Four short gig announcements, and a skydiving story:

This Friday Nov. 11th, I’m giving a 5 pm partial capo workshop then I’m the feature at the Round Top Farm open Mic in Damariscotta. It’ll be months before I play in Maine again, and this room is really warm and yummy. Local? Please come.

Saturday Nov 19th, I’ll play a co-bill with Kevin So at the Hurdy Gurdy in Fairlawn NJ. THAT’s gonna be a good one. See the link here.

The Following Sunday the 20th, Marc Douglas Berardo and I co-bill for Barbara Manners at her Acoustic Celebration series in Ridgefield CT. That link is here.

The BIG news – December 3rd, I’ll perform the Einstein’s Dreams cycle with the Principia College orchestra and choir. It’s in Elsah, Illinois – about an hour from St. Louis. If you’re close by, it’s going to be one hell of a show. You should be there.

Oh yeah, and a tattoo. For years, I’ve toyed with the idea of getting the call sign of Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed as a band around my left ankle.

The thought just kept burning a little imprint in a dusty back corner of my noggin for years. Initially, it just felt too fatalistic. I mean, a plane that went down in mid-ocean?

Then, three weeks ago, Michael died. Michael knew for over a decade that his life would be short. He spent the last several years jumping out of airplanes and telling his friends how much they meant to him.

Last weekend I jumped at his drop zone, and cried through freefall – I could feel him there, looking over at me in between glances at his altimeter, then spinning away as he deployed.

I got the international alphanet words for Amelia’s Electra – Kilo, Hotel, Alpha, Quebec, Quebec – in his handwriting, as a reminder that this ride is often shorter than we would have hoped, a reminder to make it count, because it matters more than we know.

A single life ripples for decades, some for centuries. After you’re gone, the people you touched will carry you with them. The people we love, the ones we teach, that we touch with our example or our caring, or just smile at on the street. We simply have no idea.

Thank you for making it count.

Randall

My birthday was yesterday. It’s been a sweet year, full of all kinds of good stuff. Summer is slowly yielding to Fall up here in Maine, and I’m pushing the weather window about as much as I can to keep sailing until it’s just too cold and windy. It’s been delicious out there.

The life-questioning continues, the whys and wherefores and all that. I’ve got some great Einstein’s Dreams shows in the hopper, including December 3rd at Principia College in Elsah Illinois, with a full orchestra. It’s a free show – if you’re in range, you should come. Email me to get on the guestlist.

But mostly, my ADHD is still zooming along. I wonder about building geodesic disc-shelters in developing countries, I think about sailing off to blue water and working on eradicating my tan lines, and I’m captivated by Helen and Scott Nearing’s writings on sustainability.

Oh, and I was floored by Seth Godin’s take on this recession being permanent:

In ten days, I’m off to China and Korea, both for the first time. When I come back, I’m playing in Philly:
Friday Oct 21st in Media PA at Todd and Sheryl Garfinkel’s (email me)
Sat. Oct 22nd in Glenside PA at the Yavit home:

Then I’m slated to go on a little sailing trip to Bermuda for a bit before playing two other cool gigs:
Nov. 19th: Fair Lawn, NJ:
Nov. 20th: Ridgefield CT:

In December, I’ll travel around India sans iPhone or computer, do lots of yoga and spend quality time on the beach staring at the Indian Ocean. Come January, the whole thing starts up again. I’ve probably given up trying to be great at anything in particular, I’m just trying to show up and be real and let it change me.

What about you? How’s your journey coming along? Anything I can help with?

Love, Randall