Okay, so it almost feels like today is finally going to be a “normal” day, energy-wise. We shall soon see.

It seems like my life has been on Mars since last Friday, when the high winds, snow, power outage began….

Along with the many trips to the Honda dealership!

But guess what!!

I got back to the Honda dealership early yesterday morning. Only had to wait 45 minutes and then the service guy came and got me from the waiting room. Which, you know, was nice because it wasn’t a long wait this time. However, the dealership is literally 5 minutes from my Tuesday clients and I suddenly had an hour and 45 minutes to kill — and it was 21 degrees Fahrenheit out there with a light dusting of snow everywhere.

But I digress.

The service guy told me: “It needs a different part. We’ll have it here by tomorrow morning.”

Oh, how nice! So I get to go back to Honda on Friday at 9AM!

But the good news is that instead of $245, it’s now only going to cost me $106. Total. Parts and labor. That’s it. So, like, wow.

It has just been so weird around here. But this is a good weird. It’s costing a lot less. And I purposely did not schedule the next Honda appointment for tomorrow because it is my DAY OFF. And NO repairmen are scheduled. (Although I still don’t know when the roofers are coming by to fix my siding…) (Wouldn’t it be cool if they also told me: “It’ll only cost you a total of $106” ??) (Methinks it won’t, but I’m not going to complain.)

Anyway!!

Thursday is all about me sitting at my desk and going over the FINAL proof of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. (Which I was supposed to do over the weekend but you know how that went…) But I’m looking forward to some peace tomorrow. Finally.

**********

Okay!

Since I haven’t really been posting here in several days, I have way too many “here’s this’s” stored up, so I’m only going to post a few of them today.

First and foremost–

I LOVED THIS!!

Yesterday was not only St. Patrick’s Day, it was also Patti Hansen’s 70th birthday!!

Keith posted 3 photos of them, but this was my absolute favorite!!

Wow. Encroyable! So beautiful.

(And today is their daughter Theodora’s 41st birthday, but he hasn’t posted anything for the “Blonde Teddy” yet.)

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

But here’s this–

Still Keith, still beautiful, but a whole different kind of thing–

***********

And here’s this.

From Phyllis Stein.

Mick and David Jo at Max’s in NYC 1973! (I actually remember this photo from my wee bonny teenaged girlhood. It was probably in CREEM Magazine!!)

***********

And I was actually able to get a few updates about the upcoming Shane MacGowan tribute album, but here’s this from Johnny Depp yesterday:

And then there was also this over the weekend:

It is not available yet for pre-sale on Amazon US, though.

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

And speaking of Johnny–

2 of my all-time absolute favorite photos of Johnny, ever. They were in GQ Magazine back in 1993. (Yes, I had them taped to the wall in front of my desk back then — in the apartment on West End Ave in NYC.)

***********

And since it was Mother’s Day in the UK this past Sunday, someone re-posted this classic gem!

Nick Cave with his mum in Australia, maybe around 40 years ago?

And here’s this! (Having nothing to do with Mother’s Day, except that his mum was the sort of portal through which he arrived here…)

Nick Cave, happy:

And as a Nick Cave-related aside: Wow, was “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” an incredible movie. I was really just stunned by every moment of it. I am so glad I saw it on a big screen, in an actual theater.

********

And on a different note… this is a shorter version of a zoom we had in the “Christianity Before Paul” course.

James Tabor: A Band of Sisters: The Forgotten Treasure of the EARLY Jesus Movement! (30 mins):

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

And that is it for now!

It is still cold here, but SUNNY!! And it will be getting warmer again as the days go by. Just in time for Spring.

And now I gotta get ready to go see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man! (I have driven 360 miles since I went to see him on Friday and we had the fateful mishap with my Honda in the parking lot of the Peony Bistro.)

I’m really tired of driving. But off I go, anyway.

So have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

Okay!

This one goes out to Patti from Keith!!!

“Wild thing, you make my heart sing!!”

Enjoy, gang. (Again and again.)

The power was only out for TWENTY HOURS.

I am not exaggerating.

The house was fucking FREEZING, since, obviously, the furnace did not come on for 20 hours.

But, of course, the worst part were those high winds for hours and hours and hours. The whole house was shaking for a while there.

And in addition to chasing down the cat houses & lawn chairs that were blowing down off the porch and then all over the back yard or out into the street — while the wind was nearly blowing me over — I also had to chase down the panels of siding that blew off my house, so that when the roofers come back — again — they won’t have to buy new siding. Just replace the old panels.

And the other good part is that, of course, I love those Amish guys. They do great work and it will be nice to see them again. (And if you give them cash, they give you a discount!)

And on to other good news that is house-related.

Remember how I posted here the other day that my mortgage payments are going down starting in May?

On Friday, I got a check from the USDA , and it was a refund for my escrow payment on the house!!

I kept looking for any sort of fine print — you know, anything that said that if I cashed the check, they would come right over and take back my house. But no fine print was on it anywhere at all! So, off to the bank I went!

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

And in all seriousness, I don’t know how I would have made it through Friday night without Valerie in Brooklyn.

You can only guess that my PTSD was in high gear for many hours, since the wind storm started while I was still over at my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house. And the winds only got worse when I got back here to the village, which is in a valley surrounded by foothills and attracts wind like crazy.

Anyway, Valerie texted me, saying she was keeping her phone in her lap & to keep her updated, and that she was praying for me and for the winds to die down. And every so often, she would text: “How are you doing?”

Thank God we could still text even though the power was out for miles.

It meant the world to me, gang. And it really did pull me out of the PTSD. And when the winds finally dropped from 55 down to 34, I felt like it was her praying that was doing it and I was able to fall asleep.

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

Okay.

On yet another topic having to do with Angels appearing in my life!

Tomorrow morning, I have to be at the Honda dealership at 8AM !!! Yes! They are 30 miles away from me and tomorrow is my day off… however, the Honda dealership is not far from the mall where I’m seeing the Elvis movie in the afternoon! So that’s nice…

But the Angel part–

Yesterday, I took my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man out for sashimi and green tea (no sake yesterday because he was having complications with his wooden leg and I didn’t want him to fall down). And when we got into my beloved Honda Civic to head back home, the underside of the car scraped against that little curb thingie in the parking space and it made an awful sound.

Oh shit.

So I got out of the car and tried to see what had scraped loose and immediately a man in the parking lot came right over and actually got down on the ground and looked under the front of my car.

And he not only knew exactly what had happened, he actually had a knife in his pocket and tried to fix it. But he couldn’t. But he pushed it back into place and said it would be okay until I could get to a garage and have it fixed properly.

Where the heck did he come from, right?? What a nice man! And he knew all about cars!

And sure enough, the part didn’t come loose, and I was fine driving the 30 miles back home yesterday afternoon. And, hence, the reason I have to go to Honda at the crack of dawn on my day off tomorrow…

But you know how I love those service guys at the Honda dealership! So it will be nice to see them again, too! (And they also give you a discount if you pay cash, but methinks I don’t have enough cash to be paying everybody cash this week…)

*********

Of course, this also means that I won’t be posting to the blog tomorrow, since I have to be out of the house by 7:15AM…

**********

Well, I have lots of “here’s this’s” for today because I didn’t post yesterday, but now I am running out of time here.

I need to shower, wash the gorgeous hair, and be ready to chat with Sandra before I head out later to see the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat.

But I will post this–

I have no clue if this is true or not. Nick Cave’s boyhood home?

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

And here’s this!

Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Woody Guthrie in NYC in 1954!

*********

And this song seems so obviously about the death of the kind of radio we used to love listening to in the old days — not sure how people could get the wrong idea about it. But anyway–

**********

And here’s this —

Keith backstage at Madison Square Garden in 1975!

**********

And now I better scoot!

Enjoy your Sunday wherever you are in the world!! (I know I sure will! The “high winds” we’re supposed to get today and tonight will only be 18 mph. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get worse than that.)

I’ll be back on Tuesday.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

Let’s close with this!

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. “The Last DJ,” 2002, from the album of the same name (and also from the posthumous “Best of” collection). Enjoy, gang.

“The Last DJ”

Well, you can’t turn him into a company man
You can’t turn him into a whore
And the boys upstairs just don’t understand anymore
Well, the top brass don’t like him talking so much
And he won’t play what they say to play
And he don’t want to change what don’t need to change

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

Well, some folks say they’re gonna hang him so high
Because you just can’t do what he did
There’s some things you just can’t put in the minds of those kids
As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see
How much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
And there goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

Well, he got him a station down in Mexico
And sometimes it will kinda come in
And I’ll bust a move and remember how it was back then

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

c – 2002 Tom Petty

Well, not so much.

But the electricians were here for about 4 hours yesterday and they did GREAT work. And by that, I not only mean that they gave me a new breaker panel–

OLD one (fire hazard):

NEW one:

They also gave me a new outside meter. I wasn’t expecting that, gang. But they took out my recently installed “smart” meter, which I hated because not only are those smart meters fire hazards, too, but it made my head ring & buzz like crazy!

Now the constant noise in my head is gone. What a relief.

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

So they did great work. And they were really friendly. And I sat at my kitchen table and worked on my short story (the old fashioned way — pen and paper! Since all the power was shut off for 4 hours.)

And then I suddenly decided to call Sandra. When she picked up her phone, a man in the background shouted out, “Hello, Marilyn!!”

Shit! It was Wayne! Such perfect timing! (If you’re new to the blog — Sandra’s new NYC apartment is one block away from Wayne’s.) (Yes, the home I used to share with Wayne when we were married.)

In fact, in this building on West End Avenue, 10th floor:

Anyway. More good news about “The Guide to Being Fabulous” in NYC. I can’t talk about the details yet but it gets more exciting every day.

I think it is okay if I at least say this– this fantastically talented women is onboard now and really helping us move things along:

“…Singer, songwriter, actress, composer, pianist, raconteur, Barsha is just as comfortable fueling the grooves on a George Clinton album as she is composing the score of an off-Broadway musical about pop-art icon Keith Haring (RADIANT BABY). With a career that includes television soundtracks, one-woman shows, children’s musicals and international tours with post-mod British pop-stars (Thomas Dolby), Barsha manages to put the undeniable stamp of her own musical personality on the full spectrum of her work.”

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

And today, Sandra will be checking in with one of the producers we sent our TV proposal to, so I will keep you posted on that, too. I can at least say this — we already have a showrunner onboard!! He is incredible. This does not mean they have offered us a contract yet, but still!

FYI — “A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors…”

So, fingers crossed, everybody!!

**********

Okay, here’s this!

There is an upcoming tribute album to Shane MacGowan, coming in November. There are over 33 musicans included so far, including Johnny Depp and Tom Waits.

The announcement was all over my Instagram feed yesterday, but it was a reel and I couldn’t get a good screenshot of it yet. I will keep you posted, but here’s this for now:

***********

And here’s this!

The Stones in Manchester, looking out a window in 1965:

And 4 of the Stones in an airport wearing sunglasses!

And here’s Keith and Mick backstage somewhere in 1975:

**********

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of this fantastic album!!!

Dwight Yoakam’s Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. from 1986!!

Let’s revisit some of it again, shall we??!! Fabulous video for this song, gang. I miss the 80s so fucking much!!

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

And here’s this!

Tom Petty, when he was DJ-ing his satellite radio show, “Tom Petty Radio” (you can still listen to the archives of it on Channel 31, Sirius XM):

***********

And some Nick Cave news!!

Here’s this!

“The official soundtrack to Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is out now.
 The soundtrack features 36 tracks in total, including a newly recorded version of ‘Red Right Hand’ by Nick Cave.

“The film is out now in cinemas and on Netflix 20th March.”

And yes, I have my alert set for it for its release on Netflix!

Not only that, but I have THIS!!!!

On Monday, my favorite Q-following girlfriend and I have tickets to see “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert”!! At the the cineplex at the mall!

When I texted her and asked her if she wanted me to buy tickets to see the movie with me–

SHE: “Yes!! Don’t forget to get the Senior Citizen discount!!”

Crimony, gang! I never ever even think of myself as a Senior Citizen, so I never think about getting a discount… but one was gotten by me yesterday!

And here’s this!!

Just gorgeous, I’m speechless.

Nick Cave, smoking, with “Elvis” hair!!

And here’s this!!

Today is the 36th year anniversary of the release of this incredible song.

I don’t know if it’s my absolute #1 favorite Nick Cave song of all time, but it actually might be. “The Ship Song”:

Let’s — I don’t know — bow our heads and listen again:

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

And I guess that’s it for today!!

I gotta scoot because it’s Friday and I want to celebrate that fact. So I’m stopping at the gas station on my way to my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house to pick up these, so that he can celebrate Friday, too!!

And with that —

I hope you have a celebratory Friday, too, gang, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

Let’s close with this!!

So funny. (2 mins. 40 seconds) Enjoy, gang!!

It’s looking like I’ll be able to post today, after all.

All the many cats are in their closed-up bedrooms upstairs.

I’ve got the world of Marilyn’s Room transported down here to the kitchen table. A sort of piping-hot cup o’ Joe next to me.

I have about 45 minutes before the electrician arrives, and once the power goes out, I’ll still have a full battery charge on the laptop.

So we shall see!

**********

First off!

Happy heavenly birthday to Jack Kerouac. He would have been 104 today.

Let’s all just say “the hell with it!” and become really creative at last… free, basking, wandering, idly stopping here and there, tasting, enjoying.”

— Jack Kerouac
(From Outlaw Poets substack post today.)

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

Before I forget!

If you saw my post yesterday about the Franz Kafka House Museum in Prague, and then the (fake) news about my own house becoming a museum here in Crazeysburg…

I believe I’ve posted here before that the house my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man grew up in in Tokyo, really has become a house museum.

His father designed it and a famous architect built it, back in 1934, after they’d moved back to Tokyo from Ocean City, NJ.

While I was with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man yesterday, I decided to take a photo for you of the front of the brochure from his House Museum. Some neighbors of his went to Tokyo recently and took a tour of the museum and brought him back the brochure. (Well, they also took actual photos, but I thought it would seem kind of weird if his home health aide knocked on their door and asked to take pictures of their photos in order to post them to her blog…)

Anyway. Here it is!

My favorite 95-year-old Japanese man has many very old photos of the house from the 1930s and 1940s, when he was still living there as a boy. It is a really beautiful house. (And it was often occupied by various military officers during the war, while he and his family were still living in it.)

And I find this next bit astounding. Literally, astounding.

I knew that when he was living back in NYC in the 1950s, he had seen the original version of “South Pacific,” starring the legendary Mary Martin, on Broadway.

I would have loved to have seen Mary Martin onstage in anything she did.

I also knew that he and his wife had seen “My Fair Lady” on Broadway, with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews!! I had the record of that musical and I played it over and over and over, on the record player down in our playroom, when I was a wee bonny lass in Cleveland.

But yesterday, I found out that he had also seen the original “The King & I” on Broadway, too!

ME: ” You mean, with Yul Brynner???”

HE: “Yes.”

ME: “He was right there, live, on the stage??”

HE: “Yes.”

ME: “Was he incredible??”

HE (pausing a moment, remembering, then smiling): “Yes. Very powerful.”

Wow, gang. I would have loved to have seen that!!

(From the movie version)

It really just blew me away.

And as I have said here before, my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man has very little short term memory left, but his long term memory is flawless, which is why we never run out of things to talk about when I can get him focused on the past.

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

Okay!

Here’s this!

The Rolling Stones at some point in 1968!! (Honestly, I wonder what Keith is thinking about here.)

*********

And here’s this!!

Nick Cave, with grace beside him, outside somewhere, smoking!

**********

From Ross K. Nichols’ Sunday School this past Sunday:

Iran and Israel: The Ancient Persian Prophecies (1 hr 27 mins):

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

And last night, I started re-watching the “Archer” cartoon series. It is now on Tubi. It is so wonderfully politically incorrect, filthy dirty, and so funny. I can’t believe we have come so far from these days. It was not that long ago... (2 mins):

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

I guess that’s it.

I seem to have completed the post before the electrician has even arrived!!

And now I’m gonna get back to work on the short story. I’m guessing Sandra will call today but we shall see.

Other than that–

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

Let’s close with this!

In honor of Mickey Dolenz, the last living member of The Monkees, turning 81 the other day!!

“I’m A Believer”! Written by Neil Diamond. A smash hit by The Monkees, with Mickey on lead vocal. 1966. Enjoy ,gang!!