The good part was…

We had such freakin’ high winds yesterday, that it blew almost all the snow completely away!

So, even though it is a hearty FOUR degrees Fahrenheit out there today (with high winds making it “feel like” -2), at least it’s sunny and I don’t have to remove any ice or snow from my car.

Yay.

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Well, yesterday, I did re-read the play “Cowboy Mouth” (written by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith in 1971). And I was indeed sort of fascinated by it.

If you missed my various posts about that play — I first read it 50 years ago, while in a mental hospital after a suicide attempt, and it was my first exposure to both Sam Shepard and Patti Smith. And I was completely in love with Patti Smith from that moment on — she gave me hope for my own life and a reason to go on living.

In fact, about a year after I was released (after Horses had also come out), I wrote Patti a letter, telling her that her writing had saved my life, not knowing that her mom got all Patti’s fan mail back then and her mom wrote me back the most beautiful, heartfelt, handwritten letter.

By then, I was 16, and that letter meant so much to me, gang. Kindness was in really short supply in my life back then. And I never forgot how that letter from Patti’s mom made me feel.

You know, in the decades when my books and short stories were really popular, I would always reply whenever readers would write to me. In the early days, before personal computers and email, they were handwritten letters, forwarded to me by various publishers. And I always wrote back. Even to that one guy in Oregon, who had written to say how much he hated a short story of mine which he had just read. I wrote him back a short note, thanking him for taking the time to write to me, you know? For expressing himself. And that, while I didn’t agree, it hadn’t fallen on deaf ears.

Anyway. Back to the play.

What an insane play. One act. About 21 pages. But what totally intense pages they are. It’s basically funny but it did take a lot of risks. With language and vivid imagery. And I can see why I was so taken with it — no woman on Earth that I had been exposed to by that point ever used language the way Patti did.

[From the late Sam Shepard’s website.]

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All righty.

Here’s this!

Another lovely photo of Johnny Thunders in LA in September 1973:

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And the photos from the Adelaide concert (just finishing up as I type), are already getting posted to Instagram!!

This photo, though — I’m not sure if it’s from Adelaide. but I’m guessing it is:

And the Nick Cave newsletter went out this morning, with some great reviews of the Perth show:

“…an electrifying crescendo of faith, fury and fragile joy”
The Guardian

“From the moment Cave sauntered onstage and greeted the crowd with a wave and a high kick, it was as though there was a pact with the audience – much like his Red Hand Files website and mailing list, Cave and his people were here for each other.”
Rolling Stone

“…his artistic evolution as a musician over the past 40 years is extraordinary.”
WA Today

“Cave conducting the Fremantle Park choir. It was a truly special moment to end an amazing, intense show which reinforced the sheer power and beauty of music as art.”
100% Rock Magazine

And you can buy tickets to the Sydney shows HERE! (January 23rd & 24th)

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After completing the final edit, the publisher of my upcoming novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, sent me a one-sentence email yesterday:

“It’s a beautiful book.”

Wow, gang. That made my day. Especially since this particular novel sort of stresses me out a lot.

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Other than that, I guess I better scoot. I want to head into town early and run some quick errands before my shift.

Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!!