I’ve already run some quick errands here in the village.
By 8:15AM, I was at the post office, signing for another Certified Letter from my first husband out in Seattle!! (Yes! More unexpected money!!) (So fucking nice.) (And as I was heading to the post office, it occurred to me that he and I haven’t actually seen each other since 1991. We email, we chat on the phone, but I haven’t actually seen him in 35 years. I’m wondering, at this point, if I ever will again…)
Anyway.
While in the post office, I also mailed something fun to Wayne. My second husband, still in NYC. Although, I kind of see Wayne about once a year. Still, while I was sorting everything out there with the post office clerk, I was quietly thinking: What’s wrong with this picture?
I’m all alone, in the middle of fucking nowhere Ohio, and I’m having these happy relationships with two ex-husbands who each live far away.
I don’t know. It just sort of seemed really weird.
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Well, yesterday I had another productive day — and this one included a lengthy chat with my best friend Valerie in Brooklyn!
We’re still trying to get ourselves organized to launch our Writers & Artists mini-podcast, but we’re getting there. She is basically back to normal after her 2 hand surgeries and she’s getting a few new paintings completed. So we’re getting there.
But mostly, I am trying to make some headway in getting 7 of my self-published titles ready to submit to audiobook producers. (I have to submit 2-3 pages of text with each book that will serve as sample scripts for narrator auditions– including script notes. So it’s not difficult work, but very time-consuming.)
And before I forget!!!!
It looks like a bunch more people pre-ordered my new novel during the night! Thank you everybody!! (The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. Pre-order it here.)
So that was a nice thing to wake up to.
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Meanwhile…
Here’s this!
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And now I have sort of a ton of cool photos of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds from the Oya Festival in Oslo last night! It seemed like people started posting photos and videos the moment the show was over.
Here’s the set list!
These first five were posted by the same photographer, almost immediately:
And here’s two posted by Bad Seed Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Gothenburg, Sweden tonight):
And I loved this one!
After tonight’s show in Sweden, they play Finland on Sunday. You can buy tickets here!
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And I guess that’ll be it for now. I need to start focusing on some work here.
Enjoy your Friday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Let’s close with this.
You know, in September, there’s that big photo book coming out, and some sort of live event in London, to honor Nick’s wife, Susie Cave, on her 60th birthday.
And early this morning, I was thinking back to my own 60th birthday.
Even though the scam-demic was going on that year, I drove down to see my dad on my 60th birthday. The following day, July 23rd, was my dad’s 90th birthday.
My stepmom had died earlier that year, so he was a widower by then, but he did not have cancer yet. It was quiet, as birthdays go, but it was a good weekend.
And on my dad’s birthday, July 23rd, there was a streaming event online of Nick Cave’s solo concert at Alexandra Palace. Of course I watched it!! And it was the first time Nick publicly played the new song, “Euthanasia.”
That song meant a lot to me. So, this morning, as I was reliving all of that, I realized that Nick Cave was a big part of my own 60th birthday, too!
So, here’s this! From 2020.
“Euthanasia” – IDIOT PRAYER: Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace. Enjoy, gang.
Even though it’s really cloudy here today, it’s not supposed to rain. And it is a really mild and quiet morning around here.
Just so peaceful.
We’ll see how long that lasts but I’m feeling pretty good about it.
And I got a lot done yesterday. It was really productive.
Although during the night, I got some disturbing news from my girlfriend who took me to Sunday Mass at the Children of Mary convent the other day.
The Vatican apparently has told the Sisters to disperse and the grounds will be given over to some other Order to help in the work of God blah blah blah…
So fucking sad. I have no idea what really happened there (the announcements on their website don’t give out any real information), but those Sisters built that beautiful place in the woods over the course of 25 years, and now it’s being turned over to greedy land grabbers — Oops! I meant, and now they’re being forced to leave it.
I am so glad I got to at least see it with my own eyes for a few hours.
Children of Mary will soon be no more…
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Okay.
Well, since I was actually kind of busy yesterday, I don’t have a lot to post about here today.
But I do have this!!!!
The Hollywood Vampires in London last night, singing that awesome Jim Carroll song, “People Who Died” !!!
And it looks like Ronnie Wood joined them onstage — I think they sang “Brown Sugar” but I can’t verify it. (Imelda May was also there, and I believe they sang “Train Kept a-Rollin”):
You can buy tickets here for the Hollywood Vampires Tour of Europe! It resumes on Friday in Cardiff, but I believe that show is sold out.
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And here’s this, just because I love this version so much!! 1956, Johnny Burnette Trio, “The Train Kept a’ Rollin’ “:
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Here’s this!!
Tom Waits smoking with, um, some girl in 1976!!
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Oh, this was nice!!
This is that new bookstore in Old Worthington, Ohio, that let me know recently that they will be carrying my new novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. (Pre-order HERE!)
The store officially opens on September 3rd!
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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play the Oya Festival in Oslo tonight! (Buy tickets here!)
And here’s another Bad Seed (Jim Sclavunos) having a day off in Oslo yesterday!
And here’s another lovely photo of Nick Cave on the rooftop of the record store in Brighton a couple of weeks ago:
Oh, and here’s Nick Cave in London in August, 1986!
Photo by Phil Nicholls
And yesterday, there was not only a Total Solar Eclipse in Europe, it was also Nick Cave’s 27th wedding anniversary!
In honor of those things, he answered the 150,000th letter (!!) to the Red Hand Files! (And while he didn’t reply to all 150,000 letters, he claims to have read all 150,000 of them!)
You can read his lovely reply in full HERE.
Not smoking 27 years ago…well, not smoking cigarettes anyway
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Okay!
And if you’re a short story writer–
Kentucky-based Brown Hound Press announces that submissions open September 1st for Season Two of their Short Story series:
“Are you a writer with a short story? Submissions will open September 1st. We look forward to reading your 1,000-3,000 word story. Polish up your best piece and visit brownhoundpress.com/submit during the month of September.
“As always, we pay our writers and we respond to every submission within two weeks.”
And just FYI, gang, the short stories they published in Season One were really top-notch. They have attracted some great storytellers.
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And that is it for now.
The sun is sort of peeking out a little bit, so I’m gonna take a quick walk over to the bank, then walk over to City Hall and pay my water bill. Then just sort of take in this amazing day ahead of me and see where it goes.
Have a beautiful Thursday, wherever you are in the world, gang.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Oh!
Look what I just found. Let’s close with this!
Ronnie Wood joins the Hollywood Vampires last night in London. It was indeed “Brown Sugar”!! Enjoy, gang.
First off, if you heard anything on the news about the really bad weather in Ohio yesterday — terrible thunderstorms, high winds, flooding — that was mostly in and around Columbus.
And it was really bad there.
But here in Crazeysburg, about an hour southeast of Columbus, we had our usual thunderstorms and some high winds. But no real damage. (Thank God.)
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Okay.
Today I am heading to town to run the errands.
First, I have to drop something off at Honda — a weird little meter thingie that one of the service guys accidentally left in my car last week.
(Yes! He left it in my brand new really fast Honda Accord that loudly alerts me when Sheriffs are lurking!!)
And since I will be in that neighborhood, I am halfway tempted to stop in at the home of one of my former caregiving clients. She and her husband got some really bad news a few days ago and I want to see how the wife is holding up.
I am going to wait until the last moment to see if I actually do that or not. I have such difficulties drawing boundaries around my own heart these days, but this would be visiting her as a friend, not as a professional caregiver. So we’ll see what my heart tells me when I leave the Honda dealership. (She lives 2 seconds from there.)
Then I will get the groceries, and then stop in at my favorite health & wellness store to buy my week’s supply of deliciously taste-tempting organic SNACKS(!!) and to say HI to my girlfriends there!
BTW, this was interesting. From yesterday. The Terry Naturally company makes top-of-the-line health supplements. This is from a podcast that the owner, Terry Lemerond, does for free.
I’ve had to stop reading the “one poetry book a day” for now, because James Tabor announced to us (Tabor Research Group), that he wants us all to re-read The Jesus Discovery before we meet for our conference on September 25th.
Simon & Schuster, 2012
It’s an incredible book. And it’s co-written by Simcha Jacobovici, whom I also adore.
It was actually through Simcha that I first found out about James Tabor and his archeological work in and around Jerusalem. I used to love Simcha’s TV show on the History Channel, “The Naked Archeologist” (trailer- 1 minute):
Anyway.
Since I am still reading John Cooper Clarke’s autobiography, I Wanna be Yours, (and I am almost done!! only 40 more pages to go!!), my eyes can only handle so much reading each evening.
So instead of poetry, I am back to focusing yet again on Early Christianity. (And this specific book is about the discovery & research of the Talpiot Tombs, just south of Jerusalem (around 2010). And the current research on the Talpiot Tombs is a lot of what our upcoming conference will be about.)
And speaking of Early Christianity!!
I was listening to yesterday’s episode of Bart Ehrman’s “Misquoting Jesus” podcast — which was very good, but then my eye caught sight of a podcast from last month that I hadn’t heard yet:
8 Bible Myths Many Christians Believe (43 minutes):
I have studied Biblical History (online) with Bart Ehrman for about 15 years. I find his work in Biblical research really fascinating. I have learned so much from him and the Biblical scholars I have been exposed to through him.
However, early in this particular podcast, he mentioned the Country singer-songwriter, Iris Dement — specifically her song from 1992, “Let the Mystery Be”.
WOW!!
I love that song — I love that whole album (Infamous Angel). It was one of the CDs that Wayne & I took with us on our honeymoon road trip out west in 1993.
I paused Bart’s podcast to re-listen to Iris Dement’s song, and so many wonderful memories flooded back.
On our road trip, Wayne & I made an overnight stop in Paragould, Arkansas, in order to visit some of his relatives who couldn’t make it to our wedding. And Paragould is where Iris Dement is from.
Anyway, here’s her wonderful song! (If you’ve never heard it, get ready to smile and clap your hands and snap your fingers!!)
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All righty!!
Well, here’s this!
Keith smoking!! In duplicate!! About 20 years ago!
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And here’s this!!
The Rolling Stones not smoking in a Hollywood tailor’s shop in 1964!!
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And here’s another bit of promotion from Johnny Depp’s new “Sauvage” campaign for Dior:
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And here’s this!!
From everybody’s day off in Oslo!!
I’m not actually sure why Warren Ellis feels the need to also play in a band, when he truly excels at just taking selfies!!
And here’s this, while we’re at it!! The Sex Pistols, 1977, “Holidays in the Sun”!!
And here’s Nick Cave, not smoking in a suit, while roaming around Oslo with his glasses, phone, watch, and a happy girl!!
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Oslo tomorrow night. Followed by shows in Sweden, and then Finland. You can buy tickets here!!
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And I think that’s it for now, because I want to head to town.
I have to say that I am in such a strange head space, now that I have the spectre of “jury duty” behind me. (I’m hoping I don’t get called up again before September is over, but I guess we shall see. But at least I know for sure it is over for right now.)
While I still have a few time-consuming things left on my To Do List here at my desk, I have made a lot of progress and I am starting to feel my mental space clearing, which means I can get down to work on the new memoir. (Joy: The Shortest Season, about my life in the 1970s.)
If you live in Europe, enjoy that Total Solar Eclipse today!!
Otherwise, have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Let’s close with this.
You know, when I take my magical walks here in the Hinterlands, I always sing this song to myself! Mostly because there are a lot of Rose of Sharon trees and shrubs in full bloom here in the village.
Iris Dement’s “Mama’s Opry”, 1992. From her album Infamous Angel — but this one has the lovely Emmylou Harris on supporting vocals!! Such a great song. Enjoy gang!!
“Mama’s Opry”
She grew up plain and simple in a farming town Her daddy played the fiddle and used to do the calling when they had hoe-downs She says the neighbors would come and they’d move all my grandma’s furniture ’round And there’d be twenty or more there on the old wooden floor dancin’ to a country sound
The Carters and Jimmy Rodgers played her favorite songs And on Saturday nights there was a radio show and she would sing along And I’ll never forget her face when she revealed to me That she’d dreamed about singing at The Grand Ol’ Opry
Her eyes, oh, how they sparkled when she sang those songs While she was hanging the clothes on the line, I was a kid just a-hummin’ along Well, I’d be playing in the grass, to her, what might’ve seemed, obliviously But there ain’t no doubt about it, she sure made her mark on me
And she played old gospel records on the phonograph She turned them up loud and we’d sing along, but those days have passed Just now, that I am older, it occurs to me That I was singing in the grandest opry
And we sang sweet Rose of Sharon, abide with me ‘Til I ride the gospel ship to heaven’s jubilee And in that great triumphant morning my soul will be free And my burdens will be lifted when my savior’s face I see
So I don’t want to get adjusted to this world below But I know he’ll pilot me ’til it comes time to go Oh, nothing on this earth is half as dear to me As the sound of my mama’s opry
And we sang sweet Rose of Sharon, abide with me ‘Til I ride the gospel ship to heaven’s jubilee And in that great triumphant morning my soul will be free And my burdens will be lifted when my savior’s face I see
So I don’t want to get adjusted to this world below But I know he’ll pilot me ’til it comes time to go Oh, nothing on this earth is half as dear to me As the sound of my mama’s opry
At the final moment, I was selected by the Defense to be an Alternate Juror, but that decision was challenged by the Prosecution so I was excused from jury duty and sent home!!
Yay!!!😃
I’ll be back here to post as usual, tomorrow morning!💖🎉
Having this jury duty thing hanging over my head for tomorrow has sent me right back into that terrible depression I was struggling with for most of this year before I finally retired from caregiving.
Obviously, I’m hoping that I won’t get assigned to a jury tomorrow and that it will be all over in one day. And even if I do get put on a jury, it’s not like how it was back in NYC, where there were high-profile murder cases that you could get stuck on for months.
Anyway. It’s more of a trigger — this feeling that my time (my life?) isn’t my own.
If I do get put on a jury, I will try to at least post updates to the blog in the evenings.
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Let’s move on to something happier!!
Marlon Richards turns 57 today!!
Keith had a total of 5 children — 2 sons and 3 daughters. But one of his sons with Anita Pallenberg, Tara Jo Jo Gunne, died back in 1976.
Out of all of his children, my guess is that Marlon, his first child, is the most well known, since Marlon famously went through it all with Keith.
Here’s one of my favorite photos of Keith with Marlon:
A more recent photo of them (and Marlon himself recently became a grandfather):
Happy Birthday Marlon Richards!!
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Okay.
Here’s this! The complete tour dates for the Hollywood Vampires (I think the Cardiff show just sold out):
Yesterday (that lofty day wherein I was NOT depressed) was actually sort of magical.
Regarding yesterday’s choice for the Sealey Challenge— I very suddenly got the impetus to check one of the bookshelves down in my family room for 2 chapbooks I knew I still had of Michael Perkins’ poetry.
Sure enough, I checked and they were still there, however, I was you know, yet again stunned to discover both books are over 20 years old…
And one of them, The Persistence of Desire, still had a handwritten note from Michael stuck to the front of it. The note was written on June 23, 2004. And Michael mentions that he had just spoken to Richard Kasak (!!) and Michael congratulated me that Neptune & Surf had just gotten picked up for a mass market edition by Barney Rosset over at Blue Moon Books!
Crimony! Talk about blast from the absolute past. Richard Kasak had been my primary publisher throughout most of my early career, and had also been my business partner in Marilyn’s Room, Inc. Richard’s been gone now for at least 10 years. And Barney Rosset is of course gone now, too.
“Michael Perkins of Glenford died at Archcare at Ferncliff in Rhinebeck, New York of complications from Parkinson’s Disease on February 10, 2022, at age 79.”
Rhinebeck, of all my favorite places!!
It was just too — I don’t know the right word, it was just a sort of very fragile feeling.
I read the chapbook, I Could Walk All Day, yesterday and will read The Persistence of Desire today. Beautiful poems. (He also wrote amazing erotic fiction, published by Richard Kasak,)
Michael Perkins RIP
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All right.
From Ross K. Nichols’ Sunday School yesterday–
“According to one Gospel writer, Jesus twice pointed his listeners to the same five words—and on one occasion told them, ‘Go and learn what this means.'”
Jesus Said To Learn These Five Words (49 mins):
(HINT: “lovingkindness” is one of the words!)
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Moving on to Romania!!
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds played the Summer Well Festival. Here’s the set list from last night’s show!
Here’s Warren Ellis from before the show! Shiny, indeed!!
And a few photos of Nick Cave! (The show looked like a really intense one.)
Starting on Thursday, August 13th, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds will play Norway, Sweden, and Finland. You can buy tickets here!!
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And now we have a really intense thunderstorm underway here in Crazeysburg.
Even though thunderstorms and high winds usually trigger my PTSD, it seems that, this time, the thunderstorm has actually sort of done the opposite and dispersed my feeling of intense depression. Interesting.
Well, at some point tomorrow I will check in and let you know if I’ll be posting to the blog or not.
Have a great Monday meanwhile, wherever you are in the world, gang.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Let us close with this today!!
Jesus. When was the last time you heard THIS song??!!
Well, I heard it while making the bed this morning and listening to the Oldies FM Radio Station on my retro boombox!!
This song was a huge hit back when I was working at the General Electric factory. I was 19, and back in Ohio, living in a rooming house, after having lived briefly out in Ukiah, California… and dreaming of moving to NYC!
The Knack, “My Sharona”, from the album Get the Knack,1979!! Enjoy, gang.
It’s a really lovely, quiet Sunday morning here in the Hinterlands.
I spent all of yesterday getting caught up on stuff at my desk, so I don’t have too much to post about today.
However!
I did want to at least say that I was finally able to catch up with Sandra out in Los Angeles yesterday. We had a great chat! She flies back to NYC today. Then I think she’s planning on collapsing for a few days up in Rhinebeck and then we will get back to focusing on the staged reading of our play, “The Guide to Being Fabulous”.
While she was in LA, though, Sandra was involved with this amazing project, which happened this past Friday night (8/7)– since I found this posted online, I think it’s okay to post it here on the blog:
Apparently, it was a complete success!
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Okay.
Yesterday was International Cat Day!
Here’s Queenie just now, completely worn out from all the breathtaking festivities!!
Actually, she always looks like this…
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Yesterday, when it was time to do yoga, I wanted something just sort of different to listen to (I usually listen to religious or spiritual stuff).
I found this radio interview with Tom Petty from 2003 and I just loved it. It was at that perfect era in his life — the drugs were well behind him, he was married to Dana, The Last DJ, an incredible album, had already been released and he and the Heartbreakers were, once again, on the road (1 hr 23 mins):
I decided I wanted to read something totally new. I was sort of worn out from re-reading poetry books from my past that were digging up all sorts of other emotions that weren’t necessarily related to the actual poems.
Since I had bought Drunk on Angel Breath by R. Nikolas Macioci last year and still had not had a moment to just sit down and absorb it, I chose to read that one yesterday.
Venetian Spider Press, 2024
Wow, gang. What an entrancing book of poems!!
If you’re new to the blog (i.e., you just started reading it this moment), R. Nikolas Macioci is not only an accomplished poet, a Pulitzer Prize nominee, and the author of 18 other poetry books — he was also my first Jr. High School English teacher back in 1972, when I was 12.
After I chose to write a poem as my “book report” for a book we had recently been assigned to read in class, he took an active interest in my writing and he took it upon himself — after class, on his own time — to teach me how to write.
That went on for several years, long after Jr. High School was over.
It was the only formal “training” as a writer that I ever had, but it totally and thoroughly served me well. It gave me an entire career.
Obviously, I have read his poems before, but this specific book had me spellbound. I could not put it down. It is safe to say that I had a really beautiful evening yesterday.
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Well, as far as “here’s this’s” — I only have ONE today!
But it is suitable for a Sunday morning!
From Warren Ellis!! In Bucharest!
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Romania tonight. Then they have a few days off before playing Norway on August 13th. You can buy tickets here!
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And honestly, gang, that’s all I have for today.
The laundry is almost done and I’m planning to try to take it sort of easy today. We’ll see how that goes.
Meanwhile, I hope you 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!
A song I have just loved from the very first moment that I first heard it!!
But my fondest memory of the song, was playing it for my (back then-film production partner) Peitor Angell one night — giving him my iPhone with ear buds, as we walked together along Sunset Blvd. after dark. As I had been, he, too, was blown away by it.
Anyway.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “We Call Upon the Author”, from one of my favorite albums ever, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! 2008.
“We Call Upon The Author”
What we once thought we had we didn’t, and what we have now will never be that way again So we call upon the author to explain
Our myxomatoid kids spraddle the streets, we’ve shunned them from the greasy-grind The poor little things, they look so sad and old as they mount us from behind I ask them to desist and to refrain And then we call upon the author to explain
Rosary clutched in his hand, he died with tubes up his nose And a cabal of angels with finger cymbals chanted his name in code We shook our fists at the punishing rain And we call upon the author to explain
He said everything is messed up around here, everything is banal and jejune There is a planetary conspiracy against the likes of you and me in this idiot constituency of the moon Well, he knew exactly who to blame And we call upon the author to explain
Prolix! Prolix! Nothing a pair of scissors can’t fix! Prolix! Prolix! Nothing a pair of scissors can’t fix!
Well, I go guruing down the street, young people gather round my feet Ask me things, but I don’r know where to start They ignite the power-trail ssstraight to my father’s heart And once again I call upon the author to explain
We call upon the author to explain
Who is this great burdensome slavering dog-thing that mediocres my every thought? I feel like a vacuum cleaner, a complete sucker, it’s fucked up and he is a fucker But what an enormous and encyclopaedic brain I call upon the author to explain
Oh rampant discrimination, mass poverty, third world debt, infectious diseease Global inequality and deepening socio-economic divisions Well, it does in your brain And we call upon the author to explain
Now hang on, my friend Doug is tapping on the window (Hey Doug, how you been?) Brings me back a book on holocaust poetry complete with pictures Then tells me to get ready for the rain And we call upon the author to explain
I say prolix! Prolix! Something a pair of scissors can fix
Bukowski was a jerk! Berryman was best! He wrote like wet papier mache, went the Heming-way weirdly on wings and with maximum pain We call upon the author to explain
Down in my bolthole I see they’ve published another volume of unreconstructed rubbish “The waves, the waves were soldiers moving”. Well, thank you, thank you, thank you And again I call upon the author to explain Yeah, we call upon the author to explain
Prolix! Prolix! There’s nothing a pair of scissors can’t fix!
Wow, is it just me, or is life just really strange these days?
Let me just say one more thing about fiverr (see yesterday’s frustrated post)– my tax paperwork got approved and before the day was over, I had already received 6 scam attempts through my new fiverr account.
Needless to say, that shit never used to happen in the old days.
Plus, I recently had a scam attempt through a writing group on the Substack app. I’ve never had that happen before on Substack, either.
And I personally think the semi-scams for writers are endless now on LinkedIn so I try to stay off of there. (LinkedIn started out as a whole different thing 20 years ago, when I first started using it — long before it was an overcrowded phone app.)
Anyway. I won’t go on and on about it, but phone apps targetting writers (that have basically replaced the corresponding websites) are my new pet peeve.
But I have to say, that both the Tabor Research Group and Ross K. Nichols’ private Yachad, now have phone apps and they are fantastic. But they’re private, members-only type apps.
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Okay!
So.
On to happier things!
I had a chance to read the short story Maxim Jakubowski contributed to our upcoming anthology honoring the life of M. Christian, and it was fantastic. It was such a joy to read it — erotic but also an undercurrent of sci-fi. And I know for certain M. Christian would have loved it.
Maxim Jakubowski
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Before I forget, I thought I would just post a little update regarding me and Sandra and our upcoming staged reading in NY for our play, “The Guide to Being Fabulous”.
Sandra is in Los Angeles, working on a different project right now and we are sort of playing “text-tag.”
If I don’t get assigned to a jury on Tuesday (when I have to report for jury duty), then we will finally get a chance to really catch up.
But if I do get put on a jury, then who knows how long it will be…
Ditto for the podcast that Valerie and I are trying to finally launch. Valerie’s hands have recovered quite nicely from the surgeries and she texted me a photo of her current painting-in-progress yesterday and I just loved it!!
So now she’s just waiting on me and my unkown schedule at this point. But it’s all coming, eventually.
I did indeed re-read half of Lunch Poems (by Frank O’Hara, City Lights Books, 1964) last evening. I will finish it tonight.
And it was indeed very emotional for me. Quite a few of the poems were familiar to me long before I first read Lunch Poems in 1984, because those poems had been included in The Selected Poems of Frank O’Hara, which I’d pretty much had memorized since I first read that in1975.
And yes, I even took the book to school with me back then, even though it quite clearly has a drawing on the cover by Larry Rivers of Frank O’Hara totally naked…
I digress!
The emotional part about re-reading Lunch Poems last night was all those references to places in NYC (and also Paris) that were totally foreign to me when I was first reading his poems at age 15, alone in my room in Ohio in 1975.
Not only are they no longer foreign, but they became places, buildings, shops, museums, even train stops, that I came to know very well.
And now it’s all part of my distant past. When did that fucking happen?
Anyway. I found the short video below online last night and I wanted to share it. It is Frank O’Hara reading 2 poems in 1964 that I came to know by heart as a young girl. (The first poem is about the day Billie Holiday died.)
But mostly, I wanted you to notice at the end of the first poem, when they pull back and show you Frank’s apartment in downtown NYC — my apartment on E. 12th Street looked exactly like that, with the built-in bookshelves next to the old fireplace! And everything painted white. (My apartment had two fireplaces! And they have since gutted the apartment and got rid of all of that cool stuff.)
After Lunch Poems, I will either re-read Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil (a 1952 edition that I’ve owned for over 40 years, that has the original French alongside the English translations).
Or I will read Drunk on Angel Breath by R. Nikolas Macioci. (He was the the teacher I was so blessed to have in Jr. High School who literally taught me how to write, on his own time, after school.)
Venetian Spider Press, 2024
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Okay!
There is only one “here’s this” today that is not connected to Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds!!
And that “here’s this” is THIS!!
From Johnny Depp’s new Sauvage campaign with Dior!
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Okay.
Here’s an older photo of Nick Cave that I just loved!
Photo by Brian Rasic
And here’s a photo from July, back in Vienne, France, that I also just love!
Photo by Andrew Trute
And the rest are all from Belgrade last night — and I have to say (again), the show looked INCREDIBLE! So many great photos and videos that it was sort of overwhelming this morning.
Here’s Warren Ellis last night:
And the rest are basically Nick Cave.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Romania tomorrow night. You can buy tickets here!
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And that is it for today, gang!
I have so much to do at my desk today — in preparation for maybe not having anytime at all after Tuesday, if I get assigned to a jury.
I am still hoping that they will let me go but we shall see.
In the meantime, enjoy your Saturday, 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!
Some more of that making-the-bed music!!
From the Oldies FM Radio Station on the retro boombox next to my bed!
Saturday mornings are “Amazing 80s Day” and the DJ launched this morning’s show with this absolute gem!! Talk about memories from my Paradise Apartment on E.12th Street in the East Village in NYC!! I used to play this song so loud!
“Born in the USA”, Bruce Springsteen, 1984. Enjoy, gang.
Just another one of those things that make me insane–
When I awoke this morning, I decided to register over on fiverr again — as a private writing/editing coach.
Many years ago, when it first got started, signing up was easy and everything was sort of immediate and personal.
I could put up an add that I was a writing coach and I listed my contact info — and then I got some students that I really enjoyed.
It was so simple.
Now it’s like you’re applying to be an astronaut. It has taken 3 hours so far– and now I’m waiting to get my tax paperwork approved. That could take a couple more days…
It doesn’t actually matter because it’s not like there’s any hurry or anything — especially since I might be on jury duty next week. I just suddenly thought it would be a cool idea to be back on fiverr. I enjoy helping other writers.
Anyway.
Things on the web that used to be easy and much more person-friendly are now few and far between. (And within a nanosecond, they want you on their phone app instead…)
(And don’t even get me started on the constantly swirling shark-infested waters that now pass for the endlessly, endlessly, endlessly updating “LinkedIn”… Jesus, you know? When do people find time to just write?)
All I can say, really, is that I’m glad I became a professional writer back when it was actually really fun. And full of people and community and in-person meetings.
I don’t know how new writers can even stand it these days. But I am an old-timer now. What can I say??
Old-timer, not saying anything…
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Okay!
That aside!
Guess what I discovered about my brand new and super-fast Honda Accord yesterday, gang????
I will try to set this up so that you can feel the joy the way I felt it!
ME (on the highway heading home and going about 20 miles over the speed limit): “Jeez. This new car is so fast! I better slow down.”
MY HONDA ACCORD (woman’s voice suddenly filling my car): “Police reporting up ahead.”
Holy shit, gang! That’s, like, not legal, right??
But I went down to the the speed limit, pronto, and sure enough — up ahead on the left, a black & yellow Sherriff’s car was sitting there, waiting for speeders!!
Wow! I love my fucking new car!!!
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On the “read a poetry book a day” front —
I decided that today, I am going to read a slender, amazing book that I haven’t read in years. It was written by my favorite poet — Frank O’Hara — whose poetry I “discovered” when I was 15 and I absolutely fell in love with him.
By then, he’d been dead for almost 10 years.
But this particular book — which was already legendary — I didn’t find until 1984, when I was already living in NYC (not far from Frank’s old apartment, and I was working where he had worked: the Museum of Modern Art!):
Lunch Poems, City Lights Books, 1964
I am really looking forward to reading it. To see how I am going to react to all his wonderful words, and all the fantastic NYC imagery, all these decades later.
I’m guessing it will be a little bittersweet.
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Okay.
Not much in the “here’s this” department, since I spent all those HOURS on fiverr this morning…
But here’s this!
And I’ve posted it here before, but I love this photo of Keith:
And Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Belgrade, Serbia tonight! If it’s not too late, you can still buy tickets here!!
Then they’re off to Romania!!
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And honestly, that’s actually it for now. I gotta scoot! And a terrific thunderstorm is now filling the skies across the Hinterlands so I want to go down to the kitchen porch and check on a couple of those cats!!
Enjoy your Friday, wherever you are in the world, gang.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Let’s scoot outta here with this–
Live in Paris, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “God Is In The House”. 2007. Enjoy, gang.
It was supposed to rain all day today, but now it’s looking like maybe only a little rain, later tonight. We shall see!
I do not have to drive to town today!
However, since the weather will likely be nice, I will probably drive to town today!
Why? Because it’s Thursday and they have that live acoustic music over at the Archive Lounge in the Historic Arcade in Newark. I might not be able to go again this summer, depending on what happens when I show up for jury duty on Tuesday — if I get assigned to a jury or not.
Plus, I want to stop in at the bookstore there and finalize everything for the book signing next month — the owner of the bookstore is leaving for vacation next week.
Holland’s Book Nook, Historic Arcade, Newark
Oh!
And check this out!! I got word on Instagram last night that another independent bookstore — this one in Old Worthington, Ohio, (basically Columbus) — is going to carry my new book! (The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. Pre-order here!)
It looks like an awesome bookstore — The Whispering Page. It is getting ready to open this month:
“The Whispering Page is a bookstore, café, and bar tucked into the heart of Old Worthington — the kind of place you mean to pop into for ten minutes and end up staying for two hours. Browse new releases and staff-favorite reads, then settle in with a coffee, a glass of wine, or a local beer.”
And on a sort of personal, bittersweet note…
Old Worthington is where that old private mental hospital was located. It was summer, 51 years ago, that I was committed there for 6 months after a suicide attempt. The hospital has long since been torn down, but the hospital was right around the corner from where this new bookstore is located!
So, I figure, let’s tell that unbelievably terrified 15-year-old girl, locked up in a padded room one night, 51 summers ago: “Hang in there, honey. You are going to have an amazing life.”
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Some other wonderful things that have already happened this morning — not only did I get to once again see probably my all time favorite photo of Nick Cave smoking on Instagram the moment my eyes opened!!
But also, Maxim Jakubowski sent in his contribution for the M. Christian tribute anthology!! I can’t wait to read it! Thank you, Maxim!!
Maxim Jakubowski
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And here’s this!!
Keith!! And that cigarette he smoked in 1966!!
Photo by Jean Marie Perier
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And here’s this!
Are they rehearsing in Shanghai??? I have no idea! But the Hollywood Vampires are getting ready for their imminent European Tour!! Buy tickets here!
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Warren Ellis is tired for some reason!!
And here’s Warren saying something about the Detroit Tigers before the 2nd show in Croatia last night but I honestly don’t really know why!!
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And here’s a big bunch of photos from the Bad Seeds’ 2nd show in Croatia last night — and wow, does that arena look incredible!!
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Belgrade, Serbia, on Friday. You can buy tickets here!
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And I believe that is it for today!
I’m gonna make a couple phone calls now. Then go out and take a magnificent walk! And then get down to work here at my desk for a few hours and then probably get into my brand new super fast Honda Accord and head to the Historic Arcade!
Enjoy your Thursday, 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!
My morning-listening music. A truly haunting song.
“Carnage”, from the album of the same name, by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, 2021. Enjoy, gang.
![Thank [insert whatever you believe in] It’s Friday!!](https://marilynjayelewis.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/handle-it-crop-slight.jpg?w=277&h=372&crop=1)
Marilyn's Room 