I’m going to start off the post with Nick Cave’s new Red Hand File, which I just this moment read, and I am just so OVER it — that so many effing people have such a problem with the opening line of the AMAZING song, “O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)”. This is not the first time I’d encountered comments about that first line, or entire first verse.
It is such a HUMAN opening line. A human, playful song about an amazing , playful human being who is no longer among us. WTF is wrong with people? Have they never been in love and been in bed and made art???? Jesus.
Anyway! Nick replies, in part:
“But as its creator I feel the need to defend it – not just out of some paternal urge, but because I have always thought the line was rather good. Truthfully, when I wrote the first verse of ‘O Wow O Wow‘, I was so pleased, that I took the rest of the day off!
The opening verse is, of course, a recollection of my younger days with Anita – in this instance, she rises naked from our shared bed…”
You can read it in full here.
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Okay. Well. More snow came yesterday. And now it’s super duper cold out there. But you know what???
Yesterday morning, absolutely out of the blue, my next door neighbors brought over TWO completely assembled cat houses, complete with plenty of straw inside each of them, and they put them on my kitchen porch!! The husband texted me: “We noticed that there are cats congregating on your porch. Hopefully this will help them stay warm.”
How nice is that??? I have one cat house out there already, but 3 cats.
I can’t tell you what that did to reducing my stress level instantansously.
And yes, this is the same man who dug a grave in my backyard for Lucie when she died this past summer. And it’s the same man whose home got COMPELTELY crushed when my enormous maple tree fell on their house during a mini tornado 3 summers ago.
What great neighbors.
This is such a amazing little village.
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Well, the closer we get to the Inauguration, the less real news there is. It all seems to be about setting the stage for Trump to come back and change everything imaginable.
If you have the stomach for it, this was interesting. It’s from a couple of days ago but I finally had the chance to listen to it.
Tucker Carlson and Michael Shellenberger Break Down the California Fires (2 hrs 16 mins):
There’s also this, but it’s from 3 weeks ago:
Aaron Siri: Everything You Should Know About the Polio Vaccine, & Its Link to the Abortion Industry (1 hr 45 mins):
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Here’s Phil’s replay from last night, if you missed it. About an hour into it, he goes over current events. Then there’s a Q & A.
Current Events – January 14th, 2025 (2 hrs):
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This was interesting.
Nigel Watson (Finland/UK) – Spain 100% Property Tax Shocker (9 mins):
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And I’m going to leave it at that. I have to look over some script notes from Peitor before I head out for my morning shift.
Have a great Thursday, wherever you are in the world.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!
This came up on my “frequent playlist” while I was driving home last night, in the dark, in the snow. And missing New York. (See yesterday’s post about why I had to cancel my trip there next week.)
How interesting, right? From 1975 — in fact, I’ve mentioned this here before, but this song was released while I was committed to the mental hospital. At the lowest point in my life. I used to listen to it on the AM radio in my room. And within a mere 5 years, I was living one block from Broadway, married to one of the most interesting men I had ever met, who’d come all the way from Singapore!!
And this year, our play, “The Guide to being Fabulous,” will be produced (Off)-Broadway!!
Okay. Enjoy, gang. We never know what great things are right around the corner.
Marilyn's Room 
Great to hear re. your cat saga, and the compassion and thoughtfulness of your neighbor! And your community. Community building is, to me, one of the critical nonpartisan (or transpartisan) principles that people all along the political (or theological) spectrum tend to agree on, and sometimes work together on as well…. That’s as it should be, though it appears we Americans are still geographically, as well as otherwise, dividing ourselves further, making that more difficult. (And Trump has been, and seems poised to further, make those divisions more pronounced; to exacerbate polarization and hatefulness, though I know that it comes from “both sides”.
The tolerance, in general, of “progressives” seldom does extend to the intolerance often displayed by various “conservative” or “MAGA” folks. Understandable, in that it is very HARD for it to do so. At some point, intolerance cancels out the dynamic of tolerating or including. (I hope that makes sense because it seems to be generally lost on those justifying various stances of intolerance, including MAGA folks and MANY followers of Jesus, who was about as inclusive as anyone of his day could potentially be.)