F-f-f-f-february!!!!

Good grief, anyone else here as sick of winter 2014--a/k/a The Thing That Wouldn't Leave--as I am??? There's no escaping it, though I'm trying this weekend--at Folk Alliance in Kansas City, where it's 20 degrees warmer and there's no snow...at least not till Sunday, when I fly home to Chiberia. The 3-4 feet of snow on the ground has melted to a large degree, is flooding the sewers, and will probably freeze over again tonight or tomorrow. And the Polar Vortex returns on Wed. They're predicting a low of ZERO--the latest I can remember it getting that cold since 1979.

We did manage, between snowstorms, to put on a great Christmas show at the Brink Lounge in Madison, with special guests Vita & George Levar, Tom Kastle, and Ingrid Frances Stark. Clips are up on YouTube. And Songsalive.com's website has a shot of me holding my cool crystal Songwriter of the Year trophy. If I look a bit weary, it was taken at 2 am on New Year's Eve--after walking 1/4 mi. each way in the snow and having quite a few flutes of champagne.  Survived my 63d birthday, too.  One benefit to living in Chiberia:  I keep better.

I've shoveled so much snow that I've discovered muscles I never knew I had, until they started aching. Nearly fell on the ice (including en route to a January gig in Madison I couldn't get to because of floods & black ice) more times than I can count. Running out of places to put the @#$%^&*( snow--good thing enough of it has melted, to make room for more. And in the Supreme Irony Dept., I haven't gotten to use my new X-C ski boots yet: when it was warm enough to be outside the snow quality was too spotty; but when we had plenty of snow it was too cold to safely exercise. And we in the upper Midwest are not alone--the Eastern Seaboard and even the mid-South has gotten slammed.  I can't wait till it's March, though it does "come in like a lion." Only hope it doesn't go out like a rabid pit bull!

So if you can hang on till mid-March, you can slake your Andina & Rich thirst at the Red Line Tap, 7006 N. Glenwood, in Chicago from 9-10 pm on Tues. Mar. 18.  Then on Fri. Mar. 28, we'll be up in Madison, doing a live-audience webcast for Red Dragon TV's "Inna Gadda Da Vida"  (at least I think that's how it's spelled) show, hosted by Ari John White Wolf.  We'll be taping, so if you're anywhere near Madison and want to be part of posterity, get your posterior up there!

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