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Monday the 12th \u2013 BUSY WEEK AHEAD! \u2013<\/span> After a quick stop at McDonald\u2019s for some lunch, I headed to Studiopolis in Burbank to work for four hours on a new \u201cBleach\u201d project. I have to do a total of five 4-hour sessions to get all of the stuff done, and today is session number 4. It\u2019s a lot of work, but I think the \u201cBleach\u201d fans are going to LOVE it! I got home to relax after the session, and then my friend Angi came over to hang out. She was in a car accident over the weekend and while her car was almost totaled, she wasn\u2019t hurt badly. For that I was thankful. But she\u2019s in a rental car until they can haul her car away for analysis. She was in a bit of physical pain, so we went out to Paty\u2019s for a really nice, relaxing dinner. Our friend Nicolle was serving that night, so we got a chance to chat with her. Later I came home and did my nightly auditions and typed out Wally\u2019s Week.<\/p>\nTuesday the 13th \u2013 IT FELT SO NATURAL! \u2013<\/span> Taco Bell was the lunch choice of the day, and when I got some food at the drive-thru I headed to Salami Studios in North Hollywood to work in an animated film. I can\u2019t say which one yet, but I\u2019m taking the role over from an actor who passed away in 2020. They didn\u2019t require that I try to sound like him, as they just decided to take the character a completely new direction. I love it when producers send me the script in advance so I can prepare and study the scenes I\u2019m in. That way I have a full understanding of the scenes. It\u2019s especially important in this day and age when we\u2019re all recording by ourselves, and without the benefit of other actors being present to record their parts as well. Those group reads are called \u201cEnsemble Sessions,\u201d but those seem to have gone the way of the Dodo. Though they had me booked for four hours, we only worked for an hour. I did three takes of each line, and they seemed to love everything we were doing. They had a few contextual notes here and there, in regards to emphasizing certain words in the script, but overall it was a very smooth, delightful session. And it was a character that was very easy to perform. I can\u2019t wait to tell you more about it soon. Since I had the majority of the afternoon open I called a few people to meet for an early dinner, but everyone was busy. I expected to be busy for four hours, so getting done early was a bit of a surprise. When I got home I did a little work around the house. I grabbed a short nap, and then later I did my nightly auditions and sent them to my agent. A while back my seamstress Maggie suggested that I apply to be on a show on ME-TV called \u201cCollector\u2019s Call.\u201d It\u2019s a show all about collectors and the collections they\u2019ve amassed, but the tone of the show isn\u2019t really about eclectic people like me. Most of the collectors they\u2019ve featured have been singularly interested in collecting one thing. For example, 3,000 Donald Duck toys, or 5,000 Garfield items. But I collect a lot of different things and I always felt the vibe at Planet Wallywood would be too eclectic for them to create a singular narrative for given their half hour format. In my collecting and displays, I\u2019ve always felt the need to present \u201csomething for everybody.\u201d If you have a Donald Duck collection of 3,000 pieces, that\u2019s great. But if a visitor doesn\u2019t like Donald Duck, then you\u2019ve lost them. But at Planet Wallywood I\u2019ve got a little something for everybody. You may not like Andy Kaufman or \u201cStar Trek,\u201d but then I\u2019ve got Muppets and \u201966 Batman! But at her urging, I filled out the on-line form and submitted it. They contacted me with interest, and asked me to whittle it down to my 10 favorite screen-used items in my collection. So I created two separate PDF documents for them. One document was about my top ten screen-used or celebrity-related items. And the second document contained information about rare and interesting collectibles I\u2019ve amassed. So I went around the house taking shots of the items, and integrating them into a document format, and sent the documents off to the producers. We\u2019ll see what happens. I\u2019ve had many crews at Planet Wallywood shooting my collection, but I feel this show on ME-TV would be the best exposure the collection has gotten so far.<\/p>\nWednesday the 14th \u2013 A DAY FILLED WITH OLD BUDDIES! \u2013<\/span> Since 1981 I\u2019ve had a buddy named Dave Baumeister. I met him through his wife in Sioux Falls when she and I worked at the same radio station. He was also into comics and Batman, and we became instant fast friends! With our friend Chris Malmin we formed \u201cThe Bat Pack\u201d back then and did all sorts of great \u201cBatman-ish\u201d things. I\u2019m the godfather to his son Sean, who now lives in L.A., so Dave was in town visiting Sean for a week. Today was the day that Dave had some time to come by and say hi, so when he came over we enjoyed the day by walking to the post office, chatting, and then getting lunch at Art\u2019s Deli. We visited the bookstore next door and I picked up a great coffee table book about the making of \u201cThe Jungle Book:\u201d my favorite animated film of all time. While we were at the bookstore, it was great being in a world populated with people sitting in chairs reading books, kids on the floor with their parents looking over books, and thousands and thousands of books. In fact, the smell of the store when you walked in was intoxicating! I recently discovered a gift card that had been given to me back in the old \u201cTonight Show\u201d days that I hadn\u2019t used yet. It was a card for $25 off a book at the store! I relished using it for my new \u201cJungle Book\u201d purchase. We stopped at the cigar store on the way home to pick up a few nice cigars for his final night in town, and then headed home. Then I drove to Paty’s in the Gran Torino to have dinner with my pal David Woodruff. Since the writer\u2019s strike is on, he was itching to get to work on something. So we tossed around a few ideas. While we were waiting for our food, David directed my attention to somebody who was by my car. I turned around and saw that it was a little old man who was having trouble getting between the Torino and the car in front of me. Then I recognized his frame and his clothes. It was my old pal \u201cBazooka Joe;\u201d my 104 year old World War II buddy! I ran out to greet him and say hi. It was great catching up and I finally got to show him my Gran Torino, which I had been wanting to do for a long time. When Joe got out of the war he restored cars for a living, so he\u2019s always been a \u201ccar guy.\u201d I introduced myself to the two ladies who were with him (Joe is always surrounded by women!) and helped Joe get into their car. It sure was good to see him again, and it was especially nice to see him in such great health! I stopped to get ice cream from Baskin Robbins on the way home, and then headed back to do my nightly auditions. I relaxed a bit, took a short nap, and then later that night I reconciled my bank statements. I got an email from the producers of \u201cCollector\u2019s Call\u201d and they\u2019re VERY interested in talking to me more about the Planet Wallywood collection. They requested a Zoom call on Monday where I could take them all through the house to show them various items. Neat! I made a salad and watched a few episodes of \u201cThe Lone Ranger\u201d before bed.<\/p>\nThursday the 15th \u2013 THE FINAL SESSION! \u2013<\/span> It seems like every time I record at Studiopolis in Burbank, I always hit the McDonald\u2019s on the way there. I hardly ever eat at McDonald\u2019s anymore, so getting a few burgers on the way to a session is always a treat. Today was the final four hour session for \u201cBleach,\u201d and it went very well. This particular project has exclusive, never-before-seen content that is going to drive the \u201cBleach\u201d fans wild! Trust me! After the session I hit my box to pick up my packages, and when I got back home I felt that I deserved a pizza. So I ordered a pizza from Domino\u2019s and relaxed. It\u2019s been a busy week. I deserved it! I did my nightly auditions, sent them into my agents, and then got a nap. Later I got up to do some work around the house. Now that the work week is over I can turn my attentions to getting some stuff done around the house. I made a salad and watched a few \u201cLone Ranger\u201d episodes, followed by a great two-part \u201cHave Gun \u2013 Will Travel\u201d episode on the H&I network. I really love that show!<\/p>\nFriday the 16th \u2013 MORE FUN WITH GOOD BUDDIES! \u2013<\/span> With all of the bad eating I\u2019ve been doing, it was time to get back to Paty\u2019s for a nice salad. When I finished my lunch I headed to Alex In Wonderland to start work on a second helmet for my Super Grover replica Muppet. The first helmet was fine, but I wanted it to more closely resemble the one Super Grover wears in the movie \u201cFollow That Bird,\u201d which meant making it a bit higher in profile. I took the first helmet to Alex so she could design the new one based on its sizing, and I also dropped off my \u201cHead Turning Hutch\u201d to her husband Mike for repairs. He\u2019s the one who made my Hutch robot initially (the one who sits in the passenger seat of my Torino and looks around at people) but something had vibrated loose in his neck and his head and gotten very wobbly. I got back home and made up the Puppet Room bed for my buddy Dave. His plane would be leaving on Saturday afternoon, so he\u2019d be staying with me for the night. I kept my Torino out so I could drive him to dinner in it. We headed to Ernie\u2019s Taco House to meet our friend Chris Malmin. It was a great dinner with good friends! Then we headed back to my house, got our cigars out, and took a walk through the complex enjoying our nice cigars. We ended up sitting at a table near the clubhouse at the center of our complex. We had a great time enjoying the cigars and talking about the old days. It was a gorgeous night, and for once the skies were clear! It sure was great to see stars and planets in the sky again. We\u2019ve been almost completely overcast for the past two months! We topped off the cigars with some ice cold Cokes in glass bottles (a tradition of ours) and then Chris bid us adieu. Dave turned in, but I still had some work to do all night around the house.<\/p>\nSaturday the 17th \u2013 ATTAINING ONE OF MY LIFETIME \u201cGOELZ\u201d! \u2013<\/span> My buddy Dave got up at 8:30 and I was able to see him off. He would be meeting his son Sean for breakfast before his flight, but I had lots of prep work to do before a very important appointment later that afternoon. At the beginning of May I put a bid in at a charity auction being held for the Puppetry Arts Center in Atlanta. They had a lot of great packages, but the one I was most interested in was a one-hour Zoom call with Muppet performer Dave Goelz. He\u2019s the last of the original gang who\u2019s still performing, and I\u2019ve been wanting to meet him for a long time. He and I were in touch back in 2019 via email, and it was looking like Dave was going to come tour Planet Wallywood the next time he was in town. But then the world melted town in 2020 and everything changed. So now it seems a Zoom call is the best I\u2019ll get. But it was for a worthy cause, and it was a lifetime goal of mine to meet him (albeit virtually). I got my webcam set up with all the appropriate lighting etc, and when 2pm rolled around I was ready. Our one-hour conversation could have easily turned into a two-hour or three-hour call! Mr. Goelz and I had a LOT in common! Including our obsession at a young age of building replicas of the Muppets we saw on television! At one point I told him that if some genealogist was to track our bloodlines, I\u2019m sure we\u2019d be distantly related somehow! He told me all about the little gizmo inside of Gonzo\u2019s head that manipulates his \u201cwide-eyed\u201d look. He also imparted a lot of other wisdom that I found fascinating. He wanted to hear all about my work in the Voice Over industry and about my work on \u201cThe Tonight Show.\u201d He\u2019s originally from the Burbank area, so he had all sorts of great stories about sneaking onto the NBC lot when he was a kid! He even told me that Paty\u2019s (one of my favorite restaurants) used to be called Gaby\u2019s back in the day. I loved hearing him tell me about setting up an ersatz Jungle Ride in his backyard with friends when he was a kid. I told him I did the same thing when I was a kid, but with all of the snow drifts in South Dakota, it was more like the Matterhorn ride! We exchanged email information and I hope we get to stay in touch. He and I seem very much like kindred spirits. I always thought that in some alternate life stream, my life would have been a lot like that of Dave Goelz! Totally charged up, I put on my walking clothes and walked over to CVS to pick up some prescriptions. Then I had a gorgeous lunch at Panera, on the patio enjoying the sunshine. It\u2019s been so long since we\u2019ve seen the sun here in L.A.! Then I got some groceries and headed back home. What a glorious day! I napped all evening, and later I got busy doing random things I needed to get done. When I signed the contract to appear at the Chattanooga Comic Con this October, they requested that I record a video message announcing my appearance. Well, I can never do anything simple. So much like I did when I announced my appearance at Anime Las Vegas a few months back, I did it musically. I downloaded a karaoke version of \u201cChattanooga Choo Choo,\u201d rewrote the lyrics, and put on a tuxedo and slicked back my hair to look like a big band singer. The video turned out pretty funny, and I edited it and posted it to my social media. Then I changed back into my normal clothes and filmed a Cameo for a fan of the \u201cStreet Fighter 6\u201d game I\u2019m in. She loved the character of J.P., so I helped her celebrate her birthday in style. I recorded some Voice Over auditions, worked around the house, and made my Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watched an episode of \u201cThe Saint\u201d before bed. A truly amazing day! Great to be alive!<\/p>\nSunday the 18th \u2013 SLOPPIES WITH SARA! \u2013<\/span> Whenever I get the craving for some good old Midwestern sloppy joes, I have my pal Sara come over to cook some up. First, we drove the Gran Torino over to my auxiliary parking, put it to bed, and got out my Mustang convertible. Since we\u2019re looking at some sunny days this coming week, I wanted to get the Mustang out and put the top down to enjoy some long overdue sun! Hard to believe the first day of summer is next week, and our weather is still a little winter-ish. We stopped at the store and got some supplies for dinner, and then we headed back to enjoy some sloppy joes with barbecue chips and dip. YUM! I napped with a delightfully full stomach, and got up later to prep the house for a Zoom call with the producers of ME-TV\u2019s \u201cCollector\u2019s Call\u201d on Monday. It was lots of work to get the house looking like I wanted it for the call, but it was well worth it! I heated up a few sloppy joes before bed and hit the hay!<\/p>\nAnd how was YOUR week??!!<\/p>\n
PIX FROM THE WEEK<\/p>\n
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