Getting Social Around Here!

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Okay!!

So, not only do we have a group lunch coming up in early November — with my co-workers at the health & wellness store (including the woman who runs the store).

But on Monday, I’m having lunch with my dear pals Wendy and Kara, to celebrate Wendy’s birthday!!

The 3 of us have not had time to get together for lunch since Christmas. I’m really looking forward to it.

We’re going here !!

So, the main reason I returned to the working world was to be around people again. And it is already a complete success.

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I’m getting a late start here on the blog today because it was “Pay the Bills” day today!!

So the bills are paid — and I have to say, I am managing the expense of the recent trip to Charlotte , NC, and that fantastic hotel, just fine.

Yay!!

Oh, and Sandra texted at 7:15AM and asked if I was up and having coffee yet (I of course was!!), so we had our chat on the phone first thing this morning.

I am still aiming to be in NYC for her Birthday Cabaret the 3rd week of January…

And at some point today, I’m supposed to catch up with my best friend Valerie in Brooklyn!! Yay!!

For some reason, I’m a lot older when I chat with Valerie…

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And then somewhere here today, I’ll be working some more on the flash fiction piece for the Bill Burroughs tribute anthology…

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Okay!

It’s that time again!!

Erica Verrillo’s fantastic monthly free newsletter for writers is out:

73 Calls for Submissions in November 2026 – Paying markets!

“This November there are more than six dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.”

Visit HERE. And sign up for her FREE newsletter, while you’re at it!!

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Meanwhile….

Due to the time difference between here and Europe, and my overall schedule–

I’m falling behind in The Dirty Three’s European Tour!!

Posted by Warren Ellis after their tour-opening show in Vicenza, Italy!!

And here’s Warren Elvis, oops, ELLIS, during their show in Geneva last night!!

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Speaking of Elvis….

Here’s Johnny Cash!!

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And speaking of Johnny Cash….

Dwight Yoakam is still on tour!! You can buy tickets HERE!

And in the event you need some Guitars, Cadillacs, and Hillbilly Music RIGHT NOW—

And I have to say, yet again, that experiencing Dwight Yoakam singing this very song live at The Ritz in NYC in the 1980s — it was absolutely unbelievable, gang. Truly one of the highlights of my already indescribably insane life.

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Okay!

Here’s this!!

I might have posted it here before, but you can’t beat a photo of Keith smoking while he’s on fire, can you, gang??!


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And here’s this great song, just for the hell of it!!

Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” from his huge hit album, Born in the USA (1984):

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From Phyllis Stein.

The New York Dolls in London, 1973.

Photographer Ian Dickson passed away recently–

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And here’s this!!

From Facebook!!

Nick Cave looking very, very Nick Cave-y!! In color!! Yay!!

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And I guess that is it, gang.

I gotta get focused here and get some writing done before the day flies away from me and I’m yakking merrily on the phone with Valerie.

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this today!!

This came up in my YouTube stream!

I used to LOVE this song, as a wee bonny teenaged lass. I played this record a lot (on her Greatest Hits album) when I was very very very briefly away at college in 1978… Luckily my 3 other roommates liked Joan Baez, too.

(And if you were ever a stranger that I’ve been in love with, well, then this one’s for you and you know who you are!!)

Joan Baez, 1972. “Love Song To A Stranger”. Enjoy, gang.

“Love Song To A Stranger”

How long since I’ve spent a whole night in a twin bed with a stranger
His warm arms all around me?
How long since I’ve gazed into dark eyes that melted my soul down
To a place where it longs to be?
All of your history has little to do with your face
You’re mainly a mystery with violins filling in space

You stood in the nude by the mirror and picked out a rose
From the bouquet in our hotel
And lay down beside me again and I watched the rose
On the pillow as it fell
I sank and I slept in a twilight with only one care
To know that when day broke and I woke that you’d still be there
You’d still be there

The hours for once they passed slowly, unendingly by
Like a sweet breeze on a field
Your gentleness came down upon me and I guess I thanked you
When you caused me to yield
We spoke not a sentence and took not a footstep beyond
Our two days together which seemingly soon would be gone
Soon would be gone

Don’t tell me of love everlasting and other sad dreams
I don’t want to hear
Just tell me of passionate strangers who rescue each other
From a lifetime of cares
‘Cause if love means forever, expecting nothing returned
Then I hope I’ll be given another whole lifetime to learn

‘Cause you gave to me, oh, so many things, it makes me wonder
How they could belong to me
And I gave you only my dark eyes which melted your soul down
To a place where it longs to be

c – 1972 Joan Baez

Happily saying farewell to yesterday!

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Wow, gang.

I honestly have no idea what happened, but late yesterday afternoon there was just a huge energy shift around here. Negative. Intense. Stressful.

I don’t know if it was strictly coming from me, or if other people were feeling it, too? You know how they say that cell towers can be used to transmit negative radio waves. or micro waves? Things like that?

I just don’t know. But I went from having a very decent day to suddenly feeling like I was on the verge of a mini-nervous breakdown. I couldn’t calm down — couldn’t force myself to do yoga. Couldn’t force myself to go outside and take a walk, even though it was a really beautiful day.

And I do think it’s sort of curious how my blog went from usually getting around 200 visitors a day, worldwide — then yesterday there were only 36 visitors, and most came from Europe. So it made me wonder, if just in general, there was a stressful energy going around.

And then — I was supposed to hear back from Sandra late yesterday afternoon about one of our projects, but she didn’t call. I was awake at 2:45AM, struggling to go back to sleep. I decided to text her, just to remind her that I’m working today and to call me Thursday instead… she texted right back! At 2:45AM. She couldn’t sleep, either.

So who knows! I did eventually fall back to sleep and woke up feeling a lot better. more human. A little tired…

And I did spend a couple of hours on the flash fiction piece for the Bill Burroughs anthology early yesterday afternoon. I’m not really sure how it’s going because I don’t know yet how it will end — I don’t know yet what I’m aiming for, but we’ll see how it unfolds. At least I got started.

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Okay.

From James Tabor– he posted this to the Research Group last night. I think it’s okay to re-post it here:

“Robert Eisenman, Scholar of Early Christianity Who Freed the Dead Sea Scrolls, Passes Away at 89“

“I was very close to Robert since 1991 when we excavated at Qumran. We have spent hundreds of days together over these years. He lived a full and amazing life. I have endless stories to share with you all. Packing and getting ready to head to Israel soon. He was buried yesterday on the Mt of Olives…I will try to visit his grave while in Jerusalem weekend after next.”

James also included this video:

Robert Eisenman & the Dead Sea Scrolls: RIP: Best Interview Ever! (1 hr):

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Well, this really perked my “spirits” yesterday!!

Warren Ellis posted this photo from the after show — after his solo performance in Milan!

Yay!! Look who showed up?? And 2 of them had already been dead for decades!!

But at least a good time was had by all. Richard Hell, Johnny Thunders, and Sid Vicious:

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And here’s this!

Tom Petty in NYC in 1977! (Photo by Michael Putland)

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And this!

Keith and Ronnie, rehearsing in 1978 in NYC. (Photo by Ken Regan)

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From yesterday!

Alex S. Johnson chats with the legendary author, Paul Di Filippo (1 hr):

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And here’s this!!

There was quite a crowd of current and former Bad Seeds on Denmark Street in London the other day!!

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And here’s this!

From 1989!! In Los Angeles! A few of the Travelin’ Wilburys, standing still! With a couple of plates over their heads!! Tom Petty! Jeff Lynne (smoking! drinking!)! And George Harrison!

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And back to the Bad Seeds–

A couple of great ones with great hair! Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld!!

And from Facebook!

(And today, I heartily concur — although, yesterday afternoon, not so much!!)

And that is it for now.

I want to try to just get a little more rest before heading to town. Just to make sure my energy is completely back on track for the store. Since, you know, you can’t really help others if you can’t help yourself…

Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this.

Perfect accompaniment for my in-progress Bill Burroughs piece.

Jack Kerouac, reading “MacDougal Street Blues” with a jazz piano. (With film footage of NYC in the 1950s-60s.) (3 mins). Enjoy, gang!!

A Happy Tuesday in the Hinterlands!

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Okay!

I am here.

It’s been an active morning here so far!!

I slept great. Absolutely, totally great.

Then got out of bed at 5:30AM to discover that one of the cats had thrown up on one of the upstairs bathroom rugs. Oh well.

And another cat (the truly beautiful Cuddles McGee) was in the process of peeing on a throw rug in the hallway.

So one load of laundry got immediately underway! And I only got a tiny little bit pissed off…

Then in the downstairs bathroom, off the laundry room, I discovered that the cats had managed to get into the cupboard under the bathroom sink and had shredded THREE brand new rolls of paper towels.

Shredded bits of paper were all over the floor and I had to drop everything and sweep it up.

At this point, it was about 5:43AM.

I only got a tiny little bit more pissed off — if you count hollering, “You FUCKERS!!!” as being a tiny little bit more pissed off…

However.

I was able to easily switch gears when I took the shredded paper towel rolls out to the trash bin beside the kitchen porch, and there sat my beautiful Kon Tiki of the Great Outdoors, on the porch in the dark, and she went trotting into the kitchen to join us for breakfast.

Yay.

And so then we got breakfast underway!!

I made a really big breakfast for myself this morning, because I’ve been missing being in that hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, a few weeks ago — and, NO!, not because my cats weren’t there, but because the hotel had that great breakfast buffet every morning!

So, since I have today off, I decided to make a big breakfast and I’m really glad I did. It really, really shifted my mood back to being in a happy place!!

Okay!

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Today, I’m mostly going to begin working on the flash fiction piece for the William S. Burroughs anthology.

I have an overall feeling about what I want to write, but I’m not sure, yet, how I will put it down on paper. So we shall see how it goes!! I still have about 2 weeks to nail it and send it in.

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If you are a taxpaying US citizen and either have an IRA or need help starting an affordable one (retirement account), go to TrumpIRA.gov and sign up for info, if you haven’t already. (You might have already received a letter from the IRS about doing this.)

The government will be making up to $1000 contributions to our retirement accounts, annually, beginning in 2027, so be sure to sign up!!

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Okay.

Sadly, this happened on this day in 2013–

And, no, I’m not going to post this song here again, because I’ve already posted it here a million times….

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And here’s this–

Speaking of Bill Burroughs!! Here he is with philosopher and former Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain — Oops! excuse me — the artist, Francis Bacon!

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And here’s this!

Keith!! Holding a pair of shades! And a half-empty or half-full bottle of Jack Daniels!! (Photo perhaps taken by my little Jewish, Jack-Daniels-drinking school friend, Karen, back in 1972?? Not sure…)

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And here’s this!!

From the show in Milan last night!!!

Warren Ellis!! Plus one of the cutest pups ever!!

And here’s this while we’re at it!! “Cherry Bomb,” by the legendary Runaways, 1976!!

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And from Facebook!!

Here’s this!

Nick Cave, smoking!! Singing! Maybe even sweating a little??!!

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And that is it for today!!

And since it’s Tuesday, it means I get to watch a new episode of Season 2 of “Ludwig” on Britbox during dinner tonight!! Yay!

Meanwhile, have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world, gang.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!!

Burroughs on Kerouac (1 min). Just beautiful:

Monday, change of plans!

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My new schedule (Tuesdays, Weds., and Fridays) at the health & wellness store won’t start until next week. A co-worker needed me to work for her today, so I’m heading into town soon.

But I don’t mind at all. In fact, I’m curious how I’m gonna handle the new schedule — having 3 days off in a row — because I can barely handle having 2 days off in a row. I just go nutty when I’m all alone out here with no one to talk to…

Anyway!

I took this photo just now!!

The sun is coming up in the east, but you can still see the full moon through the trees in the west (across the road from my kitchen porch):

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Okay, remember how I recently posted that I was really liking the book, The Beat Hotel?

I’m about halfway through it now, and I’m basically forcing myself to keep reading it.

I realize the Beats were sort of, well, “dysfunctional” (?!), but it’s like the author doesn’t have a sane thing to attribute to any of them. Especially Jack Kerouac.

I also realize the author is presenting “the facts” as he sees them, but I’ve read so many books — especially letters, that these guys wrote to each other in the 1950s — and you get a whole different feel about what the men were going through, how they were experiencing each other and their lives, when it’s simply in their own words. Not filtered through someone else.

This book makes them all seem just fucking crazy. I don’t know if I’ll finish it, but I’m trying to.

And this book — the new memoir by Legs McNeil:

What can I say, these punks ARE all fucking crazy!! But mostly in a really joyful way. So I’m definitely sticking with that one for sure.

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But I think that reading The Beat Hotel before going to sleep last night was a mistake, because I just felt really angry. And sad. And frustrated with how these men’s lives were coming across.

However, by 3 in the morning, I awoke thinking about what Nick Cave had written in his Red Hand Files the other day, about Transcendental Meditation — I do meditate, daily, and have done it regularly since 2008 (and I guarantee you, it has kept me from committing suicide), but I’ve never done TM.

But suddenly, at 3 AM, John Lennon’s TM mantra was going over and over and over — and over — in my head. Until 4:30!! It was sort of incredible, gang.

I was drifting in and out of sleep, but the mantra kept going.

If you don’t know what John Lennon’s TM mantra was, it was famously part of the song, “Across the Universe”. His mantra was “jai guru deva om”.


“Across The Universe”

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a restless wind
Inside a letter box they
Tumble blindly as they make their way
Across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of life are ringing
Through my open ears inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns
And calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva…

c -1970 Lennon/McCartney

I found that really interesting. How it popped up in my head like that. And it did seem to help.

I think I will make a specific effort, when I get stressed out again (every 14 seconds, basically), to go into Lennon’s mantra and see what happens.

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Okay!

I don’t have many “here’s this’s” today, but–

Here’s this!!

Keith, in LA, on the Stones’ US tour of 1975!

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And how about this??!!

Johnny Cash in 1961 !!

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Warren Ellis plays the solo show tonight in Milan!!

He has at least one shoe already on!!

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And The Birthday Party, perhaps in Paris? But just because this is in French, doesn’t necessarily mean they were in France… I don’t know!

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And you know how some days I can barely find one photo of Nick Cave to post here?

Well, not today!! So take your pick!! Smoking. Not smoking. Great hair throughout!!

From facebook!

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And I guess that is going to be it for today, because I gotta scoot and get to town!!

I hope you enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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And let’s close with this!

George Harrison, singing his famous mantra!!

“Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare“

“My Sweet Lord”

My sweet Lord
Hm, my Lord
Hm, my Lord

I really want to see you
Really want to be with you
Really want to see you Lord
But it takes so long, my Lord

My sweet Lord
Hm, my Lord
Hm, my Lord

I really want to know you
Really want to go with you
Really want to show you Lord
That it won’t take long, my Lord (Hallelujah)

My sweet Lord (Hallelujah)
Hm, my Lord (Hallelujah)
My sweet Lord (Hallelujah)

I really want to see you
Really want to see you
Really want to see you, Lord
Really want to see you, Lord
But it takes so long, my Lord (Hallelujah)

My sweet Lord (Hallelujah)
Hm, my Lord (Hallelujah)
My, my, my Lord (Hallelujah)

I really want to know you (Hallelujah)
Really want to go with you (Hallelujah)
Really want to show you Lord (ahh)
That it won’t take long, my Lord (Hallelujah)

Hmm (Hallelujah)
My sweet Lord (Hallelujah)
My, my, Lord (Hallelujah)

Hm, my Lord (Hare Krishna)
My, my, my Lord (Hare Krishna)
Oh hm, my sweet Lord (Krishna, Krishna)
Oh-uuh-uh (Hare Hare)

Now, I really want to see you (Hare Rama)
Really want to be with you (Hare Rama)
Really want to see you Lord (ahh)
But it takes so long, my Lord (Hallelujah)

Hm, my Lord (Hallelujah)
My, my, my Lord (Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord (Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord (Krishna Krishna)
My Lord (Hare Hare)
Hm, hm (Guru Brahma)
Hm, hm (Guru Vishnu)
Hm, hm (Guru Devo)
Hm, hm (Maheśvaraḥ
My sweet Lord (Guru Sākṣāt)
My sweet Lord (Para Brahma)
My, my, my Lord (Tasmai Srī)
My, my, my, my Lord (Guru Namah)
My sweet Lord (Hare Rama)

[fade:]

(Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord (Hare Krishna)
My sweet Lord (Krishna Krishna)
My Lord (Hare Hare)

c – 1970 George Harrison

How things are feeling around here!!

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Well, sort of.

I am glad I finished the editing of the M. Christian tribute anthology, but I am still feeling those little stragglers of depression and loss.

For instance, Bill Brent, who had been a very close colleague and friend of both M. Christian and myself (and countless others), came to live with me here in Ohio for awhile, after he’d broken up with a long-time significant other in Hawaii.

Bill was not easy to live with at that point in his life — his topics of conversation included his detailed thoughts about how to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco without getting rescued…

After he left Ohio, leaving all his possessions “temporarily” stored in my basement, he moved back to San Francisco…

And jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Without getting rescued.

That was back in 2012.

Of course, for me, Bill’s spirit is all over M. Christian’s tribute anthology…along with the loss of so many others from my world.

But I am trying to shift my focus. And shift my focus. And shift my focus.

I’m hoping that once I send the manuscript over to my publisher and have her focus on it for awhile, it will sort of get my mind off of all the loss, and I can truly move forward toward focusing on new stuff.

We’re gonna find out, because I’m gonna hit “SEND” as soon as I’m done posting to the blog today.

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Well, here’s some stuff!

Keith’s birthday wishes to Bill Wyman yesterday:

And here’s some birthday wishes from the gallery in London where Bill’s photos are currently on display:

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And I thought this was quite interesting!!

It was taken only THREE DAYS AGO, and Keith is clearly smoking… (so much for quitting!) (But my guess is that he’s still gonna live longer than any of us!!)

And here’s Keith again!!

Smoking!! And playing a guitar!! In mostly black, a little white…

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Speaking of guitar heroes…

Here’s something that has me sort of spellbound, gang.

The producer/narrator who is working on the audiobook edition of my novel, The Guitar Hero Goes Home, sent me over an update, an audio file, yesterday and he is doing such a fantastic job.

If you are unfamiliar with that novel — it is told from the POV of a famous (fictional) guitar hero at the very end of his life. (In fact, in my opinion, he is already dead while he’s telling the story of his life, but I leave it up to the reader to decide.)

He has no name in the book, and the entire book is being told by him to the new love in his life — and she is never named. Never speaks. Nothing. It’s only him, throughout.

When this novel “came to me” in 2019, it was literally as if it were being dictated to me by a guy in my head. A voice. I typed out what he “told me”. His whole life story. (You can read a sample here on the blog.)

I loved this novel. And every publisher I sent it to declined it. I finally published it myself, and I still love this book, gang.

Well, yesterday, listening to the new audio file — wow. It was like I was finally really hearing the guy who had spoken to me in my head all those years ago. It felt incredible, listening to it. I even got chills a couple times. “This is the guy!”, you know?

I won’t be publishing the audiobook until early 2027, but I can’t wait.

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From James Tabor — he sent out this video to us this morning. It’s from a couple years ago, but it is really good.

Paul within His Hellenistic World: Understanding Cosmic Salvation (1hr 30 mins):

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And later this afternoon, Ross K. Nichols is having a private Zoom discussion with the Yachad. I can’t post details about it yet, but it should be really interesting!!

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And in other very interesting developments — I’ve been invited to contribute a flash fiction piece honoring William S. Burroughs, for an anthology edited by Alex S. Johnson. (Tight deadline.)

Ideas are already flowing into my brain, so here’s hoping it will hit the page quickly and in a good way. We shall soon see!!

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Meanwhile….

From Facebook.

I do not think this day sucks in ANY way, however, I loved this photo!!

So here it is!!

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And that is it for now.

I’m gonna get the manuscript off to my publisher, and then maybe take a little walk and clear my brain.

It is another stunning fall day out there today.

Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world, gang.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!!

That TV show from Japan that I really loved is back on Netlfix!! With episodes I haven’t seen yet!!

I watched it last night. I’m so glad it’s back. (Between that, and new episodes of “Ludwig” on Britbox, and reruns of “Mrs. Brown’s Boys”– again!!!! I’m doing all right, TV-wise.)

“Midnight Diner”. Recap. Enjoy, gang.

Much better this morning, thank you!

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For some reason, I slept really great last night, gang, and woke at 5:15AM, absolutely not tired at all!! (See yesterday’s post, wherein I woke up unbelievably tired.)

Anyway. Yay!!

So here’s hoping I will FINALLY get that Foreword written for the M. Christian tribute anthology so that I can finally turn the manuscript in to the publisher.

(It’s actually not overdue. At all. It isn’t due for another week. But I just want it completed and turned in. I need to feel that feeling that it is done. It’s been an emotionally rocky journey for me — editing that anthology.)

But I intend to have at least the first draft of the Foreword done by this afternoon. Then tomorrow, I can do a final draft if needed, then one last edit on the whole manuscript. And then this will be me, sometime tomorrow!!

Me! Sometime tomorrow!! In case you couldn’t read what I just said…

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Okay!!

Guess what fucking day it is, gang??

That’s fucking CORRECT!!

Legendary Rolling Stones’ (former) bass player, Bill Wyman, turns 90 today!!

Happy 90th birthday, Bill Wyman!!

And here’s this! From his album, Drive My Car, 2024 — the song, “Drive My Car”!! I love this song and have played it absolutely countless times over the past couple years while driving my own car!! (And going, well, extremely fast…)

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And it is also THIS today–

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Rowland S. Howard. Born on this day in Melbourne, Australia, in 1959. He would have been 67 today.

And let’s listen to this fantastic song, for the 7 trillionth time!! Written by Rowland S. Howard when he was a wee bonny teenaged lad in Melbourne!! One of my very favorite songs. “Shivers.” Here’s Nick Cave, Rowland, & the Boys Next Door. 1979.

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My dear and long-time friend in NYC, writer/poet Iris N. Schwartz has a new book of flash fiction out from Poets Wear Prada Press!!

“Here are thirteen stories, often simultaneously painfully poignant and devilishly humorous, whether grounded in the familiar, or dreamlike and other-worldly, that tell of the human condition, our all-too-frequent bouts of loneliness and dislocation, and our attempts at survival and resilience… Taking up where she left off with Shame, Iris has lined up her third installment of mostly flash and micro fiction treats, sweet-and-sour morsels, for us to read and re-read, and relish.”

Buy it HERE on Amazon!! ($12.00)

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And here’s this — only because I’d never seen this photo before and thought it was beautiful!

Lou Reed!!

Just beautiful

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Okay!

Here’s the info if you want to watch the livestream of the B-52s getting their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!!

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I loved this photo!

From Phyllis Stein!

Iggy and David Johansen , NYC, in 2004!! Photo by the legendary photographer Bob Gruen who also just celebrated a birthday!!

(And as an aside, I also got to meet Bob Gruen once, in NYC. I was coming out of a music conference with my dear friend, the late great music executive, Holly Lane, who was good friends with Bob Gruen. What a thrill to meet him! He was so nice.)

FYI , in case you didn’t know — “…By the mid 1970s, Bob Gruen was already regarded as one of the foremost photographers in music working with major artists such as John Lennon, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, and Kiss. He also covered emerging new wave and punk rock bands, including the New York Dolls, the Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones, and Blondie….”

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Okay!!

Speaking of legendary rock music photographers!!

I loved this!! From photographer Allen Tannenbaum‘s Instagram page (soho blues). A look behind the scenes, as it were, of one of my all-time favorite photos of Tom Petty!!

And here is my above-mentioned favorite photo of Tom, by Allen (1977), after Tom’s cigarette was so kindly lit!!

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And this is also from Allen Tannenbaum’s page. And it sent a real chill through me when I saw it, gang.

He took this photo of John & Yoko, just a couple of weeks before John was murdered (on Dec. 8, 1980).

I remember this photo really well. But, yesterday, when I saw the date this photo was taken on — Nov. 21, 1980 — I realized that I had only lived in NYC for 6 days by then. It had felt like a fucking eternity. NYC was just so much endless culture shock for me back then. And then to have my hero murdered only a few weeks after moving there…

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Okay!

Big news!!!

Warren Ellis finally has his outfit all sorted out for the upcoming Dirty Three European Tour, as well as his solo performance at that Armani museum place-thingie in Milan on Monday!! (You can find tickets to the Dirty Three shows HERE, but a lot of the shows are nearly sold out, so you have to hurry.)

Personally, I think it’s wise to go with the jacket and the hat because it’s almost, like, winter, right? And it can sometimes be really fucking COLD in Europe in fucking winter… And they say that all your body heat escapes through the top of your head…

And here’s this while we’re at it!! Dirty Three’s, “Indian Love Song”, from 1995!! That song that you can basically sing while sitting around a camp fire and strumming your violin guitar! (10 mins):

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And from Facebook!!

Legends!!!

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds!!

Also legends!!

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds!!

And legends-in-the-making!!!

Nick Cave & the Boys Next Door!! 1978!!

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And speaking of Nick Cave–

He sent out a really wonderful Red Hand File yesterday, about his experiences with (and without) Transcendental Meditation. He says, in part:

“…the effect was evident almost instantly. Within a couple of attempts, much of my general pissed-offness, low-level depression, waves of dread, and run-of-the-mill rage at the world, retreated. I felt more alive, more creative, and way happier. So for the next seven or eight years I practised TM, happily meditating twice a day….”

You can read it in full HERE.

SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI AND BROTHER LEO MEDITATING BY EL GRECO, 1600 – 1614

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And that is it for this happy Saturday in the Hinterlands.

The laundry is almost done. The sun is shining! The autumn leaves look positively splendid outside all my many windows! And the many, many cats are all taking splendid NAPS!!

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world, gang.

Here’s hoping that the next time you hear from me, I can tell you that the Foreword for the M. Christian tribute anthology is completed!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!!

To continue with a theme here this morning…

From my breakfast-listening music today!!

I’ve posted this song here before, but here it is again!!

One of my absolute favorite Nick Cave songs!

“Brompton Oratory” from the incredible album The Boatman’s Call. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, 1997. Enjoy, gang.

“Brompton Oratory”

Up those stone steps I climb
Hail this joyful day’s return
Into its great shadowed vault I go
Hail the Pentecostal morn

The reading is from Luke 24
Where Christ returns to his loved ones
I look at the stone apostles
Think that it’s alright for some

And I wish that I was made of stone
So that I would not have to see
A beauty impossible to define
A beauty impossible to believe

A beauty impossible to endure
The blood imparted in little sips
The smell of you still on my hands
As I bring the cup up to my lips

No God up in the sky
No devil beneath the sea
Could do the job that you did
Of bringing me to my knees

Outside I sit on the stone steps
With nothing much to do
Forlorn and exhausted, baby
By the absence of you

c -1997 Nick Cave

Very quick post

2 Comments

Okay, I did get a little nap just now (see earlier post), but I still don’t have time for a regular post today before I have to leave for town.

However, I did want to post this today.

10 years ago today, the sweetest cat on Earth left us!

Bunny! She lived to be 14. I adopted Bunny and her brother Buster as kittens, from an animal shelter in Times Square in NYC. They moved with me 5 times — to 3 different States…

And here’s the portrait Valerie in Brooklyn made of Bunny about 12 years ago:

And I’m posting this just because I saw it while looking for photos of Bunny —

The house I had from October 2006 to October 2016. Huckleberry, on the old piano in the living room!

Also, this happened on this day in 1999–

I lost my best friend on Earth, Paul Martin. He died at a few minutes after 8 in the evening, October 23, 1999. And oddly, it had been an incredibly beautiful fall evening. I was over in Riverside Park, looking out at the Hudson River, overwhelmed by how beautiful everything looked; it was spellbinding. (This was only a few blocks from where Wayne & I lived on the Upper West Side in NYC.)

Then I went home and a little later, got word from Paul’s mom that Paul had passed away. He had suffered from AIDS for about 6 years by then and had been confined to a nursing home for the final year of it.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my life was never the same after Paul died. He was truly my best friend. So funny, so talented. So compassionate. We stood by each other through everything. We met in the Theater Department in high school, in 1977, and remained best friends for 22 years.

Soar in peace, baby! I miss you so much.

And that’s it.

I’ll have a regular post tomorrow. Thanks for visiting. I love you guys!!

And here’s this, just because Paul loved this song so much. I wrote it in 1981.

“Breaking Glass”

I was doomed to live in New York City
On a block where accidental babies
Went out with the trash;
We shared a two-room apartment,
Tiny and cold
To the tune of a love, by winter,
Growing old
And the sound of an angry young woman
Breaking glass.

I recall our lives were never empty
There were tears enough for the third who entered
And beckoned your past;
The hours you kept were deceitful
And it had to show
The passion of time she burned
I couldn’t control;
I was trapped in my raging fury
And breaking glass.

CHORUS
There’s no telling how the coming of love
Will find us
There’s no guessing in what way
It’s gonna set us free
There’s no doubting that the anger of love
Can break us
When our actions don’t even come close
To the people we wanna be most
And our dreams don’t work out as the glories
They’d promised to be.

Without excuses I left the table
Well, I ran like hell while I was still able
I started anew;
I’ve lost some weight and I’m strong
And happy now
I got over the fiery anger, though
I don’t know how;
The songs we knew, they don’t drive me crazy
Well, I stopped the drinking and being lazy
It’s over at last;
The painful sheer rejection has
All gone past;
The tunes of deceit and loneliness
Fading fast;
Gone are the days of anger
And breaking glass.

CHORUS
There’s no telling how the coming of love
Will find us
There’s no guessing in what way
It’s gonna set us free
There’s no doubting that the anger of love
Can break us
When our actions don’t even come close
To the people we wanna be most
And our dreams don’t work out as the glories
They’d promised to be.

c- 1981 Marilyn Jaye Lewis
First of May Songs, BMI

The world of author Marilyn Jaye Lewis