On Saturday morning I worked on comparing the original text for “Les Millionaires” by Serge Gainsbourg that I downloaded with the transcript of the audio that I got from Sonix. It’s too confusing to have both texts while memorizing the song so I have to figure out which parts are the most accurate from each and eliminate the others. In most cases the original seems to make more sense but sometimes Sonix got it right. The singer is playing the role of a sex worker and says she’s looking for either a “grossiome” or a “grossium”. The first does relate to money but the second is slang for “big shot” so I think that’s what she means. I think the original text is transcribed from a different live concert than the recording I have and so Zizi is improvising a different monologue for each one.
I weighed 86.45 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since September 7.
I played my Martin acoustic for the last of two sessions and it pretty much stayed in tune the whole time. Tomorrow I’ll begin a two session stretch of playing my Kramer electric.
Around midday I rode to No Frills where only four bags of red grapes were firm enough. I also bought a bag of cherries, two packs of raspberries, some organic bananas, a sirloin tip roast, shortbread cookies, a bag of naan, a bag of European pepperoni, a box of spoon sized shredded wheat, a Lindt dark chocolate caramel bar, whipped cream, two small containers of skyr, and a bag of Miss Vickie’s jalapeno chips.
I weighed 87.35 kilos at 15:05. I had a toasted bagel with peanut butter, five-year-old cheddar and a glass of iced tea.
I weighed 87.5 kilos at 17:35.
I was caught up in my journal at 18:22.
I reviewed tape 1, side 1 of the cassette recording of what was probably my third or fourth 20,000 Poets Under the League poetry slam. It was hosted by Sahara Spracklin and she was delightful. By far the best host the event ever had.
I reviewed the videos of my song practice performances of “Please Don’t Quit Me Now” and “Ne me quitte pas” from September 18 to 28. I played “Please Don’t Quit Me Now” on my Gibson Les Paul Studio on September 18, 20, and 24. On September 18 the take at 18:15 in part B was not bad. On September 20 the camera battery charge ran out before the song and on September 24 it ran out just as I’d begun the last word. On September 22, 26 and 28 I played it on my Martin Road Series. On September 22 the camera battery ran out of juice before I was a third of the way into the song. On September 26 the take at 56:30 was okay. On September 28 the take at 51:00 was not bad. I played “Ne me quitte pas” on the Gibson on September 19 and 23. On September 19 the camera battery charge ran out of juice before this song. On September 23 the take at 1:15:30 was not horrible. I played it on the Martin on September 21, 25, and 27. On September 21 and 25 the final takes were not bad. On September 27 the take at 5:15 in part C was okay.
I made pizza on two halves of a sesame seed bagel with oven fry potato wedges, marinara sauce, tomato pesto, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a glass of Creemore while watching season 2, episode 6 of Car 54 Where Are You?
This is a rehashing of the first season story about Mrs. Bronson who refused to move out of her condemned building. In this case they got her to move out of her old tenement with the lease on a 14th floor apartment in the new building with occupancy beginning on August 1. But the building is behind schedule and none of the apartments have walls. Nonetheless Mrs. Bronson has moved in and the police are called to have her removed. Toody and Muldoon arrive and Muldoon tries to get her to leave but finally he gives up, sits down and has tea and honey cake. The building commissioner calls his trouble shooter Bixby, who he thinks will have Mrs. Bronson out right away. But Bixby is the one that gave her the lease. Bixby arrives while Toody and Muldoon are singing in Yiddish and helping Mrs. Bronson bake. Bixby is firm with her while at the same time giving in to the singing and eating. The commissioner calls chief Health Inspector Willoby who thinks he can get her out on the grounds of having no water or garbage disposal but Toody connected her water and the construction workers take her garbage away. Willoby tells the commissioner he has a sure fire way of removing her by condemning the building. The commissioner tears up the order since they can’t condemn an unfinished new building. The commissioner calls Dr. Michaels, the chief psychiatrist at Bellevue who is also won over by Bronson and begins telling her his problems. The commissioner comes to tell her that the mayor says she has to move out. She tells him to tell the mayor that the whole neighbourhood that they tore down is the 26th election district in the Bronx. Right now she is the only registered voter in the entire 26th. Essentially she’s saying that she’s got the mayor by the balls. The commissioner sits down and joins them all in a game of bingo. She says she’s scheduled to visit her sister in a week but can’t go when her apartment has no walls. The commissioner gets her to promise she’ll leave if they finish her apartment so he calls Hilton Harlow the architect. He shows her the plans and she wonders where the radiators are. He says there are none but she says she needs one to knock on to call the janitor. The commissioner orders Harlow to put in radiators. She also insists that there be a fire escape so people can sit in the summer and talk with the neighbours. The commissioner says to give her a fire escape and Harlow threatens to jump off the building. Toody and Muldoon have tracked down all Mrs. Bronson’s old neighbours and show their demands for their apartments. The new building ends up being a new high-rise version of the buildings they tore down with front stoops and all.
Harlow was played by Charles Nelson Reilly, who made his film debut in A Face in the Crowd in 1957. He won his first Tony award in 1962 for his performance in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In the 70s he was a regular panelist on game shows such as Match Game and Hollywood Squares. He said once you do game shows you have no career. He would often use gay themed double entendres that were still uncommon on 70s TV to drop hints that he was gay but he didn’t officially come out until 2000. He was a guest of Johnny Carson’s tonight show at least 100 times. He was nominated for a Tony for his performance in Hello Dolly in 1964 and The Gin Game in 1997. He co-starred in the sitcom The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (for which he was nominated for an Emmy). He was a regular guest on the Dean Martin Show. He starred in the children’s show Lidsville from 1971 to 1973. He starred in the kids’ show Uncle Croc’s Block. He directed episodes of Evening Shade. He was nominated for Emmys for his performances on The Drew Carey Show and Millenium. He played Frank Frankenstone on The Flintstones. He played Mr. Toad in The Wind and the Willows. He co-starred in A Troll in Central Park, The First of May, and Gaydar. His one man play “The Life of Reilly” was made into a movie. He has taught acting at various schools, including his own. Among his students were Liza Minelli, Bette Midler, Lili Tomlin, Gary Burghoff, and Christine Lahti.
No comments:
Post a Comment