Burt Reynolds

           On Thursday morning I ran through singing and playing “Love in Essence”, my translation of “L'amour en soi” by Serge Gainsbourg. I uploaded it to my Christian’s Translations blog and started preparing it for publication. I should have it posted tomorrow. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice for the second of two sessions. I audio and video recorded the session for the 40th of 45 sessions. It went fairly well this time and I got not bad takes of both “Vomit of the Star Eater” and “Sixteen Tons of Dogma”. The memory card wasn’t full until I was playing “Amsterdam”. Tomorrow I’ll be starting a four session stretch of playing my Martin acoustic guitar and after that there will be one more session with the Kramer and that will be the end of this year’s recording project. 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            I weighed 88 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back stopped at Freshco. I bought three bags of green grapes, three packs of raspberries, bananas, a pack of five-year-old cheddar, a Black Forest ham, an eye of round roast, three bags of skim milk, a carton of spoon size shredded wheat, Full City Dark coffee, and a jar of salsa. I did a price match on the grapes because they were a little cheaper at Metro. 

            I weighed 87.7 kilos at 18:42. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:16. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the studio recording of my song “Me and Gravity” I finished synchronizing the final chorus. I worked my way through it and every few words I would cut out a little of the old concert video until they were all lined up. All that’s left before publication is for me to figure out how to end it. In the old El Mocambo concert I theatrically fall at the end but after I do Tom Smarda walks over and puts his foot on top of me. I think I’ll cut that last part out. I might have it ready to upload to YouTube tomorrow. 

            I uploaded today’s song practice videos but didn’t have time to review any more of September 13. 

            I had a small potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching two episodes of Branded. I had planned on watching season 1, episodes 3 and 4 but I mistakenly viewed season 2, episodes 1 and 2. I should have noticed that it was season 2 because it was in colour. Other than that though there’s no difference in the type of stories that unfold. Nothing new develops and there’s no overall progression from tale to tale. 

            In the first story a stage coach headed for Fort Worth is carrying Major Tom Rock and his wife Laura, as well as Texas Ranger Tuttle and his prisoner Pierce Crawley. Jason McCord catches up with the stage to board it while it’s on route. Both Tom and Laura recognize Jason as Laura used to be romantically involved with him and Tom is one of the officers who voted to have him drummed out of the cavalry. Crawley recognizes McCord’s name and mocks him for having been a coward at Bitter Creek. The coach is attacked by Crawley’s brother Frank and his gang. The Ranger is killed and so are the driver and the shotgun. Jason goes up top and fights the gang off with his pistol, then he takes over as driver. Meanwhile Crawley has taken possession of the Ranger’s gun. So when they pull into the station Crawley takes them all prisoner and ties them up. When the old station master gets loose Crawley kills him. Laura gets hold of the station master’s gun then disarms Crawley and frees the others. Frank and his gang attack again. Jason and Tom fight them off and Frank is killed. 

            In the second story the cavalry are tracking a Mescalero chief named Red Hand who is on the run with his wife and infant child. He left the reservation, violating his treaty and is accused of wounding an officer. Major Lynch is obsessed with hunting him down dead or alive. McCord tells him that he’ll start a war if he kills him and asks to be allowed to go in alone to negotiate as he and Red Hand used to be friends. Jason finds Red Hand’s hideout and Red Hand attacks him but then recognizes him and stops. McCord tells him Lynch has promised that if he surrenders he’ll treat him as a respected leader and ask the governor to listen to his charges and demands. But when McCord delivers Red Hand, Lynch breaks his promise and arrests him. McCord tries to help him fight but they are both overwhelmed. Later in Rio Bronco, McCord happens to run into Judge Markham whose been appointed the district judge. McCord quotes the 14th Amendment, which states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. The judge says US law does not recognize Indians as “persons”. But that wasn’t the case. They were denied those things because they weren’t recognized as citizens. The judge says Red Hand must prove he’s a human being and take it to the Supreme Court if necessary. Red Hand has to first petition the judge for a writ of habeas corpus. Then McCord has to get the major to take Red Hand to Lordsburg so the judge can hear the motion. Meanwhile though Red Hand escapes. Lynch tracks him to his land and when Red Hand turns his back, Lynch shoots him. McCord shows Lynch the tears of Red Hand and of his wife Snow Child, then says only humans shed tears. The judge says he’s taking Snow Child to Lordsburg to get declared a person under the law. McCord tells Lynch that his hatred may have done something good after all. 

            Red hand was played by Burt Reynolds, who was on his way to becoming a professional football player when injuries ended that dream. He dropped out of college and headed for New York to work as an actor on stage and on TV. His TV debut was in Flight. His film debut was in Angel Baby. He starred as the Iroquois detective John Hawk on the TV series Hawk. He claimed to have some Cherokee roots but no evidence of that has been uncovered. Nonetheless he was often typecast as First Nations characters and pulled it off better than a lot of actors. He starred in Operation CIA, Navajo Joe, Shamus, Shark, Fade In, Impasse, Skullduggery, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, White Lightning, Hustle, The Mean Machine, W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings, Gator (which he also directed), Nickelodeon, Smokey and the Bandit, Rough Cut, Smokey and the Bandit Ride Again, Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, Semi Tough, Hooper, Cannonball Run, Sharky’s Machine, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Stroker Ace, Stick, Paternity, Heat, Fuzz, Breaking In, Starting Over, At Long Last Love, The Man Who Loved Women, Best Friends, Physical Evidence, The Maddening, Big City Blues, The Last Producer (which he directed), Snapshots, Hard Ground, Cloud Nine, Forget About It, Deal, A Bunch of Amateurs, Elbow Grease, The Last Movie Star, An Innocent Kiss, Defining Moments, and Time of the Wolf. He co-starred in 100 Rifles, Sam Whisky, City Heat, Striptease, Boogie Nights (for which he was nominated for an Oscar), Pups, Mystery Alaska, The Longest Yard, Lucky Lady, Waterproof, Crazy Six, The Crew, Malone, Rent a Cop, Switching Channels, Modern Love, The Cherokee Kid, Meet Wally Sparks, Tempted, Hotel, The Hollywood Sign, Miss Lettie and Me, The Dukes of Hazzard, Broken Bridges, Not Another Not Another Movie, Reel Love, Pocket Listing, His co-starring role in Deliverance and his appearance as a nude centrefold in Cosmopolitan magazine made him one of the most famous celebrities of the 70s. He directed and starred in The End, He starred in the TV series Dan August, B.L. Stryker, and Evening Shade (for which he won an Emmy). He co-starred in the TV series River Boat, Gunsmoke, Out of This World. He was a contestant on The Dating Game in his early career. He co-produced the game show Win Lose or Draw, He was offered the part of James Bond. He was the first actor to guest host The Tonight Show. His insistence on doing his own stunts in his early films resulted in severe mobility problems in his later career. He recorded an album called Ask Me What I Am.