So much for my fantastic day yesterday. It lasted maybe 9 hours.
I won’t go into all the details about last night’s dinner at the Granville Inn — but the good old days there are definitely over. New management, new everything, and the food was terrible. I could barely eat it.
Then, sadly, when I got home and headed upstairs, Weenie, one of my longtime feral cats (he turned 12 on St. Patrick’s Day) was lying there dead at the top of the stairs. His mom, Huckleberry, was sitting next to him, sort of guarding him.
It was so heartbreaking and unexpected. He was still warm when I picked him up in my arms, so he hadn’t been dead long. I’m guessing it was a heart attack.
Thankfully, it had finally stopped raining. I was able to bury him out by the new rose bushes.
What a night.
Weenie, in 2015, when I was still in Divinity School, studying Grief Counseling.In 2017. Weenie on the left, his mom Huckleberry on the right.
When was the last time you heard me say that, gang??? (I will give you a few minutes to let you go over your notes and find out…)
Okay! Time’s up!
The correct answer is: You have NEVER heard me say that!!!!
I cannot remember a moment in all of my many, many moments here on Earth wherein everything has been fantastic — at the same time.
But everything is actually fantastic today. And, no, I didn’t do any housecleaning yesterday. And, no, I did not go to the shooting range, either. I stayed at my desk and worked. And also did a little yoga — although not at my desk.
And let me just add that trying to do yoga while closed up in a room with 4 frisky six-week-old kittens and a curious Mommy-cat, is not entirely relaxing. For some reason, they seem inordinately fond of yoga mats and they constantly get underfoot…
Not us…but a reasonable facsimile
Okay.
While I can’t publicly go into everything that’s fantastic right now, I can say this: I heard back from the agent in Helsinki, who reps the Finnish actor that we are keenly desiring will take the role of the Finnish crime boss in our TV series– and she said that he read the script and is “interested in the project”!!!!
That alone sent me zooming to the moon yesterday. I cannot tell you how badly Peitor and I both want that guy to be in that role!! It is such a fucking out there character, gang!!
Lest you forget — his “theme music” in the final moments of the pilot episode (in slow motion, no less) (yes, please play it and please play it LOUD):
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In other incredibly fantastic news, although the “news” was just a very short sentence — it still gave my heart a whole lot of hope, gang.
If you subscribe to my substack page, you may recall that last year, I unearthed a novel I had written back in the late 90s and after reading it over, I came to the conclusion that I was crazy to let the opinions of others affect how I felt about that novel back then. Even though it had won 3 writing awards. Publishers did not want to be associated with it. I stored the novel away and thought I would never look at it again.
When I did look at it again (25 years later), I was astounded to discover that it was almost finished. I had remembered it as being maybe halfway done. But it was practically done and I had buried it away. A novel that meant so much to me. (Back then, self-publishing was very different than it is now — it was really expensive, for one thing. And very hard to promote. It just wasn’t a serious option.)
Anyway, I intend to publish it, after I nail down the ending. But my preference of course would be that a traditional publisher publishes it, instead.
It is an intense novel and it offended a lot of editors who read it 25 years ago. (It is not erotica although it has a lot of sexually harsh and graphic scenes in it.) If Henry Miller or Bill Burroughs had written it, and if Barney Rosset had still been publishing back then instead of being retired, the novel might have had a chance at a Pulitzer Prize….
The late, great Barney Rosset, who did technically publish me once — his company picked up the mass market paperback rights to Neptune & Surf and published it, although by that point, he had retired.
Okay, anyway.
Long story short, I approached a small press yesterday, asking if they would read it and maybe have an interest in publishing it. And they at least wrote back that they “looked forward to going over the materials” I’d sent.
What can I say?? To the moon and back, gang.
I know it’s not a lot, it doesn’t mean that the novel will appeal to them, either, but just the thought of that novel maybe seeing the light of day and not as something else I yet again have to self-publish… wow.
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Okay, so yes!! I have a lot on my plate. Oh, and Sandra called me at 5:30AM this morning! And you know what? I had just that moment woken up! I’d overslept!! Most people know I’m usually up and out of bed by 5AM, so they don’t hesitate to call me before dawn, but Sandra felt terrible that she’d called me so early and I was a wee bit incoherent….
Anyway! Yes, my plate is really full. But I don’t care! It’s all a big bunch of happy projects for me.
And tonight!! THIS:
Dinner with Kara at the Granville Inn!! And our friend Wendy might also be coming!!! I text Wendy pretty frequently but I haven’t actually seen her since last Fall. So I am super excited!!
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And I think that’s it for now. I gotta read over some pages Peitor sent and then get to a client.
Have a terrific Tuesday wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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In an unlikely turn of events — I have not only given the kittens first names, but this morning, I suddenly gave them the usual last name that I give most of my cats: “McGee”. Currently, I have McFees and McGees in the house. And these new kittens have joined the ranks of the McGees.
And when Bobbie Jo jumped up on my bed this morning, while I was sitting there having coffee — I realized that her full name is now Bobbie Jo McGee!!
Wow! So I immediately regaled her with THIS song in its entirety and she seemed to really like my singing, gang! Well, at least she stopped cold and stared at me very intently.
Okay. Enjoy this moment, gang: Janis Joplin, singing Kris Kristofferson’s timeless classic, “Me and Bobby McGee”. See ya.
I really want to pop in at the shooting range but it is a cold and dismal day. Part of what I love about going to the shooting range is that drive over there — all back roads. All hills and trees and fields and cows. Hawks and the occasional eagle circling in the big blue endless sky.
I love that. Especially on my day off.
It’s just so gloomy today. Plus, I have a bunch of housecleaning that needs doing. So, part of me wants to just stay home and clean.
Still another part of me wants to forget about cleaning and just sit at my desk and write!!
Since Peitor is involved in scoring a film in Canada right now, I won’t be hearing from him today.
And — so far — Sandra doesn’t need me today, either. So I could just sit here and write….
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Here’s something you don’t often see around here these days — the kittens sleeping!!
And the 3 that have normal legs discovered — last night — how to get up on my bed and frolic around! It was so cute!!
But it was 1:28AM….
Oh, and lest me forget that I still have that family of amazingly adorable young cats that were abandoned left here by that young married couple a year ago…
One of them has learned a new skill! In the last 24 hours, THIS happened 3 times in the upstairs bathroom!!
(Yes, 3 complete jumbo rolls of TP in 24 hours because for some inexplicable reason I kept thinking he/she would stop doing it!)
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And we won’t even discuss THIS type of thing on 4 of my window screens….
Anyway.
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I had the coolest dream last night! It was so detailed and just so cool, so empowering. I can’t even begin to describe it. But the one thing I can easily describe:
Right before I awoke, I was singing the song below in the dream — every word of it. I hadn’t thought about this song in probably 58 years!! And I still knew all the words!
When I was a little girl in Cleveland, I used to sing this song in my bed at night. Really loudly, until my brother would shout “Shut up!” from his room across the hall…
Anyway. I took this song really, really seriously when I was a little girl. (I can’t even imagine what my parents were thinking, downstairs in the living room, trying to watch TV….)
But, I don’t know, gang — it seems like some sort of good sign that it came back to me all these decades later, in “a dream”:
"The Impossible Dream"
To dream the impossible dream To fight the unbeatable foe To bear with unbearable sorrow To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong To love pure and chaste from afar To try when your arms are too weary To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest to follow that star No matter how hopeless, no matter how far To fight for the right without question or pause To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause
And I know if I'll only be true to this glorious quest That my heart will lie peaceful and calm When I'm laid to my rest
And the world will be better for this That one man, scorned and covered with scars Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star
c - 1965 - Mitch Leigh / Joseph Darion
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My life is at least interesting these days, if nothing else…
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Okay!
No Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds today. But here’s this again!! Just ’cause I love it:
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And other than that, I guess I will close this and just sit and try to figure out what I’m gonna do today.
I want to make good use of this wide-open day today, gang, because I have 6 shifts ahead of me this week (and every week after that, until I go to NYC). But I also have —
Dinner tomorrow night with Kara at the glorious Granville Inn!!
A late lunch on Saturday with my Q-following girlfriend at Tequilaville!!
So this week won’t be all about stress and work. But I still want to make today count for something.
Meanwhile, while I try to figure that out, enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!!
Wow, gang. What a beautiful day! And I have the entire day off …
Which means that I’ve already done 2 loads of laundry and I have a TON of reading to do before I call Peitor and we work on the TV pilot promo stuff later today.
Still. It is a day off from driving hither & yon, taking care of people.
But speaking of people that I take care of–
I had such a great time yesterday with my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man. We stayed in all day because the wind was beyond belief yesterday afternoon. But he had a great day, clarity-wise, and we talked a lot about so many things, especially about his dad, who also had an incredible life.
Here is a photo of his dad, from around 1930, when he was already retired but during the summer months, he ran a stall on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ. This was right at the time my client was born (his dad was 60 years old when my client was born):
My client’s dad, around 1930. Ocean City, NJ
The Ocean City boardwalk as it looked in 1930 (it is not too far from NYC, where my client was born):
And how about this incredible old hotel in Tokyo?
The Imperial Hotel, after it had a “face-lift” done by Frank Lloyd Wright:
My client and his father would frequent this hotel when they moved back to Tokyo in the 1930s. (The hotel has since been completely renovated and relocated and is now a Marriott, if I’m not mistaken.)
I have these photos because, when my client and I talk about “the old days”, I usually try to find photos on my phone of things he remembers from the past, so that he can “re-live” them a little bit more. His short-term memory is not great, but his long-term memory is phenomenal and I just like to keep him using his mind as much as possible when I’m with him.
The photo of his father is not from the Internet, though — it’s sitting out in the living room.
His father was wealthy, and when he moved back to Tokyo prior to the war, he had an enormous traditional Japanese house built that has since become a museum in Tokyo (!!). Just after the war, when the US military occupied Japan, American military officers (and sometimes their wives) occupied most of the rooms in the house. The family got 5 rooms — and the given officer and his wife would get 12 rooms!! (And the family had almost NO food, while the Americans had plenty.)
Anyway.
Another thing that blew me away — there was an American family that my client first lived with & worked for (ie. “Japanese houseboy”) when he first went back to NYC after the war, at age 17. This family was really, really good to him. They were instrumental in getting him trained to be a TV repairman, so that he could go out on his own, and they also helped him get into NYU to become an electrical engineer.
Anyway — we googled the wife of that family and she died in 2012, at age, 93, and she had 28 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren!!!
I was flabbergasted by that!! That would have been my dream, gang. To have a really, really huge family like that.
Anyway. Yesterday was really nice.
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Also, yesterday — the Bad Seeds’ Wild God Tour of North America came to an end!
About 99.9% of the images on Instagram, from the show at the Cruel World festival in Pasadena, were videos. And I wasn’t really crazy about the few photos I could find, but here’s one:
And it looks like Nick Cave is taking a HUGE 3 and 1/2 weeks off, before he starts his solo tour (with bass player) of Europe throughout June, July, August, and September!!
27 shows, gang, and almost ALL of them are already sold out. Literally.
Curiously, though, his show in Rome, Italy, on July 22nd still has tickets available. I’m guessing this is because it’s my 65th birthday and most of the people in Rome will probably be home, dedicating some sort of birthday shrine to me, but I’m not completely certain about that.
Anyway, we’ll see!
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Oh! Speaking of shrines to me…
More print book and eBook sales have posted in the various stats today!! Thank you, everybody. I really love seeing that.
I love that people are loving The Guitar Hero Goes Home — I really do appreciate that so much because I love that novel. But what really just makes my little heart beam to the moon and back, is when the original print edition of Neptune & Surfappears in the “Best Sellers” ranks, as it did again today.
Even though it’s ranked at #303,826 in Erotic Literature, it still means that somebody somewhere BOUGHT it! After 26 years since it’s original printing.
It had 6 editions over the years, in both English and French, and sold something like 100,000 copies overall (for literary erotic fiction, that is almost unheard of — and that doesn’t count when the entire book was illegally put into a torrent and downloaded for free by game boys, worldwide, about 10 years ago), but I never lose sight of how hard I worked on that first book of mine (it took me 4 years to write it), wondering if it would end up getting published and/or if anyone would ever buy it…
I gave up my songwriting career to sit at my desk and write that book and everyone I knew thought I was nuts to do that.
And I loved — so much — that Richard Kasak, the original publisher of the book, gave it such a non-sexual cover!! It meant that women, especially, could openly buy it in bookstores and easily read it on public transportation. It didn’t scream “SEX”. (Even though the book is completely 100% hardcore erotica.)
Anyway, gang. That made me so happy.
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All right, gang, I guess I better get moving here. The coffee’s all gone, the laundry is done, and I have a TON of reading to do here at breakneck speed!!
Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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No, I just can’t help it.
I always go back to Tom Petty eventually. I cannot stop loving him, even all these years later.
Breakfast-listening music!!
His totally Midwestern American coming-of-age ode to smoking weed!! Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”. 1993. Enjoy, gang. I sure did!
“Mary Jane’s Last Dance”
She grew up in an Indiana town Had a good-lookin’ mama who never was around But she grew up tall and she grew up right With them Indiana boys on them Indiana nights
Well, she moved down here the age of eighteen She blew the boys away, was more than they’d seen I was introduced and we both started groovin’ She said, “I dig you baby, but I got to keep movin’ on Keep movin’ on”
Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain I feel summer creepin’ in and I’m tired of this town again
Well, I don’t know, but I’ve been told You never slow down, you never grow old I’m tired of screwin’ up, tired of going down Tired of myself, tired of this town
Oh, my my, oh, hell yes Honey, put on that party dress Buy me a drink, sing me a song Take me as I come ’cause I can’t stay long
Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain I feel summer creepin’ in and I’m tired of this town again
There’s pigeons down on Market Square She’s standin’ in her underwear Lookin’ down from a hotel room The nightfall will be comin’ soon
Oh, my my, oh, hell yes. You got to put on that party dress It was too cold to cry when I woke up alone I hit my last number, I walked to the road
Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain I feel summer creepin’ in and I’m tired of this town again
A quick post today, gang, because the morning was so beautiful and the birds were signing like crazy (the deaf/mute birds were signing, that is; the regular birds were singing…) — anyway, I decided to go back to bed with my cup of coffee and just chill for a while before the day got going around here.
But my energy level now is really just great. I’m hoping to have a really nice day.
I wanted to post this while I’m thinking about it.
I thought it was only on Spotify so I wasn’t sure how to post it here before, but yesterday, I discovered that it is also on YouTube!! So here you go!!
Interview with Nick Cave from May 8th (43 mins):
And don’t forget — tonight is the final show in the tour. Buy tickets here!
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I’m a little sad because tonight I will watch the final episode of “Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories”. I have no idea what will take it’s place! (I think there might be more seasons, and even a film that came first, but so far I’m not finding them on Netflix.)
It is such a great show, gang. the writing is superb. You absolutely never know where the plot is going to go. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s really touching. If you have Netflix, be sure to watch it, if you haven’t already! From 2019, 2 seasons.
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Oh, I forgot to post about this!!
If you were plagued with fleas last summer — as I was!! — try this stuff out in your yard!! It was recommended to me by my vet on Vetster last summer. She helped me from completely losing my mind. (I got SC only, since I only have trouble with fleas). It is SUPER easy to use:
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And in other good news!
My insurance guy keeps on making my life better and better.
Yesterday evening, he stopped over to deliver the paperwork on my cremation/burial insurance (which, it turns out, is good until I’m 121 years old — and that scary thought, alone, makes me want to leave the planet today just so that I don’t accidentally live to be 121…). Anyway.
Because I am not on any pharmaceuticals and I have really great health, for about $3 more, they upped my coverage to $10K (which is more than enough to die on out here in the Hinterlands).
Since I’m single, with no kids or grandkids, and all my friends are either as old as I am or older than me, I really didn’t want to end up alone and unclaimed in some potter’s field somewhere. So this really just made my day.
Other than that, as much as I love to spend time with my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man, I am really looking forward to this afternoon, when I’m driving home and then having 2 and 1/2 days off!!!!!!
And I’m hoping this is in my future for Monday:
All righty!!!
This was longer than I thought it would be! I really seriously gotta scoot.
Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world!
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
The weather is just unbelievable here again today!
We actually slept with all the windows open all over the house last night — for the first time since last Fall. We (meaning me and many cats) woke up at 4AM to birds singing like crazy and a light breeze blowing through the house. It feels like Summer is really just around the corner.
And my mood is still just off-the-charts fantastic, gang. And adding to my happy mood —
Last week, I got a catalogue in the mail from a company I’d never heard of before. But I saw a couple of dresses in the catalogue that were really pretty so I looked them up online and they were ON SALE that day, with FREE shipping. So I thought, Why not?
I wanted something pretty to wear while in the rehearsal studio for the play in NYC, but I didn’t want anything too fussy or uncomfortable, etc.
Well, the dresses arrived yesterday and they fit perfectly and they were even prettier than they looked in the catalogue!! So I am super excited about that!! I am just so ready for NYC this summer!
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And on the kitten front!
It does appear that all four kittens are females. Even Wee Bonny Billy. So this morning they all got names!!
It started with Calico — the calico kitten who seems to have gotten over her eye problem, but it’s still not 100%.
But since she’s a calico, the old Tommy James song, “Calico” from 1973, always sings in my head when I’m playing with her. So she has been named Calico pretty much from the start.
I loved this song when it was a hit on the AM Radio! I was in the 7th grade:
And since I kinda wanted to keep Wee Bonny Billy’s name —
I decided to name the other kittens after the girls in the old TV show, “Petticoat Junction”!!
Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo! So Wee Bonny Billy is now Billie Jo…
Here’s the great theme song from that TV show!! I watched this show religiously in the 1960s!!
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Yesterday was a lovely day here, too, gang. So I took my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man out for sashimi and sake, and guess what??!!
Both of us got double fortunes in our fortune cookies!!
My 2 are on the top (and I’m eagerly awaiting December now…). My client agreed to read his fortunes and he found the top one particularly amusing, since he will be 95 in about 2 months…
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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds played San Francisco last night!
Only one more show before the tour is over! You can buy tickets here to the festival in Pasadena on Saturday.
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Sandra and I had a great informal chat last evening about the script revisions for “The Guide to Being Fabulous”, and she and I are both really excited about everything, gang. Finally — the play as we’d envisioned it! I will keep you posted with details when it’s okay to do that on the blog.
Meanwhile, Peitor is back in Montreal to do some film scoring work, so that means he’s back in my time zone now. And he has several texts awaiting me on WhatsApp that I need to look at before I scoot outta here!
Enjoy your Thursday, gang, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!!
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ “The Witness Song”! From their WONDERFUL album The Good Son. 1990. Enjoy, gang!!
The Witness Song
Yeah, yeah Well, well I took a walk down to the port Where strangers meet and do consort All blinkered with desire
And a winter fog moved thickly on A winter fog moved thickly on A winter fog moved thickly on
Now, who will be the witness When the fog’s too think to see
And I saw a friend beside a wall Her hands were raised in supplication And her face I could not see at all And I raised my hands in rage And brought them down again And we entered through the eastern door And I entered through the eastern door And she entered through the eastern door
Now, who will be the witness When you’re all to blind to see O yes, yes, yes
And time gets somewhat muddled here But no matter, no matter Here come the events all tumbling down Now, beyond the wall was a great garden Into which we passed Me and my friend And the place was all overgrown with weeds And behold from its centre there rose a great fountain The fountain with the healing waters Yes, the fountain with the healing waters And we knelt down by the rim And I dipped my hand in And she dipped her hand in too And I said “Are you healed?’ And she said “Well are you healed?” And I said “Yes, I’m healed” And she said “Well, yes I’m healed then too” And I said “Babe, you are a liar” “Babe, you are a liar” “Babe, you are a liar, too” Now, who will be the witness When you’re all too healed to see?
And I kissed her once, I kissed her twice And made my way to leave her And she raised her hand up to her face And brought it down again I said “That gesture, it will haunt me” “That gesture it will haunt me” And I left there by the eastern door She left there by the western door
Now, who will be the witness there When you’re blind and you can’t see Who will be the witness there When you’re all so clean and you cannot see Who will be the witness there When your friends are everywhere Who will be the witness there And your enemies have ceased to care
I know — it looks like my apartment in Paris in the 1920s, but …
Wow. So this is a cool development, gang!
Already, my psychological stress level has diminished to the point where we had TONS of really intense thunderstorms here last night — which usually triggers my PTSD — and I breezed right through it!
I didn’t even flinch! I hung out happily on the bed with Blackie & the kittens and just kept watching my new absolute favorite show on Netflix:
“Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories”. From 2019.
I love this beautiful opening to each episode. I never skip the intro (2 mins):
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If you saw my post yesterday, about the new Guitar Player interview with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai …
I know I’m getting older now, too — Steve Vai is my age, and Joe Satriani is 4 years older.
However, I remember them so well from the 1980s when they both had HAIR!!! I miss that.
Joe with hair
Steve with hair
They have a new album coming out, in case you missed that part. And a new single, with Glenn Hughes on vocals. “I Wanna Play My Guitar”:
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And to be fair: Me in the 1980s, when I also had hair!
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Oh wow, gang!!
So I guess you probably saw that all the stuff about “Pope Leo IV” was just a mistake!! A cruel lie, even!!
Here’s the new Pope!!
Pope Keith I
And while I’m at it — here’s this!!
Brian, Keith and Mick, 1965 — I love this photo:
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And on the kitten front —
Here’s something I bought that is a lifesaver!!
I was worried about using the vacuum cleaner anywhere near Blackie & the kittens because they are closed up in my room and cannot escape the scary noise.
This works great!! I’m so glad I bought it. Cat litter, cat hair, pieces of my chenille bedspread that the kittens have discovered is really fun to shred!! GONE!
I can actually sweep the entire upstairs in under 4 minutes. And it also works on uncarpeted floors, too. (Here’s a link on Amazon if you want one.)
My favorite is in stock AND 40% off, so if you need my address, just GOOGLE it!!
(Don’t use the Spring Garden St. address in Easton, PA, though, because I have not lived there in 20 years!! And someone other than me will receive this treasured item!!) (And, yes! It’s on sale now for a mere $245 plus a zillion in shipping fees!! I eagerly await its arrival, so thank you!!)
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And another photo from the show in Vancouver:
Tonight, they play San Francisco. Saturday, they play the festival in Pasadena. And then the tour is OVER!! Buy those final tickets here.
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On a happy note–
Next week is a big week for me, gang. On Tuesday, I have been invited to have dinner at the Granville Inn by my dear friend Kara!
And then on Saturday, after my midday shift, I’m having lunch with my favorite Q-following friend, at our favorite haunt — Tequilaville!!
Here’s a less warehouse-y looking shot than the one I usually post:
And here’s what it looks like inside:
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And that is it for now, because I gotta scoot!!
Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Okay, I know. But we’re still on the Emmylou kick around here, and I can’t help it!!
Here’s the song she wrote in memory of Graham Parson’s after he died — and his body was burned at Joshua Tree:
“But, to fulfill Parsons’ wishes, Kaufman and a friend stole both a hearse and his body and drove it to Joshua Tree. At Cap Rock Parking Lot, they poured gasoline into the open coffin and lit it, creating an enormous fireball. They were arrested and eventually fined $750.00, for stealing the coffin. “
At that point in time, Emmylou Harris was a backup singer for Graham Parsons. Afterward, she became a huge success on her own.
I definitely used to sing this song in my sets on the Folk Music circuit in NYC.
The beautiful “Boulder to Birmingham” from 1975. Enjoy, gang!!
“Boulder To Birmingham”
I don’t want to hear a love song I got on this airplane just to fly And I know there’s life below But all that it can show me Is the prairie and the sky
And I don’t want to hear a sad story Full of heartbreak and desire The last time I felt like this It was in the wilderness and the canyon was on fire And I stood on the mountain in the night and I watched it burn I watched it burn, I watched it burn.
I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham I would hold my life in his saving grace. I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham If I thought I could see, I could see your face.
Well you really got me this time And the hardest part is knowing I’ll survive. I have come to listen for the sound Of the trucks as they move down Out on ninety five And pretend that it’s the ocean coming down to wash me clean, to wash me clean Baby do you know what I mean
I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham I would hold my life in his saving grace. I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham If I thought I could see, I could see your face.
Just unbelievable, gang. (Regarding the news from yesterday.)
I still have the same pile of work to do, but now, just knowing that I am going to be able to retire at some point and (most likely) spend the twilight years of my illustrious life, sitting at my desk, writing…
Wow. It is a dream come true for me. It makes everything that’s going on in the here and now totally bearable.
Future me. Multiply the cat by 182…
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I don’t want to spend too much time talking about my relationship with my adopted dad on the blog, because it is going to be in my upcoming memoir (Joy: The Shortest Season) and I would, of course, prefer that you bought that!!
However, I do believe that my dad has been with me since the moment he died, and I think he was the one who “told” me to email the lawyer’s office and ask them for a copy of my dad’s Will. (This was at 4AM yesterday morning, when I’m not usually in bed on my phone, writing emails to lawyers.)
As you can imagine, it has changed my outlook on everything. I had been getting so unbelievably exhausted and depressed — that feeling that I was going to be exhausted forever. And never be able to stop working. Never be able to sit and write again… (My own stuff, I mean. Not the play or the TV show. I want to do those, but I want to do my own stuff, too.)
Anyway! Things can certainly change overnight.
Me, this morning. YES! Good news made my hair go back to being brown…
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Okay. Here’s this! Two incredible guitar heroes in one interview!!
(No, they have nothing to do with the novel I wrote [purchase here!!], but I do absolutely love both of these guitar heroes)…
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai discuss the SatchVai Band with Guitar Player Magazine (40 mins):
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And on a completely different topic– More from a deep dive into the Book of Leviticus!
Ross K. Nichols – Who’s the Neighbor You’re Supposed to Love? (56 mins):
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And here’s this!
From Seattle last night!
And you know what that means, right?
Only ONE MORE regular show left — tomorrow night in San Francisco. And then the gig at the festival in Pasadena on Saturday. And then the tour is OVER. Buy tickets here.
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Nick Cave sent out a Red Hand File yesterday. Another one about how people get his and Nicolas Cage’s names confused! Nick Cave said, in part:
“…Then Diego started crying again. I was about to explain that he’d made a mistake and mixed me up with the actor, Nicolas Cage, but he looked up at me with such a pitiful mixture of tragedy and wonder that I didn’t have the heart. “She just loves you, man,” he said. Then he asked me about my acting career. I said something like, “I’m just an ordinary person like you. Hollywood is not all it’s cracked up to be. It can be a cruel place. It gets lonely sometimes,” and so on…”
I planted two more wonderful rose bushes yesterday!! Right underneath my kitchen window. Roses are my favorite flower (followed closely by lilacs) and I am so happy to now have 3 rosebushes.
BTW — here’s the song that the Emmylou Harris song from the other day, references! The Texas Swing classic, “San Antonio Rose”! It was originally composed by Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, 1938. But it is sung here by another full-on favorite of mine: Merle Haggard!!! 1970. I love this version!!
And Peitor and I got some great work done on Episode 2 of the TV series proposal yesterday. So that felt great, too.
Other than that, I gotta scoot and head out to my shift now!!
Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Yes! Emmylou goes on and on and on around here!
Here are some words to live by!! (And sort of my life story in my 20s, if you switch the West Coast for the East Coast!!) From1978, “Two More Bottles of Wine”. Enjoy, gang!!!!
“Two More Bottles Of Wine”
We came out west together with a common desire The fever we had migtha set the west coast on fire Two months later got trouble in mind My baby moved out and left me behind But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight And I got two more bottles of wine
The way he left sure turned my head around Seemed like overnight he just up and put me down Ain’t gonna let it bother me today I been workin’ and I’m too tired anyway But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight And I got two more bottles of wine
I’m sixteen hundred miles from the people I know Been doin’ all I can but opportunity sure come slow Lord I’d be in the sun all day But I’m sweepin’ out a warehouse in west L.A. But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight And I got two more bottles of wine
Marilyn's Room 