That's a Wrap: 2020 (Thank God)

My wife and I, March 22, 2020

In just a few hours, the most unusual year of my lifetime will come to an end and we will all collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Personally, the year started off strongly: I was playing the 11 o’Clock Numbers series at West End Lounge (both series and venue a casualty of the pandemic), made a trip to the Bahamas for the Broadway Across America conference (which was when the threat of COVID became a reality), started Gold Dust Women with a bunch of bad ass ladies, and was looking forward to a few musicals coming down the line. Those musicals weren’t to be, of course, as the entire theater industry was forced to shut down.

While there was no end in sight for the longest time, we now see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel thanks to two promising vaccines. When we will be fully vaccinated and back to some semblance of normalcy is pure speculation at this point, but I’m going to try my darnedest to be hopefully optimistic going forward.

Tomorrow I’m moving into a rehearsal space of my very own for the first time since high school. I can’t wait to be fully set up to record at all times and I’m looking forward to taking on some more private students in a virtual setting. And having all of my drums outside of my Brooklyn apartment is going to open up so many opportunities for feng shui improvements which I know my wife is looking forward to! (Have I mentioned that I got married in 2020? See, it wasn’t all so bad!)

My last project for the year is this beautiful tribute to Olivia Harris’s mother, who lost her battle with cancer in December. Today I reflect on Olivia’s words and I’m hoping we all see some growth in 2021.

Everybody’s a garden

Sowing joy and pain.

Everybody’s a garden.

Why can’t we let it rain?