At last!!

It will be sunny today and in the mid-60s Fahrenheit! The daffodils are still blooming everywhere — they were not killed by the recent freezing temperatures and light snow.

That, alone, is such a relief to see, gang.

Anyway.

Let’s briefly talk about Honda.

It is DONE, gang! My car is fixed. And not only that, but I also had time for them to do a tire rotation and an oil change — which means that if I want to drive to NY in mid-June for the Lammy Awards, the car is ready.

And here’s something that I found really interesting, gang– yesterday, as I was driving along the backroads to town, the thought of driving to NY again did not fill me with dread. (I’ve done the drive many times, but in the last few years, especially since all those stress-filled drives to see my dad when he was dying, I felt like I wanted to fly everywhere from now on, instead.)

It was so cool to feel that change in me. Like I had finally become independent of my grief and was becoming my true self again.

I have already bought my ticket to the Awards show. And I am looking for an affordable hotel in Midtown, in case Sandra will be out of town working that weekend.

And I sent a text to my birth mom to see if she felt like taking care of my cats — especially now that the house has central AC.

But I am intending to be in NYC the weekend of June 12th!! Yay.

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

As an added bonus from my trip to Honda yesterday….

Okay, gang. This part is INSANE.

I had a little extra time after they worked on my car to stop in at the Rural King and buy more cat food.

This was the first time I had ever been in there on a Friday and found ‘Wild Thing’ working!! I was not expecting him to be there.

But there he indeed was.

I have been trying to rein it in, inside myself, because he is half my age. I want to just sort of let this go.

But not only was he still (pleasantly) flirting with me, he SPOKE in FRENCH!!

WTF??!!

Okay. He actually has shoulder-length, straight brown hair and a full beard, mustache, etc. He’s got at least 2 noticeable tattoos. He looks like a hippie from days of yore. (And, which I have pleasantly noticed, a lot of young men are looking that way again.)

Anyway.

HE (looking at me as he was tearing off my receipt from the printer): “Enchanté.”

ME (in a tiny 14-year-old-crushing-girl voice): “You speak French?”

HE (putting my receipt in the bag and handing the bag to me): “Voila.”

WTF???!!

I cannot tell you how many people out here in the Hinterlands, let alone young people, do NOT speak French!! Not even a little bit! To the point where I have sort of found it appalling that adults around here can’t read the label on a bottle of French wine…

So, let’s recap: Not only does he remind me of every boy I fell in love with in 1974 who was nothing but trouble, he’s also into GUNS, he’s a SINGER, and he at least knows two words in French, perhaps more! (But I’ll settle for just “enchanted” — I won’t complain.)

(Perhaps the next time I’m in the Rural King, he will either whip out an accordion and start singing old hillbilly songs, or whip out a couple of the paintings he did of Montmartre when he was living in Paris one summer… Or maybe both!)

Jesus, gang. WTF?? Enchanté at the checkout counter at the Rural King??? And me, still studying French everyday since 1968…

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

Okay!

I still have about 90 pages of the final proof of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder to do tomorrow before my afternoon shift. And then I will be able to focus on the short story on Monday. I only have about 4 more paragraphs to write before it’s complete. So that’s exciting.

I did take that Stage 32 webinar yesterday afternoon after my shift.

I was wrong about a couple of things , though. Anna Henry was the instructor. The showrunner I was hoping to learn from is Jacob Tierney and the Q&A with him will happen on Tuesday, when I won’t be available.

Still, the webinar was a breakdown of the HBO drama series “Heated Rivalry.” And it was informative.

I’ve heard a lot about the show (a gay erotic drama, based on a popular Harlequin Romance series of novels), but I had never seen it. So I re-subscribed, yet again, to HBO to start watching it last night. I don’t know what it is about me, gang, but it seems that ALL these streaming hit shows that I’ve tried to watch lately — they just do not resonate with me.

I had to literally force myself to watch 20 minutes of the show last night before I gave up and immediately watched 2 re-runs of “Archer” instead and was captivated and laughing the whole time.

Who knows. But I will at least try to finish the first episode of “Heated Rivalry.” If only because so many people love it.

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

Meanwhile–

Here’s this!

More reasons to LOVE Bob Dylan!!

Please note: 2 packs of Chesterfields on the table, a bottle of red wine, perhaps even coffee, assuming the red wine is not in the coffee cup… and a typewriter!!

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

And here’s this!

Wow, gorgeous.

It has something to do with the Oscars the other night, but I don’t think it was taken then. I do not know where this is or who took the photo. But the producers of the film that Nick’s song was in (which was nominated for an Oscar) posted this photo.

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

And here’s this!

The Stones in a publicity photo for “Miss You” in 1978:

And, well, here’s this, while we’re at it! Such a great song!! I was 17 when this came out:

***********

And here’s this!

Keith. 1992.

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

And, judging by the clock, I better scurry or I’m gonna be late!!

Back to see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man! (Yesterday, we went out for sashimi and sake, and this time I was really, really careful about how I parked my low-riding Honda Civic. When I helped him out of the car, he said: “You parked about 3 feet away from the front curb.”)

Yes I did!!

Okay. Have a great Saturday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

I’ve posted this song here many times, but here it is again!!

I probably don’t have to tell you why!

France Gall, “Laisse tomber les filles” !! En francais. So much fun. Enjoy, gang!!

Okay, so it almost feels like today is finally going to be a “normal” day, energy-wise. We shall soon see.

It seems like my life has been on Mars since last Friday, when the high winds, snow, power outage began….

Along with the many trips to the Honda dealership!

But guess what!!

I got back to the Honda dealership early yesterday morning. Only had to wait 45 minutes and then the service guy came and got me from the waiting room. Which, you know, was nice because it wasn’t a long wait this time. However, the dealership is literally 5 minutes from my Tuesday clients and I suddenly had an hour and 45 minutes to kill — and it was 21 degrees Fahrenheit out there with a light dusting of snow everywhere.

But I digress.

The service guy told me: “It needs a different part. We’ll have it here by tomorrow morning.”

Oh, how nice! So I get to go back to Honda on Friday at 9AM!

But the good news is that instead of $245, it’s now only going to cost me $106. Total. Parts and labor. That’s it. So, like, wow.

It has just been so weird around here. But this is a good weird. It’s costing a lot less. And I purposely did not schedule the next Honda appointment for tomorrow because it is my DAY OFF. And NO repairmen are scheduled. (Although I still don’t know when the roofers are coming by to fix my siding…) (Wouldn’t it be cool if they also told me: “It’ll only cost you a total of $106” ??) (Methinks it won’t, but I’m not going to complain.)

Anyway!!

Thursday is all about me sitting at my desk and going over the FINAL proof of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. (Which I was supposed to do over the weekend but you know how that went…) But I’m looking forward to some peace tomorrow. Finally.

**********

Okay!

Since I haven’t really been posting here in several days, I have way too many “here’s this’s” stored up, so I’m only going to post a few of them today.

First and foremost–

I LOVED THIS!!

Yesterday was not only St. Patrick’s Day, it was also Patti Hansen’s 70th birthday!!

Keith posted 3 photos of them, but this was my absolute favorite!!

Wow. Encroyable! So beautiful.

(And today is their daughter Theodora’s 41st birthday, but he hasn’t posted anything for the “Blonde Teddy” yet.)

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

But here’s this–

Still Keith, still beautiful, but a whole different kind of thing–

***********

And here’s this.

From Phyllis Stein.

Mick and David Jo at Max’s in NYC 1973! (I actually remember this photo from my wee bonny teenaged girlhood. It was probably in CREEM Magazine!!)

***********

And I was actually able to get a few updates about the upcoming Shane MacGowan tribute album, but here’s this from Johnny Depp yesterday:

And then there was also this over the weekend:

It is not available yet for pre-sale on Amazon US, though.

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

And speaking of Johnny–

2 of my all-time absolute favorite photos of Johnny, ever. They were in GQ Magazine back in 1993. (Yes, I had them taped to the wall in front of my desk back then — in the apartment on West End Ave in NYC.)

***********

And since it was Mother’s Day in the UK this past Sunday, someone re-posted this classic gem!

Nick Cave with his mum in Australia, maybe around 40 years ago?

And here’s this! (Having nothing to do with Mother’s Day, except that his mum was the sort of portal through which he arrived here…)

Nick Cave, happy:

And as a Nick Cave-related aside: Wow, was “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” an incredible movie. I was really just stunned by every moment of it. I am so glad I saw it on a big screen, in an actual theater.

********

And on a different note… this is a shorter version of a zoom we had in the “Christianity Before Paul” course.

James Tabor: A Band of Sisters: The Forgotten Treasure of the EARLY Jesus Movement! (30 mins):

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

And that is it for now!

It is still cold here, but SUNNY!! And it will be getting warmer again as the days go by. Just in time for Spring.

And now I gotta get ready to go see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man! (I have driven 360 miles since I went to see him on Friday and we had the fateful mishap with my Honda in the parking lot of the Peony Bistro.)

I’m really tired of driving. But off I go, anyway.

So have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

Okay!

This one goes out to Patti from Keith!!!

“Wild thing, you make my heart sing!!”

Enjoy, gang. (Again and again.)

The power was only out for TWENTY HOURS.

I am not exaggerating.

The house was fucking FREEZING, since, obviously, the furnace did not come on for 20 hours.

But, of course, the worst part were those high winds for hours and hours and hours. The whole house was shaking for a while there.

And in addition to chasing down the cat houses & lawn chairs that were blowing down off the porch and then all over the back yard or out into the street — while the wind was nearly blowing me over — I also had to chase down the panels of siding that blew off my house, so that when the roofers come back — again — they won’t have to buy new siding. Just replace the old panels.

And the other good part is that, of course, I love those Amish guys. They do great work and it will be nice to see them again. (And if you give them cash, they give you a discount!)

And on to other good news that is house-related.

Remember how I posted here the other day that my mortgage payments are going down starting in May?

On Friday, I got a check from the USDA , and it was a refund for my escrow payment on the house!!

I kept looking for any sort of fine print — you know, anything that said that if I cashed the check, they would come right over and take back my house. But no fine print was on it anywhere at all! So, off to the bank I went!

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

And in all seriousness, I don’t know how I would have made it through Friday night without Valerie in Brooklyn.

You can only guess that my PTSD was in high gear for many hours, since the wind storm started while I was still over at my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house. And the winds only got worse when I got back here to the village, which is in a valley surrounded by foothills and attracts wind like crazy.

Anyway, Valerie texted me, saying she was keeping her phone in her lap & to keep her updated, and that she was praying for me and for the winds to die down. And every so often, she would text: “How are you doing?”

Thank God we could still text even though the power was out for miles.

It meant the world to me, gang. And it really did pull me out of the PTSD. And when the winds finally dropped from 55 down to 34, I felt like it was her praying that was doing it and I was able to fall asleep.

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

Okay.

On yet another topic having to do with Angels appearing in my life!

Tomorrow morning, I have to be at the Honda dealership at 8AM !!! Yes! They are 30 miles away from me and tomorrow is my day off… however, the Honda dealership is not far from the mall where I’m seeing the Elvis movie in the afternoon! So that’s nice…

But the Angel part–

Yesterday, I took my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man out for sashimi and green tea (no sake yesterday because he was having complications with his wooden leg and I didn’t want him to fall down). And when we got into my beloved Honda Civic to head back home, the underside of the car scraped against that little curb thingie in the parking space and it made an awful sound.

Oh shit.

So I got out of the car and tried to see what had scraped loose and immediately a man in the parking lot came right over and actually got down on the ground and looked under the front of my car.

And he not only knew exactly what had happened, he actually had a knife in his pocket and tried to fix it. But he couldn’t. But he pushed it back into place and said it would be okay until I could get to a garage and have it fixed properly.

Where the heck did he come from, right?? What a nice man! And he knew all about cars!

And sure enough, the part didn’t come loose, and I was fine driving the 30 miles back home yesterday afternoon. And, hence, the reason I have to go to Honda at the crack of dawn on my day off tomorrow…

But you know how I love those service guys at the Honda dealership! So it will be nice to see them again, too! (And they also give you a discount if you pay cash, but methinks I don’t have enough cash to be paying everybody cash this week…)

*********

Of course, this also means that I won’t be posting to the blog tomorrow, since I have to be out of the house by 7:15AM…

**********

Well, I have lots of “here’s this’s” for today because I didn’t post yesterday, but now I am running out of time here.

I need to shower, wash the gorgeous hair, and be ready to chat with Sandra before I head out later to see the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat.

But I will post this–

I have no clue if this is true or not. Nick Cave’s boyhood home?

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

And here’s this!

Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Woody Guthrie in NYC in 1954!

*********

And this song seems so obviously about the death of the kind of radio we used to love listening to in the old days — not sure how people could get the wrong idea about it. But anyway–

**********

And here’s this —

Keith backstage at Madison Square Garden in 1975!

**********

And now I better scoot!

Enjoy your Sunday wherever you are in the world!! (I know I sure will! The “high winds” we’re supposed to get today and tonight will only be 18 mph. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get worse than that.)

I’ll be back on Tuesday.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

Let’s close with this!

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. “The Last DJ,” 2002, from the album of the same name (and also from the posthumous “Best of” collection). Enjoy, gang.

“The Last DJ”

Well, you can’t turn him into a company man
You can’t turn him into a whore
And the boys upstairs just don’t understand anymore
Well, the top brass don’t like him talking so much
And he won’t play what they say to play
And he don’t want to change what don’t need to change

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

Well, some folks say they’re gonna hang him so high
Because you just can’t do what he did
There’s some things you just can’t put in the minds of those kids
As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see
How much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
And there goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

Well, he got him a station down in Mexico
And sometimes it will kinda come in
And I’ll bust a move and remember how it was back then

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

c – 2002 Tom Petty

Well, not so much.

But the electricians were here for about 4 hours yesterday and they did GREAT work. And by that, I not only mean that they gave me a new breaker panel–

OLD one (fire hazard):

NEW one:

They also gave me a new outside meter. I wasn’t expecting that, gang. But they took out my recently installed “smart” meter, which I hated because not only are those smart meters fire hazards, too, but it made my head ring & buzz like crazy!

Now the constant noise in my head is gone. What a relief.

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

So they did great work. And they were really friendly. And I sat at my kitchen table and worked on my short story (the old fashioned way — pen and paper! Since all the power was shut off for 4 hours.)

And then I suddenly decided to call Sandra. When she picked up her phone, a man in the background shouted out, “Hello, Marilyn!!”

Shit! It was Wayne! Such perfect timing! (If you’re new to the blog — Sandra’s new NYC apartment is one block away from Wayne’s.) (Yes, the home I used to share with Wayne when we were married.)

In fact, in this building on West End Avenue, 10th floor:

Anyway. More good news about “The Guide to Being Fabulous” in NYC. I can’t talk about the details yet but it gets more exciting every day.

I think it is okay if I at least say this– this fantastically talented women is onboard now and really helping us move things along:

“…Singer, songwriter, actress, composer, pianist, raconteur, Barsha is just as comfortable fueling the grooves on a George Clinton album as she is composing the score of an off-Broadway musical about pop-art icon Keith Haring (RADIANT BABY). With a career that includes television soundtracks, one-woman shows, children’s musicals and international tours with post-mod British pop-stars (Thomas Dolby), Barsha manages to put the undeniable stamp of her own musical personality on the full spectrum of her work.”

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

And today, Sandra will be checking in with one of the producers we sent our TV proposal to, so I will keep you posted on that, too. I can at least say this — we already have a showrunner onboard!! He is incredible. This does not mean they have offered us a contract yet, but still!

FYI — “A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors…”

So, fingers crossed, everybody!!

**********

Okay, here’s this!

There is an upcoming tribute album to Shane MacGowan, coming in November. There are over 33 musicans included so far, including Johnny Depp and Tom Waits.

The announcement was all over my Instagram feed yesterday, but it was a reel and I couldn’t get a good screenshot of it yet. I will keep you posted, but here’s this for now:

***********

And here’s this!

The Stones in Manchester, looking out a window in 1965:

And 4 of the Stones in an airport wearing sunglasses!

And here’s Keith and Mick backstage somewhere in 1975:

**********

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of this fantastic album!!!

Dwight Yoakam’s Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. from 1986!!

Let’s revisit some of it again, shall we??!! Fabulous video for this song, gang. I miss the 80s so fucking much!!

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

And here’s this!

Tom Petty, when he was DJ-ing his satellite radio show, “Tom Petty Radio” (you can still listen to the archives of it on Channel 31, Sirius XM):

***********

And some Nick Cave news!!

Here’s this!

“The official soundtrack to Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is out now.
 The soundtrack features 36 tracks in total, including a newly recorded version of ‘Red Right Hand’ by Nick Cave.

“The film is out now in cinemas and on Netflix 20th March.”

And yes, I have my alert set for it for its release on Netflix!

Not only that, but I have THIS!!!!

On Monday, my favorite Q-following girlfriend and I have tickets to see “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert”!! At the the cineplex at the mall!

When I texted her and asked her if she wanted me to buy tickets to see the movie with me–

SHE: “Yes!! Don’t forget to get the Senior Citizen discount!!”

Crimony, gang! I never ever even think of myself as a Senior Citizen, so I never think about getting a discount… but one was gotten by me yesterday!

And here’s this!!

Just gorgeous, I’m speechless.

Nick Cave, smoking, with “Elvis” hair!!

And here’s this!!

Today is the 36th year anniversary of the release of this incredible song.

I don’t know if it’s my absolute #1 favorite Nick Cave song of all time, but it actually might be. “The Ship Song”:

Let’s — I don’t know — bow our heads and listen again:

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

And I guess that’s it for today!!

I gotta scoot because it’s Friday and I want to celebrate that fact. So I’m stopping at the gas station on my way to my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house to pick up these, so that he can celebrate Friday, too!!

And with that —

I hope you have a celebratory Friday, too, gang, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

Let’s close with this!!

So funny. (2 mins. 40 seconds) Enjoy, gang!!