A Gibson for Graduation

            On Tuesday morning I worked out the chords for the bridge leading to the repetition of the first and second verses of “On fait des rêves” (We Keep Dreaming) by Boris Vian. The rest of the song might be just a matter of transcription. 

            I ran through singing and playing “Aberdeen et Kowloon” by Serge Gainsbourg in French and my translation “Moon Honey”. I then uploaded it to my Christian’s Translations blog and began to prepare it for publication. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the final session of four. This afternoon will mark four weeks since my amplifier has been in the shop. 

            I tried my digital scale again and it’s definitely fucked, so I have to wait a few days for the new one to arrive. Until then I’ll be weightless. 

            Around midday I packed up my Japanese knockoff of a Gibson guitar and rode up to Roncesvalles and Howard Park to The Mother of All Guitar Shops. I went there to see if Dragon still had the Gibson Les Paul Studio mahogany guitar that caught my attention a couple of weeks ago. I’d checked out the guitars in several other shops and in that price range it was the best looking and best sounding guitar I’d tried. I was ready to be disappointed if someone else had snatched it up while I was looking around for those two weeks but was pleasantly surprised that it was still there. I tried it out again to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake in my assessment last time. It still sounded better than the others. I asked if he would take a trade and he said he’d give me $100 for the fake Gibson. He would have only charged me $1400 for the guitar if I hadn’t been too lazy to go to the bank for the cash. That would have been the sensible thing to do but I paid by debit. But did however knock another $107 off the price so I only paid $75 in tax. I’m very happy with my new guitar. It was built in 2016 and doesn’t look like it’s been used at all. Dragon added no parts to it and did nothing to it besides setting it up and so the finish is the original and there’s not a mark from being played. I took it home and hung it on the hook in the living room where the shitty Fibson used to hang. I was going to look for a guitar for my 70th birthday next year but decided that I might as well get one instead as a graduation present to myself. When I bought the Kramer twenty five years ago I could barely play and didn’t base my purchase on the sound of the guitar but rather the appearance. Fortunately it turned out to be a good guitar but this was the first electric guitar purchase I’ve made based on both appearance and sound. 

            I took a siesta and slept half an hour longer than usual. I headed out for a later than usual bike ride at 16:19 and decided I would only ride until I found a Freedom Mobile store where I could pay for my June phone service. The system is down for the store in Parkdale until Wednesday and I need to call the Toronto Housing Allowance to let them know that I didn’t get my annual renewal form. I stopped at the store at Bloor and Dovercourt but their system was down for the next half hour, so I continued on. The next store was at Bloor and Spadina and there I was able to top up my account. From there I just rode down Spadina to Queen and then home. My ride up Roncesvalles and back plus my ride to Bloor and Spadina and back is probably the equivalent of my usual bike ride downtown. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:49. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “The Post Colonial Breakdown” and “Mamadou” from August 18 to 22. On August 18 and 20 I played “The Post Colonial Breakdown” on my Kramer electric guitar. On August 18 the take at 5:45 in part B was okay but there was traffic noise. On August 20 the take at 6:00 in part B was one of the best electric versions. On August 22 I played it on my Martin acoustic guitar and the take at 3:30 in part B was not bad. On August 19 I played “Mamadou” on the Kramer and the take at 7:45 in part B was one of the best. This is already synchronized in Movie Maker. On August 21 I played it on the Martin and the take at the beginning of part B was not bad but there was washed out light. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “Angeline” I inserted one of the clips I’d made from the Greta Garbo silent film Wild Orchids into the main video. After that the concert video was behind the studio audio and so I cut out some of it until they were in synch again. They stayed lined up into the beginning of the final chorus, but in keeping with how the other choruses have begun I needed to show someone falling while I’m singing “Heeeeeeey…”. I inserted the first psychedelic clip of Mickey Dolenz falling underwater in the movie Head. Then I show Brian Haddon playing while I sing “…Angeline”, then there’s another underwater clip, then back to Brian and panning from him to me as I sing, “I feel I’m falling through your painful painted dream”, then back to another underwater clip of Mickey Dolenz. After that it goes out of synch again for the line, “and since I can’t see the bottom…” I’ll look at it tomorrow to find out whether it’s out of synch because the video is behind or ahead and then act accordingly. I might have this video completed before I meet Brian for lunch next week. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching season 3, episodes 25 and 26 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Darrin and Samantha have Darrin’s old college buddy Charlie Harper and his wife Daphne over for dinner. Charlie was better than Darrin at everything in college and he has continued that trend in their careers. Darrin works for an advertizing firm while Charlie owns one. Charlie owns several homes including a castle. It is Daphne who brags about their wealth and makes subtle comparisons between hers and Charlie’s lavish lifestyle and the more meagre existence of Darrin and Samantha. Charlie invites Darrin and Samantha for the weekend to Long Island because they’ve just opened up their house on Oyster Bay and they’re having some friends over. He tells them to pack and they’ll take the limo there right away. That weekend by the pool all of the men, including the count and the senator are lining up to play table tennis with Samantha leaving Daphne alone. But Daphne continues to be an annoying snob. Charlie offers Darrin the presidency of his advertizing firm but Darrin turns him down because he’s loyal to Larry. As Samantha is getting dressed for dinner Daphne comes to ask if she needs to borrow any clothes or jewellery because it will be a dressy affair. Samantha conjures a set of diamond jewels but Daphne thinks they must be zircon at Darrin’s salary. Then Samantha conjures the most beautiful mink that Daphne has ever seen. Later Daphne tells Charlie he has to get that mink for her or she will have a migraine until 1970. Charlie tells Darrin that he wants to buy the mink, which of course Darrin knows nothing about. Samantha has to take Darrin aside to explain and then Darrin tells Charlie it’s not for sale. When Charlie is gone Darrin is angry because Samantha is using magic to materialize the luxuries that he can’t afford. This same argument has popped up in past episodes. Later at dinner Samantha gives Daphne the coat. Daphne says Charlie will give Samantha a cheque but Samantha explains that it’s a gift. Daphne doesn’t understand and says she can’t give away something so valuable. Samantha explains one can if one values something else more. Darrin understands then embraces and kisses Samantha. Later at home Darrin and Samantha receive a package from Charlie and Daphne containing the mink. The note from Daphne says that Samantha gave her a new sense of value and another note from Charlie says she gave him a new Daphne. Samantha immediately makes the coat disappear. Charlie was played by Angus Duncan who played the boyfriend of Mary Richard’s in the fist episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. 

            In the second story Darrin is away and Aunt Clara is visiting. Samantha tells her about a client of Darrin’s named Morgan who acts like he’s from the Victorian age when the louder one talked the more right one was. Clara says that the Victorian era was her favourite time to live and informs Samantha that she was a handmaiden to Queen Victoria. Reminiscing makes her decide to go back to that time. She casts a spell to do so but the result is that Queen Victoria appears with her throne in Samantha’s living room. Victoria is obviously confused by this situation and she says, “We are not amused”. 

             Of this often parodied quotation, chances are if she was speaking only of herself she would have said “I”. “We” was used by a monarch in their capacity as a representative of all of their subjects. Victoria was known to enjoy a good joke and had a healthy laugh and so she was often amused. One story goes that she once did respond to a risqué joke with “We are not amused” but it was a situation in which other ladies were present and she was speaking on their behalf. 

            When she learns that she is in the United States, Victoria says she must prepare for a visit from President McKinley. Samantha informs her that she is in the 20th Century. Meanwhile Morgan comes to see Larry at his office. When he hears that Darrin is married he wants to meet Samantha because he judges a man by his wife. He wants Larry to arrange for them to go for cocktails at Samantha’s home. Victoria is watching television but when she sees women in bikinis she smashes the TV. Larry comes to ask if Samantha will entertain Morgan for cocktails. Then Larry sees Victoria and Samantha explains that it’s her aunt who thinks she is Queen Victoria. Victoria thinks she was brought to the future by providence to straighten up the 20th Century, and so she plans to issue some decrees. Morgan comes and Victoria says he reminds her of Gladstone, who she never liked. Morgan behaves much like Victoria but he has no manners and sits before she does. She repeatedly hits him over the head with her fan. He begins to confront her but Larry steps in and tells Morgan to shut up. Morgan storms away. Later Samantha appears invisibly in Morgan’s hotel room and causes him to fall asleep. He dreams he is Queen Victoria but then he dreams he’s a tyrant getting the guillotine. Morgan returns to apologize to Larry and says he wants him to handle his account because he stood up to him. Meanwhile Samantha wants to get rid of Victoria but Clara has forgotten the spell. Samantha reveals she’s a witch and so Victoria concludes that Clara must be one as well. She says if she had known when she was her handmaiden she would have had her flogged. Clara is mad now and sends Victoria back but she is replaced by Prince Albert. 

            Both of these stories were co-written by Sol Saks, who worked as a radio actor when he was a child. He started writing as a cub reporter, studied journalism and then worked for newspapers. He became a writer for radio and published short stories. He became a writer for the top radio series of its day, Duffy’s Tavern. He then wrote for the Baby Snooks Show. He transitioned Ozzie and Harriet Nelson’s radio show from a variety show to a story show. His first TV credit was an episode of My Favourite Husband. He developed the sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve. He co-wrote the film Walk Don’t Run. He was also the creator of the series Bewitched and the writer of the pilot. He became a millionaire just from writing the pilot and his name was credited as a co-writer for all the other episodes even though he didn’t write a word of them. He wrote a book entitled The Craft of Comedy Writing. He said “the worst thing you write is better than the best thing you didn’t write”.