Bob Hastings

            On Tuesday morning I revised my translation of the final verse of "Lulu" by Serge Gainsbourg. I finished running through playing and singing it in English and then I uploaded it to Christian's Translations. I began the editing process of preparing it for blog publication and I should have it posted on Wednesday. 

            I returned to playing the Kramer electric guitar for song practice and recorded the session as I'll continue to do until July 15. I made it through both "Megaphor" and "Sixteen Tons of Dogma" in a couple of takes each without any major errors. When I get something that feels not too bad I feel the urge to do another take and try to do it better, but that rarely works out without making worse mistakes. I made it one song further into my set, beating yesterday's record for this year before the camera battery timed out. I think it's too much to expect that I'll record anything great on the electric guitar after years of not playing it. I've decided that once this year's recording project is over I'll alternate playing the electric and the acoustic two days each. That way I can relax and play my full set without the pressure of recording, and that way develop a more organic relationship with the Kramer so that I can record something better with it next year. 

            I weighed 85.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            I glued another piece of fiber board into the depression in my kitchen floor and weighted it with my Jazz Chorus amplifier. Then I ripped up most of another kitchen tile, this time in front of the stove. It's easier to use the hammer and screwdriver to tear up the tiles from the right side but I couldn't do that with the amp in the way. 

            I weighed 84.6 kilos before lunch, which is the lightest I've been at that time in two weeks. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I spent half an hour chiseling and brushing the smallest of the amethyst rocks that I broke apart from one big one. I can't knock off any big chunks from this piece so I just worked on getting the pissy yellow crystals and rock off and smoothing the little bit of rock that's holding the crystals. 

            I weighed 84.5 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:15. 

            I reviewed the video I shot this morning. I think both takes of Megaphor were okay. I hit at least one wrong chord on "Sixteen Tons of Dogma" but it didn't sound bad. I think a lot of the songs were okay. Twenty five days left in this year's recording project. 

            I reviewed the videos of me playing "Les Sucettes" and "Annie C's Aniseed Suckers" from July 1 to July 10 of last year. For "Les sucettes" on July 1 the battery timed out before this song. On July 3 I played it okay. On July 5 there was traffic noise, it was dark and I slightly fumbled a lyric. On July 7 and 9 I didn't play it very well. For "Annie C's Aniseed Suckers" on July 2 it was one of the best of the takes of this song but one chord seemed a little off. On July 4 this song was cut off. On July 6 the battery timed out on the previous song. On July 8 it wasn't bad. On July 10 it didn't get recorded. 

            In the Movie Maker project for creating a video of my song "Instructions for Electroshock Therapy" I synchronized the concert videos with the studio audio for the rest of the song. There were three more calls of "shock therapy" by me and after each one I inserted a clip of Brian Haddon responding with "shock therapy". After the last one I lined the video up with the audio for my final extended shout of "shock therapeeeeeee..." and the video ends with Brian sitting at the keyboard. Technically the movie looks good as it is but I need to add some visuals for a finishing touch. There's a heart-like drumbeat as I'm shouting and I'd like to maybe add flashes of a pulsing brain to the beat of the drum and a lightning effect to end on. Hopefully it won't take long to find something to complete this video so I can upload it to YouTube and show it to everybody after two years of working on it.

            I grilled eleven chicken drumsticks and had two with a potato and gravy while watching season 1, episodes 30 and 31 of Petticoat Junction. It occurred to me yesterday that Petticoat Junction is not a junction. There is only one railroad line in the show whereas a junction is where two lines or more meet. 

            In the first story Mr. Bunce from the bank is inspecting the Shady Rest to determine if it is worthwhile for the bank to support it with a loan. It doesn't look good until the wealthy socialite Clara Watkins arrives with her son Sonny. Bunce tells Kate that if Clara has a good stay and recommends the hotel to her wealthy friends then the bank would reconsider. Sonny almost immediately begins literally chasing Billie Joe. After a day or so Clara tells Kate that Billie has a peasant's body and it is needed to reinvigorate the Watkins line and so she wants her to marry Sonny. Kate tells her it's out of the question and Clara says no one rejects a Watkins in business or marriage and gets to continue a relationship. She tells Kate that she and Sonny are checking out. But then Joe begins to put on the charm and starts courting Clara. She responds positively to his advances and within a day or so a wedding is planned. Since Clara is a widow several times over Kate doesn't think marrying Clara would be healthy for Joe and so she plots against the union. She arranges for Charlie and Floyd to also court her with rumours of salesmen on the train who are also interested. Clara decides that with all of this interest from men she doesn't want to settle down. Bunce tells Kate that the bank will not support the Shady Rest but Clara informs Bunce that she owns the bank and tells him to extend the loan to this hotel. She says she wouldn't let this little playground close for a million dollars. 

            In the second story Charlie is feeling neglected. Floyd has a romance, Joe is too busy to go fishing with him, Kate has cleaning to do, Billie Joe can't play checkers with him because she has a date, and Betty Joe can't help him overhaul the Cannonball because she's going out with Orville. Suddenly Charlie decides to quit. He arranges for his replacement and as soon as he has him trained he's leaving for Broadway, wherever that is. Kate tries to tempt Charlie by tapping his other talent of giving advice. She lies to him that Orville is trying to get Betty Joe to marry him. Charlie has a talk with Orville but quickly realizes Orville has no interest in marriage and that Kate was trying to trick him. Meanwhile Charlie has been training Bill Tuttle to replace him but Bill wants to run the Cannonball according to a schedule. He doesn't want to blow the whistle to remind Fred Ziffle that it's time to feed his pigs; he doesn't want to stop and milk Maude Whipple's cow while she's away; Bersin Treadwell's chickens are spooked by the train going by too fast; plus the whole valley is confused by the Cannonball keeping a schedule. All that and the fact that everyone is mad at him for leaving makes Charlie feel needed again and so he tricks Tuttle into quitting by telling him all the other things a rural train engineer has to do like be a fireman and a midwife. He also tells Tuttle he's only thirty four. Afraid of aging beyond his years Tuttle runs away. Charlie is happy again, picks up his guitar and sings "The Hooterville Cannonball". 

            Tuttle was played by Bob Hastings, who started as a child singer on The National Barn Dance. He was the voice of Archie on the Archie Andrews radio show. He was also the voice of Jerry on The Sea Hound radio series and the voices of multiple characters on X-Minus One. He appeared on Captain Video as the brother of the Video Ranger who was played by his real life brother Don Hastings. He co-starred in The Atom Squad. He appeared eight times on The Phil Silvers Show. He played Lieutenant Carpenter on McHale's Navy, and Tommy Kelsey on All in the Family. He was the voice of the Raven on The Munsters and of Superboy and Commissioner Gordon on certain animated series.