The drive to Cleveland yesterday was awesome, gang. It was a 2 1/2-hour drive, but only the final half-hour was on a freeway. The rest of it was on backroads through incredible farmlands, rolling hills, trees, trees, trees, and a few ponds and streams. Cows, horses, Amish country, beautiful old barns, and old country churches.

Cleveland, of course, has changed enormously since my wee bonny girlhood, but this is not the first time I’ve been here since my wee bonny girlhood.

Btw— that splendid weather we were supposed to have did not materialize. It’s dismal and grey here, and luckily I remembered to bring a jacket because it’s a lot cooler than was expected, too.

I’m thinking that the Nick Cave concert tonight will be very good, and I’m hoping this will be true, because honestly, gang, I just want to get back into my car and go back to the country. Not only is it expensive here, but nothing around the hotel has any food that is organic or fresh from the farms. The food tastes terrible. And the people seem sort of gloomy. There are plenty of homeless people begging for money, etc. Like the old days back in NYC, but without the incredible energy of the old New York.

Last night, I went to the Cleveland Art Institute because I had a ticket to see the new documentary film, “Mutiny in Heaven,” about Nick Cave and his first band, The Birthday Party (an evolution of the band The Boys Next Door). Wow, was it depressing. Even though I could still relate to a lot of what was uplifting from that era of music — through most of the life-span of The Birthday Party, I was already in NYC, heavily involved in all the various genre of the music scene back then. But, Jesus. Most of what was in that film was just depressing and some of it was vile and nauseating. Plus, I love Rowland S. Howard and for me, his sad and sort of tragic death was haunting that whole film.

The most interesting part of the evening, though, was that the Uber I needed to take to the movie theater and back, cost me a whopping $100. Yes, to a theater (& back) that is only 4 miles from my hotel. If I had tried to drive there, find a place to park, and find my way back to my hotel I would have gotten hopelessly lost. So Uber it was.

One nice thing, though, both of the Uber drivers I had were really friendly and chatty. One was from Afghanistan and the other one was from Turkey. Both of them loved Cleveland, so that was nice.

Truthfully, if it weren’t for the fact that my grandparents are buried here, I would probably never come back to Cleveland. But Kara and I are already planning another day trip here (to the other side of Cleveland) to go visit my grandparents’ graves.

All right, I guess that’s it for now. Today I am doing nothing, really, except waiting for Nick Cave’s show because I am almost out of money. (Meaning, money that I loaded onto my debit card before I left home.) I’m planning to chat with Sandra today, to find out how rehearsals have been going in Toronto. And I think Valerie is calling from Brooklyn today, too. So that’s it.

Okay.

I hope you’re having a great Monday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting. I love you guys. See ya!