February 25, 1996: My daughter and I found some interesting junk

Thirty years ago today

            On Sunday my daughter and I explored a wild area near Dundas and Lansdowne between the north side of Dundas and the railroad tracks. We found an old crutch and a bunch of other stuff.

Bernard McEveety

            On Monday morning I gathered some vintage photos of sex workers for my photo-video of “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I weighed 90.85 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio during song practice and it stayed in tune about every other song until the last five songs and then it fully behaved itself until the end. 

            I shaved and showered directly after song practice and then got ready for my appointment with my periodontist Dr. Xia. I got there pretty much just on time. He removed most of my stitches and said the rest are soluble and will dissolve by themselves over the next couple of weeks. He said the bone graft looks pretty good so far, so it appears like I’m on track to getting the implant. I brought my smaller denture along to see if it fits but he says it still doesn’t right now. I’m coming back in three weeks to check again. He doesn’t think it will fit because the bone graft has changed the shape of the gap. At that point if it still doesn’t fit they’ll order a retainer for me to wear for the few months until I get the implant. 

            I stopped at Freshco on the way home where I bought four bags of green grapes, a pack of raspberries, a Caribbean avocado, two containers of roasted red pepper hummus, and a container of Baba ganouj. I looked for non-dairy ice cream, which they had last year but there was none in sight this time other than in pop form on sticks. 

            I weighed 90.45 kilos at 15:50, which is the lightest I’ve been in the early afternoon since February 12. 

            I took a siesta at 16:30, planning to get up at 18:00 but I slept until 18:45. 

            I weighed 91.3 kilos at 19:00. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 20:07. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity a recording of my daughter Astrid singing at around the age of 3 but the recording is very low in volume. I’ll try again tomorrow as it might be a memory issue for my computer in Audacity. Sometimes a restart will fix it. 

            I had two potatoes with margarine and two slices of five-year-old cheddar while watching season 1, episode 29 of Combat. 

            K Company is behind enemy lines and have to get back to their side within two and a half hours before Allied shelling of the area begins. While checking a barn for Germans, Kirby hears a noise and fires, just missing a baby in a basket. A dead woman they assume was the child’s mother is found outside the barn, having been killed by German mortars the night before. 

            Saunders says they have to move out and the men assume they will be taking the baby but he says no. They protest and grumble as they make their way until finally Saunders sends two men back for the baby. Since Doc is unarmed he is the only one allowed to carry the baby as they need every gun to be ready. The map shows that there is a convent not far away and so they make their way there only to find that it’s been destroyed. 

            Then they see a German patrol approaching on the road and they hide. On both sides of the road is an orchard and the Germans stop to pick apples. After a while they move on but Doc has been covering the baby’s mouth to keep it from making noise and it seems it may have killed the infant. Doc performs mouth to mouth for a long time and is almost ready to give up when the baby returns to consciousness. 

            They find a bombed out house where there is a bicycle and clothing that survived the blasts. Stroback sees a cow and goes running towards it to get milk for the baby when he steps on a mine and is killed. Since the Germans might have heard the mine, Saunders takes Brockmeier with him to recon. Meanwhile the men go against orders and sweep the field for mines so they can milk the cow. A wine bottle is washed and Doc rigs a nipple from a dropper in his med kit. When Saunders comes back Kirby lies that the cow wandered over to them so they milked it. He doesn’t believe him. 

            In the baby’s clothes they find a locket that indicates the baby had a German father and a French mother. 

            To get back to their lines they have to cross a fast river over which the only crossing is a pontoon bridge heavily guarded by German soldiers. K Company will have to try to cross where the river is rapid but they wouldn’t be able to carry the baby. Caje sees a Frenchman cross the bridge on a bicycle and the soldiers don’t ask to see his papers. He gets the idea to take the baby back to the house, change into the clothes they found and ride the bicycle with the baby in the basket across the bridge and then meet his company on the other side. He finds one German soldier goofing off by the house then sneaks up behind and strangles him. He and the baby make it across the bridge and meet K Company on the other side. 

            The Allied mortar fire begins and they have to make their way through it back to their lines while still shielding the baby. They find a convent that is happy to take the baby. All the men, including Saunders are sad to be free of the infant. 

            This episode was directed by Bernard McEveety, who directed 52 episodes of Gunsmoke, and 5 episodes of Knight Rider. He directed The Brotherhood of Satan, Ride Beyond Vengeance, and Napoleon and Samantha. The latter was Jodie Foster’s feature film debut at the age of 9. While shooting it she was picked up by a lion and shaken in its mouth before the trainer said “Drop it!”

February 24, 1996: My daughter and I found a nearby playground in my new neighbourhood

Thirty years ago today

            On Saturday my daughter and I began our weekend together. It was fairly warm for February. We found a playground in my new neighbourhood.

Eric Braeden

            On Sunday morning I continued to collect images for my photo-video of “Les millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I weighed 91 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice and it went out of tune on almost every song.

            I cleaned the warm mist humidifier that’s been running all week and set the other one going. Maybe in a month or so I won’t need the humidifiers anymore and my Sundays will be freed up for painting. 

            I weighed 91.5 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with peanut butter and five-year-old cheddar, with a glass of iced tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown but only as far as St George and Bloor because the Bloor bike lane was getting slippery. I went south to Harbord, west to Bathurst. south to Queen and then west to home. 

            I weighed 91.05 kilos at 18:05. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 18:41. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity and then extracted to my hard drive a recording that has my daughter Astrid making mostly pre-verbal sounds. Most of the first half of one side is a CBC interview with Leonard Cohen. The rest of the tape consists of a woman reading Ontario legal documents in French. 

            I made some more sub-folders for photos in my SSD and deleted a few more images from my hard drive. I’m up to the pictures with titles that start with “L”. 

            I cubed a pack of tofu and sautéed it. I added water, spinach, two Szechuan spice packs, and two servings of noodles. I ate supper with a glass of Creemore while watching season 1, episode 28 of Combat. 

            K Company has just liberated a French town and is looking forward to rest and relaxation there when a sniper kills one of their men. They search house to house but we see a man dressed as a local walk to a bombed out factory on the edge of town and descend to a hidden living quarters in the basement. We see him don a German uniform. 

            Later he returns to the village, again dressed as a local and from another upper floor room kills another GI. The sniper easily escapes back to his hideout. Francoise the bartender goes to meet him there and we see they are lovers. 

            Kirby runs across two boys playing war. Caje learns they are looking for the sniper. They say they saw someone go into the factory. Saunders and Caje go there and meet Francoise and Hans on the way. They find the sniper’s lair. 

            After they return to the village the sniper targets Saunders but he sees the gun in the window and moves. The bullet hits the wall near Saunders’ face and partially blinds him. The sniper stops to help an old lady with her baskets just as Hanley asks if they’ve seen anybody. Through his blurry vision Saunders can see Francoise walking out of the village and he follows her. She detects him and hides. The sniper grabs one of his cached rifles and hides behind a ridge to wait for Saunders. Francoise sees this and calls out a warning so the shot misses him. Hans shoots Francoise then Saunders fires from side to side in his general direction with his machine gun until he hits and kills the sniper. He goes to Francoise as she is dying. 

            The sniper was played by Eric Braeden, who immigrated to the US as a teenager and worked as a translator, a cowhand, and a lumber mill hand in Montana and Texas. He earned a track and field scholarship to Montana State University. He and Bob McKinnon made a documentary of their successful trip the length of the Salmon River. He went to Hollywood to find a distributor and ended up being cast as the co-star in The Rat Patrol. His film debut was in Operation Eichman in 1961. He starred in Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Adulteress, and The Man Who Came Back. He co-starred in The Mask of Sheba, The Ultimate Thrill, and The Ambulance. He reluctantly accepted the role of Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless and it made him a star. He has been nominated for five Emmy Awards. He co-starred in the mini series Lucky Chances. He thinks Hollywood’s portrayal of US soldiers in WWII caused the Vietnam war.

February 23, 1996: Brian Haddon didn't want to perform with me until everything was right

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday I performed on the Spit Fridays open stage in the back room of the Cameron. I invited Brian Haddon to accompany me but he was a bit of a perfectionist and wanted us to rehearse a few more times.

Curt Conway

            On Saturday morning I continued gathering images for my photo-video of “Les Millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg.

            I weighed 91.05 kilos before breakfast.

            I played my Martin acoustic during song practice for the first of two sessions and it went out of tune during almost every song. The new tuner is more accurate but has no magical effect on the guitar.

            Around midday I went to No Frills where I got a refund for the zero alcohol mouthwash that I accidentally bought last week. The grapes were very cheap at $4.14 a kilo but I could only find five bags that were relatively firm. I also bought a pack of raspberries, some bananas, mouthwash, a carton of coconut milk, a jug of iced tea, a jug of orange juice, and a container of what I thought was non-dairy coconut ice cream but it was dairy coconut ice cream. I’m pretty sure I’ve bought non-dairy ice cream at No Frills but there’s none there now. They have it at Freshco so maybe I’ll pop by there tomorrow. 

            My upstairs neighbour David called and said he forgot to buy bread so I gave him three slices of Bavarian sandwich bread. 

            I weighed 90.95 kilos at 14:35, which is the lightest I’ve been in the early afternoon since last Saturday. 

            I took a siesta from 15:30 to 17:00. It was too late for a bike ride. 

            I weighed 91.25 kilos at 17:20. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 18:38. 

            I recorded from cassette tape through audio interface to Audacity, then extracted to my hard drive a recording of my daughter Astrid making pre-verbal sounds. It’s only on the beginning of side A. I have another tape that has more of her on it that I’ll digitize tomorrow. 

            I created more sub-folders in my SSD for photos including one for Kitten Natividad. I deleted several images from my hard drive. 

            I used the remainder of some tofu I cooked a few days ago, added water, some broccoli, and two Szechuan flavour packets. I cooked them for a while, then added two servings of ramen noodles. I had two bowls of the soup with a glass of Creemore while watching season 1, episode 27 of Combat. 

            Kirby is on trial for desertion and if found guilty the punishment could be the firing squad. Saunders and Caje attend his trial.

            He had been separated from K Company when they were under heavy mortar fire. He was found by Sgt. Metcalf of F Company and ordered to help take Hill 256. But on the way up Kirby saw that they were under machine gun fire and ran. Metcalf saw no machine gun and his word has more weight because he’s a decorated soldier while Kirby has a reputation for being a troublemaker. 

            Saunders points out that he’s fought beside Kirby many times and he’s never run but he’s told that one only needs to run once to be a coward. 

            There is one German prisoner from that battle and Saunders tries to get him to confirm that there was a machine gun but he refuses to give anything but his name, rank, and serial number. 

            Saunders and Kirby’s lawyer Captain Dugan check the records and find there has only been that one battle on Hill 256 so if machine gun shells can be found there it could save Kirby. Saunders and Caje decide to go on a private mission to Hill 256 but they only have one night because Kirby will be on the witness stand in the morning. They enter British lines and are captured but after a few hours their identities are confirmed and they are allowed to continue because the Brits sympathize with their situation. 

            They see German soldiers as they make their way to the hill and strangle two of them. At the top of the hill Caje falls into a deep man-made hole and inside finds a spent machine gun belt. But a truckload of Germans arrive to start cutting down trees in the area. They kill one of them who gets too close to the hole and then sneak away. 

           They give the shells to Dugan who brings an ordinance expert into court to identify the shells as German. The prosecution drops the charges and Kirby is free to go. Metcalf still insists he saw no machine gun.

            Saunders concludes that Metcalfe is so conditioned to be brave that he can’t even see danger when it’s staring down his throat. 

            Captain Dugan was played by Curt Conway, who was a member of the Actors Studio. His film debut was in Singapore in 1947. He played Hitler in an episode of the Twilight Zone. He appeared on four episodes of The Odd Couple. He founded the Conway Theatre Studio in Hollywood in 1962. He was on the faculty of the California Institute of the Arts and taught at the Civic Light Opera Musical Theatre Workshop in LA. He taught acting at the University of California from 1970 to 1972.

February 22, 1996: It was so much easier to teach another musician my songs now that I could play them

Thirty years ago today

            On Thursday Brian Haddon started learning to play my songs on the recorder. It was so much easier to teach another musician my songs now that I could play them on guitar. Rehearsals were chaotic with the earlier ensemble of Christian and the Lions when I would just try to sing them my songs.