This has always been a challenging month to write these "notes". I'm simply not "on the road" as much. July is the polar touchstone to December where my schedule slows down. It's the ebb of the year. Much of the "road" this month has been an introspective journey full of choices and emotions, full of the humidity of the season, thunderstorms, and the rhythm of being a dad.

This July the world is full of predictables: swimming in Ashfield lake, hotdogs at the Lakehouse, having Laura fix my Birkenstocks at the hardware store, pizza at Pinocchio's in Northampton, seeing familiar faces at the post office, and leaning into familiar curves on route 9. All this is especially welcome in contrast to the stress involved in the traveling of the last two months.

I'm back up in Ashfield, Massachusetts playing concerts with Lui Collins, and staying at the old house I used to live in. We'll play eight concerts this month. Not too heavy a schedule, really. And considering that all the gigs are within an easy drive makes this months work that much easier. We had one fantastic show just 20 minutes away in the town of Shelburne Falls in the beautiful old Memorial Theater downtown built as an opera house one hundred years ago. Gayle Olson's does a wonderful job presenting her Second Sunday Coffeehouse. Ben Demerath was also on the bill with Jim Henry backing him up. It was a regular folk festival, and a joy to hear Ben and Jim play.

Home schooling for my 11 year old continues through the summer. I am grateful for mornings after breakfast spent writing our "morning pages." They lend a structure to the days and the expectation that each morning they will happen again. This morning the idea I'm giving him is to write a page long list of all the things he'd like to have for his birthday tomorrow. This idea he cannot grumble about!

This month I am putting the final touches on Avenue Of The Saints. All the last guitar flourishes, harmony vocals, and the details that mean to be felt more than heard are where the attention goes now. The CD artwork follows, the photos and lyrics, credits, and other details seem to line right up and say, "don't forget about me!" To see this is like finishing a puzzle whose picture is only now coming into focus. To behold the first draft of the artwork and a rough mix CDR in my hands gives a rush of feeling of this becoming reality. This is my fourth CD, but it always feels like the first!

The one truly unpredictable this month was the passing of Dave Carter. Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer were in Northampton, MA getting ready for two weeks of festivals when he died of a heart attack. The next three days I spent in a state of shock and grieving, as I'm sure many who loved his music and wonderful way of writing did, and then some. Please take a look at Dave and Tracy's website at www.daveandtracy.com. There you can read Tracy's beautiful open letter, as well as listen to Dave and Tracy's recordings.

I'll leave you here with a bit of Dave's writing. Take care everyone. Visit the guestbook, and take a look at the concert schedule. See you soon.
Dana

"And should you glimpse my wandering from out on the borderline
Between death and resurrection and the council of the pines
Do not worry for my comfort, do not sorrow for me so
All your diamond tears will rise up and adorn the sky beside me when I go."
- Dave Carter