My favorite 95-year-old Japanese man insisted I leave 2-hours early today (with pay!!) because he was worried about me driving back to Muskingum County in the snow.🥰
What a sweetheart. It is really coming down out there, gang. But now I don’t have to go back out until tomorrow afternoon. ☃️❄️☃️
Yay! Happy Saturday!!🥰🎄🥰
Snow tonight and some seriously well-below freezing temperatures for the next 2 days.
But we’ve got all our Christmas stuff up and lots of snuggly blankets on the couch so I’m guessing it’ll be great! (Plus, I have a 2025 Honda Civic Sport, which, you know, basically starts just by looking at it.)
We also have this — some of you may remember this from last winter. The milk house heater!!
This heater is so powerful. It not only keeps all my upstairs pipes from freezing out here in the Hinterlands, it heats the entire upstairs.
And most importantly these days — it turns itself off at the slightest bump. So no kittens will be toppling it over and setting my house on fire!! Yay!!
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Okay.
As promised!
James Tabor’s new course with Myth Vision, “Christianity Before Paul”, went on sale yesterday. The early bird special price is $49.95 (until New Year’s Eve).
Visit this link to read about the course and/or order it!
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Over at Metrograph, they have some seriously great International Arthouse films that you can watch at home this December! ($5 monthly subscription, but so worth it, in my opinion!!)
Independent films from Romania, Iran, Portugal, Jamaica, Brazil, and China. (These are generally vintage films, from 10-20 years ago. Some are even older. Great filmmaking from around the world.) (But this also means reading subtitles, just FYI. So if you tend to watch movies at home while totally stoned, or something along those lines, all that reading might seem like too much work. You decide!!)
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Also–
If you’re interested in natural health and healthy eating, as well as prayer and bible-based eating, check out Healthy in Heart!
Biblically Inspired Wellness for Body, Mind & Spirit
I just ordered their “The Daniel Fast 21-Day Meal Plan: Simple Plant-Based Nourishment for Mind, Body, & Spirit Eat Well. Pray Deep. Stand Strong”.
This is something Ross K. Nichols is doing (the Daniel Fast), beginning the first of the year, so I wanted to look into it. (I’m a member of his private Patreon group.) I thought the premise of the entire site was very interesting.
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Okay!!
We’re on a roll!
Nick Cave smoking!! (And toting a smoking gun!)
And here’s the song that goes with it! “We Came Along this Road”, by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, from their incredible 2001 album, No More Shall We Part. (I’m not 100% certain, but I believe this was his first album post-heroin addiction. It’s a great album. Such beautiful songwriting.)
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In fact, No More Shall We Part contains a few of my all-time favorite Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds songs, including this one: “Hallelujah”:
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Well, yesterday’s adventure with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man, at the restaurant at the golf course with the splendid views, was a complete success.
Wow. Did he have a great time, gang. And not just because he got to have his ONE vodka martini.
The place is already beautiful — the architecture especially, but it was indeed all decorated for Christmas. And the restaurant has 2 fireplaces, which are always a great thing to decorate at Christmas!!
And the food there is casual, but really, really good. (Although he always takes 3 bites and then says, “I’m full”, and he takes the rest home.) But the food there is always just really good. I’m guessing it comes from local farms since it’s way out in the middle of nowhere.
For me, it was poignant for 2 reasons. I have been able to take him there 4 times this year: Spring, Summer, Fall, and now Winter. And the views are just so incredible, in any season. But I also know this will be my last time taking him there. (Oh, and a ladybug landed on the window right next to me (inside), and I took it as a sign that either my dad, his dad, or his late wife — or perhaps all 3 of them — were joining us there for a final time.)
My client not only loves the views from the restaurant, but the drive there and back (20 miles each way) is mostly on backroads, so he has just the best time looking at all that nature — the hills, the trees. They go on forever. Any season, this drive makes him so happy.
As always, for me, it made it a day of driving 100 miles total. But I don’t mind because he loves it so much.
And after lunch, we stopped again at the Nature Preserve by his house, and we sat in the car with the heat on, and just looked at all the nature for about 20 minutes. So it was a really great day.
And soon enough, I’m heading right back there, but we’re staying in today.
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Other than that, I guess I better scoot!
Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!
I’ve moved on to “A Very Special Christmas” — the first album, from 1987. Wasn’t that a great album, gang??
Here’s The Pretenders singing, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. Enjoy, gang.
So, not only will I be celebrating Christmas today with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man by taking him to the restaurant at the golf course that has those spectacular views —
But, whoever it is who’s in charge of the weather around here must be reading my blog because it is going to be less cold as well as SUNNY this afternoon!!
This is just wonderful news, since — as you may recall — my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man has a wooden leg and needs a cane and constant physical support to get around. Sunshine and no snow/ice/wind makes our outings so much easier!! Yay!
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On a serious note–
If you are prone to praying, please say a prayer for my best friend in the world, Valerie in Brooklyn, because she has to get heart surgery next week.
She is claiming it is a simple procedure and that she goes home that same day. However. You know. I just don’t want anything to go wrong!!! So please pray for her and for the surgeon’s steady hands!! Thanks, gang.
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Speaking of my best friends–
Sandra and I had a great chat yesterday, just to catch up and say a pre-“Merry Christmas”.
She has been busy this past month, filming an independent feature film, and some staged readings at the Public Theater in NYC. But in 2026, we hit the ground running, again, on “The Guide to Being Fabulous” as well as our other project that I can’t really tell you about yet, but I’m guessing that by now you know it is related to developing a TV streaming series.
However, we also decided yesterday that I am not going to continue pursuing “Tell My Bones” as a theatrical piece anymore, and will go back to the original screenplay version (also for streaming TV).
That version of “Tell My Bones: The Helen LaFrance Story” has already won awards and it is a beautiful script, meant for Sandra to star in as Helen LaFrance (the folk art painter from Kentucky). So we are excited, gang! This time, it might actually get made!! So much has changed in the streamer world since my agent first took it around.
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Okay!
Another shot of Johnny not-smoking at the Red Sea Film Festival!! From yesterday:
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And I’m not sure about this one, but I think this is a photo of Keith smoking… (either that, or he’s on fire):
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I am 100% sure, though, that this is a wonderful photo of Nick Cave!!
And the wonderful song that goes with it — “Wonderful Life,” from the Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album, Nocturama. 2003:
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Okay.
So yesterday was really productive, gang. I did so much work on the 12th Street project that I didn’t even have time to do yoga.
Well, I was getting ready to do yoga but then Sandra called, so I said, you know, “fuck it” and spoke with her for over an hour, instead!!
You know, we had to talk about everything — not just our projects. She had to find out all about my new friend Johnny!!
SHE: “Oh, he sounds so nice!!” (He is, gang.)
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In gathering all my notes together for my 12th Street project, I came across this and I had to sort of sit down so that I didn’t fall over.
If you are unfamiliar with my short story, “Night on 12th Street”, I wrote it especially for Karen Finley‘s anthology, Aroused. It came out in hardcover in 2001, from Thunder’s Mouth Press.
But the story was also picked up by several other editors and websites after that.
While the story was written in 2001, it was about my years living on E.12th Street in Alphabet City in the 1980s (NYC’s East Village), and being in love with the guitarist, Blaire N. Bitch.
The thing I came across that made me have to sit down, was page one of the Table of Contents from Karen Finley’s book. Look at the company I was keeping here, gang (and this is just page one of the writers included in the book):
You might not be old enough to recognize all these names but they were heavy hitters back then.
If you’re not into book publishing — where your story gets placed within a collection also has a lot to do with the recognize-ability of your name.
I had somehow completely forgotten about all this that was happening for me back then. Hubert Selby Jr was a friend of mine back then. (His story appears right before mine.) He is the (late) author of Last Exit to Brooklyn, among other classics. And he supported my work so much. He really catapulted me into a new stratosphere.
Anyway. The 12th Street project is about the steady erasure of all the writers back in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, who were writing either experimental sex stuff or literary erotica. And this, of course, includes me.
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Well, I gotta scoot, so more about this project as it develops. I’m still just in the note-gathering stage.
Have a terrific Friday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I gotta leave you with this!!
From the same Christmas collection I posted here yesterday, Darlene Love’s smash-hit Christmas song from 1963!!!!
Now a classic — “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)”. From A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. Enjoy, gang!!
Sorry I’m late!!
I did not get out of bed until 5AM today! And so I am getting a slow start here.
Before I forget–
If you want to download any of my erotic eBooks for FREE on Smashwords during their Christmas sale, I posted individual links to all 4 of those titles over on my substack page.
Here is the link to that page.
The sale continues until January 1st, 2026. All titles are for adults only. “Thank you for your attention to this matter. –DJT”
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Yes, it’s snowing again here but I don’t really care. I have to make a quick trip to the Dollar Store, but otherwise, I’m planning to stay in today and work on that 12th Street project that I’ve been putting together for about a week or so.
And other than that, I’m going to try to just sort of “re-charge.” I am once again exhausted.
But I had a great time with Johnny at Tequilaville yesterday! And it turns out we have TWO things in common!! Not only does he like to go camping, he also likes to shoot guns! And he offered to either come with me to the Buckeye Shooting range (which would require me to un-pause my membership there, but I don’t mind). Or just do target practice on his property! Yay!
But since I don’t own my own 22mm Glock, we might end up at the shooting range. I guess we shall see!
So my upcoming retirement is panning out splendidly: go camping; shoot handguns; write novels. (Oh, and I guess have a play produced Off Broadway…)
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And on a sort of humorous note… Johnny told me to be careful about retirement because I might end up with nothing to do all day… (I think I fell out of the booth over that comment).
But to be fair!! He doesn’t know me yet. We’ve only just met. I told him that I had “a lot of writing to do”.
The current tally:
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Okay!
I think this is so cool!! I love this novel, gang.
From Variety yesterday:
Johnny Depp Sets First English-Language Adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s Classic ‘The Master and Margarita’
“Johnny Depp is set to produce and possibly star in the first-ever English-language film adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s Russian literature classic The Master and Margarita.
The project, which currently does not have a director attached, is being produced by Depp’s own IN.2 Film shingle in tandem with “Jeanne du Barry” executive producer Svetlana Dali and Grace Loh….” [full article here]
And Johnny (Non-Smoke) is currently at the Red Sea Film Festival. This was taken from some footage on Instagram:
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And since Johnny doesn’t appear to be a smoker anymore…
We will let Keith (from yesteryear — he doesn’t smoke anymore, either) pick up the slack!!
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And Nick Cave seems to have taken 14 seconds off to do nothing and perhaps celebrate the holiday season…
So here’s a re-post of a photo from yesteryear, instead!
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Here’s this!
From James Tabor — a podcast with Professors Helen Bond and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (UK). Discussing James Tabor’s new book, The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus.
A Ride on the Biblical Time Machine— All Aboard! (47 mins):
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Well, my shift yesterday, with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man, went splendidly.
We primarily discussed WWII, Hitler, Roosevelt — oh, and why oh why, if Roosevelt was such a great guy, was he allied with Stalin??? Hmmmm….
Okay, we won’t go into all THAT right now!
And after carefully perusing the weather maps — we have decided that TOMORROW we will return to the restaurant at the golf course that has those incredible views!! AND which is now decorated for Christmas!! Yay!!
So that will happen tomorrow in very cold temperatures and light rain but no ice or snow…
(But now decorated for Christmas)
So that should be fun!! (He always gets to have ONE vodka martini when we’re at the golf course!!)
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And I think that’s it for now!!
Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!!
Not only is this possibly the best version of this song, EVER!
But while I’m playing it endlessly (on repeat) in the car, I picture Ronnie Spector and Keith Richards snuggled in bed together in, like, 1963 (??!!) (He wrote about her very lovingly in his autobiography LIFE.)
What a great vision that is, gang — to have rolling all over your head while you’re driving 95 mph down the empty freeway in the Hinterlands!!
“Sleigh Ride,” The Ronettes. From the fabulous Christmas collection, “A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector”, 1963. Enjoy, gang!!
I’ll start with the sad update first.
Yesterday, the Mavericks announced that on Monday night, December 8th, Raul Malo passed away from the cancer he was battling.
There had been a huge benefit/celebration of his career in Nashville over the weekend, that Raul’s wife had posted tons of footage from all weekend, so it was kind of a shock that he died on Monday. But she did also post some footage on Instagram of his bandmates serenading him in his hospital bed over the weekend, too, and the shots of Raul looked really startling. It was very clear he was not going to make it, but how poetic that he survived through the celebratory weekend and then died the following day.
Here are some segments of what the band posted yesterday:
And here is the first Mavericks song that I absolutely fell in love with! I used to play this song over and over and over. From their 1994 album of the same name, “What A Cryin’ Shame”:
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In happier news —
Nick Cave has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his song in the Netflix Train Dreams movie!
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And —
Another photo of Johnny Smoke in Tokyo by Ross Halfin:
And I have to add, gang, that in all the TONS of photos and videos of Johnny in Tokyo lately, I never saw him with a cigarette! Not once.
If he doesn’t start smoking again soon, I’ll have to change his name…
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And also!!
A couple of great shots of Keith.
From 1975, as the Stones were preparing for their fucking AMAZING “Tour of America 75”!!
And in 1988 — no longer an addict, married to Patti:
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And here is something that is more personal.
Most of my family, on my birth dad’s side, came from Pikeville, KY.
[Part of my dad’s family in Pikeville, before he was born — my Aunt Bobbie Jean, my Uncle Earl, my Grandad, and a neighbor. Late 1930s.]
And as luck would have it!! A large portion of my new novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, takes place in Pikeville, KY. Although I simply call it Pike County in the book.
Wayne and I went to Pikeville on our honeymoon, in May 1993. So he and I are both very fond of Pikeville.
Anyway. From Instagram. A random shot of Pikeville in 1974!
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Okay, so I survived another “10-hr. Tuesday” yesterday. It was nowhere near as intense as last Tuesday’s shift had been, so that was good.
Another nice thing is that, once the really long shift is over, I’m super excited when I finally get back home and unload all the groceries and put everything away!! I can finally collapse. Yay!
And now I can finally collapse with all the Christmas decorations up!! Double yay!!
And today, directly after my shift with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man, I will indeed be meeting my new, not-95-year-old, friend Johnny at Tequilaville!! Yay!!
I am really looking forward to it. I don’t care at all that it’s rainy and cold out there, either.
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And now I gotta scoot!!
Enjoy your wonder-filled Wednesday wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this.
This is another one of those poetic things.
The Mavericks also posted that Raul died exactly 36 years after their first professional gig:
I want to take a moment to share Raul Malo’s incredible voice once again.
“O What A Thrill”. 1994. By the great Country songwriter, Jesse Winchester. Enjoy, gang. So beautiful.
"O What A Thrill"
Oh girl any moment
I may kiss your lips
Oh it's been awhile
Since I felt like this
Oh girl please don't refuse me
Oh I'm so scared you will
Oh what a thrill
Oh what a thrill
Stars in the sky
Stars stand still
Oh what a thrill
Woman words fail to me
Your skin is sweet and warm
I want to console you
And hold you in my arms
Oh once you were my baby
You're my baby still
Oh what a thrill
Oh what a thrill
Stars in the sky
Stars stand still
Oh what a thrill
Oh what a thrill...
c - 1989 Jesse Winchester
Since tomorrow is 10-hr Tuesday and I won’t be posting to the blog, I thought I’d get back on here today and post this.
The Smashwords annual Christmas sale begins today and runs through January 1st 2026.
All 4 of the eBooks that I have published on Smashwords are FREE to download during the sale. However, they are all meant for adults only.
Since Smashwords has now basically been absorbed by Draft2Digital, it is arranged a little differently now.
Just visit THIS LINK. And in the Search toolbar at the top right of the page, enter: Marilyn Jaye Lewis. (It might ask you to click on something about wanting to see erotic content.)
You will get a drop-down menu for all 4 of the titles I have on Smashwords. And just a reminder — these are all older works, from 1994 to 2011.
Thanks, gang!! Enjoy the rest of your Monday!!
Not only is the laundry halfway finished already, but I’ve actually already been out to run my errands here in the village.
It is fucking FREEZING out there today, gang.
So freezing, in fact, that Kon Tiki of the Great Outdoors deigned to come inside for over an hour this morning…. (usually, she graces us for about 15 minutes at a time.)
Now that Big Blackie and Little Blackie have passed away, Kon Tiki is the only cat who lives out on my kitchen porch now, but I still have the four straw-filled cat houses out there that the neighbors made for me last year. And Kon Tiki uses all four of them now. I never know which house she will come out of in the morning when I open the kitchen door and call her in for breakfast… She’s mean but she’s too cute!!
We have sort of a dreadful week coming up — weather-wise. Mixes of snow & sleet with temperatures way down in the teens Fahrenheit almost every morning.
But dreadful weather aside — I’m waiting for a text from Johnny today to confirm if we’re meeting for lunch on Wednesday! (He claimed last night on the phone that a little weather won’t bother him!! Yay.) So we’ll see.
We might actually even go HERE!! (I know that shocks you!!)
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Okay.
Today is that sad anniversary that comes every year…
45 years ago, on December 8th 1980, John Lennon was murdered.
And I know I’ve posted this article from Rielpolitik many times… but here it is again, in case you never actually read it:
KILL THE MESSENGER: The Murder of John Lennon by CIA Operation 40 – By Gualdo Hidalgo (from 2022)
“…The presence of Jose Perdomo at the crime scene is the unequivocal proof that CIA murdered John Lennon. Jose (Sanjenis) Perdomo, Chief of the Secret Service at the Presidential Palace in Havana during President Carlos Prio Socarras, a CIA veteran, worked for CIA/Miami station in the early 1960s, and recruited most of the members of Operation 40 – a CIA assassination squad most of whom were Cubans” [full article here]
And in terms of my upcoming (forever upcoming!) memoir about my intensely troubled but also beautiful life in the 1970s [Joy: The Shortest Season]…
It begins with John Lennon, in 1971, and it ends on Dec. 8th 1980, with the murder of John Lennon about 3 weeks after I had moved to NYC.
It’s all those other pages that come in between those two events that I still have to write….
Yet another reason that I cannot wait until I retire!!
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Okay.
Yesterday, I forgot to mention that it was Tom Waits 76th birthday!!!
I found this great photo at PunkRockGraveyard on Instagram yesterday, but forgot to post it:
And even though it is hard to choose a favorite song of his, this one is usually what I consider my favorite!! “Jockey Full of Bourbon” from his spectacular 1985 album, Raindogs (yes–featuring Keith Richards on many songs!!)
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From James Tabor this morning.
His upcoming new course about Christianity before Paul, that I am eagerly anticipating, was supposed to be out today, but now it is coming out on Friday, December 12th:
“…I like all three of my previous courses–Mark, Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Paul, but this one by some measure is the most important in that it pulls together a broader view of the first 100 years of the Jesus movement– or should I say the John the Baptist/Jesus/James/Ebionite/Nazarene movement. Among the extra topics are Marcon’s Gospel, Theophilus of Antioch, Ebionites beyond the Jordan, selected Nag Hammadi and so-called Gnostic texts, the role of Woman in the movement. The Zoom meetings will then have formal presentations, with an hour or so of discussion, and distributed materials. Sorry for the delay, but it will be well worth the wait!”
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And on a sort of similar note…
This article was posted on Bart Ehrman’s site the other day. Very interesting!
Essenes: Beliefs, Significance, Links to Dead Sea Scrolls — By Marco Marina, Ph.D
“There are many paradoxes embedded in the world of the Bible and the origins of Christianity, but few are as striking as this: one group that has become central to modern scholarship on both Judaism and early Christianity is never mentioned in the Bible at all. Not even once. Yet their ideas, writings, and communal life have profoundly shaped the way historians reconstruct the religious landscape of the late Second Temple period. I am referring, of course, to the Essenes, a group many readers first encounter not in Scripture, but through modern discoveries. …” [full article here.]
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And last but nowhere near the least!!
Nick Cave sent out a Red Hand File today that just astounded me. Not what he said — I really enjoyed what he said — but the tone of some of the questions he was answering today was just — I don’t know, gang. Nick Cave deserves a medal of valor for putting up with some seriously opinionated shit stuff.
Here’s just one of the questions today from a reader in the UK: “Love the Files. Almost. Can you let us know when you are going to mention God, Jesus, etc., so we don’t waste our time reading it? Love ya.”
You can read Nick’s beautiful replies HERE.
And here’s this —
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And on that lovely note, I guess I’m gonna scoot!
I want to finish the laundry and do a bunch of dusting and vacuuming today. And the Amish guys are coming this afternoon to fix the stuff hanging off my roof.
In the middle of all that, I am hoping to get some writing done!! We shall see!!
Meanwhile, enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world.
Thanks for visiting!
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!
I’m picking up some good vibrations, how about you??
Sent by my new friend Johnny the other day. Enjoy, gang!!
Last evening, I was in my family room watching a movie on TV when I heard something at my front door.
My front door doesn’t open. My kitchen door is my main entrance to the house.
I got up and looked out the front door window and saw that a package had been delivered! Yay!
So I went to the kitchen and went outside, walked around to the front porch to get my package, and WOW, gang! It was the first time I’d seen the front of my house, after dark, since all the Christmas stuff had gone up inside.
It looked so pretty through the windows. I could see the Christmas tree, all lit up in the dining room, and my family room looked like somebody actually lived in there! Not just the Christmas stuff, but the TV was on, a cat was curled up on the couch, and there were all my bookshelves filled with books, and photos and art stuff on the walls.
You could see all the way into the kitchen, where there are more Christmas light, more art on the walls, little lamps lit.
And I think what made it all seem really welcoming is that I have incandescent bulbs everywhere. (Except for the Christmas lights, which are LED.) And incandescent light gives such a warm yellow glow to everything.
I have lived alone now for 10 years — this includes 3 different houses. And I’d sort of gotten the impression that I don’t have a “home” anymore. That I live in a house and I do the best I can to make it comfortable, etc.
So seeing into my own house like that last night — all the little lamps on, the TV on, Christmas in full bloom in there, etc. I realized that somehow I have managed to make this now-125-year-old house a home.
It really just felt incredible. I don’t even know how I did that.
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Oh–
This was the movie I was watching (I haven’t finished it yet). Johnny had recommended it. Oddly enough, I had never heard of it before, but I’m really enjoying it.
“Secondhand Lions” 2003.
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Alas!
If you get Sky TV (and all you loyal readers of this lofty blog know so well by now that, here in the humble US Hinterlands, I DON’T!!), you might have watched this documentary, in anticipation of the TV adaptation of Nick Cave’s novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, which launched last night!!! (Thanks to Roger Gaess for sending me these links!)
The Guardian —Nick Cave’s Veiled World: the starry tale of how sometimes the devil doesn’t have the best tunes
The Independent — Nick Cave’s Veiled World documentary is a captivating look at the musician’s songwriting genius
“Sky’s film assembles some of the Australian musician’s closest friends and collaborators for an in-depth look at the dark, mysterious worlds he conjures, and the eclectic characters dwelling in them…”
And on a similar theme–
Here’s this!
I walked into my kitchen after my shift yesterday, sat down at my kitchen table, got on Instagram, and WOW!! Fucking gorgeous!
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And also —
More from Johnny Smoke in Tokyo at Comic Con–
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And that might be it for today, gang.
I need to wash my hair, do yoga, think about life, reply to Johnny’s text about when we can get together again (before Christmas Eve!!), yay, and then head out to see the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat!
I’m guessing we’re going to watch another Christmas movie today, so that should be easy!! (I hope! But, honestly, you never know what you’re going to find when you show up at a client’s house.)
Meanwhile, enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!
My very early morning listening-music!!
I never get tired of it, gang. Never.
“The Ship Song.” 1990, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds from one of my favorite albums — The Good Son. Enjoy, gang!!
“The Ship Song”
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around
We talk about it all night long
We define our moral ground
But when I crawl into your arms
Everything comes tumbling down
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Your face has fallen sad now
For you know the time is nigh
When I must remove your wings
And you, you must try to fly
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around
c – 1990 Nick Cave
Oddly, enough, gang, the kittens are seriously LOVING the Christmas decorations!
They love hanging out around the Christmas tree, especially. I do still have to keep them from climbing it, but besides that, they love just laying around it and they also love hanging out in the family room by a specific display, where there are a lot of Christmas lights.
It is so cute.
Plus, the house just has that great Christmas vibe now, so I am really, really grateful that I somehow managed to get the energy to do all that.
AND — my new friend Johnny will be coming over here on Christmas Eve!
So that will be perfect.
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Oh.
And we were talking on the phone last evening and he mentioned that he has cats — indoors and a couple outside — and he asked me if I had any cats…
ME: “Yes, a few. I have one outside and some inside.”
I left out that part that when you’re in my house, at any given moment, 723 cats are watching you from their many hiding places… I mean, why go there right now?? Right? Let’s just enjoy Christmas!!
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Anyway!
Here’s this!
I know that Johnny Smoke was at the Tokyo Comic Con, but I don’t know if these photos are from that event. I only know the photographer is Ross Halfin:
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And don’t forget!!!!
Out now!! Live God!!
The fantastic new live album from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds!! From their recent Wild God Tour:
And also don’t forget! The Wild God Tour comes to Australia and New Zealand in just a matter of weeks!!! Buy tickets HERE!
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Oh, and how about this?? Holy shit!
Nonstop Dean Martin Christmas music!! Complete with a lovely burning yule log and Christmas decor!! (I don’t actually need this because my house is already nonstop Dean Martin Christmas music… well, no burning yule log, though.)
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Oh, and I have to say, yet again!! — Thank you to everyone who is buying the Kindle edition of my novel The Guitar Hero Goes Home.
This novel is 5 years old already and suddenly it is now continuously selling. Thank you so much, gang. That makes me really happy!
And from the one & only (lovely) review of the book on Amazon UK, way back in 2021:
5.0 out of 5 stars An Erotic Tour de Force
THE GUITAR HERO GOES HOME, when coupled with NEPTUNE AND SURF and FREAK PARADE, reaffirms Marilyn Jaye Lewis's standing as a preeminent writer of erotic fiction in the English language. Her depth and range, both on a literary and emotional level, is masterful. -- Roger Gaess, journalist and author of WHATEVER COMES MY WAY
Thanks again!!
And if you want to read a timely free excerpt from the novel on my substack page–
“A Christmas excerpt from The Guitar Hero Goes Home, approx. 3 pages.”
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And on a similar note…
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that The Curse of Our Profound Disorder has sold, gang.
And I am very, very curious to see what kind of cover art they’re going to come up with for that book.
I’m also curious how on Earth they’re going to come up with a one-paragraph synopsis for it, too. (For the back cover.)
Most of all what’s on my mind right now is that I haven’t even taken a true moment to just sit back and celebrate it. In the old days, Wayne and I would always go out to dinner when one of my novel’s sold. Now it’s sort of just me. But I’ll think of something.
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And on that note, I better scoot. I gotta head out soon to my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house and get his breakfast and coffee underway!
It’s been too cold and icy to take him out for our sashimi & sake this week but next on the agenda is taking him back to the club house at the Golf Course for not just the splendid views, but for the Christmas decorations!! As soon as the ice is completely gone, we’ll do that.
Meanwhile, enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Okay, I don’t know what’s up with that great Oldies FM Radio Station that I keep my retro boombox tuned to, but YET AGAIN —
I was finally getting up out of bed this morning, to get another cup of coffee, get the bed made, get dressed, start the day…
I switched on the radio, and lo! & behold!
ANOTHER Tom Petty classic was just getting started! It’s just so weird how often that happens!
Anyway! His first true mega hit.
“Refugee”, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, 1979, from their breakthrough album, Damn the Torpedoes. Enjoy, gang.
“Refugee”
We got somethin’, we both know it, we don’t talk too much about it
Ain’t no real big secret, all the same, somehow we get around it
Listen, it don’t really matter to me baby
You believe what you want to believe, you see
You don’t have to live like a refugee
(Don’t have to live like a refugee)
Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some
Tell me why you want to lay there, revel in your abandon
Honey, it don’t make no difference to me, baby
Everybody’s had to fight to be free, you see
You don’t have to live like a refugee
(Don’t have to live like a refugee)
No baby you don’t have to live like a refugee
(Don’t have to live like a refugee)
Baby we ain’t the first
I’m sure a lot of other lovers been burned
Right now this seems real to you, but it’s
One of those things you gotta feel to be true
Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some
Who knows maybe you were kidnapped, tied up
Taken away and held for ransom
Honey, it don’t really matter to me, baby
Everybody’s had to fight to be free, you see
Don’t have to live like a refugee
(Don’t have to live like a refugee)
No you don’t have to live like a refugee
(Don’t have to live like a refugee)
You don’t have to live like a refugee
(Don’t have to live like a refugee)
c – 1979 Tom Petty, Mike Campbell
Lots of good stuff happening here.
In case you forgot (I almost did, since the snow came and shifted my focus away from the high winds we had) — a man from a small Amish roofing company stopped by this morning to give me an estimate on that piece of my gutter that’s dangling off the side of my roof.
And they’re also going to fix a couple other (small) things that were damaged by the winds. And it is only going to cost me a couple hundred dollars for the whole thing — labor + materials. Yay!! What a relief.
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And this is out today!!
You can also get the digital version, at your preferred music-listening site!!
And here’s this! From the new album.
“Joy (Live God Version)” by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds:
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I thought this was extremely interesting, gang. (One of those “Hmmmm….” moments.)
From Variety just now:
Netflix to Buy Warner Bros. and HBO Max in $82.7 Billion Deal
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Back to Nick Cave!!
From Ross A Waterman on Instagram–
More Nick Cave in 1996!
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And here’s this!
Another stunning photo of Keith. I don’t know where, when, or who took the photo:
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From James Tabor. (And I believe his new course on Christianity before Paul, goes on sale Monday at Myth Vision. I’ll keep you posted.)
My Slide Show on A Quest for the Historical Mary (39 mins):
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And of course, some of the more important stuff!
I finally got the Christmas tree up, and got the house decorated yesterday. But I decided not to tempt fate too much, and I didn’t put any ornaments on the tree, only lights. I also didn’t put out most of the decorations that I usually put out — I only put out stuff that’s not too easy to bat around the house and destroy.
The kittens did indeed attempt to climb the tree many times yesterday evening, but when I came downstairs at 4:15AM this morning, absolutely everything was exactly as I’d left it when I went upstairs last night!!
So — yay!! Christmas has arrived at my house. Finally.
AND–
Wow, gang. What an incredible time I had at my breakfast yesterday with my new friend, Johnny. Truly one of the nicest men I have ever met.
I don’t want to invade his privacy here on the blog, so I can’t go into too many details here (yet — I have to wait until he says, “sure, go ahead and invade my privacy!”).
But we had breakfast & chatted for 2 hours (fantastic food at the Big Apple Cafe), and our table was directly next to an enormous black & white photo of lower Manhattan in the 1980s. (!!)
[Quite a good omen, don’t you think??]
He is considerably older than me and retired, so as soon as I retire also (right around the corner, gang), we are planning to do a bunch of fun stuff together. Locally, mostly — but also not-so-locally.
For instance, here — a road trip to West Virginia:
Anyway. I really wish I could tell you more right now, but I just can’t. I can only say that he is really kind and sort of shy and just so nice. I will keep you posted!! (But, yes!! of course, I did go on & on about him on the phone with Valerie last night. She was alone in her house up in Haverstraw! But I told him at breakfast that I was going to do that….)
Anyway, since he is a lot older than me, his taste in music is right up my alley!! Yesterday afternoon, he sent me this!
I absolutely loved this song as a little girl, gang. It’s from the Broadway musical ,”The King & I.” But I never heard this version by Bing Crosby, until Johnny sent this to me yesterday afternoon. It just made my whole heart smile.
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Other than that, I am just feeling really happy about so many things right now. My writing, my finances, the future, and Christmas!!
I hope things are going just as well for all of you, wherever you are in the world!!
I’m gonna get ready to head to town now and see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man. (Okay, I will say that Johnny is not 95! He’s a couple years younger than my birth dad was, which means he is from the whole Vietnam, rock & roll, surf’s up era!!)
Okay. Have a great day out there.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!!
From that playlist that, thankfully, I recovered! (The playlist from when I was always driving down to see my dad before he died.)
The stunning Voces8 version of “Underneath the Stars”. 2013. Enjoy, gang!
“Underneath the Stars”
Underneath the stars I’ll meet you
Underneath the stars I’ll greet you
And there beneath the stars I’ll leave you
Before you go of your own free will
Go gently
Underneath the stars you met me
Underneath the stars you left me
I wonder if the stars regret me
At least you’ll go of your own free will
Go gently
Here beneath the stars I’m landing
I’m here beneath the stars not ending
Why on earth am I pretending?
I’m here again, the stars befriending
They come and go of their own free will
Underneath the stars you met me
And underneath the stars you left me
I wonder if the stars regret me
I’m sure they’d like me if they only met me
They come and go of their own free will
Go gently
Go gently
Go gently
c – 2003 Kate Rusby
Marilyn's Room 