Arrival

So here I am, in Northampton, MA. Home of Smith College. It is exactly how you would picture a small New England town home to a small, elite liberal arts women's college: quaint shops and restaurants along the main street, a barn in the adjacent property to Wanda's house. We are soaking in the hospitality of the Deitners.

Tomorrow, Sunday, Paul and I head down to New Haven, about an 1 1/2 hour drive. We have 6 appointments set up. Also, continuing the theme of near strangers helping us in any way they can, Wanda's friend's friend's mother works in real estate in New Haven (what are the odds?) and she has her feelers out to get us a hot deal! Thank you, universe!

This trip had two main reasons for happening. To allow Constantly Burning Fire to tour and so that Paul could move to New Haven with me for my last year of nursing school. People have told me that a trip like this can test a relationship. We had fun. We are still very much in love, still talking to each other. We've been together almost five years now, two breakups, one year of long distance, lost jobs, tough jobs, great jobs, great trips, great shows, Thanksgiving with the family, Christmas with the family. Ready for what's next.

Just before leaving Seattle, Constantly Burning Fire were starting to gain a following, booking shows every week. Seemed an unfortunate time to leave, but sometimes life happens that way. Although, perhaps that is not the unfortunate coincidence. Perhaps the significance here is that I got into Yale, Paul decided to move to New Haven for me, and Tommy decided to move back to Northampton. The two cities aren't far apart. Constantly Burning Fire will burn on. Perhaps even the change in location, lifestyle, culture, will spur creativity and productivity, two ingredients for successful musicians. Two ingredients of many, with those others being good promotion, fans, good management, but hopefully these latter ingredients will be brought in by the former.

This next year has a lot of change for us, but we have arrived at the now.

To quote CBF, from "Star Child", let's take on the world and put on a show.