I'm sitting in my apartment poking through books, CDs, and musical equipment (all my worldly possessions), in preparation to move.   Not a big move--my wife and I are moving a few blocks away in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to a slightly sunnier apartment with more closet space.  I'm thinking year-end thoughts:  What did I do with the past year?  What am I grateful for?  And the thing everyone packing up their house thinks:  How the heck did I end up with all this stuff??  

Looking back, the past year saw more itches scratched and small dreams fulfilled:  
•-Did a second tour in Texas, with my wife along for the first time.  Texas was the only place in the U.S. that I lived as a kid, and the itch to visit there runs deep.
•-Opened for my musical hero Chris Smither, and got to spend some time with him.  (During our discussion on writing songs, he said, "Why write the bad ones?"  Smitherian wisdom that I will attempt to live on.)
•-Learned to skillfully use recording equipment--a major accomplishment for someone with technophobic tendencies like myself.  The new CD "Living Ever-Lovin' LIVE" is one product of my new recording chops, and it sounds great.  
•-Wrote more songs I'm proud of, learned new tricks on the guitar, ventured a few steps down a few more long corridors in the vast hall of music, with new and old friends along the way.  Stay tuned for more musical surprises in 2010!  
•-Scratched my itch to ponder and discuss ideas worth thinking about, through the Reading Odyssey, which I helped co-found as a nonprofit this year.  We spent the year reading Aristotle--messy but rewarding stuff--and I led discussions of Homer's "Odyssey."

As always, I have countless riches to be grateful for:  I'm grateful to do what I love and make a living at it, and grateful for all the thousands of people who make that possible, including you, dear reader.  I'm grateful for a loving spouse and wonderful family and friends.  And I'm grateful for the sense of bountiful possibility that music affords:  it is infinite, and my best work, I hope, will always be ahead of me. 

For sure, 2009 was not an easy year.  Hanging on, and hanging in there, was foremost in the minds of many of us.  Even so, did you scratch any itches this year, or fulfill any dreams?  What are you grateful for?

Happy holidays to you and your loved ones, and all the very best for the new year.   Now, I've gotta go do more combat with all my stuff.  ;-)
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Links:
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Ridge,_Brooklyn
Chris Smither   http://www.chrissmither.com
Order the new CD "Living Ever-Loving LIVE"  Go here
Reading Odyssey  http://www.readingodyssey.com
Read Homer's "Odyssey" with Pat   http://homer2010-1.eventbrite.com/

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Ears and Eyes:  What I'm Listening to, Reading, and Watching:
•-Music:
    "How Can I Keep From Singing:  Early American Religious Music and Song" Vol. 1, http://tinyurl.com/y9lzgw9
   Roswell Rudd Trio, "The Unheard Herbie Nichols, Vol. 1" http://tinyurl.com/yahfyjb
•-Books:
    Chip Heath and Dan Heath, "Made to Stick:  Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die."
         http://tinyurl.com/ybwlyx8  
    Hermann Hesse, "Poems."  http://tinyurl.com/ybnrkbd
•-Movies:
    "Around the Bend" http://tinyurl.com/yargg9r
    "Mrs. Brown"  http://tinyurl.com/yej7k94}