What a great morning!

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I’m trying to make the absolute best of it because not only is the weather perfect — and the rest of the week, we’re supposed to have a lot of rain.

But also, tomorrow morning is when I’m supposed to report for Jury Duty again. I will find out later tonight if I do indeed have to show up, so we’ll see.

But regardless of tomorrow, I am trying to just have a really nice morning here.

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Before I forget!!

Facebook is just so strange.

Yesterday, I got another really cool “friend request” from someone I’ve only known for 54 years!!

She was, basically, my best friend all through Jr. High, high school, and most of adulthood… It’s only been a few years since I last heard from her. But we’re supposed to catch up in the phone sometime today!!

We met in the 7th grade, in September of 1972.

Yes!! There is someone still alive on Earth who knew me when I looked like this and wore plaid palazzo pants to school!!

Me, in the 7th grade yearbook

When she and I were teenagers, we had mostly the same tastes in music, movies, literature, theater. We were both really smart and we laughed so hard about so much insane stuff.

I don’t know, but if you’re familiar with the playwright Eugène Ionesco, and his Theatre of the Absurd plays, our lives were kind of like that. 24/7.

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Okay!

Let’s go straight to the “here’s this’s” today!

Apparently, I need to get back to Shanghai by Sunday! (Which is also the start of Yom Kippur, so that’s dicey, right there!)

But I’ve already bought all 150 of the available tickets, so it only seems polite that I make the effort to show up…

Johnny Depp will be appearing at the Modern Art Museum Shanghai, in connection with his exhibit there, “Figures of the Fringe”!

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And here are a couple of great photos of Richard Hell!

Again, from the fantastic Phyllis Stein!!

Here, Richard Hell is seen with the “tiny Richard Hell head” that was really popular back then!

And here he’s seen at CBGBs in 1978 with Elvis Costello, who was also really popular back then!!

And I can’t help it, gang — we gotta hear this one, one more time!! Elvis Costello, 1977, “Mystery Dance”!!

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And here’s this!

Warren Ellis and one of his dogs appear to be very excited by Sundays!!

And taking a cue from Warren’s t-shirt, how about this? An AI version of the other Elvis singing Kris Kristofferson’s song, “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” the way Waylon Jennings sang it… (that’s right, but it’s actually pretty good…)

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And here’s that other thing that Facebook is good for!!!

Old photos of Nick Cave!!

I don’t know if I posted this one here before, but I love this!

And here’s Nick Cave, either taking off his coat, or pretending to wear handcuffs — or perhaps both! A long time ago! In color!

And this wasn’t on Facebook, but here it is anyway!

Nick Cave on TV in NYC, in 1990!

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And here’s this — from my own life!

This movie came out in 1968, when I was 8, and my mom and I went to see it together in Cleveland and I just loved it.

Throughout my whole life, really, I wanted to have a huge family. I really did. I used to think about it all the time. (And by the time I was in my early teens, when things in my home life were getting really bad, I had a huge imaginary family in my head that I would retreat to all the time.)

In fact, the hardest part about leaving Wayne, in 2003, was knowing that I would never have even one child, let alone the 14 or so that I wanted…. I was 43 when I left Wayne and I was already in early menopause. Wayne had finally decided that he didn’t want to have kids. So that whole dream was all over.

Anyway.

I am currently re-watching “Yours, Mine, & Ours” on TUBI. From 1968. A glorious family with 18 wonderful children —

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And that’s it for today.

I will let you know early tomorrow morning if I have to report for Jury Duty again or not.

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

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this.

This was sort of magical, gang.

I’m still reading the Conversations with Tom Petty book (2006) at night.

And last night, Tom was telling the part where he was going through his divorce, and to pick up his spirits, Rick Rubin had Tom (and the other Heartbreakers) come onboard the Johnny Cash albums Rick was producing at the time, on his American Recordings label.

Tom had such an incredible time doing that — it was very detailed in the book. He loved Johnny Cash.

I knew I had all of those Johnny Cash American Recordings on my phone, but I wasn’t sure which ones I still had on actual CDs. So I got out of bed, went downstairs in the dark, went to one of the many CD racks I have and turned on the light — and the very first CD I saw was Johnny Cash’s American III: Solitary Man–– with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!! (And others.)

It really felt like magic, gang. I still had it!

I hurried back up to bed, popped the CD in the retro boombox next to my bed, turned out the light and just listened. And, wow, was it good!!

And, oddly enough, it’s the CD that has Johnny Cash’s cover of Nick Cave’s classic, “The Mercy Seat”!

So, let’s listen! From 2000, Johnny Cash’s version of “The Mercy Seat.” So different from Nick’s version, but still so good. Okay. Enjoy, gang.

Totally thinking ahead here!

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It’s a gloomy and rainy morning so far, but that often unreliable weather app on my iPhone says that by noon it will be sunny and remain sunny for the rest of the afternoon!!

Yay!!

So I’m going with that thought today, gang! Nothing but sun up ahead!

And since Sunday has become my go-to-town-and-get-groceries day, I’ll wait until noon before heading to town.

I’m hoping I can persuade these guys to go with me again today —

It’s always so much more fun driving anywhere with them!

So, we shall see. (They’re probably in church right now, so I’ll wait a bit before calling them…)

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Okay!!

Wow, you know? What a morning. The first 2 things I saw on Instagram, very early today (5AM), were 2 of my favorite accounts having huge troubles with Instagram & Facebook — the various algorithms there were making them very unhappy.

One was our beloved Phyllis Stein — I so hope she doesn’t leave Instagram, but it was actually Facebook that was threatening to block her awesome account for no valid reason.

The other account was for 2 cute little dogs that I follow in Germany —

Me, following a dog in Germany…

I have followed the account for years and the woman who runs the account is around my age and we interact all the time (luckily she speaks perfect English since my German consists of about 4 words — and I count “gesundheit” as one of them). But she is so fed up with Instagram interfering with her posts now that she is actually leaving Instagram as of today.

I really can’t stress enough how much I do not like Facebook (I recently rejoined it). It has gotten so different now and it is very difficult to post over there.

I don’t interact much on fb at all. I have about 5 followers. Literally. And all of them are people I have known for a long time and, except for Iris N. Schwartz, I also follow them on Instagram. So fb seems sort of pointless to me.

It seems like the only thing I really do on fb is look at Nick Cave photos!! Like I needed another app on my phone to look at more Nick Cave photos!

But here’s one I liked on fb yesterday!!

But as far as Instagram — I love Instagram. I have been active on it every day for about 8 years.

Once in awhile I post something concerning my writing career, but mostly I post photos of my cats. And I just love looking at everybody else’s photos.

I mostly follow other cats, and dogs, birds, alpacas, goats, donkeys, cows! From all over the world!

And a few people in Finland and Norway who take unbelievably gorgeous photos of nature.

And a bunch of Punk and rock & roll musicians — most of whom, sadly, are already dead.

But I just love Instagram, so it makes me sad that people I enjoy following are being bullied by the algorithms now — and enough to leave the platform altogether.

I don’t have a lot of followers on instaramg — sorry, that’s a different app I also use. But on Instagram, I have about 1600 followers.

But I only really interact with about 12 of them on a daily basis. So for me, it’s just fun.

I can’t imagine how awful it must be to try to rely on those apps for career-related stuff. It must be a nightmare.

I am so glad that I have my blog, gang.

You know, even though it is totally old school — no bells & whistles — I have about 100 people a day, sometimes as many as 200, from all over the world, who stop in and read my blog!

That’s about 3,000 views a month, and about 36,000 views a year now!

And I’ve had this same blog for 12 years already. In fact, a few years back, WordPress was after me to update it to a different layout. They wanted to retire the layout I use because it was too old-fashioned. But I love this layout because it is SO easy to use.

So I think I am the only blogger left on WordPress who uses this layout.

Anyway… I digress.

I am really glad that WordPress doesn’t resort to a bunch of terrorizing algorithm stuff.

And I really want to thank you guys so much for stopping by every day to read the blog.

It still means a lot to me, even after all these years.

“Oh, and then I saw a photo of Keith Richards smoking in London back in 1968, It was just SO COOL…”

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All right.

Well, after listening to the new auditions for audiobooks that came in yesterday morning, I have decided that for now, I’m removing the short story collections from the audition queue.

Those are just going to be too complex, since some of the stories are from the female POV, and some from the male POV. I’ve decided to just focus on the novels for now.

But other than that, we are moving forward with perhaps THREE novels to turn into audiobooks! 1954 Powder Blue Pickup, The Guitar Hero Goes Home, and possibly Freak Parade.

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Okay!

Since the Bad Seeds’ tour is over now, I am resorting to a photo of Nick Cave from the desktop stash!!

Singing and smoking!! In black & white!! (He looks so, I don’t know, energetic here!)

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And here’s this!!

If you look REALLY carefully, Keith is smoking — and walking & carrying a package in London in 1986. In full color!! Heavy on the blue!! (Photo by Richard Young)

I can’t say for sure if Keith is smoking here, you have to do your own research on that. But it does seem to be the 1980s, and in black & white.

And if you don’t really know much about Keith–

Back when he was a heroin addict, his teeth started rotting really badly. After he quit heroin for good, around 1978, he had all of his teeth replaced.

But here’s one of the photos from the not-so-great-teeth days. But he still looks so sweet here:

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And that is what I have for now.

The laundry is just about done! I’m gonna check in on the 2 cats outside and see who wants to be fed (again) before I head to town.

Have a great Sunday, wherever you are in the world, gang.

And THANKS for visiting!! I really mean that.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!!

Since I have been reading that book, Conversations With Tom Petty (2006) at night now, and we are now up to when he was recording his triple multi-platinum Wildflowers solo album, I put that CD in the kitchen jukebox player this morning!

So let’s listen to “You Wreck Me”. I hadn’t heard it in awhile!! A real rocker.

From the Wildflowers album, 1994!! Enjoy, gang.

“You Wreck Me”

Tonight we ride, right or wrong
Tonight we sail, on a radio song
Rescue me, should I go down
If I stay too long in trouble town

Oh, yeah, you wreck me, baby
Yeah, you break me in two
But you move me, honey
Yes, you do

Now and again, I get the feeling
Well, if I don’t win, I’m a-gonna break even
Rescue me, should I go wrong
If I dig too deep, if I stay too long

Oh, yeah, you wreck me, baby
Yeah, you break me in two
But you move me, honey
Yes, you do

I’ll be the boy in the corduroy pants
You’ll be the girl at the high school dance
Run with me, wherever I go
And just play dumb, whatever you know

Oh, yeah, you wreck me, baby
Yeah, you break me in two
But you move me, honey
Yes, you do

You wreck me, baby
Yeah, you break me in two
Oh, but you move me, honey
Ah, yes, you do

c – 1994 Mike Campbell, Tom Petty

A better day rapidly approaching!

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I did manage to salvage yesterday by making a trip into town and chatting with actual people, so that I could get out of my own head.

The bookstore where I’ll be doing my book signing next month, was looking for donations of children’s books.

I actually have a ton of children’s books. Most of them have sentimental value for me, but I had about 8 books that were basically brand new — meaning, never been read. And they weren’t connected to my childhood in any way, so it gave me a good excuse to get in the car and get out of my house.

A few of maybe a total of 50 children’s books, very used, that I won’t ever part with:

From the old “Dr. Suess I Can Read All By Myself” book club!

And while I was at the Historic Arcade, dropping off the children’s books that I would part with, I stopped in at my friend’s art gallery and chatted with him and one of his customers for a little while. And then headed to my favorite health & wellness store, and chatted with my girlfriends in there for a while. So I was feeling a lot better by the time I got back home.

Yesterday was not a fun day. Between the horrible Twin Towers “anniversary” and all those awful memories, and then getting the news that my new novel was experiencing some sort of shipping delays (fixed now, btw).

Also, my publisher had spent a good chunk of money on getting advanced reviews for my book — and of all the many total strangers who downloaded a digital copy several weeks ago — not a single person reviewed the book.

I was hoping for at least one good review, but I wasn’t planning on no one at all reviewing it.

Plus, it was sad to be at a stage in my life where I had no one at all to go out with last night and celebrate having such an important book (to me) finally published after nearly 3 decades.

I was also missing my long-gone family, since it was the start of the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah, last night, too.

But I tried to put my thoughts elsewhere. Focus on everything that’s going well, overall. So I got through it.

And now here I am. A whole new day — and I see that I have 3 new auditions awaiting me from a potential narrator for my audiobooks!

And Sandra called this morning and she had GREAT news. (I will keep you posted about all that — but I can at least say that I will likely be in NYC for 1 or 2 nights in late January, and I can never get enough of NYC in late January!!! Yay!!!)

Anyway!! On we go!

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Guess what amazing thing happened 60 years ago today, gang??!!

YES!

A true highlight of my wee bonny girlhood in Cleveland–

The Monkees premiered on TV!! I was 6 years old and I loved it!!!

And I will never forget this opening theme song as long as I live!! And if you have TUBI, you can watch the old Monkees re-runs for free right now:

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Okay.

Here’s this!!

Not a lot of people remember that when the Rolling Stones toured Europe in 1976, Marlon Richards was briefly part of the band!

But here’s proof!!

And here are a couple more photos of Keith that I liked:

And — No! As loyal readers of this lofty blog no doubt recall, Keith was NOT the one who turned me on to Jack Daniels!! (It was a little Jewish girl named Karen!!) (I don’t think Keith knew Karen… but not sure.)

Keith, July 1972!!

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I loved this photo!

A couple of Bad Seeds on Portobello Road yesterday!!

George Vjestica and Larry Mullins!

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And I loved this photo, too.

Peitor Angell and I once had a really great time in Mel’s Drive-in on Sunset Blvd. It was when we were first getting our micro-mini film production company, Abstract Absurdity Productions, off the ground, creating the first scripts.

We laughed so hard that whole night! Great memories.

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And here’s this!!

Nick Cave smoking, Kylie laughing(?), in 1996!!

And I liked this photo, too!

Eye catching!! (Photo by Will Collier)

And speaking of Nick Cave–

A few updates!

It is the 10th Anniversary of the release of the album, Skeleton Tree, by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. A beautiful album, whose timing was intense, since one of Nick’s sons died at the same time.

You can listen to the whole album on your favorite streaming platform HERE.

And it is also the 10th anniversary of the documentary, “One More Time With Feeling,” that was filmed at the same time:

I’ve watched the film a couple of times. It is really good, but, of course, very emotional.

And Nick Cave’s ceramic figures, “The Devil– A Life” return “to Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar, Netherlands as part of Celebrating the Icons of Art, marking the museum’s 10th anniversary.”

“The exhibition also features work by artists including Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet and Gerhard Richter.”

You can get more info HERE (but it is not in English).

What an amazing line-up of artists, right?? Congratulations, Nick Cave!!

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And I guess that’s it for today.

I hope you have a great 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!

Even though I have a TON of reading to get through before I head to James Tabor’s conference in North Carolina in 2 weeks…

I’ve been reading Conversations With Tom Petty by Paul Zollo (2006), for the past several nights.

In my opinion, it is so much better than the popular biography that came out about Tom in 2015, because in this book it is just Tom talking about his whole entire life, and all the music he created along the way, for 302 pages!! With many photos.

I just finished reading the chapters on The Traveling Wilburys. It seems like it was such an incredibly fun time for all the musicians who were involved with that. (Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne.) And I love that album.

So here’s this!

“Handle With Care,” The Traveling Wilburys. 1988. Enjoy, gang.

“Handle With Care”

Been beat up and battered around
Been sent up, and I’ve been shot down
You’re the best thing that I’ve ever found
Handle me with care

Reputation’s changeable
Situation’s tolerable
But baby, you’re adorable
Handle me with care

I’m so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won’t you show me that you really care?

Everybody’s got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine, and dream on

I’ve been fobbed off, and I’ve been fooled
I’ve been robbed and ridiculed
In day care centres and night schools
Handle me with care

Been stuck in airports, terrorised
Sent to meetings, hypnotised
Overexposed, commercialised
Handle me with care

I’m so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won’t you show me that you really care

Everybody’s got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine, and dream on

I’ve been uptight and made a mess
But I’ll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh, the sweet smell of success
Handle me with care

c – 1988 – George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy K. Orbison

Mixed-Bag Here, Today

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I am, of course, trying to focus more on the fact that a book that has meant so much to me has at long last been published today…

The Curse of Our Profound Disorder (No reviews yet!)

And this actually made me really happy this morning when I discovered it online–

My beloved Strand Books in NYC, on my beloved E.12th Street, is carrying the book!!

I actually began writing The Curse of Our Profound Disorder back in the mid-1980s — it began as a short story. I was living on E.12th Street at the time. So the woman I was way back then is feeling really happy that the book is real and being sold at Strand Books today!

The actual woman I am today, however, is dealing with all the sadness of this, and all the trauma and all the loss that came along with it: :

Wayne and I were still technically living in the same apartment back then, we were still on decent terms, but we had already decided to divorce.

On 9/11, he was in the South of France, vacationing with his family. So I was alone in the apartment that day and during the week that followed. What an awful time that was.

But here’s something happier that I found — me at the Statue of Liberty, sometime in the 1980s:

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And here’s this–

Joe Strummer, NYC, 1985. (Photo by Bob Gruen)

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And I liked this —

From Phyllis Stein.

Johnny Thunders in Paris, 1973 (Photo by Alain Dister)

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And here are a couple of cheerful things from yesterday–

From Facebook.

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And that’s it for now, gang.

I did have a great day yesterday, though. For so many reasons.

One is that I have officially begun the audiobook project for 1954 Powder Blue Pickup . (And maybe Freak Parade with the same producer/narrator. We’ll decide further along.)

And I am close to finalizing negotiations for The Guitar Hero Goes Home, as well.

So I’m really happy about all that.

Meanwhile, I am going to try to rescue this day somehow, and celebrate. Even if it’s just here with my many happy cats.

Have a good day, 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.

Taken from the Martin Scorsese documentary on George Harrison, “Living in the Material World”.

Tom Petty remembers. Really delightful.

George Harrison, Tom Petty and Ukuleles… (1 min 30 seconds):

Off to a great morning here!

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Wow, gang.

If you saw my quick update from yesterday afternoon — about how all 8 of my self-published books on Amazon got approved for audiobooks at the very same time…

By early evening, I was already getting audition tapes from narrators/producers (are they still “tapes” if it’s all done virtually??)

Anyway.

Wow, were they good!

I got 2 auditions for The Guitar Hero Goes Home, and one for 1954 Powder Blue Pickup. And my jaw kinda dropped open, all 3 guys were just so good.

(And, yes, I have to say that while I was listening to the auditions, I was wondering: Who the heck WROTE this filthy dirty stuff??)

Anyway. Wow. I’m just so happy with how this is developing.

Mommy’s happy. Cat, not so much…

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Okay!

I don’t know about you, but I had great dreams last night. And I woke up feeling like everything had shifted, energy-wise.

I’m in such a positive mood, today.

And THIS was so exciting to wake-up to!!

It appears Warren Ellis is finally satisfied with the shade of blue that the London Council chose for his street sign!

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And it turns out the rumors were true!

Some of the Bad Seeds did indeed have beverages while in Munich recently!!

And it appears that at least 3 of them also play their own instruments!

Colin Greenwood, George Vjestica, and Carly Paradis!

And here, George and Carly are — well, I’m not sure what they’re doing, but at least we now have proof that it happened!

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And here’s proof that both Lou Reed and Mick Rock used to exist.

Thank god.

Lou, taking aim. One of my all-time heroes:

And no, I’m not going to post this song again because I’ve posted it here a million times already… But if I were posting it, it would be my song, “Lou.” Demo produced by Peitor Angell! (1984)

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Oh!

And in case you were thinking I wasn’t busy enough…

Yesterday afternoon, James Tabor sent us 6 pdfs to download and read before the conference in 2 weeks. Along with a couple of books to re-read (did that already!! whew), and some documentaries to watch, and some maps to study…

Yes. Okay. Sounds good… I’m on it.

But wait!!!

When am I supposed to find time to do THIS?? My plane leaves in only 2 weeks!!

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All right.

Meanwhile…

Nick Cave has it figured out.

If there are TWO of him, he can get more done…

Even leaves him time to paint…..

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Anyway!!

All right.

As you can guess, I gotta get started — I’ve got some wrok to do. (And after the “wrok” is done, I have a lot of work to do, too.)

I hope you have a great Thursday underway, wherever you are in the world, gang!

And please don’t forget! TOMORROW, my new novel is officially out!!

If you don’t pre-order it TODAY, then you’ll end up being just like everybody else and having to simply “order” it instead…

So, if you haven’t already, pre-order it HERE!!! Thanks, gang!!

Meanwhile!

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this today!!

The only song whose lyrics appear in my new novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder!!

The old Kentucky mountain song–

“On Top of Old Smokey”, 1952, Gene Autry’s version, Enjoy, gang.

On Top of Old Smokey (traditional lyrics)

On top of Old Smokey, all covered with snow,
I lost my true lover for courting too slow.

For courting’s a pleasure but parting is grief,
And a false-hearted lover is worse than a thief.

A thief will just rob you and take what you have,
But a false-hearted lover will lead you to your grave.

The grave will decay you and turn you to dust,
Not one boy in a hundred a poor girl can trust.

They’ll hug you and kiss you and tell you more lies
Than crossties on a railroad or stars in the sky.

So come ye young maidens and listen to me:
Never place your affection in a green willow tree.

For the leaves they will wither, the roots they will die,
And you’ll be forsaken and never know why.

What were you doing at 2:43am??

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I’ll tell you what I was doing —

I was lying in bed, in the dark, thinking about the new novel coming out in 3 days.

And I was thinking that this will be my 8th published novel.

And I was thinking that it would be my 21st book, until I really started adding everything up. And it was a LOT of math to do in the dark at 2:43AM!!

Not just the novels, but all the many short story collections of mine that have come out, the books I edited of other writers’ and photographers’ works, and then I also added in the various different editions of my books that came out, too.

And I was astounded to discover that The Curse of Our Profound Disorder will my 32nd book.

How did that happen??

Gang, I do not know where the time went. But I do remember every single book I worked on, wrote, or edited, as well as every different edition that came out — in the US, UK, France, Mexico.

And every single one of those events made me so happy. There were just so many publishers back then.

And this doesn’t count the short stories and essays that I’ve had published in other people’s books. I can’t even begin to remember all of those.

There were just so many books over the course of 28 years. And almost all of them are out of print now. So I’d kind of lost track of how many there actually were. (And before the books, my short stories were published in underground zines for 8 years! That whole zine culture was so cool, gang.)

And then next year, The Muse Revisited Volume 4 will come out, along with the M. Christian tribute anthology I’m editing.

I couldn’t wrap my mind around where the time went to, though, you know?

And this doesn’t count the 24 years of songwriting that I did, or the plays, screenplays, TV pilots I wrote or co-wrote. Or the diaries & journals I kept in NYC for 16 years — until I began working online for a film production company in 1997 and then started building publishing-related websites. Which started me writing my journals online and brought my blog into the world!

I’ve continuously kept an online blog now for 29 years.

I don’t know, gang. I felt like I was looking at someone else’s life. Even though I remembered every minute of it.

For instance —

When I was 10 years old (1970), I wrote my first real song. I composed it on the piano. It was a song about air pollution (I was against it!). And it was used in a short film that my art teacher, Mr. Quinn, at my elementary school made. It starred my Girl Scout troop! And we all sang my song in the film. And the film was shown at an exposition in downtown Cleveland.

Wow, was I thrilled!

And then the Synagogue my family attended, printed the lyrics of my song in the members’ newsletter. And my parents and grandparents — and my piano teacher!! — were really proud of me.

It’s like everything I ever wrote came back to me last night while I was trying to go back to sleep. But it took a while.

I don’t really know why I have become so obsessed with TIME. And how fast it’s flying and how little of it I have left, compared to what’s already gone by.

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Okay.

I’m not going to go into the details because it was absolutely traumatizing — it involved a car accident that happened yesterday, right in front of me.

But I had a really bad day yesterday. And then to top it all off, THIS happened when I answered my phone at 5PM!!

Yes! I’ve been called up for fucking JURY DUTY. AGAIN!

Next Tuesday… Jesus Christ.

Here’s hoping it goes pretty much the same way it went last month and then it will just be over for a few years.

But the long and the short of it is — I got NO writing done yesterday!! (But I did get a little writing done over the last 56 years…)

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Anyway.

The Public Theater in NYC announced yesterday that the play I posted about here recently, “How Shakespeare Saved My Life,” has already been extended!

It will now run from Sept 15th through October 25th! The play looks like it will be really great. You can read about it and buy tickets HERE!

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Did you know that Elvis Costello is on a North American Tour??

Including CLEVELAND! Yay!

You can buy tickets HERE!!

And in celebration of the 49th anniversary of his fantastic first record, My Aim Is True, he has a special 5-CD box set coming October 2nd. You can read about it HERE!

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And from Lambda Literary today:

“Lambda Literary has teamed up with Fine Arts Work Center to celebrate the successes of our Retreat Alumni!

“Join us for a free, virtual event Thursday, September 17th at 6pm EST to hear more about how these storytellers found success in their journeys from emerging writer to celebrated author.“

Find out more and register here! Free!

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Oh!

Simon Parkes had a great update yesterday, about upcoming healing centers and MedBeds, and also banking system changes, worldwide. You need to be a member of Connecting Consciousness to hear Simon’s updates, but it is FREE to join. Check it out HERE.

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Okay!!

And here’s this!!

Mick — bored with golfing??? It seems to be affecting the attitudes of the other Rolling Stones…

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A great Polaroid of Keith! Mid-1960s, in front of Olympia Recording Studios in London!

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Keith and the late, great horn player, Bobby Keys! Drinking!! On a plane!!

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Joe Strummer! Leaning!!

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And last but not least, gang!

Nick Cave and some of those Birthday Party boys! Smoking, not smoking!!

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And that is it for now.

I am seriously hoping I will have a much better day than the one I had yesterday, gang.

We will soon find out.

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

Thanks for vistiing.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!

Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s entire story in 60 seconds!!

You can’t beat a day at the bowl-o-rama!

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No, you can’t.

And I so wish my day was going to be spent bowling with the cats, however…

It is another really beautiful morning here and I am struggling to just be happy and at ease in life!!

We shall see.

I am still up to my eyeballs with doubts about the best way to present the new memoir, but I’m still working on it…

And still up to my eyeballs in doubts about how the new novel will be received — early reviews should start getting posted in 3 days…

But you know, I can’t un-write it, so here’s hoping that at least one advance reviewer liked it!

And if you have not yet pre-ordered The Curse of our Profound Disorder, you can do that HERE!! It gets released on FRIDAY!! (Mature themes, but not erotica.)

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Okay.

Let’s just get to the happy stuff!

Here’s this!!

Not sure what he’s smoking, but here’s Tom! Officially Smoking!!

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And here’s Keith!!

With a towel!!

Keith with no towel, but with Mick!!

And here’s Mick, with tea on Montauk in 1975!

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And this wonderful stuff came up in my feed this morning.

I used to love this Instagram account!! I cannot believe they haven’t posted anything since 2023. Where did the fucking time go??

Anyway.

Old school Nick Cave!! Smoking!!

Nick Cave with old school HAIR!!

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And that is really all I have time for today, gang.

I gotta get down to the hard stuff now (no, not drugs, although, you know, it holds a certain appeal at this point…)

No, I gotta get some brand new words onto the PAGE!! Please wish me luck!

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this.

This was actually great!

If you do not know much about how different “Christianity” was before the official New Testament was created, about 300 years after Jesus’s time, you will learn a lot from this video. Enjoy, gang.

Myth Vision TV — Bart Ehrman REVEALS the CHAOS of Early Christianity (24 mins):

Happy Labor Day from the sunny Hinterlands!

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Wow, what a spectacular day here today.

The windows are open, the house is cool, the skies are sunny for as far as the eye can see!

I am in a much better mood this morning about everything.

Oh! I forgot to post this, in case you or someone you know was having the same problem– about the wireless printer no longer working right with a new fiber optic Internet connection.

Since I don’t really like wireless printers, in general, and since I could not for the life of me understand the written instructions online about how to fix it myself, and since the HP printer tech support line involves NO HUMAN BEINGS WHATSOEVER and I was ready to tear my fucking hair out….

It finally occurred to me to check the back of the printer for a USB cable port and VOILA!!!! It had one. So I went and bought a USB printer cable and then carefully did this very complicated procedure:

I plugged one end of the cable into the printer and the other end into my laptop and in 0.2 nanoseconds, suddenly the printer was working just fine….

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Okay, gang!

It is official!

On Saturday, October 3rd, from 1-5PM, at Holland’s Book Nook in the really lovely Historic Arcade in downtown Newark, Ohio–

I will be singing — well, I won’t be doing a whole lot of singing, mostly I’ll be signing copies of my brand new novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder!

2 other local writers will also be there, but I don’t know who the writers are yet.

If for some inexplicable reason you will be in the area that day, please stop by!!

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Okay, I don’t have a lot to post about today since I spent a good chunk of yesterday in town, running errands. And then the remainder of the afternoon working on the new MEMOIR… and I finally found a way to approach it without totally depressing myself.

But here’s this!

From the wonderful Phyllis Stein!

Richard Hell in NYC in 1977!! (Photo by Stephanie Chernikowski)

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And here are 2 great ones from that Nick Cave/Facebook account that I love!

Absolutely SMOKING!! (Nick Cave, and then The Boys Next Door)

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And honestly, that is it for today, gang.

I’m hoping that I have a productive day of writing ahead of me here. We shall soon find out.

Meanwhile, if you live State-side, have a fabulous Labor Day. Otherwise, have a great Monday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!!

Continuing from yesterday’s post…

A little more Lou Bega!! (Get in the car and drive, gang!!)

“Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of…)”, 1999. Enjoy!!

The world of author Marilyn Jaye Lewis