It’s too early for any updates on Valerie yet, but I’m guessing it’s going to require the kind of surgery where they have to open her up now. And I know she will be dreading that. (See yesterday afternoon’s post — the surgeon could not do the less invasive type of heart surgery yesterday that he’d been hoping to do.)

I hope to be able to reach her later this afternoon and find out if she knows anything more yet. And just see how she’s doing. She was, of course, hoping that all of this would be over & done before Christmas.

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

Well.

A light dusting of snow here this morning, but the rest of the day is more of those high winds and rain. So I won’t be taking my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man out for sashimi & sake until tomorrow.

With all the bad weather and then the trip to have lunch at the golf course — we haven’t actually been out for sashimi in 3 weeks. So we are both looking forward to that tomorrow!

And I’m just hoping today will be a nice and easy shift. We shall soon see!

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Before I forget–

A huge thank you to everyone who is downloading my really, really OLD but TOTALLY FREE erotic eBooks over at the Smashwords Christmas sale!

It truly does not cease to amaze me that so many people are still interested in these eBooks, year after year. (They contain works from 1994-2011.)

The direct links to the books are on my substack page HERE, if you missed it. The sale runs until New Year’s Day 2026. (For adults only, please!!)

Yesterday, I noticed on Draft2Digital (the site that has basically taken over Smashwords now), that they have all my eBooks and print books listed from LULU, as well. I was surprised by this and will have to look into that more thoroughly after the holidays are over and I have some time.

Not to un-list them, just to find out what the direct links are.

Because, in my opinion, 1954 Powder Blue Pickup has all but disappeared since Amazon Kindle killed it in 2021. (Saying it violated their obscenity policies, which is just absolute and total bullshit.)

Anyway, I have actually heard from a couple of long-time readers over the past few years that 1954 Powder Blue Pickup was their favorite book of mine (strictly in terms of erotica, not literature) and yet it hardly sells because no one can find it online.

But it does look like Draft2Digital is carrying it now! I will keep you posted. (But it is absolutely 100% without doubt for adults only. And also totally hetero. “Thank you for your attention to this matter. – DJT”)

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This really cheered me up this morning!

For some inexplicable reason, I had totally forgotten about this! I absolutely LOVED this movie!!

This old photo from the film popped into my Instagram feed this morning–

Nick Cave, playing the character Freak Storm in the Tom DiCillo film, “Johnny Suede” from 1991:

Oh my god, gang, what a great movie that was. It was just insane. I will have to find it online and watch it again.

Meanwhile, here is a short clip of Freak Storm talking to Johnny Suede (played by Brad Pitt):

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And here’s this!

Posted yesterday by Keith & Patti’s daughter, Alexandra Richards:

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And other than that…

You know that I can’t complain. So much good stuff is going on in my world these days. (And more good stuff is getting ready to happen in the upcoming year). However, I have that undercurrent of stress right now over Valerie’s heart problems. (She has come close to having a heart attack twice in the last couple months.)

So I am trying to stay focused on a positive outcome and just breathe. And sort of pivot my focus to all the good things that are going on right now, too.

And I guess, with that said, I will get ready to head to town.

Have a great Friday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

Okay, let’s end with this!

If you have ever wondered what kind of wife I was… well, I think it speaks well for me that both of my ex-husbands remain good friends of mine. But they also each have one of those Official Citations from the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America, recognizing their Extraordinary Heroism and Bravery in the Face of Constant Insanity, etc.

Something like that!

However, during the Christmas season of 1992, when Wayne and I were engaged, I recall putting this specific song on “repeat” with the volume up loud enough to hear the song playing when you walked in the front door of the apartment.

And in the living room, I had set out a champagne bucket with ice, with a bottle of champagne in it, a couple of champagne flutes sitting next to it, some twinkling Christmas lights on.

I went out and left the apartment like that, knowing that Wayne would find it when he walked in from work that evening and it would make him smile. (It did.) (Listen to the actual song, it’s the swinging-est “Jingle Bells” ever. A great song to come home to, when you’ve been catering endless Manhattan dinner parties and you just want to light a cigarette and have a glass of something/anything on ice!!)

Okay. “Jingle Bells” by Dean Martin! Enjoy, gang!! See ya.

Today is my beloved friend Kara’s birthday!!

Anyway.

Not only will I be heading to the Granville Inn after my shift today with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man, but my new friend Johnny is meeting me at the inn!! So we are both going to wish Kara a happy birthday together!

Even though they’ve made a lot of changes there recently, this is still my favorite place in Granville. Such great memories, gang:

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Well, since I was last here on the blog on Monday, a few things have happened.

You probably already heard about this.

From Variety yesterday:

Rolling Stones Call Off 2026 Tour

“…Keith Richards, who turns 82 on Thursday, is said to be unable to commit to the rigors of another tour. Live dates in recent years have shown that he has faced challenges due to a long battle with arthritis, which he has called “benign” and said has forced him to change his style of playing….

…Richards was in fine form during a brief three-song performance at the Soho Sessions in New York last month, however, that is a much different proposition than a multi-country, multi-week tour.

…’When they properly sat down to discuss the tour, Keith said he didn’t think he could commit and wasn’t keen on a big stadium tour for over four months’…

…However, a new album appears to be on track for release next year…” [full article here]

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Also–

Joe Ely has died.

From Variety on Monday night:

Joe Ely, Texas Country-Rock Hero Who Grew His Fan Base Touring With the Clash, Dies at 78

“…the singer-songwriter who helped drive a new wave of Texas-based music that united rock and country fans in the 1980s and beyond, died Monday….

An announcement from the family said that Ely died at his home in Taos, New Mexico, with his wife and manager, Sharon, and daughter, Marie, at his side.” [full article here]

And here is a favorite Joe Ely song of mine, although he didn’t write it. Another great New Country songwriter from back in those great days, Robert Earl Keene, wrote it. “Whenever Kindness Fails”. From Joe Ely’s album Love and Danger, 1992:

“Whenever Kindness Fails”

I crossed the desert in a dining car
In the spring of ninety-one
I met some people drinking at the bar
They were laughing, having fun

I told ’em that I hadn’t heard the joke
That was so hilarious
They said that I was just a dumb cowpoke
I didn’t want to make a fuss

So I shot ’em down, one by one
Then I left ’em ‘long the rails
I only use my gun
Whenever kindness fails

The moon was in the sign of Scorpio
The sun was at my back
I didn’t know how far the train would go
Until the law would find my track

I saw the brakeman and the engineer
Drinking wine and eating brie
I asked ’em who would brake and who would steer
They started pointing back at me

So I shot ’em down, one by one
Then I left ’em ‘long the rails
I only use my gun
Whenever kindness fails

I only have a moment to explain
Just a chance to let you know
When it’s time for you to board the train
There are two ways you can go

You can ride the wheels into the sun
Feel the wind upon your face
Or you can laugh into a loaded gun
And you’ll likely lose your place

So I shot ’em down, one by one
Then I left ’em ‘long the rails
I only use my gun
Whenever kindness fails

Yeah I shot ’em down, one by one
Then I left ’em ‘long the rails
When I use my gun
That lonesome whistle wails

c- 1992 Robert Earl Keene

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A couple from Nick Cave’s official Instagram page!!

His song from the Netflix movie, “Train Dreams”, has also been nominated for an Academy Award!!

And this Friday, December 19th, the music from the TV adaptation of his novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, will be released on digital and streaming platforms! (Soundtrack by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis.)

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Okay!

In other news, tomorrow, I will officially sign the publishing contract with Parisian Phoenix Publishing, for my brand-new 26-years-in-the-making novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. Yay!

Can’t really believe it has found a home after all these years, gang. It is such a strange feeling.

And the publisher is in Easton, PA, and oddly enough, you may recall that this is where I was living with Mikey Rivera, writing my (award-winning!) novel Freak Parade, 23 years ago:

And if you’ve been a REALLY long-time reader of this lofty blog, perhaps you will recall that Freak Parade was written for Harlequin Romance Publishing and I was set for a 6-figure advance on Christmas 2003, when my agent called to say that at an end-of-the-year staff meeting, the Editor-in-Chief of Harlequin announced that he had read my manuscript and he “wouldn’t publish that piece of filth if it was the last book on Earth”…

Well, what a happy Christmas that was…

HOWEVER.

Eventually I went on to publish the book myself, in 2011, and it took home the Silver Medal at the 2011 Independent Publishers Awards in NYC. And has since sold many, many thousands of copies…

Oh! And it’s still FREE to download over at the Smashwords Christmas Sale until January 1, 2026! Click HERE. (Adults only, please!)

“Freak Parade is a tour de force, a literary erotic novel that doesn’t shy away from the grittier realities of human nature and survival in the city…” – from a review by Saskia Walker, UK, 2011

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Okay!

Here’s this!

Apparently, Johnny launched the opening of his “A Bunch of Stuff” art exhibition in Tokyo, with a brand new painting !

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And I will close today with this.

As a result of my having visited my birth mom a couple weeks ago wherein I also got to see my younger half-brother for the first time in a few years…

He has started texting me in the evenings! It’s too cool. Back in the 1980s – 1990s, he and I were very, very close. We had a falling out, though, over his relentlessly bad temper with my little niece (his daughter).

Anyway. I think it will be interesting when our mom reads all of our texts, because he’s texting me from her phone! But he melted my heart the other night when he brought up my music.

He said, “Is there a copy of that song you wrote about the railroad? That was a great song! I want to hear it again!”

And as luck would have it, I was able to send him over to my YouTube channel!! And he started listening to my songs again. Such a cool feeling, gang.

“Something Like the Railroad”, 1994, with Groovalaya backing me in the studio in NYC! (This song actually got airplay on WMFU in NYC , and also airplay out in Reno, Nevada, where my birth dad lived. And it also garnered me a songwriting publishing contract in Nashville.)

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And that is it! I gotta scoot!

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

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

*********

Okay, here’s this!!

Probably from the upcoming soundtrack of Christmas Eve here with my new friend Johnny!!

Dean Martin’s Christmas classic, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” !!! Enjoy, gang!!

I have to say, gang, I am SO glad that I not only have today off, but that I also ran whatever errands I needed to run over the weekend, because I so don’t want to go out there today.

The snow looks pretty, but it is once again 9 degrees Fahrenheit out there. While here inside, the milk house heater is giving the regular heat a cozy boost, and of course, CHRISTMAS stuff is all over the place!!

So I am really looking forward to just hanging around indoors today. Plus, the drive to and from town for my shift yesterday evening was so fucking stressful — snow, ice, 12 degrees Fahrenheit (for 22 miles, in the dark).

I was ready to collapse when I walked in the door — HOWEVER!

The minute I did walk in the door, Valerie in Brooklyn texted me to alert me that Britbox was finally offering “new” episodes of “Mrs. Brown’s Boys”!!! Yay. (She and I both watch the old episodes over and over and over, and I was planning to watch yet another old episode before calling it a night.) ( By “new” it just means that Britbox hasn’t offered them before.)

So, wow. That was a great way to end a stressful Sunday night! I watched 2 episodes of “Mrs. Brown’s Boys” that I had never seen before! (While Valerie was watching the same episodes over in Brooklyn, so it was almost like hanging out with her. Almost.) (Also, please remember to keep her in your prayers. Her heart surgery is Thursday.)

(A short clip from one of the older ones that I’ve probably seen about 10 times already.)

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Today should be a really good day.

I was planning on doing some housecleaning, but I’ve decided to just do the laundry and leave the rest until Thursday, because–

Yay!

The contract for The Curse of Our Profound Disorder arrived yesterday from the publisher!! So I want to read that over today and get it back to her.

And then I want to finally sit down and watch “Modi”!! I can’t wait.

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This was on the Allen Ginsberg Instagram page yesterday and it sort of fits in with my 12th Street project.

Allen Ginsberg lived about a half a block away from me, on E. 12th Street, back in the 80s. And all the photos I’ve seen over the years that were taken from inside his apartment — his apartment looked a lot like how mine did. (The apartments in the East Village were tenement walk-ups, built in the late 1800s.)

I’m guessing that, all these decades later, they’ve “renovated” his old apartment the same way they did mine — i.e., took all the life out of it.

Anyway:

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And from Ross A Waterman on Instagram!

Nick Cave (smoking) and Blixa Bargeld in 1997!

Photographer Ross Waterman has been posting lots of photos recently of the Bad Seeds in Melbourne. I’m guessing he’s getting ready for the Bad Seeds to return to Australia in just a few weeks!!

Buy tickets HERE.

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Other than that–

I’m really worn out here. Again. As usual, I seriously need a vacation. But instead of taking a vacation — which the Agency would happily give me without pay — I’m hanging in there until 2026, when I am going to retire.

And then I will take a moment to finally collapse, and then spend the remaining years writing. (And, well, going camping. And shooting guns.)

But until that happens, I am just so worn out, gang. So I want to try to take it really easy today, before the 10-hr. shift resumes tomorrow. Plus I want to do all the grocery shopping for Christmas Eve tomorrow, too (when my new friend Johnny will be coming to my house for the first time!). I don’t want to leave it all until next week, and then have to deal with all the crowds in the grocery store and then maybe they’ve run out of everything I want, etc.

So today should be a really nice easy day. We’ll find out!! (And remember– I probably won’t be posting here tomorrow.)

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Meanwhile, enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

Another great one from “A Very Special Christmas” — the first album, from 1987.

U2 doing a great version of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”. Enjoy, gang!!

We did indeed get a big bunch of snow. And currently it is 9 degrees Fahrenheit out there!

And because my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man was so kind to me yesterday, I was able to get back home before any serious snow had accumulated.

Oh, and yesterday, during the 2 hours that I was there, he mentioned our trip to the golf course and the beautiful drive there and back, so many times! He was able to remember it effortlessly. He could even remember the other guests in the restaurant while we were there (there were two large groups of people having Christmas luncheons). And he remembered the two women who spoke to us outside and kindly held the front door open for us.

It just shows how mentally engaged he was by the whole trip. It was a complete success.

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And as the snow was steadily falling outside, and Christmas lights were twinkling everywhere — indoors and out — I finally had a chance to catch up with my new friend Johnny on the phone last evening!!

We discussed some places we might like to visit (go camping, although he also recommended the occasional Holiday Inn Express??!!).

Anyway.

When I mentioned how I’ve wanted to make a trip to the Civil War cemetery in Cynthiana, Kentucky and finally see my great-great grandfather’s grave, Johnny immediately said, “Oh, sure, we’ll do that. That’s easy.” And we even discussed the easiest route to get there from here.

And I finally got the very distinct impression that I am really going to get to see my great-great grandfather’s grave, and I don’t have to make that trip all by myself!!

What a happy feeling.

The Confederate War Memorial, in Cynthiana, KY. Established in 1869 — the oldest Civil War monument still standing in its original location:

My great-great grandfather, David May. He was a Kentucky State Senator, as well as an officer in the Confederate army. He and his horse both drowned in the river during the 2nd Battle of Cynthiana:

He and my great-great-grandmother had 7 children, 4 of whom were boys. And because of the boys, my great-great grandmother was able to survive after the war. Since she was a war widow on the Confederate side, she was not entitled to any financial help from the Government.

(My Aunt Bobbie Jean had my great-great grandmother’s original Bible, with all her handwritten notes about what had happened to her during the war perfectly preserved, and I was able to hold that Bible, and read all her notes, about 25 years ago.)

David May’s 4 sons, late in life. My great-grandfather, Ashbel Patton May, is the man on the upper right. He was a District Attorney in Lexington, KY, for a while:

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All right!!!

It is official!!

“Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness” (simply called “Modi” in the US) is now available on Amazon Prime US!!

I bought it last night, and I am planning to watch it tomorrow, during my glorious day off! I can’t wait!

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And if I wasn’t already feeling lucky enough–

THIS was on Instagram the moment my wee bonny eyes opened at 3AM this morning!!

Nick Cave smoking and looking out an open window!!

And here is the song that goes with that! The beautiful “Song of the Lake,” from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ Wild God, 2024:

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Well, aside from driving in all the ice and snow and freezing temperatures later today, it should be a really nice day around here.

I’m hoping to make more notes on the 12th Street project. And then do yoga, wash my hair. And hopefully spend a peaceful shift with the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat!

I forgot to tell you that last Sunday, we all watched “Frosty the Snow Man,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and the special Christmas episode of “Love Boat” from, like, 1978…the retired Minister slept through most of it, although it is hard to imagine sleeping through such gripping entertainment!!

We shall see what awaits us today! I’m not complaining!! (Oh, wait, I am complaining about doing all that driving, but not about the actual shift!)

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Okay, I’m gonna get started here, so have a great Sunday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting, gang!

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

We continue with “A Very Special Christmas” — the first album!

And speaking of E.12th Street, I remember so well listening to this album over and over that Christmas of 1987! I had so many friends back then, gang. And we had so many cocktails, cigarettes — drugs, too. But also Christmas cookies, presents under the tree, and of course NYC in the 1980s!!

“Merry Christmas Baby,” Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band! 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!

***********

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:

• 3 novels-in-progress (a 4th waiting to get started)
• 2 memoirs to complete; 1 memoir trying to get started, a 4th memoir waiting to get started after the 3rd one finally gets started
• And now this 12th Street project
• Take “The Guide to Being fabulous” to Off Broadway
• Potentially develop another TV project
• Promote The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, once that gets published

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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!

*********

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