Jacques Aubuchon

            On Wednesday morning I memorized the seventh verse of “S'il pleauvait des larmes” (If it Rained in Tears) by Boris Vian. There is just one verse left to learn.

            I ran through singing and playing “Litany in Lithuania”, my translation of “Litanie en Lituanie” by Serge Gainsbourg. I uploaded it to my Christian’s Translations blog and finished preparing it for publication. Tomorrow I’ll find a video to accompany it and then post it. 

            During song practice I played my Martin acoustic guitar for the first of two sessions. It’s a nice relief from and less time consuming right now than playing the electric and fiddling with learning how to work my new switches quickly. 

            I weighed 88.05 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since June 23. Around midday I moved another 200 photos from my main hard drive to the Samsung SSD. I’m up to “Sexual Doll”. 

            I weighed 88.45 kilos before lunch. 

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

            I weighed 87.55 kilos at 17:10 but then a minute later my scale said I was 86.65 kilos. Two minutes after that I was 87 kilos so I guess my weight is somewhere between those. Then I tried it again and it was still 87 kilos and so I’ll go with that. 

            I got a notice that the poop test I sent to Life Labs is normal so I don’t have to worry about colon cancer right now. 

            It was another mostly cloudy evening and so the light wasn’t right for me to go outside and shoot videos of people for my project. 

            I was caught on my journal at 18:00. 

            I compared the videos of my electric performances of “La jambe de bois” on August 13 and 19 of last year. On August 19 I look better and the guitar sounds better. I compared September 4 to August 19 and September 4 looks pretty much as good but the guitar sounds better on August 19 and it also has the edge because that day’s session is already a project in Movie Maker. So August 19 will be the electric take of that song that I’ll upload to YouTube. 

            I compared the video of my acoustic performances of “The Wooden Leg” on August 10 and 12. August 10 definitely looks better. I compared August 16 to August 10 and saw that August 16 is by far a better looking video. I compared August 22 to August 16 and found that August 16 is crisper, so August 16 is out in front. I have five more to compare. 

            I listened to the digital copy of the cassette marked “Fun and Games”. It’s an early recording that I made at Mike’s recording studio in the garage behind Peter Fruchter’s place. There’s only one recording that Brian Haddon can be heard on and that’s “Sleep in the Snow” but it doesn’t have all the parts that Brian plays on the final master recording. It has “Instructions for Electroshock Therapy” with Mike on drums and bass; there is a partial take of “Me and Gravity” and then two more complete takes, all with Mike on drums; there are three takes of “The Princess and the Pea Happy Song” with Mike playing drums; there are two takes of “Paranoiac Utopia” with Mike on drums but the second take is cut short; there is one take of “Sleep in the Snow” with Brian and with drums; there is one take of “Megaphor” with just me on guitar; there is one take of “Seven Shades of Blues” with just me; another take of “Megaphor” with just me; and one take of “The Next State of Grace” with just me. It’s a 90 minute cassette but just 70 minutes were recorded. So far all of the tapes I’ve digitized have some skipping but they are all at least twenty years old. I think I have undamaged versions of all these songs on CD. 

            I made pizza on a thawed out naan with Basilica sauce and five-year old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 4, episodes 12 and 13 of Bewitched. 

            In the first story Samantha is preparing Thanksgiving Dinner when Aunt Clara drops in wearing her pyjamas. She talks in her sleep and ended up casting a travel spell to fly there. Before dinner she tells of how much she enjoyed the first Thanksgiving with Miles Standish, Priscilla, and John Alden. Suddenly all the reminiscing has made Clara want to go back so she excuses herself and casts a spell. But of course the spell goes haywire and she not only transports herself back to 17th Century Plymouth but also Samantha, Darrin, Tabitha and Gladys Kravitz who had just stepped into the room to borrow a cup of something. They somehow appear in a vacant house and there is a knock on the door. John Alden invites them to join his table for the feast. Samantha is well versed in the speech of that era but Darrin uses 20th Century phrases that startle a man named Phineas. At the table they encounter Phineas again when they are all about to sit down. He protests the idea of women sitting with the men and says they should be cooking and serving. So they leave while Darrin stays. Phineas starts carving the turkey and cuts himself but claims it’s Darrin’s fault. Later when Phineas speaks about taking pleasure in a witch burning Darrin protests and leaves the table but Phineas follows him. Darrin joins Samantha and helps her out by lighting a fire but Phineas is watching and sees him light a fire with a match, which Phineas thinks is witchcraft. Darrin is put in irons and tried as a witch. Phineas tells him that if he doesn’t confess he will be burned and if he confesses he will be burned. Darrin defends himself by showing them a match and demonstrating lighting it but only further incriminates herself. Samantha stands to speak in Darrin’s defence. She says, “I would congratulate Phineas. He hath shown a way out of difficulties that all can follow. Art thou clumsy? T’is not thine own fault. Cry witch. Art thou forgetful? Blame not thyself. Cry witch. Whatever thy failings, take not the fault upon thyself. T’is more a comfort to place it on another. How do we decide who is the witch? T’is simple. Again Master Phineas hath shown us the way. Doth someone speak differently from thee? A sign of witchery. Doth he show different mannerisms? Witchery of course. And should we not find differences in manner and speech to support a charge of witchery, there are other differences. What of he who looketh different? What of she whose name hath different sound? If one examineth one’s neighbours closely, he will find differences enough so that no one is safe from the charge of witchery. The hope of this new world lie in our acceptance of all differences and a recognition of our common humanity.” Phineas brings up the match again. Samantha hands the match to Phineas and asks him to prove that he is not a witch by striking it. He strikes it and Samantha uses magic to make it light again. The judges say Phineas must either declare himself a witch or withdraw the charges. Clara suddenly remembers her spell and takes them all back to the present. 

            Phineas was played by Jacques Aubuchon, who was part of the clan behind the Aubuchon Hardware Store empire in New England. His first Broadway appearance was in The Madwoman of Chaillot. His first regular TV part was in Paris 7000. He co-starred in Thunder Road. He played Chief Urulu on McHale’s Navy. 

            In the second story Samantha comes home to find her mother, who she left to watch Tabitha, giving her a pony ride in the nursery. Samantha protests and Endora reminds her that she had a pony and her’s had wings. Samantha tells her Darrin will be home soon and what if he sees the pony. Endora tells her Darrin is the pony. Darrin came home earlier and they argued, then when Darrin accused her of riding him she decided to show him what it was like to be ridden. Samantha gets her to change him back. Darrin simply says either Endora goes or he goes. Endora says she’ll give Darrin a peace offering. At work Darrin is working at his desk when a framed desk portrait of Endora flies in his window and places itself on his desk. Inside the frame Endora is alive in expression and voice. Darrin tries to break the picture on his desk but it breaks off the corner of the desk. He takes it downstairs and throws it in the incinerator but it returns. Then Larry comes in with the potential client Mr. Gregson of Gregson Home Appliances. Gregson notices Endora’s portrait and is impressed when he learns who it is. He’s never met anyone who had a portrait of their mother in law on their desk. Gregson wants to meet her. Larry lies that he and Louise are scheduled to come to Darrin’s place for dinner that night and suggests he join them. At dinner Gregson is more impressed with Darrin than Larry and offers to back him in his own advertizing agency. Darrin insists that Larry is the brains of the company. After Gregson leaves Larry accuses Darrin of backstabbing and fires him. Darrin works all night on a campaign for Gregson and plans to go over it with Larry because he doesn’t believe he meant what he said. But then a moving van arrives with Darrin’s office furniture. Darrin says he’ll take the campaign straight to Gregson but Samantha casts a spell on it first. She puts Larry’s name on all of it. Gregson is impressed and agrees that Larry is the brains after all. Larry is pleasantly shocked when Gregson and Darrin come to his office and Larry thinks that Darrin gave him the credit for the winning campaign.