Tag Archives: fiction

It’s Monday!!

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And my new schedule begins today, wherein I now have Mondays off.

And to launch it — Kara and Wendy and I are meeting for an early lunch in town today to celebrate Wendy’s upcoming birthday!!

Yay!!

Upcoming cake!!

As usual, I am really looking forward to hanging out with both of them. We have all been friends for about 10 years now, but the 3 of us haven’t been able to get together and do lunch since Christmastime.

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And speaking of birthdays (sort of)–

Joe Satriani’s EP, Dreaming #11, turns 38 today!!

I vividly remember seeing the album for sale in Tower Records in downtown NYC. It was clear across the store from where I was standing, but it was up on a rack and the cover art was so blue that it stood out by a mile.

I was a huge Joe Satriani fan, so I was really excited! Ran right over and clutched it and bought it and zipped back to my apartment on E.12th Street and I can’t fucking believe that was 38 years ago…!!!

Anyway.

Here’s “The Crush of Love”, 1988, from Dreaming #11:

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One cool thing (IMHO) about turning the clocks back, is waking up at my “usual time” only to discover I have another hour to just hang out in bed in the dark.

I did some incredibly effective meditating, which I really needed. And while I was doing it, I was thinking how cool it would be if Nick Cave’s announcement on Friday will be for us to do a live group meditation with him on YouTube!!

Wouldn’t that be awesome?? So many people would tune in for that and meditate together — all over the world. And he could come up with some specific mantra for it — I think it would be amazing. Even just for 15 minutes.

I have done group meditations online before, but I have only meditated with another person — you know, in the same room together — one time in my life and it was so astoundingly connecting that it freaked me out.

This was when I was briefly staying with Jack Red Eagle, out in his cabin in the woods of East Texas. He was that Lakota Sioux Medicine Man who was hoping I would take over his practice so that he could retire. He was in his 60s by then.

It turned out I was incredibly gifted with using my mind in that way — healing people and connecting with people — but I was too young (23) and it was still brand new to me and it totally freaked me out. The whole thing, not just the meditating part (where I actually felt his mind and my mind connect, energetically, at the same time that he was feeling it, too, it really was amazing).

Oh, and if you are among the 3 people in the world who have actually read my new novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, you will recognize a lot of this because it shows up in the novel in a fictionalized way — with the character of (the much younger) Jack Kicking Eagle, in his cabin in East Texas…

But it all stems from my real-life (non-sexual) experiences with Jack Red Eagle.

Jack Red Eagle, as he looked back then, in 1983, when I first met him. RIP, Jack:

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The interview yesterday regarding RC Horsch went very well. The reporter (Zak Winters) is very easy to talk to and he kept it moving and I felt very comfortable, even though it was obviously a difficult topic to discuss.

I will let you know when Part 2 of the investigation is posted to YouTube.

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Okay!

Johnny Depp’s been busy!

You’ve probably already seen a ton of videos about his performance with Aerosmith the other night, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I actually found photos of it, rather than videos, so here’s this!

From October 29th!

And then last night, in NYC, he was at a special screening of “Ebenezer”! (Which I think opens in theaters on November 13th?)

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And here’s this!

From Phyllis Stein!!

David Jo with David Bowie (and Earl Slick) drinking and almost smoking at Max’s in NYC in 1977!! At least Bowie is holding a pack of Gitanes… (Photo is by Joe Stevens)

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And here’s Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, reunited in the studio in 1986!!

And here’s this, while we’re at it! Big Audio Dynamite’s “C’mon Every Beatbox,” from no.10 Upping Street, 1986!

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And here’s this!

From Facebook!!

Nick Cave, proving yet again that it’s a great day to be alive!!

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And that is it for today.

I’m hoping that after I return from lunch this afternoon, I can get some more work done on the flash fiction piece for the Bill Burroughs anthology. The deadline is rapidly approaching, and even though the piece is a little over half-done, it is coming out so slowly; word by word by word, instead of in whole sentences.

I don’t know that Bill Burroughs is actually dictating it to me, but it feels like he is. To the point where I actually say out loud to him, “What exactly are you trying to say?” And then one or two more words come.

It’s so weird…

However.

I am hoping my piece will be accepted for the collection because it will be another new publisher for me and it’s been really great getting to know the publisher/editor/writer, Alex S. Johnson. So I’m hoping it will lead to more work. He works with such a wide variety of writers & musicians, from all over the world. Some of whom I know but most of them, I don’t.

It would be great to have some new horizons on the horizon, right, gang??!!

Okay!

I think that is it for now.

Have a great Monday, wherever you are in the world, gang.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this today.

The video is only a few days old (made with the help of AI), but the song is from 1988, and I used to totally love this song!! But I hadn’t thought of it in ages….

It turned up in my YouTube feed this morning.

Leonard Cohen, “Everybody Knows,” from his great album I’m Your Man, 1988. Enjoy, gang.

It Has Arrived!

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November, that is.

And my favorite day of the year — wherein I got that extra hour back and I have already used it well! (Making another big breakfast for myself, after feeding and cleaning up after 14 cats… then, yes! I went back to bed for an hour, with my cup o’ joe on the bedside table!)

And now here I am.

I’m not exactly dreading the interview today (at noon — with the investigative reporter, about RC Horsch), but I will be happy when it’s over.

I will also be EXTREMELY happy when this fucking election is over (Tuesday) and all the fucking ADS can just fucking STOP… I am so fucking sick of it.

Anyway! That said, please fucking VOTE.

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Last night was okay. There were a WHOLE lot of kids out there, trick-or-treating. So I’m guessing kids came in from other nearby towns. They were literally just everywhere.

The candy ran out while there was still about 30 more minutes to go, so I took everything down by 7PM, and brought it inside, then turned out the lights and went upstairs.

I am not a fan of Halloween and I am glad it’s over, but the kids had fun.

Meanhwile…

Wayne WhatsApp’d me yesterday about his plans for last night. He’s too funny.

“…I don’t want kids ringing my doorbell, so I’ll leave out my traditional basket of loose cigarettes, strike-anywhere matches and razor blades so the lil’ darlings can help themselves. SAFETY razor blades. After all, I’m not a monster.”

(You know, for a marriage that didn’t last, I still cannot find another living soul that I would rather spend my life with.)

Okay.

I re-watched this magnificent film while the festivities were going on last night, and what another great trip down Memory Lane it was:

I was in my early teens the first time I saw this film (with French Club at school). I remember well how it made me feel — liberated. On so many levels.

It’s so cool to re-watch it, and to know so much more about the French New Wave then I knew way back then, and to have been to Paris a couple of times — and also to have been to Paris for a book signing, to have Neptune & Surf come out twice in French. To know now that I have done things I had no clue I was going to do regarding Paris (and life) when I first saw that film!!

(What I’m going to do for the next however many years I have left, besides take care of rescued cats, is the part that has me really stumped, gang.)

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Okay.

Here’s this . I love this acoustic version. It popped up in my YouTube stream this morning, for some reaason.

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Okay!

We missed this!!

It happened last night, but the post didn’t get into my Instagram feed until this morning.

Bad Seed Jim Sclavunos played Dublin last night with his other band, Transvision Vamp!!

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And I loved this.

From Phyllis Stein.

David Jo and the New York Dolls, in NYC, 1973. Photo by Bob Gruen.

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And also from Phyllis Stein!!

Andy Warhol at Gristede’s in NYC, 1965 — perhaps prepping for Hurricane Sandy! (Photo by Bob Edelman)

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And here’s this!!

Warren Ellis surrounded by FLOWERS!!

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And here’s this.

From Facebook!!

Which reminds me — I watched the rest of that video I posted yesterday — the Nick Cave documentary about his early years in Melbourne.

I really liked it. I liked the sensibility of it and found it actually very informative. I’d heard a lot of that stuff before about the early Boys Next Door years, but this time it all actually made sense.

Here’s the link again, in case you missed it. (36 mins.)

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Okay, that’s all I have for today.

I’m going to finish up the laundry and sort of get my head together before the interview.

Yesterday was intense at work — only 3 hours but they were sort of crazy. The moment we got to the store, the electricity was on the verge of going out.

So the owners came in and the electricity repair guy came. It got fixed but it got the day off to a weird start.

However, a cool thing happened.

A man came up to the cash register while I was standing there and I immediately recognized him from the old days. A really nice man.

He was so happy. He said, “Are you back??” And then he said, “I just found a recipe you wrote for me a long time ago and I was going to come in here and ask what had happened to you — and now here you are!”

i thought that was pretty cool. Sort of Kismet-y.

I’m guessing I wrote him a recipe for how to make your own Hydroxychloroquine at home. We did a lot of that kind of stuff during the lockdowns.

Anyway. It is really good to be back at that store. And nary a lockdown in sight…

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Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world, gang.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this.

I got really sick & tired of all the commercials on the oldies FM radio station on my retro boombox this morning…

So I turned it off and turned on my driving-to-town playlist on my iPhone instead, and YAY!!

A little bit of heaven filled my room.

Enjoy, gang. I sure did.

“A Rainy Night in Soho”, 1986, Shane MacGowan and The Pogues.

How things are feeling around here!!

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Well, sort of.

I am glad I finished the editing of the M. Christian tribute anthology, but I am still feeling those little stragglers of depression and loss.

For instance, Bill Brent, who had been a very close colleague and friend of both M. Christian and myself (and countless others), came to live with me here in Ohio for awhile, after he’d broken up with a long-time significant other in Hawaii.

Bill was not easy to live with at that point in his life — his topics of conversation included his detailed thoughts about how to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco without getting rescued…

After he left Ohio, leaving all his possessions “temporarily” stored in my basement, he moved back to San Francisco…

And jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Without getting rescued.

That was back in 2012.

Of course, for me, Bill’s spirit is all over M. Christian’s tribute anthology…along with the loss of so many others from my world.

But I am trying to shift my focus. And shift my focus. And shift my focus.

I’m hoping that once I send the manuscript over to my publisher and have her focus on it for awhile, it will sort of get my mind off of all the loss, and I can truly move forward toward focusing on new stuff.

We’re gonna find out, because I’m gonna hit “SEND” as soon as I’m done posting to the blog today.

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Well, here’s some stuff!

Keith’s birthday wishes to Bill Wyman yesterday:

And here’s some birthday wishes from the gallery in London where Bill’s photos are currently on display:

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And I thought this was quite interesting!!

It was taken only THREE DAYS AGO, and Keith is clearly smoking… (so much for quitting!) (But my guess is that he’s still gonna live longer than any of us!!)

And here’s Keith again!!

Smoking!! And playing a guitar!! In mostly black, a little white…

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Speaking of guitar heroes…

Here’s something that has me sort of spellbound, gang.

The producer/narrator who is working on the audiobook edition of my novel, The Guitar Hero Goes Home, sent me over an update, an audio file, yesterday and he is doing such a fantastic job.

If you are unfamiliar with that novel — it is told from the POV of a famous (fictional) guitar hero at the very end of his life. (In fact, in my opinion, he is already dead while he’s telling the story of his life, but I leave it up to the reader to decide.)

He has no name in the book, and the entire book is being told by him to the new love in his life — and she is never named. Never speaks. Nothing. It’s only him, throughout.

When this novel “came to me” in 2019, it was literally as if it were being dictated to me by a guy in my head. A voice. I typed out what he “told me”. His whole life story. (You can read a sample here on the blog.)

I loved this novel. And every publisher I sent it to declined it. I finally published it myself, and I still love this book, gang.

Well, yesterday, listening to the new audio file — wow. It was like I was finally really hearing the guy who had spoken to me in my head all those years ago. It felt incredible, listening to it. I even got chills a couple times. “This is the guy!”, you know?

I won’t be publishing the audiobook until early 2027, but I can’t wait.

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From James Tabor — he sent out this video to us this morning. It’s from a couple years ago, but it is really good.

Paul within His Hellenistic World: Understanding Cosmic Salvation (1hr 30 mins):

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And later this afternoon, Ross K. Nichols is having a private Zoom discussion with the Yachad. I can’t post details about it yet, but it should be really interesting!!

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And in other very interesting developments — I’ve been invited to contribute a flash fiction piece honoring William S. Burroughs, for an anthology edited by Alex S. Johnson. (Tight deadline.)

Ideas are already flowing into my brain, so here’s hoping it will hit the page quickly and in a good way. We shall soon see!!

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Meanwhile….

From Facebook.

I do not think this day sucks in ANY way, however, I loved this photo!!

So here it is!!

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And that is it for now.

I’m gonna get the manuscript off to my publisher, and then maybe take a little walk and clear my brain.

It is another stunning fall day out there today.

Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world, gang.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!!

That TV show from Japan that I really loved is back on Netlfix!! With episodes I haven’t seen yet!!

I watched it last night. I’m so glad it’s back. (Between that, and new episodes of “Ludwig” on Britbox, and reruns of “Mrs. Brown’s Boys”– again!!!! I’m doing all right, TV-wise.)

“Midnight Diner”. Recap. Enjoy, gang.

Very quick post

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Okay, I did get a little nap just now (see earlier post), but I still don’t have time for a regular post today before I have to leave for town.

However, I did want to post this today.

10 years ago today, the sweetest cat on Earth left us!

Bunny! She lived to be 14. I adopted Bunny and her brother Buster as kittens, from an animal shelter in Times Square in NYC. They moved with me 5 times — to 3 different States…

And here’s the portrait Valerie in Brooklyn made of Bunny about 12 years ago:

And I’m posting this just because I saw it while looking for photos of Bunny —

The house I had from October 2006 to October 2016. Huckleberry, on the old piano in the living room!

Also, this happened on this day in 1999–

I lost my best friend on Earth, Paul Martin. He died at a few minutes after 8 in the evening, October 23, 1999. And oddly, it had been an incredibly beautiful fall evening. I was over in Riverside Park, looking out at the Hudson River, overwhelmed by how beautiful everything looked; it was spellbinding. (This was only a few blocks from where Wayne & I lived on the Upper West Side in NYC.)

Then I went home and a little later, got word from Paul’s mom that Paul had passed away. He had suffered from AIDS for about 6 years by then and had been confined to a nursing home for the final year of it.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my life was never the same after Paul died. He was truly my best friend. So funny, so talented. So compassionate. We stood by each other through everything. We met in the Theater Department in high school, in 1977, and remained best friends for 22 years.

Soar in peace, baby! I miss you so much.

And that’s it.

I’ll have a regular post tomorrow. Thanks for visiting. I love you guys!!

And here’s this, just because Paul loved this song so much. I wrote it in 1981.

“Breaking Glass”

I was doomed to live in New York City
On a block where accidental babies
Went out with the trash;
We shared a two-room apartment,
Tiny and cold
To the tune of a love, by winter,
Growing old
And the sound of an angry young woman
Breaking glass.

I recall our lives were never empty
There were tears enough for the third who entered
And beckoned your past;
The hours you kept were deceitful
And it had to show
The passion of time she burned
I couldn’t control;
I was trapped in my raging fury
And breaking glass.

CHORUS
There’s no telling how the coming of love
Will find us
There’s no guessing in what way
It’s gonna set us free
There’s no doubting that the anger of love
Can break us
When our actions don’t even come close
To the people we wanna be most
And our dreams don’t work out as the glories
They’d promised to be.

Without excuses I left the table
Well, I ran like hell while I was still able
I started anew;
I’ve lost some weight and I’m strong
And happy now
I got over the fiery anger, though
I don’t know how;
The songs we knew, they don’t drive me crazy
Well, I stopped the drinking and being lazy
It’s over at last;
The painful sheer rejection has
All gone past;
The tunes of deceit and loneliness
Fading fast;
Gone are the days of anger
And breaking glass.

CHORUS
There’s no telling how the coming of love
Will find us
There’s no guessing in what way
It’s gonna set us free
There’s no doubting that the anger of love
Can break us
When our actions don’t even come close
To the people we wanna be most
And our dreams don’t work out as the glories
They’d promised to be.

c- 1981 Marilyn Jaye Lewis
First of May Songs, BMI

“Her Tuesdays should just be called ‘sorry I’m late’ day.”

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I don’t really know what it is about Tuesdays, now, gang, but since I started back to work at the store, Tuesdays feel like Saturdays to me. And I just seem to get a really slow start here.

Meaning: I go back to bed after breakfast; play with the cats; look around at my world and wonder how the heck I even got here… Etc.

But here I am, now, at my desk! Happy Tuesday!

Before we forget!!!!

Happy heavenly birthday, Tom Petty!!

Believe it or not, he would have been 76 today. I almost can’t fucking believe it. Anyway…

And let’s listen to this one today! One of my all-time favorite Tom Petty songs. “You & Me”, from The Last DJ, 2002.

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Well, I have to say that Rasha’s mom did come to get her and take her to her new home, and I actually miss little Rasha quite a bit.

Yes, even with 14 cats still living here…

But every time I remind myself that Rasha and her mom are finally re-united now — I feel very happy for both of them.

Rasha in the flowers last month

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From James Tabor–

Did the First Witnesses Believe that Jesus’ Body Left the Tomb? (33 mins):

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And here’s this!

A couple of great photos of the Rolling Stones from yesteryear!!

1966–

1980!

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And something else I did not know about Dwight Yoakam!!

(Although I do know that he went to high school in Columbus, Ohio!! But he lived way on the other side of the city from where I lived. Plus, he’s 4 years older than I am, so I was about 13 when he was graduating high school…)

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Here’s this!

Rowland S. Howard smoking and promoting “Swamp Thing”!

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I have had misgivings about posting this photo to my blog, because I didn’t want to invade her privacy or anything.

But, you know, she DID post it to Instagram… so I’m gonna go ahead and post it to my blog!

Blare N. Bitch!! At “Gay C/DC”!! The “All Gay Tribute to AC/DC” in LA the other night!!

She is still a guitar player — but more a heavy metal player than the punk rocker she was when we first started, you know, doin’ that stuff we did in the 1980s…

Anyway. She was the absolute love of my life then, and she still looks fantastic at 67!!

Blaire is on the right

And here’s this, while we’re at it!! The song I wrote for her in 1983! “Where Do Dark Girls Go?” (Back then, the girls she ran with in her punk band had some heroin issues… but she’s been clean now for about 38 years.)

WHERE DO DARK GIRLS GO?

Where do they go
When the night comes down?
They turn up the radio
And they drive around;
When the night comes down.

Where do they hide
When the lonesome road
Is taking its toll again
And the kicks get old;
Where do dark girls go?

Out on the wind
Where the voices call
From the pain of centuries
Through the darkest soul?
Is that where they go?

CHORUS
She takes it in
She breathes it out
She breaks the thing
She cares about
She tries again, cries and in
Anger she breaks it down;
She buys the dream
She holds it then
The passion turns to fire again;
She’s trying it, hiding it
This is her only crime:
She speaks her mind.

Where do they run
When the dreams get lost
And the game goes round & round
And she can’t get off,
And she can’t get off?

Where do they hide
When the fear takes hold
And she’s pushed the needle down
As far as it will go?
Where do dark girls go?

© 1983 Marilyn Jaye Lewis
First of May Songs, BMI

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And here’s this!!

Nick Cave, looking splendid while lounging somewhere, not smoking and holding a pair of glasses!! In black & white!!

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And actually, I think that’s it for now.

I’ve got to run a couple of errands here in the village, then focus on the M. Christian tribute anthology which is just about complete…

I do have to say that I am battling a sort of undercurrent of depression, gang. The anthology has brought some wonderful people back in my life from the old days — but it makes me really miss the old days. I’m trying to just focus on “here & now” and allow the past to be part of what “now” is. If that makes sense? (All of it would probably be easier if I were still living in NYC, however.) But I am so grateful I have the old job back at the health & wellness store, and get to be with my friends when I’m working there. Because at least that makes me really, really happy.

Anyway — I do have this to look forward to today!!

Episode 2 of Season 2 of “Ludwig” started airing on Britbox today! I will watch it during my dinner!

Okay!

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!

The new video by the Rolling Stones!! Just dropped this morning. Enjoy, gang!

Fall, Finally!

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Wow, it really is finally Fall around here, gang.

Chilly, sunny. Most of the leaves on the trees have turned to those beautiful autumnal colors, while a bunch of them are already on the ground… All over the village.

It’s just totally October today!

I will be at my desk probably the entire weekend. I need to stay on track with the M. Christian tribute anthology deadline. And that one longer short story is front and center on my desk today for editing.

Also! I want to mention here — Dr. Carol Queen and Alex S. Johnson have both contributed to the anthology. So I thought I’d post this! (Alex interviews Carol!! From a few days ago.)

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Okay!

The FREE download promotion for my short story collection, “A Man in Her Arms & Other Stories” over on Amazon is over now, but I want to thank everyone who downloaded it!!

Even though it was free, so obviously I don’t make any money off it, but just having you guys download it put it in the sales rankings, so that helped hugely. So thank you so much!!

(And that cover above was designed by my best friend Valerie in Brooklyn!! I just love it…)

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Okay!

Coming up on October 21st in Iowa — in honor of Jack’s passing! (I think this is so cool. I wish I could be there.)

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And here’s this!

More from Johnny Depp’s current art exhibit in London!

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And it looks like yesterday was the anniversary of Hilly Kristal’s passing. He was the owner/founder of CBGBs in NYC. He was practically as famous as his club was.

I went to CBGBs many times in the early 80s (in addition to playing there), because I had friends in bands that played there frequently back then. And I do remember at least one night when Hilly was there and everyone was sort of whispering and pointing at him…

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And here’s these two guys!! In days gone by…

Gram Parsons and Keith Richards. Not smoking.

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And here’s Keith!! On the road to getting better with age!! Yay!

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Okay.

Here’s this!!

And I’m not sure what’s going on here but it looks like they see something! (Personally, what I see, is some truly great hair on Nick Cave…)

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And that is, I guess, it for today!

I hope you have a fantastic Saturday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!

Breakfast-listening music from this morning!

Yes, I have listened to this song 7 trillion times in my life, and yes, I have posted it here to the blog about as many times…

But here it is again! From Disc 2 of Lovely Creatures: The Best of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2017) which is currently in the little jukebox on my kitchen table!!

“The Ship Song” (originally 1990), Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Enjoy, gang!!

“The Ship Song”

Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around

Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around

We talk about it all night long
We define our moral ground
But when I crawl into your arms
Everything comes tumbling down

Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around

Your face has fallen sad now
For you know the time is nigh
When I must remove your wings
And you, you must try to fly

Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around

Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around

c – 1990 Nick Cave

A wonderful Wednesday underway in the Hinterlands!

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Wow, did I get a lot done yesterday, gang.

I only have one long story left to edit tomorrow for the M. Christian tribute anthology, and then I am basically done. I will still need to arrange the stories in the best order, write a Foreword, but it will definitely be turned in before the end of the month!

I still don’t know when I’ll have to do some work on the script for Sandra’s one-woman Birthday Cabaret, but I might actually be able to spend some of my upcoming days’ off focusing on my own writing again.

And most importantly, now that I have the part-time job again, my mind is in a much better place to tackle my own writing.

Me, with my mind in a much better place! Yay!

Okay, good news and bad news!

Season 2 of “Ludwig” did indeed start on Britbox yesterday — and it was so great to have that show back on my TV!!

Not so good news — I’d forgotten that with Standard Britbox, you only get to see one new episode a week. Aaarrggghhhh….

But it’s still great to have that show back. I just love it!!

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Here’s some great news, gang.

This made me so happy last night!

People are indeed downloading the free eBook edition of “A Man in Her Arms & Other Stories” over on Amazon and so it is FINALLY listed in the sales rankings. Not only that, but I thought the categories it popped up in were very interesting;

Thank you to everyone who is downloading it!

Also — I discovered that a number of people in Kindle Unlimited are also downloading my novel from 2011, Freak Parade. Yay!!!

I will actually be getting some royalties this month. So thank you!!

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I thought this was just wonderful, gang.

On Literary Hub yesterday — a wonderful article that I really related to, since I discovered Frank O’Hara’s poems when I was 14 and in Jr. High School:

Why Frank O’Hara is Perfect For Introducing Poetry to Tweens

Catherine Sawoski on Bringing the New York School to Middle School:

“…O’Hara is most famous for his collection Lunch Poems, written on his lunch break as a receptionist from the Museum of Modern Art—proving even future curators/art critics must begin at the front desk. He’s often been called a painter’s poet, and, rejected by the conventional literary scene, found himself faster friends with the Abstract Expressionists than the literary world. Lunch Poems—reviewed by Ted Berrigan, as, emphatically “a great book!” and one of the “most important documents in contemporary poetry”—includes some of his most famous works, including “The Day Lady Died,” “Ave Maria,” and “A Step Away From Them.” This last one was my usual classroom pick. Selecting an eager student to read it aloud, a school’s worth of seventh graders would follow along on their printouts…”

Read it in full HERE

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Okay!

The Rolling Stones announced a Pop-Up in NYC for 2 days only!

THE UMUSIC SHOP AT PENN PLAZA IN THE HEART OF NEW YORK CITY IS GETTING A ROLLING STONES TAKEOVER THIS WEEK!

JOIN US ON OCTOBER 16 & 17 FOR TWO DAYS OF A SPECIAL ROLLING STONES POP-UP, FEATURING BRAND NEW MERCHANDISE, MUSIC, LIMITED DAILY DROPS AND PLENTY FOR STONES FANS TO EXPLORE.

UMUSIC SHOP, 2 PENNSYLVANIA PLAZA, NEW YORK, NY 10121

OCTOBER 16–17, 2026

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Starting yesterday, WordPress launched “Wide Margins”, a monthly podcast, featuring interviews and a Q&A with authors. Hosted by Zander Rose.

Neal Stephenson Live: Spies, Science & the Race for the Atomic Bomb (1 hr):

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Johnny Depp posted this today. It’s in London — another exhibit of his art (he’s got a few going on all over the world right now):

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Okay, here’s this! From Facebook!!

And THIS happened last night!!

Warren Ellis actually replied to one of my comments!! (I am not even going to attempt to explain what the comment is referring to, you’d have to watch the reel, but basically, his dogs were stepping on his “fucking vinyl” record albums):

And also from Warren Ellis:

And this is from the other day — Warren with his pups!!

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More from Facebook!!

I concur!!

This is sort of an intense one — Nick Cave in a white shirt!!

Nick Cave eating something!! I’m not sure what, but it looks pretty good!!

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And those are my “here’s this’s” for today!

On the New Guy front– things are still progressing. We still talk on the phone at night, text first thing in the morning.

Last night, he said that when he comes here next month, he wants to drive me by the old farm where he raised his family. The farmhouse is 175 years old — and he rehabbed it when he bought it. (We can only see it from the outside because he doesn’t own it anymore, but I really want to see it.)

Then I asked him if we could go see his RV.

HE (on phone): “Which RV? I have about 5 or 6.”

Crimony!

Anyway, we pinned down exactly which one I was referring to and we may drive over and see that, too!

So, between texting, phone chats, and then driving around in person together — we might actually get to know each other soon!

And yes, he knows I’m a writer. And, no, he has no clue what I write about because he never asked… If he ever does ask… ah, well, we’ll just play that one by ear, gang.

He does know that I went to that Biblical Archeology conference in Charlotte, and he knows how interested I am in Biblical studies and the Historical Jesus…

So, METHINKS my writing career is going to come flying way out of left field for him. We’ll just have to see.

Probably not him…

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Okay.

That is it for today!!

I’ll be leaving for town here soon and I am once again really excited to be getting back to the job at my favorite Health & Wellness store and all my fun friends who work there.

Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this.

I am still on a Bruce Springsteen kick around here.

Here’s another one from his 1980 album, The River.

I absolutely LOVE this fucking song! And what really makes me smile these days, is that I knew this song by heart before I even moved to NYC. In retrospect, though, I now know everything he’s singing about!

Subways, ghettos, hot blacktops, “operators” in the park…

And I eventually spent 9 years on W.53rd Street in Manhattan, because that’s where the Museum of Modern Art is!

Anyway. It is IMPERATIVE that you learn the chorus immediately and sing along REALLY LOUD!! It’s too fun!!

“Sherry Darling”, by Bruce Springsteen, from The River, 1980. Enjoy, gang!!

“Sherry Darling”

Your Mamma’s yapping in the back seat
Tell her to push over and move them big feet
Every Monday morning I gotta drive her down to the unemployment agency
Well this morning I ain’t fighting tell her I give up
Tell her she wins if she’ll just shut up
But it’s the last time that she’s gonna be riding with me

CHORUS:

You can tell her there’s a hot sun beating on the black top
She keeps talking she’ll be walking that last block
She can take a subway back to the ghetto tonight
Well I got some beer and the highway’s free
And I got you, and baby you’ve got me
Hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darling

Now there’s girls melting on the beach
And they’re so fine but so far out of reach
‘Cause I’m stuck in traffic down here on 53rd street
Now Sherry my love for you is real
But I didn’t count on this package deal
And baby this car just ain’t big enough for her and me

CHORUS:

You can tell her there’s a hot sun beating on the black top
She keeps talking she’ll be walking that last block
She can take a subway back to the ghetto tonight
Well I got some beer and the highway’s free
And I got you, and baby you’ve got me
Hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darling

Well let there be sunlight, let there be rain
Let my broken heart love again
Sherry we can run with our arms open wide before the tide
To all the girls down at Sacred Heart
And all you operators back in the Park
Say hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darling
Say, hey, hey, what you say Sherry Darling
Say, hey, hey, hey, what you say Sherry Darling

c -1980 Bruce Springsteen

Happy Christopher Columbus Day, if you celebrate it!

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It’s a holiday here in the US today, but not one of those where everything shuts down.

I’m still heading to work.

I did manage to convince myself yesterday to take the day off. Kind of astounding that I did that. But I did get to have a great chat with Valerie in Brooklyn yesterday! We hadn’t been able to really chat in quite a while, so that was great.

Before I forget!!

A Man in her Arms & Other Stories is indeed FREE to download this week, with or without Kindle Unlimited!!

You can download it HERE, but it is for ADULTS ONLY, please! The stories are M/F, M/M, and F/F. All the stories have been published before, except “A Man in Her Arms” — a previously unpublished novelette.

Table of Contents:

  • A Man in her Arms     (M/F)                                                                       
  • A Path to the Woods (A Ghost Story)     (F/F)
  • Score  (M/M)
  • Code  (M/M)
  • Alter/Soldier   (M/M)
  • To My Beloved I Am a Stranger  (M/F)
  • Common Place  (F/F)
  • Wanted  (F/F)
  • Legacy of Boy  (M/M)
  • Half- Moon Bride  (M/F)

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From Ross K. Nichols’ Sunday School yesterday —

“Jeremiah was commanded to write a scroll. But what exactly did he write? Against the backdrop of Jerusalem’s destruction and exile, we follow the clues hidden within the book of Jeremiah to a remarkable composition containing one of the Bible’s most famous promises: the New Covenant. Could this have once been a scroll of its own? And could Jeremiah have left us a final clue to what he was doing? What if Jeremiah’s hidden scroll has been in front of us all along?”

We HAVE the hidden scroll of Jeremiah? (1 hr 7 mins):

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If you are new to the blog–

Back in NYC in the mid-1980s, at the peak of the AIDS crisis, I volunteered with Visiting Nurse Services of NY. I was assigned dying AIDS patients to go visit in their homes, helping out, running errands, right up until they passed away.

The renowned gay downtown photographer, Peter Hujar, was one of my patients. To respect his privacy, I used to never discuss that he had been my patient when he was dying from AIDS. But now that it’s been 40 years, and everyone now knows he died from AIDS, I am okay with talking about it.

So — here’s this!

Happy belated heavenly birthday, Peter Hujar! (Yesterday was his heavenly birthday.)

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Warren Ellis posted this yesterday–

And here’s this — Died Pretty – “Life to go (Landsakes)” 1986:

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And here’s something I am LOVING again. It’s currently free to watch on Pluto TV. I watch one or two episodes in bed on my phone, before going to sleep at night.

I used to love this show so much, gang, back in the 80s, and now I am remembering why!! It’s so funny and so loving. “Family Ties” (1982-1989).

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And here’s this!!

All I could find yesterday that was at least interesting, and YES! Both from Facebook!

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And that is it for now!

Things with my new guy continue to develop really nicely, gang. We text in the early morning, and then chat on the phone in the evening.

Last night, we made great progress in just getting to know each other better, and helping me to sort of calm down. Long-time readers of this lofty blog know that I struggle with chronic PTSD and borderline autism, so “getting to know someone” is a true challenge for me. But we really seem to be getting there, gang!

My guess is that by the time he comes back to Ohio for a week in mid-November, I will probably be able to behave sort of like a normal human being around him!!! We shall see!!

Meanwhile–

This morning, he texted me a photo of the sunrise outside his house — the hurricane has finally passed over. The weather in his area of Florida had been really awful for about 6 days.

Okay.

I guess I will get ready to head to town now.

Enjoy your Monday and/or holiday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!!

Last night’s listening-in-bed-in-the-dark music (after watching 2 episodes of “Family Ties”…)

Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 album The River.

This wonderful album was released in that intense juncture in my life, where I still lived in Ohio, working in a GE factory, but then moved to NYC, sort of suddenly. (A girlfriend in NYC helped me get a receptionist job at a menswear designer company she worked for — she was a fashion designer — the job was in the Empire State Building. I got the job over the phone on a Friday and basically started working in the Empire State Building in NYC on Monday morning. I was 20…)

Anyway.

I loved this whole album. It is now full of so many memories for me.

I’ve posted this specific song here before, but this song really helps me stand back and see that I really made all my dreams come true in NYC. As hard as it was, still, what incredible times they were.

“The Price You Pay,” by Bruce Springsteen, 1980. From The River. 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’d come so far and they’d 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 many 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

Home today!

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Yes, it turns out that I don’t have to work today, so that’s good because I still have a lot of stuff left to do on the M. Christian anthology and I am hoping to have it turned in to the publisher by the end of the month.

So here’s hoping I have a productive weekend!

NO, wait! Of course, I meant THIS!!

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And, YES!!

I did manage to screw up the electric breaker switch thingie yesterday morning while trying to fix the lights in the kitchen and also dash off to the job on time!

But luckily, the tech guy was able to come back out while I was at work and he fixed it in a nano-second, so everything is back to normal. Yay!!

ME! Helping out!!

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Okay!!

This is happening today!!

Happy birthday, David Lee Roth!! He is 72 today!!

And here’s this!! And if you’re not old enough to remember it — this was in the peak years of MTV, when music videos cost a fortune to produce and were like little 4-minute movies. From 1985, David Lee Roth’s huge hit version of “California Girls”!!

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I don’t have a lot of “here’s this’s ” today because, you know, I had to work at a job yesterday and wasn’t able to just sit and scroll through Instagram all day!! (But I had a great time!!)

Anyway.

Here’s this!

Jack Kerouac– confused in Autumn!!

And here’s this bit of absolute loveliness while we’re at it! Chet Baker, “Tis Autumn” from 1959:

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And here’s this!!

From Phyllis Stein.

Lou Reed with Iggy Pop, smoking, at Max’s in NYC in 1972!! (Photo by Danny Fields)

And I’ve posted this once before, but here it is again! The song I wrote about Iggy Pop in 1984, after having read his incredible memoir I Need More. (What a great book that was.)

This is an absolute demo — it’s just me and my drummer using the 8-track in my bedroom on E.12th Street, so the sound quality is not great. The demo is followed below by my lyrics, and then by Jim Carroll’s comments on my lyrics, because I wrote the song and turned it in while taking Jim Carroll’s songwriting class in 1984 (one of the true highlights of my life!!).

“SHAPE YOU’RE IN“
(for Iggy Pop)

She was a tiny girl,
but she felt like a woman to you
In her high-heeled shoes and her
Tanqueray point of view.

You were a man on the edge
She was a girl in chains
When a child comes on
Don’t the night get strange?

CHORUS I:
You’ve broken all the rules but you still need more
‘Til you’re not sure what you’re looking for
But God’s gonna overlook this one sin
‘Cause, honey, He’s seen the shape you’re in.

It was a tiny dream,
It took all the money you had
It was a good little dream, but it shook you
And treated you bad.

When the damage is done
When you fear the change
When the deal’s gone down
Don’t the dark get strange?

CHORUS II:
You’ve taken all the pain but they still want more
‘Til you’re not sure what you do it for
But God’s gonna carry you through my friend
‘Cause, honey, He’s seen the shape you’re in.

Life on the edge
Can cheat you and paralyze
‘Til the voice in your head
Misleads you and tells you lies

If I could give you the moon
In a paper jar
Would you trade it all
For the big rock star?

CHORUS III:
You’ve broken all the rules but you still need more
‘Til you’re not sure what you’re looking for
But God’s gonna carry you through my friend
‘Cause, honey, He’s seen the shape you’re in.

© 1984 Marilyn Jaye Lewis
FIRST OF MAY SONGS, BMI

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And here’s this!

The only Nick Cave thing I have today, but it’s from Facebook!!

Nick Cave and his skateboard!!

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All right, that’s it.

I need to finish up the laundry now and get focused on editing the anthology.

Oh, I will add that I had such a great chat on the phone with my new guy last night. Even though our lives could not have been more different if we’d planned it that way, we have a lot of fundamental things in common.

For instance, does this sound familiar? He said that his parents forced him to go to college. He didn’t want to go. He said, “I lasted about 10 weeks and thought it was just stupid and so I quit.”

Of course the difference between him and me, is that after I quit college, I went off to NYC to become a singer-songwriter and a writer, and he worked on farms and trained horses and did road construction and rehabbed old houses.

HE (on phone last night): “I’m just a dumb hillbilly.”

ME (very encouraging): “You’re not dumb at all!”

(He’s a hillbilly maybe, but he absolutely is not stupid!!)

Plus we also discovered that our ancestral heritage is similar — heavy on the Irish and German.

Anyway!

Okay. I gotta scoot.

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!!

From 1986!

Iggy Pop’s fantastic song “Blah-Blah-Blah”!! From the album of the same name. (I adored this whole album.) Okay. Enjoy, gang!!

“Blah-Blah-Blah”

Pop before the war
lunch before the score
steady as she goes
following my nose
I’m a bull mongrel
that’s me

Shimon Peres
whatcha gonna do
I’m from detroit
blow the reveille
deatho knocko
that’s me little ol’me
glamorous me

Johnny can’t read
blah blah blah
I’ can’t see
blah blah blah
tuna on white
guns all night
blah blah blah

Cat taboo girl-
raped by an ape
cat taboo girl
jam the sucker in
you dig the mongrels
guardian of the state
says you gotta go
bombin’ low

Senator Rambo
merrily you go
monkey butcher knows
a cab to find abank
a bank to find a loan
’cause you can’t be alone
you dig the mongrels

Violent peace
blah blah blah
buy it right now
blah blah blah
we are the world
we are so huge
blah blah blah
johnny can’t read
blah blah blah
I’ can’t see
blah blah blah
tuna on white
guns all night
blah blah blah

blue jeans coolies
everything huge
petrified food
pizza killers
from napalm to nice guy
nifty fifty
hit ’em where they live

the most spoiled brats
on god’s green earth

pop before the war

c – 1986 Iggy Pop, David Bowie

Okay! I’m starting to get used to this!

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Heading to town in the mornings and having a job again!! Even if it’s only part-time.

Honestly, gang, when I wake up and realize that I have someplace to be, a place I really love being in, around people I really enjoy, it makes me feel so happy to get out of bed!!

I will find out today if I’ll be needed to work on Saturdays, too, but on Saturdays, the store is only open for 3 hours so it’s not really like working…

Anyway.

I’m in a really good place, mentally. Finally.

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All right. So.

The hot water heater is working great, for now. However, as soon as the sun is fully up, I need to head down into my 125-year-old creepy basement and look at the breaker panel, because another fuse has blown on one side of the kitchen wall. I’m guessing that when he was checking the breakers yesterday afternoon, he flipped one that needs to be flipped back. We shall see!

Me, knowing exactly what I’m doing!!

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Okay!!

It’s all about THIS today!!

Happy heavenly birthday John Lennon!! Born on this day in 1940. Rest in glory, baby!!

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And I think this next one should just basically be the new motto for this whole blog!!

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All righty.

A couple of updates on Warren Ellis that are not in any way dog-throwing-up related!!

Coming up on October 26th in Milan, Italy (I think this is in some sort of fashion museum?) —

And here’s this!

Kirsten Krauth’s new podcast, Just Surrender: Creative Conversations, interviews Warren Ellis!

You can listen HERE (45 mins)

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There’s an End of Summer Sale going on at the Nick Cave merch store!!

Shop here for Summer Sale items!!

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Okay. Here’s this!!

The Cars take Osaka in 1980!!

Oh, here’s something, before I forget!

The Cars were really popular when I was in my late teens. And the girlfriend I wrote about here recently who is now really sick and confined to a nursing home — we loved The Cars.

She and I recently re-connected through Facebook. And last night — another girlfriend re-connected with me through Facebook! The three of us were all really close for most of our lives.

Here’s the 3 of us at my 40th birthday, when I was still living in NYC but had made a quick trip back home to Ohio — we’re all 40 in this photo. 26 years ago (we had all been friends for 30 years already!):

Me, Andie, and Dina, 2000

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Okay!

Here’s one from Phyllis Stein!!

Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers, in London, 1977 (Photo by Ian Dickson)

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And here’s the playwright, Arthur Miller, smoking at the Chelsea Hotel in NYC in 1960!!

If you’re unclear about who he was, aside from being an incredible playwright, he was married to this gal! (From 1956 – 1961)

Marilyn Monroe

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And here’s this!!

From Facebook!!

Nick Cave!! Lying down on a sort of sofa/bed thing, surrounded by Christianity!!

And here’s Nick Cave, all alone on a chair!!

And Nick Cave doing, well, I’m not sure what but his hair looks great!!

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And that is it!

I better scurry down to the dark creepy basement and check that breaker box before heading to town!

Oh, the latest update on my guy is sort of intense, gang.

He is indeed coming back to Ohio for about a week in mid-November in order to spend time doing stuff with me and getting to know me better. He bought his plane ticket yesterday.

We text a couple times a day and chat on the phone every night. We are indeed getting to know each other but he finds phones and texting frustrating. He says that, in person, we can:

HE (on phone): “Make some headway and move forward.”

ME (sarcasm): “Is that the same as spendng time together and getting to know each other??”

Anyway! He’s funny.

I will, of course, keep you posted.

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Meanwhile, have a great Friday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

I’m off!