Here’s some shots of Malena’s namesake following in her footsteps yet again, as a supermodel Kitty…My Boss took these this morning, and they are so truly lovely, that I had to drop everything and post them…

Love and Mimsy,
Lorraine

All about Mim tonight we are….Let’s start with a picture I got today from the wonderful family who raised her so far…..

It was Take Your Kitten to Work Day, today, so here is some cuteness from that adventure…Coconut adores her and washed her and purred. Would that Venus was as happy…

Of course, not quite sure how Mim felt about this impromptu bath….

Here’s Kelli haveing some Kitten Time….

And yet more cuteness….

And, uh, THIS just came to me. Do you think someone is envious of her namesake????? Or is this what she turns into on full moons??? Who knew????

(she slays me. Literaly.)

Love and Kitties,
Lorraine

Kimberly sent me a LOT of photos , so here you go….

Let’s start with the Graveyard, as they are always the most fun, the older the better I say. Sadly, it was daytime and not at night, under a full moon , with Things creeping from their Graves….

Here is Washington Irving’s grave. He was the only one we knew in Sleepy Hollow, the rest of the graves are random dead.

Kimberly, amazing photographer that she is, shot this picture of the inside of the old church ( which, a sign says, has been there and continually holding services for 300 years, except during the revolution ) I love the way the outside got into the shot, pretty darn cool I say.

Here is a truly glamorous shot of me and Kimberly in the , uh, parking lot, at Macbeth.

And here is me working on my dramatic acting skills, stabbing Kim’s daughter Caitlen , ala Macbeth.

I call these next ones ” My Big Head in the Sea, Big Head in the Woods and Big Head in the City ”

This last one is my favorite , it looks like we are Very Afraid of something.

I hope you enjoyed this little My Weekend in Photos. Tomorrow , the Star of the photo essay ( the first of many , I am thinking ) is Madame Malena Mim!

Love and Pictures,
Lorraine

Meet ” Madame Malena Mim !! ” She’s finally here, and more sweet and lovely than I had ever thought a Kitty could be. She doesn’t seem to want to be more than a foot away from me. Freaky Venus isn’t sure yet, but I think will come around. We are camera-less until Wednesday, so better pics are coming, but here is a photo booth shot for now… ( Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…)

She acts Bengal-like, but is also more Cat-like than Venus ever was. Madame Mim was raised in a family, and Venus in a cat cage. She talks while she eats, which is really funny. Venus growled a bit, and is now using the new litter box, just to show who is who and what is what. Madame Malena Mim reminds me of our Malena, she is beautiful and sweet and loving and then all of a sudden, WHAM! She grows fangs and claws and jumps on your head! ( The quality of mercy is not strained )

This weekend in New York was wonderful fun! Macbeth was well over worth going out for. My only regret is I only got to see it once, ought to have got tickets for the day and evening shows. It was easily the best Macbeth I have ever seen, and I have seen a LOT. Magic, pure magic. I have nothing bad to say about it. Casting, acting, costumes, blood, magic, all wonderful. If you can get there, go. I don’t want to say too much, if you can see it you will know . Every director has a different image of what the play should be, and this is so very different than any other . I will say, the most sucessful Macbeths are the ones that understand that there is as much comedy in a tragedy, as there is tragedy, and the line is very, very fine. ( The Plays the thing…)

The Porter was , by FAR , the best Porter scene ever. ( I actually saw a production some years ago where they CUT the porter scene. Gads, I say, gads. These guys, tho, got it. ) And the Witches , hmm, for lack of elagant words, and not wanting, again, to give away anything, blew me away! I loved the way they saw this play. Very like how I see it and I will never forget it.( A hit, a very palpable hit )

On Sunday Kimberly and I spent the day in a graveyard in Sleepy Hollow, we went to Washington Irvings grave and left a penny ( not sure why, but there were others there and it seemed right. ) She has promised to send me some pictures, she, being a photographer, took some wonderful ones. . ( If you see me tomorrow, you will find me a grave man…)

This must needs be short tonight. Madame Malena Mim is curled up beside me and Freaky Venus Seaweed keeps trying to attack thru the pillow block I have set up so I can write. Poor Madame Malena Mim has had a day of it. It was funny when I picked her up, I heard her long before I saw her, everyone did, she let us know how she felt about the plane, leaving home, and cat carriers in general. ( Lord, what fools these mortals be )

I am glad she is here tho. And soon ( one prays ) Venus will be too.

Eye of newt and toe of frog….
Lorraine

And I want you to know about it too!

Kelli Bickman , a ( currently ) red-haired artist from New York ; whose work has been shown in galleries world wide ; a multi award winning photographer, painter and filmmaker AND ( ah-hem! ) a good friend of mine, now has an Ebay store. She is selling both paintings and signed , very rare , posters , signed by none other than my Boss.

( for the two of you out there who might not know who THAT is, he is Neil Gaiman, a writer of some renown. Tho he does not, sadly, have red hair like Kelli and myself )

I was just over there, at Kelli’s store, and I cannot believe what these paintings and posters are going for. You need to see these, and get some bids in, before people discover it and the prices go sky high. Matter of time. And not much of it.

What I love best , I think, about Kelli’s work that one can dream in it. You can look at her paintings forever , and never see all there is. You can get lost in them and not care, really, if you come back out or not. Every painting is a story, and she is a storyteller, like the storytellers who once sat around the fires at night, and explained what the moon was and most importantly, why it was. She will wrap you in her work and you will be happy.

Kelli is a painter like my Boss is a writer. Like Malena is a singer. Like the sun is a pretty nifty star to have around. She is also kind of a Dork, in the same way Malena and I are. ( and anyone who tells you that is a bad thing, is NOT a one of US ! )

You will love her. She will love you. Go, now, and make friends…

Love and paintings,
Lorraine

It was 6 below zero by 6:00pm tonight driving into my gig. Even my wonderful Prius could not keep up with it. Windchill much lower. It’s the kind of cold that, on the highway, you find yourself, and everyone around you , slowing down, it’s just that cold. Speeds slow to 60, 55, 50, and then someone will realise it, and everyone speeds back up.

I thought I would never be warm again, and thought how nice it would be in my cozy Pub.

Pub, never exactly the most weather-proof place ( hey, it was built in 1860 ) had lost it’s heat.

Cold? Oh yes. I thought, ” well, there goes tonight, it must be barely 50 in here”

And no one left. They packed the place. They wore their coats, and hats, and gloves. They warmed their poor hand on the candles, on each table. They got blankets from the hotel. My little fingers were so cold, it was so hard to play.

And they stayed. All night.

They lent me a hoodie. And a hat. I gave them ever thing I had in me, in return.

And they were so happy.

I am beyond happy, that much love, makes one weak. They thanked me, and all I could think was….

Thank you.

Music is sometimes so beyond worthwhile, it is sometimes, the only thing in the world that matters. That we could all freeze together for four hours doesn’t even seem like a small price to pay for that much together. Everyone there tonight is now a good friend to everyone else who was there.

It was Minus 15 driving home. Won’t see zero any time soon. I am wrapped in all my clothes, and a robe and am sitting as close to my fire as possible. And , damm the heating bills, have turned up the heat. I may never be warm again, but my heart sure is, and will be.

Thank you. A gift like tonight may not come twice in a lifetime.

Lorraine

Quick post this morning….

I am so happy that so many of you want to come to my Birthday Party! It makes me feel so good, truly. I will try and make it as fun as possible, and for those of you who can’t come, we will take lots of pics and tell you all!. I may take my laptop in , so you can have live pics and reports from the party…..They have wi-fi….

Uh, for those of you who are coming, this was the weather report for tonight…

” Wind chill readings 27 below to 37 below zero. “

In a word: COLD!!!!! Insane cold!!!!!!!

New Kitty is coming this week, and I am so excited. Venus needs a playmate, badly. All Poor Zoe wants is to go to sleep, and then BAM Venus jumps on her head. Zoe, is not amused by this. New Kitty, who may be called Madame Malena Mim , will even the odds a little. I hope. She’ll certainly have enough energy for Venus, despite the picture here….

Then I am off to New York next weekend, to see Penn Gilette in Macbeth. ( which is actually in New Jersey, but I am meeting up with Kimberly Butler, who, it turns out is as Shakespeare Mad as I am ) I have a sitter for the weekend, who will come and be Mom to the Kitties, a sweet 14 year old girl , who loves clothes with Skulls. A Little LaMie! We will teach her up right!!!

Love, and dreaming of Warm,
Lorraine

I went and saw Boiled in Lead last night with Kitty, Kelli and Jen and had so very much fun! I hadn’t seen them in a long time and it was beyond fun to get us all back together. It is their 25th Anniversary on St Pats this year. Even if you don’t know them as a band, you have heard them. Dave, the fiddle player TAUGHT me to play Celtic Music a , uh, long, time ago. If you heard drums on Lorraine a’ Malena or Flash Girls, that’s Robin and I have done recording up at his studio in Northern Minnesota. ( oh, and check out this absoulutly wonderful vid by his band the Darbuki Kings , wonderful!!! ) . Todd has also played on Flash Girls cd’s and we recorded his song ” Sure of Me “. Drew introduced me to the whole Celtic/ Alt Celtic scene and his record company helped Folk Underground with our cd’s.

Adam Stemple, our producer from God, was in Boiled in Lead for some years. They have a new member, Dean McGraw, who is one of the best players going. I am not sure yet what influence he will have on my art, but I did ask him to marry me last night. He’s just too darn cute.

( One note: we decided it would work if he could have 5 wives, which I said was ok if I could have five wives too. You know, sobriety is a strange thing, I never got myself into these messes back in my drinking days, hee-hee. )

They have a new cd coming out ” Silver ” ( Kitty shot the band last night for the photos for it. ) One of the songs ” Death on Hennipen ” ( by John Van Orman ) the Flash Girls recorded on our very first cd.

Family. It was good to be together again. And I got to have my first ” Party” at the Spooky House after the show. ( Venus was not sure she approved until she discovered the band had all brought FOOD with MEAT along to eat )

Here’s a shot from Kitty we did durning the break…..

As it is only a month away, and some of you will need to be coming from far away, ( Like FRANCE and SCOTLAND and CANADA ) I should announce that my Birthday is February 15th, a Friday. And Lojo and I will be playing a concert on Friday Night, and Paul and I on Saturday Night. It is a full on weekend Birthday Party and you are ALL invited!!!!!! Anyone who wants to come will be on the Guest List , of course ( not that there will be a cover, but it is the principle of the thing )

In other news, I have been accepted as a Foster Home by the Great Lakes Bengal Rescue Assoc. and am next in line for a Foster Kitty! I have turned an un-used room , which had been kind of a catch all closet, into Foster Kitty Heaven . I am very excited and hope I will be able to help some of these wonderful cats. Pictures as they happen!

And as no post will be complete for some time without New Kitty Pictures, here you go. This is her with her brother, tag teaming a chair. I can’t wait!!!!!

Love and Music,
Lorraine

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It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Maila Nurmi, better known as Vampira. She died in her home , of natural causes , yesterday at the age of 86.

Maila was the first full on over the top Vampire Hostess to stalk the silver screen, back in the 1950’s. Maila INVENTED full on over the top, living and loving it in a Haunted House Wehoooooo! Or perhaps, she was just the first one of us to know that creepy, dark , slinky , curvy and beautiful had as much of a place on television as anyone from Ozzie and Harriet to Leave it to Beaver ( the shows at the time ) or as any blonde fresh faced sitcom today.

Like many dark dreamers, Maila was inspired by Charles Addams cartoon Diva, Morticia. When I was growing up, there were kids who wanted to be one of the Brady Bunch , the Dukes of Hazzard or the Bionic Women. Then there were those of us who eagerly awaited re-runs of the Addams Family ( or the Munsters ) and dreamed of growing up and being Morticia , with a meat eating killer plant .

Long, long before Motricia and Cleopatra, there was Maila and her pet spider Rollo.

From her first preview episode ( Dig Me, Vampira ) and on through the next 52 shows, Maila, as Vampira introduced horror films, wandering through misty cobweb covered halls, making television history. She was Americas first Horror Show Hostess.
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I was interviewed for a documentary called American Scary last year, ( as was Maila ) filled with a who’s who of American Horror TV Hosting personalities, but Maila Nurmi was truly the Queen. We all owe her so much. She was the first, to have the same vision, of what beautiful could be..

Where ever there are bats, spiders, cobwebs, magic , strange sounds coming from the attic, or screams from the graveyard, where no one is ever dead for long, you will find Miala Nurmi. Even if you have never heard of her, or seen her work, you will know her.

And I will be there too , my darlinGs…Carrying on showing you how beautiful the night can be.

Miala, we will miss you.

And see you in our dreams.

Love, Malena

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Dave Alexander recently conducted an interview with Maila ( very likely her last ) for Rue Morgue. It will be published, along with a memorial, in their next issue.