Warren Barker

            On Tuesday morning I worked out the chords for the first three verses of “Love Fifteen” by Serge Gainsbourg. The first two verses share the same chords and I think the fourth will be the same as the third. That will set the pattern for the rest of the song. 

            I weighed 86.95 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I removed the bathroom mirror and sanded the area above the sink. I had a hell of a time getting the mirror back on because the drywall anchor fell inside the wall. I had to dig in a drawer for another one and put an anchor on each end of one screw because the mirror has a circular hook that the anchor bolt head wouldn’t catch. Next I’ll sand the middle part of the eastern wall and the edge and underside of the upper shelf. 

            I weighed 87 kilos before lunch. 

            I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 86.7 kilos at 17:45. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:30.

            I took my camera and tripod out to look for Whispering Ghost with Wings of Silver. I walked to Sorauren and then back to Brock. I stopped and talked with David the beggar and he hasn’t seen him for a week or so. I walked to Jameson and then home. I’ll give it five more days and then stop looking so I can move on with my project.

            I reviewed the videos of my song practice performances of “Comme un Boomerang” and “Like a Boomerang” from August 21 to September 12 of last year. On August 21, August 27, and September 12 I played “Comme un Boomerang” on my Martin acoustic guitar. On August 21 the take at 11:00 in part B was not great and the hand gestures look awkward. On August 27 the take at 11:00 in part B was not great. I wasn’t hitting the E flat minor firmly. On September 12 the take at 9:45 in part B was not great and the light was bad. On September 4 I played it on my Kramer electric guitar and the take at 17:15 in part B looked good but didn’t sound great. On August 22, 26 and 28 I played “Like a Boomerang” on my Martin. On August 22 the take at 17:45 in part B was not bad. On August 26 the take at 6:45 in part B looked good and sounded okay. On August 28 the take at 13:45 in part B was okay. The only versions of this song I’ve highlighted are four English versions. I don’t think I play this song well enough yet to upload it to YouTube. There’s already a bad version on YouTube and so until I can improve on that I’ll keep practicing. Tomorrow I’ll review my takes of “Les sucettes” and “Annie C’s Aniseed Suckers". 

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching the first two episodes of the seventh season of Bewitched. This is the first time there’s been a story arc in the series. Apparently the reason for it is because there was a fire on the set before the seventh season began and so they had to make up a travel arc so they could shoot on location. In the first story Endora delivers a formal message to Samantha. She is ordered to appear at the Witches Convocation in Salem starting when the planet Icarus passes between Jupiter and Pluto and ending when the High Priestess Hepzibah so wills it. There is a minor planet called Icarus that is an asteroid with a very erratic orbit. It gets closer to the sun than Mercury and further away from the sun than the outer orbit of Mars. But it can’t pass between Jupiter and Pluto. Endora has been appointed Lord High Chairman by Hepzibah. Samantha says she’s not going but Endora says she’ll regret it. When Darrin finds out, he is immediately angry and confrontational with Endora and so she turns him into a toad. She only changes him back when Samantha agrees to go to Salem. Darrin says he’ll go with her and when Samantha announces that to Endora the Witches Council immediately sends her a message that Hepzibah will be coming to visit. A storm blows in the living room and then in an explosion Hepzibah appears on her throne with her great Danes Cleopatra and Caesar. Darrin confronts Hepzibah and she seems somewhat impressed with how much he loves Samantha. Samantha’s marriage to Darrin is the first and only union of witch and commoner. Hepzibah has decided to stay with them for a week to observe their relationship. She informs Samantha that her dogs prefer zebra meat.

            In the second story, with Empress Hepzibah staying with them, Samantha, Darrin and Tabitha are expected to dress formally for dinner. When they come down the stairs a trumpeter announces Samantha as “Ex-Queen Samantha” but there was a never a story in which Samantha ever stopped being queen of the witches. When Darrin protests not being announced as “master of this house” Hepzibah gives him one demerit. She warns him that nine more will result in him being dissolved. There are two servants in powdered wigs and the fare is exotic: paté of elephant tail, hummingbird tongue parmesan and pickled eye of newt (eye of newt became a trope ingredient in stories of witches after Macbeth and the image one forms is of a lizard’s eye. But chances are eye of newt refers to mustard seed). Darrin says it’s too exotic for him but Hepzibah calls him racist for insulting an ethnic group and gives him another demerit. He tries to make a joke out of it and she gives him a third demerit. Larry drops by and he is invited to join them. He finds the food delicious and when he reacts to the names of the items Samantha says they are just funny nicknames. The next day when Darrin says he is going to work, Hepzibah is intrigued by the concept of human labour and insists on going to Darrin’s place of employment to observe how work works. Hepzibah insists on being present during a meeting with the client Ernest Hitchcock. He resents this imposition and to save Hitchcock from being turned into something Samantha causes Hitchcock to fall in love with Hepzibah. Hitchcock is very charming and Hepzibah is charmed. Later she tells Darrin that he does not compare to Hitchcock as a quality human being. Darrin blows up at her and she declares that he has used up all his demerits and the marriage will be dissolved at midnight. Samantha tells him that may mean him being dissolved as well. He agrees to apologize but when they return, Hitchcock is there courting Hepzibah. He says he is coming to Salem. When he leaves she is in a good mood and cancels the dissolvement. Because Hepzibah is allowing a mortal to come to Salem that means Darrin can come too. 

            The music for Bewitched was composed by Warren Barker, who did the same for the shows Everglades and Ripcord. He studied composition at the University of California. He composed and arranged for radio, movies and television. He recorded an album in 1959 called a Musical Touch of Far Away Places. He composed the music for the films Strange Lovers and Zebra in the Kitchen. He won an Emmy in 1970 for My World and Welcome to It for which he was the first composer to use a Moog synthesizer in composing for a major TV show. He retired from Hollywood in 1971 and became a rancher but continued as a conductor and composer. He wrote Scherzo for Saxophone Quartet.