A Great Big Diva!

Live Through This

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David Brooks, my bass player, band mate and dear friend of 15 years was stabbed to death by his son on Sunday night. There. I said it. It's been a solid 24 hours since I got the news and I still look at the words in utter disbelief as if they were part of someone else's life - someone else's terrible tabloid headline. I woke up this morning grabbed my pillow tightly and sincerely hoped that it was all just a bad dream. I have vivid dreams and often wake still shaken from the experience. I …

The Joy of Writing in Cafes

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is definitely the people watching. I sit here as people, sometimes alone, often in groups enter the cafe either confidently like regulars or tentatively as though they are waiting for an armed booby trap to spring. …

Bricks and Mortar

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And I said to him: your silence is like a wrecking ball. Then I realized that no one can knock my house down. I've stood tall and strong for fifty years. I started thinking of how much damage I've done to myself: weight, unfulfilled promise of my talent, fear and lack of action. Sometimes I stop working on my life and just go day to day, waking and sleeping, running errands, paying bills and not much else except worrying about the past, ignoring real issues and yearning for love and …

A Wonderful Man has Died.

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I am sad today. A very dear man died over the weekend. He was a friend to the world of classical music, he was a reknowned expert and dealer of rare antique violins (Stradivarians & Guarneris) and stringed instruments. He loved life. He loved rock n roll. He loved my singing. We had great affection for each other. We traveled to Russia together. I am friends with his lovely daughter. I was honored to call him friend. …

You Better Carry That Weight

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Weird day today. A friend, a good friend who I've known for decades expressed "worry" that I might drop dead from being fat. Actually she said: "I worry about you" and then proceeded to tell me that another friend wanted to do an "intervention" which I later found out was not true. It was handled so cavalierly. It wasn't a "sit down" or an intimate conversation. She said it in passing, almost as an aside in the middle of a phone conversation. We weren't even talking about weight. It caught …