A beautiful day in this neighborhood… perfectly quiet and still… the way it is supposed to be…. except for the distant waves cracking and smacking down on the beach… I’ve got all my doors and windows open, and I have been painting posters for the tour… so there are lots of paint spills and clothesline and clothespins hanging all over the place…

My neighbor came walking by, peeking inside (like Gladys Kravitz)… he was super curious, asking all kinds of questions about the tour and my little art project…. asked if he could have a poster for his wall… and if he could check out the album… I was actually very touched by his sweet interest and enthusiasm and sincere curiosity. We’ve been neighbors for almost 15 years, and I am not sure if we have talked much about music ever…

Off he went, energized and excited to delve deep into my songs…. and within a few minutes, I could hear my voice blaring and ringing through the neighborhood. (my neighbor loves to crank his music through his vintage, vacuum tubed system, loud and proud, so he can feel it)…

After about 30 seconds, I could hear him skip to the next song… another 30 seconds, skipped ahead again… all at supersonic decibels… I think he listened to one or two more… then it stopped completely and the neighborhood was silent again. Soon after, he came back over to return the album. “Hey, this is really GREAT! But your songs are so serious and you sound like John Lennon!”
He meant it as a compliment… had a few other constructive criticisms about how we should have recorded it and how my songs needed to be happier, then went on to say how he was drinking beers and needed something “a little more” on his day off. (!)

After some concentrated nostalgic talk about the neighborhood, what the beach was like 35 years ago, how girls were 35 years ago, the secret of life and other mysteries revealed, he went back home… BB King and Bo Diddly replaced the air…. and I went back to my painting…