Wally’s Week

April 16 – April 21 (2024)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

Here’s the new graphic for this season’s “Collector’s Call” series. The Elvis, the Muppets, and the “Heartbeeps” figure are all mine. It’s fun to see my stuff on their season five graphic!

While I was on the plane the previous weekend, Van Halen’s “Why Can’t This Be Love” came on my iPod. When listening to this on the headphones, you realize what a wonderfully constructed song this is! It rocks!

Tuesday the 16th – WE NOW REJOIN LIFE – ALREADY IN PROGRESS! – What a great weekend in Huntsville, Alabama it was! But now it’s time to get back to life and get a few things done this week. I started out by doing some work on the computer, and then I met my pal Sara for lunch at Paty’s. After lunch I drove the Gray Ghost over to my auxiliary parking and put it to bed, and got the Gran Torino out to drive around for a few days. I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some badly-needed supplies and I happened to run into my old pal Rob Richards at the same market! I’ve known Rob since I was about 14 when we were both living in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He’s now the head theatre organist at Disney’s El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, and he also provides music at the famed Magic Castle. A couple of local boys made good! I got home and put the groceries away. It was good to have the Torino out, but it’s filthy and needs a wash badly! I did some work on the computer, did my nightly auditions, took my nightly WOG (walk/jog) and finished it off by relaxing in my anti-grav chair outside enjoying the deep quiet and solace of the middle-of-the-night. Then I went inside to attack the task of writing not one, but TWO weeks’ worth of Wally’s Weeks!

Wednesday the 17th – DISCO TRANQUILITY! – Since I didn’t get to bed until about 11am, I didn’t wake up until 3. By the time I got the Gran Torino to the car wash they were just closing. Rats! My neighbor Juan suggested a guy he uses that comes to your house and professionally details it. I think that’s the way I’m going to go! My old girl is 50 and worth it! I drove over to CVS and stocked up on supplies, and since it was such a gorgeous day, I decided to have lunch at Panera outside on their patio. I got back home and had to dive into a ton of accounting/bookkeeping work; reconciling receipts, going through my bank statements, etc. That’s all part of running a corporation I guess. Later, I took the medium-sized mirror ball that I had bought a week earlier at the 99 cent store (it was cheap since they’re going out of business) and went around the house to try and decide where to mount it. Unlike the mirror balls we had when I was a teen, this one doesn’t rotate. Which kind of defeats the purpose of it. The idea is to have the mirror ball spin and then hit it with a pin spotlight so the fragments of light whirl around the room. Oh well, this is the low budget version. Of all the locations I tested it in, the best place was near my door in the Tranquility Zone. It looked pretty sweet up there, so I installed a sturdy hook and hung it. Nice! Later I took my nightly WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair relaxing outside, listening to the quiet of the night. I had missed my WOGS being in Huntsville for four nights. Since it was cloudy and overcast, the atmosphere was blissfully peaceful and quiet. I went inside to do some work, and then made a salad and watched an episode of “Collector’s Call” and “The High Chaparral.”

Thursday the 18th – COMEDY OF ERRORS! – Upon awakening I discovered that my internet was out again all day. This is twice in two weeks and I’m really wondering what the heck is up with Spectrum, and whether or not I should continue with them or not. Once it was restored I did an audition and sent it over to my agents. After I did a little work around the house my neighbor Bob came over so we could get some target practice in at the local range. First though, I stopped to pick up an Amazon shipment at my box. My photo file case had gotten damaged by the airline on the way back home, so I ordered another one exactly like it. I was lucky they still make them! Then I stopped by Foam Mart to pick up a huge sheet of foam core so I could mount a new black light poster that came in last week. This poster features all of the delightful characteristics of a Taurus and looks very 70’s. I can’t wait to get it hung in the Tranquility Zone! The sheet of foam core was 4 foot by 8 foot and I wasn’t sure I would be able to get it all in the Gran Torino. So I had them cut it into thirds. I stacked them in the back seat and despite a small amount of vision obstruction out the back window, we’d be fine. But once we got to the range we found that parking was tight. Especially for a giant, vintage car. I found a perfect spot, but in order to back in I had to take out the sheets of foam core that were blocking my vision. I stashed the foam core sheets in my trunk and we went inside. When we signed in we asked for separate lanes, next to each other. But instead of giving us our ammo in separate plastic bins, he put all three bags into one. (I got two bags of 50 9mm rounds, and Bob got one bag of 50 .40 caliber rounds) We were excited to hit the range and we got all set up. As I loaded my magazines I was wondering why I couldn’t get 10 rounds in my mags. I could only get 9. Odd. As I began shooting I had a lot of jams. Last time I was shooting with my gal Angi we had a fair amount of jams with my new Glock 19, but the range master said it was because it was new and I hadn’t oiled it yet. When I got it home I oiled it up very nicely. So this couldn’t be it. Come to find out, our ammo had gotten mixed! I was trying to fit .40 rounds in my 9mm mag, and Bob was putting 9mm (which is smaller) into his mag. Once we got everything sorted out, and we started shooting the correct ammo, it went fairly smoothly. But I was still having jams. The range master opened it up and found out that some oil had gotten on the striker! He cleaned everything off and it was good to go! The rest of the session went very well and we both agreed that we need to do this more often to practice, as we were both pretty rusty. Afterwards we hit Lancer’s for dinner. Then I got home and did some work around the house, which included spray mounting the new black light poster onto the foam core. Then I made my little hanger attachments and hung it onto one of the galaxy drapes in the Tranquility Zone. This poster really pops under the black light! I took my nightly WOG and relaxed after with an iced tea in the anti-grav chair. It was warm and cloudy out. I did some more work around the house, and then went over the script for a session for an animated film that I’d be doing on Friday. I made a Tombstone pizza and hit the hay.

Friday the 19th – A GREAT END TO A GREAT WEEK! – My pal Edi met me for lunch on the patio at Paty’s, and then I had to speed off to Smart Sound Post in Burbank to do some ADR on an animated film that I’ve been working on for many years. ADR means ‘additional dialogue recording,’ and that means I get to put my character voice to the finished animated sequence. Initially when we record animation, we do it without seeing any sort of animated reference. Then the animators take our voice tracks and animate to it. But there are a lot of opportunities that are created during the animation process that we didn’t anticipate when we recorded the original audio. This gives us a chance to go back in once the animation is finished and put in some effort sounds, and record several line options that the producers will listen to. Once the producers make their pick of the winning line, it gets put into the film. As the comedic relief in the film, most of my lines were “punchlines,” of sorts. So we had several options to choose from. I even gave them a few of my own improvisations just for good measure. It was a blast! After the session I headed to CVS to get some supplies. In the parking lot I met a great couple named Mel and Patty. Mel said he had a Gran Torino painted like the Starsky car back in the late 70’s. He bought it for $1000 and sold it for $800 in 1980. I asked him if it was one of the original Ford-issued Starsky Torinos and he didn’t know. It sure is fun talking about this car when I have it out. I dropped by the vet’s office to pick up some tranquilizer for Spooky, as he has his annual physical on Saturday. Since he’s a grouchy, old man – the vet’s office asked that he be given this to mellow him out before his visit. I dread this every year. But, it’s gotta be done. I got home and met with Scott & Vickie Sebring so we could go over a few things and catch up. I hadn’t seen either of them in quite a while. Since it was my buddy Chris Malmin’s birthday, we met Chris and my friend Emily at Barone’s for Chris’ birthday. We got back to Planet Wallywood and watched a few episodes of “Collector’s Call” that they hadn’t seen yet. Later I took my nightly WOG, enjoyed some time outside cooling off in the anti-grav chair, and I came back inside to finish up some things on the computer.

Saturday the 20th – SHINY! RED! GORGEOUS! – My neighbor Juan’s car detailer came over and worked on the Gran Torino for about two hours. By the time it was done it looked show quality! Amazing! Then it was time to pack up Spooky and get him over to the vet for his annual check-up. I don’t look very forward to this time of year, because he doesn’t enjoy any aspect of this whole process. And he’s not shy about letting me know it. The vet’s office prescribed some tranquilizer for him to take pre-visit. But they didn’t give me enough. The instructions said to give him 1ml the night before the visit, and another 1ml dose 1-2 hours before he comes in. But the bottle they gave me only had 1ml in it! So I had nothing to give him pre-visit. YIKES! I took him to the vet and he was only slightly angry this time. I guess since he’s getting old (18 going on 19) a lot of his fight and fire have gone. But still it was no easy task. I was glad to have that over for another year. The doctor said he didn’t see anything that was alarming, so it looks like Spook has a lot of good years left in him! But to be honest, this will be the last cat I’ll ever have. I’m more of a dog person, to be honest. But after Spook’s gone I don’t know if I’ll ever have any more animals. When Spook got home he was HUNGRY! I gave him three helpings of his food. I worked around the house for the remainder of the day, and I got started on the custom-made cap I’m making for Kentaro Ito, the original Japanese of Renji Abarai. I do the English dub voice for Renji, and Ito San and I got to meet in Dallas three weeks ago. He liked the custom Renji cap I was wearing. I love wearing it to shows because it’s one-of-a-kind (soon to be two-of-a-kind)! Renji has tribal tattoos on his forehead, so I put the tattoos on a cap that I can wear. Since Ito San liked it so much, I told him I’d make him one as well. I penciled on the design, and then started painting it on with acrylic paint. I got one side done, and I’ll complete the other side sometime this week. And then, I’ll get it sent off to Ito San in Japan. I made a salad and watched a few more episodes of “Honey West.” I just can’t figure out why I don’t like this show more, but I think the more I watch it, the more I realized that I just don’t like the male lead. He and Anne Francis, who plays Honey, don’t have very much chemistry together. And his character is always yelling. It’s one thing to be upset with her, but honestly, they seem like an old married couple and it’s NOT cool to me. I much prefer the “Dave and Maddie” approach, where the disagreements are more subdued, and funny. Oh well. I guess now I’m realizing why this show only went one season. I’m not sure if this was a director’s choice, or a writer’s choice, or the choice of the actor, but regardless…it’s not making me like this show very much. They’re partners in a detective agency, but they just don’t seem to like each other very much.

Sunday the 21st – BIG BOB BAKER BOY! – Most of the day I enjoyed my traditional “Crash Day,” but later I got up to join my pal Sam Freiberger for a late dinner at Bob’s Big Boy. When we got seated at the back of the restaurant I heard, “Hi Wally!” I turned to find a huge group of people that said they work at the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre! Earlier in the day they had Bob Baker’s 100th birthday celebration, and my pal Sid Krofft was the Grand Marshal! I found out that Dick Van Dyke was also present! I asked them how it went and they said it was fantastic! It was good to see all of them, and they’re a good bunch of kids. I love that young people are interested and enthusiastic about continuing the tradition of Bob Baker’s magic, and are perpetuating the art of puppetry. I got home and did some work around the house, recorded an audition, and went on my nightly WOG. After some time meditating in the anti-grav chair under a bright, overcast sky, I came back inside to set about getting my flight, car and hotel reservations for this July’s Voices Against Cancer event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota! VERY excited to be there again for the third annual event!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK