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:
Yes. 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 (suddenlythinking): 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.
Me, when 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!
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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.
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:
The Historic Arcade
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:
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai
Steve Vai
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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”!!
Will Keith do it again??
Here’s this, while we’re at it!!
************ 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!
It’s Primary Election Day here in Ohio, so I had to go out and do that thing.
But I am back!
I don’t know if it’s just me, gang, but things feel so weird today.
For one thing, I had so many vivid dreams last night. Like someone was trying really, really hard to tell me something.
In one dream, I was in the house I owned about 10 years ago. I was unpacking and moving back in. And I was really happy about it, but it was as if I was returning there from having been in a sort of coma.
All the cats were there and happy I was back. And then at one point, an official sort of woman — don’t know how to describe her — brought in my Aunt Sylvia, my Great Aunt Gertrude, and my grandfather!!
All of these relatives have been dead for a really long time. But they were all really happy to be back and I was so happy to see them. (They were from my adoptive maternal side of the family.)
In another dream, I literally could not keep my eyelids open and I was going around doing important stuff (including drivingon the freeway) with my eyes shut — trying really hard to lift my eyelids so that I could see.
But there was a lot more to the dreams than that, and all of it was totally lucid dreaming. Not something I’ve done in a really long time. So that, in itself, felt really strange.
But I did get the impression, when all the dreams were over, that I’ve been “asleep in the dream of life” for a few years or something and I’m trying to wake up again.
However — wasn’t it sort of like this image I posted yesterday??? About letting anxiety take a back seat for awhile?? Too weird!!
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Okay. Anyway.
I voted. I have the day off. I’m not super happy about losing all that money for today — Tuesdays are good money days for me. But I’ve decided that I will try to just stay relaxed (that’s my new “idea” — to relax). And have a good day.
It’s too fun. It opens with a “studio surveillance system” — you click on the various cameras and get grainy black & white footage of the Stones in the studio, making the new album. Some of the cameras “don’t work.”
Anyway. It’s fun. And then you can also enter the main web site.
Tonight, Mick Jagger is going to be on late night TV, I guess introducing the new single from the upcoming album. Methinks I will not be awake, but I feel pretty certain I will get bombarded with it all over Instagram tomorrow morning…
Meanwhile, here’s this!
From 60 years ago… the original Rolling Stones:
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NewFest Pride announced their film line-up that will launch Pride Month in NYC.
There will be big outdoor screenings, but if you no longer live anywhere near NYC — you can get a virtual pass, and watch the films online.
There are many different options for purchasing passes to the screenings and parties and Q&A’s in NYC HERE.
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And by accident, last night I re-listened to chapters 12 -17 of TheDharma Bums on YouTube! I was listening to something else and trying to skip the ad, when it suddenly took me to a totally different video that I had listened to several months ago.
But I was quietly very happy with this twist of fate! I love that book. (Chapters 12 -17):
And I think maybe it was Jack, once again helping me make peace with the ever-upcoming release of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder and how it will likely be a book that won’t sit well with people….
Jack’s spirit is really good at helping me come to terms with that.
Jack Kerouac in Greenwich Village, NYC — looks like late 1940s or early 1950s.
I did get a really wonderful text from Wendy yesterday, saying she had finished reading the novel. It was difficult for her to get through (see yesterday’s post), but she liked how everything was resolved in the end.
And she also said: “If you don’t have a book launch, how will people know the book is out?”
Which, obviously, is a very good point…
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Okay. Well, on a somewhat different note!
Here’s this! So similar to yesterday!
Keith, drinking Jack Daniels onstage!
And so here’s the follow up to what I alluded to yesterday about my dad’s parenting skills in 1972:
I was 12, and closed up in my bedroom, as usual. I was always closed up in there, listening to music or playing my guitar and writing songs.
My dad came in and told me that my grandmother (his mother) had just called to tell him that Karen and I had been drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes.
ME: “How’d she know about that?”
HE (laughing but trying hard not to show it): “You mean it’s true?”
ME: “Yeah. But how’d she know?”
HE: “She saw you. You weren’t doing a very good job of trying to hide it. Do you even like whiskey?!”
ME: “No, but Karen does.”
And then my dad went on to tell me that I was too young to drink whiskey and smoke cigarettes, and that if I was going to keep on doing it, I better try harder to not get caught.
HE: “If you do get caught again, then I’m gonna look like I can’t control my own daughter. And then I’m gonna get angry.”
It is sufficient to say that, forever after, I tried really hard not to get caught drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes… the rest of the stuff I got up to, not so much.
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All righty!
And here’s this!
Nick Cave in Berlin, 1986! Similar, but different! (I think I posted this one not too long ago, but it came up again today!)
And this!!
Nick and Blixa in the 80s!! Yay! (Apparently having no trouble at all keeping their eyes open…)
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And with that, I should close this, because the morning is almost gone around here.
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.
Morning-listening music!!
From Full Moon Fever, Tom Petty’s totally addictive “The Apartment Song”!! 1989. Enjoy, 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.
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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!)
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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.
Me, in the front seat… for a while
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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!!)
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Okay.
Here’s this!
What could be better than a couple of photos from Phyllis Stein??
Richard Hell at CBGBs in 1978!
Photo by Eileen Polk
And Johnny Thunders enroute to LA from NYC in 1973!!!!
Photo by Bob Gruen
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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…
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I digress!!
Here’s Keith and Anita and Marlon, in France in 1971!
Photo by Michael Cooper
And a serene sort of photo of Keith onstage somewhere with a Flying V!
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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!
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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!
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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):
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….
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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.
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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 1960sby 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.
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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…
What it looks like when I get an idea
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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!
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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.)
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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!
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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??!!
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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!
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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
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.
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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.
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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…
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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’…)
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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!
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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.
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.
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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!!!
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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!
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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:
Photo by Luiano Viti
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….
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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”!
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Here’s this, while we’re at it —
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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.
A grey Tuesday morning here in the Hinterlands. It’s supposed to get sunny later. We’ll see.
But my overall mood — I’m really battling an entire brain full of grey rain.
Yesterday afternoon, my wonderful day off came to a screeching halt when I got a phone call from Seattle. It was my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s daughter. She has never called me before — she rarely even texts me. She had awful news — and she was just as shocked by the news as I was.
Her dad’s private nurse — who has been with the family for 6 or 7 years now (she was the private nurse for his 2nd wife when she got ill), and who has had “health problems” for the last week or so, is dying.
As in — in hospice already, in a coma, with only a few days left to live.
I had no clue she had cancer. She’s about 20 years younger than me, and always seemed full of energy and life.
So, not only am I stunned that I will never see or speak to her again, but it also sounds like I’m going to be needed to pick up more responsibilities — time-wise — with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man, and even though he matters so much to me, I am just not prepared to take on anything else. I’ve been aiming all my energy and attention at the writing projects.
We shall see.
I immediately called my supervisor at the Agency yesterday and asked her to please start lining up some additional caregivers for him. But since this is catching us all out of the blue, I might have to pick up some extra hours until the schedules can be arranged. I will find out more later today. But I have been praying, gang, that they find people right away, even though, obviously if they need me, I won’t say no.
The daughter is flying in from Seattle on Sunday, just for 2 days, and she hopes to take her dad to say goodbye to the nurse, if she is still alive by then.
I’m also worried that with the nurse gone now, and since she oversaw his meds, his doctor appointments, his trips to the barber, his lawncare service, etc., there’s even more reasons for the daughter to put him in a nursing home now.
I’m really trying to just sort of ignore everything I’m feeling and just see where everything falls. I think it’s called avoidance, but it’s almost the best I can do right now.
After all these years of watching it sort of float out there in limbo, it really makes me feel so happy to see people have access to it again.
If you missed my post yesterday, I believe the eBook edition is free to download all this week, with or without Kindle Unlimited.
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That’s really kind of it for my brain right now, so here are few “here’s this’s”.
The beautiful Charlie Watts at Villa Nellcote in 1971, during the recording of an album that certainly changed my 12-year-old life forever: Exile On Main St.
And I’m not kidding you when I say that I actually have the very same creamer that’s on the table there. It’s by Johnson Brothers/Wedgewood Group. Back then, the dishes were made in England. (I have the whole set, service for 8.) (I’m a dish-a-holic, if you’re new to the blog. I live alone and yet have more fine china than you can possibly imagine.)
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A very early shot of Keith! 1963:
And then a few years later… he switched out wearing the watch for a pair of handcuffs:
And here’s Keith with Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar, the greatest reggae rhythm duo that ever lived:
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Oh!
Here’s Cuddles McGee this morning, looking out the bedroom window:
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And some more wonderful old photos of Nick Cave.
A multi-patterned Nick in London, 1989:
I don’t know where or when or photo-by-whom, but I love this:
And this one is by Mike Owen:
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And that’s it for now.
My best friend Valerie in Brooklyn and I had a great phone chat yesterday — before the call from Seattle came in.
We are aiming to start the mini-podcast of “Marilyn’s Room” in mid-May. And we’re hoping to have 2 if not 3 episodes out there before I leave for NYC in mid-June. We might even try to do a mini-podcast from my hotel room in NYC, or someplace where we can be in the same room together while we tape it.
That’s the plan, anyway. (And wow, did she tell me a really fun story from the early 80s that she’d never told me about!!! It involved Debbie Harry!!)
So even though I’ve known Val since 1983, there are still great stories for me to hear, too!
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Okay.
I gotta put on my “I’m happy and here to help you” face and scoot to town to see my clients for today.
Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world, gang.
Thanks for visiting. (And for buying my books. It means so much to me.)
I love you guys. See ya!
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Let’s close with this.
The awesome Debbie Harry, onstage with Blondie — 1978!
I’ve been having a really nice morning out here in the Hinterlands, and now my brain is actually putting in an appearance, too!
So it should be a nice day-off.
Yay!
Before I forget — it looks like the eBook edition of 1954 Powder Blue Pickup is totally FREE to download this week, with or without Kindle Unlimited. The link is HERE.
And that said — a continued thank you to all of you who have continued to purchase the book!! I just appreciate it so much.
I was actually glancing through the book last night for the first time in a few years, and I just want to say that I don’t remember writing all that filthy dirty stuff!!!
Actually, I do remember.
I remember every moment of it because the Muse was in high gear throughout the writing of that book. (I originally wrote it for Black Lotus Books, and they designed the cover, which I love. But the company soon closed down when they couldn’t get a distributor.)
Anyway, whenever I’m working on a novel, I always have an unlit, unfiltered cigarette in my mouth — usually a Pall Mall, because they are the closest thing to a Chesterfield that is still in circulation.
I haven’t smoked a lit cigarette in about 16 years. Luckily, I never had a real smoking habit. I was what was called a “social smoker” — I smoked when cocktails or wine were lurking about.
Anyway, I remember NOT smoking an entire pack of unfiltered Pall Malls while writing 1954 Powder Blue Pickup (whenever a cigarette got too soggy, I tossed it out) and I remember the Muse being a sort of palpable presence throughout that book. Which is the very best feeling when you’re trying to write something under a deadline.
All these years later, though — skimming through it last night. Man. Non-stop sexual shenanigans!!
ME (thinking): “Christ! Did I really go there??”
Yes, I really did.
What’s in those Pall Malls?!
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Okay!
Since it’s my day-off, I’ve got a load of laundry going. And at some point, I need to walk over to the dollar store and buy a can of coffee.
I usually buy hoity-toity fairtrade coffee from somewhere in Central America that “is characterized by balanced acidity, distinct tasting notes (chocolate, nutty, fruit), and a clean finish”, etc., etc.
But I ran out this morning. I guess my brain was elsewhere when I did the grocery shopping in town on Friday. And I absolutely need my coffee in the mornings, so I’m not going to get picky. (The dollar store actually has an interesting brand of coffee from Vietnam. It tastes, well, interesting.)
Other than that, despite living in a veritable cat sanctuary these days, I am hoping to have a totally relaxing day. And I really hope it includes finally completing that short story that STILL only needs about 400 more words… we shall see.
Not me! Since this gal appears to be smoking a lit pencil…
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This just in!!
Ronnie Wood has added a show in Barcelona on Saturday, September 12th! Buy tickets HERE!
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And this also just in!
“The Original Series Soundtrack for Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis is out now on digital and streaming services.”
I have already added it to my library on Amazon Music, but haven’t listened yet.
Even though the series is streaming now on Netflix, when I read stuff like this:
“We loved working on this adaptation – Harry Hole’s murky, morally complex world has been brought to life in all its darkly brutal glory, and it was an honour to work with the legendary Jo Nesbø.“ – Nick Cave
Methinks that I will likely be skipping the series itself. Just gonna listen to the music part.
“In Soviet-occupied Prague, a young female photographer embraces wild nights of rebellion, desire, and resistance to conformity. Through thousands of her raw and candid photographs and personal diaries, I’M NOT EVERYTHING I WANT TO BE traces her twenty-year quest for freedom and self-acceptance.”
I started watching it last night, but since it’s all in subtitles, my eyes kinda wore out, but I’m hoping to finish it tonight.
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And meanwhile–
Here’s this!!
A lovely photo of George Harrison, almost smiling in Los Angeles:
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And a few of Keith!!
Keith, with a guitar, smoking. I don’t know where or when:
Keith, with a guitar, not smoking, I don’t know where or when, but it probably only lasted a minute — the not-smoking part, I mean:
And Keith, not smoking with his dog, his Bentley, probably London, probably 1966, etc.:
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And last but certainly in no way least!!!
Nick Cave!! Smoking and multi-tasking onstage in Melbourne, 1990!!
And here’s this upbeat little ditty. Excuse me, here’s the above-mentioned song!
“The Carny”
And no-one saw the carny go And the weeks flew by Until they moved on the show Leaving his caravan behind It was parked out on the south east ridge And as the company crossed the bridge With the first rain filling the bone-dry river bed It shone, just so, upon the edge Away, away, we’re sad, they said
Dog-boy, atlas, half-man, the geeks, the hired hands There was not one among them that did not cast an eye behind In the hope that the carny would return to his own kind And the carny had a horse, all skin and bone A bow-backed nag, that he named “Sorrow” Now it is buried in a shallow grave In the then parched meadow
And the dwarves were given the task of digging the ditch And laying the nag’s carcass in the ground And boss Bellini, waving his smoking pistol around Saying, “The nag is dead meat” “We can’t afford to carry dead weight” The whole company standing about Not making a sound And turning to dwarves perched on the enclosure gate The boss says “Bury this lump of crow bait”
And then the rain came hammering down Everybody running for their wagons Tying all the canvas flaps down The mangy cats growling in their cages The bird-girl flapping and squawking around The whole valley reeking of wet beast Wet beast and rotten hay Freak and brute creation Packed up and on their way
The three dwarves peering from their wagon’s hind Moses says to Noah “We shoulda dugga deepa one” Their grizzled faces like dying moons Still dirty from the digging done And Charlie, the eldest of the three, said “I guess the carny ain’t gonna show” And they were silent for a spell Wishing they’d done a better job of burying Sorrow
And as the company passed from the valley Into higher ground The rain beat on the ridge and on the meadow And on the mound Until nothing was left, nothing at all Except the body of Sorrow That rose in time To float upon the surface of the eaten soil
And a murder of crows did circle round First one, then the others flapping blackly down And the carny’s van still sat upon the edge Tilting slowly as the firm ground turned to sludge And the rain it hammered down And no-one saw the carny go I say it’s funny how things go
c – 1986 – Nick Cave
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And I believe that is it!
Have a great Monday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!
Late-night listening music!!
I just love this song, gang.
From Tom Petty’s first solo album, Full Moon Fever — which recently turned 37 years old!!
“A Face in the Crowd,” 1989. The original official video. Enjoy, gang.
“A Face In The Crowd”
Before all of this ever went down In another place, another town
You were just a face in the crowd You were just a face in the crowd Out in the street, walking around A face in the crowd
Out of a dream, out of the sky Into my heart, into my life
And you were just a face in the crowd You were just a face in the crowd Out in the street, thinking out loud A face in the crowd
Out of a dream, out of the sky Into my heart, into my life
And you were just a face in the crowd You were just a face in the crowd Out in the street, walking around A face in the crowd
A face in the crowd A face in the crowd A face in the crowd
It’s not raining here, but it’s really grey and cool, and since it’s Sunday, it makes me feel like just being lazy all day.
Here were some of us being lazy about an hour ago — Freddie and Calico snuggling against my legs, on the bed; Cuddles McGee on the corner of my desk:
And here’s a couple of the things we were listening to while I had my coffee (in bed):
These hymns startled the cats because usually they prefer rock & roll…. so I switched back over to rock & roll!
Anyway.
The lawncare guy has already been here and my lawn looks great!! (He got here at 8:15AM. I’m curious if my neighbors appreciated that…)
And my Sunday shift with the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat starts earlier now, so I don’t really have time to just hang out and do nothing…
So I’m up, and dressed (after being awake for 5 hours) and now here I am.
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If you saw my post from late yesterday afternoon, you know that yesterday was a really great day.
My trip to NYC is set. And my books are selling on Amazon!!
Plus, my shift with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man was just terrific. About 5 minutes after I got there yesterday, he was up and dressed — had his wooden leg on, his hearing aides in, his glasses on, his teeth in and he had even made his bed. He was still beaming and just so happy from our trip to the golf course on Friday. He made his way into the kitchen and said: ‘Thank you so much for that beautiful trip yesterday!”
He brought it up many times during my shift. It had made him so happy.
I find it so interesting, how he can remember our trips there so well, when he has almost no short term memory. Clearly, when he’s completely engaged in something, his mind connects. (He always remembers when we go out for sashimi & sake, too. And he remembers that I get off the freeway whenever possible and take the backroads, which are so beautiful. He always says: “You are the only one who takes me on this road. I love this road.” I love it, too.)
Anyway. We had another really great afternoon yesterday, just hanging out and chatting in his living room. He was thoroughly engaged.
Several times during the afternoon, he sang me the chorus of “You Are My Sunshine.” (So, yes — the thought of this man stuck a nursing home with no visitors, just waiting to die, breaks my heart. I have not heard anything more from his daughter, but she communicates through the private nurse, who has been really sick this past week.)
Obviously, I’m hoping his daughter will change her mind. But if he does get put away, I can’t imagine not visiting him all the time. And where I would find the time to do that, who knows…
Some neighbors are taking him to a guitar concert tonight in Granville. His neighbors all adore him, too. He is going to love that concert.
Just some random Japanese guy, 72 years ago…
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Since I get home earlier now on Sundays, this evening I’m planning on watching this on Metrograph:
I’m Not Everything I Want to Be (Directed by Klára Tasovská, 90- mins, 2024):
“Oft referred to as the Nan Goldin of Czechoslovakia, Libuše Jarcovjáková chronicled after-dark Prague in the 1970s and ’80s, her photographs of let-it-all-hang-out gay clubs, factory hands working the third shift, and clandestine parties giving a picture of communist-era Czechoslovakia very different from the official one. Klára Tasovská’s candid and compelling documentary provides Jarcovjáková with a platform to tell her story: that of one woman’s tireless search for liberation in an era of state repression.”
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And a slight, though none-the-less cryptic update regarding the streamer channel, BET+, closing down in June — a few of their shows have moved over to Paramount+, and Sandra will be shooting another episode of “The Miss Pat Show” with them in late June — and having a “discussion” with a couple of the producers who have seen our TV proposal and who also moved over to Paramount+….
So I’m extremely, well, interested.
However, this also means that when I’m in NYC in mid-June, I will be able to focus on just hangin’ out in NYC and seeing old friends (we’ll be working on the play later in the summer):
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Okay!
Here’s this!
A triple-play!! And of course, it’s from Phyllis Stein!
Patti, Bob –and Keith!! At the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, 1975!! (And I played on that same stage in the early 1980s, gang. What a history that stage had!! It was so cool.)
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This next one was very long but very informative and had a few photos. But here is the main gist:
Gram Parsons at Harvard in 1965:
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Which, of course, leads to Keith!
I liked these photos because they were just sort of a little strange — Keith, staring at something:
And Keith and Mick backstage in 1972 — on the phone??
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And I loved these!
Two photos of Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld in Japan in November, 1985. Photos by Midori Tsukagoshi:
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And I believe that is it for now!
I’m going to do a little yoga and then get ready for my drive to town!
Have a great Sunday, wherever you are in the world.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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This is what the cats insisted on listening to after the Sunday-hymn-singing was over!!
A few great ones by The Kinks!
I have narrowed it down to the 2 that they seemed to like best!! (And it turned out they were also long-time favorites of mine!)
From 1981, “Better Things,” from the album, Give the People What They Want:
“Better Things”
Here’s wishing you the bluest sky And hoping something better comes tomorrow Hoping all the verses rhyme And the very best of choruses to Follow all the doubt and sadness I know that better things are on the way
Here’s hoping all the days ahead Won’t be as bitter as the ones behind you Be an optimist instead And somehow happiness will find you Forget what happened yesterday I know that better things are on the way
It’s really good to see you rocking out and having fun Living like you just begun Accept your life and what it brings I hope tomorrow you’ll find better things I know tomorrow you’ll find better things
Here’s wishing you the bluest sky And hoping something better comes tomorrow Hoping all the verses rhyme And the very best of choruses to Follow all the doubt and sadness I know that better things are on the way
I know you’ve got a lot of good things happening up ahead The past is gone, it’s all been said So here’s to what the future brings I know tomorrow you’ll find better things I know tomorrow you’ll find better things I hope tomorrow you’ll find better things I know tomorrow you’ll find better things
c – 1981 – Ray Davies
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And from 1983, “Come Dancing,” from the album, State of Confusion. Enjoy, gang!!
“Come Dancing”
They put a parking lot on a piece of land Where the supermarket used to stand Before that they put up a bowling alley On the site that used to be the local Palais That’s where the big bands used to come and play My sister went there on a Saturday
Come dancing All her boyfriends used to come and call Why not come dancing? It’s only natural
Another Saturday, another date She would be ready but she’s always make them wait In the hallway in anticipation He didn’t know the night would end up in frustration He’d end up blowing all his wages for the week All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek
Come dancing That’s how they did it when I was just a kid And when they said come dancing My sister always did
My sister should have come in at midnight And my mum would always sit up and wait It always ended up in a big row When my sister used to get home late
Out of my window I can see them in the moonlight Two silhouettes saying goodnight by the garden gate
The day they knocked down the Palais My sister stood and cried The day they knocked down the Palais Part of my childhood died, just died
Now I’m grown up and playing in a band And there’s a car park where the Palais used to stand My sister’s married and she lives on an estate Her daughters go out, now it’s her turn to wait She knows they get away with things she never could But if I asked her I wonder if she would
Come dancing Come on, sister, have yourself a ball Don’t be afraid to come dancing It’s only natural
Come dancing Just like the Palais on a Saturday And all her friends will come dancing Where the big bands used to play
Marilyn's Room 