sacred ceremonies

while i was in malibu earlier this month, i learned about the sacred native american Sun Dance ceremony from the widow of a cherokee medicine man. this ritual, which is beautiful, is performed in fulfillment of a vow or as a way of seeking spiritual power or insight. i was fascinated to learn about it from someone with first hand experience. it came up in conversation during another ceremony, a Taiwanese tea tasting, to which i had been invited. this ceremony, which lasted several hours, is used to calm and center us, and to inspire conversation. i had heard about tea tasting for a while, and i was excited to be invited and available to participate. after the tea, i began to think about the idea of sacred ceremony and music. early on, i had an intuition that there was something sacred about music, but performing got mixed up with theatre and “show business.” i’ve decided to make a conscious effort to re-focus the “performance ceremony” and see where it goes. as it happens with these things, once something enters your consciousness, you start seeing it everywhere. check out Colbert’s interview with Nick Cave, and the photo above taken after i shared the Sun Dance story during our recent performance at the Barn at Magical Moon Farm. magical.

and perform we will! our Lifetime Second Saturday Residency begins again at Vincent’s Worcester on september 14, at 8:00 PM. we will then RETURN TO THE BOSTON AREA FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 5 YEARS on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11th AT 7:00 PM AT THE BURREN! Get your tickets HERE. we’re thrilled to kick off the fall calendar in boston with a return to the Burren. continue the tour that weekend at Vincent’s Worcester, on saturday the 12th.

our work on album number 17 has resumed and we are shooting for a finish this fall. we can’t seem to stop writing and tracking and we added two more numbers this month, the nasty Bad, Bad Thing and the beautiful Lift Me Up. but it is definitely time to wrap it up and turn the page. paul will go back in on september 10th to track guitars on 4 or 5 songs and clay will join us on the 11th to track backing vocals on 5 or 6 songs. i’m getting pretty happy about the record after potentially scrapping a couple of tracks that just weren’t coming up. we have a solid 10 or 12 now, several of which have become staples of our live shows, like Billy Boy, Sinner Girl and His Own Resolve.

i can’t stop talking about my performance with Ringo’s drummer, Greg Bissonette, and an all-star band at the Composer’s Breakfast Club of Malibu earlier this month. the care that went into charting and learning Billy Boy and Pinebox Walk was incredibly professional and generous, which made for an amazing show. along with Greg, we had Michael Levine on violin, Phil Giffin on bass, Richard Gibbs on keyboards, and Elliott Callaway on guitar. it was heartwarming to play with these dear friends and exciting to play with Greg and Elliott. BUT THEN THE NEXT DAY, completely unrelated and at random, I MET RINGO. we had a brief chat about Greg (thank God i had something personal to mention!) and exchanged pleasantries. not wanting to push my luck, i let it go at that and marveled at the synchronicity of it all. there is no question about it, there’s something special about malibu for me.

i hope you’re all able to get in some last sips of summer as we move back towards fall. i look forwqrd to seeing you all around school!

love,

jc