Tag Archives: 1954 Powder Blue Pickup by Marilyn Jaye Lewis

Just a quick howdy from the Hinterlands

September 13, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

If you saw my update from late yesterday afternoon, you can guess that I am in good spirits around here.

I am of course very aware of all that is going on out in the rest of the world. If you have followed this blog for any amount of time, you already know what side I’m on and what I am likely to believe right now.

I think it is an astounding plan and I am quietly amazed by how well it’s going. That’s all I really want to post about it, though.

From Mike King —

“***Nice work, ‘Charlie.’ Enjoy your new life.***“

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

Other than that, things really are quiet around here. But that’s an okay thing.

I’m heading out soon to see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man. I am trying to get the very most out of every moment with him these days, gang, because he is definitely expressing — in no uncertain terms — that he has had a really wonderful life and he is “ready to go upstairs”. And since his recent 95th birthday, his energy is definitely changing,

His private nurse is trying hard to come up with ways to change his outlook; to re-engage him. But she thinks like a nurse, and I think like a minister. Obviously, I will feel a true emptiness whenever it is that he ends up crossing over. I have enjoyed every single moment of knowing him.

However, I feel it is my duty to him to support his flow, his journey, to simply be beside him in the moments he has left here. Not to fight against his spirit. So my concentration these days is just in being there with him and sharing in all the joy he remembers from a life that has been very well lived.

But it is intense, gang — that moment when I walk in his kitchen door now. One of these days, and obviously we don’t know when, but one of these days everything will be over.

Meanwhile…

***********

Here’s this.

A fun photo of Keith and Charlie, taken in the RCA recording studio in Los Angeles, in 1965. Photo by Gered Mankowitz.

**********

And I guess I’m not going to post a photo of Nick Cave every single day between now and January 17th, when the Bad Seeds’ tour of Australia gets underway, so we can just part with this, for now:

Nick and Conway. Doing what we all loved doing back then!

I’m guessing there will be photos on Sept. 23rd. We shall see!

Meanwhile, Autumn is really right around the corner now. Summer is done.

**********

I’m going to try to get a tiny bit of editing work done on The Curse of Our Profound Disorder before I head to town this morning, so I’m gonna scoot.

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

I leave you with this!

This song is the ONLY song on the playlist from “songs I was listening to 5 years ago” that was actually a new song 5 years ago!

The absolutely only song! And the playlist lasts one hour.

I really loved the Ghosteen album when it came out. So much. But as time goes on, I just find that it gets sadder and sadder for me, and it is so hard to listen to.

When this song came on, it surprised me that it was on the list. And the intensity of the song was just sort of spellbinding.

Anyway. I leave you with a song that was actually a new song, 5 years ago!

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Waiting for You”, 2019. From Ghosteen. Enjoy, gang.

“Waiting for You”

All through the night we drove
And the wind caught her hair
And we parked on the beach
In the cool evening air
Well, sometimes it’s better not to say anything at all

Your body is an anchor
Never asked to be free
Just want to stay in the business
Of making you happy
Well, I’m just waiting for you
Waiting for you
Waiting for you
Waiting for you
Waiting for you
Waiting for you

A priest runs through the chapel
All the calendars are turning
A Jesus freak on the street
Says He is returning
Well, sometimes a little bit of faith
Can go a long, long way

Your soul is my anchor
I never asked to be freed
Well, sleep now, sleep now
Take as long as you need
Cause I’m just waiting for you
Waiting for you
Waiting for you
Waiting for you
Waiting for you
Waiting for you
To return
To return
To return

c – 2019 Nick Cave

Off to town soon!

September 12, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

And it is another really stunning day!

I’ll be seeing my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man today. And it’s our day to get sashimi and sake. And maybe stop at the Nature Preserve again on the way home, because it is such a beautiful day.

Although, sometimes we just sit in the car with the windows open and look at all the nature, because he is sometimes too tired to get out of the car and be in all the nature.

Still, there is plenty of nature to look at!

Spring Valley Nature Preserve, Granville

And then it’s also my day to run some quick errands in town on my way home, but it should still be an easy, lovely day. We shall see!!

**********

Phil did indeed do his live last night.

The conclusions he comes to about Charlie Kirk essentially match what Mike King said yesterday morning.

Here is Phil’s replay of you missed it .

Charlie Kirk – September 11th, 2025 (2 hr 24 mins):

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

And here’s this!

First off, Nick Cave‘s official Instagram site announced this morning that on September 15th there will be an announcement about something that will happen on July 31, 2026! Yay! What could be more exciting??

And here’s this!

The final set list of Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe 2025! Practically the best encore ever!! (I don’t actually know what would be the “Best Encore Ever”, I’m just sayin’ this one is really great!)

And a few photos from the final night of the tour — in Luxembourg:

And here’s this!!

**********

Okay!

And if you saw my cryptic update from yesterday afternoon…

Wow, gang.

I am getting ready to be CRAZY busy. Again. And so I must take every moment I can for what’s left of September to FINISH The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, and then get it off to the publisher, poste haste– and to Wayne!! So that the novel can finally be done (first draft, at least) and I can, once again, clear my desk for some Sandra-related projects that will likely take over my life.

Yay!

We shall see, gang. I will let you in on more details as talks progress.

Meanwhile, we’re really happy over here.

**********

And I guess that’s it for now. I gotta scoot.

Enjoy your Friday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

I leave you with this!

I’m not sure when I’m gonna stop playing that playlist from 5 years ago…

What a weird time warp it creates: “Here! Listen to some songs you loved listening to 5 years ago, that were already really old songs 5 years ago!”

And it turns out, I still love them so now I can’t quit playing them!!

Ironically, here’s this for today!!

Tom Petty, “Time to Move On”, 1994. From his wildly successful solo album, Wildflowers. Enjoy, gang.

“Time To Move On”

It’s time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It’s time to move on, it’s time to get going

Broken skyline, movin’ through the airport
She’s an honest defector
Conscientious objector
Now her own protector

Broken skyline, which way to love land
Which way to something better
Which way to forgiveness
Which way do I go

It’s time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It’s time to move on, it’s time to get going

Sometime later, getting the words wrong
Wasting the meaning and losing the rhyme
Nauseous adrenaline
Like breakin’ up a dogfight
Like a deer in the headlights
Frozen in real time
I’m losing my mind

It’s time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It’s time to move on, it’s time to get going

c – 1994 Tom Petty

Think

September 11, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

That’s all I’m going to post about yesterday.

Tonight, Phil goes live at 7PM. Primarily because today is the anniversary of 9-11. But also, because of Charlie Kirk.

Check here later to confirm, but I seriously HOPE he does not cancel.

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

Okay.

I’m posting late because Bobby McGee and Freddie McFee had their post-surgery follow-up visit to the vet this morning, and they passed with flying colors.

They are now free to go on with their frisky little lives!

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

Okay.

So as of this moment, I have the rest of the day off.

I’ve already taken my walk — and, wow, what a gorgeous morning it is out there. Unbelievable.

I sure could use an afternoon, hanging with my Q-following friend at Tequilaville — yesterday wore us both out.

But as luck would have it, we’re having lunch together on Monday — to belatedly celebrate her recent birthday — at Three Tigers Brewing Co in Granville!! So I’m just going to hang around here today and write.

***********

Here’s this.

From Instagram yesterday–

I’m posting this because he was my cousin. He was actually first cousins with my Grandma — my favorite person on Earth. Their fathers were brothers. They all came over from Poland together, in the early 1900s.

Star of stage & screen in the 1930s & 40s, John Garfield:

Oh, and here’s this:

“…Near the end of his life, in an effort to clear his name, Garfield began work on an article for Look magazine, in which he would denounce communism without “naming names”; his lawyer advised him to concede that he had been “duped” into contributing time and money to communist front groups.^[11] He then arranged to meet with the FBI to press his case. At the meeting, however, the FBI representatives showed him a dossier on his wife Roberta (known as “Robbe”), which included her old Communist Party membership card and cancelled checks to events sponsored by the party, and said that the FBI would clear him if he signed a statement betraying Robbe as a Communist. Garfield instead responded with an angry expletive and walked out of the meeting.^[11] Writer and director Abraham Polonsky, who worked with him on two films, stated that Garfield ‘defended his street boy’s honor and they killed him for it.‘”

[Hmmm… murdered for his alleged politics. Where have we heard that before?]

Oh, and here’s a photo of me and my older brother with my Grandma, my above-mentioned favorite person on Earth, on the shores of Lake Erie, in Cleveland, in 1966.

And just for your information — she was raped to death (her heart exploded) in her hospital bed, after open-heart surgery, at age 89. In Cleveland. My favorite person on Earth.

The shit never stops, does it, gang?

***********

Onward.

Okay.

From last night’s sold out show in Luxembourg!

The alleged set list, but it seems that sometimes they veer from the official list. Still, the fantastic enocre (sometimes known as “an encore”) continues:

And Nick (and Colin) apparently took in some art yesterday. Here’s Nick:

And also —

Nick with a happy fan yesterday:

No, I’m not going to say a single solitary THING about how short his hair is here… I’m only going to say that whoever is in charge of ensuring his hair is *never* above his shoulders, needs to be re-assigned to a different task, pronto.

Okay! And from the actual show!!

And tonight, is the FINAL show of the tour!!

I suddenly got extremely tired…

***********

And here’s this again, just because, gang, you have no idea how much this is helping me move forward around here! It’s taped to my wall now, by my desk, and I read it constantly. And I work on the novel.

*********
And that’s it for now.

I love you guys. Let’s just hang in there.

And enjoy our Thursday, wherever we are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

See ya.

**********

Again, from the playlist of 5 years ago!!

Kind of suits today, doesn’t it?

Don Henley, “The End of the Innocence”. 1989. From the album of the same name. Play it quietly. Look up at the sky. Remember everything you’ve ever known in your life. And then enjoy, gang.

“The End Of The Innocence”

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn’t have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standin’ by
But “happily ever after” fails
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly

But I know a place where we can go
That’s still untouched by men
We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass waves in the wind
You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

O’ beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They’re beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie

But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass waves in the wind
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

Who knows how long this will last
Now we’ve come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
And let me take a long last look
Before we say goodbye

Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

c – 1989 – Don Henley, Bruce Hornsby

A happy Wednesday from the Hinterlands!

September 10, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Well, the writing went great yesterday. And one of the great things about when writing goes great — is being able to read it over afterwards and realize it still needs work.

To me, that’s a good thing — knowing when I’ve got something but it could still be tighter.

I’m going to try to get back to it quickly here this morning, because I’ve got back-to-back shifts again today and won’t have time to do any writing when I get back here later tonight.

However, it will be 2 great shifts today!

My favorite 95-year-old Japanese client!!

Followed by enough time to stop for lunch again HERE:

OOPS! Of course, I meant HERE — at the Subway that’s around the corner from where my adorable client Molly used to live:

And BTW, they play the best music there — Classic Country. The real stuff, from the old days!

And then, off to my next favorite client — the retired Chaplain who is back from Florida!!

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

Okay!

Finished watching the documentary “Sad Vacation — The Last Days of Sid and Nancy'” last night. It was sad, but good. Definitely a trip down Memory Lane. Not a particularly happy trip, but it did bring back memories.

While watching it, I suddenly recalled that I was away at college when all that happened to Sid and Nancy. I remember how shocking it was back then (Fall, 1978).

I went to college so briefly (3 months) that it was sort of shocking just to think I have any memories at all from that time away at school. But I do.

I hated college — my parents forced me to go. All I really wanted to do was go to NYC and be a singer-songwriter, but they both were, like: NO. You’re going to college.

I was really smart, and graduated in the top of my class in high school — was one of 2 Valedictorians. Graduated with Honors, etc. But that didn’t mean I wanted to keep doing it. At all. I absolutely hated school.

Anyway. So I was forced to go to college — I went here:

I made every effort to attend classes but the classes were so fucking boring. Honestly, the old TV show from 1969, Room 222, was way more interesting than college was!! Honestly. It really was. And it was a show about high school. (What a great show.)

So I eventually said: Fuck this. And quit going to classes and mostly stayed around my dorm room and watched reruns of M*A*S*H…

…and just generally got drunk with my roommates in the evenings (they were all studying to be Engineers). (Oh, and the ubiquitous sex and sex and sex and sex….) (with both guys and gals) (It was the 1970s, after all…)

Until it was time to go home for Christmas and I informed my family that I had dropped out.

They were super excited to hear that!

HOWEVER– after a quick move out to California (hated it there, too), and then back to Ohio to work in a factory (hated it there, too) — I eventually wound up in NYC — YAY!!. Became a singer-songwriter– YAY!!

AND– got a degree in Audio Engineering there in 1981, as luck would have it. Top of my class.

*********

Okay!!

I did start watching “Room 37: The Mysterious Death of Johnny Thunders” last night. It is intense. I can tell it’s going to be creepy, but that’s all I can discern, so far.

***********

And now I gotta scoot, so here’s this!!

TONIGHT!!

In Luxembourg!! The first of 2 sold out shows and then Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe with Colin Greenwood on bass comes to a close!!

So, wake up and get moving, gang!! It’s almost showtime!!

Probably my most favorite photo of Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard from the old days. Here, they are *most likely* thinking about how boring college is…

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

And that’s it. I’m outta here!

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

I leave you with this!!

Another song from that playlist of songs I was listening to 5 years ago!!! (That playlist is a real mindfuck, gang, but in the best way.)

Bruce Springsteen, “The Price You Pay”, 1980. From his fantastic album, The River. Which, as fate would have it, came out right before I moved to NYC!! Okay. Enjoy, gang.

“The Price You Pay”

You make up your mind, you choose the chance you take
You ride to where the highway ends and the desert breaks
Out on to an open road, you ride until the day
You learn to sleep at night with the price you pay

Now with their hands held high, they reached out for the open skies
And in one last breath, they built the roads they’d ride to their death
Driving on through the night, unable to break away
From the restless pull of the price you pay

Oh, the price you pay, oh, the price you pay
Now you can’t walk away from the price you pay

Now they come so far and they’ve waited so long
Just to end up caught in a dream where everything goes wrong
Where the dark of night holds back the light of the day
And you’ve gotta stand and fight for the price you pay

Oh, the price you pay, oh, the price you pay
Now you can’t walk away from the price you pay

Little girl, down on the strand with that pretty little baby in your hands
Do you remember the story of the promised land?
How he crossed the desert sands and could not enter the chosen land
On the banks of the river, he stayed to face the price you pay

So let the game start, you better run, you little wild heart
You can run through all the nights and all the days
But just across the county line, a stranger passing through put up a sign
That counts the men fallen away to the price you pay
And girl, before the end of the day
I’m gonna tear it down and throw it away

c – 1980 Bruce Springsteen

A Terrific Tuesday is Underway!

September 9, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, gang, but I slept great last night.

Part of it was because of the weather. Part of it was because I knew I had another day off today (yes– the Agency has texted me 3 times already to pick up shifts on my days off, but I have declined all of them).

Most of it, though, is because I’m getting such great work done on the novel-in-progress, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder.

Even though I managed to take a walk yesterday, do yoga, and listen to another lecture in the course about Protestant Reformation, I was still able to get 6 hours of work done at my desk on the novel.

To me, that’s heaven.

And during dinner, I started to watch this — I’m about halfway through:

I follow one of the producers of the film on Instagram and she posted something about the film yesterday, so I started watching it.

It’s a documentary from 2016, that pretty convincingly proposes that Sid Vicious did not kill Nancy. That basically the NYPD didn’t want to waste time investigating a death involving a bunch of junkies.

It’s a sad movie, but it’s really good:

“Sad Vacation is an up close and personal account of the tumultuous and stormy relationship between Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen and how it ended in Room 100 of the Chelsea Hotel. This films pulls no punches and reveals the facts through personal friends, insiders and witnesses. Includes interviews with Sylvain Sylvain (New York Dolls), Bob Gruen, Walter Lure and many more.”

Trailer:

Next movie up, will be this one:

Room 37: The Mysterious Death of Johnny Thunders

From 2019:

“Famed rock and roll guitarist Johnny Thunders arrives in New Orleans to attempt to put his life back together after a battle with addiction, but instead, a series of events propels him deeper into chaos.”

It didn’t get great reviews, but I’ve been wanting to watch it for a while now, since I really loved everything about the NY Dolls — the good, the bad, and the ugly. So I decided it will be next in line, finally.

Trailer:

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

And here’s this–

I loved these guys!

I was so sad when River Phoenix died. It’s one of those days I’ll never forget, actually.

My Own Private Idaho (1991) is one of my all-time favorite films.

I pretty much loved all the films Gus Van Sant has made.

Many years after “Idaho”, I found myself working in the home office of Gus Van Sant, Sr. (Gus’s dad), at a time in his life when he and his wife were living in Ohio. I got the job solely because I was a writer from NYC, and I was friends with the woman who cut Gus Sr.’s hair out at his golf club.

I didn’t ask for the job, he simply asked me if I wanted to work for him, because he needed help at the office.

It turned out that Gus Sr. was Gus Jr.’s Business Manager, so I learned a lot about the business end of film financing at that job. But beyond that, Gus Sr. was an incredible man. Unbelievably kind and supportive. One afternoon, the subject of River Phoenix came up and Gus Sr. said to me: “We all had dinner one night, while they were filming ‘Idaho’. And that young man was very troubled.”

That was all he said and it spoke volumes.

*******

Anyway.

Here’s this!

More shots on Instagram from the new Dior “Sauvage” campaign. However, you know the rules, gang — if he’s not smoking we can never be 100% positive it’s really Johnny Depp. It could be a body double. Heck, it could be AI for all we know:

(And this reminds me — when are we going to be able to watch “Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness” on Amazon Prime in the US??)

***********

And here’s this!

From outside the Baden-Baden show the other night — Nick Cave and an automobile!

And TOMORROW!!

Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe with Colin Greenwood on bass begins to come to a close! 2 back-to-back sold out shows begin in Luxembourg, and then the tour is over.

(But see yesterday’s post about what is up for Nick Cave on Sept. 23rd!)

**********

And that is it, I think.

I want to get back to the novel. I am really excited to see what hits the page today!

And FYI, I printed out that Kerouac quote I posted yesterday and I taped it to the wall in front of my desk. And it really, really does just keep making me smile, gang. I feel like the spirit of Kerouac is really in there, cheering me on.

BTW, the quote is taken from a story in a collection of his unpublished works that came out in 1999 — Atop an Underwood: Early Stories and Other Writings:

“It includes writings from Kerouac’s high school years, poetry, short stories, essays and other previously unpublished works. “

If you’re too young to know what an Underwood was , it was a popular brand of typewriter. I have since ordered the book! I can’t wait to read it.

***********

And that’s that!

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

I leave you with this! Breakfast-listening music!!

Still on a Monkees kick around here, but we are up to their 3rd album — another great one! The Monkees — Headquarters (1967). It was a #1 Album on Billboard and it went double-platinum.

This was the first album of theirs that I was able to buy with my own money. My Aunt Sylvia gave me a birthday card in the summer of 1967 (also known historically as The Summer of Love!!) that included a 5 dollar bill in it!! Wow, was I excited! Back then, you could buy record albums for under $5. So I bought Headquarters for myself, for my 7th birthday.

This song was amazing back then — and really appropriate, politically, for 1967 — and it’s kind of even more amazing now. All politics aside. A real gem, written by the famous songwriting duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

“Shades of Gray”, 1967. The Monkees. Enjoy, gang.

“Shades of Gray”

When the world and I were young
Just yesterday
Life was such a simple game
A child could play

It was easy then to tell right from wrong
Easy then to tell weak from strong
When a man should stand and fight
Or just go along

[Chorus]
But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light
Today there is no black or white
Only shades of gray

I remember when
The answers seemed so clear
We had never lived with doubt
Or tasted fear

It was easy then to tell truth from lies
Selling out from compromise
Who to love and who to hate
The foolish from the wise

But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light
Today there is no black or white
Only shades of gray

[Instrumental Break]

It was easy then to know what was fair
When to keep and when to share
How much to protect your heart
And how much to care

But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light
Today there is no black or white
Only shades of gray

[Outro]
Only shades of gray

c-1967 – Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil

A frisky little Monday in the Hinterlands!

September 8, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Yes, we’ve been up for hours!

And — YES! — it is my day-off (one of 3 this week, I hope!!).

And — YES! — it is payday around here, so I’ve been paying credit cards, paying the mortgage — and constantly thanking my dad for everything he did for me before he died to help keep me afloat these last couple of years…

And we also got some cleaning done around here! Meaning: the cats ~~HELPED!!~~— Oops, I meant to say, the cats WATCHED. And often got underfoot.

But, now, onward!!

A fresh cup of coffee. Then post here to the blog, then work on my novel-in-progress (The Curse of Our Profound Disorder), then another chat with Sandra at some point today regarding our play, “The Guide to Being Fabulous”!

(Then yoga, a walk, a trip to the bank, a shower, another lecture in the course I’m taking about the Protestant Reformation in the 15th-16th Centuries.)

And this is why I need 3 days off each week….

*********

Okay!

Here’s this–

From the Copyright Alliance this morning:

“The settlement in the Bartz v. Anthropic case is a significant victory not only for book publishers and authors but for all copyright owners whose works are pirated and then used by AI companies for training or other purposes.

“The proposed settlement, which amounts to at least $1.5 billion, is one of the largest in the history of copyright. As such, the settlement is a thunderclap for AI companies and anyone else attempting to copy and use pirated works from illicit sources for AI training or other uses. The settlement confirms that AI companies that are responsible and ethical should not be copying pirated works from illicit sources and any company that does so will be subject to serious consequences.

“Because, like Anthropic, many other AI companies have also been using these so-called shadow libraries and other illicit sources to access and use pirated works for training their AI systems, the outcome of this case is likely not unique and will apply in many other cases and to many other AI companies.

“To be clear, the settlement doesn’t spell the end for Anthropic or any other AI company. While the settlement amount is very significant and represents a clear victory for the publishers and authors in the class, it also proves what we have been saying all along—that AI companies can afford to compensate copyright owners for their works without it undermining their ability to continue to innovate and compete.“

*****

[And just FYI — if you’re new to this blog — those AI bot thingies scrape my blog and all its many posted erotic short stories, STILL. I can see them doing it in my stats. Even after the nightmares I had with those AI eBooks on Amazon during the 5G War that basically destroyed my career because I was fighting on the side of General Flynn. Fuck you very much, AI bot- guys!!]

[And just another FYI — my art will live on in infamy!! Long after I’m dead. I don’t give a fuck about everything you took from me. I wouldn’t switch sides for any amount of $$$ in the fucking world.]

[And when I finally finish writing my novel-in-progress, the dystopian Thug Luckless: Welcome to P-Town, scrape away, AI bot-guys! It will still be dedicated, eternally, to you.] [“Thank you for your attention to this matter!” – DJ Trump]

Me, as a redhead, saying “Fuck you very much, AI bot- guys!!”

**********

Here’s this!

I keep forgetting to post this link.

Adam Buxton did a podcast “with British musician and photographer Colin Greenwood about playing bass for Radiohead and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, his memories of the crumbling buildings and spooky stately homes where Radiohead recorded OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows, some favourite Radiohead basslines, what it’s like to play live with the band, and what people can expect from their forthcoming European shows. “

Here’s the LINK

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

And here’s this!

I love this old photo. It was posted on Instagram the other day. 2 of my favorite guys in the same place, many years ago:

Iggy Pop and Nick Cave:

And here’s the great song they posted with the photo!! (I love this song. It’s been on my driving-to-town playlist for years.)

Iggy Pop, from his album Party, 1981, an album which I played with abandon on my stereo in my hellhole apartment on E.12th Street in NYC back then. The song, “Bang Bang”:

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

And here’s this!!

Another one from James Tabor, to promote the upcoming New Testament Conference 9/26-9/28.

Did Jesus Reject Biblical Laws of Ritual Purity? Dr Paula Fredriksen (27 mins):

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

And here’s this!

While we wait 2 more days for the conclusion of Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe with Colin Greenwood on bass–

From my desktop stash!

Nick Cave — many years ago, ALREADY tired of fucking waiting!!

*********

And that is it for now!!

I have to say, that I have been really happy with what is landing on the page as I make my way to the end of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. Stuff comes out of my brain that I just wasn’t expecting, gang. And I couldn’t be happier. (I find myself saying out loud, “Shit, could you please repeat that?!” And then I try to write it all down.)

And as fate would have it — during my shift yesterday with the retired Minister and his lovely wife, he was telling me things about how it felt to be called to the ministry many, many years ago (he’s 81 now), and I realized: Wow, this is very helpful. (One of the main characters at the end of the novel is a Minister.)

And he also absolutely blew me away yesterday (my client, not the character in my book), when he said: “How come you’re not married? I’ll call around to a couple of my friends. You’re so pretty and so smart, they would marry to in a heartbeat.”

I thought that was so sweet, I really, really did. But considering, oh I don’t know — all of everything posted above (?), I’m guessing it would be more like a “heart attack” and not a “heartbeat”. But it doesn’t matter. He still made my night.

All right.

Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

From my drive home last night —

I decided to click on my “songs I was listening to 5 years ago” link!! That also blew me away: 5 fucking years ago??!!

This came on, and my heart melted all over the steering wheel. (Baby, I remember you and you know who you are!! Nothing has changed here since 2020 and all those letters I’ve written since then.)

From my wee bonny girlhood! Cat Stevens. “How Can I Tell You”, 1971. From his beautiful album, Teaser and the Firecat.

Okay, Enjoy, gang.

“How Can I Tell You?”

[Intro]
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh

How can I tell you that I love you?
I love you, but I can’t think of right words to say
And I long to tell you that I’m always thinking of you
I’m always thinking of you, but my words just blow away
Just blow away

It always ends up to one thing, honey
And I can’t think of right words to say
Oh, oh, oh, oh

Wherever I am, girl, I’m always walking with you
I’m always walking with you, but I look and you’re not there
And whoever I’m with, I’m always, always talking to you
I’m always talking to you, and I’m sad that you can’t hear
Sad that you can’t hear

It always ends up to one thing, honey
When I look and you’re not there

I need to know you, need to feel my arms around you
Feel my arms around you like a sea around a shore
Each night and day, I pray in hope that I might find you
In hope that I might find you, because heart’s can do no more

It always ends up to one thing honey
Still I kneel upon the floor

How can I tell you that I love you
I love you, but I can’t think of right words to say
I long to tell you that I’m always thinking of you
I’m always thinking of you

[Outro]
It always ends up to one thing honey
And I can’t think of right words to say
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

c – 1971 Cat Stevens/Yusuf

Saying Goodbye to Summer

September 7, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Technically, we still have about 2 more weeks until summer officially ends, but wow, gang. Summer is like gone around here.

Down into the 40s Fahrenheit every night now. Furnace is on in the mornings. Leaves are starting to change color and fall to the ground (or all over my car, depending on where it’s parked).

In the afternoons, it still gets up into the 70s, so it’s really nice. But at the same time, it no longer feels like summer at all.

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

Okay.

Not much to post about today, because I am still in that really weird mood — not depressed, really, but just sort of dumbfounded by how fast time flies and how everything just keeps changing and changing and changing.

I know it’s supposed to be this way, but for some reason, ever since my dad died, everything feels sort of pointless. As if — why do things happen at all if everything is just always changing?

And yet underneath it all, is the current of things that constantly stay the same. For instance, my coffee mug here on my desk right now: A souvenir from Chicago, when I took a trip there with Mark Pritchard in 1999…

THAT stuff doesn’t change, but that also dumbfounds me — how can this coffee mug be 26 years old already???

It has moved with me seven times!

Everything important changes — like the homes and the people and the cats who were with me in them — but the coffee mugs stay the same…

Honestly, stuff like that is all over my brain these days.

*********

And speaking of everything changing–

Here’s this.

The no-longer-with-us David Johansen in his glam rock period:

Richard Hell (of the bands Television, and the Voidoids)– who is, miraculously, still alive. In NYC, in 1977:

**********

And here’s this!!

While we wait for the 2 sold out shows in Luxembourg next week (9/10 and 9/11), which will signify the end of Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe with Colin Greenwood on bass!

From my desktop stash!

Nick Cave — just waiting. And smoking. And looking good while doing it…

**********

From James Tabor– more from the upcoming New Testament Conference, online at the end of the month..

Did Jesus Really Do Miracles? Dr. Dale Allison Weights In (39 mins):

*********

And that’s all.

I want to take a look at the novel-in-progress before Sandra calls to discuss the play. And then I’m heading out for my shift with the retired Minister and his lovely wife (and probably a couple of episodes of “Love Boat” and “Daniel Boone”, if all goes as it usually does).

Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

And here’s this!

Enough said.

Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, with their classic, “Time Changes Everything” from 1940. Enjoy, gang.

“Time Changes Everything”

There was a time when I thought of no other
And we sang our own loves refrain
And our hearts beat as one as we had our fun

But time changes everything

And when you left me my poor heart was broken
Our romance seemed all in vain
The dark clouds are gone and there’s blue skies again

Yes time changes everything

The time has passed and I have forgotten you
Mother Nature does wonderful things
I guess it is true for me and for you

‘Cause time changes everything

Oh you can change the name of an old song
Rearrange it and make it swing
I thought nothing could stop me from loving you

But time changes everything

So good luck to you and may God bless you
I can’t say we won’t love again
You have gone your way and I’ll go mine

‘Cause time changes everything

c – 1940 Tommy Duncan

Okay! Happy Saturday!

September 6, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

It’s chilly and grey here in the Hinterlands this morning, but, wow, is it peaceful, gang.

So quiet. With just a hint of autumn coming early.

Yesterday went by in a flash. Two really easy, really beautiful shifts with some wonderful clients.

The evening shift client is that new one, who lives in that gorgeous, enormous split-level house that you need a map to find the bathroom in. That home in the hills of Granville, behind the Bryn Du Mansion.

I was having lunch at Subway, trying to kill time between shifts because I didn’t want to arrive at her house too early, when I finally decided, just go.

And I’m glad I listened to that inner voice, because when I arrived, she was alone in the house. “Thank god you’re here,” she said. And she looked very stressed out. “I was getting panicky.”

And so we sat in the recliners by the TV, and we chatted for awhile about anxiety. Hers as well as mine. And we both ended up feeling a lot better about life, even though “time changes everything” and there isn’t a darn thing we can do about it.

But it was beautiful. I often learn so much about myself when I’m trying to help guide my clients to some sort of spiritual clarity about their own situations.

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

Okay.

Here’s this.

From Instagram. I have no idea who he is, but I thought he was just gorgeous. From a Native American account I follow:

**********

And here’s this.

Another topic that will be discussed at the upcoming New Insights into the New Testament Conference, 9/26-9/28. (You can attend online. $79 if you buy your ticket by Sept, 13th. Buy tickets HERE.)

A talk with Bart Ehrman — “At the heart of Jesus’s message was a call to repentance in anticipation of the coming Kingdom of God, so why did his followers dramatically reverse this teaching after his death?”

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

From night #2 in Baden-Baden, Germany, last night!

Another great encore!! Crimony, gang; I would pay the $1700 it costs per ticket just to hear these encores–

And here are a few photos from last night–

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

And on a similar topic…

I had such strange dreams last night.

Partly having to do with the anxiety stuff I talked about with my client last evening — anxiety stemming from how things that we love about life disappear and we can’t do anything about it.

And partly about Nick Cave.

There was this Instagram account that I really, really just loved. Well, technically, it’s still there but it’s almost completely inactive now. But every morning, for years, when I would wake up before dawn and check my Instagram app, the first photo in my feed would always be a really delightful post about Nick Cave and my morning would just be off to such a lovely start, even hours before the sun actually came up.

But that hasn’t happened for a long time, and in my dreams last night, I kept dreaming about it over and over and over — about how that doesn’t happen anymore. Even though I know people grow out of Instagram for whatever reasons, it’s just yet another thing about life that I used to love that has changed.

Here’s an example — from over 5 years ago. Nick Cave wearing what appears to be a shoulder holster. Yay!!

However. On we go.

***********

Okay, I guess I better scoot!

A brief shift today with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese client! Then some grocery shopping in town, then a Saturday night just chillin’. Then a phone conference with Sandra tomorrow morning, regarding updates on our Off-Broadway play, “The Guide to Being Fabulous”!

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

I leave you with this.

One of my all-time FAVORITE songs about SATURDAY!!

Back in the mid-1990s, I used to chat with Mark Pritchard on the old-fashioned PHONE on Saturdays. We would catch up about how our week had gone. At the time, he was a writer/publisher in San Francisco, and I was a writer/publisher/online content producer in NYC.

I always loved those chats with Mark. He was one of my closest freinds back then. And I would often play this record and think about him.

And I found myself singing this song again, when I got out of bed this morning, and I was thinking about him!! 30 years later…

The classic from the Sandpipers, 1969. “Come Saturday Morning.” Just beautiful. Enjoy, gang.

“Come Saturday Morning”

Come Saturday mornin’
I’m goin’ away with my friend
We’ll Saturday-spend
‘Til the end of the day

Just I and my friend
We’ll travel for miles
In our Saturday smiles
And then we’ll move on
But we will remember
Long after Saturday’s gone

[Chorus]
Come Saturday mornin’
Come Saturday mornin’

Come Saturday mornin’
I’m goin’ away with my friend
We’ll Saturday-laugh
More than half of the day

Just I and my friend (My friend)
Dressed up in our rings
And our Saturday things (Saturday)
And then we’ll move on
But we will remember
Long after Saturday’s gone

Come Saturday mornin’
Come Saturday mornin’

[Bridge]
Come Saturday mornin’ (Saturday)

Just I and my friend (My friend)
We’ll travel for miles
In our Saturday smiles (Saturday)
And then we’ll move on
But we will remember
Long after Saturday’s gone

[Chorus]
Come Saturday mornin’
Come Saturday morn
Come Saturday mornin’
Come Saturday morn

c – 1969 Dory Previn / Fred Karlin

Quick One Today!!

September 5, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

I gotta scoot, and I have to work a double today. So it’s a long day ahead.

But luckily, I love both of the clients and they don’t live far from each other, so I can stop HERE for lunch between shifts!!

Yes, the Subway that was right around the corner from Molly, my adorable client who passed away in February…

I don’t normally get excited about eating at Subway. It’s just this specific one, because it reminds me of Molly and her husband, and they were such wonderful clients. They were like family to me. I just set foot in that shop and I’m flooded with happy memories.

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

Okay.

Here’s this!

Keith and Mick as they get ready to play Madison Square Garden in 1969….

We just had the anniversary of the release of the Rolling Stones live album “Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out!”. Which was a recording of the show mentioned above, at Madison Square Garden in NYC.

A fantastic album!! It is officially 723 million years old!! (it came out on September 4th 1970, so you do the math!)

You can listen to the full album here:

And here’s this–

Keith at home in Connecticut, 1995:

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

All righty!

So the show in Baden-Baden, Germany, last night sounded great! I listened to quite a few videos posted to Instagram.

There were a few good photos, too. Here are 2 of them:

And here’s the set list!! Another fantastic encore!!

Another sold out show tonight in Baden-Baden, then next week, Luxembourg, then the tour is over!!

**********

Phil did a short live last night, about the current silver market and investing in silver. You can watch the replay below. It starts at about the 16-minute mark.

The Problem ( 1 hr 30 mins):

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

And that is it for now, I gotta get moving!!

Enjoy your Friday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting!!

I love you guys. See ya!

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

I leave you with this!!

When I bought this album, I was almost 13, and a lot of this stuff was still brand new to me. Boy, did I love this album, gang. I played it over and over and over on my little portable record player in my room.

Who cared about sound systems and stereos?? I just loved it.

Okay!

Live from Madison Square Garden in NYC, 1969, the Rolling Stones do Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie”! Enjoy, gang.

Rainy Day-Off in the Hinterlands!

September 4, 2025 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Yes, I have another day off!

And this one is even better than the other 2 I had this week, because I have no chores to do at all. I’m gonna sit at my desk and work on the novel-in-progress. Yay.

Until my neck starts hurting, from being hunched over for hours. Then I’ll take a break and do yoga.

And it’s a moody sort of day — grey, light rain, a little cool. I’m okay with it, for now. My main focus is having a whole day ahead wherein I have nothing whatsoever to do but write.

The weather doesn’t matter.

**********

Yesterday started out a little strange.

My favorite 95-year-old Japanese man woke up in an odd mood. He was being very hard on himself, from the moment he got out of bed. It was hard to get him to snap out of it, but he eventually did.

ME (emphatic): “What are you talking about, you’re a really, really nice guy!”

HE: “No, you’re infinitely nicer than me. You’re a million, trillion times nicer than me.”

ME: “No way. There’s something faulty in your math — let me see how you came to this conclusion; show me the mathematical equation you used to come up with this.”

HE: (smiling, finally.)

And so we sallied forth to Peony Bistro to get sashimi, sushi and sake. And by the time our fortune cookies arrived, he was in good spirits. (Sake, I’m guessing, had something to do with it.)

However– our fortunes were both sort of appropriate! At least his was, for sure. Mine, I can only hope!! But now he is 3 for 3 — meaning, he has liked his fortune 3 times in a row — he related to it, since it kind of summed up his whole life.

His is the top one:

To say he was successful in life is putting it almost ridiculously mildly. Let’s look at it this way: His monthly Social Security check is 70 times what mine is. (I’m not joking, either. It would take me almost 6 years of Social Security checks to equal what he gets in one month.)

And he has had a wooden leg since he was 12 years old. (He lost his leg in a train accident on his way to school one day, back in Tokyo during WWII.) And it never ever stopped him. He considers the loss of his leg one of the greatest blessings of his life, because it set him on a whole new path.

Anyway.

As far as my own fortune, that word “unpredictable” has sort of been my life story thus far, so we’ll see how it goes!

***********

I don’t really have anything else to post about today, although I have to say, that course I’m currently taking about the Reformation in the mid-15th to early 16th Centuries, is really intense. So much information. I have to keep rewinding it to make sure I’m catching everything the Professor is saying.

We are up to Zwingli. and the Protestant Reformation in Zurich. It led to things that I found sort of shocking, but it gave me a lot to think about when the lecture was over — most specifically, why did I find it so shocking? Was it because of my 21st Century perspective? I’m still trying to figure that out. But it definitely affected my dreams last night, for sure.

And, also, yesterday, I ordered the classic, The Praise of Folly, written in 1509 (in Latin). I think it will be very illuminating. Erasmus (of Rotterdam) was just fascinating and I don’t know very much about his work:

“Praise of Folly is considered one of the most notable works of the Renaissance and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation.”

So — so far, we have Erasmus in Rotterdam, Martin Luther in Germany, and Zwingli in Zurich…

‘***************

But for now, back to Germany!

Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe, with Colin Greenwood on bass, resumes tonight, for the first of 2 sold out shows in Baden-Baden, Germany.

Here’s hoping that the kind folks of Baden-Baden just LOVE to take their cellphones to concerts and take photos all night long, posting them immediately to Instagram!!

We shall see.

Meanwhile, I leave you with this! A favorite, for obvious reasons —

From Nick Cave’s Solo Tour with Colin Greenwood on bass, September 2023: Cleveland!! (What an amazing show.)

***********

From James Tabor– more about the speakers at the upcoming 3-day Conference about Jesus, that you can take ONLINE!

You can find out more and register HERE ($79 until Sept. 13th).

Prof. Goodacre: Why the Missing Pieces in our Gospel Stories are so Important (52 mins):

And that is it for today.

Oh. Phil is supposed to be live tonight, but he has had to cancel the past 2 nights, so check here later to confirm.

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

I leave you with this!

Back in the mid-1990s, I was a backup singer for the gay Country duo, Y’All. There were quite a few of us girl backup singers — we were officially called the Cowgirl Chorus.

Y’All put out 2 CDs in NYC, including a wonderful Christmas album “Christmastime in the Trailer Park”, before moving to Nashville. But, wow were those shows FUN to perform in, and those 2 guys wrote some really great songs.

Here is a 2015 re-issue of one of my favorites: “God Bless NYC (My Big Apple Pie)”. The backup singers are not on this version, this is from a documentary film, but it’s still a really fun song. Enjoy, gang.!