Charles Barton

            On Wednesday morning I worked out the chords for the first verse and the first chorus of "Plus doux avec moi" (Sweeter with Me) by Serge Gainsbourg. I think that the rest of the verses and choruses probably have the same chords, so I doubt if it will take long to finish it. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I headed for an early bike ride downtown because I wanted to buy a new set of tower speakers. I went to Best Buy and it took a long time to get served. I asked one employee if he could help me with the speakers but he said, "Not really". I asked, "Who can?" and he used a hand device to ask verbally if anyone in computers could help someone with speakers. It was at least five minutes before anyone showed up. The cheapest towers they had were $500 each but I learned that they don't even have them in the store. I could order them online and they could be shipped in two to three business days. I didn't want to wait. 

            I'd overheard another customer mention Bay Bloor Radio, where I went a few years ago when I was shopping for speakers. They were too expensive then but now that I have more money I decided to ride up there. I got waited on almost right away. Their towers are a lot more expensive than at Best Buy. Josh told me that the best deal for a pair of speakers under $3000 were the Oberon 7 by a Danish brand called DALI (Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries), which were on sale for $1799. 

            When I looked this up later it's actually cheaper than the same brand at Best Buy. I asked if I get a discount if I'm Danish. Josh said the cones are made from wood fibre. He showed me the black ones in the home theatre section and I listened to Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones. He found out that the only black ones they had left were the display model that I'd just listened to but they could sell them to me for $1699. After tax it was $1919.87 and the most expensive purchase I've ever made but I figure that at this point in my life I might as well have something of quality and if they outlive me then they'll make a nice inheritance for my daughter. I said I wanted them as soon as possible and he said they could either deliver them on Thursday morning or they could pack them up in the afternoon and I could come back with a taxi. I decided I could wait until Thursday. 

            In the home theatre room was an enormous TV showing an Eric Clapton concert. I thought it hilarious that there were more black people onstage than there were in the large audience. Josh said he met Eric Clapton in the store once. I told him I had pizza and beer with Robert Fripp. 

            I weighed 84.6 kilos before lunch at 14:45, which is the lightest I've been at that time in eight days. I had Breton crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

            I took a late siesta and got up at 16:32. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos at 16:45. 

            From 17:00 to 17:25 I chiseled green fossils from slate. One piece of green root four centimeters long came off intact and only slightly coated in places by some rock. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:46. 

            I reviewed the videos of my performances of "Megaphor" from July 9 to July 12 of this year. From July 9 to 11 I played the acoustic and on July 9 I was done in one take and it sounded and looked good. On July 10 the take at 3:45 was pretty good. On July 11 a couple of chords sounded slightly off. On July 12 I played the electric and the take at 9:30 wasn't bad. I notice that in the recordings of my song practices the distortion of my speakers isn't really evident unless a truck or bus goes by. The distortion is only from low end sounds. 

            In my Audacity project for "Sleep in the Snow" I listened with the headphones because it was too distorted otherwise. I lined up the wave forms for the beginning of the music of the master track and the drum track but the vocals were slightly out of sync. I had thought the only difference between the two files was the drums but it would seem the instrumentation is slightly different. I'll try next time to line up the wave forms where the vocals start and hopefully it won't make the synth and guitar sound out of sync. 

            I only had time to scan one strip of black and white negatives from shots of Amsterdam before dinner. 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce, honey-garlic sausages and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 3, episodes 28 and 29 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story a novelist named Carter Deming is staying at the Shady Rest and he finds it so inspiring that he tells Kate he wants to buy the hotel. His offer comes at a time when Kate has been turned down for a loan, and the girls and Uncle Joe express dissatisfaction about being stuck in the middle of nowhere. Deming offers Kate $10,000 for the Shady Rest, which is far more than it's worth, and Kate accepts. But when Kate tells her family they are moving to New York they are upset. They say they would love to visit there but they belong in Hooterville. Joe then plots to discourage Deming with the smell of pigs and the noise of Charlie and Floyd banging hammers. But Deming just smells fresh country air and the noise doesn't compare to the din of New York. The whole family goes into Hooterville to pick up the deed and when they come back Deming says he wants to back out of the deal. He couldn't get a word written while they were gone and he realizes that it wasn't the location that inspired him but the people. 

            In the second story Charlie and Floyd have a silly spat that begins with Floyd accusing Charlie of stealing his apple. The culprit is actually Joe but they never learn that. They make up but then argue over who is the boss of the Cannonball. Floyd goes on strike and so the train is stalled. They make up again but Joe reminds Floyd that Charlie said he has more brawn than brain and so the strike is back on. Kate invites Charlie and Floyd for dinner but the family puts on a dramatic mockery of Charlie and Floyd's dispute. The railroad men make up so they can eat. 

            Both of these episodes were directed by Charles Barton, whose first job in the movies was as a silent film extra at the age of fifteen. His first film as a director was "Wagon Wheels" in 1934. In the first half of the 1940s he directed westerns and B musicals for Columbia. In the second half of that decade he directed Abbot and Costello films for Universal. He directed what was considered to be their best picture in "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein" but also their worst in "Dance With Me Henry". For Disney he directed "The Shaggy Dog" and "Toby Tyler". In the second half of the 1950s he began directing for television. He was the house director for "The Amos and Andy Show". He directed many episodes of "Family Affair", "McHale's Navy", "Just Dennis", and "Hazel".