Lara Herscovitch: random thoughts

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past. -Lily Tomlin

Home is not where you live, but where they understand you. -Christian Morgenstern

There are many wonderful things that will never be done if you do not do them. -Charles D. Gill
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Dear friends. I have reflected this weekend on how many things I have to be thankful for. One of them is having found (and continuing to hone) a sense of calling and purpose, of "home" of various kinds. One of Shawn Colvin's songs includes the line "If there were no music / then I would not get through / I don't know why I know these things / but I do."

I'm grateful I do too.

When I started playing music semi-professionally about a decade ago (!) a dear friend's advice was - keep going, stay on the bus. Indeed, there have been moments over the years when I've recognized what I was going through as a moment when people fall (or walk - or sprint) off.

I write music because I do - started when I was 8 - but I play music out in the world, publicly, and record music, and so on, because of you. Thank you for keeping me going. It is an honor and a joy; words don't fully express how grateful I am for your support and enthusiasm, for your wit and intelligence, and for the inspiration and insight I gain learning about your own creative and life works. Thank you for the privilege of walking alongside.

As many of you know, I'm not "just" a musician but also a policy social worker - I focus 4 days a week on juvenile justice reform and 3 days a week on music. I'm working hard these days to create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts - following in the footsteps of people like one of my heroes and role models, Ruben Blades (a lawyer, activist, writer, musician, and actor).

Along these lines, my next CD is going to focus on social justice-related themes - facing adversity of different kinds, and transformation on personal, social, and political levels. I'll let you know more about it when I know more myself (sometimes an artist leads her work, sometimes she follows it :)!

A related logistical question - I'm starting to think about CD release location and wonder where (town / city) you would like me to have it? It will probably be mid-winter, but don't worry we'll pick a day there won't be a blizzard. And if there is, we'll meet in the parking lot for snowman building. Or pretend we're the republican field of challenger candidates and have a snowball fight.

Wishing you clarity about the things you have to be thankful for. Coming up in CT, MA and FL, hope to see you soon! lara

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. -Lord Chesterfield

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. -Ambrose Redmoon

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. -Ernest Hemingway

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Greetings, Hope you and yours are well and happy. Wishing you clarity, courage, and great traveling companions. Hope to see you soon. lara

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. -Robert Louis Stevenson

We can identify the positive seeds that we want to water every day, and train ourselves not to water the negative ones. -Thich Nhat Hanh
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I'm not a gardener, but I like the metaphors. Happy rainy day, if you're sharing the weather that I'm in right now (just imagine how much snow this would be if it were February). Hope all is well with you and your literal or metaphoric gardens of all kinds. May they be well planted, weeded, watered, and may the sun shine down for growth.

Two things of note:

(1) Happy to report I won the Singer-Songwriter Showcase at Solarfest so will be on the mainstage next year; save the date, it's a fabulous VT festival and weekend (http://www.acousticmusicscene.com/2011/07/20/lara-herscovitch-is-solarfest-singer-songwriter-showcase-winner/ ); (Songwriters! the CT Folk Festival and Green Expo is accepting entries now, ctfolk.com) and

(2) NYC Banjo Jim's this Thurs is cancelled - the club closed unexpectedly. See you another time soon instead! Best, lara

"An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." -John F. Kennedy

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy." -Jessica Dovey (NOT MLK, as was incorrectly referenced in the last email. The rest of the quote was his.)

"We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." -Winston Churchill

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Hi there and happy spring - no summer - no spring - no winter? - hm, ok, just happy. I hope. You get the drift.

I've decided to focus on finishing writing and recording the new cd this summer (John Jennings producing again, why mess with greatness), but I will be playing a few shows, coming up in VA (special show in Ashland 6/25, a week from Sat), VT and NYC.

Hope to see you soon, wishing you sunshine in the meantime, unless you're in the south, in which case, wishing you shade. cheers, lara

"Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again." -Andre Gide


"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Hope you and yours are safe, tornado- and flood-free, and otherwise happy and doing well. Coming up in VA, MD, CT and AL, hope to see you soon. cheers, lara

"Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom." -Phyllis Theroux

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill

"Blessed is that man who has found his work." -Elbert Hubbard
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Apologies for the technical glitch that prevented letting those of you on the e-list know about last weekend's shows in Providence and Jersey City. We missed you, but that's not your fault! (See how I blamed technology and not myself? It's ok, technology blamed me back, we're even.)

Coming up - in the spirit of actually letting you know - in CT, upstate NY, NY City, Long Island NY, Shenandoah VA, and Birmingham AL. Looking forward to seeing you round the bend. lara

"Good week for poetic justice, after three robbers who preyed on motorists trapped in snow near Kansas City, Mo., were arrested by police when their getaway car became stuck in the snow." -The Week 2/4/10

"Any fool can be fussy and rid himself of energy all over the place, but a man has to have something in him before he can settle down and do nothing." -J.B. Priestly

"All quotation is taken out of context." -Enoch Powell

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In or out of context, I take that as philosophical permission to not shovel snow - ever again (how long until we all start complaining it's too hot?). Hope you and yours are warm and safe and happy. Coming up in PA, NJ, TN, FL and NY, hope to see you soon. lara

"If you wait until you're really sure, you'll never take off the training wheels." -Cynthia Copeland Lewis

"You can make your crystal ball say whatever you want it to." -C.C. Lewis

"Some Dreams: 'I want to be a cop so I can break up fights. I don't know how I will become a cop. I want to move somewhere far away, maybe Noble Avenue.'" -Anthony, 8 years old

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Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy new year. May all the dreams that are supposed to come true for you, come true; and may the ones that aren't supposed to, lead you towards the ones that are. And may my grammar improve. Or not. Looking forward to seeing you soon. cheers, lara

...until Christmas next year.

"Good week for Artyom Sidorkin of Russia, who went into surgery this week for what doctors believed was a large, malignant lung tumor. Doctors found and removed a 3-inch-tall fir tree growing in his lung. 'I thought I was hallucinating,' said the surgeon, who thinks Sidorkin must have inhaled a seed." -The Week, 4/24/09
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I suppose that's one way to save on a tree. Wishing you and yours great holidays and a happy and healthy new year. I'll be in touch after the first with news on the almost finished music video for Letters From A Ghost (Automata Films), my tribute song (from Through A Frozen Midnight Sky) to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and our need to continue his and many others' mission. Will be out in time for the day that honors Dr. King in mid-January.

"There are years that ask questions and years that answer." -Zora Neale Hurston

"You don't get anything clean without getting something else dirty." -Cecil Baxter

"Cursing the darkness only delays the dawn." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Wishing you balance. Hope all is well and hope to see you soon. lara

"You are only what you are when no one is looking." -Robert C. Edwards

"My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me." -Benjamin Disraeli

"A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships." -Hellen Keller

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Hi, My AFOG (not sure who coined the term, or for that matter who coined the term 'coined the term', Another F_____ (abulous? :) Opportunity for Growth, a bonus 3-4 weeks min. on crutches - upper body exercise! hand strengthening! time for reading! whee!). Who knew I shouldn't take my broken foot hiking... even a flat hike that, um, was supposed to be a half hour, until I got lost and resurfaced at my car 3 hours later... hm I get what I deserve... so says my doctor, anyway).

So here's wishing you reasonable OGs, or not too many, or fun ones at least. Hope to see you soon, I'll be the one onstage with a guitar - sitting down. cheers, lara

"Everyone complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it." -Mark Twain

"They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." -Andy Warhol

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Greetings, Tonight live at 10pm EST I'll be on WSHU Public Radio, Profiles in Folk hosted by Steve Winters, alongside my good friend and Connecticut State Troubefore (or Troubanomore?) Pierce Campbell, who is also 1/3 of The Kerry Boys. We'll be talking about next weekend's Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo, details below. Listen on the left side of the FM dial if you're in the northeast, otherwise online, http://www.wshu.org. Sing along to the radio tonight or under the stars next weekend! cheers, lara

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." -Albert Einstein

"A Rhode Island second-grader violated his school's no-weapons policy by gluing toy soldiers to his hat... school officials objected to the tiny guns carried by the soldiers. 'The issue for us,' said a school official, 'was the zero-tolerance for weapons.'" -The Week, July 2, 2010

"The less we know, the longer our explanations." -Ezra Pound
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Hope to see you Sept 11 at 5pm in Edgerton Park! Also Nanci Grffith, Gandalf Murphy, Susan Werner, and the Kerry Boys. lara

"Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on the mid-moon, and under every deep a lower deep opens." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Try not to forget your dreams." -Cynthia Copeland Lewis, in Really important stuff my kids have taught me

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My song Charlie Brown Christmas Tree was inspired by time spent on my grandfather's Christmas tree farm in Kennebunkport Maine. Friday I'm playing the song (among others) at the 50th anniversary of the CT Christmas Tree Growers' Association, on the same farm, as it turns out, that inspired him 55 years ago to quit what he was doing and move north to start his own farm. Full circle. Coming up in CT and MD (DC area this time), hope to see you there! cheers, lara

"In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity." -Abraham Lincoln

"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense." Gertrude Stein
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If LeBron can do it, so can I... he signed up yesterday too, so far he has 300,000 followers. It's on. Join me at twitter.com , @laraherscovitch . I don't totally get it yet, but one of these days I plan to. Late adopters unite. Ok moving on... Thank you sincerely for your time in Lillith Voting - on the one hand, we made it to the top 10 and May and June were historic highs for my website hits - planting seeds for the future, an undoubtedly good thing... on the other hand, they picked a rock band from Rhode Island for the Connecticut show. There you have it. Hope to see you soon, fun summer shows coming up (save the date 9/11 for the Connecticut Folk Festival & Green Expo)! cheers, lara

"Most men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -Abraham Lincoln

"Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is knowing when to forgo an advantage." -Benjamin Disraeli

"We must try to take our task more seriously and ourselves more lightly." -Dorothy Height (1912-2010)

"Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one." -Marcus Aurelius

"In a survey of 22 countries, 20% of respondents said they believe aliens walk among us, disguised as earthlings. The Chinese and Indians are the most likely to believe aliens lurk in our midst, while Belgians, Swedes, and the Dutch are the least likely." -Reuters

"A man is what he thinks about all day long." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The search for the 14th Connecticut State Troubadour will be underway in the fall of 2010, to serve the term of 2011-2012. Information on the application requirements and process can be found here:

http://www.cultureandtourism.org/cct/cwp/view.asp?a=2211&q=307964&cctPNavCtr;=|#43598
The application process includes submitting a song about the state of Connecticut. You can hear the past Troubadours' versions, here:
http://ct375.com/music.php
Questions? Contact An-Ming Truxes, Arts Division Director
An-Ming.Truxes@ct.gov

"There are two ways to slide easily through life; to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking." -Alfred Korzybski

"A lot of good arguments are spoiled by some fool who knows what he is talking about." -Miguel de Unamuno

"Our lives teach us who we are." -Salman Rushdie

Fun interview on The Colin McEnroe show earlier today, a great station (WNPR / Connecticut Public Radio) and one-of-a-(also great)-kind host and show.

http://www.cpbn.org/program/colin-mcenroe-show/episode/cms-connecticut-state-troubadour

"In China, when you're one in a million, there are 1,300 other people like you." -Bill Gates

"America's changing character and sensibilities can be gleaned by the questions officials include in the decennial survey. At various times in the 19th century, citizens were asked how many guns and dogs they owned, how many hogs they had slaughtered, and if any family member had died from an abscess. In 1830, the government recorded the number of deaf, dumb, and blind people in a household; a category for 'insane and idiotic' was added in 1840 and remained for 50 years. In 1930, people were asked if they owned a 'radio set'; in 1950, they were queried about their TVs... The first census, in 1790, counted slaves as only three-fifths of a person, and Indians weren't counted at all... Marital status was not included on census forms until 1880. In 2010, for the first time, same-sex married couples will be able to officially claim that status." -The Week
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Just a quick note to let those of you in Philly and southern NJ know the show tomorrow (Sat) night at the Auction House Center for the Arts is postponed - too much snow for any parking, the lot won't be cleared until next week. But tonight in Pomfret CT is still on, Songwriter Sessions, the audience picks a theme for the writers next month to write a song to. This month is "Pocket Change." Hope you're digging out from snow removal or tax readying. cheers, lara

"There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it." -Mary Wilson Little

"The thing that cowardice fears most is decision." -Seren Kierkegaard

"Life is too important to be taken seriously." -Oliver Wendell Holmes

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Hi, Hope you're happily busy, and busy resting... if you figure out how to be both at the same time, do let me know. I'm listening to the state of the union speech while I write this to you, about storms passing. If you had one, here's wishing your view from the other side will be great - like that Masahide quote, "Barn burnt down, now I can see the moon." Hope to see you soon. lara

...the comments that used to be here are now at the blog, check it out and comment if you'd like! lara

"That which grows fast withers as rapidly; and that which grows slow endures." -Josiah Gilbert Holland

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view... where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you-beyond that next turning of the canyon walls." -Edward Abbey

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Thank you. For singing along, coming to shows, telling friends and family, buying CDs and mp3s, and making what I do possible. You keep me going. Here's to a great 2010 - wishing you good health, adventure, growth, great music, more great music, your own creative output, peace, and lots of love and laughter - oh, and great music. lara