Hmmm… It’s November 6th

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No announcement from Nick Cave yet — and we all keep checking!!

Could this maybe explain the delay??? (From Facebook!)

But it gives me something happy to anticipate today, and not just “am I going to be able to afford to buy enough food for me and the cats to last 2 weeks?” etc., etc.

We shall see, gang. I’ll be heading to the Rural King and to Aldi’s after work today, to see what I can manage to do about stocking up. (See last night’s post.)

Meanwhile!

Yes! I did finish the flash fiction piece yesterday afternoon. But I know I will want to take another look at it over the weekend before turning it in.

It is a really strange story, but I guess that stands to reason since it’s inspired by William S. Burroughs: “…Much of Burroughs’s work is experimental and features unreliable narrators….”

So we shall see! But it was a very interesting process, writing it, I mean.

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Okay!

I cannot believe I forgot about this yesterday!

Now it is belated, but happy heavenly birthday, Gram Parsons! Yesterday marked his 80th birthday.

There were tributes to him all over Instagram yesterday, but I really liked this one! (It’s connected to Gram Parsons’ legendary death, wherein his friends stole his casket from the airport, took it to the Joshua Tree desert and set it on fire to free his spirit.)

Keith posted a video yesterday, wherein he was singing Gram’s song, “Hickory Wind” in concert somewhere, as a tribute to Gram’s 80th. It was really great, but I can’t post Instagram videos on the blog.

But meanwhile, here’s this! Gram with The Byrds, singing “Hickory Wind”, 1968:

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And speaking of Keith!!

Here’s this!!

And in case you don’t recognize the guys behind the shades!!

Here’s Keith with Mick (and an old pal, Jack D.!!):

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And Ronnie Wood announced yesterday that you can now order his Stones Folio art editions in time for Christmas!!

Each folio comes with a matching free Portrait T-shirt! — $985, each folio. Or you can order just the Portrait T-shirt by itself — $95 each.

They are really great. You can view them and pre-order them HERE.

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And here’s this!

I’m guessing this is around April 21st — but I don’t know which year!

But David Bowie and Iggy Pop appear to be celebrating Iggy’s birthday (April 21st)!!

Meanwhile!! Here’s this classic!! “Lust For Life” by Iggy Pop — song written by Iggy and David Bowie (1977):

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Well, that’s all I have for today.

I thought I was going to spend a portion of the blog posting about Nick Cave’s announcement, but it still hasn’t come out.

So, we’ll dip into the desktop stash while we’re waiting, and re-post this instead!!

Meanwhile, please stay safe out there, wherever you are in the world.

And here in the US, please stock up on food and water for you, your families, and your pets!! DC is intense right now — and they’re talking about “The Insurrection Act” going down because of massive voting irregularities, but we will see, gang.

Still, it’s better to be on the side of safe rather than sorry!!

Okay!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this gem!!

Maybe this is where Nick Cave is right now?? Down in the lime tree arbor and time got away from him??

We do not know!!

But here’s “Lime Tree Arbor” by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, 1997. So beautiful. Enjoy, gang.

Okay! Power Has Been Restored!

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At least I got a nice walk out of it. It’s a really pretty day — cool and really sunny.

And by the time I got back home, the power was back on.

So here I am!

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I guess I’ll just get right to it, since I have a bunch of stuff I need to do this afternoon — try to complete the flash fiction piece for the Burroughs anthology (all 400 more words of it). Go to the bank and put in enough cash to cover the mortgage (due in about 5 minutes). Stop in at the post office and ship a complimentary copy of The Mammoth Book of Erotic Photography (2001) to investigative journalist Zak Winters! (The book includes photos by RC Horsch — the last time I worked with him, in fact, before he started to become a really scary individual. I co-edited that book for a British publisher, with Maxim Jakubowski.)

Then I gotta do yoga, wash hair, etc. — all the exciting things I do on my day off!!

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Okay!

The Rolling Stones now have Winter merch available!!

Visit HERE to peruse and then order!!

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Alex S. Johnson interviewed author Francesca Lia Block! (1 hr 20 mins):

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I don’t know how he manages to electrocute himself while taking a selfie, but however he does it, he’s really good at it!!

Warren Ellis, hours before the show in Berlin yesterday!!

And here’s this, while we’re at it!! Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, “Born To Lose” — sort of “live” in 1977 :

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Here’s this!

From Phyllis Stein.

And I have to say here, gang, that I love Joan Jett.

And not because of her image, her attitude, her music, but because my dearly departed, late-great friend Holly Lane, used to manage Joan Jett’s record label, Blackheart Records, and back then, Holly had some on again, off again issues with heroin. She was struggling.

Joan stood by Holly 100%, kept her employed, helped her stick with rehab and get her life clean and back on track.

Thank you, Joan Jett. It meant so much to Holly and I never forgot that.

And here’s this!! Classic Joan Jett & the Blackhearts!! “Bad Reputation”!! (1980) Such a fantastic song!!

“Bad Reputation”

I don’t give a damn ’bout my reputation
You’re living in the past, it’s a new generation
A girl can do what she wants to do and that’s what I’m gonna do

An’ I don’t give a damn ’bout my bad reputation
Oh no, not me

An’ I don’t give a damn ’bout my reputation
Never said I wanted to improve my station
An’ I’m only doin’ good when I’m havin’ fun
An’ I don’t have to please no one

An’ I don’t give a damn ’bout my bad reputation
Oh no, not me, oh no, not me

I don’t give a damn ’bout my reputation
I’ve never been afraid of any deviation
An’ I don’t really care if you think I’m strange
I ain’t gonna change

An’ I’m never gonna care ’bout my bad reputation
Oh no, not me, oh no, not me
Pedal, boys!

An’ I don’t give a damn ’bout my reputation
The world’s in trouble, there’s no communication
An’ everyone can say what they wanna to say
It never gets better, anyway

So why should I care about a bad reputation anyway?
Oh no, not me, oh no, not me

I don’t give a damn ’bout my bad reputation
You’re living in the past, it’s a new generation
An’ I only feel good when I got no pain
An’ that’s how I’m gonna stay

An’ I don’t give a damn ’bout my bad reputation
Oh no, not me, oh no, not me
Not me, not me

c – 1980 – Joan Jett / Martin Kupersmith / Ritchie Cordell / Kenneth Benjamin Laguna

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Okay!

For the second time in his illustrious life–

Bob Dylan had an audience with a Pope!!

This one happened yesterday, at the Vatican!!

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And more from Phyllis Stein!!

A bunch of Richard Hell!

Here’s Richard, far left, with his “seminal” (sometimes meaning “groundbreaking” sometimes meaning “semen-filled”!) Punk band, Television, at CBGBs in 1975!!

And here’s Richard Hell maybe smoking in NYC in 1977. Not sure! (Photo by Julia Gorton)

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And we’ll round off this day with a couple of great ones from Facebook!!

Nick Cave –a little too closely cropped but looking fantastic!!

And here’s a nice picture!!

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And tomorrow, Friday November 6th, we will undoubtedly discover what Nick Cave’s exciting announcement will be!!

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All right.

That is it for now.

I’m gonna get started around here!

(And I’m hoping to chat with my best friend Valerie in Brooklyn today. She gets her cataract surgery tomorrow…)

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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And how about closing with this today?!

From the Oldies FM radio station on the retro boombox next to my bed!

Making-the-bed music from this morning!! Yay!!

Tears For Fears’ colossal hit from 1984!! “Shout,” from their hit album, Songs From the Big Chair!! Enjoy, gang!! We sure did!!

Rainy fall day today!!

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Go figure!

It is only November 4th — and finally really feeling like fall. (Cold, cloudy & rainy.)

And just FYI, I still have all of my summer flowers blooming on my kitchen porch. Usually, they are dead and gone by early October. But it probably won’t be much longer now.

(And, NO!!! I’m not going to post this legendary song again!! It would be too obvious!! Thank you for your attention to this matter.)

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This made my wee bonny heart soar this morning, gang.

Apparently, my novel Twilight of the Immortal (2011) was the subject of a recent podcast on Spotify and now book sales for it are cranking again on Amazon !!

Thank you so very much to everyone. I really appreciate it!!

And just a head’s up — there is a really talented young woman in England currently narrating/producing the audiobook version of it. I will be publishing it sometime in early 2027. She is doing a terrific job.

And just for your reading pleasure, here’s a section of the first review the book ever got on Amazon, back in 2011:

“As soon as I read this quote, attributed to Valentino: ‘Observe, Rosemary, how in Hollywood there is no difference between a knife and a smile,’ I knew for sure that I had found a gem! Twilight of the Immortal is both beautifully written and an engaging romp, an insider’s view (fictional though it may be) of life behind the scenes in the 1920’s movie industry, with Rudolph Valentino, Natacha Rambova, and Alla Nazimova, all figuring prominently in the story line. I enjoyed it immensely, from beginning to end.”

Yay!! (I worked on this novel for ten years, gang.)

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Okay.

Since I didn’t post yesterday, I have sort of a bunch of “here’s this’s” to catch up on, so let’s go!!

Here’s this!!

A blatant attempt to make me feel really old!! Yay!!

Nick Cave Official announced yesterday that the Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds EP Your Funeral… My Trial was released 40 years ago!!

Thank you very much!! (Yes, I can remember lying on my bed in my E.12th Street apartment in NYC and listening to this record as if it were only 40 years ago…)

You can listen to it HERE!

And you can also shop for special merch HERE!

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And here’s this!!

And if you’ve never read Keith’s autobiography, Life — it was fantastic. (2011 – 576 pages!)

Here’s Keith, signing & smoking when the glorious book first came out!

And also just smiling!

And here’s Keith again! Not exactly saying, “Fuck you, I’ll smoke if I want to!” But it’s almost as if he’s saying “Fuck you, I’ll smoke if I want to!!”

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And on the topic of the Rolling Stones…

Here’s a wonderful photo of Charlie Watts from long ago, with his wife, Shirley, and their daughter, Seraphina!!

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And here’s this!

A couple of photos of Warren Ellis. (The first one is from Copenhagen.)

And here’s Vicious Warren Elvis!!!

Okay, here’s this again….Lou Reed’s “Vicious” from his legendary album, Transformer (1972)!!

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Okay.

This is AI, but I really liked it.

Nick Cave and a beautiful dog:

This is not AI, and I really liked it!

Nick Cave and a beautiful cigarette:

And from Facebook!

Nick Cave:

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And I guess that is it for today!!

I gotta get moving here and head to town.

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!!

I’ve posted it here before, but I really love this song and it came up in my driving-back-from-town playlist last night! It made me so happy. I sang along, really loud!!

Hong Kong’s fabulous Grace Chang singing her huge hit, “Wo Ai Qia Qia” (I love cha-cha) from 1957!! Sing along if you’re able!! And enjoy, gang!!

电影 曼波女郎 插曲
作词：易文
作曲：姚敏

我们欢欢喜喜一起上学校，
我们高高兴兴一起做体操。
鼓声砰砰蓬蓬响，就摇摇摆摆跳，
有谁不会我就来教。

怪模样，不要笑，不要笑，
伊啊恰恰，恰恰恰。
大家跳，别害臊，别害臊，
伊啊恰恰，恰恰恰。

你学伦巴，不时髦，
你学森巴，没情调。
只要你试一遭，就知道恰恰妙，
跳恰恰，多轻巧。

你有清清楚楚伶俐的头脑，
你有结结实实灵活的身腰，
请把拍子听得准，把步子记得牢，
你别害怕谁都能跳，

快狐步，太单调，太单调，
伊啊恰恰，恰恰恰。
圆舞步，太古老，太古老，
伊啊恰恰，恰恰恰。

你学伦巴，不时髦，
你学森巴，没情调。
还不如曼波好，还不如恰恰妙，
跳恰恰多轻巧。

恰恰恰，恰恰恰，恰恰恰，
伊啊恰恰，恰恰恰。
恰恰恰，恰恰恰，恰恰恰，
伊啊恰恰，恰恰恰。

不怕你身体摇，只怕你不肯跳，
跳恰恰多轻巧。

It’s Monday!!

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And my new schedule begins today, wherein I now have Mondays off.

And to launch it — Kara and Wendy and I are meeting for an early lunch in town today to celebrate Wendy’s upcoming birthday!!

Yay!!

Upcoming cake!!

As usual, I am really looking forward to hanging out with both of them. We have all been friends for about 10 years now, but the 3 of us haven’t been able to get together and do lunch since Christmastime.

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And speaking of birthdays (sort of)–

Joe Satriani’s EP, Dreaming #11, turns 38 today!!

I vividly remember seeing the album for sale in Tower Records in downtown NYC. It was clear across the store from where I was standing, but it was up on a rack and the cover art was so blue that it stood out by a mile.

I was a huge Joe Satriani fan, so I was really excited! Ran right over and clutched it and bought it and zipped back to my apartment on E.12th Street and I can’t fucking believe that was 38 years ago…!!!

Anyway.

Here’s “The Crush of Love”, 1988, from Dreaming #11:

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One cool thing (IMHO) about turning the clocks back, is waking up at my “usual time” only to discover I have another hour to just hang out in bed in the dark.

I did some incredibly effective meditating, which I really needed. And while I was doing it, I was thinking how cool it would be if Nick Cave’s announcement on Friday will be for us to do a live group meditation with him on YouTube!!

Wouldn’t that be awesome?? So many people would tune in for that and meditate together — all over the world. And he could come up with some specific mantra for it — I think it would be amazing. Even just for 15 minutes.

I have done group meditations online before, but I have only meditated with another person — you know, in the same room together — one time in my life and it was so astoundingly connecting that it freaked me out.

This was when I was briefly staying with Jack Red Eagle, out in his cabin in the woods of East Texas. He was that Lakota Sioux Medicine Man who was hoping I would take over his practice so that he could retire. He was in his 60s by then.

It turned out I was incredibly gifted with using my mind in that way — healing people and connecting with people — but I was too young (23) and it was still brand new to me and it totally freaked me out. The whole thing, not just the meditating part (where I actually felt his mind and my mind connect, energetically, at the same time that he was feeling it, too, it really was amazing).

Oh, and if you are among the 3 people in the world who have actually read my new novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, you will recognize a lot of this because it shows up in the novel in a fictionalized way — with the character of (the much younger) Jack Kicking Eagle, in his cabin in East Texas…

But it all stems from my real-life (non-sexual) experiences with Jack Red Eagle.

Jack Red Eagle, as he looked back then, in 1983, when I first met him. RIP, Jack:

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The interview yesterday regarding RC Horsch went very well. The reporter (Zak Winters) is very easy to talk to and he kept it moving and I felt very comfortable, even though it was obviously a difficult topic to discuss.

I will let you know when Part 2 of the investigation is posted to YouTube.

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Okay!

Johnny Depp’s been busy!

You’ve probably already seen a ton of videos about his performance with Aerosmith the other night, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I actually found photos of it, rather than videos, so here’s this!

From October 29th!

And then last night, in NYC, he was at a special screening of “Ebenezer”! (Which I think opens in theaters on November 13th?)

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And here’s this!

From Phyllis Stein!!

David Jo with David Bowie (and Earl Slick) drinking and almost smoking at Max’s in NYC in 1977!! At least Bowie is holding a pack of Gitanes… (Photo is by Joe Stevens)

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And here’s Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, reunited in the studio in 1986!!

And here’s this, while we’re at it! Big Audio Dynamite’s “C’mon Every Beatbox,” from no.10 Upping Street, 1986!

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And here’s this!

From Facebook!!

Nick Cave, proving yet again that it’s a great day to be alive!!

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And that is it for today.

I’m hoping that after I return from lunch this afternoon, I can get some more work done on the flash fiction piece for the Bill Burroughs anthology. The deadline is rapidly approaching, and even though the piece is a little over half-done, it is coming out so slowly; word by word by word, instead of in whole sentences.

I don’t know that Bill Burroughs is actually dictating it to me, but it feels like he is. To the point where I actually say out loud to him, “What exactly are you trying to say?” And then one or two more words come.

It’s so weird…

However.

I am hoping my piece will be accepted for the collection because it will be another new publisher for me and it’s been really great getting to know the publisher/editor/writer, Alex S. Johnson. So I’m hoping it will lead to more work. He works with such a wide variety of writers & musicians, from all over the world. Some of whom I know but most of them, I don’t.

It would be great to have some new horizons on the horizon, right, gang??!!

Okay!

I think that is it for now.

Have a great Monday, 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 today.

The video is only a few days old (made with the help of AI), but the song is from 1988, and I used to totally love this song!! But I hadn’t thought of it in ages….

It turned up in my YouTube feed this morning.

Leonard Cohen, “Everybody Knows,” from his great album I’m Your Man, 1988. Enjoy, gang.

It Has Arrived!

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November, that is.

And my favorite day of the year — wherein I got that extra hour back and I have already used it well! (Making another big breakfast for myself, after feeding and cleaning up after 14 cats… then, yes! I went back to bed for an hour, with my cup o’ joe on the bedside table!)

And now here I am.

I’m not exactly dreading the interview today (at noon — with the investigative reporter, about RC Horsch), but I will be happy when it’s over.

I will also be EXTREMELY happy when this fucking election is over (Tuesday) and all the fucking ADS can just fucking STOP… I am so fucking sick of it.

Anyway! That said, please fucking VOTE.

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Last night was okay. There were a WHOLE lot of kids out there, trick-or-treating. So I’m guessing kids came in from other nearby towns. They were literally just everywhere.

The candy ran out while there was still about 30 more minutes to go, so I took everything down by 7PM, and brought it inside, then turned out the lights and went upstairs.

I am not a fan of Halloween and I am glad it’s over, but the kids had fun.

Meanhwile…

Wayne WhatsApp’d me yesterday about his plans for last night. He’s too funny.

“…I don’t want kids ringing my doorbell, so I’ll leave out my traditional basket of loose cigarettes, strike-anywhere matches and razor blades so the lil’ darlings can help themselves. SAFETY razor blades. After all, I’m not a monster.”

(You know, for a marriage that didn’t last, I still cannot find another living soul that I would rather spend my life with.)

Okay.

I re-watched this magnificent film while the festivities were going on last night, and what another great trip down Memory Lane it was:

I was in my early teens the first time I saw this film (with French Club at school). I remember well how it made me feel — liberated. On so many levels.

It’s so cool to re-watch it, and to know so much more about the French New Wave then I knew way back then, and to have been to Paris a couple of times — and also to have been to Paris for a book signing, to have Neptune & Surf come out twice in French. To know now that I have done things I had no clue I was going to do regarding Paris (and life) when I first saw that film!!

(What I’m going to do for the next however many years I have left, besides take care of rescued cats, is the part that has me really stumped, gang.)

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Okay.

Here’s this . I love this acoustic version. It popped up in my YouTube stream this morning, for some reaason.

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Okay!

We missed this!!

It happened last night, but the post didn’t get into my Instagram feed until this morning.

Bad Seed Jim Sclavunos played Dublin last night with his other band, Transvision Vamp!!

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And I loved this.

From Phyllis Stein.

David Jo and the New York Dolls, in NYC, 1973. Photo by Bob Gruen.

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And also from Phyllis Stein!!

Andy Warhol at Gristede’s in NYC, 1965 — perhaps prepping for Hurricane Sandy! (Photo by Bob Edelman)

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And here’s this!!

Warren Ellis surrounded by FLOWERS!!

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And here’s this.

From Facebook!!

Which reminds me — I watched the rest of that video I posted yesterday — the Nick Cave documentary about his early years in Melbourne.

I really liked it. I liked the sensibility of it and found it actually very informative. I’d heard a lot of that stuff before about the early Boys Next Door years, but this time it all actually made sense.

Here’s the link again, in case you missed it. (36 mins.)

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Okay, that’s all I have for today.

I’m going to finish up the laundry and sort of get my head together before the interview.

Yesterday was intense at work — only 3 hours but they were sort of crazy. The moment we got to the store, the electricity was on the verge of going out.

So the owners came in and the electricity repair guy came. It got fixed but it got the day off to a weird start.

However, a cool thing happened.

A man came up to the cash register while I was standing there and I immediately recognized him from the old days. A really nice man.

He was so happy. He said, “Are you back??” And then he said, “I just found a recipe you wrote for me a long time ago and I was going to come in here and ask what had happened to you — and now here you are!”

i thought that was pretty cool. Sort of Kismet-y.

I’m guessing I wrote him a recipe for how to make your own Hydroxychloroquine at home. We did a lot of that kind of stuff during the lockdowns.

Anyway. It is really good to be back at that store. And nary a lockdown in sight…

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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.

I got really sick & tired of all the commercials on the oldies FM radio station on my retro boombox this morning…

So I turned it off and turned on my driving-to-town playlist on my iPhone instead, and YAY!!

A little bit of heaven filled my room.

Enjoy, gang. I sure did.

“A Rainy Night in Soho”, 1986, Shane MacGowan and The Pogues.

The world of author Marilyn Jaye Lewis