Summertime

It's amazing how frightening good things can be.

Most musicians head into every project ... whether it's a tour or album ... with a mental pre-nuptial in their head. We pre-plan if not expect the inevitable demise. When the stars line up and the sea parts and it actually works, most of us stand back in shear amazement and terror. We have that, "O lordy, what do I do now" look written all over us.

WoodSongs is like that. Sort of. When I started the show in a small recording studio with 18 people in the audience who we bribed to show up with apple cider and home made brownies and one radio station willing to air it, the idea of holding the reins to a broadcast of this level would have been ... well ... scary ... but exciting.

But it's been a great summer. We've had so many spectacular artists, the WoodSongs crew continues their incredible effort and work. Our affiliate base keeps expanding. Season 3 of the Public Television series launched nationwide and season 4 is being finished as I write. My daughter Rachel and her friend Lauren put together a little singing duo, they play only Beatles songs and call themselves Marmalade Sky. Listening to them reherse in the sitting garden at the farmhouse on Sunday afternoons is so priceless.

And now we zoom forward to the impending milestone of our 500th broadcast on September 15 with the great Richie Havens as our special guest. What a spectacular way to end the summer.

Part of my summer was doing a lot of fun things with my kids. I took them on the road to Little Rock and Memphis and Nashville and lots of other places while I was on tour. We saw Batman three times and even went to a big amusement park called Kings Island. They charged my 9 year old son as an adult because he was over 42 inches, but then he was barred from riding all the cool rides he wanted to go on because he was one inch too short. I didn't like that.

But any irritation I had with Kings Island management evaporated when I saw the looks on my kids faces as they came screaming down the roller coaster.

They looked scared.
Terrified.
Frightened.
Nervous.

... and very, very happy.

Michael