When: Monday nite 8/17 7:30pm ET

Where: https://youtube.com/live/wwYSj_BGSak?feature=share  

10% goes to: Sanbornfoundation.org - They've provided “financial assistance to Arlington residents affected by cancer" since 1998. Pfffft I know...

http://paypal.me/vancevancevance or https://venmo.com/vancevancevance or VanceFunder P.O. Box 17, Arlington, MA 02476

*PRIVATE COACHING AVAILABLE - Songwriting, performance, and voice.

***CUSTOM SONGS - Expensive, sure, you want one about you, your family, something.

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WHEN YOUR PT HAS A BRIEF MOMENT OF SD

I have no idea how it happens that Colorado, with all that altitude, can possibly have organisms that make you sick - I mean unless cold and bronchitis germs are anaerobic...Anyway, I came home with a serious chest cold, topped by a previous 2 week’s intensive playing and teaching that simply wore my vocal chords out.

Sure, over time, I’ve had voice loss from both illness and overuse. In the late 90’s there was even an "acute loss” and a visit to the incredible Dr. Zeitels’ (yeah that guy - Adele, Julie Andrews) and his staff. Reparable with rest and some therapy. Other episodes resolved on their own.

Honestly, post-throat cancer treatment since October, I’ve never sung better. Geniuses Dr. Lori Wirth, Dr. Annie Chan, and Dr. Daniel Deschler at Mass General Brigham figured a way to seemingly eradicate my cancer, and simultaneously and expertly avoid trauma to my vocal folds and tissues enough that all I have is residual dry mouth, a slightly stiff tongue and jaw, and hair on only one side of my face.

Last night’s show in Bridgewater was a triumph, as I had little voice left other than some low notes that were suffice for some story telling basso bellowing that people seemed to love. But somewhere in the back of my mind during the hoarse drive home lurked “Is this really just fatigue? or irreparable damage because the tissues there aren’t up to repair like they used to be before chemo & radiation? Are you through?”

A famous folkie I’ve opened for and who was cured of thyroid cancer - who’ll go nameless here - kindly wrote me back last year:

"I underestimated the effect on my mind– and dealt with a couple years of PTSD following the “cancer-free” declaration that – at the risk of getting in your business – I’d give a friendly warning to just keep an eye out for. Please take extra good care of yourself, and don’t underestimate what the whole ordeal does inside the mind.”

Thanks KP. I’ll do just that, best I can. I feel pretty decent this morning. I’ll sing the best I can this weekend at Black Bear Festival and in Sterling NY.

Still, I wonder just what Barry White or Isaac Hayes would sound like doing “Unfamiliar Moon”. Hmmm.