Hi all! I came home from the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference tonight. (This is a folk music trade conference.) It occurred to me that though we do some business and networking there, and have some fun, the real reason we go is a little more important. Artists need to interact with each other, inspire and be inspired by each other, support each other spiritually, mentally and physically, and just come together to celebrate what we've made since the last time we saw each other. In her book "The Artists Way" Julia Cameron calls us a "sacred circle." We create stuff. God or the universe, or whatever you want to call it creates stuff. I think I became an artist because I had to. I was compelled to write, make songs, make different things. I also found, early on, that I never felt more connected to the rest of the world then when I was creating. Maybe there is one place our art comes from. My friend the great painter Linda Jean Fisher says she paints to find the truth. This is why I write. To find the truth, or at least to document my search for it. At our conference we do "normal trade conference" type stuff during the day. In the evening there are "formal showcases" (little concerts) in the theatre and conference rooms at the hotel. Then after 11:30 pm there are "guerilla showcases" (little concerts) in the actual hotel rooms. After this, after 3 am, and really all day and night there are song circles, jam sessions, political discussions, and hangs all over the hotel. This year Steve and I met a group of native Americans who have a band called "Spirit Wing" and they invited us to drum with them. Then we played songs untill 6am! I also met the great folk/ roots music photographer Robert Corwin and had a real meeting of the minds (and hearts.) I spent the whole weekend celebrating the creativity of others and sharing mine. It was an amazing, invigorating weekend and I feel so grateful and blessed!
Yay!!!! See you soon and thanks to everyone who went to NERFA!!!

Sunday, November 13th 2005