Welcome to Friday, gang!

However. Around here, it is meaningless to me because, by Friday, I still have a ton of work ahead of me before I get something that looks like a day off.

This week, it will start on Sunday. Yay. And it won’t come a minute too soon.

Although Peitor sent me a THIRTY-FIVE page document this morning that I need to read over before we can proceed with the pitch deck for the TV pilot proposal.

So Sunday is looking a little less like a day off than I usually prefer.

But this is also happening on Sunday! Over at Metrograph.com!

“Join us on Metrograph at Home for the live streaming premiere of The Black Sea with an exclusive introduction and post-screening Q&A with filmmakers Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden and comedian Kareem Rahma (Subway Takes) this Sunday, May 18 at 8pm EST.”

I’m excited! The trailer looks really great (FYI- for $5 a month, you can join Metrograph at Home, otherwise, the theater itself is in NYC at 7 Ludlow Street):

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From last evening — a quick photo of Bobbie Jo, Calico, and a little bit of Billy Jo and Betty Jo, and Blackie, too!!

And, yes, I have to stare at them for a few moments before I can figure out what their supremely complicated names are…

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Oops! Just got a call from Sandra. Wondering if I am free over the weekend to do some quick editing…

But I am, gang. I am! It’s what I signed on for.

I’m just really hoping that I can get to the shooting range on Monday, because it’s been 2 weeks now and I worry that I’m losing whatever progress I made last time (98 bullseyes out of 100 bullets).

I want to get to 100 out of 100, so that I can start working on my speed. What good is being a gunslinger if you take forever to aim????

But at least I now have the appropriate attire!! ( See yesterday’s post about the new sundresses.)

(But seriously, I would never wear a sundress while practicing at the shooting range. Those bullet casings fly back at you and when they land on your flesh, even for a nano second, they are burning hot and leave blisters!! Not a look I’m really going for. Least of all, at my age, when I need all the help I can get in the overall “allure” department…)

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Anyway!!

Okay, I think these two fantastic photos were from San Francisco:

And here’s this — for the final gig of the tour, tomorrow night (buy tickets here):

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I know you are going to think that I’m utterly insane … but last week, I decided to start studying Chinese again.

I studied Mandarin for many years in NYC, back in the 1990s, and I was at what was called the “college level”. But since I have no access to a bunch of people who speak Chinese anymore, I have forgotten most of it. And that frustrates me.

So I still study my French every morning on the Mondly app, but then I follow it with Chinese. It’s coming back to me, in tiny bits and pieces.

I couldn’t find my favorite textbooks (I know they are stored here somewhere, I just haven’t found out where yet), so I bought this new textbook on Amazon. It arrived yesterday:

It is unbelievably complicated. So now more than ever, I want to find my old textbooks. But in the meantime, I am making progress, little by little. Between the Mondly app and this new unbelievably complicated textbook.

And this phrase comes in really handy! Funny how it stuck with me over the years:

我的中文不太好。(Wǒ de zhōngwén bù tài hǎo.)

Translation: My Chinese is not too good.

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And I guess that’s it for now. I have to get on my merry way. There’s a 94-year-old Japanese man 30 miles from here who’s expecting to open his eyes and see me, gang.

HE: “Marilyn! My angel!”

ME: “You wanna get up now? Your coffee’s ready.”

Enjoy your fabulous Friday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Yes!! You had to know this was coming, eventually!!!

This incredible song, written by Townes Van Zandt in 1972. Emmylou Harris knocked it outta the park!!

And, yes, I sang this song a lot in my days on the Folk Music circuit in NYC. I sang it as a duet with Frank Mazzetti (who is actually still out there singing, somewhere in NY. He was wonderful, gang, and he basically discovered me).

“Pancho & Lefty”. From Emmylou’s album Luxury Liner, 1977. Enjoy!!

“Pancho & Lefty”

Livin’ on the road my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron
And your breath’s as hard as kerosene
You weren’t your mama’s only boy
But her favorite one it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye
And sank into your dreams

Pancho was a bandit, boys
His horse was fast as polished steel
Wore his gun outside his pants
For all the honest world to feel
Well, Pancho met his match you know
On the deserts down in Mexico
And nobody heard his dyin’ words
Ah but that’s the way it goes

All the Federales say
Could of had him any day
Only let him slip away
Out of kindness I suppose

Lefty, he can’t sing the blues
All night long like he used to
The dust that Pancho bit down south
Ended up in Lefty’s mouth
The day they laid poor Pancho low
Lefty split for Ohio
Where he got the bread to go
There ain’t nobody knows

Well, the poets tell how Pancho fell
And Lefty’s livin’ in a cheap hotel
The dessert’s quiet and Cleveland’s cold
So the story ends, we’re told
Pancho needs your prayer’s it’s true
But save a few for Lefty too
He only did what he had to do
And now he’s growin’ old
A few gray Federales say
Could have had him any day
Only let him go so long
Out of kindness I suppose

c – 1972 – Townes Van Zandt