February 6, 1996: I paid the rent for my new place with the rent for my old place

Thirty years ago today

            On Tuesday afternoon, before going to the Gladstone Hotel to host my Orgasmic Alphabet Orgy writers open stage, I took the rent money from my place on Wineva that the super hadn’t come for, and went to the house on Sheridan Avenue to pay for the first month on my new apartment. I felt good about this move.

Gunnar Hellström

            On Wednesday morning I revised my translation of the chorus and the first verse of “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I weighed 89.3 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Kramer electric during song practice for the last of two sessions and it went out of tune pretty much every time. Kramers when properly set up stay in tune for a long time but now it’s due for a reno. 

            In the early afternoon I took my laundry to the Speedy Queen. There was one bike post free but it was half buried in snow and so locked my bike with the front wheel up. When I came back to pick up my clothes the post was occupied and so, since there was no management there today, I just took my bike and trailer inside the laundromat. When I got to my building I went to lock my bike outside while I took the trailer upstairs and realized that I’d forgotten my lock and chain back at the Speedy Queen. I probably should have gone back with the trailer but I stuck the trailer at the bottom of the stairs with just enough room for my neighbours to squeeze by and rushed back to the laundromat. It was there, I grabbed it and hurried back to lock my bike and take my trailer up. 

            I weighed 88.85 kilos at 16:20, which is the lightest I’ve been in the early afternoon since January 10. I had four slices of baguette with peanut butter, five-year-old cheddar, and a glass of ice tea.

            I took a siesta at 17:00, intending to get up at 18:30 but I slept until 19:00. 

            I weighed 89.75 kilos at 19:10. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 20:23. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with tomato pesto, oven french fries, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a glass of Creemore while watching season 1, episode 10, of Combat. 

            An elderly Frenchman is being escorted to deliver vital information about German plans but trips a landmine and is severely injured. Private Wayne Temple also suffers life threatening wounds.

            They are both transported to a nearby convent of cloistered nuns. The sisters behave as if they are not there because they have taken a vow of silence, but the Mother Superior is allowed to speak and Caje converses with her. She says they are welcome as long as they don’t bring their war inside. Kirby is creeped out by the nuns meditating over skulls to remind them of death. 

            Doc the medic says there isn’t much he can do for the injured men and so a doctor, Captain Corelli is summoned. Lieutenant Hanley and his men escort the doctor across enemy lines but he is not used to keeping pace with the soldiers and dies of a heart attack. Hanley brings the doctor’s equipment to the convent. 

            Through Caje they ask the Mother Superior if there is a doctor nearby. She says there was a doctor in the village two years ago but she doesn’t know if he is still there. The village is occupied by German soldiers and tanks but Saunders has no choice but to try. He takes Caje with him and they learn there is a hospital at the end of town. 

            They find Doctor Belzer alone but when he takes his white coat off they see that he is a German officer. As he is their only hope they abduct him. He examines the Frenchman and says he needs surgery but he is not a surgeon. They force him to operate and Saunders warns that he will kill him if he dies. Belzer asks if he thinks someone can perform surgery better under threat. 

            Belzer examines Temple and says he needs a transfusion. He’s type O and so is one of the men and so Belzer gives him blood. He says it will help him for a while but it’s not likely that he’ll live. 

            He returns to the Frenchman. The Mother Superior tells them that one of the sisters is a trained nurse and so she silently assists Belzer. At one point the blood pressure drops severely but Belzer is able to bring it back up and ultimately saves the Frenchman. 

            It’s possible that Belzer would have helped them anyway if he believed in “Do no harm” but apparently Nazi physicians did not take the Hippocratic oath. 

            Belzer was played by Gunnar Hellström, who made his film acting debut in the Swedish movie While the City Sleeps. He co-starred in Marianne, and Nightmare. He directed and starred in Simon the Sinner, Night Child, and Synnöve Solbakken. He directed 33 episodes of Gunsmoke. He starred in Rififi in Stockholm. He wrote, directed and starred in Zorn and Raskenstam (co-starring Agnetha Fältskog of Abba).

February 5, 1996: I found a new apartment

Thirty years ago today 

            Around this time, perhaps on Monday I posed for a class at the Ontario College of Art that had a model at each side of the studio. The other model was Helga Schlatter who was very outgoing and socially fearless in a manner that rendered her both extremely charming and (I would find out later) somewhat Machiavellian. I mentioned that I was looking for a new apartment and she told me that she and her partner had one available in the house they rented. She invited me to come and look at it after work. As we waited for the Dundas streetcar she told me she was four months pregnant. I commented that there was a glow about her and she strangely responded, “I am in an open relationship”. Their house was on Sheridan Avenue just south of Dundas and I met Helga’s partner Peter Bird, who seemed nice. The apartment was two big rooms with a bathroom in the front of the main floor and we would be sharing the kitchen. The price was lower than the place I’d been living and so I said I’d take it.

Albert Salmi

            On Tuesday morning I went to bed at around 1:08. For at least the next hour my upstairs neighbour was blasting music, jumping on the floor, and shouting out the window. 

            After yoga I finally memorized the eleventh verse of “Ballade de la chnoufe” (Ballad of the Snuff) by Boris Vian. There are six verses left but some have repeated lines I already know and so it’s more like four more verses to learn. 

            I ran through singing and playing “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg in French. I started working on revising my translation, which might take at least a couple of days. 

            I weighed 89.7 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Kramer electric during song practice for the first of two sessions and it went out of tune for almost every song. 

            Around midday I touched up the blue paint on the frame and the front of my bathroom exhaust fan. There had been a pink smudge on the front from when I painted the vent. It’s been two steps forward and one step back with that exhaust fan. I fixed the pink smudge but ended up getting some blue paint where the pink is supposed to be. I’ll try to fix that on Friday. 

            I weighed 90.2 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride up to Bloor. The bike lane is still full of snow but I wanted to go to Freshco so I rode west on Bloor without the benefit of the bike lane and went south on Gladstone. When Gladstone stops at the park I rode on the pathway through to where Gladstone picks up again and the pathway was clearer than Gladstone. South of Dundas it was treacherously slippery. 

            At Freshco I bought a pack of raspberries and five bags of cherries. I price matched the cherries with No Frills’ much cheaper price of $6.59 a kilo. 

            I weighed 90.05 kilos at 18:20. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 19:10. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity and then extracted to my hard drive side 1, tape 2 of my second Slamnation poetry slam. 

            I created some more sub-folders for photos in my SSD and deleted several images from my hard drive. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a slice of roast pork with skyr while watching season 1, episode 9 of Combat. 

            Saunders is sent to work with another unit on a reconnaissance mission to find out what the Germans are up to. He ends up with the reckless Sergeant Jenkins who resents Saunders coming along. As they make their way through the woods one of Jenkins’s men is killed by a sniper. Jenkins sends the men forward one by one to be shot at until they can figure out where the sniper is hiding. Saunders says they should just bypass the sniper rather than sacrificing men to flush him out. Finally Jenkins spots the sniper and takes him out. As they continue Saunders falls behind. Jenkins finds him dismantling a mine. Then one of Jenkins’s men is killed by another mine and Jenkins admits they should go more slowly now. 

           They find a mill and Jenkins decides the upper floor would make a good lookout point. He asks for a volunteer to go in with him and Saunders says he’ll go. While they are inside, a German patrol arrives and kills all of Jenkins’s men. They hide and keep quiet with their boots off as the Germans search the building and then they realize the Germans aren’t just passing through but moving in. There is a colonel in charge as they set up the mill as a German command post. Saunders tries to radio their own nearest command post but they are out of range. 

            They wait until dark and then plan to escape near the water wheel. But then Jenkins deliberately gets himself captured. He pretends to cooperate under threat but gives the colonel false information. He asks for a map to point out the Allied positions. From hiding Saunders can see the German positions clearly marked on the map. Saunders’ boots are discovered and then Jenkins knocks out the lamp and shouts for him to escape. Jenkins is killed and Saunders is able to take out several Germans from his hiding place. He escapes and makes it back to command only to be told the information he has is unnecessary because they already cracked the German code. Saunders is upset that so many men died pointlessly to get useless information. He’s told it wasn’t pointless because they had to use every necessary means. 

            Jenkins was played by Albert Salmi, who served in the army during WWII then studied under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Workshop on the GI Bill. He made his Broadway debut in End as a Man in 1953. In 1955 he starred as Bo Decker in Bus Stop on Broadway and was offered to reprise his role in the film version but turned it down because he didn’t want to do movies. His film debut was in The Brothers Karamazov for which he turned down an Oscar nomination. He co-starred with Julie Newmar in the Twilight Zone episode Of Late I Think of Cliffordville. He played Alonzo P. Tucker on Lost in Space. He co-starred in the TV series Petrocelli. He co-starred in the films Burned at the Stake, Near the end of his career he taught drama classes. In 1990 he and his wife were found dead from gunshot wounds. The best guess by the police was that he committed a murder suicide.

February 4, 1996: It was very cold out so my daughter and I played inside

Thirty years ago today

            Sunday was a very cold day and so my daughter and I played inside.

Tab Hunter

            On Monday morning I finished working out the chords for “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. Tomorrow I’ll run through singing and playing it in French and then I’ll begin revising my translation. 

            I weighed 89.75 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning in over a year. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio during song practice for the last of two sessions and it went out of tune about every other song. 

            My upstairs neighbour was stomping on the floor several times and knocking pieces of my ceiling down. Sometimes he does it while I’m playing music but more often he just does it because he’s nuts. He was also screaming out his window and then down on the street shouting into the traffic. 

            I made more sub-folders for photos in my SSD and deleted several images from my hard drive. 

            I weighed 90.3 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Brock and Bloor and then turned around because the Bloor bike lane is still blocked with snow. 

            I weighed 90.4 kilos at 18:15. That’s the most I’ve pushed the scale in the evening in a few years. The recent snowstorm has really cut into my bike riding.

            I got a message from my daughter that she’d been billed over $50 by FedEx for the poster I bought her and had shipped from Oregon. It turns out it’s a border tax the Canadian government charges because of that asshole Trump’s tariffs. I called up FedEx Logistics and paid the bill over the phone.

            I was caught up in my journal at 19:19. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity and then extracted to my hard drive tape 1, side 2 of my second Slamnation poetry slam, hosted by Cad Lowlife. Tricia Postle on hurdy gurdy and Peter Fruchter on Baroque flute played the background music. 

            I created more sub-folders for photos in my SSD and deleted several from my hard drive. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a slice of roast pork while watching season 1, episode 8 of Combat. 

            A famous baseball player named Del Packer is transferred to K company. He’s worshipped as a hero by the men but he lives in fear of injuring his million dollar pitching arm. His first time in combat they are ambushed. He and Sgt. Saunders are being covered by Kelly and Billy but Saunders sees a German soldier circling around to get to Kelly and Billy. Saunders tells Del to take out the German while he goes after the machine gunner. But Del freezes and Billy is badly wounded. Later word comes in to Del that he can go to Special Services in London or he can stay there with K company. He chooses London but stops off at the field hospital to give Billy an autographed baseball. He finds Billy’s bed empty and it hits him hard. K company is on a mission to take out the Germans who have occupied a French winery. Saunders needs a volunteer to go with him to the winery and Del steps forward. There is a machine gun shooting at them and Saunders gets hit. Del throws a grenade from a long distance with his million dollar arm and takes out the machine gun. 

            Del was played by Tab Hunter, who made his film debut in The Lawless in 1950. He co-starred in Island of Desire, That Kind of Woman, They Came to Cordura, The Pleasure of His Company, City In the Sea, Birds Do It, Polyester, The Steel Lady, Gun Belt, Gunman’s Walk, Cameron’s Closet, Hostile Guns, and Pandemonium. He starred in Return to Treasure Island, The Burning Hills, Damn Yankees, Lafayette Escadrille, The Girl He Left Behind, The Golden Arrow, Troubled Waters, Operation Bikini, The Fickle Finger of Fate, The Last Chance, Bridge Over the Elbe, Sweet Kill, Lust in the Dust, Grotesque, and Hollywood on Horses. He had a number 1 hit with his version of “Young Love” in 1957. He starred in the sitcom The Tab Hunter Show for one season, which didn’t grab audiences in North America but was a hit in the UK. His 2005 memoir Tab Hunter Confidential revealed his years long love affair with Anthony Perkins. He also had a sexual relationship with Rudolf Nureyev.

February 3, 1996: I performed my song naked

Thirty years ago today

            On Saturday evening I went to Club Saturnalia at 183 Bathurst to perform in the Partying Into the 21st Century event. Nancy brought our daughter down to see my show but regretted it because she thought my performance was inappropriate for her to see. 

            I did three songs. The organizer who’d invited me to perform asked me to make a political statement and so I took his request to heart. After some thought I concluded that the most political statement one can make is to be oneself. I began by saying I wanted to express myself by being natural like the way Anne Murray used to perform in concert and so I took my shoes off and sang my song “The Next State of Grace”. Then I said it would be closer to me if I was savagely free like Iggy Pop and so I took my shirt off and sang my song “Megaphor”. Finally I concluded that I should be entirely myself and stripped fully naked to perform my song “Instructions for Electroshock Therapy”. A big guy in a black suit with a white tie who looked like a Mafia hitman was security for the event. Why would they hire that kind of person for an event full of positive artists? He tried to get up onstage to grab me but I pushed him off. The organizers were also trying to shut me down but the audience protested and demanded that they let me finish. So I finished my song naked. Later I was chatting with Tricia Postle and she said I had a nice body.