Billy Sands

            On Friday morning I ran through singing and playing “Goodbye to Childhood”, my translation of “Au revoir mon enfance” by Boris Vian. Tomorrow I’ll upload it to my Christian’s Translations blog to begin preparing it for publication. 

            I continued to collect images for a photo video of the song “Le rent' dedans” (The Pick-Up) by Serge Gainsbourg to upload to YouTube. I have about half of what I need. 

            I weighed 88.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            During song practice I played my old Epi acoustic for the first of four sessions and it stayed in tune reasonably well. 

            Around midday I finished applying painters’ tape to the inner edges of the bathroom shelves and the door frame. It’s a tedious process but I’m excited now that it’s done because I can start painting the walls on Sunday. That put me in a good mood all day. 

            I weighed 89.15 kilos before lunch. 

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

            I weighed 88.75 kilos at 18:00. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 18:46. 

            I finished reviewing my “Best Songs 2” cassette and as far as I can remember the countdown is to the #15 best song as “Best Songs 1” has #14 to #1. So the order is #35- “True Love Leaves No Traces”

34 - “I Can’t Forget”

33 - “Lover Lover Lover”

32 - “Leaving Greensleeves”

31 - “Iodine”

30 - “Paper Thin Hotel”

29 - “Fingerprints”

28 - “The Smokey Life”

27 - “The Partisan”

26 - “Nothing to One (You Know Who I Am)”

25 - “Passing Through”

24 - “Diamonds in the Mine”

23 - “There is a War”

22 - “Our Lady of Solitude”

21 - “The Sisters of Mercy”

20 - “Dance Me to the End of Love”

19 - “Don’t Go Home With Your Hard On”

18 - “The Gypsy’s Wife”

17 - “I’m Your Man”

16 - “Jazz Police”

15 - “Tonight Will Be Fine”

            I started reviewing the next cassette on the pile and it’s an early Christian and the Lions feature at Fat Alberts with Tom Smarda on Stratocaster, Steve Lowe on acoustic, and Yehudah Cullman on cello. So far it has recordings of two songs I don’t think I recorded anywhere else “Seven Veils of Armour” and “I Saw My Reflection in An Open Wound”. 

            I compared the video of my electric song practice performance of “Laisses-en un peu pour les autres” on October 9, 2024 to that of September 23. September 23 looks and feels better and so if I upload a version to YouTube it will be the one from September 23. I compared the video of my September 2, 2024 electric song practice performance of “Leave Some for Everyone Else” to that of September 14 and I found that September 14 looks better. I compared September 18 to 14 and September 14 has the better looking video. I compared September 24 to September 14 and saw that September 24 looks a little better. I compared October 6 to September 24 and September 24 continues to be ahead. I compared October 10 to September 24 and if I upload this song to YouTube it will be the September 24 version. 

            Tomorrow I’ll start a Movie Maker project for my September 9, 2024 song practice.

            I had a small potato with gravy and the spine and wings of the chicken I roasted while watching season 1, episode 7 of Car 54 Where Are You? 

            There is a car theft ring plaguing the Bronx. They set up pop up used car lots, take orders for used cars, steal the car the customer wants, paint it, sell it, then close down the lot and set up somewhere else. Meanwhile half of the 53rd precinct’s cars are being repaired in the police auto shop. Only car 54 and one other are functioning right now so Toody and Muldoon are being extremely cautious to keep from having an accident. They are driving at 24 km an hour or slower and drivers are reluctant to pass them because they think it’s a speed trap and so a long line of cars are also trailing them at the same slow speed. Meanwhile Honest Joe’s Used Cars has just opened up and an elderly couple want a one year old green four door sedan. Lefty and Leona go looking for the car and Joe says they have to neck while looking because nobody suspects a necking couple. A zig zagging convertible passes car 54 and Muldoon pulls her over. Toody tells him to park behind her to be safe because it’s a woman driver. She explains she just got her license that day after years of lessons and she is very nervous. Muldoon is understanding and doesn’t give her a ticket but when she tries to drive away she goes into reverse and slams into car 54, smashing the fender. Toody has the idea to take it to a non-police shop so as not to be tied up for weeks. Meanwhile Lefty and Leona steal a white sedan and take it to Al and Lou’s garage where the theft ring gets its work done. Al and Lou have to paint it green but then Toody and Muldoon pull in and ask them to fix car 54, which Al says they can have done that day. But meanwhile Toody and Muldoon need another patrol car and they notice the white car is the same model as theirs. So not realizing it’s stolen they have it painted to look like a police car with 54 on it and are able to transfer everything but the siren. Toody and Muldoon take the stolen car to a man reporting a stolen car and it turns out to be that one though he doesn’t recognize it. But he says there’s a teddy bear in the glove compartment. Toody finds one and secretly tells Muldoon they are driving the stolen car. Meanwhile Lefty and Leona are driving in car 54 which they got into in the dark thinking it was the sedan. But while trying to find the cigarette lighter Leona turns on the siren. They don’t realize the siren is coming from their car and think the cops are after them. They go to Joe’s car lot and Joe takes off when he hears the siren. When they get out they see it’s a police car and realize they have to get it back to Al and Lou’s shop. Joe goes to Al and Lou’s and so do Lefty and Leona. Then Toody and Muldoon arrive and arrest them all. Then Al and Lou return with the fender for car 54 and they are arrested as well but not until they fix car 54 and paint the stolen car white again. Al and Lou get off for turning over evidence. The man gets his stolen car back but then the siren goes off and they realize car 54 got painted white. 

            Lou was played by Billy Sands, who made his professional and Broadway debut in 1946 in Rugged Path. He played Private Dino Paparelli in 138 episodes of The Phil Silvers Show. He played Seaman Harrison “Tinker” Bell in 138 episodes of McHale’s Navy.