Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007
Minneapolis, MN

It's 8 pm and the low steady hum of the airplane is hypnotizing. It was a fun and busy weekend at an Arts conference in Great Falls, Montana, and I'm happy to be homeward bound. The pilot just came on to remind us to keep our seatbelts on when seated and let us know that the Superbowl score is 16-14 Colts at the half. The tiny lights seem to be on in most of the houses below where people are probably gathered around the warming glows of our modern substitutes for campfires.

I'm full in the swing of the new year, with a New England tour already stretching out behind Dan the Tan Van's tires, a few shows in the southeast and this weekend in Montana. The pace picks up from here, with shows in Atlanta this weekend followed by a few days in Guatemala, a show back in North Carolina, then off to Memphis for the Folk Alliance conference, and west from there to shows in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. And that's just the next four weeks.

It was good to be back in Vermont and Massachusetts. I played at the legendary Club Passim in Cambridge for the first time in several years and had a good time doing several other shows up there and catching up with some good friends on the way. Southbound I played an unusual set in a wonderful club on the Lower East Side of NYC, the Rockwood Music Hall. Get this: my set started at midnight on Monday night, MLK, Jr. Day (or technically, I suppose, the first hour *following* MLK, Jr. Day).

ice in Massachusetts

A few intrepid fans came out to listen in spite of the terrible timing, and several musician friends came out, too. Since there were several professional musicians in the room I decided the best way to spend the time would be to come off the stage, circle up the chairs and pass the guitar around. It was a little surreal having a Kerrville-style song circle in a Lower East Side venue, but somehow it worked. My buddy Jagoda played drums while songs were sung by Jeff Tarayla, Eric Schwartz and Greg Klyma. You never quite know what's going to happen on the road, especially in NYC.

I have to admit, though, that as wonderful as the tour turned out to be, it was kind of hard to get back on the highway after such a long break with Deanna. I was home for a full month with her, with a week in Europe before that and a few days in Florida at the end. The good folks who brought me in to Bradenton to play at Palma Sola Presbyterian also treated us to a few days at a lovely hotel on the coast, and we celebrated New Year's Eve looking across Sarasota Bay at the mainland, watching no less than a dozen different fireworks displays popping up along the horizon. That's not the usual fare for a folk singer, and it was a treat to have that mini-vacation to close out our holiday.

breakfast with Deanna by the Gulf

And it's not just the new year we're celebrating. It's a season of anniversaries for me. In a couple of days it will be five years since Deanna and I had our first date, and this month marks sixteen years since I quit my last side job and moved to music as my full-time job. It's hard to believe that it's been that long in both cases, and it makes me count my blessings. There's still plenty to see and do, though, and plenty of things left to learn.

Case in point: Tuesday night I did a TV show in Asheville as the musical guest on Green Radio Bistro, a local variety TV show that highlights green business in the area. That night I learned that I've been working way too hard, laboring over just the right words in songs and trying to be entertaining on stage. Turns out it's much easier than I thought to get people to clap.

The TV show was shot with three cameras and they kept all three on the stage during the show, but they also wanted audience reaction shots, so before the show even began they turned all of the cameras on the audience and the director, who's a British guy named Robin, came out and explained that they needed to capture a few reactions, then gave the cues: "You're listening to something very interesting - look interested." And everyone did! Then he said "OK, you've just heard something amazingly entertaining - applaud enthusiastically!" and they did! Then he said "OK, somebody just said something really funny. Laugh!" And they DID! Little did I know that all I have to do is give the proper cues!! I think I might stop writing songs and just do an ABBA tribute show or something.

pickin' and grinnin' on cue at GRB (photo by Lauren Bansemer)

It's a beautiful clear night from up here, though it's -7° in Minneapolis where I'll be changing planes soon. Funny... the pilot just came on to tell us that we're passing Indianapolis below on our left, and that Indianapolis just kicked a field goal and they're now up by 19 to 16. I thought I heard a cheer from the earth below...

It snowed in Asheville this morning, and snowed in Clinton, South Carolina the night I left there (where I had been scheduled for a concert and a keynote) to fly to Montana. I wasn't surprised by running into white weather on this trip to Montana, but I wouldn't have guessed that it would be on the Carolina end of the trip rather than in Montana.

So now five days at home with Deanna and a good friend of hers visiting from Japan. Then I'm off to shows in Atlanta, and Guatemala from there to check in on several projects in various stages. One day on the trip will be a visit to a Montessori school in El Tejar that serves poor Mayan children. The Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) approached me about partnering on a service project this year, and it looks like we've found a project that will match well, creating a music program and providing instruments for that school. There are three other projects I'll be talking with people about on this trip too. It's inspiring to me seeing all the support people have offered (if you haven't been following the story of PEG and you don't know what I'm talking about, you can catch up on the story at www.pegpartners.org).

Sixteen years - wow. Thanks again for supporting me through all of them. I've said it before and I'll say it again - you're a great boss. Thanks for listening, and for giving me the extraordinary gift of new stories to tell.

Peace, justice and hope,

David