Harry Dean Stanton

            On Saturday morning I memorized the fourth verse of "Lost Song" by Serge Gainsbourg. I reworked my translation of the first four verses in light of my better understanding of the rhyme scheme. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the second day of two. On Sunday I'll start two sessions with the Kramer electric. 

            I weighed 85.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I went down to No Frills where I bought a bag of grapes, a watermelon, two packs of raspberries, a lemon, a pack of chicken drumsticks, a bag of naan, Comet cleanser, mouthwash, olive oil, and two containers of skyr. 

            I weighed 84.9 kilos before lunch. The landlord came with one of the two guys he's hired to renovate the plumbing in unit 5 now that Shankar's moved out. He had one of them look at my pipe and he said he needed a snake and would come back in an hour. I took a siesta and then a bike ride downtown and back. When I returned the guy came in with the snake. 

            I chiseled some more black quartz from a piece of the rock I found six years ago. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos at 17:30. 

            He was still trying to unblock my drain. He said the snake went down four meters and then he finally cleared whatever was blocking it. He said it would leak again if it gets plugged and that's normal but that makes no sense to me. Pipes are supposed to hold water. He said he's here from Mexico as a refugee and has been here for about six months. I said welcome to Canada.

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:40. 

            I reviewed the videos of my performances of Megaphor from September 5 to 8. After about fifteen minutes I remembered to buy beer and so I went quickly out in my sweat pants to get a six-pack of Creemore. On September 5 and 8 I played the electric guitar and both final takes were okay. On September 6 and 7 I played the acoustic guitar and on September 6 the take at 7:15 was okay but on September 7 a chord was sharp near the end. I have eight more sessions to review and it'll probably take until Monday evening to have them done. 

            The city installed a new bench to replace the one that got smashed by a truck. The guy who sits drinking beer and playing Italian music while loudly greeting people is very happy to have it back. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song "Megaphor" I knocked another ten minutes off the Fritz Lang silent film Spies. 

            I grilled a salmon fillet and toasted a slice of seven grain bread. I had them with a beer while watching season 7, episodes 4 and 5 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story someone is poaching poultry. Orrin the game warden runs across two bikers and finds a duck feather on one of their bikes. They casually ride away before Orrin even thinks of pulling his gun. Orrin gets temporarily suspended for letting them get away. His confidence is shattered and Janet advises Bobbie Joe to listen to him read poetry to her. This is presented as a sacrifice on her part while three seasons ago she would have liked nothing better. Later at the Shady Rest Orrin hears gunshots and wants to go after them but the women insist that Joe come along in the side car of Orrin's bike. But Orrin runs out of gas because he filled his tank with a gas can that was full of water. The bikers find them and Joe suggests they steal Orrin's gas. They ride away and then Orrin calls the sheriff to tell him the poachers will be out of gas so he can pick them up. The bikers are arrested but I didn't see much evidence that they were the poachers other than a duck feather. 

            One of the bikers was played by Harry Dean Stanton, who served as a cook in the navy during the battle of Okinawa. He studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. He toured the US in a male choir. His first movie role was as a supporting actor in the 1957 film Mark of the Apache. In 1984 he co-starred in Repo Man and starred in Paris, Texas. He co-starred in Pretty in Pink, Cockfighter, and Fool for Love. He co-starred in Twin Peaks. He starred in Lucky, one of his final films. He was the best man at Jack Nicholson's wedding. He also had a successful musical career with the Harry Dean Stanton Band. Roger Ebert created the Stanton-Walsh rule, which stated that no film featuring Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh could be altogether bad. 

            

            In the second story a new car dealership has opened in Hooterville called King's Kars. As a promotion King is running a beauty contest with a free trip to Los Angeles as the prize. Steve suggests to Orrin that he enter Bobbie Joe in the contest. Orrin is shy because he has to photograph Bobbie in a bathing suit but she encourages him. However when Betty Joe learns Steve didn't enter her she's mad, so he does so. Then Joe enters Billie Joe. The girls begin to bicker. Then Sam enters Janet but that doesn't solve the problem. On the day the winner is announced it is revealed to be the one year old Kathy Joe. Janet entered her and says that the prize can take the form of a scholarship. Everybody is happy with that but Orrin asks why King allowed a baby to win. King says that his wife forced him to not pick a woman.