After a 12 hour flight from Hong Kong
After a 12 hour flight from Hong Kong, after carrying my son through the last bureaucratic steps that made him a US citizen, we ended up in the central terminal at Seattle airport.
“You’re going to like America,” I remember saying as I held him, both of us bleary-eyed, “because in America we have Mexican food.” Then I got us some tacos.
I love the terminal at SeaTac, and not just because of that particular memory. But today I’m sad to be going home.
This visit was so moving. I reconnected with old friends and band mates. I got to hang out with the team of wonderful people who put on my show in Woodinville. But most profound was the show itself.
It’s such a rare and magical pleasure to play for a roomful of people who came there solely to hear me sing. The level of attention was astonishing, and it evoked a vulnerability in me that I could never reveal in a club.
I felt intimate with each person in that room. I felt naked and held in the immediacy of these songs and the way they connect us. I felt everyone share my broken heart and the ecstasy of the words as they rose and fell against the chords.
We got to dance together last night, and I’ll never forget it. Thank you Jim, Kitty, Michael, Erik, Tracy, and Ryan, for your many weeks of tireless work on what could be a new model of touring — one where you and I jump the barriers between us and get to just stand in a room together, soul to soul, and celebrate.
And thank you to everyone who came and supported me — the VIPs and Charles and everyone who bought a ticket to be there and listen. Walking through that room, playing Circus Lights as I passed among you, was one of the privileges of my life.
I’ll see you next time in Seattle.
