Paul "Mousie" Garner

            On Monday morning I memorized the first verse of "Charlotte Forever" by Serge Gainsbourg and made an adjustment to my translation. I need to revise a few more parts of my English adaptation.

            I played the Kramer electric guitar again during song practice and video and audio recorded the session. This was the last time of playing the electric for the next two days and the final time of playing it four days in a row for this year's recording project. I think it was useful playing it that many days because it helped me get closer to having a natural feel for where the chords are without looking. I still have trouble finding the D sharp minor without looking though. I made it through Megaphor fairly quickly. "The Time of the Yo-Yo" wasn't bad. Sixteen Tons of Dogma needed a few takes but I finished it in part A of the battery's charge. I did several takes of "The Accordion" because of both chord and voice fumbles but finished it early in part B. I think "Joanna Dancing Lightly", "Kenya", and "The Post Colonial Breakdown" were okay. I didn't make it through "The Wooden Leg" before the camera timed out. It was so dark that I had to turn on both lamps and the overhead light but dimmed the latter, plus my bedroom light filtered through the curtains and the kitchen light to bounce off the wall behind me. I'll see how much that improved things later when I review the video.

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            I checked online for my U of T enrollment time and it's on July 10 at 13:15. I'll research the required courses and find out which of those will be available this next term. I suspect I only need about two more credits for my BA. 

            My GPA is 3.18. Despite all of the As and A+s I keep getting that's still a B. I've had to slowly climb up from those low marks in French and some Philosophy courses since I switched to English Specialist. 

            I only had half an hour to work on scrubbing the residual glue that was under the second tile I tore up in front of the kitchen counter. I got most of it off but I'll need at least another half an hour to get the rest.

            I weighed 84.6 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. I was singing Canadian songs all the way. I did sing a couple of Bob Dylan songs but Minnesota is almost in Canada. 

            I chiseled some more of the remaining hunks of my amethyst rock. There are only two pieces left. 

            I weighed 84 kilos at 17:30 which is the lightest I've been in the evening in ten days. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:20. 

            I reviewed the video I'd recorded of song practice this morning and knew right away that the whole thing was a write-off because somehow I'd forgotten to put in my denture. That's something I remember every morning even if I'm not recording because it affects my singing and makes my "s"s sound slightly like "sh"s. It's too bad because some of the takes were worth keeping other than visually, but I can't upload songs that show me looking like a hockey player and so I deleted the whole session. 

            I uploaded my June 11, 2022 recording of "Leave the Naïve Alone" to YouTube.

 

            I reviewed the videos of my performances of "How to Say Goodbye to You" and "Comment te dire adieu" from June 11, 2022 to June 14. For "How to Say Goodbye to You" on June 11 I fumbled the chords. June 13 was not recorded because the camera battery had timed out. Of "Comment te dire adieu" on June 14 it was almost not a bad take until I started fumbling, as I suspect I did for every take that I recorded of this bossa nova that needs a lot more practice. 

            I tried to make a GIF of my dancing electrical cords video in Photoshop but the version of Photoshop I have popped up windows saying files are missing. I tried to do it in Gyphy, opened an account, converted my video to MP4 as required, and the file name showed up in the editing window but I didn't see the video. I tried several times and couldn't figure it out. I'll try again tomorrow and if it doesn't work I'll either try another GIF maker or download a fresh version of Photoshop. I decided to try EZGIF and it worked very quickly. 

            I made a new batch of gravy with some chicken drippings I'd saved and had some with a potato and three pork ribs while watching season 2, episodes 18 and 19 of Petticoat Junction. 

            The first story is another one about the Hooterville Volunteer Fire Department with Joe as self appointed chief. He's acquired a cannon as a fire signal and even though it's firing blanks it is shattering windows and knocking things down not only at The Shady Rest but kilometers away in Hooterville. The Cannonball is supposed to be the fire emergency vehicle but Joe insists on keeping the pump and the hose at The Shady Rest. Then the train catches fire in Hooterville and Sam has no choice but to call the Crabwell Corners Volunteer Fire Department which arrives quickly and efficiently puts out the fire. The chief tells Joe he owes him $18 for a shattered car window caused by his cannon. Joe challenges the other chief to a fire department competition for an $18 bet. The other Hooterville members back out and so Joe says he's going to sell his wooden First Nations statue to pay the money. Kate and her daughters decide to volunteer and help Joe in the competition. Kate concedes the first event of safety net jumping from a second story window without trying because all they have is a torn tarpaulin for a net. She also concedes the second event of ladder climbing because Hooterville only has half a ladder. In the next competition Hooterville wins in hose water pumping distance. Hooterville also wins the victim carrying competition when Kate carries Joe the winning distance and speed. He was supposed to carry her but claimed to have an attack of lumbago. The final score is 80 to 80 and so Joe challenges the other chief to a game of checkers to break the tie. Betty Joe's dog represents Hooterville and wins the game. 

            In the second story two convicts escape from prison and make their way to the Hooterville Valley. In the woods they see Betty Joe's dog and follow him to the Shady Rest where they hold everyone captive. Sam and Sgt Hawk of the State Police come with guns disguised as Charlie and Floyd. The convicts hold their guns on Kate's daughters but Kate knocks them out with a sign from behind. Sam and Hawk had been alerted by the dog who ran to Hooterville and barked for them to follow. The dog could only have gotten out of the hotel by jumping from the second floor window. 

            The short and funny convict, Max James, was played by Paul "Mousie" Garner, who at the age of four was singing, dancing, and imitating Al Jolson in a travelling family act led by his father. He became a performer on Vaudeville, in touring companies, on Broadway, on the radio, in film and on television. As a member of The Gentlemaniacs he was one of the first comedians to appear on experimental television in 1928. That same troupe performed in several film shorts, including "Swing it Professor". In the 1970s he joined Joe DeRita and Frank Mitchell in the unsuccessful New Three Stooges. He was also a member of Spike Jones and his City Slickers. He continued to perform before live audiences up until his 90s. He was nicknamed The Grand Old Man of Vaudeville.