I'm recording a new CD, and have been for the past five months. It has been an incredibly long and arduous task but I'd have it no other way. It takes time, it takes care and it takes determination.

Throughout the process, you go through doubts such as "why am I wiping myself out to make this thing...will anybody even care?" And then you don't even have to hear that little voice in your head to say "Yes, it matters to me."

In this new age of the musician / songwriter doing everything from conceiving the songs and album, to the reality of making it all happen, including the financing of the project, it is sometimes hard to relate to the days when there were actually record labels and actual people there to help with this.

I'm not complaining, I wouldn't have it any other way. I just want it to be GOOD! And that is a lot of work.

After six months off from gigging, I am getting SO READY to just get out there and start blasting away again. Talk about polar opposites...going from the studio where every millisecond is scrutinized, to a live environment where you're coming up with stuff on the spot and if it works, that's a wonderful feeling, and if it doesn't then the note is gone and you're onto the next one.

I have a benefit gig coming up on April 24th, featuring Mambo Sons and the ever popular horn band, perennial favorites "Eight to the Bar" (www.eighttothebar.com), that puts everything in perspective. The benefit is for a dear friend of mine, Zanny Gaudet, who is a beautiful and talented lady from Nashville who I had the fortune of sharing the stage with in The Producers ten year back. Zanny has an incredible zest for life, but unfortunately, she is battling a recurrence of a rare form of cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma, and because she's given her life to her music, she has no health insurance and chemo ain't cheap. She's got a great outlook and is trying to be strong, and we're trying to help by getting together to try to raise some funds for her. BTW - If anyone wants to donate, please see http://friendsofzanny.org/.

Anyway, the point of my post is, we truly have an incredible amount to be grateful for, and when I feel beat down, I think of my friend and its inspirational. Rock on Zanny!

Tom