Yes, we had another one of our “AC Install” fire drills here this morning!

Just FYI, it takes me about 45 minutes to get the house ready for the repairmen to get here.

I have to get cat food and water into both bedrooms. A litterbox in each bedroom. Round up the cats and then close them up in the bedrooms — without sustaining too many claw marks on my arms.

And then clear out that area at the top of the basement stairs, where 3 litterboxes and a ton of cat litter usually hang out.

Set up my laptop at the kitchen table. Pour a cup of coffee. Sit down…

And then — voila!!

At 7:59 AM–

The HVAC company called to re-schedule me for Monday. They didn’t have enough service guys today.

So out they all trot again…

And my day off begins.

You know, at least it was better than last time — where everyone had to stay closed up for 5 hours before the appointment was re-scheduled…

************

Before I forget!!

45 years ago today!!

Chong and I became Mr. & Mrs. Chong Foun Kee!

At this lovely building at 1 Centre Street, in downtown Manhattan:

It is a place you absolutely do not forget. It’s an enormous building.

It was a sunny morning in NYC. I wore a very 1980s-style short white satin dress, with a little matching white satin jacket.

After the ceremony (we were married by a Judge, and we had 2 witnesses in tow) we had lunch at a diner downtown, called Dolly’s. But it apparently is gone now.

Anyway.

Chong texted me this morning that our relationship has “withstood time” — with a bunch of various “clock” emojis.

And on we go, I guess, until the sands run out…

***********

It’s going to be a really gorgeous day here, today. Up into the 70s Fahrenheit and sunny all day.

I’m hoping to have a great day, so we’ll see how that pans out.

Meanwhile–

Here’s this.

Todd West is part of James Tabor’s private Patreon Research Group. He has a new scholarly book out: Where Was Jesus Crucified? Texts, Archaeology, and a New Case for Golgotha on Jerusalem’s West Side.

History Valley interviewed both Todd and James yesterday.

Where Was Jesus Crucified? A New Case for Golgotha | Todd West & Dr. James Tabor (2 hrs):

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And in a totally unrelated “here’s this”–

Here’s this!

From Phyllis Stein. Johnny Thunders, in NYC, 1982! (Photo by Marcia Resnick.)

**********

And here’s this.

Coming April 21st, the 60th Anniversary “Sip-in”. Visit NYC LGBT History for details:

In case you’re too young to know this — among other things, it used to be illegal to serve suspected gays & lesbians in bars in NY:

“On April 21, 1966, a “Sip-In” was organized by members of the Mattachine Society, one of the country’s earliest gay rights organizations, to challenge the State Liquor Authority’s discriminatory policy of revoking the licenses of bars that served known or suspected gay men and lesbians. The publicized event — at which they were refused service after intentionally revealing they were “homosexuals” — was one of the earliest pre-Stonewall public actions for LGBT rights as well as a big step forward in the eventual development of legitimate LGBT bars in New York City. Through the efforts of the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, this site was listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places in 2015 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. The Project’s advocacy also led to the site’s designation as a New York City Landmark by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2022. ⁠”

[full details for the nationwide sip-in are HERE]

**********

And here’s this.

Janis on a bed somewhere in blue lace stockings!

And just FYI — it was Peggy Caserta’s 1973 memoir, Going Down With Janis, that finally made me feel that it was okay to like girls.

I had been erotically attracted to girls since I was 6 years old. Honestly. And every one of my friends would tell me there was something weird about that. That book, which I read when I was 13 (and paid for — I bought it at a bookstore at the mall, I didn’t steal it!!), changed my relationship with myself.

And ironically enough, also when I was 13, I “lost” my virginity (it was more like, “take it — please!”) to a really gorgeous guy — a violinist — while smoking hash, drinking tequila, and listening to Janis Joplin’s (Big Brother & the Holding Company’s) 1968 record Cheap Thrills.

I can unequivocally state that:

A.) Janis Joplin was quite an enigmatic influence on me! (3 years after she died, no less)

B.) I miss the 1970s!!!

***********

And here’s this!

4 of my cats on the bed with me this morning!!

**********

And here’s this.

Joe Strummer in 1986:

********

And here’s this!

With Nick Cave (almost) fully behind him, Rowland S. Howard takes on the world!!

And we’ll close with this!

An iconic classic of Nick Cave smoking! (Also, me, in spirit, in 1973!!)

********

And that is it for today!

I hope I get a lot done here. Sandra called and had to postpone our chat because she has to go to the dentist today. An emergency.

And for some weird reason, I don’t have any Zoom meetings or webinars scheduled for today. (Although the Zoom Town Hall meeting with Lambda Literary yesterday afternoon was another good one!)

So I might just actually get some writing done.

I also want to start getting organized to launch the Marilyn’s Room mini-podcast with sometimes co-host Valerie in Brooklyn!!

Meanwhile, enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

I leave you with 2 options today!

Number One — the most classic oldies wedding song of all time!

1964, The Dixie Cups, “The Chapel of Love”:

Number Two — my favorite Janis Joplin song (written by Kris Kristofferson). 1971. From her posthumous album, Pearl. “Me & Bobby McGee”.

(And I absolutely still fucking LOVE her version of this song. I sing it to my cat, Bobby McGee, all the time, and I sing it to him note-for-note the way Janis sang it.) Okay. Enjoy, gang.

I usually post the painting of the 3 empty crosses on Good Friday, but, you know, crucifixion was such a horrific way to die, that I’ve decided to go with the “life” part of Jesus today, instead.

Okay.

Wow. I was really tired yesterday but I still had a really great day off.

I got so much done. (Can you say: “5 loads of laundry”?? Mostly putting all the winter stuff away and getting the house ready for Spring.)

And I even got to take that walk in the sun. The sun stayed out all day. I was able to finally take in the sights of the village again after all those terrible wind storms we had. A lot of damage was done — mostly to trees. But the village is over 200 years old. It’s withstood a lot already. And it is, indeed, still standing and flowers were blooming!

It felt great to not just see it, but to feel it: Survival and moving on to whatever lies up ahead.

And then, early in the evening, the lawn guy returned to cut the grass, so it must really be Spring, gang!

Today, I will vacuum (!!) and also watch that recorded Zoom meeting about how to use the new recording studio on Substack. My brain has officially returned this morning!

But last evening, during dinner, I began re-watching “Mystery Train” (see yesterday’s post). I instantly remembered why I liked the movie so much — it’s totally quirky.

And since it was made in 1989, it reflects things about life in the US back then that I really miss. (For instance, smoking wherever & whenever you wanted to! And motel rooms for $22 a night! And traveling by train!!)

And what was also sort of intense: As soon as the movie started, I instantly remembered that Wayne and I had rented the movie from the video store on Broadway. We didn’t see it in the theater. And I had the clearest flashback of lying on the bed in our bedroom (which had a view of Riverside Park and the Hudson River). Our bedroom was just off the living room in our beautiful apartment on West End Avenue. And it was daylight out. We were watching the movie on what was, back then, considered a really big TV set. And I remembered really loving the movie and how quirky it was.

So that was kind of poignant — how vivid the memories were. And how different and solitary my life is now.

But when I went upstairs — really early because I was so tired — and got in bed to read some more of the John the Baptist book for James Tabor’s Private Research Group, I could only focus on the book for about 30 minutes.

So I got on Metrograph (on my phone) to see what movies I had saved.

And wow. There was THIS:

“Downtown 81”, starring the painter, Jean-Michel Basquiat. It takes place in NYC, mostly the Lower East Side, in 1980 & 81 (!!!).

Talk about memories of a life gone by. Jeez.

If you don’t know NYC from that specific era, the movie might not be that interesting to you. But I loved everything about it. The streets, the neighborhoods, the clubs, the music, the downtown art scene back then.

And Basquiat was so young. He was only 20 in that film. (And he died of a heroin overdose when he was only 27).

And what else did I love??? YES! At the end of the film, when he finds some money in the street, he goes to a corner newsstand and asks for a pack of cigarettes:

HE: “Chesterfield Kings, please.”

Yay!! (But just further proof that those old days are really gone gone gone.)

I’m so glad I watched that film. I moved to NYC in 1980, so those were my very early days in New York. I was writing tons of songs, finding out about the clubs where I could play once I felt I was ready to go out there with my guitar and be in it. All of that world was downtown. And I remember those bands that are in the film. And those clubs (though they weren’t the folk clubs I played in.) And I remember all that energy and that whole world.

Here’s the closing song from the movie. It totally captures the feel of those days:

And after the film was over, I felt really really grateful to myself for being so driven when I was young; for leaving Ohio with $500 (every cent I had in the world — I had saved it up by working in a General Electric factory), some clothes, some cassette tapes and my guitar, and going to Manhattan to be part of it finally and to chase my dreams. Even though my family basically stopped speaking to me for quite a while after I left — they’d been hellbent on my going to college, marrying a (rich) man, settling down, behaving, having a family… They absolutely did not understand me or my songwriting.

But I felt so glad last night that I hadn’t missed a moment of NYC in the 1980s.

*************

Okay.

So!

My favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s daughter texted me last night and said that she is giving those chocolates I bought her to her late brother’s children (my client’s little grandchildren) for Easter.

That made me so happy!! He hasn’t seen his grandkids in many years. They probably barely remember him because they were so little when they moved away, but the thought that “he” got them chocolate for Easter will mean a lot to them. (Without going into anything too personal — those grandkids moved to Seattle 5 years ago, after their dad — my client’s youngest son– committed suicide.)

Even a small connection like giving kids chocolate at Easter — that will mean a lot to my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man, and it means a lot to me.

***********

Okay.

I don’t have too many “here’s this’s” for today.

But, here’s this!

And it’s pretty great! Keith smoking and gambling on the plane during the Stones’ 1972 tour!!

And here’s THIS!!!

Yes! Keith and Anita, apparently at a SMACK bar!!! (Keith was already an addict by then. Not that that’s funny, but I’m just sayin’……)

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And here’s this!

More beautiful days gone by. Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard:

And here’s this, a few years later!

And in “present day” Nick Cave-land…

Flea (of Red Hot Chilli Peppers fame) has a new solo album out, Honora, and Nick Cave sings vocals on it, on an old Glen Campbell classic, “Wichita Lineman”:

And don’t forget!!

Only 2 months before Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ tour of Europe & the UK begins!!

Buy tickets HERE!!

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All righty!

That’s it for today. The Agency has already texted me, asking me if I wanted to pick up an extra shift for this afternoon, but — vacuuming awaits!!!

And hopefully some writing!!

If you honor Good Friday, I hope you have a meaningful one. Otherwise, just have a good Friday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

********

Let’s close with this.

Another one by Paul Simon, but this time, without Art Garfunkel.

This song (and the movie it came from) came out right when I got to NYC. I remember being on a city bus one night, and this song was playing on the bus’s radio. And I quietly lamented that I didn’t have enough money to see the movie because movies in NYC were much more expensive than they’d been in Ohio. (Back home, you could still see a first-run film for one dollar. In NYC, it cost $5.00!!!)

Now the song really captures that moment in time for me. Although it’s a really joyous song.

Paul Simon, “Late in the Evening,” from One Trick Pony, 1980. Enjoy, gang.

“Late In The Evening” (from “One-Trick Pony” soundtrack)

The first thing I remember
I was lying in my bed
Couldn’t have been no more than one or two
And I remember there’s a radio
Comin’ from the room next door
And my mother laughed the way some ladies do
When it’s late in the evening
All the music seeping through

The next thing I remember
I am walking down the street
I’m feeling all right
I’m with my boys, I’m with my troops, yeah
And down along the avenue
Some guys were shootin’ pool
And I heard the sound of a cappella groups, yeah
Singing late in the evening
And all the girls out on the stoops, yeah

Then I learned to play some lead guitar
I was underage in this funky bar
And I stepped outside to smoke myself a “J”
And when I came back to the room
Everybody just seemed to move
And I turned my amp up loud and I began to play
And it was late in the evening
And I blew that room away

The first thing I remember
When you came into my life
I said I’m gonna get that girl no matter what I do
Well I guess I’d been in love before
And once or twice I been on the floor
But I never loved no one the way that I loved you
And it was late in the evening
And all the music seeping through

c- 1980 Paul Simon

Is it because it’s Holy Week???

Probably not, but it’s nice timing anyway.

First off — for some reason, the SUN is out!!!! And it’s my day off! (It was supposed to rain all day.)

Second — when I opened my laptop this morning, THIS fantastic photo awaited me on my Welcome screen: NYC!! (It has never been on my screen before. I usually get photos of jungles or forests in faraway countries whose names I can’t pronounce.)

And when I went to check sales ranks of all my various books that are still somewhere out there online…

It occurred to me that this was pretty fantastic. On Amazon. This specific edition of Neptune & Surf has been out of print for about 17 years. And even though it ranks #400,519 in Erotic Fiction Best Sellers, it’s still at least ranking and it was published 27 years ago!! (This was my first book. And when it was published in 1999, it opened at #7 in FICTION!!)

And most miraculous miracle of all!!

Yesterday, my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s daughter let me go 45 minutes early — with full pay — because her dad was sound asleep in his recliner.

So my 7th shift in the 7-shift run ended early!

And not only do I have today off, but she’s taking her dad to an appointment in Columbus on Friday, so now I have FRIDAY off, as well. Yes! 2 days off in a row!!

And even though when I got out of bed at 4:38AM this morning, the toilet paper roll in the upstairs bathroom was completely unspooled and shredded in a heap on the bathroom floor….

And even though I then discovered that the toilet paper roll in the downstairs bathroom was ALSO completely unspooled and shredded in a heap on the bathroom floor…

And even though when I went outside onto the kitchen porch in the dark and the rain to see if Kon Tiki had shown up for breakfast yet, she had not only shown up, but had THREE furry friends in tow!! (Yes, I fed TWENTY cats, in total, this morning…)

And even though when I went back upstairs 2 hours later and discovered the cats had yanked about 25 Kleenex’s out of the brand new box of Kleenex next to my bed… (yeah, okay, so I did holler a little about that),…

I’m still so fucking happy that the sun is out and I have 2 days off.

*************

Okay.

Here’s this!

Joe Strummer, with a cuppa and a cigarette!

You know, I had forgotten about this movie. I remember, though, that I really liked it a lot :

(I just bought it on Amazon Prime so I can watch it again!!)

************

Here’s this!

Just nice to see it, after about 120 years!

Franz Kafka and his dog, somewhere in Prague:

*************

And I love this!

Although it is actually the Rolling Stones getting ready to be on the David Frost TV show in London in June 1969…

It looks like they’re learning how long their prison sentences are going to be:

And here’s this!

Probably the sole reason why you don’t want to leave Keith unattended on your family room floor —

Look how close that lit cigarette is to that rug!

The Stones, backstage at the Forum in LA, Nov. 1969:

And Keith, in an empty arena somewhere, doing what he does best!! (Oh, and plus, he looks really nice wearing a guitar!)

*************

And here’s this!

The most unqualified, unparalleled, absolute BEST Hair Day EVER!!

Nick Cave, only yesterday!! Oops! I meant, of course, “yesteryear”. But, honestly, check out that hair!!

*************

And I think that might be it for now.

I’ve got laundry going already. I’m hoping to get in a walk today, too, now that it’s not raining. And do some yoga later. And, oh, they did indeed record the Zoom meeting from yesterday about how to use the new recording studio on Substack. So I’ll check that out today, too.

And maybe even do some writing… but I don’t want to get carried away.

Have a really great Maundy Thursday wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

*************

Let’s close with this today!

In celebration of everything.

The Edwin Hawkins Singers, 1969: “Oh Happy Day”!! Enjoy, gang.