I memorized the first verse of “Au risque de te déplaire” (At the Risk You’ll Have the Blues) by Serge Gainsbourg. That’s the only verse of which I have the proper text. I tried to transcribe the other two verses from the audio but I doubt they’re accurate. I worked on revising my translation of the first verse.
I weighed 85.8 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since April 22.
Around midday I made the same journey as yesterday to Carlaw and Dundas, stopping at the same places to pee along the way. This time I knew which door to use to get to the part of the building where Biseagal is located. Malcolm showed me his work on my bike. He brazed rather than welded the pipe and used brass. He said that’s what one is supposed to use. I paid him $130 and his work is guaranteed for life.
I was worried about strapping both my bike and the wheel to my trailer but the wheel fit easily over the frame and the strapping was no different than when I came with the bike and no wheel. I peed once before securing my bike and again before leaving. I took Dundas all the way to university and then went south to Queen. It would have been less nerve wracking to have taken the Danforth and Bloor bike lane home because I wouldn’t have had to deal with parked cars. As it was the forks on my bike did scratch against a car once and a guy called after me, “You fuckin…”
When I got back I immediately took the Raleigh to Metro Cycle to order the derailleur that never got installed before after Mark saw that my frame was broken. I also ordered a complete tune-up and Gordon said I need a new front derailleur and chain as well and so all together it will cost $385 to get my vintage Raleigh back running smoothly. Counting the brazing job I had done I guess that total is about $500. Still cheaper than the new bike.
Gordon was very critical of Malcolm’s brazing job and didn’t buy the idea that modern tires would break a vintage frame. But when I look it up the information available online confirms that they will. Gordon asked how I like the new Surly and I told him the brakes are still squeaking but he keeps saying its normal. He offered to change the disk brakes but it seems to me anything he does to stop the squeaking that I’ve complained about ever since I bought the bike should be covered by the warranty.
I weighed 85.7 kilos at 16:30. I had saltines with four-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar iced tea.
I took a siesta from 17:00 to 18:15.
I weighed 86.5 kilos at 18:30.
I was caught up on my journal at 20:00.
I added another shade of blue to the sepia copy of frame 19 of my rainbow wave animation. I have one more shade left to add to this frame and then there will be ten more frames to do.
I made pizza on a slice of Bavarian sandwich bread with marinara sauce, the chopped up smaller inside round steak I grilled yesterday, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching episode 17 of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio.
In the first Birdman story, Birdman is in his lair when he suddenly disappears. He materializes 1000 years in the past in ancient China and he has been brought there by Dr. Millenium, who escaped to the past when last we saw him. Birdman threatens to destroy his time box but Millenium reminds him he would be trapping himself in the past. Millenium sends a primitive looking but advanced for that time, fire breathing robot dragon to destroy the village and so Birdman must stop it. His solar blasts have no effect but he lures it onto a bridge that he destroys. That bridge was probably very important and took a lot of work to build. I didn’t see Birdman rebuild it. Millenium’s men attack Birdman with catapults and early rockets but Birdman defeats them, although it saps his strength. Millenium pretends to surrender but pulls a switch that causes a giant Buddha statue to grab him. he is too weak to break free. Millenium plans to attack the 20th Century with an army of barbarian warriors. Wouldn’t 20th Century armies be easily able to defeat warriors from a thousand years ago? Meanwhile Birdboy returns to the Bird Lair after searching for his father (If he doesn’t even remember his own name how can he be sure he would recognize his dad?). He sits in Birdman’s chair and is transported back to where his mentor is trapped. Birdman gets him to transfer some solar energy to him and then hide. Millenium returns and is shocked to see Birdman’s power replenished. He’s also never met Birdboy. After a short fight with Millenium and his army, the villain is defeated but he presses a button on his box and goes to another era.
In the Galaxy Trio story, on the planet Aqueous where everybody breathes water, a Godzilla type monster breaks through from the ocean floor and attacks the water filled lookout tower on the surface. The Galaxy Trio is notified and heads there. Like last time they take oxygen capsules so they can breathe under water, although on several occasions they all go flying through outer space without suits and with no apparent problem breathing there. Gravity Girl takes with her the analyzator-X camera to determine the nature of the monster. They encounter the monster right away. It shoots lasers from its two front appendages. They are having problems defeating it but Gravity Girl looks at the camera shots and sees that the monster is mechanical and it is controlled by Lotar, the brother of the planet’s ruler, who they encountered before. The monster attacks the capital city while the Trio tries to enter the robot from a closed door on its spine. Gravity Girl opens it with reverse gravity (however that works). It opens it enough for Vapour Man to get in. He defeats Lotar who activates a destruct mechanism but Vapour Man escapes with Lotar in custody.
In the second Birdman story, Professor Claw has created Ant-Ape by injecting a giant ape with ant fluid, giving it the strength of a thousand humans. Claw wants revenge on Birdman for driving him away from his country (although we’ve never seen Claw in any previous episodes). Claw rides on Ant Ape’s shoulders and has it destroy museums, then steals the priceless contents. Birdman is notified by his boss Falcon 7. He says the king and queen arrive tomorrow to present a jeweled sword to the state house. This would be an natural target for the monster. Sure enough the Ant Ape breaks into the state house and Claw grabs the sword. Then they crash into the zoo and free the largest predators. Birdman and Avenger work to round up the beasts. Ant Ape traps Birdman in the dome of a building while Claw shoots sleep gas through a crack. Back in Claw’s cave lair Birdman is trapped in a cage suspended from the ceiling. Somehow Ant Ape has a human ego that Birdman manipulates by calling him a coward, causing him to bend the bars of Birdman’s cage to get at him. Birdman flies out of the cage to recharge his powers in the sun. Claw tries to shoot Birdman with a reducing ray while Ant Ape is fighting him and he accidentally hits Ant Ape and makes him smaller than Claw. They are both captured.
I recently listened to the Howlin Wolf discography. Chester Burnett’s parents separated when he was one year old. When he was thirteen his fanatically religious mother kicked him off the farm and then for a while he was with his abusive grand uncle. Then he walked 137 km to re-join his father who, although he had a large second family, welcomed him and raised him. His father bought him his first guitar. He learned the guitar and guitar tricks from Charley Patton and the first song he learned was Patton’s “Pony Blues”. He learned how to play harmonica from Sonny Boy Williamson II. He learned to sing from listening to Jimmy Rodgers but his attempts to imitate his blue yodel came out as a howl. Ike Turner heard him perform in a bar and took him to Sam Philips to record. Philips hadn’t yet formed Sun Records so he licensed Wolf to Chess Records. After signing with Chess he moved to Chicago in 1952. He claimed to have been the first bluesman to leave the south in his own car. He had $4000 in his pocket which would have been about $50,000 today. He formed a band in Chicago that included a young Hubert Sumlin who with Wolf’s guidance became one of the most renowned blues guitarists. His first big hit was “Smokestack Lightnin”, which truly exemplifies his vocal and rhythm guitar talents. He was a very theatrical performer and would crawl on his knees or imitate a snake on his back onstage. Although they had different voices one can hear Mick Jagger imitate Wolf’s phrasing.
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