{"id":2415,"date":"2015-08-03T06:33:19","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T13:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/wallysweek\/?p=2415"},"modified":"2019-04-26T18:39:59","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T18:39:59","slug":"august-3-august-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/august-3-august-9\/","title":{"rendered":"August 3 – August 9 (2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK<\/h3>\n

SQUIRREL!  And BABY squirrel!!!<\/p>\n

\"ww_050315_00\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After getting a private acoustic concert from Elliot Lurie of Looking Glass last Sunday, I’ve had his song “Sweet Somethin”<\/span> in my mind for days!  Check it out!  And enjoy that Wurlitzer organ solo toward the end of the song!<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/wallysweek\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/sweet_somethin.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Monday the 3rd \u2013 MONDAY, MUSTANG & MIKE\u2019S! \u2013<\/span> When I got up at 2 I had a bad sinus headache.  My allergies have been off the charts this summer it seems.  I mustered the energy to type up Wally\u2019s Week, and then bike over to my vitamin store to get some supplements I needed.  This should be a fairly slow week so I\u2019m enjoying the down time.  It\u2019ll get plenty busy again for the remainder of August.  I took a brief nap on the couch, and then I hopped in the Mustang with Roxy, put the top down and drove over to Jersey Mike\u2019s to get a sandwich.  What a gorgeous night!  I got home to eat and do some work, and then set about doing my nightly auditions and e-mailing them to my agents.  Just before I went to bed to finish off my sandwich, I watched the final episode of \u201cHawaii Five-O\u201d from the season 12 boxed set.  I\u2019ve officially seen every episode from all 12 seasons.  As I\u2019ve mentioned before, the final season of \u201c5-O\u201d was very tired and unfocused.  And the final episode was no exception.  It had McGarrett (Jack Lord) dressed up in a silver Halloween wig and a silver goatee posing as a physicist who got kidnapped by his arch-nemesis Wo Fat.  He spoke in a raspy voice, but still moved and acted like Jack Lord. It was really REALLY weird!  Now it\u2019s time to move on to the final season of \u201cMagnum, p.i.\u201d, but there\u2019s only about 13 episodes in the season so it\u2019ll go by fast!<\/p>\n

Tuesday the 4th \u2013 WE ARE THE SONS OF THE DESERT! \u2013<\/span> The first order of the day was to get over to Enterprise car rental to reserve a vehicle for my short trip to Palm Springs this weekend.  The weather for that area was taking a bit of a temperature dip (compared to the normal August temps) so I figured I\u2019d wing on over for a quick trip.  Plus it was about a year ago when I went to Palm Springs on a \u201cJourney of Spiritual Necessity.\u201d  Things weren\u2019t going so well for me last year about this time, so I went to Palm Springs to get a few days of solitude and clarity.  Well, a year later things are going swimmingly!  So I figured I\u2019d go commemorate the first annual Journey of Spiritual Necessity with a trip of thanksgiving to Palm Springs.  A lot can change in a year.  I wanted to rent a car for the trip because I didn\u2019t want my Mustang getting damaged in any of those spontaneous sandstorms that kick up around the desert cities.  Plus my Mustang is pretty small considering all the stuff I like to take with me.  I headed over to Michael\u2019s Crafts and checked in with their framing department. I had left my Filmation Lassie animation cel (which I bought at this year\u2019s San Diego Comic Con) for framing, but he didn\u2019t frame it exactly right. So I\u2019m going to have him redo certain aspects of it and pick it up in a week.  I sped off to my mailbox to get my mail, and then I got home to meet with Jim Ojala regarding a new project we\u2019re doing.  Back in the 90\u2019s I bought a copy of an original William Shatner mask; the same one that was used as the basis of the famous \u201cShape\u201d mask in the original \u201cHalloween.\u201d  But something had gone wrong in the duplication of these masks, and they got very small.  Almost child-size.  Either the mold shrunk, or the latex shrunk\u2026something went wrong.  Well, during a massive cleaning of The Chaney Room recently, I happened across this \u201cmini Michael Myers mask\u201d stuffed away in the back of a shelf.  I got a great idea.  Digital scanning, imaging and 3-D printing has come a long way since then, so I figured I\u2019d have this mask scanned, enlarged the proper percentage to accommodate a human head, and then make a mold from it so I could create a new Michael Myers mask based on the old William Shatner mask.  This would be about as close to having an original as you can get.  So Jim took my \u201cmini Michael\u201d with him to take to a digital scanning place he knew of.  Stay tuned!  When the meeting ended I headed over to the Mayflower Club in North Hollywood to embark on a dream come true!  I attended an actual meeting of The Sons of the Desert; the Laurel and Hardy fan club!  I used to read about those meetings all the time when I was 13, hoping to someday make a meeting.  Bill Frieberger, one of the producers of \u201cSonic Boom\u201d asked if I wanted to go along.  I jumped at the chance!  This was called the Way Out West tent, and they started the meeting with the singing of the \u201cSons of the Desert\u201d song from the movie!  They even locked arms the same way they did in the film!  We sang\u2026<\/p>\n

We are the Sons of the Desert,<\/p>\n

Having the time of our lives.<\/p>\n

Marching along, two thousand strong,<\/p>\n

Far from our sweethearts and wives, God bless them.<\/p>\n

Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the boys are marching,<\/p>\n

And dancing to this melody.<\/p>\n

Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm,<\/p>\n

Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm,<\/p>\n

Sons of the Desert are we!<\/p>\n

What fun!  I\u2019m definitely going to join this tent as a member!  Heck, I already have the fez!  I came home and grabbed a short nap, and then got up to do my auditions.  I made some spaghetti and started in on \u201cMagnum, p.i.\u201d season eight, the final season.<\/p>\n

Wednesday the 5th \u2013 A HOT AUGUST\u2026AFTERNOON?! \u2013<\/span> By the time I got up and around at 1 the temp had already climbed into the lower 90\u2019s.  That\u2019s August in L.A for ya!  I did some work on the computer, sent some e-mails and did some desk work.  Then I scampered off to run some errands and have lunch with my assistant Sara.  We stopped by Toys \u2018R\u2019 Us to check on the new toys, but we didn\u2019t find much.  I stopped by Hobby Lobby and we picked up a bunch of cool stuff.  I stopped by the grocery store to get some supplies and then went home to grab a nap.  My pal Brittney Powell came over to tell me all about the new apartment she just acquired.  She grabbed some things she had been storing at my house and then headed out.  I did my nightly auditions and then caught another episode of \u201cMagnum, p.i.\u201d before bed.<\/p>\n

Thursday the 6th \u2013 COVERALLS TO DYE FOR! \u2013<\/span> Most of Spook\u2019s cat fud had run out, so I made a stop at my vet\u2019s office to pick up some more.  (I\u2019ve always spelled cat food, \u201ccat fud\u201d in honor of Gary Larson\u2019s hilarious \u201cFar Side\u201d cartoon)  Then I visited the hardware store, and headed off to Weinerschnitzel to grab lunch.  I went to the Disney studios in Burbank at 3 for a dubbing session.  I\u2019m going to provide some voices in an upcoming Disney release, but I can\u2019t mention which one yet.  It was a great session and we always have fun doing those.  I ended up voicing about 7 characters all total.  How many of them will make it into the final cut of the film we don\u2019t yet know.  When we finished I went to Voicecasters to do an audition.  I stopped by my local market to pick some ripe, red tomatoes for a salad, and then it was off to Michael\u2019s Crafts to get some gray dye.  The aforementioned mini Michael Myers mask will be painted and have hair attached when it\u2019s done getting scanned.  The mask fits perfectly on a little boy mannequin, so I\u2019m going to add a \u201cMichael Jr.\u201d next to my lifesize Michael figure in The Chaney Room.  I even found a pair of little boy coveralls to put on him, but unfortunately the navy blue pair is too dark, and the royal blue pair is too bright.  So I overdyed the royal blue pair with some gray dye.  Boy was it a mess. I still have the stains in my kitchen sink to show for it!  But they ended up looking pretty good after 2 whole bottles of gray dye.  I watched the debate on Fox and then did my nightly auditions.  I started my packing for Palm Springs and then hit the hay.  I was SO ready for a respite in Palm Springs for the weekend!<\/p>\n

Friday the 7th \u2013 WALLY THE WASP WARRIOR! \u2013<\/span> Since I was due at Mattel in El Segundo at 1:30 for a session, that meant I had to be up and on the road by 12:30 to make it on time.  I did a few promos in the Mattel studio and then headed back out to the freeway.  I made it home by 3:30 and met up with my friend Andrea.  She\u2019s a huge \u201cSailor Moon\u201d fans so I wanted her to come along to a dubbing session to see how it was all done.  But first I had her take me to Enterprise so I could get my car.  I was originally supposed to pick up my car at 5:30, but I called and asked if I could come a few hours earlier.  By the time I got out of the \u201cSailor Moon\u201d session Enterprise would be closed.  They said to come on by and they would find me something.  Good timing too!  As I walked in, a gorgeous black Dodge Charger was being turned back in!  PEREFCT!  I snagged it and, after a quick car wash and vacuuming, I was on the road!  I promised not to break Dodge Law while driving it (for that reference, watch the Dodge spots on my Latest News page<\/a>).  We got back to my house after the session and I hopped in the Torino.  I hadn\u2019t had it running in a few weeks and I wanted to get it going so the battery wouldn\u2019t run down.  We took the Torino to Paty\u2019s to grab dinner.  After dinner I headed home, stashed the Torino, got the Charger all loaded up and ready to hit the road, and took off!  What a great car!  I got to Palm Springs around 11:30, and it was warm and starry.  In fact, the stars looked particularly twinkly that night.  But when I checked into my usual room at the Palm Springs Hyatt I noticed with horror something amiss on my private balcony!  Up in the left hand corner of the balcony\u2019s ceiling was a wasp nest about the size of a golf ball. And SEVEN wasps were clung to it sleeping soundly!  Well, I was going to be on the balcony all night watching stars, and I was a little nervous about sharing it was so many wasps.  In addition to our flying friends, there were about 5 spiders around the top of the ceiling with webs spun, waiting for prey.  I called down and had Tucker the night security guy come take a look.  I told him we just needed something to trap the wasp nest in, like a large cup, and top it with a piece of cardboard.  Then we could pour the contents of the cup over the edge of the balcony and wasp nest and wasps would be officially relocated.  So he brought up a large, metal ice bucket.  He as he started to attempt to trap the wasp next in the bucket, one wasp flew at him and landed on his shoulder!  Tucker waved it off and it then flew right into my room!  Great!  He said he was going to call the pest control company that the hotel usually utilizes for such situations, but I told him I didn\u2019t want them sprayed (because I didn\u2019t want to smell the spray all night as I relaxed on the balcony) and I really didn\u2019t want them killed. Just\u2026relocated humanely.  He went downstairs to call the company and then called my room. Good news!  They would be here in a half hour!  So I continued to unpack and waited.  Then he called back a few minutes later to tell me that wouldn\u2019t be making it out until 8am!  I told him not to worry because I\u2019d be dead to the world at 8am; sound asleep!  I told him I would just remove the next myself.  So I took the ice bucket and a paper plate. I cut the curved edges off the plate so it would fit flat over the mouth of the bucket.  I would trap the wasp nest in the metal bucket, scoot the bucket along the ceiling to detach the nest, and then slide the cardboard cover in over the mouth.  Then I would bring the bucket down and pour the contents over the side.  It seemed good in theory.  I trapped the next, dragged it across the ceiling, and attempted to put the cardboard in over the mouth of the bucket before removing it for disposal.  Unfortunately the cardboard piece wasn\u2019t quite big enough to cover the entire opening of the bucket, and wasps started flying out all over the place!  I panicked and lost control of the bucket.  It went over the side of the balcony.  It clanked on the lip at the bottom of my balcony and then all was silent.  I counted to myself\u2026one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four, one thousand five, one thousand six\u2026and then CLANK CLANK CLANK!  The metal bucked had fallen six stories to the street below!  The good news was; I got rid of the wasps and the nest.  The bad news was; I just dropped a metal ice bucket filled with pissed off wasps on somebody\u2019s head down below!  It sounded like something that would happen in a Daffy Duck cartoon!  I bent over the railing as far as I could, injuring the lower part of my right ribs in the process, but I didn\u2019t see anyone down below.  Luckily it was already 2:30 in the morning so the streets were bare.  But now my ribs hurt something fierce!  A few wasps had managed to fly back up to the balcony wondering what the hell happened to their house.  Unwilling to mess with them any longer I took my show and started hitting the wall of the balcony trying to squash them.  Eventually my Darth Vader size 11 Van did the trick and the wasps were gone.  Now there was the matter of the spiders.  I guess the cleaning staff at the Hyatt doesn\u2019t really pay much attention to the balconies when they\u2019re cleaning the rooms, because these webs and the wasp nest didn\u2019t just appear over night!  I called Tucker and asked him to bring up a broom to get rid of the cobwebs, spiders and spiderwebs.  Which he did.  By 3am I was ready to relax on the balcony in a spider and wasp-free zone!  I got a good 2 hours in of peaceful star watching time, but it occurred to me.  The stars in the sky over Palm Springs aren\u2019t as clear and vivid as they usually are.  I think the city of Palm Springs is growing and the light pollution is starting to creep in.  Rats!<\/p>\n

Saturday the 8th \u2013 KAUFMANESQUE SCHEME! \u2013<\/span> From 5am to  5pm, I had a good looooong sleep!  It sure felt good to not have to worry about taking a dog out, or making a meeting or audition.  It was great!  I was supposed to meet my friend  Edi and her fianc\u00e9 Elliot for dinner at 7 at Las Casuelas; the Mexican restaurant that Elvis used to frequent when he lived in Palm Springs in the late 60\u2019s.  Elliot Lurie was the lead singer of the band Looking Glass in the 70\u2019s, and through my friendship with him he met my friend Edi (a huge fan of the song \u201cBrandy\u201d) and the rest is history!  They\u2019re going to be married in early December and they just recently purchased a house in Palm Desert.  As I waited outside for them to arrive I spent some time listening to a singer who was performing at the outdoor HooDoo Lounge in front of the Hyatt.  He was a good singer, and had a modest set up.  There wasn\u2019t a band behind him, but he had a complete catalog of background tapes that he would sing to karaoke style.  And the audience seemed to be digging him.  Then I got a fun idea.  In fact, as I stood there on the street corner listening to him sing I started laughing to myself.  People passing by must\u2019ve thought I was some sort of demented crazy man; standing there laughing to myself.  But I had a very Kaufman-esque kind of idea.  After dinner I wanted to talk to the singer privately and tell him who Elliot really was.  Then I would slip him a 20 to put on the backing tracks to \u201cBrandy\u201d and have Elliot come up and sing it.  However, only he and I would know the truth. The rest of the audience would have no idea.  Elliot would simply be introduced as a guest from the Hyatt who wanted to sing a song.  Then I would sit back and watch the audience\u2019s faces as their jaws would drop one by one, marveling at how this humble \u201chotel guest\u201d sounded exactly like the real guy.  There\u2019s an inside joke amongst Elliot\u2019s friends that most everyone thought the lead singer of Looking Glass (who sang \u201cBrandy\u201d) was a black guy.  Back in the early 70\u2019s there was no internet, so you couldn\u2019t easily access information about the group.  Little did anyone know that the singer with the big voice is a slender white guy from New York!  So after Elliot was done wowing the audience I was going to have the singer say, \u201cWow! Thanks!  That sounded just like the real guy.  But you can\u2019t be him because everyone knows he was black!\u201d  When Elliot and Edi arrived for dinner, Elliot agreed to the scheme with a devilish smile!  As luck would have it, we got seated at the official \u201cElvis\u201d table at Las Casuelas!  I sat in the spot where Elvis sat when he enjoyed his combo plate back in the late 60\u2019s.  We had a fun time chatting over dinner, and I got to meet Elliot\u2019s son Jon who was visiting from New York.  It was about 10 by the time we finished dinner, and I ran over to the singer and told him my scheme. I even slipped him a 20.  Elliot and Edi wanted to go in the Hyatt\u2019s lobby to visit the bathroom, and unfortunately by the time they came back out the singer had finished his show.  He said that they received a noise complaint and had to shut down.  His show was supposed to end at 9:30, but the audience was having so much fun he kept going.  I guess if the service at Las Casuelas had been a little faster, we would have made it.  But we were out of luck.  However, I\u2019m keeping the scheme in the back of my head for the future!  But the singer shook Elliot\u2019s hand, told him he loved his work, and they promised to make it happen at some future date.  I bid Elliot, Edi and Jon goodbye and I headed inside to chat with the Hyatt staff and tell tales of fighting wasps during all hours of the night!   I checked my e-mails and then headed upstairs to start star gazing.  It was an amazing night for it!  I\u2019ve never seen so many shooting stars in all my times of staying there!  In fact, I saw DOUBLE shooting stars.  One fell from the left to the right, and a split second later one fell from the right to the left.  If the second one had been a split second earlier, they would have criss-crossed in the sky!  As it was it looked pretty amazing!  I stopped counting after seeing the 12th shooting star.  Gorgeous!  I got to bed around 5:30am as the sun was coming up.<\/p>\n

Sunday the 9th \u2013 PRIVATE CONCERT! \u2013<\/span> I phoned Elliot at 6pm when I got up and got directions to their house.  He was cooking dinner that night and invited me over. They have a gorgeous rental in Palm Desert where they\u2019re staying until the house they bought is ready.  After a meal of pasta and grilled sausage Elliot showed me the guitar he composed \u201cBrandy\u201d on.  Fabulous!  I told him much like B.B. King had Lucille, he should name that guitar Brandy!  He also showed me a vintage guitar he had just picked up recently.  He played several songs on it for us.  He\u2019s been doing solo shows so he said he needed the rehearsal.  He\u2019ll be in Atlanta later this month, and then he\u2019s also doing a gig in Chicago.  If you can catch him\u2026DO IT!  He played \u201cSweet Somethin,\u201d \u201cJimmy Loves Mary-Anne,\u201d and of course \u201cBrandy.\u201d  While he sang Brandy Edi was dancing around with her little Maltese named Bunny.  When the time came in the song for Elliot to sing \u201cBrandy does her best to understand,\u201d he looked at Bunny and sang, \u201cBunny does her best to understand!\u201d Hilarious!  Palm Desert doesn\u2019t seem to be as developed as Palm Springs. As Elliot puts it, \u201cit\u2019s sleepier.\u201d  Which means the skies overhead have WAY more stars than Palm Springs.  In fact, I had to pull over on the way back to the hotel because the sky was so amazing.  I pulled off the 111 on a street called Cherokee Way.  I pulled into a dark driveway of a furniture store, got out of the car, turned it off, and just stared into the sky.  It\u2026was\u2026stunning!  There were literally thousands of stars.  Uncountable!  I got back to the hotel, got settled and then went across the street to get an NYPD pizza.  But I could tell the weather was warming up.  I\u2019d be leaving the next day and just in time, because apparently the short cooling spell was ending.  The night I spent on the balcony was almost \u201ctoo\u201d warm.  It bordered on uncomfortable.  It seems like I would be leaving just in time!  Strangely enough, the song on my iPad the finished up my star watching time was \u201cInterstellar Man\u201d by William Orbit.  And in keeping with my amazing luck for the weekend (getting the Charger, getting the Elvis table, etc.) the song seemed to underscore what I was seeing in the sky.  There\u2019s a soft passage in the song, and then it comes on full force.  Just as it kicked into the up-tempo part,  a gorgeous shooting star shot across the sky as if the music and special effects in the sky were synchronized!  I couldn\u2019t make this stuff up, folks!  Wow!  A perfect end to another great trip (except for those pesky wasps!)<\/p>\n

And how was YOUR week??!!<\/p>\n

PIX FROM THE WEEK<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/wallysweek\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/sd_torino.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

\nGREAT NEWS!  As you can see my brother-in-law Roger in South Dakota got the Gran Torino running!  (This was the first Torino I bought which was always problematic.  The Torino I have now is the second one I bought and it’s awesome!)  Great job Roger!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The sleek ride I rented for my drive to Palm Springs…a black Dodge Charger! (And NO, I didn’t violate Dodge Law!)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The wasp nest I conquered with my very own hands (and a metal ice bucket!)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"One<\/a>

One of my spider guests…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"I<\/a>

I don’t even know what the hell this thing is??!!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Elliot's<\/a>

Elliot’s new 1959 vintage Guild guitar<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Here's<\/a>

Here’s the guitar Elliot wrote the hit “Brandy” on!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Edi,<\/a>

Edi, Elliot and Bunny at home enjoying the desert evening!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Mini<\/a>

Mini Michael Myers gets digitally scanned for his journey to a grown-up mask!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Sons of the Desert meeting will come to order!<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wallysweek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}