Here we are, gang!

Today is my double-shift in the middle of a 7-shift stretch! And I am actually feeling really good.

And yesterday I managed to do some quick shopping before my shift, then got home, took care of the cats, showered/washed my hair, did yoga, made dinner, studied my French, read a chapter in The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus (only one chapter left to read), AND THEN–

Yes, a chapter and a half in a new scholarly/academic book (2024) we’re reading in James Tabor’s Patreon Research Group:

“Studies of the historical Jesus typically reduce John the Baptist to a subordinate role in the story of Christian origins. This meticulous historical study focuses on John himself, revealing his extensive and enduring influence.”

My copy of the book just arrived yesterday, so I am already about 200 pages behind everyone else!! So I got a lot of reading to do!!

Good Lord, right? (I’m not saying that because it’s Palm Sunday…) I had enough on my List of Things To Do before the book got here…

We’re supposed to read about 200 pages before each monthly Zoom meeting, in order for us to all “be on the same page,” as it were. Yesterday was the first Zoom pertaining to this book, hence the reason why I am already 200 pages behind.

Anyway!

Wow! What a great book. I can’t really discuss outside of the group, why we are reading this book. But already, I am learning so much about things I never even considered before.

We were also told by James Tabor to buy this book (2004) and luckily, I was able to get it used, because Amazon is selling it for $83:

“…The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene approaches Christian Testament sources through analysis of legend, archaeology, and gnostic/apocryphal traditions. This is the story of the suppression and distortion of a powerful woman leader – Schaberg presents Mary Magdalene as successor to Jesus in a challenging alternative to the Petrine primacy.”

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And then after I was done reading for the night, I watched another rerun of “Archer” (decidedly not Christian in any way), and then, by candlelight, listened to Chapter 17 (3 more chapters to go!) of the audiobook, The Quest of the Historical Jesus by Albert Schweitzer. (On LibriVox)

You would probably think that my entire life is consumed by quests to sort of conquer the New Testament in some way, but you’d be kind of wrong about that.

Mostly I think about:

ME: What the fuck am I doing on this fucking planet? How the fuck did I get here?

ME: Where did all these cats come from? I didn’t always have so many cats!

And sometimes–

ME: How come autism is called neurodivergence now? What the fuck is up with that? More fucking around with language just to fuck with people’s heads…

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Anyway.

I don’t have too many “here’s this’s” for today, but here’s this!

Keith and Mick Taylor between flghts in 1972:

Keith buying some drugs some THINGS in a market in France in 1971:

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And here’s this!

Johnny Depp coming out of a trailer only last week!

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And here’s a different Johnny!

From Phyllis Stein, Johnny Thunders in his kitchen in NYC, 1977:

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And here’s this!

Nick Cave, photo taken by Warren Ellis using a special camera that makes people’s fingers look really, really long:

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And that’s actually it for today because I want to just sort of chill a little bit before I head to town.

Today, I will finally be with my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man and his daughter (she arrived last evening). Followed by a shift with the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat (and I’m hoping his stay in the hospital last weekend wasn’t too terrible).

And then drive the 30 miles back home and do my usual:

ME: What the fuck am I doing on this fucking planet? How the fuck did I get here?

ME: Where did all these cats come from? I didn’t always have so many cats!

Meanwhile!

Enjoy your Palm Sunday if you celebrate it, otherwise just have a great Sunday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

This whole album ended up being my driving-to-town music yesterday! (See yesterday’s post.)

And here’s yet another reason why listening to this record at top volume was much more important than going to school!!! (And still is!!)

“Mystery Dance,” 1977. Elvis Costello, from My Aim is True. Enjoy, gang!!!

“Mystery Dance”

Romeo was restless, he was ready to kill.
He jumped out the window cause he couldn’t sit still.
Juliet was waiting with a safety net.
He said “Don’t bury me cause I’m not dead yet”.

[Chorus:]
Why don’t you tell me ’bout the mystery dance.
I wanna know about the mystery dance.
Why don’t you show me,
’cause I’ve tried and I’ve tried,
and I’m still mystified.
I can’t do it anymore and I’m not satisfied.
I can’t do it anymore and I’m not satisfied.

Well I remember when the lights went out
and I was tryin’ to make it look like it was never in doubt.
She thought that I knew, and I thought that she knew,
so both of us were willing, but we didn’t know how to do it.

[Chorus]

Well I was down under the covers in the middle of the night,
tryin’ to discover my left foot from my right.
You can see those pictures in any magazine.
But what’s the use of looking when you don’t know what they mean.

[Chorus]

c -1977 Elvis Costello

Well, Happy Saturday.

It is very sunny right now — and this will allegedly be the final moment of sunshine that we’re gonna see for the next 10 days or so.

I guess we’ll find out.

I do have some flowers getting ready to bloom in the backyard. And my ancient dogwood tree is also getting ready to bloom out there.

And the kittens will be one year-olds on Easter Sunday!!

Remember this unbelievable surprise that surprised me on my kitchen porch in the wee hours of April 5th last year??? And how it sort of irreparably changed my life??

Anyway. My point is that it really is starting to be Spring around here.

So that feels good.

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There is not much to report today. (I mean, assuming you’re tuning out everything in the “global news”.)

Later today, my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s daughter arrives from Seattle, so her visit gets under way today. (Although, she won’t arrive until after I’ve gone home.)

But we’re ready! I didn’t need to buy any groceries for him yesterday. And the private nurse had done a bunch of housecleaning before she left town. So there wasn’t anything I needed to do yesterday except my usual stuff. Cook for him, make him his coffee, hang out with him and chat. (And, well, a tiny glass of the pre-mixed Vodka cocktail and the Pringles Mingles!! We were, after all, celebrating his daughter’s almost imminent arrival!)

Oh, and this happened yesterday.

And I have to add, here, that the Agency I work for is a really, really great Agency. For so many reasons.

When I got to my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house yesterday, there was a card waiting for me, tucked inside his back screendoor.

It was a handwritten note from my supervisor, who had stopped in the other day to pick up my monthly paperwork. I had briefly gone over with her some things I had done to try to make the daughter’s upcoming visit a smooth one.

The note from my supervisor was thanking me for “going above & beyond” for the client and his daughter, and for being a special part of the Agency.

Wow, you know? And what does it take — like, 5 minutes to do something like that? But it meant the world to me.

So, even though I so wish I could retire and just focus on the writing again, it is a great company to work for. I always, always, always feel appreciated.

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All right.

So it turns out that yesterday was National Joe Day!

I had never heard of it, but it turns out it’s an actual thing. It celebrates guys & gals named Joe! (Or Jo.)

So here’s this!

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And I loved this! What a great photo!

From the recent “Wild God” Tour of Australia, in Sydney. Nick Cave on the jumbo screen, overlooking the backup singers onstage:

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And that is actually it!

I’m looking forward to sort of an easy, sunny Saturday today, gang.

Both proofs — the eBook and print proofs — for The Curse of Our Profound Disorder were sent to me yesterday afternoon by the publisher and they both look great. So that feels good. A novel that’s been in me since 1998 is finally going to be in print.

And so I’m just gonna try to not stress about anything today and let the world happen however it’s meant to happen.

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

This was so strange — around 3AM, I was just coming out of a dream, and the voice in my head was singing these specific lyrics, and I knew every word but I couldn’t figure out what the song was, since I was still half-asleep:

“Baby’s gotta have the things she wants.
You know she’s gotta have the things she loves.
She’s got a ten-inch bamboo cigarette holder
and her black patent leather gloves.
And I’m doing everything just tryin’ to please her,
even crawling around on all fours.
Oh, I thought by now that it was gonna be easy,
but she still seems to want for more.”

Then the chorus came:

“Why do you have to say that there’s always someone
who can do it better than I can?
But don’t you think that I know that walking on the water
won’t make me a miracle man?”

And then my whole being smiled, gang. “Miracle Man”, by Elvis Costello!! 1977.

The very same song that made me stay home sick from school the moment I first heard it, because I needed to hear that song (that whole album — My Aim is True) over and over and over!! I could not be bothered with school!

So that is the song I’ve been singing around here all morning today!! I share it with you now.

Enjoy, gang! I still do!!

“Miracle Man”

You never asked me what I wanted. You only asked me why.
I never thought that so much trouble was restin’ on my reply,
I could say it was the nights when I was lonely
and you were the only one who’d come.
I could tell you that I like your sensitivity,
when you know it’s the way that you walk.

[Chorus]:
Why do you have to say that there’s always someone
who can do it better than I can?
But don’t you think that I know that walking on the water
won’t make me a miracle man?

Baby’s gotta have the things she wants.
You know she’s gotta have the things she loves.
She’s got a ten-inch bamboo cigarette holder
and her black patent leather gloves.
And I’m doing everything just tryin’ to please her,
even crawling around on all fours.
Oh, I thought by now that it was gonna be easy,
but she still seems to want for more.

[Chorus]

I hear they’re givin’ you a bad reputation
just because you’ve never been denied.
You try to say you’ve done it all before.
Baby, you know that you just get tired.
Yet everybody loves you so much, girl.
I just don’t know how you stand the strain.
Oh, I, I’m the one who’s here tonight,
and I don’t wanna do it all in vain.

[Chorus]

c – 1977 Elvis Costello

Well, the good news is that we did not get a tornado last night, although we were under a tornado warning all evening.

The other good news is that I did the best I could to not think about it. I closed the windows and the Venetian blinds. I prayed and then I let God handle it.

I am so tired of living in constant weather-induced PTSD.

We did have some high winds and severe thunderstorms during the night, but mostly I was able to sleep through it.

And I am in a great mood here this morning!

Although — as of right now, we are supposed to get nothing but rain the entire time that my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s daughter will be visiting (starting tomorrow afternoon). So that kinda sucks.

We were hoping to take her to lunch at the great golf course clubhouse that has those fantastic views…. I guess we’ll see if the weather report changes at all. (This time of year, the clubhouse is only open 4 days a week.)

Today, we will probably be out running last minute errands. His private nurse is now officially out of town for a week, and she usually does all the grocery shopping. So we shall see what awaits me when I get to his house today.

But when we go shopping, he stays in the car, so it doesn’t really matter if it’s raining.

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Anyway!

Wow, yesterday.

I waited (and worked) at my kitchen table until 4PM and the AC guys didn’t show, they were delayed on another job. So now they’ve been rescheduled and will hopefully be here in 2 weeks…

This idea that all my days off for the last 3 months have been mostly spent with repairmen is kinda getting to me… I have 3 potential lunch dates awaiting me, but I never seem to have a day off anymore when something else isn’t scheduled!!

But I did do my taxes yesterday and hit send (!) and I am actually getting some money back!!

BTW — if you still haven’t done your taxes, my accountant in NYC sent me this link. It was really easy and quick and FREE!! Both IRS and State:

FreeTaxUSA

And I paid all the bills and got some other work done, so it was a productive day — I just got frustrated, sitting there all day at the kitchen table, with all the cats closed up for hours in the bedrooms upstairs.

But boy were they happy when I finally let them all come out!!

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Okay, so, naturally, since I am working 7 straight days this week, with one of those days (Sunday) being a double, the Agency texted me yesterday and wants to do my annual review on Tuesday, after my shift.

So it’s really just going to be a lost week, as far as getting any writing done.

(Not to be confused with “The Lost Weekend”, wherein Ray Milland got really, really drunk in 1945 and then won an Oscar…)

But on we go…

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Meanwhile!

Here’s this!

I love this!

Yet another photo of Keith backstage with Jolie Jones during the Rolling Stones very crowded 1972 tour!! Here, he’s getting ready to light her cigarette!! (If only people would leave them the fuck alone!)

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And here’s this!

I love that side-eyed look that Keith is giving to Gram Parsons!

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And here’s this!

Keith and Mick in LA, doing the final mix of Exile on Main St:

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And here’s that time someone snuck some glue onto the side of Keith’s wine glass…

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And here’s this!

Just some Beatnik legends in NYC in 1957!

And I actually own one of these! An original — a gift to me from the late, great Richard Kasak, publisher of the legendary Masquerade Books, NY:

And here’s this! Gregory Corso Reads ‘Poets Hitchhiking On A Highway’ , 1970 (3 mins):

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And last but never, ever least!!

Nick Cave & The Birthday Party! (I love this room.)

And Nick Cave, not smoking on another sofa, almost awake!

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And that is it!

I gotta scoot! Gotta stop at the bank, then the gas station, and then get this 7-day stretch of shifts underway!!

Enjoy your Friday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

I’ve posted it here before, but it seems like a good day to post it again!!

One of the best lyricists of our time!!! Too fun.

Nick Cave reads the text of his song “Dead Joe”, London 1992 (1 min):

For one thing — the weather.

No high winds. Mild temperatures — mid 60s Fahrenheit. Partly sunny! (In other words, what Spring is supposed to look like around here when no one’s fucking around with the atmosphere…) Yay.

Yesterday went great. As I mentioned in my post, I did indeed spend a good chunk of my shift sitting alone with my iPhone, in the waiting room at the dentist’s office, waiting on my client. (I got caught up on a lot of the emails that were sitting in my inbox.)

But then my client wanted to run some errands! Yay! To buy more Easter stuff for his grandkids!! So fun. So it was just a really easy shift yesterday.

And, as a private bonus for myself — I’d been wanting to buy some chocolates for my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s eldest daughter, who will be visiting him from Seattle starting this weekend. She’ll be there all week, leaving on Holy Saturday.

I wanted to have some Easter candy waiting in her room when she arrived, but I had no clue where I would find good quality chocolates in my usual stops (i.e., Rural King, drugstore, Dollar Store).

So when my client yesterday wanted to stop in at Goumas’ Candyland — wow!! The best homemade chocolates for miles around here. I was able to buy her a really nice box of homemade chocolates. So that made me really happy.

Goumas Candyland: “A Taste of Heaven since 1911”

And, actually, after my day off tomorrow, I won’t have another day off for 7 days, because I will be working everyday at my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house. His private nurse will be out of state, visiting her own family, and so I’ll be covering for the nurse while his daughter is visiting.

It’s probably gonna be a little intense, because my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man and that particular daughter have a dicey relationship. But I’m sort of like a pro at the dicey father-daughter relationship thing!

Plus, I know how his mind works nowadays, and I can sort of head him off at the pass when I sense he’s getting ready to be “difficult.” We shall see!

And his fridge is already loaded up with this for emergencies!! Yay!!

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And speaking of the Rural King!

My quick stop there yesterday morning before my shift was interesting, indeed.

‘Wild Thing’ was not there. There was only one checkout lane open and it was kind of long, so I was waiting a little longer than I usually do to check out.

And just when the person in front of me was paying for his stuff, in through the huge front doors walked ‘Wild Thing’!!

I saw him immediately, of course, but I didn’t want to act like my usual 14-year-old crushing self…

I was trying to be more like this — well, spiritually:

And I am not making this up. He saw me right away. I saw him see me. And then he sort of hurried over to the checkout area where I was standing. He threw off his coat, but he didn’t clock-in or anything, he just sort of hovered there, happily chatting away with the woman who was ringing up my stuff.

He glanced at me, I glanced at him — both of us sort of smiling. But I was determined not to say anything, because it would seem weird for me to start suddenly talking to the guy who wasn’t actually ringing up my stuff, right? And he wasn’t even on the clock yet.

But, wow. The energy was just right there. It was so cool.

So I left there, yet again feeling like the crushing 14-year-old!!

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Anyway!

Here’s this!

I love photos of Keith with his (enormous) family.

This was to celebrate either his birthday or Christmas, 2024:

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And here’s this!

It turns out that yesterday was Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s heavenly birthday!

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And here’s Nick Cave, performing outdoors for 7 (tiny) people across the water!!

And here’s this.

Not sure what he’s thinking about here, but sort of seems intense.

Nick Cave, not smoking on a sofa. (Perhaps he’s in the process of quitting smoking here and wishing he had a fucking cigarette…)

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And that’s it!! I really gotta scoot.

My supervisor just texted me, saying she needed to stop in at my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house this morning, to collect some of my paperwork from the last month.

So off I go!!

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

I don’t know if I’m posting tomorrow because the AC guys are coming at some point, but we’ll see.

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with some travelin’ music!

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ “Travelin'” from Nobody’s Children. 1995. From the Playback CD boxed set. Enjoy, gang!!

The bad news is that the retired Minister had to be taken to the hospital. (And this is really, really not a good thing.)

But the good news for me, though, is that I got today off unexpectedly.

So this means I have 2 days off in a row.

Two very Spring-like days, I might add. (Update: now they’re saying high winds again this afternoon, followed by thunderstorms then rain through tomorrow!!! And temps going back down below freezing. Weather manipulation, anyone??) Anyway.

Which means I might even be able to go out and take a couple of walks in the sunshine, surrounded by things turning green. But I will certainly be able to spend a lot of time on my writing. Finish going over the final proof for The Curse of Our Profound Disorder and maybe even finish the short story.

Regardless, this is such a relief for me. Two days off in a row. I’m just sorry it had to come with a serious downside for someone else.

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Okay.

I tried watching the new “Peaky Blinders” film on Netflix last night, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so violent. I made it through about maybe ten minutes. Literally. When they shot the bird and showed the close-up of it, bleeding & dead, I said, “All righty. I see how this is gonna be.” And that was that.

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And somewhat related —

This is an excellent book:

“One of America’s greatest living literary legends invites you to think for yourself in this compelling narrative of manipulation, power, and the human condition.” (And the role of horror in entertainment.)

You can buy it here.

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Okay.

Here’s this.

Dr. Terry Traster is also a member of James Tabor’s Research Group. The stuff he discusses here are things that are discussed in the Research Group all the time — specifically ancient markings on ossuaries from 1st Century Jerusalem.

Archaeological Evidence for the New Testament | Dr. Terry Traster (40 mins):

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All right.

Here’s this.

The Rolling Stones in London in 1964:

And the Rolling Stones, different line-up, at Stephen Stills’ home in Laurel Canyon, LA, in 1969:

And the above photo led me to unearth a book I’ve had since 1973. (The above photo is in the book.) (And, no, I did not steal the book!! I bought it with money I earned from babysitting!!)

This book meant the world to me, gang, and I took it just about everywhere I went back then:

Back cover:

And the inside cover, in case you wanted to know whose property it was!!

The book was (is) loaded with photos, record reviews, interviews, concert reviews — all kinds of cool stuff from the first decade of their career!

AND (!!) sheet music for every song they’d written up to & including Sticky Fingers!!! (Seriously. And that is a lot of songs.)

I used this book a lot while practicing my guitar and also the piano.

And when the book fell open to the above music page just now, a handwritten song fell out.

Apparently, I had also taken this book with me to the mental hospital (along with my guitar — well, the guitar was brought to me a week or so later. I also had Music Therapy while in the hospital — with the same Music Therapist who made us turn off Bob Dylan’s incredible new record, “Blood on the Tracks”, because she claimed it “wasn’t music”).

The song is sort of a joke about being in the mental hospital and several of us “inmates” wrote it together, while sitting in the kitchen area one afternoon. (Even though we were all ages 13-17, we were allowed to smoke in the kitchen area!! Plus, our parents gave us each $5 a month and the staff bought us each a carton of cigarettes with the money. Yes. $5 for a whole carton of Marlboros!! Parent Approved!!)

Anyway.

I had forgotten all about this song!! “Up On A Hill”.

You’ll note that it is copyrighted: Summer 1975. Smart move!! And that it is dedicated to Harding Funny Farm. (I don’t know whose handwriting this is, it’s definitely not mine. Although the “copyright” along the side there is my handwriting.)

(The third name at the bottom there in pencil, before “etc.”, is the name of the girl I fell in love with there. She was my first girlfriend, in the bisexual sense, and we got into a TON of trouble in the hospital, as well as when we both got out of the hospital. And I mean a ton…)

When I turned the paper over just now, it said this (this is my handwriting from back then):

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Well, that was quite an unexpected trip down Memory Lane!!

Back to this….

Nick Cave smoking in color!! In 1988:

And smoking in 1984! In black & white:

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All righty!

I’m going to finish up the laundry. Wash (and trim!!) my lovely hair. And then get down to work on proofing The Curse of Our Profound Disorder.

I hope you have a really beauty-filled Sunday, 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 the cassette that is currently in the retro boombox next to my bed.

From 1991, Praying Mantis, a collection of poetry & prose readings by Jim Carroll, most of it recorded live at St. Mark’s Church, in downtown NYC, way back when.

“Times Square’s Cage” a poem. Parental Advisory!! (2 mins). Enjoy, gang.

At last!!

It will be sunny today and in the mid-60s Fahrenheit! The daffodils are still blooming everywhere — they were not killed by the recent freezing temperatures and light snow.

That, alone, is such a relief to see, gang.

Anyway.

Let’s briefly talk about Honda.

It is DONE, gang! My car is fixed. And not only that, but I also had time for them to do a tire rotation and an oil change — which means that if I want to drive to NY in mid-June for the Lammy Awards, the car is ready.

And here’s something that I found really interesting, gang– yesterday, as I was driving along the backroads to town, the thought of driving to NY again did not fill me with dread. (I’ve done the drive many times, but in the last few years, especially since all those stress-filled drives to see my dad when he was dying, I felt like I wanted to fly everywhere from now on, instead.)

It was so cool to feel that change in me. Like I had finally become independent of my grief and was becoming my true self again.

I have already bought my ticket to the Awards show. And I am looking for an affordable hotel in Midtown, in case Sandra will be out of town working that weekend.

And I sent a text to my birth mom to see if she felt like taking care of my cats — especially now that the house has central AC.

But I am intending to be in NYC the weekend of June 12th!! Yay.

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As an added bonus from my trip to Honda yesterday….

Okay, gang. This part is INSANE.

I had a little extra time after they worked on my car to stop in at the Rural King and buy more cat food.

This was the first time I had ever been in there on a Friday and found ‘Wild Thing’ working!! I was not expecting him to be there.

But there he indeed was.

I have been trying to rein it in, inside myself, because he is half my age. I want to just sort of let this go.

But not only was he still (pleasantly) flirting with me, he SPOKE in FRENCH!!

WTF??!!

Okay. He actually has shoulder-length, straight brown hair and a full beard, mustache, etc. He’s got at least 2 noticeable tattoos. He looks like a hippie from days of yore. (And, which I have pleasantly noticed, a lot of young men are looking that way again.)

Anyway.

HE (looking at me as he was tearing off my receipt from the printer): “Enchanté.”

ME (in a tiny 14-year-old-crushing-girl voice): “You speak French?”

HE (putting my receipt in the bag and handing the bag to me): “Voila.”

WTF???!!

I cannot tell you how many people out here in the Hinterlands, let alone young people, do NOT speak French!! Not even a little bit! To the point where I have sort of found it appalling that adults around here can’t read the label on a bottle of French wine…

So, let’s recap: Not only does he remind me of every boy I fell in love with in 1974 who was nothing but trouble, he’s also into GUNS, he’s a SINGER, and he at least knows two words in French, perhaps more! (But I’ll settle for just “enchanted” — I won’t complain.)

(Perhaps the next time I’m in the Rural King, he will either whip out an accordion and start singing old hillbilly songs, or whip out a couple of the paintings he did of Montmartre when he was living in Paris one summer… Or maybe both!)

Jesus, gang. WTF?? Enchanté at the checkout counter at the Rural King??? And me, still studying French everyday since 1968…

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Okay!

I still have about 90 pages of the final proof of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder to do tomorrow before my afternoon shift. And then I will be able to focus on the short story on Monday. I only have about 4 more paragraphs to write before it’s complete. So that’s exciting.

I did take that Stage 32 webinar yesterday afternoon after my shift.

I was wrong about a couple of things , though. Anna Henry was the instructor. The showrunner I was hoping to learn from is Jacob Tierney and the Q&A with him will happen on Tuesday, when I won’t be available.

Still, the webinar was a breakdown of the HBO drama series “Heated Rivalry.” And it was informative.

I’ve heard a lot about the show (a gay erotic drama, based on a popular Harlequin Romance series of novels), but I had never seen it. So I re-subscribed, yet again, to HBO to start watching it last night. I don’t know what it is about me, gang, but it seems that ALL these streaming hit shows that I’ve tried to watch lately — they just do not resonate with me.

I had to literally force myself to watch 20 minutes of the show last night before I gave up and immediately watched 2 re-runs of “Archer” instead and was captivated and laughing the whole time.

Who knows. But I will at least try to finish the first episode of “Heated Rivalry.” If only because so many people love it.

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Meanwhile–

Here’s this!

More reasons to LOVE Bob Dylan!!

Please note: 2 packs of Chesterfields on the table, a bottle of red wine, perhaps even coffee, assuming the red wine is not in the coffee cup… and a typewriter!!

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And here’s this!

Wow, gorgeous.

It has something to do with the Oscars the other night, but I don’t think it was taken then. I do not know where this is or who took the photo. But the producers of the film that Nick’s song was in (which was nominated for an Oscar) posted this photo.

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And here’s this!

The Stones in a publicity photo for “Miss You” in 1978:

And, well, here’s this, while we’re at it! Such a great song!! I was 17 when this came out:

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And here’s this!

Keith. 1992.

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And, judging by the clock, I better scurry or I’m gonna be late!!

Back to see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man! (Yesterday, we went out for sashimi and sake, and this time I was really, really careful about how I parked my low-riding Honda Civic. When I helped him out of the car, he said: “You parked about 3 feet away from the front curb.”)

Yes I did!!

Okay. Have a great Saturday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

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I’ve posted this song here many times, but here it is again!!

I probably don’t have to tell you why!

France Gall, “Laisse tomber les filles” !! En francais. So much fun. Enjoy, gang!!

Okay, so it almost feels like today is finally going to be a “normal” day, energy-wise. We shall soon see.

It seems like my life has been on Mars since last Friday, when the high winds, snow, power outage began….

Along with the many trips to the Honda dealership!

But guess what!!

I got back to the Honda dealership early yesterday morning. Only had to wait 45 minutes and then the service guy came and got me from the waiting room. Which, you know, was nice because it wasn’t a long wait this time. However, the dealership is literally 5 minutes from my Tuesday clients and I suddenly had an hour and 45 minutes to kill — and it was 21 degrees Fahrenheit out there with a light dusting of snow everywhere.

But I digress.

The service guy told me: “It needs a different part. We’ll have it here by tomorrow morning.”

Oh, how nice! So I get to go back to Honda on Friday at 9AM!

But the good news is that instead of $245, it’s now only going to cost me $106. Total. Parts and labor. That’s it. So, like, wow.

It has just been so weird around here. But this is a good weird. It’s costing a lot less. And I purposely did not schedule the next Honda appointment for tomorrow because it is my DAY OFF. And NO repairmen are scheduled. (Although I still don’t know when the roofers are coming by to fix my siding…) (Wouldn’t it be cool if they also told me: “It’ll only cost you a total of $106” ??) (Methinks it won’t, but I’m not going to complain.)

Anyway!!

Thursday is all about me sitting at my desk and going over the FINAL proof of The Curse of Our Profound Disorder. (Which I was supposed to do over the weekend but you know how that went…) But I’m looking forward to some peace tomorrow. Finally.

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Okay!

Since I haven’t really been posting here in several days, I have way too many “here’s this’s” stored up, so I’m only going to post a few of them today.

First and foremost–

I LOVED THIS!!

Yesterday was not only St. Patrick’s Day, it was also Patti Hansen’s 70th birthday!!

Keith posted 3 photos of them, but this was my absolute favorite!!

Wow. Encroyable! So beautiful.

(And today is their daughter Theodora’s 41st birthday, but he hasn’t posted anything for the “Blonde Teddy” yet.)

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But here’s this–

Still Keith, still beautiful, but a whole different kind of thing–

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And here’s this.

From Phyllis Stein.

Mick and David Jo at Max’s in NYC 1973! (I actually remember this photo from my wee bonny teenaged girlhood. It was probably in CREEM Magazine!!)

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And I was actually able to get a few updates about the upcoming Shane MacGowan tribute album, but here’s this from Johnny Depp yesterday:

And then there was also this over the weekend:

It is not available yet for pre-sale on Amazon US, though.

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And speaking of Johnny–

2 of my all-time absolute favorite photos of Johnny, ever. They were in GQ Magazine back in 1993. (Yes, I had them taped to the wall in front of my desk back then — in the apartment on West End Ave in NYC.)

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And since it was Mother’s Day in the UK this past Sunday, someone re-posted this classic gem!

Nick Cave with his mum in Australia, maybe around 40 years ago?

And here’s this! (Having nothing to do with Mother’s Day, except that his mum was the sort of portal through which he arrived here…)

Nick Cave, happy:

And as a Nick Cave-related aside: Wow, was “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” an incredible movie. I was really just stunned by every moment of it. I am so glad I saw it on a big screen, in an actual theater.

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And on a different note… this is a shorter version of a zoom we had in the “Christianity Before Paul” course.

James Tabor: A Band of Sisters: The Forgotten Treasure of the EARLY Jesus Movement! (30 mins):

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And that is it for now!

It is still cold here, but SUNNY!! And it will be getting warmer again as the days go by. Just in time for Spring.

And now I gotta get ready to go see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man! (I have driven 360 miles since I went to see him on Friday and we had the fateful mishap with my Honda in the parking lot of the Peony Bistro.)

I’m really tired of driving. But off I go, anyway.

So 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!

This one goes out to Patti from Keith!!!

“Wild thing, you make my heart sing!!”

Enjoy, gang. (Again and again.)

The power was only out for TWENTY HOURS.

I am not exaggerating.

The house was fucking FREEZING, since, obviously, the furnace did not come on for 20 hours.

But, of course, the worst part were those high winds for hours and hours and hours. The whole house was shaking for a while there.

And in addition to chasing down the cat houses & lawn chairs that were blowing down off the porch and then all over the back yard or out into the street — while the wind was nearly blowing me over — I also had to chase down the panels of siding that blew off my house, so that when the roofers come back — again — they won’t have to buy new siding. Just replace the old panels.

And the other good part is that, of course, I love those Amish guys. They do great work and it will be nice to see them again. (And if you give them cash, they give you a discount!)

And on to other good news that is house-related.

Remember how I posted here the other day that my mortgage payments are going down starting in May?

On Friday, I got a check from the USDA , and it was a refund for my escrow payment on the house!!

I kept looking for any sort of fine print — you know, anything that said that if I cashed the check, they would come right over and take back my house. But no fine print was on it anywhere at all! So, off to the bank I went!

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And in all seriousness, I don’t know how I would have made it through Friday night without Valerie in Brooklyn.

You can only guess that my PTSD was in high gear for many hours, since the wind storm started while I was still over at my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house. And the winds only got worse when I got back here to the village, which is in a valley surrounded by foothills and attracts wind like crazy.

Anyway, Valerie texted me, saying she was keeping her phone in her lap & to keep her updated, and that she was praying for me and for the winds to die down. And every so often, she would text: “How are you doing?”

Thank God we could still text even though the power was out for miles.

It meant the world to me, gang. And it really did pull me out of the PTSD. And when the winds finally dropped from 55 down to 34, I felt like it was her praying that was doing it and I was able to fall asleep.

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Okay.

On yet another topic having to do with Angels appearing in my life!

Tomorrow morning, I have to be at the Honda dealership at 8AM !!! Yes! They are 30 miles away from me and tomorrow is my day off… however, the Honda dealership is not far from the mall where I’m seeing the Elvis movie in the afternoon! So that’s nice…

But the Angel part–

Yesterday, I took my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man out for sashimi and green tea (no sake yesterday because he was having complications with his wooden leg and I didn’t want him to fall down). And when we got into my beloved Honda Civic to head back home, the underside of the car scraped against that little curb thingie in the parking space and it made an awful sound.

Oh shit.

So I got out of the car and tried to see what had scraped loose and immediately a man in the parking lot came right over and actually got down on the ground and looked under the front of my car.

And he not only knew exactly what had happened, he actually had a knife in his pocket and tried to fix it. But he couldn’t. But he pushed it back into place and said it would be okay until I could get to a garage and have it fixed properly.

Where the heck did he come from, right?? What a nice man! And he knew all about cars!

And sure enough, the part didn’t come loose, and I was fine driving the 30 miles back home yesterday afternoon. And, hence, the reason I have to go to Honda at the crack of dawn on my day off tomorrow…

But you know how I love those service guys at the Honda dealership! So it will be nice to see them again, too! (And they also give you a discount if you pay cash, but methinks I don’t have enough cash to be paying everybody cash this week…)

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Of course, this also means that I won’t be posting to the blog tomorrow, since I have to be out of the house by 7:15AM…

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Well, I have lots of “here’s this’s” for today because I didn’t post yesterday, but now I am running out of time here.

I need to shower, wash the gorgeous hair, and be ready to chat with Sandra before I head out later to see the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat.

But I will post this–

I have no clue if this is true or not. Nick Cave’s boyhood home?

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And here’s this!

Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Woody Guthrie in NYC in 1954!

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And this song seems so obviously about the death of the kind of radio we used to love listening to in the old days — not sure how people could get the wrong idea about it. But anyway–

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And here’s this —

Keith backstage at Madison Square Garden in 1975!

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And now I better scoot!

Enjoy your Sunday wherever you are in the world!! (I know I sure will! The “high winds” we’re supposed to get today and tonight will only be 18 mph. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get worse than that.)

I’ll be back on Tuesday.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. “The Last DJ,” 2002, from the album of the same name (and also from the posthumous “Best of” collection). Enjoy, gang.

“The Last DJ”

Well, you can’t turn him into a company man
You can’t turn him into a whore
And the boys upstairs just don’t understand anymore
Well, the top brass don’t like him talking so much
And he won’t play what they say to play
And he don’t want to change what don’t need to change

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

Well, some folks say they’re gonna hang him so high
Because you just can’t do what he did
There’s some things you just can’t put in the minds of those kids
As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see
How much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
And there goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

Well, he got him a station down in Mexico
And sometimes it will kinda come in
And I’ll bust a move and remember how it was back then

And there goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ

c – 2002 Tom Petty