Most importantly, my life is different now that I learned how to play THE CHRISTMAS SONG on the guitar in my favorite tuning (BGDGBE).  Those chords are so whoop-ass that I laughed and cried at how the song changes key every second as it cascades down to the turnaround.  I always loved to hear it on piano every year at the sing-along Christmas party pot luck, and now I've got it in my hands whenever I want to play it.  Now that is a miracle.  My guitar makes sounds that  spin my imagination and spill into new songs.  

I had great fun with the first concert of music and ideas that I hope will be a series here in Asheville.  People came out and showed up even though it was the night of no more parking spaces in Asheville because of the Warren Haynes music jam.  But there we were, the three of us:  Brian McLaren, Carrie Newcomer and myself,  tuned up and starting an evening when we had no idea what would happen.  But it turned out to be wonderful.  We passed it back and forth and it spoke with one voice.  I would pass the story on to the next person and they would take it and run with it.  I got to surprise Brian by playing one of his recent songs that he didn't know I had learned.

The gig was an excuse to invite some friends over for some intense conversation.  The fact that there were lots of people watching only turned up the focus.  I mean, we still had some great laughs and played some songs, but the ideas we talked about were the kind that stay turning in your mind for a while. Maybe that's what Steve Allen originally intended the late night talk show to be like:  music to spice up conversations with interesting people.  It was fun to invite Brian and Carrie to come stay in our home and be able to cover all their expenses by making a gig out of it.   Since our living room wasn't big enough, we were glad to partner with the Jubillee! Community and gather over there.  I hope it works out to do more of these, maybe one every couple months.  What would be cool would be to get a modest fund going so we could offer guests a more inviting stipend.  There must be some of you out there who want to be patrons of the arts.  Problems with too much money?   Feel free to email my manager, Tom Simonson and have a concert series named after you!   Click here