Tag Archives: fiction

We can dream, can’t we??

May 14, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Methinks the day is not gonna look quite as relaxing as this, but I’ll settle for a feeling of “ease & peace” by the end of the day, and maybe even be sporting a smile…

We shall see.

For some reason, I’m feeling distracted today. But I’m just going to let the flow take me wherever it takes me. And not fight it.

And just a head’s up!

I have next Tuesday off, which means 2 days off in a row, which means I’ve decided to do the spring cleaning! Get out the Bissel steam cleaner and get the carpeting in the whole house really clean before I head out to NYC in June (when Rasha’s mom and her little baby will be staying here with a multitude of cats…).

So, this is in my very near future and, actually, I can’t wait:

Well, just add carpeting everywhere… and cats.

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And a week from today, my best friend Valerie in Brooklyn and I will be taping our first mini-podcast for “Marilyn’s Room”. So we will see how that goes!!

It’s just a trial run, I doubt I will actually post the first one. I guess we’ll see. My main concern is learning how to use the editing tools. The rest of the “recording studio” on Substack looks simple enough.

But then we’ll be off & running (or running away), as we leap into the very serious world of painting & writing at a “certain age” after your entire young adulthood was spent getting into nothing but, well, I don’t know — trouble? Life, itself? I don’t know what to call it. But we got into it. And we’re still here! And that, in itself, is newsworthy!!

And FYI — While doing research for the podcast the other day, I came across this postcard online and wow, did it bring back a truckload of memories!! From 1981 — the important part is the description, which I guess is hard to read. I guess you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out why it’s so important!! (It involves a bunch of us dropping acid one night and going to the Wienerwald at W.48th and Broadway…)

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Okay! Onward.

Last night, while re-listening to an audiobook of Kerouac’s Big Sur, I recalled that Henry Miller had also written something about living in Big Sur and so I went in search of a free online reading of that — and found one on YouTube.

It is so interesting. This isn’t the novel, itself. It’s more like a long excerpt from it. But I am quietly astounded by it.

Written in 1957, it’s Miller’s take on Big Sur and about artists and writers in the USA, in general, back in the late 1940s.

Personally, I relate to it because Henry Miller was a writer whose books were constantly getting banned for their erotic content. But what he also had to say about writers trying to, I don’t know, be true to their craft while surviving in America — and how they needed to find the solitude of living in the middle of nowhere in order to exist…

Well, it rang a few unexpected bells for me at this stage of my life.

I’m halfway through it (excerpt is one hour):

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And yesterday, gang…

Yes! One of the other caregivers did do all the grocery shopping!

So I did get to go with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man to have sashimi & sake and we accidentally each got 2 fortune cookies at the end of our meal!!

His were oddly boring, but both of mine were great!!! Wow!

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And here’s this!

Keith and Ronnie clowning around in a closet! It is maybe in 1979:

And back in July of 1975, George Harrison visits backstage in LA, during the Stones’ 1975 tour. (Billy Preston played keyboards for the Stones during that tour.)

And Keith with James Mitchell, in the Royal Recording Studios in Memphis, in 1988:

AND —

I know I’ve posted this one before, but it is one of my all-time favorite shots of Keith (I have it, in 2 different sizes, stuck on my wall). And it was the first photo that popped up in my Instagram feed today!!

Keith, in LA, in 1969!!

Not smoking, but otherwise, so totally Keith!

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Yesterday, Nick Cave sent out a really cool Red Hand File. It was so candid and, just, I don’t know. I just loved it. Mostly, he talked about his sleeping habits — and dreaming habits or lack thereof. He wrote it while in a cab, heading to a recording studio, to perhaps begin a new record with some of the Bad Seeds. (Yay!) He said, in part:

“…I am going to Islington to mess around in the studio with Marty (he’s well now), Thomas (him too), Jim (always robust), and Warren (still lovely and deranged) with the vague idea of perhaps making a new record. …”

However, he also stated that women are generally attracted to men (and women) who wear suits….while I love Nick Cave in anything he chooses to wear, I am totally not in the “attracted to suits” category!! I’m blue-collar all the way!!

But whichever way you lean, you can read the Red Hand File, in full, HERE!!

And meanwhile —

Here’s this!!

A couple of shots of Nick Cave wearing an interesting expression!!

*****

And that is it for today.

I’m hoping this will be a good day, gang. We shall soon find out.

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this.

Bonnie Tyler is going through some very difficult health problems. As of right now, she’s in a medically-induced coma, but her condition is stable. But it sounds very serious.

So here’s this. Her fantastic, international mega hit from 1978. “It’s A Heartache.” Thanks, Bonnie. Enjoy, gang.

“It’s A Heartache”

It’s a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
Hits you when it’s too late
Hits you when you’re down

It’s a fool’s game
Nothing but a fool’s game
Standing in the cold rain
Feeling like a clown

It’s a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
Love him ’til your arms break
Then he lets you down

It ain’t right with love to share
When you find he doesn’t care for you
It ain’t wise to need someone
As much as I depended on you

It’s a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
Hits you when it’s too late
Hits you when you’re down

It’s a fool’s game
Nothing but a fool’s game
Standing in the cold rain
Feeling like a clown

It ain’t right with love to share
When you find he doesn’t care for you
It ain’t wise to need someone
As much as I depended on you

Oh, it’s a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
Love him ’til your arms break
Then he lets you down

It’s a fool’s game
Standing in the cold rain
Feeling like a clown

It’s a heartache
Love him ’til your arms break
Then he lets you down

It’s a fool’s game
Standing in the cold rain

c – 1977 – Ronnie Scott, Victor William Batty

WARNING: This site in no way idealizes smoking…ever.

May 11, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis 3 Comments

Okay, so.

Day 2 in absolute mental overload — but the brain is still working just fine.

I am of course referring to the commitment I made to write an entire play about Caiaphas in the month of June (wherein I will also be in NYC for 4 days). (See yesterday’s post if you missed it.)

I have to say, gang, just going over the piles of notes — alone — will take an entire month, but I’m still moving forward. And I feel really good about it.

This bit of monologue floored me. (First, let me just point out that Caiaphas’ entire reputation for being the man behind killing Jesus is based on basically one line in the New Testament and it basically only states that the “trial” went on in his home. It was more the doings of his father-in-law and brothers-in law (also High Priests), but after 70 AD, Pharisaic Christians wanted to re-frame that. Hence, my desire to write a play about how a man’s horrific reputation, which, throughout eternity has basically been false, is seen from that man’s POV in the afterlife.)

Anyway. I digress.

I came across this scribbled bit of monologue in my notes from 2014 and I loved it:

(Caiaphas speaking): “The bounty I gave to the world because I gave it a picture of the crucifixion of God’s son.”

FUCK, right??!! Think of everything that has come from it: Religions, wars, art.

Anyway.

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Okay.

So I’m in a good place. I’m not losing my mind or living in overdrive. My only –albeit small — regret, is that I didn’t write the whole play back in 2016, when all the notes were fresh. (Most of the notes are historical and archeological, and now it’s looking like I gotta read all that stuff again.)

But I’m okay.

And yesterday, since it was Mother’s Day, I had a nice phone chat with my birth mom, finally.

Yes! I called her on the phone and she actually answered it.

But it appears that on Friday and Saturday, the other daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughter, celebrated Mother’s Day with her in various lovely ways.

And my brother was going to be stopping by later in the afternoon yesterday, so she was sitting alone in her living room with nothing to do and so when the phone rang, she answered it.

She sounded in good spirits and that always makes me feel great.

Regarding all the caregiving stuff in my world, though, it is still a bit overwhelming and I have to make a dedicated effort to draw some sort of inner emotional lines for myself. We’ll see how that goes. But meanwhile.

Oh! I finally finished watching the Netflix film, “Je m’appelle Anjeta” last night, and I really just loved it, all the way through. It was so fun!

And, speaking — sort of — of France (the movie is in Swedish and French and takes place in Provence), I’m still studying my French every evening and, after studying French for something like 57 years now–

This past week, I learned 3 new words. Well, I’m always learning new words, but these 3 are for common, ordinary things, but I am JUST NOW learning them. I find that so weird.

The words are:

Plafond (ceiling)
Grenier (attic)
Toit (roof)

I guess, you know, I’ve always needed to learn about stuff that didn’t involve looking up in any way. But I just find that so weird. After all these years. And I did not even realize that I did not know these words.

ME (all over Paris): “Excusez-moi, où est le toit ?” [“Excuse me, where is the roof?”]

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Okay!

Yesterday was not only Mother’s Day (here in the USA) — it was also this guy’s heavenly birthday!

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Sid Vicious!

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And here’s this!

Keith, doing something he’s really good at besides smoking– being HAPPY!

And here’s this!

Keith and Mick, not smoking at a soundcheck in Malmo, Sweden, in August 1970. (I think they are singing that classic Beatles’ song, “Help,” but I’m not 100% sure.)

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I loved these!!

Nick Cave not smoking in a brownish suit!

And Nick Cave not smoking onstage in Hamburg in June, 1982!

And don’t forget!!

If you missed the Hamburg gig in 1982, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds will be all over Germany this summer and tickets are still available! Buy them HERE!!!

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And I think that is it, gang!

It is, of course, my illustrious day off.

Laundry is already done!

No vacuuming is needed today!! (I will give you a moment to pick yourself up off the floor after that shocking remark!)

And all that I gotta do now is take a deep breath and, I guess, dive into a truckload of notes I made 10–12 years ago, sort them all out, and create a play!

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

I leave you witih this!

Morning-listening music!!

I had it on “repeat” through most of breakfast.

I love this song so much. (It reminds me of most of my family, on my birth dad’s side, going back 150 years…)

Recording the song caused Tom Petty a lot of problems:

Story of Tom Petty punching a wall in 1984 breaking his hand (2 mins):

Originally from the album, Southern Accents, Tom Petty & the Heartbreaker’s “Rebels”, 1985. (This is an alternate take, from his posthumous collection, An American Treasure.) Enjoy, gang!

“Rebels”

Honey, don’t walk out, I’m too drunk to follow
You know you won’t feel this way tomorrow
Well, maybe a little rough around the edges
Or inside a little hollow
I get faced with some things sometimes
That are so hard to swallow, hey!

I was born a rebel, down in Dixie
On a Sunday mornin’
Yeah with one foot in the grave
And one foot on the pedal
I was born a rebel, born a rebel

She picked me up in the mornin’
And she paid all my tickets
Then she screamed in the car
Left me out in the thicket
Well I never would’ve dreamed
That her heart was so wicked
Yeah but I keep coming back
‘Cause it’s so hard to kick it, hey, hey, hey

I was born a rebel, down in Dixie
On a Sunday mornin’
Yeah with one foot in the grave
And one foot on the pedal
I was born a rebel, born a rebel

Even before my father’s father
They called us all rebels
As they burned our cornfields
And left our cities leveled
I can still feel the eyes of those blue-bellied devils
Yeah, when I’m walking ’round tonight
Through the concrete and metal, hey, hey, hey

I was born a rebel, down in Dixie
On a Sunday mornin’
Yeah with one foot in the grave
And one foot on the pedal
I was born a rebel, born a rebel

Hey hey hey

c – 1984 Tom Petty

It was a success!

May 9, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis 4 Comments

I don’t want to sound too “excited” about it because we were getting him ready for Annie’s funeral, but I arrived at my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house at 7:15 am yesterday, and he woke up the moment I stepped into his room.

On some level, he seemed to be aware of the funeral and I was able to get him out of bed and start dressing immediately. He even remembered that his shirt needed cufflinks, although he couldn’t remember the word for it. But he remembered where the wooden jewelry box was that contained them.

I so WISH I could share the photo I took of him after he was dressed and ready to go — I texted the photo to his daughter in Seattle, so that she would be assured that everything was going well.

The photo was GREAT. He looked GREAT in his suit and tie. His daughter was so happy. But obviously, I can’t share a photo that private on the blog.

His stepson – & – stepdaughter-in- law arrived by 8am. And everything really just went so smoothly.

And the stepson texted me late last evening to say that he is taking us to lunch today! So that should really be nice.

Probably not us, but I guess we shall see!

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

So I worked for an hour and a half yesterday, then headed over to the old train station, saw Wendy, then had an early lunch with Steve!

Gave Steve the review copy of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. And since he worked as a social worker for about 30 years, we both feel confident that he will not find the novel too disturbing, or hard to handle.

Mainly, he was just really happy for me that the novel is finally coming out.

Remember that you can pre-order it HERE.

**********

And after my shift today, I’m stopping over at the fully restored Historic Arcade, to drop off a review copy of the novel for Kevin at his beautiful art gallery there.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what the Arcade is like when it isn’t hosting an art expo in that main hallway. I want to see if the vibe is the same. I just loved it when I visited it a couple weeks ago (for the first time). We shall soon see!

The Historic Arcade in downtown Newark — and please note, there is a really nice used bookstore there!!

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Okay.

Apparently, yesterday was Robert Johnson‘s heavenly birthday!! He was born on May 8, 1911.

From Phyllis Stein!

And here’s this again! I love this song…

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And today is Beat Poet/Buddha Gary Snyder‘s 96th birthday!

I thought this news was so cool, since I am re-listening to the audiobook of The Dharma Bums at night, and one of the main characters in the novel is based on Gary. I’m up to Chapter 27:

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The house that Patsy Cline and her husband lived in when she died is now a renovated retro-vacation home. You can rent it!! It’s not far from Nashville.

Here’s the really cool basement!!

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And here’s this!!

Sort of an odd bit of info:

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And here’s this!

Franz Kafka with his sometimes-betrothed, Felice Bauer!

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Here’s this!!

James Tabor sent this out to us on Patreon yesterday. It’s from the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz:

The Mysterious Copper Scroll and the End of Days

“One stood among the Dead Sea Scrolls: made of metal, and seemingly never meant to be read. Who made it, when and why, and how was Bar-Kokhba involved? Shimon Gibson presents a new theory”

[full article is here]

“**The Copper Scroll, never read by human eyes except the people who commissioned and made it of course”** Credit: Abraham Meir Habermann

***********

And here’s this!!

Keith in Kingston in 1972!

It’s funny, but during our lunch yesterday, Steve told me that he remembers me telling him, when we were about 13, that I wanted to go on the road with the Rolling Stones. You know, as a performer.

I have no recollection of this, but it sure sounds like me. I was already writing dozens of songs back then. It was my whole world.

But what I think is SO COOL — even though I wouldn’t meet her for another 20 years, right around the time I was saying that to Steve, Sandra was already off in Berlin, with Romy Haag, Bowie and Iggy, and she worked briefly as a female backup singer for the Rolling Stones during the German leg of their European tour!!

Just a reminder — Sandra, back then!! (about 10 years before her transition surgery):

And just FYI — you might want to come see our play, “The Guide to being Fabulous” all about Sandra’s life…

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And what is not to love about this??!!

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds sitting in a fountain-type thingie, lighting cigarettes!!

And what’s not to love about this, while we’re at it??

Nick Cave and Grinderman, not smoking on the stairs!! (It almost seems like they’re refusing to smoke…)

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And speaking of Nick Cave…

He sent out a Red Hand File yesterday, wherein he replied to 2 very different letters. But one of them was about the painter/teacher Philip Guston. Nick said, in part:

“…Bruce, I couldn’t let this one go! I’m stunned that you had Philip Guston as an art teacher. I didn’t know he was one! Such a brilliant artist – an extraordinary colourist and master of paint, subversive, radical, playful, tough. I’m envious! …”

You can read it in full HERE.

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And that is it for now!

I gotta scoot and head to town for what should be a very nice day.

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

Let’s close with this!

Late night listening-music, after listening to a few chapters of The Dharma Bums audiobook!

My friend Steve recently took his eldest son to see Bob Dylan in concert and Steve said that Dylan was still really great.

He sang mostly songs from the 2020 album, Rough & Rowdy Ways, which I love and hadn’t listened to in a while!

So here you go! It sounds wonderful, lying alone in bed in the dark! Or, I guess, just maybe right now…

Bob Dylan, from Rough & Rowdy Ways, 2020, the song, “I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You”. Enjoy, gang!!

No reason why this shouldn’t be me today!

May 7, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

But, man, life just keeps getting so fucking weird that I never really know if I’m having a good day until it’s, like, basically over.

However.

So far, today is seeming pretty good. It’s sunny. I have the day to myself. The only thing on the “List of Things to Do” besides yoga and washing my hair, is, of course (always) this:

Oops! Excuse me. Of course, I meant this:

Oh! Shoot!! Sorry. No, I meant THIS:

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Yesterday was, overall, sort of lovely.

My favorite 95-year-old Japanese man is now very aware that Annie has died. And he’s sad but handling it very well. We had a good day together, and early tomorrow morning, I’m heading over there to help him get into his suit and tie in order to go to the funeral.

He said about 7 times yesterday that he doesn’t want to go to the funeral. But we’ll see what happens in the morning, when his stepson comes by to get him.

Meanwhile, his daughter has requested that I be the new primary contact person for her dad, now that she’s back in Seattle.

The Agency asked me how I felt about that and, obviously, I said “okay”, since it all landed in my lap anyway, when Annie suddenly went into the coma and then died. (And then I suddenly had to find out who/where his Primary Care Doctor was and go to the office and explain what had happened and who I was; then find out where he got his prescriptions filled and go pick them up; and find out who and where his favorite barber is; and then find someone to cut his lawn this summer because the boy who did it last summer moved away; and then go to the grocery store, and then, you know, go to the grocery store, and then, yesterday, yes, go back to the grocery store….)

All the stuff Annie always did. For 8 years…

Anyway.

Of course I will do it.

But I also have a new novel coming out and I’m trying to find people who will give the book an advance review online, and trying to get my profile updated on the various social media sites. And get that weekly mini-podcast underway and launched with my best friend Valerie in Brooklyn, who desperately needs a new iPhone and who always seems to be at the dentist’s. And Sandra & I have a play that has a Staged Reading Off-Broadway in NYC in November. And we might or might not be writing a new TV pilot this summer — we don’t know yet.

While I’m also taking care of 17 love-filled, happy cats…

So I feel a little overwhelmed…

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However!

Tomorrow, after I get my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man into his suit and tie, I’ll be heading over to the old train station to get my review copy back from Wendy and then– !!

Having lunch there with my friend Steve!! The guy I’ve been friends with since we were 11 years old, and who has texted me sort of repeatedly for the last 5 months, wanting to know when we can go out to lunch again…

So tomorrow is finally the day and that will be nice.

Having lunch with the only person left on Earth who’s known me since I was 11.

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And then this morning, for God only knows what reason, I found myself suddenly thinking:

ME (suddenly thinking): I should go to Columbus more often. Go to the theater and see more plays….

WTF???

You know, where did that come from??? Did it have something to do with that dream I had the other night, that I had moved back into my old house and was really happy???

I have no fucking idea.

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Okay.

Meanwhile!!

I am watching this movie on Netflix and LOVING it!! (It’s in Swedish and French, with nothing but tons of subtitles so my eyes get a little tired, but I love it!)

“Je m’appelle Agneta”:

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And here’s this!

Keith! At Redlands, in 1966:

And Keith! Not at Redlands, and not in 1966!

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And here’s this!!

“The Weeping Song” from 1990, because I love this video and because I’ve been listening to The Good Son album a lot lately (such a great album):

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And I think I’ll close this with that. (And NO! I’m not going to say: “I can ‘t believe this video is 36 fucking years old already… where is the fucking time going??”)

I’m just going to leave it. With no comment about TIME.

And get on with my day.

Maybe hop in the car and drive all the way to fucking Columbus and see a play…

Meanwhile!

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

I leave you with this!

My making-the-bed music from this morning!

From Keith’s 2015 album, Crosseyed Heart, his version of the classic, “Goodnight Irene.” Enjoy, gang.

Almost sort of back to normal

May 6, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Okay, well, today I’m heading out to see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man and it will be the first time I’m seeing him since he found out from his daughter that Annie died.

I’m sort of expecting him to be mostly okay with it, since he has a firm belief that: a.) everyone’s spirits live on; and b.) he believes we all go to a better place when we die.

His daughter has already left for the airport to fly back home this morning. So, we will soon see how today goes.

And Friday, my shift with him has been totally turned around. I need to get to his house by 7:30AM, and help him get into his suit and tie . His stepson from Florida will be picking him up at 8:30AM to take him to the funeral.

So, yes, I’ll be driving for an hour, total, to help him for one hour. And then after that, the new normal without Annie in our lives will officially begin.

But, I will have the rest of Friday off. So that’s, you know, I guess nice.

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On Saturday, I’m heading back to this lovely place:

To drop off a review copy of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder for Kevin at his beautiful gallery there:

Even though we’re both kinda thinking the novel will be too extreme for his tastes, too, he wants to at least try to read it, which I appreciate!! So we shall see. But it gives me a great reason to go back to that really beautiful Historic Arcade in downtown Newark.

It is, of course, sort of mystifying to me that I’ve apparently written a novel that a lot of people can’t handle — even my best friend Valerie in Brooklyn gave up on it because she was afraid it was going to give her bad dreams. And Wendy only finished the book because she was trying to be a good friend to me.

But I think back to 1999, when my first book, Neptune & Surf, was just coming out and Barnes & Noble (at first) refused to carry it because of the novella in it, called “Gianni’s Girl”.

But then they changed their minds when The Guardian newspaper in London chose the book as one of their Top 10 Summer Reads that year.

When I had first completed writing “Gianni’s Girl,” I was so thrilled with what I had achieved, I immediately stuck the story in a manila envelope and mailed it downtown to my good friend, (the late) Holly Lane.

She read it and then called me and said, “What the fuck did I just read??? First, they’re bringing in a Great Dane, next it’s an incredible love story?? You have totally fucked with my head!” And then later, out on the street together one night, she said, “You know you’re a sociopath, right?” (Actually, I didn’t know.)

But N&S eventually came out in 6 editions — including trade paper, mass market, Book-of-the-Month hardcover, eBook, and 2 French editions. (And is now in the Internet Archive for eternity.)

And then I think about that French podcast I stumbled upon in the Archive the other day, wherein the podcaster said :

“… I would say the author possesses a gift for sweeping you away, for immersing you in the world she portrays. Yes, for she tells tales of worlds—of entire eras.”

And she was including “Gianni’s Girl,” which takes place among violent Chicago bootleggers in the 1920s.

So, you know, I guess you just gotta go with what comes out of your head and hits the page, and hope that, down the line, you’ll find that there was a reason for it, overall.

Oh, I do have to add that the guy in NYC who’s reading a review copy, is almost done reading the book and, so far, he’s still really liking the book.

So, don’t forget that you can pre-order it, in eBook or print, HERE if you’re interested in seeing if you can handle it or not…

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Okay, here’s this!!

Two guitar heroes — Steve Vai and Joe Satriani — are once again on tour together!!

From Minneapolis the other night:

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Here’s Keith and Patti (early 80s?) having what might be a pizza together?? Hard to tell, it’s tiny!

And I loved this!!

Perhaps they had Keith under constant surveillance, you know, after he’d famously woken up one night in his hotel bed in Florida, put a riff down quickly on a tape recorder, then passed right out again — and later, what he’d composed in his sleep, basically, became the Stones first huge monster mega hit, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”!!

Here’s this, while we’re at it!!

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And here’s this!!

Warren Ellis, ready for his close-up at the Met Gala!! (I think a day late, but I’m not positive!!)

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And a couple of beautiful shots of Nick Cave onstage. I don’t know when, where, or photos-by-whom, but I love them!!

I think this one is in Croatia, actually, but I’m not positive. And I think the photographer’s name is down in the corner.

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And that is it for now!!

I guess I’m gonna get ready to head to town and find out just what this day is gonna bring.

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys, See ya!

*********

Let’s close with these!

You can pre-order Foreign Tongues, the upcoming new album by the Rolling Stones, HERE!! Enjoy, gang!

“In the Stars”:

“Rough and Twisted”:

Welcome to a Sunny Monday in the Hinterlands!

May 4, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Just a gorgeous day, here, gang.

So sunny. A totally blue sky. And going up into the 70s Fahrenheit.

I am definitely going to take a walk — go to the post office and mail my birth mom’s Mother’s Day card. Then walk over to the Dollar Store and — yes! Buy more coffee!

WTF?? Didn’t I just do that? Perhaps I should look into buying a larger can…

The laundry is almost done (it’s my day off) and I’ll probably do some of this today:

And I have absolutely 100% decided that the short story needs to be a novella, so the deadline for that is no longer an issue. I’m not sure what I’ll work on today, but it won’t be that.

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

I touched base with my dear friend Wendy yesterday, to see if she was making progress reading the review copy of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, which I gave to her almost 2 weeks ago.

We knew it was going to be a tough read for her — she’s a sort of straight-laced Jehovah’s Witness. She’s had a very different kind of life than I’ve had. (Although, oddly enough — we’d known each other for about 6 years out here in the Hinterlands, before we discovered that we’d both gone to the same high school — over in Columbus!! But separated by about 8 years. How weird is that?)

Anyway.

She is indeed having trouble with the book. It’s very intense. But she is determined to read it through to the end.

Which I really appreciate. But it brought back those feelings that doing a book launch around here might not be the best idea.

But I guess I’ll wait and see how it goes. The book doesn’t come out until September.

(Oh! And if you enjoy the heck out of intense fiction, you can pre-order it HERE!)

***********

Well, for the first time in a couple of weeks, I sort of “woke up” at around 3AM, thinking about my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man, but this time, I felt a wave of relief instead of that nagging anxiety!

His daughter arrived last evening, so she’s there with him now. Plus, knowing that he isn’t going to be put into a nursing home anytime soon…

It was just a great feeling of relief. So here’s hoping the free-floating anxiety factor can take a backseat in my life for a while.

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

I did indeed start re-watching “20,000 Days On Earth” last evening and I am so glad I did! There is just so much about that film that I had forgotten. I probably haven’t watched it in about 6 or 7 years. (I’m not going to get into that “where did the fucking time go???” business again… we’ll just re-watch it and enjoy it!!)

So I am trying to sort of just relax around here.

I’m waiting to hear from Sandra regarding any work that still needs doing on “”The Guide to Being Fabulous” — the play is already done, we just need to sort of get it staged on paper by November.

And the TV project proposal is on hold until at least the end of June.

So, really, I need to just make myself relax and in a sort of non-anxiety way, decide what I want to focus on in the meantime. (For instance — maybe pull the weeds from the rose garden since it’s so pretty outside today?? Then consider finally actually beginning the writing of my memoir of the 1970s!!)

**********

Okay.

Here’s this!

What could be better than a couple of photos from Phyllis Stein??

Richard Hell at CBGBs in 1978!

And Johnny Thunders enroute to LA from NYC in 1973!!!!

***********

And here’s this!!

Keith with a bottle of Jack Daniels!!

And for the record, I would like to add that — NO! — Keith did not introduce me to Jack Daniels. That honor belonged to a Jewish girl named Karen that I was friends with when we were 12.

Her parents loved Jack Daniels and she lived a couple of houses away from a house where I used to babysit all the time.

One night, Karen stole a fifth of JD from her parents and then hid it in the bushes of that house where I was babysitting, even though I told her not to! But she did it anyway.

And the following day, she retrieved the bottle from the bushes, concealed it in the basket on her bike, and then brought it over to my house, to keep it stashed in my bedroom!

Okay. Whatever. She liked drinking Jack Daniels. I had never had it before. I tried it and really liked the aroma and the flavor of it, but it burned like hell going down.

So the fifth just sat there in my closet, so that she could drink it whenever she came over. (And Karen also introduced me to smoking cigarettes…)

But anyway.

That was the beginning of me and whiskey…. I’ll regale you with the rest of the story of Karen & the 5th of JD another day. It will tell you all you need to know about my dad’s parenting skills in 1972 and why I always preferred his skills over my mother’s…

A version of me in 1972. Or at least, my mind in 1972…

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

I digress!!

Here’s Keith and Anita and Marlon, in France in 1971!

And a serene sort of photo of Keith onstage somewhere with a Flying V!

**********

And your guess is as good as mine with this one, gang!

What is Nick Cave holding here?? A gun? A microphone? Something else?? I just don’t know!!

And I love this photo!

His hair. The cigarette. The arch above him. Just the whole feel of it!

Nick Cave, with big hair, a cigarette, and an arch above him:

And I also love this. Something about the jacket…

Nick Cave, onstage in a striped jacket!

*********

And that is it.

Well, the Agency just texted that my shift for tomorrow is cancelled; the clients will be at doctors’ appointments all day. So now I have two days to figure out what I want to do.

I will begin the thinking process by finishing the laundry and then heading out for that walk.

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

Let’s close with this — if you have an hour and a half.

This stuff is very illuminating, gang.

From Ross K. Nichols Sunday School yesterday:

“Many of humanity’s most ancient stories share a tale as old as time itself: the account of one righteous man, specially chosen to save the human race from a catastrophic flood that nearly ended all life on earth. We know him as Noah in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian New Testament, and the Koran, but other ancient peoples also preserved versions of this man’s story….”

Knowing Noah: The Man Behind the Myths (1 hr 31 mins):

My new “go to” when the brain is trying to surface!!

May 3, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis 2 Comments

For some reason, I just love that ad (above). The energy of it. And it reminds me of all the times I’ve made great progress — here at this very desk, in this very Old House — writing.

A not-so-long-ago time of my life that I want to return to now at all times…

I never actually smoked Pall Malls, although my parents did in our first house in Cleveland. Then they switched to Larks:

And of course Eddie Van Halen (or at least his guitar) famously smoked Pall Malls:

And my birth mom still smokes Pall Malls, which is why there was a pack of them that I found in a kitchen drawer in this old house, several years ago, when I was craving an unlit cigarette that I could snap the filter off of and then sit with at my desk, and write….

*********

Wait!

First of all, I have to say THIS:

I did get a text from my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s daughter yesterday and she is not — AT THIS TIME — planning to put him in a nursing home!!! Those plans are on hold, sort of indefinitely.

Yay!!

Which means that many more tiny vodka cocktails are in our (his) future!!

Yesterday, his wooden leg was being wonky again so we didn’t go out for sashimi & sake (he’s getting a brand new leg on Tuesday). And late in my shift, he was sort of staring at the little end table next to his recliner, where upon there were 2 unopened bottles of protein drinks, some Greek yogurt, an organic ham sandwich, and a little bowl of organic non-GMO potato chips…and the little framed photo of his dad in Tokyo in 1957.

ME: “Are you looking for something?”

HE: “A gallon of vodka.”

So I promptly went to the fridge and got him about an ounce of the Smirnoff pre-mixed cocktail thingie that he loves. And he was delighted.

He also had great mental clarity yesterday, although, sadly, it was about his private nurse:

HE: “What’s going on with Annie? Is she still in the hospital?”

His daughter will be telling him the sad news later today, so I just said that I didn’t know. But I was so relieved that he remembered her name and that she’s been gone for a couple of weeks now.

So, overall, it was a great day but emotionally, I was still worn out.

***********

Okay.

Here’s this!

I was lying in bed this morning with my coffee. A few of the cats were on the bed with me, happily dozing. The sun was up and it was a beautiful Sunday morning.

Then I heard something clutter to the floor, so I sat up in bed and disturbed all the furry slumberers. But discovered that Calico had selected some reading materials for us from the bookshelf!!

Princess perusing our reading materials for today, selected by Calico.

The Stoned Apocalypse, an erotic classic about the 1960s by Marco Vassi, 1993 edition from Masquerade Books.

The Sick Bag Song by Nick Cave, hard cover, 2014 (and I was, you know, absolutely stunned that this book has been out for 12 years already. Christ. Where does the fucking time go??? But what a great book.)

And the navy blue book is a journal that I bought at the Kirtland Temple in 2018, when I was friends with 2 wonderful young Mormon missionaries. Two blonde girls, from out-of-State.

Original Mormon church from the 1830s, near Cleveland

The Kirtland Temple was incredible, btw. I am so glad I went there. But I forgot that I even had this journal. I opened it and on the inside cover, I’d written that Gus Van Sant, Sr. had died on Jan. 13, 2022. And I had also scribbled the Portuguese chorus from Nick Cave’s stunning song “Foi Na Cruz”.

In the actual journal, on the opening page, I’d written “January 2, 2020” but the entry itself is torn out.

And then the next page is from January 6, 2022, and it is one line from the poem “You, Dr. Martin” by Anne Sexton:

From breakfast to madness

And the rest of the journal that I’d forgotten I even had is totally blank!

And then as I was putting the books back on the bookshelf, right next to where the forgotten journal had been sitting was a composition theme notebook, so I pulled that out and discovered it was filled with all sorts of notes from plays and screenplays I was working on in 2014!!

Oh my god! So many incredible backstory notes for “Cleveland’s Burning” — a TV pilot that was in development forever with Bohemia Group Originals out in LA, until it came to a screeching halt with the scamdemic.

And then — I am not exagerrating (although I am misspelling “exaggerating”) — there were amazing scribbled notes for my in-progress play about the historical Jesus — “The Gospel According to Caiaphas”!! A play that is heavily influenced by Tom Stoppard’s 1967 masterpiece, “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.”

Crap, you know??? When am I going to get all this stuff done??

I’m guessing there are no amount of Pall Malls in the world that can give me actual TIME, but once I get the time, here’s hoping they will still be manufacturing Pall Malls.

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

Well, okay.

Other interesting news– apparently my press release for the upcoming release of my forever-in-progress-but-finally-published novel The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, was also picked up by the Columbus Dispatch!!

Yes!! The main newspaper of the city of my rather un-illustrious birth to a 13-year-old Pall Mall-smoking girl!!

Wow. I was kinda stunned to see that. But I figured, you know, my feelings about Columbus and all the terrible things that happened to me there aside, I should probably send that newspaper a review copy…

***********

Okay.

I do have to get some stuff done around here before I head out to see the retired Minister and his wife and lovely cat.

So, here’s this!!

Bob Dylan!! Photographed by Bent Raj at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, May 1st, 1966. Smoking! In black & white!

*********

And here’s this!!

2 of my intensely influential literary influences, together in Greenwich Village, NYC, in 1969!!

Patti Smith and Jim Carroll, on Minetta Street!!

(A street that became my stomping ground in 1982. There was a very small folk club there that’s gone now, but I used to hang out there all the time. In fact, the very first time I played “She Ain’t No Virgin At All” — alone with my guitar, I had just written the song the night before — was in that little club on Minetta Street. AND! In 1984, when I brought the demo of the song to the songwriting class I was taking with Jim Carroll at the West Side Y, and he played the tape in class, he said: “I have no advice for this. This song is perfect.” Below is that demo.)

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

And here’s Keith smiling onstage, in a blue shirt!

And Keith onstage in 1975 (that Holy Year of Our Lord), in a mostly red shirt!

***********

And as luck would have it–

I was looking through all the movies I have in my Amazon Prime account last evening, and when I came upon “20,000 Days On Earth” — the Nick Cave film from, yes, 2014!! — which I’ve watched about 3 times, but it’s been a while since I last watched it, and I was thinking that I’d really like to watch that again…

Anyway, this still from one of my favorite scenes from that film was in my hashtag feed on Instagram this morning!

Methinks I’ll probably start watching it again tonight!

And here’s this!!

Nick Cave in the wind in Hamburg, 2024!!

Soon enough, it will be 2036, and I’ll see this photo again and I’ll think: Fuck, that was 12 years ago!! Where is the fucking time going??!!

********

And with that, I think I will close and get stuff done before I have to head to town.

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

********

Let’s close with this!

I kid you not, gang, when this song came on the Oldies FM Radio Station on the retro boombox as I was making my bed this morning and was singing loudly along to the chorus, the cats came prancing in with their tails up high and they just seemed so frisky and happy. I think they really liked the feel of the chorus to this wonderful song!!

From 1984, by Jon Parr, “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)”. Theme song from the movie, “St. Elmo’s Fire.” Enjoy, gang!! We sure did!!

“St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)”

Growin’ up
You don’t see the writing on the wall
Passin’ by
Movin’ straight ahead, you knew it all

But maybe sometime if you feel the pain
You’ll find you’re all alone
Everything has changed

Play the game
You know you can’t quit until it’s won
Soldier on
Only you can do what must be done

You know in some way
You’re a lot like me
You’re just a prisoner
And you’re tryin’ to break free

I can see a new horizon
Underneath the blazin’ sky
I’ll be where the eagle’s flyin’
Higher and higher

Gonna be your man in motion
All I need’s this pair of wheels
Take me where the future’s lyin’
St. Elmo’s Fire, ooh

Burnin’ up
Don’t know just how far that I can go (Just how far I go)
Soon be home
Only just a few miles down the road

I can make it
I know I can
You broke the boy in me
But you won’t break the man

I can see a new horizon
Underneath the blazin’ sky
I’ll be where the eagle’s flyin’
Higher and higher

Gonna be your man in motion
All I need’s this pair of wheels
Take me where my future’s lyin’
St. Elmo’s Fire

I can climb the highest mountain
Cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo’s Fire
Burnin’ in me, burnin’ in me

Just once in his life
A man has his time
And my time is now
I’m comin’ alive

I can hear the music playin’
I can see the banners fly
Feel like your man again
And hope ridin’ high

Gonna be your man in motion
All I need’s this pair of wheels
Take me where my future’s lyin’
St. Elmo’s Fire

I can see a new horizon
Underneath the blazin’ sky
I’ll be where the eagle’s flyin’
Higher and higher

Gonna be your man in motion
All I need’s this pair of wheels
Take me where the future’s lyin’
St. Elmo’s Fire

I can climb the highest mountain
Cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo’s Fire burnin’ in me

Burnin’
Burnin’ in me
I can feel it burnin’
Ooh, burnin’ inside of me

c – 1984 Jon Stephen Parr

Hoping this is on the horizon today!

May 2, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

The weather is very sunny today but still really cold.

Nevertheless, my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man and I decided yesterday to go out for sashimi & sake today. Now that his private nurse is gone, he hasn’t been out for lunch since he and I went to the golf course last Friday.

When I’m around him, it’s easy to get my energy into a good place and keep things upbeat and happy, so I’m looking forward to going out with him today if he feels up to it. But I have to say, gang, that on a deep level, it feels to me like everything has changed.

The feeling of loss is like a blanket over everything in that house now. He knows something is missing but he doesn’t know what. He also knows that something big in his life has changed forever. He doesn’t remember his private nurse’s name, or who she was, or anything like that — he only knows that there was a girl who used to come see him but that she had to go to the hospital.

His daughter is going to tell him everything when she sees him in person, tomorrow.

Since his daughter has been texting me the last couple of days about her upcoming trip, I finally decided to just text her this morning and ask her if she’s planning to put her dad into a nursing home soon. I want to start getting the hanging flower baskets for his back deck, but it’s a lot of money to spend if he won’t be there much longer.

We’ll see what she replies. But I’m thinking that I already know what she’s going to say.

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

On a happier front…

It looks like Rasha’s mom and her little baby will be staying here, to take care of Rasha and all the other cats, while I’m in NYC.

This is such a relief to me. I’ve been worried that all these cats now — including Rasha, who is still unwell — will be too much for my birth mom to really handle, even though she’s happy to do it. (My birth mom is 79 now.)

I feel so much better about this arrangement, though. Because the girl knows full well that Rasha is sick, since Rasha is her cat. It’s not going to be any sort of unhappy surprise for her.

And I also talked to a friend of mine yesterday about her and her husband staying here the last weekend of September, when I go to North Carolina for James Tabor’s conference thingie. They had offered to cat-sit before, so she’s thinking they probably will.

And by September, Rasha’s mom should be in her own place and able to take Rasha back. So that is potentially another huge relief.

Now all I want is for my birth mom to just come out here and visit for a few days, just to hang out again. To smoke and drink beer (her, not me).

What I would really like her to do at this point is answer her phone... she’s not a really big phone-answering kinda gal.

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

Anyway.

So there’s good stuff going on and sad stuff going on. But meanwhile, here’s this!

If you’re too young to know that Patti Hansen used to be not only a top super model in the late 70s, early 80s, she also had a reputation for being a real party girl!! (To me, she always just seemed like a down-to-earth girl from Staten Island.) It did not surprise me a bit that Keith fell in love with her.

Anyway! Here they are in 1981, and Patti does not seem to be in any way intoxicated!!

And here’s this!

Keith smoking in 1972, maybe overdoing the guitar thing a little bit…

**********

And here’s this!

Nick Cave!

I’m thinking “just out of the shower” but not 100% sure:

I’m also thinking the reason my really cool Tom Petty zippo lighter has not arrived yet is because they sent it to Nick Cave!! (Not 100% sure on that, either, just thinkin’…)

**********

And that’s it.

I guess I better get moving here and plan on having a great day, come what may!

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

*********

Let’s close with this!

Something else that reminds me of the old New York…with the old skyline and everything.

“The Critic” is also free now on Tubi!! I loved this show. I’d forgotten all about it! (From 1994-95.) Enjoy, gang.

Hoping it’s this kind of day!!!

April 30, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Yes! An unlit Pall Mall (aka “fake Chesterfield”) with it’s filter mercilessly snapped off!!

And me, sitting at my desk!!

It means I’m focused and getting some writing done!!

(Me, not smoking at my desk, back in 2019!!)

You can tell this is an old photo because I don’t have gouges on my chin curtesy of my delightful cat!!

Meanwhile–

I was going to disturb you last night with the following happy update, but I decided to wait until this morning, when you were awake–

1954 Powder Blue Pickup reached #25 in Historical Erotica last night!!

The sale is indeed over today, and so the eBook no longer has “sales rankings”. (Darn it.)

However, I still have access to the sales reports and I want to continue to THANK YOU!! –because it keeps on selling!!!

Yay!!!

She is just being used as a visual emphasis. Not only is she too young to read yet, she’s way too young to read 1954 Powder Blue Pickup! Nevertheless, she’s still really happy because she knows it’s waiting for her in her happy future…

**********

Okay.

Things continue to be a little strange with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man. His daughter texted me at his house yesterday, letting me know she was not going to be able to call him and will tell him, in person on Sunday, about his nurse being in a coma and near-death.

Meanwhile, we decided that it would be best coming from her, so I haven’t said anything to him. Still, he knows something is off. He knows he hasn’t seen the nurse in a while, that she’s been sick, but that’s about all he can process. He can’t even remember her name now.

I still get the feeling the daughter is planning to put him in a nursing home, but she hasn’t said anything to me about it.

I have sort of released my desire to somehow make everything go differently in this. It’s really the only way I can handle anything and still act like everything is okay when I’m around him.

Taking it the proverbial one day at a time. Just being in the here & now with him. And just being his friend. And when I gave him his little vodka cocktail yesterday, he told me again that he loved me and again, he said, “Thank you for showing me what a wonderful life I’ve had.”

And then he also added: “The spirit is more alive than the physical.”

So I think something’s up, but I have to just let life and/or death happen.

*********

All righty!

I don’t want to tarry here, because I want to finish writing that nearly-finished short story today.

So let’s get to the “here’s this’s”!

Here’s this!!

From the Franz Kafka Museum.

And I have to say that I have read everything he ever wrote, including every collection of letters he wrote that were posthumously published and which are all staggering and amazingly honest. And most of his stories and novels were published by his friends after he died (he was only 40 when he died from tuberculosis, and he was not a well-known writer yet). I just love this man’s beautifully neurotic mind; but the whole idea of anything being “Kafkaesque” did not come into being until long after he died. And we would not have ever known his work if his friends hadn’t stepped in and ignored his wishes at the end.

***********

And here’s this!

Sun Studios!! The birth place of rock & roll records!!

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

And here’s this!!

Some rare finds, indeed!

Keith, smoking while holding a guitar!

From NYC 1975 — only a handful of weeks before I got to see the Rolling Stones onstage in Cleveland for the first time!!

And some other place, some other time (1988)!!

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

Okay.

Nick Cave sent out another one of those Red Hand Files yesterday, wherein he answers many readers questions with “irreverent answers”! (I’m guessing he is hard at work on writing those new song lyrics and can’t really spend time right now on lengthy replies!!)

Anyway, this wasn’t necessarily my favorite question, but I identified with the reply a lot!!

Q: “On the song ‘Carnage’, there is a lyric ‘sitting on the balcony reading Flannery O’Connor with a pencil and a plan’, that really resonates with me. Now I am reading Flannery O’Connor. Any more recommendations?”

A: “If you are reading Flannery O’Connor, be sure to read her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find. If you enjoy Flannery O’Connor, read William Faulkner – As I Lay Dying is a great place to begin.”

I adore Flannery O’Connor!! And that short story is a really great one. A couple of years ago, while I was vacuuming, I noticed that on one of my bookshelves, Flannery O’Connor’s short story collection is right next to Nick Cave’s novel And the Ass Saw the Angel!! So I have never moved them apart!!

I also love William Faulkner and have read all his novels — although Sanctuary was sort of an intense one. (Oh, and if you’re new to the blog — back in 2001, my then novel-in-progress, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, was a finalist in the William Faulkner Writing Competition in New Orleans. I was so thrilled by that!!!) Anyway.

Also from this morning:

And here’s this! A song I love!! (mentioned above.) “Carnage” by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, 2021:

Meanwhile–

You can read the above-mentioned Red Hand File in full HERE.

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

And now I better scoot and I am so hoping that today remains stress-free, distraction-free, and full of an easy flow of joy and wonder!!

I guess we shall see…

Have a great Thursday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

Let’s close with this.

Another — but very, very different — song that I love.

Morgana King, “It’s A Quiet Thing.” 1965. Enjoy, gang.

Back on the Happy Track

April 29, 2026 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Well, at least for now, the Agency has added NO ADDITIONAL shifts or hours to my schedule. So it’s looking like they have found other caregivers to help out at my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house.

Today will be, well, I don’t know if “interesting” is the right word. But his daughter will be calling him from Seattle while I’m at his house today, to tell him that his private nurse — the nurse who has been a constant presence in his home since about 2018 and taken such great care of him — is dying and will never be coming back.

I don’t know how he will process it. I really don’t. It might go right over his head, at first. But eventually it will register with him. Ultimately, I know he will say that she’s gone to a better place. But how he will actually feel about it — I just don’t know. We’ll soon find out.

Yesterday was rough for me, but today, at least so far, I’m better. One thing about this job — death is part of it. But this one really came out of left field.

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

This morning, gang. Wow. Actual royalties in my checking account from Amazon!

And also!! After having been banned for 5 years, and back on sale for less than a week–1954 Powder Blue Pickup is ranked #41 in Historical Erotica!!!!! Thank you so much, gang. This just makes me so happy.

The eBook is still FREE on Amazon Kindle, with or without Kindle Unlimited. But I think that ends today. I’m actually not sure. But the eBook is HERE.

1954 Powder Blue Pickup is absolutely for Adults Only. Thank you!!!

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

Tomorrow is my day off. And once again, I am hoping to complete that short story that still only has about 400 more words to go.

I think back on my life, and up until that scam-demic and the lockdowns, I spent so much time every day, getting my writing done. And now, it’s like whacking my way through an emotionally draining jungle of distractions, just trying to get even an hour to write each day, where my brain and heart are focused.

I come up with weird thoughts, like: Am I not getting enough coffee? You know, I cannot figure out how to get back to my old life. I have so much new writing I want to do. Not just to finish the short story that’s been hanging on forever (which is under a deadline now), but I really, really want to get down to writing the memoir about my life in the 1970s.

To the point where I say to myself, Please, God, don’t let me die before I have a chance to write that book!!

Not to mention, an almost-complete erotic memoir, Girl in the Night: Erotic Love Letters to the Muse, and the half-finished erotic novella, Novitiate ’66. And the not even halfway started non-erotic novel, Down to the Meadows of Sleep. And the almost finished non-erotic flash memoir about my childhood years being raised by a narcissist, In the Shadow of Narcissa. And 3 barely started scripts for streamers that have nothing to do with Sandra. And 2 plays.

All this stuff on my desk.

Anyway. On we go. At least it’s finally getting better!

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

Okay.

Here’s this!!

Keith.

Wow, did this make me smile. I don’t think I need to explain why:

And not-so-smiling, but boy, do I remember Keith in 1978!! Keith had finally kicked heroin after the horrible drug bust in Toronto, in ’77.

Keith in South Salem, NY, 1978:

And here’s Keith looking really seriously sleepy (?) at the Excelsior Hotel in Rome, in 1984:

Just because he quit heroin finally, didn’t mean he quit doing other stuff. I remember when my best friend Valerie in Brooklyn was working for Mica Ertegun in the early 90s and doing some specialized painting in Keith’s house in Connecticut, she used to tell me that he’d go down to his basement recording studio at, like, 8 in the morning, with a glass of Vodka and Orange Crush…. something like that.

Anyway….

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

Here’s this!

A wonderful blast from the past!

Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld in 1985!

And from the not so distant past at all!

Nick Cave decides to take John & Yoko’s advice and “Give(s) Peace A Chance”!

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

Here’s this, while we’re at it —

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

And I think that’s it because I gotta get ready to head to town and see what this day with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man is going to bring.

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

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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

Let’s close with this, while we’re still at it.

From the Oldies FM Radio Station on the retro boombox next to my bed this morning.

From John & Yoko’s final album together, Double Fantasy. Which was released two days after I arrived in NYC (released November 17, 1980), and I remembered looking at the album cover displayed in the window of a record store in Midtown Manhattan and just feeling so happy to see John Lennon looking so happy (and sounding so happy, finally).

My very first hero, gang. I really was so happy for him.

When I was 11, his massive interview in Rolling Stone Magazine introduced me to a new side of Bob Dylan that I’d never seen, to Brian Jones and the Rolling Stones, helped me see Elvis in a whole new way, and tons of other musicians and types of music.

I loved music. By then, at age 11, I played violin, piano, and guitar. (In fact, music was what made me want to go live in NYC in the first place, back when I was only 7 years old.)

Then Lennon was assassinated a couple of weeks later, on December 8, 1980. Jesus. NYC in the 80s was just so intense.

Anyway. When this came on the radio this morning right as I was getting out of bed, my whole adult life went walking across my brain. (And of course, it only made me want to write about it…)

“Watching the Wheels” from Double Fantasy, 1980. Enjoy, gang.