RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
Some days you just need a bowl of Boo Berry to make life great.
While dining at Paty’s in Palm Springs a few weeks ago, “Little Star” by the Elegants came on the overhead music system. It brought back a few, great memories. When I was doing the play “Grease” at the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse back in 1984 I made a mix tape of great 50’s songs that we listened to in the dressing room as we were getting made up. This song was a cast favorite. I also used to like to sing it to my young daughter Lacey when she was a baby. Great song! Great memories!
Monday the 26th – SUMMER’S FINAL REVENGE! – The weather for the next few days is going to be hot and windy! It was supposed to get up to 106 in L.A. So summer’s not over quite yet. The rest of the week is supposed to gradually cool down, but I’m anxious to get back on my bicycle! I put on a cool pair of shorts and a t-shirt and headed to Mr. Stitch to pick up the completed Tony Clifton bowling shirt that I had made for my friend Jeremy. I stopped by the post office to send the shirt to Jeremy, and a few other things. I sped home to feed the pets and watched the first Presidential debate. I grabbed a nap and then got up for auditions. I started the search for a Halloween costume, and I thought it might be fun to go as the Dell Glam Rocker. You know, the one I did in the TV spots? I just thought it would be fun to have people tell me that I “kinda” look like the guy in the TV ads. I made a pizza and watched another episode of “Barnaby Jones” from the third season DVD set.
Tuesday the 27th – WINDY, WARM & WALLY’S WEEK! – When I got up at 2 it was still very hot and windy. I made a few phone calls, wrote Wally’s Week and did some photo editing. It’s my sister Peggy’s birthday, so I posted a fun pic of us on Facebook. I did a few last-minute auditions, and then got a call from Michaels Crafts. My “Jungle Book” cel was ready to be picked up! I did a little more work at home and then headed over to the store to pick it up. I came back home and did some more work, finished up Wally’s Week, made some soup and watched another episode of “Barnaby Jones.”
Wednesday the 28th – READY FOR CH-CH-CHANGES! – Another hot day in L.A. – boy am I ready for fall! I decided to take my “Jungle Book” cel back to Michaels for reframing because it had some problems. The cel was rippling, and they “floated” it too deeply. When you float an animation cel, that involves placing a thin piece of foam core between the cel and the background to give it a 3-D look. But the amount of foam core Michaels put between the cel and the background was too thick. It made the background too far in the distance. Also, I asked that they take the ripples out of the cel. Obviously it had been attached to the matte incorrectly. I stopped over to Paty’s to meet with my old pal Ken Dennis, and then I went back home to do work all afternoon. I fed the pets, did some more work on the computer, and then grabbed a nap. I got up later to do my nightly auditions and then did some more prep for the big computer change-over that was happening this weekend. The old computer will get tossed out, and the new computer is coming in with my computer guy Brian this Saturday. I got some food at Denny’s and brought it home to enjoy another episode of “Barnaby Jones” before bed.
Thursday the 29th – DAVE IS DUE! – I had a last-minute audition to do when I awoke at 1:30. I recorded it and sent it in. While I was at it I recorded a few other auditions and sent those in too. One audition required the character to be in the shower singing. So since my guest bathroom is close to where I record, and since I have a long mic cord, I pulled it into the bathroom, started the shower and did the audition. I don’t know if I’ll get the gig or not, but it sure was a fun audition. Sometimes you need to do stuff like that to be “in the moment.” Plus it always helps to have the right acoustics, the sound of the water running, etc. I went over to DuPar’s to meet my assistant Sara for lunch, and then I came back home to do some more work and chill. I met my pal Natalie for dinner later at Jerry’s Famous Deli, and then headed back home to continue working away. I decided to buy a 3-D TV on eBay so I could watch “Wizard of Oz” on 3-D Blu Ray. I already had the DVD and the player, I just needed the glasses and the TV. I thought I had bought one a few weeks ago, but it was a scam and the seller never responded to my purchase. Luckily eBay refunded my money after their investigation found that it was a fraudulent seller. This 3-D TV was owned by someone in Santa Monica, so it was within driving distance. It wouldn’t need to be shipped! I set up a bunch of computer gear in my kitchen for a huge photo scanning project that Sara would be doing over the next week. I have a lot of old photo albums from the 70’s that are literally deteriorating before my very eyes! So I’m going to pull all those photos out and mount them in brand new photo albums. But I figured as long as they’re out of the books, I should scan them to a spare computer for posterity. I don’t have time to do all that scanning, so the job falls to Sara. When she’s done with those photo albums, I have a huge sack of photos that never got into a photo album that I want to have her do. After that, I have my more recent Los Angeles photo albums from the past 30 years of life in L.A.! So she has a lot to do! I found out that my buddy Dave Baumeister is coming to L.A. next weekend with his daughter so we can go see the new animated feature “Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders” in a local movie theatre! I grabbed a nap on the couch for a bit, and then got up to do a ton of bookkeeping work. I scanned a bunch of checks for deposit, made some stew, and then watched “Barnaby Jones.”
Friday the 30th – AGENT AGITATION! – The day started with a phone call to my agent about some missed payments from a client I had done some work for. They were contractually obligated to send certain payments at the end of the first contractual year, but after 90 days we still don’t have the payments in. We spoke on the phone for about an hour about what to do. One of the downsides of being an independent contractor is that sometimes, you have to go chase down money. Luckily I have my agent and their agency’s attorney on stand-by to make sure all contractual obligations are met. It’s a hassle to do, but necessary. I picked up my “adopted grandma” Shirley and we headed out for errands. The first stop was my bank to make my deposits. And then we stopped by her bank so she could get some money for the week. We stopped by It’s a Wrap to check out their selection for Halloween, but as it’s been in the past few years, the selection was very weak. I was craving Roundtable Pizza so we went to get some lunch. When we finished we went to get some groceries, mail some letters, and then I headed back to Michaels to see how they fixed the “Jungle Book” cel. But it still didn’t look right. There was a noticeable “buckle” in the middle of the cel. I’d like to tear it all apart and see exactly what they did when they mounted it. I told them to try again and let me know when it’s ready to be picked up. I dropped Shirley off at her house and helped her take her groceries to her apartment. I took my own groceries inside and fed Roxy and Spooky. I got on my computer and got ready for the big change-over on Saturday. My pal Brittney Powell came by to help out with a few things. After she left I grabbed a short nap, and then got up and spent the rest of the night getting my spare computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse and scanner ready for Brian to hook up for the big scanning project. I watched “Barnaby Jones” and hit the hay.
Saturday the 1st – 3-D Day! – Whew! What a day! My computer guy Brian came over at 10 to start swapping out the computer. I had just gotten to bed a few hours earlier, so while he worked I napped on the couch; occasionally waking up to answer a question he had. By 3, he had most of the stuff switched over and working. Then he started in on hooking up Sara’s scanning station in the kitchen. Around 4:30, my 3-D TV was delivered. The seller said she would bring it to my house for a slight extra charge. Brian wrapped up and I got ready for the “Sons of the Desert” meeting. “SOTD” is the Laurel and Hardy appreciation society and I’ve been a member for a year and a half. Instead of having movie night at my house, I just decided to move everyone to the SOTD meeting and we’d have a fun evening there! As we all lined up to sing the “Sons of the Desert” song, my friend James’ wife Cynthia needed to read the lyric sheet that they hand out at the event. But since you need to lock hands when you sing the song, there was no way to hold the lyrics. I noticed that the guy standing in front of us was wearing suspenders, so I surreptitiously slipped the lyric sheet into his suspenders to hold them steady for us to read. It was hilarious, considering the guy in front of us had no idea what we were doing! In keeping with the 3-D theme of the day, there were two Laurel and Hardy movies being shown in 3-D at the event! It was the old fashioned “red and blue glasses” type of 3-D, but it was kind of novel! They had a raffle to raise money for film preservation, so I bought two strips of 7 tickets each; one strip for me and one for Shirley. When they did the raffle, our tickets won two small Laurel and Hardy dolls. I walked over and gave them to Shirley. She said, “Don’t you want these?” I told her that it was HER tickets that won them, and my tickets didn’t win anything. Between you and me, I would have told her that no matter which set of tickets won. Whichever set of tickets won, would have been Shirley’s. She loved her little figures! I got back home and dove into my computer to start making notes about things I needed changed. It’s always a huge adjustment to get a new computer, but luckily it only happens every 5 to 7. With horror, I found out that my favorite font is gone. It isn’t in Windows 10 for some reason. About 99% of all the documents I have in my folders are all in that font. Yikes! Sara came over later to check out the new scanning station. I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad and enjoyed another episode of the old BBC TV show “The New Avengers.”
Sunday the 2nd – SUMMER CEASES! – Since it was Sunday, I slept the day away. I got up at 2 to walk Roxy, but then hit the hay again for another couple of hours. But I got up in plenty of time for evening church, and since it was now cooler, I got to take Roxy along with me! She enjoys going there a lot! After church I hopped in my car and headed to Best Buy to try and find some 3-D glasses that would work with my “new” Samsung 3-D TV. Since it was an older technology I didn’t have much hope, but I had to get a few other things anyway. I had already hooked up the TV and my player, and I was getting a beautiful picture…except for the fact that it was blurry. I really needed those glasses! As expected Best Buy didn’t have the glasses I need, so I’d have to get them on Amazon. But I picked up an external SD card ready and a spare printer cable. Then I met Sara for dinner at Lancers and enjoyed a delicious hot beef sandwich. I drove home with the top down and enjoyed the cool evening. I hooked up the new printer cable and card reader. I put stuff away that had been displaced during the computer change-over, and then grabbed a short nap on the couch. I got up and tried out the scanning station by scanning a few photos. It worked our really well! I had done my Monday auditions last Friday, in anticipation of potential computer trouble. So those were all taken care of. When I walked Roxy I noticed how chilly it was. In fact I could see my breath! Summer’s over.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
Shirley gets her glasses ready for some 3-D fun!
These 3-D glasses are amazing!
Ready for laffs and Laurel and Hardy films!
Margaret Kerry, the figure model animators used for the Tinkerbell character in the Disney animated classic “Peter Pan,” reveals her new book at the meeting! What a great lady!
till a sassy pixie! The always-delightful Margaret tells some great stories from he new book. When she said on stage that she was 87 years old, my 89 year old friend Shirley said, “She’s just a baby!”
When I was 13, watching Laurel and Hardy movies on TV every Saturday night, I dreamed of what it would be like to someday attend a Sons of the Desert meeting and watch the boys on the big screen with other people who love them. Wishes DO come true!
Shirley and Margaret compare notes on what it’s like to be an octogenarian!
Lucky winner Shirley collects her raffle winnings!
Stan and Ollie are coming to Shirley’s house!
Margaret signs one of her books for my friend Sunni in Seattle!
If you’re a Pan fan, you MUST get Margaret’s new book…”Tinkerbell Talks!”
Here we are singing the famous “Sons of the Desert” song before the meeting! Wild! You can see us reading the lyrics we stuck in the suspenders of the guy standing in front of us. Zany fun!
Always an honor to sing the Sons of the Desert song…even better with friends!
