The end of 2013

So I thought I'd reflect for a moment as we all have a tendency to do at the artificial end of a year.  2013 was a year where I personally said goodbye to some dear friends... Larisa Vaynberg and Brett Walker.  I looked up to Larisa as a mentor.  She had gone through so many real trials in her life becoming a top tennis competitor in her homeland of Russia only to be left out of the big tournaments because she was born Jewish.  Emigrating to America after Chernobyl with her 2 babies, husband, twin sister and parents with nothing but the clothing on their backs.  Working first as a housekeeper and eventually becoming a top tennis coach in Princeton.  She was genuine, funny, fair, loving, hardworking and a role model to me.  Brett Walker and I never met, but he was an incredible cheerleader for me and my music. We spoke hundreds of times on the phone. Placing my songs in countless TV shows and telling me all the time that my music was awesome and he valued it.  That meant a great deal coming from someone who had achieved so much in the music biz. He passed away suddenly and too young as did Larisa.  There were loads of wonderful things this year though...  My son Eli finished elementary school and started Middle school.  Became a black belt in TKD, Played his original classical piano pieces at the Liedenkrantz music hall as part of the Rondo music festival, made it to two travel baseball teams, really cut his hair for the first time and grew about 6 inches.  Al Greene played some amazing gigs this year including Lincoln Center and learned how to play bass and drums at the same time.  He also decided to embark on his journey into the martial arts.  He helped me produce and engineered my last CD and is working on a new one with me.
This year, I released my CD "It's all making sense" which caught the ears of a number of film makers working on Tesla films.  It was a chance to co-write with Jimmy Leahey and Eryn Shewell.  I had a sold out show at the Turning Point which was amazing.  My work as a teaching artist grew ten fold and it's an amazing fit for me.  We did a bunch of traveling and made our yearly pilgrimage to my favorite spot on earth...Sedona Arizona.  Time goes so fast and I've decided that even the crappy times should go slowly because I don't want any of this to end too soon.  There's loads more to say...but I think I'll just add those thoughts to my next batch of songs....
Peace out....