Walter Reed

            On Sunday morning I finished working out the chords for "Lulu" by Serge Gainsbourg. But there's a line that puzzles me because all of the lyrics that are posted say it's "tant d'amour" (so much love) but the singer Bambou clearly uses a "p" sound rather than an "m" so it sounds like "tant d'apour". French is obviously her first language but there is no such word unless it's just a kind of slang. When I type it into Google translate it comes out the same as "tant d'amour" so I'll just keep "amour" for now.

            I returned to the Martin acoustic for song practice and recorded the session as I will until July 15. I made it through "Megaphor" in a couple of takes and really only one take for "Sixteen Tons of Dogma". There may have been some errors but not the kind that have been plaguing my attempts for the last several days. I knew when I got to the end that I wasn't going to play a better take than that one if I redid it and so I relaxed and left it alone. I made it further into some other songs that I haven't been completing during this year's recordings. I've been almost biting my tongue a lot while singing. 

            I weighed 85.4 kilos before breakfast. 

            I glued another piece of fiber board down to fill up the depression in my kitchen floor. I weighted it with my trusty concrete block. 

            With the hammer, a screwdriver and a putty knife I tore up another tile from the floor in front of the kitchen counter. 

            I weighed 84.8 kilos before lunch. I had the last of my Breton crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of limeade. 

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

            I weighed 84.7 kilos at 16:45. 

            I chiseled some more of the bigger half of the amethyst rock that I split in two yesterday. The bigger half was the smaller half after half an hour. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:30. 

            I reviewed the video I'd shot in the morning of song practice. 

            I reviewed my performances of "Annie C's Aniseed Suckers" and "Les sucettes" from June 13 to June 19, 2022. For "Annie C's Aniseed Suckers" on June 13 some of the chords in the chorus were discordant. On June 15 there was too much traffic noise. On June 16 there was a bit of traffic noise and the spit screen was at my chin. On June 18 I hit a wrong chord at least once. For "Les Sucettes" on June 14 there was a lot of traffic noise. On June 17 I screwed up the chords. On June 19 I played the best take of the song so far.

            In the Movie Maker project for creating a video of my song "Instructions for Electroshock Therapy" I synchronized the concert video with the studio audio at the point when I sink "prayer". The next part is "to shock therapy" but I don't sing it as soon in the concert video so I started cutting out parts to line up the video and audio. I might have them synchronized tomorrow. 

            I made pizza on naan with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 1, episodes 26 and 27 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story an old friend of Kate's named Emily Mapes arrives with her new husband on their honeymoon. Seeing that Kate is still single, Emily tries to convince her to start dating again. The direct approach doesn't work and so she convinces Kate's daughters to try to trick their mother into romance. The girls go to Hooterville and offer rooms at the Shady Rest to several middle aged bachelors waiting to board the train to Pixley. But Joe doesn't like the idea of Kate finding romance because he thinks another man would take over his job. The girls bring back a bunch of bachelors who are all attracted to Kate. But then she finds out what's going on and has a meeting with the men to form a plan to teach her daughters a lesson. They all put on a show of heavy flirting and partying and shock the girls until Reverend Mimms arrives on his rounds. Kate has to explain the situation and Mimms understands because he also has three teenage daughters. 

            One of the suitors, Grover Woodstock was played by Walter Reed, who left home on the west coast at 17 during the Depression and hitchhiked and rode the rails to New York to try to make it as an actor. He went from stock theatre to Broadway and finally got into the movies in the 1940s. He co-starred in the last two "Mexican Spitfire" comedies. He also co-starred in "Petticoat Larceny", "Banjo", and "Western Heritage", among others. In the 1960s he retired from acting, returned to Santa Cruz, California and became a real estate broker. 

            Before the second story there is a clip from The Ed Sullivan Show of The Ladybugs, consisting of the three daughters from Petticoat Junction plus Sheila James from Dobie Gillis. The Ladybugs do a parody of the Beatles complete with wigs. They sing "I Saw Him Standing There" and use their own voices but don't play the instruments they are holding. Sheila James fakes it better than any of the others. This appearance is a setup for the Petticoat Junction episode that features The Ladybugs. 

            In the second story the girls are hooked on the Beatles and form a band, with their friend Sally as the fourth member and with Joe as their manager. They perform for Kate and at first she is in shock and then she thinks it's a joke. But then a booking agent from Springfield named Colonel Partridge comes and thinks The Ladybugs will be a hit and wants to take them on a tour of the country. But Sally's father Sheriff Ragsdale won't let her join and so Joe takes her place wearing a Beatles wig.