Wally’s Week

November 03 – November 09 (2025)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

OLLIE’S TATTOO – UPDATE! Apparently, despite what Google told me initially, Oliver Hardy DID have a tattoo! If you remember from last week, I spied what looked like a leaf tattoo on the inside of Ollie’s right forearm while watching their film “Dirty Work.” But thanks to Scott Sebring, who did a much deeper dive, the tattoo story is TRUE! Here are a few other shots from Laurel & Hardy films where you can see it plainly. Since you hardly ever see their bare arms in their films, nobody usually ever notices it. I’m just tickled that, after all these years of being a Laurel and Hardy fan, I’m still learning new stuff about them!

With the recent passing of Ace Frehley this song has been on my mind a lot lately. I was only a KISS fan for about 10 minutes, but I remember when I was working in radio in the late 1970s all four KISS members released solo albums. Of the four, only Ace Frehly had a song that placed on the top 40 chart. “New York Groove” was also very popular when I used to DJ high school dances. Great song!

Monday the 3rd – 80% IS PRETTY GOOD! – It was ‘errand day,’ and it all started with lunch at the McDonald’s drive thru. I took my lunch to the car wash, got gassed up, and ate while my car was being cleaned. I hit the post office to mail off some stuff, got a few groceries at the store, hit my box to pick up a few packages, and then headed home to do some work. Whew! What a day! But as I headed home I had to pause and shoot some video of the gorgeous orange sunset I was witnessing. Fantastic! Over the past few weeks I had become fairly disheartened by all of the dental work I’m going to need on my #31 tooth. I was warned about a year ago that there was decay under the crown on my #31, but I procrastinated. This allowed the decay to get much worse, and now the tooth is VERY problematic. After a visit with my dentist to remove the crown, and then (upon his recommendation) visiting an endodontist for a “three phase” root canal, I was starting to question my decision. I should have just had it pulled out and gotten an implant. Is it really worth saving at this point? Even after all this work it still may require the tooth to be yanked. Over the weekend I made the decision to speak frankly to the endodontist about continuing with the next two phases. If he thinks that the tooth has at least a 75% chance of being saved, I’d continue with the work. Of course I didn’t reveal to him what my personal threshold of a percentage was, but when he said there was an 80% chance that the tooth could be saved…I figured that was pretty good. So I decided to continue on. He said that preserving biological matter whenever possible is always preferable to adding a metal implant. Plus, one of the roots on my #31 was about 12mm long, and that could be a “complicated” extraction. I relaxed for a bit, did some work, and then took my nightly WOG (walk/jog) later in the evening.

Tuesday the 4th – PEEK-A-BOO MOON! – A do-nothing day seemed like just the thing I needed. I relaxed all day and didn’t do much other than a few auditions and some minor work around the house. Later at night I took my WOG, and as I was rounding a turn to come back home, I saw something out of the corner of my right eye. It was 3 beautiful coyotes on the hunt for food. They froze and I hit them with my headlamp. The light scared a few of them off, but the lead coyote wasn’t budging. I clapped my hands loudly and made a loud noise and started toward them. The last one skittered off. But I saw them again later heading toward the south, ostensibly toward their home in the hills. The night was completely overcast, a bit warm, and quiet. I decided to sit out in the anti-gravity chair and relax and meditate. Even though the sky was completely covered with thick clouds, the recently full moon occasionally peeked through intermittent holes in the cloud cover. It was gorgeous. I came back inside, made some food and went to bed.

Wednesday the 5th – “NATURE’S ROOT CANAL!?” – This was the second of three appointments with my endodontist, and his job was clear. He needed to clean off all the decay on my #31 tooth, and clear out the third root canal. He did the other two last week and it was complicated and not fun. But after cleaning off all the decay I could feel him poking around on my tooth as if he was looking for something. Soon after, he sat me up in the chair and said we were finished. He said the third root canal on the X-ray was deceptive, and he couldn’t actually find it. He didn’t want to keep digging, as he wanted to preserve as much of the tooth structure as possible. What he figured had happened, was that my body sensed a problem with the tooth and calcified the root canal on its own to protect it. He called it “nature’s root canal.” Since it’s calcified over, there’s no getting in. And the nerve is probably already dead anyway. I have never experienced anything like this before in my life. I will never procrastinate with my dental health again! I’m going back on Monday for the final of the three phases, and then heading up to my dentist’s office to get cast for the permanent crown. I can’t wait! I’m hoping to have everything finished by Thanksgiving, and it would REALLY be great to have it all done before I leave for Kansas City on the 21st – but that may be hoping for too much. I went back home to wait for the Novocaine to wear off and do some work. My assistant Emily came over and we headed to Little Toni’s to get some food. When we got back to the house we filmed a few promo videos for my upcoming appearance at Planet Anime in Kansas City. She also helped me move my life-size Darth Vader figure onto his new base so I could trace out his footprints for the guys at Blok4 who are going to wire it for sound. I did some work around the house, relaxed a bit, and then took my nightly WOG.

Thursday the 6th – “NICKEL NODE” STRATEGY! – If you remember my entry from a while back, when I mentioned the nickel-sized nodule they recently found on my thyroid, we’re starting to formulate a plan to get rid of this bad boy. Being the size that it is, it can’t stay. I went to meet the surgeon who will be doing the surgery to remove it, and she’s terrific. She’s done many of these, and while the procedure does come with some minor risks, I feel I’m in good hands. I explained to her that I’m a voice actor and singer, and I’m hoping that there won’t be any noticeable change to my voice afterwards. She said that’s always a possibility, but she explained that the main vocal nerve is up so high she never sees it during these surgeries. She said there is a smaller vocal nerve that IS close to the area, but she’ll be sure to take good care. She said the surgery usually takes about 90 minutes and is an outpatient procedure. Really the only recovery she mentioned is just to take it easy for a few weeks. She said the surgery will be scheduled for some time in December, and December is usually pretty mellow in the entertainment industry anyway. So the timing will work out perfectly. I’m just hoping to get this dental issue settled by then! I’ve heard from several doctor friends and pals in the medical industry that this is a pretty routine surgery. One friend mentioned that the surgery was tantamount to “having a boil removed from someone’s back.” I hope so! We looked over the CT scan and ultrasound files I brought her, and she knows exactly what to do. Thank GOD we found this as early as we did, because over time it could grow to be MUCH worse! I’m anxious to have this over with. On the way home I stopped at Paty’s for a salad on the patio, and then headed home to meet up with Emily. She was going to give my cat Spooky a bath, and that’s never fun! She did a terrific job, and Spook was clean as a whistle! My pal Kelly Delcambre came over to pick up the Darth Vader base so he could return it to the Blok4 shop and begin the wiring process for the sound chip. Under the base there will be a sound chip that features actual Darth Vader lines from the films, as well as his famous breathing. The sound chip will be connected to a detachable battery pack to power it. A small opening on the back of the base allows me to easily access the battery pack to change out the batteries when needed. The voice chip will have two wires running out of it. One will be wired to two buttons which will be on the top of the base. The red button will trigger the lines from the film, and the blue button will trigger the breathing. Another wire will run from the voice chip all the way up the back right leg of the Vader figure, up along the backside of his body, and into his mask. There it will be connected to a speaker that’s mounted inside the mouth screen between Vader’s two tusks. This figure will be amazing! We still have a considerable amount of work to do on the figure before it’s finished, but it’s almost there! Kelly will return in a week with the finished base and we’ll get Vader mounted on it, and pad up his costume some more. When Kelly left I set up my home studio to do a one-hour session for a video game. It’s a regular character that I’ve done several times before, but this time the character is crossing over into another game franchise. Pretty exciting stuff! I rested up for a bit, and then recorded some auditions later – some real fun ones! I took my nightly WOG and then came inside to do some editing.

Friday the 7th – I REALLY NEEDED THIS DAY! – After the week I had, I really needed this day. I needed to have some good food, see my gal Angi again, and enjoy the day with good company. First, the maids came over to clean, and then my Angi popped over so we could spend some time together. She’ll be heading out of town again soon to do some shows, as well as visit relatives over Thanksgiving. First we hit my box to pick up the catalog for the upcoming Jim Henson auction on November 25th! Then we headed to our usual table on the patio at Paty’s to get some lunch. One of Angi’s favorite ice cream places just opened a location near Paty’s, so we went over to get a tasty treat! Then we headed back to Planet Wallywood to hang out and catch up. We had intended to watch the new “Frankenstein” movie by Guillermo Del Toro, but we ran out of time. She had to get going to prepare for her upcoming trip. I rested for a bit, and then got up later to do my WOG. I made a pot pie and watched three episodes of “Tiger and Bunny” from season 2. This really is an amazing show! I’m so proud to be involved in this franchise!

Saturday the 8th – …AND THAT’S A WRAP! – After sleeping most of the day away, I got up and headed to my stylist’s shop to get a trim and a touch up on my color. Then I got some grocery items I needed, and headed over to Michael’s Crafts to see if they had plastic art sleeves. No dice. However, while I was there, I ran into my old pal Rob Richards who was having some artwork framed. We chatted for a bit, but I was getting hungry. So I headed to Jack in the Box to get some food to go. I got back and did a little work, rested some more, and then got up to do my nightly WOG. I did a little video editing, and then made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad. This was the night I would be bidding a fond farewell to the “Boris Karloff Thriller” series. It was the final episode of the final season. Overall it’s been a wonderful series, with just a few clunkers along the way. But I’m glad I saw the entire series. I’m not sure what I’m going to start in on for my regular Saturday night viewing, but I have a few ideas. But I don’t want to start a new series right away because of the upcoming interruptions. I’ll be out of town on the 22nd, and then December 6th will be my monthly “Laurel & Hardy Theatre,” so I may just watch films on the next few Saturdays, and start a new series in December.

Sunday the 9th – TWO SECONDS!!! – Since I reserve Sundays to be my weekly “comatose” days, I slept most of the day. Occasionally I got up to tend to Spook and check on the news. But it was another VERY restful day! I took my nightly WOG later, and the night was pleasant enough that I could spend some quality time outside after my WOG in the anti-gravity chair – looking at the sky, thinking, praying and meditating. The sky was super clear, and I kept my eyes transfixed on the beautiful stars overhead. Off in the western sky I saw a GORGEOUS shooting star that lasted a full two seconds. Duration of this kind is fairly rare in shooting stars in the L.A. area – given how light polluted this city is. But this came straight down in a bright flash, dimmed for a bit, and then flashed once again upon its descent! Stunning! I came back inside and made some dinner, and prepped for the new week.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

When I pulled the bag out of my Fruity Pebbles with Marshmallows, I thought this looked very odd. Aren’t these supposed to be mixed in?

ON CLEARANCE! I found these great Frankenstein pieces for a great price while doing some shopping at the grocery store. SOLD!

Here’s a look at the underside of the base for my life-size Darth Vader figure. The sound chip and battery compartment will live in the little blocked off area, and you can see the wires leading to the switches, and the wire that will eventually lead to Vader’s mask speaker.