Walker Edmiston

            On Monday morning I memorized the eighth verse of "Au bon vieux temps" (In the Good Old Days) by Boris Vian. There are four verses left to learn. 

            I started working on memorizing "Être ou ne pas naître" (To Be or Not to Be) by Serge Gainsbourg. I wasn't quite able to nail down the first verse but I'll get it on Tuesday. 

            I began two days of song practice while playing my Kramer electric guitar. Like on Friday I miked my amplifier with the microphone slung over the chin-up bar and dangling down in front of the amp. But last time it was dangling to the left of the cone and I wanted it directly in front. The amp can't move in front of it because there's a bookshelf in the way so this is why it pays sometimes to be a packrat. Years ago when a gooseneck lamp died I decided to throw out the electronic parts but to keep the gooseneck and the clamp because I was sure it would come in handy for something someday. Today was the day. I fastened the clamp to the carrying handle of the amp and extended the gooseneck out and to the right so it would hold the dangling microphone in front of the cone. I also set the Audacity recording session on Split Stereo so I could increase the volume of just one track. I think I picked up the distortion setting better for Megaphor but I drowned out the vocal a bit. Next time I won't turn up the guitar as loud on the track. I had to redo Megaphor a few times but Sixteen Tons of Dogma only a couple of times. As usual when I come back to playing the electric on the first day I usually fumble a bit because the frets are not in the same place as the acoustic. I screwed up the instrumental several times on Mamadou before getting it. 

            I weighed 85 kilos before breakfast. 

            Since song practice pushed my morning activities a little later, after shaving and showering there was no time to sand the plywood that I glued into the gap in the floor in front of the kitchen counter. 

            I weighed 85.4 kilos before lunch. 

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

            I chiseled some more slate for about twenty minutes to free up the green fossils. I have three pieces of rock left: one is about the size of my fist and the other two each almost fit into my fist. 

            I weighed 84.4 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:36. 

            I reviewed the video of this morning's song practice. The light was really bad and the camera didn't focus properly. Some of the songs sounded okay but I don't think I can use them because of the low video quality. I notice that I forgot to sing "La bas c'est natural". 

            I converted the YouTube file I'd downloaded from MP4 to AVI. Tomorrow I'll cut it into a smaller file in Movie Maker. 

            I finished scanning the set of colour negatives from December 1987 with shots of my late friend Mike Copping. 

            I scanned another set from May 1992 that is mostly of my daughter at the age of one, but there are also some shots of some portraits of me from an art session where I modeled. 

            I grilled the boneless beef ribs that I bought on Saturday and had three with a potato and gravy while watching season 4, episodes 18 and 19 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story a temperance lecturer named Jeremiah Priddy is advertizing at Sam's store but Sam says the problem is that no one in the valley drinks intemperately. Meanwhile a little boy named Clint follows Betty Joe home from her baseball practice. The Bradleys take care of him until his father Jeremiah Priddy shows up to get him. The next day the same thing happens and Jeremiah accuses Kate of luring his son. The father and child leave but while the Cannonball is taking on water Kate learns that Jeremiah and his son have been evicted for lack of rent and are homeless. Kate gets Charlie and Floyd to lie to Jeremiah that the Cannonball needs repairs and so he'll have to stay the night at the Shady Rest. Meanwhile Kate organizes Jeremiah's temperance lecture that night at the hotel and coaxes people to come for the additional entertainment and refreshments. The girls sing "Sisters" by Irving Berlin. Steve sings "The Glory of Love". A little too suddenly Jeremiah is transformed by everyone's kindness and now wants to be a better person and parent.

            Clint was played by Jodie Foster's little brother Buddy. 

            In the second story there is a radio talent contest with a $200 prize. Billie Joe and Steve enter as a duet. After their performance a talent agent named Syd Sparks wants them to sign a contract. Worried that Billie Joe will be going away Joe enters his horrible volunteer fire department band in the contest. Billie Joe and Steve win but Steve doesn't want to sign the contract while Billie Joe does. They argue over it but Billie Joe gives in. 

            The radio announcer was played by Walker Edmiston, who from an early age showed a talent for mimicry of famous voices. As a young adult he moved to California and studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. His first job was doing voices on the children's show "Time For Beany". In the 50s and 60s he made his own puppets and hosted his own local children's show. he did some of the character voices on "H.R. Puffnstuf". For twenty years he was the voice of two of the main characters on the radio series "Adventures in Odyssey". He did voices for all five Planet of the Apes movies. He was the voice of Ernie the Keebler Elf in the cookie commercials and of Autobot Inferno on The Transformers.