New Music

I don’t normally perform Christmas covers

Since my dream in life is to pen a song that can take its place as a holiday standard, it is not my M.O. to perform Christmas covers. I do so every so often if I’m asked to by a charity or at a special event.

I normally only sing a cover once a year, and I rarely do the same cover twice.

This year, I’ve asked my friends to help me select the cover I will sing for my performance tonight at Bryant Park, and I had literally several dozen selections to choose from and there was no real clear front winner for a song to choose.

My Christmas music represents an opportunity for me to compose and memorialize the magic of being brought together with our loved ones for the season. I work all year round for my Christmas dream and I hardly take a break.

I did take a small break this year, on my birthday August 9th. I was with my family and decided to unplug and read a book and enjoy the time being offline and out of Christmas for a moment. However, on that day, something would happen that would change the tenor of our country for the rest of the year.

When I plugged back in, the world had swiftly changed and there was so much divisiveness in our country. The groundswell of which has become a fever pitch.

I’m truly not a political person. I am a spiritual person, and as my whole life is dedicated to commemorating this beauty of being brought together for the season, I realized the song I wanted to sing this year. So I was quite heartbroken by the recent events in NYC. As someone who has lived through two terrorist attacks in NYC, I don’t think its fair that we as Americans can’t take a step back and see how fortunate we are – and how fruitless it is for us to terrorize each other.

This year, the only cover I will ever perform this year is “Happy Xmas (War is Over),” I will sing this as a prayer to the city I love and the world I love so much, that we can let our guards down for a moment this holiday season. To not live in fear and dischord, but in harmony.

I won’t mention it in my performance, but that one goes out to all of us.