Amen!

Sunday's double music jam was euphoric. Six hours of slamming air through the brass tube on stage is my kinda day!!!! I got dressed up in my orange linen dress to play in the blues jam at the Waterstreet Cafe and also to celebrate that my paintings are hanging in their dining room. People I've seen at the jams every Sunday for a year wandered in and enjoyed the pictures. Very few of these people had ever seen my artwork. It was much more natural and fun for all of us than an official gallery opening.

I'm excited to say I must be pushing a bigger volume of air through the horn these days because I get hoarse after I play. The sweet tenor player, Tom from Uxbridge, said "yup, that will happen," and gave me a fancy French licorice pellet for my throat. After a good session it feels like I've been screaming, which is perfect, actually. I WOULD be screaming if I hadn't found the bari! I'm hoping to offer my low notes to my friend's band this Saturday. Trial-by-fire is the best way for me to learn. The fool in me keeps propelling me into these situations.

Making music is truly magic. Even if I were never to progress past this point it has already inspired me and healed so much heartbreak. I can't imagine being as sad, depressed, and haunted as I was during my twenties and thirties. My life really began with making music. I wish this joy for everyone in life, in whatever form they find it. Now perhaps I understand, firsthand, the phrase "Follow your bliss."

There's another asthmatic sax player who feels the same way about making music. His name is Vernard Johnson, and he has created essentially a ministry of the saxophone. "Sax Gordon" Beadle plays one of his songs on his first CD.