Words are all I have

As I write this, I am aware that I am lucky, lucky to be alive, lucky to have a gift that I can share, and lucky not to be in Haiti, where the earthquake has left thousands of people wondering aimlessly past piles of rubble and bodies.

Since I am currently broke, I guess the only thing I can do is suggest that people check out this brief video:
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,61644731001_1953522,00.html.

Then you can donate some cash by going to http://www.redcross.org or to www.clintonfoundation.org/haitiearthquake.

Or, text "HAITI" to 20222 and $10 will be donated to relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

Now that I've done something good, I can without guilt, go back to talking about me and my fledgling music career. As you may know, I quit my job as a CEO about two years ago now and I have squandered my retirement and most of my other resources for the dream of somehow becoming a working songwriter.

I was surprised this morning to get my third positive review for my inaugural CD, Firefly (see http://seanclaesdotcom.blogspot.com/2010/01/week-19-george-palmer-macias-firefly.html). Thank you Sean! Now if I can just figure out how to get reviews from established music magazines - any tips?

My guitar player Bill Starrett and I played last night at the Carousel Lounge (http://www.carousellounge.net/) to a crowd that included four of our fans (who have become our dear friends), about 8 regulars, and ultimately to another 16 people who were members of the next two bands Funkotron and Uniphonics. Uniphonics had just arrived from Iowa for a three-night stint in Austin -- I hope they aren't counting on tips to get their way back to Iowa.

Sunday, we played at Hondo's on Main in Fredericksurg to a modest local crowd; it was a fun trip because we rented a van along with some fans. Fans are fun to have, but I probably need a few more to make this thing work.

This Friday we have a reunion of my old band, The Regulars, at the Saxon Pub (6ish to 8ish), which should be a blast, and next week Bill and I will be at a great little restaurant/bar on SoCo, Botticelli's (7:30 to 9:30), in the patio if the weather is reasonably good.

In attempts to increase my income, I put up a few ads on Craigslists and other web sites offering customized songs for $150. The idea is that people give me the description of someone they love (or hate) and I then write a song. So far, I've made one sale and wrote a song for a girl's sister, who is a flight attendant. The song is called "Over Little Sister's Town," and I think it's pretty good. The chorus: "Sometimes when I'm sleeping, I hear my sister's voice, it soothes me and it heals me, for her laughter is a force . . . I hope she knows my feelings, I wonder if she glances down, when she's flying off to somewhere, over little sister's town."

Even though I was pretty sure the song was good, I was thrilled when the reaction to it was very positive. When people cry, I've done my job.

So, if you haven't spent all your money on Haiti, yet, you could spend a little more cash and surprise a loved one AND help out a struggling American - me.