January 12, 2001
I am typing this by the blue night-after-full-moon light pouring through the southern bedroom window. I am in my beloved state of Colorado, on a horse ranch 12 miles east of Boulder. This is one of the last parcels of undeveloped land left in the area and it is a true haven amid ticky tacky cookie cutter tract estates. I would like to know where the land developers, who built the golf course down the road, think they're going to get the water to keep that sucker green in the brown withering heat of August.
But not to be done in by the unfortunate march of wicked "progress" in a place I dearly love, I wake up every morning and turn my face towards an impossibly blue dome, blink at the brilliant sunlight and gaze out in awe at the first breath of the Rocky Mountains. The landscape is wide and exposed and tawny in hue, as if the color has been blown out, and at this scale I feel properly small. Do all of you have that particular place where in your whole body relaxes, something akin to home? A place you know so well, you could shut off the lights and in that utter perfect darkness go forth still with full confindence? I do hope so.
In the spirit of home, I proclaim January to be a season of House Concerts! What's a house concert, you ask? It is an intimate, unplugged evening of music right in the heart of a music fan's home. What's more, you could come in your slippers and pajamas and you would be warmly welcomed. Actually, if you come in your pajamas, I'll give you a little treat just for being bold and adventurous. I have two incredible house concerts lined up this month across the country from one another (The Moneypenny House Concert run by the Musica Extraordinaire Kerry Bernard in Cambridge, MA and The Sawmill House Concert right here on the farm in Lafayette, CO) for your cozy listening pleasure. Wha's more, I am about to enter the studio to record a follow up to A Thousand Miles (!!!) and I will be road testing most of the new material at these two shows (along with Louise, Come Down, and the Warning). Please do make your reservations in advance. What's more, I hear there is going to be a big wheel of brie at the Colorado show...
Did I mention I will be at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia for the very first time at the end of the month?
Did I fail to mention the Bald Eagle, with her 8 foot wingspan, that flew past my head this morning in keen search for her prairie dog breakfast? I had to sit right down there on the gravel road to catch my breath.
I hope you and you loved ones had a wonderful transition into 2001 (get ready for a year full of Space Odyssey references) and survived the holiday season intact. Thank you so much for all of your support and continued kindness!
Posted by bethamsel at January 12, 2001 4:23 PM