An interesting day

I won’t go into everything I really think about what’s been going on with Iran for the past month or so, but I found this so interesting.

Ross K. Nichols posted this in his Patreon group about an hour ago and suddenly the timing of bombs this morning is making sense. Ross is a Biblical researcher and scholar. He’s not into politics:

Today is called Shabbat Zachor, which means the Sabbath of remembrance. There are additional readings from the ancient Torah cycle today on Shabbat Zachor, 1 Sam 15, and Deuteronomy 25:17-19.

This “special” Sabbath before Purim is associated with the killing of Haman, the Jew hating descendant of Agag (Esther 3:1; 9:24), who was the king of the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15).

Amalek is biblically the archenemy of God whose hand is against the throne of Yah (Exodus 17:8-16) and who attacked the weak and feeble continually (Deuteronomy 25:17-19).

The story of Haman’s foiled plot to kill the Jews in the book of Esther is the ultimate tale of turning the tables. The evil planned by Haman became the story of his own demise. The story is set in Persia, which is modern-day Iran.

Today in synagogues around the world, Jews will be hearing the message of the defeat of Amalek while the world wakes up to learn that U.S. and Israeli forces are jointly bombing targets in Iran.

As a Bible guy it’s not difficult to associate the characters of old stories with our modern cast. Let’s pray that Haman gets what he deserves, and that the world soon sees a new Cyrus leading the ancient, proud, and wonderful people of Iran. Cyrus, was, after all, the non Jewish messiah (Isaiah 45:1).

So today, I pray for the freedom of the people of Iran from the oppressive, and evil regime and for a possibility of peace that comes from this war.

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Today is also the heavenly birthday of this guy.

Brian Jones in 1967 — Happy Heavenly Birthday:

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Today is also the 5th anniversary of the death of my adoptive mother.

One of the few nice memories I have of her is how she used to read to me from books we got in the mail from the Dr. Suess “I Can Read It All By Myself” book club, in the early 1960s.

By the time I was 2 years old, my mother had explained to me that I was adopted, that I had another mother somewhere. So when this book came into our home, it really, REALLY jumped out at me:

I still have the book. And the book has a happy ending, in case you aren’t familiar with it. (And my search for my birth mom has an ongoing happy ending, too, btw.)

Me and Wayne, visiting Cherie, my birth mom, while on our honeymoon in 1993. I love her t-shirt! (“Caution: I go from 0 to bitch in 4.2 seconds”):

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Speaking of mothers…

From James Tabor — A “deep dive” into his latest book, The Lost Mary:

“The materials contrast the traditional, theological image of a silent virgin with archaeological and textual evidence of a resilient Jewish matriarch who raised eight children. By examining the socio-political climate of Roman-occupied Galilee, the sources describe Mary as a working-class survivor whose family served as skilled builders in the city of Sepphoris. Tabor argues that later church dogma systematically erased Mary’s humanity, royal lineage, and revolutionary influence to fit a specific religious narrative. Ultimately, the text reclaims Mary as a pivotal leader and the primary source of the radical social ethics later championed by her son.” (29 mins):

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Here’s this!!

The back cover copy of my upcoming novel from Parisian Phoenix Publishing, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder:

(If viewing on a phone, click image then turn phone sideways)

The publisher, Angel Ackerman, told me yesterday that they expect proofs and author copies in a few weeks (!!).

The official publication date will likely be in early September.

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And speaking of Jesus (sort of)!

Here’s this!

From my private desktop stash, Nick Cave onstage, drinking and sporting a JESUS tee!

And here’s this, minus the Jesus thing!

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And I think that’s it for now. I want to try to make a dent in some of the things on my “List of Things to Do Immediately” before I head into town to see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man.

Here’s hoping we’re all gonna have a good Saturday, wherever we are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

I am so totally loving this show, gang! (Short) “Riot Women” on Britbox/BBC:

A really good morning, so far!

Even though I literally coughed my lungs out for about 4 hours last night, around 1AM, I finally fell deeply asleep and slept for about 3 solid non-coughing hours, and my cold appears to be 99% gone this morning. Finally.

And for the last 3 days, I had been doing a goldenseal root protocol, not necessarily to help the cold but I’d been getting worried that the “morning sickness” thing with my stomach every morning was maybe more than just stress. I still think it was stress, but this morning, that was totally gone, too.

So I am feeling almost totally back to myself.

And Dennis wants to go out for lunch, soon.

And Steve — the guy I’ve been friends with since we were 11 years old — wants to go out for lunch again, soon.

So I’m starting to feel like I might actually be able to go out and see people again, which is great because the weather is starting to feel like Spring…

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Some of the great things that happened yesterday:

The publisher at Parisian Phoenix Publishing sent over a sample for the back cover blurb for The Curse of Our Profound Disorder and I thought it was fantastic.

She sent it over just as I was getting ready to try to work on that back cover blurb thing again, and what a relief!! I really liked what she’d come up with.

And the carpenters did a really incredible job on my basement stairs, gang. They both agreed that the stairs they removed were original to the house — 125 year-old wooden steps. That were rotting through, collapsing. And now the stairs feel so sturdy and safe. Plus, they gave me a new handrail, which they didn’t need to do.

And they fixed my basement door, at no extra cost. The door is also original to the house, so I really wanted to keep it, but the hinges needed to be sort of re-attached to the wood frame. Anyway, they did all that and now the basement door shuts all the way, and closes really easily. And I don’t have to worry at all that the cats will get down there.

After the carpenters had gone, I went down to the basement to get photos for my rep at the USDA and the whole room just seemed different somehow. Like the whole place was less scary now. It is just such a relief.

And Monday morning, the electrician comes to do preliminary work on replacing my breaker panel. So the fire hazard will soon be gone, too.

How the stairs look now:

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Okay, I still have a few things on my list of “things to do immediately” but everything is starting to feel manageable again, gang.

I usually get very stressed when we go back to Daylight Saving Time, which, this year, begins March 8th. Because I lose that extra hour in the morning. So I’m trying to just psych myself up for it and be ready, you know? Find a way to still get yoga done, get my writing stuff done, while still doing my caregiving shifts and take care of the many, many cats. And somehow also RELAX.

I just have to make it all work, somehow, because I want my happy life back!

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Okay!

Here’s this.

Yesterday was Johnny Cash’s birthday. I re-posted a bunch of photos of Johnny Cash on my Instagram page, but here’s this:

Keith and a bunch of other famous musicians with Johnny Cash:

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And here are a couple of Keith & Mick photos I liked:

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And another great photo of Keith with one of his grandsons:

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And actually that is it for today, gang!

I gotta get ready to scoot to town and see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man! I believe it is Sashimi & Sake Day! It’s very sunny out there, so we’ll see if he feels like going out. Methinks he will say “Yes!”

Enjoy your Friday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

One of my favorite driving-to-town songs, but sung by Ray Charles this time, another favorite of mine!

“Take Me Home, Country Roads”, 1972. Enjoy, gang.

All Righty! Does it get better?!

I left here early yesterday to take my laptop to the Geek Squad over in town because the screen remained frozen for 3 hours, and all the usual things you do to shut it down were not working. (The reason I couldn’t post to the blog yesterday.)

The whole way over there, I kept praying that I would have enough money to pay them, because I’ve been trying to keep room on my credit cards for traveling not for fixing laptops, and I prayed that the problem would be easily fixable because my entire life is on my laptop.

(I have two other laptops for backup, but I haven’t backed either of them up since last fall.)

(And oddly enough, I’d been thinking lately that I wanted to backup the other laptops, but I was, like BUSY…)

Anyway. Got to the Geek Squad. And the Geeky guy working there who was absolutely without doubt young enough to be my grandson, and who was very, very polite as he listened to my story… Well, he pressed the ‘power’ button (as I had done about 10 times), and the laptop totally worked again just fine.

Yes, in under a minute! Working just fine.

And he didn’t charge me a dime!!! Yay.

And this morning, when I got on Amazon Kindle to try to take care of getting rid of the extra eBook edition of Twilight of the Immortal (the one published through LULU that is not available anymore) — well, Voila! It was already gone! Yay! (and the Kindle version’s sales ranking was still hanging in there at an impressive #277 in LGBTQ Historical Fiction! Pretty nice number for a novel that’s been around for 15 years.)

And then I took a peek at the ranking for the new Kindle edition of The Guitar Hero Goes Home — and it was ranked at #249 in LITERARY FICTION!! Wow, gang.

It isn’t just the numbers that interest me, it’s the categories these books end up in.

So that was really thrilling. (And if you are in Kindle Unlimited, both of the above eBooks are free to download until tomorrow.)

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On a tiny down turn…

James Tabor released all the info to book his “Tracking Jesus Tour” to Jerusalem in late May, and I absolutely 100% without doubt, cannot afford it.

I need funds available to get to NYC, and then in September, to both the Ross Nichols weekend conference in Louisiana and James Tabor’s weekend conference in North Carolina.

So here’s hoping by the time he has the next tour, I will be able to afford it. I really, really want to go to Jerusalem with James Tabor. That is my life’s dream. So we shall see. (As most readers of this lofty blog no longer remember — I am actually in the process of writing a play, “The Gospel According to Caiaphas“, and Tabor’s tour to Jerusalem focuses on all the archeological stuff connected to Jesus’ life and death. So having that experience would help my play enormously.)

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Now, back to the amazing stuff!

How would you like to see THIS return address on a package in your mailbox???!!

I have known this package was coming for about 2 weeks, gang. And I have to say that, just knowing it was coming, gave me the happiest Valentine’s Day ever.

That man that I told you about recently, who sent me a photo of the Tom Petty Valentine on Instagram — he actually bought it for me and had it sent to me.

Wow, gang. That just thrilled me! And yesterday, it finally arrived.

Mine!
Mine!

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And as I try to compose this blog, I am sort of surrounded by a couple of very busy carpenters, putting in my new basement stairs!

Cutting wood out on the porch. Bringing it in and taking it down to the basement. Saws. Hammering. Cheerful chatting on this sunny morning in the kitchen!

Yes. A lively kitchen right now as I try to type, but it’s finally happening. I will no longer be terrified of going down to the basement to change the filter in the furnace… Yay!!

And of course Kon Tiki has also been coming in and going out of the kitchen with the carpenters, adding to the chaos (she likes people, especially men, she just doesn’t like other cats).

But oddly enough, Sandra has NOT called, wanting to chat!! So I think it only works when the AC guys are here.

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Before I forget.

My best friend on Earth, Valerie in Brooklyn, recommended this show to me the other day. It’s on Britbox (Amazon Prime) in the US.

It is really good. A drama. An intense drama. Very well written. Great acting. Really unexpected and engaging storylines. About some angry women of a certain age who decide to form a rock band. I’m really liking it a lot.

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And here’s this!

Apparently February 22nd was the anniversary of the death of Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

He always claimed he was not a Beat poet but he sure was instrumental in getting those Beat poets out there.

“…the first series he published was the Pocket Poets Series. He was arrested for publishing Allen Ginsberg‘s Howl, resulting in a First Amendment trial in 1957, where Ferlinghetti was charged with publishing an obscene work—and acquitted.”

He was the owner of City Lights Books publishing and the now-legendary City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. He was 101 years old when he died.

Long-time, or perhaps, rabid readers of this lofty blog perhaps recall that the very first book I ever stole from a bookstore (the only one, actually) was this one:

I was 13 years old and an avid poetry reader and when I saw this re-issue of A Coney Island of The Mind (originally published in 1958) in the bookstore at the mall, I had to have it and I had no money.

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Okay.

Here’s this!

A couple more photos in honor of the Heavenly Birthday of George Harrison, which was yesterday.

A quote from Tom Petty after George died:

George, smoking:

Photo by Terry Oneill

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A couple of photos of some Stones in London in the 1960s, by the Danish photographer, Bent Rej:

Bill Wyman on the phone at home with his son (and someone’s knee)
Keith outside on a bench with a dog

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A great photo of Lenny Kaye!!

I have never seen a photo of him at such a young age. (Also, I used to read CREEM magazine, religiously!! It was “America’s Only Rock & Roll Magazine”!!) (Lenny was a co-founder of and guitarist for Patti Smith Group.)

From Phyllis Stein, Lenny in NYC in 1971:

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And here’s this!

Nick Cave at his bar mitzvah onstage in Melbourne, in 1985!

Photo by Ross A Waterman

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And I think that is it!!

I still have a ton of stuff to tackle here today. All of it important, all of it requiring my complete attention, and I still have only partial use of my brain because that cold I caught is still lingering…

OMG!!

The train that runs right outside my house is just now passing by and one of the carpenters down in the basement is now singing this!! My very favorite train song of all time!!

Yes, truly a glorious day out here in the Hinterlands.

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Well, enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Oh well

The laptop is being wonky right now so no post for today, gang.

Tomorrow’s post will be a little late because the carpenter is coming at 9am to give me those new basement stairs!! Yay!!

I wanted to at least wish this guy a happy heavenly birthday today:

Happy Heavenly Birthday, George Harrison! 🎉🎂🎈💖

Photo by Terry Oneill

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya tomorrow!!

Not that I’m not getting anything done, but…

Jeepers, gang. You know, yet another email arrives this morning wherein I am reminded that something else urgent needs doing.

This time: the Indie Author Bookstore is about to launch and I still need to get all my book covers & links uploaded.

Well, obviously, I need to take care of that. But I’m not sure when — Thursday??

I am getting a lot done. I am. However, it amazes me that there is still more that needs doing . Still trying to tackle that back cover blurb for The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. (If anyone out there has read this book, can you shoot me a short email and explain to me what it was about??)

Honestly, it feels that way to me. Even though I wrote it. The novel is surprisingly subtle , even though there is a lot of brutal, crude, crass, raw stuff in there that’s right in your face. But there is also this tiny voice beneath all of it that says: with the love of family, everything is endurable; without it, you’re fucked.

Methinks if I put that as my back cover blurb it wouldn’t attract enough readers…

So on I go.

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Meanwhile!!

It was kindly brought to my attention by Martha, that if you don’t join Kindle Unlimited my free eBooks are not quite so free. However!

The Guitar Hero Goes Home, Kindle version, is still free to download until Friday (if you are in Kindle Unlimited).

BUT ALSO!!!!

The re-published Kindle version of Twilight of the Immortal is now also free until Friday (if you are in Kindle Unlimited), and guess what??

Last night, it was ranked at #119 in LGBTQ Historical Fiction!!

That just made my wee bonny heart jump for joy! Yay!

You have to use THIS link though. (The LULU version still has a link out there but that eBook is no longer available. Something else I need to take care of…)

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And here’s something else that made me happy.

An artist from Ecuador that I follow on Instagram messaged me yesterday to show me a painting he was posting that was based on one of my photos from my NYC hotel room this past summer.

I thought that the fact that he even did that — and the painting itself — were just beautiful:

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This also made my day (night)!

I got a lovely letter last night from a girl I will call “Anonymous” but she informed me that she’s been trying to read my novel, 1954 Powder Blue Pickup, but that she has to keep stopping to sort of “take care of herself” and then is too distracted to get anything else done all day…

And THAT, dear readers, is why I wrote the book!! Yay!!

So!! If you’d like to have a similarly distracted day, you can buy the novel HERE (eBook not currently available). (ADULTS ONLY!!!)

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Okay.

Here’s this!

From Phyllis Stein. The NY Dolls outside their tour bus, in LA, in 1973:

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And here’s this!

Sandra posted a photo from the set of “The Ms. Pat Show” (Jordan is one of the Producers):

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And this!

From Keith’s official Instagram page the other day:

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And I love this.

Richard Hell and Susan Sontag in NYC in 1978:

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And I loved this, too, although I can’t believe it was already over a decade ago…

Nick Cave, on tour with the Bad Seeds, in Milwaukee, in 2014 (he seems to be smoking & drinking, but I’m not entirely positive):

But just in case he is, here’s this! Jerry Lee Lewis, “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out of Me)”:

(If you are not old enough to know this — there used to be a popular Schlitz beer commercial on TV many years ago, saying that it was the “beer that made Milwaukee famous”.)

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And now I gotta scoot!

Yes, it is Tuesday! The day I go into the Rural King to buy a lot of guns cat food, and hopefully see ‘Wild Thing’ at the checkout counter for approximately 4 minutes!!

We shall see, gang!!

Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s leave with this today!

I have posted this here before, but I just looked at my phone, and apparently, it is at the top of my Playlist for driving-to-town music for this morning!

Play it loud, sing along, perhaps even get into your car and recall vivid memories of my wee bonny girlhood, and have a splendid morning.

Joni Mitchell, “You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio”. Enjoy, gang!

Might as well be happy about it!

Yes, more snow today.

But it is a fraction of what everyone in NYC is getting. (And oddly enough, the weather app on my iPhone is still not saying snow, but I can step out onto my sidewalk and get snowed on right now.)

Anyway!

It’s only about an inch.

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Yes, as we speak, the AC guys are here yet again — but this time, it should only take a few minutes. But I’m set up at my kitchen table. And the cats are corralled in the upstairs bedrooms.

Except I discovered that Mean Frannie McFee somehow wound up on a chair in the dining room. But she is so unfriendly that there’s no fear she will get anywhere near the AC guys and discover that we have a basement (that she would love to get lost it, if only she knew!!).

And, yes!!

Yet again, I heard from Sandra right in the middle of all this. It is just so weird. I guess now I know that if there’s ever an emergency and I need to speak to Sandra and can’t get in touch with her, I can just call the HVAC company and have the AC guys come out to the house, and, voila! Sandra will somehow appear.

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Okay.

The good news is that I have also re-published the eBook edition of Twilight of the Immortal over at Amazon Kindle. So that is back in action now, too!

After the promo for The Guitar Hero Goes Home ends on Friday (it is currently free to download at Kindle), Twilight of the Immortal will be free to download for a few days, as well.

Meanwhile, you can download it here for $3.99 if you so choose!!

And just FYI, if you want to buy the print edition of the book, please buy a copy that has the above cover. There is a trade paper edition still floating around out there, with a different cover. It’s from the original print run with a small literary press, but it is loaded with typos and I eventually cancelled that contract and then published it myself.

Oh, and yes, this is the novel that, after having read the completed manuscript, my agent said was “my masterpiece” while we were having lunch together at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. She compared it to F. Scott Fitzgerald and then went on to assure me that “unfortunately, no one is buying F. Scott Fitzgerald right now”. And she was right.

However. I still love the novel and I love that at least my agent considered it my masterpiece! It’s about Hollywood in the early 1920s.

From the back cover: “”…as a feminist deconstruction of a time in American history when the life and career choices women enjoyed were constrained in so many ways, the clear voice of young, bisexual, Rosemary McKisco shines a light on the politics of gender and sexuality in a visceral way that nonfiction almost never achieves. For me, the only disappointing part of reading Twilight of the Immortal was reaching the end.” — MB Austin, author of Running Off Radar

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Speaking of books!!

New York Review of Books has re-released the 2005 novel, Godlike, by Richard Hell!!

If you love the East Village in NYC in the 70s and poets and drugs and sex, you will love the book.

You can buy it here!

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Okay.

Yesterday was the 4-year anniversary of the passing of Mark Lanegan, which I find sort of hard to believe.

Honestly, gang. where does the time fly to???

Mark Lanegan wrote so many great songs, and here’s one I love. “Churchbells, Ghosts”, from his final album, Straight Songs of Sorrow, 2020:

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And here’s this.

From Phyllis Stein, another fabulous photo of Willy DeVille. this one is from the documentary about him, Heaven Stood Still, 2022.

Sadly, the film is not available yet for online streaming, but here is a trailer:

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And here’s Keith at home in Connecticut in 2000!

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And here’s this!

Wow. Nick Cave sent out a really great Red Hand File today. It was about Wim Wenders’ speech at the Berlinale film festival the other day. When I read the speech in Variety that day, I thought to myself: Finally. Someone is getting back to real life and moving forward with ART.

Nick said, in part: “...I think Wim’s words moved me because they might serve to usher in a fresh appraisal of the cultural space before us, where art reclaims its dynamic nature. Perhaps his words will encourage artists to feel confident expressing how they truly see themselves, in all their radical complexity and diversity, to say, ‘This is what I am. This is how I feel.’…”

He also said: “…its lovely openness alone filled me with a kind of relief, a sense of freedom and sudden potential. I expect, beyond the clamour, many felt the same.”

I totally felt the same.

You can read it in full here.

Wim Wenders at the Berlinale 2026

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Okay, I think that’s it for today.

I have to get a revised cover letter over to Sandra so that we can send in our TV project proposal today! Yay!

And then I have to write a back cover blurb for The Curse of Our Profound Disorder so that Parisian Phoenix Publishing can get that much closer to sending my novel off to the printer!! Yay!!

And I am also working on a short story to send to Parisian Phoenix Publishing, for a call for submissions they sent out the other day:

:

So enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

Just because.

Enjoy, gang.

Sorry I’m Late!!

Okay.

At around 3:48AM this morning, I officially called in sick.

I had been fighting off a cough since Friday, and was very successful at it, because of this:

And this:

Olbas products are great! I buy them at my favorite wellness store in town. However, I ran out of both at the same time last night and started to seriously cough my head off.

Since the wellness store is closed today, I knew I couldn’t get more, so at that moment, I figured I better call in sick and give them plenty of time to find a caregiver to replace me.

I was okay about calling in sick, since I had picked up an extra shift yesterday afternoon. And this would give me today and tomorrow (my day off) to get better. (Oh, and, like, sit at my desk and work.)

But the added bonus????

Well, let’s just say those so-called weather apps on the iPhone are so fucked up. There was no mention of SNOW today but we sure have it.

So, at least I don’t have to be out there in the wnos today (sometimes spelled “snow”), coughing my head off.

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Okay, gang.

This is what I decided to do. Well, one among the many, many things I am deciding to do.

Since LULU has de-listed the eBook edition of The Guitar Hero Goes Home, I re-published it (the eBook only) on Amazon Kindle.

And as of right now, the Kindle version is available for FREE until February 27th.

The Guitar Hero Goes Home is adult experimental fiction. It is not erotica, but has eroticism in it. It is recommended for mature readers, but it is not “Adults Only”.

If you read it and like it, could you please give it a review on Amazon???? The book has been out since Sept. 2020, has been very popular recently, but has only garnered ONE (5-star) review, from the UK.

Here is the link.

About the book:

The Guitar Hero Goes Home – Experimental fiction. An American rock & roll legend, in the final year of his life, finally comes clean about sex, drugs, and rock & roll.

From the book:

“…learning how to play a guitar. Then playing it for people who liked to hear me play. Hell, even smoking a cigarette back then – it was a thrill, because I was just a kid, getting away with something I knew I wasn’t supposed to do. Then standing back in all my shyness, watching the girls go by; that thrill turned into something mighty, I can tell you. It propelled me out into the world and gave me something to strive for. To leave home for. My girl and my guitar – out into the world we went. It was almost all about the sex then. The music and the sex. Music first; sex a very, very close second. You almost couldn’t see the difference, some nights. We were just so young.”

“As arousing as it is heartfelt, as lyrical as it is penetrating, as meaningful as it is wild and untamed … I can give no greater praise for Marilyn Jaye Lewis’s The Guitar Hero Goes Home than to say this is a book written by a wonderful writer at the height of her powers. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!” – M. Christian

OR!

If you would prefer to spend $16 plus shipping and just look at the cover while drinking your coffee!!

There is this:

I really, really appreciate it, gang.

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Okay!

Lest we forget!!

Today is this guy’s birthday!!

Yes, had he lived, George Washington would have been a spry 294 years old today!!

And, btw — this is something I find really weird. I will be 66 this coming July. And when George Washington died, he was 67 years old.

Ever since I was a wee bonny lass, I have always thought of George Washington as having been ancient, you know? Like, really, really old.

Yikes.

Anyway.

Yes! Yesterday, I pulled up all sorts of facts about George Washington on my phone and me and my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man learned all sorts of interesting things!

AND!!!

Yes!

I brought him these to celebrate George Washington’s birthday!!

He had such a great time.

We even learned that George Washington’s birthplace, in Pope’s Creek, Virginia, is only about 70 miles from Washington DC. And you can get a one-way train ticket from Pope’s Creek to DC for about $14.

Yes, we learned some really cool stuff! Nothing boring, like his part in the Revolutionary War, or in the founding of our great nation, or anything like that. Only the really cool stuff.

I would make a really captivating history teacher, don’t you think?? Especially the part about bringing vodka and snacks… (And I’d probably be wearing a t-shirt that says: “Smoke ’em if you got ’em”)

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Okay!

YES!!!!!!

I got approved by my rep at the USDA Rural Development office for a $4000 GRANT to get a new breaker panel in my basement. Yay.

But I also have to print out a bunch of papers, sign them, and send them back pronto.

But what a relief.

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Okay.

Here’s this!

More photos from Wayne’s recent trip to the Dominican Republic to visit his niece and her husband:

And here is Tessa, his niece, doing Sky Yoga:

I think that at this point in my illustrious life, I will stick to down on the floor yoga. But, wow!

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And here’s this!

Johnny Cash, sitting on a stool and playing a guitar somewhere in the 1960s:

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And I loved these!

From Phyllis Stein!!

Bob Dylan, photographed by Dave Hogan in 1985:

And here’s this again, just because I love it so fucking much. The song I was playing on my birth dad’s cassette player in his kitchen, when he came in from outside and said, “What is that? I love it.”

From Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan’s “Shelter from the Storm”, 1975:

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And here’s this!!

Yesterday morning, I walked into my bedroom and the three of them were sitting just like this!! Like a photo waiting to happen!

Freddy McFee, Angie McGee, and little Billie Jo, the one missing her 2 back feet:

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And here’s this!

Nick Cave and Wayne Coyne in, like, 1994?

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And I believe that is it!

Sandra will be calling at some point today, so that we can sign off on our promo stuff for our TV project and get it off tomorrow!!

Plus, Parisian Phoenix sent me the final proof for The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, so I have to read it and sign off on that.

Plus sing all those papers regarding the USDA grant for my breaker panel. (Signing the papers will probably be more efficient than singing them, but we shall see!)

Plus, even though I don’t feel 100%, I still want to try to do some yoga later. Or I may just collapse. I guess I’ll play it by ear.

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Have a splendid Sunday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this.

I have been listening to this free audio book at night now, and if you have never read this classic before, it is just incredible, gang.

Albert Schweitzer’s The Quest of the Historical Jesus, from 1906.

As of right this minute…

It feels like Spring!

It’s gonna change later today — more of those high winds will be bringing in below-freezing temperatures again, but for now it is sunny and in the upper 40s Fahrenheit, going up into the 50s! And that means THIS:

Yes! A little sushi, a little sashimi, a little sake… Perhaps some mysterious fortunes in our cookies!! But me and my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man will head out for lunch today!

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I actually can’t tarry here too long, gang, because Sandra sent over one more document during the night that I need to do some quick edits to and then send back over to her.

We did do some work yesterday, too — while the AC guys were here. (And, sadly, the AC guys discovered the breaker panel in the basement is corroded, which is a fire hazard. Sadly, when they got an estimate from their office for the cost of fixing it, it is $4000. Happily, when I emailed my rep at the USDA Rural Development office, sending him photos of the breaker panel along with the estimated cost and I asked him “could I get a loan?” he wrote back right away and said that I can probably get another GRANT to fix it!! He will let me know soon!)

Okay. Oops. I digress.

What I was saying is that once I get this final document turned back around for Sandra, we can send in our TV proposal!! Yay!

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So, very quickly:

Here’s this.

If you are a long-time reader of this lofty blog you no doubt recall that when I lived on E.12th Street in NYC, Richard Hell lived half a block away from me.

It turns out he STILL lives in that same apartment! He’s been there over 50 years! Below is a current photo from Interview magazine and it doesn’t even show you half of the amount of books he has in his apartment now (there are about 4 other photos besides this one). But what I also love is that, back when my first book, Neptune & Surf, came out, I mailed a copy of my book to Richard Hell.

Since it looks like he has never thrown away a book, ever, methinks maybe my book is still in there!!

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And on a similar note…

I have always loved this photo of Jack Kerouac. I used to have it taped to my wall in the bedroom of my E.12th Street apartment. (Back in the 1980s.)

But it was only yesterday that I learned the photo was taken on Avenue A, just a couple blocks from my apartment!!!

In 1953, but still!!

How cool is that??

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Okay.

Nick Cave smoking at the Chateau Marmont in LA, in 1985:

Nick Cave smoking somewhere else in LA, in 1991:

And here’s this, from a year later! Another one of my favorite Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds songs! “Brother My Cup Is Empty” from Henry’s Dream, 1992:

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And now I gotta SCOOT!!!!

Enjoy your Friday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this.

I had a very great phone chat with Valerie in Brooklyn yesterday evening.

Here is a very little known fact: “Valerie” is her middle name. Her first name is actually Sheila. But her mom’s name was also Sheila, so she’s gone by “Valerie” her whole life.

Even though “Valerie” is 6 ft. 2 inches tall, and weighs around 190 pounds, with very short blonde hair, I always think of her whenever I hear this song!

“Sheila” by Tommy Roe, 1962. Enjoy, gang!!

Yeah, right!!!

Me.

In some other lifetime.

But today, I am going to try to breathe!! And maybe even smile a little bit!

I have so much to fucking DO.

And it is my “day off”.

And, yes, the AC guys are coming back here this afternoon to do something with the breaker box in the basement. I’m guessing it will be quick, once they get here. But there is a 4-hour window for when they will get here…

So this means I have to coral all the cats again and get them into the upstairs bedrooms. And I have to move the laptop and all my tons of notes down to the kitchen table and work down there until they’ve come & gone.

But one nice thing — I’m guessing this will be an absolute guarantee that Sandra will call in the middle of all that chaos and want to get down to work! Yay!

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Okay.

Yesterday was the Town Hall meeting for Lambda Literary. I was very impressed with it. Although I was kind of surprised by how few people showed up for the call.

But they have a lot of interesting plans that will hopefully be launching within the next 2 years.

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All righty.

Here’s this!

Yesterday was Yoko Ono’s 93rd birthday. You perhaps recall that the (Japanese) wife of my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man was friends with Yoko in NYC in the late 50s and early 60s. So the 3 of them would sometimes meet and go out to lunch together in Greenwich Village.

They even saw one of Yoko’s performance art shows in the Village, wherein, my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man explained, “Yoko ended up basically naked. It was some kind of artistic statement.”

Anyway! I mentioned to him yesterday that it was Yoko’s birthday, so I got on Instagram to find him a photo of her.

Many, many photos of her on Instagram yesterday, as you can guess, but I liked this one the best:

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Meanwhile, here’s this!

I thought this was very interesting. From Bart Ehrman’s “Misquoting Jesus” podcast:

The Surprising Reason Luke Removed Atonement from His Gospel (40 mins.):

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And not related in any way!

Keith in LA in 1972:

And Keith in Berlin in 2008:

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Nick Cave in London, 1983:

Photo by Pete Anderson

And Nick Cave, presumably in Australia, in 1979:

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And that’s actually kind of it for today. I’m really running behind here.

For several days now, I’ve been waking up sick to my stomach. And it’s not the traditional “morning sickness” because I have been post-menopausal for 20 years.

In fact, this is literally my 20th-anniversary-year of being post-menopausal! I have not missed the pre-menopausal stuff, not even for a minute. And while the peri-menopausal stuff sometimes got a little dicey, everything went back to normal for me and was completely fine the moment menopause settled in, at age 46.

And FYI yes, my body believes it is about 40 years old, tops. (My brain fluctuates, though, between 12 and 14.) These are incredible, if you are past middle-aged and interested in being 40-ish again (not necessarily these brands, but be sure to find non-GMO, organic brands):

These work for men and women, btw. Tongkat Ali and Fenugreek are especially good for building testosterone.

Anyway. I digress!

My current morning sickness is basically because I wake up in the morning and I realize it’s morning and that I’m still alive…

And that everything in my world (mostly online) has changed and I have to somehow figure it all out, pronto.

And that alone just stresses me right the fuck out.

So, that said. I am now even more behind here than I was 5 minutes ago.

So enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

Happy birthday (yesterday), Yoko Ono.

John Lennon, “Oh Yoko!” from 1971. Enjoy, gang.

The world of author Marilyn Jaye Lewis