All right, gang.

Yesterday was great.

I can’t go into all the details about this part yet, however–

I had to take my client to the dentist yesterday afternoon. And while I was alone in the waiting room, waiting on him to be done with his appointment, Sandra called!!!

Since I was alone, I was able to take the call. And she has heard from the producers we sent our TV proposal to and they loved it!!!!

That’s all I can post publicly for now, but, wow, this is so exciting!!

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The other exciting news—

Yes, I went to the Rural King yesterday morning.

And, yes, ‘Wild Thing’ was there.

And since I had about a cart-load of cat food, I let the older man behind me in the line, who only had one item, go in front of me. And it turned out the older man knew ‘Wild Thing’ and they started chatting and I started eagerly eavesdropping!!!!

Wow! I got an earful!!

And everything finally became clear to me!

Why it is I behave like a crushing 14-year-old whenever I see ‘Wild Thing’. And why he reminds me of every boy I was crazy about in, like, 1974…

Anyway.

He’s a SINGER!!!!

He’s been singing in local bars for years. My guess is some type of Country music, since the older guy was a farmer and knows ‘Wild Thing’ from a bar he used to sing in all the time, but the bar’s been torn down.

The older man was kind of talking to me, too, so it wasn’t like I was being totally rude or anything. I was being included. And it made it incredibly simple for me to leap in and start asking questions of ‘Wild Thing’ when it was my official turn in line, no longer piggy-backing on the conversation by way of the older man.

Our (brief) conversation was very enlightening, gang. And it was like a whole door to everything sort of blew open. Finally. After all these months.

And no way on Earth is he as young as I kept thinking he was. I’m still old enough to be his mother, but now the vibe just got totally different.

I will keep you psoted. (That is pronounced: ‘p – soh- ted’ but it still means ‘posted’.)

***********

All righty!

Here’s this! More excitement!

Attention all artists! The winner will be welcomed into The Art of Elysium, will be featured in Art Forum, and will win $25,000! Visit this LINK for details!!

*********

And here’s this!

Keith and Anita, on one of Anita’s birthdays, long, long ago! Anita looks happy. Keith looks bewildered. I think that’s called love.

*********

And here’s this!

Yet another gorgeous Native American! (Created with Edits) (Please create one of these for me. Thank you.)

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And this!

Some info from Dwight Yoakam (and ZZ Top)!

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And here’s a different Anita altogether!

And I guess this is what true love looks like!!!

Nick Cave and Anita Lane!

And a handful of decades and lightyears later…

Nick Cave, waiting alone on a bench, looking splendid.

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And I guess I better scoot. I have to head to town soon to see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man.

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

Let’s close with this!

From the late, great Buddy Holly! (Who, apparently, still lives…)

“It’s So Easy” (to fall in love), 1959. Enjoy, gang!!

Yes, the snow is gone around here. It barely lasted through the morning yesterday before it all melted away.

However, from today onward, RAIN! Which means: to town & back, to town & back, etc., etc., in rain.

I don’t care!! I prefer sun, of course, but rain is better than snow. I am so ready for Spring, gand! (Alternate spelling for “gang”.)

Okay, guess what??

I made a HUGE dent in my “List of Things To Do Immediately” yesterday!! I almost can’t believe it.

I got all my current self-published titles — 8 are currently available — loaded, linked, etc., for the upcoming re-launch of the Indie Author Bookstore.

I have been trying to get all my various titles (self and otherwise published titles — 10 total) organized and available online before that Indie Author bookstore does a huge press release, and before my new novel comes out with Parisian Phoenix Publishing.

I still have 6 time-consuming things to do on my list, but they aren’t needed as immediately as all that stuff I did over the last few days. So it feels great.

I was kind of surprised to see that I have 10 books and/or eBooks in print. Some of it still needs organizing, but I usually think that most of my books are out of print now (a huge number of them are). So that was an interesting discovery.

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Okay.

I spoke with Sandra yesterday and she had some great news!! It is about our play, “The Guide to being Fabulous,” off-Broadway, but I can’t really post about it yet.

And she did a live in-person streaming interview thingie at The Beechman Theater in NYC over the weekend. She said it went really great.

I believe it will soon be uploaded as a “prior podcast” thingie. Just look for “You Might Know Her From” at Apple or Spotify, if you’re interested in hearing it!

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

Sandra also has some new digs in NYC (do people still use that word “digs” to mean a place to live in?), since she has to be in the city a lot right now.

Anyway, she’s in a huge apartment that she splits with a girlfriend and Sandra said that I can stay there probably for free, if I come to NYC while the other girl is out of town. Which I guess is most of the time. (It’s the other girl’s apartment.)

Anyway.

The apartment is literally one block away from the apartment wherein I used to live with Wayne when we were married — in which Wayne is still living.

I think that will feel so strange, gang. To be so close to where my other life was for so many years. I’m guessing I will sob uncontrollably but keep it all hidden, as I always do.

But I guess we’re gonna find out how it feels pretty soon.

But it’s all good, gang.

**********

Okay.

Today is Tuesday!! Which means I stop at the Rural King to buy cat food before I start my shift!

Yes, my favorite 2 and a half minutes of the week will soon be underway — assuming ‘Wild Thing’ is working the checkout.

Meanwhile,,,,

Here’s this!

A color version of the Rolling Stones from that same photo shoot in London, 1969, that my favorite poster from my wee bonny girlhood was from (only in black & white):

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And speaking of black & white–

Here’s this!!!

Allegedly from March 2nd 1997 —

Nick Cave, wearing one of my favorite shirts! (Well, it’s his shirt, just a shirt I always liked!) (I don’t think I have ever seen this shirt in color, though. I have no idea what it looked like in “real life”.)

And in Berlin, in 1986, photographer Peter Anderson managed to capture a moment in time when Nick Cave was smoking!! Yay!!

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And that’s actually it because I gotta scoot!!

(I will be unbelievably thrilled gang when the days return wherein I don’t have to split my life between (even a part-time) job and everything else I have to do before I die…)

Still, have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

I leave you with this!!

Such a fantastic groove. I love Keith’s vocal here! (Do they still say ‘groove’?)

Levon Helm, Keith Richards, Scotty Moore, D. J. Fontana & The Band: “Deuce & A Quarter“:

There wasn’t one word about it on the weather app!

Amazing.

But guess what, gang? I don’t have to go anywhere today, or do anything outdoors, so I don’t care.

But the electrician had to postpone until Thursday, because out where he lives, at the lake, they are getting a ton of unexpected snow, which means no snowplows have been out there yet.

Anyway!

My cold is finally fucking really GONE. And I slept for 7 and a half uninterrupted hours last night, so I woke up in just the best frame of mind today.

And I am just feeling really good about everything.

Let’s start off with this!

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Lou Reed!! A man, songwriter, musician I adored.

And here’s this, to help celebrate the day! “Perfect Day”, Lou Reed, 1972:

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BEFORE I FORGET!!

Again!!

Yesterday, the “Read an eBook Week” Sale over at Smashwords got underway!

For this week only, my THREE eBooks published there are FREE to download! ADUTLS ONLY!!! (“Thank you for your attention to this matter.” – DJT)

The Muse Revisited, Volume One: Early Erotica

The Muse Revisited, Volume Two: Erotic Novellas

The Muse Revisited, Volume Three: More Early Erotica

And the reason I say that only 3 of my eBooks are free over at Smashwords this time is because–

Freak Parade is now back at Kindle! And until Friday, it is free to download, if you are in Kindle Unlimited!!

Download it HERE! (Adults only!!!)

“The Independent Publishers Award-winning erotic novel, Freak Parade. Explicitly erotic and blisteringly hot, written by one of America’s top erotic authors, Freak Parade is also ‘a complex, literary novel, and yet one that is a real page-turner in the best sense. Lewis knows how to create compelling minor characters without wasting the reader’s time with descriptive prose that is too elaborate. Her dialogue is focused and believable, and it fairly sparkles off the page as one reads it. Perhaps best of all, her portrayal of the downtown Manhattan demimonde reveals her knowledge of and love for one of the most exciting periods in the history of the city, and it will appeal to everyone who was there or who wishes they had been there.’ —Ron Bass, In Search of the Wild and Wonderous“

Freak Parade was my first self-published novel, back in 2011, and not only did it win a prestigious publishing award in NYC right off the bat, but many thousands of you have bought and/or downloaded this book since then. Which has meant so much to me.

(Yes, this was the book that the new erotica imprint at Harlequin was set to publish for a six-figure advance at Christmas 2005, when the Editor-in-Chief at the time announced at a staff meeting that he would never publish a piece of filth like Freak Parade, ever, not in a million years… etc., etc.)

But on we went!! I eventually published it myself and it’s still here!

And until Friday, FREE to download at Kindle Unlimited.

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Big City Lit, in NYC, announced that it has a new issue up — the Winter 2026 issue! Poetry, fiction, nonfiction and book reviews.

You can READ IT HERE. FREE!

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

And Sandra is calling sometime today.

And in about 15 minutes I have a phone call with my Accountant in NYC, so I gotta get moving here.

And then I will be working on CHECKING OFF more things from my “List of Things To Do Immediately”!!

So here’s this!!

Two photos of Nick Cave!!

Nick with 3 dolls — 2 of them Living Dolls, one doll of “Himself”:

And Nick smiling, young — unusual, in and of itself!! (Not the being young part, the smiling part!):

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And that’s it!!

Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

Let’s close with this!

I’ve posted it here before, but since it’s his birthday!!

One of the many demos I made of my song “Lou”. This one, I made with Peitor Angell and Stephen Blades, in Peitor’s studio apartment on the Upper West Side, back in the late 80s.

Yes, this is the version of “Lou” about which the beloved Bob Cato, who was still at Columbia Records back then and trying hard to get me a record deal, said, “Why are you singing like that? What am I supposed to do with this??”

[A little about Bob Cato: he “…designed and oversaw hundreds of albums for dozens of artists, forging lasting relationships with many, including The Band, Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Janis Joplin, and Van Morrison.” You can see why it meant so much to me that Bob thought I had so much songwriting talent. He was such a wonderful human being, too. So kind. Invited me over to his house to meet his wife. Took me to lunch. Took an interest in my whole life.]

Anyway.

For Lou Reed. Enjoy, gang.

LOU

Come watch the rain
Wipe out the ballgame and 
Strike-out the names
Of players who’d gamble
With needles and dreams
In a game that’s as ruthless
as whiskey on speed

Who’ll call the game
On account of the rules being
Too tough to save
Any losers who’d forfeit
In a halo of fear?
Well, shame takes a holiday,
Let’s have a beer

CHORUS:
Fight, and maybe you’ll find
A reason to smile 
At the end of the line
Why don’t you fight?
Maybe you’ll win
And you’ll have some stories to tell 
For trying

Strike up a tune
For those who surrendered
And ducked out too soon;
Vice in the shadow
Was no easy crime
Let’s make it a double
For auld lang sine

You carve your name
In seasons of anger
of laughter and fame
To warn of the dangers
In packaging pain
For lives that get tossed
On account of the rain

© 1984 Marilyn Jaye Lewis
First of May Songs, BMI

I won’t go into everything I really think about what’s been going on with Iran for the past month or so, but I found this so interesting.

Ross K. Nichols posted this in his Patreon group about an hour ago and suddenly the timing of bombs this morning is making sense. Ross is a Biblical researcher and scholar. He’s not into politics:

Today is called Shabbat Zachor, which means the Sabbath of remembrance. There are additional readings from the ancient Torah cycle today on Shabbat Zachor, 1 Sam 15, and Deuteronomy 25:17-19.

This “special” Sabbath before Purim is associated with the killing of Haman, the Jew hating descendant of Agag (Esther 3:1; 9:24), who was the king of the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15).

Amalek is biblically the archenemy of God whose hand is against the throne of Yah (Exodus 17:8-16) and who attacked the weak and feeble continually (Deuteronomy 25:17-19).

The story of Haman’s foiled plot to kill the Jews in the book of Esther is the ultimate tale of turning the tables. The evil planned by Haman became the story of his own demise. The story is set in Persia, which is modern-day Iran.

Today in synagogues around the world, Jews will be hearing the message of the defeat of Amalek while the world wakes up to learn that U.S. and Israeli forces are jointly bombing targets in Iran.

As a Bible guy it’s not difficult to associate the characters of old stories with our modern cast. Let’s pray that Haman gets what he deserves, and that the world soon sees a new Cyrus leading the ancient, proud, and wonderful people of Iran. Cyrus, was, after all, the non Jewish messiah (Isaiah 45:1).

So today, I pray for the freedom of the people of Iran from the oppressive, and evil regime and for a possibility of peace that comes from this war.

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Today is also the heavenly birthday of this guy.

Brian Jones in 1967 — Happy Heavenly Birthday:

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Today is also the 5th anniversary of the death of my adoptive mother.

One of the few nice memories I have of her is how she used to read to me from books we got in the mail from the Dr. Suess “I Can Read It All By Myself” book club, in the early 1960s.

By the time I was 2 years old, my mother had explained to me that I was adopted, that I had another mother somewhere. So when this book came into our home, it really, REALLY jumped out at me:

I still have the book. And the book has a happy ending, in case you aren’t familiar with it. (And my search for my birth mom has an ongoing happy ending, too, btw.)

Me and Wayne, visiting Cherie, my birth mom, while on our honeymoon in 1993. I love her t-shirt! (“Caution: I go from 0 to bitch in 4.2 seconds”):

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Speaking of mothers…

From James Tabor — A “deep dive” into his latest book, The Lost Mary:

“The materials contrast the traditional, theological image of a silent virgin with archaeological and textual evidence of a resilient Jewish matriarch who raised eight children. By examining the socio-political climate of Roman-occupied Galilee, the sources describe Mary as a working-class survivor whose family served as skilled builders in the city of Sepphoris. Tabor argues that later church dogma systematically erased Mary’s humanity, royal lineage, and revolutionary influence to fit a specific religious narrative. Ultimately, the text reclaims Mary as a pivotal leader and the primary source of the radical social ethics later championed by her son.” (29 mins):

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Here’s this!!

The back cover copy of my upcoming novel from Parisian Phoenix Publishing, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder:

The publisher, Angel Ackerman, told me yesterday that they expect proofs and author copies in a few weeks (!!).

The official publication date will likely be in early September.

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And speaking of Jesus (sort of)!

Here’s this!

From my private desktop stash, Nick Cave onstage, drinking and sporting a JESUS tee!

And here’s this, minus the Jesus thing!

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And I think that’s it for now. I want to try to make a dent in some of the things on my “List of Things to Do Immediately” before I head into town to see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man.

Here’s hoping we’re all gonna have a good Saturday, wherever we are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

*********

I leave you with this!

I am so totally loving this show, gang! (Short) “Riot Women” on Britbox/BBC:

I left here early yesterday to take my laptop to the Geek Squad over in town because the screen remained frozen for 3 hours, and all the usual things you do to shut it down were not working. (The reason I couldn’t post to the blog yesterday.)

The whole way over there, I kept praying that I would have enough money to pay them, because I’ve been trying to keep room on my credit cards for traveling not for fixing laptops, and I prayed that the problem would be easily fixable because my entire life is on my laptop.

(I have two other laptops for backup, but I haven’t backed either of them up since last fall.)

(And oddly enough, I’d been thinking lately that I wanted to backup the other laptops, but I was, like BUSY…)

Anyway. Got to the Geek Squad. And the Geeky guy working there who was absolutely without doubt young enough to be my grandson, and who was very, very polite as he listened to my story… Well, he pressed the ‘power’ button (as I had done about 10 times), and the laptop totally worked again just fine.

Yes, in under a minute! Working just fine.

And he didn’t charge me a dime!!! Yay.

And this morning, when I got on Amazon Kindle to try to take care of getting rid of the extra eBook edition of Twilight of the Immortal (the one published through LULU that is not available anymore) — well, Voila! It was already gone! Yay! (and the Kindle version’s sales ranking was still hanging in there at an impressive #277 in LGBTQ Historical Fiction! Pretty nice number for a novel that’s been around for 15 years.)

And then I took a peek at the ranking for the new Kindle edition of The Guitar Hero Goes Home — and it was ranked at #249 in LITERARY FICTION!! Wow, gang.

It isn’t just the numbers that interest me, it’s the categories these books end up in.

So that was really thrilling. (And if you are in Kindle Unlimited, both of the above eBooks are free to download until tomorrow.)

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On a tiny down turn…

James Tabor released all the info to book his “Tracking Jesus Tour” to Jerusalem in late May, and I absolutely 100% without doubt, cannot afford it.

I need funds available to get to NYC, and then in September, to both the Ross Nichols weekend conference in Louisiana and James Tabor’s weekend conference in North Carolina.

So here’s hoping by the time he has the next tour, I will be able to afford it. I really, really want to go to Jerusalem with James Tabor. That is my life’s dream. So we shall see. (As most readers of this lofty blog no longer remember — I am actually in the process of writing a play, “The Gospel According to Caiaphas“, and Tabor’s tour to Jerusalem focuses on all the archeological stuff connected to Jesus’ life and death. So having that experience would help my play enormously.)

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Now, back to the amazing stuff!

How would you like to see THIS return address on a package in your mailbox???!!

I have known this package was coming for about 2 weeks, gang. And I have to say that, just knowing it was coming, gave me the happiest Valentine’s Day ever.

That man that I told you about recently, who sent me a photo of the Tom Petty Valentine on Instagram — he actually bought it for me and had it sent to me.

Wow, gang. That just thrilled me! And yesterday, it finally arrived.

**********

And as I try to compose this blog, I am sort of surrounded by a couple of very busy carpenters, putting in my new basement stairs!

Cutting wood out on the porch. Bringing it in and taking it down to the basement. Saws. Hammering. Cheerful chatting on this sunny morning in the kitchen!

Yes. A lively kitchen right now as I try to type, but it’s finally happening. I will no longer be terrified of going down to the basement to change the filter in the furnace… Yay!!

And of course Kon Tiki has also been coming in and going out of the kitchen with the carpenters, adding to the chaos (she likes people, especially men, she just doesn’t like other cats).

But oddly enough, Sandra has NOT called, wanting to chat!! So I think it only works when the AC guys are here.

**********

Before I forget.

My best friend on Earth, Valerie in Brooklyn, recommended this show to me the other day. It’s on Britbox (Amazon Prime) in the US.

It is really good. A drama. An intense drama. Very well written. Great acting. Really unexpected and engaging storylines. About some angry women of a certain age who decide to form a rock band. I’m really liking it a lot.

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And here’s this!

Apparently February 22nd was the anniversary of the death of Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

He always claimed he was not a Beat poet but he sure was instrumental in getting those Beat poets out there.

“…the first series he published was the Pocket Poets Series. He was arrested for publishing Allen Ginsberg‘s Howl, resulting in a First Amendment trial in 1957, where Ferlinghetti was charged with publishing an obscene work—and acquitted.”

He was the owner of City Lights Books publishing and the now-legendary City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. He was 101 years old when he died.

Long-time, or perhaps, rabid readers of this lofty blog perhaps recall that the very first book I ever stole from a bookstore (the only one, actually) was this one:

I was 13 years old and an avid poetry reader and when I saw this re-issue of A Coney Island of The Mind (originally published in 1958) in the bookstore at the mall, I had to have it and I had no money.

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Okay.

Here’s this!

A couple more photos in honor of the Heavenly Birthday of George Harrison, which was yesterday.

A quote from Tom Petty after George died:

George, smoking:

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A couple of photos of some Stones in London in the 1960s, by the Danish photographer, Bent Rej:

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A great photo of Lenny Kaye!!

I have never seen a photo of him at such a young age. (Also, I used to read CREEM magazine, religiously!! It was “America’s Only Rock & Roll Magazine”!!) (Lenny was a co-founder of and guitarist for Patti Smith Group.)

From Phyllis Stein, Lenny in NYC in 1971:

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And here’s this!

Nick Cave at his bar mitzvah onstage in Melbourne, in 1985!

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And I think that is it!!

I still have a ton of stuff to tackle here today. All of it important, all of it requiring my complete attention, and I still have only partial use of my brain because that cold I caught is still lingering…

OMG!!

The train that runs right outside my house is just now passing by and one of the carpenters down in the basement is now singing this!! My very favorite train song of all time!!

Yes, truly a glorious day out here in the Hinterlands.

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Well, enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

Jeepers, gang. You know, yet another email arrives this morning wherein I am reminded that something else urgent needs doing.

This time: the Indie Author Bookstore is about to launch and I still need to get all my book covers & links uploaded.

Well, obviously, I need to take care of that. But I’m not sure when — Thursday??

I am getting a lot done. I am. However, it amazes me that there is still more that needs doing . Still trying to tackle that back cover blurb for The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. (If anyone out there has read this book, can you shoot me a short email and explain to me what it was about??)

Honestly, it feels that way to me. Even though I wrote it. The novel is surprisingly subtle , even though there is a lot of brutal, crude, crass, raw stuff in there that’s right in your face. But there is also this tiny voice beneath all of it that says: with the love of family, everything is endurable; without it, you’re fucked.

Methinks if I put that as my back cover blurb it wouldn’t attract enough readers…

So on I go.

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Meanwhile!!

It was kindly brought to my attention by Martha, that if you don’t join Kindle Unlimited my free eBooks are not quite so free. However!

The Guitar Hero Goes Home, Kindle version, is still free to download until Friday (if you are in Kindle Unlimited).

BUT ALSO!!!!

The re-published Kindle version of Twilight of the Immortal is now also free until Friday (if you are in Kindle Unlimited), and guess what??

Last night, it was ranked at #119 in LGBTQ Historical Fiction!!

That just made my wee bonny heart jump for joy! Yay!

You have to use THIS link though. (The LULU version still has a link out there but that eBook is no longer available. Something else I need to take care of…)

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And here’s something else that made me happy.

An artist from Ecuador that I follow on Instagram messaged me yesterday to show me a painting he was posting that was based on one of my photos from my NYC hotel room this past summer.

I thought that the fact that he even did that — and the painting itself — were just beautiful:

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This also made my day (night)!

I got a lovely letter last night from a girl I will call “Anonymous” but she informed me that she’s been trying to read my novel, 1954 Powder Blue Pickup, but that she has to keep stopping to sort of “take care of herself” and then is too distracted to get anything else done all day…

And THAT, dear readers, is why I wrote the book!! Yay!!

So!! If you’d like to have a similarly distracted day, you can buy the novel HERE (eBook not currently available). (ADULTS ONLY!!!)

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Okay.

Here’s this!

From Phyllis Stein. The NY Dolls outside their tour bus, in LA, in 1973:

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And here’s this!

Sandra posted a photo from the set of “The Ms. Pat Show” (Jordan is one of the Producers):

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And this!

From Keith’s official Instagram page the other day:

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And I love this.

Richard Hell and Susan Sontag in NYC in 1978:

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And I loved this, too, although I can’t believe it was already over a decade ago…

Nick Cave, on tour with the Bad Seeds, in Milwaukee, in 2014 (he seems to be smoking & drinking, but I’m not entirely positive):

But just in case he is, here’s this! Jerry Lee Lewis, “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out of Me)”:

(If you are not old enough to know this — there used to be a popular Schlitz beer commercial on TV many years ago, saying that it was the “beer that made Milwaukee famous”.)

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And now I gotta scoot!

Yes, it is Tuesday! The day I go into the Rural King to buy a lot of guns cat food, and hopefully see ‘Wild Thing’ at the checkout counter for approximately 4 minutes!!

We shall see, gang!!

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

Let’s leave with this today!

I have posted this here before, but I just looked at my phone, and apparently, it is at the top of my Playlist for driving-to-town music for this morning!

Play it loud, sing along, perhaps even get into your car and recall vivid memories of my wee bonny girlhood, and have a splendid morning.

Joni Mitchell, “You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio”. Enjoy, gang!