First, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who’s written, called or lent an ear these last few days. I reallyreally appreciate it. It’s been tremendously heartening and touching, especially in such a difficult and crazy week. Actually, I think this week might have been a month cleverly disguised as a week. I’ve been running on adrenaline, wine and coffee (and lots of water too, don’t worry!) and had three incredible shows so far this week.

Yesterday’s Gig Number One was the one with Stephanie Schneiderman. Total blast, and a very unusual show in that it was just me and her. Usually we play as a trio or as a full band, but this time it was just us, so I got the opportunity to pull out all the stops and play acoustic guitar, accordion, piano, and cello. Practically every song was different, and it was really fun. Sometime soon, I’ll have to write about why playing with Steph means so much to me. It’s a pretty good story, actually.

So. . .on with the story at hand. The minute that show ended, I had to pack up my car and race over to Mississippi Studios for Gig Number Two with Susie Blue. It was spitting rain on the drive over, and parking was nightmarish, but it was a great show. The instrumentation was Susie playing guitar and singing, Skip on cello, Jen on harmony vocals, and I played accordion. Very intimate, but it still definitely rocks when we play that way. The other nice and unexpected thing about that show was that I ended up just sitting around talking with the owner of the studio about production, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I get a phone call before too long.

Then tonight, Gig Number Three was the CD release show (at Mississippi Studios again!) for Breanna Paletta’s new solo album. I think this was quite possibly one of the best shows of my entire life. Here are some pictures:

If you’ve got any pictures from the Stephanie or Susie shows, please let me know. For some reason, they never seem to make their way to me, so if you’re sitting on a goldmine, please. . .help a brother out? Thank you. :)

The moral of the story is that when you’re feeling sad, it’s really nice to have amazing friends to talk with, stellar music to play, and a busy, fun life to fall back on.

But then there are the quiet times. . .