I ran through singing and playing “Dessous mon pull” by Serge Gainsbourg and my translation “Underneath My Blouse”. I uploaded them to my Christian’s Translations blog and began preparing them for publication. I might have them posted tomorrow.
I played my Kramer electric during song practice for the first of two sessions and it stayed in tune most of the time.
Around midday I cleaned my warm mist humidifier. I didn’t need one for most of the day.
I weighed 90.45 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with peanut butter, cream cheese, and five-year-old cheddar with a glass of iced tea.
I took a siesta and thought I got up at 16:00 but after brushing my teeth it was 16:49 so I must have gotten up at 16:30.
I took a bike ride downtown and back.
I weighed 89.95 kilos at 18:20.
I was caught up in my journal at 19:42.
In Audacity I returned to the project I started last week of recording from a cassette tape of a Christian and the Lions concert at the El Mocambo. I had successfully recorded the first few songs but halfway through my song “The Next State of Grace” the waveform had disappeared. This time it still wouldn’t work despite two restarts. The problem wasn’t with Audacity or my audio interface because when I switched to the radio it recorded and when I switched to another tape it also showed a waveform. I typed in the problem in a search engine and AI suggested I put tape over the holes at the top edge of the tape. That didn’t help but another suggestion was that the tape might be sticking within the shell and the tape might be too stiff to turn freely. It was suggested that I fast forward the tape all the way, then rewind it all the way. That worked, but it was too late to record by the time the problem was fixed. I’ll try it again tomorrow.
I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with cherry tomato sauce (I didn’t really notice much of a difference. Maybe they’re a little more tart), tomato pesto, chopped hot Italian salami, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a glass of Creemore while watching season 4, episode 14 of The Carol Burnett Show.
The opening segment is a song and dance number by several drunken Santa Clauses with handbells. They sing “Elegance” by Jerry Herman from the 1964 musical Hello Dolly.
During the audience warmup someone asks Carol about her visit with President Nixon. That happened a year before in 1969. She said he invited her into the Oval Office and she was alone with him there. She couldn’t think of anything to say to him but, “How ya been?”
A teenager says his teacher Al Johnson knew Carol in high school. She says she remembers Al and he was cute.
Steve Lawrence sings “Let There Be Peace on Earth” by Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller from 1955.
In the Carol and Sis sketch, Carol, Roger, and Chrissie are going away for the weekend. Carol is just waiting for Roger to come home from work so they can leave for the airport. Roger comes home with Mr. Gordon, one of the vice presidents at company where Roger works. Gordon immediately proves himself to be accident prone as he breaks a brand new lamp. Roger shocks Carol when he informs her that Gordon is going to be staying in their house while they’re away because Roger is bucking for a promotion and a raise. Gordon comes out of the bathroom holding the towel rack that he just broke. He then sits in and breaks Carol’s 200 year old antique chair. He sits on the couch where he spills his drink. He lights a big cigar and then goes into the bedroom to make a phone call. He comes out and later Carol smells smoke because Gordon set her bed on fire with his cigar.
Sixteen year old Julie Budd sings “Where is Love” from the 1960 musical Oliver by Lionel Bart. Her singing is reminiscent of a young Barbara Streisand.
The final skit is a parody of the 1939 movie Golden Boy. Harvey plays Papa Goldman, who is an organ grinder who talks in a bad Italian accent. Carol plays the girl next door whose name is Girl Next Door. Girl Next Door comes to see Papa’s son Joey but he’s not home yet. Papa shows her that he bought a new violin for Joey. She wonders how he could afford it since he only makes 6 cents a week as an organ grinder. He says he had to sell Mama Goldman. Joey comes home from his violin lesson with torn clothes and a broken violin. He says some guys called him a sissy and broke his violin. Papa gives him his present and he is very happy. When he finds out Papa sold Mama to get the violin he is especially grateful. But then a sleazy fight manager comes in and says he saw Joey beat up those three punks and promises him a lot of money if he becomes world champion. Goldman Boy wins his first fights and builds a reputation. Girl Next Door follows him around but then he hooks up with a rich, blonde playgirl played by Vickie. Girl Next Door tells Joey that his father is dying of a broken heart and wants to die in Italy. Joey points out that he’s not even Italian. Joey is going to fight the world champion but he’s been living too richly and now he is grossly overweight. He loses the fight and the rich girl leaves him but Papa and Girl Next Door are still there for him. Papa gives him his violin and he tries to play but he’s horrible. Girl Next Door takes it from him and breaks it over his head, then she and Papa leave him.
In the end everybody is dressed up as if for A Christmas Carol. They must have done a skit for the audience that wasn’t filmed.
Julie Budd won a talent contest at the age of 12 in the Catskills and was spotted by Herb Bernstein who became her mentor. She made her TV debut at the age of 14 on The Merv Griffin Show and received a standing ovation. She appeared 40 more times on Merv’s show. She performed on many other shows as well and became the youngest opening act for Frank Sinatra. She was compared to a young Barbara Streisand and many thought she was Barbara’s sister. Unlike Barbara she never took much of an interest in acting. She sang the theme song from the movie Living Free. She teaches master classes in singing.





















