July 4, 1995: As always I hosted my writers open stage

Thirty years ago today 

            On Tuesday night I hosted as always my Orgasmic Alphabet Orgy writers open stage in the Art Bar of the Gladstone Hotel.

Mary Frann

            On Wednesday morning I memorized the third verse of “L'amour en cage” (Love in a Cage) by Boris Vian. That’s half the song. 

           I finished working out the chords for “Rêves et caravelles” (Dreams and Caravelles) by Serge Gainsbourg. Tomorrow I’ll run through singing and playing it in French, then I need to make some slight adjustments to my translation. 

            I played my Martin acoustic guitar during song practice for the first of two sessions. It went out of tune a couple of times and even though it’s been fixed, when it does go out it is often still the B string, which still registers sometimes as in tune when it’s out. The guitar still sounds good though and I had a good time. 

            I weighed 86.85 kilos before breakfast. 

            At 11:15 I rode up the street to Family Dentistry for my appointment. Dr. Singh did a few fillings in the upper left corner and now I’m done. I have a check-up on January 6. 

            I weighed 87.25 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of iced tea. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. I met my upstairs neighbour David as I pulled up in front of my building. We chatted and he asked for a beer and so I gave him one of my cans of Creemore. 

            I weighed 86.4 kilos at 17:30. 

            I was caught up with my journal at 19:00. 

            In the Movie Maker project to create a video for the Christian and the Lions studio recording of Brian Haddon’s “The Ballad of My Chest Cavity” I shaved the video clip of the floating bubbles down to a tenth of a second. That brought the concert video in sync with the studio audio for the line “and I would know that you truly care”. But then in the next line, “And just one drop to wet my lips” the video edged ahead again and so I needed to find another outside clip to push it back. I searched for “water on lips”, “water in mouth”, and “drinking water” but didn’t find anything that fit. Next time I’ll try “water dripping”. 

            I started an October 2, 2024 Movie Maker project. I imported the song practice video and the audio from that date and placed them on their respective timelines. I synchronized the video with the audio just before supper. Tomorrow I’ll work on cutting out all the songs leading up to the final take of “Leave the Naïve Alone”. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with marinara sauce, basil pesto, two chopped up slices of back bacon and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 2, episode 17 of The Bill Cosby Show. A magician named Miraculous Martin has been hired to perform at the birthday party of Chet’s nephew. Martin is in the bedroom getting ready for the show but he’s been in there a long time. When Chet checks on him he finds him drunk. When he finally gets him to come out and start the show he immediately collapses. Chet escorts him home and stays for coffee. Martin says he’s not a drinker but he is scheduled to be married tomorrow to his long suffering fiancé Louise and invites Chet to the wedding. Once he sobers up he tells Chet that he has an audition for a good gig that afternoon but needs an assistant. He convinces Chet to play that role. As they begin rehearsing Chet sees that Martin is a very good magician after all. But at the audition the person in charge of the variety show says they already hired a magician and so Martin feels like a loser again with nothing to offer Louise. The next day Chet comes to pick Martin up for the wedding but finds him drunk again. He says he doesn’t want to get married and Chet says that’s fine but he’s going to have to say that to Louise. Chet gives him lots of coffee and sobers him up but he still doesn’t want to go. Chet grabs a pair of Martin’s handcuffs and links his and Martin’s wrists then forces him to go. Martin tries to convince Louise he’s a loser but she won’t accept it. Since Chet is tied to Martin he plays the role of best man and Martin and Louise are wed. 

            Martin was played by Dick Van Dyke. 

            Louise was played by Mary Frann, who became a child model and acted in TV commercials. She was Junior Miss of 1961. She dropped out of college in 1964 and moved from St. Louis to Chicago where she hosted a morning show and acted in local theatre. Her film debut was a co-starring role in Nashville Rebel in 1966. She had a recurring role on Days of Our Lives from 1974 to 1979. She was obsessed with her weight and began taking diet pills. In 1982 she beat out 200 other actresses to win the role of Bob Newhart’s wife on the series Newhart, which became a big hit and made her a star. The show ended in 1990. In 1993 she was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia. She volunteered in a mission for homeless women. In 1998 she went on a strict diet to prepare for her second wedding but it put a strain on her heart and she died of cardiac arrest in her sleep.

July 3, 1995: I went to Jill Ann Maybe's open stage

Thirty years ago today

            On Monday I posed for the Frankland Group upstairs at 816 Logan Avenue. Later I ran into Mark Critoph. In the evening I went to Jill Ann Maybe’s open stage at the Café Sopra Sotto.

Joaquin Martinez

            On Tuesday it was Canada Day. 

            In the morning I memorized the second verse of “L'amour en cage” (Love in a Cage) by Boris Vian. 

            I worked out the chords for the first verse of “Rêves et caravelles” (Dreams and Caravels) by Serge Gainsbourg, which is really more of a chorus. I also worked them out for two-thirds of the second verse. I think after one more line I’ll have the pattern down for the whole song. 

            I played my Kramer electric guitar during song practice and had to unlock the Floyd Rose screws for the B and E strings to tune them. After that everything stayed in place. 

            I weighed 87.25 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I sanded the drywall compound that I’d applied to the underside of my lower bathroom shelf. It was very time consuming getting the areas where the brackets meet the board because I was bending over and looking up. There’s still the area of the wall directly below the shelf, which also has two brackets but it should be easier. I’ll probably have that done on Friday and then the only sanding left to do will be on the lower part of the southern wall above the sink and then the door frame and the door. Then I’ll have to wipe down the ceiling and walls with a damp cloth, apply some more drywall compound in a few places, sand again, wipe again, and finally paint. 

            I weighed 87.15 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. It was a pretty warm day but not unbearable. 

            I weighed 86.05 kilos at 17:42, which is the lightest I’ve been in the evening since last Tuesday.

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:24. 

            I downloaded the video of bubbles floating over the ocean, converted it to AVI, and imported it into Movie Maker. I copied it to the end of the timeline of my “The Ballad of My Chest Cavity” Movie Maker project and edited out all the parts with people and trees. I copied the part with just bubbles over the ocean and inserted it into the main timeline just before the line “and I would know that you truly care”. I just need the clip to be very short in order to push the concert video back in sync with the audio so I shaved it down considerably but it still wasn’t enough before supper. I should be able to get them lined up tomorrow.

            In the Movie Maker project for my September 5, 2024 song practice I deleted the first few songs up until the start of the final take of “Laisse tomber les filles”. I then created a “Laisse tomber les filles” Movie Maker project, isolated the song and then published the movie. I uploaded it to YouTube and posted the link on Facebook and Twitter. 

            Next I’ll start a Movie Maker project for my October 2 acoustic version of “Leave the Naïve Alone”. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching season 2, episode 16 of The Bill Cosby Show. 

            Ortega is a Mexican carpenter building a bookshelf for Chet. When he hears Chet is a teacher he asks him to teach US history in exchange for a stereo cabinet so Ortega can pass his citizenship test. Chet teaches him about the US government, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. He quizzes him on why the war of independence took place and Ortega says it is always about money. Chet says that’s wrong and the war was fought over freedom and taxes. Ortega says, “See? It was about money”. Chet tries to teach him detailed stuff about district and circuit courts and ex post facto laws until finally Ortega gets frustrated and gives up. Chet goes to talk with a naturalization examiner about the test and finds out it’s a lot easier than he thought. He says there is no written test and the hardest question might be, “Who was the first president?” (If that’s the way the test was in 1970 it sure isn’t that way now. It’s more like the questions Chet was asking). Chet goes to tell Ortega not to give up because it’s easy. The day of the test Ortega is upset by the baby questions and demands a hard one or he won’t accept citizenship. The examiner asks him to explain the constitution. He says it’s about equal rights to pursue happiness and freedom, so he passes. 

            Ortega was played by Joaquin Martinez, who was a medical student in Mexico City when a teacher insisted that he take a drama class to overcome his shyness. He won a scholarship to Seki Sano’s renowned drama studio. He finished medical school and then debuted as a professional actor in the film Pedro Páramo for which he won a most promising newcomer award. He played Ulzana in Ulzana’s Raid. He co-starred in Castinx, becoming the first Mexican actor featured in a Dutch film. He formed Victoria Films International.

July 2, 1995: I went to see my bandmate Steve Lowe at the El Mocambo

Thirty years ago today

            On Sunday I was with my daughter during the day. Later I went to hear my band’s guitarist Steve Lowe perform for the Sedated Sunday show at the El Mocambo. Trudy Binder (who I knew from modelling) was also on the bill.

Oscar DeGruy

            On Monday morning I memorized the first verse of “L'amour en cage” (Love in a Cage) by Boris Vian. 

            I worked out the chords for over half the first verse of “Rêves et caravelles” (Dreams and Caravels) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I played my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar during song practice. It went out of tune at least five times in the 90 minute session. 

            I weighed 87.65 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since June 6. 

            Around midday I packed up my laundry and took it to be washed and dried. 

            I weighed 87.15 kilos at 14:53. 

            I took a siesta at 15:30 and got up at 17:00. It was raining and too late for a bike ride downtown anyway but since it’s Canada Day tomorrow the supermarkets will be closed and so I figured I’d better stock up on grapes. I rode in the rain to Freshco where I bought five bags of red grapes and price matched them with the No Frills price of $8.80 a kilo. 

            I weighed 87.8 kilos at 17:53. June 8 was the last time I was that heavy in the evening but lighter than then. 

            I was caught up with my journal at 18:45. 

            I searched for animations of an oxygen atom but couldn’t find any without a watermark or that weren’t stock footage with a fee. Then I looked for bubbles and for several pages all I found again were stock or watermarks. I finally found a video of bubbles floating out over some cliffs and the ocean. I bookmarked it and will download it tomorrow. 

            In my September 5, 2024, Movie Maker project I noticed that the vocal was at a drastically lower volume than the guitar. I decided to open up the original recording in Audacity and to increase the vocal volume. Then I exported the audio and imported that into Movie Maker. I deleted the audio I’d been using and replaced it with my adjusted recording. But that had low volume for the vocal still. Then I checked and realized that my left speaker was disconnected. I gave the amp a nudge and it was back up. I undid pasting in the new recording and undid deleting the old one. I think I’ve made that same mistake about voice volume in the past year or so. I deleted the first few songs from the session until I got to “Laisse tomber les filles”. I deleted a few takes of that song and was still trying to find the final take when it was time for supper. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching season 2, episode 15 of The Bill Cosby Show. 

            The students at Holmes High School have taken over the cafeteria in protest of the menu. Chet missed breakfast and so he is especially interested in finding a resolution. One of the leaders is Watson but the main one is Eddie. Chet goes with Eddie to see the cafeteria manager but as soon as he sees how pretty she is Chet sends Eddie away to work on the list of grievances so Chet can be alone with Miss Simms. Chet helps Simms and the students compromise between nutritious lunches and less boring ones. Later there’s another protest of the school literary magazine because a story has been censored. Chet talks with Mr. Green the editor and with Eddie and gets them to compromise on word choices. Chet makes a date with Miss Simms to have dinner at his place so he can show her how to make moussaka. Then the students protest the Physical Education department. They want more time to shower before their next classes, an end to the use of taking laps as punishment and more control over the curriculum. Chet refuses to compromise. That night the students occupy Chet’s apartment and then Miss Simms arrives. She is about to leave because Chet is being a hypocrite when Chet agrees to look at the demands. He agrees to more shower time and no laps but says the curriculum is up to him. They agree to that and leave. Chet tells Miss Simms that he is going to make them do push-ups until they beg to be made to do laps again. 

            Watson was played by Oscar DeGruy, who was once a member of the Black Panthers. His acting debut was on The Young Lawyers in 1970. He made guest appearances on several TV series. In 1974 he started the Bahai Youth Workshop performance model. Since then over a thousand workshops have formed, some of which have gone on tour.

July 1, 1995: My waiter Cynthia bought my lunch

Thirty years ago today

            On Saturday I worked for Artists 25 (which had moved to Spadina and Richmond), and went to the 360 for lunch. Cynthia the waiter bought my meal.