All righty, gang.

Most of the snow is gone, but it’s grey and dismal out there. Friday will be colder but very sunny. So I’m gonna let my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man decide if he wants to go get that sashimi & sake today, or wait until Friday!

We shall see! But either way, I’m really looking forward to seeing him again today. It’s been 12 days!

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Okay. Before we go any further, I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist that you listen to at least one verse of THIS!! It is the essential background music for what I will say next!

Did you play it??

Okay. I’ll wait. One verse is enough….

Okay!! Yes!!!!!

I had to run a couple of errands for my clients yesterday, and one of the stores I needed to go to was right next to the Rural King, so I dashed in for some cat food and what to my wondering eyes should appear????

Yes. ‘Wild Thing’ was there.

And not only there, but he was just standing there. With nothing to do. No customers in his check out lane.

However. His little green light wasn’t on, so it looked like his lane was closed. I went to the lane next to his and he actually called out to me:

HE: “Hey! What are doing?”

I turned and looked at him.

ME (smiling, my heart beaming): “Are you open?”

HE: “Yeah, I’m open. Get over here.”

ME (as I went directly over there): “But your light isn’t on.”

He turned his light on.

HE: “It is now.”

And then guess what happened, gang?! We had an actual conversation. And guess what it was about?? He was very excited because he’d just bought one of THESE and had gotten a great deal on it:

Yes! ‘Wild Thing’ is into guns. Does it get better???

When he said he had just bought an AR 15, my eyes popped. And when he told me what he’d paid for it, I literally said, “Holy cow!”

(BTW, the Rural King sells fire arms.)

Anyway, he was sort of excited that I knew what an AR 15 was.

I won’t go into the whole conversation but I wanted to whip out THIS!! (92 out of 100 bulls eyes.)

However, I don’t actually carry it on me…

But seriously, gang. It was so fucking cool! We had an actual conversation. And it was about guns.

Does it get better?? We shall see.

************

On another happy note–

The weather was so beautiful yesterday, and it got up to 52 degrees Fahrenheit, and a lot of the snow did indeed melt so there were patches of green grass everywhere.

I could not wait to get home yesterday and let Kon Tiki back outside!

Wow, was she happy. A little stunned, because there still is a bunch of snow out there, but I knew she was going to be okay.

It really made me so happy to know she was back in her element.

*********

All right.

If you are into LGBTQ literature, or want to support Lambda Literary, there is a virtual Town Hall meeting next Wednesday, February 18th, at 4pm. It is free but you have to RSVP.

“The event will be moderated by Executive Director Jozie Clapp and Board Chair Gary Mobley. Jozie and Gary will share updates about Lambda Literary, their visions for the future, and answer questions from attendees.”

You can register HERE.

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And over at the Merwin Conservancy (“Rooted in the convictions of renowned American poet W.S. Merwin, The Merwin Conservancy imagines ways of engaging with place, poetry, and practice), they had a few announcements to make.

This one popped out at me. It suggests a donation of $15.

Tuesday, March 10, 2 pm HST/ 5 pm PDT/ 8 pm EDT on Zoom

“Join us for a virtual screening of acclaimed writer & visual artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths’ Green Room presentation at the Honolulu Museum of Art, which coincided with her recent residency at The Merwin Conservancy.”

“Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a poet, visual artist, and novelist. She is the recipient of the Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award and the Paterson Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award…”

–among MANY other achievements.

You can register for the reading HERE.

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Okay.

Here’s this!

A few from Phyllis Stein:

The New York Dolls at Max’s in NYC in 1973:

Iggy on the cover of the French magazine Rock & Folk:

Keith on the cover of Rock & Folk:

*********

And here’s this!

I don’t know who took the photo, where it was, or when it was but–

Keith smoking! Oh, and Eric Clapton smiling:

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And here’s this!!

Oh no!

No photos of Nick Cave!!!

Aw, well.

The tour’s over….

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And Letter from Ireland has a special podcast about St. Valentine and his connection to the city of Dublin:

“…if you ever happen to find yourself in Dublin on this special day, be sure to drop by the Whitefriar Street Church (The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel). This church houses the remains and relics of St. Valentine himself, and many couples visit to ask for his blessing as they embark on this new journey together…”

You can listen HERE (30 mins).

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And that is it for today, gang. I’m gonna get ready to head to town and see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man!

Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I will leave you with this.

Yes, when it was finally time to get out of bed for real, I hit “PLAY” on the retro boombox next to my bed. There’s a “Beat Generation” Anthology on cassette in there, and this is what came on!

I listened to it while making the bed, getting dressed, switching between my nicotine toothpick and sipping my already cold cup o’ Joe, and I was kind of blown away by the courage so many writers had back then. I used to take it as a given that writers had courage.

I used to have courage. I don’t have a whole lot of it right now, because of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder getting ready to be unleashed on this currently very chaotic and polarized world. But I’m working on it.

Anyway. Allen Ginsberg, reading his poem “America”. Enjoy, gang.