’s working on now. I hit my chiropractor’s office for an adjustment, and then I hit home to do a little work. Busy day! My effects guy Jim Ojala and his girlfriend Amber and their dog Destro came by for a tour with his mom Debbie. She was in town from Minnesota visiting for a week, and since a lot of Jim’s fabulous work is on display in my house, he wanted to show her the pieces in my collection that he worked on. Planet Wallywood is virtually a Jim Ojala showcase! It was funny watching Destro and Spook – very curious about each other, but keeping their distance. Destro’s a good doggie. We went to Paty’s for dinner on the patio with Destro, and it was a great time! I got back home and did my nightly auditions, and later I took my nightly WOG. But since it was only 56 degrees out I opted NOT to do any anti-grav time outside. It’s getting to be that time of year, I’m afraid. Autumn rears its ugly head this Saturday, and it seems that it’s arriving a tad early. I cut out the mouth plates for my Count Muppet replica, and then made a salad and watched an episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”
Friday the 22nd – TRANQUILITY ZONE TWEAKS! – I was pretty beat, but I got up late afternoon and walked to Studiopolis to work about 20 minutes on an episode of “Bleach.” I drove to my mailbox to get my packages, including a new Frankenstein black light poster for the Tranquility Zone. I drove to Michael’s Crafts to get some items, and found a wonderful Edgar Allen Poe ceramic piece! I had seen them last year but hesitated to get one. I’m glad to see they’re back in stock! He’ll look great in the Chaney Room! Later I went to Denny’s to get some food, took my nightly WOG, spent some nice time in the anti-grav chair, and then came back inside to do some more work on the Count’s mouth plate. I added the finger loops. I pulled the Gray Ghost out of the garage so I could do some spray gluing. I don’t want my new car anywhere near spray glue, obviously. I got out two pieces of foam core and mounted some silver, reflective paper on them. These will be background pieces for the new LED lighted sphere I recently bought at Ikea. It’ll look pretty great when it’s all set up. Then I mounted the new Frankenstein black light poster on foam core and took it upstairs to the Tranquility Zone to install it. It’s a GORGEOUS poster and I’m glad I bought it. I also installed the silver background pieces for the lighted sphere, but it’s pretty bright (even though I used a low wattage “party” bulb in it) so I need to develop some sort of “scrim” for it. A scrim in the theater world is a sheer curtain used to “blur” the set when necessary for a scene. Back to JoAnn’s I guess! I did my nightly auditions and called it a day.
Saturday the 23rd – FUN ON FALL’S FIRST DAY! – Go figure. It’s the first day of fall, but I’m still waiting for summer to start! We never really got our summer this year and I’m fairly disappointed. Oh well. I called Angi to see if we were still on for our afternoon plans, but she got held up with movers and lost track of time. I told her not to worry about it, to handle her affairs, and I’d find somebody else to use the ticket I had for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater Halloween show. I called my old pal Chris Malmin and he said he’d be happy to go. I met Chris, and my pals Scott and Vickie Sebring, at Galco’s Old World Grocery for our usual routine of sandwiches and vintage soda. Chris loved the place and bought some candy and soda. I picked up a few items, and then headed over to the theater to see the show. After communicating for many months via email, it was nice to finally meet theatre head Alex Evans in person. We have a standing lunch meeting coming up, as soon as we can settle on a day to do it! The Halloween show is absolutely delightful, and I can see why it’s sold out. In fact, they’ve added shows during the week because it’s so popular. Excellent! After the show I talked to Ed the organist and we talked about my pal Rob Richards who plays the Wurlitzer at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Ed said he was a big fan of Rob’s, so I gave him a call and let them chat. Fun! (Rob will be checking out the show on Halloween night, as I came home to buy 6 tickets for friends on Halloween!) On the way home I took a detour to JoAnnn’s to get some gorgeous sheer, iridescent, metallic fabric for the scrim. The nice characteristic about this fabric is that, when you put two layers of the fabric together, it makes a wonderful moray pattern! This will look GREAT over the Ikea LED lighted sphere. I got some groceries and as I was loading them into the Gray Ghost, I noticed that the alarm on the SUV next to me was going off. But there was somebody in the passenger seat. Curious, I looked in to see if they were injured, or worse. The alarm continued to squeal and I said to the guy (whose head was in his hands), “Are you OK?!” He looked up and said, “I have Covid.” Obviously the person who was driving must be in the store getting some medicine. I told him to be well and drove off. I got home and put away the groceries and did some work around the house. Later I cut and glued together the two-layer scrim. Then I installed it in place in the Tranquility Zone and it looks amazing! I took my nightly WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair. Then it was back inside to do a little work and make my Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watch an episode of “The Saint.” What a GREAT day!!
Sunday the 24th – COUNT HEAD HEAD COUNT! – As is usual, I relaxed all day. My pal Edi was in the area doing a cat sitting job, and we had planned on going to Paty’s for dinner after she finished feeding the cat. But when she arrived she was having a severe allergic reaction! So dinner was off, obviously. So I figured I’d bring up the foam rubber from downstairs, set up my kitchen workshop, and get to work building the head for my Count Von Count replica Muppet. I spent all night making patterns, cutting and gluing foam, and assembling the pieces. It was looking pretty good, but needed a few tweaks. The Anton fleece fabric I had my pal Alex in Wonderland custom dye looked great stretched over the foam head. But it was time to take a break and do my nightly WOG. I didn’t spend any time in the anti-grav chair, but rather came right back inside to continue working on the Count head. My seamstress Maggie needs to come over soon to do the fabric work, because Monsterpalooza is about 3 weeks away! The Count head was looking pretty good, but his head is an oval shape; a design which I’m not familiar with. So I had to learn as I went along. I made the nose pattern, which I’ll cut later. I ordered the monocle for his left eye, made a Tombstone pizza, and called it a day.
And how was YOUR week?!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
Just doing a little draping. I think the Count replica Muppet is going to look fabulous!
Here’s the Frankenstein black light poster in black light. Fantastic poster!
The table is set with everything I need to start my puppet build!
The new items for Planet Wallywood – a new mirrored oil diffuser, the Frankenstein black light poster, and an Edgar Allen Poe piece! It’s like Christmas in September!
Just in case you were keeping score…
