The Year in Rear View

Contrary to cliche, hindsight is not twenty-twenty. Or, it may be twenty-twenty, but with a tunnel vision that brings only pieces of our puzzles into focus. It takes a lot of hindsight, insight, effort, and time to arrive at clearsight. But hindsight is still usually clearer than foresight.

Here, then, is my 2005 as seen in a rear-view mirror, somewhat foggy and rapidly receding into the background. (Warning: Objects may be closer than they appear):

It is a sunny autumn landscape rich with the tapestry of nature's dying blush. An orange light bathes everything. A banner straddles the skyline over the highway. It reads: The Year of the Pumpkin. I see bumper stickers for many folk radio programs on the roadside phone poles. I see a decal on a newspaper dispenser that says Chosen by WYEP as one of the best local releases of 2005.

Okay, 'nuff with the rear-view metaphor. Sheesh. 2005 was for me a year of milestones and surprises. As a fitting final example of the kind of surpises I mean, dig this: I just discovered that a well-edited portion of this blog was included in the latest issue of the Pittsburgh City Paper. My first response was to feel violated. Nobody asked my permission. I guess I think of this little effort as a sort of sanctum sanctorum for those who dream large and deep, and have made a calling of cultivating both thought and feeling. I never wanted it to be fodder for mass consumption. But I soon realized that no matter how many insensitive and loutish folks drop in on this space cruising for thrill fodder, only the sincere and studious would become frequent visitors. So, thank you City Paper for posting signs to this otherwise obscure destination!

I turned forty. My older friends answered my hill-cresting apprehensions with good-natured chiding. My younger friends... Well, they no longer take my calls. But they both came in force to help me celebrate the occasion on a night of communion and song that I'm sure we'll all remember at least until the big blow-out when we celebrate senility.

Musically, I've never had a better year. Hell, I've never had a better year in any of my overlapping (and oft advised-against) career choices. My second CD, Pumpkin, was released in September at The Rex Theater, to an enthusiastic audience of about a hundred and twenty folks. So far, Pumpkin has garnered only positive critical and popular responses. And it's due to be reviewed by both FAME and Sing Out! in the coming months.

The experience of creating Pumpkin was at least as thrilling as the response it has been getting. I got to work with a dizzying number of ingenious helpers. Most of them are credited in the liner notes of the CD itself. Between Pumpkin and the songs I've written since, the songs that were once my most requested, like Battered Umbrella and Every Broken Street, have been displaced by new audience favorites like Poor Boy, Let Their Heads Roll, The Speed of Darkness, and Through Your Eyes.

I finally got to open for some national acts, including Johnny A. and Ellis Paul. I met Maree Gallagher who sometimes functions in a managerial capacity, and she got me the gigs with Ellis. Mr. Paul proved to be a songwriting and performing inspiration, and was down-to-earth and gracious Maree also got me a spot at Cefalo's in the company of Joey Murphy, Brad Yoder, and Dave Pahanish. And a spot on Saturday Light Brigade. Host Larry and wife Rikki Berger are two of the most friendly and musician-supportive folks I've ever met.

I met Anthony Frazier at the Johnstown Folk Festival and he had me perform on his radio show on WCCS in Indiana. Then he designed my website. What a boon.

I won my second "Acoustic Challenge" in two years. This was another of many great surprises because I was up against some formidible talent. In fact, I would not have voted for me, and voiced a mild protest when my name was called. I think I said, "What's wrong with you people?" But I had recently quit another job, and desperately needed the prize money, so I took it and ran to the bank before the recount. Crime pays, little brother, oh yeah. But it has some bad side-effects...

I've gotten to watch the evolution of another generous brain-child of Robert Wagner's: The Three Penny Opry. I've been a hands-on assistant some of the time, and a ringside cheerleader at others. This venture, which was born and continues to thrive at Ron Esser's Starlite Lounge, has been a source of nourishment and camaraderie for me for over a year now. Thank you Robert, Mark Stroup, John Wells, Rosa Colucci, and all you other participants.

The Calliope Songwriters' Circle put out our first anthology of original music. Fourteen of us recorded a song apiece on what turned out to be very tasty little recording. The process was seemingly ego-free and mutually supportive, helmed by John Hayes and George Kantor, and engineered by Doug Wilkin, who also recorded and co-produced Pumpkin.

Camille and I celebrated our eleventh anniversary by heading for the hills. We went down to Davis, West Virginia to visit Black Water Falls, which is where my parents had their honeymoon, and my old family camp, now owned by the State Police. I'm sure Camille was right in her judgment that trespassing on this latter property was a bad idea, but it was one I couldn't resist. I even found some Paw Paw fruit among the autumn leaves!

Not all my memories of 2005 are good. The family "arrest" factor went up again. My ex-brother-in-law is still in jail, and now another relative (who will remain unnamed) was in a violent fracas with the mutant inbred brothers from Bedlam, and is slated to go on trial for a felony. If convicted, he may get between three to ten years prison time, boosting the family "penal quotient" to even greater heights.

December was a scarce month for paying performances. In fact, all during 2005 I've put more money into music than I've made. 2006 is starting off with a good run of performances. I may even make more this month than I did delivering packages for FedEx. But if I skated through Decemeber, it was always on thin, creaking ice. Pray, for Camille's sake, that the pay gigs continue to increase.

I've made some new comrades this year, like Annette Dietz, Sue Gartland, Anne Feeney, Stacy Mates, Doug Wilkin, Patti Spinner, Jon Ritz, George Kantor, Christiane Leach, John Wells; and grown closer to some old comrades, like Robert Wagner, Mark Stroup, Dave Wells, Bob and Suzie Lenart, Mark Perna, and many others. (I trust you know who you are!)

Thank you all for sharing this journey with me! Don't forget to call on me when it's your turn to be helped. Now let's all go out and make 2006 a revolution of love, compassion, and creativity!