Fill my heart with song, and let me sing forevermore….

I haven’t forgotten the powerful connection of song. In my back-and-forth between New York and Portugal, sometimes it seems there isn’t enough time for making music. In Portugal, I am lulled by the relaxed pace – I make friends easily, I am buoyed by community. In New York, sometimes it’s harder to make those connections. People are busy, rushing around from place to place and not looking each other in the eye. But NYC also has a strong community. It just moves to a different beat.

I am a lover of history. I go to the freshly renovated Tiffany & Co. flagship store and see the Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I see the elegant designs of Elsa Peretti.

This is a city of wealth for sure, but it also embodies the can-do American spirit and coalescence of cultures worldwide. Both tourists and residents find moments of respite and serenity here too. 

My friend Joe and I busked in Central Park the other day. A Japanese man took interest in Joe’s foldable keyboard, and then he offered to take a video of us. An older Russian woman (who now lives here) stopped for several songs, and we became friends on Instagram. A three-year-old boy danced and clapped in front of us for a while. Many people hung out on the benches nearby.

Music is a universal language. I remember when I sang at the Cairo Jazz Club years ago, the young Egyptian guitarist said, “Everybody knows ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ and Frank Sinatra.” ❤️

But it’s not just the familiar tunes that draw people in. On our day in the park, Joe and I performed many originals. Here’s an excerpt of “Do You Remember,” a nostalgic piece I wrote for my oldest friend Alix, whom I’ve known since age 9.

Joe is also an old friend – we met at Berklee College of Music twenty years ago and I asked him to play on my first album. We recorded “Do You Remember” on a beautiful fall day in Nashville, Tennessee in 2008. As I listened to Joe put down the piano track, I watched the lovely golden and rust leaves falling from trees outside the window. 🍁 So many layers of memories!

Do you remember when we met?
Was it September? I forget…
All I remember is your smile,
The way that it warmed me all the while

Hear the original recording of this beautiful song, Do You Remember