A quick post today, gang, because the morning was so beautiful and the birds were signing like crazy (the deaf/mute birds were signing, that is; the regular birds were singing…) — anyway, I decided to go back to bed with my cup of coffee and just chill for a while before the day got going around here.
But my energy level now is really just great. I’m hoping to have a really nice day.
I wanted to post this while I’m thinking about it.
I thought it was only on Spotify so I wasn’t sure how to post it here before, but yesterday, I discovered that it is also on YouTube!! So here you go!!
Interview with Nick Cave from May 8th (43 mins):
And don’t forget — tonight is the final show in the tour. Buy tickets here!
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I’m a little sad because tonight I will watch the final episode of “Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories”. I have no idea what will take it’s place! (I think there might be more seasons, and even a film that came first, but so far I’m not finding them on Netflix.)
It is such a great show, gang. the writing is superb. You absolutely never know where the plot is going to go. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s really touching. If you have Netflix, be sure to watch it, if you haven’t already! From 2019, 2 seasons.
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Oh, I forgot to post about this!!
If you were plagued with fleas last summer — as I was!! — try this stuff out in your yard!! It was recommended to me by my vet on Vetster last summer. She helped me from completely losing my mind. (I got SC only, since I only have trouble with fleas). It is SUPER easy to use:
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And in other good news!
My insurance guy keeps on making my life better and better.
Yesterday evening, he stopped over to deliver the paperwork on my cremation/burial insurance (which, it turns out, is good until I’m 121 years old — and that scary thought, alone, makes me want to leave the planet today just so that I don’t accidentally live to be 121…). Anyway.
Because I am not on any pharmaceuticals and I have really great health, for about $3 more, they upped my coverage to $10K (which is more than enough to die on out here in the Hinterlands).
Since I’m single, with no kids or grandkids, and all my friends are either as old as I am or older than me, I really didn’t want to end up alone and unclaimed in some potter’s field somewhere. So this really just made my day.
Other than that, as much as I love to spend time with my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man, I am really looking forward to this afternoon, when I’m driving home and then having 2 and 1/2 days off!!!!!!
And I’m hoping this is in my future for Monday:
All righty!!!
This was longer than I thought it would be! I really seriously gotta scoot.
Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world!
However. Around here, it is meaningless to me because, by Friday, I still have a ton of work ahead of me before I get something that looks like a day off.
This week, it will start on Sunday. Yay. And it won’t come a minute too soon.
Although Peitor sent me a THIRTY-FIVE page document this morning that I need to read over before we can proceed with the pitch deck for the TV pilot proposal.
So Sunday is looking a little less like a day off than I usually prefer.
But this is also happening on Sunday! Over at Metrograph.com!
“Join us on Metrograph at Home for the live streaming premiere of The Black Sea with an exclusive introduction and post-screening Q&A with filmmakers Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden and comedian Kareem Rahma (Subway Takes) this Sunday, May 18 at 8pm EST.”
I’m excited! The trailer looks really great (FYI- for $5 a month, you can join Metrograph at Home, otherwise, the theater itself is in NYC at 7 Ludlow Street):
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From last evening — a quick photo of Bobbie Jo, Calico, and a little bit of Billy Jo and Betty Jo, and Blackie, too!!
And, yes, I have to stare at them for a few moments before I can figure out what their supremely complicated names are…
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Oops! Just got a call from Sandra. Wondering if I am free over the weekend to do some quick editing…
But I am, gang. I am! It’s what I signed on for.
I’m just really hoping that I can get to the shooting range on Monday, because it’s been 2 weeks now and I worry that I’m losing whatever progress I made last time (98 bullseyes out of 100 bullets).
I want to get to 100 out of 100, so that I can start working on my speed. What good is being a gunslinger if you take forever to aim????
But at least I now have the appropriate attire!! ( See yesterday’s post about the new sundresses.)
(But seriously, I would never wear a sundress while practicing at the shooting range. Those bullet casings fly back at you and when they land on your flesh, even for a nano second, they are burning hot and leave blisters!! Not a look I’m really going for. Least of all, at my age, when I need all the help I can get in the overall “allure” department…)
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Anyway!!
Okay, I think these two fantastic photos were from San Francisco:
And here’s this — for the final gig of the tour, tomorrow night (buy tickets here):
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I know you are going to think that I’m utterly insane … but last week, I decided to start studying Chinese again.
I studied Mandarin for many years in NYC, back in the 1990s, and I was at what was called the “college level”. But since I have no access to a bunch of people who speak Chinese anymore, I have forgotten most of it. And that frustrates me.
So I still study my French every morning on the Mondly app, but then I follow it with Chinese. It’s coming back to me, in tiny bits and pieces.
I couldn’t find my favorite textbooks (I know they are stored here somewhere, I just haven’t found out where yet), so I bought this new textbook on Amazon. It arrived yesterday:
It is unbelievably complicated. So now more than ever, I want to find my old textbooks. But in the meantime, I am making progress, little by little. Between the Mondly app and this new unbelievably complicated textbook.
And this phrase comes in really handy! Funny how it stuck with me over the years:
我的中文不太好。(Wǒ de zhōngwén bù tài hǎo.)
Translation: My Chinese is not too good.
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And I guess that’s it for now. I have to get on my merry way. There’s a 94-year-old Japanese man 30 miles from here who’s expecting to open his eyes and see me, gang.
HE: “Marilyn! My angel!”
ME: “You wanna get up now? Your coffee’s ready.”
Enjoy your fabulous Friday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Yes!! You had to know this was coming, eventually!!!
This incredible song, written by Townes Van Zandt in 1972. Emmylou Harris knocked it outta the park!!
And, yes, I sang this song a lot in my days on the Folk Music circuit in NYC. I sang it as a duet with Frank Mazzetti (who is actually still out there singing, somewhere in NY. He was wonderful, gang, and he basically discovered me).
“Pancho & Lefty”. From Emmylou’s album Luxury Liner, 1977. Enjoy!!
“Pancho & Lefty”
Livin’ on the road my friend Was gonna keep you free and clean Now you wear your skin like iron And your breath’s as hard as kerosene You weren’t your mama’s only boy But her favorite one it seems She began to cry when you said goodbye And sank into your dreams
Pancho was a bandit, boys His horse was fast as polished steel Wore his gun outside his pants For all the honest world to feel Well, Pancho met his match you know On the deserts down in Mexico And nobody heard his dyin’ words Ah but that’s the way it goes
All the Federales say Could of had him any day Only let him slip away Out of kindness I suppose
Lefty, he can’t sing the blues All night long like he used to The dust that Pancho bit down south Ended up in Lefty’s mouth The day they laid poor Pancho low Lefty split for Ohio Where he got the bread to go There ain’t nobody knows
Well, the poets tell how Pancho fell And Lefty’s livin’ in a cheap hotel The dessert’s quiet and Cleveland’s cold So the story ends, we’re told Pancho needs your prayer’s it’s true But save a few for Lefty too He only did what he had to do And now he’s growin’ old A few gray Federales say Could have had him any day Only let him go so long Out of kindness I suppose
The weather is just unbelievable here again today!
We actually slept with all the windows open all over the house last night — for the first time since last Fall. We (meaning me and many cats) woke up at 4AM to birds singing like crazy and a light breeze blowing through the house. It feels like Summer is really just around the corner.
And my mood is still just off-the-charts fantastic, gang. And adding to my happy mood —
Last week, I got a catalogue in the mail from a company I’d never heard of before. But I saw a couple of dresses in the catalogue that were really pretty so I looked them up online and they were ON SALE that day, with FREE shipping. So I thought, Why not?
I wanted something pretty to wear while in the rehearsal studio for the play in NYC, but I didn’t want anything too fussy or uncomfortable, etc.
Well, the dresses arrived yesterday and they fit perfectly and they were even prettier than they looked in the catalogue!! So I am super excited about that!! I am just so ready for NYC this summer!
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And on the kitten front!
It does appear that all four kittens are females. Even Wee Bonny Billy. So this morning they all got names!!
It started with Calico — the calico kitten who seems to have gotten over her eye problem, but it’s still not 100%.
But since she’s a calico, the old Tommy James song, “Calico” from 1973, always sings in my head when I’m playing with her. So she has been named Calico pretty much from the start.
I loved this song when it was a hit on the AM Radio! I was in the 7th grade:
And since I kinda wanted to keep Wee Bonny Billy’s name —
I decided to name the other kittens after the girls in the old TV show, “Petticoat Junction”!!
Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo! So Wee Bonny Billy is now Billie Jo…
Here’s the great theme song from that TV show!! I watched this show religiously in the 1960s!!
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Yesterday was a lovely day here, too, gang. So I took my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man out for sashimi and sake, and guess what??!!
Both of us got double fortunes in our fortune cookies!!
My 2 are on the top (and I’m eagerly awaiting December now…). My client agreed to read his fortunes and he found the top one particularly amusing, since he will be 95 in about 2 months…
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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds played San Francisco last night!
Only one more show before the tour is over! You can buy tickets here to the festival in Pasadena on Saturday.
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Sandra and I had a great informal chat last evening about the script revisions for “The Guide to Being Fabulous”, and she and I are both really excited about everything, gang. Finally — the play as we’d envisioned it! I will keep you posted with details when it’s okay to do that on the blog.
Meanwhile, Peitor is back in Montreal to do some film scoring work, so that means he’s back in my time zone now. And he has several texts awaiting me on WhatsApp that I need to look at before I scoot outta here!
Enjoy your Thursday, gang, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!!
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ “The Witness Song”! From their WONDERFUL album The Good Son. 1990. Enjoy, gang!!
The Witness Song
Yeah, yeah Well, well I took a walk down to the port Where strangers meet and do consort All blinkered with desire
And a winter fog moved thickly on A winter fog moved thickly on A winter fog moved thickly on
Now, who will be the witness When the fog’s too think to see
And I saw a friend beside a wall Her hands were raised in supplication And her face I could not see at all And I raised my hands in rage And brought them down again And we entered through the eastern door And I entered through the eastern door And she entered through the eastern door
Now, who will be the witness When you’re all to blind to see O yes, yes, yes
And time gets somewhat muddled here But no matter, no matter Here come the events all tumbling down Now, beyond the wall was a great garden Into which we passed Me and my friend And the place was all overgrown with weeds And behold from its centre there rose a great fountain The fountain with the healing waters Yes, the fountain with the healing waters And we knelt down by the rim And I dipped my hand in And she dipped her hand in too And I said “Are you healed?’ And she said “Well are you healed?” And I said “Yes, I’m healed” And she said “Well, yes I’m healed then too” And I said “Babe, you are a liar” “Babe, you are a liar” “Babe, you are a liar, too” Now, who will be the witness When you’re all too healed to see?
And I kissed her once, I kissed her twice And made my way to leave her And she raised her hand up to her face And brought it down again I said “That gesture, it will haunt me” “That gesture it will haunt me” And I left there by the eastern door She left there by the western door
Now, who will be the witness there When you’re blind and you can’t see Who will be the witness there When you’re all so clean and you cannot see Who will be the witness there When your friends are everywhere Who will be the witness there And your enemies have ceased to care
I know — it looks like my apartment in Paris in the 1920s, but …
Wow. So this is a cool development, gang!
Already, my psychological stress level has diminished to the point where we had TONS of really intense thunderstorms here last night — which usually triggers my PTSD — and I breezed right through it!
I didn’t even flinch! I hung out happily on the bed with Blackie & the kittens and just kept watching my new absolute favorite show on Netflix:
“Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories”. From 2019.
I love this beautiful opening to each episode. I never skip the intro (2 mins):
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If you saw my post yesterday, about the new Guitar Player interview with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai …
I know I’m getting older now, too — Steve Vai is my age, and Joe Satriani is 4 years older.
However, I remember them so well from the 1980s when they both had HAIR!!! I miss that.
Joe with hair
Steve with hair
They have a new album coming out, in case you missed that part. And a new single, with Glenn Hughes on vocals. “I Wanna Play My Guitar”:
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And to be fair: Me in the 1980s, when I also had hair!
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Oh wow, gang!!
So I guess you probably saw that all the stuff about “Pope Leo IV” was just a mistake!! A cruel lie, even!!
Here’s the new Pope!!
Pope Keith I
And while I’m at it — here’s this!!
Brian, Keith and Mick, 1965 — I love this photo:
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And on the kitten front —
Here’s something I bought that is a lifesaver!!
I was worried about using the vacuum cleaner anywhere near Blackie & the kittens because they are closed up in my room and cannot escape the scary noise.
This works great!! I’m so glad I bought it. Cat litter, cat hair, pieces of my chenille bedspread that the kittens have discovered is really fun to shred!! GONE!
I can actually sweep the entire upstairs in under 4 minutes. And it also works on uncarpeted floors, too. (Here’s a link on Amazon if you want one.)
My favorite is in stock AND 40% off, so if you need my address, just GOOGLE it!!
(Don’t use the Spring Garden St. address in Easton, PA, though, because I have not lived there in 20 years!! And someone other than me will receive this treasured item!!) (And, yes! It’s on sale now for a mere $245 plus a zillion in shipping fees!! I eagerly await its arrival, so thank you!!)
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And another photo from the show in Vancouver:
Tonight, they play San Francisco. Saturday, they play the festival in Pasadena. And then the tour is OVER!! Buy those final tickets here.
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On a happy note–
Next week is a big week for me, gang. On Tuesday, I have been invited to have dinner at the Granville Inn by my dear friend Kara!
And then on Saturday, after my midday shift, I’m having lunch with my favorite Q-following friend, at our favorite haunt — Tequilaville!!
Here’s a less warehouse-y looking shot than the one I usually post:
And here’s what it looks like inside:
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And that is it for now, because I gotta scoot!!
Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Okay, I know. But we’re still on the Emmylou kick around here, and I can’t help it!!
Here’s the song she wrote in memory of Graham Parson’s after he died — and his body was burned at Joshua Tree:
“But, to fulfill Parsons’ wishes, Kaufman and a friend stole both a hearse and his body and drove it to Joshua Tree. At Cap Rock Parking Lot, they poured gasoline into the open coffin and lit it, creating an enormous fireball. They were arrested and eventually fined $750.00, for stealing the coffin. “
At that point in time, Emmylou Harris was a backup singer for Graham Parsons. Afterward, she became a huge success on her own.
I definitely used to sing this song in my sets on the Folk Music circuit in NYC.
The beautiful “Boulder to Birmingham” from 1975. Enjoy, gang!!
“Boulder To Birmingham”
I don’t want to hear a love song I got on this airplane just to fly And I know there’s life below But all that it can show me Is the prairie and the sky
And I don’t want to hear a sad story Full of heartbreak and desire The last time I felt like this It was in the wilderness and the canyon was on fire And I stood on the mountain in the night and I watched it burn I watched it burn, I watched it burn.
I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham I would hold my life in his saving grace. I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham If I thought I could see, I could see your face.
Well you really got me this time And the hardest part is knowing I’ll survive. I have come to listen for the sound Of the trucks as they move down Out on ninety five And pretend that it’s the ocean coming down to wash me clean, to wash me clean Baby do you know what I mean
I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham I would hold my life in his saving grace. I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham If I thought I could see, I could see your face.
Just unbelievable, gang. (Regarding the news from yesterday.)
I still have the same pile of work to do, but now, just knowing that I am going to be able to retire at some point and (most likely) spend the twilight years of my illustrious life, sitting at my desk, writing…
Wow. It is a dream come true for me. It makes everything that’s going on in the here and now totally bearable.
Future me. Multiply the cat by 182…
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I don’t want to spend too much time talking about my relationship with my adopted dad on the blog, because it is going to be in my upcoming memoir (Joy: The Shortest Season) and I would, of course, prefer that you bought that!!
However, I do believe that my dad has been with me since the moment he died, and I think he was the one who “told” me to email the lawyer’s office and ask them for a copy of my dad’s Will. (This was at 4AM yesterday morning, when I’m not usually in bed on my phone, writing emails to lawyers.)
As you can imagine, it has changed my outlook on everything. I had been getting so unbelievably exhausted and depressed — that feeling that I was going to be exhausted forever. And never be able to stop working. Never be able to sit and write again… (My own stuff, I mean. Not the play or the TV show. I want to do those, but I want to do my own stuff, too.)
Anyway! Things can certainly change overnight.
Me, this morning. YES! Good news made my hair go back to being brown…
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Okay. Here’s this! Two incredible guitar heroes in one interview!!
(No, they have nothing to do with the novel I wrote [purchase here!!], but I do absolutely love both of these guitar heroes)…
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai discuss the SatchVai Band with Guitar Player Magazine (40 mins):
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And on a completely different topic– More from a deep dive into the Book of Leviticus!
Ross K. Nichols – Who’s the Neighbor You’re Supposed to Love? (56 mins):
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And here’s this!
From Seattle last night!
And you know what that means, right?
Only ONE MORE regular show left — tomorrow night in San Francisco. And then the gig at the festival in Pasadena on Saturday. And then the tour is OVER. Buy tickets here.
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Nick Cave sent out a Red Hand File yesterday. Another one about how people get his and Nicolas Cage’s names confused! Nick Cave said, in part:
“…Then Diego started crying again. I was about to explain that he’d made a mistake and mixed me up with the actor, Nicolas Cage, but he looked up at me with such a pitiful mixture of tragedy and wonder that I didn’t have the heart. “She just loves you, man,” he said. Then he asked me about my acting career. I said something like, “I’m just an ordinary person like you. Hollywood is not all it’s cracked up to be. It can be a cruel place. It gets lonely sometimes,” and so on…”
I planted two more wonderful rose bushes yesterday!! Right underneath my kitchen window. Roses are my favorite flower (followed closely by lilacs) and I am so happy to now have 3 rosebushes.
BTW — here’s the song that the Emmylou Harris song from the other day, references! The Texas Swing classic, “San Antonio Rose”! It was originally composed by Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, 1938. But it is sung here by another full-on favorite of mine: Merle Haggard!!! 1970. I love this version!!
And Peitor and I got some great work done on Episode 2 of the TV series proposal yesterday. So that felt great, too.
Other than that, I gotta scoot and head out to my shift now!!
Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Yes! Emmylou goes on and on and on around here!
Here are some words to live by!! (And sort of my life story in my 20s, if you switch the West Coast for the East Coast!!) From1978, “Two More Bottles of Wine”. Enjoy, gang!!!!
“Two More Bottles Of Wine”
We came out west together with a common desire The fever we had migtha set the west coast on fire Two months later got trouble in mind My baby moved out and left me behind But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight And I got two more bottles of wine
The way he left sure turned my head around Seemed like overnight he just up and put me down Ain’t gonna let it bother me today I been workin’ and I’m too tired anyway But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight And I got two more bottles of wine
I’m sixteen hundred miles from the people I know Been doin’ all I can but opportunity sure come slow Lord I’d be in the sun all day But I’m sweepin’ out a warehouse in west L.A. But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight And I got two more bottles of wine
Sorry, I’m late. I don’t even know where to begin.
It’s one of those mornings where it would come in really handy if I still drank bourbon and/or smoked Chesterfield cigarettes.
But since I don’t, I have to rely on something like, I don’t know, taking a deep breath? Or 20? Or 1,700?
I cannot go into all the details, since this is a public blog, but wow, gang.
The simpler thing: They cut my shifts back to normal at the agency this morning. I now have what I would call a schedule that I can deal with for the rest of the month.
Which means I now have enough time leftover to lose my mind over working on both the TV pilot package and the upcoming staged reading of “The Guide to Being Fabulous” at the same time.
So I am totally cool with that.
The other thing, which I can’t go into the details about, so forgive my being cryptic —
Let’s say that someone’s father died last year — like, on or around April 17th — and he left his adopted daughter a small fortune, which she knew nothing about because the law firm handling the alleged estate had an incomplete email address for the daughter, but they had no idea. So their emails were going off into never-never-land. For let’s say 11 months.
And everyone in the remaining family has known everything about this small fortune for let’s say around 11 months, but everyone assumed the daughter was getting her emails, so no one said a single solitary word about it…
Until the daughter contacted the law firm, like, maybe, this morning –wanting a copy of her dad’s will, just as a keepsake, a memento…
And the law firm said something, like: “What the fuck is your deal? You know we’re working really hard to get everything in order here. Just shut up and be patient.”
Hmmm…… [That’s the really, really SHORT version of my morning here. But the result is that I am in a state of stupefication.] [I’m being told that “stupefication” is not really a word.]
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Anyway. Okay.
Another topic.
Yesterday evening, I was looking through some old files [BTW, if you’d like the job of being my archivist, please do not hesitate to let me know!!!! It would only take you the rest of your life to get all my writings organized!!] [BUT — you would get to play with kittens…]
Well, yesterday evening, I went looking through some old files because I wanted to see the lyrics to that song I wrote in the late 1980s that I mentioned in yesterday’s post: “This Car of My Old Man’s”.
I know for certain I have the lyrics here somewhere, because I have come across them while looking for something else. (Which is something I’m really, really good at — coming across a ton of other things while looking for something else.)
I haven’t found the lyrics yet, but, yes, I found a TON of other really interesting stuff, which kind of made my head want to explode, there was so much other stuff — and among all that other stuff, I found this!!
I used to absolutely worship James Dean for a few years, back in the 1980s. To the point where I apparently was starting to sort of look like him. I started to wear only tee-shirts and jeans. I got a pair of glasses that looked just like the kind he had back in the 1950s — horn-rimmed with clip-on shades. I even started smoking Winston cigarettes.
One morning, while waiting for the elevator at the Museum of Modern Art, a Portuguese friend of mine came up to the elevator, too, and he sort of laughed and said, “My god, Marilyn, you look like James Dean.” (I mostly dated girls back then so this wasn’t actually much of a problem.)
Anyway. Yesterday, I found this poem I wrote in the mid-1980s, so I share it here:
James Dean’s Plan
I went to L.A. to die, Not in one grand leap, mind you, but in frames. I knew I could muster the sullenness, make the necessary toss of a cigarette butt and the careless flash of a shy smile. Then I’d arc my life up the northern coast in a dashing trajectory of vision; Collide with my tragic partner in a slow-motion splatter to timelessness, then resume a more somber parade with my pine box, shipped east, marked: Indiana’s Own but my ticket stamped: Hollywood’s Heaven.
(Marilyn Jaye Lewis, mid-1980s)
I have no recollection of having written this poem, but there ya go!
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Okay. Vancouver also seemed to be off the charts last night!! I’m guessing the same will happen in Seattle tonight.
Here are a couple photos I liked:
There are two shows left after tonight’s show in Seattle (which is sold out). You can buy tickets for the other two shows HERE.
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Okay, I gotta scoot because my morning disappeared.
I have 2 new rosebushes I want to plant today, and then I gotta get to work with Peitor.
Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Okay. More Emmylou!!
From 1977, her killer version of “Luxury Liner.” Written by Graham Parsons. I love singing this really loudly!! You’ll have to imagine that part. Okay. Enjoy, gang.
“Luxury Liner”
Luxury liner, forty tons of steel If I don’t find my baby now I guess I never will I’ve been a long lost soul For a long, long time I’ve been around Everybody ought to know what’s on my mind You think I’m lonesome, so do I So do I
Well, I’m the kind of girl Who likes to make a livin’ runnin ’round And I don’t need a stranger To let me know my baby’s let me down You think I’m lonesome, so do I So do I
Luxury liner, forty tons of steel No one in this whole wide world Can change the way I feel I’ve been a long lost soul For a long long time I’ve been around Everybody ought to know what’s on my mind You think I’m lonesome, so do I So do I
Around 2 PM yesterday, when I was still with my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man, the agency began texting and calling me, and practically harassing me to work a longer evening shift last night than I was scheduled for.
And I said repeatedly that I absolutely could not and would not do it. I was already completely exhausted at 2 in the afternoon… It got intense.
However–
ME: “If you can find someone who wants to work my whole shift and they can also work later, then I’ll give up the shift.”
YAY!! It worked!! They finally found someone.
As I was driving the 30 miles home from my Japanese man’s house, they called and said that they didn’t need me to work the shift and they thanked me for being willing to give it up.
It’s SO FUNNY how, when I arrived at my house and got out of my car on a truly splendid Saturday afternoon and realized I had the night off ….. I suddenly wasn’t tired anymore. At all. Not even one little bit. I had a great evening!!
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A very Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful birth mom, Cherie!
Here she is with my Uncle Jim, in Greenfield, Ohio, somewhere around the time I was born. I love this photo! It’s straight outta yesteryear:
I loved my Uncle Jim so much. I only got to know him for a handful of years before he died, but — as I have posted here before — he was the one who helped me find my birth father.
I remember so vividly one evening, right when I first met him (and my birth mom), he took me aside in the kitchen and whispered in urgency to me: “I don’t know who your father is, but if I did, I would tell you. I swear it. I don’t care what the others say, I would tell you.”
From the moment everyone found out my mom was pregnant with me, she steadfastly refused to ever tell anyone who my father was. I have one of those heartbreaking birth certificates that reads: Mother, age 13. Father, unknown.
My Uncle Jim was in his hospital bed, dying, and he unexpectedly called me on the phone.
HE: “I just found out who your father is.”
ME (in my dark, hellhole apartment on E. 12th Street , the phone to my sweaty ear): “Oh my god…” as my voice trailed off into profound and utter gratitude to the entire universe. At last.
Anyway, I loved my Uncle Jim. It turned out that he also had an illegitimate daughter that few people knew about. Because while he was married to my Aunt, he was not allowed to have anything to do with her. Even though his daughter lived right there in their little town. And even worked in the only grocery store there, and so he would see her all the time — watched her as she grew up– but wasn’t allowed to speak to her. Or she to him.
But the moment my Aunt died, my Uncle bought a brand new Cadillac and went and picked up his now fully-grown daughter and drove around town with her right there in the front seat –letting the whole fucking town know, finally, that she was his.
It made the rest of my family crazy, but I thought it was so incredibly cool!!
I was still a folksinger back then, and of course I wrote a song about it. I only remember part of the chorus:
In this car of my old man’s / we’ll run as fast as the racing wind
It was through his daughter that my Uncle Jim found out who my father was, because she had gone to school with my mom.
Anyway. I digress!
Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful birth mom, Cherie!!
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And speaking of fathers and of father figures, etc. Here’s this!!
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And on another equally lovely topic here’s this, from the Mission Ballroom, but I can’t remember which city that was.
And it looks like they blew the roof off in Portland last night, gang! It looks like it was such an amazing show.
There are only 3 more regular shows left of the tour and then one show at a festival. 2 of the shows are already sold out, but you can buy tickets here for San Francisco and the festival in Pasadena!
(I’m not positive but I think they’ve added one final show to the end of the tour, but it’s here in Crazeysburg and the house venue only seats one and that ticket is sold out…)
Anyway!!!
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Okay!
I was crazy kind enough to pick up someone’s shift today because they wanted to have Mother’s Day off, so I gotta scoot!
But enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Wow, gang. So after yesterday’s post with the Emmylou Harris song, I went on an all-out Emmylou Harris kick around here!
I can’t tell you how much I loved her, gang. She’s not dead, but she doesn’t make records anymore. And it was so cool to bring out all the old memories and sing along.
Her voice was absolutely right in my key, so I included a lot of her songs in my sets when I performed on the Folk circuit in NYC.
Anyway. Here’s this morning’s breakfast-listening music!
This goes out to the man I love!! He knows who he is!!
This is for all the hotel rooms in the world that we will never have!!! I love you, bambino. Enjoy your beautiful day, wherever you are right now!!
“I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose”
If they’ll play another love song And if that Miller Hi-Life sign stays dim And if you’ll keep my glass full of whiskey I’ll whisper words I wish I’d said to him
Just ask me to dance all the slow ones Hold me close and take me ‘cross the floor I’ll gently lay my head on your shoulder And pretend this never happened before
I don’t want to hear a sad story We both already know how it goes So if tonight you’ll be my tall dark stranger I’ll be your San Antone Rose
I wish I could tell you I love you I wish that he weren’t always on my mind If wishes were fast trains to Texas I’d ride and I’d ride, how I’d ride
Yes! It’s that time of the weekend where I try not to lose my fucking mind over all the shifts the agency has suddenly assigned to me for the rest of the month!!
ME (looking at my schedule on my phone at 6:45AM): “Jeepers, McGee! Doesn’t anybody else fucking work there??!!”
Unbelievable. I actually had to send an email to politely tell them to please trim back my hours. I had no less than 26 shifts between now and the end of May. That includes a stretch of 15 shifts in a row with no day off, and zippo time off for Memorial Day weekend. (And NO TIME to go to the shooting range…)
They, of course, have no clue about the TV pilot project or the play going to Off-Broadway. (They have no clue YET — I haven’t put in for those 3 weeks of needed time-off to go to NYC.) So they don’t know just how much of my mind I’m losing right now.
Luckily, I also got to wake-up to stuff like this today:
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This evening, I head back to that nice facility where I have the new patient. It is a short shift and the weather tonight will be just beautiful! So the drive there & back should be really nice.
But before then —
YES! I forgot to mention the other day that my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man did indeed get his teeth back! And we went out for sashimi and sake. And yesterday, we went to the Nature Preserve and he was bowled over by how GREEN everything has finally gotten.
And today — well, today, I’m not sure what we’ll do. It is just a splendid day and I want to make sure he gets to spend most of it outdoors.
Yesterday, he said to me: “You are symbolic of everything that has been good and beautiful in my life. I love spending these final days of my life with you.”
I could barely process the magnitude of that, gang. It sort of wiped me out. But what a beautiful man he is. And what an amazing life he has had.
But when I say that I’m exhausted, it’s not just the physical part of the job. It’s more the emotional part of it that gets to me.
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Okay, here’s this!
George and Nick and Carly in a store in Denver:
And tonight they will be in Portland, OR. Buy tickets here!! The next 2 shows are sold out.
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From James Tabor:
Were there Connections Between Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls Community? (25 mins):
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And I think that’s it! I gotta scoot!!
I hope you have a super Saturday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys! See ya!
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I absolutely love Emmylou Harris. The first time I heard her sing this amazing song, I was 15 years old and driving down to Virginia with my dad. It came on the car radio and it just quietly blew me away.
I need songs like this today! Emmylou Harris, “One of These Days” from her incredible album, Elite Hotel, 1976. Enjoy, gang!
“One Of These Days”
I won’t have to chop no wood I can be bad or I can be good I can be any way that I feel One of these days
Might be a woman that’s dressed in black Be a hobo by the railroad track I’ll be gone like the wayward wind one of these days
One of these days it will soon be all over cut and dry And I won’t have this urge to go all bottled up inside One of these days I’ll look back and I’ll say I left in time Cause somewhere for me I know there’s peace of mind
I might someday walk across this land Carrying the Lord’s book in my hand Goin’ cross the country singin’ loud as I can One of these days
But I won’t have trouble on my back cuttin’ like the devil with a choppin’ axe, Got to shake it off my back, one of these days
One of these days it will soon be all over cut and dry And I won’t have this urge to go all bottled up inside One of these days I’ll look back and I’ll say I left in time Cause somewhere for me I know there’s peace of mind There’s gonna be peace of mind for me, one of these days
I wish I was able to go into all the details of what’s been happening around here lately, but ALL of it is good.
And, of course, as these things go with me — ALL of it ends up being exhausting. Because I have to constantly switch my focus from one thing to the next to the next, all day long. While also giving my undivided attention to whichever client I am with during my shifts. (FYI – people WhatsApp me or text me all day long during my shifts. I have to wait until I have absolutely nothing else needing my immediate attention before I can even read them, let alone send back a “thumb’s up”.)
When I look back on everything I manage to stay on top of in, say, 10 hours on a given day, it’s just insane.
And the agency has been asking me to pick up more shifts and since I want to make sure I have enough money for the trips to NYC and to pay the cat sitter, I just keep saying “YES”.
But it’s ALL good. (Not to mention that each shift brings reasons to remind me that it’s all over in a heartbeat, gang, so JUST DO IT!)
AND– I talked to Peitor about inserting a scene into our TV series (not the Pilot script, but in season 2), that will be an homage to Tsai Ming-liang’s film “The Hole”. Using the Grace Chang cha-cha song, “Wo Ai Qia Qia” (1957) that I play all the time while driving and, after he saw the YouTube “Wo Yao Ni” footage I sent him from “The Hole”, he was ecstatic!! (I posted both of these here recently, but they are again.)
We’ve already started revising the specific scene, and it will be off the charts, gang. (Two of our characters are Gen Z, M/F fraternal twins from Singapore.)
If, one day down the road, you are streaming our TV show in the comfort of your own home, and a particular scene pops up that uses unexpected popular music from any given era, and which seems particularly off-the-wall — you can assure yourself that the scene was initially spawned in my wee bonny brain while driving on the backroads of the Hinterlands with the music blasting!!
No, I don’t drink and drive. It just feels like I do!
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Okay!! Kitten update!
A couple of them are eating solid food now and using the litterbox!! How do they figure this stuff out, gang??
The little family just now:
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Okay.
Two more photos from the show in Denver the other night! There was just something about these photos that I really liked.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Portland, OR tomorrow night. You can buy tickets here!
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And I think that better be it for today, gang. As always, I gotta scoot!
Have a fantastic Friday, wherever you are in the world.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I don’t think this song needs an introduction. But this is the song that was playing in Denver when the photographer took the photos above.
Marilyn's Room 