Carol Corbett

            On Sunday morning I saw three bedbugs. For the last few months I’ve been seeing about one a week. My neighbour David told me that the landlord told him the exterminator was a coming a few weeks ago. On top of that my kitchen drain is starting to back up again. Hopefully I can clear it without getting into another war with the landlord full of blaming me because nobody else has the problem.

            I finished running through singing and playing “Be All You Can Be”, my translation of “Allons z'enfants” by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I’ll upload it to my Christian’s Translations blog and begin preparing it for publication. 

            I finished running through singing and playing “Delirious”, my translation of “Flagrant délire” by Serge Gainsbourg. I uploaded it to my Christian’s Translations blog and almost finished preparing it for publication. Tomorrow I’ll post it and then start on his next song. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice. Tomorrow I’ll begin a two session stretch of playing my Martin acoustic guitar. 

            I weighed 87.6 kilos before breakfast. 

            I weighed 87.85 kilos before lunch. I had Swiss cheese flavoured crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar iced tea. 

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

            I weighed 87.25 kilos at 18:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:45. 

            I reviewed the videos of my song practice performances of “Vomit of the Star Eater” from October 2 to 4. On October 2 I played my Martin Road Series acoustic guitar and the take at 19:00 was one of the best. On October 3 and 4 I played it on my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar. On October 3 the take at 25:00 sounded okay but I was a little slow with the volume pedal. On October 4 the take at 30:45 wasn’t horrible. 

            I managed to put in a little over half an hour of practice of my song “Paranoiac Utopia”. Although I still can’t play the song all the way through I feel like I made some progress. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with Italian sausage pasta sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episodes 5 and 6 of The Beatles cartoon series. There’s some glitch in the videos of episodes 5 and 6, making it so although I can play the audio and video from the beginning with my VLC Media Player I can’t skim through it and still get the audio. I had to use Windows Media Player to do that. 

            In story 1 of episode 5, the Beatles are staying at the Beverly Beverly Hotel in Beverly Hills and they all sleep in the same bed side by side. Suddenly a frog jumps into their bed and Ringo immediately makes friends with it much to the discontent of the other Beatles. He names it Bartholomew and walks it on a leash. But when they enter a fine dining room and Bartholomew causes panic, the others convince Ringo to release Bartholomew into a pond. But then a movie producer says he was impressed by Bartholomew in the restaurant and wants to make it the star of his next picture. He’ll pay $100 a day and so now all the Beatles want Bartholomew back. They go looking for him while playing “I Call Your Name”, which was written mostly by John before the Beatles were formed. He gave it to Billy J. Kramer who recorded and released it in the summer of 1963, but John didn’t like Kramer’s version and recorded it with The Beatles. They find Bartholomew and take him to the producer but now he doesn’t want him. He’s going to use instead a parakeet dressed in a frog costume because the studio is going to pay him $100 a day to use his bird. 

            The first singalong is to “I Feel Fine”. The second singalong is to “Wait”, which was written by Paul, although both John and Paul sing the song. 

            In story 2 of episode 5, The Beatles are in Egypt to entertain the harem of a sheik. The three harem girls have removed their veils, which the sheik forbids. The Beatles arrive by camel and enter his tent and see the women’s faces and so the sheik condemns them to be thrown to the crocodiles. But the harem requests that they be allowed to sing one song before they die and the sheik agrees. The girls whisper to the Beatles that their father has sent a spy to help them escape and he will come forward at the mention of the password “Love”. The Beatles include the word in their song, which is “The Word”, written by both John and Paul. One girl who is not considered conventionally beautiful is chasing George while the sheik is pursuing them both with his scimitar. The song is finished but no rescue has occurred and so the Beatles are being taken to be crocodile food when Ringo says, “Goodbye love” to the camel. The camel turns out to be a French foreign legion bugler in a costume who calls for the troops and they charge in. 

            In story 1 of episode 6, The Beatles are visiting India on a good will trip and travelling by elephant. Ringo is complaining a lot and the others tell him that as a guest in India he has to be more charming. They see a sign that reads Indian Charm School and decide to sign Ringo up without reading the fine print. It’s really a school for learning to charm snakes and other creatures. Inside, the teacher has lost his students after asking them to upgrade from charming snakes to charming a tiger. When the Beatles walk in he immediately sends George and Ringo through the door into the tiger cage. He says they need to use music to charm the tiger and so they sing “All My Loving”. The tiger gets out of the cage and chases them during the song. Then the teacher charms a rope for them to climb out of the tiger’s reach. 

            The first singalong is to “I’m Looking Through You”. 

            The second singalong is to “Nowhere Man”, which was written by John and is sung in three part harmony. Paul says that John was writing about himself in the third person. 

            In story 2 of episode 6 the Beatles are just leaving a science fiction movie about aliens when a flying saucer lands in front of them. From out of the ship a big, beautiful woman emerges and says she heard some of their songs on the radio and asks for their autograph. John gives her his autograph and then she asks if they’d like to take a little trip in her fleagle. They do and she gives them four tickets for the ride. She takes them to a strange planet 37 billion km from Earth. There is at least one planet at that distance, which orbits Proxima Centauri, the nearest star. But Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf and it is unlikely that its planets would support life. She says she’s saved the universe from the Beatles and god will be so pleased, then she reveals herself to be a gloopy grobby creature with seventeen arms and long fuzzy claws, and then leaves them there. They all look at their tickets and they read “one way trip”. They play “Day Tripper” while creatures peek out at them from all around. The creatures are enjoying the music and start popping out but also keep disappearing. The Beatles are surrounded and start running even though the creatures seem friendly. Then some small, blonde, closer to human beings with a gurgling language guide the Beatles into a multi coloured crystal sphere that turns out to be a teleporter that sends them back to Earth, but for a moment they emerge looking like the furry creatures until they are themselves again. 

            Female voices for The Beatles cartoon series were done by Julie Bennett and Carol Corbett. Carol Corbett started on The Ernie Kovacs Show and the Garry Moore Show promoting Spring Cigarettes. She hosted two New York City based children’s TV shows: The Mighty Hercules / Carol Corbett Show and The Patchwork Family. She was the voice of Friday on the Cool McCool animated series. I checked for bedbugs before bed and they are definitely back but the nests I found didn’t seem to contain healthy ones. They were all black and greasy.

November 18, 1994: I made arrangements to be initiated as Mistress Maria's slave

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday I was kind of down about Adina breaking up with me. Mistress Maria called and had phone sex with me then we arranged for my initiation as her slave on Monday. I waited around until Nancy brought my daughter and then I took her downtown with me to pick up my paycheques. My daughter spent the night.

Anne Joliffe

            On Saturday morning I ran through singing and playing the first seven verses of “Be All You Can Be”, my translation of “Allons z'enfants” by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I’ll run through the other half of the song. 

            I finished working out the chords to “Flagrant délire” (Flagrant Delirium) by Serge Gainsbourg and ran through singing and playing it in French. I ran through singing and playing the first half of my translation and on Sunday I’ll figure out my translation of the two variations of the third verse that are alternately repeated by the chorus at the end. I’ll then probably have time to upload it to my Christian’s Translations blog to prepare it for publication. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar during song practice. Tomorrow I’ll play the Kramer electric. 

            I weighed 87.1 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I went down to No Frills where only three bags of grapes were firm enough. I bought a pack of chicken drumsticks, a strawberry-rhubarb pie, deodorant, dental floss, a bag of Miss Vickie’s sweet chili chips, a jug of orange juice, and a jug of low sugar iced tea. I just realized I forgot top buy skyr. I’ll have to pick some up early next week. Later it occurred to me that I also forgot to buy Earl Grey tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride and on O’Hara I found a large amount of black fabric, plus a kind of netted black and white material with fringes. I took them home and then headed out again. On Seaforth I found two really nice black oven mitts, a wooden handled scrub brush and a wooden handled mixing utensil. I’d been looking for a new oven mitt so this was a great score. I rode downtown and back. 

            I weighed 86.85 kilos at 18:12. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:17. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Vomit of the Star Eater” from September 28 to October 1. On September 28 and October 1 I played my Martin Road Series acoustic guitar. On September 28 the take at 6:15 was not bad. On October 1 the take at 25:15 was one of the best. On September 29 and 30 I played it on my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar. On September 29 the take at 14:00 wasn’t horrible. On September 30 the take at 8:00 didn’t sound bad. 

            I managed to squeeze in a little practice of playing my song “Paranoiac Utopia” but with two weeks to go before my book launch I need a lot more because I still haven’t nailed down how to play it.

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episodes 3 and 4 of The Beatles cartoon series. In story 1 of episode 3 The Beatles are getting a tour of a French vineyard when Ringo accidentally causes a month’s worth of wine to be spilled. The winemaker says that the wine needs to be replaced that day or everybody will be out of work. The Beatles decide to help by providing motivating music and they play “I’m Down”, which was written by Paul. Somehow they manage to replace the wine in a few hours but that’s ridiculous since even the cheapest wine would take at least five days to ferment. 

            The first singalong is to “Eight Days a Week”. The second singalong is to “Paperback Writer”, which was written mostly by Paul. It was inspired by his Aunt Lil who complained that he never wrote about anything but love. 

            In story 2 of episode 3, The Beatles are getting a tour of the Palace of Versailles. After being shown a portrait of Marie Antoinette, Ringo knocks a sculpture over that lands on his head and knocks him out. He dreams that he is back in time with Marie Antoinette while the palace is being stormed by revolutionaries. One man with a scythe is about to kill Ringo when he sneezes and knocks the man out. The Beatles try to revive Ringo with “Run For Your Life” but it becomes the soundtrack of his dream as Louis XVI catches Marie kissing him and attacks them with his royal mace. A suit of armour falls on Ringo’s head in the dream and he wakes up in the real world. 

            In story 1 of episode 4, The Beatles are visiting a hot rod racetrack in the US. A couple arrives in a car that can only go 5 km an hour. The boy asks the Beatles to be in the race with them to help. So John is riding and playing “Drive My Car” while the others push. The song was written mostly by Paul. Supposedly this song was inspired by the relationship between Cilla Black and Bobby Willis. Apparently Cilla didn’t want Bobby to have his own recording contract because she needed him to drive her car. Ringo plugs their instruments into the racetrack sound system and when the girls in the audience hear that the Beatles are there they rush the track and cause the competitors to crash. Then Ringo plugs the music directly into the car’s motor and it finishes the race ahead of the others. 

            The first singalong is to “Yesterday”, which was written by Paul. The melody came to him in a dream. It’s one of the most covered songs in history. By 1986, 1600 recordings of the song had been made. A BBC2 radio poll in 1999 voted it the greatest song of the 20th Century. The second singalong is to “We Can Work It Out”. 

            In story 2 of episode 4 The Beatles visit the Man of a Thousand Faces who is the most famous Hollywood master of makeup and disguise. The disguise master loves Ringo’s face and makes a mask of it but Ringo doesn’t recognize himself and thinks it’s the ugliest thing he’s ever seen. They step into his disguise machine and all come out looking like Ringo. Then Ringo comes out looking like Frankenstein’s monster. They sing “Tell Me What You See”, which was written mostly by Paul. Ringo goes back into the machine and comes out looking like Sweepea from the Popeye cartoons. After many crazy transformations the Beatles run away from the studio. 

            Anne Jolliffe was the animator for the “I’m Down” and “Tell Me What You See” segments. She was the first Australian female animator. She earned her diploma in the Art of the Book because at the time there were no courses in film and animation in Australia. When she applied to work for Bob Godfrey in London she was told that women don’t animate. She had to learn animation from books and got a job for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial research Organization in Australia, creating scientific and educational films. She got a job in the animation department of Fanfare Film. She moved back to London and started working for a small animation studio. She did bits of The Beatles cartoon series and Yellow Submarine. After much struggle she eventually became the top paid animator in London. She worked on Bob Godfrey’s Great and shared with him the Academy Award that it won. She started her own studio in Australia called Jollification. She created The Tale of the Space Travelling Housewife and Bunyip.

November 17, 1994: Adina broke up with me because she wasn't ready to lose her virginity

Thirty years ago today

            On Thursday I posed from 9:00 to 16:00 at the Ontario College of Art. After work, since I was broke I just hung around OCA until 17:00 and then walked over to model for the Harold Uplis Studio until 21:00. Then I went to the bank but I had to go all the way to Bay and Queen to find a bank machine that would issue only a $10 bill. Then I headed back west to the Indigo Café. Tanya was there and we chatted a bit. Adina showed up with her hair in beaded cornrows and told me we should break up because she didn’t feel that she was ready to lose her virginity. I walked her to the bus and then went back to the Indigo for Nik Beat’s open stage. I was the final performer and after leaving, as I was getting on the streetcar a guy got on who told me that he’d enjoyed my set. His name was Derek and it turned out that he was a bass player. He rode all the way to Woodbine and I got his number before he got off.

Jello Biafra

            I didn’t get to bed until after 2:00 on Friday and it took quite a while to get any sleep, mostly because I’d dozed off at the computer as usual before bed. 

            After yoga I finished revising my translation of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I’ll run through singing and playing it in English. 

            I worked out the chords for two-thirds of the first variation of the third verse of “Flagrant délire” (Flagrant Delirium) by Serge Gainsbourg as alternated by the chorus at the end. I don’t think the second variation has different chords so I should be done on Saturday. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the last of four sessions. Tomorrow I’ll begin two sessions with my electric guitars. 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I sanded the top and the inside edge of the bathroom door. I then sanded a fifth of the bathroom side of the door. I might have all the sanding done on Tuesday. 

            While working I listened to some of The Dead Kennedys early recordings. I saw them at the Masonic Temple in 1981. I remember Jello Biafro moved extremely fast on stage. I remember his song “Too Drunk to Fuck” and “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”. I remember him saying to the audience, “You guys call yourself punks but you sit on the edge of the stage like it’s a fuckin Grateful Dead concert”. 

            Jello says he first became attracted to rock and roll when he was seven and his parents accidentally turned on a rock and roll radio station. He said Joey Ramone inspired him to become a singer. The Dead Kennedys formed after he answered an ad from guitarist East Bay Ray looking to start a punk band. Jello sang his songs into a tape recorder and the band learned them. Their first song was called “California Eber Alles” about Governor Jerry Brown. Their first album was Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, including the hit “Holiday in Cambodia”. He later recorded with Canadian punk band DOA and also recorded solo spoken word albums. He ran for mayor of San Francisco and promised to make businessmen wear clown suits within city limits. He came in fourth in a field of ten. He ran for the Green Party presidential nomination with a death row inmate as his running mate. He was beaten by Ralph Nader and then became a supporter of Nader. 

            I weighed 87 kilos before lunch. 

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

            I weighed 87.55 kilos at 18:00. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Vomit of the Star Eater” from September 25 to 27. In all of those sessions I played my Martin acoustic guitar. On September 25 the take at 11: 45 wasn’t bad but I said “their” instead of “his” in the second chorus. On September 26 the take at 16:30 was okay. On September 27 the take at 28:30 was okay but there were a couple of wrong chords. 

            I managed to get almost half an hour of practice playing “Paranoiac Utopia” but still haven’t fully nailed down the chords. I need to spend more time on it each day since I’ve only got sixteen days before my book launch and I want to also learn “Memo to the Heart of Insecurity” at least and practice “The Next State of Grace”. 

            I had a potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching episodes 27 and 28 of The Beatles cartoon series. These are also season 2, episodes 1 and 2. The producers changed the intro and mixed real photos of the Beatles with more colourful animation. John, Paul and Ringo all have moustaches in the photos from this 1966 period but not in the actual cartoons. There is now a theme song, which is “And Your Bird Can Sing” from the album Revolver. It was written mostly by John. The Beatles have basically the same look as in the first season but the guitarists sometimes do little dances while playing, Ringo looks happier and the backgrounds are more complex and colourful. 

            In story 1 of episode 27, The Beatles arrive at a Gigantic Studios movie set where a leading lady is throwing out an actor named Lips Lovely (that was clearly modeled after Marlon Brando) because he can’t kiss anymore. He says he’s worn out from all the kissing he has to do. Paul tells him he has the greatest job in the world and so Lips grabs him and puts him in front of the actress and tells him to kiss her. She kisses Paul and he immediately gets hit over the head by an actor playing the gangster boyfriend of the actress. She wants him to keep kissing and meanwhile the Beatles play Eight Days a Week”, which was written by John and Paul but based on an idea by Paul. The phrase “eight days a week” was based on something that Ringo said in conversation. In the cartoon Paul is being chased by the actress while both are being chased by the gangster-actor. In the end Lips returns, saying his kisser is cured. The actress wants to reward Paul with a kiss but he runs away. 

            The singalong set has changed to a music room with a piano. Ringo is still the set designer because he’s studying “inferior decorating” and his choices are still based on puns and they are still disastrous. The first singalong is to “Run For Your Life” from the album Rubber Soul. The line “I’d rather see you dead little girl than to catch you with another man” was borrowed from the 1954 song “Baby Let’s Play House” by Arthur Gunter. The second singalong is “Girl”, which is also from Rubber Soul, and was written by John. 

            In story 2 of episode 27, The Beatles are riding a camel across the Sahara desert in Egypt. They are looking for a place to practice and see a pyramid. Ringo sits down on a cactus but it’s the kind with arms one would see in the Americas although there are types of cactus in the Sahara. Ringo runs in pain into the pyramid and encounters a ghost that takes over his body displacing Ringo so that he becomes a ghost. Ringo is visible but transparent and the other Beatles run from him as the song “I’m Looking Through You” is playing. It was written by Paul about his relationship with Jane Asher. Ringo also plays Hammond organ on this track. The figures on the walls of the pyramid are dancing to the song. In Ringo’s body the ghost gets trampled by the camel but he also seems generally unsatisfied with Ringo’s body and gives it back to him. He leaves the body and points to it, saying “I didn’t wait 5000 years to walk around in that”. He does however want one of the bodies of the other Beatles and in the end he’s chasing them. 

            In story 1 of episode 28, The Beatles are in Paris and follow a model to a fashion show. While they are there an infamous fashion bandit Jacques le Zipper steals all of the designs. Paul chases him up the Eiffel Tower but Jacques has a blowtorch and Paul needs help. The Beatles play “Help”. Paul eventually accidentally gets the upper hand and retrieves the designs, though both he and Jacques fall from the tower but the Beatles catch Paul in a net. Before the first singalong, after setting fire to the set Ringo asks George if he’d rather do “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”. 

           The first singalong is to “The Night Before”, which was mostly written by Paul. The second singalong is to “Day Tripper”, which was written mostly by John for the Rubber Soul album. It was about weekend hippies. 

            In story 2 of episode 28, The Beatles are in Hollywood and George is acting superstitious and not stepping on cracks. He says all Hollywood stars are superstitious and go to fortune tellers. A man named The Lucky Wizard is listening and tries to manipulate events so George will follow him. He dangles a large cement block over George and then cuts the rope. Then he runs down and saves George just in time so he will trust his predictions but it doesn’t work. Lucky tries to cause accidents that keep backfiring. Ringo thinks Lucky is a suspicious character. Lucky uses magic to trap the Beatles in his crystal ball. They play “We Can Work It Out”, which was written by both John and Paul. The wizard goes inside the crystal ball to harass them but his spells backfire and he ends up trapped in his own crystal ball.

November 16, 1994: Mike played chess at Kali's Donuts with the woman who worked the counter

Thirty years ago today

            On Wednesday I posed for sculpture at Central Technical School and then went home. Mike Copping called and wanted to get together so he came over after work. We went to Fat Albert’s because I wanted to perform on the open stage but I got a late number and so we went for coffee at Take Two. Then we went drinking at the Riviera and by the time we got back to Fats they were closed. So we went to the open stage at the Black Rooster and drank some more. After I performed we went to Kali’s donuts with this weird guy we met and Mike played chess with the Chinese woman who worked behind the counter. He drove me home at 5:00 on Thursday.

Clive A. Smith

            On Thursday morning I revised my translation of the twelfth and thirteenth verses of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian. There is only one verse left and so I should be finished on Friday. 

            I worked out the chords for the third verse of “Flagrant délire” (Flagrant Delirium) by Serge Gainsbourg. After that the second and third verses are repeated and then a chorus starts alternating two variations on the third verse repeatedly, so there may not be much more to work out. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the third of four sessions. The action seemed even higher today but I’m still reluctant to take the long bike ride to Woodbine and Danforth to get it adjusted. So far I think I can manage playing it but if it gets much worse I might have to go. 

            I weighed 87.75 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I finished sanding my bathroom doorframe. There’s only the bathroom side of the door left to sand. 

            I weighed 87.85 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown. On Brock Avenue I saw two teenage women wearing glittering skirts; later on Bloor I saw someone else in glitter; then on the way back on Richmond I saw a mother and her daughters all wearing flittering dresses. I wonder if there was a special event all of these people were attending. It took a second to look this up. They were all going to the Taylor Swift concert. 

            I notice that a lot of electric bikes only have red lights that go on when the driver uses the brakes but otherwise there are no lights at all. It seems odd that they’ve got a battery that propels them quickly but can’t spare the power for visibility. 

            I stopped at Freshco on my way home where I bought five bags of red grapes, two packs of raspberries, bananas, two-in-one shampoo-conditioner, and salsa. They didn’t have the Panache brand of five-year-old cheddar that I like and so I got a pack of Balderson five-year-old cheddar and a pack of Maple Dale four-year-old cheddar. For the first time there was a big tin of Full City Dark coffee in addition to the smaller packs. I did a price match on the grapes with the Metro price but it took a long time because the cashier needed a swipe from his supervisor. It would save time if they empowered all the cashiers to do price matches. 

            I weighed 86.35 kilos at 18:40, which is the lightest I’ve been in the evening since October 28. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:40. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Vomit of the Star Eater” from September 22 to 24. On September 22 I played my Martin Road series acoustic guitar and the take at 30:45 was one of the best until I fumbled near the end. On September 23 and 24 I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar. On September 23 the take at 17:15 didn’t sound bad for a while but I fumbled near the end. On September 24 the take that ended at 16:15 was okay. 

            Because of stopping at the supermarket earlier, for the second night in a row I didn’t have time to practice playing “Paranoiac Utopia” even though there are 17 days left until my book launch. 

            I had a small potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching episodes 25 and 26 of The Beatles cartoon series. These were also the last two episodes of the first season. There are only seven episodes in the second season and six in the third. 

            In story 1 of episode 25 The Beatles are having a picnic in Spain when they are invaded by ants. Ringo is shaking them off their blanket when he attracts a bull named Paco that charges. He doesn’t even notice it as it tears through the blanket, butts its head into a tree and knocks itself out. His owner says Paco was supposed to fight in the arena that day. John and Paul say they will put on a bull suit to take Paco’s place and George and Ringo will be the matadors. But before John and Paul can get their costume on Paco recovers and his owner brings him to the ring. George and Ringo think they are facing a fake bull. As the bull makes its first charge the Beatles play “Please Please Me”. George sees John and Paul in the audience and runs. Ringo continues the face the bull until he sees them too. He ends up on Paco’s back for a while then while running and looking backwards he rams into and knocks down a flagpole that falls on Paco and knocks him out. Ringo is hailed as the greatest bullfighter in Madrid.

            The first singalong is to “Roll Over Beethoven”, which was written by Chuck Berry in 1956. The Beatles version features George singing the lead vocal. The second singalong is to Berry’s 1957 song “Rock and Roll Music”. In the Beatles version John sings the lead.

            In story 2 of episode 25 the Beatles arrive at a TV studio to do a performance but they are treated as unimportant because the big star is Mr. Marvelous, the smartest ape in the world. He can solve two plus two on paper with a very complex equation and he can also spell “Swahili”. John says it’s very sad because Marvelous is a slave and his intelligence is being wasted in a cage while he should be out seeing the world. Marvelous understands this and takes the key from his handler to open his cage. Then he leaves. They wonder where he would go and so The Beatles sing “There’s a Place”. Marvelous feeds his equation to a computer and it explodes, making the scientist angry. He paints “Swahili” on a billboard and makes the painter angry. He goes onto a rocket and hands the pilot his equation, which cause the rocket to crash upon take off. Marvelous retreats to the TV studio and his cage where he feels safe. 

            In story 1 of episode 26, The Beatles are about to leave New York by cruise ship when they are mobbed by screaming girls and hide on the dock amongst crates. One of the crates contains a music loving elephant named Beethoven. It reaches out of its cage and grabs Paul. The Beatles try to get Beethoven to let Paul go by singing “Roll Over Beethoven”. The animators goofed and had John singing instead of George. John and George are playing on top of the crate while Ringo is operating a crane to lift it. Eventually the crate falls apart and the crane is only holding Beethoven who is still holding Paul high above the city. They rescue a woman from a burning building as the elephant is swinging. They drop Beethoven directly into the hold of the ship they are sailing on to take it back as a souvenir. 

            The first singalong is to “I Feel Fine”. The second singalong is to “She Loves You”. 

            In story 2 of episode 26, Sir Ratfink has hired the finest string quartet in all of Europe for a party being thrown by the Duke. Ratfink has mistakenly hired The Beatles. They are delivered to a great palace where the attendees are all dressed in formal attire and powdered wigs. The Beatles play Chuck Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music” and Ratfink tries to stop them but keeps getting accidentally knocked around until finally he’s knocked right out of the window. Meanwhile the Duke and his gentlemen and lady guests are having a great time dancing. 

            One of the animators on this series was Clive A. Smith, who graduated from art school in London. He started as an illustrator, a street artist and a musician. In 1964 he worked for a small studio in West London animating The Beatles and The Lone Ranger. He came to Canada in 1967 and worked for a small company creating and animating short films and TV commercials. He co-founded with two Canadian partners the powerhouse animation company Nelvana in Toronto in the early 70s. They turned the company from a small shop into one of the world’s leading animation companies. Smith co-produced and directed Rock and Rule, Cosmic Christmas, The Devil and Daniel Mouse, Babar, Tintin, Rupert, and Beetlejuice. He animated the first animated Star Wars feature, A Wookie’s Christmas. He directed and animated Family Dog and Pippi Longstocking. He left Nelvana in 2001 and formed the company Musta Costa Fortune Inc. with his wife, Canadian actor Melleny Melody. He developed the animated musical The Boy Who Heard Music based on a screenplay by Pete Townsend.

November 15, 1994: I left Mary Milne's purse in front of the Gladstone Hotel

Thirty years ago today

            On Tuesday I was home all day until 18:00. I was expecting a call from Mistress Maria but she didn’t phone. I posed at the Ontario College of Art from 19:00 to 22:00 and then headed to the Art bar of the Gladstone Hotel to host my Orgasmic Alphabet Orgy writers open stage. Adina wasn’t there but we had eighteen poets. Mary Milne gave me a ride but I indirectly left her purse in front of the Gladstone and so she rushed back and found it.

George Dunning

            On Wednesday morning I got up in a good mood for no particular reason and it continued through the morning. 

            I revised my translation of verses ten and eleven of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian. There are only three verses left to fix and so it might be done by the weekend. 

            I worked out the chords for the second verse and half of the third verse of “Flagrant délire” (Flagrant Delirium) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            The Honeywell humidifier is much easier to fill than the Noma because it has a longer pouring area so there is nothing spilled on the floor. 

            I weighed 87 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I sanded most of the kitchen side of the inside of the bathroom door frame. There’s just a meter long section on the west side of the door frame to do tomorrow and then I’ll sand the door. 

            I weighed 86.85 kilos before lunch. The same as yesterday.

            I had Swiss cheese flavoured crackers with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar lemonade. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. I observed that people with flashers drive faster than cyclists with no lights. Maybe the flashers give us jet power. When I was going down Yonge there was a convoy of electric delivery bikes and I don’t think the riders were together. It seemed to be just a coincidence. It amazes me that there is that much of a demand for people to deliver prepared meals. Are customers cocooning that much these days and are people incapable of cooking their own meals? 

            I weighed 87.3 kilos at 18:00. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Vomit of the Star Eater” from September 18 to 21. From September 18 to 20 I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar. On September 18 at 20:15 I fumbled during the last verse but I just kept going. On September 19 the take at 18:45 sounded okay. On September 20 the take at 11:15 sounded okay but there was lots of traffic noise. On September 21 I played it with my Martin Road series acoustic guitar and the take at 28:00 was okay. There were so many takes to review from September 21 that I didn’t have time to practice playing “Paranoiac Utopia” to prepare for my book launch.

            I made pizza on multigrain sandwich bread with Basilica sauce, a sliced beef burger and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching episodes 23 and 24 of The Beatles cartoon series.

            In story 1 of episode 23, The Beatles are travelling by snowmobile in Switzerland when they encounter a little boy named Hans who wants to become a Beatle. George tells him they practiced for a long time in Liverpool. Hans now says he’s going to Liverpool. Hans’s parents beg The Beatles to bring their son back. So they chase him while playing “Bad Boy” by Larry Williams. After they bring him back The Beatles leave and Hans’s father asks him why he wants to be a Beatle. Hans tells him that they make lots of money so Hans’s father grabs his tuba and chases after the Beatles saying he wants to join them. 

            The first singalong is to “Please Please Me”, which was written by John with a lot of production help from George Martin. It was the title song of The Beatles first album and it was their second single. The second singalong is to “Hold Me Tight”, which was mostly written by Paul. 

            In story 2 of episode 23 The Beatles are in Toledo, Spain riding in a wagon that is being slowly pulled by a burro. George hears “Tell Me Why” on the radio and turns it up. Suddenly the burro starts running at super speed. The driver shouts to turn the radio off and then the burro stops. The owner, who looks and sounds more Mexican than Spanish, explains that whenever the burro hears loud music he takes off. George gets the idea to enter the burro in a horserace with Ringo as the jockey. After the race starts, The Beatles play “Tell Me Why”, and because of their playing the burro goes very fast but wins by Ringo’s nose. 

            In story 1 of episode 24 The Beatles are visiting a movie set and Paul declares that it’s all phony. The star Dick Dashing takes offense and challenges Paul to face the same difficulties as he has in his films. Then to the tune of “I Feel Fine” by John, which has one of the earliest recordings of guitar feedback, Paul proceeds to deflate movie monsters, sharks, and stop fake trains. Then Dick tries to stop a train but it’s real and he gets flattened. 

            The first singalong is to “What You’re Doing”. The second is to “There’s A Place”, which was written mostly by John. 

            In story 2 of episode 24 George and Ringo are visiting the Statue of Liberty when George sees a suspicious looking man carrying a package. He thinks he must be a saboteur and runs to stop him. This was probably inspired by the Hitchcock film Saboteur, which has a suspenseful scene atop the Statue of Liberty. George tries to grab the man but misses and ends up hanging from his collar on one of the spikes of the statue’s crown. Ringo climbs out to grab him to the tune of “Hold Me Tight”. The man accidentally drops his package and George catches it. George is dangling from a thread of Ringo’s sweater when a police helicopter picks him up. It is revealed that the package contains a cream cheese and jelly sandwich. 

            The main producer of The Beatles cartoon series was Canadian animated filmmaker George Dunning. He trained at The National Film Board of Canada. He founded Graphic Associates, Toronto’s first animation studio and produced Canada’s first coloured commercial. He was an animator on the Gerald McBoing Boing Show. He founded the animation studio TVC London, which was active from 1956 to 1997. The company did mostly commercial work but also produced art pieces. He made training films for the National Coal Board featuring the characters Thud and Blunder. He created Canada is My Piano for Expo 67. He created The Maggot in 1973. He directed The Apple, and The Flying Man. He was the main producer of  Yellow Submarine. Although his company lost money on the film because it was paid a flat fee and had to go over budget to finish it, he won critical acclaim and won awards for his work.

November 14, 1994: Adina and I had a gentle argument about sex

Thirty years ago today 

            On Monday morning I posed at the Ontario College of Art and then just headed home. Adina came over later and we had a fairly relaxed argument about sex. It seemed to leave a strangely bitter aftertaste even though we ended the night sweetly with necking on the couch. After she left I felt that I should give her some space.

Jack Mendelsohn

            On Tuesday just after 2:00 I went to bed with a sore neck. It’s been sore for the last few days at the end of each day. I couldn’t lie on my left side as usual or even on my back with my head on the pillow. I took the pillow away and lay flat for several minutes, sometimes doing neck rolls. At 3:00 I was able to go back on the pillow on my left side with no pain. 

            After yoga I revised my translation of the ninth verse of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian. 

            I worked out the chords for the first verse and half of the second verse of “Flagrant délire” (Flagrant Delirium) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I turned the new humidifier on for the first time since Saturday. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the first of four sessions. 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            I sanded a bit more of the kitchen side of the inside of the bathroom door frame. There are only two sides of the inside of the kitchen side left to sand and then I’ll do the bathroom side of the door itself. 

            I weighed 86.85 kilos before lunch, which is the least I’ve weighed in the early afternoon since last Tuesday. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown. I stopped at Metro in the Annex to take advantage of the sale on green grapes but there was only one bag left. I was supposed to get $3 back but the cashier only gave a toonie. She thought for sure she’d given me a loonie too but there was none in my pocket. She had to go and asks somebody before giving me my loonie. I turned my new flashers on and also put on a second scarf before continuing my ride. My leather gloves were still wet from yesterday’s rain so they weren’t very warm. I had my winter gloves in my backpack but didn’t bother putting them on until I got to the Metro in Parkdale. I bought another four bags of green grapes. The cashier asked how I’d like to pay as they always do at Metro and I said, “I’ll give you a picture of my girlfriend” then gave her a $20. 

            I weighed 87.25 kilos at 18:15. 

            My Honeywell humidifier has been running all day but the humidity is below 50 in the bedroom. That’s not bad but I expected it to stay between 50 and 55. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:10. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Vomit of the Star Eater” from September 14 to 17. On September 14 and 17 I played it on my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar. On September 14 the take at 19:30 wasn’t horrible. On September 17 the take at 16:00 didn’t sound too bad but there were some off chords. On September 15 and 16 I played it on my Martin Road Series acoustic guitar. On September 15 the take at 7:00 was okay but with maybe one slightly wrong chord. On September 16 the take at 16:15 was okay but I hit a few slightly wrong chords. 

            I spent about half an hour working on re-learning the chords for “Paranoiac Utopia”, with mostly the chorus giving me trouble. I’m making progress but it’s very slow and there are only 19 days until my book launch. Once this song is learned I’ll have two songs to perform because I already know “The Next State of Grace” but I want to learn at least one more. 

            I had a small potato with gravy and two chicken drumsticks while watching episodes 21 and 22 of The Beatles cartoon series. 

            In story 1 of episode 21, The Beatles are on a fishing trip and are lost at a crossroads. They all disagree as to which way they should go and so they split in four directions. Ringo goes north and comes across a Romani camp where a fortune teller informs the queen Ringola that her future husband is coming down the road. She grabs Ringo and says they must prepare for the wedding. He tries to get away but a big Romani man stops him. He keeps trying to escape while the song “What You’re Doing” is playing. It was written and sung by Paul with backup vocals by John and George. The Beatles didn’t really like it so they never performed it live and neither did Paul in any of his solo live performances. Meanwhile the other Beatles return to the crossroad and realize that Ringo went the right way and so they follow the northern path where they find the Romani camp and see Ringo’s predicament. The wedding ceremony is almost complete when George shows up in drag and declares that Ringo is already married to her. Then the Romani man is attracted to George and Ringola is attracted to Paul and so all the Beatles are running and being chased. 

            The first singalong is to “Dizzy Miss Lizzy”. The second singalong is to “All My Loving”, which was written and sung by Paul with backing vocals by John and George. He said it was the first and one of the few songs for which he wrote the lyrics first. 

            In story 2 of episode 21, the Beatles have just spent a week doing sold out shows in New York and they are paid in cash on a Sunday when all the banks are closed. They sew the money inside Ringo’s jacket then go to Coney Island. They don’t want to lose Ringo and so they go together into the fun house. They almost lose him when they see him sitting on a clown’s lap because he thinks he’s Santa Clause. They get separated in the dark and Ringo leaves the fun house alone when he slides down a ramp. Then he sees a sinister looking man hanging out and thinks he’s after the money so he runs to the wax museum while John and Paul are next to the sinister guy and singing “Money”, which was written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford. It was recorded by Barret Strong and in 1960 became the first Motown hit. The sinister guy keeps chasing Ringo into the haunted house while John and Paul play and sing. Ringo tries to escape on the merry go round and pulls a switch to make it go fast but it spins so much that all the money flies out. Then the sinister figure takes off his disguise and it’s George. Ringo says the money is gone but John says he sewed the real money into his own jacket and gave Ringo stage money but when he takes it out we see that he actually kept the stage money and it was the real money that was lost. I fell asleep on the couch for about an hour after the first show. 

            In story 1 of episode 22, the Beatles come to be the honoured guests in a Swiss village in the Alps. The villagers have made a flag for them with their pictures on it. The Beatles are expected to plant the flag on top of the very high local mountain with a dog named Gunther as their guide. The Beatles are tied to a line attached to Gunther as they go up the mountain. They don’t want to do this and decide to just throw the flag away and say it was lost but when they do Gunther fetches it, almost sending the Beatles off a cliff. They climb while the Beatles sing the German version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand”: Komm, gib mir deine Hand (literally “Come Give Me Your Hand”). Camillo Felgen wrote the translation. There was also a German version of “I Love You” and they were both hits in German speaking countries but after that the Beatles refused to do any more other language versions of their songs. Some say this helped spread the use of English throughout the world. The Beatles plant the flag at the top but then roll down the mountain together in a big snowball. But in the end Gunther fetches the flag back down from the top. 

            The first singalong is to “Bad Boy”, which was written and released by Larry Williams in 1958 but was not a hit. It was however a popular cover number for British bands like The Beatles. The Beatles version was sung by John. The second singalong is to “Tell Me Why”, which was written and sung by John, with harmonies by Paul. 

            In story 2, of episode 22 The Beatles are on a cruise ship and walking on deck on a very foggy night. Ringo says they should visit the mysterious passenger because every ship has one. They check the manifest and indeed he is listed as “Mysterious Passenger” in cabin 13. They look through a window and see him sharpening a knife. Then they see a beautiful girl in a veil and they think she is in danger so they burst in. She takes off her veil and she’s not beautiful after all. She starts chasing them for a kiss. It turns out that she is the assistant of Hakim the knife thrower. He sees her as the most beautiful girl in the world and refuses to let them steal her away. He thinks that she loves them now and so he starts throwing knives at them. The try to convince Hakim that she loves him and sing “She Loves You”, which was written by both John and Paul. It was their first North American hit. The phrase “Yeah Yeah yeah” became iconic and symbolic of the British invasion. It spawned the “Ye-Ye” music genre in France. 

            Jack Mendelsohn was an uncredited writer for both of these episodes. He wrote and drew the comic strip Jacky’s Diary as if he were a little boy and it ran in Sunday newspapers from 1959 to 1961. His first TV script was for Beetle Bailey in 1963. He wrote scripts for Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, The Carol Burnett Show, Three’s Company, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and some of Yellow Submarine to name a few. He also wrote for the humour magazine Panic. He was nominated for an Emmy for one of his scripts but I don’t know which one.

November 13, 1994: I traded with my daughter that if she walked a certain distance I would carry her the same

Thirty years ago today 

            On Sunday morning my daughter woke quite a while before me and I only got up after a lot of coaxing from her. We had breakfast and Adina called at around noon to find out when we would be leaving for the zoo. We were waiting for the bus just as she arrived and so she just got back on. We went to the zoo but Adina wasn’t feeling well because of a headache and later on she was cold, but she said she enjoyed herself anyway. My daughter was very fussy and wanted to be carried a lot. At three and a half years old she was getting heavy and so I started trying to trade off with her in a type of game. I would pick a certain destination and tell her that if she walked there I would pick her up and then I would carry her to the next. A lot of the outdoor exhibits were closed for the season. We were the last ones to leave.

Dennis Marks

            I revised my translation of the eighth verse of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian. I finished memorizing “Flagrant délire” (Flagrant Delerium) by Serge Gainsbourg. I searched for the chords but all that was posted was the tablature without the lyrics or the named chords. I worked them out for the intro and the first chord of the vocal. I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice and it was a pretty good session. I put a recharged battery into my Boss FS-6 foot switch. I figured out a way to play “Like a Boomerang” with a firmer E flat chord. The song jumps from C to E flat but I’d been using a non-barred C chord, which is way down the neck and jumping from there to the high part with a barred E on the 11th fret but that doesn’t hold as well. But I realized I can play a C with a barred E chord on the 8th fret and then move up to form the E flat more easily. I weighed 88 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since October 30. I weighed 88.35 kilos before lunch. That’s the highest it’s been since October 13. In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and stopped at Bloor and Avenue Road to turn on my back flasher but it didn’t work. I took it apart to see if it wasn’t connecting somewhere and I could make it flash when it was stripped down but couldn’t make it hold. That’s frustrating because it was fresh and worked yesterday. It started raining so I turned around and headed home. Between Spadina and Bathurst on Bloor there was an ice cold rain storm and I got soaked. It’s worse riding after dark in the rain because the lights shining off the puddles are disorienting and one doesn’t know where the bumps are underneath. The storm subsided when I went south on Bathurst but it was still raining until Queen. When I got back to Parkdale I went straight to Metro Cycle to buy a new flasher. The owner talked me into buying a set of USB rechargeable Evo Nightbright flashers for $90. When I got home I tried putting them on but I couldn’t get the red one to flash. It said on the package to double click but that didn’t work and the rubber button came off. I took it back to Metro and both the owner and his repairman had no problem double clicking to make it work. I finally figured out that it was a matter of double clicking more quickly. The owner told me I’m the first person he’s seen whose had a problem and I asked if he wanted my autograph. I weighed 87.8 kilos at 18:30. I was caught up on my journal at 19:30. I reviewed the videos of my song practice performances of “Vomit of the Star Eater” from September 10 to 13. From September 10 to 12 I played it on my Martin acoustic guitar. On September 10 the take at 12:15 was okay for a while but I fumbled during the second and third verses. On September 11 the take at 16:30 was okay though I fumbled slightly in a couple of places. On September 12 the take at 12:45 was okay. On September 13 I played it on my Gibson electric guitar and the take at 23:00 was okay. I only had about ten minutes before supper to practice playing “Paranoiac Utopia” and so I wasn’t able to conquer the chorus. I grilled ten chicken drumsticks and had two with a potato and gravy while watching episodes 19 and 20 of The Beatles cartoon series. In story 1 of episode 19, George is on a beach in Hawaii and is feeling intimidated by all of the muscle men walking by. He tries to tear out the coupon for a body building course from a magazine but doesn’t have the strength. A muscleman knocks him over so George catches the jock’s foot between the strings of his guitar. The jock challenges him to a surf battle in one week. One of the beach girls tells George the man is Surf Wolf, the toughest surfboard fighter in Hawaii. She gives George surfing lessons. During the contest Surf Wolf puts shark food on George’s board and so it gets partially eaten. George throws instant starch at Surf Wolf and so he becomes paralyzed and George wins. The first singalong is to “Please Mr. Postman” originally a hit for The Marvelettes. The second singalong is to “I Saw Her Standing There”, which was written by both John and Paul but conceived by Paul and was the opening track on their debut album. It was sung by Paul with vocal harmonies by John. In story 2 the Beatles are on a beach in California where a Mr. Hollywood contest is being held. A lot of musclemen with novelty talents are competing and so the Beatles perform “Boys” by Luther Dixon and Wes Ferrell, which was a hit for The Shirelles in 1960. The Beatles version was sung by Ringo quite impressively with all three other Beatles singing backup. It was his first recording as a lead vocalist. In the early live performances their previous drummer, Pete Best sang the song. But Ringo also previously sang the song when he was the drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. George wins the Mr. Hollywood contest. In story 1 of episode 20, The Beatles are in Switzerland ice skating outdoors. John and Paul are experts while George and Ringo are holding onto each other to keep from falling down. As a joke John and Paul enter George in an ice race contest and he is partnered with a plus size Swiss girl named Lizzy in an ice boat sailing race while the song “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” is being played with John on lead vocal. It was written and recorded by Larry Williams in 1958. George and Lizzie accidentally win the race after much slapstick fumbling on George’s part. The first singalong is to “Ticket to Ride”, which was written mostly by John. John said that a ticket to ride represented the card that Hamburg sex workers received to show they were free of STDs. The song was the Beatles first break from conventional rock and roll. The second singalong is to “From Me to You”, which was written by both John and Paul. In story 2 of episode 20, The Beatles are in Madrid. They go into a club where two flamenco dancers Rosita and Jose are performing. John has sore feet from walking and takes off his boot but doesn’t realize someone has accidentally flicked cigar ash into it. When he puts it back on he begins to jump around so quickly that it looks like a very impressive flamenco dance and so the audience is clapping. The female dancer falls for him and so the male dancer challenges John to a duel with swords. Paul tries to save John during the duel by singing “I Saw Her Standing There”. Somehow John is a better fencer and wins, then he puts a bull’s head on the dancer and acting like a matador beats him as well. But then Rosita punches John for beating her poor Jose. They all part as friends but then Rosita screams because she sees a cockroach. Paul jumps on it several times and it looks like flamenco dancing and so Rosita is in love with him and Jose wants to duel with Paul. Dennis Marks was an uncredited co-writer on both of these episodes and in fact on all 39 episodes of the series. He started in a song writing team with Alan Friedman and their first song appeared in the off Broadway review Fallout. He was hired by King Features Syndicate to turn comic strips into short animated film scripts, starting with Barney Google and then Beetle Bailey. He was hired as a writer for The Jackie Gleason Show. His first TV screenplay was for Pippi Longstocking in 1958. He then got the job of writing screenplays for The Beatles cartoon series. He wrote for the Batman-Superman Hour and the Aquaman animated series. He wrote half of the 100 Batfink screenplays. He moved to LA and wrote for Josie and the Pussycats among other shows. He wrote for the 1981 Spiderman animated series, Spiderman and his Amazing Friends, and The Incredible Hulk. He also did voices, including The Green Goblin. He wrote for the Transformers. He wrote the script for The Jetsons movie and Tom and Jerry the movie.

November 12, 1994: I found $466.84 in my account and didn't know where it came from

Thirty years ago today 

            On Saturday after I got up at 11:00 I called Nancy. She said she’d phone me from the Convention Centre. I worked on updating my progressed astrological charts. She called me at around 15:15 and I headed down there. On the way I went to the bank and found $466.84 in my account. I wondered what it was all about as I deposited the $40. I met Nancy to pick up our daughter. At first she didn’t want to come with me but eventually warmed up to it and we went for chocolate. Then we stopped at Loblaws for eggs followed by Taco Bell and then home where she played until she fell asleep at 23:30.

Ron Campbell

            On Sunday morning when I got up my new humidifier was dry but couldn’t have been for long because the humidity was over 60. I have to remember to put water in it before bedtime. 

            I revised my translation of the seventh verse of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian, and that’s half the song. 

            I memorized the third verse of “Flagrant délire” (Flagrant Delirium) by Serge Gainsbourg. The rest of the song is just repetition of the second and third verse and then the third is repeated by the chorus but slightly differently and so I have to figure out the sequence. I might have the whole song nailed down on Monday. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar during song practice. It went out of tune about three times and it sounds a bit rattly because the action is too low. I’m reluctant to take it to be adjusted right now. Maybe before Christmas. Tomorrow I’ll play my Kramer. 

            I weighed 87.45 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since October 31. 

            I sanded a bit more of the kitchen side of the bathroom door frame. 

            I weighed 88.2 kilos before lunch. That’s the highest it’s been in the early afternoon since October 13. 

            I took a siesta and slept half an hour longer than usual so I didn’t leave for my bike ride until 17:00 and sunset, plus it was raining a bit and so it was extra dark. It wasn’t coming down very hard but I would have gotten wet if I went all the way downtown and so I only rode as far as Bloor and Ossington. 

            I weighed 88.05 kilos at 17:45. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:15. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Vomit of the Star Eater” from September 6 to 9. On September 6 and 9 I played it on my Martin Road Series acoustic guitar. On September 6 the take at 11:45 was the best one so far but there was traffic noise. On September 9 the take at 10:45 was okay. On September 7 and 8 I played it on my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar. On September 7 the take starting at 22:30 was okay until I started fumbling on the third verse. On September 8 the take at 22:00 didn’t sound horrible but I fumbled once and the action was low so the guitar sounded rattly.

            I spent about fifteen minutes working on re-learning to play “Paranoiac Utopia”. I didn’t do too badly on the first and second verses but I’m still screwing up the chord sequence for the chorus.

            I made pizza on multigrain sandwich bread with a sliced ground beef burger and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching episodes 17 and 18 of The Beatles cartoon series. 

            In story 1 of episode 17, the Beatles are travelling off the coast of Japan in an old junk which John and Paul are rowing. They come ashore to rest when John and Paul see a beautiful ship piloted by a lovely woman. They are enchanted and run to it but an ancient looking man stops them and warns them not to go aboard the ghost ship Ah Na or they will sail permanently into the enchanted lagoon. John comes to his senses but Paul goes to the ship anyway and into Ah Na’s arms. As the ship heads for the enchanted lagoon the song “Anna” is playing. The other Beatles pursue the boat to rescue him while Paul is intoxicated by love. The Beatles climb aboard and Ah Nah summons her warriors but they run away from Ringo saying he’s one wild drummer. They rescue Paul and take him back to the hotel but when he enters the elevator the door closes and he is alone with Ah Nah. 

            The first singalong is to “Matchbox”, which was written by Carl Perkins but lyrically derived from Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Matchbox Blues”. The second singalong is to “Thank You Girl” which was written by John and Paul. 

            In story 2 of episode 17, John is showing the other Beatles paintings in a museum in New York but they are bored. They sneak off to look for a party in Greenwich Village and a party finds them. It’s full of Beatniks painting, writing poetry and playing bongos and waiters on skateboards. John comes looking for them and when they see him coming they disguise themselves as Beatniks and play “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”, which was written by John. When John finds the others he announces he’s quitting the band to become a Beatnik. 

            In story 1 of episode 18, the Beatles are travelling in Hawaii when John introduces the others to a box that expands into a trailer that they can live in while travelling instead of hotel rooms. Everything is automatic and the kitchen pops out at the touch of a button as do the beds. Their garbage disposal is a goat. As they are travelling they find the villagers evacuating because of an active volcano. The native drummers are playing to make the volcano spirits happy so it won’t erupt. Ringo is inside the trailer and starts playing his drums to help them but ends up hitting a switch that unhitches the trailer and he goes rolling down the mountain to the tune of “Matchbox”. When it approaches a tunnel Ringo accidentally hits another switch that collapses the trailer. It rolls up the side of the volcano and then expands over the mouth to block any lava flow. The natives now think the Beatles are the volcano spirits and bring them food to their trailer. But then the volcano erupts and the trailer launches into the sky and far away with them in it. 

            The first singalong is to “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”. The second singalong is to “Help”, which was written by John with some help from Paul.

            In story 2 of episode 18 The Beatles are in France and their manager tells them they’re getting fat from all the French food they’ve been eating and so now have to be locked in their hotel room. John calls the fire department and when they bring a ladder to their window they escape. They have no money for food so they enrol in a cooking school so they can get free meals. Armand the director is out and so when the Beatles arrive they serenade the straight laced secretary Margarite with the song “Thank You Girl” and she takes off her glasses and lets her hair down to begin dancing. They also clean up the school and when Armand returns he’s impressed by the Beatles and by the new Margarite.

            Both episodes and many others of The Beatles cartoon series were co-directed by Ron Campbell, who in 1958 started animating Australian TV commercials. Because of the success of The Beatles series he went on to direct The Smurfs, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, The Big Blue Marble, Sesame Street, Darkwing Duck, and Rugrats to name a few. He and his colleague Duane Crowther animated about twelve minutes of Yellow Submarine. When he retired he became a pop artist and made paintings along the themes of some of his more famous animations.