I am sooooo blessed...

I don't know if you can dig this but we had 23 musicians - and a poet - on stage tonight in the most eclectic, wild, harmonious and sacred event we've ever done on Thanksgiving Eve. There were novice singers holding their own with seasoned professionals, rock and rollers mixing it up with jazz and folkies, too.  It made me think of Springsteen's reworking of "This Train" when he wrote "Land of Hope and Dreams" for the reunion tour:

This Train...
Carries saints and sinners
This Train...
Carries losers and winners
This Train...
Carries whores and gamblers
This Train...
Carries lost souls
This Train...
This Train...
Carries broken-hearted
This Train...
Thieves and sweet souls departed
This Train...
Carries fools and kings
This Train...
All aboardThis train...
Dreams will not be thwarted
This Train...
Faith will be rewarded
This Train...
Hear the steel wheels singin'
This Train...
Bells of freedom ringin'

We did Tom Waits and Wailin' Jennys - Miles Davis and Edwin Hawkins Singers - the Band, Bob Dylan, Over the Rhine, Mary Chapin Carpenter, hymns of praise, soul, gospel and rock and roll:  Twist and Shout, Money, original compositions by Bert Marshall, Linda Worster, Hal Lefferts and Grahm Sturz and some GREAT jazz improvisation, too.

WHAT'S MORE... we tripled our attendance and raised over $2000 for emergency fuel assistance in the Berkshires.  I am soooooo blessed to know and work with these musicians:


+ Charlie Tokarz
+ Rob Fisch
+ Andy Kelly
+ Linda Worster
+ Bert Marshall
+ Grahm Sturz
+ Hal Lefferts
+ Brian Staubach
+ Carlton Maaia II
+ Rebecca Leigh
+ Dianne De Mott
+ Eva Peri
+ Sue Noyes
+ David McDermott
+ Jon Grenoble
+ Dick Noble
+ Renee Moretti
+ Carol Killian
+ Ben Garver
+ Zak Bernardo
+ Ethan Wesley
+ Steve Perry
+ Sue Kelly
+ Rob Dumais

It was a blessed night:  there was beauty, there was creativity, there was solidarity and there was tons of joy.  One man said to me afterwards, "I have never really experienced what happens during an improvisation. But sitting there (he was singing in our gospel choir) you can't tell me there isn't a love present in the world that is bigger, more compassionate and creative than we are... because I experienced it!"  I did, too and I am soooooo blessed.