On Saturday, October 22, I played an hour long set at a private party, locally known as Tonnapalooza. The hosts, Anne and Kevin Tonn, threw a party for 150 guests in their backyard. “It was good,” my daughter said of my set. “I kinda wanted you to play Satellites,” Isaac seconded. The occasion was so imbued with fall–colored leaves, tents, campfires, a giant grill–there was only one set of music for the event.

But perhaps I should back up a bit. The day before the show, my good friend John Gillespie posted a flattering review of my second album, The Lessons of Autumn, on Facebook. I’ve embedded the post below. I hadn’t had time to reflect on this record in a while, so I decided to play the entire album some 26 years in the future.

What a plus that John Gillespie also went to the show and sat front and center for the whole set. After the third song, “What You Will,” he asked, “Are you going to play the whole thing?,” referring, of course, to the album. I nodded yes.

A few of the songs were a little clumsy on my part, having not even reviewed them before playing them. Scott Carle, the principle organizer of the event and drummer for–I kid you not–all four of the acts at Tonnapalooza, helped by filling out the second half of Lessons with percussion.

At the conclusion of the album, I asked Scott to join me for some Collapsis songs. We also did a cover song by the Cure.