Dear Listeners,
Itâs winter break here in Vermont so my son and I have been out on the slopes every day. For many years I have stayed away from fast slidey sports because I was afraid of injuring my hands. If my hands donât work, how do I make music? But among the many bits of advice Iâve gotten in my parenting journey, âbe into what your kid is intoâ has been one of the best. My lad needed someone to ride the lifts with and I needed to overcome my fear and learn how to fall properly, so here I am.
I found that skiing is not all that different from rollerblading, which I learned to do in Central Park the summer of my junior year. I brought the skates with me on my year abroad in Florence. On weekends there was this amazing city to explore but buses and museums and cafes cost money. And whenever I roamed the quiet streets and parks alone, I would be perpetually harassed, groped and even flashed by pathetic men. But rollerblading was free and, bonus, I am already quite tall, so with skates I was at least 6ft2in. No one ever messed with me on skates. I adapted to the cobblestones and explored all of Florence with exhilarating freedom.
One Sunday, as I was enjoying the expanses of asphalt in Parco delle Cascine, I came upon a group of folks on old-school rollerskates. They had a boombox and were dancing, just like the skaters of Central Park but without the sequined hot pants. They waved me over and exclaimed over my weird skates. They invited me to join them and for the rest of the school year, I spent every Sunday afternoon I could with the rollerskaters. We would gather, dancing and skating around obstacles, and once we had critical mass, tear off along the Arno and into the old city. Weâd skate past the David, circle the Piazza della Signoria multiple times and whizz down the marble collanade along the Piazza Republica, ending in a bar, still on skates, for an espresso or aperativo. Those are some of my best memories of my year in Florence.
I continued the skating when I moved to San Francisco, zooming most days through Golden Gate Park to the beach and back again. Sometimes Iâd join a similar group of mad skaters on Friday nights to roll fearlessly down hills and through tunnels. Skating was always a great source of joy. But then I moved away from the paved environment of the city and I transitioned to music full time. After acquiring a broken finger from an Evil Door and being shocked at how much that tiny injury impacted my ability to play, I quit skating.
Fast forward to Vermont. Like many people did during the pandemic, I got back on skates except this time with padding, wrist guards and a helmet. And then, as my boy learned to snowboard, I learned to ski. We still ride the lifts together but now he zips down black diamond trails while I ski carefully down the easy ones. He is mystified as to how I can bear to do the same runs over and over but I like it that way. Itâs like a meditation. I focus on perfecting my technique and try to make each turn better than the last. It feels similar to one of the things I enjoy about playing the cello, which is noticing tiny details and gradually polishing them. How can I improve this one phrase that I have played thousands of times? It never gets old or boring for me.
I hope it never gets boring for you either! Next week Iâll get back to work improving my old songs and figuring out to play some of my new ones in time for my concerts in March.
March 15 - ArtYard in Frenchtown,NJ
March 16 - Underground Arts in Philadelphia, PA opening up for my old friend The Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
March 17 - Le Poisson Rouge in NYC
March 21 - St Johnâs Cathedral at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN
And one more
April 6 - Unitarian Univeralist Church in Burlington VT, accompanied by mesmerizing visuals by Alex Reeves
also, outside my solo work on April 7 Iâll be a part of composer Randal Pierceâs ensemble, performing his live soundtrack to George MĂ©liĂšsâ silent cinematic masterpiece, A Trip to the Moon
6:30 and 8:30pm shows
More about all the events happening in Burlington around the eclipse
Thank you for listening and please wear a helmet when you are going fast.
celloly yours, Z













