items #42 and 43: "concrete shoes, cyanide, TNT!" FREE TICKETS!

playing catch up on hearts day.

this "swallowing diamonds" project has been so much fun and it's putting me in touch with humans I may never have had contact with.

this package, bursting with sticker-love, came to me from a previous winner on the blog- the lovely three-names Anthony.

even his choice of postage stamps: spot on!

a geniune moment that made me stop and hold my little red velvet heart in my hand... or as my British production manager used to say:

I got a tear in my glass eye.

So, I was remiss in posting yesterday, I was still in German guitar god heaven.

I got to spend a day on the Michael Schenker tour, he and his band of merry pirates played at House of Blues on Sunset. Epic evening. UFO has the ability to put me right back into my eighth grade room. Lights out in London!

Today's diamonds will be a pair of FREE tickets to see Back in Black, an AC/DC cover act, on Friday, Feb 28th.

AC/DC, I am such a Bon Scott girl. I do find myself humming "dirty deeds done dirt cheap.." far too often. (neckties...contracts...high voltage)

While in Australia, last year about this time, we went to the big AC/DC owned Cherry Bar, meow!

please only take these if you can use them. to win, tell me your favorite AC/DC song!

Reminder: ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT IN MY GIANT TOUR SWAG AUCTION. guitar picks, backstage passes, tshirts...

meanwhile, tonight, Husband is taking me to the very romantic oceanfront spot MOONSHADOWS in Malibu. (yes, the place where Mel Gibson had his meltdown...) May your hearts all be chocolate!

item #41: big LOT of tour swag/picks/passes

i have been a roadie for over a decade. this is item #41 in my "swallowing diamonds" clean-out-treehouse project.

a collection of tour swag from several of my tours.

8 never-stuck-on-human backstage/working passes from:

8 guitar picks from Zombie, Cheap Trick, Megadeth, Godsmack. I especially LOVE the Universal monster one.

xox John 5 and Piggy D!

plus a bonus mystery yellow pick-- WORLD TOUR on front, *secret on back.

3 tshirts:

one from Zombie/Megadeth (this is surely a bootleg--as a merchandiser i hate bootleggers, not condoning in any way) 100% cotton XXL size.

one from TOOL 2007 from the great UPSTAGING trucking company this sadly doesn't fit my sad self. 100 % cotton in size small.

one from EAGLES tour 2005 a "girly" style tee, in size XL.

one concert ticket from one of my favorite tours EVER: Zombie/Slayer.

i love souvenirs. please give these good homes...

CLICK HERE FOR EBAY LINK.

If any artist I work with protests me selling this, i will remove. lord knows, i love & respect these people.

these are just things I have collected over the years, that I would like to sell to give money to my favorite tiger refuge, Valley of the Kings.

It's winter and they really need funds to keep the big cats warm and fed.

auction only offered in US of A-- sorry, too much $$ to ship overseas.

item #36: some double plus goodness from TORI AMOS tour

item #36:

Oh, the wonderful memories from this tour-

This is the Tori Amos crew jacket from the 2002-2003 US tour for Scarlet's Walk, all hand made in England.

This is a navy blue pullover, very soft fleece hoodie, supertoasty warm.

Has hand-sewn patches on the back, front and sleeve. The rough sewing is on purpose, meant to be like that, all our jackets had variants...

EBAY LINK IS HERE.

I will throw in a Scarlet's Walk DVD complete with stickers, Scarlet's map, lyric chest, postcards-- just missing the music CD in it, someone made off with that--but you probably already have the music, if NOT, you best get to finding it, friends.

For "Amber Waves" alone, get that album! That was my decompression song forever.

That tour was magic-- I couldn't easily find photos from it, but there's one from T's bday- a couple tours later.

Good homes only, because man, I loved this deep blue hoody.

Swallowing diamonds means cutting throats sometimes.

(item #36 in the project, one thing a day out of our little over-stuffed treehouse!)

as always auction starts at 99 cents, but sorry, I can't offer this one for overseas shipping. I have already under-estimated most of my shipping costs (and i ship ALL the time, doh!) and shipping overseas is no guarantee of arrival- at big heavy cost.

proceeds from this auction will benefit the good cats of AVALO SANCTUARY. That's where my friend KING LEAR now resides.

ALSO, i put another one of the Neil mugs up for bids.

CLICK HERE FOR EBAY LINK.

I am finding ALL kinds of treasure in the treehouse archives. stay tuned!

2 shows in one day: The Black Keys

i love NYC.

especially in the wintertime.

Did two one-offs with the marvelous band and crew of The Black Keys. I met Colin, my production manager, and I sincerely hope we work together again, what a champ. He got us radios in one phone call, on SuperBowl weekend. That's a trick! The whole team was dreamy. Thanks miss Red, for letting me fill in for you.

The band played a full set at Roseland, the crowd went wild. The Roseland, sadly, is slated to be torn down, replaced with a 47-story apartment building.

The crew here told me Lady Gaga will be the last to perform, at this legendary spot. I am sad to see it go. Have done numerous shows here over the years, so many memories, right across from the dreaded Letterman load in.

Being in NYC during SuperBowl was a trip. I walked down the street and took a wrong turn right into a giant sea of football fans, I accidentally got into the Times Square of it all!

At the Howard Stern load in, there were so many old friends, guys I haven't toured with for years. At one point, I turned to my left and was elbow to elbow with a still-stunning Steven Tyler. My childhood passed before my eyes--

Wendy's wristband...

for after show food, I ordered the mighty PieFace for the crew, didn't even know they had American outposts, had only had these beauties while in Australia. delish!

We could use our laminates to get into the Foos show on the pier, but I was so tired from walking (upper west side to lower east side) I lagged. Sometimes, you just can't do it all.

I did sneak in a quick visit to my favorite bar in the city:

now I am back home, getting ready to process all the new David Mack prints, here the alien space twins help me with the poster tubes...

they work for tuna.

NEW PRINT: NEIL GAIMAN/DAVID MACK: "I will write in words of fire..."

Whie we call this NEW version of the I WILL WRITE WITH WORDS OF FIRE...it's not.

This is the actual version that Burton had tattooed on his back, the color scheme that David chose & illustrated for him. A skin friendly script written by Neil Gaiman.

They are a hand-numbered, limited edition of 500. a dreamy hand pulled print run in 11" x 17" full color, the design really pops at this size. David has even numbers, we have odd. A Libra split! A Valentine's arrow in to the heart.

Printed right here in Hollywood, California. These are offered unsigned and will be $25.00 until Feb 4 midnight PST, when they will go up to $38.00. CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOURS.

By the way, to track down these travelling men, it's a full-time job-- that's why they are unsigned at this time.

here are some past photos of the original version, long since gone. THIS VERSION WILL ALSO GO QUICKLY!

Neil reads the tattoo poem.

A PORTION OF EACH PRINT PRICE WILL GO TO BENEFIT THE GAIMAN FOUNDATION.

in 2012, Neil and his lovely daughter Holly started a program to benefit those championing the written word. The foundation supports freedom of speech, and literary education, generally doing good where it can. The CBLDF is one place they are directing their funds, we are all working together.

here is the entire text of the beautiful poem Neil composed:

I will write in words of fire.

I will write them on your skin.

I will write about desire.

Write beginnings, write of sin.

You're the book I love the best,

your skin only holds my truth,

you will be a palimpsest

lines of age rewriting youth.

You will not burn upon the pyre.

Or be buried on the shelf.

You're my letter to desire:

And you'll never read yourself

I will trace each word and comma

As the final dusk descends,

You're my tale of dreams and drama,

Let us find out how it ends.

-Neil Gaiman

some Boston goodness: GODSMACK!

Neil was in town this week, so great to see that bearded wonder. However, I was derailed by work and sick so am behind on the one-thing-a-day out of the treehouse project i have engaged with myself to do aka SWALLOWING DIAMONDS.

here is Neil reading his beautiful collection of COMIX BOOK from Mr. Denis Kitchen of Kitchen Sink Books, back in action under the Dark Horse roof.

item #22:

the item #21: the glass kitty cat must not have been found by a swallowing diamonds reader, because no one sent in a photo, so I am giving the GOLDFISH POOL print by David Mack to faithful twitterer @Mattncoley who has been my cheerleader for awhile. He (they) have encouraged me in the project and spread the word. i call it karma- enjoy, Matt n' Nicole w/my thanks!

item #23:

another one of the Neil Gaiman quote mugs is back on ebay: CLICK here, it's got ONE MORE DAY.

comes with 4 Chinese New Year chocolate dragon coins...go and bid, right now, it's only a measly 5 bucks.

item #24:

FREE! this lovely musical tribute to Neil: with tracks by Ego Likeness, Tori Amos and that hotty Voltaire. just put in the comments, some new (or old) music you are listening to, that i might like.

I really need some new music.

item #25: a two part GODSMACK tour swag package over on EBAY, click here.

My first tour was the mighty Boston-based Godsmack on a bill with the Deftones back in 2001.

We were out on 9/11 and that brought about the end of our tour.

Am putting up for auction a two-pack of embroidered goodness:

1. a 2001 tour swag shoulder bag with about a zillion pockets, never used.

2. a Dickies-brand work jacket with two pockets and two lovely embroidered logos, this one was from the 2006 tour Godsmack/Rob Zombie. it is a size small, and I wore it proudly.

Sully! What a sweetheart. I believe in a voice like that. One of my favorite tours, and in fact, the tour I met my beloved roadie husband and dear friend Red.

i'll throw in an old pass and setlist if i can find...

this auction is only available in the States, because it's going be a heavy send. starts at 99 cents, as all my auctions will.

(sorry the photos look so crappy, i need to learn to photograph clothing items)

as always, thanks for playing.

item #19: FREE! all the way from Japan...

Last year, my forever dream of visiting Japan came true. I shall always love the Slipknot camp for taking me there.

definitely some cool cats on that team, and it's great music to clean your house to.

I fell in love with the terrific attention to detail and the turn of phrase that the translation from Japanese to English often brought. I studied Mandarin in college but that sure didn't help me here...

Everything looked bright and new to me. I brought back so many little presents.

The food was, bar none, my favorite of the world, even down to the crazy convenience store eggs, cooked EXACTLY like I like them, I can't wait to go back.

is my visa still good?

to the person who tells me their favorite food of the world, in the comments, I will send this little Japanese note pad, which includes this quote of perfection:

How many do you know the beautiful language which conveys a feeling?

and I'll throw in a free Neverwear pen:

tomorrow: item #20 will be from HOUSE ON THE ROCK, for all my fellow American Gods fans....stay tuned!

item #18: FREE to good home.

I used to have a little shop in Baltimore, right down by the water in Fells Point. It was called 9th Life and it's how I put myself through college without student loans.

Many of my friends were artists, I would sell their pieces there- I scoured thrift shops back when you could really find treasures.

Homicide:Life on the Street was filmed right across the street and there was many a joke centered on "Homicide: Life without parking" because production could take up everything. Many of my friends worked in the union in Baltimore on the different shows and films being shot in and around Charm City and once they were going to film in my shop, but it was deemed "really too small"-- and it was. Here's me on my birthday one year:

anyway, I used to go up to NYC every month on buying trips, and would hit the wholesale markets, looking for sparkly fun treasure on the cheap. Yesterday I opened a box of things from the store. My item 18 is a little pack of New York City street sparkles:

a pair of wooden and rhinestone hairsticks, a sheet of eye-glitters. and since Husband is off in Sacramento lighting a Jesus convention, in his honor, i added this 3D Jesus & Mary keychain to the pile. (if you've ever seen Husband, they may think he IS Jesus)

*a batch of barrettes on cards that I would print up with whatever words were on my mind at the time.

just leave in the comments, what you believe I should see/do/buy while in NYC next trip (end of Jan)- i will pick a winner in the morning.

Will ship off to anywhere on this big planet! ps. Thanks to @spacedlaw for donating the dollar amount of her auction win of the Neil mug to save the kitties at @AvaloCats.

pps. If you see me on social media ANYTIME after this, tell me to GO FINISH MY SCRIPT. today is writing day. *scrams.

swallowing diamonds item #16 and #17: TORI AMOS tees

WOW, it's been a busy couple of days, good busy, but busy.

playing catch up here with two items (which will be one auction).

ah, miss Tori Amos, how you have set the course of my life on a royal-flush mission. It was on her tour, that I got to meet mister Neil Gaiman, back in 2003.

I was lucky enough to tour with Tori on three different runs.

Every night, different magic.

The first tshirt is from a tour i was not actually on, but I did go see the show in Boston at the beautiful Wang Theatre, Rufus Wainwright opened, oh man. It is a 100% cotton size large, with the tour dates on the back.

I started touring with T in 2002, did the Scarlet's Walk tour and the 2003 Lottapianos with Ben Folds and then The Beekeeper tour in 2005-- such a terrific crew on that tour. I even got one of my stories published in the epic Tori tribute book: COMIC BOOK TATTOO edited by Rantz Hoseley, you can read my account of it HERE.

The second tshirt (size XL 100% cotton) is one that we handed out to the local crews every night after they finished loading us back in the trucks for the haul to the next city on the tour. I part with this one a bit sadly, these were never available for sale, only given out... but that is what this is all about, right? Making room for more magic in my life.

CLICK HERE FOR THE AUCTION LINK.

This auction is only offered in the USA, sorry overseas friends, I just can't send a replacement if it goes missing. Thanks for being part of my Swallowing Diamonds project.

*ps, IF i can find it, I think I have a set list around here somewhere, I will throw that in. happy bidding, ask me any question and I'll do my best on the answer.

pps. THANK YOU to my two-hats-to-Rickert & Beagle-customers winners: Ann and Bryan! hats are on the way. tomorrow's item will be a freebie as well...stay tuned!

Zombie...(item #12)

happy Saturday, today is going to be busy busy busy, so i thought I would knock two out of the park. I am giving away some tour memories. An all black 100% cotton (bootleg) Zombie/Megadeth tee in size XXL.

This tour was the absolute most fun! Lacuna Coil was our opener and i would make sure to be out in front for the Mustaine/Cristina duet on Le Tous Le Monde, EVERY NIGHT. chills...

( (if you don't know this song, click here to hear/watch it.)

I think i like the spooky back better than the front... Throwing in a tour sticky pass, which allows no access to anything. That thing is long over!

All you have to do to enter to win is tell me your favorite live show ever seen. Please put in the comments, it's the only way I can keep track of anything at present.

You can link to a blog about your favorite show, that's fine, be creative, it can go on any of the three blogs Furrytiger, Neverwear or Swallowing Diamonds. Soon, I'll be streamlining, but it's still a new little baby project. Needs training wheels...

Second thing already has a home, in fact.

I got an email from a hopeful Neverwear customer who said that the site still had an option to send to Yugoslavia, but no option for the recently independant Montenegro. I love political change! So as we update the site, our fine WebGoblin DanGuy is working on this. (@Danguyf on twitter) I told our Montenegran friend that I would send him his tshirt free if he would make a charitable donation to an animal shelter somewhere-- yeah!

so-- winners of #8 and #9 items, the two signed-by-Neil Gaiman OCEAN cards:

"I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else."

from Raquel Moritz

"Words save our lives, sometimes."

from Donna Blitzen

PLUS! Third runner up: (prize to be determined)

“All monsters are scared. That's why they're monsters.”

from Vampi

LAST THING: **the Linkin Park hat was won by Adrienne Hill, but I need an address to ship to.

(winners, please email me: neverwear@gaiman.net)

Happy January to you all.

item #11: so many charms...benefit for the tigers.

So, it seems the bead lots are making people happy, I got SO much email about them. Offers to buy all my beads outright, etc.

but...Nah, not yet, this way is more fun for me, i get to go down memory lane with these bead buddies.

PROCEEDS FROM THIS AUCTION WILL BENEFIT VALLEY OF THE KINGS where the mighty Obie and Socrates live! A big cat sanctuary in Wisconsin. (*many other exotic animals live there too)

here we are, marveling at the beauty that is the tiger. The VOTK always needs funds to keep up with the food supply, especially in wintertime...

so, back to the beads:I put myself through college by making jewelry, thank goodness as now, I have no student loans!

The upshot is that I have LOADS of beads to get rid of, as I just don't have time to make the jewels so much these days.

From my travels, I have picked up charms and beads at flea markets, vintage shops, thrift shops, yard sales, bead shops, the world wide.

Some pieces I can't recall where I got, but I have made a little list to describe as best as I can.

as always, the auction starts at 99 cents.

CLICK HERE FOR THE EBAY LINK.

here's what's in this auction:

4 x stretchy bead string for jewelry making (great for bracelet making)

1 x bag of assorted accent ball beads

1 x faux-diamond K pendant (do not know where this came from)

1 x sterling and pearl earring (I had planned on making necklace)

1 x labrodorite bead/ sterling thunderbird spirit earring (marked 925)

1 x lapis lazuli pendant set in sterling (925 stamp on back)

1 x brass world expo pendant w/Austrian crystal accents

1 x glass glob pendant

2 x heart lock w/key charms (silvertone)

2 x Celtic cross charms (brass?)

1 x heart pierced with sword Milagro charm (one of my favorite pieces)

6 x rose quartz beads (the love stone!)

1 x circle pendant in sterling stamped 925 (Balinese, I believe)

1 x faceted glass? ball bead (may be citrine, I got this from broken antique necklace)

2 x rhinestone charms w/light green stones & moonstone-esque pieces

1 x pair of vintage rhinestone & milk glass beads? (no earring backs w/ these, sorry)

1 x very interesting agate pendant set in sterling (925 stamp)

1 x pair earrings w/Kali heads, green glass beads, not sure of material, no markings.

4 x kitty cat charms (silvertone)

4 x filigree charms (2 gold tone/2 silver tone)

2 x wishbone charms

1 x fairy charm

1 x teeny tiny little star charm

7 x assorted crescent moon charms

Sorry overseas friends, I am only shipping in the United States, because I can't replace these if something happens in the post.

any questions, lay 'em on me.

I will work anything out with anyone, I am one of the ebay good guys! Meanwhile, I am getting a little behind in the winners, WORKING ON IT, i swear. ALL feedback appreciated and accepted. Comments section is open.

item #10: a Neil Gaiman mug

I am a mug collector. I admit it.

I also admit I am fairly picky about what vessel I use for my hot beverages.

My favorite combo is dark on the outside and light on the inside, I believe it's so i can see if the mug is dirty or not. This one fills the bill perfectly, as my other condition is that it is big enough for my required quantity of said hot liquid.

We made these up for Christmas gifts this year and I have a few left over. This is a part of my "swallowing diamonds" project, of getting one thing a day out of the treehouse. So far, so good!

If this one does well, we may add it to the Neverwear line. Click here for the link to our ebay auction.

It's a quote from Neil Gaiman's amazing University of the Arts commencement speech from May 2012, which is up on line HERE.

In his speech, he advises that no matter what happens, make art out of the situation. And in making art, when mistakes are made, all the better. He describes a moment when he misspelled "Caroline" while typing, and that's how he came up with the title of his wonderful "CORALINE" book.

In fact, I made a conscious "*mistake" on this mug, as i couldn't fit the actual quote from NG, too many letters for the printer to wrap, so had to improvise, as much as I don't like to do that, I believe it contains the essence of his brilliant message, which is to take chances and be unafraid to do so.

to quote Queen:

"...and bad mistakes, I've made a few..."

This little reminder while I drink my morning tea makes me present and accountable. ( *editor's note: mug also works really well for coffee, but I have never seen Mr. Gaiman drink the stuff. He's a British tea man, more often he drinks green tea these days)

*I will throw in some chocolate dragon coins to sweeten the deal. they come in this little golden pouch which will be nestled in your new mug:

any questions, put them to me. The Ebay auction is for world-wide shipping, sorry that it costs so much to ship outside of the US, but them's the breaks, kids. I shipped one of these mugs as a present to friends over the seas and it cost 16+ bucks!

meanwhile, SPIDERMAN auction has four hours left! lots of watchers, no bids, so go get it!

I am one of the ebay good guys. Save my seller name: Kitty9thlife as there will be glorious, amazing mistakes ahead.

meanwhile, now I am off to LAX to pick up a friend (believe me, that's a favor in this town) and when I return, I will post the OCEAN card winners, and did I ever post the Linkin Park hat winner? ayyyyyyyyyy!