I spent the night before the new year in a friend­ly for­est (our nick­name for the Cre­ative Work­shop stu­dio in Nashville, TN). I’m in my old home­town once again, this time gear­ing up for a short run with the Con­necti­cut-based Alter­nate Routes. We’re head­ed into the ocean to play a four-day cruise-type-thing called the Rock Boat, which should be a ton of fun and a much bet­ter way to spend the first weeks of Jan­u­ary than back home in the arc­tic tun­dra of Min­neso­ta. While I’ve been here some friends and I have been putting down fin­ish­ing touch­es on Dave’s record, which will hope­ful­ly be ready to mix this spring.

If there are any lessons I can car­ry into 2011 with me, it’s that I’m lucky to know, and be friends with, such tal­ent­ed and kind­heart­ed peo­ple. It’s pret­ty damn inspiring.