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.

If I can get any energy whatsoever happening here today.

I am so fucking tired.

And I really hate when I’m so wiped out on a day off.

But we’ll see how it goes.

However.

THIS was so awesome. The sales rankings for pre-orders of The Curse Of Our Profound Disorder on Amazon US last evening, after the first 24 hours — thanks everybody!!

If you want to pre-order the print edition on Amazon US, you can do it HERE.

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

I keep forgetting to post this link, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the upcoming new album by the Rolling Stones. (The link came from the RollingStonesBrasil channel on Instagram.)

The Cockroaches (whatever it is, it’s coming April 11th)

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

Apparently, yesterday was the anniversary of Allen Ginsberg’s death:

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

And also from yesterday, Ross K. Nichols’ Sunday School.

“This session carefully examines the resurrection stories of the Hebrew Bible, tracing the clues left by the biblical writers. What emerges is an often-overlooked pattern and a trail that leads somewhere quite unexpected, offering a fresh and thought-provoking look at a familiar theme.”

Raising the Dead: In Search of Its Source (1 hr 15 mins):

***********

And another re-post from James Tabor yesterday:

Jesus’ Final Week: A Post-Easter Wrap-Up (52 mins):

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

Also from James Tabor.

But this has nothing to do with Easter. It has more to do with Christianity before (and during) Paul.

“… who were the Ebionites? Were John the Baptist, Jesus, and James part of a “stream” of faith and piety that traced back to the Dead Sea Scroll group, and down through a so-called “Christianity,” before, during, in contrast to the message of the apostle Paul? I explore what they believed, how it differs from later mainstream Roman Christianity, We explore what happened to them, down into the later centuries, including their influence on earliest Islam.”

The Forgotten Ebionites–Found at Last! (45 mins):

***********

And here’s this!

A couple of masterpieces sighted at the Louvre in Paris only a few days ago!!!

Keanu and Mona:

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

More rum aficionados at the recent launch of Johnny Depp’s new brand of rum, Three Hearts Rum (drinking only, no smoking allowed):

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

And let’s take a quick moment for a mini quiz!

Which of these Stones is probably stoned???

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

And here’s this.

Another trip down Memory Lane!

2 photos of Nick Cave by Bleddyn Butcher.

The first — right before Nick had spinal surgery in Brazil, to have that growth removed:

And second — this ended up not requiring shoulder surgery. The extra head was actually attached to some guy who walked away:

**********

And that’s all I have for today, gang. I am just so fucking tired.

I’m finishing up a load of laundry here (you probably think that all I do is laundry, but you’re mistaken. I do other stuff, too. I do, like, 1,794 other things.).

I hope to get some writing done today, but honestly, I just don’t know. It depends on if the brain wants to put in an appearance or not. But the good news is that, since I’m taking that webinar on Sunday, I only have 4 shifts this coming week, so, yay! I feel confident that the brain will return at some point!

And this afternoon, I’m supposed to have a chat with Valerie in Brooklyn! That always perks me up.

And for right now, I want to take some time to just stop, and think about stuff that makes me happy. (I think there are, like, 3 things that make me happy. I’m going to try to focus and remember what those things are.) (I might go outside and take a walk. Sometimes that helps me remember everything…)

Meanwhile, enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

I leave you with this!

Last night’s listening-by-candlelight-while-lying-in-bed music!! (And pretty soon, the candles will be gone until Fall, because it’s getting later and later now before the sun actually sets!)

But this was beautiful. I hadn’t actually listened to this song in ages.

Bob Dylan. “Lay Lady Lay”. 1969. From the album, Nashville Skyline. Enjoy, gang.

Lay Lady Lay

Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed

Whatever colors you have
In your mind
I'll show them to you
And you'll see them shine
Lay, lady, lay, lay across
My big brass bed

Stay, lady, stay
Stay with your man awhile
Until the break of day
Let me see you make him smile

His clothes are dirty, but his
His hands are clean
And you're the best thing
That he's ever seen
Stay, lady, stay
Stay with your man awhile

Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When he's standing in front of you?

Lay, lady, lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay
Stay while the night is still ahead

I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you in the night
Stay, lady, stay
Stay while the night is still ahead

c- 1969 Bob Dylan