Tag Archives: writing

A Breezy Wednesday in the Hinterlands!

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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.)

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Okay, it looks like Cave Things is having a 40% Off sale on all prints!

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.

c – 1975 Emmylou Harris, Bill Danoff

“You know how they say things can change overnight?”

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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…”

You can read it in full HERE.

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On the home front —

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

c – 1975 – Delbert Ross McClinton

Holy Toledo, One of Those Mornings

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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

c- 1967 Graham Parsons

Happy Mother’s Day!

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What a glorious day it is today, gang!!

Not just flawless weather!! BUT —

I also got plenty of sleep last night. Wow!

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

c – 1977 Susanna Wallis Clark

It’s That Time Again!

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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

c- 1972 Earl Montgomery

Life/Unbelievable!

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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.

“Red Right Hand”. Enjoy, gang!!

Busy Morning!

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Sorry, gang, I don’t have time to really post this morning. A lot to do before I head out for my shift!.

I will leave you with this, though!

It seems hardly anyone turned out for the Denver show last night. Sad, really…😂🤣🥰

Next up — Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Portland, OR on Saturday night!! Buy tickets here!

Okay! I should have more time to post tomorrow.

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!!!

And It Begins Again!!

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I’m seriously hoping, gang, that nothing went wrong at the dentist and that my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man has teeth again!!

I’m planning to FINALLY take him back here for sashimi and sake today, if all went well!

We shall soon see! (And it also means a trip back to the incredible restaurant at the golf club will be right around the corner!!)

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Okay, I am officially extremely tired here but I am so excited about developments with the TV Pilot package, and I’m over the moon with what’s happening with “The Guide to Being Fabulous” and the women who are working with us, helping to get the staged reading to the Off-Broadway stage.

It is such a thrill for me, gang. Not just to be finally taking it to NYC, but the fact that this will be the version of the play that is true to Sandra’s life. The professional caliber of the people getting onboard makes me feel pretty confident that people will finally get to see the play as Sandra and I have been envisioning it for so many years.

I can’t tell you how much this means to me. After 11 years.

A rarely seen photo!! Back when Sandra and I first started working on the play!

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The kittens this morning!!!

And way in the back, there (a close-up of Wee Bonny Billy’s eye!) —

They no longer hang out in their playpen at all. And they scamper all over the room — even Wee Bonny Billy, with his 2 lame legs. I now have to look down at my feet at all times, so as not to step on anybody.

They are too cute, gang.

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I started watching this show on Netflix last night and I love it!! From 2019, in Japanese with English subtitles: “Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories”. Here’s the official trailer:

I also started watching this film on Metrograph, but I am only halfway through: “Leonor Will Never Die”.

So far, I love it. The plot is incredible. As an aging woman writer, it really gives me something to think about.

It’s a dramedy. From the Philippines. This is the plot:

“Leonor Reyes was once a groundbreaking figure in the Filipino film industry during its ragtag action cinema glory days, but now she struggles with old age, mounting bills, and the untimely death of her son. While revisiting an unfinished script about a fearless protagonist trying to avenge his brother’s murder, Leonor is struck on the head by a falling television set and knocked into a coma. As she lies unconscious in the hospital, fantasy and reality begin to blur when Leonor finds herself awake inside her script, becoming the hero of her own story.”

Here’s the trailer:

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Here’s another photo of Nick Cave in Kansas City the other night!

They play Denver tonight! You can buy tickets here!

And Nick Cave sent out a really beautiful Red Hand File yesterday morning, giving spiritual advice to a young woman whose father recently died. He said, in part:

“I suspect your father will hear your words, but I do not know. At the very least, by acknowledging the sacred and mysterious nature of things, these words will impact the general condition of the world, not to mention your own injured heart. I believe we must take our subtle spiritual intuitions seriously and view them as the quintessence that underlies the ordinary world. The rejection of the sacred is the fundamental reason for our existential discontent. “I love you” and “I am sorry” spoken into the universe are two sentiments forever worth declaring….”

You can read it in full here.

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And I think that’s it for now!

Enjoy your Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I never play music when I have a client in the car, because I need to pay 125% to my driving.

But if I were going to play music today, while heading out for sashimi, it would be this!! A great song for driving on a sunny day!

I’ve posted this song here many times, but it is such a classic!! France Gall, 1964, “Laisse tomber les filles” !!! Play it loud and try really hard to stick to the speed limit. Okay! Enjoy, gang. (Remember: No dancing while the car is in motion.)

It Begins!

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This will be a quick post today because I not only have my usual shift to get to this morning, but I have a couple of new files from Peitor to read before I leave — and then another Zoom call with Sandra the minute I get home this afternoon!

I’m extremely excited, gang. It is official!

This will be my schedule for NYC between now and October:

  • One week in mid-July
  • 5 days in late August/Labor Day
  • One week in mid-October

The reading will be one night — possibly two nights– October 13th and/or 14th. Yay!!!!!!

It has only taken 11 years to get to this point!! (Meaning, Off-Broadway. Not counting the world premiere we had in Toronto in October 2023.)

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Two videos from James Tabor:

Go with Me into the 1st century Jerusalem Tomb of the Shroud! (16 mins):

Do Mainstream Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Reflect Abrahamic Faith? (25 mins):

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If you’re a member of Simon Parkes’ Connecting Consciousness group, there will be a live ZOOM tonight at 7PM Eastern time, with Matt Roeske, of Cultivate Elevate.

You have to be a member to watch,. You can join here, but you might not get approved for membership before tonight.

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Phil is planning to go live tonight, too. Check here later to confirm. No time announced yet.

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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds played to a sold out audience last night in Kansas City. Most of the posts to Instagram were videos, though (so far). But here’s a photo!

Tomorrow night, they play Denver! You can buy tickets here!!

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And that is it for now, gang! I gotta scoot!!

Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visting!

I love you guys. See ya!

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Another one from the new Willie Nelson album, Oh What A Beautiful World. The song was written by Rodney Crowell & Guy Clarke — “Stuff That Works”. Enjoy, gang!

“Stuff That Works”

I’ve got an old blue shirt and it suits me just fine
I like the way it feels so I wear it all the time
I’ve got an old guitar that won’t ever stay in tune
But I like the way it sounds in a dark and empty room

I’ve got an old pair of boots that fit my feet just right
I can work all day and go out and dance all night
I’ve got a new used car that runs just like a top
Yeah I get the feeling it ain’t ever gonna stop

Stuff that works stuff that holds up
Is the kind of stuff you don’t hang on the wall
Stuff that’s real that stuff you feel
Is the stuff you always reach for when you fall

I’ve got a pretty good friend who’s seen me at my worst
He don’t care if I’m a blessing or a curse
But he always shows up when the chips are down
That’s the kind of friend I like to be around
Stuff that works

There’s a woman I love she’s crazy and she paints like God
She’s got a playground sense of justice she don’t give odds
I’ve got a tattoo with her name right through my soul
And I think everything she touches turns to gold
Stuff that works
Stuff that works

c – 1995 – Rodney Crowell, Guy Clarke

It’s Decided!

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Now that I’ve actually caught up on all my sleep and feel totally 100% back to normal again, I’ve decided, quite joyfully, to grow old(er) with Nick Cave and any and all various upcoming versions of the Bad Seeds!!

Other than that, though … I’m gonna age gracefully.

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Okay!

I forgot to post yesterday that il donaldo trumpo not only posted the popcorn meme again on Saturday, he said: “We’re gonna need WAY more popcorn this week!!!“

If you STILL don’t follow Q — this means that we’re watching a movie and that something(s) happening this week that will seem off the charts, but that it is not real; to just chill-ax; we’re watching a movie.

And on a similar (sort of) topic…

If you didn’t see it yet, they are planning to re-open the notorious federal penitentiary, Alcatraz — but that it has already been expanded and updated, gang. It seems it is already ready to go!

Sounds like the West Coast version of Gitmo.

About 40 years ago, on a trip to San Francisco to visit my family, we took a tour of Alcatraz. Wow, was it creepy.

However, I did get a really cool souvenir ceramic ashtray! It was black & white stripes (like the old style of prison uniforms) and it had a drawing of Alcatraz on it, and it said: “Alcatraz: The Last Resort”

Oh! Well, here’s one for sale on eBay:

I loved that ashtray!! And up until late this past summer, I kept it out on the side table on my kitchen porch. Anyone who stopped by to visit over the years, and who smoked, could always feel free to hang out on the patio chairs and smoke whatever was legal.

Then, as these things go, a family with several kids moved into a rental down at the end of the block last summer. According to neighbors, the kids were “troublemakers” and were wreaking havoc all over our little village. The family eventually got evicted, but not until my ashtray disappeared in the middle of a hot summer night!

It annoyed me, but I like to think they just thought it was cool and had to have it.

God knows, when I was young, I stole more things than I can possibly remember — hence my eventually “getting arrested” and put on one month of House Arrest when I was 14, and the Officer in the Uniform behind the Big Desk told me that if I got caught stealing again, I’d be going to reform school.

Since I only had the highest quality friends back then… many of the kids I knew had already been to reform school and it sounded like an actual Hell on Earth. And that, my friends, ended my desire to steal anything whatsoever, ever again.

Okay. Anyway! I miss that ashtray, now that it’s summer and it should have it’s time-honored place on my kitchen porch, but oh well.

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Okay. Last night in Minneapolis!!

The show tonight in Kansas City is sold out, as are a couple other dates next week, but there are still tickets available for 4 other shows before the tour is over. Buy tickets here!

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All right. I have to get ready for the Zoom call with Sandra and the Musical Director, to get our play “The Guide to Being Fabulous” officially underway for its staged reading Off-Broadway this Fall!! So I gotta scoot!

I have the day off, but I don’t think I’ll have time to go to the shooting range today. We’ll see! (YES!! A thief and a gunslinger!!! And you wonder how come my marriages didn’t last??!!) (Not to mention cigarettes, bourbon, amphetamines and a seriously frisky stray eye…)

Anyway!!!! Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Check out this song!!!!! I love it. I played it on repeat, really loud, driving home from my shift at the old people’s home last night!!

Hong Kong pop singer, Grace Chang!! “Wo Ai Qia Qia”!!!! (A cha-cha song from 1957!) Enjoy, gang!!