Seattle, WA: Empty Sea Studios

Nice to wind down the mostly-close-to-home-but-still-busy year with an intimate show among friends. Joe Jencks and I, of course, go back many, many years, and it's always fun to see what non-plussing may happen on-stage. And for the past few years Joe and Trina Willard have done a between-the-holidaze(-ish) date, so I'm happy to crash that tradition, too. Sold out the first show several days in advance, so pleased to add a second: double the singing, picking, and frequent grinning--all in a really special concert space.

Covington, WA: Covington Library (Bushwick Book Club - The Time Machine)

So ends the great Bushwick Book Club / Time Machine KCLS Tour, 2011--and nice to go out on top. Kudos to the Covington folk for making this one such an attended and aesthetic success, and to the gentleman calling himself 'Major Fun' who showed with his own Wells-inspired offerings to perform! Next up for KCLS: March, by Geraldine Brooks.

Vashon, WA: Vashon Library (Bushwick Book Club - The Time Machine)

Book Club ferryboat ride...!

Seattle, WA: Can-Can

Opener Scott Katz is probably a better burlesque-bar/cabaret act than we are, but it was worth this shot...

Kirlkland, WA: Merrill Gardens

Though iTunes categorizes at least one of our releases as 'country,' I knew we'd have to expand the repertoire for this retirement-center 'Hoedown.' So enter a little Hank, a little Johnny, some Roger Miller, Buck Owens, Don Gibson...and and Hank Thompson / Kitty Wells duet showdown (which, naturally, led to questions of how long Alicia and I have been 'together'). Everyone loves Dave's playing, of course, but this crowd really dug his hair, too!

Bothell, WA: Bothell Library (Bushwick Book Club - The Time Machine)

Another Bushwick/KCLS Time Machine show (all dudes this time), and another opportunity to marvel at modern library technology.

Seattle, WA: Columbia City Theater (Bushwick Book Club - The Shining)

Happy one-year anniversary, Bushwick Book Club! And Happy Halloween as well. Can't beat celebrating both here--particularly with a World Series Game 6 for-the-ages on backstage...

I enjoyed The Shining--the first Stephen King book I ever read--and found plenty of obscure potential song-threads. "Mrs. Brant's Blues" was the winner, however, leaving me to perform a randy ode to a very peripheral character while dressed as a five-year-old: a first for me, and, I assume, many others in the room.

And if you missed it, I released my Book Club recordings from the past year here!

Eugene, OR: FAR-West Conference

If I try to journal everything from the four days spent at this event (I've sat the previous two conferences out) I'd come up woefully short. And I'm tired...from all the things I didn't journal over the past four days! So, in very short, thanks to friends and colleagues new and old, conference coordinators, showcase hosts, and those willing to jump into the inaugural on-site songwriting collaborative (complete with 'fishbowl' of rut-breaking song-ideas generously supplied by the Seattle songwriting corps). Coordinated that, moderated one panel, said a li'l something at the luncheon, sang late into the night and early into the morning, and got back in one piece. Not bad work...

Lurking behind (L-R) Best of the West award winners Laurie Lewis, Vivian Williams,
Phil Williams, FAR-West President Steve Brogden, and co-presenter Marni Rachmiel
Photo: Peggy Glenn

Lynwood, WA: Tacos Guaymas (y Mas)

Mmmm, churros...!

Kirkland, WA: Kirkland Library (Bushwick Book Club - The Time Machine)

As I mentioned, Geoff has arranged for the Book Club to tour H.G. Wells' sci-fi classic The Time Machine through the King County Library System, the busiest (aggregate) library in the country! We're just across the parking lot from our location last week, but I'm almost kept from the stage by my dropped-jaw fascination with the very sci-fi-looking self-check-in sorting system 'backstage.'

Kirkland, WA: NW BookFest (Bushwick Book Club - The Time Machine)

Having just released my last year's-worth of Bushwick Book Club songs, said Book Club is at it again at BookFest. These types of literary events feature myriad panels, workshops, and other resources for readers and writers of all ages and levels, and mostly seem to draw folk interested in specific components of the schedule...which makes for some interesting and fun looks-on-faces from those hurriedly passing through the room on their respective ways to the next panel/workshop/reading and not expecting to encounter live music.

We'll be touring The Time Machine (H.G. Wells) through the King County Library System this fall--Kirkland on Oct. 8; Bothell Oct. 29; Vashon Nov. 20; Covington Dec. 1 (more possible)--so I'll have plenty of opportunities to croon "Take You Along."

The Bushwick Book Club Demos, Vol. 1

Seattle, WA: Private Wedding

With just a little rearranging, you can slide a verse of "You've Got a Friend" into "What a Wonderful World" (in case you were wondering)... Congrats to John and Heather!

Snoqualmie, WA: Puget Sound Walk for Speech Apraxia

You form a special bond when your alphabetically-assigned school locker is next to the same person every year, and sometimes that connection leads to some fun and interesting places down the road. Appreciate being asked to play this inaugural event, and blown away by the work Bill and Kari put into it (long before the last-minute venue-change and uncooperative weather ever factored into the equation). Hard to keep an audience once you tap the keg of root beer, but I have my methods...

Richland, WA: Tumbleweed Music Festival

This is Tumbleweed #9 for me, now firmly entrenched in my trophy-making and contest-hosting (congrats--again--to Tracy Spring, who is now banned-for-life after maxing out with her second victory) duties, along with a performance in there (fancy that) and plenty general question-answering. Even made it faintly into the background of a couple of these shots. Once again, they do a lot of things right here!

Seattle, WA: Conor Byrne Pub (Bushwick Book Club - The Outsiders)

Reading the book (I watched half the movie in 7th-grade), there was one passage that gave me an acute sense of déjà vu. I was elated to finally trace it to one of the first YouTube videos I ever saw.

In the hours before the show, I played a baseball game in my head between the Greasers and the Socs. The home-team Greasers win, 5-3, with Sodapop pitching a complete game victory. Soc Bob leaves early due to injury; Greaser Johnny does, too, later after laying down a sacrifice. Dally Winston goes 3-for-5 with an RBI, but is caught stealing late.

I didn't write my song about either of these things. Instead, I serenaded the noisy Bushwick crowd in this room with a fabricated history of Windrixville (where Ponyboy and Johnny escape via train-hopping after Johnny stabs Bob) and the doomed hilltop church: "All That's Left Behind."

Seattle, WA: Town Hall / KUOW 94.9-FM NPR

It's a lovely coup for Geoff to score The Bushwick Book Club a spot on KUOW's widely-heard Weekday program (on which I also appeared ~8 years ago for "Songs of the Northwest")--now doing periodic live broadcasts from stunning Town Hall--and alongside Nancy Pearl (alternately here) no less! I'll even survive a 7am call for it. (Someday I'll play here in the PM...)

Fun challenge to try to fit the context of the 'Bagpipe' song into a compressed radio timeline...and also find 2-4 relevant-and-clever lines of something to 'riff' on the News of the Week during the second hour. Fine work, too, from Geoff (of course), Tai Shan, MoZo, Vince Martinez, and Bucket of Honey (on whose Batman-inspired piece I play guitar for the recording used in the new Bushwick compilation CD, which also features said "Bagpipe" from yours truly).

Vashon, WA: Vashon Farmers Market

Some folk do these kinds of gigs all summer...I tend to show up more as a customer. (Look at the size of those carrots...!) Favorite exchange:

Me, to a group of young kids who've been impatient for me to start all through set-up:
"You guys wanna sing one with me?"

The kids--plainly but definitively, on their own respective initiatives without coercion from those among the group:
"Nope."


Feels strange to leave beautiful Vashon mid-afternoon on a gorgeous day like this, but evening work with R&M beckons.

Seattle, WA: Conor Byrne Pub

Things tend to move on Conor Standard Time here, but that's part of the charm. Got the full outfit along for a fun evening with The Half Brothers (love the bluegrass "White Wedding") and Brian Ledford and Cadillac Desert (who came to rock). Glad to be the inaugural Bushwick Book Club ticket giveaway, too...

Seattle, WA: Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival

This thing's been going for 35 years now, with Puget's Sound helping out on the music end for the last several. With the opening of Lake Union Park now, we're taking it farther into the evening on the Fourth-proper, and I've dragged Alicia and Dave with me to get folks in the mood on this pleasant holiday evening. Seeing a British Airways 747 leaving town as we loaded in seems appropriate on today of all days...

Seattle, WA: Fred Wildlife Refuge (Bushwick Book Club - The People's History of the United States)

Walking through this place, with its fresh floor-to-ceiling coat of white paint, one becomes a modern art installation. And Geoff has brought America to it and to us on this Third of July: baseball; barbecue; and plenty of red, white, and blue schwag... Singing the anthem falls to me, and I find the rules of engagement similar to making a toast at a wedding: be (mostly) sober and get-in-and-get-out (don't mention exes, either). My key: A.

We've each been assigned two chapters of Howard Zinn's remarkable work, with me drawing numbers 9 ("Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom") and 10 ("The Other Civil War"). And though the renters featured in the latter are definitely my people, it's the first chapter that becomes the focus of my tune, "Memory and Make-Believe." Some years ago I tried to shake myself out of a dry spell with a revisionist response to the Jamie O'Hara's "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout the Good Ol' Days)," made famous by the Judds, polling friends and family for suggestions of things that are better today. The song itself wasn't much of a keeper, but the exercise did get me going, and I found myself taking a different crack at some of the same themes with this tune--particularly the romantic ideal of "Gone With the Wind," and the inherent daydream assumption that, if transported to that time, one would be rich (and white).

Seattle, WA: Auntmama's Storycorner @ Madison Park Starbucks

In a perfect world events like this would happen every night in every coffeeshop in town: an intimate group sharing stories, perhaps on a theme (Father's Day tonight), perhaps with light instrumental underscoring (me!). Auntmama does a great job of finding that comfortable middle ground between casual/impromptu gabbing over coffee and rigid performance (these are 'prepared'--or pre-written--pieces), where the vibe is easy but the quality is high. And, as a story-focused songwriter, I find myself a natural fit among touching and funny offerings from Auntmama, Olubayo Johnson, and Kathya Alexander. Check out Auntmama on KBCS or live (particularly the Rain City Tales & Tunes events)!

String of Seattle Dates...& More!

Seattle, WA: Musicquarium Lounge at The Triple Door

There's a spot right in the middle of the second verse of "Out of the Way" where Dave added a nice little tambourine flourish on the studio recording. It's tough for him to re-create live without a third hand, however, but that doesn't stop Brian from staring at him expectantly at that moment every time we play it. So tonight Dave hatched a plan: given the funky, terraced confines of our little corner of The Triple Door's Musicquarium Lounge, he got ready to toss a tambourine down the steps at the perfect moment, hoping for some slinky action as gravity took over. Sadly, it landed in a bag of equipment before it could complete its percussive journey, but fate was with him that night...

We make it a point to play our 'Go'-set--five-or-so high-energy tunes--right when the Mainstage show lets out, a blatant (and often effective) attempt to convince those leaving to stop in for one more and hear us out. The real 'Go' moment of the evening, however, happened when the show across the street adjourned...after we'd already 'Gone.' So we did something we've never done before and played that mini-set twice, which gave Dave another crack at the tumbling tambourine. And it landed in the darn bag again! But, with help from Brian, he gave it one final toss during the third verse, shining brilliantly and catching me rather off-guard.

Renton, WA: Lindbergh High School

As you may recall, WW Band member Brian Hoskins spends his days turning the voices of Renton's south-end youth into some of the most vital choral sounds you're likely to hear in a school auditorium. He sees nearly 300 students each day, spanning seven grades, including a Vocal Jazz Ensemble that meets beginning at 6:20am. Having just flown in from Chicago yesterday, I've dragged myself down to Lindbergh for a barely more reasonable 7:20 call to listen to the Ad Astra Choir take a crack at "Sing to Me," the song they commissioned me to write for them this year.

A few years back Brian had me arrange "Carry On" for his middle school group, a tremendous experience that has yet to fade away. But this is different: a completely new song, choral-focused from the start, for them; the group's one explicit request: tell a story!

We finish the second run through and one of the students I know fairly well tiptoes up to me. "Is it okay?" he asks. I nod. "It's just, well, you haven't said much that's been positive, and we're worried you don't like our performance of it." Oh, shoot... I'm blown away. The thrill of having sixty voices sing your song--a song they asked you to write specifically for them, no less--has knocked me over, and 'utterly blown away' (combined with feeble attempts to be an educator and offer workshoppy-feedback when asked) is reading as 'concerned.' I set everyone straight.

The evening performance is a gas...one great moment among many as the choirs give their last performances of the year. I tell Brian after: "I didn't hear anything that wasn't my own fault."

Seattle, WA: Northwest Foklife Festival

Wouldja lookit that: not raining! A bit cool, but dry--as it has miraculously remained all weekend. After splashing myself across radio and TV to hype this grand event (in its 40th year!), I've now completed all of my festival obligations save the set under my own name. Erin's come out to sing with me, which is always a treat, and scarf-guy (a colorful festival regular) has picked this stage as base camp for the evening. What more could a community-minded musician want?

Seattle, WA: Q13 Morning Show

Two years ago Folklife had me stand on the rim of Seattle Center's International Fountain while sponsor Q-13 FOX (FOX!!) filmed me for a spot promoting the festival. Thus when the phone rang yesterday morning asking if I'd pinch-hit for the previously-scheduled songwriter in-studio, I said sure--seemed like a quick turnaround, but I'm a team player. In the green room with production assistants running around and telling me what's coming and just what timeline to expect, however, I realize that this one's going on live:

Bellevue, WA: KBCS 91.3-FM

With the Northwest Folklife Festival looming, the hometown heroes at KBCS are doing their usual slate of preview interviews. I'm here in my capacity as singer/songwriter community coordinator (all the jokes've already happened...) discussing the Emerald City Songwriter Circles--open-to-all, come-and-go gatherings welcoming anyone at the festival to share (or listen to!) an original song, now in their third year--and I've dragged newly-deputized host Vince Martinez with me. We gab for a bit, slide in a plug for The Bushwick Book Club, and then simulate circle rhetoric/etiquette by each leading the other through sharing a song. Get in, get out, leave 'em wanting...

Seattle, WA: Chop Suey (Bushwick Book Club - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman)

I mentioned these shows at the gig last night and a fellow came up to me during the break to share that he'd taken classes from the inimitable Feynman at Cornell. Really strong show!

Photo: Mark Blasco

Pasco, WA: Three Rivers Folklife Society

It's bittersweet, really, the way this career has you constantly leaving people and places you enjoy for more of the same someplace else. So it goes, then, as I spend my morning in Gresham, OR, at Mt. Hood Community College's Northwest Vocal Jazz Festival backing (and ostensibly chaperoning) Brian Hoskins' talented Lindbergh High School Vocal Jazz Ensemble. And then--whoosh!--down the road in a cloud of smoke to the Tri-Cities, home to the annual treat that is the Tumbleweed Music Festival, to entertain at 3RFS' annual organizational meeting. And off again in the morning.

No one got raptured.

Portland, OR: Alberta Street Public House

We miss Erin and Amanda (welcome to the world li'l Walter!), of course we do, but there's barely enough room on this stage for the four of us and our gear (mostly Brian's)--I'm getting a little cozy with one of Dave's cymbals, but it's worth it to have the full crew along on our first out-of-state (just barely) venture. Also appreciate rock-star hotel room spread provided by Brian's dad...fun to play 'dress-up.' Nice opening set from Alicia. Now, if only we could pump our own gas...

Portland Be Warned (5/7) - Tri-Cities On Notice (5/21)

Seattle, WA: The Ould Triangle (Ye Ould Ear Feed)

Good to know I can still shout 'em down and make 'em (pretend to) listen.

Seattle, WA: Chop Suey (Bushwick Book Club - The Time Traveler's Wife)

I must have missed a memo regarding including some Freudian-time-travel mention of co-protagonist Henry De Tamble's mother in my song. Oops. I gave my free-will/self-determination-vs.-pre-destination effort for Slaughterhouse-Five, so that left me the love-story route (having apparently missed other, creepier options), which seemed to satisfy those who enjoyed Audrey Niffenegger's work. (Learning that Niffenegger herself was born in South Haven, MI--the town from which other-protagonist Clare Abshire hails--lends credence to a few of the songs that suggested she'd written her own I've-been-waiting-for-this-tamable-bad-boy-to-come-along fantasy.) Great hosting vibe from Chop Suey, and fun connections as always!

Photo: Mark Blasco

Everett, WA: Historic Everett Theatre

Across the region lie many communities that have reclaimed and restored old downtown theaters, and though programming slates may vary through each respective attempt to stay afloat, the one constant among all of these cases is an utterly beautiful hall. Given that, I'm delighted at Everett's choice to feature so much live music in general, and my outfit tonight in particular--co-billing with fellow Americana pickers ThorNton Creek (I've always enjoyed Thornton Bowman's songwriting). The 'full' WW Band is down to three (me, Alicia, Dave) tonight after scheduling conflicts and a wicked March flu have had their way with us, but TC guitar player Don Miller graciously accepts our invitation to sit in on several numbers...and again, I'm not complaining in this setting.

Hope we can all keep it going!

Seattle, WA: Can*Can (Bushwick Book Club - Shel Silverstein)

And tonight, it's the grown-ups' turn... Shel Silverstein fascinates me: such a beloved kids' author who also wrote some very-adult material and held a longtime position with Playboy. This duality is on display from many of the Bushwick participants (in burlesque/cabaret setting) tonight...including me, as I debut the 'secret' (i.e., not performed for kids at Town Hall!) dirty verse to my tune based on the "The Bagpipe Who Didn't Say No"--a sweet-if-sad (and long and obscure) kids' poem that I believe drew inspiration from an off-color, music-related joke Mr. Silverstein must have encountered in one or more of his circles. Heck, the verse practically wrote itself given the double entendre possibilities one easily finds when simply naming different parts of a bagpipe! Fun, too, to close with everyone singing "It's the End of the Sidewalk as We Know It," after apologies to Messrs. Silverstein, Stipe, Buck, Berry, and Mills, of course.

Seattle, WA: Town Hall (Bushwick Book Club for Kids!)

Our fearless Bushwick leader/poobah Geoff Larson is bringing the vision of original-songs-inspired-by-collective-reads to a new audience this month: kids! And what better pick than Shel Silverstein's much-loved collection of poems and drawings, Where the Sidewalk Ends? Fresh off a nice plug from the Seattle Times (still wondering when the local music media'll take any note), Geoff, Tai Shan, Bucket of Honey, and I find ourselves featured for Town Hall's Saturday Family Concert this morning/afternoon, and boy do we have a show for you! We tackle poems ranging from "Jumping Rope" and "Dancing Pants" to "Ourchestra" and "The Bagpipe Who Didn't Say No" (my offering, along with a jumbled R.E.M.-inspired take on the table of contents), with me slinging three different instruments over the course of six tunes. Witness some fine dancing-along from our crowds.

Bellevue, WA: Crossroads

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a curious choice for St. Patrick's Day entertainment...though my latest Bushwick Book Club offering, based on Shel Silverstein's poem "The Bagpipe Who Didn't Say No" and set to premiere at this coming weekend's events, has a bit of an Irish-y groove (probably should've been more Scottish...) and gets rushed into service. And I am wearing a green shirt. Crossroads, however, is the kind of place that might attract a crowd looking for not-the-usual-green-beer-and-pub-jams, and as such it's a fine fit as ever. Plus who can resist the chance to drop the non-profit's name and visit with sound guru Bob Conger?

Plugging Away

Seattle, WA: Century Ballroom (Bushwick Book Club - High Fidelity)

Over the last, oh, 10-or-so years if you told me I'd one day play The Stranger's famed (but conceived and promoted differently this year...) Valentine's Day show, I'd've called the bluff. Similarly, if you'd let me know I'd crack the Century stage, a holy grail of dance scene-age, I'd similarly scoff. Yet such is the magic of The Bushwick Book Club that here I am doing both.

Nick Hornby's High Fidelity is the charge this month (the book, unlike the John Cusack movie, takes place in London), and I've got a little waltz. [VIDEO] And a few people even dance!

Next month: Town Hall! (Seriously.)

Photos: Wade Trenbeath

Seattle: University of Washington

As I mention from time to time, this coming spring marks the 10th anniversary of the Project that really kicked off my involvement in the local music community and scene. This being the case, I recently made efforts to reconnect with the University of Washington's Mary Gates Endowment for Students, which lovingly awarded me its inaugural Venture Fellowship to aid in my efforts. The foundation asked me to speak (and sing) at this year's welcome event for new scholars--heck, Bill Gates, Sr., opened for me (in a manipulative manner of speaking)--and I gladly accepted.

Here's my 'official' account, complete with the entire text of my remarks. (For the full effect, read the speech and then watch this...!)

Uniontown, WA: Dahmen Barn

And sometimes it all comes together... I've admittedly viewed this trip with the band as a bit of an exercise in vanity--I really wanted to bring the whole outfit over for a hometown release, and was willing to be impractical in doing so. But turnout, space, response, performance, taco-buffet at the nearby Churchyard Inn B&B, you name it...all fantastic! Faces I haven't seen in years (and lots of 'em!) materialize inside the much-loved and much-used Artisan Barn (Dad had a hand in the wonderful restoration!), and it's a all tribute to so many things across so many different times. I joke about my the band's largely-fabricated "You're taking us where??" response, but my gratitude at their making the trip is real and tremendous. If this isn't success, I don't know what is...

Spokane, WA: nYne Bar & Bistro

I have wanted to take the full WW Band on the road--particularly toward the homeregion hinterlands--for years, and this weekend it finally comes together. I find myself wishing we were all 20 and happy to just throw-in and buy a van, heedless of careers, family, life... Of course, I wouldn't have the players I have now at 20--nor the relationships (among bandmates, I've known Drummer Dave for the shortest amount of time: 9 years)--but I suppose that's the trade. At any rate, I'm thrilled to offer 10-months-late CD Release events in Eastern Washington this weekend...and pleased that local media is as excited as I am.

nYne is an interesting spot: women's sports bar by day; club by night. The dance floor under the basketball hoop is a nice touch, but the promoter immediately begins covering it with seats (I guess we're not a dance band tonight). But wait, the cowboys are waltzing anyway... And the space is working splendidly!

Never enough time to see and visit properly with all the old friends and familiar faces, but touched to have 'em come out. Also a joy to have a band's-worth of foils...foils who play brilliantly, mind you, even if their post-gig meal plans don't always line up with mine... Great opening set from Mark Ward.

At 20, I stayed up this late every night!

Leavenworth, WA: Leavenworth Community Coffeehouse

This is such a great model for a community live-music series: 16 years strong. And, though I've certainly been through town in intervening moments, it's been an embarrassing seven years since I appeared under the Coffeehouse banner-proper. This is also a nice spot to kick of the spate of 'Project' 10th-Anniversary shows that will appear this year, as I celebrate the passage of a decade by highlighting and celebrating many of those songs and communities. (Choice line tonight from My Northwest Home: "Hard times have hit us too, you know, but see how we move on / When our logging towns go belly-up they go Bavarian.") Many more to come!

Seattle folk think I'm nuts for booking this gig this time of year, but I love the Bavarian Paradise in winter...though, to be fair, this town has stunning scenery to offer in all seasons. And though the evening's black-ice onset likely keeps some folk in, I lodge no complaints: how could I, when I'm waking up to this view (plus snow) from the Barn Beach Reserve's cozy River Room? Or this, from Icicle Ridge later that next morning?:

Seattle, WA: Can*Can - Bushwick Book Club (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court)

I stand in delicious awe of the momentum these Bushwick Book Club shows are gaining, though I also get the feeling quite early that fewer members of the normally well-read audience are as familiar with this particular Mark Twain offering as they were with the likes of Slaughterhouse-Five and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (song/video coming soon, I hear!). With apologies to Craig Robinson (not the president's brother-in-law), I share my own scorecard from the baseball game I played in my head between Hank 'Boss' Morgan's Bessemers and Ulsters, with the Bessemers prevailing 5-2 and Arthur (CF, batting leadoff) going 2-for-5 with a pair of singles.

My song, of course, has nothing to do with this. "Dr. Eternal" explores the market for time travel medicine that would emerge were time travel itself ever available commercially; think of the shots you need just to visit the tropics, say...now imagine how you'd have to prep your system for the unfamiliar air/food/water/bugs you'd encounter on a swing through Camelot...

Props to the Can*Can for making such great use of the new/temporary space!

Photo: Justin Sorensen

Seattle, WA: Conor Byrne Pub (Full Band)

I love this group! I don't care that no iTunes 'genre' seems to fit whatever full-band songwriter-Americana-ish-ness we lay down: I want people to hear this outfit and see and share the utter joy on my face when Brian takes a lead and Alicia and Erin kick in with their harmonies. I am fortunate to have these players and friends answer my calls!

Thanks to the great crowd that turned out at Conor's, and to Paul Benoit and Ryan Purcell for sharing the bill--special thanks to Paul for adding some enthusiastic, impromptu tambourine to the always-fun cover of "Take On Me." And extra special thanks to Brian Hoskins, whose left hand was pressed into extra duty when we learned that Alicia would have to sit most of the night out with vocals-only availability. (I suppose Laurens Hammond deserves in-absentia kudos as well for creating the apparatus that made all this possible, as does Donald Leslie; Harold Rhodes, however, could stand to see what lighter-weight options might exist regarding his [wonderful-sounding] contribution...)

Next stop: homeregion concerts to the east!

Photos: John Wright (more here)

New Year, Full Steam