More Ode To Water

Greetings after a months-long pause in blogging!

I hope you remain healthy as winter inches towards spring (at least in New England…)

I also fervently hope that you have not experienced any climate-related catastrophes in recent weeks — or war-related catastrophes — or ANY catastrophic circumstances at all.

Each and every day I remain grateful for healthy food to eat, a warm place to sleep, a functional bicycle, gainful (if very modestly-paying) employment, and clean water.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

I also remain very grateful for all the folks who visit my blog — anywhere from four to eighteen each day during the past ten weeks — even though I have not published a new post since the end of December.

THANK YOU!

Right at the end of 2023 — having relied upon showers for the past few decades to keep myself clean — I re-discovered the delicious experience of taking a bath (after a long and chilly day of travel to visit relatives in upstate New York).

Wow.

Soaking in even a few inches of hot water is such a different experience from taking a shower.

One can slow down and lose track of time…

I also feel as though the heat from the bath water soaks deeper into my body and stays with me longer than the heat from water in a shower.

Or maybe I am imagining that…

And one final bonus is that I have a compelling reason to scrub my bath tub on a regular basis (which, when I was just taking showers, I could easily overlook for weeks on end…)

Hurrah!

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

My latest song release — an Ode To Water — celebrates all forms of water here on planet earth.

And its release coincides with another round of extreme rainfall and flooding here in the not-so-United States.

I continue to be flummoxed by how most of our political leaders — despite the increasingly destructive weather events occurring on a increasing basis all around our amazing planet — remain largely in denial about how closely we are inching towards some significant environmental tipping points — from which it will be very difficult if not impossible to recover.

Maybe it’s because they are human beings and — like most of us — tend to function in a state of denial until a catastrophe enters the inner circle of our lives.

To me, climate change/catastrophe underpins every other issue — huge imbalances of wealth/power, all sorts of civil rights challenges, the rising trend towards fascism in many countries including our own, women’s ability to make decisions about their own health/bodies, the industrial agri-chemical contamination of the web of life, etc. etc. etc. — which we are facing as human beings here on planet earth.

Here in Massachusetts our liberal Democratic governor is waffling about the proposed expansion of an airport used by private planes/jets called Hanscom Field, which is located eleven miles from where I live.

Making it easier for more rich people to fly in private jets is a perverse example of us NOT making the difficult changes in our human behavior/expectations that our climate change/catastrophe is calling for.

But I am guessing that Governor Healey is at least partially beholden/indebted to wealthy donors who have contributed to her successful political campaigns and may be inclined to help make their lives easier — even though it is well documented that air travel is one of the worst offenders regarding our fossil fuel over-consumption (and private jets are even worse than commercial flights!)

Yet another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Two states away from me in Maine, a friend has co-owned a tiny, one-room (former) fishing shack for decades with her extended family near Kennebunkport which serves as a very humble summer refuge for a large web of siblings, cousins and friends.

I have felt very fortunate to visit (and even perform) there a few times!

During a recent storm, this tiny cottage (which is boarded up during the winter months) experienced higher flooding than anyone can ever remember happening… and lost its front porch.

Another, larger shack (on tall stilts) which had been damaged last year and thoroughly repaired was entirely WASHED AWAY. 

It had withstood nor’easters for over a hundred years… and now is gone!

The time to make difficult choices and change longstanding habits is NOW regarding how we human beings (especially those of us in developed countries) consume fossil fuels.

To top it all off, I recently read an article in The Guardian about how we human beings are very close to experiencing a major tipping point in how water circulates in the Atlantic ocean.

Yikes!

Due to my recent embrace of baths, I have a keen awareness about how water behaves in my tub.

Colder water sinks to the bottom, and warmer water stays near the surface.

In the Atlantic ocean there is something similar called the “Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) — a vast system of ocean currents” that helps to regulate our planet’s climate.

“AMOC, which encompasses part of the Gulf Stream and other powerful currents, is a marine conveyer belt that carries heat, carbon and nutrients from the tropics towards the Arctic Circle, where it cools and sinks into the deep ocean. This churning helps to distribute energy around the Earth and modulates the impact of human-caused global heating.”

But AMOC “is being eroded by the faster-than-expected melt-off of Greenland’s glaciers and Arctic ice sheets, which pours (very cold) freshwater into the sea and obstructs the sinking of saltier, warmer water from the south.”

And new analysis by scientists has determined that “AMOC is…on track towards an abrupt shift, which has not happened for more than 10,000 years and would have dire implications for large parts of the world.”

Another huge YIKES!!!

Followed by one final deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

This is why I ride my bike and/or walk and/or take public transportation.

This is why I eat less meat.

This is why I choose not to fly in order to visit friends and/or family in faraway places.\

And this is why I remain deeply grateful for all of the miraculous basics in my current life — including clean, fresh water to drink and to cook with and to clean with and to bathe in plus a non-leaky roof over my head.

Here is a link to my “Ode To Water“ in case you might like to stream (music flows in bits of electronic data these days these days…) it.

And as I have explained before, if you “like” one of my songs or add it to one of your playlists, that will improve the algorithmic sharing of my music.

Furthermore, if you listen to it via Spotify, I would be particularly grateful because Spotify recently changed its business model.

Starting in 2024, they are no longer paying indie artists half of the royalties (which are already absurdly low) due to them for any song streamed fewer than 1000 times per year.

So I need to get another 337 streams in the next ten months (so far it has earned 663 streams from 476 listeners around the world in the two months since it was released!)

I will probably write about this discouraging “rob from the poor to pay the rich” business strategy in a future blog post…

But, returning to several of the “glass-more-than-half-full” blessings in my life, I would like to thank Doug Hammer for playing so expressively on this recording and for being such a terrific engineer/producer.

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his elegant graphic design work.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their beautiful images.

Thank you to the amazing cycles of water which circulate — from oceans to clouds to earth to plants to us and back around again and again and again — on a daily basis here on planet earth.

And thank YOU for reading and listening to another one of my blog posts!

ps: If you are thirsty for more musings about water, you can click here and here to read blog posts from 2022 and 2020 which featured earlier versions of my “Ode To Water.”

After The Holidays

Image by Robert Karkowski from Pixabay

Greetings during this time of short days and long nights in the northern hemisphere.

I hope you are warm and well as you read this blog post.

Right now in Massachusetts we are graced with a beautiful full moon shining down on our snow-less streets.

I first shared the song “After The Holidays” (in the player at the top of this page) three years ago in a blog post about the challenges of feeling lonely during the holiday season.

As you may remember — or perhaps you have blocked it out of your memory in order to be able to move on with your life — three years ago things were not going well in the USA.

Many hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID — with dead bodies being stored in refrigerated trailer trucks until funeral homes and crematoria could catch up with the demand for their services.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

It was a very challenging winter holiday season.

And 2023 has brought new challenges — and tragedies — into our lives here on planet earth.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Wars continue to grind along, destroying human lives along with the lives of countless other beings caught in the cross fire. Pollution continues to seep into every ecosystem here on planet earth. Climate change continues to increase with catastrophic consequences.

My heart goes out to anyone who is feeling hopeless, who is feeling distraught, who is feeling alone, or who is feeling unloved during this holiday season.

And although I am fortunate to have a life partner + family + friends with whom I can gather during the holidays, I can vividly remember how heart-broken and grief-stricken I felt when the first big love of my life chose to end our relationship many decades ago…

Image by Scott Wynn

“After The Holidays” taps into those feelings of raw desperation.

It was written by John Meyer.

His friend Judy Garland performed it on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1968.

Mr. Meyer is still alive and living in New York City.

Earlier this month I tracked down an email address for him so that I could let him know I had released a version of his song.

And much to my (happy) surprise, he was kind enough to give it a listen.

Here is how he responded:

“Will, I’m impressed.

Image by Stephen C. Fischer

You’re note-perfect — good for you!

Others bend the melody to suit their often tasteless predilections.

And I like that you take your time with the song, investing it with real poignancy.

Thank you for sharing.

Merry Christmas!”

Needless to say, I am delighted (and relieved) that he responded so positively to how pianist Doug Hammer and I interpreted his song.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Image by Mariya from Pixabay

And I will gently point out that this is yet another winter holiday song written (or co-written) by Jewish composers/lyricists — joining a beloved list of favorites including “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Silver Bells,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Let It Snow,” and “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.”

Here is a link to my version “After The Holidays“ in case you might like to stream it.

And as I have explained before, if you “like” one of my songs or add it to one of your playlists, that will improve the algorithmic sharing of my music.

Thank you to the John Meyer for writing such a moving song.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so sensitively on my version of John’s song AND for being such a diligent engineer/producer.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his terrific graphic design work.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay — and to Scott Wynn — for their great images.

And thank YOU for reading. and listening to another one of my blog posts!

May your 2024 be full of peace and hope and determination…

Grateful, part two…

I first shared this recording I did with pianist Doug Hammer of John Bucchino’s song “Grateful” eight years ago.

I included it in a blog post about gratitude (which you can read by clicking here if you are curious).

That blog post turned into a long list of people and things I was grateful for.

Image by 🌸♡💙♡🌸 Julita 🌸♡💙♡🌸 from Pixabay

I am still grateful for everything I highlighted eight years ago — ranging from health insurance, to my rusty old bike, to music, to the web of friends and family who give me support and offer me inspiration (including my fellow bloggers), to all the people (most of whom I will never meet) who plant, cultivate, harvest, sort, package, ship, unpack, display, sell, cook and serve the food I eat, and on and on…

And since then I have learned that the more one is able to slow down and give thanks for the blessings in one’s life, the more blessings one tends to start noticing!

To my 2015 list I add the ability to distribute my music worldwide via streaming platforms; my most recent musical compatriots Molly Ruggles, Carole Bundy, and Brendan Shea; and the expanding web of grassroots political activists all around the USA who have woken up and realized that the time for participation with our political process is NOW.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

As longtime readers of my blog know, I remain hugely grateful for all of the songwriters from the past 100+ years who have created an extraordinary catalog of songs for the rest of us to learn and share and perform and savor.

John Bucchino is one of them who is still very much alive and has written a bunch of terrific songs over the past 40+ years.

When I recently shared my recording of “Grateful” on Facebook, one friend left a comment that she only knew about John as Holly Near’s longtime accompanist.

So in this blog post I will share a little bit about John — as well as a link to his Wikipedia page.

Holly Near is just one of the many people — including Julie Andrews, Art Garfunkel, Judy Collins, Romanovsky & Phillips, Ronnie Gilbert, Stephen Schwartz, Liza Minnelli, Harvey Fierstein, and Patti Lupone — John has worked (and become friends) with during the course of his career as a songwriter, accompanist, singer and producer.

John Bucchino

I found a very comprehensive three-part interview John did in 2009 which you can read by clicking here.

From this interview I learned all sorts of stuff about John, including how the song “Grateful” came to be written.

“The way the song happened,” John explains, “is that I was cleaning house on a Saturday and all of a sudden found myself sitting at the piano singing the chorus of ‘Grateful,’ kind of full-blown. It just kind of happened… And then for probably the next two months I would go to the piano and sit and play the chorus and cry, but it was so perfect and so simple and so inspired, that I couldn’t bring myself to try to write anything else ’cause I thought, it can’t possibly be as good and it’s not going to come from the same place. But eventually I forced myself… to write the rest of the song, which at the time felt… kind of cobbled together. And that evening I was going to be having dinner with Art Garfunkel, who had become a friend of mine. And I said ‘instead of meeting at the restaurant, can you come over here, ’cause I just finished a song, and I think it’s kind of good.’ And he came over and leaned on the piano… and I played it for him. He was the first person to hear it. And he said, ‘Don’t give that to anyone; it’s mine,” which is always what you want to hear Art Garfunkel say when he listens to your songs. And two weeks later he had it in his show, and he toured Europe and closed his show with it, and then recorded it. And…that is by far the most recorded song that I’ve ever written.“

I first met John when I booked him to perform a solo show at the Cambridge Center For Adult Education in Harvard Square during the same weekend he was performing with Holly Near at Sanders Theatre (about ten blocks away).

Blacksmith House at the Cambridge Center For Adult Education

He was friendly, low-maintenance, and okay with how primitive our technology was — a few track lights, a very basic sound system, and a battered old grand piano — in the 70-seat performance space we had on Brattle Street (a block from the American Repertory Theater).

After that I introduced him to my friend Steve Sweeting — or maybe Steve met him independently since they were both songwriters living in NYC at the time? — and Steve ended up being one of the people who proofread John’s first collection of sheet music.

The three-part interview contains all sorts of anecdotes — one of which fleshed out a story I had once read about how Stephen Schwartz first learned about the Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked.

John Bucchino’s First Songbook

John and Stephen had become friends after Stephen had accompanied Ronnie Gilbert singing one of John’s songs at a benefit performance.

A few years later John was performing with Holly Near at a music festival in Hawaii, and John invited Stephen (who was then working on the animated movie The Prince Of Egypt in Los Angeles) to fly over and join them for some rest and relaxation.

During this trip, Holly told Stephen about a great new book she was reading — The Wizard Of Oz story re-told from the perspective of the Wicked Witch Of The West.

Stephen read Wicked, immediately negotiated for the rights to created a musical based on it… and the rest is musical theater history!

John continues to write songs — and in recent years has collaborated with Harvey Fierstein on a Broadway musical called A Catered Affair as well as a children’s musical with Julie Andrews called Simeon’s Gift.

I will end this blog post with a few more of John’s thoughts — which may help to explain why his songs have touched so many people over the past four decades.

“I think that (my songs express) whatever I happen to be going through in my life… I am on a spiritual journey, and I’m trying to absorb things and learn about how to grow as a human being, how to grow as a spirit, how to grow and evolve in every way. And I think that progression, that journey, that learning curve of mine… plays out, to one extent or another in every song that I write, (and)… who I am certainly pours into everything that I do… There is a spiritual perspective which I’m proud of, and I think is resonant for people — especially nowadays when we’re looking for some rhyme or reason and some progression toward a greater spirituality in (our) own lives.“

Image by celina schou from Pixabay

I hope this taste of John Bucchino’s songwriting and tiny glimpse into his life may inspire some readers to click on the links I mentioned above to learn more about him and his music!

Here is a link to my version “Grateful“ in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming service.

As I have explained in previous blog posts, if you “like” it or “heart” it or add it to a playlist, that will improve the algorithmic sharing of my music.

Thank you to the John Bucchino for writing such terrific songs.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so whole-heartedly on my version of John’s song AND for being such a patient engineer/producer.

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his skillful graphic design work.

Image by Bruno from Pixabay

Thank you to whoever took the photo of me from when I worked professionally as a child which we incorporated into the graphic design for my version of “Grateful.”

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their great images.

And thank YOU for reading. and listening to another one of my blog posts!

What are YOU thankful for these days?

Microflora Can Amaze!

Seven years ago I wrote about the amazing world living in our intestinal tracts.

You can click here to read that blog post if you are curious.

Image by Lutz Peter from Pixabay

Since then — I am happy to note — more and more research has been done on the extraordinary community of beings who live in our guts AND the fascinating ways that they contribute to our mental and physical health.

All of this research underscores how profoundly our human lives are woven together with the lives of other beings here on planet earth — bacteria, viruses, plants (who provide us with oxygen to breathe, food to eat, and a bunch of medicinal options), fungi, and our fellow animals.

As you probably are well aware, medical science is discovering that it is indeed healthy to eat

Image by Anna Sulencka from Pixabay

A) High-fiber foods — such as whole grains, garlic, onions, leeks, and beans which are considered to be PREBIOTIC-rich foods,

B) Yogurt and kefir (without lots of added sugar) which are considered to be PROBIOTIC-rich sources of beneficial bacteria which can help to diversify and/or replenish our gut biome, and

C) Fermented foods — such as kimchi, kombucha, miso and sauerkraut — which also have lots of live, active, beneficial bacterial cultures.

There are TRILLIONS of bacteria in our guts, and the proportions of more-beneficial bacteria to less-beneficial bacteria are influenced by what we choose to eat.

Image by Dagny Walter from Pixabay

Eating lots of prebiotic and probiotic foods encourages more of the healthier bacteria to thrive.

And eating lots of refined sugar apparently causes more of the not-so-healthy bacteria to thrive.

Not surprisingly, getting regular exercise and sleeping well also contribute to our gut health.

An internet search for “gut health” yields lots of inspiring explanations and recommendations.

You can click here for a link to one I liked from Healthline.

As I say in my song, “the world within is calling for attention.”

What sort of attention do YOU give to your gut microbiome?

Even though I have not shared a new post for two months, my stats tell me that lots of people continue to visit my blog (maybe because I have over 100 past blog posts to choose from…?)

Whatever the reason, THANK YOU to everyone who keeps finding and reading my blog!

Image by Дмитрий Иванцов from Pixabay

And another thank you to everyone who has been streaming my songs on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other platforms.

Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist improves the algorithmic activity of my music there.

You are welcome to click here and listen to “The World Within” on many streaming platforms if the spirit moves you.

You are also welcome to visit my website — where you can learn more about my musical life (including upcoming gigs) if you are curious.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his playful piano playing AND his collaborative engineering expertise.

Thank you to the generous photographers and graphic designers at Pixabay.

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for all of his graphic design work on behalf of my musical life here on planet earth.

Thank you to the trillions of bacteria with which each of us co-exists on a daily basis.

And most of all, thank YOU for reading — and listening to — another one of my blog posts!

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

The Babysitter’s Here!

I have loved this song by Dar Williams ever since I first heard it a couple of decades ago.

Dar Williams

Ms. Williams weaves together several fundamental human themes — the value of role models, the heartbreakingly inevitable connection between love and loss, the challenge of female/male power dynamics, and the significance of being trusted — within the framework of a story told by a child about their beloved babysitter.

It is masterful songwriting.

I released it two weeks ago to coincide with the start of the school year here in Massachusetts.

I have several friends whose almost-grownup children are entering college — and they have shared with me that they are feeling simultaneously grateful/proud that their kids are becoming adults AND heart-broken/shocked that their kids are old enough to leave the family nest.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

I do not remember having many babysitters when I was a child.

There was one, however — maybe a friend my mother met at a painting class? — who taught me and my siblings how to cook eggplant moussaka from scratch.

We happily prepared that meal again and again during our child and teen years following her recipe.

It was delicious!

The theme of trust and trustworthiness in Dar’s wonderful song very much reminds me of how respected I felt as a young adult when I was hired to help take care of three small children (one each from three families) who had all dropped out of the same pre-school together.

I myself had recently dropped out of college, and it was a very powerful — and healing — experience to be entrusted with these three little human beings.

Parents have to tap into a deep well of trust to let someone else take care of their children.

Without a lot of interviewing and no background checks, I and two other twenty-somethings were hired to have fun adventures with these three children in shifts during the day while their parents — who were architects, college professors and a child psychiatrist — worked.

We were given the keys to one of their cars (a Saab), three car seats, and a little spending money in case we needed to stop at a grocery store or bakery for treats during the day.

The parents also gave us a book on child development by Penelope Leach from which I learned that I could follow the children’s lead and let them to explore their curiosity/interests — which included (among other things) ants and dogs and pistachios and flowers.

One of my favorite memories is driving with them to a wonderful nature area — the Punkatasset Preserve in Concord, MA — and wandering very slowly up and down the trails so that we could pause whenever something caught the children’s attention.

Their interest in flowers led me to serve them food — such as apple slices, carrot sticks, chunks of cheese — in flower patterns on their plates.

This is something I still love to do with food.

Here’s a tomato flower I made recently from produce given to me by a neighbor with a farm share from an organic farm just over the border in Lexington, MA (about which I have written in a previous blog post).

They are so beautiful…and nutritious!

Plants are truly amazing.

How are they able to capture and transform energy — radiating from a nearby star! — into something delicious we can eat here on planet earth?

What a miraculous blessing…

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Last week I listened to a interview on YouTube in which an artist manager explained that Spotify’s algorithms seem to reward folks who release music on a monthly basis — and that if one is able to do this for 18-24 months, an exponential increase in streams sometimes kicks in…

This is what he has discerned from the streaming patterns of music released in recent years by a dozen independent musicians he is working with…

I have seen a significant (for me) increase in streams for the six songs which I have released (every three weeks) since the middle of April this year.

My recording of “The Babysitter’s Here,” for example, has gotten more streams (598) on Spotify in two weeks than many of the songs I first released have gotten in two years.

So I am going to stick with my plan to release a song every 3-4 weeks for the next 19 months and see if an exponential increase kicks in…

Thank you to everyone who has been streaming my songs on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

You are welcome to click and listen to “The Babysitter’s Here” on many streaming platforms.

And any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist will improve the algorithmic activity of my music there.

You are also welcome to visit my website — where you can learn more about my musical life (including upcoming gigs) here on planet earth if you are curious.

Thank you to Dar Williams for writing such a delightful song.

Thank you to the families who trusted me many years ago to take care of their precious children.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his sublime piano playing AND his patient engineering expertise.

Thank you to the generous photographers and graphic designers at Pixabay — and to my friend Carolyn for the lovely photo she took of.a rainbow from her living room window.

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for transforming photos from earlier parts of my life into graphic designs for my current song releases.

Thank you to my neighbors for sharing their beautiful vegetables with me.

And most of all, thank YOU for reading — and listening to — another one of my blog posts!

Nice Work If You Can Get It (pt.2)

Here in the USA, it’s Labor Day weekend.

I just looked up the history of Labor Day, and discovered — no surprise — that it has roots in labor unions.

You can click here to learn more if you are curious — and to see a great photo of an early Labor Day float being pulled by two horses during a celebration in 1916..

I have read that union activity is on an upswing in the USA.

With a current CEO-to-worker compensation ratio estimated to be 400 — meaning that chief executive officers are likely to earn 400 times the annual average salary of production and nonsupervisory workers in their industry — the time seems ripe to re-balance this extraordinarily greedy state of affairs.

I am an inactive member of two unions — SAG/AFTRA (for film and TV) and Equity (for stage) — as a result of working professionally as a child and teenager.

Me modeling as a child…

Go unions!

They are a vital part of our human socety’s interconnected systems of checks and balances.

Deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I originally featured this recording with pianist Doug Hammer of a great Gershwin Brothers song a couple of years ago as part of a very long blog post in which I shared the pros and cons of a chatbot-assisted music marketing strategy as well as some show business history.

Today’s post will be shorter and sweeter.

THANK YOU to everyone who has been streaming my songs in recent months!

“Gold In Them Hills” — which I released a month ago — has just surpassed 1000 streams on Spotify. This translates into approximately $4 worth of income — which is split, I think, between the person who owns the rights to the song (Ron Sexsmith and/or his music publishing company) and the person who owns the rights to this particular recording of his song (which is me).

“Nice Work If You Can Get It” — which I released near the end of June — has been streamed 685 times on Spotify.

So that will earn me another dollar.

Luckily I am in this for the long haul…and I earn enough money from performing at retirement communities and leading Music Together classes to cover my very minimal expenses.

I also feel very fortunate to be making and sharing music as a way to make a (very modest) living.

Music really is “nice work if you can get it.”

A musician named Bree Noble — who also does a lot of teaching and coaching of other musicians — recently sent out an email which I found inspiring.

She wrote:

“Did you know that releasing music — i.e. seeing a beloved project through to completion — can improve your mental health?”

According to her, “studies show that most people desire purpose and connection in their work, and without that, their mental health can suffer.”

“We thrive when we experience ‘birthing’ an idea and seeing it through (to completion) — taking on a project that is our ‘baby’ and nurturing it to ‘adulthood.'”

Releasing music “can give (us) the emotional and spiritual benefits of project ownership — taking on a new challenge, providing a goal to work toward, and giving (us) a …fulfilling event to look forward to.”

Best of all, “not only can the…process (of releasing music) invigorate (our) emotional and spiritual (lives), it can help (our) music reach new people who need to hear it, enriching their lives as well.”

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

I think this wisdom/insight can apply to any creative undertaking — even writing a blog post.

It also reminds me of an article I read recently about folks who live to be over 100 years old.

Researchers have been studying these people’s lives, and many common themes have emerged.

They tend to be optimistic — while also acknowledging the reality of their challenges.

They tend to feel connected with others — as part of an extended family, a circle of friends, a spiritual community, a bowling league, a quilting circle, a fraternal lodge, a blogging community or some other subset of beings here in the interconnected web of life on planet earth.

Their diets tend to be plant-based — eating more vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes, and whole grains AND and more “cooked-from-scratch” meals (meaning less processed/junk food items…)

They tend to get out into nature on a regular basis — walking, biking, swimming, doing tai chi, painting, reading, playing games, etc. — rather than sitting at home and watching TV.

And they tend to have a sense of purpose — whether volunteering their time, sharing their wisdom, contributing to group causes, creating things, etc.

Apparently if we feel that we need to be here on planet earth — contributing in some positive way to our families, friends, children, grandchildren, community, watershed, ecosystem, political system, etc. — we are less likely to die.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I am curious to learn in the comments about what gives YOU a sense of purpose these days.

Here is a link to “Nice Work If You Can Get It” in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming service.

As I have shared in past blog posts, if you “like” it or “heart” it or add it to a playlist, that improves the algorithmic sharing of my music on that particular streaming service.

Thank you to the Gershwin brothers — Ira (words) and George (music) — for writing such great songs.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so exuberantly on my version of their song AND for being such. a terrific engineer/producer.

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his skillful graphic design work.

Thank you to labor unions for helping to counter-balance the greed which seems to be an unavoidable part of our capitalistic system of economics.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their great images.

Thank you to whoever took my photo 50+ years ago on a front staircase somewhere in NYC.

And thank YOU for reading. and listening to another one of my blog posts!

Gold In Them Hills

Today’s wise and optimistic song was written by Ron Sexsmith, a Canadian singer-songwriter who currently lives in Stratford, Ontario.

I featured it almost three years ago in a blog post about distributing my first song to music streaming platforms.

One of the many pleasures of blogging (in my opinion) is rediscovering posts we have written in the past and then forgotten.

This one includes a lot of quotations — which I was very happy to re-encounter — from friends about the value of music in their lives.

I have sprinkled a few of them into this blog post, too.

You are welcome to click here to read (or re-read) this past blog post if you are curious.

“Music is a great encouragement to people in hard times.”

Deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I also explain in this past blog post about how little money is earned by performers and songwriters from streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, etc.

Not surprisingly, this is still true — as a 2022 article I found online demonstrates.

Spotify, which last year had an almost 50% market share of music streaming worldwide, still pays less than half a cent per stream.

Apple Music was the next biggest player, with almost 25% market share of music streaming worldwide — but paid a penny per stream (almost triple what Spotify paid…)

All of the other music streaming companies share the remaining 25% of worldwide music streaming — and paid anywhere from .00069 cents per stream (YouTube Music) to .017 cents per stream (Napster).

Here’s a graphic representation from this article of all of these numbers.

Suffice to say that I have not been earning any significant money as a result of people streaming the 37 recordings I’ve released during the past 34 months.

Deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

But I DO have the satisfaction of knowing that my music is out there in the world, being listened to by folks in fifty different countries — including the USA, Finland, Canada, Taiwan, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil and Chile!

“Music is part of what makes the world keep going.”

And in recent months my streaming statistics on Spotify have risen significantly (although my total numbers are still quite modest).

This rise in my stats helps me feel that what I am doing — releasing music — is not entirely futile, useless and/or egotistical.

And it gives me a small sense of hope, which is what Ron Sexsmith’s lovely song does, too.

Hope remains a blessed mystery to me.

I hope you feel at least a tiny kernel of hope in your life.

Recent regional elections here in the USA have renewed my sense of hope in our political process.

And small children — such as those who grace my Music Together classes — also give me a sense of hope as well as a reason to continue to work for a more balanced, sustainable, and respectful future here on planet earth.

I’d be happy to learn in the comments about what gives YOU a sense of hope these days.

Here is a link for “Gold In Them Hills” in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming service.

If you “like” it or “heart” it or add it to a playlist, that apparently improves the algorithmic sharing of my music on that streaming service.

One more deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Thank you to Ron Sexsmith for writing great songs.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so beautifully on my version of Ron’s song AND for being such. a skillful engineer/producer.

Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his colorful graphic design work.

Thank you to Gretje Ferguson (I think?) for taking the photo which Stephen incorporated into his graphic design.

Thank you to Gloria O’Leary for making the coat I am wearing in this photo.

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their great images.

And thank YOU for reading. and listening to yet another one of my blog posts!

“Music is a touching reminder that life is worth living.”

Waltzing With COVID-19

Three and a half years ago the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID had become a public health emergency.

Image by Miroslava Chrienova from Pixabay. 

Six weeks later, it grew into a pandemic — from which many of us are still recovering…

However, the WHO recently announced that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency.

This is good news.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Apparently deaths from COVID are at their lowest point since the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.

This is also good news.

However, a lot of people are still continuing to die here in our Not-So-United States of America.

Last night I ordered a pizza and salad from a nearby restaurant, and after I picked it up, a woman waiting outside congratulated me on wearing a face mask.

She, too, was wearing a mask and told me in no uncertain terms that our COVID challenges are not over yet.

In fact, the 40-year-old son of one of her friends had just died from COVID.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Image by David Mark from Pixabay. 

In 2023, the USA COVID death toll has averaged 150 people per day

Although this is a decline from a peak death toll of 2,500 human beings per day in early 2022, 150 per day still feels like a lot of people dying to me!

And all around the world, people continue to die — one every three minutes — “and that’s just the deaths we know about,” says WHO director general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “COVID-19 is (not) over as a global health threat.”

Yet another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I wrote the song in the player at the beginning of this blog post during the first year of the pandemic.

I was inspired — in part — by the months-long hospitalization of a fellow singer who was on a ventilator for a very, very long time.

Amazingly enough he has managed to recover — and resume singing!

Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay.

He was cared for by a team of truly courageous nurses, doctors, and support staff who came to work day-in and day-out while most of us were sheltering in place at home.

I bore witness to the dedication and patience of many nurses, doctors and support staff during this time because — exactly as COVID was entering our lives — I was diagnosed with an obscure medical condition called PGNMID.

As the COVID epidemic grew worse and worse, I met with specialists at several hospitals, underwent kidney and bone marrow biopsies. and ended up being given three rounds of six-month-long-treatments — chemotherapy+immunotherapy+steroids the first time, a new immunotherapy drug the second time, and an even newer experimental immunotherapy drug the third time.

I appear to be responding well to the latest round of treatments — and may write more about this experience in a future blog post.

I mention it now because I saw firsthand — on a weekly basis — the brave and loving response of the medical community during that horrible time.

Image by Bianca from Pixabay.

Recently another musical acquaintance shared with me that she stopped working as a nurse a year ago so that she could begin to recover from the stress and trauma of being a nurse during the COVID pandemic.

I know she is not alone…

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

It’s easy to forget — or ignore — the reality that most of the people who have died due to COVID were connected to a web of caregivers, family and friends who are now grieving their loss.

Deep sigh…

Millions of human beings around our planet — myself included — are now struggling to regain their hopefulness, their sense of connectedness with others, their equilibrium, their sense of purpose, and their mental health after being in survival mode for the past few years.

And some folks are also struggling with mysterious, lingering health challenges after being infected with COVID.

A recent interview on Fresh Air with a neuropsychologist named James Jackson reminded me that there are millions of people here on planet earth who continue to experience a wide variety of debilitating symptoms due to their COVID infection — the “long-haulers.”

As the Fresh Air webpage explains, these folks “struggle to remember things, perform basic tasks and solve problems” — which can lead “to a loss of employment, income, and important relationships.”

Yet another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Jackson has written a book called Clearing The Fog — From Surviving to Thriving with Long COVID.

I am rooting for all of the COVID long haulers!

I have so many thoughts and feelings about COVID — as I am sure you do, too.

Maybe you will be moved to share a little of what you are feeling and thinking these days about the impact of COVID on our lives in a comment at the end of this blog post.

Image by Lars Nissen from Pixabay.

Part of me was tempted when writing this blog post to share a list of the high-profile folks — such as former presidential candidate Herman Cain — who downplayed or actively denied the significance of the COVID virus… and then ended up dying from it.

However, that seemed too disrespectful and schadenfreudey.

I did stumble across an interview earlier this year with a former Republican senator from Oklahoma — Jim Inhofe — in the Tulsa World, in which he explains that one of the reasons he retired was long-term COVID-19 complications.

At the time of his retirement, he said that he had tested positive for “a very mild case” of COVID-19.

But in this interview he admits that it has been much more serious.

And according to Inhofe, “Five or six others have (long COVID), but I’m the only one who admits it.” 

Yikes!

I think he is referring to other US senators… but maybe he means members of Congress overall?

He also says: “I try to be careful, but I have to be reminded to do things like wash my hands. I have to do things I’m not used to and that’s difficult sometimes.”

I agree.

It can be VERY difficult for us to change our longtime habits and mindsets and patterns of behavior.

Apparently Inhofe has also been an outspoken climate science denier for decades — and we shall see how that ends up affecting him…and his family…and his former constituents…and all of the rest of the web of life here on planet earth in the upcoming days and weeks and months and years!

I think it’s been pretty hot in Oklahoma in recent weeks…

One final deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Thank YOU for reading and listening to another one of my blog posts.

I am always surprised and heartened to check my WordPress stats and see that people continue to visit my blog even when I haven’t posted anything new in many weeks.

Thank you to all of my visitors!

And thank you to Pixabay for their wonderful and generous photographers.

Graphic design by Stephen C. Fischer.

And thank you to Doug Hammer for playing his Schimmel grand piano so poignantly AND for helping me to mix/master “Waltzing With COVID-19” via many Zoom sessions during the past two years.

If you are curious to hear more music, you can find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

And you can listen to “Waltzing With COVID-19” on your favorite streaming platform by clicking here.

Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist will improve the algorithmic activity of my music there!

Image by Leo from Pixabay. 

I am going to continue to wear a mask whenever I am inside a movie theater or a bus or a subway or a friend’s car (if the windows are rolled up) or a friend’s home or an office or a hospital or a retirement community.

This is a simple way we can continue to respect and care for each other.

One more deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Time To Sing Some Songs!

We celebrated Patriots’ Day here in Massachusetts earlier this month.

As you probably know, Patriots’ Day commemorates the battles fought nearby in Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy (now part of Arlington) at the start of the American Revolutionary War between colonists and British forces.

All of these events happened quite near where I live — in fact, British soldiers marched past the end of my street (about three houses away) en route to these battles.

And there are historical markers up and down Massachusetts Avenue which document the skirmishes — and often the deaths — which unfolded two hundred and forty eight years ago in my neighborhood.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

I wrote today’s song, “Democracy Is Under Attack,” a couple of years ago after participating in a big march in Boston.

I was inspired by some of the chants I heard during the course of the day.

I am guessing that most readers of my blog are well aware of the astounding political events unfolding these days in the USA.

I had compiled a long list of them to include in this blog post, but today I realize that I do not need to burden or discourage readers in this manner.

I can let my song speak for itself.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

The great lyricist Yip Harburg — who co-wrote classic songs such as “It’s Only A Paper Moon,” “Over the Rainbow,” and “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? — once said the following:

“Words make you think thoughts. Music makes you feel a feeling. But a song makes you feel a thought.”

I love this idea.

He continues: “Songs have been the not-so-secret weapon behind every fight for freedom, every struggle against injustice and bigotry.”

“(Think of) ‘The Marseillaise’ (or) ‘The Battle Hymn Of The Republic’ or ‘We Shall Overcome’ and many more.”

“Songs are the pulse of a nation’s heart — a fever chart of its health.”

“Are we at peace? Are we in trouble? Are we floundering?”

“Do we feel beautiful? Do we feel ugly?”

“Listen to our songs.”

Thank you, Yip!

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

When I am feeling overwhelmed by the news, I often turn to music for comfort, inspiration and balance.

I also turn to two writers: Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubbell.

Each of them shares a very thoughtful — and free — essay on an almost-daily basis which reflects upon what is happening in the USA as well as other parts of planet earth.

I am astounded at how many articles each of them is able to read and then synthesize into a cohesive and uplifting essay.

If you are curious, you can sign up for Heather’s newsletter by clicking here.

And you can sign up for Robert’s newsletter by clicking here.

As I mentioned above, one doesn’t need to pay to read their work, but they DO accept financial contributions to support their work if one has the means to do that.

Here’s an example of Ms. Richardson’s writing from 3/23/23:

“In a democracy, the way parties are supposed to win elections is by making a better case for being in power than their opponents do. Losing elections is supposed to make leaders think deeply about how better to appeal to voters.”

“That system keeps all parties constantly honing their policies, thinking through problems, benefiting their constituents.”

“Our election laws are designed to try to hold the playing field level, and a party should want to keep the system fair in order to keep itself healthy.”

“But if a party is willing to cheat to win, it no longer has to work on policies that appeal to voters; it can simply game the system to dismantle the competition on which democracy depends and instead create a one-party state.”

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Here are some thoughts from Mr. Hubbell’s post on 4/17/23:

“Americans are fed up.”

“A recent survey by the Navigator Group finds a dramatic increase in the number of Americans who believe gun violence is a top national priority. For tragic reasons, concern over guns is now the third-ranking priority among Americans—behind only inflation and jobs.”

“Strong majorities of Democrats and Independents believe that gun laws should be strengthened — as do 38% of Republicans.”

“The numbers are turning against Republicans on the gun issue. Combined with reproductive liberty, the climate crisis, and attacks on LGBTQ rights, MAGA extremists have picked the wrong side of nearly every major social and political issue challenging America. Although they can control legislation through gerrymandered legislatures, that is a losing game over time.”

“Democrats can win at the statewide and national level—where they can block G.O.P. lawlessness and enact gun reform.”

“We have a path forward — through grass-roots politics. It will be long and arduous, but we have a path forward. Let’s take it.”

Their essays are a welcome antidote to the firehose of information —and seemingly endless speculation — blasted at us by our media

Yet another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

So what to do?

I keep singing — with my Music Together families, with my friends Carole and Molly, with the residents of retirement communities and assisted living facilities, while I am washing dishes at home, and while I walk around my neighborhood.

And I keep giving tiny amounts of money to politicians — like the two young representatives in Tennessee who were recently kicked out and then reinstated — as well as organizations devoted to preserving/expanding our ability to vote.

And I keep reading my fellow bloggers posts.

And every now and then I write one myself.

I will end with a couple of quotations.

One is by President Joseph R. Biden (and/or one of his speechwriters):

“Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart. The battle is perennial, and victory is never assured.”

The other is by Mahatma Gandhi:

“Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.”

Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for the images in this post.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his tremendous piano playing and expert engineering skills.

Thank you to anyone and everyone who sings-along — with this blog post, in my Music Together classes, at my gigs, while listening on a streaming platform, etc.

Thank you to Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubbell for your ongoing analysis and insights.

And thank you to YOU for reading and listening to this blog post.

If you are curious to hear more music, you can also find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing his Schimmel grand piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

And you can stream “Democracy Is Under Attack” by clicking here.

Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist will improve the algorithmic activity of our music there!

One more deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Inch by Inch… Row by Row!

Photo courtesy of the Arlington Reservoir website

While all sorts of extremely important events continue to unfold around the world on a daily basis, life — blessedly — goes on here in East Arlington, MA.

Last fall I discovered — and began happily patronizing — an organic farm within biking distance of my home.

It sits on the edge of an old reservoir which currently serves as a nature preserve.

The reservoir straddles the border of my town and the next town to the west — Lexington, where our Revolutionary War kicked off two hundred and forty eight years ago with a battle against the British.

I have known about this reservoir — which is no longer used for drinking water — for the past thirty years.

Yet I have rarely visited it because I live on the east side of town, and the reservoir is located on west side of town.

Biking there takes 25 minutes, and it’s mostly up hill — following a converted rail-to-trail bike path.

However, this past fall I resumed leading Music Together classes indoors at a karate studio which is located five blocks from the reservoir.

And not long after we had begun our fall term, someone (we still don’t know who) drove into one of the karate studio’s front walls.

This meant that we had to find alternative locations for our classes while repairs were being made.

A couple of my Music Together families offered to let us hold class in their backyards — and one of those families lives a block away from the reservoir.

So one morning after class in their backyard was done, I decided to explore the reservoir on my bike.

Photo courtesy of Lexington Community Farm website

It turns out there is a lovely path all the way around it — and when I reached the far side of the reservoir, I found myself gazing onto a field full of vegetables!

And then I saw a sign welcoming people to walk through the farm and — on Fridays and Saturdays — buy fresh vegetables at their farmstand.

Because I had been part of a summer/fall farmshare of fresh produce which was driven to Arlington each week from an organic farm in New Hampshire, I did not visit their farmstand right away.

But when my farmshare ended in November, I decided to check it out.

What a thrill to enter a room full of very locally grown — and vibrantly colored — organic carrots, potatoes, lettuces, sweet potatoes, scallions, leeks, collard greens, swiss chard, kale, turnips, beets.. and the list went on and on and on!

I bought a bunch of leeks, a bunch of kale and a bunch of collard greens.

And I rode home very happily on the bike path with all of them erupting in different shades of green out of a shopping bag in the front basket of my bike.

We are now experiencing a stretch of wintery weather in Arlington after a relatively mild December, January and February (during which I have been able to continue riding my bike!)

The first crocus and snowdrops appeared in our front yard two weeks ago, but they are now buried under an icy crust of snow.

This week we are experiencing snow and sleet and rain, but I trust that spring will return before too long — with more croci and snowdrops and mini-Siberian irises and grape hyacinths poking their way out of the soil and opening their flowers to the sun.

I also trust that activity will resume in the fields and greenhouses of Lexington Community Farm.

My longing for spring is what has inspired me to share a recording of “The Garden Song” by Dave Mallett which Carole Bundy, Molly Ruggles and I included on our first eight-song CD last summer.

As you probably already know, you can play it by clicking at the very beginning of this blog post.

You can also listen to it on various streaming platforms by clicking here.

Thank you to all of the people who make the Lexington Community Farm a reality — inch by inch and row by row!

Thank you to Carole Bundy and Molly Ruggles for learning this song with me.

Thank you to Dave Mallett for writing it.

Thank you to Peter Kontrimas for recording it and to Doug Hammer for mixing/mastering it.

And thank you to Mother Nature for bringing everything back to life here in the northern hemisphere of planet earth!

You are always welcome to visit my website — where you can find many songs and learn more about my musical life here on planet earth if you are curious.

You can find me and Carole and Molly singing on various streaming platforms by clicking here.

You can also find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing his Schimmel grand piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist will improve the algorithmic activity of our music there!

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

And most of all, thank YOU for reading another one of my blog posts!