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| me and my family on a worldschooling adventure |
I'd been trying to figure out a way to tell the story of my dad and duPont and Dark Waters and death, but it is a story that felt bigger than this blog. I am grateful to Salon's Editor-in-Chief for believing in me, which sounds totally cheesy, but which I mean so sincerely.
So if you're new here, let me quickly tell you a little bit about me and this blog.
- I've made my living as a musician & private music teacher for 20 years. Piano was my first instrument, but I am known for playing accordion and the musical saw.
- I have seven albums on Spotify and many more unrecorded.
- I play guitar in an instrumental bluegrass band.
- I sing in an Andrews Sisters Tribute act.
- I've toured as a sideman in heavy rock bands and light folk bands. Occasionally I pay the saw with Elvis Costello. (He's wonderful.)
- My first blog entry in 2006 was just a quick update about Nashville Star, a TV show that drafted me to be the 'quirky contestant.' I didn't make the finals, but an 18-year-old named Kacey Musgraves was next to me during much of the process.
- I fell in love with a Texan.
- We moved to Scotland for two years and had a baby there -- that would be Graham, my little movie star. He's got a three-year-old brother named Angus.
- Shortly after Angus was born, my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
- The day of her first chemo, I was offered a big role in ONCE the Musical, the international touring production. I turned it down. Because family. I don't regret it because what's the point
- Three years ago I had an infant on the breast and a mother in chemo.
- Last summer my mom went into hospice care the same week my dad was diagnosed with stage four sinus cancer.
More fun facts:
- I'm a mental case about 30% of the time.
- My husband is a saint.
- My kids are incredible.
- My mother was Jewish and my dad was Catholic and I grew up both nothing and both.
- I want to get them into therapy as soon as possible.
- I was once a network television producer, back in my late teens, early twenties.
- I had a home-birth, on purpose.
- As of last month, I drive an electric car. We were car-free since 2011 (odd in Kentucky), but we bought an EV last month when Graham started booking actor jobs that required a car.
- I overthink everything.
- I'm an introvert, but I love the stage.
- I love whisky, but I hate being drunk. I sip the good stuff and not very often. But I looooooove a peaty single malt.
- I use this blog to sometimes write poignant pieces and other times to share a trade secret or a family recipe.
- I tour festivals and folk clubs in Europe at least once a year, though for 2020 I have nothing on the books. Graham keeps booking acting work, and I want to find a new way to create my own art (maybe finally write that book rather than constantly booking tours?!) while supporting my kids in all they want to do.
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