You are correct if you jumped up & down and said: “NOTHING!!”

Yay!

I actually wound up taking the day off. Meaning, I didn’t work at my desk.

I did make some headway in my reading yesterday afternoon — I am well into re-reading The Jesus Discovery, which I need to have finished before I go to the Tabor Research Group conference in Charlotte, NC, at the end of September:

And, YES!!

I did indeed finally finish reading John Cooper Clarke’s autobiography, I Wanna Be Yours, yesterday, too!

What a wonderful book. But it was really long — almost 500 pages — so it took me nearly 3 months to finish it. But I did!!

It is much easier for me to read in broad daylight, with plenty of natural light coming in through the many windows here.

Usually, though, I don’t have time to sit down and start reading until evening, when the sun is, of course, waning…

And OH!

Speaking of WAYNE!!

I absolutely LOVE this selfie Wayne sent to me! He’s at his beloved Union Club in NYC:

Every time I look at that photo, it just cracks me up!

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Okay!

Well, it looks like I’m heading to Shanghai this afternoon! But it’ll just be a quick trip — dash in, see some art, head back. I should be home by dinnertime….

Anyway.

Johnny Depp’s Art Exhibit has opened in Shanghai, and apparently it is an expanded exhibit, and has pieces added that we didn’t see in the show in NYC!

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And I loved this.

It seems that Jack Kerouac has an appropriate quote for every single moment of my often bewildering life:

Loyal readers of this lofty blog no doubt recall that it was a quote of Kerouac’s (below) that I taped to the wall next to my desk in order to finally complete my upcoming novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder.

I was kind of, you know, convinced, even while writing it, that it was the kind of story that was going to offend a whole lot of people. And yet…I still felt it needed to be written. (It’s fictional, but based on intense stuff that happened to people I actually knew, also, some of it, to myself.)

Anyway. Thanks, Jack. After 28 years, the novel is indeed complete, and will be published in just under one month!

(And thanks again, everyone, for pre-ordering it. The sales ranking of the eBook over at Amazon is really just jumping.)

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I watched this during breakfast this morning and it really made some very interesting key points.

Luke’s Gospel removes the need for sacrificial atonement. Instead, Luke returns to what Jesus actually taught: Forgiveness.

Bart Ehrman, interviewed last month on History Valley–

Jesus Didn’t Die For Anyone: Luke Removed The Atonement For Jesus Never Taught It! | Dr. Bart Ehrman (31 mins):

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Okay!

I have to say that this one sort of puzzled me.

We’ve got, you know The Fall, singing “Hit the North (Pt. 1)”. But then also an unmistakable nod to the Rolling Stones….

Anyway! Warren Ellis, apparently working out in Sweden??? (It was a gas, gas, gas???)

And meanwhile, just quickly, here’s this!!

Okay!

Back to Sweden and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds!

Looks like a whole lot of people had a fantastic time, doesn’t it??

Here’s the set list:

There were some great videos posted — some cool footage of the Bad Seeds chilling while listening to The Cure’s set over on a different stage. But not many photos, yet.

Here’s a smiling Nick Cave, though:

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Finland tomorrow. You can buy tickets HERE!

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And that’s sort of looking like that’s it for now!

Have a super Saturday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

The Hollywood Vampires sing the Velvet Underground in London! “Venus In Furs”!! Enjoy, gang.

I am, of course, referring to how dumbfounding it is to be ME.

I just don’t get it sometimes (most of the time).

Since I have all sorts of free time these days (!!), when the Dramatists Guild sent out an alert yesterday that it was almost time for this year’s End of Play program to begin, wherein you get one month (June) to write an entire play, while “posting weekly updates to the community tracking the progress”, I decided I’d better sign up!

You know, write an entire play in the month of June, while being tracked by an entire community the whole time.

WTF???

So I signed up!

WTF??

Not only am I always scrambling for quality time to focus and write around here, I am also going to be in NYC from June 11th thru June 14th…

However.

My thought process was that, after having stumbled across my 12-year-old notes (see some previous blog post from a few days ago) for my play-in-progress about Caiaphas, and being kind of blown away by the quality of the notes, as well as how fucking long ago I made those notes —

It seemed like: well, it doesn’t have to be a perfect, final draft of a play. It just needs to be a finished first draft…

And I thought it would be a good way to not lose track of the play entirely and at least write one version of it before I die.

And I knew that, not only did I have those notes really handy now, but I also knew there was a version of the play that I had indeed begun writing, in a Dropbox file marked “Caiaphas” on my desktop.

So, last evening, to refresh my memory, I began re-reading Tom Stoppard’s 1967 play “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead” to see the various mechanisms that had originally inspired my approach to writing my play.

I got 20 pages in, and then I thought: I need to stop reading, and in the morning, just get out those first few pages of the draft I already wrote, and read it, and begin from there.

And I went to sleep feeling sort of guilty about committing myself to such an intense writing task right now — but it is only for one month, and I do sort of/kind of have some wiggle room in the month of June, project-wise…

There are still 4 months before the new novel comes out. I won’t need to focus on “The Guide to being Fabulous” until summer. If Sandra and I do get the okay to work on the TV pilot, that won’t be underway until July. And the upcoming launch of the mini-podcast with Valerie will get under way later in May… So June is, yeah, well, sort of “open”…

I don’t know, gang. I went to sleep feeling like I’m sort of/kind of losing my mind.

However.

This morning, after all the breakfast shenanigans were over, and I was on cup of coffee #2, I found the “Caiaphas” folder in the Dropbox (and found DOZENS of notes, notes, and more notes — and photos of ancient tombs and ossuaries in there, as well!!)

And I opened the document for the play (that I had written in late 2016 (!!) for fuck’s sake!! Crikey!!!! I’ve lived in 3 houses since I started writing that fucking play!!!).

The play is almost 3 pages so far. And I am not exaggerating, gang, when I say that I was blown away by this fucking play.

It is SO FUN!!

Here are just a couple of samplings from page 2:

Down in the burial cave, STAGE RIGHT, by one of the niches, CAIAPHAS leans against the wall, listening to the conversation above. He is dressed in a black tee shirt, black blazer, black tight-fitting jeans, and he wears Spanish-heeled boots of black leather. 

For our purposes, the cave is not cramped. Caiaphas is tall and lean —in his prime. He is clean-shaven, with thick, curly dark hair —not too short, not too long.

Caiaphas also wears black Ray Ban wayfarer sunglasses, circa 1960s, and smokes a cigarette(...)

CAIAPHAS (to audience):  Did you catch that part, Yeshua bar Yehosef? Or ‘Joshua son of Joseph’ – for those of you who haven’t kept up on your Biblical Aramaic. Yeshua. Joshua – Josh. If you prefer Greek, then Iesous – or Jesus. Yes, that one. ‘Jesus son of Joseph.’ (Caiaphas tosses his cigarette to the ground and stamps it out with his boot heel.) Filthy habit. But it’s not what killed me. (He smiles broadly; a genuine smile, filled with warmth and good humor. He removes his sunglasses, sliding them into a pocket.) (...)

(...)And I am Yehosef bar Caiaphas – Joseph son of Caiaphas. You can call me Joe. (Walking DOWN CENTER) Look at me. I look good for 60, don’t I? Where I come from … 60 is the new 35! But seriously (...)

(...) Anyway. I was born here in Jerusalem; back in that murky era referred to now as ‘B.C.’ – ‘Before Christ’ – and I died here, too, but God knows, it was in the ‘A.D.’ (He chuckles) Get it? A.D. – After Death? Of Christ?  (Pause) Look me up on the Internet if you don’t understand why that’s funny. (...)

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BTW–

If you don’t know who Caiaphas was:

“Caiaphas, the Jewish High Priest, orchestrated the arrest, interrogation, and conviction of Jesus, pushing for his execution to appease Roman authorities and protect his own power. He presided over the midnight trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, accusing him of blasphemy, and subsequently delivered him to Pontius Pilate to ensure his crucifixion.”

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So, you know, this morning, I read over the 3 pages of this play I started writing 10 years ago…

And I realized that my signing up to participate in the End Of Play program was a sign that I am meant to write this fucking PLAY. And not a sign that I am out of my mind.

Perhaps even a sign that there is some sort of spiritual guidance happening here, that is trying to lead me back to my writing and to stop me from feeling so overwhelmed by the caregiving all the time.

We are going to find out.

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Okay!

Let’s get to the “here’s this’s” because I have to get some stuff done (God knows) before I head out to see the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat.

So here’s this!

I loved this!!

Lenny Kaye & friends (!!), at Kerouac’s grave!

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And here’s this!

A lovely photo of Brian Jones, with a bunch of bedside phones, by Terry O’Neill:

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And a couple from Phyllis Stein!

Willy Deville in New Orleans!

Richard Hell, smoking at CBGBs 1978!

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And a couple of vintage Nick Cave photos to round it all out!

Nick Cave at Mute Records in London. Photo by Phil Nicholls, for Melody Maker, August 1986:

And Nick Cave with a similar expression, photo by Bleddyn Butcher, but I don’t know what year:

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And that will be it for now.

I still need to do yoga and begin listening to a new lecture by James Tabor in the “Christianity Before Paul” class, before heading to town. (And also, you know, start sorting through all the many notes for that “Caiaphas” play I’m going to entirely write in June…)

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!!

Another winner in the making-the-bed-music-listening department!!

I literally switched on the Oldies FM Radio Station on the retro boom box to begin making my bed, and this ABSOLTUE GEM was just coming on, and I swear, the cats all came darting in again, tails up high, and started playing and racing around.

They LOVE music from the 80s!! I am not kidding!

Anyway.

Wham! “Wake Me Up before You Go-Go”!! Enjoy the fuck out of it, gang. We sure did!!