Hi everyone!

Loook at that sweet little 3 day New England run - NH, ME, and CT

2/1 New London, NH - www.flyinggoose.com THIS THURSDAY
2/2 Rockland, ME - www.rocklandstrand.com
2/3 Pomfret, CT - www.thevanillabeancafe.com
2/22 Cedar Rapids, IA - www.legionarts.org
2/23 Skokie, IL - sheljc@comcast.net - SOLD OUT
2/24 Valparaiso, IN - www.frontporchmusic.com
2/25 Ann Arbor, MI - www.theark.org
2/26 Traverse City - www.sleders.com- It’s been years. Thanks Seamus!
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I have an odd and hopefully amusing story to tell you.

A few weeks back I was touring in the Maryland/DC area, and there was a show I was playing where my voice came back to life. See, after weeks of doing the strangest things from all the crazy playing in and travel back from Australia, and 24 hours on airplanes, my voice was all clipping and just kinda unmanageable. I felt 12 or 13 again.
So I was singing this particular night and I was again, all of a sudden, my old vocal self. The room was mostly full, the show was becoming more and more fun, I had entered the realm of rare form performance-wise. Nearing the end of the evening, I flippantly asked, “any requests?” Someone shouted out, “play your favorite song”. So I started a hammy version of “Sing” as done by the Carpenters. Just FYI, it’s actually written by Joe Raposo, the genius behind Kermit’s “Being Green” and “C is for Cookie” by you-know-who, and the Sesame Street theme itself.

So we were all laughing until a woman, about my age, from the back said loudly, “Sure, make fun of the Carpenters and my sister’s singing”.

Crickets. Momentary audience discomfort. I ask, “You’re Karen Carpenter’s sister?”

“That I am” was her reply.

By this time I was quietly fumbling around with some chords and I finally found the one I wanted.
“O.K, sorry, let me make it up to you then.” In the dead quiet, from my mind’s ancient recesses I pulled up the first line of a tune I don’t think I'd played in 30 years.

"Long ago….and oh, so far away…”

I’m all braggy about it now, if that’s ok, but I played the smoking-est, transportativating (is that a word? it is now), pin drop version of Superstar, even Luther Vandross rolled over and was like “Say what? Who *is* this acoustic Negro?”.

At tune’s end people went crazy. There I stood, vindicated. Then this woman says to me and the crowd at large “I was only kidding. I’m not her sister.”

Speaking to her later, it was obvious that alcohol made for an appropriateness and personal space challenge. But I thank her for putting me in a space where I got to dig into my music depths, and play a cover truer than I’d ever thought I could. Thanks, Strange Lady. Maybe there’s a song right there...
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NEW ALBUM FUNDRAISING

Yes. I’ll be asking you for money soon. Some have given already. Any amount you like gets your name on the CD. Anything over 1K gets you listed as an Executive Producer. Over 6K and you get to have your album title name and cover tune/old tune of mine *considered* for inclusion on the album. Official announcement next month.
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Yes, I put coaching singing, perform, the songswritings towards you happens here Wednesdays and some Thursdays and with the Skype or Facetime things, yes.

Peace to all of us I tell you - peace.

vg