called Donn's Depot in Austin, TX and feels like she's home in Somerville, MA. Why? She still cannot tell you. A fold in the cosmic rift? Maybe because there were people there who once populated The Burren in the same fashion, playing music, making new friends, sharing the love... Yes, it is a small (musical) world indeed.

AHhhhhh the WARM South!!
I am currently in Hammond, LA, on my way soon to New Orleans. My first ever visit and I'm psyched!
However, when we last left our heroine she was braving the bitter cold and snow in Kansas and Colorado.  After a beautiful little show in little Great Bend, KS with my father and Aunt Libbie in attendance, we spent the next day (New Years Eve) stuck there due to a closed I-70.  We had a pleasant New Year's regardless:)
Making it back to CO, 2 fabulous shows ensued: Swallow Hill in Denver with Megan Burtt and Avogadro's Number in Ft. Collins w/ Megan and Zac Galen joining us.
My nephew Liam Dann Stringer was finally born 1-8-07 (!!) and I immediately had to trek to Kansas City and Omaha for more shows. While in Omaha I recorded a segment for "River City Folk", a syndicated radio show to be heard sometime in March on WUMB in Boston and many others around the country (http://www.tommayfolk.com/rivercityfolk/). I'll keep ya posted when! 
Back in Denver I did one more show at Stella's in Denver w/ the fabulous musician, Zac Galen,and soon thereafter we travelled  to the Sundance Film Festival where we were part of the Radical Rat Independent Music showcases. The highlight was opening for friends the Ryan Montbleau Band there in Park City, UT! A crazy night it was indeed... The lowlight was performing in a movie theater lobby for folks waiting to see a Sundance film. Well...there's something strangely satisfying seeing the weird pictures of me in front of the snack bar.  Onward to WARMMMMmmm and a cool show at Brainwash Cafe in San Fran. I love that city. My cousin Jim has the best view of the Oakland bridge from his Mission Hill apt.
Zac and I continued down the coast to Santa Barbara. Seeing my old friend Stephanie was sublime! We shared shows w/ LA's Jason Luckett (go check him out: www.jasonluckett.com) At Elsie's Tavern Zac got to show off his DJing talent, never had samples in/amongst my tunes before! The next day we had off and walked on the beach! Damn I love the Pacific.
Next day I was to drive to Phoenix for a gig...only LA traffic decided to keep me 3 extra hours making me miss my entire show. I'm soooooo soorrrrry to those of you who came to the Mama Java's show to find me not there.:(  The following night at Fiddler's Dream in Phoenix was certainly dreamy...
Then, back to Cali I went, meeting up w/ Zac Galen again at Lestat's in San Diego. Okay. One more reason I believe there's something bigger than me creating a grand plan: I drove there w/ no place to stay and believing I wouldn't know a soul there. I walk in and whom do I see but my firiend Greg Friedman. He'd moved there 5 years ago from Boston. But no, he wasn't there to see me, he was frickin' playing before me!  I had no idea he was performing at all...I'd even checked out this guys website a month earlier and didn't recognize him (in my defense, he'd grown his hair and sideburns out). So we had a great show and I spent 2 days hanging w/ him and his family in La Jolla.  No such thing as an accident...
Returning to Phoenix, I went to see more of my brother and his family and my friends Michelle and Karen. I played an open mic at a crazy dive bar called Cactus Jacks--impromptu 1/2 hour set! Never ceases to amaze me...
 2 days of driving brought me to Houston and the chic wine bar Salento's in Rice Village. Sharing the night w/ Carrie Ann Buchanan and Lise Liddell was a ton of fun, plus seeing old physics friends from my geek days (okay, who am I kidding, I'm still a geek at heart) plus Joe Kowan who used to run the Passim Open Mic! I stayed w/ Joe and his girlfriend Julie, played a cool arts fair in the Heights the next day and an open mic w/ Joe during the Super Bowl. It was great to hang w/ other non-watchers;) 
Then, on to Austin and the story I allude to above. I performed the break set at Artz Rib House on the Sara Elizabeth Campbell monday night, then on the suggestion of one Boston->Austinite Jenny Reynolds, found my way to Donn's Depot. It was a magical evening hosted by Chris Gage at the piano and various friends sitting in, including the amazing Bill Small (www.billsmall.net) who knew exactly what I meant when I said "This place feels like the bar I hang out at back home in Somerville called The Burren" because he'd been there! He used to teach at Berklee and live in Ball Square...freakin' small world indeed. The rest is history. Thus my story ends... for now, at least:)