I worked out the chords for the second verse of “Au revoir mon enfance” (Goodbye My Childhood) by Boris Vian.
I weighed 87.95 kilos before breakfast.
I shaved and showered today because on Monday I’m going downtown for a CT scan and won’t have time.
I weighed 88.85 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with peanut butter and five-year-old cheddar and a glass of iced tea.
I took a bike ride downtown and back,
I weighed 88.8 kilos at 17:50.
I was caught up in my journal at 18:37.
I reviewed a cassette tape I recorded many years ago that I titled “Best Songs #1”. I recall now that I put on the tape what I considered to be the best songs ever written best on the number of great lines. Thirteen of the songs are by Leonard Cohen in ascending order: The Dress Rehearsal Rag
Take This Longing
Night Comes On
The Story of Isaac
Last Waltz in Vienna
The Traitor
Love Calls You By Your Name
The Window
The Stories of the Street
Death of a Ladies’ Man
The Stranger Song
Ballad of the Absent Mare
and The Master Song.
The number one song on my list was The Crucifixion by Phil Ochs.
I think I still stand by my assessment, but of course I might consider some of my own songs as topping some of those on that list.
I reviewed the videos of my song practice performances of “Laisses-en un peu pour les autres” and “Leave Some For Everyone Else” from September 7 to 11, 2024. I played “Laisses-en un peu pour les autres” on my Gibson Les Paul Studio on September 7 and the guitar sounded rattly and I fumbled at the end. On September 9 and 11 I played it on my Martin Road Series. On September 9 the take at 1:04:30 was okay and on September 11the take at 1:01:45 was not bad. I played “Leave Some for Everyone Else” on the Martin on September 10 and in the take at 1:05:15 some of the chords were off and I almost switched languages.
I made pizza on a slice of Bavarian sandwich bread with marinara sauce, tomato pesto, a sliced boiled potato, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a Creemore while watching episode 18 of Cain’s Hundred.
Martin Weir is a rabble rouser against Hispanic immigration and says they bring trouble and crime to neighbourhoods. He is a popular speaker and also has his followers distribute pamphlets. His cronies all wear leather jackets and look like greasers. Two of them try to hand a pamphlet to Willy Brower who tells them he’s read Weir’s hate literature before and it reminds him of the Nazis. They grab him and force him into an alley, beat him and then try to make him eat one of the pamphlets. Willy once spoke up against the Nazis and was placed in a concentration camp while his 10 year old son Emil was taken away from him and indoctrinated in fascist ideology. Now Willy is a kind but frightened old man while his son is a disciple of Martin Weir. Upstairs from Willy are Anna Vargaray and her mother. Anna is Willy’s friend and she’s concerned about what is unfolding in the neighbourhood and what happened to Willy. She thinks they need to speak up against Weir but Willy thinks the trouble will pass. Emil is disgusted by his father’s friendship with Anna. While Weir believes in what he is saying he has become dependent on payments from an anonymous benefactor that encourage him to remain in that neighbourhood. Mike Ballantine is a politician who represents that section of town and also is against Weir’s spreading of hatred. A committee is discussing whether or not to tear down the neighbourhood to fix the problem with urban renewal but Ballantine is against it. Nicholas Cain is a friend of Ballantine’s and he’s in town for a conference. Ballantine wants Cain’s help against Weir but Cain says Weir is not on his list but Ballantine says Joe Anneau is on his list and he’s making regular visits to Weir. Anneau brings the payments from the Organization to Weir. Weir tells him he wants to move on but Anneau says the boss owns him now that he’s been taking payments from him so he should be afraid of trying to move on. Cain follows Anneau to Raymond Cruz who he knows to be a big gun with the Organization. Now Cain is curious to know why Cruz is interested in Weir. Cain goes to one of Weir’s rallies on the same night that Anna has decided to go to speak up against him. He sees Anna get thrown out. Joseph Callan, one of the politicians that wants to tear down the neighbourhood meets with Cruz. It turns out that Cruz has real estate interests that depend on the neighbourhood being torn down which is why he pays Weir to make people believe the neighbourhood is an incurable slum because of the immigrants. Emil and another of Weir’s cronies grab Anna and force her into a car. Later she comes home in a state of shock. It is said she was “assaulted” I assume because they couldn’t say she was raped. She’s in a near catatonic state when the ambulance takes her away. Cain figures out the real estate connection between Cruz and Weir. Weir claims that Anna’s own people are the ones that assaulted her but Willy shows up with the police and has his son arrested for attacking Anna and also has them arrest the ones who attacked him. Weir’s followers lose interest in him but that’s his only punishment. Cruz also remains untouched.
Weir was played by Fritz Weaver, who served in the Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector during WWII. He studied acting in the 50s at HB Studio and made his Broadway debut in 1955 in The Chalk Garden (for which he was nominated for a Tony). He won a Tony for his performance in Child’s Play. He made his TV debut on Studio One in 1957. he made his film debut in Fail Safe. He played the first THRUSH villain in The Man from UNCLE pilot. He starred in Demon Seed. He was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in Holocaust in 1978. He became a frequent narrator for the History channel.
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