I did manage to salvage yesterday by making a trip into town and chatting with actual people, so that I could get out of my own head.

The bookstore where I’ll be doing my book signing next month, was looking for donations of children’s books.

I actually have a ton of children’s books. Most of them have sentimental value for me, but I had about 8 books that were basically brand new — meaning, never been read. And they weren’t connected to my childhood in any way, so it gave me a good excuse to get in the car and get out of my house.

A few of maybe a total of 50 children’s books, very used, that I won’t ever part with:

And while I was at the Historic Arcade, dropping off the children’s books that I would part with, I stopped in at my friend’s art gallery and chatted with him and one of his customers for a little while. And then headed to my favorite health & wellness store, and chatted with my girlfriends in there for a while. So I was feeling a lot better by the time I got back home.

Yesterday was not a fun day. Between the horrible Twin Towers “anniversary” and all those awful memories, and then getting the news that my new novel was experiencing some sort of shipping delays (fixed now, btw).

Also, my publisher had spent a good chunk of money on getting advanced reviews for my book — and of all the many total strangers who downloaded a digital copy several weeks ago — not a single person reviewed the book.

I was hoping for at least one good review, but I wasn’t planning on no one at all reviewing it.

Plus, it was sad to be at a stage in my life where I had no one at all to go out with last night and celebrate having such an important book (to me) finally published after nearly 3 decades.

I was also missing my long-gone family, since it was the start of the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah, last night, too.

But I tried to put my thoughts elsewhere. Focus on everything that’s going well, overall. So I got through it.

And now here I am. A whole new day — and I see that I have 3 new auditions awaiting me from a potential narrator for my audiobooks!

And Sandra called this morning and she had GREAT news. (I will keep you posted about all that — but I can at least say that I will likely be in NYC for 1 or 2 nights in late January, and I can never get enough of NYC in late January!!! Yay!!!)

Anyway!! On we go!

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

Guess what amazing thing happened 60 years ago today, gang??!!

YES!

A true highlight of my wee bonny girlhood in Cleveland–

The Monkees premiered on TV!! I was 6 years old and I loved it!!!

And I will never forget this opening theme song as long as I live!! And if you have TUBI, you can watch the old Monkees re-runs for free right now:

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

Okay.

Here’s this!!

Not a lot of people remember that when the Rolling Stones toured Europe in 1976, Marlon Richards was briefly part of the band!

But here’s proof!!

And here are a couple more photos of Keith that I liked:

And — No! As loyal readers of this lofty blog no doubt recall, Keith was NOT the one who turned me on to Jack Daniels!! (It was a little Jewish girl named Karen!!) (I don’t think Keith knew Karen… but not sure.)

Keith, July 1972!!

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

I loved this photo!

A couple of Bad Seeds on Portobello Road yesterday!!

George Vjestica and Larry Mullins!

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

And I loved this photo, too.

Peitor Angell and I once had a really great time in Mel’s Drive-in on Sunset Blvd. It was when we were first getting our micro-mini film production company, Abstract Absurdity Productions, off the ground, creating the first scripts.

We laughed so hard that whole night! Great memories.

***********

And here’s this!!

Nick Cave smoking, Kylie laughing(?), in 1996!!

And I liked this photo, too!

Eye catching!! (Photo by Will Collier)

And speaking of Nick Cave–

A few updates!

It is the 10th Anniversary of the release of the album, Skeleton Tree, by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. A beautiful album, whose timing was intense, since one of Nick’s sons died at the same time.

You can listen to the whole album on your favorite streaming platform HERE.

And it is also the 10th anniversary of the documentary, “One More Time With Feeling,” that was filmed at the same time:

I’ve watched the film a couple of times. It is really good, but, of course, very emotional.

And Nick Cave’s ceramic figures, “The Devil– A Life” return “to Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar, Netherlands as part of Celebrating the Icons of Art, marking the museum’s 10th anniversary.”

“The exhibition also features work by artists including Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet and Gerhard Richter.”

You can get more info HERE (but it is not in English).

What an amazing line-up of artists, right?? Congratulations, Nick Cave!!

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

And I guess that’s it for today.

I hope you have a great Saturday, wherever you are in the world, gang.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

Let’s close with this!

Even though I have a TON of reading to get through before I head to James Tabor’s conference in North Carolina in 2 weeks…

I’ve been reading Conversations With Tom Petty by Paul Zollo (2006), for the past several nights.

In my opinion, it is so much better than the popular biography that came out about Tom in 2015, because in this book it is just Tom talking about his whole entire life, and all the music he created along the way, for 302 pages!! With many photos.

I just finished reading the chapters on The Traveling Wilburys. It seems like it was such an incredibly fun time for all the musicians who were involved with that. (Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne.) And I love that album.

So here’s this!

“Handle With Care,” The Traveling Wilburys. 1988. Enjoy, gang.

“Handle With Care”

Been beat up and battered around
Been sent up, and I’ve been shot down
You’re the best thing that I’ve ever found
Handle me with care

Reputation’s changeable
Situation’s tolerable
But baby, you’re adorable
Handle me with care

I’m so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won’t you show me that you really care?

Everybody’s got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine, and dream on

I’ve been fobbed off, and I’ve been fooled
I’ve been robbed and ridiculed
In day care centres and night schools
Handle me with care

Been stuck in airports, terrorised
Sent to meetings, hypnotised
Overexposed, commercialised
Handle me with care

I’m so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won’t you show me that you really care

Everybody’s got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine, and dream on

I’ve been uptight and made a mess
But I’ll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh, the sweet smell of success
Handle me with care

c – 1988 – George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy K. Orbison