Dolores del Rio

            On Wednesday morning I worked out the chords for the fourth and fifth verses of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian.

            I worked out the chords for the first verse and the first two lines of the second verse of “Ophélie” (Ophelia) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I felt something on my shoulder and out of the corner of my eye I thought it was a bedbug so I automatically slapped it but it was a ladybug that I killed. It had been on top of a mole on my shoulder that is about the same shape as a ladybug so maybe it was trying to mate with it. 

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

            I weighed 88 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since October 7. 

            I got an email from Richard Olafson confirming that December 1 at 16:00, at The Supermarket in Kensington Market  is the time of my book launch. He sent me the poster for the event but it didn’t have me or my book on it at all. I told him there is no point me promoting the event with the poster if my name isn’t on it. He got back to me later and apologized, saying it was an oversight and he’d even forgotten to put his own wife’s name on the poster. He said he’d fix it later today.

            I weighed 87.95 kilos before lunch. I had Breton crackers with cream cheese and a glass of low sugar iced tea. 

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

            I weighed 87.35 kilos at 18:00. 

            Richard Olafson sent me a revised version of the poster that included an image of my book, but didn’t include my name and book on the list of authors. The image of the book is too small for anybody to be able to see my name and the title very well. I told him again that I can’t use the poster to promote my launch if I’m not even listed.

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:30. 

            Richard got back to me with a revised poster that has my name on it. He suggested that he has ADHD. 

            In Paint I worked on my rainbow ripple wave image. I added different images of rainbows that I’d set at the same angle and made it look like they are part of a rippling wave. I still have a few more to add. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with Basilica sauce, a sliced hot Italian sausage and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episodes 27 and 28 of Branded. 

            In the first story McCord meets the stagecoach of Senor Ramirez when it arrives in Los Angeles. McCord has been hired to survey the new Mexican railroad. Mr. Hartley is building the railroad and insists on McCord having control of the $25,000 that will be taken to Mexico. Meanwhile thieves are committing robberies and leaving behind a large painted letter M as the mark of Murietta. The real Murietta was known as the Robin Hood of the west and the fictional character of Zorro was based on him. The thieves are a small gang of four teenagers led by Juan Molinera. But they sell the things they steal to a disreputable shopkeeper named Vega who claims to have known the real Murietta. Vega takes advantage of the naivety of the teenagers and underpays them for the items they steal. Later Juan’s mother Antonia confronts Vega and says she knows he never rode with Murietta. In Ramirez’s hotel room McCord and Hartley are meeting with him. Rosita, who is part of the gang, works in the hotel as a maid and is listening at the door. The next day as McCord is transporting the money the three young men attack and Juan steals the briefcase. Ramirez successfully kills Pablo. Juan gets away and Luis goes to Vega with some of the gold to buy supplies and horses. But when Vega learns where Juan has gone he knifes Luis. McCord finds that Rosita is involved and gets her to help get the gold back. She takes him to Antonia then she finds Luis still alive at Vega’s and he tells them Juan is at Murietta’s old hideout. Antonia knows the place and takes McCord there. Vega comes to the hideout and Juan still trusts him. He shows him the gold but Vega pulls a gun. Juan tries to get away but Vega shoots him and takes the gold. McCord and Antonia arrive and Vega fires at them. McCord kills Vega. Antonia finds Juan still alive but he dies in her arms. She tells McCord what she never told her son. That Murietta was his father. 

            Antonia was played by Dolores Del Rio, who came from an aristocratic family in Durango. She and her husband became friends with Hollywood director Edwin Carewe who encouraged Dolores to go to the States. Her film debut was in Joanna in 1925. She co-starred in High Steppers, Pals First, Journey into Fear, The Trail of ’98, and The Devil’s Playground. She starred in Resurrection, Ramona, Bird of Paradise, Flying Down to Rio, Madame Du Barry, The Loves of Carmen, No Other Woman, The Red Dance, Girl of the Rio, In Caliente, I Live for Love, and Widow from Monte Carlo. She had an affair with Orson Welles who said she was the most exciting woman in the world. He said the same thing about Eartha Kitt but it’s an understandable toss-up. She returned to Mexico in 1942. She starred in Wild Flower at the age of 37 and became the biggest movie star in Mexico. She starred in Maria Candelaria, Las Abandondas, Bugambilia, Evangeline, Dona Perfecta, El Nini Y la Niebla, The Bad One, Lancer Spy, International Settlement, La Selva de Fuego, La Otra, The Fugitive, La Malquerida, and Senora Ama. She co-starred in The Children of Sanchez, The Man from Dakota, La Cucaracha, and More Than a Miracle. Vincent Price promised her on her deathbed that he would keep her name alive and so sometimes when asked for his autograph he’d sign her name. Marlene Dietrich said Dolores del Rio was the most beautiful woman in Hollywood. She was called the female Rudolph Valentino. She pioneered the two piece swimsuit.

            

           

            

            The second story is the first of a two part tale. McCord is summoned to Washington because his father is gravely ill but he turns out to be fine. It was all part of a ruse to get him there where President Grant is waiting to give him another mission. He says someone is planning to assassinate him. The senate and the House of representatives are opposed to Grant’s recognition of the Cuban revolutionists. Another group that opposes him are those that want the gold in the Black Hills while Grant wants to maintain the Black Hills as Sioux territory. James Swaney and Lou Carlyle are the leaders obsessed with getting at the gold in the Black Hills. Grant wants McCord to weave himself into their confidence and get them to hire him as a surveyor. Grant advises McCord to speak out against the president so as to get into their favour. McCord goes to see his fiancé Laurette and they kiss passionately. But then she reveals that she’s married. After three years she couldn’t wait any longer for McCord to stop wandering so she married Senator Keith Ashley. McCord mentions Swaney and she says he’s a very good friend of Keith’s. McCord stays for dinner and meets their houseguests Dr. Felix Cueverra and his sister Socorro. That night McCord accompanies Keith to meet Swaney and some others opposed to Grant. They go to a boarding house bar where former president Andrew Johnson is also present. Keith introduces McCord to Swaney and Carlyle. Swaney offers McCord the job of surveyor in the Black Hills. Another man named Randall reveals that McCord is the coward of Bitter Creek. He attacks McCord but McCord knocks him down twice. Swaney says the job is still his if he wants it. He also says cryptically that Grant won’t be around much longer. McCord reports to Grant at his grandfather’s house. Grant offers to drop McCord off at his boarding house in his carriage but as they leave Grant is attacked by assassins. He and McCord fight them off but Grant’s driver is killed.

October 31, 1994: My daughter had a mouthful of candy whenever she said "Trick or treat"

Thirty years ago today

            On Monday I didn’t realize until I got to work that I’d forgotten to turn my clock back. In the nearly empty flight manual that I found among my landlord’s other unused things in the laundry room I started a new journal. I wrote this in the Second Cup on College Street. I called Mistress Sharon during my break at work and she said she’d phone me on Tuesday. I tried to reach Adina but her grandmother hung up on me. I posed for nine hours in the Stewart Building of the Ontario College of Art and then I went to meet Nancy and our daughter at a McDonald’s at Yonge and Eglinton. We walked to some streets just south of Eglinton and west of Yonge and trick or treated a few houses. Then my daughter wanted to go to the same houses she’d went to with her mother before I met them. She was eating her candy constantly as we walked and her mouth was full as she said “Trick or treat”. She was drunk from the sugar and was too tired to continue so we finished at 21:30. We went to the subway where I called Adina and went to meet her at the Café Verité. She got to leave early so we went for a walk. It was so nice to be near her. We went to a bar and talked while I had a beer and then I saw her to the bus.

Michael Pate

            On Tuesday morning I got up without enough sleep and was groggy all morning. 

            I worked out the chords for the third verse of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian. 

            I searched for the chords for “Ophélie” (Ophelia) by Serge Gainsbourg but no one had posted them. I worked them out for the intro and for line one of the first verse. 

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

            I weighed 84.9 kilos before breakfast. 

            Between breakfast and lunch I worked on updating my journal because I fell behind yesterday. 

            I weighed 83.4 kilos before lunch. 

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

            I weighed 88.3 kilos at 18:42. I don’t know how I ate five kilograms of food at lunch. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 23:00. 

            I made a new batch of gravy with the roast beef drippings from yesterday. I had some with a potato and a slice of roast beef while watching season 2, episodes 25 and 26 of Branded. These were part 2 and 3 of a three part story. 

            In the first episode Jason McCord is tasked by President Grant to spy on his old friend Armstrong Custer to find out who is trying to get him to break the treaty with the Sioux. 

            In Part 2, Custer has made McCord the chief scout for the 7th Cavalry. He is out on patrol with Lieutenant Briggs in command when they see a Sioux fishing while wearing a cavalry jacket. Briggs assumes the Sioux must have killed a soldier to get it and plans to attack him. McCord reminds him that he is on the other side of the stream that marks the border of Sioux territory as established by the treaty. McCord sees that there are other Sioux up on the ridge. Briggs charges towards the Sioux fisherman but McCord knocks him off his horse. McCord is thrown in the Brigg for attacking an officer. Custer gets Briggs to drop the charges and that night McCord is invited to a party for General Sheridan being thrown by Libby Custer. While everyone is dancing there is a dramatic thunder storm outside and in a flash of lightning Crazy Horse appears on the balcony, then steps into the room. He says he comes in peace. He says his people are going to follow the buffalo because the food promised in the treaty has been withheld. He points to Jennie’s father Timothy Galvin, who is the Indian Agent and says that he has cheated the Sioux. Crazy Horse turns to leave but Briggs places a sword to his throat. McCord reminds Custer that Crazy Horse came in peace and so Custer tells Briggs to let him go. When McCord leaves the party he reports to General Sheridan who is aware of McCord’s undercover operation. McCord tells him that Custer is being used and one of the men behind it is Lionel McCallister, who is convincing Custer that he could be nominated for president if he wins an Indian war. McCord goes to see Galvin and suggests that the Sioux are being short changed on their rations but he is evasive. Galvin goes in the other room and McCord hears a blow and Galvin’s grunt of pain. He rushes in and he is knocked out as well. While McCord is unconscious someone sets fire to the Indian office. McCord comes to and looks for Galvin but he’s disappeared. He finds a Sioux war lance outside. If Galvin has been captured by the Sioux he will be in greater danger if the cavalry moves in. McCord wants to go in alone. Custer gives him a day. McCord ventures into Sioux territory and is surrounded. Meanwhile a horse runs into the fort carrying Galvin’s dead body. On the horse is the symbol of Crazy Horse. Custer and his men head for Sioux territory. 

            In Part 3 McCord is surrounded by Sioux and then Crazy Horse comes. He tells McCord to go back but McCord says it’s too late and he needs to talk to Sitting Bull. Crazy Horse takes him to the chief and speaks favourably on his behalf. He says McCord has helped the Sioux three times. Sitting Bull tells McCord that his warriors did not take Galvin even though he robbed his people. He says white men don’t accept that there is evil among them and it’s easier to blame the red man. Custer has been seen on the boundary of Sioux territory. Crazy Horse tells McCord to ride to him and explain. On McCord’s way he is captured by Charlie Yates who is part of the plot. Yates admits to killing Galvin. He lets it slip that he’s the right hand man of Greg Hazin. He knocks out McCord and drags him to a bear trap. He is about to put McCord’s head in it when he is shot and killed with an arrow from the bow of Young Hawk, who McCord helped before. McCord tells Custer about the plot to get the Black Hills gold by forcing the Sioux to break the treaty. McCord takes Custer and Briggs to Hazin but has Custer and Briggs watching and listening at the window while McCord pretends to want to join Hazin’s plan. He tells him that nine tenths of the ore in the Black Hills is fool’s gold. McCord knows where the real gold is located and says he’ll tell them where gold is for $20,000 (That would be half a million now). Hazin agrees and that’s enough for Custer. They bust in and take care of Hazin, McCallister and their men. McCord saves Briggs’s life so now Briggs likes him. This is before Custer’s big failures and so he is treated like a hero at the end of this story. 

            Crazy Horse was played by Australian actor Michael Pate, who started in 1938 as an interviewer for ABC Radio on a program called “Youth Speaks”. He wrote newspaper and magazine articles and criticisms, radio plays as well as a book of short stories. His play Bonaventure was made into the movie Thunder on the Hill. His film debut was in 40,000 Horsemen. His first lead part as an actor was in Sons of Matthew. He moved to Hollywood in the 50s and early 60s to work in film and on television. He co-starred in Curse of the Undead. He was associate producer of the film Age of Consent. He wrote screenplays for Rawhide and The Most Dangerous Man Alive. He starred in the TV film Tragedy in a Temporary Town. In the late 60s he returned to Australia to do films and TV there. He starred in the series Matlock Police. He wrote, produced and directed “Tim”, starring Mel Gibson in his film debut. He wrote and produced The Mango Tree starring his son Christopher Pate. He said he always played villains as if they were the heroes.

October 30, 1994: My daughter was wearing her new lion costume and telling people "I a yion!"

Thirty years ago today 

            On Sunday Nancy called at 9:00 just to find out if our daughter and I were awake but had nothing to tell us. I told her how dumb it was to call someone just to ask if they are awake. We got up shortly after that. I made my daughter breakfast and then we headed to meet her mother at Finch station but as usual we waited a long time for her. We went to Pioneer Village and it cost me $7.50. Nancy brought our daughter’s new lion costume and dressed her. She loved it and kept telling people “I a yion!” We played a lot of games, went on a wagon ride and it was kind of neat. She didn’t want to leave. As usual at any event we were there until after closing time, which at this place was 17:00. Before we left I bought some catnip for Adina’s cat and some maple candy. We went to Blueberry Hill where I went to the payphone and checked my messages. There were two from Mike Martin about rehearsal spaces, one of which was near the Main Street subway station. We were at Blueberry Hill until 20:30 and then I walked them to the Steeles East bus. Then I walked to the Finch subway station. I’d forgotten to bring Adina’s number with me. I’d called the Café Verité at 17:30 but she wasn’t there. I called again before I left Blueberry Hill and got hung up on twice, maybe accidentally but maybe not. I went to Queen but missed the Neville Park streetcar so I mounted a Connaught car and when it caught up with the Neville car at a light I got out and ran to get on. When I got home I called Adina and we chatted for maybe half an hour. I liked her a lot.

Jaquelyn Hyde

            On Monday morning I worked out the chords for the second verse of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished memorizing “Ophélie” (Ophelia) by Serge Gainsbourg. Tomorrow I’ll look for the chords. 

            The new warm mist humidifier is much more comfortable than the cool mist one but all that steam gets to one’s head. The humidity was plenty high and so I turned it off during song practice. I won’t let it get that high next time and I think it will be fine.

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

            I weighed 84.4 kilos before breakfast. 

            I rushed to shave and shower before leaving for the U of T Grad School of Dentistry for my quarterly deep cleaning. But then I realized that I was thinking I had to leave at noon when I didn’t have to leave until 13:00, so all that rushing was a waste of panic. 

            On the way out I checked my mail and my ten free author’s copies of my book had arrived. 

            My hygienist Villie was at the desk when I got there, I guess filling in for the regular receptionist while she was perhaps at lunch. I thought that the new Federal dental plan covered all my cleanings but it turns out it only covers four units of cleaning a year. I was fully covered for the last cleaning but only for a third of this one so I had to pay $144. Villie suggested I get Dr. Xia to request an extension of the insurance by letter because of the importance of my gum treatment. This time I didn’t need any needle freezing because the really sensitive area is where I had the surgery and she was going to avoid that part. She just rubbed some numbing stuff over my gums. There were brief moments of pain but nothing that really needed freezing. Villie said that the two teeth in the back of the upper left haven’t improved and there is a very deep pocket between them. Dr. Xia has suggested those teeth should be removed. Villie says the rest of my mouth has gotten better. She gave a bigger interdental brush than Xia gave me and showed me some areas of plaque I need to get at with them. My next appointment for cleaning is January 30. I asked the receptionist if I would be covered then but she didn’t know if the number of units a year applied to the calendar year or 365 days after the last coverage. 

            I took some pictures of my printed book. I’ve never been formally in print before and so it’s exciting. Only one of the books arrived damaged on the lower right and upper right corners. 

            I weighed 82.35 kilos at 16:20. 

            I took a siesta at 17:00 and didn’t wake up until 20:00. That’s twice as long as normal but I guess that’s the sleep I didn’t get last night. 

            I weighed 82.85 kilos at 20:30. I’m pretty sure that’s a low record at least for this year. 

            Because I got up from my nap so late I started an eye of round roast almost three hours later than I had planned. I didn’t have dinner until almost midnight. I had a potato with the last of my gravy and two slices of roast beef while watching season 2, episodes 23 and 24 of Branded. 

            In the first story McCord arrives in a town in a buckboard and asks for Dr. Miller. Anyone who goes to Dr. Miller is suspect because the doctor that everyone trusts is Doc Shackley, even though he’s only really a barber and his only treatment for any ailment is doses of homemade elixir that contains mostly alcohol. Dr. Miller on the other hand is a real medical doctor but she is female and British and so the populace does not trust her as a physician. On the back of McCord’s wagon is a friend of his too sick to walk and covered in a blanket. The town leaders think that it must be a criminal and storm into Miller’s office. By that time McCord’s friend is dead from diphtheria. The townsmen back away and Miller says McCord has the disease too. The townsmen say he has to leave town but she says he’ll die if he does. They say he can stay but there has to be a quarantine sign on her office. Later, even though McCord is very sick he shoots at some bank robbers from Miller’s door and kills the one carrying the loot. Miller injects McCord with her diphtheria serum but this is historically inaccurate. This is the 1880s and a diphtheria serum wasn’t developed until more than a decade later and that was in Germany. Miller is planning on giving McCord his next injection at midnight but one of the bank robbers comes and forces her to come and treat one of the men that McCord wounded and also makes her bring the vaccine even though he doesn’t know what it’s for. She leaves a note for McCord in Latin that tells him where she has gone and that there is danger, Although he can barely stay on his horse, McCord rides to the cabin. Miller has removed the robber’s bullet but he dies. McCord staggers in and the crooks recognize him as their friend’s killer. They start roughly handling McCord before Miller can warn them that he has diphtheria. The dead man’s brother wants the serum first and tries to draw on McCord but he kills him. The last crook drops his gun. McCord is cured and now the townspeople trust Dr. Miller and Shackley will have to go back to being a barber. 

            The second story is the first of a three part tale. McCord meets a train carrying President Grant. Grant has summoned McCord because he was friends with Armstrong Custer at West Point. Custer went on to become the youngest Major general in the history of the US army. Now he has presidential ambitions (It’s not historically clear that Custer was working toward campaigning as a Democratic nominee. Apparently he did consider running for Congress). Grant says Custer has antagonized most of the First Nation leaders. Grant wants McCord to renew his friendship with Custer and spy on him to find out if he can still be depended on. He’s still the best field commander in the cavalry. McCord refuses to spy on his friend. But then they see Custer riding up to the train and Grant tells McCord that he will change his mind in thirty minutes. McCord listens from behind a curtain while Custer argues that there is no need for more troops to defend against the Natives because they would only outnumber them as a fighting force if the tribes were to work together but they won’t. He says “these dog eaters need a lesson”. He adds “They are 20,000 years behind our civilization”. He says the word “Sioux” means “Cutthroat”. But it doesn’t mean that. First of all “Sioux” is not their name for themselves. “Sioux” is a name given to them by the Ojibwa meaning “Little Snakes” because they were traditional enemies. He says the Cheyenne symbol is cut arm because they collect limbs. Crazy Horse wears the symbol of a bloody hand. I don’t know if that’s true. He tells Grant that if they can’t keep the Sioux on the reservation then they should eliminate them. After Custer leaves, McCord tells Grant he’ll take the mission. Later out on the trail Jennie Galvin’s wagon has lost a wheel. A young Sioux stops to help her but Custer’s scout Charlie Yates rides up and starts beating the Sioux warrior. Then McCord rides up and beats up Yates. When McCord arrives at Custer’s home Custer and his wife Libby are overjoyed to see their old friend. He offers McCord the job of his new scout. Custer invites McCord to the Bachelor Officers Tavern where Jennie is tending bar. Some men recognize McCord as the coward of Bitter Creek and start a fight with him. Meanwhile in the back room some men are plotting to overcharge the Sioux at the trading posts enough to make them want to attack. That will give them an excuse to eliminate them so they can get at the gold in the Black Hills. McCord takes on a lot of Custer’s men until Custer arrives and stops the fight. Then he introduces McCord to them as their new scout. Then he leads the men in singing “Gary Owen”. Libby Custer was played by Jacquelyn Hyde, who co-starred in The Dark, for which she was nominated for a Saturn Award. She played Miss Blair in Take the Money and Run and Jackie in They Shoot Horses Don’t They? She played Lucretia in the TV series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.

October 29, 1994: I was having trouble keeping the butt plug in

Thirty years ago today 

            On Saturday morning when I went to bed I put the butt plug in as Sharon had instructed but it slipped out. I was about to try again but had to put it away because my daughter’s grandfather brought her over. I called Adina around 10:30 to let her know that I’d be home with my daughter all day. She said she’d call back but didn’t think she’d be able to make it because she was supposed to see her father that day. I called her a few hours later when my daughter and I were about to head out for the sandbox and she confirmed that she wouldn’t be coming. I bought our third pumpkin of the season and we carved it. After my daughter went to sleep I put the butt plug back in with no lubrication to see if that would help it stay but it didn’t. I called Doc’s Leathers to ask about it and they said maybe my muscles needed to get used to it.

Beau Bridges

            On Sunday morning I worked out the chords for the first verse of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian. 

            I memorized the fifth verse of “Ophélie” (Ophelia) by Serge Gainsbourg. There’s just one verse left to nail down. 

            I think that maybe when the landlord renovated the apartment upstairs he plugged up the heating pipes. 

            I weighed 85.35 kilos before breakfast. When I stepped on the scale I guessed that was what it was going to be. 

            I’ve been finding the cool mist humidifier uncomfortable and it’s forced me to sit around in a sweater even when the heat was on. I decided to look for a warm mist humidifier and so I looked up when Canadian Tire would be closed today. It turns out there is now a Canadian Tire in my neighbourhood at King and Joe Shuster Way on the edge of Uppity Village so I headed down there. When I found the humidifiers I saw a couple looking at the cool mist kind and I warned them against it. They appreciated my review. I had a choice between the Honeywell and the Noma brand and since Honeywell rudely listed its capacity in gallons I chose the Noma. I set it up and so far it’s quieter and more comfortable. It has more controls and digital readings so I know what it’s doing. The cool mist kind might be better for dry days in the summer. 

            I weighed 84.4 kilos before lunch, which is the lightest I’ve been in the early afternoon since October 16. I had Breton crackers with cream cheese and a glass of low sugar iced tea. 

            I weighed 84.5 kilos at 18:00. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:20. 

            I worked in Paint with rainbow images to start another rainbow wave to add to the video I’m creating for the studio recording of my song “Seven Shades of Blues”. The second rainbow wave will go with part 2 of the instrumental intro and it will look more like a section of a ripple wave. I flipped a rainbow image 90 degrees and connected one end to the end of the previous rainbow wave. I then flipped another rainbow image to place after it but I need to adjust the tilt so it matches the first one. The plan now is to flip other rainbows in the same way and to place them on the timeline. 

            I reviewed the video of my song practice performance of “Like a Boomerang” on September 18. The take at 12:00 sounded horrible because of the low action of the Gibson. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with Basilica sauce, a sliced hot Italian sausage and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episodes 21 and 22 of Branded. 

            In the first story McCord arrives in a town where a hanging is about to take place. The atmosphere is disturbingly festive and tables are set up to serve beer while the crowd is enjoying the show. The man who will be hung is Frank Allison who is an old friend of McCord’s and who saved his life during the Civil War. Also there is Nan Richards, another old friend, who runs a newspaper and is there to report on the event. A young man arrives who is very upset at what he sees and begins knocking over the tables. The deputy stops him and begins beating him up but McCord intervenes. The young man is Lon Allison, the condemned man’s son. He and his father were close until his mother died and then Frank started drinking. Lon looked too much like his mother and Frank didn’t want to be reminded of her. When the war started Lon was placed in an orphanage and they haven’t seen each other since. McCord takes Lon to the jail to see his father but Frank doesn’t want him there. Frank is brought out to the scaffold and the noose is placed around his neck. Lon comes out onto an overlooking balcony with a gun to Nan’s head and demands they bring three horses and let his father go. Frank is glad of this but McCord convinces him that his son will hang for this and so Frank tells Lon not to make the mistakes he made. He also tells him he loves him. Then Frank uses his foot to open the trap door and die. Lon gets a job as an apprentice for Nan in her newspaper. 

            Lon was played by Beau Bridges, the son of famed actor Lloyd Bridges and older brother of Jeff Bridges. His film debut was at the age of 7 in Force of Evil. His TV debut was on The Lloyd Bridges Show. Beau was a star basketball player in college. He’s the only actor to have won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a mini series twice. He co-starred in The Other Side of the Mountain, Greased Lightning, Heart Like a Wheel, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Norma Rae, The Fifth Musketeer, Village of the Giants, The Wizard, and Columbus Circle. He starred in The Landlord, Shimmering Light, The Wild Pair, Secret Sins of the Father, Married, and Sandkings. He co-starred in the TV series Harts of the West, Maximum Bob, The Agency, and Stargate SG1. He’s had 14 Emmy nominations and three wins. 

            

            In the second story McCord is working for a rancher named Roy Beckwith who is fencing his property with barbed wire. But a rancher named Holland Thorpe believes in free range cattle and is violently opposed to the fencing of the range. He has his men attack McCord when he is seen loading barbed wire onto a wagon. Later McCord tries to convince Thorpe that barbed wire is the future of the west. It allows ranchers to import new breeds and to keep them separate. While McCord and Beckwith’s men are installing the fencing, Thorpe’s men fire shots as a warning. McCord goes to Thorpe and tries to reason with him but Thorpe sends him away wrapped in barbed wire. Thorpe plans to drive his herd through the new fence. Beckwith’s daughter grabs some wire cutters to open the fence but she is in danger of being trampled in the stampede. Beckwith tries to save her but gets caught in barbed wire. McCord saves them both and the cattle run through. Everybody walks away from Thorpe who has learned nothing from the incident and is presented as a lonely dinosaur.

October 28, 1994: Mistress Sharon instructed me over the phone on how to use the butt plug

Thirty years ago today

            On Friday I posed at Central Technical School till 11:30 and then went to pick up my cheque from Ryerson Polytechnic University. I then got my pay from the Ontario College of Art and cashed my cheques. I went to Parliament to look for Doc’s Leathers and ran into Carly. It was strange because lately had been meeting her all over the place. She offered me her job for next Monday from 9:00 to 16:00 at the Ontario College of Art. I found Doc’s Leathers and bought the butt plug for $17. When I got home Mistress Sharon called and led me through inserting it. She had me fuck myself and I had a small, non-sensational orgasm. She had me stroke my cock in rhythm with the fucking and I had several small orgasms and finally a big one. But the sensations in my ass were so overwhelming that I couldn’t really feel the orgasms very well. 

            Then Adina called and suggested that I meet her a half an hour later than planned. Sharon wanted me to wear the butt plug wherever I went but I couldn’t because it kept falling out whenever I stood up. I went to the Future Bakery and had a pint of draft. Adina arrived before it was done. She told me how much she’d enjoyed the Jeff Buckley concert. We went to the Café Verité where there was supposed to be a party going on but nothing was happening and the place was nearly empty. We had a couple of beers and necked all alone in the back room. It was very sweet and nice. I talked with a drummer named Joseph and got his number. I walked Adina home and then headed back to my place. I didn’t get to bed until 5:00 on Saturday.

Mona Freeman

            On Saturday morning I worked out the chords for more than half of the first verse of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian and the first two chords of the first line. 

            I memorized the fourth verse of “Ophélie” (Ophelia) by Serge Gainsbourg and revised my translation of the final verse. There are two verses left to learn. 

            The humidifier seems to be working out okay. I have it set up in the living room but in the corner next to the entrance to the bedroom. The hygrometer in the bedroom near my Martin guitar is registering just under 60 and the living room is a lot cooler. It feels weird and sometimes uncomfortable with a chill in my spine. 

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

            I weighed 84 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning in a long time. 

            Around midday I went to Vina Pharmacy to pick up my Betaderm prescription. It was over $11. Then I went to No Frills where there was only one bag of firm grapes. I also bought two packs of raspberries, bananas, petroleum jelly, Comet cleanser, a jug of low sugar iced tea, two containers of PC skyr, and a bag of Miss Vickie’s chips. I tried to do a price match on the grapes and the raspberries at the Food Basics price but the cashier informed me that they don’t price match with Food Basics because it’s out of their district. The No Frills at Dundas and Lansdowne will price match with Food Basics because the nearest Food Basics store is at Lansdowne and Dupont. So I learned something new about No Frills. Freshco honoured the Food Basics price match even though it’s further away for them, so I guess Freshco doesn’t have that same limitation.

            I weighed 85.2 kilos before lunch. I had Breton crackers with cream cheese and a glass of low sugar iced tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. I wore my fall gloves but it’ll soon be cold enough for the winter ones. 

            I weighed 83.55 kilos at 18:00 and it’s been months since I’ve been that light in the evening. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:51.  

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “The Next State of Grace” I needed the rainbow wave that I animated to end when the guitar begins, but it went on well past that point. So I shaved ten percent off of each half second segment, which brought me up short again. So I added three more to the sequence but made the last one seven percent longer. That brought my rainbow wave to the same length as the first part of the intro. I closed Movie Maker and opened a new rainbow image in Paint. I cropped it so there was no earth beneath it and then made it the same size as each of the segments of my rainbow wave. That’s as far as I got but the plan is to start a new wave to correspond with the second part of the intro and to make it look like it was generated by the previous wave. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Comme un Boomerang” and “Like a Boomerang” from September 13 to 17. On September 13 and 17 I played “Comme un Boomerang” with my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar and both times the Gibson went out of tune easily and it also sounded off because the action was too low. The same was true on September 14 when I played “Like a Boomerang” with the Gibson. On September 15 I played “Comme un Boomerang” on my Martin acoustic guitar and the take at 2:45 was okay. On September 16 I played “Like a Boomerang” on the Martin and the take at 8:00 was one of the best, such as they are. 

            I grilled five hot Italian sausages and sliced one of them onto a pizza I made with multigrain sandwich bread, Basilica sauce and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episodes 19 and 20 of Branded. 

            In the first story some soldiers enter McCord’s hotel room while he’s sleeping and wake him up. He fights them until they convince him they are not there to harass him but to deliver a package and a letter. It’s from President Grant reminding him of an event that occurred exactly ten years before that during the Civil War. Most of the story from this point is a flashback to that event when McCord entered a cabin where he found General Grant. Grant says he fell from his horse and took shelter in this place. This is the first time McCord and Grant meet. Grant learns that McCord is the grandson of a friend and fellow soldier from the Mexican war. Grant is feeling like a failure and is depressed because of all the men that have died under his command. He says he was drummed out of the army at Fort Humbolt. He was unsuccessful as a civilian and rejoined the army when the Civil War broke out. Suddenly a Confederate Lieutenant named Laurence bursts in with two Confederate deserters that he’s arrested. He’s very surprised that he’s just accidentally captured General Grant. If he can get Grant back to Confederate lines alive he can be used to negotiate peace. Laurence allows his prisoners to disarm Grant and McCord but now that they are armed his prisoners turn on him. They say they are going to kill Laurence, McCord and Grant so that way they will be heroes without anybody being able to say otherwise. But Laurence attacks and is followed by McCord and Grant. Laurence is mortally wounded but manages to shoot and kill the deserters just before he dies. Back in McCord’s present he opens the package and it’s a bottle of whiskey. At a certain minute exactly ten years later with McCord there and Grant in the White House, they share a drink. 

            In the second story McCord rides into Silverton where a crowd is gathered outside a saloon where a showdown is taking place. Shots are fired and then the sheriff staggers out, collapses and dies. A mother named Dora Kendall picks up the sheriff’s gun and walks inside where she points it at the killer Joe Latigo. She says his father killed her husband when he was sheriff. McCord walks in and gets Dora to move aside as he faces Latigo. McCord draws faster and kills him. The chairman of the citizens committee offers McCord $20 a day to be their sheriff. That would be $618 a day today. McCord is on his way to the Brighton Mine to work as an engineer but he says he’ll temporarily become sheriff long enough to earn the price of the pack mule and supplies he’ll need to get there. Dora tells him that Joe’s father Bill Latigo will be after him now. The first thing McCord does as sheriff is instigate a no guns in town policy and gives everyone an hour to turn their guns in to his office. The townsmen think it’s ridiculous and don’t intend to comply. McCord starts confiscating guns. Then Bill Latigo arrives to challenge him. McCord faces him from the roof with a shotgun. Latigo knows McCord’s reputation as the coward of Bitter Creek and he thinks him standing on the roof is another example of his cowardice, but Latigo leaves town for now. The town thinks McCord’s manner of law enforcement is cowardly as well. They want to see him engage in shootouts and to kill the bad guys. McCord points out that nobody has died since he’s been sheriff but that doesn’t impress the citizens. McCord says he doesn’t need to play a killer’s game to stop a killer. McCord in frustration with the town’s reaction to his policies throws down his badge and quits. He’s just unhitching his horse when Latigo challenges him. Latigo draws and McCord draws faster, killing him. Suddenly the town loves him again and the chairman wants him back. He offers to pay him a bonus then McCord punches him, mounts up and rides away.

            Dora was played by Mona Freeman, who started modelling while still in high school and became a successful cover girl in her teens. She was the first Miss New York Subway. She was discovered by Howard Hughes. Her movie debut was in Till We Meet Again. She became a teen movie star. She co-starred in Angel Face. Because she photographed young she got teen roles long after she was no longer a teenager. She retired from film work in the late 50s and worked in television. Her TV debut was in Wanted Dead or Alive. She said one could learn more about acting from five minutes of television than from working on an entire film. She had a long term love affair with Bing Crosby. She became a professional portrait painter after 1961.

October 27, 1994: A dominatrix instructed me to buy a butt plug

Thirty years ago today

            On Thursday I posed from 9:00 to 11:30 at Central Technical School. I did some grocery shopping on the way home. When I got there I accessed Telepersonals and there were messages from three dominatrices. I responded to them all and two of them called me back. One wanted a deposit and the other wanted me to purchase a butt plug and said she would call me at 17:00 tomorrow to give me further instructions. Adina came over at 18:30. I was trying to make pumpkin pie and it took a long time but we had a nice meal together. Then we necked on the couch until she left. There was something so right about her.

Zeme North

            On Friday morning I worked out the chords for the first two lines of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian and the first two chords of the first line. 

            I memorized the third verse of “Ophélie” (Ophelia) by Serge Gainsbourg. That’s more than half the song. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar for most of song practice but near the end my E string broke so I switched to the Kramer. 

            I weighed 84.55 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I finished sanding the widest part of the inside of the bathroom door frame. I sanded the bathroom side edges of the top and upper sides of the mid-part of the inside of the door frame. I won’t have time to work on this project again until Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I might be finished with the sanding or close on Thursday. 

            I weighed 84.55 kilos before lunch. 

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

            I weighed 84.7 kilos at 18:19. 

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

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “Seven Shades of Blues” I cut all thirteen one second segments of my rainbow wave in half to speed up the animation. I then made and added another fourteen segments and cut each those to the same time as the others. The wave is a little longer than the synthesizer intro so I’ll shave all of the segments a little bit until they end when the guitar joins the intro. At that point I’ll add another, and hopefully more dramatic animation of a rainbow wave. 

            I had a potato with gravy and my last two chicken drumsticks while watching season 2, episodes 17 and 18 of Branded. 

            In the first story McCord finds a man and a woman who have been tied to stakes in the ground. The man is dead but he rescues the woman. They make camp and he is attacked by Les, the man who tied the man and woman up. McCord beats him and he claims that the woman belongs to him and so he and his two brothers taught her a lesson for running off with the other man. McCord ties Les to a tree and plans to take him to the sheriff in the nearest town. The woman is white and blonde but her name is White Fawn and she was raised by the Kiowa. Les and his brothers Jud and Clyde are Wolfers who trap wolves for a living. Ten days ago she was bathing near her village and the Wolfers kidnapped her. She says they brought her great shame and so the implication is that they raped her. Her blood brother Keelo tried to rescue her and they captured him and tied them both to the stakes. That night Les escapes and goes to his brothers. White Fawn wants to go back to her people and so McCord takes her toward the Kiowa. They rest in a cave when the Wolfers find them. They begin firing and McCord shoots Jud, who soon dies. That night when McCord sneaks to the stream to get water he is attacked by Clyde, who has a knife, while McCord is unarmed. In the struggle Clyde is killed with his own knife. Meanwhile Les has gone into the cave to get White Fawn. But she has McCord’s pistol and when Les tries to grab her she kills him. The next day when McCord steps out of the cave he is attacked by Kiowa. They are about to kill him when White Fawn intervenes and explains that McCord saved her. One of the men is Young Hawk, her intended. She follows her heart and goes with him. 

            White Fawn was played by Zeme North, who was a dancer from an early age but later also took up acting and singing. She joined the June Taylor dancers. Her TV debut was on Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town in 1948, singing a duet with Sal Mineo. Her TV debut as an actor was in the 1959 sitcom Too Young to Go Steady. She went to Hollywood where in 1961 her first TV role was on 77 Sunset Strip. Her film debut was a supporting role in Zotz. She co-starred in the short lived sitcom The Double Life of Henry Phyfe. 

 In the second story McCord has come to work as an engineer for the Gold Nugget Mining Company but discovers that it is out of business. Needing work to tide him over he responds to a sign on the street asking for a body guard. He enters the hotel room and finds a long line of applicants. The job is to be a body guard for Edwin Booth, the brother of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. Booth’s butler Hannibal narrows down the prospects by rejecting anyone under 183 cm and under 30 years of age. Booth hires McCord and he travels through the west with him as he performs his one man show of Shakespeare recitations. In one town McCord is gang beaten by some men who hate both his legacy and that of Booth. Booth has Hannibal nurse McCord back to health and he also fires McCord not because he failed him but because Booth is trying to track down one particular body guard. The one who failed to protect Abraham Lincoln from his brother and thereby brought shame upon his family name. The man he’s looking for is John F. Parker, and he plans on killing him. 

            In the real story Parker had been released from duty by Lincoln until the end of the play. He went to a tavern and got drunk. He was charged with neglect of duty but the charge was dismissed and he was still employed as security at the White House. Mary Todd Lincoln always blamed him for the death of her husband. He was fired from the police force in 1868 for sleeping on duty. 

            Booth has Parker’s picture and he has been auditioning body guards to smoke him out. Finally he finds him. He takes him to a balcony box similar to the one Lincoln was shot in and reveals that he knows who he is. He points a gun at him but McCord arrives and tries to reason with him. He says Parker is a pathetic man and there would be no satisfaction in killing him and being hung for it. Booth gives in to McCord’s argument and lowers his weapon. 

            Edwin Booth is considered by many to have been the greatest US actor of the 19th Century. He later saved the life of Lincoln’s son Robert, not knowing who he was at the time. When he found out he had saved a child of Lincoln it relieved for him some of his shame over his brother’s actions.