Persist Like Water (Patreon)

Hello, hello, hello! I hope everyone is happy, well, and warm.

So ... I have this box of CDs. I have probably mentioned the box to you approximately 100 times. These are the concerts, interviews, photo shoots, festival sets and workshops, videos, demos and more that I've gathered over the years, from the Dave and Tracy days up until about 2019 or so. Years ago I went through and labeled most of the discs, which gave me a vague idea of what I have, but I got no further than that.

I have moved this box from home to home, closet to table to hallway to closet to basement to studio floor. I told myself many stories about why I wouldn't or couldn't dig into the project at a particular time. Maybe I was touring and not home enough to focus. Maybe I was making a record. Maybe I was busy being in love. Maybe it scared me. Maybe I just didn't want to -- that was certainly true now and then, though I can't quite tell you why.

Well. for Christmas last year, my best friend Peggy gave me a box of nature meditations. In February, I finally pulled the first card. It said: "Persist like water."

The words "time and tenacity" leapt off the card and into my heart, and when I got the following fortune just a few days later, I knew it was time to address my long-neglected archiving.

To begin, I polled some engineer friends about the technical aspects of moving files to a centralized location and asked how they might tackle such a large project. My pal Donny said he'd start by making a list of everything in the box. Eight hours later, I have my list -- and there are more than 400 discs on it! Yikes, and wow! Phase One: √ done.

Next phase: Purchase a couple SSD hard drives and begin the transfer and review process. Which will take a good deal longer than eight hours :). Please know: the time and effort around these archives is completely made possible by YOUR support. I promise you'll see/hear any juicy discoveries first. THANK YOU.

Other goings-on:

Directing. I am not acting this season so I enrolled in a Directing course. On Tuesday, I will be casting two actors to play a husband and wife in A.R. Gurney Jr.'s one-act, "The Problem." I find directing terrifying so it's probably a good thing to do. Ha! I am loving my time in theater, as you know, and am noticing the ways acting has improved my singer-songwriter stage game. Win-win!

Recording. Blueliner is putting together a couple *sweet* new singles. I'll be recording vocals this week in the home studio, when I also hope to make you a little something inspired by the John Prine tribute show I was a part of last Friday night... I'm still futzing with a list of songs for a new acoustic TG record. More on that in April.

Performing. JH and I have a show here in Greenfield on 3/24 at Hawks & Reed, and another 4/15 at the Vanilla Bean in Pomfret, CT. I booked Old Town School (Chicago) and The Ark (Ann Arbor) for May, and I'm looking for a third date for a nice full weekend. Oh -- and Florida in June. Why not? Feels good to be doing a little touring again!

Pickles. What update is complete without a mention of the Pook? She is a happy girl, playful and only occasionally spicy anymore. We did get word this week that she has kidney disease -- sad face -- so we'll be making some diet changes to support her health and longevity.

Thank you for making important work and growth possible. I am so grateful to be on the path with your good energy and support behind me. More to come, friends, stay tuned! xotg