In Zero Seconds I’m Right Here!

Last Saturday, I performed at the Old Vienna Reunion. But it wasn’t just an ordinary gig. My trusty old van bit the dust 3 weeks before – so to drive those 40 miles to Hopkinton I needed a new car: my first in nearly 2 decades.

Then there was my gear. After trips from Tennessee to Paris and virtual projects – it all had to be reconfigured. It felt like everything had fallen apart and had to be put back together.

So the short road trip to Hopkinton felt more like a rite of passage.

I was anxious that there’d be no sound check. The other artists were singer-songwriters, who can gracefully plug in a guitar and step up to the mic — but I use a looper, distortion and wireless gear and no sound check feels like gambling.

So as I hit the turnpike in the car, I thought to myself, ‘OK, just breathe – in four hours, I’ll be driving home, and able to relax.’

And suddenly I thought: Wait a second!! That’s not how I’ve committed to living life! What about this: In ZERO Seconds I’m joyfully driving this car!

And BOOM! Everything transformed. I committed to saying that the entire night: In ZERO seconds, I’m loading in with 2 wonderful volunteers. In ZERO seconds, Sam and Todd are plugging in my gear. And suddenly every single moment of the whole day and night became a joy. Seriously: Every. Single. Second.

The enthusiastic audience. The other performers. The beautiful home we were in. The sketch an audience member made of me, the 4 little girls who ran up to tell me how much they loved my songs, the whimsical photo shoot where the photographer asked me to pose like fairy tale characters. A wacky conversation with Jim Infantino about drawing the shapes of music. Getting to hug Don White, Christine Lavin, and Kevin So – who I’ve known for decades since he was in high school and I was running a summer music program. Seeing volunteers and audience members I first met decades ago at the Old Vienna.

And living every single moment at ‘Zero Seconds til Now.’

Check out some of the photos with old and new friends like Christine Lavin (left) and Kevin So (right) below from the Old Vienna Kaffeehaus Reunion!

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