Tommy Leonetti

            On Thursday morning I finished working out the chords for the first chorus of "La java des chaussettes à clous" (The Dance of the Studded Stockings) by Boris Vian. I think it's smooth sailing from here on out because it will just be a matter of copying the chords that I've already worked out and placing them where they need to go. 

            I finished working out the chords for "Démodé" (Out of Style) by Serge Gainsbourg and ran through it in French and English. I adjusted my translation and I'll upload it to my blog tomorrow. 

            I weighed 90 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I thought I would be able to finish scraping the black from the bottom of my square baking pan, but I only got the edges of the bottom done. There are more dents on the edge than in the middle and so it can't be scraped in smooth movements. 

            I weighed 89.2 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor. On the way home I took King to Peter so I could avoid the construction on Queen from Bay to University and make an easy left turn onto Queen.

            I weighed 88.3 kilos when I got home. 

            I applied for the Noah Meltz bursary and uploaded the financial info for my estimated income. When they asked me what my estimated income would be for this year I just copied the amount from my income for last year off of my tax form, which was $22,000. But after I submitted the application I added up my pension and housing allowance payments for this year and it will be $19,000, which is $3000 less than I wrote down. Since my application is already submitted there's no option for editing it. I'll call Financial Aid at U of T tomorrow and ask their advice on that issue. 

            I worked on my poem series "My Blood In A Bug." 

            I downloaded a YouTube video with vintage footage of catatonic schizophrenia patients. I just need to cut from it a one second or less clip of one of the patients. He has a similar expression to that of someone I met in Montreal in the 70s who'd undergone shock therapy. I'll insert the clip into the video I'm making for my song "Instructions For Electroshock Therapy" at the point where I'm singing "They can't do any harm without their memory" but probably only up to the word "without." At that point I'll try to insert a clip from another concert of my keyboardist Brian Haddon singing "shock therapy" while I sing "their memory." 

            I rubbed nine chicken drumsticks with olive oil, salt and chili powder and grilled them in the oven. I had two with a potato and gravy while watching two episodes of Gomer Pyle. In the first story Sergeant Carter learns that the daughter he adopted in Korea is coming to visit. She was eight years old when he last saw her and it's been twelve years since then but he is still expecting to see a little girl. He is surprised when Sue Lynn turns out to be a young woman. When he asks her what she wants to do in the United States she says she wants to marry a Marine. He thinks she means she wants to marry a Marine in general and he is against it right away, telling her she has plenty of time to meet a doctor to marry. He doesn't realize that she has a specific Marine in mind and the wedding is scheduled for this Sunday. Sue is very upset that her father disapproves and she confides in Gomer. He advises her to talk with the chaplain and so she does. Later when Carter sees Sue and Gomer with the chaplin he thinks that Gomer is the one Sue wants to marry. The chaplain talks with Carter and tells him that if he doesn't accept this marriage he will lose his daughter. He gives in but later when he tries to have a talk with Gomer he still can't accept him marrying his daughter. Gomer explains that it's not him but a Marine named Fred Pertwee. Carter imagines a little wimp with that name but then he meets Pertwee and he's not only a captain but much taller than Carter. Suddenly Carter approves of him. 

            In the second story Carter is fed up with his incompetent platoon and when he learns that there will be an aptitude test for enlisted men that want to become officers he decides to take it. When Gomer learns that Carter might leave them to become an officer he decides to take the test as well. But only ten men are selected and Carter is number eleven while number ten is Gomer. Apparently any enlisted man who passes the officer's test, even before training and ranking has to be addressed as "sir" and is relieved of regular work details. When Gomer learns from Corporal Cuccinelli that Carter came in eleventh he goes to his interview and withdraws his name so Carter can take the tenth spot. The platoon buys Carter some silver lieutenant's bars as a going away present but that moves Carter so much that he also withdraws his name from officers training so he can stay with his men. 

            Corporal Cuccinelli was played by Tommy Leonetti, who in 1968 moved to Australia, having already had some success on the Australian charts in the 1950s. He attained cult fame for singing the song "My City of Sydney" as the station identification for a local TV station. He co-wrote and recorded the song "Let's Take A Walk", which was a number four hit in Melbourne, Australia. His biggest hit in the US was "Free" which peaked at number 23. He sang on Your Hit Parade, Steve Allen and Johnny Carson. He had more sucess in the States writing songs for movies. He had his own show in Australia called "Sydney Tonight." In the early 70s he moved back to the States for cancer treatment but died of it at the age of 50.