And I can guarantee you, gang, I am really, really TIRED of this fucking snow.

Of course, it’s not just snow, it was truckloads of snow dumped on us, and now temperatures still hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit every day, so nothing is melting. It makes every shift I go to, that much more difficult.

And of course I stress out about all the animals and birds that need to be fed, etc., etc. ( I currently have 3 additional cats in the house, including Kon Tiki, who wishes to be outside. If you’re doing the math, that equals 796 cats currently indoors and happy as clams except for one…)

But anyway.

Today, I go back to see the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat, however, the shift got moved to the afternoon, so this means I’m gonna be home from there by 6PM this evening and then my 8-DAY stay-at-home-and-write VACATION begins!!!

However….

The plumber called yesterday and wants to try to come Monday and do his part of the home improvement work. Which, normally, would be great.

But since I’ve had a 6-shift week this week, I have had no time to vacuum up cat hair and cat litter yet, and you know how that makes me crazy…

We’ll see how it goes. I might be able to vacuum before I leave for today’s shift, even though I’m already fucking exhausted…

I still think he’s going to have a lot of trouble getting his truck up over the curb in front of my house because the snow is really deep. But it’s his choice.

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Okay.

Well, yesterday, I discovered I am immortalized in the Grokipedia.

It was absolutely staggering. I certainly appreciate whoever it was who decided I should be in there. But it is overwhelming, the amount of info the AI gathered on my life and my career.

But I have to say, gang, that it is 99% accurate. And the inaccuracies are very, very minor. They involve some incidental details, but everything else just made my jaw drop.

I guess I can die now, though, so that’s a relief. Between Wikipedia, Grokipedia, the Internet Archive, and my music demos on YouTube — everyone who is interested will know, for unending millennia to come, that I did in fact live.

So, yay.

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All right.

I thought this was very cool, but you have to sign up for this newsletter, so I won’t quote too much of it.

Today is St. Brigid’s Day in Ireland. If you are interested in the history of all things “Irish Ancestors” you can visit & sign up for:

A Letter From Ireland

Today, he went into great detail about the Irish name “Brigid” and he said, in part:

“The name comes from the Old Irish “Brighid”, meaning “the exalted one” or “the high one.” Long before Christianity reached Ireland, Brigid (the more usual spelling here in Ireland) was the name of a powerful pre-Christian goddess – associated with poetry, healing, fertility, and smith-craft, and said to be a daughter of King Dagda.” [full article here]

As you probably know by now, one of my great-great-grandfathers came over from Ireland. (And he became a trapper and married a woman from the Black Foot tribal nation.)

And my best friend in the world, Valerie from Brooklyn, is totally Irish, on all sides.

And we recently discovered that our distant ancestors all came from County Cork! Which probably explains SO MUCH! We’ve likely been “getting our Irish up” together for hundreds & hundreds of years!

Back in the days when she and I weren’t really old and didn’t live 500 miles apart, we got up to absolutely no good at all times and we had a fucking blast!

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Since I had to skip yesterday’s post, I have a ton of “here’s this’s” for today! So, in no particular order —

Here’s this!

Another great new publicity photo posted by Sandra on Instagram (If you’re new to the blog, Sandra is my partner in all writing-projects-theatrical):

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And here’s this!

Tom Petty was such a fighter! I loved him so much (and as you might know, he WON that case against his record label in 1979):

And here’s this, while we’re at it! Proof that he WON that battle! His huge hit, now a classic, “Refugee” from Damn the Torpedoes:

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And here’s this!

Keith with a white guitar in Boston in 1988!! (Not smoking, but smiling anyway!)

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As far as I know, these are the first photos from Tim Burton’s upcoming version of “A Christmas Carol” starring the always glamorous Johnny Depp!

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Okay.

A bunch of Nick Cave stuff!

The other day, Nick Cave sent out a Red Hand File explaining why they finally let a lowly GIRL into the Bad Seeds!! He explained, in part:

“…Carly is, as you have pointed out, Michael, astonishingly talented. She walked into The Bad Seeds, this grizzled snake pit of unreconstructed masculinity, and blew everyone away, changing the very weather of the band almost overnight. She brought with her not just her immense ability, but also a kind of joy, a loveliness of manner, all laughter and delight, along with a long-overdue dose of female energy. We love her….”

You can read it in full here.

And it truly looks like the Melbourne shows were off the charts. Not just for the audiences, but for the band members, as well. (Melbourne is essentially Nick’s hometown.)

So here’s a big bunch of photos:

I’m guessing the crowd went particularly crazy for “Shivers” and “O Wow O Wow” in the encore, since both songs have deep Melbourne connections:

And there are still tickets available (for everyone except Paul) in New Zealand for the upcoming Wellington Shows!! February 5th and 6th. Buy tickets HERE.

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And I leave you with that!

By the time you see me here again, I will be on vacation, baby!!

Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I really leave you with this.

On Friday, my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man gave me a beautiful gift.

It was a small, zippered nylon carrying case, filled with the CDs he used to play back in the days when he could still drive a car.

Can you believe that??!! He knows I love all kinds of music, so he wanted me to have it. I was so touched.

It’s mostly classical music CDS, but also Julio Iglesias, a bunch of “Fabulous Fifties” CDs, and also THIS!!!!

Vol. 1 of Elvis singing gospel songs!

I played that one in my retro boombox next to my bed, as I laid in the dark this morning, my cup of coffee always within reach.

That 95-year-old Japanese man and I were absolutely destined to meet in this lifetime, gang.

So I leave you with this fantastic gem!! On this sunny but snow-filled Sunday morning!

“Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho”, by Elvis. It fucking rocks!! Enjoy, gang.

Although my supervisor is stopping over at my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house today, so I might change my outfit before I head to town.

Not sure.

(My supervisor is dropping in for a quick Q&A, as she tries to gather info in order to prepare the caregiver who’s going to replace me while I’m on vacation next week, about how to try to take care of him without being tossed out of the house. Good luck with that.) (I mean it.)

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Before I forget!!!!

Sandra posted this to her Instagram account last night! One of her new publicity photos:

NO! She does not wear a wig!! Oops. I meant to say, she does not wear an inexpensive wig. She does indeed wear more wigs than you can possibly imagine, but generally, just one wig at a time.

But seriously, though. Doesn’t she look fantastic? I just love this photo.

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Okay.

Time is sort of “of the essence” for this one, gang.

If you want to send me this NEW Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Valentine, you still have time to get it to me by Valentine’s Day! If you hurry! (It is only about 20 bucks for a postcard, but it comes with a few other things… You can keep the other things and give them to someone else that you really care about a lot. I only want the postcard.) (Thanking you in advance!!) (Buy it HERE!)

(I would have said “other” affordable gifts (above), because “more” affordable gifts sounds like they have a selection of gifts that you can actually afford…)

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All righty!

Here’s this!

Keith, with either big hair or a low ceiling, or perhaps both!

And, as always!!

Keith, giving us good advice!! (FYI, gang, if Keith is doing anything, don’t try it at home…)

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And here’s this.

I used to love every photo from this photo shoot, gang, back when I was 12 (the photo shoot took place in 1967, though), but I never saw a photo from that shoot that was in color. Only B&W.

I don’t know if this is colorized, or what. But here’s Brian Jones, in color, in 1967:

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Okay. Well. Yesterday was great.

The guys at the Honda dealership looked over my Honda Civic Sport and recommended two things, both of which I had them do, and wow, was my car driving like a breeze when I left there, gang.

The car is only a year and a half old, so I wasn’t expecting there to be such a noticeable difference, but there was. (They changed the air filter and did some type of fuel injection thingie.)

Then I met my Q-following girlfriend from town over at Panera and we had a very nice lunch.

However. Wow, even though the food was good it was really salty. When I got home late yesterday afternoon, I couldn’t get enough water. So I’m thinking I won’t be going back there.

(Tequilaville here we come…)

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I am so excited about next week, gang, and getting 8 days to myself to work on the many projects I have going on!

Primarily the TV project at this point. But I am also eager to have that phone call regarding getting all my eBooks reformatted and back online.

This is the company I’m speaking to:

Technica Editorial Services, in case you’re interested:

“Technica Editorial is a full-service peer-review management and author support company. Our expert services include peer review management, copyediting, full production services, and submission systems support.”

I did have a brief email exchange with Draft2Digital the other day, and I got the FULL guidelines on what is and isn’t distributable for erotica these days, worldwide, and honestly gang, I just don’t think my books are as “nonconsensual” as it lists in the guidelines.

I think I just need to be extremely specific about what’s in my stories and what’s not.

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Okay.

Phil is allegedly doing a live tonight at 8PM Eastern time. He is allegedly going to have intel and not just stuff about his new AI project. Check here later to confirm.

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And as we speak!!

The first photos from tonight’s show in Melbourne!!

And I think these photos are from Brisbane but maybe from Sydney:

Tomorrow’s show in Melbourne is sold out. Sunday’s show still has tickets. You can buy them HERE.

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And now I’m gonna scoot!

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

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

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And let’s close with this today!

Oddly enough, this song came on the Oldies FM radio station on my retro boombox next to my bed, just as I turned it on this morning.

My first true hero from my wee bonny girlhood! (Yes! He fought for just about everything. And — Yes! They murdered him… Lesson learned.)

“Imagine,” John Lennon, 1971. Enjoy, gang.

So. It’s my day off, but I have to take my beloved (leased) Honda Civic Sport into town today for that yearly “let’s look it over and see how we can possibly make this fantastic car even better at almost no cost to you!!”

BUT!!!

After that’s done, my favorite Q-following friend in town and I are meeting for lunch! Yay!!

Nope.

We’re not going to Tequilaville.

This time, we’re going to Panera!!

And to this specific one! Because it’s very close to not only her house, but also the Honda dealership.

Recently, a client sent me out to pick her up some soups and sandwiches from this specific Panera. I hadn’t been to Panera in many years. Just walking in the door filled me with great memories of the one that used to be just down the street from my old house.

So I texted my favorite Q-following friend and asked her if she wanted to meet at Panera’s and she was all for it!!

So, even though it will be, literally, 17 degrees Fahrenheit out there, she still wants to meet for lunch, so it should be great fun!

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Okay.

The bad news first, gang.

Sadly, Phyllis Stein posted yesterday, that she was likely done posting to Instagram:

She’s only posted close to 6,000 posts, and usually each post contains several photos. All of them from her 70s & 80s glam/punk days. Mostly in NYC.

I’m not exactly sure why she thinks that’s enough.

She’s probably going to do something lame, like spend more time with her new grandbaby. Be here now, and let go of the past. Something weird like that.

I was, of course, heartbroken. But on we go.

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Meanwhile–

She posted this early yesterday.

David Johansen and his then-wife Cyrinda Foxe (they married for almost a year in 1977, when she left David to marry Steven Tyler, lead singer for Aerosmith):

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And here’s this!!

Honestly. I could look at this photo all day. I just love it.

Keith, smoking and looking pensive:

And this!

Keith, a handful of decades later, on a boat, wearing a Velvet Underground t-shirt!!

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A friend of mine in London — a writer, poet, archivist, biographer — Rehan Qayoom, tagged me on Instagram yesterday with this lovely image!!

He had recently read the book and had very kind words to say:

(By the way, Freak Parade is only available in print right now. Until I fix everything and all the eBooks come back.)

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Okay. So.

Some really good news!!

From NewstreasonChannel17 — all about the Trump Accounts!! Launching this July 4th!!

“Listen very closely. Listen to just how much money is being donated by private individuals and companies to the Trump Account initiative.

“IMHO this is not just “benevolent” charity, this is the direction of massive amounts of assets to be given to this program.

‘When Trump Accounts officially launch on July 4th of this year, every parent will be able to activate their accounts and access the funds at TrumpAccounts.gov … On that glorious day, we also expect to have commitments from generous private individuals in ALL 50 states who will be making additional contributions for children in their own states.‘”

What a fantastic thing, gang. NESARA (publicly) begins.

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And here’s this!

A couple of photos from the Brisbane show:

The Melbourne shows start tomorrow, but only Sunday’s show still has tickets. You can buy one HERE!

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Okay.

This is excerpted from the James Tabor Zoom meeting that I missed on Sunday, but we can all listen now together!

James Tabor – Is There Archaeological Evidence for Earliest Christianity? (2 hrs):

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And now I gotta try to pay some bills before I have to leave for town.

Honestly, it is such a pretty day out there, even though it’s really cold. I’m looking forward to getting out there and having some fun with my gf!!

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!

From my playlist yeterday!

Yes! I honestly listen to this stuff. I just love the old Rudy Vallee songs. (Just listen to the opening of this number and tell me it doesn’t make you feel like dancing all over the room, even while driving your car!)

“Page Miss Glory”, Rudy Vallee, 1935!! Enjoy, gang.

We had such freakin’ high winds yesterday, that it blew almost all the snow completely away!

So, even though it is a hearty FOUR degrees Fahrenheit out there today (with high winds making it “feel like” -2), at least it’s sunny and I don’t have to remove any ice or snow from my car.

Yay.

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Well, yesterday, I did re-read the play “Cowboy Mouth” (written by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith in 1971). And I was indeed sort of fascinated by it.

If you missed my various posts about that play — I first read it 50 years ago, while in a mental hospital after a suicide attempt, and it was my first exposure to both Sam Shepard and Patti Smith. And I was completely in love with Patti Smith from that moment on — she gave me hope for my own life and a reason to go on living.

In fact, about a year after I was released (after Horses had also come out), I wrote Patti a letter, telling her that her writing had saved my life, not knowing that her mom got all Patti’s fan mail back then and her mom wrote me back the most beautiful, heartfelt, handwritten letter.

By then, I was 16, and that letter meant so much to me, gang. Kindness was in really short supply in my life back then. And I never forgot how that letter from Patti’s mom made me feel.

You know, in the decades when my books and short stories were really popular, I would always reply whenever readers would write to me. In the early days, before personal computers and email, they were handwritten letters, forwarded to me by various publishers. And I always wrote back. Even to that one guy in Oregon, who had written to say how much he hated a short story of mine which he had just read. I wrote him back a short note, thanking him for taking the time to write to me, you know? For expressing himself. And that, while I didn’t agree, it hadn’t fallen on deaf ears.

Anyway. Back to the play.

What an insane play. One act. About 21 pages. But what totally intense pages they are. It’s basically funny but it did take a lot of risks. With language and vivid imagery. And I can see why I was so taken with it — no woman on Earth that I had been exposed to by that point ever used language the way Patti did.

[From the late Sam Shepard’s website.]

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All righty.

Here’s this!

Another lovely photo of Johnny Thunders in LA in September 1973:

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And the photos from the Adelaide concert (just finishing up as I type), are already getting posted to Instagram!!

This photo, though — I’m not sure if it’s from Adelaide. but I’m guessing it is:

And the Nick Cave newsletter went out this morning, with some great reviews of the Perth show:

“…an electrifying crescendo of faith, fury and fragile joy”
The Guardian

“From the moment Cave sauntered onstage and greeted the crowd with a wave and a high kick, it was as though there was a pact with the audience – much like his Red Hand Files website and mailing list, Cave and his people were here for each other.”
Rolling Stone

“…his artistic evolution as a musician over the past 40 years is extraordinary.”
WA Today

“Cave conducting the Fremantle Park choir. It was a truly special moment to end an amazing, intense show which reinforced the sheer power and beauty of music as art.”
100% Rock Magazine

And you can buy tickets to the Sydney shows HERE! (January 23rd & 24th)

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After completing the final edit, the publisher of my upcoming novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, sent me a one-sentence email yesterday:

“It’s a beautiful book.”

Wow, gang. That made my day. Especially since this particular novel sort of stresses me out a lot.

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Other than that, I guess I better scoot. I want to head into town early and run some quick errands before my shift.

Have a terrific Tuesday, 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 “get up and make your bed and start your day already” listening music! From the CD currently in my retro boombox: Billy idol’s Greatest Hits.

And this song makes it really easy to get up and out of bed and do stuff! (If you’re having trouble getting moving today, try listening to this!!)

From my absolute early days in NYC (released in the US in 1981) — “Dancing With Myself”. Enjoy. gang!